[REVIEW]: 70785 Pohatu Master of Stone

[VBBN]

Set name: Pohatu: Master of Stone

Set number: 70785

Pieces: 66

Price: $14.99, €

Release date: 2015

Pohatu. He was always one of my favorite toa. Perhaps it was from my love of brown figures, or his incredibly unique twist on the classic Toa design. We all remember Pohatu as the toa with the upside-down gearbox, giving his legs an interesting yet hilarious looking function. But this Pohatu, is that unique design no more. Now he has a standard gearbox just like the other Toa. But does he still retain that charm as his old sets? Let's find out.

Packaging and Contents

Box Front

The front of the box showcases Pohatu...in a sand tornado? I guess the elimination of a "Master of Air" is going to let the other characters utilize air combined with their elements this time around. Take note that this is the European packaging, so the piece count is not listed on the box- but according to Brickset it's a measly 66. That's either a really low piece count, or a really high price tag. Either way, I can't say it's a thrilling thing.

Box Back

The back of the box shows off the set functions as well as a comic which (once again) has Pohatu summoning up a tornado. Also it's worth noting that the alternate use of the weapon on Pohatu's feet is in a different orientation on the packaging than you actually built it. The animation shows them as trianges of sorts, instead of just being boomerangs on his feet.

Instructions

Nothing thrilling. Moving on.

News and Interesting parts

Armor, Bones, Head

First up, we have the new piston add-on and new head in silver. There is a gunmetal spider leg which is a remolded version of a Hero Factory claw, and finally a trans neon green eyestalk, as well as one type of bone element.

Weapon, Armor

We get a new weapon component, which is half of the boomerang. And the more interesting part of the picture is dark orange 4-L shells and the chest piece, which also features a unique print.

Gearbox

The new gearbox is simply an arrangement of beams with spots to hold the large 4-tooth gears. It's generic design leaves a lot of possibilities for future MOCing.

Masks

First we have the new Kakama in dark orange and gold. At first I wasn't a huge fan of this, but after having it in hand you really start to feel resemblances to the original Kakama. The sides could have splayed out a bit more to further channel the original, but it's not bad. We also have the skull spider mask in that devious dark blue.

Building Process

Gearbox

Pohatu's gearbox gives him one geared arm. Unlike many of the other Toa, this assembly doesn't offer any back armor.

Action Frame

Pohatu was technically one of the two "short" characters originally, although now he's been taken to a whole new extreme. As you can see it's not a short frame by any means, but it is quite short compared to Toa like Tahu and Lewa. Like the Protector, Pohatu has asymmetrical arms, although it's a more extreme level here, with one of his arms being trans neon green while the other is black.

Armoring

If you detest the asymmetrical build, it is very easy to swap out a bone and shell from one arm and swap it with a set from the other to balance things out, thanks to the same bones and same shells being used on both arms. I can't say I enjoy the fact that many of the Toa this year use silver or dark metallic feet- I would much prefer them to use their own elemental color, similar to Onua and Kopaka.

Finished Build

Skull Scorpion

Like the Protector of Stone, Pohatu comes with a Skull Scorpion rather than a spider. It's a neat change, and certainly fitting for a desert theme.

Front

Here we have Silverhatu. Either he needed dark orange feet, or the shin shells should have been dark orange, because at the moment it looks like his legs were dangling in silver protodermis paint.

Profile

From a side view, his isn't too bad. His shoulders aren't very far back, and the head is pushed forward quite a bit, very similar to his older self.

Back

You get to see more of the beautiful trans bones here. Also of note is a Guurahk staff mounted to his back. We will see where that comes into play in a moment.

Pose

In the past, Pohatu has used climbing claws and a rock. Now he has...boomerangs. I'd say that of all the new Toa, this weapon is the most random and least like his old weapons, but it's still a very awesome piece and I guess I can see it being used by a Toa of Stone.

Golden Mask and Jetarangs

Firstly you can see the golden Kakama on Pohatu. Next, his boomerangs can be placed on his feet to give him "hover-board-jetarang-something" feet. Ironically, the Toa who looks most like a runner, is probably going to do the least running. I guess this was the best way to make him fast since the Kakama is no longer a Mask of speed, but still I wish he could just run fast without needing a mask power as an excuse. Also, he can use the Guurahk staff as a temporary weapon while this are on his feet. Given we just saw it in Kopaa, it's a rather boring and stale choice of tool, but at least now we have two of them (since they are in the newer silver introduced with Hero Factory as opposed to the more pearlish silver from before).

On a positive note, I love the Bohrok eyes on the "jetarangs" here. They seem like lights on the wings of an airplane in a way.

