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Seasons and Calendar in the Matoran Universe


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Hi. I was wondering about something. You know that guy Nicrophoros-Americanus who has that series "Fleshing out the Matoran Universe" on tumblr? Well, I re-read the first part of that series and he/she has a really good concept for how there can be seasons in the MU: http://nicrophorus-americanus.tumblr.com/post/95197612943/fleshing-out-the-matoran-universe-part-1 He/she is also a member here on BZP, and theorizes here in S&T, but I am embarassed to not know what your username is on here. If you see this post Nicro, then please post below :)

 

He/she writes:

* Seasons did exist in the Matoran universe, and were the effects of Mata Nui’s self-regulation of temperature. Much energy was produced in his hands, feet, and internal engines, which he then circulated through the rest of the universe on a regular cycle. The lands of the Su-Matoran and the Southern Islands, however, were almost always swelteringly hot

 

This then got me thinking. If the MU did have seasons, then they must have a calendar too, or perhaps more than one system to count days. Perhaps years and months as well. But what kind of system? And here's a better question: How long is a  day in the MU? How long is a year? If the GBs based the cycles of years in the MU on what Spherus Magna had, it must have been very long, considering the immense size of SM, unless our own universe's physics don't apply here as it often does not in the world of the BIONICLE. We do know that they measure time, or at least the Great Beings did, since they made the Great Sundial, which have 24 markins, each representing an hour of a day.

Edited by Lukas Exemplar
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Just a geeky guy trying to learn the craft of writing stories.

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I think the Matoran year is about the same length as a normal Earth year, if I recall.

This is an interesting theory, especially when factoring in temperature regulation for the robot as a season. This also makes me think of Naming Day, which was a Matoran holiday celebrated annually (I think). 

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Assuming that real-life physics don't affect the Bionicle Universe, the speed of Spherus Magna's rotation is a non-issue, as you have said yourself. From a writing standpoint, a lot of Bionicle society is based on very familiar human conventions, so it would make sense for them to have a traditional calender system. I believe that it was confirmed that one day in the Matoran Universe is more-or-less the equivalent to a regular day in the real world.

 

I also believe the "one year" that the whole G1 story spanned in is the equivalent to a single year in reality. However, I do not have a source for this.

 

-NotS

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Hello, you've found me -- this is nicrophorus-americanus. I'm glad and slightly flattered that people like the headcanons I posted. I don't consider my idea about seasons to be really that groundbreaking, but I think it provides a nice bit of color to the MU. And it doesn't seem to go against anything explicitly stated, so that's nice.

 

With regards to the other discussion that's popped up in the posts above: I do have a "patch" for the trouble of years, which is the idea that 1 BIONICLE year = 1 human month. That reduces the gigantic span of 100,000 years to 8,333 years, which, while still large, is a little easier for me take seriously. Of course, this idea is strictly against Greg's answers, and it raises some interesting questions about SM's orbit, so I wouldn't expect everyone to appreciate it.

 

I also seem to recall the BIONICLE Story Squad trying to canonize a 36-hour day for the MU, based on the Great Sundial from MNOG. I don't have strong opinions about that, however.

 

Thanks for your interest! I always enjoy knowing when people like my ideas.  ^_^

Edited by ALVIS
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"You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant."
-- Harlan Ellison

 

 

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With regards to the other discussion that's popped up in the posts above: I do have a "patch" for the trouble of years, which is the idea that 1 BIONICLE year = 1 human month. That reduces the gigantic span of 100,000 years to 83,333 years, which, while still large, is a little easier for me take seriously. Of course, this idea is strictly against Greg's answers, and it raises some interesting questions about SM's orbit, so I wouldn't expect everyone to appreciate it.

I sure as heck appreciate it -- that's one detail I've incorporated into my own headcanons since you brought it up in the Headcanons thread a few months ago :P although wouldn't 100,000 divided by twelve be 8,333 rather than 83,333?

 

I also seem to recall the BIONICLE Story Squad trying to canonize a 36-hour day for the MU, based on the Great Sundial from MNOG. I don't have strong opinions about that, however.

