Eljay's Recap Review: 8998 Toa Mata Nui 

"The fabled... Golden mask of light." Eljay, seriously. *You had ONE job!*

"There's only one real reason people buy this set. And that is for the fabled, golden, Mask of Light." Good job Eljay. GG

Wait, everyone wants the mask? Hard to find? Irony.

"I am Mata Nui, Toa of Light"

Really disappointed the opening skit wasn't a "don't talk to me or my son again" meme

Realistically, I don't think LEGO would have ever made a Matoran Universe set. They probably would have strayed away from making a large-scale expensive set with the bland colors your described. The only way they could make it work is if they made it more blue and brown like its rusty (like it's reveal in the comics)

I think it could look cool if all the yellow and orange parts were painted golden.

Welp, Mata Nui went Super Saiyan again...

If Mata Nui is the Great Spirit, does that mean that Toa Mata Nui is the Greater Spirit? *im sorry*

I think this is also the closest you'll get to mata nui in his robot form for the final battle. Even though it looks nothing like his actual robot body I can see where people used it as such.

Toa Mata Nui, the only bionicle other than Hydraxon to properly be able to give the finger. Sorry Axonn.

Seeing people display this set next to the regular mata nui gives me very strong "don't talk to me or my child ever again" vibes

I don't really want the set but... i need that mask

My grandma got me this back when it came out, I also have the silver one, so I'm pretty much set.

I kinda consider this the set form of The Prototype Robot.

Back when this was released, I wanted it so much. None of the stores had it, and given its price tag, I doubt I would have been able to get it anyway. Purely from what I've seen, I don't really mind most of the cons people have with this set. My biggest gripe are the boring, almost lanky arms. Compared to the heavily constructed and bulky legs, they just seem so boring and not well thought out. I think a lot more could have been done to make them look better.

I actually really liked the smaller Mata Nui vs the Titan Mata Nui, mainly for the consistent colors and body design. An easy for Titan Nui would be to repaint the yellow pieces to match the mask and build up the gapped sections MOC style. Would just look better in general.

#8998 - The Mask of Life and Some Pretty Nice Yellow Parts

I now see why my friend bought like 8 of these when it came out. He still has them and they're still sealed. He swore up and down the mask would be worth money down the road. Guess he was right.

I really wish they made the Great Spirit Robot instead, that would have been awesome, to have the entire matoran universe in your hand

I GOT THIS MASK! There is this store where they sell used bulk pieces and I found it in there!

“Some more issues people have with it are the gaps. It’s very gappy. Obviously there are a lot of gaps.” 6:57 I sense a bit of redundancy...

I utterly regret taking apart my beautiful revamp of this Mata Nui. Oh well, at least I actually got the set! But my goodness, you should've seen what I did!

"Beware my stinger sword!"

I always liked to think this set was meant to be the Mata Nui Robot

I genuinely love this set, i think it looks awesome on a shelf super imposing and stand out

I love this set, it's my all time favourite set and I spent countless days searching for it on eBay. But one thing always bugged me. I always hated his shield gun thing so I designed a proper shield with a gun on it. Now it is and always will be my favourite set, and not just because of the mask, I just love the set.

I feel like adding a lot of old-school pieces (from Slizers, Roboriders, and the early days of Bionicle) to him would have made the set worthwhile.

Titan Mata nui should be known as the Toa Of Cheese cause looks like he's made out of Cheese

Man I am so glad i got this when it came out! I was so excited, i think i got it for my birthday, I used my own parts to beef it up and fill the gaps, there were many videos online about how to add things to make it look better. My gold mask of life is one of my most prized possessions and im looking at it right now on my desk on the figure I made called Toa Mastar. Thanks for the nostalgia :)

The only set I regret not getting :/

The Mask if Light is my favorite part of this set guys

Wow revisiting this video five years later. I feel like to make him look like the Matoran Universe, you could just straight up swap his shoulders out for Titan Takanuva's. They have the same roundness to them, and they'd look fantastic in all grey. I've used them in MOCs before to great effect. (Hell I'm pretty sure LEGO straight up reused them in Hero Factory IIRC)

Fun think. When I was a kid I've got knock off of small Mata Nui on my birthday. It's actually came with golden mask, it's even last longer then Lego's Vastus that I also have. So it was big win for me

Ohhhhhhhhh! the open axles, red and blue pins! it's such a crime against humanity! Why lego WHY. that's what I hear every time I watch one of these reviews you should make it a shirt honestly.

