Toa Bios Updated on BIONICLE Website

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

Ugh, this formatting is awful. Please fix that LEGO, very tough to read.

 

But it was informative. Each character has pretty distinct traits, and I definitely don't mind it. The Masters will probably have some excellent interactions as a result.

 

But man, I hate to be one to say they are dumbing this down but... Seriously? No mask powers? I honestly don't think that specifically made the story more complicated, and I think it was really cool to have a secondary set of powers tied to the masks. Just having the mastery of elemental powers coming from the mask feels way too simplified.

 

I definitely see it working but still...

 

-NotS

[Axilus Prime]

Well, it does explain why the legend video mentioned masks containing the powers of the elements.

 

Makes me wonder what the Protectors' masks are, though. I don't mind this change. Let's just see how it plays out.

[believe victims]

I'd imagine the Protector's masks will be either powerless, contain a power of little consequence, or perhaps just contain a smaller amount of elemental power, perhaps to run their little gatling guns.

[CHTrilogy]

Another thing. If Kopaka's mask is now the mask of Ice, what would be the point of the lenses ?

 

Heat vision?

[Axilus Prime]

Another thing. If Kopaka's mask is now the mask of Ice, what would be the point of the lenses ?

The lenses weren't the source of the X-Ray vision. They allowed zooming and thermal imaging. And I would think the mask of Ice still has those added perks. In general, the Kanohi power itself tends to be contained in the whole mask, not just one part on the right side.

[CrasherDasher]

Did anyone else notice how the toa are now caled "heroes" or masters"? Maybe this was already mentioned and I'm just slow but I do find it to be an interesting change.

[Lyichir]

Another thing. If Kopaka's mask is now the mask of Ice, what would be the point of the lenses ?

Maybe he's just nearsighted?

[Aanchir]

Ugh, this formatting is awful. Please fix that LEGO, very tough to read.

 

But it was informative. Each character has pretty distinct traits, and I definitely don't mind it. The Masters will probably have some excellent interactions as a result.

 

But man, I hate to be one to say they are dumbing this down but... Seriously? No mask powers? I honestly don't think that specifically made the story more complicated, and I think it was really cool to have a secondary set of powers tied to the masks. Just having the mastery of elemental powers coming from the mask feels way too simplified.

 

I definitely see it working but still...

 

-NotS

I don't see a problem with that. Mastery of their elemental powers could come with any NUMBER of secondary powers. A mastery of water could include healing abilities like Gali demonstrated in BIONICLE: Mask of Light. A mastery of ice could include a shielding power like Kopaka's new "Frost Sphere" ability. A mastery of earth could include the ability to detect things through vibrations in the ground (like Toph's ability from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I don't know exactly what direction the writers will go with this, but just judging from Kopaka's "Frost Sphere" ability I think this will kill two birds with one stone: it will make the characters' secondary powers easier to remember, and it will allow us to see more creative uses for elemental powers like in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

 

Did anyone else notice how the toa are now caled "heroes" or masters"? Maybe this was already mentioned and I'm just slow but I do find it to be an interesting change.

They're still called Toa as far as their class/species is concerned. "Hero" and "master of *insert element here*" are just descriptions.

[Eclipsed]

I'm rather disappointed, As much as I was on for the reboot thing, I was expecting a bit more depth than just elements, the mask powers were as crucial as the elemental powers.

I have a feeling that if there's just "mask of fire" etc, we won't be getting more toa teams. 

I doubt there's more than 1 mask for the same purpose. (like 3 different masks of fire)

[Gatanui]

I'm rather disappointed, As much as I was on for the reboot thing, I was expecting a bit more depth than just elements, the mask powers were as crucial as the elemental powers.

I have a feeling that if there's just "mask of fire" etc, we won't be getting more toa teams. 

I doubt there's more than 1 mask for the same purpose. (like 3 different masks of fire)

We could always get Toa teams with other elements later on.

