[REVIEW]: 70788 Kopaka: Master of Ice

[VBBN]

Set name: Kopaka: Master of Ice

Set number: 70788

Pieces: 97

Price: $19.99, €

Release date: 2015

Kopaka. Icy and cold, a lone wolf. Personality wise, Kopaka was my favorite of the original Toa, and growing up he remained to be one of my favorite- I also can say with certainty that my favorite Bionicle element was ice, and that is very much in part due to Kopaka. So how does the new generation treat this telescopic-eyed hero? And how will Kopaka fair in the winter Olympics? Wait, what?

Packaging and Contents

Box Front

Kopaka has traded in his canister for a cardboard box. Who knows, maybe the insulation is better. After all, after years at sea you would want it to be comfortable...Anyway, we see Kopaka set in a very nice ice scene, with his golden mask floating above a pedestal and a Skull Spider who is about to get jabbed in the face.

Box Back

The back of the box features Kopaka practicing for the 2018 winter olympics. We also see a good amount of set features, a "powered up" mode of Kopaka armed with the Ice Protector's tools, and a comic that features a red skull spider. Oh Lego, why do you insist on giving us only three colors of Skull Spiders? I really want a red one. A black one too while you're at it..

Instructions

The instructions feature the same image as the box. You can view the part inventory page here.

Sticker Sheet

Kopaka is one of the two Toa to feature a sticker sheet. While Onua's is a fairly major detail, I'm not sure why Kopaka here has some intakes on his legs. Better aerodynamics for getting the gold medal I suppose.

New/Interesting parts

Chest and add-ons

The new piston add-ons are some of the most "Bionicle Aesthetic" parts in the set. You get 4 of them in white, and strangely this is the only color they come in besides gold and silver. We also have the new print on his chest piece. I have to admit, I wasn't a fan of these before, but man do I love the prints now having them in hand. The picture doesn't show it off well, but that light blue zigzag line is actually a chrome light blue.

Head and Claws

We have the new headpiece in silver and the eyestalk in trans light blue. Also there is the new Skull Spider leg, which is a remolded variant of a hero factory claw piece.

Gearbox

The new gearbox. There are a lot of possibilities waiting to be seen with this new piece, I look forward to seeing how people use it.

Sword

Kopaka and tahu both share this gigantic new sword piece, although Kopaka's is in white. it's quite long, but very hollow on the inside. You can in fact connect two of them together in the same fashion as Lihkan's swords.

Masks

We have three masks in this set. You have the Akaku in white and gold, as well as a silver skull spider mask. of all the masks, the new Akaku certainly looks closest to it's original 2001 form.

Building Process

Torso(1)

Unlike his Fire and Earth brothers, Kopaka's build begins by locking one of the arms in place.

Torso(2)

The other arm is mounted to gears, and an 8-tooth gear assembly is built near his armpit to add friction.

Action Frame

I didn't highlight them in the parts section because they are not new, but we see the return of the trans blue bones and hands that were limited to the Chima CHI sets this year, that were not released in the US.

Armoring

Kopaka's armoring is gold and white, with a random silver chestplate. I'm glad to see the return of the Brain Attack chestplate, it's a cool piece and good to see it's not dead, but I wish they had recolored it in white.

Finished Build

We finish off the build with some armor add-ons, and the very strange thigh stickers.

Ski pole

Kopaka's weapon is, of course, an olympic ski pole. We see the return of the Guurahk staff. I can't say I really like the build of this. It's just...boring.

Finished Set

Skull Spider

The skull spider is a neat design. It's a fairly large spider, and of course you get the extra added bonus that it's a mask.

Front

Kopaka 's look is finished by giving him a massive shield. I can't say I'm a big fan of the shield, I would have preferred it to look more like his original shield. I guess they just had to find a way to include these parts in here to give him skis. He could have kneeled down on a sheild as a sled though. The mask can be popped off by pushing own on the eyestalk. While cool in theory, I keep hitting it on accident and it goes and pops off. Oy.

