Review:70780 by Dorek

BS01 Reviews

70780 Protector of Water

Disclaimer: Due to an untimely data loss, some of my original review pictures were deleted. Certain elements (such as the plastic container bags, or completely separated pieces) may be missing from the recreation.

Review: 70780 Protector of Water

Unlike most water sets of BIONICLE's first generation (Vezok and Tarix notwithstanding), the Protector of Water has been confirmed to be male. However, that has absolutely no bearing on the set's design (as far as I know), so how does it fare by itself?

The Box

Unlike Gali's more serene, placid box pose, the Protector of Water (the recently named Kivoda) is clearly ready for a fight. And unlike Gali's boxart, the coloring offers no deception here, with a fully silver Skull Spider and a normal colored set of pieces on the Protector.

The Bits

However, like Gali, LEGO was clearly skimping on the Dark Azure. Aside from a small bit on the mask (which it shares with another color anyway!) the set is completely devoid of the color. Producing the 3m shells in the azure would have gone a long way, both in terms of spicing up Kivoda, and making Gali's color scheme less ridiculous. In its place, we appear to have trans-dark blue, along with the trans-light blue used on Gali. Using two transparents is an interesting choice, so we'll have to see how that pans out.

The Build

The Protector of Water offers your fairly standard Protector skeleton, with the small torso, leg bones, and armor. I don't think I've talked much about the inclusion of back armor in my reviews, so I'll use this opportunity to draw attention to it. Unlike basically every humanoid build in Generation 1, BIONICLE G2 takes a lot of the good lessons learned by Hero Factory and incorporates back armor onto the sets. On the smaller sets this can get a little awkward (leaving them with a torso that's almost as deep as it is long!) but it's never an unwelcome sight.

With the back armor in place, the rest comes together. Since a few of the Protectors skimp on the elbow joints, it's nice to see that here, and the trans bones are used to good effect.

The real attraction, though, is the turbines. The way they incorporate is kind of basic (just slapped onto some y joints) but their colors definitely make up for that, and the final look is just what you want from a water-themed set.

Half of the Protectors attractions are often the weapon. In this case, we get what appears to be posing as a DPV (Diver Propulsion Vehicle) but is actually the gatling gun, shooting at any Skull Spiders stupid enough to trifle with Kivoda. I quite like the look, although sucker as I am for underwater things, I would have liked to see a turbine on this one too!

And the mask is the final touch. Again, I'm disappointed with the total lack of dark azure anywhere that isn't the mask, but the blend with the darker trans-blue is nice, and overall the transparents don't clash nearly as bad as I thought they might; each is balanced, and used to good effect.

And the Skull Spider. Inclusion is nice, and despite being the more boring color, it matches with some of the Protector of Water's accents, so it's forgivable.

The Brass Tacks

Did we like this set? Yes	What We Liked: Turbines and weapon for cool underwater style Transparent colors don't clash nearly poorly as they could
	What We Didn't Like: Lack of dark azure makes it look like they aren't even trying Not as memorable as some others
	Other Comments: Again with the awkward acroynms... --Dorek

Like the Protector of Stone, Kivoda is content with not being too standoffish. The poseability is certainly an asset, and he takes the right lessons from Gali in terms of clever accenting colors and motif, but he's also not the most exciting Protector to hit the shelves. However, ultimately, he does a lot more right than he does wrong, and it's a fun set to play with.

2015 Set Reviews (1HY)
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Review #1	By Cholie	By SPIRIT	By Dorek	By SPIRIT	By Dorek	By SPIRIT	By KZN02	By SPIRIT	By Swert	By SPIRIT	By Swert	By SPIRIT	By Cholie
Review #2	By Swert	By Dorek	By Swert	By Dorek	By Swert	By Swert	By Cholie	By Dorek	By Dorek	By KZN02	By Dorek	By Dorek	By SPIRIT