With all the talk about the Inika, many have started posting in various forums about their favorite Toa sets. Since I haven't seen a place for that topic to actually be discussed, I decided to take it to a blog...where if it you want to ignore it. You can.

But without Inika in hand, it's tough to do any sort of fair review. So while I sit and wait for the next generation of Toa to arrive on my doorstop, I've been left to ponder something that's been bugging me since the "Top Toa" comments have started.

Put simply, it doesn't sound like many people liked the Hordika. I see them consistantly ranked as the worst Toa behind the Olda and Nuva. And I'm somewhat surprised. The common complaints appear to be that they weren't unique enough, had awkward pieces, and a lousy action feature.

This is unfortunate. LEGO had a great idea with the Hordika, they just apparently didn't execute. Half-Toa/half-Rahi...from a storyline approach they were set. The attempts to control their feral side, fears of being trapped that way, the new abilities that came with it...all seemed to work.

So what went wrong?

Well, for one....what kinds of Rahi were they? Each Toa is aligned with a certain element, which would lead one to believe that they'd each be likely to liken in appearance to some Rahi associated with the same element.

Instead, they were just Toa with some different faces and various weapons. They looked feral, but they didn't look like anything else. They all had the same feet, the same torso, the same arms....their weapons and their face were all that set them apart.

What could LEGO have done differently? Well, just as a suggestion, they could've made the various animal forms more noticeable in each Toa. This could be done with only minor changes to the Kanohi and possibly the feat.

• Vakama becomes a dragon. His Kanohi is modeled after the dragons of chinese lore. A more prevalent snout, perhaps fins behind the eyes. That sort of thing. He's given talons on his feet rather than just the standard design.
• Nokama takes on a form similar to a mermaid. Her face is moled to have scales, and perhaps gills near the base. The feet are modeled to look more like flippers or fins.
• Matau becomes an eagle. He's given a crest w/feathers and a beak in his design. His feet use the same talons as Vakama.
• Nuju becomes a bear. He's given a snout (similar but a little smalelr to the one he has now) He's given a similar pair of talons to Vakama and Matau (they could be molded in a way that they work as both talons and claws)
• Onewa becomes a boar, he's given the flippers of Nokama (which in a clever design job can resemble either hooves or flippers). His head is molded to contain a ridge of fur and tusks.
• Whenua is a mole. His head is made pointer...perhaps with molded whiskers and the two teeth we associate with rodents. He's given the claw mold used on Vakama for feet.

The idea of half Toa/half Rahi creature is something I would like to see LEGO go back to. With the gusto in design that they've shown with the last few releases. I'd like to also see them take some lessons from the Inika and perhaps make the sets more unique as time goes on. Part of what made the Toa Olda interesting was the little odds n ends . Remember Tahu's chest ball? Gali's little pegs on her hips? The four pegs on Pohatu's legs?

It's stuff like that which would add to the flavor of the newer sets, and make the Hordika idea work this time. A tail here, or a wing there....the little touches.