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Krisha

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I like Legends of Metru Nui and Mask of Light the best! They are pretty solid movies on their own. Web of Shadows is also pretty decent, but not as memorable as the first two in my opinion. The Legend Reborn is a whole-lot of hit and miss and it's hard to like it the best when there are so many things I dislike about it (animation was great though).

 

While Mask of Light will always have nostalgia on its side, I recently re-digested all of the BIONICLE story material and that meant watching all the movies again... Mask of Light kind of just went by, me zoning off a lot. But Legends of Metru Nui I was glued to for some reason, and initially I didn't think much of the (what, 500th?) rewatch afterwards. I mean, it was the first time since like 2009 since I watched that movie, but then again I watched it so many times as a kid so it didn't feel all that special. But then I went to sleep and the first thing that popped into my head was Lhikan's theme and his words "Follow the Light". Suddenly I thought of Lhikan's death and it really stung deep down, something I never truly felt watching the movie many times over as a kid. And all night, all I could think about was Legends of Metru Nui - Vakama's indecisiveness, Lhikan's sacrifice, Makuta's dastardly plan, the tragic story of the Toa Metru - and I was like "man, that movie was actually super solid".

 

I woke up the next day and watched it again. I know it has the Mask of Time in it, so excuse the pun - but I'd say B2 is actually a pretty timeless movie. It holds up even on its own, while the other Bionicle movies feel a little less sophisticated. That's just my opinion, just a funny experience I thought I'd share.

 

-NotS

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I like The Legend Reborn the most, I don't mind 2 & 3, but MoL sucks.

 

TAA-KUER?! TAA-KUER?! He's got more rocks in his head than a Po-Matoran... You're supposed to be at the KOHLII MATCH...

 

I hate the voice acting and the writing. It SUCKS. The animation's pretty... eh. I don't like the Matoran designs, and some places you can see pixellated textures. Not even Toy Story had that problem.

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I like Web of Shadows the best. I like the darker setting that it had. And the fact that one of the Toa, Vakama, turned evil also helped it standout from the others. I also had some decent action scenes at the end. Not the best I've ever seen, but better than the action scenes from the other movies IMO. 

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MoL holds a special place in my heart and forever will. Every time my best friend growing up and I had a sleepover, we watched MoL. EVERY SINGLE TIME. I know a majority of that movie by heart now and every time I watch it I feel happier.

 

2 wasn't bad, had a bunch of inconsistencies, but it still was a pretty good movie seeing as it was based off of a kid's toy line. Most aren't that great. Issue tho, You expect me to believe the disk hunt took one day? SUUUREEEE. (After the disk hunt Whenua says something along the lines of "when I woke up this morning [as a Matoran],  all I was worried about was cataloging, now I'm going down in history as Metru Nui's most wanted.")

 

My biggest complaints about WoS: 3. Didn't all of the Visorak have different powers? Why wasn't that used? 2. KEE FREAKING TONGU. No one knew where he was for how many years and of course, the protagonists are able to find him in less than a week. hmph. And #1. WHY did Matau and Onewa switch roles from LoMN to WoS?? Lewa went from being the goofy, always happy one to ridiculing Vakama at any moment. Onewa went from being that to a scaredy cat only used here and there for humor. Me no like that...

 

That being said, I love them all. peace. :infected:

move along.

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Worst media of the franchise, only the Piraka Rap is worst.

 

They contain poor representation of the characters, big cheesy/lame quotes/moments: "that's what friendship is about" Whenua in WoS, or the "let's gamble the fate of the island in a match of kohli" or the "walls of fire" Tahu sets surrounding Lehrak and...

 

I could rant for hours about them, I just can't deal with them. TLR is the only one that kind of manages to keep everything together for a while.

 

I will finish this post reminding that Jaller's mask, a Hau, a mask that is designed after the face of an angry guy looks LIKE A FRIDGING DUCK!!!!!! IMAGINE TAHU, THE TEMPERAMENTAL TOA OF FIRE WITH A DUCK FACEEEEEEE!!!!!

