Toa Meikhaal

CURSE YOU ZERO DUDE!!! When I first ran across these masks a week or two ago, I have to honestly say I despised them -- especially Kualus's mask. But now, you have me hooked. I want them. I want all four of them. I want them so bad I can't stand it. And I am having a very hard debate with myself whether I can afford to shell out the eighty bucks for them or not. I've been looking for a suitable mask for Kualus for ages. I tried literally every mask Bionicle has ever made in silver and light pearl gray (with the exception of the Nuva masks, because everyone knows they look hideous on Metru heads), and nothing looked right. Nothing screamed at me, "I am Kualus's mask! Put me on him!" So I've just been using Nuju Metru's mask, and forcing myself to accept the fact that it's white instead of silver. Until I saw these guys... These are by far the best custom masks I've ever seen. Kudos on a job VERY well done. I wish I had all four of them to put on my Hagah.

My favorite years would have to be 2001, a little bit of 2005, and 2015. I didn't like the colors or the shapes of the Toa Metru, but the Toa Hagah were two of my favorite sets in all of Bionicle. I also really love the CCBS reboot in G2. Not 2016 so much, but they nailed it last year. And what's with everyone liking 2006? I honestly don't know why so many people like the Piraka so much; need I remind us all that those awful torsos plagued us for the rest of G1? Oh yeah, and I loved 2009 because it gave us some newer pieces in older colors. Ackar had a whole bunch of mata red, for example.

I did some permanent eye color rearrangement on my 2002 Toa Nuva because the eye colors they had just didn't stand out. Most of my inspiration was from the Bohrok because the designers nailed their eye contrast in so many ways. I didn't add or remove any colors; just switched them around. Here's how they ended up: Kopaka - kept violet-blue, of course. Anything else would have looked stupid. *Phantoka* Pohatu - dark green. It really helps with his earthy vibe. Onua - light green. He looks good with green eyes, but I just thought the dark green blended in too much. Now they really glow against his black. Lewa - pink. Gali - orange. The pink and orange look almost identical with the light behind them shining through, so I just took cues from the Bohrok and paired them with their contrasting color. (Note: do NOT do this with Gali Mata! The orange will be completely invisible behind her blue visor. The best eye color for her is light green) Tahu - yellow. I was going to try blue, but I didn't want to have to replace one of the heads. Then I tried yellow, and I really liked it. The yellow still invokes a fiery glow in his eyes, but it stands out so much better than his original eye color. I take the random pins on the 2015 toa's weapons and stash them somewhere on their bodies until I need them. Tahu and Gali have all of those pieces on the backs of their legs. It really helps Gali's axe to not have those ugly black things sticking out of the side.

I got out the comic books (yes, I have every issue) and I noticed something interesting. Carlos D'anda pencilled every issue up until the end of 2002, when Randy Elliott took over as artist all the way through 2005. That means that each timeline, sort of, has had its own artist with their own style. Stuart Sayger added a nice chaotic twist to the art style for Jaller's team in '06 and '07, and now the theme will be changing again. I still think issue 1 was the coolest, though.