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Pitches for a Bionicle reboot


Jean Valjean

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:kaukau: Someday, down the road, nostalgia might ignite a reboot of Bionicle.  Should Bionicle make a big comeback, I am curious as to how that would best work out, which leads me to a question.  It can be asked in a couple of different ways.

  1. If Bionicle made a comback, what do you think it would need do in order to be successful, financially and culturally?
  2. What would most excite you personally in a Bionicle reboot?  Describe your ideal version of a new Bionicle, and what it would mean to you.

A few additional factors to consider:

  • How far into the future is this?
  • Would it be a hard or soft reboot, or a continuation?
  • Given that Bionicle has always been a multi-medium enterprise, what mediums would it use, and how would they interact with each other?
  • How successful do you think Bionicle would have to be?  Would it have to keep a modest audience, or a big audience?  Would your pitch be different depending on the audience size?

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Well, basically, I would recommend combining G1’s and G2’s beginnings, make it primarily act like G1 somehow. It would be like G1, but with Protectors be the Guardians for the Turaga while the Turaga would be second-in-commands for Ekimu. Plus, a console video game (no app games this time) and a regular Cartoon Network TV show with 3D animation, like Ninjago, similar to The Journey to One in terms of set accuracy, but look exactly like 3D, like The Legend Reborn, and with some muscles from the movie trilogy in 2003-2005 squished into their body parts. Plus, including every single big bit of the sets on the designs of the characters and put characters and their stuff from all sets in there. It would and should have a huge budget. The media in the past had somewhat a little budget. Plus, Bionicle should have a TV shared universe, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where it shares the same universe with Hero Factory because they’re very similar (Bionicle should get out often, and people are into shared universes these days). How that’s what I call starting fresh. 

 

Plus, Faber has been posting “3IO” stuff in the spring, so hasn’t done more since. Don’t get your hopes up so high. You can say the same to Disney’s and Sony’s dispute over Spider-Man nowadays.

Edited by Lenny7092
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I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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:kaukau: I'm not really into the shared universe idea.  Among other things, it has been shown to not be a model that works for everyone.  It worked for Marvel because it was inherent in the source material.  It doesn't work for Bionicle.  Part of what makes it what it is is that it's very mysterious and mystical, and you don't fully understand the universe.  If you mix it with another universe, then that universe's rules apply to it.

What I am into, though, is an MMORPG.  That would obviously take a lot of planning.  LEGO would have to be pretty confident that a Bionicle reboot would have a bit of staying power.  However, as a personal desire, a Bionicle MMORPG is something that I always wanted.

An acceptable change that I can see is that it doesn't start off on one island, and the three main tribes could be spread out over a whole planet.  It wouldn't be the classic Bionicle that I grew up on, but it might be the right move if they wanted to create a consistent sense of setting that could still be explored and made fresh for years upon years, and remain mysterious just as long.  You can do more with creating giant cultures and perhaps have sub-groups within each tribe.  I'm thinking a bit of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which explored a lot of cultural ideas.  Bionicle lends itself to that type of storytelling quite a bit, and its universe even has a lot of similar internal logic and inherent themes.

Without the island setting, you do lose something of that island mystery flavor.  One of the cool things about Bionicle was the mixture of robots with old-time Polynesian culture, which raised quite a bit of curiosity.  It also dictated the naming scheme.  Then again, just as Avatar made a whole world with an Oriental culture, it would be interesting to see a whole world with a Polynesian culture.

It's definitely important that Bionicle holds on to the central things that were its identifying features, and that gave it its particular magic to begin with.  Some of the central pillars are that super-imposition of LEGO Technic with Polynesian culture, the philosophies that separated the tribes, ancient unexplainable artifacts, prophecies, mystery, the six elements, the ubiquitous masks, the extreme biospheres, the relationship between the Toa and the Tohunga/Matoran (I leave out the Turaga, because I think that you can take those away and still be Bionicle, as the previous reboot showed), the unique chemistry and dynamics between the main heroes, mind-controlling plagues, a dark god jealous of his "other half" (brother, best friend, what have you), a dark age, a paradoxical cursed paradise, a multi-media project, and a few other things.  For the most part, I try to list those a broad concepts that would allow for quite a bit of interpretation.  It seems like quite a few details, but imagine if four different people had read that list and each wrote a detailed pitch based off of that.  Without collaborating with each other, they would each come up with four very distinct artistic visions, while also having something that likely captures the feel that made people first wonder at BIONICLE when it first popped onto the scene.

