Note that I will be starting from Lehvak-Kal, since that was my first BIONICLE set. I will also say I am not avoiding Bias. For obvious reasons, I am going to consider Small Sets, Canister Sets, and Large Sets to be separate as much as possible, though this will be hard for Hero Factory because of its inconsistent numbers of small sets and canister-sized sets per wave. Notably, for the first few waves it's going to be matters of preference even moreso.
GENERATION 1
- 2003 (The Bohrok-Kal and the Search For The Mask of Light)
- The Bohrok-Kal: Lehvak-Kal. Why? Because it was my first BIONICLE set. While I may have been a year late to experience the original Bohrok, if it were not for Lehvak-Kal I wouldn't even be here writing this right now.
- The Rahkshi: Lerahk. Because of all the colours I prefer green the most, and there isn't much difference between the Rahkshi besides colour, spine, and staff. They're all like 70% grey too, not helping matters.
- The 2003 Large Sets: Makuta, I think. Takua and Pewku and Jaller and Gukko I took apart like instantly for no reason at all. Even if Makuta did have the habit of having his head fall off, he was still the Makuta.
- 2004 (Metru Nui)
- The Toa Metru: They may have a lot of grey, but they are a bit more varied - and I would say Matau wins here. Because you can put his Aero Slicers on the back and they become wings, which is better than simply storing them on the back like Onewa or Nokama.
- The Vahki: Vorzakh, I guess. They fall into the same trap as the Rahkshi, except they don't have spines to differentiate them this time.
- The Metru Nui Matoran: I dislike Ehrye, he has a stupid face. I dislike Nuhrii, he also has a stupid face. I'm going to go with Orkahm, who in another universe caused a jungle to burn down.
- The 2004 Large Sets: I was so excited to get Nidhiki... but Nidhiki loses out to Lhikan and Kikanalo. Moreso for the Kikanalo than for Lhikan, but the Kikanalo is, IMO, easily the best titan G1 BIONICLE had at that point: 13 points of articulation not counting the tail, with a solid build that would be emulated once more in Skirmix five years later. Lhikan's cool too, nice weapons and function for them.
- 2005 (The Visorak Horde)
- The Visorak: Finally, a villain wave that doesn' have grey or silver as a secondary colour across every single set! Not only that, but the (re)start of a bit more variety across sets, with sets like Oohnorak having Bohrok arms instead of slizer arm piece. The Visorak are honestly underrated for what they are - they are leagues better than the Vahki, and if I had no bias, the Bohrok-Kal as well. I'm tempted to say they're better than the Rahkshi too.
- The Toa Hordika: Let's judge the Hordika, who had a tough act to follow in the Visorak: Uh. For the first time, the Toa sets completely fall into the same trap as the 2003-2004 villain sets. There's not much variety here, so it comes down to preference and I'm going to say Matau or Nokama, as they have the best Hordika heads. Though I suppose I cannot hate on the wave that gave us Hordika necks. Still... probably among the worst waves of G1.
- The Rahaga: Not much variety here either so I'm going to say Iruini.
- The 2005 Large Sets: I don't particularly like any of these, but if one has to come out on top... Sidorak. Keetongu is a bit awkward and Roodaka is... Roodaka.
- The Toa Hagah: Put it simply, these should have been a full wave and should have been the Toa for 2005. I'm going with Toa Iruini here merely because the nuva armour on Norik's shoulders looks a bit awkward on the double socket piece compared to the Metru armor.
- 2006 (Voya Nui)
- The Piraka: BIONICLE got edgy. We were gifted the greatest music to grace this earth, and we got the Piraka. Also a bunch of colours that were literally never used again. I'm going to go with Avaktan.
