I was always fan of the Piraka, they were really unique and fresh at the time, and they have a lot of personality. Totally new direction for Bionicle too. I think as I've grown up I've become a bigger fan of the Barraki as builds, and the Makuta builds from the Phantoka/Mistika sets during the Kara Nui Saga were strong in their direction and theme too, but the Piraka will always have a place in my heart. They were just so interesting considering everything that came before. Looking at the Bohrok, the Vahki, Visorak, and Rahkshi, they were mostly clone sets with some cool gimmick, especially with their collectable concepts (I'll never own all the Kraata species) but the Piraka were the first to 'individualise' the villains I guess, beyond the titan sets at least. On top of that, their motivations were really unique for the Bionicle story at the time as well. They weren't mindless or forced to work under Makuta. They were truly selfish, brutal, thuggish characters. They couldn't even function with stability in their own collective. This made them a really unique foil to the Toa Inika, who were characters we were already familiar with from their past matoran lives. As a matter of fact, the whole Voya Nui arc was really refreshing for this reason as well.
@@cresus. Yeah, the Piraka were probably the most interesting and memorable of the Bionicle villains. The idea behind the Barraki was good, but the execution was lacklustre, and their personalities were never that memorable. I get what they were going for with each build, but they just looked unfinished, and they could have done more or expanded on the idea. The Makuta builds were dreadful in my opinion, and the colour schemes for the 2008 line were so dull. They really could have done so much more with the 2008 line, to make it more vibrant and memorable. While the Piraka were mostly a clone set, save for the head designs and tools, I think the personalities of each more than makes up for that, and the Voya Nui saga was definitely where Bionicle was reaching its peak in terms of villains. Though, I do wish Vezok had retained his tactical mind; him becoming a dumb brute after being split into two beings, seemed like a waste of potential for the character. I almost wish that the Piraka had been the main villains for the 2007 line; following the Inika down the chord and mutating, that way they could have developed them more as characters, and given them new and dynamic builds. That's what I would have done, anyway. I agree that the Piraka made an excellent foil to the Inika, acting as a true antithesis to not just the Inika, but the Toa. The instability, backstabbing, and constant betrayal amongst the Piraka always made their dynamic interesting. They were a team that banded together, not because of loyalty or even because they shared a common goal. It was so that they could use each other, and when the time came, betray the others and take the prize for themselves. Had the Piraka had a bit more variation in their builds, I think they would have been unmatched by any other villain line-up.
@@CadmeanLotus Real man, real. In honesty I feel that the Barraki beat out the Piraka in their diversity, they all have unique silhouettes and individual self-concepts, with Carapar being modelled after a crab, and Ehlek an eel, etc. Despite branching out into more diverse builds and taking on more themes than just the elements, they are still really well tied together for the overall theme and setting, which made sense plotwise too (given their mutations and setting). Colour wise I think they just pop a bit more than the Piraka too. That being said, their builds seem to be lacking at a closer look, given a lot of their frames are bare with little detail, whereas each Piraka just seemed to look complete. I'm not going to say the Barraki aren't interesting or bland characters lore-wise, though I think the Piraka still have them beat there, but the fact that I can get an idea of what the Piraka are all about just by looking at them whereas I wouldn't go so far with the Barraki. Honestly if you just told me that they were monster creatures and not "once mighty warlords" I wouldn't think too much more on it, their personalities are only really showcased if you're bothered to look into the extended lore. This goes also for the Phantoka and Mistika Makuta too. The Voya Nui and Mahri Nui sagas were the start of a shift towards darker themes in Bionicle, and while I think there was good thematic execution with the Barraki, I can't say I'm a fan of just making the new Makuta bat or insect-esq. The Barraki to me seem abstract enough in their designs to pass as real characters, but simply pushing these Makuta designs comes off as cheap to me. I find Krika is the only design that seems abstract in this way, still fitting for the setting of the environment but not just "yeah make them a wasp character" and be done with it. I'm not going to get into the designs of the 2008 Toa though. That whole year seems like its direction was fragmented, but story-wise I at least still enjoyed it. I will agree, had they only had a little more variation in their builds, the Piraka would have been peak Bionicle villains, but I will have to give it to the designers, considering it was already pushing the boundaries. While it would have been interesting to see them evolve as the story progressed, I am still glad we got to see the Barraki, if not only to open up more of the story and offer more experimentation in villains beyond Makuta/servants of Makuta.
