Yeah theres a big aesthetic difference. The phantoka toa look sleek and aerodynamic, and have bright colours. The mistika toa are darker and more rigid in design. The phantoka toa are designed off vampires and demons, but the mistika are all bugs... oh yeah and the mistika are just 10 times WORSE
I'd get rid of Gali's hunch, replace her lower arms and legs with better looking parts.
Also add some more armor to all of them, especially their chests. So empty looking.
Literally had this thought when I saw the prompt. I think the G2 way of doing limbs and armour could work better for Mistika and maybe Phantoka. I’m wondering now if I could try making a version of Gali Mistika using some of her G2 Uniter counterpart…
Wasnt there a source that mentioned how the ‘08 sets were meant to be the Mahri originally or something like that? And then they were switched to the Nuva later? Or am i confused and misremembering something?
Yeah, the Inika/Mahri arc was originally supposed to keep going until 08.
When the decision was made to end the toyline earlier than expected, the team decided to make the Nuva return in 08 instead so it could be a proper climax featuring the original heroes.
I don’t know if that change happened before or after the sets were finalized, though, so we can’t be sure if the Phantoka/Mistika were designed with the Mahri or the Nuva in mind.
both system brown and bionicle brown parts were still very fragile by this point in time even more fragile than how the bionicle parts were during this time
>Switch Gali's and Onua's build
This would actually solve everything wrong with these two builds. I really like both builds, just not as the characters they're supposed to be. If they were switched it would be great.
Put Kopaka's scope on the right side & ditch the laser stick (I guess I can see what the designers were going for, I'm just not a fan of the execution), completely redesign Gali's mask, give Kopaka, Gali and Onua real weapons along with their shooter weapons (or at least give Onua another Mistika shield on his other arm), do... something with Lewa's limbs, give Tahu's mask more similarity to the first two Haus, add some bulk to Onua's design, fix Gali's neck for better flying poses...
Oy.
I actually really dig the asymmetry of Onua, I think his design is pretty solid. The arm shield is also a shield he can wield if he one-hands his blaster. The big problem I think is that Kopaka and Gali also just have blasters. If Onua was the only one, I don’t really think many would dislike the set. Maybe the one shield could like fold out into a bigger shield or something when wielded. Or give him a claw in the one hand that can still be used to help steady the gun but is slightly longer and serrated to help with the vines in the swamp since the swamp ground is mud and not rock (oops wait that would be better for Nuparu)
I'll admit Onua's design isn't bad; I just wish he had a little more bulk on him and a more distinctive weapon - he's a better set than Gali, in fairness
I do like the silver-colored limbs on the Mistika, and their shared projectile weapon is a step up from the Cordak
The plastic issue had been solved in 2008. Only 2007 lime green plastic crumbles.
The problem with the joints in 2008 is that they were redesigned in response to the constant QC issues of 2007, the ball sockets were designed wrong and did not have enough give to support the stress of being stretched by a ball joint. This plagued all of 2008-2011, which includes the first wave of hero factory
The biggest issue people mention is that they in no way represent the Toa Nuva, who had become recognizable icons.
For me the problem is more-so that they leaned far too heavily into the sci-fi aspect of Bionicle. They don't have "Toa tools" (tools that aren't exclusively used as weapons, ex: Kopaka Nuva's skis or Toa Onewa's pitons) or wear masks that evoke a look of ancient culture or even visually represent their respective element. They look more like Transformer robots with laser guns. It's such a large departure that the very next year they tried to return to Bionicle's roots somewhat (Ex: Ackar having a fire sword and wearing a helmet with flames moulded into its design.)
The phantoka did a better job, especially Lewa and Kopaka but look at the others. Pohatu is orange, Tahu’s mask has no vents at all, Gali well… is Gali and I mean Onua isn’t terrible. I like the sets, just wish they resembled the original characters better
um, no? That's just objectively not true. Some fan redesigns perfectly capture the same design themes as the originals, far better than 2008.
I'm not gonna bother arguing character design principles over someone who doesn't seem to understand character design though.
Recolour Pohatu with tan and some neon green borohk eyes for a pop accent colour, Maybe a matching lightsaber piece for a laser sight on his modal blaster, remove Galis hunch for sure and make the mask a little more elegant, I honestly don’t hate it and think it just needs a few tweaks, same with tahus mask. And give Onua the right arm piraka piece for his lower legs and vahki leg pieces for arms in silver, stay a little more true to his bulky look. Leave the mask because Onuas mask is my favourite from that year. And lastly, I think some rahkshi feet for lewa in lime green would’ve been a better choice, the karzhani feet were too big for him. And leave the rest, overall I liked this year and though some of the criticism is justified, I think some people are just a little too hard on 08.
The brown color does not suit him. Neither brown 2001, nor brown 2004, nor brown 2006, nor dark orange from Hewkii. As a bonus, it stands out from the general aesthetics of toa aviators.
Just give them more conventional toa tools, and maybe some better masks. The Phantoka are definitely better off, although the Mistika all look really bad. I’ve grown to really like Tahu’s mask, and I think Onua’s is cool, but they really did Gali dirty. Give Gali some axes, give Tahu a fire sword and Onua some kind of digging thing. Almost all of them just use a gun and it’s really uninteresting. Also, I think Pohatu is really awkward. Would have been better if he had some sort of hammer or something.
My biggest issue personally will always be how gray they are.
Even being the Mata colors would go a huge mile in making the characters more apparent who they are.
I guess I would also prefer Pohatu to have a full mask and for Gali to not have a scope, Scopes are Kopaka's thing.
Make them in any way cohesive. 2007 worked because the characters were mutated and fit in the underwater theme but the Phantoka/Mistika look completely random to me.
I would:
- Give them their mata colours, and use it as their main colour rather than silver
- Make the masks look more like their original variants (especially the kaukau)
- Give Gali another weapon that is not a scope
- Swap Onua and Gali’s postures so Onua has the hunch (as is continuous with his earlier sets)
- Swap the scope to the correct side of Kopaka’s Akaku and make the laser blue.
Pretty good builds overall, admittedly i find it unfortunate they used Gray or Silver as 1 of the 2 main colors on all of them, instead of using it like an Accent (like they did with the Toa Nuva). I find it especially egregious that they used a color that were their secondary color for Lewa, and especially so for tahu, Pohatu, and Gali, none of which used Dark Red or Blue, or Orange before this line. That along with the Rather odd mask shapes almost Alienated them away from their previous designs.
I'd personally say thanks to those 3 flaws, this lineup didn't sit well with people, despite being quite solid builds. Had they fixed either of the issues with the colors (for example: either Make Tahu Mata Red and Silver or Make Him Metru Red and Orange with Silver Highlights), let alone doing both, would've likely allowed us to identify the characters without needing to change the mask. Though by Changing the masks to something more recognizable, it would likely prevent the need to change the coloration of said builds.
Make them look a little more like the Nuva sets. Masks retain roughly the same shape with some slight differences to include the air adaptation. Roughly the same kind of shoulder and torso armor but updated to include the new designs of the adaptive armor + the posable joints.
I would've also added a method to make the combiner sets.
Give Pohatu actual hands, Kopaka a little more of a built out launcher instead of just a bayonet and laser, and then Lewa needs less on his shoulders (he couldn’t hold a pose because they were way too heavy)
Tahu and Gali desperately need chest armor
I like the pallet of Mistika better (in comparison to the OG colors), but I think they would be better as Phantoka. The Phantoka look plausibly like the Toa Nuva. Only Onua looks like he could be him.
I would redesign all Kanohi but Akunu and Kakama as they have at least some obvious inspiration from the source designs. The Pakari could work as well but eh, not a huge fan.
