Lewa Phantoka
Entry posted by xccj
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Okay, I'll say this up straight. I was very disappointed in my Lewa Phantoka set. So disappointed that I'm writing to Lego about it. See if you can tell why.
How much time do you need to figure it out?
It took me a while. I purchased the thing at Target, along with some other essential supplies that could only be obtained through big scale retail stores. (Yum, Goldfish) I poured the pieces out and began to construct him, but I was kind of curious how the back of his body was constructed, so I looked at the instructions after I finished building his limbs. I got as far as to putting on his chest armor when I noticed that the piece wasn't on my table. Or under my table... or in the canister... or in my room in general.
Yes, my room is a mess, but not so much that a piece that big and bright could just vanish. This is surprising... I haven't had a set that was missing a piece since my first Gali set, in which I was unable to locate her eye piece (and I built that in the car, so it's likely that I lost the piece somewhere in it and it got vacuumed out later.) I'm sure it was just an innocent mistake, but I am still writing to Lego to demand my lime green Toa body armor! (Just watch... I'll get it and it'll snap in half or something).
Oh well. How about a review of the rest of the set.
In general, he's an average Toa build of nowadays. Although there are more elements I like about him than in some of the Mahri. First of all... Toa of Air, and he's tall and powerful. Yeah, that fits... take that short and squat Kongu!! The nice thing about Lewa is that he comes with two different limb pieces for his arms and legs... they're parts of the wrong limbs in the official set, but I can easily switch them around. The Inika pieces for legs and Rahkshi pieces for arms work out very well for proportions. Also, I like the Mantax feet... certainly a breath of fresh air after so many repeats of the two Inika feet styles, and Mantax's feet look good too.
His weaponry is nice. The Midak isn't as cool on him as it was on Pohatu... carrying that huge thing really shows its size. All the Nuva should've had it mounted on their shoulders... although that would've been difficult for Lewa. Even though I'm not thrilled about the jetpack piece, the set up with it and the Matoro claws on Lewa's shoulders looks nice. I forgot that Lewa came with the Matoro claws... those pieces looked interesting, but I didn't really want to purchase Matoro to get them, so for a while I was considering buying Kirop for them, but not anymore. The claws hanging over Lewa's shoulders looks really cool... great shoulder armor. They do slightly restrict arm movement, but I can get past that. Now, Lewa's sword... that is wicked! It's long too... longer than Hewkii's war blade (the silver piece, not including the rod). Actually, it reaches up to Lewa Mata's chin... and that's just for one piece. besides it's length, the groves in it look really sweet. They put a lot more effort into making this a radical weapon than they did in, say, Jaller Mahri's sword.
The mask is a lot better than Tanma's. Sure, I don't connect it to the Miru... maybe the Faxon or Huna. The blue faceplate works really well, giving it a shinny look in the gaps on the mask. They do blur out the actual eyes a bit, but I can live with that. I also like the nifty propellers in his cheeks... I never really noticed than in the promotional pictures, but they certainly make it an air mask. Nice.
The Matoran attachment piece on the back has a cooler design than, say, Pohatu's or Mutran's. Well, it actually has a design, and not just a piece. however, as I took Tanma home and left him there, I can't experiment with the attachment. So, instead, I took the silver Inika shoulder armor and placed it on Lewa's torso, so it looks like he does have some body armor now. He's skinny, but that works for a Toa of air. The piece looks good from the front and side, but there is a substantial and noticeable gap between the armor and the neck. My camera's dead, but I might take a picture of it later.
Overall, the set looks pretty swell. Sure, he has the cliche's of a Toa since 06, but his weaponry is beefed up enough that you can kid yourself into saying that he's now an elite Toa. The silver, lime, and grey do blend well together. of course, I could do without the bley... always could. If they'd made some of the limb pieces and Inika leg armor bright Mata green, then the set's coloring would be supreme. (But if they'd made it dark Metru green, I would've been disappointed anyway). Lewa's a pretty good set, about on par with Pohatu. Just one tip... take a look in the canister before you buy it, and make sure it has that giant, lime green body piece. Because the simple fact that he's missing that totally ruined the experience for me. 
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