20 years later, a review of the 2001 Bionicle Toa Mata! Today we're looking at Tahu, Lewa, Kopaka, Onua, Pohatu and Gali, along with some of the iconic Kanohi Masks. Which ones did you have? #lego #bionicle #review
The reason Gali has one of those socket pieces on her chest instead of the usual ball, is because of an engineering joke. In a ball socket, the ball is called male and the socket female. Because you put the ball inside the socket.
I wish they would bring back the line in this form with very small tweaks and up dates. Bionicle was my favorite when it was nice and simple like this, and collecting the masks was super fun
Sadly those machines used to make the pieces are probably not even around anymore, and making new ones for the giant brand is just too expensive for them to go for, sadly.
My first Toa was Pohatu, I saw the commercial on TV and ask my mother for one of these guys, she phoned a toy store and Pohatu was the last in stock. Good to see that there are still Bionicle reviews.
As a kid I always thought Tahu, pohatu, and Lewa’s hands were like guns, like a turret thing almost, with the two fingers actually being like a double barrel. Since onua was the only one who had hands/claws that actually looked like hand, and everyone else had weapons for hands, I figured their hands were just turrets, especially with how Lewa’s was different made it look more gun barrel-like to me
I can see why one would think that lol. I guess back then, Lego didn't have an official hand piece and reused parts from older lineups. I think the reason why Lewa's hand has longer fingers with the axle-pin is to accomodate his axe to allow a two handed swing. You can plug the axle-pin into the axe and since Lewa's arm swings freely, it allows for a two-hand usage of the axe. Fortunately, the socket connector pieces became the hands for the Rakhski, Toa Nuva, and the Metru Nui matoran and toa. However, Kopaka Mata had one for his arm that holds his shield, so I'm not sure why they didn't do that for some other toa.
Bionicle really was something else. I remember the series so fondly, it had such a strong brand and identity even in it's earliest days. It's hardly surprising that it saved Lego
I used to think that Gali's mask was fragile because of how see-through it was. I was very much surprised to find out it didn't break when it fell to the floor one day.
@@brickthumb All the Mata masks are way more durable than later masks since they are made of a harder plastic compared to those used for the Metru/Mahri/Phantoka/Mistika, the worst being the Inika with rubber ones which material gets worse with age.
Oh hey, one of the masks in your collection at 7:59 is actually a fairly rare misprinted kanohi. The blue mask between the two orange in the bottom row. The Matatu was only supposed to be printed in the Turaga mask colours, but it along with the ruru was mistakenly printed in the Toa mask clourations as well. The two masks directly right of it are also fairly rare, as is the trans grey kaukau at the end of the row.
I wish I wasn't a small town boy living in Brazil back then... Those things were very expensive and just got to big cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and were very expensive
@@brickthumb No, at that time, I was only 6 and I had a brother that was 5. My parents weren't able to buy one for each of us. It was better to leave it as was. Nowadays, most of the Bionicles from that time are much more expensive. Maybe, one day, I'll be able to buy it.
I was born in 2001 the same year the theme launched, I grew up with the phantoka and mistika lines back when I couldn't read and didn't know that the orange flying guy was Pohatu, took me years to learn that. But! before all that, I was left with the original Tahu passed down to me the sister from my brother, and oooh how I loved it, I didn't even know the story of bionicle, Mnog, the matoran, maybe the turaga, I only saw the promotional material in the instructions, I was so fond of that fire looking figure with an offknockable mask, and the greatest action feature of all time, the arm swinging. Today, I long to slowly extend my collection to all of the toa, Takanuva being the next (and the best veichle set imo), a Mctoran being my goal, as I don't believe they were sold in Denmark, but looking through bionicle's first year it's bright colours and interesting shapes, it is far superior to any predecessor I own. Maybe except G2 part 2, damn lego should've just kept the colours simple, instead of all that gold and tan and silver. the glatorians also have a nice colourful feel to them, and I still love the metru-toa although they are a bit dim and have no secondary colours.
Thank you for sharing, its always fun to hear other peoples' stories. And good luck with your quest! I believe the Mctoran were only available in America and Australia, which seems a bit unfair for us Europeans (especially since Lego is European itself!) I'm trying to track diwn a set myself but it's not easy...
The first to the early Bionicles are the best in my opinion..always loved the original Toa..they just had the right look and feel to them in terms of mystical machines with nice simplicity but noticeable difference...I loved the both the versions of bohroks they released too..I got obsessed with collecting the krana types for them.
Great review! I really appreciate you including the Maori name descriptions of the Toa and masks. That was my favorite aesthetic from 2001, much better than calling the characters Claw or Torch like the previous Slizers line had done
Also if I remember correctly, you could combine three Toas to create a big one. Onua, Pohatu and Kopaka was one and Tahu, Lewa and Gali created the other.
If I could go back in time I would have convinced the creators of these sets to have neck swivel. Luckily it’s an easy modification but I would still prefer if they were built in.
I just started buying Bionicle, and my brother reminded me that our dad has a box at his home with some old LEGO. I am hoping my old Bionicle is in there :)
My very first Bionicle when they first came out was also Onua. But I always wanted Tahu. After I stopped collecting and playing with Bionicles at the age of 14 I kinda forgot about them. Then when I was about to turn 27 I got a massive nostalgia phase so I found Thanu (as well as a bunch of first gen Beyblades) on Ebay and got it in a very good shape. Haha. I still open the box to look at it from time to time.
All of the toa were great in their own ways. With me, I really love Kopaka's kanohi. It gives him a look like he is always analyzing all his surroundings where he does well being an ice toa. I always love the thought that ko-matorans scatter about, and sharing findings with other groups. Either gazing the stars or following old relics before time
How could they want to sue lego for using their culture as inspiration? What a compliment that someone thought your culture was cool enough to make an entire story around it with kickass bulidible action figures. They shoudve been honoured to have had their culture featured like this.
God I wish I had all 6 2001 Toa on display. I always wanted Tahu as a kid, since he has the most iconic design of all 6 Toa. But my parents gave me completly different characters. I did get Kopaka, Lewa & Gali, but the Gali peaces unfortenatly broke apart, so I only have Kopaka & Lewa on display. I also wanted the 2002 Toa Nuva sets, due to their silver armour looking badass, but I never got a single Toa Nuva toy sadlly.
Lewa was my first bionicle and i still have it and all the other iteratinos as well :D now i start to collect the missing other ones... gen 1 and 2 fist....
Bro, los nuevos son un set conmemorativo que dan de regalo por una compra, yo también hecho de menos los originales, pero estoy contento simplemente con que recuerden el legado de Bionicle