Logan McOwen

>yelling >on the internet Okie dokie, pig-and-a-pokey. But anyway, it seems a Chinese company has already stepped up to the plate to produce knockoffs of the G2 Bionicle sets! Introducing... BIONLCIE! Are they simple reboxed copies of actual sets, or their own re-molds? Who knows! But, there's no real incentive to buy these, as the prices are barely different from Lego's, and there's no unusual recolours. They are literally just clones.

Ah, cool. Thank you!

Sorry to mislead, but I've just done a review of XSZ's General Grievous, which can be found here.

Review: XSZ General Grievous Clone brands aren't usually very creative. Most will simply copy an official Lego design, others will create lackluster custom designs. But sometimes, there are diamonds in the rough. XSZ, a Chinese brand, usually make duplicates of official Hero Factory figures, but they also produce some custom CCBS designs, including those fascinating Ninjago Ultrabuilds. But what I recently purchased from them is something a lot of you may recognise from a CUUSOO project of old; A figure of Star Wars character General Grievous. In light of Lego's official Grievous figure's reveal, lets take a look at this other company's take on the four armed frenzy. Packaging Yep. A zip lock bag. I ordered two copies of the set (for reasons I'll discuss later), and they both came bagged up like this. However, I did choose to buy them without the boxes, as doing so cut down packaging costs to the point where postage was free. But, this restrained packaging did cause some issues. Parts Parts are where this kit really shine. As you can see, there is a plethora of CCBS bones, Technic parts and more. But what will catch most people's eyes is those tan shells. The tan does indeed match Lego's shade very well. However, brief warning about XSZ's shells - the peg holes on these are tighter than on Lego's, so softer pegs like those found on armour addons will get worn down when used in them. I'd only use harder plastic things, like T-Bars and older spike pieces, with these. Also, as you can see, the cape is severely creased. This is due to the restrained packaging. It's easy to fix, but terribly annoying either way. The torso and chestplate are fascinating. I'm not sure whether the tan details are painted or printed, but they really do look the business. While the chestplate's pegs are a little loose, it's still invaluable to have such a generically styled print. The head is probably the only major let down with this set. While the mold is great, the prints and sad eyes make for a very weird face to give to a villainous four armed warrior. However, there's an upside - the head connects to the model using a dark bley Glatorian head piece, which is absolutely fascinating and could serve to be very useful for many builders. Also very peculiar, these friction joints... Without the friction. While XSZ's sockets are pretty damn strong anyway, they still included a pair of these with this model. They're the same as Lego's... Just without the little rubber nubbin on the inside. Very odd indeed. Build Ignoring his worrisome face, Grievous looks very imposing, and is actually a lot of fun to build. The arms are well laid out, and give plenty of room for Grievous to swing his lightsabers (which are simply solid plastic dowels) around. The torso prints really shine when assembled with everything else, although I do feel like the gunmetal is a tad unnecessary. The legs are standard, but do the job of capturing Grievous's gait very well. From the back, Grievous is largely obscured by his big red cape. This thing is made from a very similar material to that of the older minifigure capes, but with one plushier side on the outside. The creasing caused by the packaging could likely be ironed out. Apologies for the haphazard photography here, but I just wanted to show off how Grievous's body is put together. The upper set of arms connect to this XT4 torso, and the cape is pegged on to two Technic connectors near the neckball of said piece. This works beautifully, and is also a nice, cheeky way of getting another XT4 torso to add to your collection. Other notes As I mentioned earlier, XSZ's socket joints are very sturdy - sturdier in fact than Lego's. There is a downside though: XSZ joints can only pivot to around 90 degrees in a hinge joint. However, using a Lego bone in an XSZ hinge is just as normal. The plastic quality is absolutely fine, although the bone pieces are more matte in texture that Lego's, and the Technic pins and axles are a lot more lightweight than Lego's. Again as mentioned, the peg holes in the shell pieces are much tighter than Lego's so it might be dangerous to use official armour addons with them. Pros and Cons Pros: Fun build Tan CCBS Great selection of parts Lovely cape Good looking, vibrant lightsabers Unique prints on the torso and chestplate Cons: The head is disappointing The capes are likely to come creased The lighsabers wobble somewhat The upper arms don't quite have as much motion as you might like So, does this General Grievous tantalise your taste for tan? Or will you be waiting for Lego's official kit, coming out this summer? Either way, you can find this set on AliExpress, with free P&P. I'd say that this is worth buying two of, so as to get lots of that amazing tan, but even one of these guys is still a grand selection of goodies to add to your CCBS collection.

