Well, it could be that the first Turaga colored Matatu produced was light grey and the one they decided to exchange for the displays was brown.
But of course the reason could be different. They might have indeed not have any brown Matatu for displays, but that is wierd because they had plenty for mask packs.
Since there is no new info yet, in the meantime here is an info dump on some other non-mask Bionicle parts in unseen colors included in the Aanchirâs document:
MCtoran parts in different colors - the torso pieces, launching arm, normal arm were likely made in purple for Onepu, bright blue for Hali, orange, for Jala, brown for Huki, dark grey for Onepu or Matoro(?) Lego probably experimented with different colors for Matoran and at one time they might have color schemes more akin to Toa or Turaga.
Matoran feet in exotic colors like some of the masks - it would seem more parts were prototyped in obscure colors not used elsewhere in Bionicle. The iconic matoran foot was made in sand violet, medium orange, violet and medium lime.
Based on this I would guess that Lego was deciding early on what colors to use in the color schemes and had severl candidate colors for each slot.
Purple slot = purple, violet, sand violet
Lime slot = lime, medium lime
Orange slot = orange, medium orange
Something for Takanuva fans:
I can imagine Takanuva where leg pieces are gold and arm pieces kept white, while having gold hands.
ooh those pieces would have looked really cool
Matches the movie. As you may know - Teridax was also based on a prototype build.
This one looks to have the white arms though:
That is a very good point. This connection is very possible.
However in contrast to my speculation, the movie version seems to have both gold arms and legs, but white hands and feet. I wonder if the gold sockets would be used as hips or shoulders?
Actually we can see more prototype leftovers in MoL other than just Makuta and Takanuva.
Rahkshi are also based on prototype models:
and so are Matoran, if anyone ever wondered where those ornate chestplates came from:
Also why would the 2003 prototype use prototype Hau all the way from 2000?
Never noticed that, wow!
This poster also uses the Slizer arms, which informed the arms used in the movie:
As for Aanchirâs list - another couple interesting parts are metallic blue (the color used for Guurahk that is, not the metallic sand blue color) sockets, iirc? No clue what those were for! And of course, silver Toa Mata weapons, from the Toa Nuva prototypes:
And I never looked too closely to this poster to realize that is Jaller and not Tahu mata. That explains a lot of things.
Yeah I noticed that one too. Maybe Rahkshi originally had metallic colors even on sockets? The clash of two different shades on their feet can sometimes be distracting when one looks too close. I would have preferred if they went with metallic sockets.
As for the prototype Nuva, we can see the evolution of Galiâs limbs. As we know, she is the only one (bar Takanuva) who has Nuva legs on all 4 limbs. It looks like initially the piece usage was simply flipped (Nuva arms, Mata legs). Iâm glad they replaced the legs also, otherwise Gali would be too short.
Ironically, Iâd imagine that is exactly why they didnât go that route, per the Flat Silver/Pearl Light Grey thing I mentioned earlier. See the blue color on this watch link:
Iâm not sure I follow on this one⌠could you elaborate please?
Both the watch link and the foot and head piece in this image are Metallic Black, however the watch link is made of ABS (I believe?), while the Rahkshi parts are made of polypropylene.
This is the same effect that can be observed in the Bohrok-Kal, where the feet and hands (polycarbonate) are âPearl Light Grayâ while the shields (again, polypropylene) are âFlat Silverâ.
In 2006, the polypropylene material was adjusted, which:
a) seems to have fixed the issues with the metallic additive (as seen with post-2006 parts being âPearl Light Grayâ), and
b) lead to a difference being noticeable in transparent colors, which is why Daluâs Rau is lighter than Nokamaâs.
Basically, back then, polypropylene parts had a color-matching issue when it came to metallic colors.
Ok, so you are saying Lego opted not to use metallic colors for sockets because of the lackluster color-matching at the time between different types of plastic formally having the âsameâ color, correct?
That could have very well been the case, although I question the possibility of whatever difference in color being more noticable than having those sockets in both different material AND color.
Honestly itâs not a big deal to me, itâs just that sometimes when I look at a Rahkshi foot, I cannot help but notice the abrupt jump from metallic green to mata green (and others).
I feel like this could have been alleviated, no matter the slight difference between metallic ABS and polypropylene.
