Who would win?

Yesterday's RSotD, or this guy?

It's a Red One! But is he THE Red One? In a manner of speaking, yes. But no, hes not. Not even close.

A little short for a storm trooper aren't you?

So this is what Lewa Nuva looks like when he finishes ripening!

@Maxbricks14 said:
"Who would win?

Yesterday's RSotD, or this guy?"

My money's on 2067. Even leaving aside the question of powers (I don't know what Evo's powers are, but I'm fairly certain his are more impressive than a run-of-the-mill Matoran), Evo may only have oner weapon, but it has more reach and looks to double as a shield.

Two Constraction in a row! (And yeah, Evo would win.)

In the fledgling days of the Matoran Universe, before the Great Spirit had even awoken, Matoran who were broken and damaged were sent to the land of Karzahni for repair. But Karzahni was bad at his job, and the people he "repaired" often came out misshapen, twisted, or small compared to when they came in. Embarrassed by his mistakes, Karzahni initially banished these twisted Matoran to the far off land of the Southern Continent, before eventually keeping them as prisoners. When Matoran sent to Karzahni never returned, new Matoran stopped being sent. Among the Matoran sent south was Balta, a Matoran of Fire.

During the Great Cataclysm a portion of the Southern Continent, containing both the Mask of Life and Balta's village, was jettisoned out of the Great Spirit Robot, becoming the floating island of Voya Nui. Turaga Jovan died in the chaos, so Matoran Garan took over as head of the village with Balta as his right hand.

1,000 years later, and eyes began to turn on Voya Nui. The Great Spirit Mata Nui had been comatose for so long, he was no longer just asleep. He was dying. The Toa Nuva were sent to Voya Nui to retrieve the Mask of Life and revive him. Makuta needed to delay this revival, and so he tricked the six Piraka into desiring the Mask of Life for its value and they set off for the island as well.

The Piraka managed to reach Voya Nui long before the Toa Nuva even learned of Mata Nui's dying and so had a great head start. They convinced the Matoran population they were Toa heroes, and had them build many mines and a great Stronghold in the Piraka's honor. Eventually some of the Matoran, including Balta, became wise to how cruel the Piraka acted compared to legends of Toa and decided to spy on them. These Matoran (eventually known as the Voya Nui Resistance Team) discovered the Piraka were building a new type of weapon, but were too late to stop them using it. The Piraka used these "Zamor Launchers" to infect the entire village's Matoran with a mind control substance known as Antidermis, forcing them into slavery. Only the six members of the VNRT escaped.

When the Toa Nuva arrived on the island the Matoran were skeptical of them. During a fight Balta was stranded in a cave but was rescued by Axon, an agent of the Order of Mata Nui who had been guarding the island in secret for some time. Axon informed Balta that the Nuva were in fact Toa, and Balta convinced the Nuva and VNRT to work together.

The two teams tried to raid the Piraka Stronghold, but it ended in failure. The Toa were captured and the Matoran barely escaped. In the coming days the Matoran managed to develop their own Zamor Launchers filled with an antidote to the mind control. Not long after this the Toa Inika arrived on the island, a rescue crew that came to either save the Nuva or finish their mission. Together the Inika and VNRT were able to free the Toa Nuva, destroy the Stronghold, and get the other Matoran out of their mind control. The Inika continued the fight against the Piraka and hunt for the Mask of Life while the Nuva eventually left on other assignments by The Order.

When it came time for Voya Nui to return to the Matoran Universe, Axon helped Balta and the other Matoran hide in the Nui Caves so they would survive the island's descent.

In The Kingdom Alternate Universe, Takanuva sacrificed his Toa Power to become a Turaga and create a new Toa Team. Among these was Balta, who became a Toa of Fire, suggesting the Balta in the main timeline is Destined to become a Toa and has latent Toa Power within him, he simply needs a catalyst to transform.

