Purity: 91766 Mega Bloks Hot Wheels Dragster Review

I've been wanting to review this polybag line for a while.  The price has deterred me 'til this point.

Bag.  MSRP is 28 pieces for $3.99.  Which is $0.14 per piece.  Ouch.  I picked this up on sale which brought the Price per Piece down to $0.10.

Instructions.

Parts.  Lots of Lime Green in this set.  I do like the quarter sphere piece.  The SNOT hexagons are nice too.  The angled tiles, pin axles, and translucent wheels all possess the potential for fun.  I'm looking forward to experimenting with the dual claw bars too.

Build.  Once again, it's easy to build an

IO Frigate from the pieces for a racecar.

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: B- (-5).  Not bad for a licensed set, but not that great either.  If you buy this on sale like I did, the score becomes B+ (+5).

Single Set Challenge: 30250 Ewar's Acro Fighter

I've had a lot of fun with this set and managed to make more builds from it than I expected.  I named all of my builds so far "Ewar's {blank}", mainly because I'm lazy and din't really have the time to figure out names and stories for all of them.

"Ewar's Walker."  MFZ Stats: 2Rd (dorsal
guns) / 1B (Chi gem) / 1G (extra legs) / 2W
Brickshelf gallery.

"Ewar's Frame." MFZ Stats: 2Rh+d8 (wing

blades) / 1Gd8 (no ranged weapons) / 2W

Brickshelf gallery.

"Ewar's Tank."  MFZ Stats: 2Rd (Chi cannon)
/ 1B (wing armor) / 1G (hover plates) / 2W
Brickshelf gallery.

"Ewar's Station."

Brickshelf gallery.

"Ewar's Robo-Tank."  MFZ Stats: ?? / 2W
Brickshelf gallery.

"Ewar's Frigate."  MFZ Stats: 2Ra (dorsal guns)

/ 2Y (sensor arms) /1G (frigate movement) /2W

Brickshelf Gallery.

Purity: BrickForge Review 2

In this review we'll be looking at some hand to hand weapons from Brickforge.  In the time since the last Brickforge review I've also come up with a new rating system for Third Party Parts.  This is how it works.

Modifiers:                                                     Ratings:

Fits more than one scale (+15)                          A+ (+20)
Fits one scale (+10)                                         A    (+15)
Fits no scale (-15)                                            A-   (+10)
Scale doesn't matter. (+0)                                 B+   (+5)
No problems connecting. (+5)                            B     (0)
Problems connecting. (-5)                                  B-    (-5)
Sprue flash. (-5)                                                C+  (-10)
                                                                       C    (-15)
                                                                       C-   (-20)
                                                                       D+  (-25)

This is the Dragon Sword.  It works well at both scales but has a problem fitting into a Clip Tile.

Rating: A- (+10)

The Hero Sword.  There are going to be a lot of edged weapons in this review.  It looks good at both scales and has no problem with Clip Tiles.

Rating: A+ (+20)









The Kukri.  This is one of my all time favorite weapons.  It looks a tiny bit small at 7P scale though.

Rating: A (+15)









Spiked Mace.  Whack, crunch, thump.  It looks good at both scales.

Rating: A+ (+20)










Let's go back and rate the items from the last review.
Coilgun: B+ (+5)
Advanced Recon Striker: B+ (+5)
Anti-Material Sniper: A+ (+20)
Flamespitter: A (+15)
Sub-Orbital Machine Gun: C- (-20)

Review: 30250 Ewar's Acro Fighter

This is not a new set, but it can still be found in the checkout lines at Target.

Bag.  I paid $3.99 for this set.  Price per Piece is $0.12, a little on the expensive side.  Which seems to be normal for Chima polybags.

Instructions.

Minifig.  there are actually useful
bits here.  The torso armor can be
used for some SNOT techniques.

Parts.  Not a lot.  My favorite  piece,

Modified Plate w/Bar (open ends), a

couple of 1x2 Cheese Slopes, Clip Tiles, Lamp Holders, and Minifig

Skis, along with a few others.

Creation.  A walker frame.  Stats: 2Rd (dorsal
guns)/1B (Chi jewel)/1G (extra legs)/2W


The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, 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: B- (-5).  I built a quick frame on my lunch break.  You should also be able to put together a Frigate for IO with this set.

Purity: BrickForge Review 1

This one's going to be hard.  I realize now that my review system breaks down when confronted with an order of individual pieces.  It's made to deal with sets, not parts you hand select.  So, that in mind, I'm going to show you pictures of a bunch of pieces and tell you what I think of them.  We're goin' old school, baby!


First is the Coilgun.  It's a little small and doesn't fit into the Clip Tile all that well due to the angle of the handle.  I think this weapon's a little plain looking.  There may be an overmolded version available in one of the accessory packs.







The Advanced Recon Striker is small and has trouble fitting into the Clip Tile.  This is getting to be a pattern, isn't it?  Otherwise it works as a pistol at 7P and maybe a submachinegun at 4P.

The Anti-Material Sniper is a decent size.  It works as a rifle at 7P and maybe a long rifle at 4P.








This is the Flamespitter.  I really like the looks of this one.  It may be a mite small for 7P scale though.











Lastly we have the Sub-Orbital Machine Gun.  Which I really think should be named the Orbital Submachinegun.  It's too tiny for both scales and doesn't fit well in the Clip Tile.








That's it for this week.  I do have more BrickForge items to review in the future though.

Review: 30271 Mikey's Mini-Shellraiser Polybag

Between Hallowe'en and Christmas, a fair amount of polybags tend to be released onto the retail market.

Bag.  I purchased this for $4.99 at Toys'R'Us.  It has 47
pieces.  Price per Piece is $0.11, which is not that great.

Instructions.

Minifig.

Parts.  Not really much here.  I see

two Taps, two Lampholders, two 

double horizontal clip plates,

and a few other useful pieces.

Build.  Hey!  A frame this time!  :-)

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: B- (-5).  Not bad for a licensed set, but not that great either.

Random Mechs 10

Let's start out the month with some cool looking mechs.

Samurai Hardsuit (TMNT) by Garry Rocks.  I could
pick some nits with this but, yeah, it's awesome.

BL▲CK H▲RE by .Bezoar-1.  Way fiddly, but looks really neat.

Banshee by Donna Liem.  Looks a little
large, but it has some neat parts choices.

Drone CS-1P by Devid VII.

Great color use on this guy.  The

stance makes him look badass too.

Coalition of Sovereign Worlds mechae by Areetsa.  Okay, this is
a bunch of mecha rather than a single one but I think they're pretty
cool.  It looks like they're closer to 4P scale than 7P but we have
a bunch of interesting variations in this mix.