 

*throws himself from a cliff*

Came for the sets, stayed for the story.

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Mask of Light was the first Bionicle thing I ever got. I loved it at the time, and it still has a fair bit of nostalgia attached, but it doesn't hold up as a very good movie.

 

Legends of Metru Nui is probably my favorite, and the one I think is probably the best. Part of this is probably also nostalgia, though. MoL was my first Bionicle thing, but 2004 was my year. Metru Nui as a whole has a very special place in the part of my heart occupied by toy feelings, and LoMN is included in that. It helps that I think it's also a legitimately decent movie, and unlike MoL it can stand up on its own. And it probably has the best character development out of all of them.

 

I like Web of Shadows just fine, but there's no denying it had some really funky things going on especially when addressing the first half of the story, even more than LoMN.

 

I was also a big fan of TLR, but a lot of that probably comes from my great love of Bara Magna, even if the movie did mangle all sorts of things. Anyway, the animation and voice acting is generally solid, I thought.

 

I should probably rewatch these sometime. I don't think I've seen any of them in 6 years.

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I like Legends of Metru Nui and Mask of Light the best! They are pretty solid movies on their own. Web of Shadows is also pretty decent, but not as memorable as the first two in my opinion. The Legend Reborn is a whole-lot of hit and miss and it's hard to like it the best when there are so many things I dislike about it (animation was great though).

 

While Mask of Light will always have nostalgia on its side, I recently re-digested all of the BIONICLE story material and that meant watching all the movies again... Mask of Light kind of just went by, me zoning off a lot. But Legends of Metru Nui I was glued to for some reason, and initially I didn't think much of the (what, 500th?) rewatch afterwards. I mean, it was the first time since like 2009 since I watched that movie, but then again I watched it so many times as a kid so it didn't feel all that special. But then I went to sleep and the first thing that popped into my head was Lhikan's theme and his words "Follow the Light". Suddenly I thought of Lhikan's death and it really stung deep down, something I never truly felt watching the movie many times over as a kid. And all night, all I could think about was Legends of Metru Nui - Vakama's indecisiveness, Lhikan's sacrifice, Makuta's dastardly plan, the tragic story of the Toa Metru - and I was like "man, that movie was actually super solid".

 

I woke up the next day and watched it again. I know it has the Mask of Time in it, so excuse the pun - but I'd say B2 is actually a pretty timeless movie. It holds up even on its own, while the other Bionicle movies feel a little less sophisticated. That's just my opinion, just a funny experience I thought I'd share.

 

-NotS

This. All of this.

 

It also has the best voice acting -- all the voices were very in-character while still sounding believable, unlike the self-caricature MoL presented for the Nuva's voices -- and the strongest dialogue.

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Mask of Light kinda sucked to be honest. It still has a special place in my heart because it blew my mind as a kid seeing my favorite characters come to life on screen buuuuut, the voice acting was hit or miss (Makuta and Tahu were spot on, but besides that, none of the characters seemed to have voices right for them) the animation was kinda choppy, the story was a mess and they butchered the characters. Kopaka was Tahu's big rival, not Gali. Lewa was too zen and lacked the humor and sarcasm that made him my favorite in the first place. The Toa didn't get the screentime they deserved, and the Rahkshi were awesome but for some reason they sucked in that last fight scene. The whole thing where the Toa were constantly feuding contradicted the whole thing where they learned to work together in the previous arcs and I'm not a fan of the "kill a character and bring him back to life" thing. Also disappointing that we didn't see a proper Takanuva Vs. Makuta battle. 

