[REVIEW] 70786 Gali: Master of Water

[VBBN]

Set name: Gali: Master of Water

Set number: 70786

Pieces: 87

Price: $14.99, €

Release date: 2015

Gali, the mediator and meditator. She was also the first female Toa we received in set form. I've always gravitated towards female figures, and look forward to seeing how this new Gali has turned out. Ever since roodaka, people have really begun to get more persistent in wanting female figures to actually look feminine, while still realistically being a biomechanical being. Did lego succeed? Let's find out.

Packaging and Contents

Box Front

The front of the box displays Gali in her underwater environment, fending off a Skull Spider from stealing her gold mask. We also have the Mask of Creation at the top next to the very familiar Bionicle logo. Note that this is the European packaging, so some information like piece count and choking warnings are not on the box.

Box Back

The back of the box shows off some of the sets many features. Launching masks, moving arms, and of course an alternate weapon arrangement.

Instructions

The instructions offer the same image as the front of the box.

New/Interesting parts

Head, Eyestalk, Spider leg, and Add-on.

You're going to see this picture a lot over the next 10 reviews, as quite a few sets offer this same slew of new pieces. You get the new eyestalk in a trans neon yellow/green, the new head in silver, the new spider leg which is a modified version of a Hero Factory claw, and the new piston add-on in silver.

Gearbox

The new gearbox piece is once again included with her, as it is with all six of the Toa. It's very basic in it's design, but is going to offer a lot of versatility in MOCing.

Chest, Weapons, Armor

You also get a new weapon piece that is used in both Gali and Lewa. In this set you get it in silver. You also get a pearl dark gray chest piece with some lovely printing (this was the 10th attempt at this photo, you'll see the chest armor much clearer in the finalized build images.) as well as the 5-length armor shell in dark azur, a new color to constraction.

Masks

As with the other Toa, you get three masks in the set. You receive the new Kaukau in dark azur and gold, as well as a silver version of the skull spider mask. many people weren't a fan of the new Kaukau at first, but after having it in hand, I dare say it is my favorite of all six, and quite possibly my favorite mask of the wave.

Building Process

Torso(1)

Her gearbox utilizes a design that only has one side with a geared function.

Torso(2)

She is also the only Toa to utilize not two, but four of the 8-tooth gears to increase friction in her gearing mechanics.

Action Frame

I didn't mention it in the interesting parts section, but if you missed out on the 2014 Chima CHI sets not released in North America, you have another chance at some trans light blue bones here.

Armoring

Her armoring begins to give her some shape. I must say, using the brain attack torso here is a fantastic idea. As you'll come to see, it really goes a long way to giving her a feminine shape.

Finished Build

Gali's finished build looks incredible in my opinion. The armor is perfectly shaped, color distribution is spot on, and the mask looks fantastic. I'm not sure what the random spikes on her legs are for...aquadynamics?

Profile

When I first perused through the instructions, I didn't think i'd like the shoulder construction. It's basically Tahu's, but with a different armor arrangement. It's actually not bad, and really adds to her look I feel.

Back

As with all of the Toa, the back does leave something to be desired, but there's only so much you can do with this gearbox. I do wish the 3-length shell was in the new dark azur though.

Weapon

Gali's weapon this time around is a massive sea-spear. As you'll see, there is quite a lot of awesome dual uses for this weapon.

Finished Set

Skull Spider

Like all of the sets this year, save for Lord of Skull Spiders, Gali comes with a skull spider. The water and ice sets include a silver one. While not as neat of a color as the spring yellowish green or dark blue, it's still a nice looking mask overall.

Pose 1

One configuration you have is this. She can hold part of her weapon as a spear, whilst the blades of the staff become flippers for her feet, very similar to her Nuva incarnation.

Pose 2

One feature that is not shown on any of the promotional artwork, is that you can actually peg the two halves together to create one solid fin, very similar to a mermaid of sorts. Once again, this really fits in with Gali's feminine design, let alone her underwater theme.