- The Toa Inika: Ah, the arrival of the from-then-on omnipresent Inika build, and the Piraka build following suit... it's a shame about them having the worst heads in all of BIONICLE (related, can Constraction sets please use a head for more than two years lately? From Glatorian to Brain Attack to Beast to G2 heads, I wish there was a head that was compatible with all masks and helmets). I'm going to pick either Kongu or Nuparu, although I think the Kongu/Jaller/Hahli Inika torso armour is far nicer looking than the Nuparu/Hewkii/Matoro torso armour, which IMO is just a bit on the ugly side)
- The Voya Nui Matoran: These Matoran were a year ahead of their time, because they had different builds. That was such a huge thing, no wave had really had this level of variety before - while they generally all used a Bohrok foot as their base torso (except Kazi, who used a hordika lower arm and is the worst of them), they used it somewhat differently. It's either got to go Balta or Piruk, and I can't really decide. Velika and Garan shared a nice build too. There needs to be a special mention of their combiners - easily among the best in G1 and HF and G2, especially the Lava Hawk. Gonna ultimately go with Piruk. From now on, it gets much harder to decide, because: there are less clones. And that's huge.
- The 2006 Large Sets: Brutaka. Already decided, without a doubt, Brutaka. However, 2006's large sets were IMO so much better than almost every large set that came before them - they were much more solidly constructed and less awkward looking than titans like Krekka, Keetongu, or Makuta. Brutaka exemplifies this, I think, and is an exemplar of G1 titan design. There also needs to be a special mention of the Kardas Dragon and Botar, although Botar looks more awkward than I remember. (remember when Botar was killed off only to be replaced immediately by Botar but not Botar?
- 2007 (Mahri Nui)
- The Barraki: The Barraki - I love the Barraki. I think they're among the best villain sets in all of G1, if not all of BIONICLE, and if not that then all of constraction. They have so much variety and only two of them resorted to using standard Inika or Piraka builds (Carapar and Kalmah respectively). The best set, I think, would have to go to Ehlek or Takadox, who I would say exude such individuality and uniqueness that no villain before them had. Plus, you can pose Takadox as a chicken. I think I'd have to give it to Ehlek though. I like green, have you noticed?
- The Toa Mahri: While not as good as the Barraki, the Toa Mahri were decent. Hewkii Mahri already loses though . So does Nuparu Mahri - I recall he had problems standing up, and I even made a topic ten years ago called 'Nuparu Mahri's leg problem'. After eliminating those two, and then eliminating Kongu and Matoro Mahri, I end up with Jaller and Hahli Mahri. I am going to give it to Jaller Mahri for not having lime green joints, having some unique and good-looking torso armour, and a very nice-looking mask. Also, the Hahnah crab! Who can forget that?
- The Mahri Nui Matoran... and Hydruka: 2007 is bizarre in that it only had 4 small sets (just as bizarre as 2003's small sets releasing during the summer). I can't really compare the Matoran to the Hydruka, and there's only two of each. Defilak, I think, is easily the better Mahri Nui Matoran, having more green than Dekar does yellow. I also like the Kualsi as a mask much more than the Kiril. As for the Hydruka... Thulox, wait, no, Thulox is the red one. Morak! Morak is the blue one. Morak glows in the dark. Still, why did they even exist as sets? They showed up for one page in a book while characters that had slightly bigger roles like Gar and Kyrehx didn't even get sets. What?
- The 2007 Large Sets: I don't particularly like Hydraxon. Gadunka is Gadunka. I do, however, quite like Nocturn, as well as Maxilos and Spinax. Nocturn has a really nice colour scheme while I don't quite like Maxilos that much, but rather Spinax - Spinax is basically a four-legged Barraki. Gotta go with Nocturn because without Maxilos Spinax is just a dog-thing.
- 2008 (Karda Nui)
- The Phantoka: I have to praise whoever came up with having the waves be split between the Toa and Makuta. That was such an exciting idea for me at 12 years old when my interest in the BIONICLE story was growing. And, honestly, I already know I'm going to give this to Vamprah - Vamprah, like Ehlek and Takadox before him, is easily the most individual and unique of all the Phantoka. The Toa use too much grey - it would be fine if it had been silver (brighter and shinier and would have resulted in more consistency with the Mistika), but grey is just dull. Vamprah pulls off that bat look so well.
