Review:70788 Kopaka - Master of Ice
| Kopaka - Master of Ice (2 Reviews) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|
||||||||||||
| View more information... | |||||||||||||
$19.99
€19.99
£14.99
$29.99
$24.99
Reviews
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!
Berrybrick
Country: America the Beautiful Gender: Male
Joined: February 2010 № of Reviews: 46 № of Featured reviews: 1
Building Experience: Enough is enough
You are not entitled to view results of this poll.
And, in a flash of blinding reboot, for the first time in forever, the coolest of the Toa is back, looking like he spent the last eight years at the gym. He only looks that way; he was actually spending all of that time tanning his skin to golden perfection on some red star. Those yummy muscles actually come from a new experimental program he tried out where you erase your entire history and somehow, based on either the essence of your character or the way the world works (let's go with that one) you get jacked. I've tried it several times, and it works wonders. Sure, it may cause you to gain defects like losing your sense of humor or becoming clumsy, and causes some people to act irrationally bloodthirsty or retroactively gives them daddy issues, but hey, it's all worth it. 11/10 would recommend to a friend.
Kopaka was one of the more complex characters in the old BIONICLE series, a brooding introvert among a cast of colorful boneheads. (Feel ya, buddy!) Nobody wanted to buy him. They say that if you walked down the toy aisles at night, you could hear a murmur coming from lonely stacks of Kopaka's canisters. Something eery, with a bone-chilling, frozen tone which wreaks of girlish self empowerment:
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried!
Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl Toa you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well, now they know!
Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door!
*CRASH*
"...I didn't slip."
Sorry, it had to happen.
Disclaimer: Kopaka wasn't an unpopular set or character at all. What other lies will I feed you in this review? Read on to find out:
Instructions/Box
I like the trapezoidal box designs used for most of these sets, it gives them a cool look. They aren't the canisters many people associate with BIONICLE, but I was honestly never the biggest fan of those. They took up too much space and, especially in later years, weren't sufficient for storing sets. Most of the masks on the boxart look strange, certainly not as good as in real life. Kopaka's is one of the better ones, and his golden one does well. The only thing about the white one is the dark shadow under the eye which isn't nearly so prominent. I don't know what is up with these renderings. His pose is sort of strange, since he seems to be looking at the customer while jabbing his spear down to stop a leaping skull spider...it's just kind of of. The colors in the background art match the character pretty well (unlike some other sets) and the gold helps him to stand out. It isn't as attention grabbing as some of the others, but it works. The bags fit inside of the carton no problem and take up enough room. The box does, however, feel a bit thin and could possibly be damaged easily.
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 a small sticker sheet with the pattern for his thighs.
Parts
Like Tahu, Kopaka isn't as loaded with new parts as the other Toa, but he at least one-ups the Master of Fire here. Trans light blue bones are still pretty limited (especially in the US, since we never got the Fire and Ice Chima figures) and he also has four of the new piston shells in white, which only come in this set and the Protector of Ice (who has three) right now. The modified shells on his thighs are exclusive in white. Along with Pohatu, Kopaka also reintroduces a Rahkshi staff head, which was last seen in the BIONICLE Stars line. Considering that one of the other weapons which last appeared in those sets was the sword Kopaka used back in 2001, I would have rather seen them bring that back to use for his spearhead.
The new head, gearbox with various TECHNIC parts, and the slightly-more-rare-than-green blue eyes are included, plus a silver Skull Spider. There are also two golden paws, two friction extenders, a Brain Attack torso piece, and regular shells in white and gold. Character exclusive parts are the two Masks of Ice (previously Akaku), the printed chest piece, and the two halves which make up his shield.
It isn't the most interesting part selection of among the Toa, especially since Gali has the same trans light blue parts (just swapping out the hands for the shortest bones) and most of the others introduce new colors to the palette, but white and gold do have more reuse potential than red does, at least in my eyes. Still though, not too much of a parts pack.
The Build
Kopaka's build is slightly variegated from the others because of his shoulder pads and because his gearbox his raised by a whole module. Wow. Super exciting. Though I haven't reviewed Gali or Lewa yet, I'll spoil it for you here right now: If you want more of a building experience in one of these sets, you should probably look into Lord of Skull Spiders or even TECHNIC.
Figure
So, yeah, Kopaka got big. Back in 2001 he was (along with Lewa) one of the thinner Toa, having both his hip and shoulder joints turned inward. His shoulders got a little broader with the Nuva upgrade, but all changes considered, Kopaka was probably the least different of the Toa with the Phantoka/Mistika overhauls...actually, let's not even talk about those. I'm not sure what they were trying to do half the time. Anyway, now his hips aren't much wider, but his shoulders are humongous and his legs ridiculously thick.
