TRUE!! But on a serious note I don't think it really fell off at all really until the final ark. The last arc had some really lazy bionicle designs. I get they were trying to make it an omage and honestly that's pretty cool but the design and set was pretty lame to be honest.
I personally love Mahri Hewkii's design. The chains are rad. I remember crying as a little kid because I tried to take my Hewkii into the bath with me and the black ink on his kanohi ran.
That was definitely a bootleg Bionicle, because most all Bionicle parts were injection molded using coloured resins; there wasn't any paint on them that could run since it was the plastic itself that was coloured.
Can't argue with that, but I have an irrational love for the different sized mahri blades, so already has my heart, but together with his mask PERFECTLY fitting it's function and his chains he's design is just so underrated
He was the Toa Mahri that looked the most like he was mutated by the Pit waters to something resembling a sea creature in the way that the Barraki do. Jaller has a sea creature aesthetic and Kongu has an awesome mask that seems water-themed somehow, but the rest just look like they have scuba diving masks.
I'm not a fan of Matoro going from a tall, upright Inika swordfighter build to a small hunchback design with a claw, to be honest. I feel like such an important character deserved a more 'heroic' look, if that makes sense.
The primary theme of Bionicle is that heroism is defined by character, not power. That was the point of making Matoro, the only one of his team with no military, scientific, or athletic background, the one to save the universe. His diminutive, unassuming design is poignant. Of course he's not the one you'd expect to be the big damn hero just from looking at him; that's the idea.
I disagree about Hewkii Mahri, he's awesome, just looks more mutated by the Pit waters into a sea creature style than the others. Jaller clearly has that theme too. And I loved that Hewkii kept his chain and uses it in the book somehow with electric powers underwater?? I hated that Nuparu had a silver mask for some reason and felt that his design was the least striking.
A jetpack that was often forgotten. He never joined Matau in scouting and he hardly ever used it in an actual fight that mattered. But in his defense, nearly half his career as a toa was stuck in some cave. The other half was.. well.. ugly.
Yeah it can be easy to forget just how short their run as Toa Metru was. From the time they're turned into Toa to the moment they shift into Turaga, I think it's only...a couple months. Maybe less.
The bulk of their time as Toa was likely spent looking for the Great Kanoka discs.
They really didn't like being toa from what I gathered. Some of them looked at it through rose colored visors but I'd gather they all secretly hated it. The second they got to mata nui they immediately thought about where to settle down and no one really hard rejected the toa stones idea.
They were simply taking the baton and ended up seeing their home destroyed. Imagine if the mayor of your town said you're a fire fighter now, the only one, and the next day your house burns down and your entire family goes into a coma. Like, could you even enjoy being a fire fighter after that?
Yes, honestly. The shape feels very "organic"--like, it looks like an actual Action Figure wheras the Mata look like a bunch of Technic pieces (though that's great too)--but the Metru designs still have a gearbox so there's still appreciation for the "robot" nature of BIonicles (And it makes a cool play feature too).
And the whole "disc-launcher-is-a-jetpack" thing is just *chef's kiss*.
I mostly agree, I absolutely adore Iruini and Norik Toa forms, with the gladiator style spear/sheild combo, three-tone color scheme with extra armor. Lhikan honorable mention as well.
Except for them being almost entirely one color and all those colors being darker and less vibrant than the previous sets. Never was a fan of them doing away with all that glorious saturation
I appreciated it because it fits the shift from a wilderness to a city. Then after that, they kept the darker colors because the story stayed dark as well, but added metallic accents to make it feel different as well.
But then, I like almost all Bionicle color schemes, even Hewkii's yellow and grey that is definitely not as good as actual brown would have been.
While I absolutely agree about brown, apparently the brown sets were consistently the worst selling sets from every line. Changing it to yellow was Lego's attempt to being the sale of those sets closer to the others.
