[Review] Kopaka: Mata, Nuva and Phantoka

[MightySlickPancake]

Hey everyone! I just got the version of Onua mistaka and I got out my Kopaka Phantoka to go along with him and I realised that Kopaka hadn't been reviewed..So here they are! Onua will be done soon

Kopaka Mata

Theme: Bionicle

Set name: Kopaka

Number: 8536

Series: Toa Mata

Year: 2001

Pieces: 33

Price: £4.99/$7

BOX:

First off, the box. If the box doesn't grab your attention then you may not buy it...So how does it look?

The front of the box looks nice, with Kopaka in an awesome, chilled out pose

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/crabboy329/Bionicle-reviews/Kopaka/Kopaka-mata/kopaka_02.jpg

An interesting feature is the way that the outer box 'skin' slides around so you can see The other toa and special codes.

Can lid

Can lid 2

The can lids can hold the mask of the toa and has axle holes for many uses, that you will see later.

INSTRUCTIONS

Same picture as the can, but thats not a bad thing.

Random instructions page.

Toa Kaita instrucions page.

SET

The canister has just washed up and the parts have fallen out, so what does it make?

Half done, but looks cool!

WOW! A true Toa is formed. A really nice mask and weapons!

From the back. Not much here, but nice look with the cogs.

The only action function with the set, but what would you expect?

Overall:

Colours scheme - 10/10 Nothing much here, but as a Toa of ice its perfect!

Parts - 8/10 Well designed, Nothing wrong with the parts.

Design - 7/10 At the time it would be a 20/10! But from we have now, it leaves alot to be desired.

Articulation - 5/10 There isnt much, but I love the cog function. Its a shame that has gone.

Quality - 10/10 I have owned this game for 10 years and the parts are 100% pine, no cracks. So well done lego .

Price - 10/10 Really worth it for that price (back in the day and now)!

Overall: 50/60 To me it is a 50/50 as its my favourite lego set , But Compaired to modern sets, it dont stack up well .

Kopaka Nuva

Theme: Bionicle

Set name: Kopaka

Number: 8571

Series: Toa Nuva

Year: 2002

Pieces: 43

Price: $8/£4.99

BOX

First off, the box. If the box doesn't grab your attention then you may not buy it...So how does it look?

Kopaka looks epic, skiing down a mountain with his new nuva armor.

INSTRUCTIONS

Same picture on the front with all the nuva masks on the back!

Random page and the Toa Kaita nuva!

SET

So the set is built, how fun is it?

Here he looks like a beefed-up version of himself, which is a good thing!

Back, The spare cogs is a nice thing so the arm is held in place!

The skis! His spear can be taken apart and made into a pair of skis which that attach to his feet with some techinc pins. Here and here

Overall:

Colours scheme - 10/10 Nothing much here, but as a Toa of ice its perfect!

Parts - 9/10 With the new parts, the score is upped by one. (I dont like the mask as much, but the rest is awesome)

Design - 7/10 Very similar to his mata version, but I like that.

Articulation - 5/10 Limited just like mata, So just the same I think.

Quality - 10/10 I have owned this game for 10 years and the parts are 100% pine, no cracks. So well done lego .

Price - 10/10 Amazingly its the same price as his previous version, but with more parts !

Overall: 51/60 Great set, Im not sure if I prefer it to Mata, But its great .

Kopaka Phantoka

Theme: Bionicle

Set name: Kopaka

Number: 8685

Series: Toa Phantoka

Year: 2008

Pieces: 54

Price: £7.79/$12.99

BOX

First off, the box. If the box doesn't grab your attention then you may not buy it...So how does it look?

The nice looking vines are just an attachment that fit onto the front of the box.

The back has all the boring stuff and shows off the ability to attach solek to double the power! (Gotta love the marketing scheme)

INSTRUCTIONS

Nothing much here. But looks fine .

Dont build on grass .

Very nice advert, simple but gets it across. Also the mahri are still being advertised which is unusual. As well as the Toa Ignika.

SET

Basic body we all love and hate . The chest piece reminds me of the nuva chest armor.