- The Mistika: Krika. Summer 2008 was a really toxic time for BIONICLE fans, who went so far as to call the Mistika 'Mistaka' (Mistake-a). That was pretty immature, I think. They're not the worst things in the world when you consider the Hordika exist. Krika was easily the best of the wave, though. Same reasons as Vamprah, Ehlek, and Takadox - the uniqueness. Runner-up is Onua, because he's the best canister Toa in 2008. And people hated Gali Mistika.
- The Karda Nui Matoran: The Karda Nui Matoran unfortunately simplified things a lot compared to the Voya Nui or Mahri Nui Matoran. I'm going to give it to Radiak just because Radiak is the best looking and most unique.
- The 2008 Non-Vehicle Large Sets: Icarax vs Takanuva. Takanuva wins easily, and is up there as one of the best G1 titans, in stark contrast to a later set that would borrow from his build.
- The 2008 Vehicle Sets: The Rockoh is a flying brick. The Axalara is a bigger, better flying brick (significantly better looking too). Vultaz's speeder is a flying stick. Toa Ignika's board is a basically a series of flat technic parts and the actually interesting part is Toa Ignika. So it's up between Mazeka and the Jetrax T6. I'd say the Jetrax wins, but Mazeka had a really unique vehicle and method of firing zamor spheres.
- 2009 (Bara Magna)
- The Glatorian: I love the Glatorian, and it's hard to choose which one is the best - by this time, the set designers couldn't rely on the exact same Inika/Piraka build (the piraka torso pretty much vanished) so they came up with some different ideas to utilise in the Inika/Piraka build. You have Gresh, who had the raised chest piece and lime claws as armour. You had the Skrall and Strakk, who used a technic piece to attach the inika torso at a different angle, creating a very different look. You had the Vorox, a more bestial looking set with a flipped Inika torso and the return of tan. You also had Tarix and Malum, but they weren't as exceptional. Ultimately, I would say it comes down to the Skrall and the Vorox - they are both aesthetically some of the best-looking sets I think. The Black and Red of the Skrall works very well, but so does the Black and Tan of the Vorox. They also had the same new piece of armour, which was very nice and made a resurgence in the Uniters last year - it's a very nice looking piece. Ultimately I am going to go with the Skrall, but if I was in a different mood it would have been the Vorox. There is a reason I hosted a game on Bara Magna.
- The Glatorian Legends: Ironically, I think the Glatorian Legends are, as a whole, slightly worse than the Glatorian. Still, Ackar blew people's minds with the return of Mata Red as a primary colour, and Mata Nui in set form was a big deal, and people complained about how shiny gold he was in a preview for The Legend Reborn. Ackar and Gelu were your standard Inika builds, while Vastus had a flipped Inika build and I remember people considered him a bit fat. I also got chastised for calling him Vastus once even though the context was pretty clear, but that was on a completely different forum. Stronius looked pretty good, although I think he would have benefited by having mata red as a secondary colour like the normal Skrall - also very brutish looking, which is good. Kiina had a fairly custom build, although it was somewhat oddly small and made Kiina look really lanky due to how long her limbs were in comparison. (SIdeways triple-length double socket + Rahskhi legs (among the longest = very long legs and arms). You know, it was pretty sad we didn't get t osee more of that sideways triple socket piece.
- The Agori: Raanu is ugly, so he's disqualified. Metus looked pretty decent, but it has to go to the Zesk. The Zesk looks much better than the rest of the Agori. Berix looks fairly decent, but it still has to go the Zesk.
- The 2009 Non-Vehicle Large Sets: Skirmix. Toa Mata Nui is... well, Toa Mata Nui. Should've been the giant robot as a set instead - that would have also justified including the gold ignika. Tuma is fairly decent looking, but I feel his colours aren't as good as the normal Skrall. Skirmix on the other hand is good by virtue of being almost exactly the same as the Kikanalo from 2004. Also, I can't believe I just realised Rock Steeds are basically dinosaurs.