Balta was one of the first Matoran to meet the Piraka, and one of the first to suspect them of evil. It was his bravery that helped steal the prototype Zamor Launchers, and his own skill at tinkering and invention that helped the VNRT develop their own Launchers. As compensation for his decreased size, Karzahni gave Balta a pair of Repeller blades. When the two blades are crossed, any attacks that hit them will be repelled with equal

When the two blades are crossed, any attacks that hit them will be repelled with equal force back at the attacker. While powerless as a Matoran, he wore a Kanohi Huna, the Mask of Concealment. If transformed into a Toa this would give him the power to turn invisible, though he would still make sound and cast a shadow.

While non-canon this guy is also the shopkeep (and debatably elder?) in BIONICLE Heroes. I always loved his little sword sharpening animation waiting for you to make a choice. I also loved launching grenades off the balcony on the way to the treasure room as Nuparu, trying to get them into the back room of the shop to see if I could damage him (you aren't allowed to shoot while in the shop, and he only comes out from the back and into line of sight while shopping. Never actually did damage to him, but a few definitely landed at his feet.)

It’s really a shame Lego didn’t at least mold the Metru masks in different colors on Balta and his friends.

@SearchlightRG said:
"It’s really a shame Lego didn’t at least mold the Metru masks in different colors on Balta and his friends. "

I really wanted the green mask to be molded in pearl-gold, so I could make The Rocketeer.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Who would win?

Yesterday's RSotD, or this guy?"

My money's on 2067. Even leaving aside the question of powers (I don't know what Evo's powers are, but I'm fairly certain his are more impressive than a run-of-the-mill Matoran), Evo may only have oner weapon, but it has more reach and looks to double as a shield."

eh, id beg to differ. this is evo2.0, the characters first appearance, so hes probably somewhat unskilled. aside from his drones, he doesnt have any real powers. (not sure if the drones were his or if they belong to nex) balta on the other hand has had years of living on voya nui, where life is a constant battle. also, baltas repelling blades could be powerfull

@SearchlightRG said:
"It’s really a shame Lego didn’t at least mold the Metru masks in different colors on Balta and his friends. "

Same here. And no, 8726's mask being a slightly different shade of blue from 8602's doesn't count! I'm with The Purple One on wanting Metru Masks in metallic colors. Both for reasons related to and unrelated to The Rocketeer. (I should rewatch that movie.)

The 2006 matoran often get a bad rep, but I like their builds precisely for how wonky and built out of common parts they are. And they were varied. That said, they should have had eyestalks.

Balta here has blades that were common, but effective, especially at this size. They give much-needed reach. Also of note is that this is the first group of matoran with neck articulation. The 2001, 2003 and 2004 groups had fixed necks (the 2004 ones could tilt from side to side though).

Lastly, the 2006 matoran could be used to build a Lava Hawk (Balta + Velika + Piruk) and a Dagger Spider (Garan + Kazi + Dalu). These were excellent combiner models IMHO.

The 2007 matoran weren't a complete set and had identical builds again. And the 2008 matoran were infamous for dumbing down the build so much there were no common parts or technic-specific parts used anymore, just matoran-specific parts that made them all very similar.

@RogueWhistler said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"It’s really a shame Lego didn’t at least mold the Metru masks in different colors on Balta and his friends. "

Same here. And no, 8726 's mask being a slightly different shade of blue from 8602 's doesn't count! I'm with The Purple One on wanting Metru Masks in metallic colors. Both for reasons related to and unrelated to The Rocketeer. (I should rewatch that movie.)"

I think this era of Bionicle overused metallics (and translucents) at the expense of regular elemental colours, but any recolours would have been better than nothing.

@Binnekamp said:
"The 2007 matoran weren't a complete set and had identical builds again. And the 2008 matoran were infamous for dumbing down the build so much there were no common parts or technic-specific parts used anymore, just matoran-specific parts that made them all very similar."
The 2007 Matoran might have had the same build, but it's my favourite of any "small box" Bionicle set. I wish they had completed the group.
"

Indeed; slight shade variation doesn’t count.

It would have been nice to get a full set of Mahritoran. And it would have been nice if one of the ones we did get (from the Karzahni set) didn’t once again use the exact same mask Balta here has and got from Vakama Metru.