Skull Mask

WIth my photos of the Skulls on characters, i've begun giving them more obscure weapon combos. In this case, you can see what the two boomerangs look like in one hand.

Power-Up Mode

Pohatu's power up mode adds the silver shoulder piece from his protector counterpart, as well as his weapon. I actually like this mode, it gives a nicer look to his "robotic" arm, and gives him a more threatening weapon while his jetarangs are in use.

Master and Protector

They are certainly daring with their color schemes, but together they look fantastic.

Overall

Yeah, he's not the same as what we all remember from 2001. Of course, he's also not a gray and orange figure with a massive cannon slung over his shoulder with propellers for arms either, so there's that. There's a lot to take in here- Dark orange, boomerangs, trans neon green bones, and of course the change to a more normal geared torso. He's the smallest Toa, and also totals to a measly 66 piece- 1 less than the Protector of Stone. With that said, he's one of the least cluttered of the new Toa. I'm still not sure entirely how I feel about him.

[Aanchir]

Good review. Honestly, Pohatu is fairly bare-bones, and in some cases it's a bit hard to understand why. It seems like the designers could have possibly done more with the design to make it unique, but I'm not sure what specifically they might have done. I do like his color scheme, weapons (PROPER weapons this time, not just weird claws or toe armor), and physique. Like Onua, he was traditionally one of the shorter Toa, and this is maintained here — but unlike Onua, who's built like a tank, Pohatu is small, lean, and agile, like you'd expect a character known for their speed to be.

It is indeed a bit strange that the box art and weapons of Pohatu and the Protector of Stone are both sandstorm-themed, rather than strictly stone-themed. It suits Pohatu's classic environment, but you'd expect sandstorms to be more of an Earth or Air power in the old BIONICLE. Then again, Pohatu was also one of the Toa who never really used his elemental stone powers as visibly as, say, Tahu used his elemental fire powers. In visual media, it was usually limited to using his tools to kick or break the rocks around him. I guess that in the end it's just another example of how having separate Stone and Earth characters can get kind of screwy — perhaps the decision to make Lewa a Toa of Jungle should have been taken one step further, with Pohatu becoming a Toa of Sand. That's what they did for the Agori and Glatorian.

[arc]

Another nice review! I'm a fan of the new pohatu, and really like the dark orange. I just wish he had more of it.

And the pic with him next to the protector was a nice bonus. They look great together.

perhaps the decision to make Lewa a Toa of Jungle should have been taken one step further, with Pohatu becoming a Toa of Sand. That's what they did for the Agori and Glatorian.

I thought about this for a second, and thought, most sand is composed of extremely tiny rocks and minerals right? In that sense he kind of already is a toa of sand by being stone. Or maybe I'm way over thinking this... Edited November 20, 2014 by arc

[Kalhiki]

I like him. Though that may just be nostalgia as he was the first Toa I got in 01.

I'll probably end up switching up the arm bones and shells just for symmetry. Not sure if I like the crazy contrast.

[Aanchir]

I thought about this for a second, and thought, most sand is composed of extremely tiny rocks and minerals right? In that sense he kind of already is a toa of sand by being stone. Or maybe I'm way over thinking this...

In the old story, at least, Greg tended to treat stone as controlling strictly solid rock, and earth as controlling loose soil, sand, or clay. Though I agree that was kind of an odd distinction to draw even back then. How small must a rock be to be considered sand?

[Bigger Fish]

I wonder how he'd look with either yellow or orange as his secondary color?

[bacem]

nice review! but i'm not really interested for him aside from his boomerang.

btw, it seems you double uploaded instruction picture...

[Logan McOwen]

While you seem a little pessimistic about this set VBBN, I really like it. Pohatu looks sleek, and the shaping on his legs is great. While for me it's weird how low his shoulders are, I still think he looks the biz. I won't be disappointed with this purchase. Thank you for the nice photos and information, as ever!

[KopakaFan116]

This is a great set for me. No doubt it could be better, and the bone-pieces could've been trans-yellow, but I'm getting him. My plan for Pohatu is to buy him, lose him in a closet, and save him for a rainy day.

[VBBN]

btw, it seems you double uploaded instruction picture...

Good catch, thanks!

While you seem a little pessimistic about this set VBBN, I really like it. Pohatu looks sleek, and the shaping on his legs is great. While for me it's weird how low his shoulders are, I still think he looks the biz. I won't be disappointed with this purchase. Thank you for the nice photos and information, as ever!

He's not one of my favorites, but given how great all of the Toa are that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[Csacsa234]

Thanks for the great review VBBN!

