User blog:Rando07/Summer 2015 Sets + Other Updates

Since the new Summer 2015 sets are available in the UK at the moment, I decided to purchase Mask Maker vs Skull Grinder and Skull Basher. They're surprisingly good sets, honestly. I actually find them better than the images show. Skull Grinder was particularly fun to build, and despite the weight of his weapon I didn't experience much of a problem with the movement of his arms (eat your heart out, JANGBRICKS).

Anyway, without further ado, some pictures of the building process for two of the new sets!

Skull Basher
He's honestly a lot smaller than I expected, as shown by the comparison with Tysion in the slideshow above. However, that's not much of a criticism since his size fits the average for the new wave. I really like the inclusion of purple in this sets, which provides people with a lot more MOCing options. The large horns and smaller spike pieces will be particularly useful.

I've never really been a fan of the stickers on some pieces, and this guy is no exception. The colours on the sticker itself don't actually match the colour scheme of the set (which is great, by the way). So the sticker's a bit of a distraction more than anything. His weapons are pretty cool. Nothing particularly outstanding, but they are nice.

Skull Basher's overall look is fantastic. You really get the sense that he is some kind of undead minotaur. The use of his horns and the spread of the armour around his body really help to emphasise that feeling, which is something that I honestly wasn't expecting when I began building him.

He's generally quite stable, though the funky mechanism does weigh quite a bit and makes him somewhat top-heavy. Since the surface area of the foot piece that actually touches the ground is quite small, he's easily knocked off balance. To counteract this problem I just pose him with his arms forward. Speaking of the mechanism, it's quite strange in the way it works. The movement of the arms is fairly irregular, but I do quite like it.

Overall, I'd give this guy a 7.5/10.

Mask Maker vs Skull Grinder
So as we all know, the set is composed of two figures: Ekimu and the Skull Grinder.

Ekimu/Mask Maker
I was really looking forward to purchasing this set because I did really like the look of Ekimu. However, upon building him I did lose the interest I initially had in this set. I say this because he is basically just a golden protector.

Needless to say, he's still pretty decent. I don't dislike the protector build, but don't overly like it either. As stated already, I love his shield. The patterned cover for the circular saw piece is particularly nice.

The hammer/gun is also neat. It definitely reminds me of a certain something mentioned above. I'm particularly fond of the trans-light blue pieces more than anything. My favourite part of this figure is the colour scheme. Ekimu gets a score of 7/10 from me.

Skull Grinder
And now for some height comparisons.

Other stuff
Congratulations for making it this far.

Anyway, I've got some updates for you concerning my storyline's status. After finishing my exams on the 17th of June, summer began for me. So far it's been surprisingly busy since my last year of school also finished.

But you should know that I have started working on Felony again. Due to my sporadic activity because of exams, my creativity has become somewhat limited. My ability to write full, descriptive passages needs work, so I will not be posting what I have for Felony's latest chapter until I believe it is at least up to the standard I set myself with To Ascend.

This "creativity drain" has also impacted my MOCing. Coming up with good designs and looks that I feel capture the essence of my characters has been more difficult. So my MOCing also needs work. I won't be posting anything until I'm satisfied with how it's turned out.

But in my new free time I will be working on my writing, MOCing, and also my YouTube channel. Though not as much so in the past, I am still committed to remaining within the BIONICLE community as much as I can. As a result, you can expect some more BIONICLE-related material on my channel as soon as I can acquire a tripod.

So to summarise:
 * The new sets are cool (well, most of them)
 * I'm working on my MOCing and writing
 * YouTube stuff is also in the works

Also, happy 4th of July to you Americans out there!

If you have any questions then please ask in the comments below. Thanks for reading! &mdash; Rando 07  15:36, July 4, 2015 (UTC)