(SERIOUS) Why Solek isnt so bad as everyone says (NO JOKE)

[Ghid]

@Marzipancutter

Your rules are made up.

His rules aren’t that off-base - it is the noble version of the Miru… The 2008 Miru. It looks like the mask of the year.

Sudden headcanon that everyone will hate: the adaptive armor changed to mimic the Matoran they were driven by destiny to unite with in their effort, and the Av-Matoran wear versions of the noble masks designed for the environment of Karda Nui. The actual Nobles would look a lot more G1-esqe and possibly contain more identifiable elements of the Mata masks.

Go ahead, hate me

@Biomechanical_Guy

Ive (almost) never heard any1 dunk on the av matoran masks,everytime its the build

Contrastly, 6 out of 10 times I’ve heard the build get dunked on, the mask is in conjunction with it, almost always in connection to it being a bad Noble for the Mata.

@ToaKebaka

What are the redeeming qualities the other two have and Solek doesn’t?

Solek is a set with nothing unique going on. He has two swords - every AvToran outside of Radiak has two swords, with Radiak having four as limb extensions. Tanma is the poster boy for the Av-Matoran and Kirop is the poster boy for the Shadow Matoran. Tanma is on the forefront of the promotional material alongside Lewa. Photok breaks the color blocking of every AvToran build and has stupidly lanky arms. Solek is filler.

Solek is also the only AvToran build that year to not share an obvious design element with his pairing set. Tanma uses Lewa Nuva’s swords to illustrate the connection to the Toa of Air, Photok has stupidly lanky arms to tie in better with Pohatu’s hands being the blades for a blender and his arms being blocks of grey. Contrasting colors and all that.

Radiak is quadriped, to illustrate - or perhaps contrast - the bat-like yet completely upright and otherwise humanoid body of Antroz. Kirop is hunched and wields hooked blades to tie in with Chirox being a gangly nightmare. And Gavla has long jagged hooks to represent the atypical bat-like design of Vamprah.

Solek has two Mahri blades and that is it. There’s nothing unique to copy from Kopaka because the only unique thing on Kopaka is the wings. Ultimately, people are more forgiving to Kopaka, because there are bigger fish in that department to fry, like not looking like Kopaka and also being a lame set. But Solek has nothing unique or interesting about him - he’s not worse than all the other sets of his build, as I said before, but he is boring.

Could there be a more perfect target for the community to vent its despising the sets into? “Well, at least Solek has ____” wasn’t an option because Solek has nothing; ergo, no reason not to demonize him as everything wrong with the wave. Was that Meso’s original reasoning? Maybe. Probably not. But I’d like to think the community which sided solidly against Solek used reasoning akin to that.

@Sonus

I just remembered that Solek was a Kopaka fanboy.

Therefore Solek is the best character do not look at my profile picture.

[TheChronicler]

As a Solek owner myself, I must say…

Yeah he’s a pretty lame set. I enjoy the meme he has become, though I really don’t love any of the av-matoran and agori builds and pieces. The era of tight joints and constant breaking was not a pleasant one…

[Seuss]

i think av matoran system can be made better by the hero factory wave 1 limbs and some of the shorter ccbs parts as far as MOCs go tho

[Biomechanical_Guy]

@Seuss Definitly. The av matoran build is like a proto version of the CCBS build. kinda.

The best thing about his character. Imagine how happy he was he got not only to talk to his idol, he even got to fight alongside him! Too bad we didnt get to know Solek or the other Av matoran either.

EDITED FOR DOUBLE POST - Spiderus Prime

[Hawkflight]

@ToaKebaka

Phantoka line has bright and vivid colors: lime, orange, white; well contrasted with dark grey neutral. Mistika line on the other hand has very dull and dark colors: dark red, dark blue, black; contrasted not so well with silver neutral - they kind of blend together.

I’d disagree that the Phantoka are “well contrasted” because of how much grey there is in comparison to what’s ostensibly their primary colors. It’s the most prominent color in all three, and nearly as much for the Av-Matoran as well. The lack of a true secondary color doesn’t help.

