8699: Takanuva Toa of Light and Shadow

The Box

Ah yes, the packaging. That annoying thing you have to rip apart in order to reach the vast multitude of glorious LEGO pieces that wait within. Personally I have very little interest in it, finding the main attraction to be the set itself, but I guess it needs a mention.

Takanuva’s box is huge. Not as big as say, Kardas’s box, but it’s getting there. It has to be the largest box I’ve encountered for something that is neither a playset nor a combiner. Had I purchased this from a store the size may well have been an obstacle in transporting it home. Thankfully LEGO were kind enough to deliver it straight to my door, so it wasn’t an issue for me.

The image of Takanuva on the box shows him in an action pose demonstrating the now familiar action feature of the Midak Skyblaster and looking quite menacing with his three-pronged staff, claws and cruelified mask of light. Much to my surprise, the picture on the box is almost 1:1 scale! Almost. The set itself is ever so slightly bigger, although the mask is much larger in the image than in real life. This all gives Takanuva an immense presence in the picture and makes him seem truly immense.

Around the box are circular patterns, the middle of which is decorated by the familiar shape seen of a man seen on the Ignika. One such instance is in the O of BIONICLE at the top of the box. This is an almost unnecessary touch, but personally I like it.

The back of the box shows Takanuva in a much more subdued and natural pose, along with adverts for the other summer sets and demonstrations of the action features. Until I got the set I had no idea Takanuva’s staff could spin! More on that later.

The box is a very good advert for the set, but is really just that – a box. I can’t really say much more than that.

The Pieces

The core of any LEGO set are the parts themselves. Takanuva carries with him a vast array of parts, most of them familiar. Among the familiar are a few less familiar parts namely the new Avohkii, the lower claw and his chest armour. Of those, only the mask is unique to Takanuva, but I believe the others appear only in those colours in this set. I really like all of them. The claw piece is small but screams possibilities for MOCing. Unlike Nuparu Inika’s claws they go off at an angle, so could not be interchanged. The chest armour appears in a couple of other summer sets, and is a very nice piece. It works extremely well with Takanuva, providing a solid and pleasant cover for his torso. It is very flat but curves round slightly, and unlike the Inika armour is not tailor-made for any particular body type, which is excellent. The mask has many similarities to the Avohkii of old, but many differences too. The mouth is still there but more understated this time round, as are the three sweeping ridges at the top of the mask. The sides bear a passing resemblance to the smoother, three-holed sides of the original mask and the shape as a whole is quite reminiscent of the original mask. It has some sharper angles and what looks like teeth which, combined with the darker colour, make it look almost evil.

Numerous pieces appear recoloured in this set. Among those are white Hordika feet – the first time to my knowledge they’ve appeared in a non-metallic shade – as well as gunmetal grey Takadox heads for the shoulders (I’d wondered for ages what the shoulders were), gunmetal Pohatu Phantoka…can they be called arms? as the upper leg covers and a whole host of new ‘hand’ pieces in white. Among my favourite parts are the outer leg parts. I remember those from sets like the Nui Rama and the Exo-Toa. I’ve always liked them, and seeing them in a new colour is a positive delight for me.

Of course, one of the most noticeable things is the inclusion of no less than three Air Sabers! Wielded also by Lewa Nuva, I honestly believe it to be one of the most awesome weapons to date.

The parts are, on the whole, very satisfactory. While it is a shame there are so few new ones, there’s a pleasant mix of old and new here (including many technic ‘poles’) which makes the set very appealing if you want to grab a few of the older, less stylised, more multi-purpose parts.

Building the Set

Takanuva has a nice build which, like the parts, has some old and some new ideas. I actually enjoyed building this set, which isn’t something I’ve been able to say very often these days. It won’t snap together instantly and time is required to get this guy together. Not too much, admittedly, but some. I was quite excited to see he has numbered bags for different parts, although this always leaves me gazing at the unopened bags with an eye for the parts yet unhandled. This system reminds me of older sets like Muaka and Kane-Ra, which I consider to be a very good thing.