 

-Gata

[Mr. Lightning Bolt]

The one thing that's making me unhappy is the masks being elemental in nature as opposed to other power masks where there'd be a point in collecting more than one on a strategic level. I'm sick of this "I am a rock I am an island" foolishness. Another reason why I'm continuing the classics collection. 
They had a chance to do this right, and at risk of sounding like a "ruined forever" dork, they're kind of going the wrong way. 

[Eclipsed]

 

I'm rather disappointed, As much as I was on for the reboot thing, I was expecting a bit more depth than just elements, the mask powers were as crucial as the elemental powers.

I have a feeling that if there's just "mask of fire" etc, we won't be getting more toa teams. 

I doubt there's more than 1 mask for the same purpose. (like 3 different masks of fire)

We could always get Toa teams with other elements later on.

 

-Gata

 

This better be the case.

[bonesiii]

My thoughts (some of them in response to points raised in previous replies):

 

1) We had ten years of the old way. I'm all for exploring a new version of how it works. Might take us old peeps some getting used to, but that's okay.

 

2) Elemental masks with same shapes as Hau, etc. would actually make sense even in the old canon; the shapes could have been chosen in honor of Tahu/etc. Of course this explanation doesn't work for Okoto, but I bring it up 'cuz maybe these shapes could be used for fanfics taking place in the old story too, under that theory. The shapes are distinct enough I think it would work.

 

3) Re: the scopes for Kopaka -- in the old canon, zooming lenses were an optional addon for any mask, and were used for Nuju too, with no relation to the mask power. The fact that old Kopaka's lenses did make sense with his mask power is irrelevant really. And the association still makes sense; ice can form lenses of sorts itself.

 

4) Still confused on how they have personal elements and elemental masks though. Seems redundant, but maybe it'll make sense when we learn more. The personal elements might be like Matoran elements in old canon; without actual power. Or maybe it means they can only use their own element (I tend to doubt that one though...).

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

I don't see a problem with that. Mastery of their elemental powers could come with any NUMBER of secondary powers. A mastery of water could include healing abilities like Gali demonstrated in BIONICLE: Mask of Light. A mastery of ice could include a shielding power like Kopaka's new "Frost Sphere" ability. A mastery of earth could include the ability to detect things through vibrations in the ground (like Toph's ability from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I don't know exactly what direction the writers will go with this, but just judging from Kopaka's "Frost Sphere" ability I think this will kill two birds with one stone: it will make the characters' secondary powers easier to remember, and it will allow us to see more creative uses for elemental powers like in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Oh, I don't doubt that this could work out extremely well, just how you have stated. I will be more than fine with them tying in the mastery of the elemental powers to special powers. It could perhaps create a stronger narrative regarding masks, where the power upgrades are actually integral to the story and ensure that the masks will be used to their full potential rather than have some that were barely used like in 2001. The special moves seem to indicate some cool (and badly-named ) elemental attacks as well. 

 

Still, I feel like getting rid of mask powers is part of their goal to simplify, similarly to how they abolished terms and the concepts of Matoran and Turaga which irks me because Mask Powers were never complex. I loved that each Toa had to find masks that would give them different abilities that would help them in different situations, which I felt was not quite as explored as it should have been.

 

Like I said, I see this being a good replacement but I still can't help but feel disappointed by this change.

 

-NotS

Edited October 14, 2014 by Nidhiki of the Shadows

[believe victims]

4) Still confused on how they have personal elements and elemental masks though. Seems redundant, but maybe it'll make sense when we learn more. The personal elements might be like Matoran elements in old canon; without actual power. Or maybe it means they can only use their own element (I tend to doubt that one though...).

 

Or it could just be the only element they have experience with. For instance, if Kopaka wore Tahu's mask, it'd be illogical to assume he'd instantly have the same level of finesse and control, as, unlike Tahu, he has no experience in controlling fire.

[LewaLew]

*Kopaka puts on Mask of Fire*

 

Tahu: Uh, you probably shouldn't be...

 

Fiery crater ensues.