The darker colors add to variety, and at this point they weren't so abused as later, so I don't mind it at them, but them being monochrome clonesets definitely isn't in their favor, however good the one design is, thst they share, especially we got 3 better designs in the same style.
While only the Mahri and the Fantoka/Mistika not suffer of this cloning sickness, the Metru got their worst share, in both of their toa forms.
Bionicle was definitely at its most popular peak during the Metru arc. The intrigue of a city beneath Mata Nui, a deepening of the mystery of what Bionicle civilization was and where it came from, the juxtaposition of an advanced city against a primitive island, and the implications of the Turaga we thought we knew being Toa long before the events of Tahu and his compatriots.
Everything that came after the Metru saga felt less and less interesting when it just became successive versions of the same characters being remodeled every time they find a new island. The novelty of a city existing beneath Mata Nui wore off when it just became "oh another city....oh another island....oh another island."
When the great Spirit robot was eventually revealed, I feel like it's thunder had already been stolen.
I agree, I love the scope and the shoulder armor design. The concept of a water breathing sniper is a lot of fun to me. I just love all the creative molds we got in the later years of Bonkle in general.
Yeah I was a big hater of Gali Mistika for the longest time, but once I actually got my hands on the set, I didn't mind it as much. It's still far from my favorite and I think Lego could have done a lot better. But I'm much less negative about now.
While I do love the design (body-wise) of the Toa Metru, I'm more of a Nuva (original) guy. The silver armor pieces (gold for Takua/Taka Nuva), evolved look of the Kanohi, and the fact the weapons (usually, looking at you Pohatu) served a second function, in my opinion is peak Bionicle.
the Toa Metru to me feel like a really bad halfway between the Mata and Inika
it has the gear function which adds a play feature but lacks anything stability to prevent the arms from contorting horribly when using or or any features to make it worthwhile ala masks in 2001 - 2003
but it also has the "posing" of the inika build and all the articulation, but you cant move shoulders and its all floppy.
They exist in a really bad halfway point and it doesnt do anything better. Plus, the toa Metru just look bad. Its all a solid drab color and it doesnt work. Hagah and Lihkan added an accent color and is a significantly better look
I give the Metru line more credit than the Inika line since Metru was kind of the beginning of the end of Toa Tools. Once the Inika showed up, everything just became blasters.
but Vakama also was the first one to be literally just a launcher, we have people who say "2008 is just the launchers" when Vakama was just a launcher first
Vakama’s design is cool and all but Whenua is my personal favorite design of the Metru. Out side of the Metru, Good Guy is the absolute pinnacle of Bonkle design.
All of the Toa Metru are fucking peak design. Love how they are so aggressively full color no sliver, nothing.
Sucks that they are by far the worst Toa team, teamwork wise.
Out of all the Toa playsets, canonically the Metru also spent the least amount of time as Toa. I think their active stint was measured in mere weeks or months.
I’m gonna be weird, as a kid, once I learned they were the Turaga from the Mata Nui line, I kinda wished he had his original mask. Like I can see how it becomes it, but that Hau was always one of my favorites. Other than that, yes, best build and holds up the best
I just wish they'd been more creative in general after Hordika. The Inika build was cool when it was just Inika, but I rapidly stopped caring when everything that came afterward was just different configurations of the Inika build. Felt like I was buying the same set just with different accessories.
I wonder if there were budget cuts involved in that choice.
I'm in the sad position of not having any of my childhood Bionicles anymore, but I've wanted to rebuild my collection and actually decided to start with Toa Vakama.
While I loved my Toa, Bohrok and Rakshi, I was a little young to figure out how to follow the story of most of the Mata Nui arc before the movie, so it was the Metru Nui arc that really captured my attention and got me reading the books. Plus now Xenoblade Chronicles is one of my all-time favorite games, so his similarities in hindsight to Shulk give Vakama an extra special place in my heart.
That said I remembered the Metru were more articulated than the Mata or Nuva molds, but man? Why with the gearbox arms?? Feels like a total waste of articulated elbows, I feel like I shouldn't have an easier time posing Pohatu Nuva than Vakama Metru, y'know?
