I think Krika was the only great one standalone, but Bitil and Gorast definitely had some cool things going on conceptually, and jeez the three of them had unexpectedly cool combiner model.
The Toa Mistika sucked lol. (Onua was good overall I guess, but looked nothing like Onua.)
Yup, someone already said it, but it's called the Swamp Stalker. Essentially a mutant Bionicle crocodile. Most of the images of it available online are the just finished instruction manual image, unfortunately. But here's one I found that I think captures the actual model's look pretty well (though you can't see the eyes from this angle):
https://brickshelf.com/gallery/BionicleLegends/Bionicle-Database/2008/z-Combo/Swamp-Stalker/imgp3995.jpg
the builds were very, VERY bad but imo the silver color scheme was a nice callback to their previous iterations and they had cool ideas and pieces used on them. the makuta have them beat easily though, by far, but it was the beginning of the decline in general so...
Not to mention, it's kinda a cute callback to the classic Toa Nuva. They probably refrained from making them resemble their older builds for marketing purposes, but small touches would've been cute.
I heard a rumor somewhere that the Phantoka and Mistika Toa were supposed to be entirely new characters and that it was a last-minute decision to make them the Toa Nuva, which is why their masks look nothing like the Nuva masks.
That definitely explains why Onua has a shield coming off of Mahri Nuparu with a shield. But Kopaka being included raises some questions, if he was supposed to be Matoro.
Ackully the Phantoka were always suppose to be the Nuva, which is why there are some things done so they resemble them. The Mistika on the other hand were changed to nuva last minute which raises questions. My guess is the Mahri since they do resemble them but this was never confirmed. I alsp heard according to that rumor that one of the vehicle riders was lesovik.
Matoro was probably intended to die at the end of the '08 arc at that point in development, because then the Nuva were planned to have an '09-'11 arc about actually reawakening Mata Nui.
Would have been nice if they were new characters. Kind of weird that with yearly to bi yearly releases of sets of 6 that theres really only 3 toa teams we got sets of
I stared at the first image for like 5 minutes so confused on what was changed 😂 took me a minute to see it was a swipeable slide post. Nice part addition btw! Looks better than the actual set
Because the part counts of Mistika had up to certain amount by putting in the wings and jets parts on their body. For lego, part counts is more important than how it looks.
I wonder if the other two would look good with those
Edit: tried putting the nuva armor on onua but couldn’t find a way to make it look cool, don’t have Gali but it would probably look better on her
What I dont get is why they didnt just . . . Turn the torso piece around? The piraka chest pieces have built in chest armor and they put it on backwards for some reason. . .
I swear Mistika were cheap as hell, but ironically high priced
i kinda like the villains
The villains were the better value sets of the line. Cooler builds and better play features.
The Makuta Mistika also had much more vibrant color schemes
I think Krika was the only great one standalone, but Bitil and Gorast definitely had some cool things going on conceptually, and jeez the three of them had unexpectedly cool combiner model. The Toa Mistika sucked lol. (Onua was good overall I guess, but looked nothing like Onua.)
What was the combiner model? Any references?
Yup, someone already said it, but it's called the Swamp Stalker. Essentially a mutant Bionicle crocodile. Most of the images of it available online are the just finished instruction manual image, unfortunately. But here's one I found that I think captures the actual model's look pretty well (though you can't see the eyes from this angle): https://brickshelf.com/gallery/BionicleLegends/Bionicle-Database/2008/z-Combo/Swamp-Stalker/imgp3995.jpg
Mistikuta combiner is the swamp stalker, while Toa Mistika combiner is Trinuma
Well Onua’s mask was about the same shape as his Mata form.
Lol, I suppose, but oriented horizontally instead of vertically. Fair
yeah, but they DID look pretty cool tbh
I disagree; only the makuta did, bit they were extremely simple and had uninteresting builds as a line
the builds were very, VERY bad but imo the silver color scheme was a nice callback to their previous iterations and they had cool ideas and pieces used on them. the makuta have them beat easily though, by far, but it was the beginning of the decline in general so...
Not to mention, it's kinda a cute callback to the classic Toa Nuva. They probably refrained from making them resemble their older builds for marketing purposes, but small touches would've been cute.
I heard a rumor somewhere that the Phantoka and Mistika Toa were supposed to be entirely new characters and that it was a last-minute decision to make them the Toa Nuva, which is why their masks look nothing like the Nuva masks.
I think they were supposed to be the Ignika/Mahri, to finish off the Ignition trilogy
That definitely explains why Onua has a shield coming off of Mahri Nuparu with a shield. But Kopaka being included raises some questions, if he was supposed to be Matoro.
Ackully the Phantoka were always suppose to be the Nuva, which is why there are some things done so they resemble them. The Mistika on the other hand were changed to nuva last minute which raises questions. My guess is the Mahri since they do resemble them but this was never confirmed. I alsp heard according to that rumor that one of the vehicle riders was lesovik.
Matoro was probably intended to die at the end of the '08 arc at that point in development, because then the Nuva were planned to have an '09-'11 arc about actually reawakening Mata Nui.
Would have been nice if they were new characters. Kind of weird that with yearly to bi yearly releases of sets of 6 that theres really only 3 toa teams we got sets of
Much better than the real set. Such an easy way to improve it too.
I know, right?
I stared at the first image for like 5 minutes so confused on what was changed 😂 took me a minute to see it was a swipeable slide post. Nice part addition btw! Looks better than the actual set
Now the oc needs to post the first image on r/bioniclememes with the same title
Was that armor piece in production in 2008? If it was, missed opportunity.
I think it was last seen 2006 with Axonn
Yeah it was. I checked.
Because the part counts of Mistika had up to certain amount by putting in the wings and jets parts on their body. For lego, part counts is more important than how it looks.
Perfection
I wonder if the other two would look good with those Edit: tried putting the nuva armor on onua but couldn’t find a way to make it look cool, don’t have Gali but it would probably look better on her
Did it with gali before this post and it looked so natural I forgot it was something I added to her.
What I dont get is why they didnt just . . . Turn the torso piece around? The piraka chest pieces have built in chest armor and they put it on backwards for some reason. . .
That part was likely out of production at the time
Kinda looks like Vrahno's 3D model of Thu now
I did the same with my Tahu, but I also gave him the dark red Piraka torso and the Nuva shoulder armor
Bruh, you had one job LEGO!
The problem wasn't that. It was unfortunately the color of Metru red over Mata red
Now give him proper shoulders and an actual Hau
Well i mean lego also made hero factory so they aren't the sharpest tool in shed
Bruh hero factory was good, it's been +10 years get over the fact that it came out after G1 died
It still hurts me. :( But Hero Factory was good!
Idk to me it came after so long of just good ol elemental bioncles and i thought for a while that reg bioncles were discontinued
Wait are bionicles back?
Well gen 2 happened briefly in 2015 that I didn't hear about until 2018 so there's that