Bigger Fish

What was the worst construction set?

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So, what do you think was the worst constraction set (just singular set, not line or wave, just a singular set.) from BIONICLE and Hero Factory? I namely want to see the worst in terms of poor design, not piece to price count or those other things. Just worst looking construction set. Galidor doesn't count.

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Not sure if these really count, but I can remember back in 2008 there were several promotional sets which had no hands or feet.

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Hmmm... difficult one. I'd be tempted to say some of the small Bionicle polybags. This one comes to mind (where on earth are his hands!?), but especially the 2006 ones.

Hero Factory... I know some people would say Scarox or Aquagon. And I'd agree, they weren't very good sets (which is why I modded both extensively). But still, I think they're much better than the 2006 Bionicle polybag sets, especially this one in my opinion.

If you're only counting CCBS sets, then I'll say Aquagon.

EDIT: If you ask me, the laziest designs: the Bohrok Kal. Worst value: the Ben 10 sets :classic:

Edited by TheOneVeyronian

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I think comparing "real", profit-producing sets with promotional polybags or giveaways is not very essential. Well, anyway...

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Really, what? Bruizer Brothers? What's going on with the face? What is that knife trying to be? Lightsaber blade function? pls

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Also, this Mata Nui... I know this one has some fans, but honestly, the colors are terrible, and the proportions... Flat torso, extremely thin waist, and god those arms.

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If we take the obvious and promotionals away I'd agree with Pate on Bruiser it has an okay parts count and the rockparts are very nice but the overall appearance is just a mess. I could also say a word or two about 3.0 Furno, Speeda Demon, the infamously bad Fire Lord which has been captured by all of it's disgusting-ues in the this Fire Lord by Vader.

Edited by GK733

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Oh man... I forgot about Bruizer... I take back my condemnation of some of the promo polybags, though having said that, the (purchasable, at least in my country) Hero Factory polys had way better designs than many of the Bionicle ones so...

I remember giving that set a rather damning review on S@H a couple of years back (a score of 3/5 from me is basically a fail :wink: )... easily the most flawed Constraction set I've ever bought. The mechanism didn't even work that well and I had to mod it extensively for it to even look vaguely like a possessed rock golem, which was what the set was supposed to be. And really, all the metallic bits ought to have been remoulded in standard greys, they just don't look right :wacko:

I kinda liked Speeda Demon though... well, the bike bit anyway. Speeda Demon himself quickly got scrapped for parts. Can never have enough Technic bikes for CCBS figures to ride on anyway :tongue:

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Skull Scorpio :S Or any of the Mistika, they were terrible (except Krika). Rocka Crawler too.

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Gotta have to disagree on Aquagon, I really like him.

Right off the bat, I would also say Bruizer takes the cake for his awkward action gimmick. I'm pretty sure there are also other sets I'm not particulary fond off, but they're escaping my mind right now.

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Honestly, Aquagon could have been the best for me since his colour scheme and face are so nice, but the fact his entire back was completely bare really ruined it. As was calling simply putting two swords together via a pin as it's main feature :wacko: Also, only mentioned it as I saw it come up in a lot of other conversations over terrible CCBS sets... I like the set, but not as much as some of the other BA villains.

I dare say if Bruizer were made today, I think he'd be a lot better with a proper CCBS-compatible gearbox instead of that bar construction that was flimsy and difficult to use.

Anyhow, I do have a bucketload of constraction sets I wasn't that fond of, and I'll probably get a bit of stick for it, but I never really liked the 1.0 to 3.0 HF Heroes, especially the 1.0 ones. Purely for the fact their designs were quite repetitive (used very much the same base) and basic and the build was over far too quickly. I did like the 3.0 animal themed helmets though. Also not really a fan of later Bionicle sets with low (<25) piece counts for the latter reason, apart from Zesk. Well, I like complexity and variety in my builds :classic:

Strangely, I'm not so bothered by repetitiveness in 2001-2006 Bionicle :look:

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The 1.0 heroes were about a million times better than any of the Agori, Av-Matoran (or the Mistika Toa and Makuta) or Stars. At least the 1.0 heroes looked okay, even with their simple builds. Those I've mentioned have simple builds yet look horrible. Plus, the parts were the most brittle that they've ever been around that time. Meanwhile, I've not seen a single joint on a HF 1.0 set cracking.

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The worst small sized one IMO was Kazi, who had no head, elbows or legs.

The worse titan sized is easily Toa Mata Nui.

Overall, I find titan Mata Nui to be the worst because his grand size allows him to get everything wrong to a much larger extent than Kazi.

All of the 2015 Skull villains, except the four-armed one, however, seem much worse than the two sets that I listed above. They're not out yet, so I my opinion isn't cemented.

Edited by bidiminished

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I quite liked Aquagon too. I wouldn't have bought him, but got one from that Action Figure month contest and it stayed built longest of the prizes (the others where Dragon Bolt (aaargh) and Frost Beast (Which was alright). The faceplate is cool and hilarious, and the color scheme is quite rad too.

Ah yes, Kazi... He was an oddball. I think the designers felt that they needed something special on him, and that can easily go wrong (see: Matoro Mahri).

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The worse titan sized is easily Toa Mata Nui.

Overall, I find titan Mata Nui to be the worst because his grand size allows him to get everything wrong to a much larger extent than Kazi.

All of the 2015 Skull villains, except the four-armed one, however, seem much worse than the two sets that I listed above. They're not out yet, so I can't opinion isn't cemented.

