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Toa of Iron - iron doesn't even exist in the MU.

Transparent pieces look messier because you can see the internal geometry or whatever's underneath them. I'm not a fan of the "glowing" armour/limbs look either.

CCBS works quite well with small sets due to the varying bone lengths, the main issue is how the shells are 3 modules wide and deep. There is only one style of shell and making it look different means making it even bulkier through the use of an add-on. Perhaps Mixel joints could partially replace the standard size ball/socket to give more variety to small and standard sized sets. Maybe replacing CCBS with a something which has closer integration with System would not only benefit small sets, but improve the variation in larger sets without the need for new add-on molds, and draw more interest from System fans who currently see CCBS as being a specialised system for kids with no useful parts for System MOCs.

I'd recommend buying bulk lots unless you specifically know which pieces you'll need (in that case, you can them from bricklink in high quantity). Bulk lots should give you a good selection of parts cheaper than buying them individually. If you're building humanoid MOCs, you can go for more realistic proportions (Google "human proportions) or something less realistic. It's just choice. Using too many weapon pieces or detailed/specialised parts will often lead to a tacky, discordant look. Also remember that just because a MOC is entirely CCBS based, it might have clashing textures due to the variation in design language with CCBS parts. Likewise, using too many colours can detract from the look. On a standard colour scheme, you could probably use around 7 or 8 colours while maintaining a coherent look IF you layer and distribute them nicely. Most MOCs probably use 2-4 colours. If a MOC looks too matchy-matchy, you can subtly add another colour or two in moderation to break up the colour scheme. If you're not too confident with MOCing, I'd recommend staying away from any custom builds unless you have a reason to (e.g. achieving different sizes/shapes, new connection points to attach different parts, etc). You can try making modifications to sets or building "basic" MOCs which are variations of set designs to familiarise yourself with the system and learn new techniques or designs. The last things you want are ugly, custom-for-the-sake-of-custom limbs.

Gali's 2015 has one of the best modern mask designs. You can also see her eyes through it, unlike most of the 2015/16 toa. I've noticed that this has been happening a lot since 2008 with sets like Onua Mistika, Radiak and Stronius. It stops me from using them without a custom head.

So is the 2016 brainstalk worse, or is it just the mask?

Has anyone tried using the 2016 SW torso bone in place of the 2016 toa torso? It should make the hip section look more filled in and the legs should look longer. I'm not sure how you would implement the head connection, but it doesn't seem too hard. Maybe you could even use the SW gearbox design on the toa.

Lewa and Gali have their arms one module too high, but the length itself is reasonable.

I don't like seeing toa mata revamps, which tend to use truckloads of small technic and system pieces to replicate the original set. What's more annoying is how in almost every picture of mata revamps, the head is angled downwards as if it can't look up.

If you lower the arms by one module, Gali should look better as she would no longer be high shouldered and her hands would reach a more normal position (wrist at hip, hands mid thigh when fingers out). The problem is that the torso shell would likely obstruct her arm articulation more than it already does.

The Toa Metru: The shoulder articulation is worse than the Mata build because the upper arm is directly connected to the geared axle, which makes posing more limited and annoying.The masks also weren't as great and memorable as the originals.Almost full-on clone buildsThe bushel between the torso and arms looks weirdOdd looking proportions (thighs too short, shoulders too big and broad) The 2015 toa: The heavy prioritisation of functions, combined with a lower-than-Star-Wars budget, destroys the aesthetics. Mainly the gearbox's fault.Half of the mask came with fake ventsAlmost all of them have terrible weaponsAt least half of the team have black eyesHydraxon He doesn't look too bad, but he is barely a titan. He has the simplest titan legs possible, and the rest of him was basically a heavily armoured Inika build, relying on big parts and non-custom builds.Suffers from having a a very disproportionately short torsoBoring, overused colour schemeLhikan and Kikanalo Kikanalo seems to the the epitome of clashing textures and a lack of visual unityLhikan suffers the same flaws of the MetruLhikan surfs with his foot underneath the board?I actually think Lhikan looks worse than the Metru because of his oversized weapons and the use of black in his colour schemeToa Norik and Iruni: Iruni's upper-lower leg ratio is way off, Norik's matoran chest armour awkwardly sits in front of the metru torso.Both have poorer hand articulationThe rhotuka shield doesn't seem that good: the spinner looks like they would fall off all the timeNeither of the two masks were particularly impressiveTakanuva (2008) Poor leg shaping, and the lower legs have a huge gapThe onua shield makes the upper torso too flat, especially at the shouldersClawed hands don't really suit Takanuva, and the "thumb" was especially unconvincing with both the look and the stability (cross pin to soft plastic)He basically lacks character compared to the other titans

Does the torso have friction?

