8944 Tanma

Set Overview
Tanma is possibly one of the best Karda-Nui saga characters you could get. :He's only 14 pieces, but once you build him in less than a minute you'll love this little guy. Who would've thought in the story he was originally gold and white. LEGO did quite the good job on him. He has some unique pieces and is unlike and taller than any other Matoran you've seen.

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

Tanma's case, along with the rest of the Av/Shadow Matoran series of 2007/2008, is quite unique. They have stalactites on the top and and stalagmites on the bottom, showing the rocky interior of Karda-Nui. On the top and bottom of the case it reads BIONICLE. On the back of the cardboard-and-plastic cover case, it shows Tanma's team-up feature with Lewa, and your usual LEGO credits.

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

Tanma was easy when I built him in the car. Unlike all the others, you don't need to be afraid of losing pieces except two hand pieces. You should be able to speed-build him at the shortest amount of time as 10 to 15 seconds. His torso has all the connection pieces, where WHAM you can slap on the head, arms and legs. After all, his manual was a fold-up paper with four steps. =P

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.'

Tanma was amazing, and his articulation perfect. You could bend him in any direction. His arms and legs are already bent for your inconvenience or convenience. You'll see he has classic gray Mata feet, and his booster/jet pack stands out. If you didn't notice, he also has Lewa Nuva Air Katanas. He certainly is awesome.

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?'

Tanma has 9 points of articulation. That's great, since he has 9/14 pieces he can actually move. You could just imagine his booster/jet pack propelling his into the air to get place to place. But if Tanma's your only set, that's slightly ok. Tanma is more fun to play with when you've got more than one set set around. When I got him, I made him clash in Leader vs. Leader with Kirop.

Final Thoughts/Overall
With Tanma you can put a lot of imagination into him. His mask is genuine, and it closely resembles Lewa Phantoka's. Tanma can bring up new and old memories, and I hope he's a set I won't lose.

Rating: 9/10. I'd really recommend this to someone else.