I am a bit different than Greg Farshtey, and perhaps this is not a great business plan.  However, if I felt comfortable that Bionicle had staying power, I would come up with a rough outline for ten or twelve years, enough to detail where the project was going and how to tell a story that would be satisfying when viewed as a whole, but with enough Mad-Libs empty spaces to make alterations in response to market shifts.  The original run of Bionicle felt consistent for three years, until its fourth year felt like a soft reboot.  It was, in fact, a pre-mediated part of the world-building, but my feelings are that the shift in focus was too quick and in some ways felt like a break from the main story.  Business-wise, it was the right decision, because it brought in new fans and it kept things fresh and exciting.  However, I would prefer a Bionicle reboot that never felt like it was reinventing itself so much as elevating the central story.  I wouldn't want any storylines that felt like spinoffs, and I would want to follow the same main characters the for the whole run.

The issue with this, obviously, is that if the centralmost pillar of Bionicle is the toys, then keeping the same main characters throughout would defeat the purpose of the toyline.  An inherent element of the story would have to guarantee physical changes in the characters each season.  Part of the pitch, I would imagine, would be that the Toa transform with the alignments of the Red Star, or that they are different from year to year because the spirit of Makuta enforces chaos and change.  It would be best if regular physical changes were tied to the mystery and mysticism of the setting.  

While it isn't an inherent thing that made Bionicle what it was, I did really enjoy the Matoran language.  Back in the day, BZPower had its own Tolkien (literally, that was his username).  He got a Master's Degree in Linguistics and, in his spare time, developed the Matoran language based off of data from the canon.  I personally like the idea that, if the different tribes were separate, and especially if the setting was global from the outset, that there would be multiple dialects of the Matoran language, and that they would be fully developed and learnable conlangs.  I say this, of course, as a preference, and it isn't quite necessary.  Still, if I was an executive, I'd spend several years building up to thisand preparing the way for the success of the series, and every detail counts when capturing the imagination of audiences.  Developing a Polynesian inspired conlang would really flesh out the world and sell the idea that one can become immersed in it.  Plus, it gives the impression that the universe is fully constructed, and that there are actual answers to the various uncovered mysteries.

I mentioned in another topic that some inspiration from The Lord of the Rings would do a reboot good.  Namely, Lord of the Rings is also a highly mysterious story with extensive world-building, and what it did was use all of this to tell an epic.  It was spread across three books, but it was essentially all one book.  In order to tell a holistic long-form story, without going into spin-offs, I would imagine that a renewed Bionicle would benefit from adopting the storytelling tone of the epic genre.

 

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What I thought G2 was missing all along was the heart and ambition. G1 was a key player in saving LEGO from financial disaster back in the day, so LEGO had no choice but to take it seriously and put everything they had into BIONICLE back in 2001. Comic books, collectible masks, promotions, dozens of sets with action features, Mata Nui Online Game, a (scrapped) video game, and whatever else I missed. BIONICLE was out there competing with whatever was taking the kids away from LEGO during that time. Fast forward to G2 and all we get in the first year are 13 sets, shallow lore, and meme-worthy online animations with only one voice actor. Hardly my idea of my childhood's triumphant return.

Therefore, I think what G3 needs to succeed is the same spirit that G1 had. I would personally prefer a soft reboot for the sake of familiarity. The premise of G1 was good enough for me, really. The lore needs a mysterious island setting with equally mysterious and interesting protagonists plopped down into it. Hit us with some cool masks to collect. Tell us a cool story with comics and something to watch like online animations or a TV show. Fans of G3 need content; something interesting to follow and tie in with the cool figures popping up in the toy aisles.

For characters, I would be in the "consistent main cast" camp. As much as I loved the Metru/Hordika and the Inika/Mahri, there are people out there who would have loved to see the Mata/Nuva remain in the spotlight throughout. In fact, the Mata would be my first choice for a G3 cast. If the writers can keep the Mata interesting for an entire reboot of BIONICLE, I won't make a complaint. However, it's necessary to have a side casto flesh out the universe and provide foil to help the Toa grow as characters. That, and I'd love to see my favorites like Vakama and Nuparu return. And another thing; I haven't been following Ninjago since 2013, but I'm pretty sure they kept the core five ninja with some additions to the heroic lineup. That concept would keep G3 fresh. The return of Takanuva/Ekimu would be an ideal choice, but there's more potential out there. For example, maybe Nuparu can play a big role in the story again by building new weapons and armor for the Toa while throwing in a vehicle every once in a while. As for villains, I liked the Bohrok, Vahki, Visorak, Skakdi, Barraki, and Makuta, so I'd love to see 2020-something rehashes of them.

I'd love to keep adding on to my answer, but I want to think about it a little more. I think I'll come back later and continue my part of the discussion then.

