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I shouldn't even pretend to go through this again - yo's already done a plenty good job, so there's no reason for me to go over who and what the Toa Nuva are; so, to treat myself, instead I'll go into some great nonsensical detail on completely false mythological bullcrap that no one should ever read, ever.
On their legendary journeys, the Toa had finally stumbled upon the Gorilla of Misadventure, and now knew where their justice led - not in the resting place of the ancestors, but in the simplicity of a gumbnut. The Pumpkin of Pure Joy flew over them, resulting in their Emu Translation which was made of Chevy Chase - not raw Chevy Chase, but in his gopher-hybrid form, and the power of the Mongoose, created the Toa Nuva.
The Toa Nuva aren't exactly new action figures in the Bionicle line - rather, they are upgrades from the original Toa, giving them new armor, masks and features for further play, and also recreating them with more appeal to the collector. Where the original Toa looked like children's toys, the Toa Nuva are bigger and better, with dynamic color schemes and metallic weapons which match the armor. These guys are less "lego toy playthings" and more "killer anime-style robots", a wise move from lego to further appeal to the collector in a market that is constantly growing.
The design of the Toa Nuva is a step-up from the original, duplicating the look of the Toa with more armour and bad-ass android-type stuff to make it a better, badder figure for your dough. Some reviews have complained that the new Toa Nuva arms are the original Toa legs, and this "looks wrong" - I beg to differ: the new arms fit perfectly, as do the nifty new legs. The Toa Nuva are slightly taller than the original Toa, due to the new legs and the bigger masks, which effectively makes them look more powerful. New masks all around are good too - although they aren't as varied as the originals, they all resemble variations on Darth Vader's mask, which is creepily cool, though none of which are transluscent.
Lewa Nuva's mask is my least favourite of the bunch, looking completely different from the original (which was like an evil voodoo mask - very cool) but still fitting in with the Nuva. The metal armor is great, possibly my favourite aspect of the new figures - a single breastplate and two shoulder pads enhance the look and fill in the "empty" part of the original figures. Finally, I like the new "hands" of the Toa Nuva far more than the original - in the Toa, any hand which didn't hold a weapon was fitted with a stupid dual finger thingy that wouldn't hold squat - the new Toa Nuva's have the same hand designs all round, which can hold their weapons or go without, which suits the android-look fine.
The articulation is also very similar to the original figure, which means that Lewa Nuva has all of Lewa's strengths as well as flaws. All of the Toa Nuva use the same design-articulation, including the "ball-jointed" shoulders and legs which allow for a wide range of movement and play - but there is still no elbow joints, and the head and midsection don't move at all, which is a continuous flaw due to the lego design. I wish there was a way around this, but it doesn't look like there will be for now. As with the original Toa, the action feature is still included, in which spinning the wheel on the figure's back causes him/her to attack, swinging the weapons. Lego have one upped this feature adding additional pieces in the figure kit to allow one or both arms to remain motionless, so they can be set up however the owner wants - very nice.
The original Toa were distinguishable due to three distinct features; the color scheme, the mask, and the weapon, each of which was different, ranging from the nifty Ice Sword of Kopaka to the weak "Kick Feet" of Pohatu. As a variation, all of the Toa Nuva include a slick gimmick in their weapons - although all of the weapons are somewhat similar, they can be rearranged on the figure to give it a new "feature": Tahu Nuva's dual swords become a surfboard when attached to his feet so he can surf the lava, where Gali Nuva's axes become fins to swim the depths. The original Lewa had one of the best weapons, a smooth axe to chop through the forests; his upgrade includes less interesting dual blades which somewhat resemble machettes, and of all the features, his is the weakest - bending the blades into his body makes "wings", which look ridiculous and simply don't work; not only is it oddly difficult to get the blades into place, but the attack feature wrecks any play value instantly. Though this doesn't kill the figure - it's easier to have him displayed and played with without his 'wings' - he simply looks dangerous and bad-ass weilding those machettes, he'd give Jason a run for his money.
Overall, the new Toa Nuva are high on my Christmas List this year, and for good reason - these are excellent figures both for your kids and for your collectors. Lewa Nuva might be the least interesting in my book, but even as the worst in this line he's still definately kewler than many of the overprices figures out there, and he's got more playability and posability than almost anything else on the market. The Toa Nuva are at a great price, which makes them perfect stocking stuffers - I can't get enough of the Bionicle line, and if you're a newcomer to the excellent line of lego action figures, you shouldn't miss the chance to pick up at least one of these neat little guys.
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