They Got The Wrong Elements

[IcarusBen]

In canon of G1, Lewa was a Toa of Air, Pohatu was of Stone, and Onua was of Earth.

 

In G2, Lewa gets swapped out for Jungle, but Pohatu and Onua remain the same.

 

Am I the only one who thinks that Lewa should be a Toa of Plantlife, Onua a Toa of Stone, and Pohatu a Toa of Air? I think it's smarter than having the big, bulky guy handling dirt while the smaller, more agile guy having to deal with really large objects.

[Bonkle]

It does make sense, but changing one element caused a lot of anger in the community, can you imagine the backlash if they changed three?

[Petewa]

It might've been best, rather, to change either Onua or Pohatu's, rather than deal, once more, with the confusion of "What differentiation is there between earth and stone?"

[Rooster Nui]

Bonkle's right; it would cause so much anger. Some presumable reasons that Onua and Pohatu have kept the same elements is probably that of avoiding further negative comments and to keep the Toa consistant with their G1 counterparts in terms of overall characteristics and attributes.

[Kopekemaster]

Eh, I like it how it is. Or, rather, I prefer the old way, but having Lewa as a Toa of a weird sort of blend of "jungle" and air (at least, that's how I've been understanding it; in any case, he does seem to still have some connection with air) is okay by me. At least it somewhat sticks with the traditional four elements than if there was one Toa specifically in control of Plantlife. (Which would be cool, but I like the traditional elements.)

Edited October 10, 2015 by Kopekemaster

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

Am I the only one who thinks that Lewa should be a Toa of Plantlife, Onua a Toa of Stone, and Pohatu a Toa of Air? I think it's smarter than having the big, bulky guy handling dirt while the smaller, more agile guy having to deal with really large objects.

 

Onua still lugs the big earth though, and Pohatu seems to only throw the occasional boulder, while mostly manipulating sand and small rocks, Onua still handles dense rock-material if it's in the ground, just like G1. o:

[IcarusBen]

But Pohatu flies. And he is most certainly not built for lugging around boulders around. So why is he Stone when Onua, who is suitably built to handle Stone, is given the element of Earth?

[Naota Takizawa]

I don't know, Lego won't fix this problem and neither will Ryder to avoid upsetting fans. 

[silo]

its not a problem imo

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

But Pohatu flies. And he is most certainly not built for lugging around boulders around. So why is he Stone when Onua, who is suitably built to handle Stone, is given the element of Earth?

 

i suppose then it depends on how you view earth, you seem to be implying it's lighter, softer stuff, wheras the 2015 Bioonicle seems to be pretty consistently considering it hard dense rock and cxrystals and obsidian underground. o:

 

also with the power to manipulate stone, i don't tihnk pohatu needs to be "built for it", Toph from Avatar comes to mund, who was waaaaaay too small to lift some of the rocks she did, but she did anyway because earthbending means lifting huge rocks with relative ease.

 

pohatu's probably like that.

[bonesiii]

Pohatu isn't quite the same, as he can apparently control sand (or maybe just his tools do; I heard someone say that a while back but dunno).

[Bonkle]

Toph from Avatar comes to mund, who was waaaaaay too small to lift some of the rocks she did, but she did anyway because earthbending means lifting huge rocks with relative ease.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay.

 

But yes, I don't think body size has anything to do with it. Gali could theoretically control an entire ocean, and she's an average size Toa.

[fishers64]

Pohatu isn't quite the same, as he can apparently control sand (or maybe just his tools do; I heard someone say that a while back but dunno).

It isn't just his tools, as we have a shot of him doing the Sandnado thing with his tools in his hands. 

 

 

 

I don't have bulletproof evidence for that claim, but we have yet to see him use his Jetarangs in any of the animations (always opting to use a sand tornado instead, boomerangs in hand) and not even his comic shows them on his feet unfolded like the final materials show.

I think that in all cases where the sand tornado was used, the Jeterangs were on his feet. The beginning of Episode 7 clearly shows Pohatu riding a diminishing tornado resolving out to jeterang-clad feet.

 

 

 

...No, it doesn't.

 

Neither does the previous episode.

 

 

His sand tornado and his Jetarangs are very clearly unrelated.

 

[bonesiii]

I remember that, but technically that doesn't disprove that it's a tool power, like a mask power doesn't touch things necessarily. (Not that I would even have thought of that if the other image hadn't seemed to imply it due to touching.) Still, probably right.

[Votuko]

To be fair, the Stormerangs are described as creating sandstorms when thrown. It would be a bit of a superfluous power if Pohatu could make sandstorms on his own too.

Regarding the animations, it seems like a stylistic choice to have Pohatu hold the Stormerangs rather than have them attached to his feet because they look cooler than his dagger.

