LuxorV Posted November 28, 2010 Set name: Lewa Nuva Set Number: 8567 Price: $ 8, £ 4.99, € 8.50 Pieces: 37 Year of release: 2002 Links: Peeron, Bricklink and Brickset The Can Around the surface The second season of the BIONICLE Toa sub-line still used the cylindrical can typical of the first years. The ‘front’ shows an action shot of Lewa Nuva flying through a jungle environment on his Air Katana/wings. Somewhere on the ‘side’, our Toa hero is shown in a more static pose, holding his weapons to allow us have a better look at them. The ‘back’ features a list of warnings and some of the usual LEGO text, along with a barcode. As you can see from this picture, the cans are perfect for storing your LEGO collection! Contents Inside As usual for canned BIONICLE sets, the pieces are separated in bags. In the picture above, you can see the contents of the can. Green and Lime, our air/jungle Toa’s colours, dominate, sided by some Light Grey and Black for the mechanical parts (mainly gears and axes) and Flat Silver for the weapons and armour. No newly re-coloured pieces are included in this set. New pieces The vast assortment of new pieces from this and the other Toa Nuva sets include the Mask Miru Nuva, the Bionicle Toa Nuva Leg Section (exclusive to this set in Lime), the Bionicle Chest Armour, Toa Nuva, the Bionicle Shoulder Armour, and the Air Katana. The mask, in particular, reminds me of a mantis for the shape and the ridges. Instructions Cover and back The instructions are standard fare for a BIONICLE canned type of set. The back cover shows a collection of all the Toa Nuva masks in the 6 standard colours. Random page - All the colours can be recognised with ease. The Toa Nuva sets can be combined in trios to form bigger beings. Lewa Nuva combines with Gali Nuva and Kopaka Nuva. Personally, I never tried to combine them; I quite like the gears sprouting from the shoulders, but I wonder how cosy it could be to have those Toa Mata/Nuva torsos there… Each set includes a small additional booklet with a short comic and some advertising of the other sets in the line. Here we can see a shot of the comic, with the Toa being transported to the chamber where they will be turned into Toa Nuva: Building Start The build starts off with the torso and limbs. The action feature gears are located in the shoulders’ area of the figure. The build is straight forward and does not differ much from the other Toa Nuva. Finished set Front Once complete, Lewa Nuva looks at the world from the slots in his mask. I think he (while being very similar to the other Nuva) looks the most slender of them, probably because he has the most slender weapons, too. Back On the figure’s back you can see the gears of the action feature mechanism. Like all other Toa Nuva, turn the gear to make the arms move to attack the enemy. The movement is very similar to that of a mad samurai in this case! Posed Here I posed Lewa Nuva in his signature gliding position, with the Air Katana used as wings on his back. It is not very easy to get the proper position for the arms, since there are small denticles near the ball joint which limit the movement range somewhat. As in all the Toa Nuva, turning the gear on Lewa’s back will make him move his arms. Bonus images I’ve got hands! Using Gresh’s hands, the model seems more complete and organic. It’s a pity LEGO introduced these pieces only recently. New hairstyle! Again, Gresh lends us some parts. I think this head makes our hero look more aggressive, don’t you agree? Final comments Overall, Lewa Nuva is a very nice figure. Tall and slender, he sports a quite light weaponry when compared to other Toa Nuva and his colour scheme in Green and Lime is perfect for the jungle environment. Colours scheme - 10/10 (As said the Green/Lime scheme works perfectly in the jungle, and the Light Grey and Black details for the mechanical parts fit in well and are not too invasive.) Parts - 7/10 (A good number of new parts, but no new re-colours; the selection was pretty good for the time.) Design - 10/10 (Cool looking; the mask is especially nice, as well as the Air Katana) Articulation - 8/10 (Like all the first BIONICLE sets, he is quite limited with his legs and arms.) Quality - 10/10 (All the parts are good quality, and, even if I did not used him much in all these years, not a single joint ever broke.) Overall: 45/50 Excellent As always, questions, comments, and pic requests welcome! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prateek Posted December 1, 2010 No replies, for one of the best Bionicle sets ever? IMO, this is the second best Toa Nuve, after Kopaka Nuva, of course. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vexorian Posted December 2, 2010 No replies, for one of the best Bionicle sets ever? IMO, this is the second best Toa Nuve, after Kopaka Nuva, of course. Incidentally, Kopaka and Lewa Nuva's masks are the only I legitimately like. Kopaka's because it actually looks like the Mata version, something which no other nuva mask has come close to do. And Lewa's because it actually looks cool and good, another thing no other nuva mask has accomplished... Lewa also had the only nuva weapon feature that actually made sense. Yeah, I hate the Nuvas. The mistikantoka are not that great either. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted December 2, 2010 I liked the Toa Nuva, but was a bit "meh" about the masks. An eyepiece on the right does not an Akaku make, especially when the mask's overall shape is closer to a Kanohi Hau. Lewa's was one of my favorites, because it was pretty much the only one that didn't look weird and organic (most of the Nuva masks were far more organic-looking than even the Inika masks). I gained a greater appreciation for the Nuva masks after the 2008 re-releases gave me an excuse to really look more closely at their design, and draw the masks in detail. Lewa's function may make sense, but it always struck me as one of the more boring functions since it didn't involve much beyond "rotating the arms a certain way". And since the arms had to be in a specific configuration, the poses for Lewa Nuva were somewhat limited when in "flight mode". You failed to mention the fact that the extra gear on his back could also be switched to his shoulder to give him two-armed movement. This ability to "customize" the gear function was one of the coolest things about the Toa Nuva IMO. It was an improvement on the Toa Mata, but with very little difference in piece count. On another note, Wairuha Nuva is extremely annoying to draw, especially if I want to adhere to the "set style" to any extent. I quite like that the Toa Nuva Kaita are different from one another in physique, unlike the original Toa Kaita, but it comes at a cost-- Wairuha Nuva is scarcely taller than a regular Toa Nuva, whereas Akamai Nuva is only slightly shorter than the previous version of Akamai. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vexorian Posted December 2, 2010 Out of all Nuva weapon functions, I can't remember any that was easy to pose. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted December 2, 2010 Out of all Nuva weapon functions, I can't remember any that was easy to pose. Gali's weren't too bad. Granted, I didn't "own" Gali Nuva myself (my little brother did), so I didn't spend as much time playing with her as much as I did with those that my twin brother and I owned (Pohatu, Lewa, Tahu, and Kopaka). A running pose might be difficult (although the larger "footprint" could help with balancing). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Santhor Posted December 3, 2010 Nice review. If you reverse his arms, he looks like a muscle-man! Hooray for raw meat and 50-pound barbells!! -Santhor Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