The wings are SWEET! . One of the best part of the set!

"Come at me bro!"

Flight

Kopaka and Solek look brilliant, I am so glad I got both . A few pics of Solek: 1, 2 and 3. Sadly all of his joints that connect to his chect are cracked in two places each .

Overall:

Colours scheme - 8/10 Not sure, The grey is fine but maybe there should be just a bit less?

Parts - 9/10 Most of what we have seen before, but the new ones are great . Although what the heck happened to his mask?

Design - 8/10 Deja vu, anyone?

Articulation - 10/10 13 points of articulation of fine and what I would expect, he can get into some awesome poses!

Quality - 8/10 My version has a couple of cracked parts , but nothing major.

Price - 9/10 I would buy this set in a heartbeat, so its worth it .

Overall: 44/60 Awesome set! Nice change to Kopaka (I bet you are sick of his name by now ) Great touch with solek.

Final Thoughts

Kopaka is my favourite Toa and I am glad to have him in all his forms. I cannot choose which is my favourite as they all are.

The review is rather rushed but its getting late and Im just a bad reviewer , so and constructive critisism is ok... But I do have feelings.

Brickshelf here

Final Pics,

Wow kopaka, you have grown!

So has your box.

I wasn't too keen on kopaka only having a gun and no real second weapon, So this is a quick change I did.

Thanks, CB

[Aanchir]

Thanks for the review. I loved all three versions of Kopaka.

2001 Kopaka was pretty amazing, and I love his mask. It's got a great geometric design. One thing that initially bothered me about the Toa Nuva version in 2002 is that his mask suddenly looked more like a Hau in shape. I later grew to love it, but I think this may have somewhat shaped my later feelings on BIONICLE masks, in that I preferred them to keep subtle geometric similarities rather than just obvious stuff like "give it an eyepiece so they know it's an Akaku".

The posability of 2002 Kopaka Nuva was a bit iffy. The fact that he lacked a wrist joint meant he couldn't really guard all parts of his body with that shield. But the double gear function was cool. And his tool's dual-function was one of the least awkward, in that it looked rather good both as a hand weapon and as a tool for getting around.

Phantoka Kopaka Nuva was a favorite of mine. I loved a lot of the design aspects of the Phantoka... for instance, how each Phantoka Toa Nuva used a different shin piece, how they all had vibrant primary colors over a dark stone grey secondary color, and how their masks maintained subtle similarities to the original Kanohi Nuva. Kopaka's was actually my least favorite Kanohi among the Phantoka until I realized the forehead slope largely matched the old Akaku Nuva.

I had a lot of fun drawing the Phantoka back in 2008, and I feel a great regret that I can't find that same sort of inspiration anymore, whether in BIONICLE, Hero Factory, or Ninjago. My BIONICLE art in 2008 wasn't anything phenomenal, but it's something I can look back on and actually feel proud of, rather than ashamed like I feel looking at some of my extremely bad earlier drawings. I wonder whether it's just a part of growing up that I'm suddenly less creatively-inclined, but I can't help but feel a sense of loss when I look back at how passionate I was about BIONICLE in those days. Even if Hero Factory excites me as much as BIONICLE did, I no longer have the stamina for some of the debates I took part in, the pages and pages of sketches I worked on, and the stories I imagined.

In the very least, I still have my capacity to ramble for paragraph after paragraph. So I managed to keep some things from those days. Thanks so much for this trip down memory lane.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Doesn't want to be a nitpick, but the Come at me bro picture should have Kopaka with wide arms :P

God I love the original Mata, without the Kanohi he was so sexy.

With the Nuva, I love the new Kanohi, very nice shield.

Too bad I never managed to get any of those -w-

As for the Phantoka, very good set. But freaking Piraka armor on the arms didn't allow posability

[xboxtravis7992]

So sorry to bump this old topic, but seeing that Kopaka now comes in 5 forms I feel it is time for a retrospective.

Design wise I feel the Kopaka Mata was the best of G1 Bionicle's Ice Toa, he looks iconic: Kopaka Nuva while cool is a rehashed build.

