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Rahaga Review
 Thursday, December 16th, 2004 at 11:38pm by Kelly, BZPower Co-OwnerThey started hitting shelves in mid-October, and now they're becoming more and more widely available. The six newest Bionicle sets, Rahaga, are hunched, simple designs with a new type of collectible. Are these diminuitive creatures vital new sets of the growing Bionicle saga, or are they Rahkshi-faced retreads? Read on to find out what we think.
The parts are familiar, mostly, but there's something very different about this set. Yes, the heads are Rahkshi heads (but with a difference), and yes, the tools are likewise re-Rahkshi. But you'll notice the biggest physical difference: a spinning disk on the backs of brown Pouks and red Norik (pictured). But even those are a variation on a theme.
No, the real difference is the name of the spinning disk: unlike all previous kollectibles, rhotuka doesn't start with a "k". Thank you, LEGO!
Physically, each Rahaga (which not coincidentally appears to be a combination of "Rahi" and "Turaga") is similar except for color and accessorizing tool. In this review, we'll show the red and brown Rahaga, as they are representative of all six. As we've seen, the only new pieces include the Rhotuka spinner and the spinner mechanism. The completed set has a hunched look, caused mostly by the spinner on the back. When the pull strip is inserted, it looks like each Rahaga has an overpacked backback. Kind of like the Mystics of The Dark Crystal movie. But on to the real interesting part: are the spinners any good?
Short answer: yes. The spinner is a solid design and the ones pictured have withstood the attention of two very interested cats, not to mention being heavily played with by a couple of kids. Where the Kanoka disks would fly eight or ten feet, the Rhotuka easily flies twice that distance in a leisurely glide. The pull action is smooth, and the pull strip is flexible yet sturdy. But they're easy to lose, so beware. The bios on Bionicle.com give a bit of life to these sets, and if their storyline promise holds, the Rahaga should become a solid part of the Bionicle saga.
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