The look of the TARAKAVA-NUI is pretty weird. Unlike the regular TARAKAVA, the KANOHI is mounted just like it would be on a TOA, so it looks like it has a tiny little face tucked between some humungous arms. But that’s not the face. Well, not all of it, at least. There’s a couple of TOA feet mounted on the top of the head section, and the grey plus-rod balls are clipped into the ball-socket on the feet. If you’ve ever seen a true chameleon’s eyes, which move independantly of each other, that seems to be the inspiration for these eyes. I can’t tell what, if anything, is supposed to be the mouth.

Unlike the regular TARAKAVA, this model has horizontally oriented arms, which apparently resulted in the need to combine them into one control. This pretty much renders useless any fighting strategy you might have developed for the TARAKAVA. An odd result of the trigger design is that the TARAKAVA-NUI actually punches slightly upward, and due to a limited range of movement in the hinge point at the base, leaning this guy as far forward as he’ll go will only result in a very slightly less-than-horizontal attack. Not bad if you’re trying to knock those pesky flying creatures out of the sky, but unless the TOA start jumping half their body height, they are in no danger from this guy. Well, maybe LEWA has something to worry about… On the flip side, they’d also have to start throwing their weapons at him to stand a chance of knocking that MASK free. That might work for the TOHUNGA, providing they don’t get run over in the process.

The one significant improvement is that this model has two treads, so it is quite a bit more stable on its ‘feet’ than the two basic versions. As such, it doesn’t require the kickstand. That still doesn’t help him in a brawl, though.

If you’re looking for a good secondary model to build, the NUI-KOPEN is a good example of how to super-size a regular RAHI, and the KAHU has a design that is excitingly different from the original models, but the TARAKAVA-NUI doesn’t really have anything to offer that the two basic TARAKAVA don’t do as well or better. But it’s worth remembering that this is a little something extra thrown in for inspiration, rather than being the primary design