Set Review: 8911 Toa Jaller Mahri
Saturday, September 8th, 2007 at 5:38pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager [Source: Darnzerf]
It's another Set Review Saturday! (Ok, so maybe I made that up.) Today BZPower Staffer Darnzerf brings you a review of Toa Jaller Mahri. Read on to see his opinions on the set and whether you think it's worth buying.
I present you Toa Jaller, the fiery Toa that is fighting deep under the seas.
Presentation
From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.
The box is what attracts little kids to come and touch the toy. Without a good first impression, you will have lousy sales, no matter how cool the sets are.
The Toa Mahri canisters aren't really considered canisters anymore. The front has a picture of Jaller, which you can see through a clear plastic protection. Unlike most sets which have stickers as the picture, the Mahri canisters have the picture on a cardboard-like piece of paper which is placed after the plastic cover. The plastic cover is wrapped within a border that is made up of similar material as the Inika Canister Tops.
The back is what makes it not really a canister. It's flat, and made up of the cardboard-ish paper. The back shows the rest of the Mahri, the Cordak Blaster, Mahri Nui & Voya Nui, an image of Jaller using his Cordak Blaster in a fort (The Canister Border), and all the legal text which no one really pays attention to.
All of this pieces that are part of the box itself are put together via tape from the top to the bottom. There are no lids involved.
Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?
I wouldn't say that he is hard to build, but he is not incredibly easy to build either. The instructions make it so that new-comers will not have a hard time building the set, for they are clean and straight-forward. Building the Hahnah Crab is one fun thing about this set. It's small, it's doesn't have many pieces, yet it is so awesome. I mean, it holds a rocket launcher on it's back. How cool is that?
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.
The design is also a main core that attracts people. You can have some flashy box-art, but when the customers open it, and it looks bad, then they will return it.
Straight out from the box. You have the vertical instruction booklet, the Cordak Blaster, two tubes, and the rest of the pieces to make up the set. It is neatly organized, and you don't have to open up many bags to get the piece you want.
Here are the main pieces that you would first noticed on the set. They include:
- The Mask
- The Hip
- The chest
- Chest armor x2 (One is for the Hahnah Crab)
- Lower Legs
- Lower Arms
- Feet
- Arm and Leg Armor
After noticing the main pieces, you finally notice from the secondary ones:
- Claws x2 (For the Hahnah Crab)
- Chain
- Stomach Guard?
- Upper Arms and Legs
- Head
- Eye Piece
And here are the not so noticeable pieces that help put together the set and add some extra useful touches. Some things that are obvious in the picture are the Cordak Ammo and teeth.
Overall, Jaller Mahri looks a lot different from his Inika form (such as no more transparent pieces). Some pieces, however, are reused this year:
- His Hip
- Legs (Though No Transparent pieces)
- Lower Arms
- Chest
New pieces include:
- Mask
- Chest Armor
- Stomach Armor (Again, I have know idea what this is called, it's just placed on the stomach)
- One giant sword
- Cordak Blaster & Ammo
You have seen in pictures how Jaller Mahri has tubes going out of his chest to the back of his head. This image above shows it. The tubes go through holes on his chest, through another pair of holes in his chest armor, going out, and back into his chest armor. It sounds complicated, but the design is awesome. Especially his mask, which is textured amazingly.
When you first get the set, you'll notice that you have three extra Cordak Ammo for which the blaster doesn't have enough room. You put the extra ammo on Jaller's back. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't like to have rockets sticking out of my back. This is how it is really supposed to be, and how the instructions tell you to do it. It seems a little strange. But you can take it out if you would like.
Playability
The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?
Fun. Fun. Fun. With 13 points of articulation, Jaller can pose very well. His balance can make it so you can pose him in all sorts of different directions.
His Hahnah Crab and his Cordak Blaster attached to it. That is one destructive crab-thing. It makes you wish that you had a crab that can shoot missles at people (Note kids, don't do this at home...nor anywhere else).
The Cordak Blaster is the only functionality of Jaller. There are no more gears, nor light up weapons. Just pose and shoot. When shooting a Cordak Blaster, you have to press hard for the bullet to shoot out. Just merely pressing it makes it so the bullet doesn't come out all the way, or it doesn't come out at all.
Compared to his previous form as a Toa Inika, Jaller Mahri is a lot better than Jaller Inika. His mask has a better shape and is made out of plastic this time, instead of the rubbery material on Jaller Inika. The sword is a lot lighter, so his balance is a lot better. The overall design as a Mahri is also a giant step from Inika to Mahri. The Mahri version is also slightly taller than the Inika version.
Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?
Pros
What's to like?
- Cordak Blaster is fun to shoot with
- The Hahnah Crab is one sweet little dude
- New pieces for MOCing
- Poseability is terrific
Cons
What's not to like?
- Uses a lot pieces from his old version (Legs are virtually the same)
- If the Hahnah Crab eyes aren't well placed, they can fall out.
- Unless there is some funky way of storing Jaller, the canister is useless for storing
In short, Jaller is awesome. If you're getting any of the Toa Mahri, I recommend him for you. I hope you had a good time reading my review as much as how I had a good time writing this review.
That's Jaller in a nutshell.
Be sure to thank Darnzerf for this review and keep checking back for more 2007 set coverage!
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