@ToaKebaka

Saying Solek (and Kopaka) are greyscale or didn’t do anything interesting with color change always seems prepostrous to me because Solek is the brightest Av-Matoran.

White is a part of the grey scale. It has no hue of its own, unlike the rainbow colors. It’s not an additive computer system where white is the sum of all colors - arguably it’s a subtractive system, where white is the absence of color.

@Ghid

Sudden headcanon that everyone will hate: the adaptive armor changed to mimic the Matoran they were driven by destiny to unite with in their effort, and the Av-Matoran wear versions of the noble masks designed for the environment of Karda Nui. The actual Nobles would look a lot more G1-esqe and possibly contain more identifiable elements of the Mata masks.

I was actually thinking this while discussing the subject earlier.

[Ghid]

@Biomechanical_Guy

The best thing about his character. Imagine how happy he was he got not only to talk to his idol, he even got to fight alongside him! Too bad we didnt get to know Solek or the other Av matoran either.

At this point the topic has distanced itself rather sufficiently, I’d say. We aren’t here to talk about Solek’s personality and how great of a character he is… I think.

@Hawkflight

I’d disagree that the Phantoka are “well contrasted” because of how much grey there is in comparison to what’s ostensibly their primary colors. It’s the most prominent color in all three, and nearly as much for the Av-Matoran as well. The lack of a true secondary color doesn’t help.

Yeah, it’s not necessarily a bad look per se, but it s a bad look for these sets trying to be the Toa Nuva - a team defined by their vibrant colors. It just doesn’t work, or at least not the way they handled it.

Also Photok is gold my foot. Greg really had to stretch with that one.

[ToaKebaka]

@Eljay

@Willess12

And the person to start all of this was… Mesonak.

Correct.

Ah, Finally the real answer! Now I know who is accountable.

But seriously Solek did not deserve this. The color argument still does not work.

@Willess12

I’ll counter you with this: Light Blue

I was expencting this suggestion - but disagree with it. Light blue is not brighter white.

@Willess12

Also, lime green/dark grey and orange/dark grey are nice contrasting colors, while white/dark grey doesn’t have that contrast. Compare him to Metus the following year, and you see what Solek could have looked like.

Solek is not an ice character, though.

@Hawkflight

I’d disagree that the Phantoka are “well contrasted” because of how much grey there is in comparison to what’s ostensibly their primary colors. It’s the most prominent color in all three, and nearly as much for the Av-Matoran as well. The lack of a true secondary color doesn’t help.

The amount of dark grey does not have any weight on the contrast. The fact that it is dark grey does, and it is a very good contrast for all three colors.

Anyway, I got what I came for - the origin of this bizzare hate.
I don’t find any of the actual arguments convincing, maybe aside from the part -searching MOCist.
But it’s not like community can be cleansed of the Solek hate at this point. What a shame .

[Willess12]

@ToaKebaka

Light blue is not brighter white.

No, but it is a bright color that contrasts better with grey or white than they do with each other.

@ToaKebaka

Solek is not an ice character,

And Tanma isn’t Air, Radiak isn’t Fire, Gavla isn’t Water…
They’re light. Light can be any color, and they chose the most boring ones for Solek.

@Hawkflight

It’s not an additive computer system where white is the sum of all colors - arguably it’s a subtractive system, where white is the absence of color.

technically speaking, black is the absence of color

@ToaKebaka

Now I know who is accountable.

Just to be perfectly clear, Meso only said “I think Solek is the worst G1 set.” He isn’t responsible for turning it into a meme.

@ToaKebaka

it is a very good contrast for all three colors.

@ToaKebaka

The color argument still does not work.

I think on this matter, we may just have to agree to disagree. I stand by my opinion that Solek’s colors are the worst of the Av-Matoran (aside from maybe Kirop), but it’s clear you have a different opinion. And that’s fine; not everyone has to agree on what the worst set is.

[Ghid]

@Willess12

They’re light. Light can be any color,

True, but that’s only because Greg said they could be any color to compensate for the set designers not intending them to be light. “This is the white one and this is the green one.”

So really, all of them are horrible colors for light characters who are typically white and gold. But even with that in mind, Solek is still boring.

