User blog comment:Chicken Bond/BIONICLE's Return?/@comment-5900628-20140807191600

Time to get out my full feelings on the color leak. I'd like to fancy myself as one of the most objective reviewers of this -- since I didn't actively follow BIONICLE back in the day, I'm a bit less cluttered with nostalgia. However, my review of the sets will be specifically colored by what I am looking for in the sets.

First thoughts: So we get the Mata (or people that resemble them.) Big plus for the old-school fans. All in CCBS. Plus for MOCists. Fighting against an army of super small spiders -- eh... been done before. One small spider in every set, minus one. Good for playability value, but if this is all we get, then it's a pitifully small army. I know, we'll probably get some bigger baddies in the summer wave, but for the first six months... let's just say I'm holding out for army builder spider packs. Possibly to go in blind bags with recolored Kanohi.

Tahu: Mata red and gold. That's been done before. Wielding a pair of golden blades. That's been done before. Has a lavaboard, which seems to be really gappy. It might have been made that way to save money, but then again, the past two lavaboards managed to have gaps that fit into the styling of the model and still looked solid. Like all of the Neo-Mata, he comes a gold version of his mask in addition to the one in his own color and a skull spider (in his case, green.) Also, unlike others who have the gold concentrated in one place, Tahu's is a lot more spread out, with dominance on the left arm and bits on the legs, left arm, and chest. I might see the Chima ultrabuild gold pieces on top of left armor, which is a plus since those pieces did not come out in North America The lower legs use Mata red 2.0 breastplates as shins, like Furno XL, which sorta sets the size, and if the poster art is to be trusted, he has a printed chest piece. Ultimately, I'm on the fence with this one -- he looks to have some new or recolored pieces that would be nice to have, but not very much in the way of new material (also considering that other sets in the line all have gold.) I'll wait and see what the final set has to offer.

Gali: The first thing that strikes me about this set is that she has a new shade of blue. Compare her armor to the presumably Mata Blue skull spider on Pohatu's box -- hers is lighter. Possibly azure, which would be a welcome color for people that collected the azure bones in this year's beast sets. Ultimately, she appears to have four azure armor pieces, in addition to the mask, which looks nothing like a Kaukau Mata. Some people say that it looks like her movie edition mask, which I don't see as a very good way to go -- the movie version of Gali's mask seems to have a sense of weakness and reliance on others (in other words, traditional damsel in distress) like the Great Rau, which is the main reason I hate it so much. The Gold mask floating in the water beside her looks decent though. Back on colors, it seems that the color that actually makes up most of her figure is either gunmetal or black, and she has some light grey or silver box thing on her shoulder. Also, she is wielding something like an underwater axe (others see it as a trident) which is the only part of the figure (aside from the mask) which is gold (although it could be yellow). Also, greyish-white skull spider. Final thoughts? Not a particularly exciting figure, but if it turns out to be a new blue (or azure), It's one of the first ones in my wish list.

Pohatu: Brown is back. In all of 3 or 4 pieces on this figure, including a chest plate and a mask (which doesn't strike me as much of a Kakama, although the golden version has a bit better resemblance.) The new brown appears to be a type of burnt orange, not the brown that we've got in minimal doses in Ogrum and Mungus. Not sure how well this will be received, but I'm glad that Pohatu got a brown color at all. The majority of the set is composed of another color which I am hoping is light grey, which hasn't got much of any recognition in the CCBS system. He has gold on his right arm, and has two gunmetal-ish constructs, which remind me a lot of Stormer XL's drones, which seem to carry over Pohatu Mata's trait of having different melee weapons than his comrades -- in 2001 it was feet-based weapons, in 2015 it might be ranged weapons. The set also includes a Surge blue skull spider (I think his blue is slightly darker than Mata Blue). Ultimately, the colors alone -- if they're what I think they are -- convince me to buy this set.

Lewa: Again, new color here. In this case, forest green, a color that we haven't seen in prominence since 2003. Alternatively, it could be the same bright green that Green Lantern had, which I'd still be happy with getting. His figure is a more difficult to identify than others, but it appears that his lower legs are a combination of light grey and gold. He also has two axe things with weird heads, a printed gunmetal chest plate (3 metallic colors in one set again?) and a mask that strikes me as more of a Lhikan Hau or a Hordika mask than a Miru, although I could also see a Miru in it if the face was at a different angle. Has another blue spider in the set. I'm interested in seeing what the final product is on him more than others. If it turns out to be forest green, it will have a higher priority with me.

