Acting on a tip by MoD reader Joseph Fernandes, I started scouring the internet for images of existing 2001 and 2002 sets to see if they show the final versions of the models, or if they might reveal a glimpse at past incarnations of what finally hit the store shelves. What I found surprised me quite a bit.

Pretty much everyone has seen the prototype MANAS on one website or another, since the images first hit wide public notice over a year ago. Most people are also probably aware of the prototype BOXOR and EXO-TOA pics as well. While not terribly significant, the prototype pics of TAHNOK , NUHVOK , PAHRAK , GAHLOK , LEHVAK , and KOHRAK should be mentioned, as they all have faceplates with distinctly different color patterns than the final versions.

Now we get into the interesting stuff. Four of the TOA have been displayed wearing prototype KANOHI. You can see a code on TAHU’S forehead, ONUA’S forehead, POHATU’S forehead, and LEWA’S chin.

Moving on to the RAHI, if you look at the NUI-JAGA , you can see that the most prominent difference is that the white ONUA claws are absent from their heads. On the TARAKAVA , you can see that the white ONUA claw is actually turquoise and the two white GALI hooks are primary blue. More telling is that the nostrils formed by the turquoise fairing panels have yellow interiors, which suggests that they were painted to match the final color scheme. And finally, MUAKA & KANE-RA have only a tiny difference, which is that MUAKA is wearing KANE-RA’S black HUNA, KANE-RA is instead wearing black RURU, and the famous INFECTED HAU are nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t able to find any other differences on M & K-R, nor was I able to find a photo of the NUI-RAMA that obviously revealed itself to be of prototype models.