What I like to believe is that the guy that designed this set had this as a first rendition ( like a prototype) and lego just decided to use that.

I got it at retail and I like it. This and Teridax are the center piece of my display.

Also, Tuma sounds a lot like the beast-era Megatron for some reason. Not that I'm complaining, I think it fits.

I’m about to buy this set and repaint the whole thing gold....

Toa Ignika sorta counts for the lineage even though He's not actually the same character but he is sorta just the mask of life which is in there so sorta the original one and the Mata Nui (or is it Mata-Nui?) is sorta 3 characters (Mata Nui, Click, and The Mask of Life)

Man, I Was lucky to get all of the sets with the Mask of Life as a kid, especially this one (and in Canada, IIRC). The mask is a lot rarer than I remembered (can't see any on BrickLink right now). Now if only I'd kept it sealed.

The biggest dislike I have about this kit is the forearms. They’re very skinny and simple compared to the rest of the body. You can’t really tell with the left arm because of the shield but the right arm is practically a toothpick. They really should have bulked up the arms for the kit.

i got that set for £10 at a car boot sale last year. so lucky. unfortunately the mask joint is very loose. it is an ok set but not the best. prefer the glatorian version

I just want to say is Toa Mata Nui is Bionicle's ecquivilance of UCS Large Lego sets, such as The Dark Knight Trilogy Tumblers released in one in 2014 & the other in 2021 while we had the normal playable sets that are smaller

This Mata Nui set it's just big just like his old great spirit body before Makuta Teridax took control of his old one. But I really want this set sure

I get so nostalgic looking at this guy, I wish I had the money to get this guy

I still want this set, not just for the mask, but the fact he seems huge and would take forever to build, thus giving me a challenge. Plus to make it even moreso of a challenge, I could fill in some of both the gaps and cover the open axles, maybe redo his arms and possibly adapt his body frame to be more like Maxilos.

As someone who has never owned this set, I still maintain that I kinda like it.

If I get this set I'll make use of it! I'll use the peices to build a mini Mata nui and a vehicle for him! Would do a land vehicle but I'm limited to a speeder of air craft

always wanted this one

When you talk about making it just be the matoran universe as a set, I would bet that when this set was designed, in the early concept stages it was SUPPOSED to be the mata nui robot body, seeing as how similar the torso and leg design is between the two different models. However, as set dev time went on and market research and focus groups were conducted, they probably realized it wouldn't have sold very well as the great spirit robot and so instead built it to be big Mata-Nui and didn't bother to have pieces properly recolored to match the golden Ignkia (which I imagine would have been included in the set from the very start).

I got this set for Christmas I think. I was so pumped because, yep you guessed it, the Mask of Life in gold! Still have it today, it's on display on my high shelf! Although following your advice about leaving it on your shelf for long periods of time (maybe even a decade!), I think I better wash it up.

After all the Bionicle G1 sets, can you continue this series by reviewing the HF sets?

I hope u guys get to 100,000 subs

hooooooo, porque no llego a México? buen vídeo like

you got him SWEET i bought him and he is so freaking cool collectors for life!

