{"id":25289,"date":"2013-10-17T03:13:48","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T08:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25289"},"modified":"2013-10-18T02:48:25","modified_gmt":"2013-10-18T07:48:25","slug":"vault-review-tenkai-knights-vilius-sho-lydondor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25289","title":{"rendered":"Vault Review: Tenkai Knights
Vilius, Sho, & Lydondor"},"content":{"rendered":"

While wandering through my local TRU\u2019s non-LEGO brick aisle, I came across this interesting new line of minifigures from Spin Master.\u00a0 It seems like every company has their own version of the building brick\/mini figure toy line these days, which is making it increasingly more difficult to stand out from the crowd.\u00a0 So what makes Tenkai Knights so unique?\u00a0 Each figure can transform into a 4×2 LEGO-like brick.<\/p>\n

\"tnki01\"<\/p>\n

Spin Master has labeled this new transforming brick system Ionix.\u00a0 Not only are they designed to become minifigures, but they can also be combined into more complex shapes like weapons, vehicles, and even larger action figures.<\/p>\n

\"tnki02\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a pretty inventive system that can be as complicated as you want.\u00a0 But I\u2019m going to keep things pretty simple today and give you a basic rundown of the minifigures themselves.<\/p>\n

\"tnki03\"<\/p>\n

I picked up a \u201cTenkai Action Pack\u201d, which contains three figures.\u00a0 This particular set has the evil samurai-like Vilius, the flying dragon-thing Sho, and the good guy insect Lydondor.\u00a0 Each figure comes in brick form and sealed in a poly bag with a handful of accessories and building elements. There is also a small instruction pamphlet. \u00a0What surprised me most is just how many extra pieces come with each figure.<\/p>\n

\"tnki04\"<\/p>\n

The back of the box says 41 total, but I counted 37 elements not including the parts that make up each figure.\u00a0 So you\u2019re really looking at a bit more than they say.<\/p>\n

\"tnki05\"<\/p>\n

Transformation is pretty interesting.\u00a0 The process itself is really simple, but you can tell they put a good deal of thought into the engineering.\u00a0 First step is to fold the lower torso panel up.\u00a0 Then the shoulders come together to encompass the head.\u00a0 The legs fold up in a similar fashion, and then the arms fold down to rest inside a small opening.<\/p>\n

\"tnki06\"<\/p>\n

The brick itself is pretty comparable to the basic LEGO.\u00a0 It may be just a tiny bit squatter, but all the pegs and holes match up without any issues.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how well the larger sets fit together, but the compatibility is pretty seamless with the three I have.\u00a0 Continue to page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

\"tnki07\"<\/p>\n

The basic minifigures are a tiny bit shorter and a lot wider than the average LEGO fig though.\u00a0 Their weapons and accessories are compatible, but interestingly their helmets aren\u2019t.\u00a0 The Tenkai heads are much smaller, but still have a plug on top so they can still wear the LEGO helmets.\u00a0 Unfortunately the fat LEGO heads are just too big to pull off the Tenkai look.<\/p>\n

\"tnki08\"<\/p>\n

Another big difference is that the Tenkai have a nice range of articulation.\u00a0 Their heads are on a swivel joint, and their shoulders, biceps, and hips are all ball joints.\u00a0 This puts them in a weird middle ground where they can move better than a LEGO figure, but without knees and elbows they still feel a bit lacking compared to what Mega Bloks or Minimates is doing.<\/p>\n

\"tnki09\"<\/p>\n

The exception to this is Sho, who has a pretty strange design anyway.\u00a0 His neck and tail are double hinges, while his little legs\/stands are single hinges.\u00a0 His arms (or wings?) are connected to the main body with ball joints.<\/p>\n

\"tnki10\"<\/p>\n

Paint jobs on the figures are pretty basic.\u00a0 The body brick and elements are mostly molded the color they need to be.\u00a0 There are some minor paint apps on the heads, helmets, and chest plates though.\u00a0 One thing I really liked was the use of unique translucent colors for the accessories.\u00a0 Not only do you see normal colors like yellow and red, but there\u2019s also a smoky black and a clear silverish color.<\/p>\n

\"tnki11\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019m always a fan of innovation in toys.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to compete with LEGO in their own sandbox.\u00a0 So creating a line of customizable minifigs that can combine with each other to create larger and better figures, vehicles, and accessories is pretty inventive.\u00a0 I do wish they had a bit more articulation, but that doesn\u2019t mean these little Knights aren\u2019t fun to play around with.\u00a0 I can definitely see this line becoming popular with kids.<\/p>\n

-Vault<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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LEGO Marvel Ant-Man Final Battle Review","date":"July 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Lego"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28673,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28673","url_meta":{"origin":25289,"position":3},"title":"Lego #21108 Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Review","date":"July 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Ghostbusters"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5750,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=5750","url_meta":{"origin":25289,"position":4},"title":"Vault Review: Lego Minifigures – Series 1 (+ Codebreaker)","date":"May 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I was never content with the complacent yellow faces Lego men had when I was a kid. I still remember the first time I saw the Pirates theme in the 90s. These Lego men, although still smiling, now had beards, stubble, and sideburns \u2013 not to mention an occasional hook\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lego"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10415,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=10415","url_meta":{"origin":25289,"position":5},"title":"Vault Review: Lego Minifigures – Series 3 (+ Decoder)","date":"December 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s Christmas time, and you know what that means: Lego Minifigures Series 3 (#8803)! Just in time to be the perfect stocking stuffers, this 3rd release has a little something for everyone. But this time around it\u2019s going to be a little more difficult to find the specific ones you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lego"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25289"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25289"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25388,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25289\/revisions\/25388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}