I don't remember exactly what I said about him at first – the earliest pictures did make him look rather bad – but that did change slowly to moderate indifference. However, forget all of that. Now that I actually have him in hand, I can say without hesitation that Jaller Mahri is the best-designed Toa in years.

Every single thing in his design works together. (Well, not the blue pin in his neck. But we'll skim over that.) His mask, both pieces of his chest armor, and his sword were all designed to work together – note the rectangular holes along the edges of the first three, and on the "hilt" of his sword. And then those even work with the rest of his design stylistically, thanks to the dot pattern on his mask, matching that in his body and legs. And even better, his color scheme is perfectly balanced. Red over most of him, but the orange isn't smothered thanks to his mask and... stomach plate, for lack of a better term, and the black works well as an accent by being present in the hips and neck, not just in his extremities. The green eyes aren't bad, either – contrast without being glaring.

The breathing tubes. They completely make his set. It wouldn't be half as good without them, because they just look completely cool looped through his chest armor... plus they provide balance for his sword's silver. That sword is quite a cool one, by the way. Huge, but long and smooth and elegant... It really looks like it was designed to be used underwater, lightweight as it is and with the hole down the center.

The Hahnah crab is cool in several ways as well – she both looks good to begin with (wonderful dual use for the armor), is the first familiar a canister set has ever had, and means Jaller isn't carrying a Cordak blaster. Which is absolutely glorious, because they're hideously huge on everyone but Maxilos.

The only place Jaller is not great is in the area of recolored pieces, as he has none unless one counts Matoro's shoulder pads in orange. The fact that he shares so many pieces with his Inika design is normally a double-edged sword, but it's actually convenient for me because I never got Jaller Inika. Eheh. Still, more orange double-sockets are nice, since again I don't have Vohtarak, either...

So all in all he's really well-balanced all around. Excellent color scheme, old pieces tied into a complete design by his armor, and even a balance between the techy-looking sword and tubes and pistons with the more bestial feet, mask, and of course Hahnah crab. And his proportions, though not perfect, are much closer than anyone else's, thanks to the actual depth his chest has and how his torso is a stud longer than the Inika's.

And of course...

Don't they look great together?

~ ToM