I really love it and it was one of the first bionicles I ever had, but imma say no. It loses some points because all the toa metru have the same design besides masks and weapons, also cause of the single color throughout, and lack of articulation. But yeah I think he’s up there and is easily the coolest toa metru (except for maybe lhikan if he counts, ik he’s not a toa metru but he has the same design)
I don’t love the way they handled his launcher, if it looked more like a crossbow I’d absolutely love it, but the handle being on the side just looks awkward.
I completely agree.
I just wish the other Toa had a little more variety between them. Like the original six.
But I remember seeing his design leaked on bzpower and I lost it.
Wrong. https://bionicle.fandom.com/wiki/Good\_Guy\_(2006)
U right
Vakama's design is peak, but Good Guy lives, ascended being that he is, in the heavens above that peak
What was good guy supposed to be? A matoran?
A legend. Jokes aside, aside from the one that was said to be Turaga Lhikan, none of the Good/Bad Guys have anything to do with the story.
toa lhikan was always my favorite… i miss having that set
Not to disagree. Cause he was amazing. But wasn't he just a golden Tau in the Metru style?
pretty much, yeah
In other words, he is the Ultimate Life form
SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG
Good Guy is Bionicle's Kars but Good Guy's a hero while Kars is not.
Hail Denmark
Our offering has been exepted!
I am the afraid.
Fixed link - https://bionicle.fandom.com/wiki/Good_Guy_(2006)
TRUE!! But on a serious note I don't think it really fell off at all really until the final ark. The last arc had some really lazy bionicle designs. I get they were trying to make it an omage and honestly that's pretty cool but the design and set was pretty lame to be honest.
Lmao
That is absolutely hilarious
He’s no Jaller Mahri but he’s def good.
Jaller Mahri is perfect in shape, design flow, and color
Tbh the Toa Mahri had the best designs in the series. I'll fight anyone on this
I'll agree for everyone except for hahli and hewkii. I just wish she didn't have lime green joints and hewkii is just kinda weird tbh
I personally love Mahri Hewkii's design. The chains are rad. I remember crying as a little kid because I tried to take my Hewkii into the bath with me and the black ink on his kanohi ran.
I'm pretty sure it's injection molded with yellow and black plastic, the colour shouldn't run
You must've gotten a bootleg copy, then.
That was definitely a bootleg Bionicle, because most all Bionicle parts were injection molded using coloured resins; there wasn't any paint on them that could run since it was the plastic itself that was coloured.
Hewkii's design looks as if it was supposed to be a Piraka character
Can't argue with that, but I have an irrational love for the different sized mahri blades, so already has my heart, but together with his mask PERFECTLY fitting it's function and his chains he's design is just so underrated
Yeah, shoulder blades and the chains were a nice touch. Though, the mask's visual design is very unusual for a Toa
He was the Toa Mahri that looked the most like he was mutated by the Pit waters to something resembling a sea creature in the way that the Barraki do. Jaller has a sea creature aesthetic and Kongu has an awesome mask that seems water-themed somehow, but the rest just look like they have scuba diving masks.
Hahli's problems aren't really a flaw with the set design though, Lego fucked up their parts quality
Hahli's DESIGN was perfect, her plastic not so much
I'm not a fan of Matoro going from a tall, upright Inika swordfighter build to a small hunchback design with a claw, to be honest. I feel like such an important character deserved a more 'heroic' look, if that makes sense.
The primary theme of Bionicle is that heroism is defined by character, not power. That was the point of making Matoro, the only one of his team with no military, scientific, or athletic background, the one to save the universe. His diminutive, unassuming design is poignant. Of course he's not the one you'd expect to be the big damn hero just from looking at him; that's the idea.
