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Review: 8534 Tahu Mata

Two Questions  

68 members have voted

  1. 1. How would you rate this set if it was 2001?

    • Outstanding
      44
    • Above Average
      13
    • Average
      7
    • Below Average
      0
    • Poor
      4
  2. 2. How would you rate this set today?

    • Outstanding
      20
    • Above Average
      10
    • Average
      18
    • Below Average
      8
    • Poor
      12


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Slizers and roboriders were an interesting theme for Lego. But soon, they wanted to make a new theme, similar to the theme of slizers. They wanted it to have a solid story, and human-like characters. Thusly, they created a Biological Chronicle, Bionicle. Bionicle was either a love or hate for people. Those who like action figures or technic were attracted to this intruiging new theme. System fans were unsure about it, becuase it broke the law of the price-per-part ratio, and seemed childlike. The first sets release were six Toa, Heros of an island named Mata Nui. They were:

Tahu, Kopaka, Lewa, Gali, Pohuatu, and Onua.

Now I didn't pay much attention to the theme at the time. But one year for Christmas, I recieved Tahu and Lewa Mata. After building them, I was in love. Something about them just seemed right. And now, Two of my friends and I return to review one of those classic sets, toa Tahu Mata.

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Set Name: Toa Tahu

Set Number: 8534

Pieces: 33(?)

Price: Was $8.99, has gained in value.

Theme: Bionicle

Subtheme: Toa Mata

Colors: Orange, Red(now referred to as Mata Red), Light Gray, Translucent Pink, Black.

The Canister:

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The early Canisters were a step forward from the slizer/roborider boxes. Tahu's can shows himself, and on the back, you see a few other things relating to him. But if you revolve the outer layer of plastic, the underlayer will display the other toa. The lid is also one of my favorites. More on that later however.

The Lid:

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One unique feature of the Mata Lids is that they look like Kini Nui. They also have a few functions besides keeping the goodies inside.

Mask on:

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Head on side:

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The Contents:

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Here we have the parts. The red is very eye catching, and the orange is simply lovely(i'm a sucker for orange lego). A few Slizer parts can be seen here as well. Please note that the set at one time had a mini poster, but it has since been misplaced.

The Instructions:

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You know, I miss the old instructions. They had big images, and great backrounds. What happened to them? Here is tahu's. Pretty good condition for being so old.

Parts:

Black parts:

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Nothing new here, just some technic and Slizer bits.

Gray parts:

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Mostly gears. The head is new, and so is the eye piece.

Red parts:

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Everything here was new at the time, except for he hand piece.

Orange Parts:

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Here are the orange limbs. Nothing much to say. They were new at the time, except for the one to the far left.

Build 1:

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The build begins with the gears and some axles, as well as the torso.

Build 2:

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Now limbs start to go on him.

Almost done:

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Okay, Now we are almost done. Tahu, you take the next and final step!

Finished:

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Okay, he is now done. I must say, the proportions are somewhat right, and he looks pretty nice.

Back:

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His back is admittedly a bit bare, in fact, it is a bit boring. But the gears make him look mechanical.

All together:

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Overall:

-Overall, I fell that Tahu was a real Classic for his time. He set the mood right, and the set was a great change from the Slizers. A few problems though, included the lack of moveability, which you will learn more about in my review of Lehrak. Orange was a great color on the old fire sets, and I think it was a great choice for Toa Tahu.

Ratings:

Color: 10/10: Awesome

Price-per-part: 5/10 (Not enough for this set.)

Price: 5/10 (same thing)

Pieces: 7/10 (ood for the time.)

Overall: 27/40

Okay, so Tahu isn't the best set ever released, but I think I might change the ratings. I think he is a bit better than a 27, but I just think he is missing something.

Enjoy! And also, please feel free for any pic requests. :)

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Just one of my favourite memories.

We were skiing(I wasnt so old at that time) and my parents said I could get a toy.

And then I saw this awesome figure on a shelf.

I bought him and builded him while I) enjoyed some hot chocolate.

Since then I laways bought the red toa first,or ,I always buy the red bionicle first!

This has a special place in my lego life :wub:

heh.

