I had some fun breaking down the elemental—or rather "environmental"—archetypes in BIONICLE and its predecessors from a visual and marketing perspective. Here's a rough table based on what I suspect were the most and least successful visual themes throughout the years:

Stand-alone:

• Volcanic
  
• Branded as "Fire" and "Lava"
  
• Dominant color: red
  
• Jungular—for lack of an actual word
  
• Branded as "(The) Jungle," "Swamp" and "Air"
  
• Dominant color: green
  
• Marine
  
• Branded as "Water" and "Sub"
  
• Dominant color: blue
  
• Subterranean
  
• Branded as "Earth," "Rock" and "Onyx"
  
• Dominant color: black
  
• Polar
  
• Branded as "Ice" and "Frost"
  
• Dominant color: white
  
• Barren
  
• Branded as "Stone," "Rock," "Sand," and "Dust"
  
• Dominant color: brown/yellow/orange/tan (strikingly inconsistent)
  

Supporting:

• Electric
  
• Attempted to a degree as stand-alone in the Slizer/Throwbots series (with Energy/Electro, Spark and Flare)
  
• Seen as an accompanying element in BIONICLE (with the Inika)
  
• Dominant color: purple/orange
  
• Urban
  
• Attempted to a degree as stand-alone in the Slizer/Throwbots (with City/Turbo, Judge/Jet and Blaster) and RoboRiders series (with Power)
  
• Seen as an accompanying element in BIONICLE (with the Toa Metru)
  
• Dominant color: yellow/teal