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REVIEW: 71307 Gali Uniter of Water

Set Opinion  

65 members have voted

  1. 1. How would you rate this set?

    • Outstanding
      7
    • Above Average
      10
    • Average
      30
    • Below Average
      15
    • Poor
      3


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Set name: Gali Uniter of Water

Set number: 71307

Pieces:87

Price: $15.00 | £xx.xx | €xx.xx

Release date: 2016

In 2015, Gali took the spot as my favorite set of the year. She had a great design, color scheme, and managed to evoke a feminine figure in a perfect way. Does 2016 hold a similar fate for Gali, or has she taken a turn for the worse? Read on to find out.

Box

Front

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Like all of the sets this year, she once again comes in a hexagonal shaped box, made of a sturdier cardboard than 2015. Gali herself is seen underwater, though I can't say it's the most thrilling of poses to the sell the set.

Back

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The back of the box shows some of the more interesting aspects of the set, such as the spinning weapon, turntable waist, and mask. Note that the comics have once again returned to both the box and instructions.

New and Interesting Parts

Turntable Torso

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Since this piece is in 7 of the sets this wave, writing this portion will likely get redundant. As you can see, a new torso with a gear mounted to the bottom allows you to create a spinning waist, with the new hip piece. For the most detailed description of this, I would suggest reading my review of Umarak the Hunter. One interesting thing is that my waist piece on Gali and Lewa was extremely tight. Gali's has since gotten easier to move, but Lewa's is still difficult to move and I cannot separate the hips from the torso.

New Parts

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In terms of some other new parts, we get the new generic sword piece in a silver mixed with dark azure. Of the color variations of this blade, I personally feel this color blend looks the best. We also have the new crystal add-on in silver with trans light blue, the unification piece in silver, and the new brain stalk in trans light blue.

Recolors

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In terms of recolors, we have Vorox armor in orange, and a 3m armor shell in dark azure. Now obviously those two pins there are not new colors, but I want to make a comment about the color itself. One thing I've noticed with these sets is that Lego has been taking a seemingly random choice in colors of axles and pins. Gali here is the only set of the wave to have the 2m axle in black instead of red, and while other sets use that modified pin in gray, she has it in blue. You will see some other odd choices of color when we get to Tahu, Lewa, and Uxar's reviews.

Torso Shell

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It's time to address the elephant in the room- this shell. In my opinion, you either love it or you hate it. Personally, I'm not at all a fan of this new shell. First, I love the printing on the upper chest, but unlike 2015, the printed piece is the entire torso, and to reuse this in a MOC means I have to use the entire torso shell. My other issue with it is the detailing itself. There are far too many pistons and greebles that are just unnecessary, that really serve no purpose in the overall design.

Masks

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Gali's new mask has commonly been compared to that of Nokama Metru, and while I can see it due to it's overall shape and bumpy forehead, the mask design is very similar to the other masks in the wave. Basically, it's the 2015 mask made thinner and with crystals added on top. Something worth mentioning is that in 2015's summer wave, we only got 4 of the 6 Toa's masks in gold blended with their respective transparent color. THis year we get a full set, and I love how Gali's looks with trans dark blue.

The Build

Torso

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Like all of the larger sets, Gali's torso consists of constructing the waist gear function, adding on the piece of unification, and then building some sort of custom shoulders. Also note the little system wedge added in for detail.

Bone Structure

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Like all of the other Toa, Gali has two friction joints in each leg to anticipate the added weight of the unification gimmick.

Weapons

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Gone is the massive axe that could turn into flippers, and in comes... well, quite a busy weapon. You have a sword top with a random spinning blade of some sort, a rather elaborate handle, and a random chain bit that hangs off the back. THis is similar to Pohatu's ball-on-a-chain, but less effective I feel.

Finished Set

Front

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There is something off putting about Gali's proportions. I'm not sure how proper they actually are, but I can't help but think that her torso looks too long. Maybe that's the new torso shell to blame, as I feel this way about Lewa and Pohatu as well. I do think that the layering of trans light blue and trans dark blue was done in a better way on this set, as it looks less cluttered than on her 2015 form. Of course, the other major change color wise is that she now replaced bright yellow with orange. I really like this change, it brings about an atlantean vibe of sorts, and works with the asymmetric armor design she has developed.