The instruction manual is the same as ever. The front two pages are given over to saying not to open pieces onto rough floor, only to open the first bag and which bag makes what part of the set. Personally I have enough sense to do those things anyway and I’m sure most people with any prior experience of building lego sets does too, but perhaps there are a few who need to be told that. Near the back there’s a part list (suddenly there doesn’t seem to be as many parts) which is useful. After that lego has, like that have with every bit of paper that passes their way these days, stuck adverts in. These are four double spreads – eight pages in total – given over entirely to the Mistika, vehicles, Phantoka and the website/lego club. Well, fair play to them. They need to sell as many sets as they can, and they’re very good quality images. Suddenly I dislike Onua Mistika less (but only slightly).

With that excuse to show off a few images out of the way, onwards we go! You get the first hint of Takanuva’s immensity right at the outset, when you see just how vast the gap between the shoulders and the waist is. Just look at it! This guy’s gonna be big. I must admit I am pleased to see those huge technic rods back. I’ve always liked them – perhaps because I was a lego fan long before Bionicle ever appeared. They are incredibly useful little (ok, big) things, and entirely unobtrusive when used well.

The next step is a bit odd, and had I not read another review before purchasing the set, would have left me scratching my head. I think the following image will show you why.

One of my favourite parts about this set is the Inika foot at the bottom of the torso. Such a simple thing, but it gives me something different to look at than the bog-standard Metru/Vahki hip piece, one of which has been present in every single canister and titan since 2004! Actually, I’m not sure about Nidhiki…but anyway, bonus points here lego!

Next up are the legs. These are titanic in proportion to previous Titan legs (heh. Titanic and titan) and are entirely custom! Yes! No longer is lego making do with standard canister-sized limb pieces! Instead we have legs scaled to the set itself that look so much better.

The feet are quite reminiscent of Axonn’s, except this time they don’t look massive. They’re easily large enough to provide stable support for the set and actually remind me of the old Toa feet from 2001-2003. Perhaps that was deliberate. There, look! A built foot! It fits together very well in my opinion, and is a solid and robust piece of work.

The lower legs are very simple indeed. They consist of two of those lovely pieces I mentioned earlier around the outside with a Hordika limb at the bottom and two – yes two ball joints to connect it to the upper leg! Believe me when I tell you this makes the set very stable indeed.

The upper leg is a bit more complex, but hardly a challenge. You can see the basic build below, and the Pohatu arm just slots onto the blue connector you see sticking out. It flows very well with the set actually, and doesn’t stick out at all. I happen to think it was a very inventive use of the piece and I like it very much. Certainly better than a Piraka or Inika cover.

The result is a leg which is scaled well to the set and has almost equally sized upper and lower sections – something many recent titans do not have. Each leg is also symmetrical, meaning the instructions don’t go through it twice but give a simple X2 indicator to say “Well done! Now go do it all again.”

Unlike many legs, these ones cannot bend forwards. I initially thought it was the Bohrok eyes which stopped this, but I was wrong. See below? The way the piston attaches means that, if straightened up, the white piece connecting the piston will bash against the main leg and make it impossible to move any further forward than vertical. Very clever!

A little addition to the legs once attached allows the white Metru upper leg (can the new ones be called that)? to attach, adding support to the upper legs via a method first introduced by Icarax. Unlike Icarax it actually works without seeming out of place, no doubt due to the set’s size.

The height of Takanuva is in many ways owed to the legs. The use of those outside white pieces, which are large already, means the legs are not only a decent width but also surpass any previous legs for height too.

The arms are even simpler than the legs (as always), and consist of an interesting upper arm build also with a double socket attaching it to the body and an Inika leg which I think works with this set (they’re too large for canister arms in my opinion). It also limits the arms from bending backwards, meaning Takanuva is very human in his limitations.

The claw consists of only five pieces – a two-length rod, a blue friction pin, a white new-style hand, the new claw piece and a white Mahritoran blade. Very simple, but the opposable thumb is nice and the result does look great.