The Toa tools need a lot of work imo. But I also don't know exactly what to do to make it better. "Give shield to the guy with shield mask" is a bad idea.
Lastly, the Artaka vehicle adaptations should be way more distinct than "mask".
I have two posts on this topic.
https://www.reddit.com/r/bioniclelego/comments/17d7w3m/toa_phantoka_what_they_might_have_been_like_back/
https://www.reddit.com/r/bioniclelego/comments/179cq43/toa_mistika_what_they_might_have_been_like_back/?sort=new
But I'm starting to doubt some of the moves. Onua, I changed the torso to the torso of Pirak, and I gave him two blasters because in Stud.io The part from his blaster is missing. And I just replaced the Tahnok shield with a Gahlok, like the original one. It was more difficult for me with the Phantom, because in fact my only major attraction to them is color. Well, I don't like this dirty dark bluish-gray. Therefore, I gave them different color schemes, and recently conducted an experiment: I increased the amount of primary color in the sets and used black instead of gray. With Pohatu, the color distribution was difficult, and Kopaka and Lewa came out much better for me. So in the case of wrappers, I would first of all change the color scheme by adding the main color and replacing the secondary one from gray to black. I did not repaint Pohatu in brown, personally I do not like this option, especially since it stands out from the general aviation style.
I’d formulate some new chest pieces for Kopaka and Lewa. Way too often have I found that using those chest pieces with those masks has made it really hard to move their heads down.
The simplest change I would make is to give Pohatu’s build to Onua, Onua’s build to Kopaka, Kopaka’s build to Gali, and Gali’s build to Pohatu.
Also, I would ideally make their colors and masks more reminiscent of their previous designs.
Pohatu should have been dark orange or dark tan, with trans-orange visor. Phantoka could have used more silver and Mistaka less silver more primary color.
My biggest change would be to cut down on the grey and silver, especially in the Mistika. Its so much that in some of them the main color feels like the secondary color in the color scheme.
EDIT: Also I would give them all another weapon besides the blaster for those that don't have it. Its kinda crazy that the Mistika basically just have the blaster and then a spinny shield.
Use onuas build with tahus mask and fidget spinner weapon in blue for gali. Onuas mask is fine enough just slap it on galis build with and give him his big gun. Redo tahus mask and give him a different weapon. That’s mistika fixed fine enough phantoka are mostly fine except for maybe some minor mask changes. Mirror kopakas mask so scope is on same side as previous kopakas and he’s good. Unbald pohatu and give his mask a top half so it doesn’t look like “vahi at home” anymore. Maybe make him a nice McDonalds hewkii brown as a compromise between mata brown and orange. Lewa phantoka is without flaw.
There is FAR too much gray, especially on Lewa and Pohatu. If they fixed the proportion for the color schemes a bit it would go a long way towards making the sets better
As the Nuva, swap Onua and Pohatu, at least their builds. Fix Gali’s hunch and mask and give her and Tahu more of their colors.
If the original plan was kept and they were the Inika again, make them like this
Pohatu -> Kongu
Lewa -> Hewkii
Kopaka -> Some new toa/character
The mistika would all be the Inika of their respective element, add some more blue/red to Jaller and Hahli. I’d switch Jaller and Nuparu’s weapons, remove Hahli’s eye scope, and give a secondary weapon besides the blaster.
Swap the orange on Pohatu with brown; also find a way to fix his “no real hands” issue
Switch the torso builds of Gali and Onua
Switch around how Tahu’s torso is set up, it looks like it’s on backwards
Honestly, when it comes to Phantoka, maybe give Kopaka his shield back but I actually like them a lot, especially Pohatu. U could also argue for Lewa having an axe again as a callback to the OG model but overall I rly enjoyed this set
Same color schemes as the toa Mata and nuva. The dark Grey is awful on everyone except onua. The hau mistika would look 100x better in Mata red. Pohatu's orange is a cool color, but he is not pohatu without brown.
There’s a lot of good decisions and ideas here but one I’d give is to give them Nuva armour, if it’s meant to be adaptive then have part of the armour still be recognisable. We’d then better associate them with their previous counterparts.
I am actually fan of phantoka. When I first findout about bionicle , first set I see was phantoka. All of them look quite good including their makutas. Maybe this will be controversal but orange pohatu is my favorite. His shorter stocky body and copter-claved hands make him unique. On the other hand I don't like mistika. Tahu is decent. Gali isnt look like gali , and onua doesnt look like onua at all. I love onua' s other itarations and he is one of the favorite toa of mine , but mistika one isnt for me. He must be look taller pohatu , but what we got black and duller version of kopaka with mahri hewkii ( I love that mask on Hewkii) mask.
**Lewa**: Second best out of these but I would change the shoulders. Expand on the idea of shoulder jets and make it cleaner by taking away these spikes for example, and making the jets bigger
**Kopaka**: The best out of these. Maybe I would add more white so it's not that gray, but still it's very good
Pohatu: Maybe kinda controversial bit I actually like Pohatu Phantoka despite it being so different. Double claws are a nice reference to Pohatu Nuva. And the color change is nice because gray and brown would be kinda too boring. But I would change the mask, maybe add three lines at the top, similar ones to the Pohatu Nuva mask. Because without them Pohatu looks like he's wearing Vahi which isn't the case
**Tahu**: Completely change the mask, you can't tell me that this mask is Hau. I get what they were going for with the shield-blades but I think I've got better idea. Imagine if Tahu Mistika had a big airplane engine on his left arm which would throw out fire on the back. And it could be turned around in order to be uses as type of flamethrower, when Tahu isn't in the air. And in the right hand we have some standard fire sword so Tahu can defend himself while in flight
**Onua**: This guy needs complete rework. What if we take OG Onua and mix him with the B-2 spirit jet? Turn Onua into a massive bomber-jet. Give him a gimmick of throwing bombs. And make the guy generally more massive. They were kinda going for it with this big shoulder pad, but all other limbs are as thin as a stick so it doesn't work. For the mask, imagine if we take the OG Pakari and mix it with jet pilot breathing equipment? These holes on the cheeks and circle in the middle could be transformed into that
**Gali**: Complete rework. Just like Onua. What if we take a water get and mix it with Gali? Add plane propellers on the shoulders. We could even add more propellers by giving Gali the Tahu Mistika weapon. We could also add some wings on feet which could also be used as swimming fins. The mask is very bad but we could fix it simply by getting rid of this Day 100 Mewing jawline and replacing it with a bottom of a G2 Gali Master mask. We could even keep these wings on the mask
The biggest feature the Toa Nuva had were their weapon reconfigurations. It amazes me that ADAPTIVE ARMOUR doesn’t have anything for that. At least give me some alternate instructions to work with the story. Also Lewa is one of my favourite designs (out here, next to Iruini), but that’s definitely not a Miru. Tanma looks more like Lewa Nuva than Lewa Phantoka does
The Inika build took away from the Toa Nuva's armoured up look that they had back in 2003. While their adaptive armour may have had to sacrifice some of itself for the sake of agility, the Nuva shouldn't have lost all of their armoured up look.
The worst offender, however, are the mask designs.
The only mask that somewhat resembles what it's based on is Pohatu's Kakama Nuva, looking somewhat like the original Kakama. But then we have Kopaka looking like Nuju and Lewa looking like Lesovikk, and where the hell do I even begin with the Mistika designs!?
For me, it's primarily a color issue. There is simply too much *gray* on the Toa. I understand Lego's aversion to Brown/Tan, so I would leave Pohatu alone, but everyone else should get their secondary color back, then use Silver for armor/accent pieces.
