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:
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…
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…
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.
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