@cresus. While the Barraki are superior in the diversity of their builds, the combination of their "bare bones" aesthetic as well as some manufacturing/mould issues, particularly with the infamous lime pieces, prevented them from going from a good set to a great set. I agree that the aquatic aesthetic and colour schemes were great, and they even stirred up some controversy with Pridak's appearance. Despite this, I still found the execution somewhat lacking. While the primary colours for each Barraki were solid, the secondary and tertiary colours bug me. I think each Barraki would have benefited from a colour scheme closer to early Matoran colours. I don't think the secondary and tertiary colours really complemented the Barraki or their setting that well, and I believe could have benefited from either taking a leaf out of the Piraka's book for colour schemes or the Matoran colour schemes from 2001-2004 era. For example, Pridak with sand blue or light blue, Kalmah with orange or violet, Carapar with orange-brown, tan, or sand yellow, Mantax with orange, tan, or purple, Ehlek with turquoise, lime green that doesn't snap, or sand green, and Takadox with pale blue, sand blue, or silver. You get the idea. And Bionicle should have expanded on ideas from 2006, but they instead seemed to forget about and never touch them again. Imagine how cool it would have been if the Barraki had light up eyes, and each one had at least some bioluminescence. And the Barraki needed more to their builds and armour pieces. I think Pridak and Ehlek were probably the worst offenders when it came to that bare bones look. I've seen MOCs that showcase the potential the Barraki had, and, unfortunately, Lego seemed to cheap-out with this line. At the very least, giving each of the Barraki a unique function or technic mechanism based on their aesthetic and concept would have made the sets better. I think the Piraka colours were very attractive [Reidak with black and gold looks based] and fitted the tone and motif that they were going for as thieves, murderers, and gangsters. And the Barraki never had anything as iconic as the Piraka Rap. I think the perfect Bionicle villain set would be somewhere between the Piraka and Barraki, but I still give Piraka the edge in form, function, aesthetic, and character. The Barraki also proved that diversity doesn't automatically mean better. I consider the Piraka build to be more versatile, unique, and iconic than any of the individual Barraki builds. Again, the Barraki are great in concept, it's simply the execution that I believe failed them. The Piraka have such a unique silhouette and build, and the addition of light-up eyes, glowing teeth, and switchable/double-ended weapons and tools made them so much more appealing as a set. I will also never forgive Lego for forcing the squid launchers to be nerfed. The Prototype Squid Launchers were dope, and it's so stupid that they were canned in favour of the models that were released. I agree with your take on the 2008 story itself being interesting, but the sets themselves were just so lacklustre and not just underwhelming, but downright abysmal. Not just in the colour schemes, but with the actual builds. I don't think it's even worth mentioning what came from 2008 onwards in terms of sets. Frankly, I thought everything after 2007 was a massive downgrade in aesthetic, concept, vision, and innovation, made worse by how Bionicle ended. And the less said about those last two years, the better. The decision to make the Makuta look batty or vampiric or insectoid is something I also agree with you on. The Brotherhood of Makuta was built up since around 2004, and what we got was, again, underwhelming. The uninspired builds and totally bland colour schemes made it seem like Bionicle had really cheaped out and gone back twelve steps in terms of design, colour, innovation, and character. I think this is something that was somewhat improved with the 2009 sets, in terms of colour, design, and personality, but it was still nowhere near the levels of 2006 and 2007, and I wasn’t a fan of the story from 2009 onwards. The Piraka truly were the first interesting and dynamic villains we got in Bionicle. It's unfortunate that villains such as them were not thought of sooner in the saga. Piraka and Barraki being neither mindless drones nor obedient servants was refreshing to say the least. It just seems like, in terms of potential, the sky was the limit for Bionicle, but they instead seemed to go from peak performance to the dredges of mediocrity, and ended the entire saga with a whimper, not a bang.
