I would like to see more emphasis on the Kaita, since you do not get a lot of that with them in G1, they seem not that relevant with the mata since they only fought some mana crabs, and then were forcefully torn apart, so they seem insignificant at best for me, I have not run into the Kaita nuva yet though, also better designs. With two characters I think you could do a lot with the G2 style, and just take apart the sets and combine them, mixing the pieces not sir show that would work in a system set though…
I’m for keeping the Kaita as they are. I don’t see any good reason to change them.
Concerning backstory, I actually thought something up the other day.
Perhaps in G3, Akamai and Wairuha were extremely powerful beings, related to Toa, that existed in the ancient past. They are prominent figures in Matoran lore, possibly deities. When the current Toa form these Toa Kaita, they’re actually forming bodies that the spirits of the deceased Kaita return from the dead/afterlife to inhabit so as to assist the Toa. This would explain why the Kaita have such distinct personalities, and would make sense of any visions the Toa may have of them.
This is why I feel like 2 Toa forming a Kaita would be better:
The Kaita never got a lot of screen time in G1, because they didn’t exactly have a lot of character. Trying to do a three way mix of personality would just be over complicated and would almost guarantee some conflicting characteristics.
That’s why I think there should be two Toa per Kaita. This way you’d only have to meld two personalities, and it’d be a lot less difficult.
I also think this would make the Kaita much more practical in a story telling sense. When the Toa become Kaita there would still be three of them, and there could be a much more interesting group dynamic.
It could also be used as a way to explore the 1 on 1 relationships between the Toa, and would make “Unity” more interesting then the Deus Ex Machina it was in G1.
The pairings are pretty obvious as well.
Tahli Toa of Leadership: Tahu and Gali. They have to find the balance between control and instinct, through unity.
Onewa Toa of WillpowerOnua and Lewa. They have to find the balance between light heartedness and seriousness, though unity.
Pohaka Toa of HonorKopaka and Pohatu. They must find the balance between cold determination and outgoing relentlessness, through unity.
What if up to six toa can merge to become kaita. For example, any two toa could become a kaita, any three toa could also become a kaita, and etc.
The limiting factor would be that you have to have lots of unity/concentration/mojo/whatever to form a kaita. The easiest would be two toa merging, then three, four, etc. Without training/focus/unity/whatever, then when combined the kaita would be scatterbrained and quickly un-merge back into the individual toa.
Interesting concept, but I feel that doing it this way would lead to a bit of a headache when determining minifigures, since any number of Toa could merge with any kind of element (It could work, but the minifigures’ physical appearance might be off)
I admittedly wasn’t too fond of the idea you initially expressed, StSc, but I could get behind it if it went through a kind of evolution like this.
I’ve said before I’d like to see the Toa increase in power as the years go on, eventually achieving Nuva* status by year three; and I could see their Kaita ability increasing right along with their power levels. I like it.
*I’d basically have the G3 “Toa Nuva” be Toa who’ve mastered their elements and abilities, as opposed to simply upgraded Toa (though there’d undoubtedly be some sort of physical transformation evolved).
Giant combiners may sounds cool, but from a story perspective they never made a lot of sense. I don’t see any reason to come up with a reason to justify their existence when they didn’t add much to the story to start with.
Sometimes you need to be on even ground to defeat a foe. If the Toa find themselves up against some Cthulu-like monstrosity the size of a small island, a six-member Kaita may come in handy.
Think of it like Power Rangers. Everything’s fun and games til the monster gets huge. Then it’s WE NEED MEGAZORD POWER, NOW!
@Jakura_Nuva If that were to happen wouldn’t it be more interesting if The Toa used their brains and came up with a clever solution, rather than becoming giant thing to punch it until it’s dead?
Besides, the kaita will become the one solution to every problem. It’s needs to be trimmed.
And that’s why PR is so boring to watch. It always ends the same way.
Personally I don’t think the physical things should be combiners anymore.
Look at the past few Lego action themes.
Lego loves any excuse to sell a extra special looking figure in a small set and sell it for around $10.
The Toa Kaita could serve as the Bionicle equivalent of the Ultimate figures.