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Set Review: 8073 Manta Warrior
 Sunday, June 13th, 2010 at 12:21pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager[Source: Bfahome] It is time again for another BZPower Set Review - this time Blog Assistant Bfahome shares his thoughts on the rather small Manta Warrior set. Is this set a worthy addition to your collection, or is it merely small change? You'll have to read on to find out! Presentation
The front of the box is set up in the same way as most other boxes, with the image of Manny (full name Mr. Magnificent Manta Man) in the center, the title along the top, the LEGO logo in the upper-left corner, and the set number/piece count/suggested age (bah! who needs it?) down the left. Like the boxes of other Atlantis sets, these are bordered by the gold rock things.
The back of the box serves as ad space for the two most expensive sets in this Atlantis wave, as well as detailing the set's extensive list of functions. Other than that, there's nothing on the box besides the legal stuff you probably never read and "don't choke your kids with this" warnings.
Oh look, the set comes with an advertisement! It shows seven of the other sets, with both this set and the Sea Jet set strangely absent. Oh, and they decided to stick some instructions on the back of it. Building
First you throw together Manny.
Then his rock. This part of the build may take you a few hours, as the techniques used are very difficult to get accustomed to.
And you're done.
Surprisingly, there is one spare part. Which is a good thing, because you can put it...
...right here! Set Design
These are all the parts in the set. Join me in gawking at the sheer number of them. The more interesting parts are the Minifig Zaktan spine, the one-stud-on-the-side 1x1 brick, Manny's headgear, and his trident.
First up for design we have Manny. He's just a normal minifigure except for his Manta head attachment, which slips over his grey minifig head. Manny's head has a nice black-eyed blue-spotted mouthless head (which is partially/mostly obscured by the manta piece), and his torso has a strange design on it that looks like a decaying blue coat. I doubt that's what it is, but it makes me wonder what it's supposed to be. There's no leg or back printing on this figure. As for the headgear, it's a molded rubbery piece (harder than Krana rubber) with some nice Atlantean printing on the top. The sides curve up to represent a ray's "wings", while out from the back sticks a tail with spikes and what I assume is a stinger on the end.
As for Manny's rock, well... it's a rock. With a piece of seaweed on it. At least it serves its purpose well, and actually looks rather rock-like. Playability
Um... Manny has seven points of articulation? And he can stand on his rock? This set has pretty much zero playability on its own, and is meant more as a supplement to other Atlantis sets. However, if you have multiples of this set...
You can combine the rocks! You can overwhelm Ace Speedman and his Wreck Raider! You can take command of a massive flagship (with some help from Sharkie)! And much, much more! Basically, how much you can play with this set is pretty much tied to how many other sets you have and how many ways you can think to use it on those sets. It's not a stand-alone set by any means. Final Thoughts
So pretty much this comes down to whether or not you think it's worth the $3.50 price tag. I think it is, as it contains a minifigure that's only available in this set and two other sets (or three, counting the summer wave). It's definitely affordable for most people, and is something that you can just throw into a purchase without driving the price up too much. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants more strange figures, rocks, and/or tridents.
And that wraps it up for this little guy. Be sure to leave your questions, comments, and thanks to Bfahome in the Talkback. As always, you can expect more reviews to be forthcoming, along with all the latest LEGO and Bionicle news - right here on BZPower!
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