NOTE: I have submitted a request for the name of the alternate BOXOR model (as well as the pilot). At present, the answers have not been tracked down, so until we find out what this thing should really be called, I will be referring to it as the BOXOR II.

Starting with the pilot, we have basically the same thing as with the regular BOXOR model, but with the notable difference that this version has a true left arm instead of a second disc-arm flipped upside-down. Given that the extra disc-arm is not used anywhere on the BOXOR II, I’m left being confused as to why they would have given him two disc-arms to begin with. Still, it gave me a match for the extra black left arm that I had after building the MATORAN NUI combiner model, and that’s not a bad thing.

I suspect that the two pilots are supposed to be the same character, but I prefer the look of the version used for the BOXOR II, since I’m not all that fond of the disc-arm to begin with, and I like it even less upside-down.

While I do like parts of it, I’m not as fond of this model as I am of the BOXOR, mostly because of the articulation. Or rather, the lack thereof. The legs are completely immobile, which isn’t terribly leg-like. I also found a few small modifications that make it look a lot better.

The BOHROK face-plate is designed to flip down by having a rubber-band strapped across the top of it. The white rubber-band you’re supposed to use is about the same size as the ones that come with the TURAGA, which are so small that I was concerned about how long it would last before snapping. Fortunately, if you’ve built the GHEKULA, you should have a spare green one from one of the BOHROK sets, which works a lot better as it’s stretched to about the same length on this model.

On the back of the model, there are two dark-grey 1x1x3 liftarms attached to two 3×5 ‘L’-shaped liftarms. That whole assembly flexes far too much for my tastes.

The overall look of the BOXOR II is somewhat ape-like, which is kinda cool. Even though this design looks a lot scrawnier than the BOXOR, the arms look much more powerful and useful. Also, one nice improvement over the BOXOR design is that the BOXOR II uses the BOHROK face-plate as a sort of armored shield for the pilot’s head. Strapping a fully exposed pilot to the front of an exo-suit sounds like a way to prevent the exo-suit from being damaged by virtue of using the pilot as a somewhat squishy form of armor.

To load a pilot into this device, you push down on the back of the head, which causes the face-plate to flip up. It doesn’t go up very far, so it’s bit of a squeeze to get the pilot in without popping his KANOHI off. This design doesn’t even have the benefit of a hook to sit on, so this poor guy has to be suspended by hooking his arms over the two black BOHROK skull-pieces on either side of the pilot’s cavity. This process goes easiest if you tip the MATORAN forward about 45º, and slide the BOHROK skull-pieces between the feet and arms, with the top of the KANOHI just clearing the underside of the BOHROK face-plate. Once you’ve got him as far back as he’ll go, gently rotate him into an upright position, moving the arms down into the hooks. Once you’ve got the arms settled into place, release the face-plate. When you’re done, the eyes of the pilot should be looking through the bottom edge of the face-plate.

With a pilot firmly settled in place and ready to take on some BOHROK, the BOXOR II looks a lot healthier. The mid-section is a lot more filled out, and it looks a lot more able to wield those gigantic arms in battle.

Okay, so it’s time to see what this guy can do. I found that it’s more useful for tackling BOHROK, since the arms swing up higher than a TOA’s head, but it’s a lot harder to fight with than the BOXOR. First of all, you control the arms by twisting two little stubby stems that stick out of the back. You can’t control both of them with one hand, so you have to hold one in each hand. Also, since there’s not much to grip on them, they don’t hit as hard as the BOXOR punching-arms. Still, a half-hearted hit is better than an almost guaranteed miss when it comes to smacking those tiny little eyes on the BOHROK.