Lego Bionicle Review: 2001 Turaga. Vakama, Nokama, Matau, Onewa, Whenua and Nuju! 

I still love how in G1 even with these ultra simple builds there is a nice variety of different body proportions. Something that would later sadly get lost.

Seeing Vakama swing his staff like that reminds me of that comic relief scene from Mask of Light: Vakama: "Back! Back! Back you foul creature! One more step and I'll..." Tahu Nuva: "I'll take it from here, wise one."

The turaga masks are still my favorite bionicle mask design to this day. They perfectly combine the ancient, ethnic and futuristic feel and encompass perfectly the original feel of Mata Nui and the Bionicle universe.

Matau's mask definitely sticks out compared to the others, not only because of it's resemblance to a human face, but also because the wires make it look distinctly robotic. It reminds me of other robots designed to resemble humans, like C-3p0 and Maria from Metropolis.

Whenua was my first Turaga! I loved him!

I don’t know if it was intentional, but the wires on Matau and Onewa’s masks are kinda foreshadowing to the fact that they come from a far more technological society. Webs of wires are a consistent visual seen throughout the 2004 Metru Nui arc.

unique, easy to build, cheap and a deep lore. Man, these sets had EVERYTHING

I wonder how the Turaga would look if they released now. I really dont like the technic connectors for limbs, aside from the limited articulation i find them super jarring and they remind me that the figures are just made of lego.

Between its debut with Turaga Matau and its appearance in silver in the "Buzz Saw" (8648) set from Power Racers, the "Kaukau Staff" appeared in its origin color of Mata green one other time in the "Slammer Raptor" (8469) from the "Drome Racers" theme in 2002. The Toa Mata heads in brown are also exclusive to Turaga Onewa (8542), as they are in Mata green and Mata blue on Matau and Nokama respectively. Nokama's Trident also appears in the old dark gray and in black in three other sets between 2002 and 2007, one of which I had. Turaga Nuju's Ice Pick is the only Turaga staff that is fully exclusive to his respective set. Conversely, Turaga Whenua's Drill Staff is the most common of them, also appearing in an Alpha Team set (4744) in June 2004 and in seven sets from the "Mars Mission" theme between 2007 and 2008.

It is funny how you had Onua appear when Onewa was supposed to appear. I remember that I used to pronounce Onewa as "Oh-Nee-Wah" until learning how it was actually pronounced on the Mata Nui Guide feature on the Mask of Light DVD. Although it is odd that he was rarely referred to by name in the films. Also, with the exception of Nokama and Nuju, that isn't how the Toa Metru heads are put on their bodies. The other four Toa Metru heads are attached differently. I suggest looking it up. You aren't the first person I've seen that has made that mistake though. It must have been quite common. I myself never made that mistake, but I did for some reason have Vakama and Onewa's torsos be built the same way as Nokama and Nuju's torsos were are far as where the lower body piece connects to. Just thought I'd bring this up for when you eventually get to reviewing the Toa Metru.

great review, Vakama was my first and later I got Matau and with some ebay purchases parts for Nuju too( Feet, head, Mask and staff), now I have 3 and a half Turaga

I believe Nuju was my favorite Turaga and the Matatu one is my favorite Kanohi in '01.

We have all the wise elders and also that jerk Nuku who thinks he’s better than everyone

Your videos are so good, sub earned

Wenua is so cute lol

Nuju lost his voice becuase of the Muaka that kopaka save him from it. So he adds clicks and whisles.

Why didn't they make more Turaga? I get that the implication is that not enough toa survived long enough to finish their mission, but Dume and Lhikan were both a thing yet one of them was just a Matoran with a different mask EDIT: it's not about identifying as female, but rather that they're still biological so there naturally would be females

So, there's actually two elements that are all-female, and interestingly they're both blue. There's water, of course, with the Ga-Matoran, but then there's also the Vo-Matoran and the element of lightning.

The reason Onewa and Onua sound the same is because "ew" isn't supposed to be "u" it's O-ne-wa.

love the g1 video just wondering how did u get the neck to rotate on the black one (im terrible with names) last i remembered you couldnt move them at all

I love the body shape variety. Do any of them have the exact same body?

What The Heck Is Turaga Whenua