Profile

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Basically all of the sets this year are very, very flat from a profile view. This generic silhouette makes it easier for creatures to unify with them. Also, notice that the new eyestalk piece is a shorter version of the 2015 piece. So while the sets use the same head and mask connection, the eyestalk cannot be used to pop the mask off with just a weapon, you have to actually push it with your finger. This is helpful as the masks fall off far less, though i have had some trouble getting any of the figures eyes to glow in light. Trans light blue isn't the best choice of color for this, and Gali's mask has an odd angle for the eyes, so in order to see the eyes you would have to tilt the head up slightly.

Back

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The back of the Vorox armor connection is rather unsightly. Again, mostly unarmored for the most part, although I do like how the shoulder armor carriers over to this side as well.

Armed

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Most of the sets this year have some sort of long weapon or staff to accommodate the waist swivel. The weapon itself isn't too bad, and I think it's smaller size is more manageable than the gigantic axe she had previously.

Long weapon is long

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The "gear function" in the weapon is basically when you spin the gear, the propellor blade spins. I guess it's a nifty feature, although I don't care much for weapon functions like this, I would rather have another round of dual-purpose weapons.

"I wonder if this can work as a pizza cutter?"

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When posing her, I really don't have that sense of uniqueness and character that 2015 had. She just feels so static and uninteresting in comparison.

Loss of Character

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I'll be honest, one of my favorite things about Gali in 2015 was the ability to easily evoke a feminine figure through posing. This set, however, is a complete loss of it. I tried, for an hour I sat there and came up with hundreds of poses, and honestly not a single one even came close to the sheer brilliance of her 2015 set. It also doesn't help that her thinner proportions don't work to set her apart from her very thin brothers Lewa and Kopaka.

Gold Mask

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I was never a fan of how random the gold masks looked on the three smaller sets last year, and once again it sort of sticks out on Gali. I usually don't display my gold masks anyway, and in general even with sets like Tahu and Onua I have been preferring to use their normal colored masks even in united mode.

UNITE

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So Gali's main companion is Akida, who forms a pair of over the shoulder stut shooters, and adds a fish tail to her rear. It's a neat look once they are combined and adds some purpose to Gali- she gets extra firepower, and the tail sort of evokes her mermaid-like 2015 qualities in a nice way.

Profile

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Akida's function was honestly completely useless on it's own- you pull up on its rear fin, and the guns and side fins fold down to the position you see above. This function allows you to move the cannons from a forward position to aimed at the sky, which makes sense in united form, but not so much on Akida alone. Anyway, from a profile shot, the extra bulk isn't too bad, and I enjoy the added tail and the splash of extra orange that Akida brings to the table.

Back

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You do have to move the tail out of the way to access the gear function, though. Also, the propellers on the back of the stud shooters offer a nice extra set of propulsion for Gali overall.

Size Comparison

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As usual with our control group, Tahu. Here's where you can see a major issue with proportions. From hip to shoulder, her torso is much longer than Tahu's, and she has the same length of arms, paired with legs that are shorter than his. Granted this is partly due to the need for the geared waist, and of course the unification piece.

Overall

I struggle to like Gali. As a set, she's not the worst I've had. Her color scheme is great, her articulation is good (although if you move the foot forward very much you'll knock off the shin armor), she has a good variety of functions, and looks really cool once paired with Akida. With Akida, I think it's a worthy set to purchase, because Akida adds some much-needed qualities to the figure. However, as a standalone figure, Gali lacks the personality of her 2015 set. And yeah, I think the torso shell looks like absolute garbage on some of these figures, Gali being one of the worst offenders. Being completely silver, it sticks out far too much since the printing can only do so much to break up the monotony of the large piece, and given the overly-complicated piston greebles on it, the cohesion of the smooth CCBS shells mixed with the Vorox armor is completely ruined. In my opinion, the only reason to get her is if you plan to get Akida. Gali looks better with Akida united to her, and Akida is sort of built specifically to be mounted to a back, so the two really go hand-in-hand.

Hopefully you all enjoyed the review, and as always be sure to vote in the poll (LEGO looks at it :wink: ) and leave your comments below about your opinions on the set.