Giant Spear/Staff/Axe/BFG

Of course, if she isn't swimming with the fish, all of the components can be combined into this massive weapon. I will say this, the gearbox...well, it holds her arm up okay, but this thing really does not swing very well.

Master of Sexiness?

Oh, she poses very well. The shaping of her armor combined with the right pose can undoubtedly give her a feminine vibe without going overboard.

Gold Mask

The gold masks don't look nearly as good on the three smaller toa as they do on the larger ones due to the lack of gold armor, but gali pulls it off best among the three of them. It sort of goes with the keetorange components, and the small gold spear tip on her weapon.

Skull Mask

Gali can of course also become possessed by the skull mask. The silver color works very well with her overall color scheme, and it doesn't look half bad on there.

Master and Protector

Naturally, Gali is made to look great next to the Protector of her respective element. But if you want something more...

Power-up Mode

You can pop on the gold mask, as well as some goodies from the Protector. Of all of the power-up modes, this is my favorite. It gives Gali the underwater turbines, and while most other Toa just wield the Protector's weapons, she takes the weapon and turns it into an even larger version of itself. The spear...looks very odd attached back there, but most of these modes are somewhat questionable.

Conclusion

Buy Gali. And then buy her again. In fact, just skip the rest of the wave and buy 13 Gali's. She's fantastic. Her colorscheme is consistent, bright, and looks great. Her weapons are versatile, her look is feminine, and her build could hardly be any better. Do I really need to say more? I think the photos of the finished set will really give you an idea of just how awesome she is. After having build all of the sets, she is my favorite finished model- and has the best adrenaline mode to boot. Buy her.

[Agent Fusion]

Great set, great review, need I say more?

[Still Raindrop]

Oh man. Gali is one of my favorite characters, and ever since we got finalized pictures, she's been my favorite of the Toa sets; I'm glad to see she's so great in the plastic! Thanks so much for this review--Gali has gone from probably my first purchase to definitely my first purchase! She's even better than I thought!

[Voxovan]

The best set from this wave, hands down.

[Aanchir]

Good review. A few corrections: she's not the only Toa to use four eight-tooth gears, just the only one to use four of them in the center (and to support just one swinging arm). Lewa also uses four eight-tooth gears, but under his arms, and they provide friction for both arms. Also, she uses Bright Yellow, not Flame Yellowish Orange (Keetorange).

I think the spikes on the legs are sort of meant to resemble fins. They suit her all right, to be sure. The color scheme is also very well organized.

I really think her weapons/equipment look great in both Battle Mode and Adrenalin Mode. They're a far cry from her classic hooks, but I feel like the Battle Mode version of the weapon really does echo her Aqua Axes from the 2002 Toa Nuva version. Gali's chest plate pattern is very elegant, and her mask is beautiful in both Dark Azur and Warm Gold. She's definitely my favorite set of the entire wave! And for that matter, my favorite Toa of Water ever to appear in a set!

Edited November 14, 2014 by Aanchir

[arc]

Dang these reviews, now I want to buy more sets.

and the "combiner" looks pretty cool. Speaking of which, are you going to take pictures of the larger toa you already reviewed in this mode?

[VBBN]

and the "combiner" looks pretty cool. Speaking of which, are you going to take pictures of the larger toa you already reviewed in this mode?

Yes I have taken photos of the three larger Toa powered up as well, once the respective protector reviews for them go up I will post those photos in each of the three older review threads.

[Jared]

Humina humina humina...

[Kalhiki]

First off, thanks for the review.

And what a fantastic looking set! From colors to mask, the entire figure is gorgeous. Gali was one I wasn't sure about, but seeing her now she is a definite fav.

Not sure how I feel about the leg spikes, though... Look kinda awkward.

[GK733]

Dang, all of these sets have grown on me. Gali for sure doesn't look like that manly as I thought. Gonna be the death of my wallet.