Pohatu was nothing interesting from the pictures for me, but I kinda fell in love with him now. The weapons and the color scheme is excellent. However he is a bit awkward from the side, other than that he is a great figure. The new Bionicle IMO is as good as the old, and I was very skeptical and worried how the new products turn out at first, but the new Toa are splendid.

[Front]

The first masks I did part design on at LEGO was the two orange 2008 mask, including the mask for Pohatu.

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=8687-1

So it was kind of cool to be able to work on the 2015 Pohatu mask as well. It was my only job on Bionicle this year, at least the only part I engineered.

For that reason this is my favorite 2015 Bionicle set.

Generally I like the smaller of the six "big" sets. The big (and pricier) ones tend to look a bit clumsy.

In this set, mask and the weapons are great :-)

Erland

Part Design

[ZORK64]

I really like this version of Pohato. Be it the colours, the jetarangs, or the awesome fact I just realized now is that his elbow joints can rotate. I'm extremely glad LEGO does this in an official set, and I really hope they'll continue this trend in future sets.

[Bigger Fish]

I always assumed that the sand tornado was created with a combination of Pohatu's speed and sand powers via Ninjago-esque spin attack.

[Ventum]

I really dig Pohatu this time around. I'm overjoyed to see the return of Dark Orange to constraction, and the addition of the new trans neon green bones is nice. Boomerang parts look pretty nice as well, I can see several uses for those. The set itself is pretty alright. It could be a bit more organized however, not that I don't like asymmetry, but he could REALLY use more Dark Orange instead of orange. The powered-up variant is one of the better ones honestly, because it's so simple and yet so effective. I think the weapon works with him better than it did the PoS. Just a matter of opinion though. Overall, great review, pretty good set.

[One Very Agile Cat]

Pohatu's deffinitely the most basic of the new toa. Wether that's a deal breaker or not, well, that's up in the air, but he's clearly the simplest. From armour placement to body design to colours to weapons, he's bare-bones. I still like him, because I like Pohatu, and I feel like mixing in parts from an extra Stone Protector could greatly enhance his build.

Still really want to see those new Bionicle armour pieces as feet-additions.

Edited November 21, 2014 by One Very Agile Cat

[Mesonak]

See, I'm really a fan of this iteration of Pohatu but I can't really place why. I'm not a huge fan of his boomerangs, and he offers little in the way of design variety... but I just really love his stature and his color scheme.

[Logan McOwen]

Love Pohatu. That brown, the zany weapons, and the streamlined build... He looks very suited for speed! And while he doesn't have as many parts as his fellow Toa, he still stands tall with the rest of them.

[bjj8383]

So can he fly or are those weird sand-skis?

[DalekSram]

So can he fly or are those weird sand-skis?

I think it's more like hovering than flying. Best guess, when he uses his boomerangs they generate enough speed to pick up the stones and dirt and create sandstorms.

I like that he now has more weapons, but I do think he should have more brown than silver.

Edited December 14, 2014 by DalekSram

[Shakar]

I've had the weirdest love/hate relationship with Pohatu. I was all for tr. yellow for him and I was nothing short of puzzled when it turned out that was actually tr. neon green. Ever since I've been planning to remove it and further change his colour scheme, first by adding dark tan and then completely replacing silver with gold. But the other day I had this sort of epiphany that made me realize that, different as the green is from his classic orange eyes, the colour combination is actually very cool, fits with Pohatu's powers in my headcanon, and yes, I actually want to keep it (still want to add some dark tan, though- I tried it on LDD and it looks lovely).

Pohatu's real flaw is his rather bare bones, simplistic build. Unlike Gali and Lewa, he has nothing interesting going on for his shoulders and doesn't even have back armour. Shame really, there was room for a good 10-20 extra pieces here that could've filled him out a bit. Also, I find him to be too short, the height difference between him and Tahu (the tallest of the 6) is too dramatic.. but I know many people are ok with this, so I can't call it a real flaw.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Shakar

[Aanchir]

Pohatu's real flaw is his rather bare bones, simplistic build. Unlike Gali and Lewa, he has nothing interesting going on for his shoulders and doesn't even have back armour. Shame really, there was room for a good 10-20 extra pieces here that could've filled him out a bit. Also, I find him to be too short, the height difference between him and Tahu (the tallest of the 6) is too dramatic.. but I know many people are ok with this, so I can't call it a real flaw.

Yeah, as short as Pohatu is, the height difference between him and Tahu is not much greater than it was for the Toa Nuva in 2002, and is actually smaller than the height difference between him and Lewa, Kopaka, and Onua in 2008.

