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What is Something in Bionicle you Simply Cannot get Over?


Toa o Uria

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FINALLY, an opening to bring up every detail that bothers me to no end in Bionicle! which is something i have been WAITING to do for so so so so so long!!!

 

Okay:

 

The Skrall: while i loved every skrall set, their place in the story left much to be desired. between the once again demonizing of one whole race as "bad guys", the degredation to "mindless swarm of brutes" in the film, and the weirdly unneccesary sexism that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, they really got the short end of 2009's already short stick. :0

 

Great Beings: Okay, so, Bionicle is a russian nesting doll of "false gods", Makuta is a "spirit of darkness" but he's actually just one of a bunch of only mildly powerful guys, Mata-Nui is a "great spirit" but, oops, he's actually an artificial intellegence made by.... another not-actually deity. woohoo. These boring, blatant plot-devices were just another in bionicle's constant attempt to stamp out mysticism and culture for "science and tech" and whatnot. (and velika? ugh, don't get me started...)

 

Timeskips (but not really): Listen, buddy. you expect me to believe ackar, kiina, gresh and etc. were alive during the world-shattering Core War all those years ago? and yet, like, nobody mentions it much at all? how do you live through the destruction of your planet, and then for thousands of years, and not have some sort of horrid trauma for it? adding onto that, the use of "thousand" every time shows greg really liked to devalue the concept of time. sheesh.

 

Death: 50% of bionicle's character deaths served no purpose, and not just because of the red-star reveal, (which i also can't get over. what a waste of paragraphs. :t ) but simply because, tbh, mr Farshtey outright stinks at breathing emotion into his works. a majority of the toa sound/act the same depending on the story arc, ALL of the villains act the same, and back on point, he had a habit of just killing whoever was least useful, regardless of story impact. (Carapar, Krika, Botar, etc.) while also implying nobody died during the matoran's time spent on Mata-Nui? (what? how can like, ten people die in the span of a day but nobody die in a thousand years? ?: ) All in all, there were three meaningful deaths in bionicle: Jaller, Matoro, and Lhikan.

 

Gender: I'm not gonna dive too far into this because apparently it makes some people stingy. but i don't tihnk i need to mention why i won't let Bionicle off scott-free on gender-related issues...

 

PROTODERMIS: Okay, so if I typed too much in those other sections you might just want to stop reading because sweet dermis-turtle-tears, did Greg mess up protodermis. yes, i know i mention htis just bout any time i've given the chance, but look, i've been given another chance! Protodermsi was introduced to us in... 2002? i believe? as a mystical plot-device metallic fluid, it had a supercharged form that could turn Toa into Toa Nuva and was later reveale to be what most strong or precious metal objects in bionicle were made of!

 

...and then it was revealed to be what ALL objects in bionicle were made of. severely dropping its value as both a material, and a story element. (why mine for what the rest of the rock around you is made 100% of?) and it only got worse/more unbrearable. because old GF wasn't done, he went on to imply all plants, animals, and people were 100% proto, regardless of how little thar made sesne, or how utterly useless that information was. nobody questioned wht the exact biomechanics of matoran was before that point, i can safely say i assumed they were made of part-metal-part-flesh. and i have a feeling i'm not alone there so, really, all greg did was severely overcomplicate the nature of Protodermis with these obtuse inclusions. :r

 

and the final nail in the proto-coffin? The energised-protodermis-entity. (or, EPE) introduced who-cares-when, apparently greg decided EP needed a conciousness, becuase apparently instead of turnign stuff into Nuva, like we're told, it just turns stuff into "their destiny" and fries the rest, because that's not the absoltue vaguest way to say that, nope. and apparently in order for magic mercury to know what a "destiny is", it needs... a brain? what? why? who decided this was a tihng we needed?

 

oh right. greg. :t

 

so basically uh, i guess what i never got over was Greg, and his horrifically complete dominance over any and all sense of "canon" even denying points of the beloved MNOG because they didn't fit his idea of what bionicle was. (heck he even decided C-Hapka's neat shadow toa battle wasn't "symbolic or whatever" enough, replacing it with his gritty, dark-n-edgy versio. yuck.)