Legends of Metru-Nui was actually pretty solid though. Not a fantastic movie, but it's pretty good. The film tells one concise story from start to finish (as opposed to MoL that kinda dropped us in the middle of the story) They got the characters right this time, Vakama being the self-doubting troubled leader struggling to live up to Lhikan's legacy. Tahu might have been my favorite Toa leader, but Vakama was the leader I felt for the most. Especially now, his story really hits all the right notes for me. Matau was hilarious, I felt like he was basically what Lewa is MoL should have been. (but maybe a bit more zen) They got the bickering between Onewa, Whenua and Nuju perfectly which was one of my favorite story aspects of 2004. It also helped that they brought back Makuta (one of the few good things about MoL) and made him even more awesome. My favorite thing is how the Toa go from not liking each other to being good friends, you really get a sense that they don't get along at the start but they aren't mean spirited towards each other. Except for Onewa but he's supposed to be snarky and sarcastic. 

Web of Shadows was is probably the worst if you ask me. Vakama turning evil was rushed and made no sense. Didn't he already learn to be a good leader during Bionicle 2? Also since the whole movie is a flashback there was no real suspense. We already knew the Hordika would be back to normal and by the end of the film, Vakama would be buddy-buddy with the rest of the Toa again because he's there to tell us the story in the first place. The Toa once again all hated each other out of nowhere. I get it they weren't happy with their new forms but geez. Matau was way too mean spirited towards Vakama. Even Onewa would say he took it too far. Matau was the fun happy go lucky guy, but suddenly he becomes incredibly vain and obsessed with how hideous he is. Sidorak sucked, all he pretty much was was someone for Roodaka to stab in the back which brings me to one of the good things about the movie. Roodaka was awesome. One of the most underrated villains in the Bionicle universe. MoL might have been the most objectively flawed of the bunch but I can at least bring myself to enjoy the world of Mata-Nui come to life. The 2005 Metru-Nui was so bland. I didn't mind the darker shift in the story, I kinda liked it, but they tried too hard to make Vakama Anakin Skywalker. I think the story would have been much more powerful if Vakama had stayed with Roodaka and someone else like Matau or Onewa had to step in as a leader. Of course that couldn't happen because Vakama is narrating the story but that whole "good then evil then good again" thing is just as bad as "character dies and comes back to life" thing for me. 

Never got around to see the Legend Reborn though. 

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Mask of Light really is a classic, it's just so lovely and paced so well, stunning visuals for what it was. Legends of Metru Nui really was an improvement, though. The atmosphere was definitely legendary and familiar and wondrous, and the story felt a little more coherent and taking its time to develop. I have really strong nostalgia for both, but I think being a tiny bit older and watching LoMN the night I got it on my new tiny personal TV being completely glued to it after indulging in all the hype media for 2004 wins over, since I just remember it better and it was a bit more special. Also, nothing in MoL can beat the "Time" track. That piece of music haunts me to this day, I felt a chill thinking about it just now.

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While I think that LoMN is the best movie in many ways, such as character developement, I do remember that as a self-contained story it didn't make much sense. The Metru Nui saga is when I started to get invested in the story, and before I really researched the plot, a lot of the parts of the movie confused me. Ok, they found out that Teridax is putting Matoran to sleep, but in the next scene he has already completely captured the entire population of the city? What? The time-jumping they do in the movie is never very clear. Not to mention that Mata Nui falling asleep isn't explained at all, as far as I can remember, so Teridax's entire motivation is left ambigious beyond "I'm evil!" While all the movies have some merit, I don't think any of them are very good, although I do still enjoy them.

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While I think that LoMN is the best movie in many ways, such as character developement, I do remember that as a self-contained story it didn't make much sense. The Metru Nui saga is when I started to get invested in the story, and before I really researched the plot, a lot of the parts of the movie confused me. Ok, they found out that Teridax is putting Matoran to sleep, but in the next scene he has already completely captured the entire population of the city? What? The time-jumping they do in the movie is never very clear. Not to mention that Mata Nui falling asleep isn't explained at all, as far as I can remember, so Teridax's entire motivation is left ambigious beyond "I'm evil!" While all the movies have some merit, I don't think any of them are very good, although I do still enjoy them.

