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 Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at 2:22pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager[Source: Zatth] It's been a few days since our last 2015 Bionicle summer set review, and it's time we got back to it. Today Forum Assistant Zatth takes a look at 70793 Skull Basher, one of the many enemies that fills this wave (just like the old days!). Will this set bash its way through your home like a bull in a china shop, or will it leave you seeing red? You'll have to read and watch on to find out - but it's worth it, because we're giving one of these sets away! First off, a HUGE thank you to LEGO and BZP for the sets. It's awesome to be able to take a look at them and celebrate that BIONICLE has, indeed, returned. Speaking of which, you can also win this set! Keep reading and you'll find out how to do so! Any who, onto the set. Now, to talk about the set, I've renamed Skull Basher after the lesser-known 9th reindeer under Santa's control: Basher. Presentation
Basher's box is, like the other BIONICLE 2015 sets, made out of cardboard. The graphic is pretty neat: it displays Basher standing guard in front of the Temple of Creation. Of interesting note is that the box also features two moons. Make what you will out of that.
The back of the box shows us a few little details: 1:1 comparison of the Bull Skull Mask, the combiner model with Skull Slicer and Skull Warrior, the pop-off function for the Bull Skull Mask and the Infected Mask of Earth, and finally a demonstration of the function. You also get a comic and some delightful legalese.
Inside the box is the instruction booklet, two bags, and the torso. The instruction booklet is pretty standard: the outside is the graphic from the box, the inside page shows the comic from the back of the box, while the last few pages demonstrate the function, the combiner model, and the summer sets with their corresponding masks. Building
Basher is pretty straightforward to build if you've become acquainted with the CCBS style of build. The most interesting part of the build is the function thingamabob - do keep your eyes peeled, however, because the instructions can make it a bit unclear on how it comes together. Set Design
The first bag introduces the largest pieces in the set: the feet, the horns, the weapons, the chest pieces, and other CCBS-related pieces, along with the fists, masks, trans purple limbs, and head. The second bag, aside from the four bone limb pieces, the eye piece, some CCBS armor pieces, and three purple teeth pieces, are a combination of Technic pieces that are used for the function.
Luckily for us, new BIONICLE sets means new or interesting pieces! By my count those are the two masks, the bone limb pieces, the weapon, the torso piece, the bone-y CCBS armor piece, with the horn, small teeth piece, eye piece, chest piece, and trans purple limbs as pieces we've already seen before but still stand out. I took closer pictures of some of the new pieces for you all to take a closer look.
The set itself is pretty cool. I was worried, first when I saw the bone-y limbs and then while building the function thingamabob, that the set would look too out of proportion and stuff, but Basher certainly got rid of those fears. The big CCBS armor pieces add body mass where it seems to be missing, and so create a nice contrast between muscle and bone that adds variety to Basher. The head looks odd at first, but eventually you get used to it: especially because the small mask fits a set like Scorpio, but with Basher you have to accentuate the head a bit more. Finally, the chest and torso pieces round out Basher's body mass, ensuring that he looks proportionally sound all throughout. Playability
As mentioned before, the decent proportions on Basher make sure that playing with him is fun. He feels like a formidable villain to face! Most important to the playability, however, is the function. As you can see from the pictures above, you can twist his arms either to the left or to the right, as a way to aim. If not you can just place your thumb right on the centre and press. The function works surprisingly well in this regard, with the only downside being that you have to line up the hands so that the weapons actually clasp and don't fly by each other like a failed high-five.
Let's say that you want to replicate the story function, though. First off, make sure that wherever you're knocking the mask off from is solidly planted; if not even a slight touch by Basher's weapons will send the opponent tumbling. Considering you have to use a whole hand to activate the function, this means devoting your other hand to keeping the victim solidly in place. For the function to knock the mask off, furthermore, you have to either deliver a blow strong enough to knock the mask off, or try and hook the mask on one of the angular parts of the weapon. It's not as easy as it seems. Finally, the mask can't actually hang off of the weapon. Trust me, it took me five minutes to get that last photo. Final Thoughts
Honestly, Basher is a really fun villain. He feels very complete, and has an unusual but unique attack that departs from the gearbox, adding a little variety to the BIONICLE 2015 sets. The color scheme and build go very well, and I'd highly recommend getting Basher if you're looking for a less price-y summer set. If you're interested, you actually have a chance to win Basher! Just subscribe to BZP's YouTube page, leave a comment on the video review for Basher, and in a week we will choose one lucky winner to take Basher home! AND NOW GET READY FOR A HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUG
Big thanks to Pablo for putting this review together - hopefully you found it insightful. As always, your questions and comments are welcome in the Talkback topic, where we'll do our best to respond. We're over halfway through the summer sets now, so keep checking back on BZPower for more reviews and LEGO news!
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