 

ANYWAY, that's enoguh ranting sorry for ranting, i get ranty sometimes. oops. :0

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so basically uh, i guess what i never got over was Greg, and his horrifically complete dominance over any and all sense of "canon" even denying points of the beloved MNOG because they didn't fit his idea of what bionicle was. (heck he even decided C-Hapka's neat shadow toa battle wasn't "symbolic or whatever" enough, replacing it with his gritty, dark-n-edgy versio. yuck.)

I totally agree on your whole post, but on this bit: to be completely fair, Greg actually wrote the first incarnation of the scene, and then it was Hapka that changed it. HOWEVER, if we were to be able to see how the scene worked out originally in the cancelled PC game, I don't think it would be too surprising to find that Greg diverged from that radically.

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believe victims. its actually not that hard, and youd look kind of bad if you were to, say, side with an abuser because theyre your friend

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so basically uh, i guess what i never got over was Greg, and his horrifically complete dominance over any and all sense of "canon" even denying points of the beloved MNOG because they didn't fit his idea of what bionicle was. (heck he even decided C-Hapka's neat shadow toa battle wasn't "symbolic or whatever" enough, replacing it with his gritty, dark-n-edgy versio. yuck.)

I totally agree on your whole post, but on this bit: to be completely fair, Greg actually wrote the first incarnation of the scene, and then it was Hapka that changed it. HOWEVER, if we were to be able to see how the scene worked out originally in the cancelled PC game, I don't think it would be too surprising to find that Greg diverged from that radically.

 

 

okay, fair enoguh, but Hapka's was still more thematically proper to Bionicle, and honestly, more practical. 0:

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I wish we could have had more main characters/sets outside of the six classic elements.

 

The way Tuma was portrayed in TLR. They made him look like some generic, mindless, and "mighty" villain instead of showing that he's like a guy who wants to help and save his race.

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The reveal that the Red Star could revive those that had died in the MU. Yes, I know that there had to be certain circumstances for them to be revived, like having their head and/or bodies intact and dying in the MU. Plus, I know Greg had a story planned for this that simply didn't work out. But as it was left in the story, it just felt like a plot device that cheapened the deaths of characters in the MU. Especially with Lhikan and Marvah. Their deaths had meaning at their points in the story, but they were made weaker IMO because they were brought back. 

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The way Tuma was portrayed in TLR. They made him look like some generic, mindless, and "mighty" villain instead of showing that he's like a guy who wants to help and save his race.

This. Forever this. The serial with Tuma leading the Skrall into the desert away from the Baterra was the coolest thing.


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I could never get over the fact that the Makuta were a species.

Like

Come on man.

This ruins the scariness of Teridax, because we originally thought he was a satan like being, whilst Mata Nui was god.

Now they're both just puppets of the Great Beings.

 

oh, and I could never get over the fact that Keetongu was classified as a rahi.

KEETONGU IS SMARTER THAN KREKKA

AND KREKKA ISN'T A RAHI

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Before I start, I want to point out that there are lots of things I do like about Bionicle, or else I wouldn't be here. :P But there are certainly a lot of random things I've had a hard time getting over.  In sort of chronological order:

 

The fact that Macku couldn't figure out how to save Ga-Koro herself. :P

 

The fact that everyone in Po-Koro pretty much spent all their time playing Koli yet none of them figured out where the sickness was coming from. :P

 

The fact that the only way to Ko-Koro by land in the MNOLG was by holding onto a cable over lava.

 

The fact that Onepu and the purple Nui-Jaga shared the same mask... it always felt like a waste one way or the other. Someone should have had something unique. :P

 

The fact that no one seemed to use the four very useful Noble Masks very much: Komau, Mahiki, Matatu, and Huna (shoutout to Templar for using them all!).

 

The fact that the Miru didn't let you fly, but it pretty much let you fly.