I don't think we were intended to know that stuff back then, so it makes a little bit of sense to leave it out.

 

Personally, although the MoL is probably my fave, I think the LoMN has way better plot/voice acting/ everything else. WoS is after LoMN. It was just another Bionicle movie in my opinion.

 

I didn't like TLR that much. It was a huge let down, even though it was probably way better than all the others in retrospect. I just didn't like the childish feel. And yes, I do know the earlier movies (especially MoL) felt WAY more childish then TLR, but I was WAY younger when I watched them, so it just feels more childish by comparison.

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My favourite's definitely LoMN. As others have said, it feels incredibly solid and well put together. There's something about it which feels really special which none of the other films capture for me.It's superbly voice acted, the music may well be even better than MoL and the visuals are stunning! Metru Nui really comes alive and looks incredibly unique.

 

WoS comes second. While it does lack the magical touch of LoMN, and definitely has its share of plot problems, I found it enjoyable. Like its predecessor, I thought it did atmosphere very well. So much of the film feels creepy, foreboding, dangerous  - in fact, there's precious little that doesn't. Plus, it has the (unfortunately brief) awesome physical fight scene between Vakama and Matau!

 

Eeeeehh...I don't know which order to put the other two in. I haven't seen MoL for many years, though I did watch TLR again and found it lacking. It certainly had some great moments, but it felt so much more childish than previous films, the action scenes were poor (so many looked like they were ripped from an turn-based RPG game), the plot was appalling in places and the Skrall/Bone Hunters never felt like a threat. Whenever we saw them on screen, they were always disposed of quite cheaply and easily by the heroes, then at the end, are beaten en masse by like, three people? Including a rookie?

 

MoL mostly dissapointed me because of how much I expected. All the advertising made it look like some epic, legendary quest with excitement and adventure and a fairly serious tone. What we got was a couple of goofy idiots trotting around the island for little to no reason, getting occasionally involved with the Toa who spent most of their time bickering amongst themselves rather than acting like the team of heroes they were supposed to be by that point, all culminating in...a kohlii match? And the voices! All of the Toa sounded ridiculous, and Takua and Jaller sounded like squabbling, immature kids! Captain of the guard? Really? I wouldn't trust him to guard a sand pit.

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Worst media of the franchise, only the Piraka Rap is worst.

 

They contain poor representation of the characters, big cheesy/lame quotes/moments: "that's what friendship is about" Whenua in WoS, or the "let's gamble the fate of the island in a match of kohli" or the "walls of fire" Tahu sets surrounding Lehrak and...

 

I could rant for hours about them, I just can't deal with them. TLR is the only one that kind of manages to keep everything together for a while.

 

I... actually agree.

 

None of the movies are as good as the Greg Farshtey books or serials. Both of the things I just mentioned have much better characters, intrigue, dialogue, and story. The characters are enjoyable and interesting, the story is engaging, the dialogue is more down-to-earth and realistic, and the mystery is strong. 

 

The movies fall flat in this regard. I especially hate the dialogue. I guess I can't blame the writers though, as these are intended to be kid's movies.

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I'd definitely rank MoL as my favourite, with LoMN and WoS sharing the second place. TLR wasn't really that great IMO, but still okay (though I've only seen it once or twice, I think?).

 

I might be biased though because MoL has the most matoran appearing and I find their character design just so unbelieveable adorable I can hardly pay attention to the rest. ^^

 

Still, for all the cheesiness or probably even because of the cheesiness, MoL has to be my favourite. It's just timeless. (also, Takanuva.)

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It has been a loooooooong time since I saw them movies, and now that I think of it I never finished the newest one with Mata-Nui.

But from what I remember from them, My favorite is the Legend of Metru Nui. a close second being Web of shadows. I just find the Toa Metru there more likeable than the Matoran and the Toa Nuva in the first one.

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