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That was my first bionicle set.

It definatley was my favourite.

What the hec is that little sticker thing though.

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That was my first bionicle set.

It definatley was my favourite.

What the hec is that little sticker thing though.

Well It was stuck to the canister, and I took it off, but It kept coming into the pictures. I didn't feel like re-taking them :tongue:

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That's a nice bit of nostalgia there. Incidentally, Tahu was my first Bionicle as well, he's also one of the only canister sets I've kept together. They were such a big step above Throwbots/Roboriders back in the day. They actually had nicely shaped heads, and faces even. :grin: Looking back, I think what the Mata lack in articulation, they make up for in aesthetics. It may just be the nostalgia talking, but the Mata still look a lot more appealing to me than anything released since the Metru. :laugh:

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Thusly, they created a Biological Chronicle, Bionicle.

I always thought that the name refered to a "Bionic" chronicle, not really biological.

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Frankly I think it's a mistake to review Tahu with this format. Yes, he has some obvious problems, such as the lack or articulation or the somewhat large mask, but in terms of aesthetics this set blows 2008 out of the water, and that's definitely more important to most fans than things like piece count and price.

Also to really appreciate this set you really have to have the right context. I don't miss the Mata's stiff limbs and dopey gear system, but for the time it was standard and a huge improvement on anything LEGO had done before. It was such a huge step forward that no year after 2001 (thus far) can even hope to bring about that much progress again.

Things like that are important to consider when reviewing classics, and I'd give it much higher than 27/40. I'd probably give it 35/40, for both 2001 and present.

Edited by Algernon

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I always thought that the name refered to a "Bionic" chronicle, not really biological.

The official line has always been that "BIONICLE" is a portmanteau of Biological Chronicle.

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The official line has always been that "BIONICLE" is a portmanteau of Biological Chronicle.

... Which doesn't really make any sense to me...

~Bunda

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Well it does make sense when you consider that the Matoran Universe(And Matoran/Toa/Turaga/etc. themselves.) Are the biology of Mata Nui.

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I loved them, but they were and still are "average" action figures.

Agori sets and Tahu...

---limbs with no knee, elbow or waist movement.

---similar-colored weapon.

Tahu:

--can you can actually use as part of Lego building experience.

Agori:

--Crap. Crap containers aimed for a landfill. Wasted plastic.

Tahu:

--Acht! Ah can't turn me neck!

Agori:

--*swivel swivel swivel*

Tahu:

--No freaking hands. >__<

Agori:

--::punches you in face::

So yeah, fairly similar. Both fun toys. Tahu is more conducive to wanting to build (as in, buy more Lego sets).

At least for me.

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Good review, but I think the bionicles back then are better then the hero factory and the newest bionicles that were released, because they had better functions.

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Got ALL 6 Toa Mata for Christmas in 2001. Back then they were outstanding, but today with Constraction sets having much more impressive designs and more articulation, I had to give it a vote of "Below Average".

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Ahh my first Bionicle set :> It's funny because I got only 5 Toa expect Lewa and then I didn't get ANY green Toa. Quite good review. It's not a big mess, nice done. I remember when in my presschool one day everybody brought Bionicles... this amount of Toa ah :p

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Wow Hyena talk about bringing back an old topic, I forgot I even made this. (for those who haven't noticed, this review was made in 2008. almost 4 1/2 years ago....) In fact I'm not quite sure WHY I made this, it's kind of pre-academy in it's styling and the text content of it is unbearable for me to read. To be honest, I don't even remember who one of those people is that was part of this review...)

Ahh my first Bionicle set :> It's funny because I got only 5 Toa expect Lewa and then I didn't get ANY green Toa. Quite good review. It's not a big mess, nice done. I remember when in my presschool one day everybody brought Bionicles... this amount of Toa ah :p

Thanks, it was certainly an odd concept that I had brought out, I might revisit the multiple-person approach again sometime. Certainly brings a review away from the normal format that's for sure.(My fellow academy teachers probably just threw tomatoes at me for that remark)

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I must say, the review index is a brilliant tool for finding topics for reviews of individual sets like this one; I also value the checklist functionality. Whoever is keeping tabs on this is doing a great job.