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mindeth the cobwebs

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:kaukau: Thanks for the contribution, Cybre.  You provided a lot of food for thought.  Probably the one area where I different is probably when it comes to villains.  Basically, I think that Makuta is inevitable ("And I...am...Iron Man!"), but among the minions, I could see some original creations.  The protagonists were what made the series, not the revolving door of antagonists.  However, that does make me wonder.  There could be a recurring group of six villains, which occasionally gets rebooted sets alongside the Toa.  I don't think that it should be overly done, though.  There should still be plenty of years with sets of faceless minions of Makuta.

For the record, I'm not saying that I would complain and personally dislike it if villains were rehashed.  In particular, the Rahkshi (I would totally be onboard with them being the aforementioned recurring villains, with a lot more sapience).  However, I would just be concerned about how that would pan out from a marketing standpoint.  I think that when a G1 villain set was rehashed, it would have to be one of those unexpected crowd-pleasing moments.  I don't think that people should simply expect to see a fan-favorite.

You're totally right when you talk about the ambition.  It was ambitious.  It had a fairly low budget, obviously.  It wasn't like there were any mainstream theatrical movies.  Still, when creating a mysterious, immersive world, that ambition showed.  The second (technically, third) coming of Bionicle could only be sold if it had the requisite ambition to give it the proper gravitas.  I also agree, I would prefer a "soft" reboot.  Basically, it would be classic Bionicle, but with more experience and confidence behind the wheel, allowing for even more ambition than the first time.  Instead of pitching it as a third generation, I would pitch it as "The definitive version that Bionicle was meant to be."

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

new bionicle series, this series is based on a wasteland planet, there are three guardians. Life, guardian of creation, forger of souls. Power, guardian of elements, mentor of Toa. Order, guardian of balance, the corrupted. The Toa are NOT the original six or anyone from G1 or G2. Ignus, Toa of stone, team leader. Magmus, Toa of fire, the gladiator. Glacin, Toa of ice, the assasin. Lux, Toa of air, the soldier. Nox, Toa of earth, the experiment. Null, Toa of water, the merc. im still develouping the story. the mocs are prety much complete, but limited pieces means the designs aren't as advanced as most mocs, im using both G1 and CCBS pieces and the colors Are figured out but alot of pieces i dont have in the right colors. i will upload picturs and desriptions soon.

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I think the way to do it is to isolate some component of G1 and flesh it out further with relevant and new ideas. There's 2 chunks of G1 that you can easily draw on to make a whole world's worth of worldbuilding:

The Mata Nui arc: This is what G2 tried to do. Essentially, take a similar island setting and the OG Toa, and give it all a mythological, mysterious feel. The highest powers in the universe are like gods, and there's a great sense of mystery and magic. I think this route should take pointers from the original story bible and directly include references to religions, cults, and deities.

The Metru Nui arc: This would put Bionicle in an urban environment like Metru Nui, and probably use the same heroes of that time. The Toa would be regular Joes with 9-5 jobs and maybe even school to deal with, and they are chosen to become Toa to overthrow the powers they trusted. There'd be some real 1984 going on, and the sense of mystery would come not from the world but from the juxtaposition of the dystopian environment with epic myths and magic powers.

The Ignition and Bara Magna arc works better as a continuation of an established world, so I'm not sure it works as the basis for a new generation.

The Bara Magna arc: In this premise, a foreign character finds himself lost in a wasteland populated by rival city-states. The mystery comes from finding out what happened to this world and, possibly, what the protagonist's (or protagonists') origins are if they have lost their memories. This premise may follow a fallen god like Mata Nui, or it may follow a team of Toa. In either case, the hero(es) would have to restore magic or life to the world in some way in order to save it.

Rule #1: Always listen to Kek.

Rule #2: If you break rule #1, kindly don't.

Rule #3: EVERYBODY TYPE IN THE CHAT "AVAK IS A STUPID TRIGGER"

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I think picking up the loose ends of G1+G2 While also being something new would be ideal. There are a lot of... interesting phenomena that weren’t addressed in G2 that had potentially extremely significant importance, even things suggesting connections to G1. G1 has plenty of settings to work with too, and G2 literally had 95% of the surface of a planet that was completely unaddressed, yet had numerous very visible islands of large size. One last gigantic side note: unused concepts in the G2 artbook (there’s a planet terraforming wolf-like villain, corrupted toa, A castle... in the shadow realm... with Makuta’s mask painted onto its pillars... with Okotans coming out of a portal heading towards it... on the last page outside of any section where it’d make sense... and this all could be a continuation of Bionicle G2 after Makuta is sent back to the Shadow realm. There’s a bunch of other interesting stuff too.)

