It really doesn't, and I doubt you'd be able to prove that to me. You may forget that Matoran -> Toa -> Turaga is how they handled it in Gen 1. That was the chain. So even than, Toa were Matoran. Were you confused?
This is really a story detail, which I'm not sure has been covered yet. It's worth noting that when I stated that, I was talking about Gen 1, not this project. In Gen 1, yes, Matoran were incredibly weak and needed guardians. They had to have roughly 11 of them on Metru Nui, as well as other places.
The whole point of a Matoran is to be an everyman compared to a Toa. You guys put a lot more stake in Matoran than they really deserve.
My point was that he claimed doing things like how Gen 1 did it would get any future venture cancelled, which can't be true if Gen 1 ran for a decade opposed to a standard themes 3 years, or a failed themes 1 or 2.
Also, Matoran never got stronger throughout Gen 1. They were either the same strength as they always have been or weaker.
2001: Weakened.
2002: Weakened.
2003: Standard.
2004: Standard.
2005: N/A
2006: Weakened.
2007: Standard.
2008: Slightly stronger, nowhere near a Toa by any stretch of the imagination.
2009: N/A, these are not Matoran, these are Agori. Also, most Agori have to fight a Glatorian on a steed or in a vehicle.
All in all, Matoran have always been weak. And in a general sense, yes, they are mostly defenseless. Can Matoran be useful? I'll partially retract a statement of mine and say that sure, some can be. But as a general rule, Toa -----> Matoran always.
(And a great way to show that in a story is the have them shorter than a Toa).