Review: Official Set 8992 - Cendox V1
This week, we’ll be building set 8992, the Cendox V1, which marks the first of the 2009 Bionicle Battle Vehicle Sets. The Cendox V1 is a specialized vehicle designed for combat and transportation across the harsh deserts of Bara Magna. Crotesius uses this vehicle in arena matches, where Glatorian warriors compete against each other for resources and to settle disputes. Equipped with plenty of weaponry, the Cendox V1 provides Crotesius with means to participate in arena battles and navigate the desert.
Crotesius Review
Crotesius is completely monochrome with his dark red appearance, leaving no doubt that he belongs to the fire tribe. I’m not a big fan of the arm and leg pieces being identical, it’s just an easy way out in my opinion.
On his back, Crotesius has a dial which ranges from 5 to a skull, which indicates zero. This is referred to as a life counter, and corresponds to a gladiator game which LEGO released to add additional play value to some of the 2009 sets. you and an opponent fire Thornax fruit at each other, and hits reduce your health. It’s a neat function but I’m not sure I like it attached to the figure, it detaches me a bit from the world of Bionicle and gives this much more of a play toy appearance. Which yeah, I know they’re toys, but let some of us take it more seriously!
Vehicle and Combination Review
The color design on the Cendox V1 is really intriguing and unique for Bionicle. Pittsburgh sports fans are probably massive fans of the colors with the mix of black and yellow. There’s a solid amount of detail throughout the model, and doesn’t leave any awkward openings, it truly looks like a fully functional snowmobile of sorts.
But while the look of the vehicle is quite nice, its functionality is a bit disappointing. Perhaps I got unlucky with my parts, but the back tread does not move when pushing the vehicle along, it simply slides around.
The front of the Cendox has a lot of movement, which clearly establishes it as an all terrain vehicle. The front section is able to turn, tilt, and twist to accommodate any features out there in the deserts of Bara Magna. Also up front is the Thornax launcher, which is able to tilt on its own up and down. The launcher works by pinching the middle of the silver pieces. The ammo is a bit loose and tends to fall out easily, but the launcher works quite well in terms of firing the ammo.
Mounting Crotesius to the Cendox is a bit tricky and takes some force to get into place. The life counter gets in the way of the head from tilting back, which really limits the articulation once Crotesius is in place. Mounting is completed via two axles attaching to the hands along with some supplemental attachments to the feet. Once in place Crotesius is very much locked in, so there’s not really a worry of him falling out.
Current Pricing & Final Thoughts:
If this is a set you’re interested in, it’s definitely one of if not the cheapest battle vehicle you can get. In used condition you can expect to pay around $30 for this set, and in brand new sealed condition this set typically currently goes for around $70. This was actually one of the rare cases where I wish I had a used version of the set. A lot of the pieces were very difficult to snap together and there was almost too much friction in the ball joints. There were several times during the building process where I wish I had some more broken in parts. That being said, it was really nice to see pristine parts, so I would recommend just staying within your budget on this one, I don’t see a really big advantage one way or the other.
The Cendox V1 makes for a great display model, and a very worthy addition to the Battle Vehicle subtheme of Bionicle. But the functionality is a little bit flawed, the front of the vehicle is very loose and tends to wiggle around a lot. It is certainly very representative of an all-terrain vehicle though. The back tread not functioning when sliding the model around was another disappointment, and one that really left me bummed because I was really excited to see that tread in action.
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