Review: 8601 Toa Vakama
Friday, December 19th, 2003 at 5:50pm by Rich, BZPower Administrator [Source: LEGO]
Earlier today the latest press kit arrived. Direct from LEGO to BZPower, this kit included a copy of Toa Vakama, the Toa of Ta-Metru. For the first ever look at this hero of 2004, read on.
Vital statistics:
Item no: 8601
Product name: Toa Vakama
Pieces 48
Ages 7+
MSRP $7.99
Release date March 2003
Just like every other set of heroes in the world of Bionicle, Toa Vakama, along with all the other Toa come in a can.
The can of Toa Vakama is the same can that the Toa Nuva came in with the exception of the lid. The lid of this Toa of Metru Nui is much more round in keeping with the overall Metru Nui urban theme.
The outside packaging of the canister reveals an image of Toa Vakama in some sort of action mode with his disk launcher. Rolling around to the back of the can we see an advertisement for an instant win game inside the Toa can. More about that in a later article. Finally, there is a map of Metru Nui. (not pictured)
Inside the can you’ll find the pieces for Vakama freely inserted, an Instant Win Game card, and an instruction booklet.
You’ll notice from the image that there are many new pieces that comprise this set. Also of note is that the dark gray featured in this set is not the dark gray Bionicle fans have become accustomed to. All of the dark gray for 2004 is changed to this new color.
Only having 48 pieces, the set is relatively easy to construct. The instructions are very straightforward and should be simple enough for any Bionicle fan that has built any of the other canister sets such as the Nuva or the Rahkshi.
The Kanoka launcher serves as the disk launcher we saw on the Metruan and also it attaches to the back to Toa Vakama and can be a jetpack, which can allow Vakama to fly.
Here are a few more pics of Vakama the model itself:
So, how do we rate this guy? Pretty cool! It’s good to see so many new pieces, and if this guy is the headline figure for 2004, 2004 should be a good year for Bionicle.
Toa Vakama gets a rating of 9/10. For both price point and the set itself.
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