So I've been thinking about Kaita in G3 and decided to make a poll for them.
Not sure if TTV doesn't want regular board members making G3 Polls, but if so sorry.
0voters
Votes are public.
Change is scary.
Yeah. The way it rattles around in my pocket.
Still terrifies me to this day.
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.
I came up with my own interpretation of the Kaita a while back:
Essentially, any two toa can combine to form a toa of a "New/advanced" element.
Some examples would include:
Gali merging with Tahu to create a Toa of Steam as mentioned in Bionicle: the Mask of Light
Gali merging with Lewa to create a Toa of Storms as mentioned in an '08 comic
Lewa merging with Kopaka to create a Toa of Blizzards so the being could actually start/stop snowstorms as was scene in the '01 commercials
Onua merging with Gali to create a Toa of Mud This one would replace Gali being able to contro mud be herself, as scene in an '08 comic
Tahu could merge with Pohatu to create a Toa of Magma
Those are just a few examples of possible Kaita combinations of two toa each.
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.
My thoughts:
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.
Thoughts?
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)
Yeah, fair point. Set/minifigures-wise it could certainly get hectic.
Year one's goal: Form 2 member Kaitas
Year two's goal: Form 3 member Kaitas
Year three"s goal: Form a 6 member Kaita
That'd work pretty well.
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!
Because we can change them so they do add to the story.
This is a whole new Generation after all.
They make even less sense when you're dealing with system and all of the Toa are minifigures...
Bricks could easily be used to build larger bots (and still incorporate minifig parts).
But you gotta admit, it made way more since when you actually took apart the Toa to build the Kaita.
How exactly?
@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.