Purity: 80717 Kre-O Transformers Starscream

I got lucky a several weeks ago when I was out bargain hunting and found the last Kre-O Transformers Battle Changer set.

Box.  Base price was $5.99 at Marshall's, for a $0.08 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Stickers.

Parts.  There's a nice selection here.  Only a handful of singular parts, most have at least two of each.  As usual the Kreon bits are in the upper left corner.  The Double Bar Plate (open ends) is still really interesting as are the 1x1Round w/Bar.  Lots of Plates, Modified Plates, Slopes, Ball Joints, and other pieces.

Build.  I went old school this time and built something close to one of my Crab Mecha, and a little micro scanner unit. Stats: 2Ra+d8 (long guns) 1G (extra legs) 1Y (bot) 2W.


The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  Another licensed set getting a max score?  Inconceivable!

Purity: A7848 Cityville Air Finish

I found this in a small seasonal game/toy/puzzle store in a local mall.

Box.  MSRP was $6.99 for a $0.16 Price per Piece.

Instructions 1.

Instructions 2 & Stickers.

Mini-Kreons.

Parts 1.  That motion "block"
always intrigues me.



Parts 2.  The 1x2 Double Axles are intriguing.  Everything else is pretty standard.

Build.  A small IO Frigate.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: -5 (B-).  If you can find this at a decent price it might be worth your time.

Purity: Kre-O Transformers Micro-Changers Blind Bags

So I saw these at my local Walgreens the other day and thinking they were backstock I decided to grab a few on a whim.  It turns out they have made some changes and these are new releases.  Since the normal review system didn't work too well for these the last time around I'm going to try my non-Building Block review system on these.

Bag 1.  I paid $2.99 for this at Walgreens.

Bag 2.  The same.

Instructions 1.

Instructions 2.

Parts 1.  Something you can't see in this picture is that the posts on the torso and waist are now hollow and there is a bar inside the torso that slots into the hollow waist post.

Parts 2.  Something you can see is the new base for the Kreons to stand on instead of the old 2x4 Brick.

Assembled 1.  I'd say 2Rh+d8 (chainsaws) 2Rd (chest gun) 1B (helmet) 2W.

Assembled 2.  Let's call this one 2Rd (gun) 1B (helmet) 2G (backpack & wheels) 2W.

The Questions 1 (Warpath):
Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame? Below. (+5)
Is it a good size to use in a game? Yes. It's about the same size as a Classic. (+5)
How many parts does it have to represent systems? Four. (+5)
Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage? Yes. (+5)
Score: +20 (A+). A better score than if it had been reviewed as a set.

The Questions 2 (Vehicon):
Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame? Below. (+5)
Is it a good size to use in a game? Yes. It's about the same size as a Classic. (+5)
How many parts does it have to represent systems? Four. (+5)
Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage? Yes. (+5)
Score: +20 (A+). Again, the max score.

Review: 60113 Rally Car

A quick review for the middle of the week.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99 for a $0.10 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig.

Stickers.

Parts 1.  The printed 1x1 Round Tiles in the middle left of the picture are interesting.  As are the 1L Pin Connectors in the lower middle.

Parts 2.  Nothing too exciting here.  Lots of Plates, Slopes, Rims, and Tires.  The Offset 1x4 Modified Plate is always fun.

Build.  A simple IO Frigate.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  At.  (0)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +15 (A).  A decent score but it doesn't really have the right kinds of useful parts for MFZ.

Sales Alert

Since we are heading into the "Back to School season"  BJ's has a few Lego sets in stock again.

They have three sets at $16.99, 60115 4x4 Off Roader, 60116 Ambulance Plane, and 60118 Garbage Truck.  That's a Price per Piece of $0.10, $0.09, and $0.07 respectively.

They also have 76047 Black Panther Pursuit, and 76034 Batboat Harbor Pursuit for $25.99.  That's a $0.09 Price per Piece and a $0.10 Price per Piece respectively.

As always, YMMV and Good Hunting!

Non-Human 25

It was a busy weekend for me, so here's some nice pictures.

Spider-Bot by Aaron Andrews.  There are
some really neat techniques in this build.

UGV Deployed by Magnus-L.  This is an interesting

design.  I just wish he had a better picture of it.

Jiangshi Qx-9 Yaoguai by .Tromas.  Wow.  Just, wow.  No downloading though.

Hukamanu by th3ch0s3n0n3.  Very cute.  I'm not
sure how it would stand up to game use though.

Purple on White on Black by Dead Frog Inc.  The footprint

might be a little large, but I like the alien look of this.

Review Reset 2

Since I have some older reviews of non-building block kits that were done before I came up with a system to rate them I'm taking a moment to go back and "re-review" them.