@@CadmeanLotus I've got to agree with you on every front here. Regarding the colours, the Piraka has such strong combinations of their primary elemental colours and the metallic greys and golds. The Barraki on the other hand were more striking in their colours. I think this does work well for the underwater, almost glowing aesthetic, but it does take away from what was naturally identifiable as a "Bionicle". I'm leaniant with this decision with the Barraki, just because they were so alien in design to begin with, but it's clear that Lego was pushing this look as a broad design choice and not an idea specific to the set. Looking at the Toa Mahri, as well as all of the sets that come after 2007, we lose a lot of that classic Bioncle flavour with the colour shift alone. The sets that come after look too 'plastic' for me. The Piraka builds looked strong, not over complicated, but complete and fleshed out. We can agree that the Barraki not so much. In some regard I can understand where this choice comes from, design-wise. Takadox, like you said, is easily one of the worst offenders, but I still find his overall intended look achieved and relatively interesting as a result of this. Though, looking at MOC's, it is a shame that Lego couldn't find a way to do more to convey the same ideas, especially while retaining some of that classic Bionicle imagery. I can understand that they were trying to branch out more in the design aspect, trying more sizes and shapes, which seems like the natural progression after the 2006 line, but it seems like they just needed more time to iron out kinks. Even if the Barraki were to remain the same, it would have been nice to see an alternated 2008 line that took both more criticism and inspiration from the previous eras, especially considering the grandeur that these sets were supposed to imply thematically. I hadn't even thought about the play functions to be honest. While the 2006 line was fairly similar in terms of construction, they really came all out with a whole new set design to begin with, as well as the Zamor sphere launchers, the light up eyes and weapons, the glowing teeth, I'm even a fan of how the Piraka's weapons could be rotated between two different modes. It's a shame to see the only real additional play functions we got in 2007 were the Cordak Blasters and Squid launchers, which were nerfed to be little more than an interesting gimmick over a play feature as you say. In all honesty, I do like the Toa Mahri, I think give or take they were an improvement over the Toa Inika, but beyond the Squid Launcher, all Lego showed us was that the villains could come in more shapes than one. This isn't even the first time seeing this though, each Piraka's silhouette is heavily recognisable, with very individualised personalities. They weren't the run of the mill Visorak. I will agree to some extent about the 2009 sets. I did like the Glatorian, I thought they were great builds and they did flaunt personality. They were bright and not in the same way as the Barraki. I feel like they took a look at the early Toa Mata or Metru again for colour choice, mixed in with new ideas like the gold on Tarix, or the tie-dye pieces in Gresh or Malum. There were lots of interesting builds of all shapes without sacrifice in my opinion, and many new and interesting pieces. This being said, I didn't necessarily enjoy the villain group for this line just being the Skrall. I felt for such a new world and great line of characters, once again reducing the villain down to a copy paste group felt uninspired. To be fair, it is hard to expand the story and background into a set of 6 toys, but it was done before, why not again? I won't argue that it was back to basics though. The Bara Magna saga did feel almost like a bit of a retcon if you weren't up to date with the deep lore. While I really enjoyed the story and the set line, I can't say it truly felt like Bionicle. Don't even get me started on the Stars line, what a waste of a finale. I truly don't believe we got good villain representation following the 2006 and 2007 lines, and between the Piraka and the Barraki, I just have to agree that the Piraka are more interesting characters and overall better sets. Creeping in my Soul is a club banger, but I don't see people referencing it like they do Piraka Rap.
I think I've watched all of your Lethal content... really hope you see the other new enemy in one of the new uploads! Also, really like the new thumbnails. Very unique, and I always know it's gonna be a good video if I see that style of text :)
What are Crotesius' favourite Bionicle villains, and why is it the Piraka?
