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Why did Makuta disguise himself?


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I have a question, which has had me interested for awhile. I want to know why Makuta would turn into a matoran in the 2001 saga, and why he wanted to have the same mask as Tahu. Firstly, he was disguised as a nanobot, and we all know Makuta is a virus. So the virus acted like a nanobot inside of the mind of the spirit. But he had an infected Kanohi hau, and I wonder why.

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The Hau is a common symbol for the Great Spirit Mata Nui, so an infected Hau would be a good way to imply some correlation there and a direct reference to the sleeping Great Spirit and Makuta's role as his "brother". The Hau is also the most recognizable mask of Bionicle, just cause they used its image in so many promos and in so many different instances in the story.

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Well we knew VERY little about Makuta in 2001. Back then, we knew he was an evil brother of Mata Nui that put him to sleep, and according to him "couldn't be destroyed for he is nothing", and that enabled the story team to present Makuta as whatever at that point. He specifically picked the form of a Matoran to mess with the Mata's minds, by making them think he is what they are protecting, yet they're fighting with him and so on.

 

In respect why he picked a Hau, well just look at what Mata Nui's symbol is. The Hau, the Mask of Protection, as Mata Nui is the protector of the MU and savior of Spherus Magna. He shapeshifted his Kanohi Krahkan (spelling?) into the shape of that mask to further mess with the Toa.

 

You can find more info regarding this stuff on BS01 on the Teridax, Antidermis, and Saga Guidelines pages.

 

Hope that helped. :)

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Really, if I recall, it was mostly psychological warfare. He had the mask that was not only the symbol of Mata Nui, but also that Tahu wore. He also was bragging about being "indestructible", probably trying to induce hopelessness. And, he appeared as a Matoran to seem like one they were protecting, yet he was actually the one they were fighting. To put it simply, he was playing mind games. "It's all in your mind. . ."

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When I saw the title, I assumed this would be about Dume form. Anyways...

 

I want to know why Makuta would turn into a matoran in the 2001 saga

It was clearly a psychological manipulation/intimidation tactic against the Toa. Basically, he's too smart to just stand there and be boring until a defeat was faked. He had to make things interesting. :P (Partly for strategic reasons -- it distracted the Toa from what otherwise would be an obvious throwing of a fight... and partly also probably just his personality abhors being boring.)

 

And it was for drama for the fans (real world reason), for the shock of it, plus the shock moments later of that "something like... THIS?" moment. =D

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  • 3 weeks later...

The basic question has been answered here, but I want to go back to the original post's text. Ras just made the comparison that Makuta Teridax was like a virus inside Mata Nui's body that masqueraded as a nanobot worker - a red blood cell, if you will, trying to fool the Toa (white blood cells).

 

I think this is actually a brilliant parallel now that we know the nature of the Great Spirit robot. We couldn't have known back then, but Teridax did have something to do with viruses - the Makuta used viruses to create new Rahi. I suppose it would be better to call Teridax a master controller virus, then? And then he did disguise himself as a nanobot worker in order to fool the Toa, just like some real viruses behave.

 

It's an awesome way to interpret this famous 2001 scene in light of the most current understanding we have. Not sure if anyone noticed this already, but kudos to Ras for pointing that out. :)

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Sort of going with the psychological warfare thing, I kind of imagined it somewhat that he was taunting the Toa, being in that form. Combining the "Oh, I bet you can't bring yourself to fight someone who even looks like a Matoran", and (if he won) "How strong are you, really, if someone who looks like a Matoran beat you."

Just how I imagined it.

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Wasn't the whole point of the battle just to make the Toa drop their guard and feel like they'd emerged victorious over the Makuta? If the business with the Mask of Light hadn't happened, I'm pretty sure Teridax would have stayed hidden and silent until the Takeover.

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But perhaps these theories of psychological warfare are true, but at the same time, the white blood cells would not dare to harm a red blood cell. However, they saw through his trick and his viral infection and used their white blood cell elemental powers to 'defeat' him. But you can never get rid of a virus...

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Well we knew VERY little about Makuta in 2001. Back then, we knew he was an evil brother of Mata Nui that put him to sleep, and according to him "couldn't be destroyed for he is nothing", and that enabled the story team to present Makuta as whatever at that point. He specifically picked the form of a Matoran to mess with the Mata's minds, by making them think he is what they are protecting, yet they're fighting with him and so on.

 

In respect why he picked a Hau, well just look at what Mata Nui's symbol is. The Hau, the Mask of Protection, as Mata Nui is the protector of the MU and savior of Spherus Magna. He shapeshifted his Kanohi Krahkan (spelling?) into the shape of that mask to further mess with the Toa.

 

You can find more info regarding this stuff on BS01 on the Teridax, Antidermis, and Saga Guidelines pages.

 

Hope that helped. :)

 

What he said.  Basically, for the lulz.  Because Terrymak's a jerk like that.  :P

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I've seen a similar concept in a lot of stories about shapeshifting villains: a common strategy is to shapeshift into the form of a family member or friend of the heroes in order to make them hesitate when fighting. Even if you know it's just a shapeshifted villain, it is still harder to bring yourself to attack someone who looks like someone you care about. Since the Toa's primary duty was to protect the Matoran, the same applies here (and Makuta even states that himself more or less). 

 

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A common event to occur in many mythologies and legends, as many others above have already explained. It deals with symbology, one of my favorite themes in literature. Scenes like this can be powerful when used correctly, and I think Bionicle did well.

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I found it interesting that his entire body appeared infected, instead of just the mask on a black body. Along with making it impossible to recreate with unaltered parts (curse you, LEGO!), it made the imagery more memorable and confusing, to us and the Toa. Could Makuta infect an entire Matoran? Was Makuta once a normal Matoran? It was a brilliant psychological attack. The Toa probably questioned their chances of victory, and so felt more sure when they "won."

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Symbolic reasons bro.

 

I always found that power kind of weird though... you can turn into anything you want but you decide to turn into a rusty Matoran or a giant shadow dude? Subtle, Makuta. And what's to stop you from becoming larger even?

 

-NotS

I think Makuta can only shapeshift into something bigger if they're absorbing something else.

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Symbolic reasons bro.

 

I always found that power kind of weird though... you can turn into anything you want but you decide to turn into a rusty Matoran or a giant shadow dude? Subtle, Makuta. And what's to stop you from becoming larger even?

 

-NotS

I think Makuta can only shapeshift into something bigger if they're absorbing something else.
That is correct, however they can store their extra "mass" in a pocket dimension if they chose to adopt a smaller form.

Here's the quote from BS01 on that:

These are dimensions to which Makuta shift unused mass when they shapeshift. Each Makuta has their own personal dimension and cannot access the mass of others.

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I always found that power kind of weird though... you can turn into anything you want but you decide to turn into a rusty Matoran or a giant shadow dude? Subtle, Makuta. And what's to stop you from becoming larger even?

Well...

 

1) The psychology thing everybody mentioned earlier. :P

 

2) Think of it like buying a certain amount of soft clay. You can shunt away some of it (taking it out of the main chunk and setting it aside, rather than another dimension), or you can buy more clay, but otherwise the size stays the same; just because the clay can be reshaped doesn't imply it can get larger.

 

Although, I often have shapeshifting characters in my fanfics cheat by making themselves hollow to seem bigger. :P

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The Hau isn't exclusive to Tahu. 

For example, Lhikan had one. It's likely that many other Toa did too.

 

EDIT: Many Matoran had Haus too, like Jaller for example.

 Plot twist. Jaller's Hau was Lhikan's

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