That Matoran with a Vahi

Oh yeah, I definitely agree with that. I didn't think much of it back in '03, but it's become one of my biggest pet peeves with Mask of Light for a while now, the way they portrayed Jaller and Takua as bickering children; and this in spite of Jaller's obvious military competence in MNOG. I kinda feel like they dropped his maturity level a lot in an attempt to be more relatable to the target audience, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that.

What was the name? I'd like to see if it's one I know. It was Tripod, who was from the old 101 Dalmatians TV series which, at the time, I'd not long known the existence of. I went all-out, changing my icon and banner to be of the character, too... heh, it was fun at the time, but I don't think it really paid off xD

@ the above post - I think it was more a stylistic choice than poor communication. The Turaga have always been supposed to be the wise village leaders, and how do you convey that visually to even an audience unfamiliar with Bionicle? Simplest solution is to make them look and act old; because in fantasy stories, it's often assumed that age = wisdom.

I couldn't claim to have a specific single favourite; but a few that particularly stand out to me have been: - Muaka and Kane-Ra; I didn't get them until a few years after their original release, but I remember pretty much falling in love with their designs. The way they were almost exclusively technic elements, but still so effectively resembled the animals they were supposed to... they were faves of mine, for sure. - Vezon & Kardas: I didn't actually own the set, but I bought his component characters separately and combined them. I loved Fenrakk, don't get me wrong, but the sheer size and relative complexity of Kardas took the set to a whole other level. And, I dunno why, but I always liked Vezon's design, too. - Maxilos & Spinax: he could shrug! I remember that being the huge deal about Maxilos back in the day, his more complex shoulder articulation that allowed a lot more natural poses than most any set that had gone before him. He was also one of the biggest titans to date, and I enjoyed him a whole lot. And Spinax was kind of cute, in a... malformed sort of way xD - '08 Takanuva: I just... really liked him. Here was a new reimagining of an iconic character - who, unlike the Toa Phantoka / Mistika, actually felt like a worthy representation of the Takanuva I had loved since Mask of Light. Add to that the fact that Titans have been some of my favourites ever since 2004, and the fact that his design really worked for me, made him an instant favourite. I'd have liked him even more if he'd remained gold, but I digress xD Of all the Bionicle sets I sold on a while ago, he's probably the only one I have some genuine regret over letting go.

*raises hand* Possibly dumb question from a newbie to the RP board (and I'm not sure if this is quite the place to enquire), but... may I ask, how come games that include canon characters are discouraged? I just kinda drifted over to this forum now after a number of years roleplaying on other sites, and saw that mentioned in passing on the previous page... and I'm curious as to why that's not allowed / frowned upon. I'm just that one guy who'd be far more interested in roleplaying canon characters than making up my own original ones, don't mind me xD;

I'm just curious, really. I recently acquired the Glatorian Mata Nui set from our neighbours, who were giving away a bunch of old toys their kids had never opened, and I just built him today. I.. have to say that I don't recall ever being quite so underwhelmed by a Bionicle set as I was by him. For the physical form of the legendary Great Spirit of the first eight years, I found him to be a real let-down; I remember how, back in the day, people had spoken negatively about his proportions, but I'd never quite grasped just how wacky they were. His arms reach past his knees. His head looks tiny. His colouring is much more vivid than the movie made it out to be. And those massive blades on his shoulders get in the way of most interesting poses. Coupled with the fact that I could build him almost completely accurately from the box picture alone, not looking at the instructions once - and maybe the fact that I'm older now too? I dunno - I just felt really underwhelmed by him on the whole; and the fact that he wore the most iconic name from Bionicle's early years only made that seem more pronounced. So, my question is, which Bionicle set did you find the most underwhelming first time you built it? I'm not really talking about sets that you expected to be bad from the get-go, even if they were as awful as you expected; I'm meaning more sets that you thought were going to be cool, but the end result left you feeling unsatisfied. I... probably had others back in the day, too; I just used Mata Nui as my example because he was fresh in my mind - though I may just have been expecting too much from an old set by this point xD

