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What’s up with brown set characters?


Lenny7092

Brown set characters  

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What it says here. What’s up with the brown set characters? They more different from their groups, which have red, blue, green, white, and black members. Here’s what I mean: 

1. Pohatu Mata/Nuva is a hunchback with an upside down torso piece and his secondary color is not a shade of brown, like his fellow Toa Mata/Toa Nuva. You think his personality is interesting? 
2. Po-Koro had a plague in Mata Nui Online Game, which is the worst thing that happened to a tribe. 
3. Turaga Onewa has long legs compared to his fellow 2001 Turaga. 
4. Pahrak-Kal is the only Bohrok-Kal to have found the Barhag’s hiding place. 
5. Panrakk’s Fragmentation power is similar to Guurahk’s Disintegration power, don’t you think? 
6. Onewa’s Proto Pitons are similar to Nokama’s Hydro Blades. The same scenario with their Toa Hordika forms. Plus, in Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui, he has one large Proto Piton. In the 2005 storyline, it is said that Onewa Hordika has the same anger problem as Vakama’s, but Vakama’s was worse. 
7. Ahkmou is the only 2004 set Matoran to go rogue. 
8. For some reason, Greg Farshtey never gave Pouk’s Kanohi mask a title on Dwellers of Darkness. He just let fans choose a name for the mask. 
9. Basically, Stone is similar to Earth, but it’s easy to understand when you think of stone, you think of rocks and boulders, and you think of earth, you think of dirt and ground. Some media confuse them as each other. 
10. Roporak (the brown Visorak) has a secondary dark red color. Shouldn’t dark red be for red set characters, not brown set characters? 
11. Avak has a wide-looking face and is the only Piraka to not have joined Zaktan’s rebellion against the Shadowed One in the past before the Shadowed One split Zaktan into a flying swarm of Protodites. 
12. Velika is revealed to be an evil Great Being in disguise, which would explain his riddle-obsessed nature. 
13. In late 2006 to 2010, we have brown set characters who are either yellow or orange because the brown sets didn’t sell well for some reason. 
14. Hewkii Inika/Mahri is yellow. In his Inika form, his color is also gunmetal gray. Plus, in the console versions of Bionicle Heroes, his mask is orange. In the Piraka/Inika Online Animations, he is brown. What’s up with the color change? His Matoran self is brown. Hewkii’s Mahri form has secondary black color, and doesn’t have a right hand. He is more different from the Toa Mahri, as his mask is made differently and his arms are more asymmetrical. 
15. Carapar is a yellow guy who got killed by Tren Krom, and is the only Barraki to not have all of his weapons in the final version for some reason (he has two claws in the prototype and canon while his set has one claw). 
16. 2008 Pohatu is orange, and his body build and mask changed drastically. He has the propellers for hands, and his arms are built differently. 
17. Bitil is a yellow guy who has a 2008 Matoran torso for a torso. 
18. Vorox is the name of a subspecies of Glatorian, and the Bara Magna Vorox are feral. They also use tan as their primary color and black as their secondary color. 
19. People in Spherus Magna call Stone “Rock”. I know it’s for black set characters, but yes. 
20. Mata Nui is not a Glatorian. 
21. In 2010, we have the Rahkshi of Heat Vision, which are yellow, rather than reusing the Panrakk. The Heat Vision Rahkshi is the only Rahkshi set to not have a name for some reason. Plus, at least the Heat Vision Rahkshi have Light-power-resistant armor, which make them look bulky. 
22. The Protector of Stone and Ekimu switched eye colors in 2015. I mean, in early 2015, Ekimu has blue eyes, but in late 2015, he has yellow eyes in his 2015 set and the last four 2015 Online Animations. The Protector of Stone has blue eyes in his set, but in the Online Animations, his eyes are yellow. 
23. Master Pohatu is short and less bulky compared to his fellow Toa Masters. Plus, his personality is drastically changed. He’s Batman. Lol. 
25. Skull Scorpio has a very different body structure from his fellow medium-sized summer Skull villain sets because he is supposed to be based on a scorpion. He id also the only type of swarm enemies to have an “s” in their plural noun (Pohatu said “I hate Scorpios”). 
26. Ketar and Pohatu have the weakest link, as in them not getting along before Umarak got the Mask of Control. Plus, both of them had cheaper prices in 2016 at one time for some reasons. 
27. Uniter Pohatu has a similar spear as Uniter Gali’s. 
28. Quake Beast looked like that he was once an Earth Shadow Trap and seemed to have Earth powers when he can raise boulders from the ground, but it is said that he was once a Stone Shadow Trap and has Stone powers. That doesn’t make sense. Plus, Umarak the Destroyer has the same yellowish green color as Skull Scorpio rather than the green color like his Hunter set. 
 

I don’t understand why brown set characters are different and some have problems. Anyone noticed this?

I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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It is commonly reported that brown sets were the most sluggish seller in the original Bionicle line up of six colors. I think the evidence is there early on that Lego was aware that brown wasn't that exciting of a color, hence why Pohatu had has famous upside down torso to make him more unique in the line up. This idea is further supported in 2006 when we saw G1 phase out brown for more yellow and oranges instead. Only the 2009 waves had a brief return to tan, but other than that we see yellow and orange in some variety replace every previously brown character from 2006 on out. 