Stop that immediately.

Greg can't do numbers. Let's just leave it at that.

Yes. They're all built from the same building system, the CCBS (Creature and Character Building System), which can be combined and reused to create any characters your son (or yourself) can imagine. The more you have, the more you can design!

Is FBTB down? This link won't open...

Thanks!

Nice one!

I recently built a CCBS version of Torch, and I have to agree that a Slizers reboot would be a lot of fun. I ordered Dust, Magma, Onyx and Power for SUPER cheap on Bricklink last Saturday. They should be arriving tomorrow!

That's nice! You could have achieved a similar effect by just using Glatorian necks, but this still looks the biz.

Yes good.

Thanks Leewan! Gearboxes and the like have really got me inspired. While my builds can be repetitive, I still very much enjoying putting them together. I'd say that I'm the kind of builder who likes to imagine their models on store shelves, so nothing is too over the top or illegal. You're not the first to mention the legs, but it's a fair criticism. My concern was that having stubbier legs would've made the torso look rather un-proportional, so I went with this design. While I personally love his gangly-old legs, due to the fact that he can literally step over smaller enemies, I respect that others aren't keen. Thanks! This is an overhauled version of the ribcage design I used on this dude.

Hey everyone! Noticed that we don't have a thread like this, so here I am creating it. Here, we should discuss the figures that were the predecessors to Bionicle - Slizers/Throwbots, Roboriders, and Voodoo Heads. Maybe we could even discuss other figures Lego has done through the years, such as the dolls from Scala, or Technic Figures. Should be fun!

Thanks for the comments guys! Anyone who wants to borrow any of my techniques is free too, hence why I share the skeletons of my MOCs :) That's because they're often filtered.

Thank you!

I debated doing so, but I wasn't sure how to pull it off with current parts. Maybe I'll have another go...

Thanks for the critiques! Here's something from when he was just a little WIP - hope this helps!

Why thank you! I am thinking of building her a friend, perhaps with a similar torso.

KARA - MASTER OF EARTH This here is Kara, my female Master of Earth. She's actually an upgraded version of a little villager character I designed back when Bionicle G2 was just a rumour. She's a strong lass with a big heart. Kara wears the Mask of Guidance, which she can use to help her navigate towards artefacts or persons of great importance. She has customised it with a visor to keep dust out of her optics. Kara's Quake Sabers allow her to send violent vibrations through the ground - or her enemies for that matter. They can also be connected together and used as a jackhammer of sorts. And here's her skeleton, complete with custom gearbox. And here's what's under the chestplate. Whaddya think? EDIT: This post had been magically turned into robo-speak, but now I have fixed it. Apologies to VBBN who's likely come here wondering what I'm going on about :v

SKULL GRINDER This here is a pre-emptive revamp of Skull Grinder, which I used to experiment with some more unique structural building, as well as more slender building. I've had this built for a while, but have only recently got him photographed. Enjoy! And here's his skeleton. Note the upper body structure - I'm very proud of how that turned out :) Whaddya think?

I am getting ahead of myself here, but when should we expect to see leaks/actual info in regards to the Winter 2016 sets? I'm not all that confident that those rumours from that channer, no matter how convinced others are.

Yeah, he was called Kick. No, I'm not joking, the guy who punched people was called Kick.

Well, here's my first custom Voodoo Head: SWORDS! Great name eh? Tried to go with period-appropriate parts and recolours (except for in the head of course), and of course built him in a similar style to the rest. I'd imagine he'd be a little flimsy IRL, however.