Review:70784 Lewa - Master of Jungle/Berrybrick
Berrybrick
Country: America the Beautiful Gender: Male
Joined: February 2010 
№ of Reviews: 46 
№ of Featured reviews: 1
Building Experience: Enough is enough
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- Theme: BIONICLE
- Pieces: 85
- Minifigures:
- Price: $14.99 / £12.99
- Brickipedia / Brickset
In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your
Knees, knees
I wanna watch you bleed
New: Master of Jungle with improved sarcasm! Lewa is back with a new look and new powers as he trades his winding winds for jabbing jungle jinxes. With how long it took me to get the six Toa, I thought I knew what I was expecting, and for the most part, I was right. I could tell what I would like and what I wouldn't just from pictures and other reviews (what, this isn't the first 2015 BIONICLE review?). Lewa is the exception.
The pictures I took for this review were more of a photo test for a new device than an actual review, so despite questionable quality, quantity, and posing, consider them an added bonus!
Instructions/Box[edit | edit source]
I have to hand it to Lewa. I think that, among the Toa, he has the most eye-catching box, and yeah, some of the best art. The colors work well with him without drowning him out. The figure pops, and he is instantly recognizeable. With twelve other sets, it is sometimes hard to tell what sets the story is carrying, but each time Lewa, Lord of Skull Spiders, and the Protector of Stone (an odd mix...) have immediately jumped out. I love the way that the obelisks and foliage is positioned to give a dynamic, high-speed look, and there are plenty of skull spiders lurking if you look carefully enough. As usual, I'm not pleased with how the mask looks on the box art, but it isn't too different from how the actual mask looks (whereas things like the Mask of Fire look completely off), so it gets a pass.
The instructions are, thankfully, rather unremarkable. They are easy enough to follow if you are used to LEGO instruction manuals and pay close enough attention. There is are no stickers
Parts[edit | edit source]
Unlike fellow mid-sized Toa Pohatu and Gali, Lewa does not introduce any new colors to the CCBS palette. He does, however, take two rare colors (flame yellowish orange and bright green) and introduce four size 4 shells for each of them, plus a bright green torso piece. Throw in two piston add-ons, three silver "beast legs" (which look great in that color), plus the gearbox, the same axe-heads that Gali uses (just darker), a pair of friction joints, two 6m bones, the not-so-rare-but-still-cool silver swords, and a few new/uncommon TECHNIC pieces and I think that Lewa is probably the best value among the smaller Toa. Gali is good too, of course, and Pohatu has some cool parts, Lewa just comes out on top. It helps that the Protector of Jungle doesn't use most of Lewa's shells, instead introducing another new color (which, likewise, makes him a good value amongst the Protectors).
Lewa uses the new head with the trigger function for popping masks, the new Mask of Jungle in both bright green and warm gold, a dark blue skull spider, and a silver chest piece with exclusive printing.
The Build[edit | edit source]
Lewa's gearbox is a little bit different from the other Toa because of the way that his shoulder and back armor is attached. It's not super complicated by any stretch of the imagination, but it does help. These figures are all snapped together pretty quickly though, so if you are looking for a build, look somewhere else. These are all about the parts, character, and finished model.
Figure[edit | edit source]
What is great about these new Toa sets is that each of them are different. What sets Lewa apart from the others is a gearbox which is raised two modules and arms which are also two modules longer than most other Toa. Using only 4m shells on his limbs, it gives him a lanky, light look. I didn't think that I would like it, but it has a lot of personality and looks good, at least from the front. I love the way that they armored his shoulders, because it hardly impedes his arm movement (if at all), but because of the raised gearbox and offset arms, when viewed from the side, Lewa looks less lanky and agile and more like the Hunchback of Notre Nui. With the gearbox so high, it also prevents the trigger on his eyestalk from being pushed down far enough to eject his mask or to move his head, which is an issue for a Toa which can fly. Moving the gearbox down one module is an easy fix without sacrificing much of the look.