Okay, well. I've had a number of (far too many) usernames over the years, so this is gonna take a while. I started off my BZP life in 2004 as the incredibly generic 'supertahu29'. I have no good explanation for that; Tahu wasn't my favourite by any means, and the number had no significance... it was quite literally just the first thing that came into my head when I saw there was a username field, so I ran with it. That may have been a mistake; but I was new to forum sites at the time, so I didn't know any better. I stuck with that for a while, I believe, before I came up with an original Bionicle character of my own (read: awful self-insert oc) and decided to change to his name instead, so I became 'Gurak the Trader'. Originally, he was intended to be a travelling trader on Mata Nui, hence the name; but that only lasted for as long as it took me to realise that on BZP it could be misleading, since I didn't participate in the B/S/T forum at all. I still wanted to stick to Gurak's name, though; and in the story I was composing for him I'd just reached the point where he (for SOME REASON, apparently?) became sympathetic to the Bohrok-Kal. So, 'Gurak Bohrok-Kal', I became. I believe that one lasted for a while? Though, I got bored of it eventually. In the style of Takua, I'd already decided that my matoran needed to become a pseudo-Nuva (but with a different name? Because why not I guess?), and so I changed my username to match that as 'Toa LehuNuva'. That lasted me until 2007, where a combination of changing the character's name to the more simple Lehu and a massive Star Wars kick prompted a switch to the non-Bionicle-relevant 'Hochewa - The Wookiee Jedi', after a different original character of mine. Later the same year, I decided to revive the Lehu name, but not drop the Star Wars reference, so I became 'Lehu - The Jedi Toa' instead. Because mixing fandoms is NEVER a bad idea... From there, I would simplify to 'Toa Lehu' in the August of that year, when my interest in Bionicle picked up again, and that lasted until the end of the year when I decided to undertake a, *ahem*, project. And out of that project, which was a wild mess of force powers, lightsabers and Star Wars references existing in an alternate Bionicle universe, the name and concept of 'Darth Jaller' was born. Both because it was a distinctive name, and because (matoran) Jaller had always been a favourite character of mine, I decided to wear the name myself for a while, too. And? Aside from a brief change in 2010 to the name of an obscure character from an old Disney TV show - just to see if anyone got the reference - I've been 'Darth Jaller' ever since. The project idea in question is long dead, never seeing the light of day thankfully, but the name remains. Occasionally, I think of changing it, but I think it's stuck by now; and quite honestly, I have no idea what I'd change to, anyway.

Set-wise, Pridak takes the win in my book. I liked that the Barraki in general had more creative designs than many of the sets that had gone before them, but Pridak has got to be the one I look back on with the most fondness. I also remember everyone freaking out, at first, over the fact he supposedly had blood on his face... so, fun memories 8D Story-wise... I can't even remember, it's been far too long. I seem to recall liking Mantax, but I can't remember enough about his (or any of their) personality to say why that was xD

I'm totally on board with ending at the end of '08. The Bara Magna arc lost me completely; it was just too much all at once, with new characters, plotlines, and an entirely new world; I just couldn't keep up with it. I'm always going to like the idea of Bionicle drawing to a close with Makuta's final victory; though leaving the Nuva and the other Toa still alive to keep opposing him from within. Kind of leave it open-ended beyond that point, you know? I'd cut all the serials, for sure. I feel like they were mostly there to show off the 'special' sets who didn't appear in the main story (Lessovik, Mazeka, etc), and as padding; you lose very little of the main story by cutting them. I'd... also reduce the number of transformations most of the Toa went through too, honestly. Aside from the purpose of selling sets, I'm not sure we needed the Inika to be fully transformed when they went underwater, or the Nuva to get new armour, or Takanuva to grow to titan size (as much as that particular set was my favourite I owned from 08 xD). Actually, I feel like a lot of 06-08 could be trimmed down. There seemed, to me, to be a lot of character sideplots that never really went anywhere in the novels - though I can't think of examples off the top of my head - and I think many of them weren't entirely necessary beyond the purpose of world-building. I feel like you could really just take the plots of the movies, of MNOG, and of the comics from non-movie years; pad out with some of the additional details from the novels (since to me, 06 and beyond comics often felt flat in comparison to the novel versions of events) and you'd have a pretty streamlined take on the whole thing ^^

Not a Bionicle set, but I do seem to remember having something like that with Jabba's Sail Barge in 2007. It came with three normal 8x8 tan plates, as opposed to the version with the grille that the instructions showed. I never kept the correction sheet, though. Actually, didn't the Hagah have something similar as well? Because their instructions showed their shields being attached wrongly? Or am I misremembering that?

