Oh man, this album of images was definitely a fun one to make.
Today we're going to cover the following three sets: #71313 Lava Beast, #71314 Storm Beast and #71315 Quake Beast. These three are the Elemental Beasts.
The Elemental Beasts, which also goes by the name "Shadow Horde" in The Journey to One, was an army summoned by Umarak the Destroyer after he was mutated by Makuta. In order to get Makuta's plan to succeed, the Elemental Beasts were mainly used as a distraction to keep the Toa occupied.
Because we're talking about three different sets that are very different from each other, I'm going to give every single character at least some individual attention too.
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Lava Beast is the one set that seems to be favoured the most out of all Elemental Beasts. While it may be your "default" Bionicle set that is pretty straightforward and is probably the safest "comfort zone" design, going safe and default did its receive well. I think it's always good to have a "comfort zone" design in a lineup of different things to offer.
Out of all the three beasts, this one is of course the most distinct purely because it uses Transparent Neon Orange instead of the "fan favourite" Transparent Neon Green that both Storm Beast and Quake Beast uses. It's also the only one of the three to have additional design around the head (in this case, horns) and it even has the fancy always-rare-to-have-posable-finger-joints (not just fingers, but even the finger joints) that is usually reserved for larger models!
In my opinion, I'm not really the biggest fan of Lava Beast. It's not because of the design (as a toy), despite that its done right in multiple ways, but because this is such a "default" set, it doesn't ignite the excitement that my inner child is looking for.
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Quake Beast seems to be the "middle ground" set where the concept behind the play feature has been appreciated, but aesthetically it seems to fall short to a lot of people. I actually like the design of Quake Beast a lot - it may be very (daring and not shy to be) asymmetrical but I think that is what made the design stand out from the line up, if not, most Bionicle sets out there.
Quake Beast's right arm would probably stand out the most, as it is mainly built from large crystal shell pieces - this is part of its play feature. About nearly all Generation 2 Bionicle sets revolve around popping masks off from figures (a feature that was a foundation for the first years of Generation 1) and Quake Beast is certainly one of those sets like the Bohrok, Rahi and the Skull Army where it explores and holds onto this design philosophy.
I think that Quake Beast is one of my favorite aesthetically designed Bionicle Generation 2 sets. I also appreciate the small fingers it has so it can grab on Onua's corrupted mask that came with this set as well.
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Storm Beast is an interesting set: can you name a LEGO® set where its aesthetic design has been rated poorly but where the majority of the LEGO® fans applauded its complex play feature? There are a few of them, but not many - Storm Beast may be one of those rare examples where the play feature is a stand out in perhaps the entire history of sets (not just Bionicle) but it might have sacrificed too much in its design to pull it off.
Well, to go straight off the opinion bat (yeah, a bat that has the word "opinion" printed on it I guess, don't ask me how English works), Storm Beast is one of those sets that can ignite that excitement that my inner child is looking for.
Most LEGO® sets are done right, and for me that kind of becomes boring quickly - you know you're getting something fantastic, which is probably what you want to get for your money right? That is totally fair and justified, by the way.
If you have paid enough attention to my blog if you're a frequent reader of my LEGO® related blogposts, you might know by now that I seem to have a bias and favour towards those LEGO® sets most people rate poorly, find them awkward to look at, or even feel ashamed to own them in general. This kind of environment for these handful of LEGO® sets actually encourages me to give it a go to see what's the fuzz about. And often I actually seem to like it in the end - perhaps it's just a part of my character, since this also can be found anywhere else in my life (which includes a lot of my MapleStory "career" in the past almost nine years that I've been playing that game).
Putting the opinion bat back in the tool rack, Storm Beast's play feature is such an organic "marionette" style of movement in the arms, were the "strings" is its tail. The organic movement is provided by the use of multiple ball joints.
If the set was mainly built from fixed rotation points from standard Technic pieces, you would get something like the Tarakava, Cyber Strikes, Muake & Kane-ra, and Cahdok and Gahdok sets where the main axis of rotation is limited to one direction or horizon (which is a fancy way of saying you only punch or move something directly forward in the most linear way). One of the very few Bionicle sets that actually "cheats" a little bit in this rule was the Boxor Vehicle, where the vehicle would punch forward if you would lean the model (by pushing down) the opposite direction - so it kind of gives the Boxor a more "realistic" and exciting play feature by just integrating the trigger on a clever way. If only more sets could do something like that...
Unfortunately, one "design flaw" for Storm Beast is its durability. While I'm certainly glad with the posable fingers, which enables you to get some different ways of attacks when you lunge those arms forward (i.e. to grab or knock off a mask), but because it uses the default clip connection, the fingers have a hard time to stay connected on the rest of the hand. Regardless of how cool they look, if only the fingers were a bit better secured on the model, it would do the set's play feature much more justice...
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That's it for this black light post! Do you guys have a definite favourite Elemental Beast? Next time I'll cover "Umarak the Combiner", a Combination Model between these three fellows with Umarak The Destroyer!
By the time you read this, I can already ensure you all that I've finished the album for the Makuta Journey to One model, so you guys don't have to stay awake worried (anymore) if you were. Probably you guys weren't anyway.
And if you were, you probably will sleep better tonight! Or tomorrow. Unless you're actually worried *when* it's going to be released - and then I'll say you gotta be patient with me as well. I'll see you guys again next post!
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