Lego Bionicle Review: 2002 Toa Nuva sets and lore. Tahu, Kopaka, Lewa, Onua, Pohatu and Gali! 

I really got excited about the Toa Nuva. They were, at the time at least, quite an improvement from the original.

I actually liked how in the Bionicle video game, Onua Nuva still retains his claws while carrying his Nuva weapons. That game and the movies really informed me on what the world and sets I didn't own looked like. I was actually surprised when I looked back at Onua Nuva's arms and saw how tiny they were. I never owned him but I immediately recognized those were Bohrok limbs. Even the movie gave Onua regular sized arms (and straightened Pohatu's posture).

your uploads are by far the ones i look forward to the most! your delivery of the lore alongside info about the sets from the time of their release is delivered so well in my opinion. I am just a huge fan

I love the timing on these videos. I recently got back into these sets recently and it is amazing to learn more about the history!

I really enjoyed watching the idea for this video! I've been binging a bunch of your videos and I love them. Can't wait to see what other videos you do!

Your reviews are the best on RU-vid by far, I hope you continue them! You're the reason I started collecting again, and I'm proud to say I have this whole set! They're currently posing menacingly opposite Makuta haha. Gali and Takanuva are easily my favourites.

I always like Nuva better than Mata, their dual functioning weapon are the coolest thing ever to me as a kid, and I felt in love Hau Nuva too lol. my first intro to a Bionicle set was a thrift store bought Onua canister lmao (yes a canister only), after that I bought a bootleg Nuva Tahu, Kopaka & Onua. We were poor back then, I remember me & my brothers had a chance to feast our eyes on a fully decked Inika & Piraka in toy store, amazing feeling, can't afford it obviously. Only ever Had a chance to properly collect until 2008 but their crappy QC turned me off & I decided to stop collecting the wave after. Bit devastated tbh. Only collected Stars afterward because it was the last hurrah & a couple of G2 sets. Still own it. Now I'm planning to collect earlier sets, 'cause the 20th anniversary of mask of light celebration spark my interest again, and Bionicle day closely coincide with my birthday 08-11 lol. I'll start with Nuva, then Mata. My Transformers collection is on a slower pace rn, so now it's a better time to collect. Thanks for the nostalgia trip😁👍

I'd love the Nuva designs as much as the Mata if it weren't for those mask designs. The Kakama and Pakari are my favorite masks, but their Nuva counterparts look like sad lumpy bulldogs. I get they were going for a fleshy and rounded look, but they're so organically shaped they clash with every other piece of their set IMO.

I love watching these things, I never got to own a figure due to being too young, I do have some pieces of lewa mata from my brothers but it is stunning seeing the masks and the figures in there glory. Keep up the great videos :)

I actually do see a bit of a similarity between the Kaukau and the Kaukau Nuva. The triangular mouth is retained, the cheek vents on the Kaukau Nuva match up with the ones on the original Kaukau in position and outline, the nasal ridges evoke the shape of the lower edge of the original design's visor, the brows similarly match the upper edge of the visor, and the forehead ridges resemble the raised portion of the original mask's forehead. Kaukau heavily resembles a diving mask and scuba gear, while Kaukau Nuva looks like what you'd get if you turned said diving mask and scuba gear into organic facial structures. The cheek vents even resemble gills where they would normally have been part of a breathing apparatus. Just to note, you can also get the Avohkii, albeit in an altered form, in black, with the Karda Nui/Mistika version of Takanuva.

They defeated the bohrok swarms, and we're forever transformed.

great review, I only missed out on Kopaka and Gali Nuva, I have Takanuva too, restored his vehicle but haven't found the figure yet. I think the only figure I have 100% restored without any missing pieces is Makuta (Teridax). The Phantoka Toa had at least some similarities to the OG Toa Nuva but Mystica looked so weird

the only mistake in the nuva for me was the lack of translucent mask for Gali. All the other upgraded weapons, bigger masks and armor totally sold them to me as bigger and badder versions of the toa when I was little

Somehow, I forgot to watch this last week. But either way, the "Climbing Claws" from Pohatu Nuva were the most used out of all of the Toa Nuva's weapons and appeared in the greatest number of colors overall. Including in black in three sets from "Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze" between 2004 and early '05. They also came in Keet orange (Flame yellow) in a minifigure-scale Bionicle set (8759) in Summer 2005, and in a store-exclusive Titan set (8625) the following year. In addition, they came in lime green in an "Exo-Force" set (8103) in 2007. Lewa Nuva's "Air Katana" appeared in fourteen standard sets in their origin color of silver, and appeared in dark orange in the Gukko Bird (8594) from 2003. The "Quake Breakers" from Onua Nuva appeared recolored in medium stone gray in an Alpha Team set (4743) in June 2004, and again in silver in a "Parts tub" (8713) the following year. Similarly, the Toa Nuva limbs in lime green and medium blue also appeared there, while the other four origin colors of them (orange, tan and the old shades of gray) remain exclusive to their respective Toa Nuva. The "Aqua Axes" on Gali Nuva also were repurposed as part of the "Lava Spear" on Toa Hagah Norik (8763) in 2005, and the "Ice Blades" from Kopaka Nuva would appear in two sets from Alpha Team in medium stone gray (4743) and in sand blue (4745) the year before that. I subsequently obtained the second of these, and obtained this part in medium stone in a Batman set (7783) from 2006, and in their final appearance in silver in an "Agents" set (8631) from June 2008. This leaves Tahu Nuva's "Magma Swords" as the rarest of the Toa Nuva's weapons. Including Takanuva, the Nuva team are the last appearance of the origin colors of the Toa Mata-style of torso and feet, though the feet would appear in white one final time in '07. The limbs would also be phased out that year, but not before also appearing in Metru red and Metru green in four sets (4774, 7015, 7019 and 8892) between that time...

Gali Nuva and Pohatu Nuva were the first Toa I ever got. I really never liked Gali's mask, the diving goggles look 1000% better for sure. Still, Pohatu has a great looking Kanohi in my mind, has good personality and no weird nostrils.

Big fan of Kopaka Nuva's mask. It's a great redesign. I put a bit of red Play-Doh on the scope eye to make it pop.

🔥☄🌋🤖

Lewa's mask looks like Bane

I just replaced onua nuvas arms for rahkshi ones, changed onua and pohatu hips to be the other way and when I get my hands on kopaka nuva Imma swap the shield arm for a different arm preferably the same type as his mata versions shield arm

These were the first sets I've seen, tho I think the Mata look better imho. I only like 1 or 2 of the Nuva masks, even if they're the same characters. Pohatu just looks weird as a Nuva too, lol

Hmm, i think i still prefer the original Toa.

I have come to not like the Toa Nuva nor the Bohrok Kal, largely due to being clone sets, and then also being visual downgrades of the original Mata builds. I guess you could say the lacking toy designs are due to Lego near bankruptcy in this period, which only started improving around 2003-2004 when the mask of light movie gave the toy series success, enough to warrant completely new build pieces when developing the Toa Metru.

Please show off more bionics

Tahi

the 7th toa has been demoted to silver takanuva but at what cost?

Dont you dare talking bad about my beloved Bohrok-Kals

Tahi?

Rakshi

Nuva were the biggest letdown... so ugly and the main play feature of knocking the masks off was destroyed thereafter.