MakutaDreadscythe

Apologies for the double post, but something interesting I noticed in the LEGO Summer 2014 catalogue (UK of course). It does indeed show the Chima constraction sets, however Panthar is missing amongst them. Considering the oddities already discussed (e.g. no printed parts, yellow eyes, mismatched moral alignment) this is turning out to be a rather strange case indeed.

It's hard to explain. I feel that while the other fire guys are cool, they stick too closely to their theme and I feel it makes them lose some of their identity in the process. Panthar IMO has a lot of things going for him. He doesn’t stick to one overall theme and I feel that allows him to preserve his character. It’s the little things that make me complement him as I did in my previous post. His build suggests a powerful character, and they put in more animal traits, like claws on his feet, an actual tail (which is a luxury only Cragger used to have) and that opening mouth. The way his neck even is built though subtle suggests strength and is more akin to an actual panther. I am aware that in terms of a parts pack he is probably the worst considering he only has a few pieces in one copy each, but to his credit I feel he makes use of his parts and doesn’t shove in recolours for the sake of recolours. Every design choice in the set feels intentional rather than a budget constraint. Even the weapon in his left hand feels intentional despite only using two pieces; I could not imagine him with any other weapon be it an axe or a sword or whatever. I may be rambling at this point, but the set has left such an impression on me that I cannot help but feel inclined to do so. In any case, I sincerely hope you enjoy Panthar as much as I did and congratulations on winning him.

I would have to agree. Just got Panthar yesterday. In honesty I think he is a new benchmark for the CCBS. The figure for the most part looks complete and what hollow-ness there is is only in his legs, which is a necessity for articulation and as of yet has no solution. The chest is very impressive, having a lot of bulk with minimal weight. The toes, mouth and claw-arm add a level of expression that most other LEGO figures lack. The head as well is one of my favourite pieces. It's very stylised without looking out of place on a LEGO figure. Regardless of his lack of storyline significance or printed pieces, I highly recommend anyone that has access to this set to pick him up, even if they aren't a fan of the theme.

Alas I revoke my previous statement of Mungus. I haven't picked up any of the sets (yet) but of all of them he has probably grown on me the most. He does look a bit unfinished compared to every other set but something about him just seems interesting. Maybe it's the head. Maybe the trans-limbs or that hammer. I dunno.

I agree, the lack of connection points is disappointing. However, I feel the zamor setup was used for sake of playability. The sets are ideally designed with kids in mind who probably want to re-enact fight scenes or make up their own in crash 'n bash play, hence the slightly simplified designs used. It could also be used in play as if an opponent made a punch so hard the Chi orb fell out. Just a suggestion of course.

Well, for sake of discussion, I have looked at the sets in detail and, with the exception(?) of Panthar, I think the ice half is better executed. Yeah, Mungus is unfinished and in no way resembles his system counterpart (further cementing that he and Sir Fangar should have swapped places) but they take more risks than the fire half and the weapons are more interesting. The fire sets I feel suffer from having too many warm colours which make them blend together. I like the gold pieces a lot, and they could definitely be useful for a knight MOC, but the fire side stick to the same motif quite strictly. Yes, the ice bunch do the same, but it fits the characters and the shared colours tend to complement more, whereas the fire sets it feels more shoehorned in. Case in point, Chi Cragger. Yeah, it’s a daring colour scheme, but ultimately one I don’t think works very well. The old incarnation wasn’t perfect, and the new chest armour actually looks like it’s from Chima, but it was more fitting of a crocodile. New Cragger I feel, while more armoured and generally being good for parts, loses some of his identity with the new motif. Not to mention the amount of colours he uses is staggering. Dark green, olive green, black, grey, gold, trans-orange, silver, gunmetal, dark red with gold print, yikes! Laval also I feel suffers from this. Gold was one of his original colours anyway, so adding more and orange on top of that, it blends way too much for my liking. The feet are better though, I’ll give him that. On a side note, something I think was a great step forward was the opening mouth feature. Three characters have this: Cragger, Panthar and Sir Fangar. As small a feature as it seems, it opens up a lot of personality and posing options that couldn’t be emulated by any Hero Factory set.

I will agree on Panthar. As good a set he is he isn't really breaking any boundaries with his colour scheme. I just feel that Cragger's is a tad too flamboyant for my liking. The last time a set gave me such a headache was Toa Mata Nui, before modding of course.