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Thanks for the review! I must agree about the torso shell's silver being a little....much...and that Gali is a tad bit weaker on her own without Akida. But, with all that said, I still think she looks average. I love the colour scheme (SO much better than last year's Gali's colour scheme...even though that Gali is awesome), I like the weapon, her mask looks great, and I love the asymmetry. I still think it belongs fittingly more on Pohatu, but I don't mind it on her. I am a bit underwhelmed by her. Not my favourite of this wave...but she isn't bad.

Edited by lambda_cla3391

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Thanks for the review!

I'm a little disappointed that Gali didn't live up to my first impressions. The torso shell doesn't look good at all on her. Ignoring that the colorscheme is superb. The weapon manages to look nice, and the combo is amazing.

Originally Gali was my favorite of the new smaller Toa, but seeing her now I'm not so sure. Her buid and figure just looks so awkward with those gappy thighs and elongated torso. I dig the asymmetrical shoulder armor, but on the leg it's too distracting and not quite good. On its own I think this is a downgrade from 2015 Gali, but she was one of the best sets so I suppose I can't be too critical.

I'm going to give this set the benefit of the doubt and vote average. Gali had a lot of potential, her renders looked promising, but the set did not deliver.

Edited by Dr_Chronos

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I can't say I like this Gali. Asymmetry can be great when tastefully done, but here I just don't think it looks good. The orange is awesome to have, but the jagged orange Vorox armor pieces contrast too much with the smoother blue pieces for my liking.

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I thought that Onua's gappy thighs were bad, but Gali's are next level.

As usual with our control group, Tahu. Here's where you can see a major issue with proportions. From hip to shoulder, her torso is much longer than Tahu's, and she has the same length of arms, paired with legs that are shorter than his. Granted this is partly due to the need for the geared waist, and of course the unification piece.

Tahu 2015 is not the best set to compare proportions with, as he pretty much has inika proportions. If anything, he is the one with major proportion issues while Gali is mostly fine.

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Meh.

Average set, clumsy and with a colour scheme better on paper than in practice. Most definitely gonna skip her.

Tahu 2015 is not the best set to compare proportions with, as he pretty much has inika proportions. If anything, he is the one with major proportion issues while Gali is mostly fine.

also this, this so much

One last thing: why do they keep on saying this year's figures are flat? Gearbox aside they are no different from 2015 sets, and literally everything from G1.

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I just wonder why there is a "male" torso on "female" character:/ It's a bit disappointing to me, so I think I will skip her

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Gali didn't look that appealing in the promotional shots but she's mostly fine here. I definitely think the mask looks better than in promotional shots. Not a revolutionary figure by any means, but a decent figure overall.

I thought that Onua's gappy thighs were bad, but Gali's are next level.

Tahu 2015 is not the best set to compare proportions with, as he pretty much has inika proportions. If anything, he is the one with major proportion issues while Gali is mostly fine.

I wholeheartedly agree. In general, the Toa of the 2016 wave have fairly realistic proportions, and resemble the average human body. However, this does mean that they are less heroic-looking than the 2015 ones, because heroic proportions are very exaggerated. Tahu 2015, for example, looks heroic because his arms are both larger and longer in comparison to a real human, and his legs are long. Longer and larger limbs usually serve to make a more heroic design, especially in robotic designs (look at the Transformers, for example).

Of course, when designing heroic cartoon characters, exaggerated proportions are better. But the Gali 2016 here is not bad, just ... too close to human and thus bland.

Edited by TFGuy89

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Thanks for the review, and I still prefer the 2015 version over Gali's 2016 form. Awkward proportions , bland and silly weapon, and weird color scheme making Gali to been my least favorite set of the winter wave. Not the most faithful representation for Gali at all, I think.

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Great review and photos!

Yeaaah.. I'm sort of disappointed about Gali. The colour scheme is fantastic, but the proportions feel off. I think it's something about the limbs. The shoulders should sit a module lower and the legs..I can't put my finger on it, but I know there's something I need to do.

The weapon and the mask are pretty good, but I like her 2015 equipment better. That guard with the little chain is awesome though.

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One last thing: why do they keep on saying this year's figures are flat? Gearbox aside they are no different from 2015 sets, and literally everything from G1.