Back

Thanks to his massive legs, his has some nice armoring on the back of his shins.

Profile

Oh dear. While I understand the aesthetic they were going for with the legs, I still can't get over his strange it looks with so many colors. has the leg bone been white, maybe this would have looked better.

Pose 1

With that said, Kopaka on his skies looks fantastic. They look just as cool as his skates from 2003 did, and his staff weapon has a genius double use.

Different Angle

Many people thought his lower legs were big fuzzy boots, but I see them more as big snow pants. Other Olympic competitors wear skin tight suits to increase aerodynamics. Kopaka looks at them and laughs.

Pose 2

As an added bonus, Kopaka has decided to run as the snowboarding champ as well! Since both he and tahu share the same took, you can copy Tahu's board...

Pose 3

...As well as his swords. Of course, since this is not the intended configuration, the gear will still only move one arm. but hey, at least you've got some variety.

Gold Mask

He's won the gold medal! Err, Akaku. I actually really like how the gold mask looks here. Since his body is mostly gold with the random silver chest plate, the white mask almost seems disconnected and out of place (hence why I wish the torso shell was white). The gold mask, however, really completes the look.

Skull Mask

You can also put on the silver Skull spider mask if you so choose. The back of the box shows that you can put the spider on and wrap his legs around the head, but I find this severely limits articulation and is a cluttered mess, so I only fold back the back legs.

Conclusion

Kopaka is a fun set. He's got a lot of features and playability. He brings back some nostalgia, and with such a fantastic redesign of the classic 2001 Akaku, and the dual functionality of his tools. For many, the price tag is a tough obstacle to get around, and the look of the set using CCBS is a jarring difference from what we had in the old days. But this is the new generation, not everything can be the same. My main complaint is the weapons. To me, the skis are cool but as a shield they are very unconvincing, and the staff is cool as a ski pole but a very boring weapon. The color scheme is certainly busy and I wish there were some changes in the overall displacement of the colors, and I find the stickers rather odd.

If you are a fan of Kopaka or think you'll enjoy the features of these new Toa, he's a must-buy. $20 may put him as one of the three most expensive sets, but there is a good quantity of new parts to be seen, and his very filled out armor helps to justify the higher price. What do you think?

As usual, a big thank you to The Lego Company for sending these our way to be reviewed!

[Kalhiki]

Great review! I think Kopaka looks fantastic, and I don't really mind the weapons. Or the giant legs, for that matter.

[Lyichir]

Interesting that you prefer the gold mask on him. I prefer the white one, since it helps balance his color scheme (otherwise, his entire upper body is pretty much just a mass of gold that makes him look even more top-heavy).

[Aanchir]

Kopaka's an awesome set. I really like his heavily armored, "bundled up" design, since it not only suits his cold environment, but also his reserved, heavily guarded personality. In the new BIONICLE, Kopaka really feels like the opposite of Tahu — while Tahu's design seems offensively oriented, Kopaka's seems defensively oriented.

I love that he has a spear instead of a sword, because again, it makes his and Tahu's weapons feel less redundant than the classic ones did. The spear goes great with his shield as well as with his skis.

[arc]

I actually like the giant shield, although the giant legs, not so much...

Beside that, kopaka certainly looks like a great set. And I find the silver skull spider kinda fits his color scheme were some of the others look a little out of place. But then again that may be the point...

[XAxles]

Gold medal for Kopaka!

[Ventum]

Kopaka is looking as good as usual I see. I really adore this set, and love how it looks as a final product. While I do agree it would be nice for him to have his own shiled piece, it is still nice to get those swords in white. Also, the legs really do look weird with all those colors. All in all though, very good set.

[MontyPython]

I dno't like those HF parts in bionocle, I hiped to see some old ones. Altought, I like the mask and overall figure looks quite good.

[Citromon]

I like this set a lot! How do you think what is better, this one or Tahu?