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I'm somewhat at a loss for a succinct pitch, honestly.  G1's 'island with a secret' (and that secret being so elegantly simple; that the island Mata Nui and the god Mata Nui are connected by a giant robot) is its most compelling feature and the one that keeps bringing my mind back to Bionicle.

Essentially, to re-do Bionicle is to re-do that twist by finding an equally compelling secret. You can't choose the same one since new viewers could just look up G1 and guess correctly. Bionicle's bedrock rests on this high-concept twist--replacing it with another threatens to change it into a completely different property (and thus out of the scope of this discussion). 

Assuming we keep constant the idea of 6 Toa, an island, Mata Nui, and Makuta, the best I can come up with is six different island chunks (each corresponding to an element) that form an archipelago; none of the islanders have ever come into contact with each other, but when Makuta attacks (in some vague undefined way that'll sell sets) 6 Toa arrive, 1 to protect each island. Despite the claims that none of the islands have been in contact with the others, it becomes clear as the story progresses that all 6 share common architecture and legends (for instance, all 6 villagers worship a being called "Mata Nui"), leading the Toa to assume that the six islands broke off from one island...

...With the revelation that, in actuality, the sea level used to be lower in the past, and the islanders used to live in the basin between the 'islands;' when the flooding occurred, the tribes each migrated to the highest place they could find to survive. When the flooding stopped, the 6 islands as we see them were all that remained. The final act would take place on the sea floor as the Toa search the ruins of the lost civilization for something to potentially defeat Makuta once and for all.

Perhaps Mata Nui (in a form like that of his Bara Magna form) could be hidden asleep on the bottom of the sea floor; it turns out he was the leader of the villagers and Makuta was his brother, but in his jealously Makuta caused the flooding and destroyed the basin civilization. Mata Nui claims he can reverse the flooding... but it would be pointless to do so before Makuta is defeated.

Final battle with Makuta, Mata Nui lowers the oceans, yada yada yada, and the Toa return to eternal sleep, knowing their duty was fulfilled.

Not exactly as sci-fi as G1, but it could do in a pinch. 

 

Edited by Mukaukau Nuva
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:kaukau: @Sir Keksalot: My opinion is that, since the initial pitch of Bionicle was the island setting and that was what has been proven to be able to get this unique property rolling, it's probably best and most essential to go the mystical/cultish rout with the original Mata Nui storyline.  The first year of the multi-media project by necessity has to be the basic pitch for the consumers/audience.

@Makaukau Nuva: That basin sounds interesting.  It takes the ancient proto-religious superstitious Polynesian feel of G1 and adds some of the proto-religious tropes from Mesopotamia, which I find fitting.  Perhaps I do disagree with you a little on one particular point; I'm not entirely sure if the secret has to be answered.  It probably depends on how you interpret the mystery of G1.  I tended to interpret it as something generally mysterious, inviting speculation, and not a high-concept mystery where the audience was intended to ask a specific question of the setting.  With that having been said, perhaps most other people interpreted it differently.

Anyway, on my own end of things, I was thinking about this at work today and realized something.  Bionicle is a multimedia project, and therefore must take advantage of new media since 2001.  What has changed since 2001?  In a word: smartphones.  They have become a major part of how we consume media, and every franchise today must find uses for that media.  IP that hasn't adapted to smartphone media has gone the way of the dodo; I'm looking at you, Neopets.  Additionally, tablets are mainstream and no longer a gimmick.  Tech companies have compressed technology to such sizes that today's watches are yesterday's supercomputers.  Microsoft is releasing a new foldable tablet.  Cars now have infotainment systems, and houses now have virtual assistants.  If Bionicle were to comeback today, it would enter a completely different world than when it first came to.

Only, a G3 Bionicle wouldn't come into being today.  LEGO will inevitably wait for a little while to give the franchise some rest and time to accrue nostalgia.  Let us say that, at the very earliest, LEGO released G3 full-throttle at the beginning of 2025.  What will new upcoming technology allow?  MicroLED screens are projected to be the norm by then, and so will 5G connectivity and high refresh-rate monitors, so expect that to affect the way that Bionicle animation is presented.  There will be a new standard of Bluetooth by then, and older devices will probably use at least Bluetooth 5.0.  What does this mean?  I'm not sure, but conceivably more electronic sets like the Manas could take advantage.  We don't know where virtual reality is heading in the near future, but presuming that it's still a gimmick with a small audience, it's still a gimmick worth exploring.  After all, if G3 lasts for ten years, it should anticipate the growth of such an upcoming market.  I'd personally love a VR experience for MNOG (I don't think that the medium lends itself to an MMORPG; that's best for laptops and desktops).  Most significantly, I think that since Augmented Reality is becoming a major part of the phone market, Bionicle should create an AR experience that complements the physical sets, and fundamentally modernizes the way that people play with their product.

