Best & Worst Constraction Canister Designs?

[The Outsider]

So, quick question: which canisters from all of LEGO's constraction history (from Throwbots/Slizers to Roboriders to BIONICLE to Hero Factory to any I'm forgetting right now) were the best and the worst in your opinion?

 

Myself, I can't say much before the BIONICLE era, but I can definitely point what I believe was the worst from then on: the Toa Mahri canisters. Once they were open, they were practically unusabe as storage, which defeats the very purpose of a canister, and the armature/sub configuration made very little sense as a set (where was the floor?) or in-story.

The best, on the other hand, it's hard to tell, but I'd probably choose the Toa Mata's original canisters. They were simple but functional, the rotating cover revealing the different Toa and iconic marketing scenes made for great advertisement, and they could easily incorporate not only one but two in-story elements: the Toa Canisters, obviously, but also the Suva with the lid - which also made an effective subtle collecting nudge to complete it with more masks and Toa heads.

[ExeSandbox]

I can't say much for pre BIONICLE days as well, and I would agree as well the Toa Mata's canisters are probably the best with the Toa Metru coming in a close second. The Bohrok and Barraki cannisters are pretty high on the list too. (Though I am partial to the Hero Factory canister design, I don't think they come close to the BIONICLE ones.)

Indeed, the Toa Mahri are probably the worst (I don't know if they even count as canisters.) but they do look sort of cool. I personally don't like the Rahkshi canisters the most. They're basically upside down jam bottles and they don't represent the Rahkshi theme all that well, but they're perfectly fine storage bottles. 

[Takanuinuva]

Summer Glatorian canisters are pretty bad. A pain to get open.

Canisters that can be used with the sets are the better ones

[The Outsider]

19 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

Summer Glatorian canisters are pretty bad. A pain to get open.

I honestly always found the Barraki canisters harder.

[That_LEGO_Guy]

I only know about the bionicle era but a good canister should be stackable and have some lego connection so it can be used outside of just packaging. I liked the mate/nuva with the 6 head mounts but never saw any of the mask packs. I like the bohrok display 'hook' but would have prefered if instead ofa sticker that you peeled off it was a second layer that rotated  like the mata cans had to reveal the window( same with the raksho but not sure how that'd work with the triangle shape.

The metru got a lot of use from me. For a while I used a metru canister with a rubber band around the screw thread as a technic air tank for pneumatic mocs  and Joining 2 into a ball was cool, I tried building the transport vehicle seen in the bonus clips with the prototype sets on the 'web of shadows' dvd that had ~4 balls in a line. didn't look to good with mixed colours.

the iniki/piraka that showed the light up bit was cool. down side was some lights would be flat on the shelf from all the kids pressing them( I was one) up side was the flat ones would get discounted, and I'd just pyt in new batts.

Now looking at it I was wrong but I thought the mahri 'frame' thing was the same as the seat they sat in in the commercial so used them as sort of 'stasis chambers' once I got some more of the flex tubes that came out that year to link them to the frame.

The barraki did look good but couldn't stack them. I bought 3 of the discounted as the bionicle shelf was near the window and the blue plastic had softened and warped in the sun.

The hordika/visorahk lid that showed the spinner was a nice touch, didn't have internet at the time but had a mate who would just spin it and write the code down at the store and racked up heaps of the points in the online games.

I did see one of the hockey player canisters that doubled as a water bottle, thats was cool.

[Ondra]

Best canister is from slizers, why? They kinda reminds spaceship and i used it in that way of playing.

 

[nocruoro]

Best ones?

Toa Metru, i like the idea of taking Nuju's and Vakama's canister lid and use it as a pokemon ball.

Worst

My worst one would go to the Mahri if it wasn't for the turret function....but *** grief the mistika canisters they were a real pain to option and required a lot of force with a firm grip on the mask. It gave me cracked nails a few times. I'm a man but stumped/cracked nails aren't fun, it stings a LOT.

[Elephant Knight]

Toa Mata. They struck a home run with the first ones. The sleeve to rotate around and unveil each toa was a nifty feature, too. And the head on the lid to put an extra mask? Awesome.

As for the worst? Well, the mahri are certainly up there, for the above mentioned reasons. The Barraki are cool, but do suffer greatly from lack of stackability. 

My least favorite are the Mistika. I have always had a bugger of a time getting those ones open.

EKnight

[icm]

Toa Mata canisters were the best, for reasons already stated, but Bohrok canisters were a close second. They had a clear function in the story, they stacked well and displayed the set inside well, and last but certainly not least their storage clip for hanging the balled-up Bohrok was a killer idea. It worked perfectly, it made for a great toy, and it made perfect sense in universe. 
 

In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Bohrok canisters weren’t second best, but the very best. The Toa Mata canisters  had the slickest product reveals, with the rotating sleeve and all, but the story purpose and use of the Bohrok canisters was far more intuitive if you weren’t super familiar with the comics and the games.  The story and lid functions of the Toa Mata canisters required a bit more explanation.

Edited June 22, 2022 by icm

[Kalhiki]

Generally, the ones that had storyline functions I found to be the best. The Toa Mata had the Toa Canisters, Metru had the lids double as the storage pods from the LOMN movie (if you had two), etc. However, I think the Bohrok did it best. Stackable, and they doubled as nice storage where you could hang them from the lid. 

As for worst... Mahri, Phantoka, and any of the others that used used cardboard with a plastic "shell." Mainly because I could never figure out the proper way to open them...

[PassengerJet]

I know I’m probably in the minority here but my fondest memories are of the Creator X-Pods - those were great fun despite being a little bit prone to spilling open when least opportune.