@ToaKebaka

Anyway, I got what I came for - the origin of this bizzare hate.

@ToaKebaka

Solek is not an ice character, though.

And yet he still manages to be boring. All right all you MNOG fans, come and get me

@ToaKebaka

I don’t find any of the actual arguments convincing, maybe aside from the part -searching MOCist.

My condolences. But, inversely, you’ve added nothing to the argument and refuted everyone’s points without conceding anything, so I’m not sure what I was expecting.

@ToaKebaka

But it’s not like community can be cleansed of the Solek hate at this point. What a shame .

Quitter talk. If you want there to be a change, start making one. Nothing will happen if we wring our hands and mope.

I’ve already presented the solution to the Solek hate problem, but it got mostly ignored, so I’ll restate it: start a Solekvival. Start generating ironic interest in the character and people will begin making MOCs and artwork - eventually it’ll lead to unironic appreciation, and soon you’ll have a subculture in the Bionicle community based around the set design of Solek and the schemes of reimagining the design. You’ll see 3d modeled pieces to make articulated Solek limbs, an articulated torso, more mask variants, less power to the Solekians…

Of course, you could also not. But that’s your choice.

[Sonus]

I want to see art of Solek cosplaying as Kopaka.

[Hawkflight]

@ToaKebaka

The amount of dark grey does not have any weight on the contrast. The fact that it is dark grey does, and it is a very good contrast for all three colors.

This sounds as if you’re saying a white character with grey accents is the equal of a grey character with white accents, which I wouldn’t agree with. If you looked at a figure like Kopaka Phantoka in isolation, I don’t think you could tell he was an ice character because the amount of grey outnumbers the amount of white.

@Willess12

technically speaking, black is the absence of color

But you use white paper to draw with crayons or put into a printer, don’t you? Even if, from our perspective, white is the sum of colors?

@Ghid

Start generating ironic interest in the character and people will begin making MOCs and artwork

I actually made a Toa Solek unironically in 2013, before I knew that there was a consensus dislike of the set.

[Ghid]

@Hawkflight

But you use white paper to draw with crayons or put into a printer, don’t you? Even if, from our perspective, white is the sum of colors?

stop with this Book of Logic babble

White light is the combination of all colors, not white as a color. Black is also both a combination of a good amount of existing colors and black is also representative of a lack of color altogether. There is no point to this particular argument for either side because you’re both right and wrong.

@Hawkflight

I don’t think you could tell he was an ice character because the amount of grey outnumbers the amount of white.

You probably could because there’s no other white Bionicle characters of heroic appearance outside of Takanuva who aren’t ice. Obviously Pridak isn’t ice, but he’s also extremely evil-looking.

Kopaka was on the far end of the Bionicle line, with two very contrasting colors in his scheme. He had the rest of every ice Toa set in the last decade to ride on(and throwbots/roboriders too).

[Sonus]

Pridak must love strawberry jam.

[Hawkflight]

@Ghid

there’s no other white Bionicle characters of heroic appearance outside of Takanuva who aren’t ice.

@Hawkflight

in isolation

post can’t be empty

[Winger]

@Hawkflight

post can’t be empty

You can just write five characters in < > and it counts.

[Krelikan]

Purely subjective opinion on Solek. Visually awful, but by the standard of Av matoran, lower end, but not the worst. I really don’t like his mask, and I think any set which uses the same design for every limb should be frowned upon to some extent. Boy do Av matoran suck.

[Racie02]

@Hawkflight

or put into a printer, d

That’s because ink is black.
If ink were white… Well, we probably wouldn’t use it to print then, but if we did, we’d use black paper.

@Hawkflight

you use white paper to draw with crayons or

Because it shows up better.
As well it should. Black reflects no colors, red reflects only red, and white reflects all. Obviously, white is more different from red than black is.

And that’s why grey+white is so bland. To our eyes, he’s a blank pallete, no colour added, except for the eyes.

[Atobe_Brick]

Just for fun

[Ghid]

why am i not having fun

also is this now Naho

[Rukah]

what’s this topic?