 

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On 10/5/2019 at 6:02 PM, Mukaukau Nuva said:

I'm somewhat at a loss for a succinct pitch, honestly.  G1's 'island with a secret' (and that secret being so elegantly simple; that the island Mata Nui and the god Mata Nui are connected by a giant robot) is its most compelling feature and the one that keeps bringing my mind back to Bionicle.

Essentially, to re-do Bionicle is to re-do that twist by finding an equally compelling secret. You can't choose the same one since new viewers could just look up G1 and guess correctly. Bionicle's bedrock rests on this high-concept twist--replacing it with another threatens to change it into a completely different property (and thus out of the scope of this discussion).

G3 could stand to totally one-up G1 by making the big "secret" something a little more profound and impactful than "God's a giant robot and the whole story took place on/in him." Essentially, to truly outdo G1, G3 needs a serious "Rosebud" reveal; something that ties into the themes and ideology of the narrative up to that point and brings the whole thing together, and whose reveal is infinitely better than keeping the mystery intact. I'm thinking the meaning of Kane's last word or what was in the photo Walter Mitty was chasing after--when revealed at the very end, these mysteries tell us more about what the narrative is trying to say than ambiguity ever could. What that entails depends on how G3 is built up, but one such twist could be, just off the top of my head, that the Matoran created Mata Nui and the Makuta, not vice versa; the former was borne from their morals and ambitions, while the latter was created from their fears and acts as a scapegoat for their spiritual leaders to condemn, and so conquering the Makuta means letting go of fictional boogeymen to focus on real-world problems. G3 could be engineered around this twist, with recurring themes of the Toa's arrival upsetting traditional values and the powers that be resisting change and progress out of fear (COUGHCOUGHboomersCOUGH).

That's just one idea. Something like "the Matoran got their origin story wrong" could be equally profound if given the same practical and allegorical significance of "Rosebud."

2 hours ago, Jean Valjean said:

Only, a G3 Bionicle wouldn't come into being today.  LEGO will inevitably wait for a little while to give the franchise some rest and time to accrue nostalgia.  Let us say that, at the very earliest, LEGO released G3 full-throttle at the beginning of 2025.  What will new upcoming technology allow?  MicroLED screens are projected to be the norm by then, and so will 5G connectivity and high refresh-rate monitors, so expect that to affect the way that Bionicle animation is presented.  There will be a new standard of Bluetooth by then, and older devices will probably use at least Bluetooth 5.0.  What does this mean?  I'm not sure, but conceivably more electronic sets like the Manas could take advantage.  We don't know where virtual reality is heading in the near future, but presuming that it's still a gimmick with a small audience, it's still a gimmick worth exploring.  After all, if G3 lasts for ten years, it should anticipate the growth of such an upcoming market.  I'd personally love a VR experience for MNOG (I don't think that the medium lends itself to an MMORPG; that's best for laptops and desktops).  Most significantly, I think that since Augmented Reality is becoming a major part of the phone market, Bionicle should create an AR experience that complements the physical sets, and fundamentally modernizes the way that people play with their product.

So...Bionicle Go? I don't know if we need yet another one of those; an open-world RPG or even an MMO like Lego Universe might fit Bionicle more if given the necessary story direction. , I'd love to see a game in the vein of Octopath Traveler, with the Toa each having their own stories to tell.

Rule #1: Always listen to Kek.

Rule #2: If you break rule #1, kindly don't.

Rule #3: EVERYBODY TYPE IN THE CHAT "AVAK IS A STUPID TRIGGER"

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:kaukau: I'm not saying Bionicle Go necessarily.  People think AR medium and immediately think that there's only the Pokemon Go genre, but the medium is still developing and people have only just begun to figure out some of its applications.  For example, maybe there would be an app that could take a picture of your MOC and help deconstruct it, or plan the construction of your MOCs, or turn an MOC into a 3D avatar for an MMO, or imagine what they would look like recolored, or create Bionicle-themed animojis (without calling them that, because the name is copyright).  LEGO would have to acknowledge the technology in some way in an ever-changing world.  I think that there are applications to AR that are quite complementary to Bionicle's constructive and creative nature.  When it comes to adventure, though, I'm with you; Bionicle doesn't need a Pokemon Go knockoff, in part because those games are becoming overdone anyway, but logically because such games complement franchises that take place in Earth or Earth-like settings.  An actual Bionicle adventure experience would best be suited for an MMO.