- The 2009 Vehicle Sets: The Baranus instantly loses due to being somewhat awkward in nature. But I think the vehicles in 2009 are, as a whole, much stronger than 2008's. The Cendox is without a doubt the best 'small' vehicle (Lesovikk's Sea Sled is easily the worst), with a really good and eye-pleasing build and colours. The Kaxium splits in two, so there's that. The Thornatus is a solid build with a lot of tan and definitely isn't a Jetrax with wheels, and the Skopio has a fairly solid build that's both a vehicle and a walker thing. However, I'm going to eliminate the Kaxium for its sidecar not being anywhere near as good looking as the main part, and the Thornatus for leaving slightly too much uncovered. The Skopio is kind of awkward to pose, so that leaves the Cendox. The Cendox also wins out among all of the vehicles.
- 2010 (Journey's End)
- The BIONICLE Stars: No. However - at least they iterated on the Agori build, by adding armour and being a slight bit more inventive. If I have to choose? I'll choose the worst, and that's Takanuva.
HERO FACTORY
- 2010 (Rise of the Rookies)
- The 1.0 Heroes: The Heroes are basically the Av-matoran build in disguise, except with leg and torso armour now. I only ever owned Bulk, but the non-rookies had the problems of nearly immovable gun-arms, so I won't choose them. I'll go with my loyalty to green and say Breez. Though, to be fair, the 1.0 hero build is a significantly nicer aesthetically than the Av-Matoran build.]
- The Villains: Meltdown, without a doubt. I'll say it again: the same reasons as Krika, Vamprah, Takadox, and Ehlek: he just has a lot more individuality and personality than the others. thanks to the 'radiation mutation' theme and tentacles and mantax claws and head and general build.. XPlode is a runner-up - the slizer arms I thought would be awkward but I feel they add quite a bit to the personality of the set combined with the grin of the helmet. There was also Thunder, who used a shade of silver that was literally never used again. And I suppose there was also Corroder, who I almost forgot because he was so boring.
- The Large 2010 Sets: It's either Rotor or Von Nebula and I never owned either. I did own the Furno BIke, and that sure was a bike alright. I can't really judge here but I'd say Von-Nebula.
- 2011 (Ordeal of Fire and Savage Planet (speculation: Savage Planet used preliminary designs for Bota Magna from BIONICLE, so as to not waste them)
- The 2.0 Heroes: Move aside, CCBS has arrived! This marked a big shift in constraction, and the 2.0 heroes were pretty much just a test of the system. It was quite exciting to see, but BZP was down at the time (thanks datacylsm). Of all the 2.0 heroes, I liked Evo the best. Evo looked really good and had a really nice looking weapon. Surge would be a runner-up because he had a sniper rifle. That's literally the reason.
- The Ordeal of Fire villains: Jetblast is a weird name but Jetblast looked a lot better than Drilldozer and somewhat better than Nitroblast.
- The 3.0 Heroes: Basically the 2.0 heroes but with an animal theme instead. The problem with this is the transparent green shells they had... Bulk 3.0 I think looked pretty good. Then again, I only owned Bulk 3.0 and Nex 3.0.
- The Savage Planet villains: Waspix beats out Raw-Jaw, who beats out Fangz. (They're also going to be wildlife on Bota Magna, shhh) But, I think they all did a fairly good job of showing non-character builds and creature builds instead.
- The 2011 Large Sets: Fire Lord is immediately at the bottom. Not a good introduction to CCBS titans. Witch Doctor is at the top instantly. Scorpio and Rocka XL are in the middle. Savage Planet's large sets did a much better job of not being bad, and Witch Doctor is still held up as one of the best CCBS titans.
- 2012 (Breakout)
- The Initial Breakout Wave, Canister-Sized: The canister-sized sets of the initial breakout wave were Furno, Rocka, Breez, and Splitface. I only owned Breez and Rocka, and I never really liked Rocka's helmet. Splitface was a pretty cool idea, all things considered, but I have to give it to Breez. Breez had some nice colours. (Story-wise, I have to wonder how heroes felt about being random sizes.) The Brain Attack torso piece is also one of the best CCBS torso pieces IMO, detailed enough but not too detailed.