The gearbox gave an extra two modules of depth. "Gearbox aside" is like taking their entire backs and arms off. It also doesn't help that flow of those backs were natural, and the Uniter backs instead flow on revese with the function being so far out.

As for the G1 comparison I don't think it martters, because for the most part I disliked the flatness in the Ignika build.

Great review and photos!

The shoulders should sit a module lower and the legs..I can't put my finger on it, but I know there's something I need to do.

For the legs I think it's the disproportionate shins. Those thighs are way too long/those shins are too short.

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Tahu 2015 is not the best set to compare proportions with, as he pretty much has inika proportions. If anything, he is the one with major proportion issues while Gali is mostly fine.

Actually, he's not. Basic anatomy rules that the human figure is, on average, 7.5-8 heads tall, which is exactly where both Tahu and Gali lie.

From there, legs should be around 4.25 to 4.5 heads at the upper point of the hips, where they meet the waist. Again, Tahu is spot on. It might look strange, but this is because he lacks any material in the pelvic region- the hip joints are right. Gali, by comparison, has legs that are only three heads. With arms, the middle of the lower arm should fall dead center with a waist. Tahu has arms slightly longer than this, which is characteristic of a heroic figure. Gali's are hilariously off.

As far as torso proportions go, technically They are both wrong. Both figures are the correct height, but Tahu's torso is about .5 shorter than it should be, and Gali's is .5 heads longer than it should be. However, Tahu's arms and legs are far more in accordance with rules for a figure anatomy than Gali's does.

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Yeah, Gali is kind off a let down unless Akida is combined with her. I like

the Mask, and the orange shells are nice, but everything else is kind of meh... Those stubby arms could be a deal breaker. 2015 Gali was so easy to pose, she could sassily have hands on her hips, she could be swimming, she just looked good. I don't think the arms of the 2016 model can even reach her hips easily. Still might get her someday.

Edited by xboxtravis7992

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As for the G1 comparison I don't think it martters, because for the most part I disliked the flatness in the Ignika build.

For the legs I think it's the disproportionate shins. Those thighs are way too long/those shins are too short.

Yeah, that's it. Replace her black 6M thigh bones with dark bley 5M bones and her 5M shin bones with Kopaka's (since they're exclusive to him for now) 6M shin bones and things should look a bit better. Improves the colour scheme too.

And yeah, the flatness is a bit more off-putting than I hoped for. I'll try to fix it, though it's most likely going to sacrifice the Unity feature.

Edited by Shakar

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And yeah, the flatness is a bit more off-putting than I hoped for. I'll try to fix it, though it's most likely going to sacrifice the Unity feature.

I've been thinking about using two hoses ( http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?P=78c11&idColor=66#T=C&C=66 ) to give the sets a natural back flow. It's probably going to look a little gappy, but it won't sacrifice the Unity feature. I'm interested in seeing how people will mod these sets.

Edited by Dr_Chronos

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I'm starting to sense a pattern with these reviews and opinions in the sense that all the sets suffer from LOSS syndrome where the gimmick takes precedence over everything. I think the idea of two sets combining to form something greater is really nifty, but it also results in more generic masks, flatter torsos, strange proportions and generally feeling like mandatory DLC for optimal appearance.

And that torso shell has to go. I can get over it but I don't want it after this year, it screws with the aesthetic too much. Waist swivel though? I'll take that over a gearbox.

The torso has potential definitely as the shoulders of the normal torso can be a bit restricting, but this doesn't show it off well at all, especially Lewa's awful awful shoulder articulation, but we'll get to that when we get to that.

Edited by MakutaDreadscythe

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Actually, he's not. Basic anatomy rules that the human figure is, on average, 7.5-8 heads tall, which is exactly where both Tahu and Gali lie.

From there, legs should be around 4.25 to 4.5 heads at the upper point of the hips, where they meet the waist. Again, Tahu is spot on. It might look strange, but this is because he lacks any material in the pelvic region- the hip joints are right. Gali, by comparison, has legs that are only three heads. With arms, the middle of the lower arm should fall dead center with a waist. Tahu has arms slightly longer than this, which is characteristic of a heroic figure. Gali's are hilariously off.

As far as torso proportions go, technically They are both wrong. Both figures are the correct height, but Tahu's torso is about .5 shorter than it should be, and Gali's is .5 heads longer than it should be. However, Tahu's arms and legs are far more in accordance with rules for a figure anatomy than Gali's does.