[Ventum]

I've been incredibly excited for this review, the moment I saw you get the sets. Gali is by far, in my opinion, the best Master (I concur with you). Her build is great, her shapes and color distribution are top notch, and her weapon is absolutely fantastic. Only nit pick I have with her is the dark azure, I really wish there was more of it. It's a lovely color, and I hope they use it in constraction more. Overall, great review, I look forward to getting Gali myself.

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

I love the gears in the chest; I imagine they help keep the chest shell in place as well, no? It's similar to how I always steady my constraction figure chestplates with a technic pin.

Edited November 14, 2014 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[Kamen Rider Kiva]

Man, I definitely need to get this set!!! It seems like she'll be my favourite of the new Toa!

[KopakaFan116]

Wow!!! I am totally getting like at least 3 of this epic set!

"Master of S******s

[Aethersprite]

I love her! I think I have to agree with you here, VBBN, that the Kaukau is my favourite mask of the wave. It's a very nice blend of the Mata Kaukau and the MoL Nuva Kaukau, the latter of which was my favourite incarnation of the Kaukau. The dark azure is very nice as well. Set-wise, she's pretty average, but her colour scheme has got to be one of the best executed ones out of all the Toa.

[Mr. Gundam]

Oooh Snap!, thank you so much for the combiner pic. Appreciated

[Rayskull]

those flipper pieces look very interesting :)

[Citromon]

She's fantastic! The color scheme is great and that axe!!!! OMG! Best looking set of the wave! I Like Kopaka a lot, but now I will buy Gali for sure!

[One Very Agile Cat]

Excellent review! Gali may acually be my favourite of a the 2015 sets so far. I was going to customise her colour scheme, but I might not. It looks better here.

[Manx]

Great review, I really like the pose on 1st photo.

[ZORK64]

After your review, I finally realize that the new Kaukau is actually a non-transparent version of the original mask.

Thanks for the review. I'm really looking forward to Gali, as I like her design. Especially the mermaid mode looks awesome.

Oh, by the way, the German translation on the back of the box fails to refer to Gali as a female (it would be "Meisterin" instead of "Meister"). The same happened waaay back when the first wave was released, but it was quickly fixed in various promotional gimmicks.

[Xinlo]

Great looking set, probably my third favourite behind lewa and pohatu. Still, gonna be making some tweaks to her shoulder armour for sure, and possibly legs as well, as I will be doing with almost all the new Toa. Thanks for the review, look forward to the others!

[Mesonak]

This set is indeed pretty outstanding. She's definitely one of my favorites from the wave. The thing is, I prefer to keep her built with the massive trident intact rather than on her feet, and as you noted in your review... it's pretty heavy (and also hilariously oversized). I'm also not that big of a fan of how her extra shoulder armor attaches, or how it moves with her arms when you use the fucntion. I'm going to try to rig up a system similar to Kopaka's extra armor pretty soon.

Great review as well; black backdrop was an excellent choice.

[Zaktan of the Shadows]

You really know how to pose sets, VBBN. :) Great review, and my opinion on Gali has improved quite a bit upon reading it!

-ZotS

[Voxovan]

Oh, by the way, the German translation on the back of the box fails to refer to Gali as a female (it would be "Meisterin" instead of "Meister"). The same happened waaay back when the first wave was released, but it was quickly fixed in various promotional gimmicks.

Aw that shucks man. Fortunately, the Polish translations actually DOES refer to Gali as a female, which is something I would never expect to see, since you can't really tell she's a woman just from the name of the set. They did the same thing on the website, which really makes me glad. What bugs me however, is that on all of the Toa's boxes they translated their titles to "Władca", which literally means "Ruler", not "Master". On the website they managed to translate it correctly though, hmm... Nothing is perfect I guess :P

One thing I've noticed about Gali, is that she has a more feminine look even in the comic at the back of the box. I'm really glad to see it, it looks like Gali finally gets a proper treatment as a female after that Mistika monstrosity...

Edited November 16, 2014 by Voxovan