We have our semi-finalists for Round 3, after 119 votes. We're down to just nine Toa, so their numbers are dropping quickly, but we're that much closer to seeing who will be the top favorite. You can vote now for the third round, which will be running until mid-March. Meantime, you can see the results for the second round here, or read on for some of my insights.

The finalists are as follows:

• Tahu Mata, Lewa Mata, and Hahli Mahri face off.
• Kopaka Mata, Takanuva, and Jaller Mahri compete against one another.
• Matoro Mahri, Lhikan, and Lewa Nuva fight it out.

Who will win? Who will be left behind? Who will be the greatest Toa of them all? Well, it's time to vote!

There isn't much to analyze compared to what I wrote out in the middle of the month. There were a few tight races, but the main numbers didn't change in the second half of February. It's kind of surprisingly, really. The close races between Lewa Mata and Iruini, Takanuva and Pohatu, and Jaller and Toa Ignika all remained quite close, but the winners never actually lost their leads.

For a quick summary:

• Winners by Type: 3 Mata, 3 Mahri, 2 Nuva, 1 Metru
• Element: 3 Fire, 2 Air, 2 Ice, 1 Water, 1 Light
• By Rank: 5 Tier One, 2 Tier Two, 2 Tier Three

It doesn't surprise me that half the Mata made it to the semi-final round. Takanuva isn't much of a surprise either. But the three Mahri all progressing was a bit of a surprise, which is 100% success rate for Round 2. They weren't the Toa team that powered through in Round 1, but they have staying power apparently. Lhikan being the only Metru to move forward is also surprising, since the Metru did exceptionally well in Round 1, but they were all cannon fodder here. The elements are a bit more of an even split; fire has a modest lead, but earth and stone are out. As for ranks, most of the winners were sets that more people owned, so popularity by products purchased seems to old. Lhikan and Takanuva skew this a bit because they were from more expensive sets; it was Jaller and Matoro Mahri who beat out Toa with higher ranks and similar price points.

Also, let's take a look at the bonus question, which focused on the eight iterations of Tahu. The clear winner was Tahu Mata with 46 votes. Tahu Nuva comes in second with 35 votes. Then you skip up to Tahu Master of Fire in third with 17 votes. It is surprising that every single Tahu got at least some votes. Was the single vote for Tahu Stars a pity vote? Hard to tell, but even the blocky system Anniversary build got 9 votes.

For the next round, it'll be hard to make predictions. The less desirable Toa have all been weeded out, so it's difficult to determine who will have the advantage over the others. I would think the Mahri might have less of a chance, but they performed very well and nostalgia might split the votes between Tahu and Lewa and Kopaka and Takanuva. It's really anybody's game at this point. So make sure to vote, and by mid March I'll close the polls and see who our finalists are. (Exact date not to be determined, but we don't have a lot of extra votes in the second half of the month, so we might be able to push the final round a bit early.)

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