What are the things Tahu, Lewa and Pohatu Mata had for hands?

[Toa of Gallifrey]

I was playing with Lewa Mata the other day and asked myself what's up with his left hand. Then I remembered Tahu and Pohatu also had them. So what are they? A two-fingered hand? claw? I think they used them as fingers in Bionicle: The Game but it's been a while since I played it and can't remember.

[Aanchir]

I always assumed they were just meant to be hands, albeit weird-looking ones. I remember being grateful that they got more normal-sized hands that could more easily hold weapons when they became Toa Nuva.

[SPIRIT]

Yeah, do a quick image search for "Bionicle the Game" and you'll see that they made those claws into hands for most of the Toa (with the exception of Gali and Onua).  Obviously the set designers rethought the design because we never see them again.

[evil_jaga_genius]

I thought they were guns for the longest time, then apparently they were hands.  When we were playing, Tahu's shot out fire, Lewa's shot out vines or something... I can't remember what we came up with for Pohatu.  Fast-drying cement, maybe.

 

But yeah, officially they're hands.

[emily]

At the time, the Y-joint wasn't established as able to be an abstract representation of a hand, so I guess they just came up with that big ol' two-fingered design and rolled with it. Its goofy, but I like it.

 

I did know a kid who insisted they were guns, though. Wouldn't be surprised if a lot of kids thought that.

[Sumiki]

Headcanon: the Toa just really like massive gauntlets.  When the Matoran question it, they act confused and say "it's just my hand!"

[Tarn]

i'm of the group that always just intepreted them as hands, which is what they were intended to be apparently

[Cap'n Shirley J. Puma]

Actually, when Pohatu became a Toa Nuva, he got the climbing claw thingies. As the name entailed, they were for climbing. So, while they probably are just hands, I'd like to think of them as tools to help them traverse their environments.

[Xboxtravis]

The official Lewa Mata canister art showed him using his 'hand' to grab a vine. So yeah I am %99 those are supposed to be hands. I much prefer the CCBS fists to the goofy two fingers of old, but with that said the goofiness ads to the Mata's charm.

[Fry]

They were hands. In the first Bionicle book, they are described as "claw like", so take from that what you will

[Bfahome]

They were definitely hands.  Since the three Toa that have them had nothing to hold in those hands, it makes sense that the designers would want to make them a bit more interesting than just a plain socket piece.  Plus they were still playing off the Slizer and RoboRider look.

 

Then of course the Toa Nuva happened, and they couldn't exactly use them again since all of them needed to be able to hold things in both hands.  I guess that sort of set the standard for socket pieces becoming hands, given their utility and the fact that many later sets also dual-wielded their weapons.

[jed1ndy]

Yeah, those are hands, like everyone else has said. From what I can tell, they're actually leftovers from the original Voodoo Heads concept. You can't see this in the prototype models, but on the finalized model on the box from the Faber video, you can see that the axles included were originally 6 or 8 modules long, and they would've been used to rip off the heads off of your opponent. That's why the smaller models without functions all had them; they were tools. The larger models in the videos, such as the "Axe" character that was the first shown in the video, don't have those on their arms.

Edited August 19, 2016 by jed1ndy

[Lenny7092]

I always think of these things as hands. True, they look weird. I think Lego wanted to make hands where you out the fingers on the palm. I guess doesn't want to give the hands five fingers because of the design being too complex, so the hand has two fingers instead. They look pretty bigger than a normal human's hand proportionally.

[The 1st Shadow]

They were officially hands, and the part was reused from the Slizers and Roboriders, which featured the piece in colors like Teal, Purple, Blue, Light Blue, and others.

[Toa Imrukii]

Hands. Giant sausage finger hands.

[emily]

Yeah, those are hands, like everyone else has said. From what I can tell, they're actually leftovers from the original Voodoo Heads concept. You can't see this in the prototype models, but on the finalized model on the box from the Faber video, you can see that the axles included were originally 6 or 8 modules long, and they would've been used to rip off the heads off of your opponent. That's why the smaller models without functions all had them; they were tools. The larger models in the videos, such as the "Axe" character that was the first shown in the video, don't have those on their arms.

Hah, wow, that makes a lot of sense. Kind of crazy, actually.

[Ta-metru_defender]

I really liked them as hands. Had a lotta charm.