Kopaka from 2008; just looks like another Matoro/Nuju figure. He lost a lot of his charm and suffered from this terrible "monkey arms." I never owned this set, but I own Matoro Inika and they look very... Similar.

My favorite Kopaka of all time didn't exist when this review was made; Kopaka Master of Ice. :) He captures the look of Kopaka Mata, with articulation that puts his 2008 version to shame. He even has Kopaka Nuva's skis!

I have yet to buy Kopaka and Melum from 2016. They look like fun, with Kopaka's "machine gun shield" and broadsword making the character %110 more bad a**. Glad to see Kopaka has had a long life with Lego!

Edited February 9, 2016 by xboxtravis7992

[TwistLaw]

So sorry to bump this old topic, but seeing that Kopaka now comes in 5 forms I feel it is time for a retrospective.

Design wise I feel the Kopaka Mata was the best of G1 Bionicle's Ice Toa, he looks iconic: Kopaka Nuva while cool is a rehashed build.

Kopaka from 2008; just looks like another Matoro/Nuju figure. He lost a lot of his charm and suffered from this terrible "monkey arms." I never owned this set, but I own Matoro Inika and they look very... Similar.

My favorite Kopaka of all time didn't exist when this review was made; Kopaka Master of Ice. :) He captures the look of Kopaka Mata, with articulation that puts his 2008 version to shame. He even has Kopaka Nuva's skis!

I have yet to buy Kopaka and Melum from 2016. They look like fun, with Kopaka's "machine gun shield" and broadsword making the character %110 more bad a**. Glad to see Kopaka has had a long life with Lego!

Since these days I have a little more time on my hands (thanks god I'm done with exams until spring), I might do a huge review comparing the five Kopaka sets. Oh wait, I don't have Kopaka Phantoka But I own every form of Pohatu, I guess I might review him.

Owning both Kopaka M and U, I think they're on par. Kopaka M in general looks better, but does still have a strong Hero Factory feel, even though at its best. Kopaka U feels much more BIONICLE in appearance and construction, but has a couple of spots where things don't make much sense (golden armor on legs that without Melum looks out of place, for instance, but the Metru blue shells are growing on me).

[xboxtravis7992]

Well Kopaka Phantoka is easy to skip, since Solek is kind of the most mocked Bionicle figure these days...

But you have all the forms of Pohatu (including his vehicle form?) Sweat! Would love to see that review!

Edited February 10, 2016 by xboxtravis7992

[bacem]

But you have all the forms of Pohatu (including his vehicle form?) Sweat! Would love to see that review!

Wait a... Vehicle form? I never know pohatu was a transformers at some point. Mind showing me the set?

[DraikNova]

I assume the form xbostravis is referring to is the form his adaptive armor took when he got onto the Rockoh T3.

[xboxtravis7992]

I assume the form xbostravis is referring to is the form his adaptive armor took when he got onto the Rockoh T3.

Yes, that one.

[TwistLaw]

I don't have that one sadly :/ but I might try a review anyway, why not.

[xboxtravis7992]

Honestly though looking at the photos of Pohatu's vehicle form; it really looks like there are only 3 or 4 pieces different from his Adaptive Armor form. http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Gallery:Pohatu_(Generation_1)

[Voxovan]

Honestly though looking at the photos of Pohatu's vehicle form; it really looks like there are only 3 or 4 pieces different from his Adaptive Armor form. http://biosector01.c...u_(Generation_1)

Not really, he uses a completely different torso construcion, has longer upper legs and completely different arms.

[xboxtravis7992]

Not really, he uses a completely different torso construcion, has longer upper legs and completely different arms.

Good point, I had realized Pohatu's Adaptive armor form used Hordika Arms to give him wide shoulders. Still, I feel the parts in the vehicle form are common enough it would be an easy MOD. Just switch out the wrist pieces; simplify the torso, and bricklink the helmet visor with wings sticking from the head and that is a pretty close appropriation to his vehicle form.

But then again the whole Inika build era is becoming a blur in my memory; so they all kind of look the same to me right now :P