I was recently looking at my Toa Metru Canisters, and I remembered that some Toa Metru canister lids had glitter and some did not have glitter. Does anyone know why this is?
Here is a picture comparing my Vakama’s glitter lid to my Whenua’s non-glitter lid.
The earlier production runs didn’t have the glitter, and the later ones did (at least in the US). I got a full set of Metru around the time they came out and none of their lids had the glitter, but I got a Matau a few months later and its lid did have the glitter (all were bought at standard retail stores).
Maybe? The only reason I got that extra Matau was actually because of the glitter: when I was a kid, the only way my mom could keep up with which Bionicle sets I had was by the canister lids (for some reason she could always keep track of those, but the figures themselves all looked indistinguishable to her). So when she saw that Matau on the shelf while she was out shopping that had a slightly different canister lid, she picked it up, thinking it was something I didn’t already have.
The idea that the change was to make the packaging (and thus the set) look more eye-catching and new seems reasonable.
Edit 1: Also upon further research here is some random off shots (However there is not enough evidence to support production error or variation of variations) (all are sealed):
My brother and I have glitter lids for Vakama, Matau, Onewa, and Nuju. Whenua has a regular lid, and Nokama doesn’t have a canister, but I’m pretty sure I remember seeing glitter lids for her in the store.
Okay, so this is fascinating!! I never knew there were so many variations - now I need them all haha I have a glittery Matau canister, which I believe is from the golden disc contests. I will take some photos of it soon & post it up here.