[Iruini Nuva]

Yeah, do a quick image search for "Bionicle the Game" and you'll see that they made those claws into hands for most of the Toa (with the exception of Gali and Onua).  Obviously the set designers rethought the design because we never see them again.

I always loved that representation of them.

[MrSciFiGuy]

To me just some sort of bulky hand. Or large gauntlet. 

[Tahu3.0]

I always thought of them as hands and really cool looking ones I mean those look more normal than the Tohunga hands...........Whaaat are those!.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Wait, didn't Bionicles technically not have hands at all?
I thought they magnetically grabbed onto items or something. Which logically of course doesn't work very well if you're grabbing something non-magnetic, but I thought that was an explanation.

 

I think you can even see that in effect when Takua grabs his Koli stick in Onu-Wahi in Mask of Light.

Edited August 19, 2016 by TheSkeletonMan939

[Master Inika]

Yeah, I always assumed they were meant to be hands not holding anything, but the concept was then abandoned in 2002 so they could give kids the option to have their characters holding things.

 

Fun fact I'm surprised no one's mentioned yet: In BIONILE Heroes, the Mata weapon Hewkii is given is a gun called the Pokoro, modeled after Pohatu's hand.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Fun fact I'm surprised no one's mentioned yet: In BIONILE Heroes, the Mata weapon Hewkii is given is a gun called the Pokoro, modeled after Pohatu's hand.

 

I need to play that again sometime.

 

I don't think I unlocked any of those special weapons.

[Toa Imrukii]

Fun fact I'm surprised no one's mentioned yet: In BIONILE Heroes, the Mata weapon Hewkii is given is a gun called the Pokoro, modeled after Pohatu's hand.

Thats just stupid. Why not use his Cleats as the gun? Shooting rockets from the fingers is just dumb.

[Master Inika]

 

Fun fact I'm surprised no one's mentioned yet: In BIONILE Heroes, the Mata weapon Hewkii is given is a gun called the Pokoro, modeled after Pohatu's hand.

 

I need to play that again sometime.

 

I don't think I unlocked any of those special weapons.

 

I think it was his default weapon. But I've never played the game. I assumed the Inika started off with their respective Toa Mata's weapons, and progressed to the Metru's, then their own.

 

 

Fun fact I'm surprised no one's mentioned yet: In BIONILE Heroes, the Mata weapon Hewkii is given is a gun called the Pokoro, modeled after Pohatu's hand.

Thats just stupid. Why not use his Cleats as the gun? Shooting rockets from the fingers is just dumb.

 

Actually, it looks kind of epic.

[Aanchir]

Wait, didn't Bionicles technically not have hands at all?

I thought they magnetically grabbed onto items or something. Which logically of course doesn't work very well if you're grabbing something non-magnetic, but I thought that was an explanation.

 

I think you can even see that in effect when Takua grabs his Koli stick in Onu-Wahi in Mask of Light.

The lack of hands or fingers was never a strict rule, though. Besides the Toa Mata's non-weapon hands generally having fingers, and Onua's claws of course having discrete fingers of their own, the 2001–2002 Matoran had obvious molded hands with three-fingered right hands and more mitten-like left hands. The magnetism aspect was basically a hand-wave (no pun intended) to explain things like how Tahu could hold his fire sword in his right hand when only his left hand had fingers, or how any of the Toa Nuva or 2003 Matoran could hold things.

 

But then when Bionicle: Mask of Light came out, the characters were given hands with discrete fingers anyway to make it less awkward when characters waved, pointed, gave each other fist bumps, or used other gestures that normally involve specific hand movements. Magnetism may be able to explain how fingerless characters hold things (and, as you mention, was given a nod in the movie when Takua was in Onu-Koro), but a lack of fingers still greatly limits the characters' ability to use many familiar forms of body language.

[Sir Kohran]

The switch to fingered hands in the movies was also part of the process of making the characters' appearances more human to make them more relatable and less robotic. Other changes were the introduction of mouths to most masks, masks generally becoming more face-like, and the removal of holes from the limbs.

 

It took a surprisingly long time for hands to appear in actual sets, though.

[Endless Sea (Alaki Nuva)]

And it took until Hero Factory to get a full compliment of fingers.  And even then they still ended up looking kinda weird.

 

Count me in the "I thought the hand thingies were actually shooter thingies at first" group, by the way.  I ended up realizing they weren't due to their lack of use in official media, but I think it still took me until the game for me to figure out they were supposed to be oversized hands.

