Fiddlesticks, that’s a good point.
I may have to change my answer to the poll.
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It’s a big part of the reason they, and also Jaller for other reasons, are in a three way tie for my favorite Toa.
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Yeah, the differences (or lack thereof) between Gali and Onua were pretty apparent in early G3-focused podcasts even when their gender differences were a given. In the story I wrote delving into their G1 personalities, the difference I seized on (or perhaps imagined and then worked off of) was Gali’s focus on Unity and Onua’s focus on Duty as their guiding principles. For Gali, the team came first, while for Onua the job came first regardless of who was working on it with him. I’m not sure whether such a difference could be easily showcased in a G3 story with the subtle difference of gender eliminated between the characters… that’d require some more thinking on my part to come up with a conclusive answer.
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I think, in that case, Onua would stay better male. It’s kinda a stereotype, but usually men value work, and that’s definitely something Onua is like. He values his friends, but also could guide the Onu-Matorans with their tunnel-digging.
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True on the stereotype, but remember that in G3 Earth has already been re-cast from mining and industry-focused to more… nature-focused. Yeah, Onua could be a fanatical gardener, but I think that the focus on growth and creation of life that may come with this ■■■■■ in Earth’s ‘elemental persona’ may yet make room for a female Onua, maybe one who’s very protective of her own region and all that lives in it and is willing to hang the others out to dry if working with them prevents her from protecting her region to the best of her ability. That would run very contrary to Gali’s focus on teamwork above all else, and would also contrast very well with a more carefree, happy to go wherever she’s needed Lewa. This female Onua could be a great method to explore how a mother’s job and need to protect/raise her children (more inherent to the female sex, though certainly not absent in the male) can be at odds sometimes, though casting the Region of Earth as Onua’s ‘child’ instead of giving her actual offspring. Also, how often has this role of a ‘working mother,’ if you will, been explored in media not targeted at adults to begin with? It may just be me, but I can’t think of an example off the top of my head…
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I say we just make Gali a male and not have any females at all.
~W12~
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Dangit Scorpion, why do you always come up with so many brilliant ideas?
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Who needs grills?
Grills are scary, and mean, so how can a grill be a Toa?
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Not to sound too… self-aggrandizing, but I write a lot. I mean, have you seen the Folly of the Toa? I basically spent a year and so, so many pages delving into the personalities of G1’s Toa Nuva as I imagined them. And when writing, I ask myself what I can explore through these characters all the time. This isn’t really any different.
Also, I watch youtube videos on how various pieces of media explore parts of the human condition. Very informative, very inspiring, would highly recommend.
Tiny bits of it. Read it at the beginning but I kinda got intimidated by it’s large size. 
Let’s not get too off-topic tho. We could further this discussion in a PM tho.
The problem with a female pohatu lies in Pohatu’s personality. TTV has said that Pohatu’s personality is the “friend to all Matoran”, the chill guy who is always hanging out and playing Kohlii with the Matoran, and that’s a archetypical guy personality.
Lewa, on the other hand, can go either way, and in fact, a free-spirited, carefree, adventurous girl is one of my favorite types of characters.
As for Onua, there’s a bit of his personality that is vaguely touched upon in G1: his tendency to let others do what they want. Gali was all about unity, while Onua stayed silent when Tahu and Kopaka went at it and broke up the team. Gali is more like the overprotective mom, while Onua is more the “you do what you want” type, but also softhearted enough to help you out when things go badly.
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I agree - I’ve always liked that type of female character. And as others have said. it would be a good counter to Gali’s more solemn personality.
But I also really like what Scorpion suggested for a female Onua. I’m leaning towards Lewa right now, but all of these are such good ideas.
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Forgive me, but it feels like the cast is just doing what it wants and throwing up polls to see what the popular choice is. I haven’t seen a cast member change their mind personally, but I have seen users say they disagree with a change but will go along with ttv anyway.
If you change a characters personality, and their gender, is it still the same character?
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Why not both?
A 50-50 ratio is fine too.
~W12~
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Just pointing out that it’s an assumption. This next episode will be a bit full of things to further discuss.
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So I guess we’re just going to ignore the conclusion to the last podcast where it was the community that was able to convince us to stick with Pohatu and Kopaka not only remaining in the story, but retaining their respective elements despite three weeks worth of debating the merits of removing them?
You are under the presumption that the problem that is being presented (IE. limiting gender ratio, too similar elemental power sets) and the solution for said problem (IE. changing the gender of the Toa, giving new elements to the Toa) is a word for word execution of how it will play out in this hypothetical G3 when in reality its just to set up a challenging scenario to help the fans and ourselves think critically about the best way to shape Bionicle.
If you can actually make a good claim as to why we shouldn’t make a certain change, then do so, we will listen. Despite your belief, our opinions can be swayed. The arguments that have been presented thus far have simply not done that.
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That would be the polls of popular choice I mentioned, I understand your point.
If that’s the intention it hasn’t come across, it’s appeared, to me at least, that these polls and discussions were to determine the ‘word for word execution’ of g3, since the cast seem to be locking in the decisions as they’re made and moving forward as if they won’t change under any circumstances. Perhaps I’ve simply misunderstood or misconstrued things, but that’s how it’s come across to me.
And here’s my concern, that nothing will, that no matter how compelling an argument is it won’t change your minds. Just read through the discussion in the ‘official ttv canon’ topic(which’ title is an example of the point I made about ‘locking in’ the decisions you’re making, but I digress) there are compelling arguments being made, imo.
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Why would you change the gender?
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The question on everyone’s minds…
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See previous 120 answers to that question.
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