[Mecheon]

I dno't like those HF parts in bionocle, I hiped to see some old ones. Altought, I like the mask and overall figure looks quite good.

HF is basically an evolution of the Bionicle stuff anyway, if it didn't stop when it did, those would have probably been Bionicle parts

Plus the old stuff sort of breaks. Oh Krika :(

[DalekSram]

I like that he has trans blue hands. It gives the idea that he's made out of ice.

Edited November 9, 2014 by DalekSram

[Infernum]

Wow! Love this set, Kopaka is definitely my favorite 2015 set so far! A must have for sure!

[TheOneVeyronian]

I must admit that, of the three large Toa, this is probably the one I like best design wise. I really can't find much fault with it, except for his lower legs. I see that they follow a similar technique to the way armour is attached to the lower legs of both my self MOC and Vezalus (my BFTGM entry), but I think what I could do is remove one of the liftarms with balljoint (front or back, I can't make up my mind yet until I have the set on hand) and use the balljoint already on the leg bone. I would assume LEGO didn't do that in the first place since it's practically an illegal technique. Still, it's better than Tahu's legs in my opinion, if only for the fact that they don't use torso shells.

Apart from that, I really dislike that the Brain Attack torso shell is silver and that it doesn't match up with the rest of the colour scheme. I think it's bothered me because it looked pretty white to me in all the pictures I'd seen

But otherwise, a fantastic model and one I'll probably pick up sooner rather than later

[Lyichir]

I must admit that, of the three large Toa, this is probably the one I like best design wise. I really can't find much fault with it, except for his lower legs. I see that they follow a similar technique to the way armour is attached to the lower legs of both my self MOC and Vezalus (my BFTGM entry), but I think what I could do is remove one of the liftarms with balljoint (front or back, I can't make up my mind yet until I have the set on hand) and use the balljoint already on the leg bone. I would assume LEGO didn't do that in the first place since it's practically an illegal technique. Still, it's better than Tahu's legs in my opinion, if only for the fact that they don't use torso shells.

Using the balljoint on the leg bone isn't an illegal technique so much as an impossible one. Those shells flare out too much in the back and you literally couldn't attach them to both the front and back except by doing so in the way Kopaka does.

[ZORK64]

Great review!

Kopaka was actually my first Bionicle Set, and even though Stormer surpassed him in terms of popularity for me (mostly because I like Stormer's helmet design more than Kopaka's monocle thing), I'm still happy to see this fellow back.

I agree on the rather odd design of the shield. I'd prefer if the two blades would've been the actual weapon while he would also have some other sort of shield, though that would've mean he wouldn't have a weapon while using the blades as skis (and we would lose the nod to the Ice Slizer).

[Aanchir]

I agree on the rather odd design of the shield. I'd prefer if the two blades would've been the actual weapon while he would also have some other sort of shield, though that would've mean he wouldn't have a weapon while using the blades as skis (and we would lose the nod to the Ice Slizer).

The shield design can be made a lot more normal-looking if you just flip one of the blades around so it's built like Tahu's lava surfboard. Of course, it'll be an oval shield like Lhikan's rather than a circular shield like the original Kopaka's or Kopaka Nuva's.

Personally, I have no problems whatsoever with the shield. It feels very cohesive, and I like the way that like the classic one, it has rotational symmetry rather than reflective symmetry. Also, the fact that it uses the same pieces as Tahu's weapon strikes me as a positive rather than a negative — it shows that the piece was not designed with only one use in mind.

Also, I'm not bothered at all by the silver metallic torso shell. It matches the dark stone grey friction joints, upper arms, and gearbox pretty well, not to mention the silver metallic head. A white 2.0 torso shell also fits pretty well, though to me the amount of white it adds is honestly a bit overwhelming.

[Cagast]

This might be the best set, but I don't like next year's BIONICLE reboot at all.

