Match!

It appears to be a sports game set of some kind.
I just hope both teams have fun.

@MCLegoboy said:
"Match!"

My first thought, as well.

@JavaBrix said:"It appears to be a sports game set of some kind.
I just hope both teams have fun."

GOOOO Spors Team!

"Mom, can we have Bionicle?"
"No, we have Bionicle at home."
Bionicle at home:

Me, a keen Board Game/TCG player: Oh boy, this sounds like my kind of thing!

*Sees its sport related*

Anyway,...

You guys who were weirdly freaking out over the finger puppet the other day? No, y'see, THESE are what actual eldritch horror figures looks like.

You know it's wild that the same year BIONICLE did a line of figures with the same "play hockey" concept and yet they were far less cursed. Still mad we never got Air or Earth Kohlitoran though, I will never forgive LEGO for that!

Hockey? More like 'hokey' amiright?

I own the 3540 Puck Passer and 3543 Slammer Goalie.
They're some of my least favourite sets. They barely pose and although it's cool that they 'shoot' if you press the helmet, it gets old fast. At least the black one moves the stick back and forth instead of shooting in a straight sideways shot. Yes, sideways like a crab.
But the worst part is the stickers that are now cracking into a million sticky pieces.
I'm not going to say this often, but let's not forget that lego nearly became bankrupt in the year 2003.

As for this set, it came with technic-built goals with actual netting. And I believe it came with a hockey field mat. So quite a complete deal!

Fun fact:
Part 45590 black technic axle 2L rubber debuted for this line. It's still in use to this day!
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=45590&idColor=11T=C&C=11

Another fun fact:
The hockey masks seen here came on a wheel sprue of three, of which two kinds were made with 6 masks in total. They connect like a bionicle mask... because they use matoran heads underneath those helmets to hold them. The tube is longer to make their connection more robust. Tubes that a stud can fit on by the way.

@BaconKing said:
"Mcdonalds toys."

Nope. These have technic stuff inside them at least.
McDonalds Lego Sports hockey toys look A LOT WORSE:
7919 McDonalds Hockey Player White
7920 McDonalds Hockey Player Blue

I don't think I'm being unfair to say that the perhaps indisputably best thing about these was their unique recolours of Bionicle armour and handshielf pieces...!

@Brickalili said:
"Didn’t they even try to give these weird little sports gremlins names, as though there was actually story and lore around them?"
Apparently so! I never knew that when I was younger, but a few months ago I was browsing scans of the American Lego Club magazines online - while I knew they'd have content that hadn't made it to their UK equivalents, I was surprised by how much the reverse was true as well - and was surprised to learn that this had been the case!

They had nationalities as well as names... apparently 3540 is called Pablo and is from Canada; 3541 is Sergei from Russia; 3542 is Flynn from Denmark; and 3543 is Gordo from USA. The players in the multi-figure sets like this one didn't get named, at least not in the magazine.

@Binnekamp said:
"I own the 3540 Puck Passer and 3543 Slammer Goalie."
Curiously, it was the other two of the individual players who I owned, so if we'd combined them we'd have had a complete set between us! That said, I absolutely did not buy them new or full-price, only picking them up for pittance at second-hand sales... I was mostly just curious because they were Bionicle-adjacent, and they spent most of their time with me in my 'spare Bionicle parts' tub because I had no idea what to do with them otherwise!

@Spectron256 said:
"As for the Onu-Kohlitoran, those two Kohlitoran torso pieces in black can easily be poached from any Vahki Rorzakh."
Only the upper torso part, unfortunately; Vahki use the taller Rahkshi piece for the lower part of the torso assembly, leaving still one piece that doesn't exist in the right colour... at least without breaking out the model paint.

That said, Taipu at least is easier still to make, since he's just Hafu with Onua's mask. Or perhaps Hafu with Hafu's mask, and Hafu is the one who should have Onua's mask, depending on whether you believe MNOG or the official CGI renders of the characters...