The Building Chronicle: A Critical Consideration of LEGO's "Bionicle" Series - Building Through part 2.2 - 2002

Okay, I lied slightly. Last time I said we'd have a look at the Swarm, but we're not. Not quite yet. First we'll look at the Toa Nuva, superpowered versions of our six focal heroes from 2001, and at the Tohunga/Matoran, who start to fight back against the threats to the island of Mata Nui.

(Note: the controversy over the term "Tohunga" stems from an appropriation by the Lego company of Maori terms for their own use. A Tohunga is an expert practitioner, often a priest, in Maori culture. Thus the Tohunga from 2001 and 2002 become the Matoran of 2003.)

As I mentioned last time, I'm not a huge fan of the protodermis-mutated masks of the Toa Nuva. Some of them are cool. I really like Gali Nuva's mask, though I wish it had been transparent blue, like her old one. I think my main problem with them is that where the original masks and original Toa were designed together, the Nuva bodies are only very basic redesigns of the originals, yet the masks are radical redesigns that, in my opinion, are far too large for the older bodies. Now, having said that, the addition of the early armouring goes some distance toward fixing this problem, but, as I've said, not enough I think.

The various Toa teams straddle an interesting line between originality and cloning throughout the first decade of Bionicle's existence. In some cases, the Inika series for example, there is so little differentiation (aside from colour) that the figures are amongst the least popular of the series. Their second form, however, the Toa Mahri involves perhaps the most diverse range of builds that the Toa ever see. In this, we see an important delineation between the ways we can think, and how collectors think, about these series. On the one hand, we can talk about the models from the perspective of what kinds of different flourishes, different armours and weapons, a model possesses, and on the other we can talk about them from the perspective of the complexity, or novelty, of the build. It is the sets that do both that are often the most popular and lauded.

In the 2001 series, it was the Rahi that provided this novelty of building, and for 2002 it is the proto-Titan models that do so. For today's post, these novel builds are represented by the Toa Nuva combiners, and the two variations of the Boxor. I've already waxed lyrical about the Wairhua Nuva combiner, who is sadly obscured behind a clock in the picture. Akamai Nuva, our other combiner, is a very basic redesign of the original Akamai, and, if I'm to be honest, is not really that interesting. The Boxor, both versions, on the other hand, offer both a novel build and a cool aesthetic design, which makes them one of my favourites of this wave. The creator of the Boxor (which, rather macabrely, is built from destroyed Bohrok) is the Tohunga Nuparu, who eventually becomes one of the aforementioned Toa Inika. He's interesting, in that of the Inika, he's one of only two who is not based on one of the 2001 McToran figures. The Boxor is one of the last gasps of truly Technic-style building for the Bionicle line. The main model features a punching motion that is activated by pushing down on the model and making it walk. The gear assembly for this model is really great. The secondary model (over to the far right in the picture) isn't quite as interesting, but certainly offers some variety in a wave that is, sadly, overly clone.

That's enough for today, I think. I'll move on to the Swarm next time, and then the Rahi zoo of the Master Builder Set.