First of all, I know that some people don’t like how the BOXOR model is tucked into the background on the box, but I think LEGO® did a good job of drawing attention to the two things that are going to make this set the most popular summer release. First, this set comes with the only set-exclusive mask that’s being released this summer, and that orange PAKARI just jumps right off the box at you. Second, it’s got what people have been practically screaming for. It comes with a MATORAN. This is only the second MATORAN to be released to regular retail, and while it’s going to cost you the just as much as HAFU’s CD-pack, you get an actual set to go with it, including a few really cool parts. It should also be a lot easier to find, since a lot of stores didn’t really do a good job of stocking the CD-pack.

The MATORAN himself is pretty interesting. He’s got an orange PAKARI, which should work pretty well for some Halloween MOCs. Oddly, he’s got two right arms, which results in an upside-down hand on his left arm. I can’t even begin to comprehend why they designed the pilot to have a second disc-throwing arm, since giving him a standard left arm wouldn’t have made a difference as far as the alternate model is concerned. What most interested me is the legs, which are dark-grey. With the McD’s MATORAN sets and the BOHROK VA, there are now an even dozen colors for that part, which presents nearly endless possibilities for MATORAN MOCs.

Okay, the BOXOR itself looks like a bloated BOHROK with some massive arms and a couple extra fangs poking out of the front. Most of the pieces are pretty familiar by now, but there’s a single orange BOHROK skull piece mounted vertically in the center, and those cool dark-grey GALI hooks used for ‘hands’. Additionally it comes with two NUHVOK torso pieces, two black BOHROK skull pieces, a standard NUHVOK faceplate, four BOHROK fangs, and a black MATORAN left arm. Also, this set comes with two white rubber bands of the same style as the green ones that come with the BOHROK, but smaller. Hopefully this means those nasty black ones are being left behind forever, since they tend to start cracking shortly after the first time you stretch them, and will fall apart after a few months of just sitting on the shelf. The rubber band that I got with the NUHVOK from my press kit has been sitting out for almost five months without showing any signs of degradation.

The more I look at this, the more I begin to understand why so many of the Star Wars sets have brightly colored bricks built into their interiors where you can’t normally see them. The color scheme on this thing leaves a lot to be desired. Black and grey are okay together, but when you add in a touch of white and a small burst of orange for a token color, it begins to look more dreary than it would have without the orange. A more potent color like red or purple would have been a better choice than orange, which really only serves to draw attention to how not-bright the rest of the design is.

So the BOXOR looks like it could be semi-autonomous, but we all know that everyone is going to want to strap their favorite MATORAN in the pilot’s, um, seat. (It’s really just a hook, but it does do the job.) To do this, you pull back on the MATORAN arm on the back, and lift up on the head-like part. The MATORAN arm will prevent it from dropping back down, though it might flip all the way back. With the head-piece out of the way, it’s possible to just drop the MATORAN pilot on that hook sticking out of the front. At this point, pressing firmly on the head of the BOXOR will cause it to drop down just behind the pilot’s head. Oddly, it does nothing to protect the completely exposed pilot from any attacks. I tried a quick experiment to see if it’s possible to get the BOHROK faceplate to hand down over the pilot’s head, but it’s going to take more work than I could put into it tonight.

Prior to installing the pilot in his little hook-seat, it almost appears as if the two lower BOHROK fangs are supposed to serve as a control harness of some sort. However, when you’ve actually got the pilot tucked in, the fangs end up right behind the hands, which means it’s not really possible for the pilot to grasp them. (I’ll have to see what I can do about that…)

Finally we get to the action shots. Using a simple system of ball-gears and levers, pushing down on either side of the BOXOR will cause the matching arm to snap forward in a hooked punch. Pushing down evenly will cause both arms to punch forward at the same time. Oddly, considering the MATORANS probably designed this contraption to help defend against BOHROK and BOHROK VA, it seems best suited to smacking the KANOHI off of their fellow MATORANS. Given that most of the RAHI sets seem better suited to beating up their own kind than going after any of the good-guy characters, I find it somewhat odd that this model follows that tradition, but does not ship as a twin-model set like the RAHI. It does come with a seperate instruction book for an alternate model, but building that requires tearing apart the BOXOR for parts first.

All told, it’s a rather interesting little model, and it looks completely like something that would fit in with the various technological tidbits that we’ve seen in the MNOLG.