[zachattack24]

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but they also changed Lewa's element from air to jungle. All of the others stayed the same, so why did his change?

[Lyichir]

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but they also changed Lewa's element from air to jungle. All of the others stayed the same, so why did his change?

I believe that in one of BZP's interviews one of the designers mentioned that they wanted the elements the characters represent to be clearly identifiable by kids. Focus groups tended to view green as more of a Jungle color than an Air color (which sort of makes sense). So while it's a little odd to have a team of elemental heroes who omit one of the most traditional elements, the justification for changing Lewa's element is sound and will probably result in less confusion down the line.

 

Somewhat bizarrely, the new Lewa will wield both Jungle and Air powers from what we've heard. Personally I'd rather that they went all the way, since Air doesn't make that much sense as a sub-power of Jungle. Of course, for all we know his air powers are limited to non-attacking weapon skills like his traditional flight, in which case I have no gripes.

[Pohatu: Uniter of Stone]

I don't think that Pohatu doesn't have stone powers anymore. Sure, it says he breaks and hurls rocks with unspeakable force, but it also says that Kopaka has freezing touch and cold resistance. It would be pretty lame if Kopaka could only touch things to freeze them now.

[fishers64]

I think I'm going to wait for the portrayal to judge. With Makuta asleep, the Toa having all of their powers from 2001 may unbalance the story, so they might have felt that they needed to nerf the Toa's powers. 

 

I'm not sure I like the way that they did it though. Giving them subpowers and them needing masks for full elemental strikes me as clunky, probably because I can't keep track of the subpowers well. Haven't memorized them yet. I'm not saying that kids can't keep track of them, but if keeping things simple was the goal here, they have already introduced something that could become complex.

[Lyichir]

I think I'm going to wait for the portrayal to judge. With Makuta asleep, the Toa having all of their powers from 2001 may unbalance the story, so they might have felt that they needed to nerf the Toa's powers. 

 

I'm not sure I like the way that they did it though. Giving them subpowers and them needing masks for full elemental strikes me as clunky, probably because I can't keep track of the subpowers well. Haven't memorized them yet. I'm not saying that kids can't keep track of them, but if keeping things simple was the goal here, they have already introduced something that could become complex.

The thing about elemental subpowers, though, is that they can be derived logically from a Toa's element, and thus more easily remembered. So instead of having to remember which mask does what, you can infer the powers of a mask based on the element of the character using it (or even come up with NEW powers if you're a creative type). So, Kopaka's Mask of Ice can be used offensively (Creating blizzard blasts!) or defensively (Making a shield out of ice!) or in numerous other ways, but no matter how many powers you come up with you STILL have less to memorize than you did in the original Bionicle, when you had to consider a character's elemental powers AND mask powers AND the powers of weapons, and the three often had nothing to do with one another.

 

Back in the original Bionicle, a character's mask power had next to nothing to do with the character or mask's color or design. With the original Toa's iconic masks, it was easy enough to remember, but as the theme went along mask powers became more and more obscure. And you ended up with characters like Nuparu Inika having the Mask of Flight (for no reason other than irony, it would seem), or Hewkii Mahri having the Mask of Gravity (despite that having already been established as a completely separate element). With no context clues in the character's design, remembering a specific Toa's powers could be quite difficult unless you really got to work memorizing mask powers.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Lyichir

[fishers64]

The thing about elemental subpowers, though, is that they can be derived logically from a Toa's element, and thus more easily remembered. So instead of having to remember which mask does what, you can infer the powers of a mask based on the element of the character using it (or even come up with NEW powers if you're a creative type). So, Kopaka's Mask of Ice can be used offensively (Creating blizzard blasts!) or defensively (Making a shield out of ice!) or in numerous other ways, but no matter how many powers you come up with you STILL have less to memorize than you did in the original Bionicle, when you had to consider a character's elemental powers AND mask powers AND the powers of weapons, and the three often had nothing to do with one another.

