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#8986 - Vastus

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Madaraki	Posted: Dec 11 2009, 01:46 AM
Matoran Group: Members Posts: 10 Member No.: 3 Joined: 30-June 09	Y HALO THAR. Yeah, I'm back out of my little lurking shell again, now that the Legends wave has hit. I've already picked up Mata Nui, Vastus, Kiina, and Stronius. The set being reviewed should be obvious. [center][/center] There is an immediate downside to these sets; as unlike previous two-wave lines; Glatorian and Legends canister sets are very nearly identical in form. Torso, arm, leg, feet, hand, head, and even the neck joints match both in piece and style. Well, for the most part. As seen above; we've already got an upgrade to the standard long arm pieces that we've had for a few years now. This time; we've got one rod hole in the middle with two pin holes on either side of it...and they both face outwards. My immediate thought? "Boy, this would've made Strakk's and Malum's shoulder armor a bit less hindering last year..." Still, I'm satisfied. Moving along; Vastus also drops the somewhat standard fare of new parts between the following: Armor. Definitely aiming for something in the flavor area here, given the "winding snake" pattern. It's got two rod holes, although only one is used to attach it to the arm. Still, the entire piece fits on quite well. Weapon: It's a scythe whose handle has two rod connection points along its length. Continuing the snake theme and adding its own two-colored state to the mix; it's one of the nicer weapons thus far; certainly better than Mata Nui's "silver shield of random blades". The piece itself connects to one hand; while the Thornax Launcher is fixed against the other hand. There's a rod connecting both hands along with a coiled green/transparent cable piece. It helps with the snake design on the weapon, although the fact remains that the entire weapon itself ends up split into three parts when you disarm the figure. Helmet: And there's the snake thing again. Looking between this, other helmets I've seen and whatnot, I like the aesthetic and everything, but I'm still not wild about the fact that some of the helmets remove the distinctive face aspect that the masks always had. This isn't a problem with every one of them and I'd be lying if I said Vastus' helmet sucked, but the removal of a "face" is still there. While at it; I should also mention the head. Last time, the line's green figure had an orange head that was fine, but would have looked out of place given how much face Vastus' helmet does show. This time; we've got a nice transparent green one behind things. With regard to some other parts; the hands (now a bright green!) make their return here, along with the thornax launcher pieces and the Bioniclix dial. Again; the Legends are re-using quite a few parts from the Glatorian line. I've been quite happy with the figures personally; but whether or not anyone's tired of the repetition here is all opinion. Build-wise; the hip and chest areas are oddly enough; connected with a +2 space between the waist and lower-chest area. It has to be that way for the frontal armor piece (only Inika thigh-armor...sorry.) to fit in, but at the same time it still makes his torso a tad shorter than I'd like it to be. The legs are almost boringly standard, though it is worth mentioning that the Hordika legs are used this time instead of the previous Rahkshi/Metru/Vahki ones that we got a few too many of in the previous line. Perhaps their curved shape is another snake thing? Well that leads now to the inevitable comparison... with Gresh....Tall, thin, leafy, Gresh. Honestly; the contrast with Gresh is probably my favorite part of Vastus. I'd mentioned way back in my review of the Glatorian that he had a lot of leaf-blade styled parts that really let the figure blend in with his environment. Well, as Gresh was with flora, Vastus is with fauna. Weapon, armor, and helmet all have a matching snake theme to them, that when combined with Vastus' thin and lanky build; gives you that same sense of style that Gresh had. The shared aspects of nature between the two is either coincidence or a moment of stylistic perfection. And wrapping it up on that note of comparison: Pros: Another huge win for LEGO in the style/aesthetic department. New arm pieces for better shoulder armor fixation. One of the better helmets in the Glatorian/Legends series thus far. Cons: Torso almost too short for the legs/arms. While the style works, the shoulder armor does stick out rather far on each side. Weapon still has multiple connection points between the hands. OVERALL: 9/10. Vastus does have a few flaws, but none of them are major and the figure overall is quite well made. From what I've seen between the three sets I have and looking at the canister images of the other three Legends, Vastus is definitely worth buying and one of the better Glatorian. [center][/center] So that's all for now! I heard BZP did Mata-Nui already and it's on the front page here, so unless I pick up more soon, I think I'll review Stronius next...

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