Kopaka Mata

Kopaka is one cool dude

Pun intended.

Though Lewa was my favourite of the Toa Mata, Kopaka was certainly a close second. Firstly, he had the coolest weapon in the team: the split sword is just the perfect balance of fantasy and science fiction. Secondly, he has a cool asymmetric mask with a bunch of night-vision-esq cameras on it. Thirdly, he’s the stoic badass and totally in gays with Pohatu.

Ok, maybe that last one is only a modern headcanon.

Comic style

I adore the art style of the original Bionicle comics. They were a large part of why Bionicle captured my imagination so much when I was younger (and let’s be honest, these days too), and they were absolutely brimming with beautiful and detailed drawings. In particular, I really like how the dents and scratches etched into the surface of the characters’ armour gave them a material texture akin to stone. I am sure that the intention was to make them look metallic (and indeed, the later Metru Nui era comics have rendering that looks much more like metal), but the idea that the Toa were like ancient statues come to life really resonated with me. It made them seem so much more ancient and mystical.