Review: Mixels Series 9 Newzers
Posted by TheBrickPal,Slowly getting closer to the end of the Mixels, here we have the Newzers! These guys run Mixopolis' cable television affiliate (called Mix TV, of course) to deliver all kinds of breaking news stories; mostly those involving encounters with the pesky Nixels.
Are Screeno, Camsta and Myke worth 'reporting' to your local store for? Read on to find out!
41578 Screeno
Screeno is the reporter, writer, director, producer, tribe leader - you name it - of the Newzers and Mix TV. This Mixel has a TV-shaped head which is brilliantly designed.
Parts worth mentioning are the blue slopes, two 2x2 printed eye tiles, and six of the 1x1 squared-off tooth tile previously used this year in 41555 Busto, 41559 Paladum, 41563 Splasho and 41571 Tuth.
Screeno is also equipped with a four-piece microphone, ready to be on the scene of any event.
I also love the 1x1 tooth extension plate in bright yellowish-orange used as a tie, and the brown eyebrows (consisting of two brown circular 2x2 plates) are a great and slightly realistic detail.
Unfortunately, while his top jaw and feet are ball jointed, his arms are only on a hinge. This leaves something to be desired as Screeno can barely even aim the microphone at his mouth to speak!
Also, his head's construction means that it looks quite messy from the back. However, while kind of distracting, most will not be displaying Screeno with his back turned and the mishmash of colors could not have easily been avoided.
Otherwise, Screeno is a fantastic set and one I wholeheartedly recommend as my favorite of the Newzers.
41579 Camsta
Coming right down the line, Camsta is my second favorite Newzer. Of course he is based on a typical news chopper and invokes this quite well; being an almost seamless combination of both a camera and helicopter!
The real highlight when it comes to Camsta's parts is the 'white printed circular 2x2 Mix TV tile'! This piece has some really nice artwork and I can imagine it being used in either a minifigure or Mixels scaled studio MOC! Or better yet, a news van?
Back to Camsta, though. His shaping is fantastic and the greebling particularly on his camera portion looks quite attractive. With movable parts like the side rotor and main rotor and a ball jointed top jaw, the only thing stopping Camsta from being too perfect is the fact that both his arms and legs are only on hinges; limiting articulation.
However, this does not detract points from this superb Mixel, even if his potential personality cannot be shown to the fullest.
Camsta also comes with - you guessed it - Clark Kent! I mean, a Nixel. A Nixel posing as Clark Kent! Er, at least, a villain in disguise rather than a hero like Superman in disguise. You know what I mean...
The menacing expression combined with the nerdy glasses is very laughable, but it makes this Nixel all the more awesome to have. And even more awesome - the exposed bars on either side of Camsta's body means that the Nixel can grip one, and hitch a ride as an extra two eyes in the sky! However, I still cannot stand the three ears that never have canonically appeared in the show since their first appearance in the sets with 41534 Vampos (and never can now!).
41580 Myke
Myke (based on 'mic' and the name 'Mike') is, and it is obvious when you look at him, the sound editor for Mix TV. He carries a simply built boom microphone in one hand, and it is even covered with a deadcat!
Unfortunately, while I like how his body has tons of mass with its large square shape, what plagues Myke is actually his headphones. There is a nice idea going on, but the build does not flow as the parts that cover the ears and the 'headband' part are completely disconnected from each other. I understand that this could not have easily been avoided due to Myke's construction, but that does not forgive the fact that it is quite distracting taking into account how good the rest of him looks.
But while Myke may look fine (forgetting the headphones), he does not function too well in my opinion. Again, and just like the other Newzers, his limbs are only hinged. His four clawed legs are bothersome to pose, as given the centrally mounted wheels he slides very easily while one tries to pose Myke for display or play.
Basically, do not get Myke unless you want a great parts pack or want a complete Mixels/Mixels 2016/Series 9/Newzers collection. But to be fair, that still is a lot of reasoning to buy him.
After all, Myke has:
- A Mix TV tile just like Camsta...
- A single Technic ball eye...
- A 1x2 specialized teeth piece...
- A printed cassette on the chest...
...and some other basic and complex parts that could prove beneficial to MOCers.
Verdict
Since this is the final wave of Mixels for the foreseeable future, it is a shame to see such an average tribe form a third of it. The Newzers look great as a group, and to an extent stand out amongst a lot of the other seventy-eight Mixels, but individually there is a severe lack of poseability in all three which hinders their value and personality significantly.
Of course, completists of the theme and those looking for a plethora of yellow, blue and black parts will find a lot to love here. However, I would better recommend the pretty-much-perfect Nindjas or the Trashoz that I will be reviewing next and last!
Thanks again to Huw for the photos.
JANGBRiCKS' Video Review
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8 comments on this article
After I saw the special I'm sad that they never made the cute Tablet mixel which was part of this group.
Myke Headphones look bad :(
^ I still can't wait for someone to try and create that cue-card Newzer themselves!
78 mixels! That's a lot!
I've always enjoyed these Mixels reviews. I didn't realize there were so many tribes of Mixels!
Yeah, I can't say I'm a huge fan of this particular set of Mixels. I like that they're thinking outside the box (and it continues the run of occupation-themed critters), but I feel like the colour scheme is a mess (and doesn't appeal to me at all), and ultimately, I find these ones pretty ugly.
I'm gonna be first in line to buy the ninja-themed set, but I think I'll be skipping these.
I've skipped one tribe from each of the other two series this year, and I may do the same with this one. They're not completely awful (neither were the other two I skipped), but they're not good enough to compel me to buy them. Still, I've enjoyed these reviews immensely.
Myke is my clear favourite here. his headphones are lacking in execution but his silhouette is unique and he's a good take on the crab archetype. the ideas behind this tribe are strong and it's a shame we won't be seeing more mixels.
With two Myke you almost have pieces for a TV Van.