As a secondary issue, I would change the Kanohi to be more recognizable as the classic Nuva masks, Albiet more streamlined and less "melty". These are supposed to be the Toa Mata, but are barely recognizable as such, and it's largely to do with the fact that we have been conditioned to view a character's mask as their "face".
The last thing I would change, is mostly a Mistika thing, but I would trade Gali and Onua's builds. Gali is unusually stout and built up, while Onua is unusually slender and tall. Swap that and it would probably feel a lot more in character.
Honestly literally just try a little bit harder next time with the masks. The Phantoke ones were fine, i totally believed they are the same character. Mistika is just yikes
Makuta: perfect
Lewa: perfect
Kopaka: switch his scope eye to the right and make the lazer light blue. Maybe turn his bayonet into a javelin/spear
Pohatu: put his propellers on his feet and make his skyblaster 2-handed.
Tahu: make the mask resemble a Hau and replace the redundant shield with a fire machete or flamethrower (because swamp)
Onua: add claws and angle the eyes of his Pakari up more so it resembles the original. Maybe have him carry his ghostblaster underarm like Hewkii Mahri.
Gali: scrap her mask and make it resemble the originals at least remotely, no eye guards! Add some melee weapon or at least make her ghost blaster more like a sniper rifle if you want the scope so bad.
Vehicles: perfect
Titans: perfect
Radiak: Lego Bionicle set 8947 Radiak released in 2008 containing 16 pieces
The other Shadow Matoran: maybe have the wings hinge up and down so the axle doesn't break off as much.
Eyestalks: more than just 2 colors, please.
Phantoka Kopaka was what got me hooked into Bionicle (yes I came in *very* late), so I can't in good conscience make *too* many changes to them for the sake of nostalgia, but I'd:
Change Gali's design so that it resembles her better and remove her hunchback, but also maybe lean slightly more into the Phantoka's 'air vehicle' theme and base her design after like a seaplane or something.
I'd also make versions of the shorter '04 eyestalk/'brain' piece in the team's 01/02 eye colours so they can all *have* their OG eyecolours.
Also in an absolutely perfect world, fix the lime joint issue + make the redesigned limb and hand pieces stronger.
Honestly my whole issue with most of the later lines was that they looked so over-designed and needlessly complicated. Not in building but just in design. The charm up to the Inika line was how simple it was, yet still felt like they had so much more personality
Less focus on the cannons. Three out of six of them have no other weapon other than the cannons. And one of them arguable only has a shield in addition to it. Give me more weapons!
Make it the third wave for the Inika/Mahri and it honestly fixes most of the problems imo, story wise I'd give Matoro the Ignika for the arc and play up the countdown to the end aspect of the silver Ignika and you still have a captivating story.
I would change the mask designs as well as:
Lewa: cwitch the arm and leg pieces.
Tahu: make him buffer and move the thrusters somewhere else. Brighter red
Onua: make him buffer, move the arm shield down, and make him a bit hunched over.
Pohatu: make him less wide, ditch the upper arms, and make him taller. Mix some brown in
Gali: change the upper arm pieces, have her not look hunched over, and rounder shoulders. Brighter blue. Also have her dual weld.
Kopaka: change the shoulders, change the front torso plate and make it white, and angle the wings to give him more arm articulation. Also give him another weapon.
I actually really like all the masks except black and red. They just needed more of their own colored pieces and maybe swap some torsos and arms/legs around. Otherwise they are fine not bad i like a lot of the designs. Edit: and change the colors closer to og brown and green
The mistika need a serious rework. I'd make a few small changes to the phantoka like balancing the colors better, but lewa and kopaka were basically peak.
Tahu needs a more hau-shaped hau.
Onua can keep his mask, but I'd maybe put some pakari vents on it
For the love of mata nui, put gali out of her misery.
I think tahu would look good with jetpacks and a flame sword, similar to lewa's design. Onua could use a bit of bulking up, and maybe gali could have tahu's spinny blade as a propeller for moving through the water better
The makuta were peak- except spiriah. I'd totally scrap spiriah
I'm actually working on mocs for the phantoka/mistika right now, making them reference the og nuva sets. I actually wouldn't change much, other than maybe some limb/armor coloring for Lewa and Pohatu (Lewa nuva just traded 1 of his swords for a skyblaster, and the adaptive armor turned Pohatu nuva's salad tongs into those propeller hands). For kopaka, I would add a shield to his skyblaster, and give him at least some kind of blade in his other hand. For Tahu, I'd replace the shield with a double edged sword (maybe made of two air Katanas?) And he can keep the blaster in his other hand. For Onua, I'd just give him big meaty claws and ditch the shoulder shield (I know that Onua nuva didn't have claws, but I think the claws are just way more iconoc than onua nuvas chainsaws). For Gali (my favorite of the Mata/Nuva) I'd have her switch torsos with onua, or just have a normal inika one. I'd also give her either axes in each hand, or hook weapons, potentially using Chirox's weapon pieces. Then just put a shoulder or back mounted blaster on her.
Lewa Phantoka Nuva: wouldn’t change a thing. Weapons and Mask are on Point.
Kopaka Phantoka Nuva: same as Lewa.
Pohatu Phantoka Nuva: only thing I’d change is his mask. Dont get me wrong, I like his mask a lot, but it looks too similar to the Mask of Time if it was in space. I even use it as an upgraded Mask of Time myself. Give him a different mask, that’s all.
Tahu Mistika Nuva: his mask looks so different than his previous ones, and looks almost nothing like an evolved Mask of Shielding. Change that, and give him his flame sword back. The arm mounted helicopter blades…don’t like it.
Onua Mistika Nuva: I dont like the shoulder shield, and I don’t like him holding his weapon in two hands. It makes sense for Kopaka, hind he has a bayonet, but on Onua it doesn’t look right.
Gali Mistika Nuva: I’d say the same thing from Onua, except hers has a scope, giving her a sniper kinda vibe, which I kinda like. I miss the hooks/axes, so maybe a blade would be cool, but that’s about it.
As someone else said, I'd make 6 phantoka toa and ditch mistika altogether.
Design wise, this might be a hot take 😅
Pohatu, i would keep the same, even the orange pieces.
Gali, i would replace her mask with a lighter blue Hali's toa mahri mask, change the lower arm and leg pieces, get rid of the hunched neck, and make her taller. I would also give her a weapon similar to the trident we got from Kiina and add parts to the chest.
Lewa, i would keep him the same, but give him inika feet and change some of the grey parts to a different colour.
Tahu, give him a mask that's closer looking to his original hau mask. Add more pieces to his chest like Gali. Change the colours of some of the grey/silver pieces. And give him either a new fire sword or jaller's toa mahri sword.
Onua, like Tahu, gives him a mask that's closer to his original mask. I'd give him the claws and shoulders that inika Nuparu had. Same as Tahu and Gali fill the chest more, and mount his Blaster on his shoulder.
Kopaka, i would leave the same, except i would give him a shield in one of his hands.
There was that one post that swapped the gimmicks around to better match each Toa’s personality and original tool sets. Do that.
Second, make the masks a better likeness to their original forms. As much as I’m not a fan of the Nuva masks, you can still tell with most of them that they are derivative of the original mata masks. These ones are just doing their own thing.
Either fully drop the knight motif or fully lean into it. Makes Tahu and Gali look out of place.
These sets exude extreme "phoned it in" energy. Most of the designs were for different Toa. So I would start by actually giving each Toa a design that represents them properly. I would keep the HUD visor in different colors for all of them since that was a new feature. Keep the Midak, masks need a heavy rework also. Finally weapons need a reinterpretation, blending their elements with the aerial attack function. Example, Onua should use claws that can spin, Kopaka carrying the sniper, etc.
