Review: Mixels Series 4 Orbitons
Posted by CapnRex101,Before I get started with the review, apologies for the fact that the article appeared rather early (and before I had written it) yesterday. I accidentally clicked publish and didn't realise I had done it until a little bit later!
Anyway, the second of our Series 4 Mixels reviews concerns the Orbitons. These struck me as undoubtedly the most unusual of the tribes with plenty of bright colours and a brilliant, traditional science fiction theme.
Unfortunately though I think there is room for substantial improvement.
41527 Rokit
Rokit is my favourite Mixel of the Orbitons. He is probably the blandest in appearance as he doesn't feature any particularly unusual shapes unlike the others and is vaguely anthropomorphic like most other Mixels, but he still looks superb!
The idea of having a translucent dome with either circuitry or possibly a micro-scale city inside is brilliant and adds an excellent bit of detail to the figure, which contrasts nicely with the simple blocks of green and white on his head, torso and limbs. The articulation is standard fare with ball jointed arms and legs as well as adjustable eyes, but that is sufficient to achieve some fun poses.
There has been some debate on the Brickset forum concerning the trans-black dome as the packaging suggests it is trans-clear. I have to agree that the packaging does appear to show a trans-clear piece which would look better in my opinion, so it is a shame this was not included.
The jetpack and red lasers complete Rokit's appearance very well and add a couple more splashes of colour which I like.
Rokit is also the Mixel in this tribe who comes with by a Nixel. Like the one in the Glowkies tribe this is a new design for wave four which is good to see. He has a pair of cat-like ears and long arms which differentiate him from other Mixels which is obviously very useful if you are intending to display an army of them.
41528 Niksput
Niksput looks very bizarre and doesn't appeal to me. The enormous mouth seems odd and the black, green and white colour scheme is a bit of a mess in my opinion. I like the use of a black fin piece to represent his Elvis-like pompadour hairstyle though, which is complete with sideburns formed using black tooth pieces.
I suppose this design choice is unsurprising as Niksput is very definitely based in the late 1950s, the period in which The King was producing music and Sputnik 1 was being launched from modern Kazakhstan. The spoonerism used here is fun, and I like Niksput's name if nothing else!
I don't like the ball jointed mouth or the somewhat untidy placement of a thruster on his back, and the wings are a bit awkward to pose properly even though they too are mounted on ball joints. His domed eye is my favourite bit of the figure as the trans-clear dome distorts his eye, which looks very striking.
I prefer Mixels who are clearly based on something personally be it the human form, a dragon or a scorpion. Niksput seems like a bit of a mess to me as a result, and there are disappointingly few lime green pieces included.
41529 Nurp-Naut
Nurp-Naut is another totally new kind of Mixel with two faces and a dual personality. The new eye pieces used here will appeal to creature builders, and the concept of a reversible head like this one works very well, so I like the head in general. Once again I would like it even more if those domes were trans-clear, but the rest of the colour choices work very nicely.
Apart from the head Nurp-Naut is a very simple figure, with hinged arms and ball jointed feet. The feet aren't very useful for posing the Mixel as they are very close to his body, but you can balance him on one foot if you wish. The jetpack looks good on this character too, as does his alternate, two-eyed face. This face apparently represents the personality of a toddler, while the other is that of a wise elder.
Other than the lack of joints my only criticism for Nurp-Naut would be his alternate binocular face. I think a mouth or some other feature should be included beneath the dome as the two eyes alone don't fill the helmet very successfully. It helps convey the childlike innocence of this personality, but I am still not convinced by it in terms of appearance and will be displaying him with the larger eye visible.
Verdict
I'm a bit disappointed with these overall. I love Rokit and he is one of my favourites of the entire wave, but the fact that the 4x4 dome is trans-black rather than trans-clear irritates me. Nurp-Naut is not a bad addition to the collection and I like the idea of the character having multiple personalities, but Niksput is awful in my opinion. The design is generally incoherent and I am finding it difficult to display him properly.
On the other hand, I am very pleased with all the lime green pieces and the various domes are bound to be useful, even if they are mostly trans-black. The half-closed eye is currently exclusive to 41529 and I think it looks great. It is a great component for adding a bit more character to your creation and I look forward to getting some more.
