Iben

Thanks ! It's my goal to incorporate both, as I feel they complement each-other quite well. I feel like the best mocs out there combine old pieces, Technic and CCBS in a complex way. And that's what I'm aiming for. ;) -Iben

So I decided to open a topic here as well. Some of you might have seen these before, others might not. All my mocs are part of a fanfic called the SMR Saga. It's set in a undefined future on Spherus Magna, many years after Mata Nui restored it. We're on a new island with the mystical name Mehri Nui, where a big bunch of different tribes of modern Matoran live under the guidance of the 5 Elders, the Turaga. I'll just put up some pictures of several older WIPS (most of my mocs are still WIPs). Matoran These Matoran are my personal favourites and are the ones that I enjoy most when building, because they're extremely simple yet still extremely versatile. For more, look I'll always refer to my Flickr. Toa There are more Toa that I've done, but these are the most recent ones. Revamps These are revamps of the current or older sets, but they'll play a role in my storyline as well. I've worked quite hard on this Onua revamp, and although it isn't finished yet ( the arms and legs really need work, and the Kanohi needs to be replaced ), I must say I'm quite satisfied with it so far. I do need some help with the toes, because for some reason they never stick to the ground. Anyway, this is all for now. For those who are interested, here's my Flickr. I hope you enjoyed what you saw so far, and I hope to post more in the future. -Iben

Oh, I believe you didn't get my point. I'm not advocating for more or less armour, I was only implying that "skeleton warriors don't need a lot of armour because they're skeletons" isn't really a valid argument. I was merely pointing out that the amount of armour has little influence on "how skeletal" a figure is. I do agree that Skull Slicer is at best when he's lean and agile, but I don't necessarily think that means he can't use a little more armour on some places. Like in the picture I showed, there was a skeletal warrior that had like this small wrist armour, that would have worked well for this type of build. Or, perhaps it would have been better if the tr. bright-green bone pieces were the same as the new "skeleton" bone pieces, because in my opinion it's the open balljoints that slightly bother me about his build. -Iben

Simply because they're skeletons doesn't automatically imply they should lack armour. I can find numerous examples of skeleton warriors with beefy armour. These are good examples of skeleton warriors that are still clear and obvious skeletons, but still have quite some armour. It's just a matter of taste, more or less armour doesn't make them any more or less skeletal. -Iben

I'm even more disappointed by Skull Scorpio than before, simply because the way the legs are connected. It allows no posability at all, and that's an extremely big sacrifice to make.I simply don't see a reason to buy it at this point. The only thing I'd buy it for would be those tr. green bone pieces, but that's about it. I'm still not entirely convinced with the new armour addons, they seem awfully large to me. Overall, I see some interesting pieces that could prove to be useful at one point, but there's not enough for me to actually look forward to these sets. One small thing that "bothers" me here is the overall overuse of the same weapon pieces. While we got quite some different weapons with the Toa, here we get 2 different weapon pieces, which doesn't feel like enough for my taste. I would have preferred to see at least one extra weapon piece, like a mace or something like that. I do like that they tried to use the ones they have in a creative way ( Skull Grinder for instance). For those who didn't notice it, in one of the Skull Scorpio pictures you can see the "grabbing hook" Skull Slicer uses, and you can distinctly see that it uses tr. orange Skull Spider legs, unlike the Savage Planet claws Skull Scorpio uses. -Iben

TBH, even with the new pictures I'm not really satisfied. I can understand that some people need more time and more pictures to make their judgement, but that doesn't mean people can't dislike it from the start. Sometimes I feel like those people get shamed for not liking something from the bat, but there's nothing wrong with that. I still don't like the new sets. Especially Skull Scorpion and Slasher really disappoint me, especially when comparing to the winter sets. Their colour schemes are more well placed out and overall they don't have random bits of colours the villains have here. I expected a bit more of these two sets especially. That doesn't change the fact that I indeed like Skull Basher and Ekimu, I liked those from the start, those two figures are the best of all to me because they look well thought out. I'm not saying the others aren't thought out and the Lego team didn't spend enough time on them, but they're not as good as these. Skull Warrior is one of the sets that's "in between" for me. I like the fact that he has asymmetrical armour on the legs. It gives a very skeletal and zombie-like look, without sacrificing armour like Skull Slicer does. I like the new bone pieces though, they are aesthetically pleasing and still allow articulation, something the legs of Skull Scorpion don't which is a big flaw for me. Overall, I don't like the new sets. I understand the look they went for and I appreciate their effort really, but I personally feel that the majority of the sets just don't look that nice. I like the new pieces and I really see their potential, but it doesn't change the fact that I don't like the new sets. And honestly I don't think that's bad. You simply can't like everything, people's taste differ a lot. There's no "right" or "wrong" here. Some people might like the legs of Skull Scorpion because they look nice, but I don't like it because it doesn't offer articulation, what someone else might not need. This doesn't really matter much, it doesn't make the sets worse or better, it just pleases a different audience. @Aanchir about the different coloured bones : In my personal opinion, I don't think it's a good idea to break the bone colour scheme in order to avoid confusing. I see what you mean, and I understand your point, but I honestly don't believe that there's such an enormous amount of confusion that it really has to. Lego has three things to keep in mind: aesthetics, playability and "easy" building (easy in this context can differ of course ). I personally believe that these 3 things are all equally important, but should be in balance. My opinion is that the bone pieces are equally important to the overall aesthetics and colour scheme. It's one of the main reasons why I would like to see more differently coloured bone pieces, simply because they have a big influence on how your build will look. I don't think that breaking up the aesthetics of uniform bones is worth it, especially if the confusion is rather minor. I can see why it happens in Technic pieces, but I simply cannot when it comes to these larger pieces that can easily be differentiated. -Iben

My response wasn't directed at you, we just posted at the same time. ;) -Iben

It will be tomorrow, the fair is on the 28th of January and we're still the 27th over here (and Germany is in the same timezone as we are) xD -Iben

I have to agree. I honestly don't think it's necessary for a skeletal themed villain to be almost armorless. Basher is a nice example of how you can do that, he's still my favourite amongst them. However, I do hope that we'll be getting some regular white bone pieces, I've been waiting for that for a really long time ! I think that that's something Lego should look into, because the colours of the bones influence the overall design a lot. -Iben

Although I'm not a big fan of the new leaks, I must say that I'm happy to see the new weapon pieces. The axe reminds me of Strakk's, which was a very nice but perhaps a bit huge weapon. I'm happy to see it in silver, because the previous one wasn't combinable with other beings. However, I'm a tad bit disappointed as well. You see, although I can understand the potential of the new bone pieces, I would have liked it better if they just kept the old ones and perhaps made one more weapon mold, instead of the same blade and axe being re-used in most sets. I really understand that it's better to re-use the same molds in creative manners, I really do. I understand that this lowers the prices and overall it's better. But I would have liked to see more weapons in this wave and more unique molds in this line as a whole, and I really hope to see those in the future. It's just a personal preference, I understand that it might not be possible. I however do love the Ekimu - Skull Grinder set, and I really like the Skull Basher. Those two sets look really interesting to me. Especially because Skull Basher is still heavily armoured while still retaining the skeletal look, which is something I miss in the other sets. -Iben

Amazing work ! I absolutely love the Protector of Ice, it's really amazing. Just love the combination of the white and the teal. Well done ! :) -Iben