so do the protecters have elemental powers?

[bohrokman]

In episode 1 they used some sort of power to call upon the Toa and the PoF used fire to tell tahu the prophecy, but do they have elemental powers really?

[dotcom]

They don't, but their masks do.

[Jobber]

Yes, powerful enough to change the landscape apparently. I wouldn't be surprised if their elemental powers rivaled that of even the Toa's when they first arrived. 

[Dorek]

They have masks of power, which are what they use to do what they do. As far as we can tell, nobody actually has elemental powers.

[Pahrak Model ZX]

Like everyone says, it's in the masks.  As for the level of power I'd say it's comparable to a Turaga's EP in G1, so not very strong, but still something.  I personally wonder if perhaps they channel the mask's element through their blasters as fuel.

[fishers64]

I personally wonder if perhaps they channel the mask's element through their blasters as fuel.

I kinda think that's unlikely because the Protector of Fire "ran out of ammo" in the third animation. If it was the mask, I'd think he'd just be able to keep on shooting.

[Prowl Nightwolf]

Well to be fair he did unload quite the supply and a mask's power could be limited when in overuse. much I the same way a person becomes fatigued from strenuous exercise or activity. Sure they are Masks of Power, but that doesn't mean that power cannot be drained and require recharging.

[MrSciFiGuy]

Its just the masks themselves. And as for the animations, most of it is creative licensing, but they masks do serve the purpose of "carving the landscapes" to suit them

[Cwog]

As for the "carving the landscapes" aspect, there are so many villagers, all of which with masks of power made for them by Ekimu and Makuta. They all probably worked together to do that, because I doubt any of the masks have a whole lot of power (it seems that the Protectors are the only villagers to wield weapons, which, as said above, are probably powered by the masks).

[Prowl Nightwolf]

Yeah this leads to the argument of if the villagers as a whole have powered masks, or if it is the village leaders(the ones we got in set form) are the only ones with elemental power. If the Masks of power shaped the island then either:

A) The leader's(The ones we got in set form) mask have a lot more power than we are giving them credit for.

B) All Protector style masks have elemental power though limited individually they are quite powerful in groups.

C) The Villagers used the Toa Masks of Power originally to shape their island and then hid them away because of how powerful they are. This leads to the idea the the Protector mask are not all that powerful if they have any even at all.

[Dorek]

Yeah this leads to the argument of if the villagers as a whole have powered masks, or if it is the village leaders(the ones we got in set form) are the only ones with elemental power. If the Masks of power shaped the island then either:

A) The leader's(The ones we got in set form) mask have a lot more power than we are giving them credit for.

B) All Protector style masks have elemental power though limited individually they are quite powerful in groups.

C) The Villagers used the Toa Masks of Power originally to shape their island and then hid them away because of how powerful they are. This leads to the idea the the Protector mask are not all that powerful if they have any even at all.

I think the implication is that there used to be a lot more powered masks, but that after Makuta and Ekimu beat each other's faces in, there stopped being so many; this is why the Protector masks are inherited, because there's nobody to make new ones (and, conversely, why would new ones need to be made at all if they could function well enough indefinitely?)

[Prowl Nightwolf]

yeah I can see your point there. I mean if all the masks were directly inherited then why the need for Mask makers? I mean once you had a mask for each inhabitant there would be no need to make more. Unless the masks in question have a finite amount of elemental power and are otherwise unable to be recharged. VS say the Toa Masks of Power that are able to be recharged via the Toa Energy that naturally only the Toa would have. Though perhaps they can be charged over time but like batteries reach a level where they no longer can be charged. That or the multitude of working masks got damaged or destroyed over the generations leaving fewer and fewer to be used.

[Nato G]

Perhaps the Protector's Masks have grown weaker in power as the years have gone by, since we haven't seen any examples of "landscape-shaping" power being used by the Protector's in the serials.

 

Apart from summoning the Toa and using their gattling guns - which may or may not be elemental in nature, the only example we've seen in the webseries of the Protector's really using elemental powers was the Protector of Fire making a few fireballs and whatnot.