I can live with that. Though it might not fit his personality too well (a body type not corresponding with personality? This is heresy!), as I began to think about it, a people who are not only going to survive in snow capped mountains but prefer it to every other biome on an underpopulated but extremely diverse island, they would have to be pretty hardy. I'm thinking sort of like media depictions of vikings where they are big and meaty, but perhaps a bit leaner and taller to give off that air of nobility (or conceit) that ice characters often do. Granted, with the thickness of everything (*cough*calvesthesizeofactualcalves*cough*) it does come off more as armor, and I think it's meant to, but food for thought.
Speaking of the armoring, there is some really interesting layering going on on the upper half. Start at the chest (a pretty good print with metallic blue lines, except what everyone is calling "nipples" looks like a pair of beady eyes to me) and the shoulder pads swoop out from under the mask and...uh...pad the shoulders. Then the arms go on from the solid gold to white on gold, white on trans light blue, and then solid trans light blue. I'm not sure exactly what if any sorts of armor patterns the designer was trying to emulate here, but I'll call rule of cool (probably what he was going for) and say that it looks good. At least with the white mask in place; with the gold one on, it really unbalances the figure and draws attention to the exaggerated shoulder pads, making him look rather top heavy (well, more than he already does).
The legs, again, have some good layering (I like the metallic shell under the matte add-on; it's a subtle way of differentiating him from the other Toa and cements white as the main color while using gold well). They are really thick, and it impedes ankle movement a little. From the side, it doesn't look so great, with the bone creating a ridge between the two shells and, of course, the humongous calf. It's a questionable decision which could possibly use some modding depending on taste, but I do like the boot effect it gives from some angles. The choice of plating for the thighs doesn't excite me so much, since it tapers towards the top and then kind of accentuates just how thin the hips are. It's not as bad as Tahu, since it, at least, isn't gappy. I appreciate the stickers which go over that shell though since they add a bit more of that tribal alien war paint look that I love so much, but I wish that it used the same colors as the chest. It isn't distracting at all, just not consistent.
Speaking of the skeleton, I want to praise it. Kopaka's legs are only a module shorter than Tahu's, yet his proportions come off much better when he is all armored up. I attribute this to not only the legs, but also the raised gearbox which, by extension (is that a pun?) also raises his torso. It also includes transparent bones and doesn't skimp on them, thankfully (aloha, Onua).
Okay, now let's talk about the colors. First of all, there is the sole eyesore silver piece on his abdomen. Generally, I look at the silver pieces as being the lowest layer of armor (basically their skin), but that is such a strange place to expose it when nothing else is that way. I know that they are going for some sort of continuity by giving each of the Toa silver armor somewhere, but I wish the torso piece were white. The color blocking is generally good, as previously discussed. The symbolism of white and trans blue makes sense (and is needed; some of the old gray ice sets were really boring in that regard) but the gold probably makes it the second least "elementally pure" color scheme. It only beats out Lewa with silver since, while I can't figure out an excuse for what silver has to do with the jungle, the gold is clearly used because it is evocative of yellow snow. Seriously though, it isn't meant to be elemental at all, just gimmickry metallic armor because he is the super buff expensive large set, but it at least looks good.
The weapons aren't the highpoint of the set. The spear is okay, it is just a spear, and the shield itself is good, but the way it is attached is just awful. I wish that they had found a better way to connect it. Just look in the picture below; that's painful. True, it's no worse than some of the hand positions that the old Toa had to bend their y-joint wrists into, but those are the sorts of awful memories which made Kopaka decide to reboot himself. (Or one reason. That and being gray and yuck. And also muscles.)
The Mask of Ice deserves it's own space. It manages to upgrade the old one without it becoming unrecognizable and just looks really good. It's my favorite for sure, with only the Mask of Water even coming close. The brow is done right, the openings on the forehead add to the look, the smoothness of the face with the round cheeks and receded eye, the way that the tubes around the mouth form the closest thing Toa can get to a beard...yeah, it's just good.
The adrenaline mode is one of the better ones. As someone who enjoys skiing, I like seeing it, and with his legs bent, the calves don't look so bad.
Summary
Do you want to build Kopaka?
Doesn't have to be Kopaka*
Do you want to build Kopaka?
Or ride Pewku down the halls?
I think some bonkle is overdue
I've started going to
Will Furno in the mall!
Do you want to build Kopaka?
*Yes, actually, it does. Very much.
Building Experience: Kopaka doesn't do anything to break up the general monotony of CCBS humanoids. That isn't to be expected, but still.
3½ / 5
3½ / 5
4½ / 5
4½ / 5
3 / 5
4 / 5
(Please use this section to write mini-reviews or ask questions about the set. If you wish to leave a comment about an individual review, please go to that review page and see if the reviewer has comments enabled.) <comments />
Enable comment auto-refresher