Lewa has the best back armor. On all of the other Toa, it is protrusive and makes their torsos look too thick, but his, using a beast foot, works perfectly. I've modded Onua to use the same piece, and would do the same with the others if I had more of them in the right colors.
The colorscheme of the old green air characters is something I've complained about before (because they were all green and gray or silver, so it was the most bad and boring combination among other combinations which were bad and boring; except being the Mistika/Phantoka where Lewa was better than the bad, boring, and ugly colors that Tahu was dressed in) but Lewa fixes that by adding flame yellowish orange to his arms and shins. From pictures, I didn't think that I would like the color blocking or layering, since besides the shoulder/chest silver is just kind of thrown anywhere where they didn't want to cast colors in new parts, and well, it still looks that way to me but it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Both the green and the orange are good, bright, vibrant and fun colors which work better than probably anything that an old air character came in back in the old days (except for maybe Gresh or Kongu as a McToran)
Lewa's axes are, admittedly, kind of ugly. I'm mixed on that headpiece, but the way that the sword handles swoosh and how long they are compared to how high he holds the axes just doesn't look great. What it does do though is give him a lot of personality. The long arms and the high grip sets the blades low and does make for some cool poses. However, I prefer Lewa in his adrenaline mode. The one advertised on the back of the boxes is, admittedly, kind of stupid and doesn't look good with the wings facing out from his arms and then suggesting that you swing his swords for battle...what? I like to turn the axe-heads towards his torso, which does impede movement a little, but looks more convincing, and then position the swords more like Lewa Nuva's. Then, using the gear function to make him raise one arm and lower the other works well for simulating steering.
The biggest thing about Lewa coming in that I didn't think I would like is the Mask of Jungle. The old Miru is one of my favorite masks of all time, and they took a really simple design, buttoned the mouth shut, and plastered all sorts of ridges all over it. To be honest, it looks like Ultron to me, and I don't like that. The mask is better than I thought it would be, but it's still far from my favorite. The smile is there, most ways that you look at it, but from some angles (especially from the side) it goes from a grin to a snarl. I don't particularly like the golden mask on Lewa, because it clashes with the orange, but it's a nice inclusion and the golden masks looking out of place isn't necessarily an issue; they certainly were that way back in 2002. The skull spider is dark blue, so it also doesn't fit in with the colorscheme, but I don't get the impression that it is supposed to.
Lewa doesn't have the most exciting chest piece, but it has metallic yellow printing, which is cool, and manages to look tribalien. The color choices are kind of strange, since they aren't used anywhere else on the figure, but it looks fine. No red gashes is good.
Summary[edit | edit source]
The mighty jungle
Muaka sleeps tonight
Building Experience: If you have built a CCBS hero before (or, especially another Toa) it won't be anything new:
3½ / 5
Parts: There isn't a single thing here (aside from the character exclusive parts, maybe) which is useless, and they are in rare colors, to boot:
4½ / 5
Playability: Lewa is my favorite Toa to pose. He has shoulder armor, but it doesn't impede his arms at all, and he also flies, at least in my head. The raised gearbox does cause a few issues, though it is an easy fix:
4 / 5
Figure: I don't feel like Lewa is as good as he could be. His colors are bright and fun, but the layering and placement isn't as inspired as some other models, like Gali and Kopaka, and they just don't work quite as well as Pohatu. Like Onua, he is a little messed up, but it's not such an easy fix. His proportions are fun though.
4 / 5
Value for Money: Lewa and Gali are probably the best values of all the Toa. I'm still a little unsure of the larger prices, but hey, there is some cool stuff here:
4½ / 5
Overall: Lewa isn't my favorite. I don't like his mask, I don't like his weapons, and I don't like his color layering. However, despite that, he still manages to be an enjoyable set. He might not be the first one I would give a recommendation, but he gets one all the same:
4 / 5
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