The Midak Skyblaster attaches very simply to the arm, and again due to the set’s size does not look bulky and out of place like it does on canister sets. It blends in nicely, although does look a bit odd due to how far back from the arm it reaches. Still, I like it better there than I would were he holding it.

So there we are! The completed set! You may have noticed the two pins sticking out of the arms. Onto those attach the Takadox heads, which looks very strange at any angle where you can see the face but otherwise look great. Another clever idea from lego.

But wait! There’s something missing! And you’re right! How could I possibly forget the Power Lance? That awesome little weapon is incredibly simple, but because it has three Air Sabers that really doesn’t matter. It looks fantastic and suits the set well. Takanuva must be the only set that can possibly get away with using that many Air Sabers without seeming dwarfed.

And there we are! Takanuva is ready to challenge Makuta, wherever they may be! And yes, my posing abilities are terrible. I do apologise.

Playing with the Set

Perhaps the heading’s a bit of a misnomer. I intend to talk about the set as a whole which does include playing with it, but not exclusively. First off, I’d like to say just how amazing Takanuva looks. Amongst any group of sets, he will stand out. You can see above how tall he is. If his height and Power Lance aren’t enough, the very solid build really helps him jump out from other sets. I find it so hard imagining him to be a Toa now. He looks like so much more.

Something I don’t like is the use of the red axle pins. I could understand why the used them on Fenrakk, but since then they’ve systematically worked to ruin dozens of otherwise acceptable colour schemes – and the introduction of blue 3-length friction rods doesn’t help either. Compare the following two pictures and ask yourself: which looks better?

Yes, I did go through and replace all 25 red pins with black ones. If I had the pieces I would also have replaced all the blue pins and rods, but alas I do not. Oh, you may also have noticed I added a little piece to the bottom of Takanuva’s staff. That is to stop it falling out. The lance is put through a O hole, so tip his hand too far down and out it slides. No more!

As a finished product, Takanuva is great fun to play with. Not only does he make any Makuta look utterly puny, firing Midaks never gets tiresome and those claws allow for limited gripping. I tried to make him haul Teridax/Maxilos up by his neck, but sadly the claws aren’t strong enough for that. Hmm, perhaps I should try Icarax. Oh, he can do a handstand. Proof!

I don’t know what more to say. He plays basically the same as any other Titan set, although seems heavier than most and feels very much like a massive canister set (a good thing). It seems that’s what the set designers had in mind, as much of the set feels like a direct upgrade from his 2003 form much like Maxilos was to Teridax, although there’s a definite difference in height there. Poor little guy…

Yeah. Takanuva could probably step on him by accident if he’s not careful. No, I didn’t mean –

Oh dear…

Overall

I absolutely adore Takanuva as a set. He’s one of my favourite sets of all time, definitely. The building is actually enjoyable and not quite as simple as most these days. The proportions are great and he looks every part the Titan he is. Not many new pieces, but when one of those is the new Avohkii I can’t really complain, can I?

Only two things I’d improve, really. Well, three. One is the use of red and blue pins. Please lego, stop. The second is his staff’s tendency to fall out of his hand. The third, and this is purely a personal preference, is that I think he’d look so much better in gold. Can you imagine just how much more amazing he’d look with shining gold armour? Sure he looks good now, but that would be even better!

I can’t see many major flaws with this set at all. It does exactly what it says on the tin – er, box – huge, awesome looking Titan set, Midak Skyblaster and an incredible staff…ok, lance. To anyone who isn’t sure if they should buy this set or not – buy it. Now. No, don’t sit there reading this! What are you doing!? Grab some money, go outside, head to your local toy store and buy this set! Now!

In terms of ratings, should anyone desire such things, I shall give the set…a…number. Possibly. Letsee…

Parts: 8/10

Building: 8/10

Playability: 9/10

Overall: 9/10 (not an average)

Now, what would one of my reviews be without a battle at the end? Icarax has, perhaps foolishly, stepped up to challenge Takanuva.

Oh. It seems Icarax has had second thoughts and is…running away. Takanuva looks highly unimpressed. Guess there won’t be a battle today, folks!

Gallery here when public. A few images I didn't include.