 

How the Manas, despite allegedly being the most powerful of the Rahi, were inevitably kind of awkward as sets. :P And how the Manas were defeated in the MNOLG... by destroying something other than the Manas. :P

 

How Hafu, Taipu, and Kapura's masks were changed in a vain attempt to make them consistent... :P

 

How Kopeke's mask was randomly changed, cost-saving reasons or not. :P

 

How they gave Kotu a Rau almost as if they couldn't come up with anything besides what her Turaga had. :P

 

How unbeatable the Bohrok-Kal were (it was a nice change, though).

 

The over-the-top encyclopedic amount of virtues introduced in the MNOLG II... they were a good way of developing the story, but there were just too many. :P

 

The Matoran size change. :P I couldn't get over that... and with those Bohrok arms! Don't they know where those came from!?

 

The fact that the entire goal of the MNOLG II was to play Koli! :P

 

Lastly, I could never get over randomly leaving Mata Nui to go back to Metru Nui. :P We just spent three years liberating and defending an island only to leave it!

 

But I guess there were enough good parts of Bionicle that I've kept interest. :P

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I agree with the points made about the Skrall and Tuma.

 

In addition, I never understood how the Makuta in 2008 were able to face off against mere Toa. The Makuta should have slaughtered the Toa with ease. I get that they were toying with them, trying to lure them into the Plan, but it still feels funny. 

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Well, if I ignore things that already were mentioned:

 

Fusion getting dropped after the beginning of 2004. I get that it wouldn't have made sense in 2005 because Hordika can't do it, or in 2008 because Makuta can prevent them from forming, but it's such a cool ability.

 

Psionics being an element. Psychic powers are not a part of nature like all the other elements are, it just makes no sense to me. Plus, giving Psionics the power of telekinesis. I mean, if their element is minds, then telekinesis is the manipulation of something OTHER THAN their element.

 

The ending of Mask of Light. Seriously, the novel version ended on a much better explanation. I can believe Takutanuva being crushed by the door, and the components being hurled in opposite directions. I cannot accept a magic revival place on Makuta's balcony that had no other relevance to any other part of the plot.

 

The Bohrok Kal arc. It had villains that were just recolored Bohrok, a plot that had no overall impact on the story, and an already-done character arc of the Toa not realizing how much they needed Unity.

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I agree with the points made about the Skrall and Tuma.

 

In addition, I never understood how the Makuta in 2008 were able to face off against mere Toa. The Makuta should have slaughtered the Toa with ease. I get that they were toying with them, trying to lure them into the Plan, but it still feels funny. 

 

Indeed if it wasn't for that and the fact that GregF used the flash in the core caused by mata nui's revival as a Deus Ex Machina reason for the makuta were weakened including blinding half their team, rest of them crashed into the swamp and were mutated and of top of that all 6 of them lost acces to most of their abilities, such as krika feeding off energy to remain tangible.

 

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Psionics being an element. Psychic powers are not a part of nature like all the other elements are, it just makes no sense to me. Plus, giving Psionics the power of telekinesis. I mean, if their element is minds, then telekinesis is the manipulation of something OTHER THAN their element.

 

some of this fall pretty close to why i detest this as an element,:

 

A: by making it one of the female elements, they reinfocre how women are "softer" "more gentle" or "more attumed to emotions" yuck.

 

B: All other elements are some sort of natural material (stone, water, air) or force, (magnet, gravity, sound) "Psychic energy" isn't either, and feels heavily out of place.

 

C: All psychic powers are redundant when you realize telepathy, telekenesis, Illusion dissipation, and a host of other psychic powers are already covered by the much more fitting Kanohi powers. why have a psionicist who can use telekinetics when you can have a lightning toa who can do that AND shoot lightning from their hands?

