Lego BIONICLE 8622: Nidhiki

Hello and welcome back to Archivist Reviews with Stoax, where I take an old, crappy review from my early days on YouTube and modernize it!

Today we will be looking at Eugen- I mean Nidhiki

Set Number: 8622
Part Count: 169
Price: $20.00
Released: Summer 2004

PACKAGING

A recurring trend with many of the $20 BIONICLE sets from G1 is that they come in boxes and Nidhiki’s isn’t one to miss. The BIONICLE logo is placed at the top, catching the consumers eye, though the backdrop of Metru Nui and Nidhiki posing menacingly at the “camera” add an overall nice tone that suits the years setting. The back displays the usual functions of the set along with other titans released in summer of 04’.

BUILD

Right off the bat we are off to a very unique start with the lower half of the set. The legs, while simple, have a very biomechanical feel with the flex rods acting like pistons. Not only this but with the addition of the blades on the feet, their overall look is quite menacing and insectioid.

That said, the unit holding the legs together, while well armored, does feel rather lackluster and unfinished with the huge gap in the middle of it.

Adding onto his unique build we have the torso which uses a fairly interesting and innovative design. The broad look of it gives him a very serious presence, as though he really means business and wishes to finish his objective.

However the torsos presentation from the back is slightly detrimental, what with how barren and hollow it is. Granted, this may be for one of his functions, though the unfortunate sacrifice of one aspect of a set to favor another (rather than balancing it out) is quite a shame considering the Toa Metru introduced that the same year Nidhiki was released.

The construction of the arms is fairly basic, but it still has very unique look with bio mechanical esq claw and their overall size adds to his fierce presence. One minor detail I would also like to draw towards is the usage of the same blade piece for his claws as his legs, giving him a more consistent look.

The head is probably the most boring part of the build, being just a Vahki head slapped onto him. Granted it’s insectoid appearance and fierce expression do suit him, though it would have been nice to get a more unique head mold

SET DESIGN

Once fully assembled, Nidhiki is a definite solidly designed set IMO. Overlooking the gaps, he has a very menacing and intimidating appearance which is accomplished well through some aforementioned design elements. The color scheme is also well executed here, for it is consistently spread out throughout the set, though the dark tone of the color scheme in general gives him a more sinister look. Heck even the trans green looks good (in person), though the usage of gray in his head makes no sense to me whatsoever, as the head could have easily been done in black.

Apart from the Vahki head, there are really no parts of interest worth noting

POSABLITY

Possibility for Nidhiki is a double edged sword, where the upper half has excellent range of motion in the elbows, upper arms, waist area, and head that can lead to some great poses there while the lower half is deprived of any possibility outside of the legs being on a fixed pivot. If only they had figured some way to configure ball joints into the leg for more dynamic poses.

FUNCTIONS

While articulation may not be that wholesome, Nidhiki makes up for this with some interesting functions, one being the ability to shoot the disc from his head, though we saw this on the Vahki so it’s nothing extraordinary.

Disc function

One of his first UNIQUE functions would be the ability to open an snap his claws together, adding a lot more of a menacing feel to him, as though when he does it he is threatening or taunting his foes.

The legs also have a function where they can fold up and be pushed forwards, thus enabling his flight mode which honestly looks doesn’t look that practical and I’ve always seen it as more of a storage method.
Flight Mode

And lastly we have perhaps the coolest function about Nidhiki, his crab mode, which is very easy to transform him into. The overall concept of this is very cool and the general appearance of Nidhiki in this state manages to keep that very menacing vibe.

OVERALL

Pros:
-Very menacing, concise look
-Unique build
-Interesting, well thought out functions
-Consistent color scheme

Cons:
-Articulation in lower half is non existent, running dynamic poses
-Some what gappy
-Head could’ve been more original despite its overall expression fitting the character
-Not many parts of interest

In the end though there is an even balance between pros and cons with Nidhiki, the pros themselves definitely outweigh the cons. While some areas feel as though they were sacrificed to fit the needs of other areas, Nidhiki still manages to retain a very unique and fitting look that is made clear with his design and functions.

15 Likes

His eyes are in the wrong spot, I just now realized that. The box shows his eyes glowing where his “nostrils” are, when in the set his “real” eyes are further back.

I didn’t like any of the '04 sets. They were stiff, hard weird articulation, and their overall designs were downright unattractive. That said, Nidhiki was a very unique design, and employed some pretty cool design choices.

Also, I feel I should mention, I really liked your review. Your ability to concisely articulate and convey your thoughts and opinions on a matter is very noteworthy. Keep it up, mate.

Just realized I have the wrong disk piece for mine.

Funny enough, as a child, I always thought Nidhiki was a girl, and I thought it worked well for the character, the “relationship” with Krekka, the voice, how they acted…
I was actually dissapointed when I found out I was wrong, as it would have been a fine opportunity for Lego to include girls more.
Anyway, nice review!

Hey, look! That’s me!

I never got this set but it takes me back to when THIS was a $20 set. I mean don’t get me wrong the '15 and '16 sets are some of the best sets ever, but they’re not titans.