I'm not gonna do a Gresh review as there's one on BZP's homepage...
Strakk
Canister DesignThe canister looks wonderful on the front, with an image of Strakk holding his ice ax standing at the bottom of a staircase. The top of the front has the word BIONICLE with a thornax fruit dotting the I. The piece count is along the bottom left, and a warning is on the bottom right. Turn the canister over to the back to see an ugly picture of Strakk and Metus in a desert that does NOT suit them. The BIO code is there, and it is the correct one(unlike Gresh's). The BIO code is very interesrting, and Bink did a fabulous job with it
The top of the can has ridges and circles of unknown purpose, and the canister itself is Mistika ish.
The SetOpen up the canister, which is made easy due to an indent just below the lid to pull from, and dump out all 46 pieces, along with an instruction booklet featuring the same Strakk picture as the front of the can, minus the legs. You can then begin to build the set.
The BuildThe build is simple, easy, and effective. Thanks to a Makuta Kra matoran connector, Strakk has a hunch back look, and the inika shoulder armour over top is nice. The hunchback effect adds a little bulk the the body, which is ggod. The legs are basically the same as the past three years, as are the arms, except ofr two things.
1.Beautiful new ice shoulder armour.
2.Hands.
The head is attached to a Metru lower arm, which in turn gets attached to the body. The mask/helmet is somewhat small, but is great none the less.
The life counter is attached on the back with a silver-eww- metru chest piece. The ice ax is put in the hand, and for the first time, A bionicle canister set can hold a weapon in fingers!
The PiecesMost of the pieces in this set are recycled, but there are a few to note:
New:
Strakk Helmet
Glatorian Head
Ice Ax
Shoulder Pieces Ice (2)
Life Counter
Thornax Launcher Side (2)
Thornax
Old:
I don't think any of the old pieces have been recoloured.
PlayabilityMissed this is Tuma review
With 14 points of articulation, you can put Strakk into many cool poses, and the hunchback adds to the new ways to pose him. The head can at times look odd due to the small size and the Metru arm neck it sits upon. The ice ax is massive, detailed, and solid plastic, so you can make Strakk wield his weapon in great poses. Oh yeah, and its not too heavy, so it stay in place. The hands add a more realistic essence to Strakk, and the Thornax launcher is small and light and does not mess up poses.
The colours on Strakk are kinda jumbled:he has white legs and blue arms. I tend not to notice too much, but still...
There ar only TWO red pins, and they aren't that visible. The blue pin/rods don't stick out to much.
The shoulder armour is magnificent and very natural compared to 08 stuff. Great piece.
ConclusionSo should you buy it?
Pros:
Ice ax is massive and all plastic
Shoulder armour is beautiful
Coloured heads other than lime green and orange (his head is ice blue!!)
Not too much silver
Great helmet design, if a little small
Hunchback design
Hands
Thornax launcher is light and still effective
Cons:
46 pieces for $14.99 at TRU
Small helmet
Only one piece of ammo
Jumbled colours
So the pros really outway the cons, but the price tag is somewhat high. I heard somewhere that TRU has higher prices than rlsewhere, so you may want to look around first for a 12.99 or 13.99 price if possible.
But if you're looking for a good Glatorian with a unique body, go with Strakk and the hunchback look. Its great. And so is Gresh, even though this review isn't for him...
Buy the way, if you have Gresh and want his real BIO code, go to Bink's blog at BZP or PM me...
