SailorQuaoar

Ok so let me get this straight. GregF says that romantic feelings aren't canon because they will eventually lead to marriage? Well that's just. I don't even know what to say. It shows a profound misunderstanding of relationships.

A comment by Greg F on the state of romantic relationships in the Bionicle universe has been a source of many arguments among the Bionicle fandom. That comment has been distilled over the years into the phrase "romance isn't canon." For many people it's a joke at this point, but for years a good chunk of the fanbase had been misinterpreting Greg's words as meaning that Matoran are unable to feel affection or love of any kind. This isn't true. What Greg really should have said in the first place was "Matoran can't have sex", but he used "romance" as a euphemism for sex since this is a kid-friendly site. That vagueness caused a lot of people to assume that love didn't exist at all in Bionicle, leading to a false idea that's stuck around for a long time. Sex and romance are not the same thing, and it's frustrating when so many people think that they are. Asexual people are still capable of having romantic relationships. Matoran may be canon asexual, but that doesn't mean they also have to be canon aromantic. So really, it should have been "sex isn't canon". (also this doesn't even apply to Okoto since Protectors have children)

headshots of the Toa Okoto. I tried to give them differing faces, though I realize Lewa and Kopaka are still too similar. A few people complained that my Onua was too dark-skinned for someone who lives underground so I made him pale here. (maybe he’s an albino?) They all have face/body paint but I'm still not sure what patterns to use. Fun fact: when a Toa’s mask gets stolen, their hair turns gray.

http://i.imgur.com/X1zhBVU.png this one could be faked as well, I suppose, but at least it gives us a page number to look for to verify it independently. Well look at that it has a page number. Consider me convinced.

I'm gonna repost this re: Earth Protector's gender. The page featuring Earth Protector is nowhere to be found in any version of the Amazon preview. The only, I mean only, source for this information is a screencap from someone's private photobucket account, and this screencap does not look like the other pages. It does not show a page number or the rune-shaped header that is seen on ALL other preview pages. Until a copy of this page is found that contains a page number, do not treat it like official information. for reference: imgur album featuring the preview pages: http://imgur.com/a/9qy9M#0 page featuring Earth Protector: http://s659.photobucket.com/user/Mechafire/media/Private/0cfb0551-4aec-49e2-986e-86fede5628e8_zpsgjhuxrgx.png.html The resolution is much bigger and there is a lack of the unique graphics that every other page has. A few pages in the imgur album have the page numbers partially obscured, but they are still visible. Plus, if this was really part of the preview pages then surely someone else would have screencapped the page in full, since a character being female would be something a lot of fans would take notice of. This fandom is notorious for fake leaks...always check your sources before reporting on something.

I don't trust this. There's no page number and no borders like on the other leaked pages. I'd take this with a grain of salt.

Don't take it to heart, bro. Misinformation spreads quickly (especially on tumblr). I don't want the wiki et al to use the wrong names.

Attention everyone. The Protector of Water's name is Kivoda, not Kivodav. The original post made a typo.

Please tell me the protectors aren't all male.

I’ve been struggling to come up with designs for the new versions of the Toa, but then I finally got inspired. They're Mesoamerican-inspired instead of Polynesian. (Except for Pohatu, he's an Aborigine) Gali's chestplate pattern is now on her necklace, and I made the mask into an eagle warrior-style helmet.The spikes on the kaukau reminded me of an axolotl’s gills, so her helmet and armor is based off of one. All six Toa have a gauntlet on their right hand. They can use it to summon their armor and weapons for battle so they don't have to carry them around all the time. Convenient. Also I just realized that everyone but Kopaka is barefoot. Maybe the Toa need to be connected to their element, and shoes can block the absorption of natural energies? Sure let's go with that. As for Kulta, I imagined him as a sorcerer type. Once an Okotan high priest who oversaw burial rites, Kulta now uses his necromancy for selfish gain and refuses to let the departed rest. The face paint he wears is made from powdered bone, this is why he is known as the Skull Grinder. Though his army is formidable, the souls he commands are trapped in weakened, decaying forms. He desires the mask of Creation so he can use its power to form new bodies to place his bound souls in. Though he commands a skeleton army, he is not undead himself (or at least he looks less decayed). I still need to come up with a full body design, but for now here's his head. The black and orange skin is what he might look like after absorbing the power of too many elemental masks.

Kind of a let down. Why give the worst summer set a mask in the most common transparent color? But if people really want it, it shouldn't be in as much demand as the Hau or Kaukau.

I think we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Also OP's concept is awful. You can't remove Ice as an element. Even with water, ice is still visually distinct enough to be its own element. Stone less so but I'm not sure about just cutting it either. And making Turaga elected Matoran misses the point of Turaga. They have wisdom and experience from the adventures they've had as Toa. as for 50/50 genders, don't hold your breath. At MOST we'll get 2/6 main Toa as female. It's still a boy's line after all.

Seeing as most Okoto characters don't even have names, any hope for more female characters is out of the question at this point. Though I suppose we were naive for actually thinking Bionicle would be egalitarian.

