Review:70786 Gali - Master of Water/Berrybrick

Berrybrick
Country: America the Beautiful Gender: Male
Joined: February 2010 № of Reviews: 46 № of Featured reviews: 1
Building Experience: Enough is enough

How would you rate 70786 Gali - Master of Water?

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(5) Kiss the girl

(4) I want to be part of your world

(3) Low tide

(2) One of those songs about drowning

(1) The levy is dry

3 votes have been cast since the poll was created on 04:50, 8 August 2015.

poll-id BE75C5ABF43727B5F9956A69630E5A32

This is the fourth version of Gali released since 2001. It doesn't bear a whole lot of resemblance to any of them though, aside from some vague similarities in the mask department to her first two releases and the Nuva incarnation's double-bladed axe (which I will be calling a labrys from this point on because it's easier and I want to show off that I'm a pedant). Thankfully, she bears pretty much no resemblance to her last version which is probably one of the worst BIONICLE canister sets ever.

When I first saw images of 2015 Gali, I wasn't too excited, but now she has made me reevaluate my life: I've realized how just about every song I know about water is either awful, obscure, or tragic, the exception being "Under the Sea" from Disney's The Little Mermaid Well, let me say, in the words of a singing crab (RIP Singing Squid), "Things are always better, down where it's wetter, take it from me!"

Instructions/Box[edit | edit source]

I like the trapezoidal box designs used for most of these sets, it gives them a cool look. They aren't the canisters many people associate with BIONICLE, but I was honestly never the biggest fan of those. They took up too much space and, especially in later years, weren't sufficient for storing sets. Most of the masks on the boxart look strange, certainly not as good as in real life. Gali has some of the least interesting background art, on account of basically just being a lot of blue in an uninteresting shade (being so close to the one Gali wears) with some flora to the sides. Looking at it again, there seem to be some pillars or obelisks, but I hadn't noticed them before. The slots on the mask of water's "tram" are really emphasized; her goggle lip too, making it look like she has nostrils. It is strange, but it is actually one of the more flattering shots of the mask on these boxes...they really didn't do the best job with them on these. The golden mask seems a bit stretched, too. I also can't help but notice that most of her yellow pieces are hidden in the art. The bags fit inside of the carton no problem and take up enough room. The box does, however, feel a bit thin and could possibly be damaged easily.

The instructions are, thankfully, rather unremarkable. They are easy enough to follow if you are used to LEGO instruction manuals and pay close enough attention. There are no stickers.

Parts[edit | edit source]

Gali isn't the blue we remember; she's dark azure now, a rare color which she is introducing to constraction (and is the only set this year which includes it). It is kind of a strange choice, since a few parts were molded in medium azure for Hero Factory over the years, but I think I like this darker shade better. Aside from the Mask of Water, there are only four shells in the color, and they are all size 5. Hopefully more are released in the future.

Gali also includes some transparent light blue bones, the same ones used by Kopaka, plus two of the shortest ones, which were previously used only by a few Chima ultrabulds (which were unavailable in the US). Gali also has the new axe-heads (which double as wings or, in this set, fins) in silver, plus two silver piston add-ons, the new head with a transparent neon green eyestalk, and an exclusive chest printing. When it comes to getting new parts, Gali might not be the absolute best choice, but with a healthy dose of gunmetal and silver pieces, she is certainly a useful one. The new parts that she does have and the exclusive dark azure pieces put her right up there with Lewa, in my opinion.

The Build[edit | edit source]

Gali is practically built the same way as all five of the other Toa. Now that I am finishing these reviews, I realize how stupid it is to have a section for the build, and a rating at the conclusion (but I've kind of been using that for fudge anyway...). I do think that the transparent bones and the dark azure shells make it sort of fun, kind of in the same way that building The Knight Bus with all of those purple bricks was, but it's a shallow pleasure (p-unintended) which doesn't last long.

Figure[edit | edit source]

Anybody want a history of feminism lesson? No? Okay. Maybe later. Right guys? Guys? Hm. I'll try to suppress my urges.

So...Gali looks like a man? No. She doesn't. I mean, if I didn't know that she was female, I probably wouldn't guess (I actually think that with his eyeholes and smaller build, Pohatu probably looks the most effeminate) but as I place her next to Tahu, Kopaka, and the others, she does look the most effeminate. Her mask's chin helps, as do the muscular legs, and, oddly enough, the shoulder pads. The way that it slopes doesn't make her look like a hunchback (as I feared at first) but actually creates the illusion that her shoulders underneath are slender and lithe. I'm impressed. Props.