I do, by the way, definitely agree that G3 could stand to one-up G1.  I'm in the came that thought that G1 was great in the first three years,and then lost something when more of the true nature of the world was revealed, like Makuta not being the Makuta, and Mata Nui being a giant robot, and the two not being brothers...eh.  I would probably want the twist to validate the supernatural pitch that drew people in, though.  That is to say, Makuta and Mata Nui would have to genuinely be brothers and genuinely be deities, but there's more to the story.  One franchise that did this really well was Avatar: The Legend of Korra.  It took the spiritual roots of the franchise and delved deeper into the implications.  In the case of the Legend of Mata Nui and its essential elements, I can see a few areas where a twist could be fit in that fit in completely with the preestablished information.  For example, if Mata Nui and Makuta were brothers, could they have a sister?  What about the Great Beings and their motives?  What if Mata Nui isn't asleep, but dead?  What if Mata Nui had unfinished business before going to sleep?  What if the story was far more literal than at first thought, an Makuta and Mata Nui were literally imponderable supernatural monoliths?

 

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If we ever do get Bionicle G3, it should try to be a constraction/brick theme. I'm sure this idea has already been shared here before but it's simple, concentrate on the brick sets which include REAL minifigures not those old ones we got in G1 and at least release the 6 Toa in constraction form. We've seen this scheme before with Chima being a brick centered theme that got some CCBS releases. I think that at least with how things are right now this model could work and to be honest Bionicle is known for having beautiful landscapes which could be captured in brick form.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I would like to see a return to the original series that rewinds it to before the late 2005 story (In other words, to the point before Greg Farshtey turned into a hack and started perverting his own creation) and throw out a LOT of stuff that came after that point (and a couple things from 2004). Here is what I want to see gone:

* Almost everything established about Greg's Guild of Gary Stu Villains The Dark Hunters, and most of the Hunters themselves. Including Eliminator and especially Judas Traveler with Darkseid's Omega Beams The Shadowed One himself. That or severely dial him back.
* Helryx
* A lot of the Order of Mata Nui stuff, actually
* The name "Teridax"
* The entire  "Makuta as species" idea. Maybe keep the characters, but with a tweaked backstory. Both this and the previous entry were a complete derailment of the mythos.
* Matoro's pointless death
* The Toa Nuva getting pantsed by the Piraka. Sorry, but no.
* The  "Toa Nuva getting Adaptive Armor" idea, because the finalized designs look nothing like them (especially the Mistika)
* The idea of the Toa Inika's masks being replacements, because they're obviously supposed to be mutations of their Matoran masks. It's especially obvious with Kongu
* The dorky "It's not water, it's liquid protodermis" idea
* Bohrok shells being transformed Av-Matoran. Greg deserves to be pelted with Boxor sets for that idea.
* Velika being a disguised Great Being
* The redesign of the Kanohi Ignika, because the Pakari Nuva already did the Vitruvian Man thing.
* Probably the idea of Dekar becoming Hydraxon
* Probably the idea of "The Red Star revives folks except the return function is broken", because it didn't go anywhere interesting - and Greg painted his dumb hiney into a corner on that plot anyway by having Botar (the guy whose shtick is omnipotent mass teleportation) end up there.
* The "Doing in the Wizard" that started to happen post-2005. Mata Nui being a giant robot need not rob the world of all its mythos and majesty (after all, that idea was there from the beginning)
* The whole "Makuta never really loses, he totes let that happen and has a backup plan because Greg says so" idea. Utterly tiresome.
* Makuta taking over Mata Nui's body
* Tahu's Stars body and the 2010 stuff in general
* The terms "The Great Cataclysm" and "The Shattering" since Greg ripped those off from World of Warcraft.
* The idea that Mata Nui wasn't awakened after the events of Mask of Light. The Mask of Light storyline was supposed to be the "Makuta's beaten for real, Mata Nui's awakening and this time we mean it" point, hence why 2004 and 2005 went back the The Time Before Time. I was initially intrigued by the Mask of Life storyline, since going by the catalog blurbs it seemed like it could be a case of "Mata Nui may be awake, but that forced nap wasn't exactly good for his health". When I found out that wasn't the case, that the promise was broken? I felt cheated and betrayed (and I still do), and rapidly lost interest. Especially since from that point on the story only compounded the betrayals.