- The Initial Breakout Wave, Small Sets: Evo, Toxic Reapa, Jawblade, Surge, and Thornraxx. It's gotta go to Thornraxx, hasn't it? Thornraxx was just so creative with the build and really manages to look like a giant stinging insectoid creature, with Jawblade as a runner up.
- The Second Breakout Wave, Canister-Sized: Core Hunter, Bulk, and Voltix. It has to be Core Hunter- Core Hunter is one of the best HF villains without a doubt. Surprisingly dark, too, and black and red is always a good colour combination. It really works here. I always put those HF core things with the writing on them on Core Hunter's... bandolier thing. Bulk is a clear runner up, and is definitely one of the best Breakout heroes - especially the fact he has a giant gun-thing mounted on him and a load of armour and a nice colour scheme. Voltix on the other hand was a mess of colours. Also I still see him sold by LEGO on amazon even now, five years later.
- The Second Breakout Wave, Small Sets: Nex, Stringer (RIP both), and XT-4. XT-4 gave us the small torso, and that's an important piece. Stringer has a guitar and sound armour pieces. Nex has a fairly awkward look. Honestly can't decide and I tell you the coin says I have to give it to XT-4 for having four arms before it was cool.
- Overall Breakout Canister Set and Small Set: For canisters, Breez, followed by Core Hunter, followed by Bulk. Fore small sets, Thornaxx followed by Jawblade followed by XT-4.
- The Breakout Large Sets: Black Phantom, Stormer XL, and Speeda Demon. I own Speed Demon and Black Phantom but not Stormer XL. It has to go to Black Phantom for making Fire Lord's build look significantly better with just a few alterations. Stormer XL... why did Stormer have a bike?
- 2013 (Brain Attack)
- The Initial Brain Attack Wave, Canister-Sized: Literally just Pyrox, Bruizer,and Ogrum. Bruizer got a lot of hate for having a fairly awkward technic mechanism. Ogrum had brown and Metru Green. Pyrox had Metru Red. I will go with Pyrox solely because Pyrox is a minotaur and has a small if ineffectual function. The Brain Attack villains suffer from brains, making their masks useless without them.
- The Initial Brain Attack Wave, Small Sets: Rocka, Bulk, Breez, and Scarox. I have no idea what Scarox is meant to be. Rocka looks fairly boring with a borind shield, while Bulk looks slightly more interesting with his drill. Also flick-fire missiles for some reason. You know at this point I might as well just say 'guess' and you'd probably guess it right as Breez. It should be obvious by now that I tend to prefer the green sets. Breez also had a much more interesting weapon and buzz-saw shield than Bulk or Rocka, so that helps too.
- The Second Brain Attack Wave, Canister Sized: Surge, Stormer, and Frost Beast. Stormer has a fairly awkward-looking shield and flick-fire missile system. It has to go therefore to Surge or Frost Beast, and I'm going to say Surge because of wings and no brains. (As in the piece. Not, you know.)
- The Second Brain Attack Wave, Small Sets: Evo, and Aquagon. Okay this is getting ridiculous, I might have to merge some categories here. Evo is much better looking with a better weapon than Aquagon, so that's that. The trans-blue also complements Evo's yellow nicely.
- Overall Brain Attack Canister Set and Small Set: For the canister set, Pyrox, follwed by Surge. For the small set, Breez, followed by Evo.
- The Brain Attack Large Sets: Furno XL, Dragon Bolt, and Jet Rocka. Jet Rocka had no reason to exist when Nex and Stringer had no representation in Brain Attack while Rocka already did. Screw you Jet Rocka. Furno XL is kinda weird. It has to go to Dragon Bolt, who even had a function.