Hmm, if we incorporate that into the figures, it turns 100,000 years of Bionicle time into 12,500 years of our time. Still pretty manageable :rolleyes:
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I also seem to recall the BIONICLE Story Squad trying to canonize a 36-hour day for the MU, based on the Great Sundial from MNOG. I don't have strong opinions about that, however.

Hmm, if we incorporate that into the figures, it turns 100,000 years of Bionicle time into 12,500 years of our time. Still pretty manageable :rolleyes:

 

That works. It makes the passage of time (like the span of the entire Bionicle story) much more manageable! 

 

-NotS

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An alternative way to rationalize it is that Matoran count in base 6. 100,000 for them is what we would write as 7,776. Their number system looks suspiciously base-6-ish as well.

yo that is a totally rad hypothesis of which I myself never could have thought. So basically you just replace 10 with 6, 100 with 36, 1000 with 216, etc?

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Back to the topic of seasons, do we know whether the Matoran Universe, or even the island of Mata Nui, had climates and different weather? Like, did it ever rain in either one in the story? Or did it ever have "natural" storms? I put the quotation marks because inside the MU weather would have been controlled by some kind of machinery, maybe some kind of vaporing devices and other technological factors. Also, by natural I mean to roll out any storms or other weather changes brought upon by characters using their powers or a machine. Mata Nui regulating weather controlling machines is a different story.
 

EDIT: Apparently storms do occur on Mata Nui, since the Matoran have the term "Dermis Turtle weather" for bad weather. The Dermis Turtle page on BS01 reads: "The Dermis Turtle can also detect upcoming changes in weather. When these Rahi hide in their shells for what looks like no particular reason, it means that a storm is coming. Matoran often use the phrase "dermis shell weather", meaning there is unpleasant weather conditions."

But still, have we ever seen any changes in weather like this in the story? Like rain? Thunderstorms? Storms? Anything like that which was not brought about by powers or machinery operated by a character (except Mata Nui as in the case of the GSR.) Mentions of storm or weather changes are okay though.

 

EDIT: We do know that there was a Ta-Matoran on Voya Nui who was very knowledgeable on weather patterns and who predicated an incoming hurricane. So that makes weather changes canon, at least on Voya Nui, in case the Dermis Turtle thing didn't already convince most people. But still, I wonder if Mata Nui, or any of the isles in the GSR, gets rain, storms etc. I don't think it would be very practical for there to be such weather changes, seeing how it would probably hinder the Matoran's work, but any slight wrongs in the construction of the robot could create something like a bioquake now and then, from some pieces of the robot grating on each other, or islands getting too close.

Edited by Lukas Exemplar

Just a geeky guy trying to learn the craft of writing stories.

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I actually asked Greg a question similar to this one, and he said that the MU did have a calendar, days, hours, etc, but they never went too further on these questions because it would complicate the story or something like this.

 

But as for the actual question, I don't think an year is too long on the MU. I just can't see the Matoran trapped on Mata Nui for 1000 years for like 365 days a year.

 

EDIT: I would like to leave this thought: The Toa Mahri video had this clock thing on many parts, and it marks 24 hours. Now, I don't know if that video is canon, but if it is, then I think we have an answer.

Edited by Zidonaro
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An alternative way to rationalize it is that Matoran count in base 6. 100,000 for them is what we would write as 7,776. Their number system looks suspiciously base-6-ish as well.

yo that is a totally rad hypothesis of which I myself never could have thought. So basically you just replace 10 with 6, 100 with 36, 1000 with 216, etc?

 

Yes, that's the idea. 

 

I actually asked Greg a question similar to this one, and he said that the MU did have a calendar, days, hours, etc, but they never went too further on these questions because it would complicate the story or something like this.

 

But as for the actual question, I don't think an year is too long on the MU. I just can't see the Matoran trapped on Mata Nui for 1000 years for like 365 days a year.

 

EDIT: I would like to leave this thought: The Toa Mahri video had this clock thing on many parts, and it marks 24 hours. Now, I don't know if that video is canon, but if it is, then I think we have an answer.

Wait, maybe the clock isn't for 24 hours, but 24 "minutes" in each hour?

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Wait, maybe the clock isn't for 24 hours, but 24 "minutes" in each hour?

It's just an advertising video made by people minimally familiar with canon long before the canonization of 36-hour day.

 

this. Promo videos tend to be semi-canon at best

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