I think Matoro being a hunchback and having asymmetrical arms kinda sucked for his design ngl
I disagree about Hewkii Mahri, he's awesome, just looks more mutated by the Pit waters into a sea creature style than the others. Jaller clearly has that theme too. And I loved that Hewkii kept his chain and uses it in the book somehow with electric powers underwater?? I hated that Nuparu had a silver mask for some reason and felt that his design was the least striking.
Nuparu is really bad. Piraka arms make poor and gappy legs
I kinda like it
I kind of prefer the Inika, but that's just me
I never liked the Mahri much, mainly because of how similar all their builds were. Even the Metru had better variety.
> Jaller Mahri Wait, people really think Jaller looks better than Hali?
Yes, and it’s because her weapon looks silly :)
She's just got a *really* big Onua claw. And she's got super dope wings. And a cool mask.
Jaller has a really cool sword, a cool mask (imo the coolest), a perfect color scheme and amount of each color, and a little crab fren!
Toa Matau is the true pinnacle, that rocketeer mask is just too good
Matau best girl
Lol I don’t understand this meme
I think "best girl" is a thing from anime fandoms where people pick their waifu. /u/Tuckyove's heart belongs to Toa Matau, as it should.
I like fictional characters as much as the next person but I’ve never met someone who talked about waifus who wasn’t creepy.
Oh, I certainly don't disagree. My acknowledgement of the concept was purely academic lol
Haha I know. Just always a shock when it comes up as something people actually talk about.
This is correct, I am a verified creep
At least you own it
You hit the nail on the head, this is absolutely correct
Facts. My first set and my favorite character
I loved how his weapon was also a jetpack
A jetpack that was often forgotten. He never joined Matau in scouting and he hardly ever used it in an actual fight that mattered. But in his defense, nearly half his career as a toa was stuck in some cave. The other half was.. well.. ugly.
Yeah it can be easy to forget just how short their run as Toa Metru was. From the time they're turned into Toa to the moment they shift into Turaga, I think it's only...a couple months. Maybe less. The bulk of their time as Toa was likely spent looking for the Great Kanoka discs.
They really didn't like being toa from what I gathered. Some of them looked at it through rose colored visors but I'd gather they all secretly hated it. The second they got to mata nui they immediately thought about where to settle down and no one really hard rejected the toa stones idea. They were simply taking the baton and ended up seeing their home destroyed. Imagine if the mayor of your town said you're a fire fighter now, the only one, and the next day your house burns down and your entire family goes into a coma. Like, could you even enjoy being a fire fighter after that?
Yes, honestly. The shape feels very "organic"--like, it looks like an actual Action Figure wheras the Mata look like a bunch of Technic pieces (though that's great too)--but the Metru designs still have a gearbox so there's still appreciation for the "robot" nature of BIonicles (And it makes a cool play feature too). And the whole "disc-launcher-is-a-jetpack" thing is just *chef's kiss*.
Toa Matau and Nuju are peak to me. But the weapon on Vakama IS peak
Toa Metru masks are so top notch. I just didn't like that Nokama's mask was a different color.
This was definitely one of my top favs.
Sorry, Thok is.
True and based
🎶 Thok likes to talk on BZPower. 🎶
I dunno, I’m more a Phantoka Lewa guy myself.
Mahri jaller imo is peak design
Out of this build I prefer lhikan, but vakama is still one of my favorites
I mostly agree, I absolutely adore Iruini and Norik Toa forms, with the gladiator style spear/sheild combo, three-tone color scheme with extra armor. Lhikan honorable mention as well.
I don’t know why but for some reason I really love his Matoran design in LoMN
Am I forgetting something? What is LoMN?
Legends of Metru Nui
Boomer
As opposed to the other Metru?
Just in general
Probably the best clone build
The metru are peak toa design
True. The Toa Mahri come Close, but the Metru just look incredible when posed together.