Here's what I would propose doing:
In General:
* Characters get to smack enemies with their weapons a bit more. Not always wounding or anything, but still.
* Reaffirming the whole "Makuta is Mata Nui's brother" thing, whether it's a spiritual kinship or a more literal one. But either way, it's a core aspect of the mythos and is not something to be swept under the rug.
Modifications to 2001-2003:
* Recanonizing (at least most of) The Legend of Mata Nui. Also finishing and releasing the game if possible, or at the very least digging up the plans for how the actual battle with Makuta (Missing from both the alpha and the beta) was going to go (I suspect it might be as portrayed in Tale of the Toa and the MNOG, but confirmation would be nice) and sharing them.
* Redrawing the swirling mass of parts seen in the Makuta fight to feature parts from the "Ultimate Dume" build
* Redesigning Wairuha Nuva to be on even footing with Akamai Nuva instead of a gimpy midget.
* Giving Mask of Light some model tweaks, those being:
** Not bending the lower corners of the Kanohi Kaukau in (both Hahli and Gali)
** Keeping Gali's Nuva armor silver
** Making Gali the same size as the others
** Showing Gali's Aqua Axes working as flippers
** Giving Gali and Lewa the correct eye colors
** Redesigning the Matoran models to resemble the toys better, and adding more masks
** Using the proper Ta-Koro Guard staffs
** Redesigning the Rahkshi models to not be so radically off from their toys. At the very least making their heads more toy-accurate on account of the Rahaga.
** Having the Staff of Light transform from the Chronicler's Staff, like was supposed to hand. Also make it a glaive like it's supposed to be, rather than a scythe/pickaxe
** Fixing Takanuva's colors.
** Fixing Makuta's colors and the shape of the Kanohi Kraahkan.
** Making Takutanuva resemble the set, albeit either using the alternate face of the Kraahkan for the Mask of Light and Shadow, or designing a more harmonious-looking fusion
* Adding a more clear sign of Mata Nui starting to awaken at the end (possibly dubbing in some extra exposition), as well as the planned signs beforehand (the only remnant of these in the film as-is would be the tremor that shakes Jaller off the cliff)
* Throwing out the "Makuta Nui" designation of the Jaller & Gukko + Takua & Pewku + Makuta combiner model (which I think was originally unnamed) and affirming it as an Ash Bear
Modifications to 2004-2005:
* Redrawing the comic panels where Vakama uses his launcher as a jetpack so that it's pointing the other way, because as-drawn the direction of the launcher's flames makes it look like it should be rocketing him into the ground.
* Photoshopping in the Toa Metru's gearbox covers
* Re-doing Legends of Metru Nui because there's a lot to fix with that one. Fixes needed:
** Properly integrating the Morbuzakh storyline and the search for the Great Disks instead of relegating the search to a mere montage and the Morbuzakh to an unnamed background cameo. Have the Morbuzakh be mentioned in the opening narration as part of the darkness creeping over the city, have signs of its encroachment be seen, have it mentioned as the main impetus behind seeking the disks, have a cliff-notes narration of the search and the battle with it, have the Toa Metru speak of defeating it when they present themselves in the Coliseum, and have Makuta!Dume cast doubt on it somehow - or dismiss it as either a fluke, or proof of the Great Disks' power rather then theirs
** Correcting people's eye colors
** Correcting the Kanohi Kiril's appearance
** Including both of Onewa's Toa Tools and not misinterpreting them as pickaxes
** HAVING THE TOA USE THEIR FREAKING ELEMENTAL POWERS MORE, FOR MATA NUI'S SAKE
** Accurately depicting Makuta's "Ultimate Dume" form rather than just slapping Nivawk's wings on the 2003 body
** Making the showdown with Makuta less videogame-y
** Inserting a timeskip transition between the initial escape and the Toa Metru sacrificing their powers to awaken the Matoran, one that alludes to the events of Web of Shadows
* Speaking of Web of Shadows:
** Inserting a "passage of time" montage that gives room for the Toa Hordika's other adventures.
** Maybe being a bit more explicit about the fact that Vakama's guilt over leading his team to disaster combined with the mental strain of the Hordika mutation rendered him particularly emotionally vulnerable
** Maybe establishing that in Vakama's case, the Hordika venom isn't making him become like just any Rahi - it's making him like a Visorak (which was the original premise of the venom, from what I've read)
* Re-doing the retrieval of the Mask of Time - or relegating it to an offscreen event of no drama
* Possibly reinstating the planned names for Norik, Iruini, and Bomonga (Tahkon, Lahka, and Nuuhkor respectively) so that all six of their group have names derived from the element prefixes
* Establishing that a normal Kanohi Volitak actually looks like Iruini's mask, and tweaking the backstory of Iruini's Kanohi Kualsi to say that it's carved in honor of a Volitak wearer. This to fix the damage done by the Story Team deciding to turn the Toa Nidhiki set into a Toa Iruini set.
Modifications to 2006:
* The Piraka aren't subconscious puppets of Makuta
* Avoiding the "New toys beat up the old toys" clash between the Piraka and the Toa Nuva, since it should really be the other way 'round. Especially when you factor in the Toa Nuva Kaita (speaking of sets to pelt Greg Farshtey with, the Toa Nuva Kaita got cheated). Better ways:
