By 2001, it was clear that LEGO's Technic-based color-coded heroes theme RoboRiders was a one-year wonder just like its predecessor Throwbots, and needed to be replaced. This time, they invested time and effort into creating a mythology and detailed backstory, and a specific myth arc. They also came up with a collect-em-all gimmick tied into the story and designed sets beyond the core heroes (dubbed Toa), such as their wise advisors (known as Turaga) and the fearsome possessed beasts (called Rahi) with which they tangled (drawing on the CyberSlam theme for design inspiration for this last group). The name Bionicle was chosen, the first waves shipped, and sure enough the third time was the charm.

There was also another, humbler line of designs in this new theme. These were some of the citizens the Toa protected, the Matoran - or Tohunga as they were called before (reasonably justified) complaints from the Maori caused some names to be changed. Six Matoran were produced, and released as McDonald's Happy Meal premiums.

Jala (renamed Jaller after the complaint was filed) was one such Matoran. His body pieces use toolings made specifically for the McDonald's Matoran (some of which were later re-used for the larger, post-Bohrok rebuilt Matoran). His body pieces are cast in red.
* A dark gray mechanical head with lots of sculpted greebling, a mouth socket into which a stud can be connected or a Technic axle run, a Technic axle socket on the bottom, a Technic pin socket protruding from the back at the bottom, and a clip on the back for holding the included disk.
* A robotic torso with a Technic pin on the top, two Technic pins on the level just below the top, a Technic pin socket in the chest, and three Technic pin sockets on the bottom
* Two identical feet with Technic pins on top and vertical Technic pin sockets in the toes.
* An arm made up of linked ridges ending in a clawlike hand that is sculpted to look open but in fact is not, designed and made of such material that it will spring forward into its normal shape if pulled back
* An arm very similar to this arm, except it ends in a three-fingered right hand which has a ridge on the "thumb" for gripping a disc.

His mask is not unique in tooling, but it does come in a color exclusive to this set (and was later given an interesting backstory). He wears a yellow Kanohi Hau, the same sort of mask worn by Toa Tahu, who protects the region and village he inhabits. His feet are cast in yellow to match his mask. The red-and-yellow color combo is solid, and goes with the fire theme.

He is armed with a black disk (the tooling for which was originally carved for the Throwbots/Slizers theme), decorated by a sticker showing the Kanohi Hau and labeled with that mask's back-code (which could be entered to unlock a video on the mini-CDs packed in with the Toa). The throwing arm is capable of throwing the disk a fair bit, best results given by pulling it just short of all the way back. Twelve-headed-for-thirteen years later, all my McDonald's Matoran arms still spring forward just fine, which is a remarkable achievement for any such toy component (Happy Meal or retail). However, while the plastic may retain its springiness without issue, it is unfortunately susceptible to cracking near the pin socket that joins the arm to the body. So watch out for that. One last note: As previously mentioned, the disk can store on his back via a clip on the back of his head.

The parts are all nicely made, with potential abound for making your own creations thanks to the use of Technic pins and sockets. These also allow three McDonald's Matoran to combine into a Matoran Kaita, or all six of them to combine into a Matoran Nui.

As far as value for money goes, well... THIS IS THE PREMIUM FROM A HAPPY MEAL! He was a bonus to your burger-or-chicken-McNuggets/fries/drink/bag-or-box-with-activites combo! You got a meal and a toy for less than $5! The size is good for a LEGO premium, and unlike the later Bionicle McDonald's premiums (which were figurines of Toa or baddies) Jala and his fellow McToran (as the fans have dubbed these) serve the useful purpose of helping to populate the setting. Due to the interchangeable nature of the parts, and the availability of mask packs that included a random-colored lesser mask as a bonus, mix-and-matching to expand the population beyond these specific characters was easy and fairly cheap. As far as the secondary market goes, eBay can fluctuate between reasonable and price-gouged seemingly at random, but places like BrickLink and the BZPower marketplace are a bit more consistently reasonable.
Yard sales and thrift stores are about the only places to find him for such a deal as he originally could be got, but on the other hand the inventory of such places is by nature an even bigger cr*pshoot than eBay.

Is Jala, or Jaller as he was renamed, in his McToran form worth getting? Yes, if the price is right. This form is part of the story, the toy is fun to play with, the Rampaging Rahi/Bohrok Invasion era needs its villagers, and it's always kind of neat to see the beginnings of one who would become such a mighty Toa later down the line. He lacks a true Technic gimmick like his rebuilt form available in the "Jaller and Gukko Bird" set has, but he's great for a McDonald's premium. And again, the modular nature is good for mix-and-matching to get a varied populace as well as for making MOCs.

Jaller lived on the island of Metru Nui as a mask crafter and was Vakama's friend, but when Makuta (desguised as Turaga Dume) forced all Matoran in storage spheres Jaller and everyone with him lost there memory of there old home. Soon he became the captain of the Ta-Koro gaurd after arriving on the island of Mata Nui. Jaller is a responsible, do-it-right-the-first-time kind of guy, who was fit to be a leader. His courage and strenth were notable and his love for the island, his duty, and his freinds were unmatched. Jaller also had a long-lasting relationship with Hahli, a Ga-Matoran. As for the set, Jaller came with his signature yellow Hau, that was once Toa/Turaga Lhikan's, but given to him as his own mask was broken. He also fetured a Kanohi Hau "bamboo" disk and a red throwing arm. he is fun by himself but can be combined with Hewkii and Onepu to make a smaller, Matoran version of Akamai. Jaller can also be combined with the other five Matoran to make a Matoran Nui! his parts are rare, his build is simple, and his playability is limitless!

One of the firsrt bionicles sets to be made, the matoran and this one was special, why? Jaller has to overcome many obsticles in the future when he becomes a toa, but for now lets see him as a regular matoran. Jala(renamed jaller) is a very little set from a mcdonalds happy meal, so its one of the Mctoran, the peices I do like, its every special peices you will only find in the mctoran sets only, there is no need for more peices because these guys were meant to be small and be some help to toa, building it is very simple and easy for kids who had a happy meal, I was very surprised how well the disk launching thing with his bendable hand(which was not seen in other sets, only in the small mata nui matoran sets), so yea its definitly worth your money to collect them all, plus it is part of a combiner model when you collect all 6 mctoran.

So, I'm doing a review on set 1391-1, Jala. This little guy is really great, and I think kids will enjoy him.


He comes with a disk with a picture of his mask printed on it. His color scheme is red and yellow which is really nice. He comes with a yellow Kanohi Hau (the mask) which is awesome! He has a disk throwing arm made for the disk. He does not have a lot of pieces. The build is short and he has a lack of joints

• pros

• cons

I asked for this set on my birthday one year, and waited and waited for it to come. Finally, I looked on my porch and saw a small box. It was here! I ran to it, barely containing myself. I took up a knife and cut open the box, yelping, "Jala! Jala!" As the box opened, I took out the small bag. At first, I thought it was a waste of money. 7 small pieces plus a disk wasn't going to make a very good addition to my collection. I disappointedly opened the bag and started to build. Once the model was finished, I put the disk in its hand. I pulled back and shot. It shot farther than any of the disk launchers of the Toa Metru (2004)! I had hours and hours of fun, shotting and knocking down minifigs until I fell asleep.

I would really love if you got this set. Here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
-Shoots disk
-Can hold disk on back
-Has Knohi Hau yellow
Cons:
-Mask doesn't stay on well
- Arms stay bent after shot, but go back to original form after a while
Overall, this set is one word: AWESOME!