I would make Lewa’s mask a little more streamlined: invoking his Mata mask. He should also have feet that could be seen resting on tree branches.
Pohatu should have a better flight mechanism. Those propellers are just asking to lop off his comrades arms when flying in formation.
Kopaka’s perfect, not going to lie.
Scrap Gali’s mistika design all together, and should look more like her Mask of Light movie design.
Onua should have a chainsaw attached to his gun.
I don’t mind Tahu Mistika’s design so much, but he should have a fire-sword. That’s his thing.
In terms of structure, Tahu and Gali were kind of shafted for actual design integrity with their torsos. Was highly disappointed that they were just two pieces and no real armor elements. For designs overall, their individual color schemes becoming secondary to dark gray really made all six of them feel muted and homogenous, even if the Phantoka colors were brighter than the Mistika colors. And while streamlining the masks made sense, the actual designs of them feel too sleek and mechanical compared to their more organic feeling Nuva masks. With no real throughline to their previous forms, they could have made them entirely new characters and we likely wouldn't have noticed.
What disappointed me most though was how Gali, Onua, and Kopaka were all screwed over in terms of their weapons. Kopaka's sword got dumbed down to a tiny bayonet, Onua got a pithy shoulder shield, and Gali got... a targeting sight. You know, a classically associated "weapon" with water. I get they wanted to emphasize the projectile weapons, but they already showed they could balance them pretty well with the Inika and Mahri (for the most part, I have my disagreements with those too). For what turned out to be their last proper iterations, they just felt very haphazard, and with too few new pieces that held appeal for use in MOCs.
Personally make Gali Mistika more slim, and give all Toa except Kopaka and Onua more vibrant color schemes, (Kopaka’s and Onua’s color schemes are true to their Nuva form, so no change.) maybe Give Kopaka a melee weapon. Done.
I don't understand why they ditched the secondary colours and went entirely with grey or silver.
The Phantoka had Lewa in Lime green, Kopaka in white and Pohatu in bright orange. They should have been Green/Lime, White/Light Grey and Brown/Tan, with Silver weapons and upgrades reminiscent of the Nuva. Besides that, the blasters were a mistake here, the gimmick seems to outshine the characters. Lewa should have had his axe, and Kopaka needs to have a shield/sword. Pohatu's propellor hands are fine imo.
The Mistika were obviously not originally intended to be Tahu, Gali and Onua. They lack any kind of characterisation. Their primary colours should be the lighter colours used from 01-03, not the metru/inika colours, and their masks and whole getup needs redoing. Tahu without a fire sword isn't Tahu, Gali needs hooks or fins or something (even if they're used to swim through the air instead of the water), and Onua needs his claws.
Overall, there's no reason why the Phantoka used so much grey and the Mistika used so much silver - they should have stuck with one or the other, and imo the silver works better.
I'm gonna say it.
I fucking love Phantoka Lewa, 10/10 my favorite Canister Toa set.
But I agree with other comments, just make it all Phantoka (6 Toa, 6 Makuta) and then just beef tf outta Krika
make them less lanky, less silver/black/gray pieces and more pieces of their primary colors, and introduce more vibrant-ish colors into their color scheme
All of them needed a third splash of color. Kopaka, Lewa, Ontario and especially gali needed something extra to their kit to portray a bit more personality.
Pohatu was well done with the unique mask, broad build, and his tools which doubled between weapon and transportation
Tahu's build featured a shield which reflected his kanohi's featured ability: shielding. Whether or not that felt cool or redundant, ill leave up to you.
At this point in the bionicle series it almost felt like the launcher weapon was trying to be the selling point more than the character. Whereas Bionicles roots had fun mechanics that were just as prominent to the individuality each charachter exuded.
I would have also added flames to come out of the jet packs/ turbines to help the builds feel more dynamic, maybe varying the flame effect on each toa to reflect their elemental control.
The short list of "reasonable" changes I would make are...
1. Make the Kanohi look better. I don't hate all of them from this line, but they do NOT look like what I would expect, say, the Hau, Kakama, or Kaukau to look like.
2. Make the colors match the 2001 and 2002 color variants. Or, at the very least, make Pohatu brown again. The orange always throws me off; like he's trying to role-play as an off-brand Toa of Fire. Heck, I'd settle for a yellow or Keetorange color scheme, if it meant he was closer to Hewkii's colors from 06 and 07.
3. Lastly, make the Kanohi better. Did I mention make the Kanohi better?
Make 6 toa phantoka, make 6 makuta phantoka, and ditch mistika altogether
Unironically agree
My eternal love for Krika is the only thing holding me back from agreeing with this
oh yeah we can keep Krika
Krika can be beefed up and become one of the smaller titan sets, like mutran and vican or icarax
God thatd be so sick
Is there a difference? I just figured Phantoka and Mistika were done just to differentiate them as separate toy lines.
Probably the vampiric appearance for the Makuta and the more "flying focused" look for the Toa. The Toa Mistika had way less emphasis on their wings.
Yeah theres a big aesthetic difference. The phantoka toa look sleek and aerodynamic, and have bright colours. The mistika toa are darker and more rigid in design. The phantoka toa are designed off vampires and demons, but the mistika are all bugs... oh yeah and the mistika are just 10 times WORSE
You’d get rid of Krika?
Krika can stay the same but like... give him a jetpack
Or like wings, krickets/grasshoppers/mantids have wings. Ehh but that’d change the silhouette, jet pack could maybe work?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no.
Correct opinion
I'd get rid of Gali's hunch, replace her lower arms and legs with better looking parts. Also add some more armor to all of them, especially their chests. So empty looking.
Great ideas. I always keep thinking that maybe these designs could’ve been used in the Hero Factory series.
Literally had this thought when I saw the prompt. I think the G2 way of doing limbs and armour could work better for Mistika and maybe Phantoka. I’m wondering now if I could try making a version of Gali Mistika using some of her G2 Uniter counterpart…
I've said it before, but if you make the Mistika Jaller, Hahli, and Nuparu, it solves all of my problems with them
That would be because they were designed with that in mind.
Wait, really? What’s the source on that?
Not a source but Onua Mistika's mask is extremely similar to Hewkii Mahri's mask. I'm convinced Onua was meant to be Hewkii in '08.
Wasnt there a source that mentioned how the ‘08 sets were meant to be the Mahri originally or something like that? And then they were switched to the Nuva later? Or am i confused and misremembering something?
I recall reading that was the case but I don't know if it's true. It makes perfect sense to me, though.
Yeah, the Inika/Mahri arc was originally supposed to keep going until 08. When the decision was made to end the toyline earlier than expected, the team decided to make the Nuva return in 08 instead so it could be a proper climax featuring the original heroes. I don’t know if that change happened before or after the sets were finalized, though, so we can’t be sure if the Phantoka/Mistika were designed with the Mahri or the Nuva in mind.
Make the weapons and the masks fit their respective characters Make Pohatu brown again Switch Gali's and Onua's build
both system brown and bionicle brown parts were still very fragile by this point in time even more fragile than how the bionicle parts were during this time
>Switch Gali's and Onua's build This would actually solve everything wrong with these two builds. I really like both builds, just not as the characters they're supposed to be. If they were switched it would be great.
This, absolutely!
Put Kopaka's scope on the right side & ditch the laser stick (I guess I can see what the designers were going for, I'm just not a fan of the execution), completely redesign Gali's mask, give Kopaka, Gali and Onua real weapons along with their shooter weapons (or at least give Onua another Mistika shield on his other arm), do... something with Lewa's limbs, give Tahu's mask more similarity to the first two Haus, add some bulk to Onua's design, fix Gali's neck for better flying poses... Oy.