I was always fan of the Piraka, they were really unique and fresh at the time, and they have a lot of personality. Totally new direction for Bionicle too. I think as I've grown up I've become a bigger fan of the Barraki as builds, and the Makuta builds from the Phantoka/Mistika sets during the Kara Nui Saga were strong in their direction and theme too, but the Piraka will always have a place in my heart. They were just so interesting considering everything that came before. Looking at the Bohrok, the Vahki, Visorak, and Rahkshi, they were mostly clone sets with some cool gimmick, especially with their collectable concepts (I'll never own all the Kraata species) but the Piraka were the first to 'individualise' the villains I guess, beyond the titan sets at least. On top of that, their motivations were really unique for the Bionicle story at the time as well. They weren't mindless or forced to work under Makuta. They were truly selfish, brutal, thuggish characters. They couldn't even function with stability in their own collective. This made them a really unique foil to the Toa Inika, who were characters we were already familiar with from their past matoran lives. As a matter of fact, the whole Voya Nui arc was really refreshing for this reason as well.
@@cresus. Yeah, the Piraka were probably the most interesting and memorable of the Bionicle villains. The idea behind the Barraki was good, but the execution was lacklustre, and their personalities were never that memorable. I get what they were going for with each build, but they just looked unfinished, and they could have done more or expanded on the idea. The Makuta builds were dreadful in my opinion, and the colour schemes for the 2008 line were so dull. They really could have done so much more with the 2008 line, to make it more vibrant and memorable. While the Piraka were mostly a clone set, save for the head designs and tools, I think the personalities of each more than makes up for that, and the Voya Nui saga was definitely where Bionicle was reaching its peak in terms of villains. Though, I do wish Vezok had retained his tactical mind; him becoming a dumb brute after being split into two beings, seemed like a waste of potential for the character. I almost wish that the Piraka had been the main villains for the 2007 line; following the Inika down the chord and mutating, that way they could have developed them more as characters, and given them new and dynamic builds. That's what I would have done, anyway. I agree that the Piraka made an excellent foil to the Inika, acting as a true antithesis to not just the Inika, but the Toa. The instability, backstabbing, and constant betrayal amongst the Piraka always made their dynamic interesting. They were a team that banded together, not because of loyalty or even because they shared a common goal. It was so that they could use each other, and when the time came, betray the others and take the prize for themselves. Had the Piraka had a bit more variation in their builds, I think they would have been unmatched by any other villain line-up.
@@CadmeanLotus Real man, real. In honesty I feel that the Barraki beat out the Piraka in their diversity, they all have unique silhouettes and individual self-concepts, with Carapar being modelled after a crab, and Ehlek an eel, etc. Despite branching out into more diverse builds and taking on more themes than just the elements, they are still really well tied together for the overall theme and setting, which made sense plotwise too (given their mutations and setting). Colour wise I think they just pop a bit more than the Piraka too. That being said, their builds seem to be lacking at a closer look, given a lot of their frames are bare with little detail, whereas each Piraka just seemed to look complete. I'm not going to say the Barraki aren't interesting or bland characters lore-wise, though I think the Piraka still have them beat there, but the fact that I can get an idea of what the Piraka are all about just by looking at them whereas I wouldn't go so far with the Barraki. Honestly if you just told me that they were monster creatures and not "once mighty warlords" I wouldn't think too much more on it, their personalities are only really showcased if you're bothered to look into the extended lore. This goes also for the Phantoka and Mistika Makuta too. The Voya Nui and Mahri Nui sagas were the start of a shift towards darker themes in Bionicle, and while I think there was good thematic execution with the Barraki, I can't say I'm a fan of just making the new Makuta bat or insect-esq. The Barraki to me seem abstract enough in their designs to pass as real characters, but simply pushing these Makuta designs comes off as cheap to me. I find Krika is the only design that seems abstract in this way, still fitting for the setting of the environment but not just "yeah make them a wasp character" and be done with it. I'm not going to get into the designs of the 2008 Toa though. That whole year seems like its direction was fragmented, but story-wise I at least still enjoyed it. I will agree, had they only had a little more variation in their builds, the Piraka would have been peak Bionicle villains, but I will have to give it to the designers, considering it was already pushing the boundaries. While it would have been interesting to see them evolve as the story progressed, I am still glad we got to see the Barraki, if not only to open up more of the story and offer more experimentation in villains beyond Makuta/servants of Makuta.