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TLR's execution of Mata Nui's exile and redemption. I mean, here we have a plot that has a great mythological feel to it, and they squandered it. The rate of travel across an entire region should have meant that stuff should have taken years to happen (2-3). The Legend Reborn had the potential to probably be the most epic fantasy-style thing to come into Bionicle:

 

A god, who is exiled and usurped by his creation-turned respected near-equal; sort of like a king who's son grows up to be mostly his equal and betrays him, ousting his father into the wastes while he takes over and rules over the kingdom with an iron fist. The king learns to be humble, what it is like to not be comfortable, to be hungry, to be hot or cold, to have no wealth, to have mortality. But in his nomadic poverty he learns how to cope with these things: he gains friendship and honor, rising from stranger to acclaimed local hero, who dares to unite the tribes in the face of an encroaching empire (who they themselves have reasons for doing there conquests). After a successful duel with the Emperor (his victory showing how far he has come since his initial exile), a traitor is revealed, claims to be the new Emperor and a great battle is fought, where many on both sides fell that day, be it by sword, fruit (thornax), or insect (scarabax horde under the command of the exile eating enemies). In the aftermath of the battle, the Emperor is exiled, the Empire is splintered into fighting factions, the traitor punished, and the tribesmen unite themselves into a mega village, or rather, a kingdom. And it was all thanks to this gallant warrior, this exiled god-turned-nomadic stranger-turned-rumor-to-hero-to-legend. But as we all know, it didn't end there...

 

 

 

I also cannot get over the apparent timelessness of the Spherus Magna natives, really irritates me on that one. Also, the true nature of the Red Star: I was okay with it being like a large battery for the Great Spirit Robot, but the revival mechanism was random and unnecessary.

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This has been brought up on a number of occasions before, but I honestly have to say the gender ratio and gender stereotypes. Rehashing the irksome things about this subject would take far too long, but let's just suffice it to say that G2 is already better on this front.

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My list in no real order:

 

The Piraka turning into an Irnakk rip-off.

 

The portrayal of "god" characters near the end of the story.

Mata-Nui being a spacefaring explorer, Makuta originally being a type of peace keeper, and the Great Beings seeming less "mystical".

 

The Toa Mahri getting brainwashed by the Piraka-Irnakk rip-off.

 

The Skrall being more of a plot device instead of a legitimate group of villians.

 

Lego discontinuing Bionicle too early while Greg still had another 3 years of story to tell.

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Psionics being an element. Psychic powers are not a part of nature like all the other elements are, it just makes no sense to me. Plus, giving Psionics the power of telekinesis. I mean, if their element is minds, then telekinesis is the manipulation of something OTHER THAN their element.

 

I partially agree, but I don't psionics for a different reason. Psionics in my opinion is incredibly over powered. Mind reading, telekinesis, mind control, illusions, are all powers that Toa of Psionics have and they are tension breakers.

 

Speaking of over powered, the Makuta species is also really overpowered. They had access to 42 fricken elements. It worked for one being but a whole species? No way it will work. The things that could kill them were either massively wiped out, stupid (arrognant super beings are a cliche and boring), or not used a lot.

 

My final thing is the whole switch from fantasy to sci-fi. It was just Greg trying to answer things that didn't need to be. Making the Makuta a member of a similarly overpowered species devalues him as a villain. His ability to survive death was mysterious and highlighted how powerful he was. The explanation of "he's made of gas" ruined that. Point is, Greg went too far in explaining things. Did we really need to know that the bohrok were actually the matoran from Kardi Nui? That is one thing I'm not getting over any time soon.

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My final thing is the whole switch from fantasy to sci-fi. It was just Greg trying to answer things that didn't need to be. Making the Makuta a member of a similarly overpowered species devalues him as a villain. His ability to survive death was mysterious and highlighted how powerful he was. The explanation of "he's made of gas" ruined that. Point is, Greg went too far in explaining things. Did we really need to know that the bohrok were actually the matoran from Kardi Nui? That is one thing I'm not getting over any time soon.

If memory serves right, I think they were always meant to be like that and it isn't just a Farshety thing

.

