TuragaNuva

That was a fantastic read! You've done an excellent job compiling all of this. Side-note: was a bit of a surprise to see a link to one of my Google Drive folders in there! I guess my scans of the Bohrok TCG booklet are still the only ones out there. One little thing you might want to add: Greg recently stated that the fact that existing non-Toa characters used to be a Toa team was actually decided before deciding who they were (apparently they were considering having the Toa Metru have been some of the 01-03 Matoran before settling on it having been the Turaga). Just thought that might be worth adding here.

I think a lot of people experienced what you describe, though (at least in the US) most people read the comics growing up (more than played MNOG, I would guess). The issue is primarily that the movies couldn't tell an entire year's worth of story, but they also couldn't be made more often than once a year. This left the story team (primarily Greg) to fill in the rest of the year with story that supplemented that year's movie story - but without making the movie an incomplete experience without reading everything else. I think movies 2 and 3 do a good job of showing the opposite ends of how this can go: With Legends of Metru Nui, the movie is relatively self-sufficient as a story - the extra stories at the beginning of the year with the Morbuzakh and the Krakha aren't bad, but they feel a bit like filler, since they don't strongly contribute to the main narrative of the year (the movie). With Web of Shadows, however, the main plot point of the movie - Vakama's betrayal - feels like it comes out of absolutely nowhere if you just watch the movie. In this case, Greg actually used the preceding "filler" stories to better build up to this moment, showing Vakama's obsession with living up to Lhikan, and how it drove him to make the wrong decisions in a misguided effort to protect the Matoran. These are really just the kind of issues you're almost definitely going to run into with the kind of multi-media story that Bionicle had - not all of the media can be synced up (nor should it be, if you want to take advantage of the multi-media format), so you end up with places where there's filler or discrepancies. That being said, though, sometimes the "filler" stories are some of my favorites - those were the ones where Greg had the most freedom to just write a story of his own invention without having to adhere to the plan laid out by the story team, and the results were often great (The Darkness Below and Time Trap come to mind).

In the harsh wastes of the planet Krysto, Ice Planet 2002 use the Sleet Slicer to traverse the terrain and combat the forces of Blacktron II and Spyrius. Built for the 2020 BZP convention circuit theme "Ice Planet 2002." Gallery Blog post about the building process

The only times Greg ever canonized fan works was for the winners of contests specifically held to create new canon stories/appearances. None of those are held anymore since Lego isn't interested in approving them, and Greg has stated he doesn't remember enough specifics about the official story to say whether a new story would fit into canon.

It's also pretty fitting for a Dark Hunter - a lot of them had various modifications and/or mutations.

I'm pretty sure they're meant to be his forearms, with the balljoints being his elbows - that's why both "weapons" are ones with claw-like ends. The art of him without them in comic #25 is likely a mistake on Randy Elliot's part.

There were a number over the years, but my biggest/dumbest misconception was definitely that, back in 2001, I thought Mata Nui had actually been turned into the island. I thought that was why the name was the same. In retrospect, though, I guess I was closer to the truth than I realized...

As others have said, I really have no idea what you mean regarding lightning and water. As for the general concept you're proposing - all Toa elements are generally considered totally separate and distinct, no matter how similar. A good example of this is a Toa Seal: a Toa Seal can only be created by 6 Toa of different elements - it won't work if any 2 are the same element. So if some elements were just variations of others, it wouldn't make much sense for them to be able to form a Toa Seal together (which they all can). As for Plasma: Biosector01 describes the element of Plasma as "superheated gas." It's mostly used in-story for melting things. That was Toa Vakama, when he fought an entity made entirely of fire in the tunnels between Mangaia and the Great Barrier: https://crosswiredgeeks.com/biologicalchronicle-book5chapter13/

The mask was ejected right as the storms started up - at the same time that the Toa Nuva were flying out of Karda Nui. So it made it out just before it would've been destroyed by the storms. Original text: https://crosswiredgeeks.com/biologicalchronicle-book8chapter58/ I'm not aware of any evidence to support that.

I wish I could've seen some of this stuff back in the day. If anyone has a recording of that Vakama/Hahli dialogue, I'd love to hear it.

They don't when using other powers of their gold masks in the comics, though, which are considered the more canon depiction.

The golden masks each had the power of all six of the Toa Mata's masks (Hau, Kakama, Pakari, Kaukau, Akaku, and Miru).

He's still employed at Lego, yes. He mainly works on the magazine, though he's still sometimes brought in to work on story material for more story-based themes (he wrote for Ninjago, and worked on the early story details for G2 - though he wasn't involved with writing any of the G2 books or anything). He's not officially a Bionicle writer right now, but no one is, since Bionicle isn't currently being made.

Greg has stated that Mata Nui's body was that of a Glatorian: http://board.ttvchannel.com/t/was-mata-nui-physically-a-glatorian-or-a-toa/49950/5 The Ignika's powers didn't need someone physically wearing the mask in order to activate, so I assume Mata Nui wouldn't physically need to be a Toa in order for the mask to work. The Ignika also often seemed to use its powers on its own while Mata Nui had it (rather than him using them with direct control). (also, do we know for certain that a Glatorian couldn't potentially use a Kanohi, since the only requirement seems to be focus and willpower?) I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say he could channel elemental powers.

They're all official Lego pieces. They're from the old hockey sets.