It's that time once again. Yesterday we brought you a review of one of the 2007 playsets. Today Great Being #1 reviews Toa Lewa Nuva. Read on to see how this hero has changed since we last saw him in 2002.

Presentation
From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.

Lewa, the fierce warrior of the Air! The CGI picture on the front of the canister really captures this. The front was designed really well in my opinion. Everything meaningful has it's own section thanks to the swampy vines. Lewa is in one while his fired Midak, ages and piece number, warning and, LEGO logo are in other sections.

The back of the canister seems to be split in two. The lower half contains a bunch of warnings and information while the top shows some poses of Lewa and Tanma, instructions on how to fire the Midak Skyblaster, a link to the website and, your "B.I.O" code (I'm guessing this is the new Kanoka code).

When I had first seen this year's canisters I had been disappointed. I had thought that they would be the Mahri canisters just with a swampy surrounding instead of the underwater one. Boy was I pleased to see that wasn't the case and that you could store the pieces this year.

The instruction manual isn't anything extraordinary, it's just the picture of Lewa from the canister.

Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?

At first when you dump out the set you see a lot of gray, almost as much lime, and quite a bit of silver. I was quite surprised by the amount of gray and I think a little bit more lime would've been better.

The building is pretty easy as it's the basic Toa we've seen in the last couple of years just with a couple extra steps. It shouldn't take longer than five or six minutes.

Oh no! I'm just a Toa Inika!

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.

Lewa comes with a variety of new and old pieces. Most of the set features old pieces that have been recolored and the rest is new pieces. The Booster Jets and the Sword are awesome new pieces. The old but recolored pieces are very useful for MOCing especially with this big array of dark gray.

Left: New/Rare pieces Middle: Minor variants of old pieces Right: Recolored old pieces

Now to explain my middle section: It consists of socket pieces which have be slightly altered and do not have holes in the sides anymore. The double-sockets also have an outline, which visually joins 2 of the 3 pinholes. These sockets also appear to have been strengthened as they easily support the weight of the Midak and haven't broken or cracked after quite a bit of putting together and taking apart.

Lewa was designed very well. His front is well armored. His back is also though the legs are bare as always. The silver of his weapons and equipment blend very well into this color scheme though I have to admit the color scheme is a bit off for a Toa of Air. Yes the lime is a very nice green but there is too much gray. Phantoka Lewa Nuva and Kongu Mahri have both had gray as their primary color and green as their secondary. Gray isn't a very good description of Air. Lewa though is a bit better than Kongu because his lime contrasts well whereas Kongu's green blended in with the gray a bit more.

Lewa has the standard 13 points of articulation but there is one minor problem. Lewa's shoulder blades (the Twin Cutters) and Jet Boosters restrict the upward motion of his arms. Although this isn't good it's nice to see that the joints are now a lot stronger and seem to be able to put a Toa in poses you weren't able to before because of the size and weight of the blasters and his own body.

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?

Now as for the Midak my emotions are mixed. It is a very cool weapon and fires well but it reuses Zamor spheres. It's nice that you can now reuse your old ammo but it is a bit redundant as this is the third set of canisters to have them.

Now I do not have Tanma or any of the other Av-Matoran but I have put (thanks to additions) Dekar on Lewa and it was very fun to pose them.

Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?

Pros
What's to like?

• Lots of new pieces!
• Stronger joints! Lime doesn't break!
• Weapons and equipment!
• Color Scheme blends well!
• Attaching Matoran!
• Great for MOCers!

Cons
What's not to like?

• Arm articulation problems.
• Too much gray.
• Zamors?
• No new limb or body pieces.

All in all I have to say buying Lewa is worth it. Though if you have spare lime armor pieces I wouldn't hesitate to put them on. And with that see you next time!

So there you have another 2008 review. Be sure you thank Great Being #1 for checking out Lewa Nuva and sharing his thoughts on the set. We have plenty more reviews coming up, so keep checking back for more!

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