@cresus. While the Barraki are superior in the diversity of their builds, the combination of their "bare bones" aesthetic as well as some manufacturing/mould issues, particularly with the infamous lime pieces, prevented them from going from a good set to a great set.
I agree that the aquatic aesthetic and colour schemes were great, and they even stirred up some controversy with Pridak's appearance. Despite this, I still found the execution somewhat lacking. While the primary colours for each Barraki were solid, the secondary and tertiary colours bug me. I think each Barraki would have benefited from a colour scheme closer to early Matoran colours. I don't think the secondary and tertiary colours really complemented the Barraki or their setting that well, and I believe could have benefited from either taking a leaf out of the Piraka's book for colour schemes or the Matoran colour schemes from 2001-2004 era.
For example, Pridak with sand blue or light blue, Kalmah with orange or violet, Carapar with orange-brown, tan, or sand yellow, Mantax with orange, tan, or purple, Ehlek with turquoise, lime green that doesn't snap, or sand green, and Takadox with pale blue, sand blue, or silver. You get the idea.
And Bionicle should have expanded on ideas from 2006, but they instead seemed to forget about and never touch them again. Imagine how cool it would have been if the Barraki had light up eyes, and each one had at least some bioluminescence. And the Barraki needed more to their builds and armour pieces. I think Pridak and Ehlek were probably the worst offenders when it came to that bare bones look. I've seen MOCs that showcase the potential the Barraki had, and, unfortunately, Lego seemed to cheap-out with this line.
At the very least, giving each of the Barraki a unique function or technic mechanism based on their aesthetic and concept would have made the sets better. I think the Piraka colours were very attractive [Reidak with black and gold looks based] and fitted the tone and motif that they were going for as thieves, murderers, and gangsters.
And the Barraki never had anything as iconic as the Piraka Rap.
I think the perfect Bionicle villain set would be somewhere between the Piraka and Barraki, but I still give Piraka the edge in form, function, aesthetic, and character.
The Barraki also proved that diversity doesn't automatically mean better. I consider the Piraka build to be more versatile, unique, and iconic than any of the individual Barraki builds. Again, the Barraki are great in concept, it's simply the execution that I believe failed them. The Piraka have such a unique silhouette and build, and the addition of light-up eyes, glowing teeth, and switchable/double-ended weapons and tools made them so much more appealing as a set.
I will also never forgive Lego for forcing the squid launchers to be nerfed. The Prototype Squid Launchers were dope, and it's so stupid that they were canned in favour of the models that were released.
I agree with your take on the 2008 story itself being interesting, but the sets themselves were just so lacklustre and not just underwhelming, but downright abysmal. Not just in the colour schemes, but with the actual builds.
I don't think it's even worth mentioning what came from 2008 onwards in terms of sets. Frankly, I thought everything after 2007 was a massive downgrade in aesthetic, concept, vision, and innovation, made worse by how Bionicle ended. And the less said about those last two years, the better.
The decision to make the Makuta look batty or vampiric or insectoid is something I also agree with you on. The Brotherhood of Makuta was built up since around 2004, and what we got was, again, underwhelming. The uninspired builds and totally bland colour schemes made it seem like Bionicle had really cheaped out and gone back twelve steps in terms of design, colour, innovation, and character. I think this is something that was somewhat improved with the 2009 sets, in terms of colour, design, and personality, but it was still nowhere near the levels of 2006 and 2007, and I wasn’t a fan of the story from 2009 onwards.
The Piraka truly were the first interesting and dynamic villains we got in Bionicle. It's unfortunate that villains such as them were not thought of sooner in the saga. Piraka and Barraki being neither mindless drones nor obedient servants was refreshing to say the least.