I really like these! I'm glad that the characters look Polynesian and not pale anime people. I like the aesthetic and style you're using for the most part. However, it does seem a bit copy-pasted from Avatar TLA and Kopaka does look way too much like Sokka here. I would suggest changing Kopaka's hair and giving him a more angular face. You should also post some full body designs for the Toa and Matoran because I would like to see what clothing styles you're going to go with. Still, better than most human Bionicle designs I've seen by a mile.

This is fantastic, especially for your first review! I'm so glad you took the time to post this to BZPower, because those are some nice parts. Mods, can someone give this guy a proto boost? This is definitely contributing to the community in a positive way.

Why do so many people want a female Onua? Onua and Gali are the wise, calm and rational members of the team in contrast to the hyperactive Lewa and headstrong Tahu and Kopaka. If both of the "down to earth" team members are female, it might send the message that all women in this universe act in a similar way. If any of the Toa had to be genderbent, I'd make it Lewa. Le-Matoran in general are relatively androgynous with their lanky builds, and Lewa's personality is nearly the polar opposite of Gali's. Especially in the new story. Gali is peaceful, intelligent, and usually serious, while Lewa is flighty, impulsive, and is nearly always cracking jokes. Having both of the team's females be complete opposites would be a way to avoid attributing certain traits to an entire gender.

The skull dudes look pretty cool and I like the half transparent masks, but... Where the heck is Gali? Seriously. Tahu doesn't get a corrupted mask but he gets to fight Skull Grinder in the final battle. But Gali is nowhere. I can't even see her in any of the comics. She's the only Toa who didn't get a bad guy to fight. What is she even doing?

Nice Raiden. The style here is very dynamic. Were you inspired by Yoji Shinkawa by any chance?

Romance in a lego storyline? What is this madness?

I love Aanchir's idea of an armor piece that looks like flame/lightning. This needs to happen now. And printed rune symbols on armor would also be pretty rad. As for capes, there are already rumors that some 2016 sets will have capes (and use the Star Wars armor parts). I never really pictured the Toa with capes, but it would make them stand out. Cave Toa with glow in the dark armor would be neat. I always liked Takadox's GITD pieces. Stealth Toa I could also dig. Ninjago is selling pretty well, so I can see Lego combining the two in a way. Air Toa, well...they already did that with Phantoka. Unless they look really cool I don't think I'd go for that theme again.

The Toa will definitely get a power-up at some point, because Lego needs to sell more toys. But I don't think they'll be called Toa Nuva. Maybe something like "The Element Lords"? Tahu Lord of Fire has a nice ring to it. A few of my friends theorized that the half-gold half-trans masks aren't being drained of their power, but are actually becoming more powerful. If this is true, then the Toa's masks might become fully transparent to represent the raw elements. What would you like the powered-up Toa to look like? (Or what do you think Lego will design?) Would they get new masks or just have recolored old ones? New weapons? New armor pieces? More transparent parts? Seeing as the Toa are already big sets to begin with, how much bulkier could they even get before everyone becomes a titan? Though Bionicle could just go the Hero Factory route and have situational upgrades that aren't always more powerful than the last one. Like how Stormer went from being an XL set (the largest hero) in Breakout to a scout-sized set (one of the smallest) in Brain Attack. In the story we already have Ekimu the mask maker, so the upgrades could be explained pretty simply by just having Ekimu craft new weapons, armor, and masks for the Toa's quest. No need to fall in protodermis or get mutated by venom. The Chir brothers seem to know Lego's design philosophy pretty well so I'd love their thoughts on this. (there's another topic about future set designs in general, this is about the Toa specifically and how the reboot will handle upgrades/transformations)

You need to put things like that in your drawing description. Her proportions don't look childish so I assumed she was an adult. Do you sketch out your pictures first? It's important when drawing any figure or object to construct your basic shapes first. If you go straight to the final outlines, things won't line up right. Also a lot of your characters' faces are crooked. Sketch out everything first to make sure you have enough room for the features of the face. And don't forget eyebrows. Basically what I'm saying is, practice drawing some more. A lot more.

They seem too wide to me now, and also, she was pale because I'd just wanted to keep the original colour scheme. I'm just gonna draw her back in the Kohlii uniform so I can stop regretting this topic. Ok I'm sorry. I should have asked you first before I edited your pic. But I did it so I could show you what changes would benefit the picture. Most women have hips wider than their chests, a lot of your characters look pre-pubescent because they have boyish body types. Unless they're supposed to be that young. And the swimsuit outfit is fine. In fact, I actually like it better that her first outfit. It makes sense considering where she lives. Please don't take others' critique as a personal attack on you. We're all trying to help you improve as an artist.

I tried to fix it. Her hips were way too narrow. Also Ga-matoran wouldn't be pale.

I'm not always a fan of your cartoony art style, but you've made a really good comic here. It's actually hand-drawn, and you're able to evoke a good sense of atmosphere with the dark color palette. I'm actually intrigued by the characters and story. Is this a backstory for the Ordeal of Fire villains? So all in all, good job. One of the best comics currently up here.