Onua: Black. All around black. I'd welcome getting a new black parts pack given that there are black pieces on him which are more than just shells. Chest looks especially bulky without needing super long shoulders, which is something I'd like to see in reality. Mask sorta looks like a Darth Vader helmet. He has some form of mace or hammer, which suit his element of earth and give off the figure of a tough fighter without using claws which would give him a possibly too-villainous look (since we know that LEGO likes to draw clear distinction between heroes and villains nowadays...) Another green spider. Gold on his legs and maybe left arm. The more interesting thing others have mentioned is the addition of minimal purple -- although from what I can see it looks more like -- TRANS PURPLE!?!?! Hm. As with Tahu, I'm on the fence with this one -- I'll wait and see what the actual set of parts are before making a decision on him.

Kopaka: The blandest of all the Mata to me. I have more than enough white CCBS pieces (although I will mention that his torso seems to have a white Brain Attack torso, which is new) and the gold isn't all that special (although I think his chest plate is unprinted.) He appears to use the ice blades from Stormer BA -- as a shield maybe? and have some other staff weapon. Akaku looks very close to the original, which is a plus, but not enough to really get me interested. Has a light grey/silver spider. Personally, he'd be the last of the Mata on my wishlist, and I'd probably only get him for a complete set of the Mata (which is still very likely.)

None of these defenders are very interesting. They all have the same head, the same feet (small beast), and a similar color scheme of a primary color and silver/grey (oh yeah, and what is possibly that "rapid fire" thing we heard about at SDCC). None of them are very unique, either, and I could just as easily make these out of my own collection, so in all them the only upsides for me would be new or rare colors, the rapid fire weapon if it's any good, or if they're my only way to get more spiders.

Fire Defender is basically like that. One interesting thing is that his primary red color is the same as the flame piece color, which means that he could be trans-based -- and, with no trans bones in NA this year, I'd love that. It might even be trans red instead of trans orange. The torso is interesting, and I think it's a bit more complex than some others, and he has a shoulder-mounted rapid fire blaster (which I'm going to call RFB now) and a green spider.

Water Defender has yellow/golden turbines -- I'm leaning toward yellow here -- and an RFB gun weapon with added blades. Azure head, trans dark blue armor (meaning I didn't need to get BA surge after all), grey spider (which appears slightly darker than the one on Gali's box, but I want to say that they're actually the same color). Not much of interest here.

Stone defender has more burnt orange pieces, and given the lack of a lot of this color on Pohatu I might have to get that to bulk up the new color collection. He appears to have more light grey, in his feet in particular, and trans yellow versions of the BA flame/plasma piece on a staff weapon with the RFB, plus a blue spider

Air defender actually carries over the gold from his respective Toa. Again, more light grey (in any of these cases it might be silver, but it seems too light for that) and trans neon green BA Flame pieces attached like crossbow edges to the RFB, which compared to the armor and helmet lead me to think he might be based on Trans neon green entirely. Another blue spider as well.

Earth defender have what appears to be an opaque purple helmet and a trans purple version of Black Phantom's mace. All the rest is black, and I can't tell where the RFB is located. Another green spider.

Ice Defender has some trans-light-blue, including the transparent buzzsaw from Vardy. However, he is based on white, and he has a BA Stormer blade attached to the RFB. Dark Grey spider here.

Lord of Skull Spiders is the odd one out in this wave. Despite being the "Lord" of the spiders, I think that -- drawing from the artwork on the top here -- that it's only a lieutenant of a darker villain, like Darth Vader is only the lieutenant of the Emperor. He's mostly black, with the IFB spike pieces on his six legs, and Mata red (or trans red) pieces in his torso. He also has a golden mask, though it looks more bronze and reminds me of Vezon's head. Doesn't look very interesting, though, and unless I need the colors, I might just build my own version of him.

Final thoughts: This wave has really got me hyped, partially for the continuing story but mostly for the return of masks and the new colors. Likely what I will do is collect the ones with the new colors, and then finish up my collection of Mata (possibly not all of them if by some miracle I can get their masks through packs) and maybe get the Lord of Skull Spiders.