Imagine if DankPods used the 1 grit to smash the golden mask. Nothing can withstand the power of the 1 grit, even the Mask of Life.

i got it when i was really getting into bionicle, it was my favourite set and couldn't wait to see other titans...then it was cancelled :P

Missed, "this isn't even my final form" joke opportunity

If I ever get this I might mod it into darker tones to be the mata nui robot

This set has the Bitil shell/wing/armour pieces in pure yellow... I would like to know how that would look on Bitil himself, the only pure yellow bionicle set in existence as far as I know (not counting Jala or this Mata Nui because they have other colours as well).

I like to think this might be the mata nui robot that holds the matoran universe

They should have released an exclusive version of this set with all of the pieces in gold, including the axles.

I always thought this was the giant mata nui robot

Lol I painted my Glatorian Legends Mata Nui gold. His joints were shot, so I figured might as well paint the bastard.

I wanted this set so badly when it came out! Sadly, I never got it.

My brother had this, I’ve always wanted it again. I saw someone do it silver and I really want to do that

got the guy around a week ago. love the set so far

Hey question: out of all the G-1 Bionicle sets from 2001-2010, which set was your most favorite in your opinion?

will you review a Cople nexo knight sets or ninjago. not all of them but any you may have. keep up the great work

I like the full mata nui I hope to get both versions. I have regular mata nui so I plan to get that mata nui

I was going Through my old bionicles. I always stored them with the most care. I did not even know my mata nui is worth more than $400 as well with some earlier sets. Crazy

I bought the entire Toa Mata Nui set 3 years ago for $120. Today, the mask itself can go for 2.5x the amount I bought it for, and that’s just USED. I got pretty lucky; was in great condition too.

When I look at this set I think of the giant Mata nui robot

love how the concept of the mask, which depict the body of a toa

"Mata nui over here didn't have any yellow" I'd like to know what drugs you use, sir.

Attach a medium size axle between the hands, under the big sword like a hilt. That way he can hold it two handed, like a great sword.

I wanted to buy this when it came out but my parents wouldn't let me spend $50 on legos back then, said I should ask for it for Christmas. But by Christmas it was already out of production and worth over $100, no chance of getting it as a gift then. Of course now the mask alone is worth $50 at a minimum. Most people don't like this set and it's at least nice to know I didn't miss too much, but god what I would've done for it back then, it kills me seeing how much it's worth now.

It's a shame that this was the only way to get an actual gold version of the Mask of Life. I did have the silver one from Toa Ignika back in the day, which was cool, but needed the gold. But I took one look at this abomination of a thing and thought "...nah you know what, I'm good."

I actually like this set.

Congratulations (insert name here) you mata nui has evolved into toa/titan mata nui

I've been looking for this set online, I can't find one for sale ANYWHERE. In fact most of the bionicles seem to no longer exist on the internet

I like this set and how it functions but I wish we got a Matoran Universe Set and we finally have the Mask Of Life in its actual gold color

Actually i kinda think the gaps in his build could highlight the differnce between matoran universe beings and a glatorian. Like Matoran universe beings should look more mechanical and a glatorain of the same size should be well the gaps should be covered in the way ccbs armor tries to cover them.and in some cases does.

eljay is the best reviewer in town

What was that set with the hover board and the yellow figure with a silver mata nut mask?

I love this set , and the mask... i need this!

Unpopular opinion! I really like the gold variant, but I do prefer the silver one

I see how in your intro you have all years of bionicles but 2009, you must really hate that xD

You do a decent Michael dorn inpression

They should have made Mata Nui full gold. He has a slight matte gold finish in the film.

I ordered a Bionicle Haul of keet orange and yellow parts off bricklink and it came with the Gold ignika for free!

What if someone made a mask of life out of solid 24 carat gold?

I wish I had this...

Actually if I could afford that I would get it for how cool it looks

They grow up so fast ;-;

So I think this set is the mata Nui robot

...You know what? I feel bad I passed over this set. It's a big cool constraction set and we no longer get those.

Well i think in the final web comics he fought against mata nui in Titanform ?

Can someone please explain why the gaps look bad? I'm confused honestly because I don't mind them, but I would like to know why people don't like the gaps.