7175: Von Nebula, A iddy-biddy review

[Monasti]

As you can probably tell, Von Nebula came into my possession yesterday, and I decided to write a review. Mainly because, from what I can tell, I am one of the first people to write a review for him, so here goes:-

Von Nebula is a criminal mastermind, who causes terror with his group of minions, who follow his commands. He wields a Black hole Staff, which can create black holes to destroy anything. He cost me £14.99 from Argos, in the UK.


Box

What does the box look like? Does it give a good example of what to expect?



Looking at the front of the box, I can personally say that it’s quite impressive to me. I’ve seen the graphic on the front before, but still, it looks quite cool. As you cal see, it shows Von Nebula in an “action pose”, probably doing what he does best. Stealing stuff.



On the back of the box, we can see a pretty awesome shot of Stormer and Furno fighting Von Nebula, and it also has Nebula’s stats. The only thing I have noticed that is wrong with this image is that von Nebula has a “Black Hole Staff”. Does the stuff coming out of the end of it look like a black hole to you? I’m not so sure.
It also has a cool outline in green of Von Nebula, probably from within the Hero Factory databanks. Or something else. I don’t really know. But what I do know is that the image makes Von look even more menacing. Awesome.
There’s also a picture of his Black hole Staff, showing the way it spins. I’ll talk some more about that later.



If we look at this side of the box, we can see that it has the Hero Factory logo, and also a box detailing something about Bionicle. “From the makers of Bionicle Characters”, it says. Weird that they’d include that, I believe, but still, if you’ve got an audience for one theme, why not link them together and get them into another theme.



The top part of the box has a cool 1:1 version of Von Nebula’s head, which I can truthfully say isn’t one to one. It’s more like 1:1.75. But yeah, anyway.

Overall, I think the box looks quite good. It makes me want to buy it, which is something a box should normally do. The angling of the photographs hides some of the bad points about the Von Nebula set that I shall move on to, and the box makes it look like a cool piece of kit.



Building
What is the set like to build? Is it easy, hard?



I opened up the box, and found myself with three bags of parts, and a three loose parts. There quite a few interesting parts. I admit I haven’t collected many sets for the past few years, so I apologise if I have labelled a part as a new part when in fact we have seen it before.



But yes, here we have some parts that I haven’t seen before. The chest piece is actually quite nice. I feel it looks a little better than Axonn’s chest piece, which is the last large set I have to compare him to.
The shoulder armour looks quite nice, with its blue tint on the end of the tips. When I first saw it, I thought it was some black and blue Ehlek spines, but it seems I was wrong. They’re a great new part.
The two parts that join together to make the ball on the end of his “staff”, on the other hand, are not amazing new parts. They look almost plain to look at. The designers could have made the bit on the end of Von’s staff in any shape they liked, but they chose a boring old sphere. Although the colour system is pretty awesome. Black and blue. Very nice.
Another piece that I was quite excited for was the black Bohrok faceplates, which are used to create a rounded hunchback feel for Von.
He also re-uses Hydraxon’s mask, which is quite good, actually, because it’s a very nice mask in black. I’m quite happy with it.



On to the instructions. On the front of the instructions is the same picture as on the front of the box. I understand why they did this, as that picture is pretty cool.



I’m sorry for my bad picture taking skills, but if you can see, there is a very nice background image of the HF logo on the instructions. It makes it seem as though the instruction booklets were made especially for this theme, which is quite a nice addition.




At the back of the instruction booklet there are some adverts, as usual. They show the Stormer and Furno fighting Von Nebula, and also the Furno Bike and Rotor.

Anyway, on to the building. Von is quite easy to build when you have the instructions. Some of the ways that the designers made him join together, though, are quite cool. Such as the double joint, which goes up underneath him and joins to his back. That’s a good way of joining. It looks nice. It makes him different to other sets.
The easiest part of Von Nebula to build, though, was his arms. They’re extremely skinny, which is quite odd considering what he is meant to be.


After Building

How good is the playability/pose ability?



Well, after building I can thoughtfully say that this section is where Von Nebula drops some points the most. His pose ability is dreadful. Let’s take this part by part.
We shall start with Von Nebula’s arms. From the box, he looks like quite a bulky set, as he was crouched over. When you actually look at his arms, they’re quite skinny and frail. They only bend at the shoulders as well, which is a nuisance for posing. It means you can’t put his arms in many varied positions. Terrible.



His Staff as well is quite annoying. All it is is a rod, with a ball on the end, with some blades that spin. It isn’t very over-imaginative. I would have preferred if it was a huge stick, with large blades sticking out of the side, and a blade sticking out of the top. It would have looked more menacing than a ball.



I also look at his claws, and think to myself “why?” What has happened is they have joined Von Nebula’s claws, which have a cross rod, to the hand pieces, with another piece. Why not just join it with the hand piece properly? It’s silly.