It just seems like, in terms of potential, the sky was the limit for Bionicle, but they instead seemed to go from peak performance to the dredges of mediocrity, and ended the entire saga with a whimper, not a bang.
@@CadmeanLotus I've got to agree with you on every front here. Regarding the colours, the Piraka has such strong combinations of their primary elemental colours and the metallic greys and golds. The Barraki on the other hand were more striking in their colours. I think this does work well for the underwater, almost glowing aesthetic, but it does take away from what was naturally identifiable as a "Bionicle". I'm leaniant with this decision with the Barraki, just because they were so alien in design to begin with, but it's clear that Lego was pushing this look as a broad design choice and not an idea specific to the set. Looking at the Toa Mahri, as well as all of the sets that come after 2007, we lose a lot of that classic Bioncle flavour with the colour shift alone. The sets that come after look too 'plastic' for me.
The Piraka builds looked strong, not over complicated, but complete and fleshed out. We can agree that the Barraki not so much. In some regard I can understand where this choice comes from, design-wise. Takadox, like you said, is easily one of the worst offenders, but I still find his overall intended look achieved and relatively interesting as a result of this. Though, looking at MOC's, it is a shame that Lego couldn't find a way to do more to convey the same ideas, especially while retaining some of that classic Bionicle imagery. I can understand that they were trying to branch out more in the design aspect, trying more sizes and shapes, which seems like the natural progression after the 2006 line, but it seems like they just needed more time to iron out kinks. Even if the Barraki were to remain the same, it would have been nice to see an alternated 2008 line that took both more criticism and inspiration from the previous eras, especially considering the grandeur that these sets were supposed to imply thematically.
I hadn't even thought about the play functions to be honest. While the 2006 line was fairly similar in terms of construction, they really came all out with a whole new set design to begin with, as well as the Zamor sphere launchers, the light up eyes and weapons, the glowing teeth, I'm even a fan of how the Piraka's weapons could be rotated between two different modes. It's a shame to see the only real additional play functions we got in 2007 were the Cordak Blasters and Squid launchers, which were nerfed to be little more than an interesting gimmick over a play feature as you say. In all honesty, I do like the Toa Mahri, I think give or take they were an improvement over the Toa Inika, but beyond the Squid Launcher, all Lego showed us was that the villains could come in more shapes than one. This isn't even the first time seeing this though, each Piraka's silhouette is heavily recognisable, with very individualised personalities. They weren't the run of the mill Visorak.
I will agree to some extent about the 2009 sets. I did like the Glatorian, I thought they were great builds and they did flaunt personality. They were bright and not in the same way as the Barraki. I feel like they took a look at the early Toa Mata or Metru again for colour choice, mixed in with new ideas like the gold on Tarix, or the tie-dye pieces in Gresh or Malum. There were lots of interesting builds of all shapes without sacrifice in my opinion, and many new and interesting pieces. This being said, I didn't necessarily enjoy the villain group for this line just being the Skrall. I felt for such a new world and great line of characters, once again reducing the villain down to a copy paste group felt uninspired. To be fair, it is hard to expand the story and background into a set of 6 toys, but it was done before, why not again?
I won't argue that it was back to basics though. The Bara Magna saga did feel almost like a bit of a retcon if you weren't up to date with the deep lore. While I really enjoyed the story and the set line, I can't say it truly felt like Bionicle. Don't even get me started on the Stars line, what a waste of a finale.
I truly don't believe we got good villain representation following the 2006 and 2007 lines, and between the Piraka and the Barraki, I just have to agree that the Piraka are more interesting characters and overall better sets.
Creeping in my Soul is a club banger, but I don't see people referencing it like they do Piraka Rap.
Man I love your thumbnails, they rlly stand out.
I think I've watched all of your Lethal content... really hope you see the other new enemy in one of the new uploads! Also, really like the new thumbnails. Very unique, and I always know it's gonna be a good video if I see that style of text :)
Y'all hiding on top of the company truck like it's the movie tremors 💀
AWWWWW YEAH NEW VIDEO!
Thise red plants and that weird red dog thing, is so scary LMAO
bro is crazy