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"Revenge of the Skull Spiders": Official Discussion Topic


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It's been four months, so that means we're about due for a new G2 book; in this case, Revenge of the Skull Spiders, by Ryder Windham! Once again, it's available at that Amazon link in both Kindle and physical format.

 

The book releases on December 29th, 2015.  Do be considerate with plot details! Stuff we already know the gist of from animations/etc. is fine to talk about openly, but at least for the first few days (per policy), please use spoiler tags to discuss plot events not previously seen.
 
Happy reading!

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So is it just another adaptation of the online animations or is it something completely new?

For the most part besides one scene in the beginning and one near the end, which are told in different perspectives, it is completely new. It is about what the defenders were doing while the Toa were in the City of the Mask Makers. Any more than that would spoil it, but it is not another recap of the known story.

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The book was pretty straightforward, but it was nice to see the Protectors get the spotlight - and to get a story that hasn't been told at all in the online animations for once! I'm also thankful that Ryder Windham is slowly building out the world, with allusions to the city's past, the Protectors' ancestors, and so on.  Hopefully we'll see more like this as the line continues.

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Hey: I'm not very active around BZP right now.  However, you can always contact me through PM (I have email notifications set up) and I will reply as soon as I can.


Useful Topics: The Q&A Compendium | The Official RPG Planning Topic
Stories: Fractures | An Aftermath | Three Stories | LSO 2012 Epics: Team Three | The Shadow and the Sea | The Days They Were Needed | Glitches | Transformations | Echoes | The Kaita and the Storyteller | Nui

BZPRPG: Komae · Soraya · Bohrei

Blog: Defendant Lobby no. 42

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I quite liked this book! It finally got me to know the names of the Protectors without having to look them up online! :P

 

If only the Gold Mask of the Skull Spiders were in it. They had every opportunity to utilize it and they didn't. I was expecting to see it in LOSS' lair, but that didn't happen. :/

 

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I really like how at the end,

Tahu, Narmoto and the other Toa and Protectors set off fireworks into the sky, before having Ekimu sense the coming of more danger.

It greatly reminds me of MNOG's ending. 

 

That's all I have to say, at the moment. It's definitely a great read for any Bionicle fan.

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Hey do the protectors show any unique personality traits in the book?

Yeah, they do to an extent.

Kivoda thinks a lot of the job at hand and is a bit snappy. Korgot is joyful at times, though still reserved enough to be careful of danger. Vizuna is a quick-thinker at times and has a leader-like attitude. Nilkuu is cheerful and fun-loving at times, though he also has focus on the job at hand and continuously reassures the other Protectors with positive statements.

 

 

I don't remember too much of the other two at the moment.

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Hey do the protectors show any unique personality traits in the book?

 

 

 

One that jumped out to me is that a couple of times, Izotor is very intent on correcting people.

 

I almost wish the traits like that had been pushed more, because as it was, I found their speech mostly interchangeable, to the point that, combined with still getting the hang of these names, I found myself having no idea who was speaking at points. I had to pause and reread the past sentence or so a few times just to finally get my head around who is talking to whom.

 

 

 

edit: oh here's some other thoughts on the book as a whole

 

 

  • the descriptions of the creatures seem really... awkward. to the point that i'm pretty sure they're an attempt by the author to describe the designs as he sees them rather than the actual intent behind the designs. with the straightforward beasts, this goes over well, but I honestly didn't have Terak pegged for a reptile at all (though if that is indeed canon I'm not complaining), and while Melum is definitely hard to place as any kind of single creature, "a hybrid of an ape and a rhinoceros" really feels off when all the others are fairly single-minded descriptions. oh, and then there's the "dragon-like" bit, which i'm pretty sure arises from their identical heads, but just makes the whole thing even more bizarre.
  • harvali seems interesting! she feels like the kind of character we could have seen in MNOG, maybe even done a fetch quest for.
  • harvali describing the snake as "biomechanical" feels weird. not because i doubt that it is, but because it carries this implication that most life here isn't. and I don't think that was their intent; rather, it was just the first mention of the snake, and the author wanted to establish it as biomechanical. but as a thing a character says in-universe, it feels very off. (granted, there's stilted speech all over the place in this book, but that one in particular really stood out to me.)

Edited by Dina Saruyama
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The backstory included was interesting.

 

Particularly the part explaining that Ekimu learnt about the future arrival of the Toa from a vision while wearing the Mask of Time.

 

It rules out the Toa having had to be around Okoto earlier (at least in the time of Ekimu) in order for Ekimu to know what design to make the Golden Masks.

 

(It also suggests the line in Island of Lost Masks about the Toa "posessing memories" of Ekimu when they awaken him just refers to information sent to them via their Golden Masks, since they haven't met before then. And so the Toa's memories prior to Okoto remain entirely missing...)

 

:v: :m_o: :t: :u: :k: :m_o:
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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah, we still have no idea about whether Okotans are primarily organic beings with armour and tech enhancements, or whether they're robots who can somehow reproduce. And the term "biomechanical" can refer to hybrids of organics and tech, or it can mean purely mechanical lifeforms (synthezoids), so that's pretty ambiguous as well.

 

 

 

Aww... Nilkuu and his precious giant scaly puppy.

 

Harvali is awesome. She survived for a year underground by herself with no company and no hope of ever being rescued, but still kept herself going... but then she's also a huge dork who faints when Ekimu says hello to her..

 

Interesting that the Protectors' ancestors were referred to by name, given how careful Lego has been in the past with their names list. So this implies that we will see/hear more of them in the future, or that Lego has an absolutely massive list of names at their disposal right now. (Yay more side characters!) 

 

Korgot and Vizuna are cuties, too. 

 

 

3DS Friend Code: 0018-0767-4231

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Can anyone tell me does Greg still write for Bionicle?

Nope! Ryder Windham does the books now, Merlin Mann did the screenplays for the webisodes. No info on who is doing the Netflix series.

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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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't know if we are still using spoiler tags for this about this book, so I'll go ahead to use them.

 

 

I really liked this book. It was a lot better than the first one IMO. That may have to do with the fact that it didn't have any webisodes to accommodate for. :P

 

I thought it was really neat that it focused almost exclusively on the Protectors. It really helped to flesh out their characters. Especially Vizuna. To me, it felt like he got the most story time out of the group. Which isn't a complaint, since he was an interesting character.

 

Harvali and the Snake were cool additions to the story as well. Harvali's character was interesting, and the Snake was given some really cool stuff to do, like helping the Protectors against the Skull Spiders.

 

And speaking of the Spiders, I don't think anyone was surprised to see the Lord of Skull Spiders still alive after its battle with the Toa. However, I thought that it would've more of an epic showdown against the Protectors and Harvali. Hopefully we'll see him again in the future story.

 

But hey, the Skull Warriors made another appearance. :) Their fight with the Protectors was good. It was also great that the fates of both Kulta and Skull Basher were clarified a little more here. Hopefully we haven't seen the last of them either. 

 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I don't have near as many problems with it as I did the last one. I can't wait to get the next book! :)

 

Everyone is one choice away from being the bad guy in another person's story.


 


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While the text still feels cumbersome, the story was much more enjoyable than the rehash of the 2015 animations. There was a lot more world-building here then in Island of Lost Masks.

-O Knavery

Most vile, O trick of the Empire's basest wit.

A snare, a ruse, a ploy: and we the fools.

What great deception hath been plied today--

O rebels, do you hear? Fie, 'tis a trap! -Admiral Ackbar

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