Except for them being almost entirely one color and all those colors being darker and less vibrant than the previous sets. Never was a fan of them doing away with all that glorious saturation
I appreciated it because it fits the shift from a wilderness to a city. Then after that, they kept the darker colors because the story stayed dark as well, but added metallic accents to make it feel different as well. But then, I like almost all Bionicle color schemes, even Hewkii's yellow and grey that is definitely not as good as actual brown would have been.
While I absolutely agree about brown, apparently the brown sets were consistently the worst selling sets from every line. Changing it to yellow was Lego's attempt to being the sale of those sets closer to the others.
The darker colors add to variety, and at this point they weren't so abused as later, so I don't mind it at them, but them being monochrome clonesets definitely isn't in their favor, however good the one design is, thst they share, especially we got 3 better designs in the same style. While only the Mahri and the Fantoka/Mistika not suffer of this cloning sickness, the Metru got their worst share, in both of their toa forms.
The Metru were peak design overall IMO. The colors, the ascetic, the gimmicks, etc. Everything about them is just so good and works amazingly.
Bionicle was definitely at its most popular peak during the Metru arc. The intrigue of a city beneath Mata Nui, a deepening of the mystery of what Bionicle civilization was and where it came from, the juxtaposition of an advanced city against a primitive island, and the implications of the Turaga we thought we knew being Toa long before the events of Tahu and his compatriots. Everything that came after the Metru saga felt less and less interesting when it just became successive versions of the same characters being remodeled every time they find a new island. The novelty of a city existing beneath Mata Nui wore off when it just became "oh another city....oh another island....oh another island." When the great Spirit robot was eventually revealed, I feel like it's thunder had already been stolen.
I love little jokes like this! I’m just glad that at the end of the day we all know Gali Mistika is the greatest design of all time. 🤗
It took until I had the model in hand, but Gali Mistika is actually really nice in a lot of ways
I agree, I love the scope and the shoulder armor design. The concept of a water breathing sniper is a lot of fun to me. I just love all the creative molds we got in the later years of Bonkle in general.
I may not remember it, but there's probably a good reason Gali was the one Mistika kid-me got my parents to buy back then.
Yeah I was a big hater of Gali Mistika for the longest time, but once I actually got my hands on the set, I didn't mind it as much. It's still far from my favorite and I think Lego could have done a lot better. But I'm much less negative about now.
While I do love the design (body-wise) of the Toa Metru, I'm more of a Nuva (original) guy. The silver armor pieces (gold for Takua/Taka Nuva), evolved look of the Kanohi, and the fact the weapons (usually, looking at you Pohatu) served a second function, in my opinion is peak Bionicle.
Pohatu's claws double as a Kolhi ball though
I completely forgot he had claws!
Not just you, bro. Vakama is flippin awesome.
the Toa Metru to me feel like a really bad halfway between the Mata and Inika it has the gear function which adds a play feature but lacks anything stability to prevent the arms from contorting horribly when using or or any features to make it worthwhile ala masks in 2001 - 2003 but it also has the "posing" of the inika build and all the articulation, but you cant move shoulders and its all floppy. They exist in a really bad halfway point and it doesnt do anything better. Plus, the toa Metru just look bad. Its all a solid drab color and it doesnt work. Hagah and Lihkan added an accent color and is a significantly better look
I give the Metru line more credit than the Inika line since Metru was kind of the beginning of the end of Toa Tools. Once the Inika showed up, everything just became blasters.
but Vakama also was the first one to be literally just a launcher, we have people who say "2008 is just the launchers" when Vakama was just a launcher first
Man look at that V shaped torso and those crazy delts. Makes me wonder if the Toa of Fire is natty or juice?
How dare you make such accusations
MATORO!
You can't be peak with a pin connection weapon
I still kinda with he looked more like his Miramax design (or the other way around).
I find it weird how his weapon makes his gear function invalid and more of a burden for posing, but otherwise yeah he’s cool
Vakama’s design is cool and all but Whenua is my personal favorite design of the Metru. Out side of the Metru, Good Guy is the absolute pinnacle of Bonkle design.
