Bionicle Retro Review: The BarrakI

[@SuperSecretBricks]

I find these Barraki so fascinating. Probably one of the rare instances where the bad guys sets are more appealing than the good guys ones!

[@HamzaZaBrick]

"babe wake up, Another guy on KZbin is reviewing all the bonkels" Keep it up bro :D

[@johnchambers6317]

I remember getting these dudes back in 07', got the entire wave at a Kmart. Now all these years later, these may be my favorite villain sets Lego ever produced. Keep up the great reviews Robe!

[@robethematoran6975]

Thank you so much and heck their definitely my favorite villains out of gen 1 bionicle

[@StudSnob]

Use a hair dryer to heat up each lime socket before connecting it. 0 cracks guaranteed. Even my 09 glatorian hands and lime sockets have 0 cracks.

[@robethematoran6975]

Thank you for the tip I honestly would have never thought of that

[@StudSnob]

@@robethematoran6975 Ur welcome, thank you for great reviews!

[@Morecado]

As someone who also isn't that big of a Mantax fan, I was baffled when a friend told me he had bought 3 of them. We were just kids, but I just couldn't wrap my head around why he didn't want any of the other ones. His entire Bionicle "collection" consisted of 3 Mantaxes.

[@robethematoran6975]

Oh god are they ok 😂 I couldn’t fathom having that many mantax I barely care for the one let alone 3 of them 🤣

[@colinroberts2060]

I would've been around nine and a half years old when these were first released, though one of them I may not have obtained until after my tenth birthday that year. The Barraki were my third complete wave of canister-size characters, and they were also the first Bionicle sets since the Rahkshi (8587-8592) to have their canister lids on the bottom, and had an underwater rock aesthetic to them. Kalmah (8917) was my first of them, obtaining him alongside one of the Hydruka (8931) in February of 2007, and he would go on to be the smallest set to have the Piraka torso and Rahkshi legs in Metru red, as all of the remaining appearances of both parts in that color after this would be in Titan sets. His tentacle would also appear recolored in silver and in black between three subsequent sets after this, even though his head remained exclusive to him. Ehlek (8920) was my second Barraki, which I received as a gift from my grandmother around March of '07. Though I don't remember what the occasion was. Ehlek was my first and only time getting the Vahki legs and hip piece in Metru green (earth green)-being that I didn't have Vorzakh (8616) or Keelerak (8746), and was also the last appearance of the webbed Piraka feet in that color. In addition to the electric spikes on his back, Ehlek also sports "Tri-Talons" as weapons, which would also appear in an "Exo-Force" set (8108) in mid-2007 before returning to Bionicle at the start of 2008, if only for two other sets. I strangely don't remember having the problem with brittle lime green socket joints at the time, given that the Toa Metru-style ones in that color were exclusive to this set. The Technic 4x4 angular beam on his torso first appeared in two sets (8305 and 8307) from the "Competition" subtheme of Technic in September of 2000, as well as the "Nitro Menace" (8649) from the "Power Racers" theme from June 2005. It would make four more appearances between 2007 and 2014 before being phased out. I obtained Takadox (8916) as my third Barraki from a Wal-Mart in May of 2007. Largely the reason for him having the most pieces out of the team is because of the red spikes and Technic half-pins on his arms and torso, and he marks the final appearance of the Visorak feet in Metru blue (earth blue), leaving only the Metru red and silver ones remaining. Along with Morak (8932), Takadox is among the final sets to use socket joints in transparent fluorescent blue which were introduced with the Inika form of Matoro (8732) the year before. He was also the last set to have the Piraka legs in Metru blue. The other three Barraki I would obtain between June and August of 2007, obtaining Pridak (8921) as my fourth. Pridak is the only set to have the Toa Metru double socket joints in white, and marks the final appearance of the Toa Nuva limbs all together. He is also the first of only two sets to have the "Electro Blades" introduced with the Mahri Matoran (8929-8930) in white used as shoulder armor, and his head is also exclusive to him. And he wouldn't be the last set to have a "Hordika head" as part of the waist or torso. Mantax (8919) I would obtain as my fifth Barraki and was the second (technically third) and final set to have the Piraka style of knee armor in black. He was also the only Bionicle set to have the Rahkshi-style of curved beams in black, though they had appeared in two "Vikings" sets (7019 and 7021) over the two years prior. Mantax's head and feet would also appear in other sets, and he was the first Bionicle set to have the tail parts from the earlier "Dinosaurs" theme from 2001. Lastly, Carapar (8918) was my sixth and final Barraki, and was the first set to have Inika legs in dark stone gray. The primary color of his chest and shoulder armor is sometimes described as "bright light-orange" though it honestly looks more like a seaweed-esque color. The Rahkshi feet in dark stone gray are exclusive to him, and the Vahki legs in that color first appeared in Keetongu (8755) from '05. As a whole, the Barraki were the first Bionicle sets of villain characters to not be clones of each other since the Rahi from 2001, though some may argue that some of those were fairly "cloney" as Eljay from TTV once described. But even then, the Rahi from back then were partly inspired by the earlier "Competition" subtheme of Technic (1998-2000), so that may explain such farther.

