Review: Official Set 8942 - Jetrax T6

Continuing with the 2008 Battle Vehicles, next up is the Jetrax T6. The Jetrax T6 was another aircraft made by Artakha and was discovered by the Toa Nuva once they entered the Codrex. But while the Toa Nuva were obsessed with the engineering design of the vehicle, the Makuta Antroz snuck in and stole the vehicle right in front of them. Antroz eventually ejected himself in an attempt to crash all battle vehicles together, but Kopaka stepped in and prevented the crash before piloting the vehicle himself.

A limited edition version of this set exists, which depicts the supercharged version of the Battle Vehicle after Antroz accidentally flies it into a lightstone.

Packaging

The packaging is a decently larger box than the Rockoh T3, but is consistent witha  pretty simple art design. The front of the box provides us a large image of the completed build in flight. The bottom contains a small graphic highlighting the inclusion of both the Battle Vehicle and Antroz, along with the set statistics.

The back of the box has a much larger image of Antroz standing next to the vehicle, along with a window featuring the other two Battle Vehicle sets. Along the bottom on this side of the box are some highlights of the included play functions and features.

The Build

The total build time for this set ended up at just over an hour, 67 minutes to be exact. The build actually felt shorter than the Rockoh T3, and a little bit easier too.

Antroz

Antroz was a nice little build to start off the set with, and felt like he was detailed just enough to fit in with the set and not just feel like a cheap throw-in. Compared to his Phantoka set version, there’s some pretty significant changes. The build this time has much more dark red in it, most noticeably at the forearms and lower legs. The shoulder pads are also different entirely since they don’t include the wings. The feet have been swapped out for Toa Metru feet instead of clawed Piraka feet. And the mask has a new mold and is completely dark red, omitting the black gradient featured in the Phantoka set version. This variation of Antroz has much more of a human-like feel to it than the Phantoka set.

Battle Vehicle Model

The Jetrax T6 features quite a different design from the Rockoh T3 with more of an open concept opposed to the very compact nature of the Rockoh T3. The color scheme is very attractive and a nice blend of black, silver, and blue. You heard it from me last week and you’ll hear it again, I love the pop of color that the blue gives us. The blue highlights provide a bit of character to the ship and prevent it from being just a monochrome set with no personality. Typically whenever we see blue in Bionicle our minds go to Ga-Koro or water, but I don't really get that sense from this set. It still feels like a neutral flight vehicle.

The engine turbines are the biggest stand out to me with this set with their simple but effective design. They’re each made out of maybe 10-20 pieces, but feel so much more dense and mechanical than they really are. The front engine piece and top armoring made the biggest difference in pulling off this effect. And then on top of the cylindrical engine design there’s large weapons on the side of each engine just to add a little extra intimidation.

Just like the Rockoh T3 there are a ton of weapon pieces spread throughout the vehicle, and they all do a great job of being finishing touches. The weapon pieces blend in any awkward gaps throughout the vehicle and also contribute heavily to this thing looking like an absolute beast. There are even four lasers by the cockpit, you know because why not have even more weaponry available.

Play Features

The Jetrax T6 includes several play functions and features that supplement the great construction. First up, Antroz can be inserted to the cockpit of the ship as its pilot. It’s a very simple and sturdy installation that requires just opening up the canopy and snapping him into place via an extruded pin on his back and technic axle holes on his hands and ankles. The result is a very rigid connection that typically we don’t get with sets. Normally we get just the hands snapping in, but I really like the extra connection points that lock Antroz into place. To be honest Antroz makes the color scheme feel a little bit out of place. The dark red doesn’t mix too well with the black and blue, but does achieve the effect of someone piloting the vehicle that should not be in command of it. I think if you swapped a modified Kopaka as the pilot it would look better, but story wise it’s a good thing that the Makuta looks out of place in this craft.

The engine turbines are able to flip in and out, which represent the vehicle’s flight status. When the engines are tucked in, this is the landed form of the battle vehicle. When the engines are out the vehicle is in its flight form. A technic liftarm system accessed on the bottom of the ship controls whether or not the turbines are tucked in or opened out. By pushing the liftarm up, the engines tuck in, and then by pushing down from the topside of the ship, the engines spring into flight mode. It feels like there’s a little bit too much weight and torque controlled by this system as it can be a little rigid when trying to push the engines in or out, but it gets the job done.

Three Midak Skyblasters are spread across the bottom of the vehicle, one below each turbine, and one dead center at the front of the model. The set includes four spheres for each blaster, which fill them completely.

The liftarm system which controls the turbine configuration also acts as a handle to grip the ship and fly it through the air. The weight of the model ends up being balanced quite nicely while holding the grip, Thanos would be proud.

There’s also a steering attachment that can turn from side to side, but it’s pretty locked in place once you put a pilot in.

Current Pricing & Final Thoughts

If you’ve got this set in your sights and want to pick it up for yourself, it’s got a decent price bump up from the Rockoh T3. In used condition this set will run you around $100, while in brand-new sealed condition you can expect to pay around $180 to get the set. $100 feels like a pretty good price point for this set, it doesn’t feel too overpriced to me. Honestly, if this set were released today, I think we’d see it cost around $75, so not too much of a markup. But when it comes to sealed condition, there’s no big reason to jump at the $180 price point unless you’re adding to your sealed collection.

The overall scale of the set feels much larger than the Rockoh T3 despite only having 30 more pieces than that set. The parts in this set are much larger in size and include quite a few large-mold parts, hence the price bump up.

I would highly recommend this set for any Bionicle fan. The construction and final appearance takes me back to 2001 and feels very coherent to Bionicle. The stage is definitely set for the final Battle Vehicle next week, I’m already itching to build it.

Score: 8.8

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