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Okay, so, lots of good points here, but ever since watching/becoming unhealthily obsessed with Steven Universe, I have merely this to say:

 

WHY DO THEY NEVER FUSE

 

It's established that the Toa can fuse almost whenever they want, practically however they want, and get super powerful doing so! Now, technically speaking, the chart as to who could probably fuse might be something like this:

 

  • Toa Mata: Can Fuse; Did
  • Toa Nuva: Can Fuse; Did
  • Toa Metru: Too inexperienced to fuse.
  • Toa Hordika: Same as Metru, Hordika state also makes it physically impossible.
  • Toa Inika: Unknown; Possibly unable to fuse thanks to Red Star energy.
  • Toa Mahri: Second verse, same as the first; Pit mutation probably didn't help.
  • Toa Phantoka/Mistika: TOTALLY ABLE TO FUSE BUT DIDN'T DESPITE HAVING TO FACE QUITE POSSIBLY THEIR STRONGEST ENEMIES HELLO!

So, yeah, even though fusion was established as this super-awesome power that Toa totally have, we only ever see the the same six Toa from the beginning of the franchise able to use it, and very sparingly at that! Considering the 'building toy' aspect of the franchise, I have to say I would've been expecting a bit more than what we got!

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I agree with the points made about the Skrall and Tuma.

 

In addition, I never understood how the Makuta in 2008 were able to face off against mere Toa. The Makuta should have slaughtered the Toa with ease. I get that they were toying with them, trying to lure them into the Plan, but it still feels funny. 

 

Indeed if it wasn't for that and the fact that GregF used the flash in the core caused by mata nui's revival as a Deus Ex Machina reason for the makuta were weakened including blinding half their team, rest of them crashed into the swamp and were mutated and of top of that all 6 of them lost acces to most of their abilities, such as krika feeding off energy to remain tangible.

 

 

Wait, what? I thought only the mutated Makuta lost some powers; the rest were just blinded. Even then... the sheer power at their fingertips...

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Timeskips (but not really): Listen, buddy. you expect me to believe ackar, kiina, gresh and etc. were alive during the world-shattering Core War all those years ago? and yet, like, nobody mentions it much at all? how do you live through the destruction of your planet, and then for thousands of years, and not have some sort of horrid trauma for it? adding onto that, the use of "thousand" every time shows greg really liked to devalue the concept of time. sheesh.

 

I was going to make some joke about the Mask of Possibilities (which, let's be honest, is pretty ridiculous), but this gets at the core of the weirdest part of the series.  How can virtually immortal beings be at all relatable characters?  Most characters have been alive for more than 100 000 years.  To put that in perspective, imagine a caveman living throughout all of human history up until this point.  The number of things you can experience in 100 000 years is beyond human comprehension.

 

It really cheapens a lot of the legendary aspect of the series too.  I mean, the Matoran being stranded on Mata Nui for 1000 years sounds like a long time to us.  1000 years ago was 1015 (Viking times) -- so much has happened between then and now!  But if you live to be older than 100 000, 1000 years is <1% of your lifespan.  To put that in perspective, for humans (if we assume an average lifespan of 80 years), that's like being stranded on a tropical island for like 300 days.  That's nothing!  That's a minor inconvenience.  Heck, if someone stranded me on a tropical island for 300 days, I'd be thanking them, not summoning mythical heroes to kill them!

 

Now you could probably argue that this ties in to the amnesia epidemic that plagues just about everyone in the series whenever it's convenient to the plot.  I mean, it made sense when they needed to explain why no one ever talked about Metru Nui, but they just started overusing it after a while.  I guess part of that comes from the story team wanting to keep the creation of Matoran a secret, so you need an explanation for how characters don't know about things that they probably would have been present for.

 

That's why I'm glad that one of the first things they established in this story is that the characters don't live forever -- not without the assistance of magic, at any rate.

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Timeskips (but not really): Listen, buddy. you expect me to believe ackar, kiina, gresh and etc. were alive during the world-shattering Core War all those years ago? and yet, like, nobody mentions it much at all? how do you live through the destruction of your planet, and then for thousands of years, and not have some sort of horrid trauma for it? adding onto that, the use of "thousand" every time shows greg really liked to devalue the concept of time. sheesh.

 

I was going to make some joke about the Mask of Possibilities (which, let's be honest, is pretty ridiculous), but this gets at the core of the weirdest part of the series.  How can virtually immortal beings be at all relatable characters?  Most characters have been alive for more than 100 000 years.  To put that in perspective, imagine a caveman living throughout all of human history up until this point.  The number of things you can experience in 100 000 years is beyond human comprehension.

