Review: Official Set 8991

Tuma was the last of an elite breed of Skrall, and served as their overarching leader during the 2009 storyline. He was gifted with greater strength and agility than other Skrall, as well as being an expert swordsman. While certainly an oppressive conqueror, he actually acted in the interest of his tribe rather than for himself, which again, while he was an absolute menace, I can respect that he was a successful military tactician.

Packaging

The packaging appears to give us a look at an arena with Tuma taking front and center stage. He’s in a bit of a hunched over pose and appears to be firing off his Thornax Launcher.

The back of the box is much more interesting with Tuma standing tall and proud in front of a large staircase and tunnel. I really like getting a glimpse of this arena. There’s some different callouts for the play functions, and along the bottom of the box are the 6 Glatorian.

Model Review

The aesthetics of this set are pretty high up for the Bionicle theme, the blending of different sections to one another are seamless, and the pops of lime green are really well balanced with the darker areas of the model. And typically where we worry about lime green joints, many of the lime green pieces included in this set do not have sockets. The only ones with ball joints are the hands, thankfully the ones I received were in good condition. Tuma ends up being pretty dense, it feels like there is a lot more detail than there actually is, I see this effect the most with the torso. Like I mentioned before the legs were a pretty big chunk of the build. They’re duplicates of one another, but result in a very sturdy and functional system that we’ve come to see with Titan sets in the past.

The most exciting part of this set for me is the mask. For the first time, we actually have stickers included in a Bionicle set, and here they’re applied along the top and both sides of Tuma’s mask. I couldn’t be happier that we got this extra detail, the small highlights of lime green go a long way for this mask, it would be much worse off as just a solid black all the way around.

The back of Tuma for me is the most fascinating part of this set. There are some additional weapons included here that are assembled at some fun angles which provide a ton of extra dimension for this set. If you’ve heard me in the past you know how much I dislike open backs for these sets and much rather prefer some additional detail. These weapons are also able to hinge as they’re only attached via one pin. One life counter is included on each weapon, which means Tuma is going to be a tough dude to defeat. Additional play features include of course the articulation of different limbs and the Thornax Launcher which rests in Tuma’s left hand.

Current Pricing & Final Thoughts

The price for this set is surprisingly lower than Fero & Skirmix’s. In used condition the set currently sells for about $50, while in new condition you can find that price hovering around the $100 mark. From what I understand this set is tough to find in good condition, so it may be one you consider spending extra and getting brand new.

Frankly this set blew me away. I was not expecting it to be this well constructed or the stickers providing additional mask detail. His overall feel is very intimidating, powerful, and even a little resemblance to The Fallen from Transformers.

Score: 8.7/10

Video Review