I can't speak for the rest of Europe, but I know here in the UK he was released around late-November / December time. I think he was probably intended to catch the Christmas rush - a new set, JUST in time for kids to ask for it for the holiday! - and that's why they held onto him for longer. I do remember that a friend of mine was going to get him for Christmas, and I raced to save up enough money to buy my own one of him first... apparently I was kind of competitive on that count as a kid? I'm certain he wasn't an exclusive here in the UK, though. I got mine from my local toy shop, and I'm pretty certain Woolworths also stocked him.

Takua and Jaller are prime examples for me; I recall that, back in '03, I bought both their sets for the Matoran characters alone, with little-to-no interest in their respective Rahi. In later years, I confess, I became a completionist, so from '04 to '08 I would buy every titan set, regardless of my interest in character or vehicle, with the intention of having a full collection. In hindsight, that was not my best idea, but...

Whoa, I'm impressed. The pieces flow together to give him just such a natural humanoid appearance; and though I'm no builder of new constraction myself, I can appreciate what a feat that must have been to achieve. The way the pieces work together looks flawless.

Oh my goodness yes, I didn't even think about the McToran. We didn't get that McDonald's promotion at all here in the UK; so, apart from Nuparu, they simply proved impossible to come by, until I eventually bought Kongu from someone in the Buy-Sell-Trade forum in late-'08.

Not gonna lie, I was interested in Marka for a while, way back when. I wouldn't call it a crush, per se - though I did deliberately pair my self-insert matoran character with her, so you can judge how much of a "not-crush" it actually was - but she was the one who hooked my interest when I was a teenager. That blue Hau was always pretty sweet to look at; and in hindsight, having played a little of MNOG2 again recently, I definitely respect her dedication to her work, and her as a person. Though I moved on from her a while ago, and I'm very happy with my real-life girlfriend now; so we can just put the above down to a past attraction that didn't go anywhere ^^

It doesn't answer the whole of your question, but the Official Collectables topic does give this, which may help:

Well, that was a lot of fun! This thread's given me a good laugh; thank-you for that I appreciate how hard it must be to make all of these so amusing; but really, the end result is great. As for your question on the Rahi and Dark Hunter names? My vote would go to running with the antonyms idea wherever possible; I reckon that would make for most interesting characters. Though whichever way you chose, I'm sure it'll be equally entertaining ^^

I never saw that catalogue, either. First picture I saw of the Mata was on the front of the then Lego World Club magazine, where I'm pretty certain Tahu was predominant. Even then, though, I didn't really take him for being the leader until the rest of the magazine told me so; I figured he was just at front because he looked the coolest. I do remember, though, that my nine-year-old self was really puzzled by how Onua's design worked, based on that picture alone. It was mostly his head being at an angle and coming from the centre of his torso confused me, I think - I do know that was my main reason for buying Onua first out of the Toa, I wanted to figure out just how his anatomy worked because the picture confused me so much xD

