Wrinkledlion X

Metru heads have the most functionality, but I never understood why they had to look the way they did. Such an awkward mouth shape! I voted for the Mata heads because they were functional for their time, and they looked great. I'm also a big fan of the Piraka skulls, even if they aren't useful for very much.

Thulox and Morak, too. That was a bad year to be a Rahi. It's a shame, as it would have been nice to have some cute animal sidekicks, Puku-style.

Over the years, a lot of characters have been introduced and then shuffled quietly offscreen once their story year was up. This is just in the nature of a toyline, but are there any that you wish had gotten more attention? Personally, I find Reidak very underrated. I loved the combination of character traits he had—brutal and "simple" in a way that made him seem stupid, despite the fact that he was wicked-intelligent. In some ways that makes him a mirror image of Onua (who is wise, but strong and quiet) which was in keeping with the theme of the Piraka as "dark Toa." More generally, I'd nominate the Piraka as a group, because they really got screwed over after 2006. The whole reverse-Toa theme was really cool, and it even brought back some of the Polynesian aesthetic in the form of their crazy Tiki-faces. By 2007 Greg kind of wrote all the villains in the same quippy manner, but it was the Piraka who did it first, and it felt very new at the time. So: which characters do you think were unjustly forgotten, either by the story team or the fans?

Hey, this is really cool! Loving all the mechanical detail. The one thing that jumps out at me as a problem is that his right arm kind of blends into the detailing of his legs. I'd try enhancing the shadow beneath the arm to create a more visible separation.

HOLY WOW it's OnuaNut. Anyway: a part of me really wants to buy Onua (my favorite Toa), but sets are so expensive now and I am but a poor student. I'm actually more worried about getting sucked back into the story than the sets, though—I love Bionicle, but getting all into storyline and theories is a huge time sink.

Really! What country was this?

Dumb people spend more? What are you even talking about

Just out of curiosity--do you have promotional items, like Good Guy and Bad Guy from 2006?

Well, the sets don't come in canisters this time around... Maybe they fell from the heavens and washed up in soggy cardboard boxes?

I think Greg will canonize anything we ask him to at this point. Dude does NOT care anymore.

^ We got a gold star post here!

This looks pretty wicked, though I'm still not sure about that amount of gold. I'd like to see black shoulders.

Very good points. I was definitely one of the complaining ohwunners from 2006-ish to 2010, and I'm very supportive of the direction I see this new line taking. (Though to be fair, I'm also a lot less emotionally invested than I was, since my Bionicle days are pretty much behind me.)

Yeah, Lewa's probably my least favorite this time around, too. Odd, seeing as he's always been one of my favorites in the past. The big surprise for me this wave is Pohatu, however. I have a fondness for Pohatu Mata, but I didn't expect the new one to be so appealing. I do hope they go with trans-yellow rather than trans-lime for his bones, but he looks really cool either way.

WHOA I saw it instantly when I checked. Good eye. I figured that in Bionicle 1.0 they were trying to go for something like that with the Adaptive Armor, but they never really got around to capitalizing on it. I hope they come up with an easy way of explaining transformations without making it a big deal--perhaps armor switching is just a normal thing for Toa to do in the reboot?

(apologies for some traces of gold) definitely makes for a subtler look. not bad. I prefer gold because lunar limo but silver onua is definitely an okay look. I can't say i'd be optimistic about making the purple black; then he would be monochromatic. I always prefer a black color scheme to have a bright highlight color. Hmm. He looks kind of nondescript with just silver... What if we replaced the silver with black, and left the gold? (That may be beyond the power of a quick-and-easy Photoshop, I dunno)

*turned into liquid protodermis

I always assumed Onua was the big, upper-body-strength strongman-type, whereas Pohatu was the lower-body-strength athlete type. It seemed implied to me from early on, what with Pohatu's kicking-tools and Onua's digging claws. I just didn't like that Pohatu was significantly stronger after they both had their own Pakaris—it made Onua's Pakari seem redundant somehow.

I prefer the line to focus on a core group of characters, so I hope they stick with the Mata for a while. I don't know why you think they were more one-note than their successors, though? They may have been simpler character types, but they had strong and well-defined personalities, which a lot of the later Toa teams lacked. The Metru weren't so bad, but the Inika/Mahri seemed to have been sucked dry of all personality compared to their time as Matoran. And even among the Metru, there were some sketchily-drawn personalities; Onewa, for one, never seemed to have much going on outside the movies, where his sole trait was "pessimistic." I would argue that the Mata had some of the most well-drawn personalities of Bionicle's first run, which makes it natural for them to return as main characters. (And so far I'm enjoying the additions to their personalities, though only time will tell how well they're incorporated into story.)

I love the new Onua. I do think it was a mistake to include silver, but I love that they're characterizing him as a strongman once again. Greg always insisted that Pohatu was the strongest Toa and Onua had average strength, but I never bought that as the original intention of the character. Loving the claws as well. And I don't see the problem with his proportions—obviously they're not realistic, but I don't mind cartoon proportions on an action figure.

LOVING the Samurai Jack/Clone Wars-esque art for the animation. Great influences, too--Studio Ghibli, Satoshi Kon, Triplets of Belleville... All personal favorites of mine. I am a little wary at the prospect of voice acting, but I'll take it as it comes. I do think it's a shame that all the "Matoran" appear to wear the same masks, but I figure that might change with subsequent waves of sets. Overall, seeing these background paintings has me more excited than anything so far.

You're killin' me son, you're killin' me

Twitter Whose Twitter?

Technically it says he "communes" with plants and the wind. Maybe he controls wind but can "talk" to plants, or vice versa. The phrasing is pretty ambiguous, so we might not know his exact powers until we see him in action.

wait where