So simply put, some of the oddities were a case of Lego trying really hard to lean into the gimmicks to make brown sets different, either via toy design or storytelling means by giving the stone characters a stronger role into the story. Especially in the early 2001-2004 years, although I would argue the homogenization of Onewa's Toa form with the other Metru/Hordika shows that Lego was less willing to take the same risks later on as they had made with Pohatu earlier. 

I think though you are honestly reading far to into some design choices, like Onewa's pitons or Pohatu Uniter's spear. That is honestly just a case of toy design at play, so them sharing some similarities to the other Toa of their wave is not to far out of the ordinary. The whole Ekimu/Protector of Stone eye color thing sounds like an animation goof and not an actual story purpose, and I think Quake Beast with its purple was intended to be a counterpart to Onua and the earth elements and not stone. I also would argue that once the G1 switch to yellow/orange was made we really can't call any character a "brown set" unless it was a legacy character linked to stone (Pohatu or Hewkii) or linked to sand or stone in story, even though it is clear that other yellow characters (Bitil, Mata-Nui, Rakshii Stars) all filled the shoes of the previous brown sets. 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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Where's the "Lego already respects them the same as other characters" option?

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5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

1. Pohatu Mata/Nuva is a hunchback with an upside down torso piece and his secondary color is not a shade of brown, like his fellow Toa Mata/Toa Nuva. You think his personality is interesting? 

What's wrong with his torso being inverted? It gives him a kicking function to make him stand out from the rest of the sets, both practically and visually. How is tan not a shade of brown?? And what does his personality have to do with anything? He's a friendly guy with a big heart who always tries to see the best in people. 
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

2. Po-Koro had a plague in Mata Nui Online Game, which is the worst thing that happened to a tribe. 

Besides Ta-Koro getting completely destroyed, of course, right?
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

3. Turaga Onewa has long legs compared to his fellow 2001 Turaga. 

Again, build variety (and also probably to make up for Pohatu being short)
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

4. Pahrak-Kal is the only Bohrok-Kal to have found the Barhag’s hiding place. 

Cool?
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

5. Panrakk’s Fragmentation power is similar to Guurahk’s Disintegration power, don’t you think? 

Or rather, Guurahk's Disintegration power is similar to Panrahk's Fragmentation power. And no, they really aren't. Disintegration is single-target and causes some serious damage to the target inside and out. I think of it like a microwave sort of, with the way it eats away at the material. Fragmentation is a traditional explosive, which can hit many targets at once and cause a lot of shock and awe, but the force is coming only from the outside, like a conventional oven, meaning that big armor is more resistant to it, while Guurahk could just disintegrate the armor first. But Panrahk might not need to care about that, because he can deal with multiple enemies much easier and just knock them off their feet with his blasts.
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

6. Onewa’s Proto Pitons are similar to Nokama’s Hydro Blades. The same scenario with their Toa Hordika forms. Plus, in Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui, he has one large Proto Piton. In the 2005 storyline, it is said that Onewa Hordika has the same anger problem as Vakama’s, but Vakama’s was worse. 

Or are Nokama's Hydro Blades similar to Onewa's Proto Pitons? There's no way to know which one was designed first. Both are pretty lame weapons, not only as weapons alone but the fact that they don't have any sort of alt-function. As for their Hordika forms, no, their weapons are much more different. Nokama has barbed hook fin things, while Onewa has two flails. And all of the Hordika were struggling with various personality issues, so I don't know what you mean by that last part.
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

7. Ahkmou is the only 2004 set Matoran to go rogue. 

They were all kind of rogue. Ahkmou was the only actual traiter, though, because it tied back in with his 2001 shenanigans. 
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

8. For some reason, Greg Farshtey never gave Pouk’s Kanohi mask a title in* Dwellers of Darkness. He just let fans choose a name for the mask. 

Did every other Toa Hagah get a mask title in DoD? I don't remember.
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

9. Basically, Stone is similar to Earth, but it’s easy to understand when you think of stone, you think of rocks and boulders, and you think of earth, you think of dirt and ground. Some media confuse them as each other. 

Your point?
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

10. Roporak (the brown Visorak) has a secondary dark red color. Shouldn’t dark red be for red set characters, not brown set characters? 

No, Roporak's color scheme looked great and I was thankful that they were trying new color combinations. Same goes for Toa Hahli, both Inika and Mahri.
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

11. Avak has a wide-looking face and is the only Piraka to not have joined Zaktan’s rebellion against the Shadowed One in the past before the Shadowed One split Zaktan into a flying swarm of Protodites. 

And Reidak has 3 "eyes," Vezok has a mohawk sticking out of his forehead, Zaktan has a silly nose, etc. 
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

12. Velika is revealed to be an evil Great Being in disguise, which would explain his riddle-obsessed nature. 

Yes, yes he was. Greg chose him because of his weird personality, not his color.
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

13. In late 2006 to 2010, we have brown set characters who are either yellow or orange because the brown sets didn’t sell well for some reason. 

