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How Do Kanoka Launchers Work?


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In-universe, how do they work?

 

For that matter, how do Kanoka themselves work?

 

Inspired by this comment: http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/18720-lets-talk-bionicle-best-moments-of-bionicle-g1/page-2?do=findComment&comment=950392

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The Matoran summon the powers of the mysterious humans to use their fingers and squeeze the sides. 

 

In all serousness, I always assumed it was some sort of trigger mechanism that wasn't represented on the sets. 

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Kanoka launchers need some way to create pressure behind the disc in order to launch it, plus something to charge/activate the disc so it reacts upon contact with the target. Going off the crossbow design of Vakama's weapon, perhaps there's a charger in the risers and some laser/pressure-gun type apparatus attached to the foregrip to send the disc flying.  :notsure: 

Or you just squeeze them like the toys. :P

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They could well work like they do in the sets: the Matoran pulls some kind of trigger or something that causes the sides of the launcher to close in.

 

However, you could also just look at Vakama's launcher in the second movie. I'm not sure I remember him launching it, though.

 

As for how Kanoka work, I believe it's explained on the Metru Nui Ministry of Tourism mini-site in the "Sporting Events" section. Under Kanoka Toss, it says "The trick is to catch the disk after it has expended so much momentum that doing so will not trigger its power." I guess this means it has to be traveling at a certain speed to activate its power. I think there also has to be some sort of impact for the power to trigger, or else it would be using its power on the air.

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I think they just launch the disc at a fast enough rate to activate its abilities

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I thought that they would probably fire in a similar fashion to crossbows. And that the disk power would be activated upon pulling the trigger.

The Gear Shredder in Transformers: Fall of Cybertron reminds me of the Kanoka Launchers very much, & interestingly, that's the weapon I use most when playing as the Scientist class.  ^_^

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I always thought of it as halfway between a sling and a crossbow. There is a squeezing mechanism to propel the disc (Left side if the disc points up, there's a piston on the set part), but you'd also have to swing them to get maximum power, with an under- or overarm action. Vakama's is a special case, though it does have pistons either side of the disc socket. Perhaps it has enough power to propel the disc without the swinging action, but conversely needs a Toa's greater strength to account for the recoil.

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However, you could also just look at Vakama's launcher in the second movie. I'm not sure I remember him launching it, though.

 

He did, actually. The first time was about twenty minutes into the film, when the Toa Metru were trying to escape the Coliseum, the second was during Vakama's showdown with Teridax. Both times he just aims and it seemingly fires on it's own; and by that I mean he doesn't seem to be doing anything to trigger it. The Kanoka he uses the first time seems to activate the second it clicks into the launcher, then explodes on contact with the statue of Lhikan (obviously the writers weren't told what powers the Kanoka have). Vakama wasn't shown loading his launcher the second time, so I can only assume that the disc activated upon being loaded. This Kanoka did nothing when it made contact with Teridax's hands. It should also be noted that the trigger hand is held horizontally as opposed to the normal vertical position -- at least for Vakama's model -- which definitely affects where the trigger is and how it works... Unless it's triggered mentally. 

Though, the movies are probably a terrible example, ha ha.

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He also shoots it in his Metru animation:

https://youtu.be/nNpWn2Sgz8o?t=4m

There's no trail of energy or anything, it just flies out with a little recoil.

 

(on a side note, look at where the guy with the top comment is talking about :blink: )

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He also shoots it in his Metru animation:

https://youtu.be/nNpWn2Sgz8o?t=4m

There's no trail of energy or anything, it just flies out with a little recoil.

 

Eh, those vids are probably an even worse example.

 

(on a side note, look at where the guy with the top comment is talking about :blink: )

 

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He also shoots it in his Metru animation:

https://youtu.be/nNpWn2Sgz8o?t=4m

There's no trail of energy or anything, it just flies out with a little recoil.

Eh, those vids are probably an even worse example.

 

(on a side note, look at where the guy with the top comment is talking about :blink: )

Vakama confirmed re-colored Su-Toa.

 

No someone pointed out that there's a stone GSR head in the Onewa animation.

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They might not be fired the same as the sets. That spinning pressure mechanism works great in little plastic things -- would it work with metal, etc. going far enough? I dunno.

 

It might actually be a crossbow, though until that post by Makaru you just linked to I've never heard anybody suggest it (and as far as I know he is incorrect to suggest this interpretation is fact). Vakama's launcher is shaped the way it is for the jetpack rockets function, not to give space for a string. I'm pretty sure the inspiration was from frisbee throwing, so it's meant as a mechanical version of a hand throwing a frisbee; any resemblance to a crossbow is probably coincidence, but could be used anyways. Regardless, some mechanical pushing equivalent to a crossbow, without an actual string (perhaps a spring instead or something) may be what it would use in-story if it had been thought out, as the disk might fly farther that way.

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Is it canon that Kanoka have the three notches in the edge that they have in both the movies and the sets?

IDK, but anyway they would make for convenient grips.

 

I think the launchers work a bit like a spring airsoft gun.  There would be a bolt you pull back that would fill a chamber with air.  When you pull the trigger, the bolt flies forward, shoving the air out, towards the disk, and sends it flying.

 

As for the powers... they all seem to have something to do with altering a substance on the molecular level.  My idea is that there's a device in the disks that could tinker with the molecules of an object, surrounded by a protodermis ring.  The ring provides the energy for the device, and the Matoran crafter programs the device with whatever power the disk is supposed to have (destroy poison molecules, enlarge atoms, scramble molecules, etc).  The greater the quality of the ring, the higher the disk's power level.  No idea on how the device itself is supposed to work, though I think it would act something like Star Trek's replicators.

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I thought the Matoran versions were kind of a spring thing. Like, they pull back a hammer of some sort against a spring, then let go and the hammer launches the disk, like a pinball launch trigger. Vakama's might have allowed the user to channel elemental power into propulsion.

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I like to imagine the firing mechanism works like a railgun, using electromagnetic fields to propel the disk. Vakama's might just run off of his Elemental Power to provide the same function.

 

In terms of powers, they're just like Kanohi. It's all based on quality of Protodermis used. I imagine material purity, size, density, the heating/cooling process, and possibly environmental factors play a role (the last one because of the qualities related to disks from each Metru).

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