Very interesting, are the figure rules that you use suppose to be for a "heroic" build? I'm just basing proportions from what you get when you search for "human proportions", where Gali seems more realistic although her limbs and torso are a bit short for accurate head ratios.

From the diagrams I looked at:

- Tahu's torso misses 1 head of length. Gali's is missing 0.5 heads.

- Tahu's legs are at the normal, Gali's are 0.5 heads shorter than usual.

- Tahu's leg to torso ratio is at 8:16 (0.5) rather than the normal 3:4 (0.75). Gali is at 10:14 (0.71)

- Tahu's legs make up 57% of his height (7% more than usual). Gali's legs make up 50% of her height.

- Tahu's arms reach too low, Gali's reach 1 module too high.

- Tahu's shoulder width (13M w/ CCBS shells) is a broader than an average heroic build. That's over a head broader than standard proportions.

- Tahu's shoulder width is more than his torso height, at 13:8 (1.63) rather than 2:3 (0.67)

Basically, I think Tahu looks weird because his torso is very short and wide. However, proportions can obviously vary, some would say that the toa should have "heroic" proportions rather than "normal " proportions, and I'm definitely not an anatomy expert.

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I like the new Gali's color scheme, asymmetry, and to an extent even her torso shell, but you're right that she's not nearly as outstanding as the 2015 version. I think the awkwardness of the proportions has more to do with the length of the torso beam than the torso shell. Her legs are also a bit awkwardly proportioned, with her thighs feeling much more gappy than the 2015 version's, and her arms are a bit too short considering how high the shoulders are placed. I wonder if her legs might look better if the crystal add-on were moved to the front of the leg instead of the side. She's still probably my second favorite of the new Toa designs after Lewa, but after seeing this review, perhaps not so close behind him as I'd thought.

I think the gold masks look alright on both the 2015 and 2016 Gali. They're sort of supposed to stand out. And Gali's combination with Akida certainly looks very elegant. Gali's mask is very nicely designed, but I agree that the eyestalk would be better in a different color, ideally a fluorescent one.

Good review overall.

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I've been thinking about using two hoses ( http://alpha.brickli...lor=66#T=C&C=66 ) to give the sets a natural back flow. It's probably going to look a little gappy, but it won't sacrifice the Unity feature. I'm interested in seeing how people will mod these sets.

Interesting, where are you planning to attach them?

I think one solution to make the Toa torsos a bit thicker could be attaching the torso shell to a oOo 3x1 liftarm (98577), like on Umarak. That does leave a space open, but you could use that extra room for further customization.

But I'm getting outside the thread topic (which is Gali and her only), so I'm not sure if I should continue.

Edited by Shakar

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I'm finding that with a lot of these sets I'm not much liking the masks or the torsos, and because of that a huge amount is detracted from the sets, and this one is no exception to that.

I might get her. Might. But definitely not a first-day, first-week, or possibly even a first-month buy.

Still, thanks for the review! I'm interested to see the rest in the hope I get pleasantly surprised by one of the Toa. :)

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Such a shame. Gali, Master of Water is the sort of set you'd point to in order to show what the new BIONICLE is capable of. This... Gives me Gali Mistika vibes. Tahu, Uniter of Fire, is a troubled set, but at least it doesn't fall prey to the "generic BIONICLE, bleh"-trap that this does.

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I think Gali is good-okay. She has problems, but she's not bad. I like her concept, I like the coral like armoring the orange parts provide, I love her color scheme, her new mask looks like Nokama's movie mask, so yeah. She looks good, her proportions don't look bad when she's holding a weapon, which she'll always be doing when I have her anyway, and yeah. She's good. Not bad, not great. Just good.

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Eh... I just cannot like that torso shell no matter how hard I try to :look: And I just cannot get over the legs - having 7M thighs but only 5M shins just makes for an extremely awkward figure. Think I may swap out for 8M thighs and 7M shins to correct both the leg proportions and the overall proportions.

And while I don't mind asymmetry like this, the way that Vorox armour is connected to the shin is just... no :sceptic: I am going to have to see how she looks with a more symmetrical armour setup.

Either way, she's definitely not going to be my first purchase.

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