Seeing as I have Toa Mata Nui, I have to agree with you. You have described Toa Mata Nui perfectly. Ditto regarding the Skull villains.

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The 1.0 heroes were about a million times better than any of the Agori, Av-Matoran (or the Mistika Toa and Makuta) or Stars. At least the 1.0 heroes looked okay, even with their simple builds. Those I've mentioned have simple builds yet look horrible. Plus, the parts were the most brittle that they've ever been around that time. Meanwhile, I've not seen a single joint on a HF 1.0 set cracking.

Also not really a fan of later Bionicle sets with low (<25) piece counts for the latter reason, apart from Zesk. Well, I like complexity and variety in my builds :classic:

I was including Agori, Av-Matoran and Stars when I said that. I never liked them either mainly because of their lack of poseability (I know because I used to make brickfilms with them), and the joints would crack if you breathed on them (Zesk was okay, but that was because it was slightly different to other Agori) :wink: But I think I don't like anything with atrocious price/piece ratios anyway, so I'm slightly biased.

Also, never realised there was so much love for Aquagon, I thought the general consensus was negative. Guess that was wrong. I don't hate the set, just lack of back armour in CCBS sets really winds me up nowadays I guess. And to be fair, my (modded) Aquagon is still built whereas many other villains have been disassembled. Maybe I should have picked Scarox instead in my original post, but since I wrote a review defending him, I chose not to I guess :laugh:

And I didn't mind the Makuta Mistika when their joints weren't breaking *ducks*. Toa Mistika on the other hand... :sick:

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The Avtoran and Shadow Matoran of 2008, and any figures which later used a similar build. The design philosophy was horrible, using nothing but clunky, over-specialized components. As a result of said design philosophy, they had inflexible limbs and badly proportioned heads and torsos. Even for MOCing they fell short, as their over-reliance on brittle 2008 sockets made it inadvisable to disassemble them, unless you happened to be one of the lucky few with the magic touch who could honestly claim to have had no problems with 2008 sockets.

Edited by The Kumquat Alchemist

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Must be a Toa Inika. The ugly one (all of them)

They were probably my favorite Toa team. Regret selling them when Bionicle ended.

The Mahri on the other hand... :sick: . Every lime green joint on my Mahri Hahli broke. Even while they were still intact, I kept wondering what the designers were thinking when they designed them. Nuparu lacked maximum poseability due to the arm/leg pieces they chose for him, Kongu looked ridiculous, and the rest had...interesting armor configurations. Jaller was the best of the bunch, but he was still horrendous.

Toa Mata Nui was pretty bad, but looked much better in person. I think Gadunka was worse. What were they thinking? Nothing about it worked!

Can't say much about HF sets, but the Breakout and BA sets looked alright for the most part. I dropped out of Constraction after I bought Breez 1.0. The boomerang guns broke as I put it together, and the build was horrible.

Edited by Master_Data

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I'd have to say that I'm at a draw between Bruizer and Splitter Beast, to be honest. Bruizer just looked awkward and Splitter Beast was a pretty bad "titan-ish" set.

I'd also say that Stormer XL was pretty poor.

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My least favorite constraction set I have gotten is Toa Mata Nui. While I am glad I got him now for the golden Ignika and the parts, the design is terrible and it felt like such a letdown, especially when I had used all my birthday money on it. The Avmatoran/Agori/Stars sets are a close second, because while they look good their lack of complexity and articulation is what kills them.

As to Hero Factory and CCBS, I would have to agree on Aquagon. The humanoid fishman thing did not translate well into the set and it was incredibly bland. I did actually really like Bruizer and the attempt at an interesting function. Breakout Nex wasn't very cohesive and felt like the worst Hero set out of the series.

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Ya know, I absolutely hated Surge breakouts color scheme. So what do I do? I dismantled him...

Bionicle it would have to be one of the poly bags(not the Hero pack!).

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Anyone who talks shtick on Good Guy '06 is officially my worstest enemy ever >:c

But seriously? The Toa Inika. They hearkened in what I'd happily see as the demise of G1 Bionicle. Granted, the light-up swords are fantastic, but the masks? The builds? Teeth? Really? Honourable mention to the Toa Nuva here, for their equally god-awful masks. They look so clumpy and slimy.

Oh yeah, and I agree on Bruizer. What the hell was going on with that freakin' arm?

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I don't mind Bruizer's unimaginative arm function but surely the budget put into the arm(technic beam, ball joints, etc.) could have went into adding a CCBS arm instead, right? Like along with the "function".

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Anyone who talks shtick on Good Guy '06 is officially my worstest enemy ever >:c

You, my friend, have made a powerful enemy... Nah, just kidding :tongue: In defence of Good Guy '06, he managed to get in all the major anatomical parts, including something that can pass for hands. The more I think about it, the more I think Good Guy '08 is worse now, as much as the helicopter jetpack was neat, I just can't get over the fact he has no hands :laugh: But I guess it's unfair to judge tiny little promos on poor design, so that will be the last time I mention them.

I don't mind Bruizer's unimaginative arm function but surely the budget put into the arm(technic beam, ball joints, etc.) could have went into adding a CCBS arm instead, right? Like along with the "function".

That's another problem I have with Bruizer... what was wrong with having a functional CCBS arm? Today's Bionicles can prove you can have both poseable and functional arms :sceptic:

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I feel like the only person who really liked Bruizer, but I'm a sucker for rock golem monsters so there's some bias :v

Anyway, I think my least favorite action figure set is probably Tarix. Just everything about it is terrible in some way.

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