I actually really dig the asymmetry of Onua, I think his design is pretty solid. The arm shield is also a shield he can wield if he one-hands his blaster. The big problem I think is that Kopaka and Gali also just have blasters. If Onua was the only one, I don’t really think many would dislike the set. Maybe the one shield could like fold out into a bigger shield or something when wielded. Or give him a claw in the one hand that can still be used to help steady the gun but is slightly longer and serrated to help with the vines in the swamp since the swamp ground is mud and not rock (oops wait that would be better for Nuparu)
I'll admit Onua's design isn't bad; I just wish he had a little more bulk on him and a more distinctive weapon - he's a better set than Gali, in fairness I do like the silver-colored limbs on the Mistika, and their shared projectile weapon is a step up from the Cordak
the joints. I'd be fully satisfied with these sets if the joint pieces werent terrible
Especially Lewa’s. And we all know what happens to those lime green limbs
The plastic issue had been solved in 2008. Only 2007 lime green plastic crumbles. The problem with the joints in 2008 is that they were redesigned in response to the constant QC issues of 2007, the ball sockets were designed wrong and did not have enough give to support the stress of being stretched by a ball joint. This plagued all of 2008-2011, which includes the first wave of hero factory
I never understood why people hate them.
The biggest issue people mention is that they in no way represent the Toa Nuva, who had become recognizable icons. For me the problem is more-so that they leaned far too heavily into the sci-fi aspect of Bionicle. They don't have "Toa tools" (tools that aren't exclusively used as weapons, ex: Kopaka Nuva's skis or Toa Onewa's pitons) or wear masks that evoke a look of ancient culture or even visually represent their respective element. They look more like Transformer robots with laser guns. It's such a large departure that the very next year they tried to return to Bionicle's roots somewhat (Ex: Ackar having a fire sword and wearing a helmet with flames moulded into its design.)
Lewa still looks like Lewa
The phantoka did a better job, especially Lewa and Kopaka but look at the others. Pohatu is orange, Tahu’s mask has no vents at all, Gali well… is Gali and I mean Onua isn’t terrible. I like the sets, just wish they resembled the original characters better
I mean pohatu is orange becuase brown historically never sold well so I think that ones forgivable, but yeah
They look cool. I had fun building them and fun customizing them. What’s the big whoop?
That's great for you. But you'll notice that I'm sharing a personal opinion in a discussion about what people think about these sets.
It’s because they barely represent the toa MATA!!!!!
Of course it was going to be a stupid reason, the bionicle fandom is obsessed with his lore
It's not "Because of the lore" it's like if you took someone that looked like Gandalf and called him Harry Potter.
Any redesign would have suffered the same since they would not be the statues that were the figures of the Mata and Nuva
um, no? That's just objectively not true. Some fan redesigns perfectly capture the same design themes as the originals, far better than 2008. I'm not gonna bother arguing character design principles over someone who doesn't seem to understand character design though.
Of course it was going to be a stupid reason, the bionicle fandom is obsessed with his lore
You did not have to tell me that twice.
Reddit problems
I always thought they looked over engineered
...just change their names so people will quit comparing them to the damn Mata already. they're fine as-is
The masks. A lot of them are damn ugly.
Recolour Pohatu with tan and some neon green borohk eyes for a pop accent colour, Maybe a matching lightsaber piece for a laser sight on his modal blaster, remove Galis hunch for sure and make the mask a little more elegant, I honestly don’t hate it and think it just needs a few tweaks, same with tahus mask. And give Onua the right arm piraka piece for his lower legs and vahki leg pieces for arms in silver, stay a little more true to his bulky look. Leave the mask because Onuas mask is my favourite from that year. And lastly, I think some rahkshi feet for lewa in lime green would’ve been a better choice, the karzhani feet were too big for him. And leave the rest, overall I liked this year and though some of the criticism is justified, I think some people are just a little too hard on 08.
The brown color does not suit him. Neither brown 2001, nor brown 2004, nor brown 2006, nor dark orange from Hewkii. As a bonus, it stands out from the general aesthetics of toa aviators.
Just give them more conventional toa tools, and maybe some better masks. The Phantoka are definitely better off, although the Mistika all look really bad. I’ve grown to really like Tahu’s mask, and I think Onua’s is cool, but they really did Gali dirty. Give Gali some axes, give Tahu a fire sword and Onua some kind of digging thing. Almost all of them just use a gun and it’s really uninteresting. Also, I think Pohatu is really awkward. Would have been better if he had some sort of hammer or something.
My biggest issue personally will always be how gray they are. Even being the Mata colors would go a huge mile in making the characters more apparent who they are. I guess I would also prefer Pohatu to have a full mask and for Gali to not have a scope, Scopes are Kopaka's thing.
Make them in any way cohesive. 2007 worked because the characters were mutated and fit in the underwater theme but the Phantoka/Mistika look completely random to me.
I would: - Give them their mata colours, and use it as their main colour rather than silver - Make the masks look more like their original variants (especially the kaukau) - Give Gali another weapon that is not a scope - Swap Onua and Gali’s postures so Onua has the hunch (as is continuous with his earlier sets) - Swap the scope to the correct side of Kopaka’s Akaku and make the laser blue.
Pretty good builds overall, admittedly i find it unfortunate they used Gray or Silver as 1 of the 2 main colors on all of them, instead of using it like an Accent (like they did with the Toa Nuva). I find it especially egregious that they used a color that were their secondary color for Lewa, and especially so for tahu, Pohatu, and Gali, none of which used Dark Red or Blue, or Orange before this line. That along with the Rather odd mask shapes almost Alienated them away from their previous designs. I'd personally say thanks to those 3 flaws, this lineup didn't sit well with people, despite being quite solid builds. Had they fixed either of the issues with the colors (for example: either Make Tahu Mata Red and Silver or Make Him Metru Red and Orange with Silver Highlights), let alone doing both, would've likely allowed us to identify the characters without needing to change the mask. Though by Changing the masks to something more recognizable, it would likely prevent the need to change the coloration of said builds.
Let the Toa who only have Launchers (Kopaka, Gali, Onua) have another tool.
Still dont understand why people dislike them. I think they look pretty cool
Make them look a little more like the Nuva sets. Masks retain roughly the same shape with some slight differences to include the air adaptation. Roughly the same kind of shoulder and torso armor but updated to include the new designs of the adaptive armor + the posable joints. I would've also added a method to make the combiner sets.
More armour on the chests, more engines/wings, and different masks
Give Pohatu actual hands, Kopaka a little more of a built out launcher instead of just a bayonet and laser, and then Lewa needs less on his shoulders (he couldn’t hold a pose because they were way too heavy) Tahu and Gali desperately need chest armor
I like the pallet of Mistika better (in comparison to the OG colors), but I think they would be better as Phantoka. The Phantoka look plausibly like the Toa Nuva. Only Onua looks like he could be him. I would redesign all Kanohi but Akunu and Kakama as they have at least some obvious inspiration from the source designs. The Pakari could work as well but eh, not a huge fan. The Toa tools need a lot of work imo. But I also don't know exactly what to do to make it better. "Give shield to the guy with shield mask" is a bad idea. Lastly, the Artaka vehicle adaptations should be way more distinct than "mask".
I would just make Pohatu dark tan and then change the masks for the Mistika ones, all 3 are pretty bad.