[@colinroberts2060]

Also out of curiosity, did you have any of the Barraki at the time, or did you not have any until recently?

[@thethirdolmak9061]

The lime colored joints in 07 had a cooling issue when they were produced, and because of the error in the cooling process they became particularly brittle. And because the sets are produced during the run of the prior wave, nobody knew until all of the 07 winter wave was already made and boxed, and the summer wave was in production. In essence, nobody knew the problem existed until it was already too late to fix it.

[@dansmith8872]

These sets are so cool . Have you seen Nocturn or Gadunka . Gadunka is a beast .It's huge .And both of these are glow in the dark . Great video take care

[@robethematoran6975]

Thank you and yes I have in fact actually nocturne will probably be my next review

[@dansmith8872]

Cool .looking forward to it

[@vinnygranata8363]

My favorite part about Pridak is you could twist his legs a bit, twist one foot around, and line up the front of both pieces and it fits right into the other! Emulating the promotional movie Creeps from the Deep!

[@jedisquidward]

Carapar's strange brownish yellow color, a color never done for anything else, is actually by far my favorite part of him and why I got him in the first place. It's a very realistic color which you would actually see on a crab or something like that. Additionally, I actually really like Mantax because of his strange shaping. His shoulder line is so top heavy that it really is like a Manta Ray; though I see why many find him the "weakest".

[@sanokal]

The Barraki are fascinating. I know you weren't fond of Mantax, but I think he pulls off his ray motif better than most other Barraki with how squat and big he is. And yes, the squid shooter is a plague.

[@VideoVirusX3]

Great review!

[@blankblank6214]

those third party squids cuz I don't remember them being blue

[@robethematoran6975]

I believe there actually sold by Lego you usually find them in squid ammo pack

[@postproductions]

This was easily the best year of Bionicle. Easily.

[@robethematoran6975]

Most def I agree

[@minedantaken1684]

What, in my opinion the Barraki and Toa Metru lack the most, is hands. I understand that none of the first gen had hands, but they especcially look like they need them, because how tall they are

[@michelangelo5903]

these were the ones i got as a kid! i loved anything related to underwater so my mom got me a bunch of them! i think they are sick!

[@UnfaithfulServant97]

If I remember correctly the line green parts were produced horribly in the factories. I think it had to do with the heating for the plastic to harden and it made the plastic very brittle. Hence all the lime green pieces during that year broke very easily.

[@robethematoran6975]

Thanks for letting me know I was genuinely curious about how the lime green pieces broke so easily

[@UnfaithfulServant97]

@@robethematoran6975 unfortunately sockets breaking became the norm for the final 2 years of Bionicle after 2007 because of the horrible redesigned sockets.

[@robethematoran6975]

Oh yeah I definitely remember that and don’t look forward to dealing with those pieces again

[@gyrrakavian]

I thought Takkadox was based on the ghost shrimp.

[@reubenguttenberg7405]

Takadox was in kahoots with teridax

[@cordak_Blaster]

Carapars armor is keetorange molded with black

[@robethematoran6975]

Ah that makes sense but “dirty Carmel” sounds better 🤣

[@imahaloguy]

Takadox glows in the dark fyi!

[@robethematoran6975]

I know I was planning on showing it but I never got around to capturing that footage

[@17jacoyne]

as a kid i always though takadox was a she/her.........looking back i's starting to wish the character was a female! what was it with bionicle and lts lackluster female representation

[@robethematoran6975]

I thought the same thing legit in the review I almost a couple of times said she I just think would’ve been better if he was honestly

[@antoniczarnecki9455]

Disregard if you don't need any criticism. You really need to work on narration a little. You have a pre-recorded format, think on what you're going to say and then use the audio. You're very indecisive, your vocabulary is limited, you could use some more research (the price part - ok, lime joint issue - it's one search away, c'mon), you don't have your opinion formed at the time of recording. I'm not even talking about your speech impediment, couldn't care much about it, it's not that noticable, but it only became more so the moment you struggled to tell what you think about Takadox and it went downhill from there. When you can't articulate your own opinion it sounds like you're stressed, but this is pre-recorded, it doesn't need to. This video is poor quality and despite my initial interest I couldn't sit through more than half of it.

[@robethematoran6975]

That’s some fair criticism i will definitely work on my narration I often do pre record the audio in one take that’s definitely not good thank you for the harsh criticism I now what to work on. I knew it already but now I’m hearing someone tell what I need to work is a real eye opener

[@MistahhMingus]

L comment, go outside Antonio W video, love the barraki as well as the lil spinny table nice presentation

[@antoniczarnecki9455]

@@MistahhMingus What is the purpose of your forced positivity? You're talking as if giving feedback is something to shun. I may have been harsh, yes, but that doesn't mean muting out any negativity is in any way helpful. If my words can point someone to do what they try to / enjoy doing better and thus make them more satisfied with their own effort, thus more fulfilled, it's a thousand times more building than empty positivity. I'm glad you were able to read, sift our what helps you and take it to heart, @robethematoran6975