Presentation

From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.

Rockoh's box is a real beauty. On the front you see the Ignika-styled Vitruvian man surrounded by the concentric circular carvings of the Codrex, just as on the Mistika canisters. The difference here is that Little Iggy Faceman is lined up perfectly with the "O" of the word BIONICLE. This touch is made slightly less amazing by the imperfect roundness of the O (or apparently imperfect, anyway), but the effect is very nice and can be seen on any of the large boxed sets.

Overlying this pattern of circles and lines that appears around Iggy Faceman (who I will henceforth call such in this review, even though he isn't a prominent feature in it) is a textured pattern of-- if you've been with BIONICLE for the past year, you might be able to guess-- hexagons. But these vary from those which appeared over the edges of the swamo background for the summer sets (including Rockoh) and the ones appearing around the edges of the Phantoka canister backdrops in that these hexagons do not touch on the edges. This gives a feel of hexagonal bolts, as does the way the shading opposes that of the inlaid hexagons of the swamp background. It may or may not impact my liking of the packaging-- really, I can't say it makes much of a difference, but perhaps the influence is subconscious.

Rockoh and his rider burst forth from the swampy backdrop, overlapping parts of the blue Faceman-and-circles border, with visible speed lines trailing behind the wing tips. Two Zamors-- err, "light spheres"-- are fired from the craft's front. Truly a sight to behold.

On the back, an actual size Pohatu stands before the folded and parked Rockoh in the same beautiful 3-D. Above, the word BIONICLE features the same Faceman-in-the-O, and a hand holds Rockoh to further demonstrate the craft's size as well as the handle. A column of swampy background appears along one side with Axalara and Jetrax bursting through the fourth wall. And of course, we see the obligatory B.I.O. code and demonstrations of the action features along the bottom.

The sides of the box, needless to say, are boring. Let's open them and see what's inside. (Metaphorically, of course; I opened them days ago.)

Building

Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?

There are three instruction booklets and an assortment of bags numbered one through four. The first bag and the beginning of the first booklet focus on Pohatu. A pretty simple build, but instead of rushing take time to marvel at the pieces and the surprising stylistic consistency between some of them. Pohatu's mask goes well with the Jaller Inika armor used on his back, which makes up for the torso's holes where the obvious similar shape of the torso to the Pohatu Phantoka's didn't. Set him aside to adore later, and move on to the vehicle.

The #2 bags start Rockoh's aft, whose construction foreshadows the vehicle's firmness and stability. It does this because much of its construction is through pins and the occasional three- to five-length rod. Longer rods are almost invariably reserved for aspects of the action features.

Until the mostly pin-and-beam structure is out of the way, don't build ahead. I accidentally pushed some pins in prematurely and had to puzzle for a brief minute why the gearbox for the action feature wouldn't attach right.

Bag #4 is for the Zamor launcher and gearbox. The parts slide together firmly, even though they are built separately, and make for a very solid body. The beams that finish the vehicle's front and the panels and wings that fill it out come in the number 4 bags. Some easy (if not quick) builds after that, and the craft is done!

Set Design

Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.

The new parts of the set are basically limited to Pohatu's visor and the dark green side panels. The visor is very nice, and its contours are subtle-- the eyes and head are still very visible through it. Among its contours are an arrow-like pattern on the forehead and two rims around the eyes, the latter seeming almost custom-tailored to match the original Kakama's eyeholes. Four fins mimic the Kakama Nuva's original aerodynamic spines very well, and maintain a subtle pattern with minimal impact on the mask's overall stylistic consistency. The side panels are simplistic, but seem very promising for System and Technic MOCs alike.

The new Pohatu is considerably taller than the old. In fact, he stands a stud shorter than Kopaka Phantoka, two studs shorter than Lewa Phantoka, and even in height to Tahu Mistika. Still, he is shorter than what I use as the standard of height for Toa these days (the Toa Inika) and fits much more comfortably on the Rockoh than a Toa of Pohatu Phantoka's stature would be able to.

The Rockoh expresses great stylistic consistency, and one has to marvel at such details as the seat and handlebars. The only part that might corrupt its stylistic consistency is the Gahlok Kal shield on either side. These admittedly don't match any part of the craft in style and were probably little more than space-fillers for a ship that already has gaping holes immediately in front of these pieces (I don't mind the holes, of course, as it keeps Zamor spheres from getting trapped in the ship's body)

The ship can rest neatly on its handle as well as two small, immovable Mahri blades on the craft's tail. Thus the craft can sit on a shelf nicely but still not have bulky or protruding landing gear. Overall, the set is beautifully designed.

Playability

The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?

Pohatu fits in the Rockoh's seat nicely, and a long rod protruding from either side of the craft serves as a pair of footholds or pedals. His hands attach to the handlebars nicely, which is good considering their vast physical difference from actual hands.

The cannon on the vehicle's underside operates with a lever on the side of the ship. Some regret that it was not a more easily accessible trigger, since playing with the craft now requires both hands, but I think it a good thing that we'll have less to fear from those who see Rockoh as just "a big gun."

There are six Zamors which can be easily reloaded into the cartridge on top of the ship, which features a simple two-piece addition that effectively eliminates all risk of the Zamors falling out when the vehicle is turned upside-down. But this construction still allows you to pop the Zamors in just as easily, perhaps moreso now that you don't have to carefully nestle them in like in the launchers of the Toa Inika.

The wings also have an action feature, as the front pair fold over the top of the vehicle with the simple turn of a wheel beneath the main engine. A display at Target stores calls the guns mounted on these "rockslide cannons", and I await a response from Greg as to whether this is an official name. The guns, by the way, feature transparent red System parts, so as always there's no need for guilt-tripping over inconspicuous use of System in an MOC which is supposed to pose as a palateable set.

Final Thoughts

Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?

Pros

What's to like?

• Beautiful reimagining of the new Kakama Nuva (and Pohatu, for that matter)
• Lots of parts in great colors, put together on a wonderfully colorful set
• Supporting the return of action features to their rightful niche-- sets in which poseability is a non-issue
• Lots of Kopaka Phantoka wings, pins, and beams
• A moderately-sized and -priced vehicle set

What's not to like?

• Pohatu's short stature is, for the most part, gone (but then, Onua is worse in that department).
• Folding feature is nowhere near as exciting as on Axalara or Jetrax.
• Replacing all those blue pins will vastly deplete your resources of black ones. (but come on, who wastes their time on that?)
• Sorry, guys, you don't get a horrendous new Kakama Nuva that destroys the sanctity of the original. I hear a lot of whining for LEGO to give us one of those.
• On the same note, Pohatu's still orange.

None of these cons are too grating on my appreciation of the set (the last three, after all, clash with my stances on BIONICLE and were mostly included because noone takes a review seriously if they see "flaws" that are glazed over-- plus, I was running out of cons). Pohatu's tallness is sadly near-irreparable; I tried to shorten his upper limbs and it negatively impacted his ability to comfortably pilot the vehicle. The folding feature, however, is to me at least worth the price to have a launcher that doesn't require so much force or grasping around for the tiny trigger. Not to mention a launcher that you can easily reload in the middle of play. I hope my review convinces you to give Rockoh T3 a second look, and hopefully come to love it as much as I do.

With all due respect,

Aanchir: Rachira of Time