 

But the thing that really clinches it is that Pohatu can ride sandstorms before he gets his Golden Mask. Yet we know from both the animations and the book that the Toa only gain their elemental control after putting on their Golden Masks.

So the sandstorms can't be part of Pohatu's elemental powers; they must purely be a function of his Toa Tools.

[silo]

But the thing that really clinches it is that Pohatu can ride sandstorms before he gets his Golden Mask. Yet we know from both the animations and the book that the Toa only gain their elemental control after putting on their Golden Masks.

So the sandstorms can't be part of Pohatu's elemental powers; they must purely be a function of his Toa Tools.

No, the toa had elemental powers before they got their Golden Masks, they just weren't as strong. It's like how the protector of fire can make fireballs and use an elemental blaster, but can't shoot massive beams of fire like Tahu. 

On a related note, I'm pretty sure Pohatu can control sand with only his hands: he's clearly shown in his character video as clenching his fist, and a tornado of sand appearing round it. Don't tell me that's just a convenient breeze

[Dane-gerous]

all these earth vs stone threads give me a headache

onua is probably really big, and tough, because he's made for mining, and digging through solid earth.

pohatu is just lean and muscular, he doesn't have to be a beefcake to be strong.

[The Editor]

all these earth vs stone threads give me a headache

onua is probably really big, and tough, because he's made for mining, and digging through solid earth.

pohatu is just lean and muscular, he doesn't have to be a beefcake to be strong.

 

I agree with this - to the OP, I fail to see how their body sizes make them more suited to what you're suggesting they control.

Edited October 12, 2015 by The Editor

[LewaLew]

I doubt that the backlash would cause that much trouble. BZPower has always been the minority of the fanbase, and remains so. Besides, even BZP seems to have accepted the jungle change.

[Ghidora131]

I doubt that the backlash would cause that much trouble. BZPower has always been the minority of the fanbase, and remains so. Besides, even BZP seems to have accepted the jungle change.

Only because it's not that big of a change. Lewa got switched to something he was always in direct contact with. However,doing a cheap shot like swapping the character's elements with each other is way different, and that's where the difficulty comes in.

[Petewa]

 

I doubt that the backlash would cause that much trouble. BZPower has always been the minority of the fanbase, and remains so. Besides, even BZP seems to have accepted the jungle change.

Only because it's not that big of a change. Lewa got switched to something he was always in direct contact with. However,doing a cheap shot like swapping the character's elements with each other is way different, and that's where the difficulty comes in.

 

Plus, it'd be THREE characters, rather than ONE.

[masterchirox580]

The only thing I agree with there is that Lewa should be toa of air. Seeing as both Pohatu and Lewa have some form of air control I suppose maybe all of them have it?

[LewaLew]

Three toa or not, BZP still is a minority of a minority, and I don't think that kids buying the sets and watching the videos really care if one character has the "wrong" element.

[Alyska]

Yeah, the sand connection makes more sense for a lean, agile character, and the colours match as well. They've actually made the distinction between rock and earth much clearer this gen by taking Onua and Pohatu's powers and abilities in such different directions. Before they were both big hefty guys with a fighting style consisting of throwing heavy chunks of the ground at people, but giving Pohatu pseudo-flight and sand control I think is really going to distinguish him more from Onua.

 

If they were doing a total reset with completely new characters, I'd recommend merging Earth and Stone, but given that they're based on the G1 characters, it's nice to have both Pohatu and Onua back (even if Pohatu is almost unrecognisable personality-wise, but that's a rant for another day.)

[FolkUkulele]

When I first got into Bionicle, I was confused about the distinction between the elements of "earth" and "stone".  I see how "earth" is related more to underground things, like caves and crystals, while "stone" is more related to deserts and sand and boulders.  Maybe they were once the same element, but two halves of the tribe diverged, one underground and the other into the desert, and they evolved into distinct tribes and distinct elements.  I would hate to see Onua and Pohatu seitch elements or consolidated into one character.  Stone is my favorite element, and I'd like to keep it the way it is.

 

I honestly think the change from "air" to "jungle" is a petty, but I may just be a genwunner.  Even though Lewa controls "jungle", he still flies around like a Toa of air would.  Having "jungle" as an element makes G2 Bionicle more related to 2009 Bionicle, which I guess makes the return to Bionicle easier for more recent fans.

 

Also, the fact that "air" is no longer an element is the main thing that keeps me from believing that G2 and G1 are related.

[Toa Imrukii]

Okay, before we confuse anymore people on Earth and Stone, lets just settle this by saying that Air and Stone are relative to each other in G2.

[Alyska]

Lewa seems to have some air connection still, though this hasn't been explored much yet, and Pohatu can sorta-fly (probably not very high) by creating dust devils, so I guess Air control can just be a secondary power for some Toa, like how Gali had healing powers or Vakama had visions in G1.