But our happiness was not to last. Mata Nui’s brother, Makuta, was jealous of these honors and betrayed him. Makuta cast a spell over Mata Nui, who fell into a deep slumber. Makuta’s power dominated the land, as fields withered away, sunlight grew cold, and ancient values were forgotten.
Still, all hope was not lost. Legends told of six mighty heroes, the Toa, who would arrive to save Mata Nui. Time would reveal that these were not simply myths - for the Toa did appear on the shores of the island. They arrive with no memory, no knowledge of one another - but they pledged to defend Mata Nui and its people against the darkness. Tahu, Toa of Fire. Onua, Toa of Earth. Gali, Toa of Water. Lewa, Toa of Air. Pohatu, Toa of Stone. And Kopaka, Toa of Ice. Great warriors with great power, drawn from the very elements themselves. Together, they were six heroes with one destiny: to defeat Makuta and save Mata Nui.
This is their story.
Reviews
In a meeting room of a headquarters that’s basically just in the middle of a paddock, Australia, 2018
David O’Halloran has just arrived to the meeting about the new Shrike proposals that he called, which is awkward, but also probably means that the board has already talked over everything and are just waiting to discuss them with him, which is nice, everyone loves to have a bit of a monologue after all.
“Shit, sorry mates,” He apologised “You know how feral it gets on the highway out of town. So what have we got first?”
But lotto, what were you looking for?
The design cues I wanted to see were the inner driving lights, the black unbroken line between lights/driving lights on the front and back, the lower lights on the front and the lower lights/reflectors on the back, and the pillar badge (which nobody got anyway so it doesn’t really matter in the end).
Kestral Electron by @crwpitman1
“Oi, what’s this? This isn’t our comparison render scene! And the car, it’s-”
“That’s just it Davo, it ain’t ours. Someone sent in just some pictures of their car, and didn’t even rename it to fit our request.”
“Right. Well, let’s just chuck it in the bin and move on, shall we?”
Bin reason: no .car sent to me, and the name was completely wrong anyway.
Reviewing it anyway because there's not many cars in this.
It’s not awful, but it does feel like a early 2010’s “vision of the future” concept, and not something ready for production in 2020. It missed most of the design cues, with only the inner running lights and the black between the brake light clusters still there. And on top of all that, some of the design aspects like the bumper bars on the front and rear for some reason and the tiny mirrors just make it look strange.
Aim Shrike EV by Carrozzeria Stilistica by @randomtuner (not going to hold the Z fighting against you or anyone else btw, it happens and I’m not gonna fret over it)
“Right well here we go, this one looks better! A smidge unfinished, but oh well.”
“Yeah, but it has a big problem too mate. They engineered the body for a transverse engine, and when we fired off an email to Carrozzeria Stilistica about it they told us that redoing the engineering for longitudinal would delay the project past our deadline.”
“Damn. Ah well, chuck it in the bin too I guess.”
Bin reason: transverse engine when longitudinal was required.
Reviewing it anyway because there's not many cars in this.
It’s an interesting take for sure, and gets a fair bit right, but it is VERY unfinished feeling. There’s not even any doorhandles! That, the missing front and rear lower lights, and how generally unconventional it is wouldn’t have done it much favours if it wasn’t in the bin.
Not in the bin
Aim Shrike Elektra GL by @the-chowi
“Yeah nah you’re not wrong mate, but it’s got some… interesting quirks to it.”
“I can see what you mean, but damn if the looks aren’t swaying me away from those.”
Detailed review
I mean what I wrote, it looks incredible! A very contemporary take on Aim design cues, that doesn’t really sacrifice much of the Aim look to make it look very modern! The only design cue gripe I have is the line between the front lights, it’s really not very prominent on this EV trim. On the base and sports trims in your post it was, but here it just kinda blends into the car.
What’s really holding it back for me though are the quirks to the design. It’s nothing major, but it’s a few small niggles that combine together to stand out enough to note. The front feels like it starts a smidge too low, resulting in this awkward little lip between the top of the grille and the edge of the bonnet, the rear lightbar is just the running light, which is a trend I hate irl and that carries over to the funny pretend Automation world, and the sunroof looks REALLY out of place, usually cars will have a panoramic roof or no glass at all in the roof before they’d have a sunroof these days.
Aim Shrike ES by @nate21
“But?”
“…But it just looks too generic. I feel like I’m looking at a Peugeot!”
Detailed review
Again, I mean what I wrote, it’s very nice, but it’s just too generic. While there is still the Aim cues in the line between the lights on the front, the classy lightbar on the rear, and the lower lights/reflectors, and I can see what you were going for with the DRLs, in the end it just doesn’t look like an Aim thanks to said DRLs.
Other than that though, it’s really nice. The only real niggles I have with the design is that the fake grille being made with metalplate just looks a bit weird, and that the lights don’t have much to them, it’s just a plate of bright maker inside the housing.
Aim Shrike Electra SX by @voiddoesnotknow
“No clue mate, I wouldn’t mind some of it though, would make for an interesting smoko.”
“Heh, yeah it would mate. I don’t hate it at all but it’s just too weird.”
Detailed review
Out of all the cars submitted, this is the only one that hits every criteria I have other than the badge on the pillar (which again, nobody did). It’s just a shame that the car doesn’t quite live up to that.
I actually really like the front, it reminds me of a mid 10’s Volvo, but the back just doesn’t work. Everything above the bumper is just too low, and nothing quite feels like it would mesh with the design language on the front either. All-in-all it feels like a car that got lost in translation halfway through, and it’s a damn shame because that front really was a good first impression.
Also fun fact, my potato of a computer HATES this for some reason. The fans ramp up more than, and it takes longer to load than, the other Elektra, and that has a full interior.
Aim Shrike EV 2021 by @OT_motive
“Yeah mate, it’s pretty good but it doesn’t look like an Aim.”
“Pretty good? This is gorgeous! It really doesn’t look like an Aim though, which kills me.”
Detailed review
Yup, this is really nice, but yet again it’s too generic for its own good. And unlike the ES I can’t even see the attempt to change up the iconic Aim design cue of the inner lights. Which is a shame because it hits every other beat so well. The only real gripes I have with it are that the black bar up front is a bit subtle for its own good, and that the reverse lights are red.
It’s extremely concept-y, what with the lights with no cover or the rear quarter window mounted indicators, but I really can’t come up with too many complaints about this outside of the too generic front.
After discussing the cars at length for a good while, David and the board were pretty worn out.
“Right, we’ve all had enough of this,” David proposed “So let’s have a break for half an hour, go have a smoko, grab a bite to eat, mull it all over, then come back here and make our final decision, yeah?”
After the chorus of agreements, the board hurried off to go bludge for the next half an hour.
And the winner is
...
@the-chowi and his Shrike Elektra GL!
2nd was @OT_motive
3rd was @nate21
4th was @voiddoesnotknow
It was a much closer contest than I thought it’d be in the end, with the top 3 only really being separated by the fact that one was less generic than the others, and even then thanks to the gripes I have with the winner’s design compared to the others it was narrow.
Thanks for putting up with the last minute delay, and also thanks for putting up with my first hosting effort! Please let me know if I’ve done anything wrong, I was flying by the seat of my pants lmao.
See you in the next CSC!