Gelu happens to be my favorite, since I love the way he looks. Him and Ackar are the ones I'm getting first.

I'll reply to the rest of your entry at a later time, most likely, but I see what you're saying. Though, I can't help but ask how much more awesome it would be to have more brown sets. With recolored pieces. =P

So glad you actually liked Pohatu-- it disappoints me that so often I seem to be in a minority that actually likes sets that are shorter-than-average, and doesn't see that as some horrible flaw.

Anyhow, bear in mind that part of the reason the yellow/orange/whatever sets probably have so many recolors is because LEGO can't stick with one color to use primarily. Thus, it's likely in my eyes that they'd put extra effort into supplying new recolors so people who buy the yellow/orange/whatever sets don't have a load of parts in colors too rare to MOC with. The same can sort of be seen this year with Ackar-- because bright red is not a traditional primary color, there's a ridiculous number of recolors.

Of course, I try not to judge sets by the number of MOCing pieces-- not only because I'm not a frequent MOCist, but also because as I see it such an attitude is responsible for much of the "I hate the set, but I'll buy it anyhow because of the parts" attitude that people don't realize encourages LEGO to continue making sets like that. Then again, since I end up liking a lot of the sets (some would say I overappreciate them), it might be a lot easier for me to continue as a BIONICLE fan buying sets for the merit of their design alone than for other fans to do the same.

By the way, on a similar note, I find it ridiculous that some people will obsess over getting new parts in old colors-- even if those colors originally had a rather poor selection of parts. On another site I saw someone suggest that Mata Nui should have been Gukko-beak orange-- an even less majestic color than his current one, and a color which has only appeared in one BIONICLE part. It's this sort of attitude-- that bringing back old colors is somehow better than using tried-and-true colors-- that makes some people blow other causes like the advocacy of such reasonable colors as brown and purple waaaay out of proportion, even though these colors are much different from such throwaway colors as Gukko beak yellow due to their expanded precedent and their lack of a common modern-day substitution.

This is not to say I don't squee over the release of new parts in older colors-- I just think people obsess over the notion a little too much without even contemplating the practicality of more commonplace colors.

Anyhow, I've rarely put pencil to paper to analyze the number of recolors that appear in each set the way I have for new parts in general, simply because it's a lot easier to keep track of what parts are new in general than what parts are recolored for which sets. But it might be fun to analyze that and see how many recolors LEGO tends to allot themselves.

Usually, the maximum for a canister set (or smaller) is four. (unique pieces, not total) The only canisters I can think of with more are Vorox and Ackar, who have six each... and Berix for the small sets, with five.

As far as set design goes, I think recolors are preferable to new molds mainly because they're less expensive. Thinking as a set designer would. I have no idea what the relative costs of the two are, but I do know entirely new molds are really expensive. So, on one end of things, you could use a lot of new molds to make a new set design, or, on the other end, you could have the set have few new molds but a lot of newly recolored pieces. The latter's probably cheaper to make.

I think Lego worked out a great formula with the Barraki, balancing three (or, sometimes, four) new molds unique to the canister set with a few introduced by the series (say, Mahri tubes and Cordak stuff), and then using recolored pieces on top of that. Personally, I've always thought the ones with the most recolored pieces were the most interesting (though there were a few exceptions, like, say, Antroz).

But on a non-personal note, now that Lego is cutting their budget and having fewer new molds, we -are- seeing a lot more of recolored stuff. Because it does make an excellent way to give new stuff to an old frame; take Vorox and Ackar, for instance. Or Gresh. He only has two molds unique to him, but because of his coloring and design he's amazing. And so on. I do think recolored stuff just looks cool by virtue of its nature, though that might be the MOCist in me... dunno. And don't really care.

Anyway, all that was really just a long ramble on why I love recolored stuff.

And it's not just sets suddenly featuring older colors that I'm talking about, of course – though a set in, say, teal or medium blue or green would be absolutely incredible. (We've gotten bright red back! FINALLY! Tarix only sort-of counts for blue.) Those of us who like recolored stuff are happy when pretty much any piece comes out in a new color – stuff recolored to black or dark grey or whatever is awesome too.

The most awesome of all, of course, is when you have recolored pieces AND those pieces being used in new ways. To me, that's even better than new molds fulfulling the same role – and cheaper!

Yellow is dandy but now I demand pink.

No.

... though Tahu without pink eyes made me sad.

See?