- 2014 (Exo Force Invasion from Below)
- The Initial Invasion From Below Wave, Canister-Sized: It has to be 'FURNO' Jet Machine without a doubt. Stormer Freeze Machine is kind of awkward and Rocka Stealth Machine does not look stealthy because mechs aren't stealthy. Flyer Beast vs Breez is a good runner up though, I remember the combiner that made with Jaw Beast was surprisingly good.
- The Initial Invasion From Below Wave, Small Sets: Jaw Beast. Definitely Jaw Beast. Evo Walker was... just decent. Jaw Beast was very good looking.
- The Second Invasion From Below Wave, Canister-Sized: It has to be Crystal Beast vs Bulk. So much transparent pieces. Least that's how I remember it.
- The Second Invasion From Below Wave, Small Sets: Tunneler Beast. Tunneller beast is a very good set. Good colours.
- Overall Invasion From Below Canister and Small Sets: Furno Jet Machine, followed by Crystal Beast for the Canister sets. For the small sets, Tunneller Beast.
GENERATION TWO
- 2015 (Mastery/Skulls)
- The Large Toa: Tahu. Tahu. Tahu. Tahu, Master of Fire looks so good. I've always found Onua's super wide chest really awkward looking due to the way it makes him instantly super wide. Kopaka however is fairly decent, but suffers from a silver Brain Attack torso piece. Tahu has four swords, and you should always carry four swords because it makes your silhouette look awesome. Tahu's awesome too.
- The Smaller Toa: Could it be that I finally betray the colour green and point to Pohatu? Pohatu I think does that desert Toa of Stone thing pretty well and has those hoverboard boomerang things and a Guurahk Staff for some reason. Also burnt orange is one of the better colours stone has used. Tan and burnt orange with a bit of yellow I think should be the stone colours, bright enough to not be as dull as G1 Pohatu Mata/Nuva.
- The Skulls: Skull Warrior or Skull Basher have to take it here. Skull Warrior does the undead warrior thing really well and Skull Basher does the menacing undead with axes thing well. It's got to go to Skull Warrior, because Skull Warrior just looks cool. Skull Grinder is fairly cool too. The Lord of Skull Spiders is a much better function-based set than Skull Scorpio.
- The Protectors: Fire and Ice suffer from having no elbows. The others don't, and I like both the Protector of Jungle and the Protector of Stone. Ultimately, I think I will reaffirm my loyalty to the colour green and say the Protector of Jungle is the better of the two, because of their vibrancy and bow instead of giant tuning fork.
- 2016 (Uniters/Beasts)
- The Large Toa: This... this is hard. I like Onua Uniter a lot more than Onua Master, because Onua Uniter still looks strong and menacing without being anywhere near as awkward looking . Uniter Kopaka however is just so poseable, even if he has random bits of gold - and Uniter Kopaka has a really nicely-constructed sword. Uniter Onua also has a Gatling-Gun Drillhammer and that's an awesome weapon. (All the Uniters have fairly awesome weapons). I'm having a hard time deciding... I'll break my rules and say I like them both. Tahu lags behind because he still looks good without Ikir, but Ikir is required to make him look outstanding.
- The Smaller Toa: I return to my loyalty to green and say Lewa Uniter. Lewa Uniter I think manages to look thin and agile thanks to the use of the Vorox armour piece, even if that does result in some awkward poseability issues, and the weapons are very nice - spinny tonfa things, a nice throwback to Gresh except spinny thise time. I like Pohatu too because of his Vorox armour usage, it still carries the same feeling as his Master form, though there's a bit too much transparent neon green this time. Gali has the awkward orange vorox armour on her leg. But I generally prefer the Uniters to the Masters as a whole. I suppose Ekimu counts among these too, and so I'm going to say Ekimu instead of Lewa.
- The Beasts: Lava Beast, without a doubt. Lava Beast just looks so good very menacing, while I feel Quake Beast and Storm Beast don't quite match that.
- The Creatures: The Creatures are all really good, though I would say... Uxar. Big surprise. Uxar looks pretty good and insect-like. Akida is a close second as is Ikir.
And there we go.
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