[VBBN]

Also, I'm not bothered at all by the silver metallic torso shell. It matches the dark stone grey friction joints, upper arms, and gearbox pretty well, not to mention the silver metallic head. A white 2.0 torso shell also fits pretty well, though to me the amount of white it adds is honestly a bit overwhelming.

While I don't think silver really matches dark gray at all, regardless I don't find that to really be a drawing point of the silver piece. As it stands, Kopaka has no white components on his chest, and as Lyichir said there is quite a massive portion of gold when the gold Akaku is mounted. I fail to see how a white torso shell overbalances anything at all in that respect. I think, perhaps, you see there as being too much white because unlike the other Toa, Kopaka's piston add-ons are his respective color of white instead of silver or gold. Personally I prefer the increased amount of white and less silver, since gold and trans light blue already add to a busy color scheme.

[Walter Kovacs]

When the first pictures of Bionicle '15 leaked, Kopaka immediately went to the top of my must haves list. I do have to say, after reading all three reviews on the large sets, Tahu and Onua (especially Onua ) have joined Kopaka near the top, but the Master of Ice is still the first set I will be buying.

Excellent review, VBBN. Thanks for writing it.

[ZORK64]

The shield design can be made a lot more normal-looking if you just flip one of the blades around so it's built like Tahu's lava surfboard. Of course, it'll be an oval shield like Lhikan's rather than a circular shield like the original Kopaka's or Kopaka Nuva's.

Personally, I have no problems whatsoever with the shield. It feels very cohesive, and I like the way that like the classic one, it has rotational symmetry rather than reflective symmetry. Also, the fact that it uses the same pieces as Tahu's weapon strikes me as a positive rather than a negative — it shows that the piece was not designed with only one use in mind.

I think my major gripe with his shield will be the awkward way how he holds it, but since I don't want to sacrifice a proper hand, it would be attached to his lower arm, and that would require Kopaka to break away from the established building in a few ways I think.

Also, it's just that his spear doesn't look as impressive, I think.

After looking at his hield again, I just realized that its actual design makes the gaps seem smaller as opposed to a symmetrical build.

I also agree on the fact that the piece itself is both used within Tahu and Kopaka - I always like it when parts get repurposed, especially if that means we get specific parts in more colours!

(too bad that Onua's shovels don't come in both black and silver though)

[K-Nut]

Seeing actual pictures of him as opposed to the box art, Kopaka may have topped Tahu for my favorite of this wave. I absolutely love the shoulder armor and color scheme of this guy. Not sure how I feel on the gear boxes these guys all have, though as long as they've improved upon the old gears they used to use, I'll be able to get past it. All in all, this is a very, very pleasing set for me. Definitely a Day One buy for me.

[Csacsa234]

Thanks for the review! When Bionicle was first released, Kopaka was my first set in the theme and still my favourite character. I'm not collecting action figures anymore, but I think I'll make an exception with this beauty, I think this version turned out to be great, even among the other new Toas I think he is the best.

Releasing Bionicle again brings back so much nostalgia

[END films]

This will probably be the first set I get from the new Bionicle line. :)

I have one question, what size are the gold shells? (I'm guessing 4 or 5). I'm asking this because i want to switch out the gold for gunmetal when I get it.

[Lyichir]

This will probably be the first set I get from the new Bionicle line. :)

I have one question, what size are the gold shells? (I'm guessing 4 or 5). I'm asking this because i want to switch out the gold for gunmetal when I get it.

Kopaka has 5M gold shells. I'm guessing you know which part the shoulders use... and I suppose you're planning to swap the chestplate out for an unprinted one?

[END films]

Kopaka has 5M gold shells. I'm guessing you know which part the shoulders use... and I suppose you're planning to swap the chestplate out for an unprinted one?

My plans exactly (hopping to get splitter beast for its chestplate).

Thanks for the help, now I know what shells to get (unfortunately 5 long in gunmetal isn't in any invasion from below sets but all the other parts I need are).