 

It really cheapens a lot of the legendary aspect of the series too.  I mean, the Matoran being stranded on Mata Nui for 1000 years sounds like a long time to us.  1000 years ago was 1015 (Viking times) -- so much has happened between then and now!  But if you live to be older than 100 000, 1000 years is <1% of your lifespan.  To put that in perspective, for humans (if we assume an average lifespan of 80 years), that's like being stranded on a tropical island for like 300 days.  That's nothing!  That's a minor inconvenience.  Heck, if someone stranded me on a tropical island for 300 days, I'd be thanking them, not summoning mythical heroes to kill them!

 

Now you could probably argue that this ties in to the amnesia epidemic that plagues just about everyone in the series whenever it's convenient to the plot.  I mean, it made sense when they needed to explain why no one ever talked about Metru Nui, but they just started overusing it after a while.  I guess part of that comes from the story team wanting to keep the creation of Matoran a secret, so you need an explanation for how characters don't know about things that they probably would have been present for.

 

That's why I'm glad that one of the first things they established in this story is that the characters don't live forever -- not without the assistance of magic, at any rate.

 

I had grown used to the MU characters living that long due to their alien nature, but the Spherus Magna natives should have made their mortality apparent. Doing as such would have brought to life the mystical immortality that the MU beings had, seeing how generations of these people struggling to survive would die off in time one after another while a matoran was stuck on an island on a moon in orbit doing the same thing for a thousand years.

 

 

My list in no real order:

 

The Piraka turning into an Irnakk rip-off.

 

The portrayal of "god" characters near the end of the story.

Mata-Nui being a spacefaring explorer, Makuta originally being a type of peace keeper, and the Great Beings seeming less "mystical".

 

The Toa Mahri getting brainwashed by the Piraka-Irnakk rip-off.

 

The Skrall being more of a plot device instead of a legitimate group of villians.

 

Lego discontinuing Bionicle too early while Greg still had another 3 years of story to tell.

I thought the portrayal of the skrall made them more realistic. Good and evil is subjective, and while in ignorance of the battera did the skrall feel evil, but once that revelation came to pass they felt a bit more sympathetic in their cause while you questioned the way Tuma went about things.  I also thought the introduction of the god-level characters to be cool and interesting, possibly more-so if Greg had been able to finish his tales.

Lastly, we didn't get to know much about the Skakdi Fusion. Had the series not been canceled early it is possible, more likely guaranteed that his character would have been expanded and thus concretely separate the golden spined and the golden skinned (who I always pictured as being biomechanical with organic skin covering it all like a terminator robot).

 

Everything else I agree with.

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I re-watched a bit of Mask of Life the other day, and I kinda feel the movies were not up to snuff to the story. I feel the comics were the best selection of the story in their visuals and writing. The books were nice for the extra detail, but the characterization was lacking.

 

I don't mind Mata Nui being a robot though, it actually makes a lot of sense. But Makuta being a gas? Hmmm...

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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Timeskips (but not really): Listen, buddy. you expect me to believe ackar, kiina, gresh and etc. were alive during the world-shattering Core War all those years ago? and yet, like, nobody mentions it much at all? how do you live through the destruction of your planet, and then for thousands of years, and not have some sort of horrid trauma for it? adding onto that, the use of "thousand" every time shows greg really liked to devalue the concept of time. sheesh.

 

I was going to make some joke about the Mask of Possibilities (which, let's be honest, is pretty ridiculous), but this gets at the core of the weirdest part of the series.  How can virtually immortal beings be at all relatable characters?  Most characters have been alive for more than 100 000 years.  To put that in perspective, imagine a caveman living throughout all of human history up until this point.  The number of things you can experience in 100 000 years is beyond human comprehension.