Well...this guy…I’m not really sure where to start. I like the mammoth theme. They’re pretty cool, and considering I just finished Dark Souls II (there’s elephant knights in that game…yep) I’m totally down with that. The overall execution however…well, it’s an ice zombie mammoth. Don’t get me wrong, I like my zombies. I like my mammoths. I even like zombie mammoths. This just looks bad. You have a fairly large torso and a cool headpiece, and the weapon is definitely something I would envision an evil mammoth man wielding to smite his enemies in the head with. Just…his limbs…especially his ice peg-leg and left arm. It leaves so much to be desired, not to mention a lot of the cool parts require multiple purchases to get an even number, something I’m not terribly fond of doing. Okay, give him the ice-leg and ice-arm, give him the nonsensical white fur, just for the love of god bulk up this guy. He really needs it, more than any other set this wave.

Well, the axe looks okay, and he's definitely an upgrade from last year, but he suffers from the shoe-horned fire theme. Did they really need to add all those colours in? Just looking at this guy gives me a massive headache. Not to mention, that blade piece. I can't recall the last time I'd seen such an ugly, over-designed piece. Just...ughhh.

In hindsight I find it hilarious that the favourite of the wave is the one that screams "afterthought". Noone knows who Panthar is, he has no printed shells, no enemy to fight, the only exclusive parts really are his head. Just goes to show shoving in a load of recolours doesn't make for a good set, likewise a good set can be made with minimal new parts.

Wow, aren't I lucky. I actually live in the UK so this isn't a problem. In any case, I would have to agree. Out of all the wave, this figure is definitely my favourite and a standout. It doesn’t abuse the gold fetish the other heroes seem to have, and the less I talk about the unfinished ice zombies the better. That gold arm does use that paw piece I loathe so much, but the very idea of an energy arm contained by gold armour is very awesome, and should I get this set I will probably revamp it with that motif in mind.

I can't say I'm keen on the line as a whole. The villains look nice, but I find the lack of larger scale heroes questionable. I like the idea of the spider things, but when the main villain in over half the sets are little spiders, I sort of lose interest. I would have liked a villain counterpart leading, even if the mech made it one-sided. The minifigures remind me of the Bionicle Stars, and how they were abstract versions of the original characters. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Honestly the minifigs could go both ways. They could be styled like Chima with similar print and moulded helmets (thus saving money moulding other things) or they could be like Galidor figures...you know, if they were good (I mean to say megabloks figures really but you know what I mean) by utilising interchangeable limbs and heads. I dunno. :S

Three Evo's?! Seriously? I thought the multiple Rocka rebuys were bad, but this is ridiculous!

On a completely different note I got Aquagon a while ago and I finally realised what bugged me the most about him. The hilts on his swords are significantly thicker in both dimensions. So I replaced them with the...things...from the ends of the brown rahkshi staff (I don't know what they're called) to give it a more trident/axe feel. That, and I needed the blue swords.

Perhaps going on the idea of having separate armour for the waist and upper torso, have the wait armour on the midsection and use the ball with two pinholes for the upper armour to give more depth (the ones used on Stormer XL and Furno XL).

Got the new Evo. I can gladly say he's a very cool set. He's got a cool weapon and the blue balances the colours on him. Cheap too.

Not gonna lie, I think the placement of the armour on Xplode's back could have been higher up. As it stands, from the front the silhouette from the spike armour makes him look fat. The Drilldozer torso also seems a tad out of place on Xplode. I'm sure he was a bit skinnier before.

Finally! A half decent game on my Surface! I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :)

He's worth it. I snagged him two days ago and he's just a wonderful thing to have. Good size? Check. Unobtrusive gimmick? Check. General awesome factor? Gives Pepsi MAX a run for it's money.

About as well as any other glow in the dark gimmick, though the eyes don't fully show on Dragon Bolt, so you kinda have to go out of your way to show it off. It does stand out though when you get it to really glow.

Had my package come through today, with the Black Brain polybag. Also came with wave 2 sans Jet Rocka. All very cool, well, except Aquagon, who's almost unmatched in blandness.

Loving the colour consistency on this guy, he was blue, silver and yellow the first wave, glad to see that makes a return here. No more tacky lime green!

Who's to say it wasn't a general recommendation? Seriously though, Furno XL rocks. Definitely not a bad choice.

Trust me, when he's in your hands he's leaps and bounds better than pictures would lead you to believe. He's got a really cool chest design and the cape and weapons give him a lot of presence next to other figures.