Imatron:

Often the reviews posted here are by staff that view the toys at a different angle than that of the normal fans or the members who post on our forums, so I established the Member Review Database to help give the fans a better opportunity to post their own thoughts, and so we can see what the fans think rather than myself since I think my reviews lack a tone to them that requires the thoughts of someone not looking at it in a more professional manner. Currently I have my unfinished review of the same set located here , but issues with my computer, Vista, our servers, and my own lack of technical capabilities have kept it from being finalized. I’d actually like to post member made reviews on the front page more often but the section even now doesn’t get as much attention as I’d like to have. The last time I posted a review from the member database to the news was for Vezon And Fenrakk. That said, please take a look at this guest review by our forum member Takua11 which I left unedited at the fear I might change the context.

Takua11:

Hydraxon is undoubtably the most heavily equipped set to date. He carries six weapons on his person (two explosive boomerangs, wrist blade, Cordak Blaster, and two blades that protrude from his back) along with some serious armor and razor sharp claws.

Unfortunately, Hydraxon includes very few ‘introductory pieces.’ The only ‘new’ pieces he has are the silver Skakdi foot, silver Shark blade, silver Kalmah armor, and his mask–just to name a few. Even all these parts (minus the mask) I listed are found on both Gadunka and Lesovikk. All his other parts are from earlier years or in canister sets.

Hydraxon only includes three Cordak missiles, leaving his feet looking a little off. They added an extra missile for Hewkii, so I’m not sure why they didn’t add an extra for Hydraxon aswell.

I am not too fond of his chest. Personally, the foot was a cheat. That’s just my opinion though. The chest also requires two ugly black pegs to protrude outward. They prevent the foot from rocking back and forth. The chest armor may look appealing from a collectors POV, but not exactly from a MOC’ers.

People last year complained about Brutaka and Axonn cheating by using pre-existing torsos from canister sets–Hydraxon has perhaps cheated worst than any titan so far; but, more on that later.

One visual defect that Hydraxon has is the poorly designed breathing tube placement. They look thrown on for looks. I have designed a better function that I will show at the end of the review.

LEGO seems to like the webbed Skakdi foot when dealing with the support pistons. Nocturn, Gadunka, Brutaka, and Hydraxon all use the foot. A little cheap, yes, but visually effective. I am impressed with the upper leg design. Painfully simple, yet very enlightening. It takes a very different approach than those from last year.

Yes, the hands… what to say… I am impressed by the effort, but not exactly the result. His fingers don’t look right when closed and they fall off nearly every time I touch them, at all points of connection. They also make it difficult to move his hands. Again, I’m impressed by the effort, but not the outcome. I do hope LEGO uses fingers again, but next time make new pieces for the job.

This is hydraxon without weapons. Not as intimidating without them, I’d say. More like an overgrown Toa. But, more on that soon.

Hydraxon includes a good number of parts, I can’t say they are as good or as many as Gadunka, but are very good for humanoid MOCs. He is also a gold mine of weapons, and this will make weapon lovers very pleased.

Neither Hydraxon or Maxilos have ‘masks.’ They are merely faces that contain no powers. However, they do double as masks, and if you like, can have powers. Hydraxon has my least favorite mask of this year, but I still do like it alot.

This is the ever creative and awesome wrist blade. I am highly impressed by its simple and cool design. I’m not exactly sure if that tri-axle piece is new or old, but a good piece either way. I wouldn’t want to be on the recieving end of a blow from this thing!

This is why I’m not a huge fan on Hydraxon. He’s really no more than a heavily equipped and overgrown Toa. In fact, he’s perhaps one of the biggest let downs of any Titans in recent years that it’s almost an insult to avid MOC’ers. He has Toa arms, Toa torso, and Toa lower legs, and feet; just more highly decorated. LEGO took a visual appeal over a creative appeal on him. He is a very straightforward and easy set to build. It’s like stripping a Toa Inika and slapping on some wicked armor. There are some minor differences, such as his upper legs and the fact that his head is a stud higher, and he has fingers added to his hands.
LEGO did achieve what they were going for, visual appearance, which Hydraxon does impressively so. He is definately one of the coolest looking sets so far, but–deep down, he is perhaps the least creative Titan since Nivawk.

LEGO wasn’t going for height on this guy, nor were they with Gadunka. Hydraxon only comes right under Brutaka’s shoulder and is only a head taller than an Inika, and personally, looks more like he should have been a $15 set. He just doesn’t look quite as impressive as Brutaka to me, nor Axonn, but you may have a different opinion. That’s fine too.

I wasn’t happy with the two hideous black pegs sticking out of his chest. Nor was I happy with the poorly placed breathing tubes coming out the back of his head. I found a way to fix both my problems in one. Not only does it clean up his tubes, it also replaces the function of the ugly black pegs.

Final Verdict:
Ever since 2004 there have been what I call a creative black sheep. They look visually appealing, but are actually rather uncreative. 2004 was Nivawk, 2005 was Sidorak, 2006 was Axonn, and 2007 is Hydraxon. They all focus on appearance other than internal design. Don’t get me wrong, I love Hydraxon, but he does let me down in being one of the biggest cheats for internal design of any titan so far. For humanoid titan, he’s second only to Brutaka on my list.
If you want a humanoid set with lots of good pieces, especially weapons, although not many new ones, Hydraxon is definately for you. He has creative hands and a nice upper leg system. I would definately say he is a must buy for those of you who are just casual collectors. If you are in it for pieces, I’d recommend Gadunka by far.

A lot of people are trying to chose between Gadunka and Hydraxon. I, personally, have much more fun with Gadunka than Hydraxon. Not only is Gadunka more sturdy and well built, be doesn’t fall apart easily like Hydraxon seems to do. Gadunka is more fun to build and a bit more creative than Hydraxon. Again, this is my opinion, and those are a dime a dosen.

-Takua11