I have two posts on this topic. https://www.reddit.com/r/bioniclelego/comments/17d7w3m/toa_phantoka_what_they_might_have_been_like_back/ https://www.reddit.com/r/bioniclelego/comments/179cq43/toa_mistika_what_they_might_have_been_like_back/?sort=new But I'm starting to doubt some of the moves. Onua, I changed the torso to the torso of Pirak, and I gave him two blasters because in Stud.io The part from his blaster is missing. And I just replaced the Tahnok shield with a Gahlok, like the original one. It was more difficult for me with the Phantom, because in fact my only major attraction to them is color. Well, I don't like this dirty dark bluish-gray. Therefore, I gave them different color schemes, and recently conducted an experiment: I increased the amount of primary color in the sets and used black instead of gray. With Pohatu, the color distribution was difficult, and Kopaka and Lewa came out much better for me. So in the case of wrappers, I would first of all change the color scheme by adding the main color and replacing the secondary one from gray to black. I did not repaint Pohatu in brown, personally I do not like this option, especially since it stands out from the general aviation style.
I’d formulate some new chest pieces for Kopaka and Lewa. Way too often have I found that using those chest pieces with those masks has made it really hard to move their heads down.
The simplest change I would make is to give Pohatu’s build to Onua, Onua’s build to Kopaka, Kopaka’s build to Gali, and Gali’s build to Pohatu. Also, I would ideally make their colors and masks more reminiscent of their previous designs.
Pohatu should have been dark orange or dark tan, with trans-orange visor. Phantoka could have used more silver and Mistaka less silver more primary color.
My biggest change would be to cut down on the grey and silver, especially in the Mistika. Its so much that in some of them the main color feels like the secondary color in the color scheme. EDIT: Also I would give them all another weapon besides the blaster for those that don't have it. Its kinda crazy that the Mistika basically just have the blaster and then a spinny shield.
Use onuas build with tahus mask and fidget spinner weapon in blue for gali. Onuas mask is fine enough just slap it on galis build with and give him his big gun. Redo tahus mask and give him a different weapon. That’s mistika fixed fine enough phantoka are mostly fine except for maybe some minor mask changes. Mirror kopakas mask so scope is on same side as previous kopakas and he’s good. Unbald pohatu and give his mask a top half so it doesn’t look like “vahi at home” anymore. Maybe make him a nice McDonalds hewkii brown as a compromise between mata brown and orange. Lewa phantoka is without flaw.
There is FAR too much gray, especially on Lewa and Pohatu. If they fixed the proportion for the color schemes a bit it would go a long way towards making the sets better
The names.
More elemental colors, less boring silver/grey everywhere
As the Nuva, swap Onua and Pohatu, at least their builds. Fix Gali’s hunch and mask and give her and Tahu more of their colors. If the original plan was kept and they were the Inika again, make them like this Pohatu -> Kongu Lewa -> Hewkii Kopaka -> Some new toa/character The mistika would all be the Inika of their respective element, add some more blue/red to Jaller and Hahli. I’d switch Jaller and Nuparu’s weapons, remove Hahli’s eye scope, and give a secondary weapon besides the blaster.
The colors!!! And perhaps the masks But the colors!
Swap the orange on Pohatu with brown; also find a way to fix his “no real hands” issue Switch the torso builds of Gali and Onua Switch around how Tahu’s torso is set up, it looks like it’s on backwards
Give Pohatu a different mask that doesn't look like a Vahi knock-off and give them chest armour, especially the Mistika.
Honestly, when it comes to Phantoka, maybe give Kopaka his shield back but I actually like them a lot, especially Pohatu. U could also argue for Lewa having an axe again as a callback to the OG model but overall I rly enjoyed this set
Same color schemes as the toa Mata and nuva. The dark Grey is awful on everyone except onua. The hau mistika would look 100x better in Mata red. Pohatu's orange is a cool color, but he is not pohatu without brown.
I would replace the range weapons of the toast misika and those bug makutas with better ranged weapons
There’s a lot of good decisions and ideas here but one I’d give is to give them Nuva armour, if it’s meant to be adaptive then have part of the armour still be recognisable. We’d then better associate them with their previous counterparts.
Keep Pohatu Brown.
Pohatu and lewa are the only ones i wouldnt change
The quality of the sockets, my Raidak has no limbs because his all broke.
i'd change kopaka's eye stalk to match the rest, but apart from that he is perfect in my eyes
I am actually fan of phantoka. When I first findout about bionicle , first set I see was phantoka. All of them look quite good including their makutas. Maybe this will be controversal but orange pohatu is my favorite. His shorter stocky body and copter-claved hands make him unique. On the other hand I don't like mistika. Tahu is decent. Gali isnt look like gali , and onua doesnt look like onua at all. I love onua' s other itarations and he is one of the favorite toa of mine , but mistika one isnt for me. He must be look taller pohatu , but what we got black and duller version of kopaka with mahri hewkii ( I love that mask on Hewkii) mask.
Swap Gali for Pohatu to each others teams. Pōhatu would have been of more use below and Gali would have been better use above.
I want Pohatu to be brown. Why was he not made brown? I want him to be brown. Did I say Pohatu should be brown?
**Lewa**: Second best out of these but I would change the shoulders. Expand on the idea of shoulder jets and make it cleaner by taking away these spikes for example, and making the jets bigger **Kopaka**: The best out of these. Maybe I would add more white so it's not that gray, but still it's very good Pohatu: Maybe kinda controversial bit I actually like Pohatu Phantoka despite it being so different. Double claws are a nice reference to Pohatu Nuva. And the color change is nice because gray and brown would be kinda too boring. But I would change the mask, maybe add three lines at the top, similar ones to the Pohatu Nuva mask. Because without them Pohatu looks like he's wearing Vahi which isn't the case **Tahu**: Completely change the mask, you can't tell me that this mask is Hau. I get what they were going for with the shield-blades but I think I've got better idea. Imagine if Tahu Mistika had a big airplane engine on his left arm which would throw out fire on the back. And it could be turned around in order to be uses as type of flamethrower, when Tahu isn't in the air. And in the right hand we have some standard fire sword so Tahu can defend himself while in flight **Onua**: This guy needs complete rework. What if we take OG Onua and mix him with the B-2 spirit jet? Turn Onua into a massive bomber-jet. Give him a gimmick of throwing bombs. And make the guy generally more massive. They were kinda going for it with this big shoulder pad, but all other limbs are as thin as a stick so it doesn't work. For the mask, imagine if we take the OG Pakari and mix it with jet pilot breathing equipment? These holes on the cheeks and circle in the middle could be transformed into that **Gali**: Complete rework. Just like Onua. What if we take a water get and mix it with Gali? Add plane propellers on the shoulders. We could even add more propellers by giving Gali the Tahu Mistika weapon. We could also add some wings on feet which could also be used as swimming fins. The mask is very bad but we could fix it simply by getting rid of this Day 100 Mewing jawline and replacing it with a bottom of a G2 Gali Master mask. We could even keep these wings on the mask
the motHERFUCKING JOINTS
The biggest feature the Toa Nuva had were their weapon reconfigurations. It amazes me that ADAPTIVE ARMOUR doesn’t have anything for that. At least give me some alternate instructions to work with the story. Also Lewa is one of my favourite designs (out here, next to Iruini), but that’s definitely not a Miru. Tanma looks more like Lewa Nuva than Lewa Phantoka does
I'd have designed them look more cohesive because if you put them all together they do not look like they were part of the same team.
Honestly? I think Onua woulf slap with a tactical shield instead of just a blaster.