I will concede that this is possible. However, I maintain that straight elemental and mask powers are actually simpler to remember, because there are only two per Toa. Gali --> Element: Water, Mask: Water Breathing. Kopaka --> Element: Ice, Mask: X-Ray vision. That's only twelve powers, mutually exclusive. There are only three toa teams, and only one Toa team with two mask powers, so that's 42 Toa powers for the whole thing. But you rarely have to keep track of all 42 at once, because Toa were focused on by years, and easy categorization by team. Unless you follow the S&T forum, you only have to keep track of twelve powers at a time. Of course, that's just Toa. I never kept track of all the Makuta powers.

 

With this system, you already have to keep track of 36. Two elemental subpowers per Toa, plus the full element. Gali: Water control and the ability to out-swim any known creature. UNLESS she has the Elemental Mask of Water, then she has the full element. Kopaka: Freeze Touch and whatever his other power is, UNLESS he has the Elemental Mask of Ice, than he has the full element. Saying that someone has two powers is easier for the brain to process than saying that they have two powers unless they have this which gives them a more powerful power.

 

2 weak powers --> 1 stronger power. I have twelve non-intuitive indistinct, vague elemental subpowers to brute memorize, which are going to become irrelevant if the character finds a mask. Why don't I say "Gali controls water"? and leave it at that? Old-style mask powers never became irrelevant. These will. 

 

With no context clues in the character's design, remembering a specific Toa's powers could be quite difficult unless you really got to work memorizing mask powers.

I'm not sure why the character design is relevant to the mask power. There's nothing in Gali's design now that suggests her elemental subpowers, or Kopaka's, or Tahu's. Gali's design tells me "I control water." Kopaka's says "I control ice." But the story now tells me that Kopaka doesn't control ice anymore, and that Gali doesn't control water. 

 

In previous times, the design said "Gali controls water" and she did. "Kopaka controls ice". Yep. If anything, the design is lying to me and telling me something that is no longer true.  

[Aanchir]

I'm not sure why the character design is relevant to the mask power. There's nothing in Gali's design now that suggests her elemental subpowers, or Kopaka's, or Tahu's. Gali's design tells me "I control water." Kopaka's says "I control ice." But the story now tells me that Kopaka doesn't control ice anymore, and that Gali doesn't control water.

Ummm... no it doesn't. It tells you Kopaka controls ice, and that his mask helps him control ice better and in more ways.

 

Saying the Toa no longer control their elements just because they have masks of their elements is like saying Takanuva and Makuta don't control light or shadow because they wore the masks of light and shadow.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Aanchir

[Lyichir]

 

The thing about elemental subpowers, though, is that they can be derived logically from a Toa's element, and thus more easily remembered. So instead of having to remember which mask does what, you can infer the powers of a mask based on the element of the character using it (or even come up with NEW powers if you're a creative type). So, Kopaka's Mask of Ice can be used offensively (Creating blizzard blasts!) or defensively (Making a shield out of ice!) or in numerous other ways, but no matter how many powers you come up with you STILL have less to memorize than you did in the original Bionicle, when you had to consider a character's elemental powers AND mask powers AND the powers of weapons, and the three often had nothing to do with one another.

I will concede that this is possible. However, I maintain that straight elemental and mask powers are actually simpler to remember, because there are only two per Toa. Gali --> Element: Water, Mask: Water Breathing. Kopaka --> Element: Ice, Mask: X-Ray vision. That's only twelve powers, mutually exclusive. There are only three toa teams, and only one Toa team with two mask powers, so that's 42 Toa powers for the whole thing. But you rarely have to keep track of all 42 at once, because Toa were focused on by years, and easy categorization by team. Unless you follow the S&T forum, you only have to keep track of twelve powers at a time. Of course, that's just Toa. I never kept track of all the Makuta powers.

