It's that time again, time for another review. Our third Toa Inika is Hewkii, kindly reviewed by Forum Assistant Dr. Bionicle. Many people has had a lot to say about this particular Inika, as a result of his new coloring scheme. Now you have a chance to see what someone with hands-on experience thinks!

The Toa Inika. Probably one of those most �controversial� sets to ever hit the shelves. Not only do they reincarnate (or as some people believe, kill off) 6 of our favorite Matoran, but they�ve completely altered them so that they have little/no resemblance to the old Matoran. Not only that, but the masks are made of a rubber with very different heads, along with (gasp) no gear functions.

And Hewkii has really been one of the sets people have been talking about, thanks to his completely new color scheme and �weird-looking mask�.

So I�m here to tell you, what good is he?

THE BOX
The the most superficial part of any LEGO product, but the one that often determines whether or not the set is a success or failure.

I don�t think that I�m the first to tell you that these canisters are absolutely gigantic. And I think that no matter how many times we tell you, you�re still not going to believe how huge they are when you get them. I was surprised myself by their large size. Just to put it into perspective for you, lying down on its back, the canister is about half the size of regular desktop keyboards. That may not seem too entirely huge to you, but when you get the set, you�ll see that it�s surprising that it even fit on the shelf. The main reason for the canister�s great width and height is due to its Zamor display (located at the top, which showcases the four Zamor) and sword display, which is probably the second thing that catches the buyer�s eye (after the huge box image).

The image on the front certainly attracts one's eye, with the giant image of Hewkii glaring through the pouring rain and a torn chain-link fence. They show his axe lit up, with a small faded laser coming out one end. Please note that it does not have that sort of function with a beam coming out of the tip.

We also see the snazzy new Inika font, all scratched and weathered. Then you have the boring stuff: The age range, the warnings, set number, number of pieces, etc. Yes, there is a TRY ME feature. If you're worried about that, you have two options: You can pick from the back of the shelf, which most little kids don't even know exists, or you can order them off LEGO Shop@Home with fresh batteries. One thing I�m going to note is that despite the image on the canister, the Zamor are not red. They are an orange-type color.

The back is pretty standard, showing us the special features and the set itself. We�ve got ourselves a Kanoka code, the safety guidelines (including the fact that you should not clean Hewkii's axe in water, an important point), how Hewkii fits inside his canister (not that it�s any surprise that he can fit very comfortably inside it), and five �coolified� pictures of the other Toa Inika�s masks.

Something you don�t notice until you open the set is the unique little stand that holds the Zamor and weapon inside the lid. It is actually very helpful in keeping track of your Zamor and finding a resting place for your weapon.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?
So you've bought it and taken it home (or at least made it to the car), punched the perforated tabs and dump out the contents.  What do you get for your money?

Unfortunately, I never got a shot of all the pieces before the camera was taken by my sibling for her own trip, but I�ll tell you there�s plenty of stuff in this box. We have some Keetongu-colored pieces, some gunmetal gray pieces, and some very odd pieces like nothing we�ve ever seen before. Most of the pieces are fairly flat, save the limbs, head, mask, and weapons. You can already picture the Toa Inika forming when you see all the pieces, as most of the pieces are pretty obvious as to their positions on the Toa.

THE BRICKS
Here's where we start to cut to the heart of the matter.  You didn't buy this box for all the glossy booklets & creative artwork.  You want to know about the LEGO bricks & bits that are included, and what (if any) new & interesting parts you'll find inside.  Here's also where I'll talk about any new and/or interesting pieces that you will encounter.

Hewkii has more pieces than any of the other Inika, due mainly to his chain, which puts him a good fifteen pieces over most the others. The question is, are any of these pieces any good?

Here we see all the new pieces. Note that the set was built before this picture, so the chain had been built already. It actually comes in fifteen tiny links with little hooks on each end and peg holes. What all do we have here? First we have the body and armor piece. The body piece is similar to the Piraka�s, with the flattish sort of design and the stretching shoulders. However, the torso does not look anything like a torso before the armor is added. It is obvious the two were made specifically for one another. The new shoulder pads are very interesting pieces, as they do the job of covering the arm by slipping over a single peg hole and being held by a plus rod, unlike other shoulder pads which are pushed into the arm by a peg. MOCers will like this piece. We�ve got your standard upper leg piece, which isn�t too terribly unique besides its design. It is made in such a way that it works with the guard on the lower leg piece.

