Meh…? Success?
A good majority of the Toas’ characteristics from 2015 have been lost, and some problems have been increased. Lewa’s head sure can move this time around, but his arms are Mata-awful, along with his hand knees, and the color scheme is bland with the silver/grey and (trans)green (the yellow is too little). Onua seems nice, but he has lost his stocky-ape look, not being continuous with his first appearance in G2.
Among other things I don’t have and have seen, Tahu’s texture’s being too conflicted, Pohuta’s train wreck of a color scheme, the loss of femininity for Gali, and Kopaka slimming down with the “head held high, chest puffed up” look. Certain parts feel spammed onto the Toa, making no sense at all (sorta making it feel like Hero Factory). The new torso system is inconsistently tight (my ears!) and loose. We get three new things to pick at: a CCBS add-on that is interesting, but rather oddly textured going from mechanical to crystallized, a classic Bionicle armor piece that feels a little to mechanically and wide, and then, what I view as, an Inika torso, but worse. Oh, and the weapon piece spam for five out of six Toa.
That said, there is some success. The smaller sets are superior to the protectors, and are far more unique. They have decent color schemes overall, cool designs, and a variety of functions. We get the Unity function, which a lot of peeps like. Sure, some aren’t the best. but it ties the smaller sets to the bigger sets more, giving them a function. And as someone has shown here, it’s fun mixing the creatures with other Toa. And although the Toa do fail in some things, they do bring in some new characteristics. Lewa feels far more leaf-like with his Vorox armor on him, along with that add-on. Tahu’s and Onua’s shoulder pauldrons feel like feathers to me, fitting well with the animal theme. Tahu looks like a Phoenix King, and Onua, besides his length change, seems like an overall more towering and improved Onua, like the animations. Their weapons fit them. Gali has a spear with a forked end on it, Pohuta has a wastelander like weapon, a flail and a spear, Lewa’s tonfa’s being a much lighter and quicker weapon set, Tahu continuing with his large offensive weapons, Onua’s glorious hammer drill, and Kopaka, while a tad too different, could do some calculating blows with his melee/ranged weaponry. Ooh, and the Vorox armor does add some old G1 one back. I think that is a good part of it.
But yer. I ranted. Perhaps someone will see my point?