Oh my goodness, looking through this topic brings back memories of my own! Seeing things mentioned that I'd long since forgotten about... The Matoran at Home, I remember that one! VahkiPower... GaliGee's epics... Actually, if I recall, it was GaliGee's work that first drew me into BZPower. I know I discovered the BZP link on the official Bionicle website back in '04 - anyone else remember when the official site had a few big fansite links down the side of a couple of pages? - and I think I looked around a bit without actually committing? But then I stumbled upon GaliGee's Makuta Island - I believe the review topic was on the hot topics list for a while back then - and oh man, I was hooked. I'd always strictly imagined Bionicle characters within the context of their universe (or my confused childhood take on it) and reading a story where Makuta showed up in the real world and took this girl back to Mata Nui to be a mom to all his Rahkshi? That was eye-opening to me. I'm pretty sure it was only a matter of days before I'd joined up too. For some reason, I never actually commented in the review topic for that story, but I followed it - and its sequels - closely whenever I was online. I... have plenty of memories from back then that I'd rather forget, too. I was twelve years old, and a total newbie to online communities of any kind, and I know I made a lot of the typical newb mistakes too. And, ahem, let's just all agree to forget my pathetic first forays into the comedy forum that amounted to, ah-heh, "borrowing" ideas from someone else's work. I'm not proud of it, and am glad it's since been lost forever. But ah, the comedy forum; now THAT's a place of many memories for me. For the longest time, I'd just been hanging around BZP, sticking my nose into random threads to add my two cents but never really stopping to have conversations or get to know anyone. I wasted many happy hours in the comedy forum, though; I'm not sure whether I was just looking for laughs, or hoping to find that one comedy to invest in. In either case, the latter happened - not that I'd ever have anticipated it when I first checked out Alpha Prime02 (now Primis)'s The Rock Raiders Meets Bionicle. I just idly checked it out because it included one of my other top favourite Lego themes, and it really drew me in. The story was fun, the author was cool, the other fans of the story were cool... I invested myself in following it, and it became the first comedy I got to guest-star in; in fact, my Matoran character scored position as a permanent guest star, even. I fell away from the comedy at the start of the second season, both because a lot of the jokes in it at that point were references to something I was unfamiliar with, and because I went through a lack of interest in Bionicle as a whole around mid-05, when the upcoming Revenge of the Sith stole my attention completely. I eventually returned to BZP in time for the release of Web of Shadows; and some time on from that, I was amazed to find out that not only was TRRMB still going, it was on its third season, and my matoran was still a recurring character. It was a real treat for me to jump back into it, talk again with the others who had been involved in it from the beginning, and be able to join in the conversations about obscure bits of Rock Raiders lore and how they applied to the comic. I honestly felt like Primis and co-author PeabodySam became the first actual friends I'd made on BZPower, and I count the memories from that thread as some of my most treasured here on BZP. Not only that, but when I attempted to make comedies of my own (AHAHAHAHA... yeeeeah those were awful) they were kind enough to follow them and give me feedback for a while afterwards. Of course, in time we went our separate ways, on BZ and in general. I know I made a few other friendly contacts through the comedy forum (Lewa0111 of The Nuva Inn fame, and Dominus Temporis of My Life with the Bionicles, both stand out in particular), but nothing that quite matched that first experience. Come 2008 my interests were turning elsewhere and I wasn't investing in Bionicle writing, though I still hung around the discussion forums, and around the time the servers went down in... 2010, I believe? I drifted away completely. I, heh, never expected to find it still going three or four years later. Nowadays I don't really participate much, I just lurk and occasionally add comments, but this place is loaded with so much nostalgia; it's always fun to come back and see what's still going on over here ^^ (Just an aside, if someone does win the random draw, do they get a say in which set they'd prefer? Or are they just gonna be distributed at random?)

I remember Nidhiki was the set which the search for frustrated me for a while. It was back near the end of '04, I'd just got around to deciding I wanted him, and he didn't seem to be anywhere. I remember getting my parents to drive me to quite a few local towns with toy shops, and he just wasn't in any of them, even if they had other Bionicle sets. As a thirteen-year-old who had only recently decided to try and be a completionist collector, I recall that being an incredibly frustrating experience; eventually I just gave up the search and bought him off Lego Shop At Home instead. At that point, I wasn't the experienced ebay / amazon shopper that I am today, or I would have bought him off one of them without all the hassle xD

Ooh, I like how effectively you've captured the face. It gives him a really unique look; and at the same time, really captures the essence of the character. He looks great on the whole though, too. The shapes you've used for his body work together very well, and the pose you've placed him in does great justice to his personality. The whole design of the model works together really well, making a wonderful representation of this fascinating character.

£10 sounds pretty steep to me, when they sold for... what, a third of that price back in the day? Mask packs were very cool, in my personal opinion, and I loved the surprise of not knowing which mask was coming; but I wouldn't recommend paying anywhere near that price for one. I mean, granted, they may be worth more now than I remember, they are sixteen years old by this point; but my perspective is forever gonna be that of a buyer from the time I guess xD;

I'm gonna have to agree with everyone who said Unikitty. She was a real missed opportunity when the first Lego Movie came around, and I'd love to see Lego rectify that oversight. Also, not gonna lie, a cuddly Macku would be one of my favourite things they could produce, too xD