On the other hand, his legs are quite nice. The way they are built, with the piston part at the front, gives him a different look to other sets. His feet are beginning to grow on my, after messing around with him for a bit, mainly because they’re quite a good design. They use the Mata foot pieces, but extend them to become longer.
The only complaint I have about his legs is where they join on to. They join on to his hips, obviously, and there are some parts that stick out from his hips. When the legs are moved upwards, into the position on the box, his legs get caught on those pats and he is unable to move any further, which is a downside.
There are also some quite-annoying pieces of armour on the top of his legs, Metru feet, which wobble about a bit, depending on how you hold him. I sat and shook him a little bit, and he rattled. They could have easily have fixed this problem by joining the foot on lower, which would restrict his knee movement, of joining it on in a different way. The rattling is annoying.



If you look at this picture with a comparison to Axonn, you can see that they’re both about the same size, with Von Nebula looking a little more bulky than Axonn. Axonn has the upper hand in the arm department, though, mainly because his arms are much longer and more pose able than Von’s.
Von Nebula does have better proportions, though, as Axonn looks like a gorilla, with arms the same lengths as his legs, but Von has shorter arms than his legs, which makes him look more realistic. Even if his arms do have gaping holes in them.


Conclusion


In conclusion, I think Von Nebula is a nice set to own. I mean, he’s cool and all, but he’s not amazing. If you’re buying him just for the parts, then okay, but if you’re buying him for a fun building experience and good pose ability, then I’d go elsewhere. Von Nebula isn’t for posing.




Pros
He looks good when fully built
He has a nice recolour of Hydraxon’s mask
The black Bohrok faceplates
His leg design


Cons
Terrible pose ability
His arms are way too skinny
His claws don’t fit on well
The staff is quite ridiculous


But yes, thanks for reading! And requests of images, or any opinions, just ask below.

[Mesonak]

This was truly an epicsauce review. Really pointed out the pros/cons.

Thanks for the pictures.

But then comes the final question: Is he worth it? Should I get him?



-Mesonak

[Monasti]

It depends on what you want him for. I'm not going to say yes, or no, because I don't know what you'd use him for. I like him myself, I just reviewed harshly. He's a cool set, but he's not a posable guy. Depends entirely upon your preference.

[Mesonak]

Hm.

Well, first thing I'm gonna do when I get him is

REVAMP

REVAAAAAAMP

Get rid of the loose pins/axles everywhere, adjust the hands, armor, give him lower arms.

I want him for pieces and because he's a good set that can be modified. So yeah. I'm gonna get him.

-Mesonak

[Monasti]

Modify those arms and post pictures? I'm wondering how I can improve him.


Incase you haven't noticed, I'm not a MoCist xD

[Mesonak]

XD That'd be cool. When I get him, I'm either gonna give him Vahki legs or make his lower arms from the promo video.

-Mesonak

[Monasti]

Yeah, i see what you mean. I don't have enough spare parts to make them xD.

And I don't have any black Vahki legs D:. Oh well.

[Mesonak]

Eh, you should experiment. You might find something cool to use as lower arms

-Mesonak

[Monasti]

Maybe. Perhaps I should...

No. I'll do it after. And then post it.

[Xinlo]

Nice review. =) Now, did you drop out of Bionicle or something after 2006? 'Cause it seemed like you didn't know what alot of the pieces were...

Example:

Phantoka Makuta Torso
Phantoka Makuta Leech Pods

And I happen to think the staff looks cool. More interesting than blades. And am I the only one who is irked that they changed the colour of those + rods with the stopper to Avak tan instead of dark grey?

Anyway, I'll buy him for pieces. He looks decent, but the pose-ability is his downfall.

~X

This post has been edited by Xinlo on Jul 8 2010, 02:59 AM

[Monasti]

I wouldn't say dropped out, I just didn't get any of the Phantoka Makuta, and since then all I have got is Bitil, Ackar, Mata Nui and Berix. And I was a bit low on cash around then.

Also thanks for the front page link Immy .

This post has been edited by Monasti on Jul 8 2010, 09:03 AM

[Matoro]

Wow, this looks pretty cool. Sucky set. But great MOCing pieces. The best thing is that they are all black. And almost everything goes well with black. Ah, I see they have 6 black feet pieces and some 2002 pieces. Looks pretty cool. But the Phantoka Torso sucks a lot. But everything else is good. If only they get rid that dumb torso, I would be saving 3 to 4 bucks! Of course dumb Toys R Us always raise the price 3 to 4 dollars more. Mejier is even worse! They charge 6 dollars!

This post has been edited by Matoro on Jul 9 2010, 04:44 AM

[Monasti]

He actually isn't that bad. He's a nice set to own, and he looks cool if you turn his arms slightly so that the gaping holes are hidden.

[Torongo]

Nice review, to bad I've already read it. =P

~Joshua~

[Toa Yurikk]

Nice review. I don't really like the Hero Factory sets that much but if I was gonna get one this would probably be it. It looks the most like a BIONICLE.