I agree with the conclusion that Wolk mentioned, as we got a âFlat Goldâ mata head piece in the Visorak Battle ram set, yet the color is noticably lighter then the softer plastics used on the mask & armor of Takanuva
A few new things I would like knowledgable people like @Wolk to help me confirm/elucidate.
A few masks (2001) are present in the BS01 prototype section. Some of them do match with the predicted masks, but I am not convinced the actual pictures are necessarily real.
The prototype lime Ruru seems the most legit and has the best quality picture, so I have added that one into the sheet.
The red Huna and blue Rau also seem convincing but the pictures are very low size and quality, and the backgrounds do not help either. Does anyone know the source of those or have better versions?
The most unconvincing one is obviously the orange Hau, which almost certainly is nothing more than a red Hau photographed in a bright light. I know from experience that if you were to take picture of an orange mask under those light conditions, it would look yellow.
The rest we already knew.
There is also the picture with multiple Haus, but I cannot tell from the small picture if they all have the prototype mold.
I have no idea about most of those.
The one with the multiple Haus, most of them donât look to have the prototype mold, as the Hauâs stamp was on the forehead. The exception is an oddity, the Chrome HauâŚ
On the topic of the Chrome Hau. Iâm not sure if I brought this one up already. There is the Light Grey Hau, present on the spreadsheet, which is the Hau without the chrome coating applied⌠so, technically released? But ye.
I noticed the Chrome Hau too, it is odd that one would have the prototype mold. It is still possible though that that one is just a reflection.
Too bad we donât have these pictures in higher quality, at least I couldnât find them anywhere.
https://twitter.com/OwlKid_/status/1621165173779070976?t=qFDcZGTimBXJyqOKMoASnQ&s=19
Assuming these are real, thatâs four more predictions verified.
EDIT:
Iâm noticing two errors in these tables:
First, the black and blue Huna arenât âpredictedâ; they were officially released in the Muaka And Kane-Ra and Maku sets, respectively.
Second, I donât think the orange Hau should be predicted either: BS01 has a picture of it, unless the authenticity of the image is being questioned:
(To be fair, I could easily see that as just a red Hau with weird lighting)
That would be some very weird lighting then. The shadows is a normal color, and the background is white, a color that would expose any strange lighting immediately. Therefore, it can be assumed to be a legit photo, though I have absolutely no idea what the Hau came in.
That guy could build a legit Sand Tarakava now!!!
Flash photographyâŚ
wowzers!!
I will never understand how people wheel and deal to find stuff like that.
Wow! Thanks for the heads up. These definitely seem legit. This is a great discovery and addition to Bionicle collection of rarities. I knew some of the predicted ones would pop up one day!
And yes, the Hunas are a typo - I fixed it in the updated table. I also made few minor corrections recently and even found one more addition to the table. Here is the updted one:
The errors have been fixed and the new Kanohi have been updated. I should put into everyoneâs attention that the yellow Ruru is a new mask as well - the previous pictures were of a prototype yellow Ruru, but this one has the final retail mold. Such masks were claimed to be in possesion of several people, but I never saw any pictures to proove it. Now we know it does indeed exist!
It also looks like all of the masks from this batch have final molds, so it might be the case for all of the predicted items from the list.
The updated table also contains three extra things: 1) I fixed the reddish gold Avohkii to the prototype mold (because it is) and 2) I added a prototype flat silver Avohkii, which did exist at some point, but belongs to the âsurvival unknownâ category. 3) Prototype sand blue Akaku was added.
PS: I never believed that particular orange Hau - it really seems just red. That said, orange Hau is predicted to exist and now that the Kanohi table continues to proove its validity, we can say that it, as well as the rest of the predicted items, are almost definitely out there somewhere!
Another thing we learned is that the predicted masks allegedly produced in non-Bionicle colors are real! This means the sand violet Kakama, medium orange Komau, trans-purple Kaukau and medium lime Miru are real.
Thatâs what I was thinking; I could maybe see it being a bit off-red, but it certainly doesnât look like the same orange used on Turaga Vakama.
If it really is an orange Hau, the picture should be easy to replicate: just ask whatever collector has it for a better picture. Without that, though, this looks to me like it could just as easily be a picture of a red Hau that was later misidentified as orange.
Or at least as real as all the other colours.
