Which golden Kaukau is the correct one?

[JeyTheCount]

While browsing online I found out that there are TWO golden-ish Kaukaus floating around. One is just solid gold like all other Golden Masks, the other is transparent yellow. The transparent yellow looks more like the only Gali had in MNOG…

So my question is - I want to finish my Toa Mata collection by giving them all golden masks, which of these two is the “canonical” one?

[TheTDChronicler]

Solid Gold is the canon one
Transparent one is just supposed to be yellow I think

[JeyTheCount]

Well thank God then because the yellow one costs like a gozzillion for some reason.

[TotalMaddness]

Trans-yellow is one of the two EU-exclusive “misprint” Kaukaus along with trans-medium blue (they’re not actually misprints but it’d take a while to explain :P)

To complete the gold masks the gold Kaukau is officially what you’re looking for, though I have seen some people use the yellow one because she’s actually able to see through its visor

[JeyTheCount]

@TotalMaddness

they’re not actually misprints but it’d take a while to explain

By all means do explain. I’m curious.

[Chronicler]

Gali is canonically blinded by her golden mask confirmed

[TheJerminator]

@JeyTheCount

By all means do explain

There are 14 masks that are collectively referred to as the “European misprints”, though as was previously stated, they aren’t actually accidental misprints:

(The name is really old, from back when everyone just assumed the masks were made by mistake)

The short version is that these fourteen masks were once intended to be widely released in the mask packs, but were changed/removed later in development. However, the change must have happened after a bunch were already made, so they got released anyways.

As far as I know, there’s no 100% confirmed story about why these masks were made, or why they got released. The whole thing has been discussed at length in many topics here on the Boards:

The Orignal Role of the Ruru & Matatu (2001 Research)

This is a smaller “project” I’ve been working on over the summer. It is mainly a a compilation of several different pieces of research on the 2001 sets, and discoveries and theories that have come alongside with them. As the title of this post says, a lot of it pertains particularly to the Kanohi Ruru and Kanohi Matatu, the masks worn by Turaga Whenua and Nuju. Some this stuff you have already heard of, some of it you may not. A lot of this has come together through discussion with several community members on different fronts and I do want to say, those discussions and the sharing of knowledge are always incredibly fun. I’d also like to bring attention to the Peter Mack interview, which can be found here. I found it a highly interesting read, and just a tid bit from it is what lead me t…

Rare Kanohi research topic

One of my questions in the recent Bionicle quiz has sparked a discussion and I decided to make a standalone topic dedicated to this. In the realms of Bionicle collectibles there is this group of 2001 Kanohi commonly known as “UK misprints” or “european misprints”. These include Kaukau in trans-yellow and trans-light blue colors, and Matatu and Ruru in Toa colors. However what most people don’t know is that these are not misprints at all. What I mean by this is that they were not produced by accident. They are in fact older versions of the masks for certain elements intended to be sold in mask packs and were later changed to their current colors. All of them were a part of promotional display in Legoland Windsor. I do not wish to repeat myself so check the following topic for the picture a…

Bionicle trivia Quiz! Test your knowledge

They used to be displayed in the public promotional displays in Legoland Windsor back in early 2001. You can see all the masks allocated to their wearers. The light blue Kaukau belonged to Kopaka (to match his eye stalk) and the yellow one is Pohatu (because yellow is close to the sand-ish colors). Light blue was probably too close to regular blue and may have confused consumers, so they changed it to icy clear color. Pohatu’s yellow was changed to trans neon-orange to match his eye stalk. Ruru and Matatu were changed to match the rest of Turaga masks. These masks being “misprints” is easily one of the most widespread misconceptions in the community.

Revelations in the Element IDs of early BIONICLE

Good observation about the Master Builder set. For the Turaga staves, it may be a holdover from an earlier design of the left arm. [bild] I particularily do think they’re related due to the use of medium lime. I guess I should bring up that there is more evidence to this: http://bzpower.info/story.php?ID=277 https://news.lugnet.com/technic/bionicle/?n=75 https://news.lugnet.com/dear-lego/?n=2911 https://news.lugnet.com/technic/bionicle/?n=153 Per the contemporary Lugnet reports, the original international release of 8525 did not simply include the neon yellow/blue Kaukau & Toa-colored Ruru/Matatu in addition - it did not include the neon orange or clear Kaukau at all, NONE of the six Turaga-colored masks, and not the Infected Mask either. As per the BZPower post, this mistake occ…

[Wolk]

@TheJerminator

As far as I know, there’s no 100% confirmed story about why these masks were made, or why they got released.

Bionicle™ - BZPower News, Reference and Discussion
I heard from a Lego source, that the people who were actually producing the masks got their wires crossed with the people who were actually writing the story. The writers in the USA and Europe were working on one Kanohi plan, while the molders and producers of the masks had that plan mixed up.

I don’t think it’s that ambigious at this point - The production plan got mixed up with an older revision.

As for if they’re misprints or not, there’s been a lot of arguments about that terminology, but it ultimately comes down to how you define it, there’s no objective meaning to words. I view ‘misprint’ as the result of machine error, where as the release of these is communication error.

[MooCowsRock]

Everyone has already answered the question and I agree the actual golden mask is the mask you want, but in regards to the rare/“misprint” masks I have to ask: Isn’t the black Ruru a normal release mask, on account of being packaged with Hafu as both a Tohunga and a rebuilt Matoran?

[TheJerminator]

Yes; while the Toa-coloured Matatu and Ruru were theoretically removed from the mask packs due to a change in plans, the black Ruru still found release in a set. The red Ruru was also released in a clock (or at least some versions of it):

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?G=7397#T=I

People still like to collect them as “European “misprints”” for the sake of completion, though.