Review: 81002 Splash Koi Skin
Posted by Huw,
81002 Splash Koi Skin replaces the black/white/orange koi skin in 81000 Koi to turn it into a multicoloured feast for the eyes.
Rather than remove the original skin, which admittedly would have been easy enough to do, I elected to build more fish skeletons so that I can display the skins together.
See both koi and the shark side-by-side after the break...
I'm no koi or fish expert but a quick Google would suggest that this is an entirely fictional colour scheme. Nevertheless, it looks excellent.
The left side is primarily pink; the left more greeny-bluey. Both are very attractive.
As I said in my review of 81000 Koi there are no rare parts in the set, other than the new pin to hold the skin in place, so if you have a reasonable collection of Technic pieces already you should be able to build copies of the skeleton easily enough.
I built two, together with rudimentary stands, so that I can display three together. (I have no plans to colour-in the fourth skin).
Without doubt this colourful creature is my favourite of the three.
I hope you've enjoyed our LEGO Forma reviews and, if you ordered one, enjoy building it as much as I have.
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15 comments on this article
Why is there a new article on each skin? Thats the only difference between them(?)
The dangers of too much hair dye.....
Because even though it contains no actual LEGO pieces it is it's own set.
I'm with Huw. I love the colour of this skin. I didn't order one of these sets, and I'm still of mixed mind as to whether I wish I had.
I would build a base mechanism to move all four together and put it into a real aquarium, without water of course but with a full Lego environment and a motor hidden in the base.
^ filled to the brim with Trans-Blue studs? :D
I see no need to make three articles on this set and skins - one article should cover everything well enough. The product is not even for sale...
I am now kinda wishing I'd splashed out a bit more and got one of these as well. I only went for the basic Koi set.
While fictional, the color scheme may in fact be possible. Certain aquarium fish (particularly glassfish), and now even albino African Clawed Frogs are often injected with, or fed dye to cause them to display bright colors. I can't find any pictures that show mottled looks like this, but the colors used are largely representative of the ones seen in the aquarium trade. Unfortunately, there seem to be two major drawbacks to this practice. One is that the color fades away after a few months, so it's really only serving to catch the eye of prospective buyers long enough to secure the sale. The other is that it's believed to be detrimental to the health of the animal. So, you know, risk the health of the animal to convince someone to buy what is essentially a lie with an expiration date.
But no such risks with this fish! And it makes a colorful alternative for those who are loath to actually go to town on the Ink Koi skin with permanent markers. And speaking of the Ink Koi, I kinda regret not buying another copy of that skin. I was waffling over the last one in the US before someone else bought it, and one of the primary reasons I didn't was I'd seen that they were posting PDFs of the skins...only the other day I opened the files and realized they were completely blank other than the outlines for cutting. So, no actual Ink Koi pattern.
The white pins on the two Koi look just like a bad case of fish fungal infection.
Huw you said “The left side is more pink; the left side is more greeny-bluey.” I know what you meant but I think you should change it.
Nice and colorful. I think even a non-Lego person can enjoy this piece in the livingroom
Funny, the only one you didn't photograph is the one I'll be using. I actually really like the look of the ink skin without any color added, and that's exactly how I'll be displaying mine.
Black friday 2019 : 80% Off... :-)
@Nanex:
Black Friday 2018: All sold out.