Dave's Lego Rant:

     ToruToa combinations:
          Rangi, ToruToa of the Sky (Yang team)
          Whatitiri, ToruToa of the Thunder (Yin team)

     I may add the OnoTuraga combination later if I get either instructions
or at least a side view to look at.  It doesn't seem impressive enough to
really be worth the effort to figure it out from just a frontal pic.  (Toru
is Maori for three, Ono is six.)

     Back during Throwbots, I spent some time analyzing parallels between the
various Throwbots and the elements of the I Ching (Book of Changes).  Well,
time to do it again, to explain my names for the combiners.  Of course, in a
few weeks Lego will probably post official names for the combiners, but I'll
doggedly stick with mine anyway.  }->
     Gali is Water, Lewa is Wind, and with a bit of a stretch I can fit
Kopaka into Lake (specifically a cold, icy mountain lake).  These are all
Yang trigrams.  They combine into a giant that evokes the colors of the sky,
which is the remaining yang trigram.  Hence, the element of this combiner is
Sky.  Maori for "sky" is "rangi" (at least, according to
http://kel.otago.ac.nz/translator/). 
     Tahu is fire, Onua is Earth, Pohatu is Mountain, leaving Thunder as the
remaining Yin trigram to represent the combiner.  And it certainly fits.
Maori for "thunder" is "whatitiri".

     And while I'm on the translator page, Tahu means "burn," but the other
five Toa names are not in the Maori online dictionary (some are place names,
though).  Matau (the Turaga) means fishhook, right, right hand or positive.
Whenua means "ground," and the remaining Turaga names aren't listed.  Toa
itself means champion (natch), tohunga means many things, including
professional or artisan, turaga isn't listed.  Rahi has many meanings, but I
suppose the best translation in this case would be "Horde."  Although "big"
also works.

     Just so you know, I only put together Rangi, but the two ToruToa are
sufficiently similar in construction that I can evaluate Whatitiri from the
instructions.  

     Rangi: Standing 11" (27cm) tall, this ToruToa is an aesthetically
pleasing blend of cool colors (blues and greens), plus white, black and
grey.  The instructions say to put Lewa's mask on the face, but I prefer the
way it looks with Gali's mask.  Very few pieces are left over.  Two heads and
masks, Kopaka's and Lewa's non-weapon arms, one of Kopaka's feet and a tiny
handful of connectors and rods.  Heck, with the addition of one 3-length rod,
you can mount both spare heads on Rangi's shoulders.  }->
     I was correct in my presumption that Gali's "decorative" connector
pieces are vital for the combined form, as they're used to link the three
torsos together into Rangi's big torso.  They clearly do the same thing on
Whatitiri, using Pohatu's calf decorations.  All three torsos are used for
gearing, with Kopaka's torso acting as the hips, Gali's the right shoulder
and Lewa's the left shoulder.
     Rangi's right arm is Lewa's right arm in reverse, using Lewa's left hand
as a hand to hold both Lewa's axe and Kopaka's sword.  It's a bit unposeable,
unfortunately.  Rangi's left arm is Kopaka's right arm, with an interestingly
complicated elbow and wrist linkage using one of Kopaka's shoulders and one
of his feet.  Kopaka's shield completes the left arm.
     Rangi's legs use all the leg pieces from all three, plus both of Gali's
arms, all of Lewa's and Gali's feet, and lots of black hip pieces.  Like
Gali's arm gimmick, the legs move in opposite directions when the gear in
back is turned.  They use a very clever trick to keep the hip joints nice and
stiff.  The decorative ball from Kopaka's chest (or Lewa's) is placed on the
front of the turning rod, and snapped into a hip piece that's mounted on
Kopaka's chest.  This stiff ball joint added to the mix keeps the legs from
just doing the splits when you let go of the dial.  While the legs are a bit
too large and less poseable than I'd like, the stiff hips make up for a lot
of that.
     The other chest ball is used as the neck joint for Rangi, giving the
head full poseability.  Gali's weapons become the chest panel for Rangi, a
nice birdlike symbol that fits well with the sky concept.

     Whatitiri: I didn't make this one, but it's clearly just as tall as
Rangi.  It is made up of warm colors: red, orange, tan and brown, with warm
grey and neutral black.  It appears that the only unused pieces are one of
Onua's feet, two masks of your choice, and Pohatu's arms, plus a few
connectors.  Again, pretty efficient use.
     Whatitiri uses Pohatu's hands as shoulders, giving him a lot more
poseability than Rangi, since he at least has Throwbot shoulders in addition
to the gearturning gimmick.  His right arm is just Tahu's right arm and
sword, and his left arm is Tahu's entire left arm...plus the two spare heads
as clamping claws.
     From the waist down (Tahu's torso is used as the abdomen), Whatitiri is
nearly identical to Rangi other than the colors, with one difference.
Pohatu's boots are placed between the two feet at the end of each leg, giving
Whatitiri's feet a wider and longer base for better stability.
     The chest symbol of Whatitiri is made up of one of Onua's feet and his
claws, creating something that looks like a mechanical beetle, burrowing into
the ground.

     Dave Van Domelen, now taking Rangi apart and rebuilding its components.