I have mixed feelings about him being as bare-bones as he is. On one hand, I like that he has a small and lean look compared to Onua, who is the same height but much more muscular. But on the other hand, I feel like the designers could have done something to give his build a little bit more uniqueness, especially since he is not only the smallest of the new Toa but has the lowest piece count. Some additional 4M shells on his shoulders might have gone a long way.

[Shakar]

Yeah, as short as Pohatu is, the height difference between him and Tahu is not much greater than it was for the Toa Nuva in 2002, and is actually smaller than the height difference between him and Lewa, Kopaka, and Onua in 2008.

I have mixed feelings about him being as bare-bones as he is. On one hand, I like that he has a small and lean look compared to Onua, who is the same height but much more muscular. But on the other hand, I feel like the designers could have done something to give his build a little bit more uniqueness, especially since he is not only the smallest of the new Toa but has the lowest piece count. Some additional 4M shells on his shoulders might have gone a long way.

It still looks a bit too drastic. But that's just me: I never liked huge height differences between team members, I always tend to make the short one(s) a module or two taller: Carapar, Hewkii Mahri (Kongu? Oh, I completely rebuilt him, but that's because I strongly disliked that set), Pohatu Phantoka, the smaller Breakout Heroes.. I'm going to do the same to Pohatu and Onua. Good thing that it is a LOT easier to do with the CCBS.

I think Pohatu should be a compromise between lean and bulky. He's supposed to be incredibly strong afterall, so I think some more bulk is needed for him. Like you said, a pair of dark orange or silver 4M shells on his shoulders using Gali's/Tahu's or Kopaka's connection would've been a step in the right direction. There are some more improvements I can think of (and that I'm planning to carry out), but I fear that they would've pushed him to the 20 Euro price point.

I wonder if the new recoloured parts are being purposefully withheld or if it's just a colour scheme choice: PoJ makes no use of Lewa's bright green shells instead using the old tr. bright green shells (introduced in 2013), Pohatu but especially PoS(..t) use a limited number of dark orange shells (using the old silver 4M shells whenever possible). I suppose they prefer using a limited amount of the new produced recolours since they're available in smaller quantities, but I might be wrong on that.

[Aanchir]

I wonder if the new recoloured parts are being purposefully withheld or if it's just a colour scheme choice: PoJ makes no use of Lewa's bright green shells instead using the old tr. bright green shells (introduced in 2013), Pohatu but especially PoS(..t) use a limited number of dark orange shells (using the old silver 4M shells whenever possible). I suppose they prefer using a limited amount of the new produced recolours since they're available in smaller quantities, but I might be wrong on that.

I think it's definitely an aesthetic consideration in most cases. Protector of Jungle's Tr. Bright Green shells are newly molded (design ID 14533 instead of 90640), so they're not just reusing Brain Attack ones that they had left over. And I hardly think Pohatu and Protector of Stone use the silver metallic shells "wherever possible". On the contrary, Protector of Stone only uses one Silver Metallic shell, and he and Pohatu each have a Silver Metallic left arm similar to CHI Panthar's Silver Metallic right arm.

From my understanding, it would actually be cheaper in many cases to use MORE of the new recolors, since it would be simpler from a logistical standpoint to use the same color shell more widely than to have so many differently colored shells in production all at once. However, including shells in multiple colors in a single set adds variety. If all of Pohatu's 4M shells were Dark Orange, the set would be a lot more repetitive both in terms of the building process and the overall look. But by spreading these parts out in creative ways, he appears to have metal boots and a fully metal arm much like Evo from 2012 (which I consider a much more interesting set design than Evo 2.0).

You see this even in instances where neither part or both parts are new recolors. Protector of Water uses both Tr. Light Blue and Tr. Blue 3M shells, neither of which is new. Lewa uses both Bright Green and Flame Yellowish Orange 4M shells, both of which are new. If the goal were creating artificial scarcity for new parts, these sorts of design decisions wouldn't make a lot of sense. But if the goal is to create variety in the designs, these decisions make perfect sense.

[Skaionex]

Good review but I am very displeased with the new pohatu. He was my favorite in the original and nuva groups. His mask is great. His colors aren't bad. In fact, his overall appearance isn't bad. My complaint? His feet. I miss the one thing that made pohatu awesome, his unique feet. I would be ok with all the change had they made his feet large and unique like the old ones. I realize this isn't the first time this happened, but still. Am I the only person that feels this way? And I still feel like the new mask powers are lazy compared to the old. Other than that, I love the new sets.