Assault Kingdom RX-178 Gundam MK-II

The Questions:
Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame?  At.  (0)
Is it a good size to use in a game?  Yes.  It's roughly the size of a Chub.  (+5)
How many parts does it have to represent systems?  Three.  (0)
Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage?  No.  (-5)
Score: 0 (B).  A few removable pieces to represent White dice damage and this would have been a really good set.

Gundam Converge Turn X
The Questions:

Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame?  Below.  (+5)

Is it a good size to use in a game?  Yes.  It's roughly the size of a Classic.  (+5)

How many parts does it have to represent systems?  Four.  (+5)

Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage?  Yes.  (+5)

Score: +20 (A+).  A Gundam Converge set finally scores the max!

Gundam Converge Grimoire

The Questions:

Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame?  Below.  (+5)

Is it a good size to use in a game?  Yes.  It's roughly the size of a Classic.  (+5)

How many parts does it have to represent systems?  Four.  (+5)

Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage?  Yes.  (+5)

Score: +20 (A+).  Another max score!  I think this is my favorite Gundam Converge set so far.

Gundam Converge V-2 Buster Gundam

The Questions:

Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame?  Below.  (+5)

Is it a good size to use in a game?  Yes.  It's roughly the size of a Classic.  (+5)

How many parts does it have to represent systems?  Four.  (+5)

Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage?  Yes.  (+5)

Score: +20 (A+).  Another max score!

Playmobil 6693 Cleano Robot

The Questions:

Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame?  Above.  (-10)

Is it a good size to use in a game?  No.  It's way bigger than minifig scale.  (-5)

How many parts does it have to represent systems?  Four.  (+5)

Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage?  Yes.  (+5)

Score: -5 (B-).  The lowest score of the new system so far.

Purity: Ban Bao 5116 Turbo Power Review

I've seen an increasing number of sets from this company in third wave retail stores.  I figured I'd do a review of a small one and see how they are.

Box.  I paid $3.99 for this at a local game, toy, and puzzle store.  Which is a $0.07 Price per Piece.

Instructions.  Which has a different set number than the box.

Parts.  So the Plates in this set are roughly 1mm thicker than normal Lego Plates.  Other than that we have a decent selection.  Those White round pieces in the lower right are Rims for the tires.  There's also an extra base for the Antenna piece.  A couple of Clip Tiles, Grille Tiles, and a 2x2 Studless Slope round out my favorite pieces from this set.

Build.  An IO Frigate, which is kinda

the new normal with vehicular sets.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  Top score right out of the gate.

Sales Alert

Target is running a 40% off on Dimensions, and 20% off on Nexo Knights sale this week.

Toys'R'Us is running a 20% off Jurassic World, Scooby Doo, and Angry Birds sets this week.

Good Hunting!

Mobile Frame Zero: Z-G

And now for something completely different.

There used to be an old Collectible Action Figure/Card Game called Z-G designed by Mark Rein-Hagen.  This is what the action figures looked like.

Source.

Now, I hadn't thought about it until the other day -- because someone brought it up on a forum I frequent -- but these figures might work for a larger scale game of MFZ.  I actually own one each of the Green one and the Blue one and I'm kinda intrigued by the thought of using them at some point.

Noble Knight still has the Green one in stock, and I've heard of other sources for the figures.

Review: 71302 Akida Creature of Water

Let's finish up the "Creatures of..." sets from the current Bionicle line.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99 for a $0.08 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  There's a new piece in this set, a Black Technic Pin w/Friction Ridges Lengthwise & Pin Hole.  Along with a ton of useful parts.

Parts 2.  I like the Orange flame pieces, and those Blue Exo-Force Arms are going to be useful.

Build.  Not that great, but I was in a hurry.


The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  A good way to finish out the line.

Review: 71300 Uxar Creature of Jungle

Let's continue looking at the "Creatures of..." sets from the current Bionicle line.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99 for a $0.11 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  It's interesting to see the Axle & Pin Connector in Bright Green.  The Bionicle Chain Links are interesting too, as are the Pin 3L w/Friction Ridges Lengthwise & Center Pin Hole (middle left).






Parts 2.  The hinged jaw pieces are still interesting as are the Wide Curved Blade Hero Factory Weapons in the lower left.


Parts 3.  These were loose in the box.

Build.  I managed two out of this set.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +5 (B+).  Another decent score for this line of sets.

Review: 71304 Terak Creature of Earth

Let's take a look at some of the "Creatures of..." sets from the current Bionicle line.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99 for a $0.14 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Here we have the majority of the small parts.  The Unicorn Horns are pretty interesting and should make for excellent greebles.

Parts 2.  These are the larger pieces.  Those hinged jaw pieces in the upper left look interesting as are the Trans-Purple Clip Claws.



Build.  I managed to pull three out of this set.  The two on the outside are 2Rh/1B/1G/1Y/2W.  The one in the middle doesn't have any stats yet.


The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +5 (B+).  A decent start for this line of sets.