It's been a good long while since I was involved to any degree in an Internet debate, but here goes.

I like canonizations. I like world-building.

I've always thought of the Kanohi mask as being the primary emblem of Bionicle; it was a symbol that captured the mysticism and tribal feel of the early years, the science-fantasy feel of the later years, and it was one of the few constants that remained throughout the entire story. Wherever the story went, there were always Kanohi. So masks are sort of important.

But there's a fine line between world-building and pointless canonizations that do nothing to improve the story and that in fact hinder people's own interpretations. The story is, and always has been, geared to allow personal headcanons and fanfics to exist, so by canonizing such minute details as the weapon that a Toa that was mentioned maybe once a decade ago used, we're limiting what people can do without going against established canon. If that's necessary in order to really improve the story, then okay. But such insignificant details don't improve anything. They're just clutter.

Now, not to completely contradict myself here, but there is a part of me that's really curious about what weapons the Toa Mangai used. I'd like to know. But then I remind myself - right now, there's nothing to know. There is no established answer to that question. Right now, if I imagine, say, the Toa Mangai of Plantlife as having a wooden spear, I'm not wrong. There is no wrong weapon to give to that Toa. Nothing is lost by not canonizing something, but something may be lost by doing so.

On a related note, here's something I rediscovered as I was cleaning out my PM inbox a couple months ago.

2) This may have been a typo, but near the beginning [of Bionicle Legends #7] when the Inika are about to escape to the Pit, Jaller lights up his swords so the others can follow him. But doesn't he only have one sword?

 

2) No, I gave him two for this book

This was from some questions I asked Greg in 2007. As you can tell, I'm not the sort to delete old messages.

Anyways, so Jaller has two swords in Legends #7. But he has only one in the comics, which are also canon. Which one is correct? Both, but they contradict each other.

I guess you might say there's a difference between major canon and minor canon. Major canon is stuff that you can't really ignore, like that there are six Toa Mata/Nuva and that Teridax isn't a nice guy (although if you're really determined you can definitely get around that stuff). Minor canon is stuff that's more or less irrelevant, like which Toa Mangai wore the Kakama

(Which I will always imagine as being Naho, despite what Greg or the polls say. And "The Green" will always be Plantlife to me, because it sounds better. Seriously, if someone asks what power you have, do you really want "The Green" to be your answer? )

-Letagi