Title says it all. Here’s the deal. Someone on Bricklink shipped this to me and claims that some BIONICLE experts confirmed it is Pearl Dark Gray even though I am highly suspicious that this is nonsense and that it is Metallic Silver. Still I don’t know what is up with Pearl Dark Gray and the Mata masks. Can someone explain this to me?
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I would say metallic silver.
I think the silver ones came in the krana packs.
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Thanks! I would like to hear more input from others just to see if there is a consensus.
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It’s silver, though from what I’ve seen the exact shade of silver the mata masks came in is a bit darker than the silver that most weapons came in.
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Thanks! Here’s the deal. Someone on Bricklink shipped this to me and claims that some BIONICLE experts confirmed it is Pearl Dark Gray even though I am highly suspicious that this is nonsense and that it is Metallic Silver. Still I don’t know what is up with Pearl Dark Gray and the Mata masks. Can someone explain this to me?
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I think that’s because the color they came in is different from modern colors, so they’re confused with pearl dark gray and other modern colors.
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Well that is what I thought but then again, if you look at Bricklink there are two separate entries. The photos of which do seem to differ although it may just as well be the lightning.
The Mata masks were never released in pearl dark grey (AKA gunmetal) or metallic silver.
The mask you received is in a color only ever used on the mata masks and some krana (both came in two collectible parts packs released in 2002)
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So Bricklink just has an entry error?
Which krana was the silver color used on?
Well, for whatever reason, bricklink doesn’t always acknowledge certain colors. For example, it doesn’t distinguish between regular mata colors, and the unique shinier colors found on the rahkshi.
So it’s possible that they just decided that this shade of silver (called “flip-flop silver”) was close enough to pearl dark grey to call it pearl dark grey
All of them. I realize now that my wording was misleading
By the way, I should mention that I myself am not an expert, and everything I’m saying is based off of research.
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Thanks! I know but it is certainly not a protected title. I appreciate the research.
Regardless it could be possible that they saw it as Pearl Dark Gray but that still leaves the entry for Metallic silver; the picture of which looks a lot like the one above. Furthermore, I found on Biosector01 that the Akaku was released in Silver but I found nothing about Pearl Dark Gray. Nor did I on bionicle.fandom. Nor did I when looking at the set the masks were supposed to come with (8559).
https://biosector01.com/wiki/Set:8559
Could it perhaps be that Pearl Dark Gray was only released in US or something?
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No, I’m pretty sure the mask was only released in metallic silver, and it’s just enough of a variable color that Bricklink sellers get mixed up.
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You must be right. I mean look at the ‘different’ entries for the Pakari:
Pearl Dark Gray (no way):
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32566&name=Bionicle%20Mask%20Pakari&category=[Bionicle,%20Kanohi%20Mask]#T=S&C=77&O={"color":77,"iconly":0}
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The picture you posted shows a regular silver Akaku from 2002.
It is indeed a different looking silver than what is used on other silver Bionicle pieces - it is darker, but not to the extent of gunmetal (pearl dark gray).
Here is the comparison of all three colors:
These silver Mata masks also have a characteristic greenish tint when held up against the light, which is visible in the picture you showed. Here is a more pronounced example:
I see listings for several different silvers on bricklink, but it really should be only one. I also noticed gold masks being dispersed between metallic gold and copper categories. This is also incorrect - there are only gold Mata masks, but the gold does in fact slightly resemble copper color as it is more orange than dark gold.
It seems these listings are a product of sellers trying (and failing) to interpret the color of the masks they are selling.
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Thanks for the pictures! Indeed when you shine a bright light on the masks it becomes very clear that they are not Pearl Dark Gray.
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Yeah, I’ve been trying to get Bricklink to allow us to inventory the mask packs for ages so sellers can stop guessing, and be on the same page as to what colors were actually released.
EDIT: I did at least get the Red Ruru added last year as part of the clock, to reduce confusion with Nuhrii’s mask.
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Good call. Also it is true that Bricklink does not recognize some colors and groups them together instead. For example “Copper” includes at least 4 distinct colors from what I have seen.
I will post some further comparisons later today.
UPDATE:
So here it is - first row includes dark gold masks and third row pearl gold masks. in between is golden Mata mask with two Knights Kingdom II crowns, one in pearl gold and the other matching the gold Miru in color.
This orange-like gold is recognized by bricklink as copper, however it is always used to represent something gold and is a very different color from actual copper, which you can see in the last row on the shield. This is also the same copper used on copper masks of victory, and Exo-Force Iron Drones. The shoulder pad in the second row is yet another color recognized as copper:
PS: the gold Mata Kanohi also look green when held against a light.
PPS: The more I look into this the more false information I find on bricklink.
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So by Bionicle Gold, Copper and Silver do they actually mean the copper, gold and silver 2001 masks?
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