Set Review: 41503 Krader
Friday, March 21st, 2014 at 10:08pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager [Source: Makaru]
Another day, another Mixel, am I right? Today Forum Leader Makaru reviews the last Cragster, 41503 Krader. Will she strike you will great force and leave a lasting impression? Or is this rocky Mixel more likely to bounce off your thick skin? You'll have to read on to find out!
Presentation
From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.
The next Mixel to make an impact is Krader (original joke do not steal without credit). She comes in this bag style that we've been getting more and more of lately. Once again, kinda in between the size of the smaller Hero Factory sets and the minifig polybags. Wile E. Coyote must be getting mad stacks for the royalties on the backgrounds (call-back joke do not steal).
Above her is the Mixels logo with appropriate googly eye, as well as the cartoon rendition of our hero thing with the Cartoon Network logo below. The standard legal is on the left side.
The back side shows the other Cragsters and their max form, with a splash of the other available Mixels. We also have the link to the Mixels site where you can play some basic games, minigame style. The giant price sticker is courtesy of the Canadian Lego store.
The instructions are pretty standard, but it also shows a better look at series one of the Mixels and pretty cool previews of the next few series. I'm liking the orange and purple ones.
Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?
Krader is in between Seismo and Shuff in terms of difficulty. The odd angling of her head will break you out of the standard square build. You might have to pay attention to the way the cheese slopes on the head are added, but otherwise not much will confuse you.
Set Design
Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.
Krader is definitely an odd one. She's got this fiddler crab lookin' claw thing going on. And as I said above, her head is at a 45 degree turn from being your normal build. The face is definitely the most interesting of the three.
Again, the big news is the new ball joint system. It's everything we've dreamed of. It's fully compatible with the old ball hitch pieces.
What separates Krader from the others is she comes with a little figure, which I had to research, called Nixels. I gather they are the antagonists of this storyline? The goofy face is interesting, but it's just a non-posable figure.
Playability
The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?
Krader has some interesting posability, thanks to THE CLAW, though it also makes her rather side-heavy. Still, she can pick up and throw the Nixel, so that's kind of cool. She's also the only Mixel with waist articulation.
ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE you can spin her eyes around as they are on the soft stud blue technic pins, making her the only TRUE googly-eyed Kragster.
Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?
Pros
What's to like?
- Really cool rocky appearance
- THE CLAAAAW
- A Nixel if you're into that sort of thing
- I still can call her a girl and no one can stop me.
Cons
What's not to like?
- Limited articulation
- Really easy to build, even for the age range
- Oddly side-heavy
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Krader wound up being my favourite of the bunch because of her odd physique. The little Nixel also has some charm. Quite a neat set all in all.
And so concludes our individual Cragster reviews - big thanks of course go to Makaru for writing them all up. Questions and comments can, as always, go in the Talkback. And don't forget to keep checking back on BZPower for more LEGO set reviews and news!
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