Brickset x LWB competition winner

Yay! Of all the raffle prizes, this has to be one of the best. I grew up in the classic space era, so the nostalgia of this set is huge. Thank you for hosting the contest. I'm looking forward to building the ship.

this was an excellent competition

@LegoAthos said:
"Yay! Of all the raffle prizes, this has to be one of the best. I grew up in the classic space era, so the nostalgia of this set is huge. Thank you for hosting the contest. I'm looking forward to building the ship."

Congratulations!!!

@CCC said:
"The second one should have been called Brains, not Dr Brains. And JB Watt in 4 is down as a professor but has no title in their entry in the database, whereas the other two have the formal Dr title in their name. "

Doctor J.B. is a High-School Teacher at Newbury High. Upon her discovery that there has been paranormal activity in the town of Newbury she begins creation of Ghost-Catching technology.

https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/J.B._Watt

Congratulations, Stephen!

I'm glad I wasn't the only one confused by Wednesday's question! I probably spent too long trying to answer it.

The Matoran one is a little poorly worded. As you point out, some of the sets tagged 'Matoran' aren't actually Matoran (the Hydruka are Rahi and Velika is arguably a Great Being, though he is in the body of a Matoran). But also, the question isn't "how many sets of individual Matoran were made". If you're asking how many Matoran were made into individual sets, you have to consider that some Matoran were made into multiple individual sets. So the actual number comes out as something like 28 (if you don't include Velika). Doesn't matter too much obviously but just thought it should be pointed out

Well that was pretty fun!

Given I’m “the BIONICLE” I figured I’d way in on the 3rd day’s question. The question was “According to the Brickset database, how many Bionicle Matoran were produced as individual sets?” and the answer was “35.”

So who were these 35 Matoran? Well... there’s 33 actually.
The 6 McToran from 2001
8546: Bionicle Power Pack from 2001 - which includes the McToran version of Hafu
The 6 Kohlitoran from 2003
The 6 Metrutoran from 2004
The 6 Voyatoran from 2006
The 2 Metrutoran from 2007, Dekar and Defilak
And the 6 Kardatoran from 2008

So who are these remaining two? Sets 8931: Thulox and 8932: Morak. These two are actually Hydruka, a species of Rahi that Matoran have domesticated, and not Matoran themselves. So why does the quiz count them? Based on packaging, marketing, release windows, ect BIONICLE fans consider the Hydruka a part of the Metrutoran collection alongside Dekar and Defilak, and Brickset by extension classifies all Matoran collections as one subtheme. So they are Matoran sets while not being Matoran themselves.

But the second part of this question is interesting. It states “produced as individual sets.” There are actually a few Matoran that were released as a part of a larger set or model!

8556: Boxor Vehicle includes the McToran version of Nuparu alongside the titular Boxor.
8594: Jaller and Gukko includes the Kohlitoran version of Jaller alongside a hummingbird breed of Gukko.
8595: Takua and Pewku includes the Kohlitoran version of Takua alongside his pet Ussal Pewku.
8940: Karzahni includes four models, among them the Mahritoran Sarda and Idris.
8952: Mutran and Vican includes the Shadow Matoran Vican alongside his abusive master Mutran.
8698: Vultraz includes the Shadow Matoran Vultraz alongside his Skyfighter vehicle.
8954: Mazeka includes the Ko-Matoran Mazkea alongside his Swamp Strider vehicle.

There’s also a few Matoran who don’t really count as sets but are worth mentioning.

8556: Boxor has an alternate model called the Vertical Boxor. This vehicle is also piloted by Nuparu, but they tell you to attach a different arm than the base model, so a 100% complete BIONICLE collection would technically have two Nuparu’s
The combiner model 8686+8691+8944+8947 Spiriah includes a Matoran like figure on its back. This figure is unnamed and non-canon.
In 2004 BIONICLE held a contest for people to submit fan models to be added to the BIONICLE canon. One of these winning entries was the Razor Whale. In its official book picture/artwork the Razor Whale has a Matoran riding on its back. This Matoran is identical to the 2003 version of Takua, but wears Tahu Nuva’s Hau Nuva. Given Ta-Matoran don’t normally have blue in their colorscheme, and the Hau Nuva was an incredibly rare mask that crafters probably wouldn’t replicate accidently, this figure is presumed non-canon.
During the early 2000s LEGO put a lot of promotional artwork onto their website. Some of these images look nearly identical to the boxart (or, well, bagart) of the 2001 McToran, including Hahli, Kotu, Takua, and the remaining 4 members of the Chronicler’s Company. This has led some fans to believe a second run of McDonalds promotions was planned for 2002, but for whatever reason it was canceled. While Kapura, Takua, and Hahli can be built using existing pieces, Kotu’s mask, Kopeke’s mask, Tamaru’s body, and Tamaru’s legs are unavailable without custom painting parts.
Despite participating in the Kohli Tournament, Onepu, Taipu, Kongu, and Tamaru never got Kohlitoran releases. This makes MoCing Kohlitoran of Air and Earth nearly impossible without painted parts.
Jaller, Hewki, Hafu, Macku, and Matoro were released in both their McToran and Kohlitoran forms. All other Matoran with set releases only got one toy, though many of them got extra forms in online animations and games.
Not every Matoran got a set release. By my calculations, there are 134 named/notable characters in BIONICLE that either are or were Matoran. 39 of these characters “transformed” in some way over the franchises’ run, usually to