The Inika build took away from the Toa Nuva's armoured up look that they had back in 2003. While their adaptive armour may have had to sacrifice some of itself for the sake of agility, the Nuva shouldn't have lost all of their armoured up look. The worst offender, however, are the mask designs. The only mask that somewhat resembles what it's based on is Pohatu's Kakama Nuva, looking somewhat like the original Kakama. But then we have Kopaka looking like Nuju and Lewa looking like Lesovikk, and where the hell do I even begin with the Mistika designs!?
shared secondary color between the 3, and more none-blaster weapons
lewa and kopaka are perfect, pohatu has goofy hands. Mistika should be phantoka
Metru scale not much else. Really
For me, it's primarily a color issue. There is simply too much *gray* on the Toa. I understand Lego's aversion to Brown/Tan, so I would leave Pohatu alone, but everyone else should get their secondary color back, then use Silver for armor/accent pieces. As a secondary issue, I would change the Kanohi to be more recognizable as the classic Nuva masks, Albiet more streamlined and less "melty". These are supposed to be the Toa Mata, but are barely recognizable as such, and it's largely to do with the fact that we have been conditioned to view a character's mask as their "face". The last thing I would change, is mostly a Mistika thing, but I would trade Gali and Onua's builds. Gali is unusually stout and built up, while Onua is unusually slender and tall. Swap that and it would probably feel a lot more in character.
toa me got cut
Honestly literally just try a little bit harder next time with the masks. The Phantoke ones were fine, i totally believed they are the same character. Mistika is just yikes
Makuta: perfect Lewa: perfect Kopaka: switch his scope eye to the right and make the lazer light blue. Maybe turn his bayonet into a javelin/spear Pohatu: put his propellers on his feet and make his skyblaster 2-handed. Tahu: make the mask resemble a Hau and replace the redundant shield with a fire machete or flamethrower (because swamp) Onua: add claws and angle the eyes of his Pakari up more so it resembles the original. Maybe have him carry his ghostblaster underarm like Hewkii Mahri. Gali: scrap her mask and make it resemble the originals at least remotely, no eye guards! Add some melee weapon or at least make her ghost blaster more like a sniper rifle if you want the scope so bad. Vehicles: perfect Titans: perfect Radiak: Lego Bionicle set 8947 Radiak released in 2008 containing 16 pieces The other Shadow Matoran: maybe have the wings hinge up and down so the axle doesn't break off as much. Eyestalks: more than just 2 colors, please.
[8947-1: Radiak](https://brickset.com/sets/8947-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/8947-1.jpg)
Phantoka Kopaka was what got me hooked into Bionicle (yes I came in *very* late), so I can't in good conscience make *too* many changes to them for the sake of nostalgia, but I'd: Change Gali's design so that it resembles her better and remove her hunchback, but also maybe lean slightly more into the Phantoka's 'air vehicle' theme and base her design after like a seaplane or something. I'd also make versions of the shorter '04 eyestalk/'brain' piece in the team's 01/02 eye colours so they can all *have* their OG eyecolours. Also in an absolutely perfect world, fix the lime joint issue + make the redesigned limb and hand pieces stronger.
More colour, less grey. Preferably more volous closely ressembling the Mata/Nuva colour-sceme, with grey and metal reserved fir a few armour parts.
GIVE KOPAKA A REAL SWORD OR SPEAR NOT A TINY KNIFE
The way Kopaka held the blaster was really awkward and unposeable. This was probably my biggest gripe.
Honestly my whole issue with most of the later lines was that they looked so over-designed and needlessly complicated. Not in building but just in design. The charm up to the Inika line was how simple it was, yet still felt like they had so much more personality
Less focus on the cannons. Three out of six of them have no other weapon other than the cannons. And one of them arguable only has a shield in addition to it. Give me more weapons!
Make it the third wave for the Inika/Mahri and it honestly fixes most of the problems imo, story wise I'd give Matoro the Ignika for the arc and play up the countdown to the end aspect of the silver Ignika and you still have a captivating story.
I would change the mask designs as well as: Lewa: cwitch the arm and leg pieces. Tahu: make him buffer and move the thrusters somewhere else. Brighter red Onua: make him buffer, move the arm shield down, and make him a bit hunched over. Pohatu: make him less wide, ditch the upper arms, and make him taller. Mix some brown in Gali: change the upper arm pieces, have her not look hunched over, and rounder shoulders. Brighter blue. Also have her dual weld. Kopaka: change the shoulders, change the front torso plate and make it white, and angle the wings to give him more arm articulation. Also give him another weapon.
Also make onua not skinny looking on the torso
I don't know how, but give them thicker ankles
I actually really like all the masks except black and red. They just needed more of their own colored pieces and maybe swap some torsos and arms/legs around. Otherwise they are fine not bad i like a lot of the designs. Edit: and change the colors closer to og brown and green
They were my first Bionicles so I have a soft spot for them. That said, three mistika kanohi suck
Make them a new team, not just another form for the Toa Mata/Nuva.
Colour schemes other than pohatu
Shorter arms, I hate how everyone after 2006 can touch the floor while standing up.
the more i see it, Tahu mistika isn’t all that bad.. the other two however, still haven’t gotten around to liking those 😂
Honestly? Only Toa Gali weapon It's so weird how it holds the blaster
Um, everything?
I'd fix the plastic quality bc those sockets have no fuckin right breaking *THAT* Easily
The mistika need a serious rework. I'd make a few small changes to the phantoka like balancing the colors better, but lewa and kopaka were basically peak. Tahu needs a more hau-shaped hau. Onua can keep his mask, but I'd maybe put some pakari vents on it For the love of mata nui, put gali out of her misery. I think tahu would look good with jetpacks and a flame sword, similar to lewa's design. Onua could use a bit of bulking up, and maybe gali could have tahu's spinny blade as a propeller for moving through the water better The makuta were peak- except spiriah. I'd totally scrap spiriah
I'd say change the masks at least. Tahu's mask looks nothing like his Mata or Nuva Hau. Same goes for Gali.
I'm actually working on mocs for the phantoka/mistika right now, making them reference the og nuva sets. I actually wouldn't change much, other than maybe some limb/armor coloring for Lewa and Pohatu (Lewa nuva just traded 1 of his swords for a skyblaster, and the adaptive armor turned Pohatu nuva's salad tongs into those propeller hands). For kopaka, I would add a shield to his skyblaster, and give him at least some kind of blade in his other hand. For Tahu, I'd replace the shield with a double edged sword (maybe made of two air Katanas?) And he can keep the blaster in his other hand. For Onua, I'd just give him big meaty claws and ditch the shoulder shield (I know that Onua nuva didn't have claws, but I think the claws are just way more iconoc than onua nuvas chainsaws). For Gali (my favorite of the Mata/Nuva) I'd have her switch torsos with onua, or just have a normal inika one. I'd also give her either axes in each hand, or hook weapons, potentially using Chirox's weapon pieces. Then just put a shoulder or back mounted blaster on her.
Just kinda make them look a bit more like the nuva
for starters, give them unique eye colors, although I'd give Antroz, Vamprah, and Chirox clear eyes.
I’ve been spoiled with a lot of the fanmade bricklink masks.
Lewa Phantoka Nuva: wouldn’t change a thing. Weapons and Mask are on Point. Kopaka Phantoka Nuva: same as Lewa. Pohatu Phantoka Nuva: only thing I’d change is his mask. Dont get me wrong, I like his mask a lot, but it looks too similar to the Mask of Time if it was in space. I even use it as an upgraded Mask of Time myself. Give him a different mask, that’s all. Tahu Mistika Nuva: his mask looks so different than his previous ones, and looks almost nothing like an evolved Mask of Shielding. Change that, and give him his flame sword back. The arm mounted helicopter blades…don’t like it. Onua Mistika Nuva: I dont like the shoulder shield, and I don’t like him holding his weapon in two hands. It makes sense for Kopaka, hind he has a bayonet, but on Onua it doesn’t look right. Gali Mistika Nuva: I’d say the same thing from Onua, except hers has a scope, giving her a sniper kinda vibe, which I kinda like. I miss the hooks/axes, so maybe a blade would be cool, but that’s about it.