** They just never meet, the Toa Nuva are completely elsewhere on their quest while the Piraka terrorize Voya Nui
** The Piraka initially try to invade Metru Nui, but are seen off by the Toa Nuva before that team's departure, which is what leads to the Piraka going after Voya Nui instead.
** The Toa Nuva fight with the Piraka much later in the story, to keep them out of the Toa Inika's hair while the Inika deal with more important matters
* Speaking of clashes involving the Toa Nuva, if they fight Brutaka at all in this do-over then he has the advantage at first... but then they merge and turn the tables on him.
* Jaller and Takanuva get to fight alongside each other as Toa at some point
* Have the Mask of Life get knocked into the ocean by the recoil of separating it from Vezon, because while an annoying loss that's less of a blatant "LOLpsych! The search just got extended/reset because the writer says so" than the original version. Honestly, the Ignika could do with being a little bit less of a pain in the arse in general.
* Maybe, and this is a big maybe, throw out the Mask of Life plot entirely instead and just have this and the subsequent stories be new challenges in new worlds
Modifications to 2007:
* Dekar possibly does not become an oblivious Hydraxon clone
* Redrawing the normal forms of the other five Mahri masks to not have the scuba apparatus so that they actually look normal and not like "undersea variant just with the hose disconnected".
* Maybe a new name for the warlords
* The idea of Makuta potentially redeeming himself is kept this time, and he shows leanings to this the whole time he is in Maxilos
* Explaining why Voya Nui sinks back to its proper place when the Cord is destroyed, instead of just resuming the aimless drifting it was doing before the Cord formed.
* Makuta's redemption comes through when the Ignika is used. He seizes it from Matoro, and either A. Sacrifices himself in Matoro's stead to heal his brother and amend his misdeed, with a line about "Sacrificing nothing" to call back to his " or B. Unites once again with Takanuva (who has been tracking him down after sensing his survival), and Takutanuva proves a being powerful enough to use the mask and live, allowing the now-repentant Makuta to live and work to mend fences with his brother, who now stands once more
* Mata Nui's body is redesigned to look cooler, and perhaps instead of a bare Toa head the head is masked with a Hau - it's the iconic mask of the series, and it would tie in with the Giant Hau Gate in Mangaia
Modifications to 2008:
* The Phantoka and Mistika Toa sets are repurposed as new Toa characters.
* Antroz et al are given revised backstories. Possibly fiends who crept into Mata Nui's heart as he slumbered but exhausted themselves in the process to the point of being comatose... until they were inadvertently revived as a side effect of the Life energy pumped out by using the Ignika. And now they are the first threat he faces after being revived.
* The Takanuva set from this era is thrown out or repurposed
* The "Toa" Ignika set is decanonized
Modifications to 2009:
* Most of the story needs to be rewritten to account for Mata Nui being properly awake.
* Reworking Tren Krom's backstory as follows: After Mata Nui was fully brought to life, his next duty was to eventually help the Great Spirit heal the broken outer world... and he got impatient during the big snooze, tried to do it all by himself, and that's how he got fused to his island. So he's a bit grumpy when Mata Nui finally shows up.
* But in the end, everything is eventually healed, and things end on a high note.
Sets:
If possible, I would love to see a reissuing of several classic sets to go along with the the overhaul. And in that event, I would like to see the following changes and additions:
* Everybody benefitting from the solid Technic "horseshoe" joints (what I call the piece with three axleholes and a balljoint socket that was used for the original Toa sets' shoulder and hip joints, and the hands of all Toa from the Nuva through the Mahri)
* 2003-style Le-Matoran and Onu-Matoran
* Bulk jar of 2003-style Matoran parts
* Correcting the Toa Metru eye colors
* Switching the Toa Metru and Vahki canisters. Because it makes more sense to have the Matoran Sphere Half lids on the canisters of the mass-produced antagonists that you have a story reason to buy multiples of. Especially since the Vahki were instruments of the mass imprisonment.
* Toa Vakama having some orange parts in his color scheme to better fit his fire motif and Toa Matau having turquoise or regular green in his color scheme to better depict the air motif. Of all the Toa Metru, they suffer the most from the color scheme darkening combining with the lack of an accent color.
* The same color scheme tweaks for Toa Inika Kongu.
* Toa Inika Hewkii being brown like he was supposed to be, with some tan accents to liven it up.
* An actual Toa Tool for Kongu Mahri.

I suppose they could also give the original trainwreck the ending it deserves:
* Velika is unceremoniously killed by a collision with Lehvak Kal, and the remaining "Great" Beings are thus found without incident
* Botar teleports everyone stuck on the stupid Red Star off. Problem solved, the end, good riddance.

Edited by ZeldaTheSwordsman
Forgot a key section
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