Dr_Chronos

I think the art style is gorgeous. I was worried it was going to be extremely set accurate like the Tahu teaser showed, but I'm happy that it's a perfect balance of artistic liberty and set accuracy. I dig the Cell-Shaded appearance. It makes the CGI less obtrusive. The colors could use a little work, but until we see the movement, lighting, and effects I'll reserve my judgment. I especially like how they filled in the gaps, and bonus points to the team for filling in the shell holes. Makes me wish we had a part like that. Overall I think the show looks promising in terms of visuals.

On the tonfas. I'm not really a fan of them. I'm fine (but not ecstatic) about the tonfa weapon itself, but I don't like it here in terms of both looks and playability. The way he holds them often looks awkward and I already dread constantly posing the rotating blade. I'm probably going to change them for another weapon.

Like all the months before, we get a cool diroama for the featured Toa.

The silver doesn't look as bad as I originally thought so that's a good thing. I would have preferred a bit more Yellow or Lime, as his colorscheme is rather dull compared to his Master form. The arms are still disapointing. Putting the Vorox armor on the side is a great idea but I don't think it was executed well here. The lack of elbow articulation is easily fixed but the official version is baffling to say least. I'm not sure how to feel about the emphasis on Air rather than Jungle. Lewa and Uxar were buys from me already, despite his flaws Lewa is still one of the best Toa of this wave.

I caught a fish THIS big. Anyway I really like Akida. It's a beautifully colored aerodyamic fish with guns. What isn't there to like? The function seems a little odd on its own and I'm not sure why they didn't use smaller bushings on the sides, but overall Akida is a good unique creature that I look foward to getting. Plus I really like the machine guns on the combo. Akida is heavy weapons fish.

Pohatu looks much better in this review, probably because of the poses. This time the custom arms really strut their stuff. Still have my issues on the colors and whatnot, but as a standalone set Pohatu seems pretty solid. He's probably the only Toa who looks worse in his Creature combo though, which is a shame. I think I'll pick him up if I feel the need.

I know. It was so derpy that it was actually funny :P

Nexo Knight section from the German catalog, could someone provide a translation?

Mostly what I got. I roughly translated it, the stuff in parenthesis is the words I'm unsure of: "Help the Toa to unite with the creatures of the elements in order to win the battle against the evil and secure the golden mask of control! You can use the Toa with any creature combine and (create?) completely new, unique powers. The battle (is yours?) to decide. The (robust models handle) intense play with fearless action. Together, the Toa and the creatures an unstoppable force!"

German catalog showing the 2016 sets, could anyone provide a translation of the main description?

Basically you could sum it up as: Look at some stuff, build a skeleton, put cool stuff on the skeleton, just do whatever you want. While that is the simplest way to sum up MOCing I feel that there's no real substance to this tutorial. It doesn't give any tips, tricks, or even good creations. It just states the (hopefully) obvious. That last bit about not worrying if the mask clashes with the rest was the funniest part of the tutorial. So what if it doesn't match? It's all about *personality*.

Ikir is the perfect balance of cool and cute. Definitely my favorite creature so far.

I don't think I have much to add to the criticisms department. Tahu's not really a bad set, but he's not a great one either. His colors are an eyesore, his textures are messy, and his build is less than stellar. The biggest problem I have with him is that I don't know which direction the designers were going for. Master Tahu is not that much better, but it was clear to see his design direction. He gave off a nice Samurai vibe with his panel-styled armor, squat mask, and many swords. When I look at his Uniter version I just don't get any vibe other than "good guy". At least this time around his torso is longer, but the legs should have been shrunk a bit. Really to make Tahu look good is to combine him with Ikir. If I had the money I would buy him just to fix his flaws, but as of right now he's a pass for me.

Sets have been spotted at a TRU in Canada, around the Highway 7/Markham area. Thanks Hydraxilos!

I'm already warming up to this little guy. He really stands out from the rest of the creatures. All of his other pals easily resemble real animals, it's not difficult to imagine them as such. Thanks to his sword arms Ketar stands out as some kind of fantasy mechanical scorpion, his structure is so alien that it works. While I'm on the swords I'd like to mention that Ketar uses the crystal addon the best. By combining it with the sword the part really puts it's transitional nature to its best use. It actually looks like it's integrated into Ketar unlike its usual slapped on look on other sets. Now I'm not a fan of how exposed the Technic portion is on Ketar. It's distracting and ugly to honest. Some cover on the Glatorian necks or the front would have been greatly appreciated. The gappiness of that area wrecks the look of set. Not to mention the potentially good function is plaqued by a lack of friction. Not much to say about the tail since it's just a trigger, but it doesn't look very good. I kinda wish they continued with the alien design and replaced the stinger with some kind of non-functional blaster or sensor. Heck a wrecking ball would have been awesome. The colors surprisingly work good, although I think the Dark Tan Vorox armor should have been replaced with silver. Now while the intention was great, the execution is lackluster. Overall Ketar wins me by his unique and derpy charm. I approve of different and even weird designs like Ketar in the future. Pohatu: Pohatu's forearms are seriously killing my eyes. Stahp! His colorscheme looks better than I thought, but he definitely needs more reddish brown. I need to replace those neon shells for something else.