Brown is not a particularly appealing color for a toy when compared to red, white, or blue.
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

14. Hewkii Inika/Mahri is yellow. In his Inika form, his color is also gunmetal gray. Plus, in the console versions of Bionicle Heroes, his mask is orange. In the Piraka/Inika Online Animations, he is brown. What’s up with the color change? His Matoran self is brown. Hewkii’s Mahri form has secondary black color, and doesn’t have a right hand. He is more different from the Toa Mahri, as his mask is made differently and his arms are more asymmetrical. 

Those animations were clearly developed before the color-switch was finalized. I don't know if Hewkii counts as the most different Mahri, because Kongu has an entirely new torso piece and Matoro has a really unusual build. 
 

5 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

15. Carapar is a yellow guy who got killed by Tren Krom, and is the only Barraki to not have all of his weapons in the final version for some reason (he has two claws in the prototype and canon while his set has one claw).

Well in the story, Jaller Inika also had two swords in the book and I think Nuparu Mahri is mentioned having a blade along with his shield, too. Greg writes the stories based on the current model at the time, and if it gets changed after he writes it, he can't go back and change it. 
 

6 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

16. 2008 Pohatu is orange, and his body build and mask changed drastically. He has the propellers for hands, and his arms are built differently. 

And that's why he's the best Phantoka.
 

6 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

17. Bitil is a yellow guy who has a 2008 Matoran torso for a torso. 

And Krika was a quadruped, and Gorast had six limbs. Your point?
 

6 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

19. People in Spherus Magna call Stone “Rock”. I know it’s for black set characters, but yes. 

That they do. 
 

6 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

20. Mata Nui is not a Glatorian. 

What gave it away?
 

6 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

21. In 2010, we have the Rahkshi of Heat Vision, which are yellow, rather than reusing the Panrakk. The Heat Vision Rahkshi is the only Rahkshi set to not have a name for some reason. Plus, at least the Heat Vision Rahkshi have Light-power-resistant armor, which make them look bulky. 

Why would they reuse Panrahk? That means they'd have to go back to using brown, and they had already committed to yellow. Well, Vorox was an exception. Also, no, the vast majority of Rahkshi do not have names. There were no more Rahkshi-sounding names on the approved word list. 

G2 does not matter.
 

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Your poll made it sound like you were going to accuse Lego is disrespecting Brown characters. Also, you could probably whip up a list like this with every color. 

Edited by Lorentz
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#makeBionicleG1andHeroFactorysharethesameuniverse and #giveBionicleansHeroFactorytheirownliveactioncinematicuniverse 
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Pohatu is actually my favourite Mata set. I like how unique he feels in comparison to the rest. His lack of Toa tool is something I find interesting, I like to think it's because his power is sort of all around him (Rocks) and doesn't need to channel it through a weapon (if we don't count his armoured feet).

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On 6/18/2021 at 5:04 PM, (-Kopaka Toa of Ice-) said:

It's really odd that lego couldn't keep a legacy color like brown on Pohatu when he came out in 2008. I still remember how ugly orange looked on him and how his mask looked like a fake Vahi mask with a added visor.

I agree completely with this. However unfortunately brown sets just didn't appeal to kids. Pohatu despite being my favorite toa is cursed with brown just not being a colour most people would chose. He is the only 2001 set I remember seeing on shelves for a lengthy period of time all the way into 2004.  This was so prevalent in my brothers childhood that it became an inside joke. 

"I believe in certainties. The strength of my limbs, the power of my mask, the sharp edges of my blades — that is what I build my plans around. Trickery, deception, complex strategies, they are for the weak! If you want power, and another has it, you get it not by outwitting him — you get it by stepping over his corpse." Makuta Icarax

"WHO ATE ALL THE PIES! WHO ATE ALL THE PIES!"

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Most of these could be easily explained by the theory that Lego's marketing research predicted brown sets to sell less well so they decided to make them more unique to increase demand but they still didn't sell as well as they wanted, so they moved away from brown in later years.

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At least it was a better alternative than removing out stone and replace it with another element be a main element  and stone would no longe be the last of main 6 hero elements. Mata Nui was a exception since the Ignika makes him essentially Life/God element. They could have as well have made his yellow completely gold even to signify his importance even higher.

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TBH I find myself surprisingly OK w/ using Keetorange as a replacement brown colour; it's eye-catching, it doesn't seem like it would otherwise be widely used, & (correct me if I'm wrong), it started out as a unique Bionicle colour. Sure, it's inconsistent w/ brown, but if you have to get rid of brown then I think it's the ideal replacement colour.

I'm less in favour of using plain yellow, or even worse, plain orange, tho. Up to 2008, plain orange was long enumerated to be an accent colour for red Bionicle sets. While I'm hardly one to advocate for stringent types, I would like a certain amount of consistency, & esp. on a character like Pohatu plain orange just seems strange to me.

Not sure I would have preferred a Keetorange Pohatu, however... TBH the colour schemes are only part of a wider issue for those 2008 sets, none of whom really resemble their counterpart that well, in terms of colour or otherwise. 

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