And that leads us to the lower leg, which is probably one of the more interesting legs we�ve seen in a while. The guard piece is used to limit unrealistic bending and to cover up the lower �knee� piece of the upper leg, which have always been exposed before. I must say I like this improvement, as it looks cooler and more realistic. The feet are interesting as they don�t look very Toa-like. They have four claws on the front and a small curve that goes up to the ankle. It�s very flat and looks more like it belongs to a Hordika than a Toa Inika.

The Zamor magazine is a pretty straightforward piece. It is very much like one of the old connector pieces with a slight curve, only with the Zamor storage fused to it. It has a design where the bars that keep the Zamor in alternate as you go up on each side instead of simple rings going around the magazine. I must say, this looks pretty neat, but it often causes the top Zamor to fall out. Hewkii�s axe. Another straightforward piece. More on that later. The little ball joint. Unlike others, it is more of a ring than a bowl, so that the plus rod can go through it. I find that this makes it harder to fit into place, but it should still come in handy for you MOCers out there.

Hewkii�s head, which brings to mind Rodney from the movie Robots, is a very strange piece. It has two small plus rod holes on the inside on the ceiling of the head. It starts green at the top and gets white as it goes down, which has a very interesting look on the actual set. It doesn�t have much compatibility as a piece, but I�m sure that some of you are creative enough to find out some other purpose for it, no doubt.

Hewkii�s mask, which was thought to be ugly and a set-spoiler, is actually pretty dang cool. It looks very jagged, which gives it a sort of wrinkly look that had members upset. I think the reason for this was so that the rigid rubber piece would fit in with the appearance of the other plastic pieces, and I must say that it succeeds in that area.

Unlike the happy disposition that Toa Nuparu appears to have on his mask, Hewkii�s mask looks very tough. You would never guess that it had any powers of mentality.

What does it look like? Well, the thing has human aspects to it: A nose, a mouth, you can even see lips in there. But then again it has a very sort of different look to it, sort of a Kraahkan like design. I personally think it kind of looks like a dwarf wearing a football helmet.

Here we have the non-photogenic Zamor, only three, as the other one is currently being rescued out from under the piano. You�ll notice that one is a little darker than the others. I don�t really know if this is intentional or just a little extra coloring, but it looks kind of interesting. Once again, they are not red, as you can plainly see.

Here we have all the new �gunmetal gray� pieces. The only other set we�ve seen this kind of color in, I believe, is Makuta. I really like this color in pieces, as it looks more metallic than the light silver we�re used to in sets.

Other parts that are not pictured are basically joint pieces in Keetongu color, along with the common pegs and plus rods.

BUILDING EXPERIENCE
What can you expect while putting this model together?

Hewkii was fun to put together without the common complications that we see in canister sets. While the building is pretty straightforward, you get to have a little fun seeing how it all turns out. You could memorize Hewkii�s build after your first time. I found that my fingers were in fine condition after putting together this set, which is not something that commonly happens after putting together a canister set. There are no real complications here, except getting the little ball joint into the neck, which I found was somewhat difficult.

The mask slips onto the head easily, unlike the Piraka, whose head construction took even the brightest of us a minute or two to figure out. The rubber does not move, surprisingly, but is very firm. It is not a piece that will easily break or become distorted. Unfortunately, if it can come on that easy, it can come off fairly easily too. It doesn�t take much for Hewkii�s mask to come off. But it stays in place for the most part.

The chain, one of the unique parts of Hewkii�s build over the other Inika, is fairly simple to construct. The hooks snap together firmly, so that they are fairly easy to put in and fairly hard to pull out. The chain hooks up to a part of his back with the use of a peg. The other end hooks up to a small ring on Hewkii�s axe.

If you were to build Hewkii without armor, weapons, or mask, he would look very odd. Once again, we can see a Rodney resemblance.

Now let�s hook him up with armor and his mask.

These pieces really buff him out, despite their flatness. They unify the build quite well, and give him a new look that we haven�t really seen before. But if he looks buff like that, wait till you see him with his weapons.

PLAYING EXPERIENCE
So you've got the model together, but is it more like playing with a block of wood or an interactive toy?

You can assume a lot about Hewkii when you first look at him. Hewkii has the composition of a rough, tough ol� guy. He most certainly looks like the Onua of the group. Hewkii could totally go villain if he wanted to, because his mask sure sells it. The one thing that balances it out is his body, which looks very different.