I was enouraged in th past on other message boards no to clone topics about the same toy, so I will add my three cents (video review) on Tahu here. If I should create a seperate topic for that in the future, please let me know. Also, this review was recorded three years ago and my technique improved a bit since then, but I was trying to be as informative as possible, so I hope it will be good even today.

Also, as a bonus I also made a "let's build" video for Tahu, for now I will add it here, unless told to move it elsewhere.

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Tahu was my first proper Bionicle set (my true first being a pair of mask packs). While I certainly have fond memories of how much I loved the figure when I was little, I can't help but be critical of it now that constraction has evolved so much;

  • Tahu's mask was - and still is - an iconic design. However, the very smooth, almost organic shaping of the mask really sets it apart from the rest of the figure. While Gali, Pohatu and arguably Kopaka's masks feature more angles and mechanical details, Tahu's is one big smooth shape. It's most certainly not a bad design at all, but I feel it could've used some hard angles here and there to match the mechanical detailing a bit better.
  • One obvious thing you notice when you look back on old Constraction sets is the lack of articulation. But one factor of this I've never appreciated or understood was the positioning of Tahu's hip joints. His legs can splay out to the sides as far as you'd like, but they can hardly twist forwards at all. The pelvis area of the torso really should've been 2M wide, so the sockets could've been rotated to allow for more range of walking motion without interfering with Tahu's arms.
  • Speaking of the torso piece, this one was a real devolution from that of the Slizers - from two pieces which could be separated and spread apart however you like, to one massive chunk with a very specific shape. If the Toa Mata torso was also in two halves, with the chest halves closing together to form an encapsulated gearbox, I think I'd much prefer it. Instead, a lot of possible customisability is taken away, which is especially evident when you look at the Toa Kaita.
  • The looseness of the gear driven shoulder is a big letdown. While it can be locked with a couple of extra pieces, one shouldn't need to so.
  • Tahu's sword being locked in position is a bit of a pain. Why he didn't get a Slizer arm with a socket hand instead of this weird tube-arm, I don't know.
  • What even was the black orb on his chest supposed to represent? Was it just stored there for later use in combination, or was it meant to have any story relevancy? I don't dislike how it looks, I just don't understand the intention of it.

However, there are many things I love about Tahu's design.

  • Again, the mask was and is a very iconic design. The shaping of the mouth has a very gasmask-esque feel to it, and the "whiskers" give the impression of painted stripes tribespeople sometimes wear on their faces.
  • The sword is a great design. I love how the hilt looks like some sort of fire-extruding exhaust.
  • The level of mechanical detail on the Mata sets really was an ideal standard. Every rivet, joint of piston actually looks like it does something, rather than simply being there for detail's sake. Other than these mechanical details, there really wasn't much more texture added past than the odd groove or grille here and there, which was great. Past 2004 though, this minimalist, essentialist approach to mechanical detailing started to disappear, which is a shame.
  • Tahu's big ol' hand, while very alien, always intrigued me. It reminds me of a European electricity plug, which fits in with the robotic look these guys have going for them.
  • The pink eyes are really... Well, eye-catching. They stand apart from all the intense red and orange, while still coheding with the overall colourscheme. It's a good look.

Overall, while Tahu is a major source of nostalgia for me, I can't help but notice his - and by extension, the rest of his team's - design flaws.

Edited by Logan McOwen

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The second time this has been necro'd, and just as cringeworthy as the first. I think I will get around to redoing this review entirely, I can't bare to look at this photography and text.

I must say, the review index is a brilliant tool for finding topics for reviews of individual sets like this one; I also value the checklist functionality. Whoever is keeping tabs on this is doing a great job.

Thank you, we appreciate the feedback!

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Funny thing is that if we were on BZ****r everyone reviving this thread would have been banned.

EB is sure a comfy place, and this review makes me want to do a huge comparison of the Pohatu sets even more.

Edited by TwistLaw

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Funny thing is that if we were on BZ****r everyone reviving this thread would have been banned.

Bwhahahaha. I enjoy BZp, but their thread revival rules are ridiculous most of the time.

And yes, bring on your Pohatu review!

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