Review:70784 Lewa - Master of Jungle/Berrybrick/Berrybrick
Berrybrick
Country: America the Beautiful Gender: Male
Joined: February 2010 
№ of Reviews: 46 
№ of Featured reviews: 1
Building Experience: Enough is enough
While I was writing my full reviews of the six Toa, I realized that I was sort of skipping over several features that they all share in common because they are all common, so there was really no right place to speak about it except for everywhere (since I'm not a fan of "See my review on Harley Quinn's Unicycle for what I think of this piece" type writing, though I resort to that with some minifigures), but I ended up doing it nowhere. The exception was the boxes, which I really should have waited for this, because every Toa except for lucky Lewa got pretty much the same spiel. So, here we are, with a review of some of the common features of the Toa, and a ranking too.
What I think is the most immediately striking thing about the new Toa is their colorschemes. Even though some of them are poorly plotted (in my opinion) and rely too much on metallics, they really are striking and bright, unlike a lot of figures from before which had dull or dark and boring colorschemes (though not all of the Glatorian were so bad in that regard; mixing a brighter color with a darker one a lot of the time). When stood together, five of them look really good. Unfortunately, Pohatu's dark orange doesn't go with the others so well. His scheme is still really good (I think that he has the best distribution of any of them, for one thing) and I don't think that he would look as good as a figure if he were, say, bright orange or yellow instead, and I think LEGO did what best serves the set.
Secondly, the gearboxes are a big thing. Functions were a stable of earlier BIONICLE sets, but they sort of withered until they disappeared completely to be replaced by gimmicky launchers. It is fun to turn a gear and have the weapon slash (or whatever) through the air, though there isn't always enough friction, and, as mentioned in some reviews, it is more likely that a Toa's elbow or wrist will bend unnaturally when it makes contact with something stubborn enough (which, in some cases, is a lot of things), so that is kind of unfortunate. That seems to include the Toa's masks (especially the Skull Spiders) which, despite reintroducing a knock-off feature, aren't knocked off so easily. Actually, it seems downright impossible.
The Toa's masks have problems of their own. They tend to wobble a little bit, and most of them don't allow light through the eyes very well unless they are backlit. I find Tahu and Pohatu's to be the worse, with their beady eyes and elongated faces. The Skull Spiders are both the sturdiest and best allow the eyes to be seen. They kind of go unsung in my reviews, but they really are a well designed piece.
I think that is about all there is to say about the Toa as a group. It is good to have the Mata back, and I am pleased to see the variety that they come in. Personally, my ranking would go something like this:
- Gali
- Kopaka
- Onua
- Pohatu
- Lewa
- Tahu
That's just me though, and I do like them all except for Tahu, though even he turned into one that I really like after I made some pretty easy mods (shortened the legs, bulked up the arms, gave him some flamboyant shoulder pads). I think that, if you like BIONICLE in any way, shape, or form, and aren't too attached to the old theme to write-off these sets as "too different" (though I think there is an argument to make for the Theseus Paradox, and not just because I love to drop Minotaur references everywhere I can) there is at least one Toa for you.
So, which Toa is everyone's favorite? I wouldn't ask if I didn't actually want to know, so please comment!
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