What really impresses me about Gali though is her color scheme. It is just about perfect. While all of the other kind of just splash on metallics and transparents here and there and voila powerfulwarrior™ to the point where it feels like only half of them are even somewhat sensible (Pohatu and arguably Kopaka), and that's before we get into the symbolism, Gali is the only one who pulls it off and still manages to feel relatively elemental. The azure goes gorgeously with the gunmetal, which in turn looks great over the transparent light blue. The silver doesn't look out of place, either, and the little yellow bits even provide some nice contrast to the azure (thanks to the chest print). The only parts I really have an issue with are the upper arms, which have the only dark gray bones (I would love to see the other Toa use the elbow technique which Pohatu employs) and the transparent shells kind of feel out of place. I would have liked to see those in dark azure instead, I think.

Admittedly, I'm not so fond of Gali's weapon. It's overlarge, and looks kind of stupid. The labrys part is better than I thought it would be (since I'm kind of apprehensive about that piece), but the trident butt is just kind of tacky. I do applaud the choice of a labrys though, both as a callback to Gali Nuva and because of its function, but also because (as my nerdy research has brought me to learn) the labrys was a symbol of the Ancient Cretan goddess religion, and has been adopted by feminists as a symbol. ~~This proves that LEGO has a feminist agenda and that bonkle is not sexist~~ I'm sure it's coincidental, but it's a neat bit of trivia concerning the only female Toa. Though the weapon is fine when it is just a giant fork for the adrenaline mode, as a labrys it is large and heavy and sometimes causes Gali's arm to become bent out of shape when it is swung. This isn't the only set where it happens, but still, it's kind of awkward.

Gali's chest print borders more on the alien side than the tribal, so it's not as much to my tastes as the others, but it's still gorgeous. Beautiful colors with gunmetal, azure, yellow, and metallic blue. Her mask, despite hardly bearing resemblance to the old Kaukau renditions (for the better, in some instances) is one of the best molds the new line has to offer. Gali is also one of the few Toa who looks good in her golden mask too, I think. It still seems out of place, but it works nicely with the azure and gunmetal without overbalancing the figure (Tahu, Kopaka) or clashing (Lewa). Her skull spider, being silver, also kind of matches, but I don't care about how that looks so much.

Summary[edit | edit source]

Triton, man!

Building Experience: I've admitted my treachery. Fudge! This section won't count:

3½ / 5

Parts: Azure! Transparent blue! Uh...that's it for interesting colors but the azure is exclusive, and she still has some pretty useful stuff. I would rank Gali and Lewa together as the best part packs among the Toa. Onua is a good one too, but he is more expensive:

4 / 5

Playability: Gali is just as good as any of the others. Her adrenaline mode doesn't seem as fun as first glance (since, basically, she just gets different shoes) but, as the fan community has discovered, her fins can easily be merged into a mermaid tail. Amazing! Also, skull spiders, swinging arm, popping mask...good fun. The labrys does disappoint me a little, both because it is kind of ugly and because it is so heavy that it will sometimes cause her wrist to droop unnaturally (or worse, her elbow to break) when it is swung:

4 / 5

Figure: What is nice about Gali is that while she is more standard than some other Toa, she is probably the best compilation of what makes these Toa not unique from each other, but from previous constraction figures. Kind of like what they tried to do with Tahu, except I think they got lost along the way there:

4½ / 5

Value for Money: I think that Gali is one of the better values among the Toa. Unlike pretty much everyone else, I didn't get a twinge of "Is this worth it?" when I purchased her. Honestly though, it might have helped that I got her at the same time as Pohatu:

4½ / 5

Overall: Gali's back, and she's come back swinging. With a great new color paired well among some which have become tiresome for a gorgeous color scheme. Her weapon may leave something to be desired, but Gali is (subjectively--now you can't sue--) the best of the new Toa. If you only want one Toa and are open to all of them, I'd suggest Gali. If you want a gateway, I suggest Gali. If you want Tahu, get Gali. If you want a girlfriend, get Gali. I did, and I don't regret it:

4½ / 5