Hewkii is extremely posable. More posable than any set I�ve ever seen. And yet stunningly more realistic than most other sets. The head is the most posable head as of yet, as it has no limitations to its movement like the Rahkshi, Hordika, and others have. The legs have the guard, as I said, which keeps the legs from bending all the way forward. I love this new feature, as Hewkii looks more realistic standing up straight than any other canister set. Hewkii�s lacks hardly anything when it comes to posability.

The color scheme has been squawked about ever since we�ve seen the first pictures of the sets. So does it look any good?

It looks awesome. One of my favorite color schemes of all time. The yellow, which seems extreme, is very nicely balanced by the gunmetal gray of the armor. This is the first set that I actually felt had an armor-like quality to it. Hewkii�s color scheme makes him look very knightly and heroic, in contrast with his rough-looking mask. Not to mention that it�s a different color than the weapons, which makes the weapons actually look unique, compared to other sets with the same light silver.

As I said, Hewkii�s torso is very flat. This makes him look a little funny from the side, though the legs and arms help it out a bit. It makes for some very fun angle poses, though, that make him look very cool.

One of the few things that irks me about Hewkii�s design is his neck. It is simply a plus rod that goes from the ball joint to the head. While it makes the head very posable, it looks very odd if Hewkii ever looks to the side. I would recommend putting a small tube onto the neck plus rod, which will give it some body and more realism.

The chain is not as bothersome as I thought it would be. Due to its hook-up, it doesn�t tangle easily and always remains connected, unlike the bothersome System chains that commonly popped off if strained. It�s a cool addition, as it gives him a sort of street look.

The also non-photogenic Zamor launcher is probably my favorite part of the whole set. While the Piraka�s Zamor launchers didn�t interest me too much, I�ve had way too much fun with the Inika�s �Machine� Zamor launchers. They fire as fast as you can flick them, which is very fun for any shooting games you might play. The only disadvantage is that the top Zamor often falls off, which is why I just fire three in a row. Unfortunately, since no top has been developed, the Zamor will roll out easily if you bend Hewkii�s arm up.

Something else I noticed is that it is more accurate than the previous Zamor launchers. Why? The magazine that attaches to the top also serves the purpose of causing strain to the Zamor launcher, like the side and bottom �clamps� on the old launchers. Because it is strained on all four sides, the Zamor launcher fires straight for as long as it can until drag and gravity pull it back down. That means you can shoot Vezok in the head three times in exactly the same spot and give him one heck of a black eye.

The axe is a very unique piece. It is just about the coolest weapon out of any of the Inika, contested only by Matoro�s sword. Unlike Axonn�s axe, Hewkii�s weapon is more of a long-blade than a wide-blade. It�s a good thing that Hewkii doesn�t have gear functions because otherwise he would never be able to hold the thing up. The axe weighs almost as much as the entire set.

The light-up function is very nifty. There is a clear tube that goes up the center of the axe in which the light is emitted. Hewkii�s axe shines a bright red which is visible in daylight. When the button on the side of the axe is pressed, the tube begins to rapidly blink. It does this for about five seconds. By the end of the cycle, the flashes get slightly slower, then stop all together.

Hewkii�s axe is very bright, compared with the Piraka�s eyes, capable of making a miniature flashlight that shines over short distances.

In slight darkness, Hewkii�s axe is really cool, taking on the aspect of the Piraka�s eyes. It can make for some very dramatic, dark poses. You can spend a long time entertaining yourself just seeing what great promotional pictures you could come up with.

Sadly, my camera was not capable of getting a shot of Hewkii in total darkness with his axe lit that could clearly be seen. And even if I did, the picture would not have done it justice. This red combined with the shadow of the room seems to have a Batman feel to it, giving Hewkii a combined feeling of rage and heroism. The red looks all too cool lighting up the gunmetal gray. If you don�t think it�s worth the price, try it. You will not be disappointed.

OVERALL
Here's where it all boils down to whether the model is worth your money and time or not.

If Hewkii isn�t worth your money, then you might as well quit Bionicle, because this dude is way too awesome. With a semi-automatic Zamor launcher, an extremely cool light-up weapon, great posability, and a color scheme not to be forgotten, Hewkii is absolutely killer.

This is my first Toa of Stone that has been my favorite out of any group of Toa. I honestly don�t care whether his character lives up to his set or not, because I�ll be having too much fun with him to notice. If you have any doubts about the Inika, buy Hewkii first. He will definitely get you hooked.

And there you have him, Toa Hewkii Inika. I hope this gave you an insightful look into this new set and let you know what you needed before deciding to buy it. Be sure to thank Dr. Bionicle for reviewing Hewkii and keep watching for more Inika and other 2006 set reviews!

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