Well, Antroz has been reviewed by Imatron already, so it’s time to review…

CHIROX: Also known as the Orangutan Bat
I’ll explain that later.

Back Side

To start things off, I’m not that too excited about the packaging this guy came in. It looks like it’s a hybrid of the Mahri and Inika canisters. It is innovative on the Lego Company’s part, but it’d be much better if you could do something MoC wise with it.
With that said, I shall now move on to the actual set.

Here’s the pile of parts right here, along with the dismantled canister.

It looks promising so far. The pile of parts is gleaming in light, waiting to be assembled, the instructions look nice, and they even have a section for how to launch that leech holder of Chirox’s.

…Now we need some organization, don’t we?

Ah, that’s much better. Refer to the image above when I start talking about the specific parts to be aware of, which will be right about now.

Rib Cage/Leech Bomb Holder
This, by far, is my favorite part of any of the Phantoka villain sets. It’s functional, not too stiff, and it works surprisingly well. It’s at the top left corner of the organized parts above.
All you have to do is press the back of it and watch it open, as was pointed out by the handy instruction booklet. Be careful when you’re closing it, however, because if you do it wrong, you’ll end up like my hand right here.
How does it stay locked in place? I’ll give credit for that to the Phantoka torso, which I’ll go over next.

Phantoka Torso
The Phantoka torso is one of the more interesting torsos I’ve seen in my days as a Bionicle fan. In the organized pic above, they’re right below the Leech Bomb holder.
As a torso, I’ll say this: It possesses more MoC potential than most prefab torsos I have seen in my time, especially more than the Toa Metru torso. Where have you seen that used on a worthy MoC that isn’t the size of Alaska?
Anyways, the Phantoka torso is great for MoCs. It has enough bulk to be a strong prefab piece, but enough hollow areas for expert MoCists to add in their own little attachments. I would do that right now, but then I wouldn’t finish this review.

Chirox Wings
I must say that I’m not impressed with the wings Chirox has, nor am I too fond of how they were attached, how they seem to be meant to be attached, or the way they’re colored (They’re a mix of black and silver- spot’em somewhere in the middle of the organized pieces). I personally would have preferred if they had two different rods extending out of it and going different directions as opposed to one going only one direction. They just don’t seem to have much potential for me other than decoration, which I’ll likely use them for sooner or later.

Chirox Claws
Chirox’s claws , on the other hand, make up for their possible short comings with the sole fact that they are pretty flippin’ cool looking weapons. They also have more MoC potential than the wings, as they look like they could be put together to form some kind of awesome-looking staff of sorts. Nothing more on them- they’re one piece, cool-looking weapons.
Oh yeah, they’re also found in the middle of the organized pieces, surrounding the only single ball socket in the set in their cool formation.

Leech Bomb
I know it’s a tridax pod, but I like the sound of Leech Bomb better, because that’s basically what it is: a two piece orange bomb (found at the lower left corner of the organized pieces pic) that explodes and throws shadow leeches everywhere. I don’t mind the color it is, though I think it would be better if it was transparent green, blue, or red (much cooler colors IMO). It’s not that big of a deal, though. Orange seems to go well with all of the Phantoka Villains’ colors, which is pretty lucky on the Lego Company’s part.
The leeches themselves are rather interesting (the blue things found above the two piece leech bomb). They even have rod plugs in them, giving them the plenty of MoC potential that they need to be awesome. I’ll personally use them for decoration or to show infection on my MoCs, but you can find your own ways to use them, undoubtedly.

The Mask
I don’t know what to say about Chirox’s mask except for… meh. To me it just seems like another mask. It doesn’t look like it, though. I find it more fitting to call it a face upgrade, ‘cause it looks like some kind of bat face. I’m not angry over it, though. Just not impressed.
I will mention that it’d be a bit convenient if Chirox could actually see well out of it.

That L shaped piece at the upper right corner of the organized pieces- the one with 4 pins sticking out and 3 pin holes through it

I won’t say much about this piece other than a brief mention, which would be this. Use it if you want your MoC to be mountable. That is all.

So, did you like my piece by piece review? If not, eat me. =P

Just kidding. Now to review the set as a whole.

THE SET AS A WHOLE

It looks like this in all-fours mode:

…and it looks like this in “I’m another Toa-like creature” mode:

Here’s the back view if you’re that curious.

The first thing I have to say about the set as a whole is this: Can the arms be any flippin’ longer without the whole set toppling over itself? I mean, I thought the arms on Antroz were long, but when I look at Chirox’s arms,[/url] I can’t help but raise three eyebrows at him. Yes, three eyebrows. It happens.
Anyways, the way the wings are attached to this guy doesn’t help either. If you ask me, I would have attached the wings to the back of the torso instead of onto the “middle” of the arms… I think that’s what they’re supposed to be. I can’t really tell. I just see the wings as a burden where they’re supposed to be attached, according to the instructions. The only way it looks cool IMO is if the arm is scrunched up in the fashion seen in the three pics I posted above this paragraph, one linked.
The reason I’m not going over the articulation and stuff is because all this guy really is, apart from the abominable arms, is a bat in the form of a Toa. To me, it’s just ordinary and overused. Plus, it means more prefab parts, which are a warning flag for elite MoCers.
Another thing that’s grinding my teeth a bit is the feet. Did they really have to go back to having feet and ankles fused together in that fashion? I liked the idea of using the feet and ankles as separate parts, because then you could use the feet for other purposes, like shoulder armor or breast plates. I found that awesome, and I used that technique quite a lot. Fusing them back together, in my opinion, kills that versatile aspect.

Overall, I think I expected too much of the set. The big cons of it would be the originality massacre of the articulation, the orangutan arms, the not-so-impressive mask, and the less-versatile feet. My favorite things would be the leech bomb, the weapons, and the color scheme (because black goes well with everything, even pink). As you can see, the cons outweigh my favorite aspects in number.
Personally, if you’re going to get a villain Phantoka, I would turn towards Antroz first because of his utter coolness factor. If you’re feeling up for another villain, though, then get Chirox. In my opinion, everyone should buy every black set because black is such a versatile color. You’ll probably want any villain due to the torso, weapons, and leech bombs anyway.

P.S. As for playability factors, I had fun messing around with Chirox. I introduced him to Jeff after building him, but I don’t think he enjoyed it.
Here’s the two of them just meeting.
This is Jeff’s opinion on the matter.
…and here’s the aftermath of it all.
That’s where he got the gun he used, in case you were wondering. The Ignika isn’t too pleased. =/