 

It really cheapens a lot of the legendary aspect of the series too.  I mean, the Matoran being stranded on Mata Nui for 1000 years sounds like a long time to us.  1000 years ago was 1015 (Viking times) -- so much has happened between then and now!  But if you live to be older than 100 000, 1000 years is <1% of your lifespan.  To put that in perspective, for humans (if we assume an average lifespan of 80 years), that's like being stranded on a tropical island for like 300 days.  That's nothing!  That's a minor inconvenience.  Heck, if someone stranded me on a tropical island for 300 days, I'd be thanking them, not summoning mythical heroes to kill them!

 

Now you could probably argue that this ties in to the amnesia epidemic that plagues just about everyone in the series whenever it's convenient to the plot.  I mean, it made sense when they needed to explain why no one ever talked about Metru Nui, but they just started overusing it after a while.  I guess part of that comes from the story team wanting to keep the creation of Matoran a secret, so you need an explanation for how characters don't know about things that they probably would have been present for.

 

That's why I'm glad that one of the first things they established in this story is that the characters don't live forever -- not without the assistance of magic, at any rate.

 

This may be the biggest problem with Bionicle's story, in retrospect. The whole immortality thing really causes everything to fall apart if you look at it too closely, and even affects individual character development. How is it that Takua behaves so young and irresponsible when he's one of the oldest beings in the universe? Is Tren Krom really that ancient and terrifying when every other character is older than human civilization? 

 

 

Speaking of over powered, the Makuta species is also really overpowered. They had access to 42 fricken elements. It worked for one being but a whole species? No way it will work. The things that could kill them were either massively wiped out, stupid (arrognant super beings are a cliche and boring), or not used a lot.

My final thing is the whole switch from fantasy to sci-fi. It was just Greg trying to answer things that didn't need to be. Making the Makuta a member of a similarly overpowered species devalues him as a villain. His ability to survive death was mysterious and highlighted how powerful he was. The explanation of "he's made of gas" ruined that. Point is, Greg went too far in explaining things. Did we really need to know that the bohrok were actually the matoran from Kardi Nui? That is one thing I'm not getting over any time soon.

 

I always thought the idea of Makuta having 42 powers was oddly specific, but I could see it working if it were played right. "The Forty-Two Powers of the Makuta" has a fun ring to it, in the same sense as "The 1008 Names of Shiva." But as is so often the case in later Bionicle, things were presented in too mundane a light. 

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 Is Tren Krom really that ancient and terrifying when every other character is older than human civilization? 

Ancient, maybe not. Terrifying, absolutely. I don't care how old you are - if you can sort through and destroy my mind and possibly drive me insane, you are scary. Especially if you look like a spiky gelatin with a monster face.

 

An older version of that might be less scary, because they might have enough restraint or be convinced not to come near me. A little kid mind destroying tyrannical monster? I think I will elsewhere, thanks.  

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 Is Tren Krom really that ancient and terrifying when every other character is older than human civilization? 

Ancient, maybe not. Terrifying, absolutely. I don't care how old you are - if you can sort through and destroy my mind and possibly drive me insane, you are scary. Especially if you look like a spiky gelatin with a monster face.

 

An older version of that might be less scary, because they might have enough restraint or be convinced not to come near me. A little kid mind destroying tyrannical monster? I think I will elsewhere, thanks.  

 

 

Yeah, but it was playing off Lovecraftian tropes. In those stories, the horror always comes from encountering something far beyond your understanding, which typically is older than humankind. The gelatin and tentacles are mostly incidental. 

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 Is Tren Krom really that ancient and terrifying when every other character is older than human civilization? 

Ancient, maybe not. Terrifying, absolutely. I don't care how old you are - if you can sort through and destroy my mind and possibly drive me insane, you are scary. Especially if you look like a spiky gelatin with a monster face.

 

An older version of that might be less scary, because they might have enough restraint or be convinced not to come near me. A little kid mind destroying tyrannical monster? I think I will elsewhere, thanks.  

 

 

Yeah, but it was playing off Lovecraftian tropes. In those stories, the horror always comes from encountering something far beyond your understanding, which typically is older than humankind. The gelatin and tentacles are mostly incidental. 

 

I thought I was the only one who picked up on that. Was it officially stated to be a nod to Lovecraft? If so that's pretty dang awesome.

-BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER-

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