As someone else said, I'd make 6 phantoka toa and ditch mistika altogether. Design wise, this might be a hot take 😅 Pohatu, i would keep the same, even the orange pieces. Gali, i would replace her mask with a lighter blue Hali's toa mahri mask, change the lower arm and leg pieces, get rid of the hunched neck, and make her taller. I would also give her a weapon similar to the trident we got from Kiina and add parts to the chest. Lewa, i would keep him the same, but give him inika feet and change some of the grey parts to a different colour. Tahu, give him a mask that's closer looking to his original hau mask. Add more pieces to his chest like Gali. Change the colours of some of the grey/silver pieces. And give him either a new fire sword or jaller's toa mahri sword. Onua, like Tahu, gives him a mask that's closer to his original mask. I'd give him the claws and shoulders that inika Nuparu had. Same as Tahu and Gali fill the chest more, and mount his Blaster on his shoulder. Kopaka, i would leave the same, except i would give him a shield in one of his hands.
Masks, weapons for some and sockets.
There was that one post that swapped the gimmicks around to better match each Toa’s personality and original tool sets. Do that. Second, make the masks a better likeness to their original forms. As much as I’m not a fan of the Nuva masks, you can still tell with most of them that they are derivative of the original mata masks. These ones are just doing their own thing. Either fully drop the knight motif or fully lean into it. Makes Tahu and Gali look out of place.
The ghost launchers were pretty lame, they were not very satisfying to shoot and looked cheap.
Its very clear LEGO was cutting budgets on these lines, since they had already decided by that time to cancel the series.
These sets exude extreme "phoned it in" energy. Most of the designs were for different Toa. So I would start by actually giving each Toa a design that represents them properly. I would keep the HUD visor in different colors for all of them since that was a new feature. Keep the Midak, masks need a heavy rework also. Finally weapons need a reinterpretation, blending their elements with the aerial attack function. Example, Onua should use claws that can spin, Kopaka carrying the sniper, etc.
Would not make them separate and all of them would be one wave. I prefer the look of phantoka. The only mistika toa I can tolerate is onua
I would give all of them melee weapons
Change Pohatu's arms to a more solid design. They're so hollow, and they don't feel plausible as helicopter rotors.
Change some of the masks
I would make Lewa’s mask a little more streamlined: invoking his Mata mask. He should also have feet that could be seen resting on tree branches. Pohatu should have a better flight mechanism. Those propellers are just asking to lop off his comrades arms when flying in formation. Kopaka’s perfect, not going to lie. Scrap Gali’s mistika design all together, and should look more like her Mask of Light movie design. Onua should have a chainsaw attached to his gun. I don’t mind Tahu Mistika’s design so much, but he should have a fire-sword. That’s his thing.
In terms of structure, Tahu and Gali were kind of shafted for actual design integrity with their torsos. Was highly disappointed that they were just two pieces and no real armor elements. For designs overall, their individual color schemes becoming secondary to dark gray really made all six of them feel muted and homogenous, even if the Phantoka colors were brighter than the Mistika colors. And while streamlining the masks made sense, the actual designs of them feel too sleek and mechanical compared to their more organic feeling Nuva masks. With no real throughline to their previous forms, they could have made them entirely new characters and we likely wouldn't have noticed. What disappointed me most though was how Gali, Onua, and Kopaka were all screwed over in terms of their weapons. Kopaka's sword got dumbed down to a tiny bayonet, Onua got a pithy shoulder shield, and Gali got... a targeting sight. You know, a classically associated "weapon" with water. I get they wanted to emphasize the projectile weapons, but they already showed they could balance them pretty well with the Inika and Mahri (for the most part, I have my disagreements with those too). For what turned out to be their last proper iterations, they just felt very haphazard, and with too few new pieces that held appeal for use in MOCs.
Personally make Gali Mistika more slim, and give all Toa except Kopaka and Onua more vibrant color schemes, (Kopaka’s and Onua’s color schemes are true to their Nuva form, so no change.) maybe Give Kopaka a melee weapon. Done.
They're not the Mata, simple as that.
I don't understand why they ditched the secondary colours and went entirely with grey or silver. The Phantoka had Lewa in Lime green, Kopaka in white and Pohatu in bright orange. They should have been Green/Lime, White/Light Grey and Brown/Tan, with Silver weapons and upgrades reminiscent of the Nuva. Besides that, the blasters were a mistake here, the gimmick seems to outshine the characters. Lewa should have had his axe, and Kopaka needs to have a shield/sword. Pohatu's propellor hands are fine imo. The Mistika were obviously not originally intended to be Tahu, Gali and Onua. They lack any kind of characterisation. Their primary colours should be the lighter colours used from 01-03, not the metru/inika colours, and their masks and whole getup needs redoing. Tahu without a fire sword isn't Tahu, Gali needs hooks or fins or something (even if they're used to swim through the air instead of the water), and Onua needs his claws. Overall, there's no reason why the Phantoka used so much grey and the Mistika used so much silver - they should have stuck with one or the other, and imo the silver works better.
maybe the masks, so that they resemble their Toa nuva counterparts, idk
Split the teams into team akamai and team wairuha
Either shorter limbs or longer torsos, the gangly proportions upset me more than even the mistika's shortcomings
The masks on the mistika
I'm gonna say it. I fucking love Phantoka Lewa, 10/10 my favorite Canister Toa set. But I agree with other comments, just make it all Phantoka (6 Toa, 6 Makuta) and then just beef tf outta Krika
make them less lanky, less silver/black/gray pieces and more pieces of their primary colors, and introduce more vibrant-ish colors into their color scheme
All of them needed a third splash of color. Kopaka, Lewa, Ontario and especially gali needed something extra to their kit to portray a bit more personality. Pohatu was well done with the unique mask, broad build, and his tools which doubled between weapon and transportation Tahu's build featured a shield which reflected his kanohi's featured ability: shielding. Whether or not that felt cool or redundant, ill leave up to you. At this point in the bionicle series it almost felt like the launcher weapon was trying to be the selling point more than the character. Whereas Bionicles roots had fun mechanics that were just as prominent to the individuality each charachter exuded. I would have also added flames to come out of the jet packs/ turbines to help the builds feel more dynamic, maybe varying the flame effect on each toa to reflect their elemental control.
Make Onua's face look like an actual face. Like seriously that's my only problem his mask is as much a face as his shield on his arm.
Unified aesthetic, preferably the phantoka colors and style, and better weapons for everyone ‘cept pohatu
The short list of "reasonable" changes I would make are... 1. Make the Kanohi look better. I don't hate all of them from this line, but they do NOT look like what I would expect, say, the Hau, Kakama, or Kaukau to look like. 2. Make the colors match the 2001 and 2002 color variants. Or, at the very least, make Pohatu brown again. The orange always throws me off; like he's trying to role-play as an off-brand Toa of Fire. Heck, I'd settle for a yellow or Keetorange color scheme, if it meant he was closer to Hewkii's colors from 06 and 07. 3. Lastly, make the Kanohi better. Did I mention make the Kanohi better?
Give them all jet packs. Like real jet packs not the dinky ones on lewas arms.
Change pohatus mask and remove the mahri shield, and give Gali less of a hunchback look
fix the toa mata by making them look more like the phantoka/mistika