This is a review of the blue bionicle from the Toa Hordika sub-theme. Confused? Well I am too, so just read on...
Introduction
I received this Bionicle as a gift and to tell you the truth, I never was interested in the Bionicle theme. When I first realised that "Toa Hordika Nokoma" was the name of this set I thought what a long name it was. It turns out it's part of a Bionicle theme called Toa Hordika. The Toa Hordika were beasts that were mutated from already strange robot-like creatures. Yeah, it's all very confusing but I guess LEGO isn't all just about the story.
Please Note: This review will be in a non-Bionicle fan point of view, so please don't be offended by my lack of Bionicle knowledge.
Set Information
Name: Toa Hordika Nokama
Set Number: 8737
Theme: Bionicle; Toa Hordika
Year: 2005
Minifigures: 0
Pieces: 48
Price: £5.99 / US$9
Links: Brickset, Bricklink, Flickr
The Canister
Like some of the other Bionicle sets, this set was packaged in a canister. The Bionicle canisters certainly look quite interesting, especially with the great lid design. The bionicle in this set (Nokama) seems ready for battle in its pose and there's a small circle on the right displaying the play feature of the set.
Parts
Here are all the parts laid out for you to behold. The heads and axes are exclusive to this set as expected, but there are also some other rare parts present. The back torso, the legs and the arm with play feature (right arm) are the least common, having only been in this set in dark blue. The other arm has been in only three sets. There seems to be quite a few rare parts in this set which is excellent.
Instructions
The cover of the single instruction booklet is the same as the canister, except you can see more of the "demented vines" swooping down from above to smother the Bionicles.. The instructions were creased really badly as there is little room inside the canister.
The steps are quite simple as they mostly involve connecting the different parts of the Bionicle together with Technic pins. There are no problems with colour in the instructions as there are really only two colours in this set.
There seems to be quite a lot of ads for all Bionicle sets in the booklet. I can just imagine Lego advertising the Toa Hordika theme: "Collect all the Toa Hordika Bionicles so you can have fun trying to say all the names the loooongg and weeeiird names!"
More ads. These are some of the other Bionicles in the Toa Hordika theme. As you can see, all the others have a colour scheme of two colours, just like this set.
And what's this? Ads for Bionicle spiders with fans on their backs? Spider-powered fans maybe?
Instead of being on the back like current Lego sets, the Win ad is on the second last page. Ahhh... A Win ad with no screaming child. Let us relive this moment while we can. There are just some sets displayed and information in various languages.
Posters
A poster with something on both sides, was included in this set, but I think most Bionicle sets would have posters, so it's not that exciting. The poster just has more Bionicle sets on it and a brief introduction about "The Final Battle", whatever that is. It's probably just some battle with the spiders seen in the previous ad, to see who has better fans... (Yes this set does include the discs that the spiders have. I'll show you in the review.)
On the reverse side, it's pretty much the same except for different Bionicles. Fans might love this poster, to tick off all the sets they have, but to me it's simply not that appealing. If you've watched the "Bionicle: Mask of Light" movie, you would know that this poster is supposed to be a tie-in. However, I do find it strange since the movie was released two years before this set.
The Build
In this review, I will take you through the whole build, showing you a picture every 3-4 steps.
In the first few steps, a few of the pins are added to the main body.
Three steps later, some sort of armour has been added. It actually looks quite good.
Now the legs have been built. Both legs are the exact same. Mmmmm... I wonder if Bionicles have any trouble buying shoes, since they have two left feet...
Here the legs have been added to the body. You can notice that each leg is clipped to a blue ball, which allows the legs to rotate.
Now part of one of the arms has been added. The cogs on the arm are for a play feature that I'll show you soon.
After part of the other arm has been added, the Bionicle is finally starting to take shape.
Completed Set
With the rest of the arms added, our friend Nokama is complete. The axes look menacing and the overall colour scheme works quite well. The blue and the silver just blend in seamlessly, giving it a robotic look. Nokama's just showing off her weapons.
Now I'll show the play feature of the arm. So, what you do is turn the cog at the top of the right arm (left from this view), which turns another cog, which in turn moves the arm up. This is a simple feature but is great to have for battle scenes.
The side view looks a bit strange from the side, but maybe that's just me. The axes just look oversized from this view, but hey Harry Potter has an oversized Lego wand, so it's only fair that the Bionicles have something too. Note that both axes are the exact same, but their shape looks terrific.
And here's the back view. The disc at the back is actually for the second play feature: a disc-launcher. The discs fly quite far so it's a good feature to have, but it seems like lots of other Bionicle sets have something similar, just like how so many sets from other themes have flick-fire catapults.
Posability
Bionicle sets are known for their oustanding posability because of the use of "ball joints". I'll be showing you a few pictures to demonstrate how posable this paticular Bionicle is.
Here you can see Nokama in the ice-skating finals. Can she win and be hailed the champion?
This position looks a bit awkward to say the least. You can see one of the legs twisted over the shoulder. The Bionicles sure are a flexible.
Extra Features
To put the Bionicle back into the canister, you just have to remove the two axes and it will fit inside.
Another handy feature of this set is that you can place the two discs on top of the lid. This is probably to stop the discs getting lost.
Ratings
Design: 7/10 - This set has been designed well and the colours just look great together.
Parts: 6/10 - There are quite a few parts that have only ever been in dark blue in this set, but the other parts are common.
Minifigures: N/A
Playability: 6/10 - For a small set, it's excellent to have two play features. The moving arm isn't that amazing and the disc launcher is common, but the features are still effective.
Value: 7/10 - For 48 pieces, the price is okay.
Overall Rating: 6.5
This set definitely looks pleasing with the colours and there are two average play features. I would say that this is an interesting set, but not having any other Bionicle sets I can't really compare it to others. It's probably interesting to me just because it's my only Bionicle set.
