Presentation
From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.
Kiina's box is shiny and blue. Very attention grabbing. The bright blue lid and glowing Skrall symbol certainly bring attention to the box. Kiina is elegantly posed, standing in a puddle of water, trident poised for stabbing. Is she spear fishing? The gold lettering looks very nice, and reminds me of the old canisters of '01.
The back of the box is certainly a step up from the Winter line. Replacing the poorly rendered Glatorian and their Agori counterparts is a lineup of all the Glatorian legends, standing tall. In addition you will find the legal jargon (am I the only one who reads this stuff?), a picture showing how to shoot the Thornax (we need instructions for that?), the Bio Code and an advertisement for the new movie.
I hadn't noticed this in other pictures. The Skrall symbol/Click detailing on the DVD looks great. I hope it's the final design.
The lid is apparently designed to look like Arena Magna, and reminds me (and pretty much everyone else) of the Visorak lids of yore in terms of shape. Something I hadn't noticed before was the taper of the lid:
And a random shot of the instructions. Nice blue background with some wavy structures I assume are Arena Magna.
Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?
I didn't take pictures of the build process, because I don't follow the instructions and build sets in a strange order (I also forgot to take a picture of the pieces, sorted). The build process is only slightly interesting. If you've seen a shot of the back of the set, instructions are not required for successful assembly.
Noteworthy of this set is that it has the first "custom" built torso since the Bohrok Kal (correct me if I'm wrong). The build of this set is a cut above average, but if you buy sets simply for the building process (does anyone do that?), then you won't find your hunger sated with Kiina (boy, that sounds creepy).
Set Design
Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.
Kiina has a fine selection of pieces, new and recolored.
New:
Fin-armor
Helmet
Trident
Double sockets with sideways oriented holes
Recolored:
Hands
Vahki leg
Feet
All in all, new or recolored pieces make up for 16 of 43 parts, a fair percentage. A yellow head would have been more welcome than the green, once again, and since I hear a yellow head is featured in the Summer variant of Fero, I'm not sure why it wasn't included here. All the same, the green looks decent.
I'm gonna tell it to ya straight. Kiina is an Atlantian goddess warrior. The trident, the fishy armor, and the colors all combine to create an undeniably feminine water warrior. I think she's one of the most undeniably elemental sets ever made. Too bad she has no water powers. =P
I'll throw in another undeniably for good measure. Undeniably.
Concerning her new pieces: The trident is great. The fin armor is great, if a little long, and it slightly restricts the bending of the knees. The helmet is really cool, and the silver bits accent the dark blue nicely.
Kiina's torso build is interesting. I'm surprised Lego decided to go out on a limb and try something new, but it's a pleasant surprise. I admit, when we first saw pictures of Kiina at toyfair, I thought the torso looked like garbage. But it's grown on me and now I can safely say I love it. It's definitely more feminine than previous female sets, but not disturbingly so as seen in Roodaka.
But Kiina is not without flaws. She suffers from the dreaded red axles, as well as the even more dreaded ape arms. Thankfully, the red pins aren't absolutely glaring, and can easily be replaced. Her torso is also short, and coupled with the long arms, doesn't allow her to stand completely at ease, as the Thornax launcher drags on the ground.
The ever-dreaded ape arms.
Her color scheme is also great, other than the aforementioned red pins. For some reason this is only the second time Lego has used this great color scheme in a Bionicle set, the previous incarnation being Hahli '03.
Kiina and her ticket out of there Mata Nui.
Playability
The other half of the fun is playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?
Kiina is fun. She plays well and looks great while she's at it. She's got the basic 13 points of articulation, but her shoulders are unique. They restrict downward movement to an extent, but allow more realistic motion in every other direction, allowing for some pretty dynamic poses.
Pretend it's motion blur. >_>
The Thornax is one of the better launchers, having considerable power while being small, unobtrusive, and sleek in appearance. It can also be used (along with the life counter) in the BIONICLE ACTION FIGURE GAME.Though I haven't played it, I hear it's pretty fun.
Kiina: OMIGAWD MY TICKET OUT OF HERE
Mata Nui: Please let go of me.
While it isn't as heavy or intimidating as Stronius' club, Kiina's trident looks light and agile, fitting the rest of her appearance. You can strike some pretty sweet poses with it, if posing is your thing. Since I no longer sit around banging my Bionicle sets together, or "fighting," as some call it, I can't really comment on the action-figure-ee play value of Kiina. It's good, I guess?
Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does this set stack up? Should I get it?
From right to left: Kiina, Berix, ewww
Pros:
Great color scheme
Generally sleek look
New torso build
A healthy amount of new/recolored parts
Unobtrusive launcher
Cons:
Monkey arms strike again, though they don't look as they do on some sets
Red pins
ok this is just a filler
Some people might not like the torso, I guess
So, should you get this set? I say wholeheartedly yes. Owning three Glatorian (Strakk, Vorox, Tarix), and two Legends (Mata Nui, Kiina), Kiina is probably my favorite, with only Strakk even contesting her rule. Even at full price she's worth it. If you just want to get one Legend, and you aren't a huge story fan, don't feel bad to pass on the super hyped (though I admit the hype isn't without reason) Mata Nui set and get Kiina.
Mini Mata Nui Review
Most everything that needs to be said about Mata Nui has been said, but there are a few points I'd like to make before you run out and buy this set.
For starters: This set is worthy of the name Mata Nui. But just barely. Why? Let us start with the lesser of two evils. That is the color layering. The Metru hips and Metru chest should have their colors swapped. Same with the arm's double sockets and lower arms. I wouldn't mind so much with most sets, but the set's colors are so close to perfect, and this is Mata Nui. Those two facts combine to make this one very sad. ;_;
Completely un-atmospheric recreation of that one scene in TRL
The other fact is Mata Nui has the most severe case of ape arms in any set...ever. Well, maybe Puke-ii Mahri and Kongu Mahri had worse cases, but we can pretend Hewkii doesn't exist and it kinda worked with Kongu. The torso is also a bit... large. The head and arms seem to be one one (excellent) scale while the body and arms are on that same, weird, overly thin, overly wide Bionicle scale.
But I <3 those ankleguards.
Mini Tarix Review
Everything bad you've heard about Tarix is true. I have all my 2009 sets lying around the living room now. All but Tarix. He's so ugly I had to go hide him in the dark of my room, out of sight. Unfortunately it's so ugly the sight has been seared into my brain, and it is not out of mind.
I will grant that he has a reasonable selection of parts. The blade part of the weapons are pretty cool, and the gold armor might be useful to some builders. His mask is pretty neat too. But all the parts in between are rubbish that most of us have in abundance by now.
In closing: This is a butt-ugly set you should only get if you are a diehard collector, need the parts for something in particular, or you find him on a great deal. Or maybe you're one of those people that like ugly sets like Hewkii Mahri and Tarix.