Edited August 26, 2016 by Endless Sea (Alaki Nuva)

[Toa Doublebee]

I remember reading that it was cannon that they had no fingers, and used magnetic fields in their hands to grab stuff, until MoL came along and it was quietly retconned. 

 

I'm surprised no one mentioned that each hand design through the years (Mata, y-socket and fist) can correlate to the hand gestures in rock paper scissors.

Can lead to some fun Tahu free for all RPS matches.

[Toa of Ice - 1987]

Tahu and Pohatu looked like claws or fingers. But like many said, i always thought lewa looked like he had guns.

 

A good example is the duck bill muzzle of the prototype xm8 assault-rifles, it looks a lot like how lewas fingers were ridged with similar ends.

Edited September 15, 2016 by necross hordika

[Clyce]

Tahu and Pohatu looked like claws or fingers. But like many said, i always thought lewa looked like he had guns.

 

Just take a look at the duck bill muzzle of the prototype xm8 rifle, it looks a lot like how lewas fingers were ridged with similar ends.

Yes!! They were duel XM8s!

Wait! Gentlemen, we have seemed to have overlooked the most obvious explanation. They are obviously lamp cords! Y'know for electrical sockets and such? That's where the bionicles get their energy and power. They all get it from AC power supplies (the toa suvas). 100% confirmed.

[~Takumo~]

Kopaka was ahead of his time, utilizing a piece that would eventually become the hand for all Toa until 2008.

 

I was always bugged that Pohatu's hands weren't brown. I swear, sometimes I felt like the Toa of Stone was just some weird experiment at Lego. 2001-2003, Pohatu had that awkward upside-down body (and the Nuva version just looked silly). 2006-2008, we decided grey and orange was the new color of stone (though Hewkii remains my favorite set to this day). Thankfully, Gen 2 Pohatu looks great, with this 2016 model looking pretty spectacular with his new weapon (though I'll miss the boomerangs).

[Bfahome]

Kopaka was ahead of his time, utilizing a piece that would eventually become the hand for all Toa until 2008.

Ahead of what?

[Taria Pakari]

 

Kopaka was ahead of his time, utilizing a piece that would eventually become the hand for all Toa until 2008.

Ahead of what?

 

 

I can't believe Kopaka's hand is plagiarised.

[Sybre]

I always saw them as massive hands that were more solid than other hands, so if Tahu, Lewa, or Pohatu punched you, it would hurt due to the solidity of the hand.

 

 

 

 

 

Kopaka was ahead of his time, utilizing a piece that would eventually become the hand for all Toa until 2008.

Ahead of what?

I can't believe Kopaka's hand is plagiarised.

I can. He gave me a weird vibe from the start. His eye that isn't part of the scope setup was like a doll's eye.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

Coconut gun.

 

(seriously though I too adamantly thought they were some sort of weapon, but nah, just a REALLY BIG HAND apparently with no thumb because who cares about prehensile capabilities?)

[PutYaGunsOn]

They're just really big hands.  Though unlike Tahu's and Pohatu's, Lewa's "fingers" looked like gun barrels, so for a while, I was convinced he had a gun arm.  Then my friend somehow convinced me that they shot out vines like Bulbasaur, so I played with that in mind too.

 

I'm still a little confused as to why Lewa has those gun barrel-looking things when Tahu and Pohatu just have regular plus rods.

[jed1ndy]

I'm still a little confused as to why Lewa has those gun barrel-looking things when Tahu and Pohatu just have regular plus rods.

The impression I got was that it was supposed to repent long hands and thicker fingers, to more easily grasp to Le-Koro's trees and vines; just like how most simians do.

[PutYaGunsOn]

 

I'm still a little confused as to why Lewa has those gun barrel-looking things when Tahu and Pohatu just have regular plus rods.

The impression I got was that it was supposed to repent long hands and thicker fingers, to more easily grasp to Le-Koro's trees and vines; just like how most simians do.

 

Fair enough.  I guess Lewa just has bigger/stronger fingers.  New headcanon: Le-Matoran typically have strong grip/hands for climbing trees.

[~Takumo~]

 

Kopaka was ahead of his time, utilizing a piece that would eventually become the hand for all Toa until 2008.

Ahead of what?

 

 

Well, I can't quite include the slizer/throwbots in my argument. Totally different universe.

 

But I see your point.