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Set Review: 8974 Tarduk
 Sunday, March 8th, 2009 at 8:31pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager[Source: Roa McToa] It's been a while since our last set review, but we haven't forgotten about them. Today BZPower Forum Assistant Roa McToa takes a look at one of the remaining Agori, Tarduk. How does this little green guy work out? Read on! So you've saved up some money, and you have decided to go and spend it on a Bionicle set. There are many new Glatorian sets to check out, but your eye catches on Tarduk. Yes, he's merely an Agori set, but there is more to this little guy. The mask is interesting, and his image is just popping out to you screaming to buy him! So you buy it and take it home. Presentation
The box is rather nice on Tarduk. The lids properly represent the dominant color in his color scheme, and the image on the front of the box is nicely done. The thought of this character whizzing through the forest is just plain cool.v
The back of the box is plainer, as stated in other reviews. It features Tarduk on the back with his Glatorian partner. Gresh is awesome, and Tarduk looks to be a neat set counterpart to him. You can see the Bio-Code on here, of which you can take to the Bionicle website and enter to get cool Internet goodies! Lets open up the box and see what goodies we find inside!
Dumping out the box, you can see that his mask looks a lot bigger and more exciting that what you see on the box, and the parts that come in lime and dark green are a new addition to the color range of those pieces.
The instructions are rather simple, plainly showing you how to build Tarduk on one side, and on the other is a poster with all six Glatorian in full battle regalia, urging you to go out and snatch ‘em up with their coolness! Building
Onto the build!
You really don't need the instructions for this set. You can look at the picture on the box to see what limbs go where, so we start off with the basics...
And build up. RAAARRRGH!
Completed, Tarduk looks at you with his menacing looking face and gnarly green claws. The colors are nicely distributed on the set, and the mask is ultra cool! An easy build, and it can be done in five minutes or less. Set Design
All put together, Tarduk is a rather bland set, like the other Agori. Other than having a really awesome mask, and all newly colored parts, he is nothing too new and special.
Moderately poseable, the figure looks like it would be fun to play with for a while, then get taken apart for its pieces.
As far as new parts go, Tarduk is in no short supply. The molds are familiar to previous sets besides the head and mask. The lime Mahritoran claws are also available in Tuma, and the lime torso and claws are always good to have. We haven't seen lime claws since Nui Rama! The head, which so many claim to resemble Iron Man, looks more like a biomechanical skull to me. Lightly Iron Man, but not good for an Iron Man MOC. The dark green legs and sockets are a joy to have in anyone's parts bin, as they have some great building potential. Now then... Examining the real gem of the set, the mask.
The angles are rather lovely on this gem of a mask. The long saber-like tendrils coming off of the back look fabulous, and really add a sense of jungle-ness to the set. The lines on the front are nicely done, and resemble something from Bionicle's past.
Looking at a row of Krana, you can see a minor resemblance to some of the masks. Playability
Tarduk is a stiff set. The way that he is built with the big arms and the little legs makes him hard to pose well. If you switch around the arms and legs, he poses a little better. The blades are annoying as they get in the way when you pose him. They can easily be made into a foot part by taking the socket piece, and putting a claw in one side with the blade in the other side, leaving the small protrusion as part of the sole of his foot.
Gresh looks awesome with Tarduk's mask, but Tarduk does not look awesome with Gresh's mask. Overall, it's fun for the first week, and then you want something more. You then go out, and buy Gresh... The Glatorian action figure game is played easily by the rules that the Lego group provides, but is a lot more fun and challenging if you make up your own rules. I played the game for a while with a seven year old, and he really had fun. For younger kids, the game can be a challenge, and it helps with hand eye coordination to properly shoot the Thornax at either your opponents Glatorian, or their Agori blocker. Final Thoughts
Tarduk looked good on the box front, but not as good when you got him home and built him. The mask more than makes up for the average quality of the set, but was it really worth the $6.99 (or what you paid where you live)?
Overall, if you are looking to get an Agori, I would suggest Zesk, Tarduk or Metus. Get your Glatorian first, and then get your Agori. Wait for sales so you can get the best deal on the new sets. You can't really expect a lot out of a small set these days. It would be really nice to see small sets made out of small pieces again. So that's Tarduk. Hopefully you enjoyed it and found it informative. Be sure to thank Roa for taking the time to do the review. We still have a couple more sets to review before we get to the summer ones, and have one more almost ready to be posted. So keep checking back for the latest Bionicle news and more!
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