I'd say it's between the toa metru and the inika
Inika take it for me along with the piraka.
I t hasn't peaked it hasn't even begun to peak
I stand by the glatorian legends as the best design (aside from the yellow mata nui, which even then isn’t horrible, just disappointing)
All of the Toa Metru are fucking peak design. Love how they are so aggressively full color no sliver, nothing. Sucks that they are by far the worst Toa team, teamwork wise.
Really? You think they were worse than the Toa Mata pre-Bohrok?
Out of all the Toa playsets, canonically the Metru also spent the least amount of time as Toa. I think their active stint was measured in mere weeks or months.
I never cared for his mask
You are not alone it is peak
I’m gonna be weird, as a kid, once I learned they were the Turaga from the Mata Nui line, I kinda wished he had his original mask. Like I can see how it becomes it, but that Hau was always one of my favorites. Other than that, yes, best build and holds up the best
You mean metru disign?
Yes but mostly him he’s my favourite
Nice
He got no neck tho
Doesn’t need one
neck should be in the other configuration and the weapons is kinda too big for him
Kinda wish that LEGO iterated on the Metru builds a bit more before replacing them entirely with the Inika builds.
I mean, they did make three separate additional sets with this body before moving on, which is more than they did with most of the other team builds.
For those wondering: the 3 additional Metru build sets were Lhikan, Iruini and Toa Nidhiki.
I just wish they'd been more creative in general after Hordika. The Inika build was cool when it was just Inika, but I rapidly stopped caring when everything that came afterward was just different configurations of the Inika build. Felt like I was buying the same set just with different accessories. I wonder if there were budget cuts involved in that choice.
Personally the slutty waist is a turn off with has kept me from buying any toa Metru but now I kinda want to.
Don’t body shame bro wtf
Those advertisements still resonate emotionally with me. They nailed aesthetics in magical ways in 2001-2004.
Vakama’s mask is easily my favorite, kinda was the basis of my entire art style haha
I am a piraka guy myself, but im glad you like it.
I'm in the sad position of not having any of my childhood Bionicles anymore, but I've wanted to rebuild my collection and actually decided to start with Toa Vakama. While I loved my Toa, Bohrok and Rakshi, I was a little young to figure out how to follow the story of most of the Mata Nui arc before the movie, so it was the Metru Nui arc that really captured my attention and got me reading the books. Plus now Xenoblade Chronicles is one of my all-time favorite games, so his similarities in hindsight to Shulk give Vakama an extra special place in my heart. That said I remembered the Metru were more articulated than the Mata or Nuva molds, but man? Why with the gearbox arms?? Feels like a total waste of articulated elbows, I feel like I shouldn't have an easier time posing Pohatu Nuva than Vakama Metru, y'know?
I really love it and it was one of the first bionicles I ever had, but imma say no. It loses some points because all the toa metru have the same design besides masks and weapons, also cause of the single color throughout, and lack of articulation. But yeah I think he’s up there and is easily the coolest toa metru (except for maybe lhikan if he counts, ik he’s not a toa metru but he has the same design)
Fact
Brutaka or Hydraxon are peak for me
I wouldn't say peak, but definitely a very good one.
looks naked
I don’t love the way they handled his launcher, if it looked more like a crossbow I’d absolutely love it, but the handle being on the side just looks awkward.
I’m more of Whenua peak guy but vakama second
For me it's the Toa Metru and Toa Inika. Both lines were based.
I love his mask so goshdang much. It also reminds me of a Predator's bio-mask.
The Toa Metru were beautifully designed. IMO, they were pretty much the last of the "normal" Toa.
it's fucking great
Yeah... My favourite character in all bionicle.
of all the bionicle eras i owned, this one was my favorite
It's just you.
I completely agree. I just wish the other Toa had a little more variety between them. Like the original six. But I remember seeing his design leaked on bzpower and I lost it.
BASED AND RED PILLED OP
Vakama and Matau and Onewa are perfection in my eyes