Good review. Is there a reason that this one doesn't include a poll? Still not sold on the set. Kopaka just doesn't appeal to me as a whole. His color scheme is very poorly handled and I'm not a fan of how his arms and legs look. I totally agree about the broadsword, it looks absolutely fantastic. The gun-shield leaves something to be desired, I would have scrapped it in favor of an ice trap. In my Toa ranking Kopaka is pretty low, I think I'll pass. The funny thing is if Melum was separate I would get him just because he's so cute.

Thanks for the review! Sadly I'm still not impressed now. -Colorscheme is poorly done. Way too many colors in the same set, those colors being white, silver, gold, dark blue, trans light blue, and thanks to the dual-molded crystal and chest print even some spring green. -Arms aren't that impressive. Since the ball of the arms sits to the side of the arms rather than the middle it makes some poses look very awkward. The overall look of the arms has grown on me, but I think it would have been better if the armor was separate from the arm. -Mask doesn't look good. For the record I'm all for customizable masks. I want to see them become more common over the years. In the end Kopaka's new mask doesn't hit me as well as its predecessor did. -Combo upgrade is meh. Lewa and Tahu? Functional wings. Gali? Cannons. Kopaka? Shoulders. -Minor stuff like the poor greeble distrubion in legs, the legs in general actually, and the underwhelming gun-sheild. -I'm also not really getting the knight vibe here. The only part of Koapka I feel goes that route would be his Vorox armor pieces and his sword. That's all I can see. The legs try to make it work, but the shins are outshined by the large crystal armor above. If they really wanted to pursue the knight look I think using the SW leg shell would have worked much better. The many colors also ruin the suit of armor look. In the end I'm just not feeling Kopaka. His Master form gave a Greek/Roman Uber-Toa look, tall, strong, bulky but not cumbersome, I just loved him. If they really went all out with the knight look here I'm sure I would have liked it as well, but the execution just seems half-developed. The things I like the most of the set would actually be the nice parts, the sword, and the adorable Melum. If he and Kopaka were separate I would actually choose him over his Toa. I know he is very similar to Terak, but I like to view them as buddies. He even comes with a cute hug function to greet his friend.

Great review! I liked Umarak before, but I'm absolutely in love with him now. The colors, the build, the mask, everything looks so right. He will be a Day 1 purchase along with Uxar. He doesn't rely heavily on the combination feature to look good which is something the Toa could learn from. Sole complaints would be the somewhat bland bow and underdeveloped bottom legs, but those are extremely minor complaints.

I understand that the MoCr being included is a let down, but I like the inclusion of a beautifully designed cloth piece more than a recolored mask. Does it look good on Tahu? Not really. The thing is you don't have to use it only on Tahu. I'm sure it would look good on other Toa. Just for curiosity, if you were in charge of making this polybag what would you do?

I've been thinking about using two hoses ( http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?P=78c11&idColor=66#T=C&C=66 ) to give the sets a natural back flow. It's probably going to look a little gappy, but it won't sacrifice the Unity feature. I'm interested in seeing how people will mod these sets.

capes are cool I don't expect a reason. It could be to protect him from nature's elements while he's exploring, it could be a map, it could be a fashion statement, it could be comfortable, it could prevent his shiny new gold armor from getting dirty, there's a lot of possibilities. That aside it looks fantastic. I'm probably not going to use it on Tahu, but I definitely know Ekimu and a few MOCs could use this neat design. To me this is way more interesting than a recolored mask.

I'll buy at least seven. A tribal cloth piece! I just love the Nuva Symbol maze pattern. This polybag is much more desirable compared to the others in my book. I suppose they bundled the MoCr to give kids the opportunity to collect both the MoCo and the MoCr. This better not be a Russian exclusive like the last bag.

The gearbox gave an extra two modules of depth. "Gearbox aside" is like taking their entire backs and arms off. It also doesn't help that flow of those backs were natural, and the Uniter backs instead flow on revese with the function being so far out. As for the G1 comparison I don't think it martters, because for the most part I disliked the flatness in the Ignika build. For the legs I think it's the disproportionate shins. Those thighs are way too long/those shins are too short.

Thanks for the review! I'm a little disappointed that Gali didn't live up to my first impressions. The torso shell doesn't look good at all on her. Ignoring that the colorscheme is superb. The weapon manages to look nice, and the combo is amazing. Originally Gali was my favorite of the new smaller Toa, but seeing her now I'm not so sure. Her buid and figure just looks so awkward with those gappy thighs and elongated torso. I dig the asymmetrical shoulder armor, but on the leg it's too distracting and not quite good. On its own I think this is a downgrade from 2015 Gali, but she was one of the best sets so I suppose I can't be too critical. I'm going to give this set the benefit of the doubt and vote average. Gali had a lot of potential, her renders looked promising, but the set did not deliver.

Information wise I'm pretty sure nothing so far. Pictures are what tend to be released through there. In fact the 2016 Bio images were posted on 4chan. The most hilarious thing to me is that we are taking this stub of info more seriously than they are.