I only just realised that Melum and Ketar look like Bohrok. Having a detailed torso shell is okay, but this one doesn't look as clean as the Breakout torso or the majority of the G1 greebled/detailed pieces. Even so, it still looks pretty good.

I like the redesigned lower legs, and the colour scheme is a lot more cohesive than the original mess. Maybe you could bulk up the shoulders to hide the "tiny head + very broad shoulder width" issue.

Radiak's and Onua Mistika's masks would've been so much more useful for casual MOCs (i.e. no custom heads) if the eyeholes allowed the eyes to be seen from the front.

G1: I didn't like any of the Nuva masks because they were huge with an ugly organic look. Maybe the Pakari is the worse, or the Kakama. G2: The mask of Stone. As I've said before, it's pretty much a watered down version of the 2008 Photok mask with fake vents, tiny slanted eyeholes where you can hardly see the eyes behind them, and the shaping isn't as appealing as the previous versions and makes him look like a child compared to the other toa.

To me it looks more like a normal metru head with some sort of breathing device than what it's intended to be. Maybe it's because of how the eyes stick out so much and aren't angled down.

From what I've read here, the Voyatoran seem to be the most liked of the G1 small sets due to their diverse and relatively complex builds. I didn't like them due to the posability/articulation issues, hunched posture, oversized but boring weapons, lack of eyes (or in some cases, lack of head), and the lack or an action feature/gimmick. I know that they're suppose have an odd appearance from Karzhahni's rebuilding, but I don't find the look appealing at all.

The Nynrah Ghost Blaster doesn't seem to get much love, but I think it's one of the best shooters we got. The ammo doesn't fall off all the time (Rhotuka, Zamor Sphere launcher) or roll and rebound far away (all zamor sphere launchers) or get easily lost (Rhotuka, studs, and to an extent shadow leeches and cordak rockets). It is easy to use (better than the cordak blaster and squid launcher), and pretty accurate, unlike the rhotuka launchers and the stud shooter to an extent) The design is rather unusual-looking, which makes it less versatile, but it's light, so the character's arm won't sag.

True, G1 had lots of harder to remember names, especially in the earlier years with clone sets like the Vahki. "Toa" just refers to the species of the MOC, but I think both "Master of" and "Nuva" are specific to Tahu's team.

Only the toa have set titles with made-up names so far. Skull Basher Skull Slicer Skull Grinder Skull Warrior Skull Scorpio Protector of [element] [Toa name], Master of [element] Bionicle 2015 just makes each group of sets sound the same, and you have to distinguish the sets by a single keyword in the formulaic title. The toa are okay because the keyword comes first, but I think "Master of" sounds silly (i.e. worse than "Mark Surge") and it gets annoying to see every second MOC follow the same convention or use the "2.0" of HF. At the end of the day, the set title is hardly a big deal, unless you don't learn the name of the character until seven months later.

If a kid asked for one of the Skull villains or Protectors, the parent would still be very prone to getting the wrong set due to the prefix and repetitive name structure. Having non-prefixed/suffixed names, like Witch Doctor, Splitface or even Kulta would be much easier to memorise. Any good parent would note the name of the set rather than attempting to memorise it, but having generic names is still a bit safer.

I wouldn't call the new gearbox solid; it pushes the arms 2 modules back (which I find anatomically annoying), the arms have slightly less articulation than non-geared HF/G1 sets, the ridges on the inside limit which gears/parts fit into it, and height control for the toa is messy. To me it's a bit of a low-budget solution, for it's literally stuck on the back of a standard CCBS build. Nonetheless, it offers the best stability and articulation of any swinging-arm build we've seen. Aligning the arms is no longer an issue, unlike the troublesome metru build, and most sets can hold poses well.

A terrible example; the SW pieces are smooth, which works fine with CCBS. Just because they are both smooth, it doesn't mean that they follow the same design language. The new SW pieces have noticeably curved surfaces with gentle, curved edges. They have an extremely minimalistic design. The CCBS shells have almost perfectly flat surfaces, the edges are hard and consist of almost perfectly straight lines. They have some connection points, and stylistic (unnnecessary) detailing.

I'm not saying that G1 bionicle didn't have clashing textures (e.g. barraki armour), but I think that most G1 and HF sets had consistent textures on the sets themselves. Recently, we've been seeing more noticable texture/design clases with CCBS - compare the new SW shoulder pads and shin guards with the standard CCBS shells. To a lesser extent, the new G2 piston add-on also deviates from the CCBS design language, and the new weapons have a G1 level of detail.