Our third and final Mixels review will be published in the next few days, featuring my favourite tribe of this fourth wave, the Infernites!
Thanks again to Huw for his photos.
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21 comments on this article
Yeah!. I was completely caught out by the trans black domes. I bought these three to cannibalize for parts, specifically for the trans 'clear' domes to top off some trans clear cylinders I had been building as mini fig capsules. I feel a little bit conned! D'OH! But the parts are good just the same.
Oh, they are fantastic-fantastic!
I feel a bit of a Buzz Lightyear vibe with this colour scheme.
Niksput reminds me of a drunken party trick involving a lighter, that and the poop function of 31031 Rainforest Animals , has lego decided to target the 17 - 35 yr old just home from the pub market .
Rokit was my favorite, too, but I do wish those domes were lighter. Perhaps they were going as opaque as they could while still making the contents visible? Real space visors are completely reflective, so maybe they tried to go as dark as they could. Agreed that Niksput is sort of a mess. His body shape doesn't look good, and the Elvis hair is unnecessarily goofy. Nurp-naut is nice, but he and Flurr suffer from uselessly short feet. *not that the standard connection lets them move forward anyway....*
Agreed to all statements in the review. Niksput stinks.
To be honest, the ONLY set of Mixels I've been remotely interested in picking up, this whole time, are the Orbitrons. I think they look brilliant. To be honest, I flat-out LOVE the Elvis hair on Niksput. I think I'll definitely be picking this set up.
I must say; I completely disagree with your assessment of these fellows, but I respect how you came to it. These are my favorite tribe thus far, but I'm a bit of a mid-century space enthusiast. They have one of the better official Max forms to date as well. There's fewer leftover bits that previous ones. I might even buy duplicates of the three to have them both assembled at once.
Yep, I was convinced I was getting trans clear domes and not trans-black from the packaging and early images. Not bad, but certainly not the best we've had.
It's a bummer these are the trans-black domes, rather than clear. That would've been my main reason for getting them. Instead I think I'll just pick up the half-closed eye on BrickLink...
Everything you disliked about Niksput is exactly why I love the model so much. I want more quirk with Mixels.
Wacky bright-green space-faring characters? I wonder if some people at TLG have been playing Kerbal Space Program lately...
(Like others, I'm very disappointed in the trans-black domes. They'd damn well better make them in trans-clear at some point. In the mean time, it makes me feel way less inclined to pick up Rokit and Nurp-Naut, despite the Kerbal Konnection.)
Not only was I expecting clear domes but I also thought that the face cover for Nurp-Naut was flat rather than domed based on the photo on the database. Kind of like part 60474 but a smooth transparent tile version. Now that would have been a useful new part.
Going by lego.com (http://www.lego.com/en-us/mixels/products/series-4, as well as the shop), this tribe is actually the Orbitons (no "r"). Noticed that it had the extra "r" both here as well as in the set database.
The Toy Fair report last year reported them as Orbitons as well. I don't know where the robotic-sounding suffix came from, but it should probably be changed if LEGO doesn't have the second "r".
Funny,all people here includingme loves Pompadur King Niksput!
I built Niksput last night and I think he is great - love the Elvis look, the wings, the big mouth etc. I built him first as I thought I would like this one of the three the least but he is brilliant. In fact am three Infernites, one Glowkie and Niksput down I am very happy with Series 4 and the rest look fantastic!!!!!! : )
Niksput posing...
Use the ball-mount mouth to slightly tilt his head and give him an Elvis-esque sneer...
One "wing" up and the other pointing down...
And articulate his feet so that he's flat on one, and on his toe on the other foot, so that his hips are twisted.
Think "Jailhouse Rock"
I'd love it if you reviewed that Max Mixels for each group. Obviously a bit late now, but you could maybe review each Max for this wave in a future article?
I haven't picked up many Mixels but when the Glowkies went through Sainsburys checkout as "Unknown item" and the supervisor used a pair of Deeley Boppers instead, I went back for the Orbitrons. £12 for 6 brand new Mixels is just too good!
Love the Glowkies more than the Orbitrons but they are fun and more than just a hint of Buzz, perhaps they are his minions?
@ Kyrotek: You never know...?