 

With this system, you already have to keep track of 36. Two elemental subpowers per Toa, plus the full element. Gali: Water control and the ability to out-swim any known creature. UNLESS she has the Elemental Mask of Water, then she has the full element. Kopaka: Freeze Touch and whatever his other power is, UNLESS he has the Elemental Mask of Ice, than he has the full element. Saying that someone has two powers is easier for the brain to process than saying that they have two powers unless they have this which gives them a more powerful power.

 

2 weak powers --> 1 stronger power. I have twelve non-intuitive indistinct, vague elemental subpowers to brute memorize, which are going to become irrelevant if the character finds a mask. Why don't I say "Gali controls water"? and leave it at that? Old-style mask powers never became irrelevant. These will. 

 

With no context clues in the character's design, remembering a specific Toa's powers could be quite difficult unless you really got to work memorizing mask powers.

I'm not sure why the character design is relevant to the mask power. There's nothing in Gali's design now that suggests her elemental subpowers, or Kopaka's, or Tahu's. Gali's design tells me "I control water." Kopaka's says "I control ice." But the story now tells me that Kopaka doesn't control ice anymore, and that Gali doesn't control water. 

 

In previous times, the design said "Gali controls water" and she did. "Kopaka controls ice". Yep. If anything, the design is lying to me and telling me something that is no longer true.  

 

You're definitely looking at it a lot differently from me. You're thinking "I have to remember all the powers and abilities listed on the bio pages!" I'm looking at it like "Now the Toa have weak elemental powers normally and the masks give them strong elemental powers, and the bio pages give a couple of helpful examples." I don't see the point of memorizing the specifics when really those specifics are just a brief selection of a nearly-infinite number of powers bestowed by their very versatile elements.

 

Or to put it another way: I never had to memorize Kopaka's specific ability to make a mirrored shield of ice, or freeze a foe in place, or make the battlefield slippery, because those were all just specific applications of the overarching ability to absorb, create, or manipulate ice. The new Bionicle sounds mostly the same, only the Toa's control of those powers is limited until they obtain their special masks, and in the absence of unrelated mask powers the Toa might be forced to use those powers more creatively.

[fishers64]

 

I'm not sure why the character design is relevant to the mask power. There's nothing in Gali's design now that suggests her elemental subpowers, or Kopaka's, or Tahu's. Gali's design tells me "I control water." Kopaka's says "I control ice." But the story now tells me that Kopaka doesn't control ice anymore, and that Gali doesn't control water.

Ummm... no it doesn't. It tells you Kopaka controls ice, and that his mask helps him control ice better and in more ways.

 

Saying the Toa no longer control their elements just because they have masks of their elements is like saying Takanuva and Makuta don't control light or shadow because they wore the masks of light and shadow.

 

You're definitely looking at it a lot differently from me. You're thinking "I have to remember all the powers and abilities listed on the bio pages!" I'm looking at it like "Now the Toa have weak elemental powers normally and the masks give them strong elemental powers, and the bio pages give a couple of helpful examples." I don't see the point of memorizing the specifics when really those specifics are just a brief selection of a nearly-infinite number of powers bestowed by their very versatile elements.

 

Or to put it another way: I never had to memorize Kopaka's specific ability to make a mirrored shield of ice, or freeze a foe in place, or make the battlefield slippery, because those were all just specific applications of the overarching ability to absorb, create, or manipulate ice. The new Bionicle sounds mostly the same, only the Toa's control of those powers is limited until they obtain their special masks, and in the absence of unrelated mask powers the Toa might be forced to use those powers more creatively.

Yeah, I see it as the Toa can use those abilities listed on the profile pages sans elemental mask, and nothing more. 

[bonesiii]

I see it as "we don't know what it means until they tell us."

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

darn, one of the only really confusing/complicated things i actually enjoyed about Bionicle was the long list of mask names and powers.

this'll be a hard change to get used to. :t

 

(what, no mask of time duplication?)

[The Meta Knight]

I can't say I'm not a little dissapointed that they aren't going with the original mask powers, but I think this can offer an interesting new take on things, with the Toa using masks to weild elemental power now. I agree with everything Lucina said. I think she got it spot on.