I suppose, but the reason I felt so disconnected the Metru nui saga toa were mostly because of the following:
- Colour scheme. The added secondary colours looked downright strange.
- The masks of some of the toa (i.e Vakama, Nokama, and Matau) Vakama lost the fierce fiery look his set mask had, instead of the piercing angles of the original, movie Vakama looked more gentle, for the lack of a better word. Nokama’s is almost completely different, although I must admit, it looks miles better. Since they had to integrate a mouth into the films, Matau’s mask has a weird bird-like mouth thing. I didn’t like it. Not at all.
- Proportions, and fine detailing. From the references you provided, it’s pretty clear that the film toa had a much larger chest, bulkier shins, and smaller shoulders. I’m not saying it’s a bad design, per say, I’m saying that it didn’t look like the sets. The detailed aesthetic was also lost in the film toa, the many intricate details on the thigh armor, the angular and geometric design of the shoulders, and the rest of their entire torso areas just looked off.
The film designs weren’t all too shabby, some even looked better than their actual sets. However, they simply didn’t quite capture the essence of the toa as well as it could have. Yes, this is an opinion, and an entirely subjective one. But we’re all entitled to one, aren’t we?