Location of Toa Metru-made Toa Stones before Mata summoning?

[Lielac]

I'm writing an Alternate Universe fanfic where the Matoran in the Chronicler's Company become Toa via the stones the Toa Metru created. Initially I went with the vague description in one of the Adventures books of 'the Toa Metru hid the Toa stones all over the island' and began sketching out possibilities for where, but when I read on BS01 that Quest for the Toa involved Takua gathering up the Toa stones at the Turaga's request I made it my mission to play it so I could get more detailed canon information. When I did find a version of it by scouring the net and began playing it, I find that Onepu tells me that the Onu-Koro Toa stone has been stolen from Kini-Nui. Then Turaga Whenua tells me that the Toa stones are needed to tell 'the legends', and that they're named after their Koro's Toa. They are also carved into the shape of their respective Toa's mask. None of this data matches up with the reason the Toa Metru created and hid the Toa stones, which was so that new Toa could be created when the Toa Metru became Turaga if the island needed protectors, and back then none of them knew that the stones would be used to summon the Toa Mata instead of creating another team. My question is this: how canonical are the points of 'the Toa stones are shaped like the Toa Mata's masks', 'the Toa stones were gathered up at some point to be used as props in storytime', and 'the Toa stones were later stolen, either by Rahi under the control of the Makuta or TerryMak himself'? The first point is mentioned in passing on the BS01 Toa stone page, but the second isn't mentioned at all even on the QfoT page itself and the third, while mentioned in the game summary, is contradicted by the line "Using a Madu Cabolo, [Takua] blasts a hole into a small section of the caves, containing Onua's Toa Stone, hidden there long ago by Whenua."

 

So, basically... Bionicle canon is contradicting itself again. WHAT'S CANONICAL HEEEERE

[Hitoshura]

I don't think the shaped like masks part is canon, as Toa Stones are pretty much stones infused with Toa Power, which doesn't make too much of a difference apart from the fact that they seem more "powerful". I mean, they could be carved to make them look like that, but I'm not too sure. And half the time the games aren't a good source of canon information.About using them as props, I don't think hey were Toa Stones. They were probably, most likely, even, just normal stones used to represent the Toa and the Matoran.I'm not even sure about the third part. In some sources it says that Takua found them where the Toa Metru left them, but I'm not too sure about that, with the stealing and stuff. But Makuta himself usually won't come for those things, so his Rahi would be the ones that steals them(if they do).Corrected if I'm wrong, however.

Edited May 3, 2013 by Takua Dragonstar7

[Click]

I think there are two sets of "Toa Stones" here. One are the Toa stones with power to create new Toa, and the other "Toa Stones" are like the Mata Nui Stone or Makuta Stone used in story telling. There were six stones (not carved into masks) that were used to represent the Toa in the story of Mata Nui in MNOLG and MoL, so those are probably also called "Toa Stones," which made sense until the story team called the powered stones "Toa Stones," so we have a bit of a mix-up here.

Edited May 3, 2013 by Click

[Toatapio Nuva]

Maze of Shadows doesn't contradict the Quest for the Toa in any way, I think. Just because the Toa Metru hid the stones in certain places does not have to mean they could not be stolen. It was stated in Time Trap that Makuta knew about the Toa stones on the island, even though he had been imprisoned while the Toa actually made and hid them. So naturally, later on Makuta would want to steal those stones to prevent new Toa from coming into being (although he actually wanted the Toa Mata to arrive, but maybe he wasn't expecting the Toa Stones to summon Toa instead of creating new ones).

 

So I think it's very possible that Makuta made his Rahi steal the stones.

 

As for the mask shapes and them being used for storytelling, I think the stones used to represent Toa at the Kini-Nui were mixed up here with the actual power-containing Toa-stones. There's no reason why the Toa Metru would later recover the stones they made themselves to carve them into masks and use them at the Kini-Nui. It seems quite risky to me, although such an action would certainly help disguise their true meaning from both the Matoran and Makuta. But if the Turaga recovered the stones back themselves, why tell the story of hiding them in the first place?

 

Here's one interesting contradiction between Maze of Shadows and Quest for the Toa:

 

In the book, Toa Matau "stashes the Toa stone in a good spot", presumably in a tree. In the game, however, Takua needs to recover four disks (which, by the way, look suspiciously like Kanoka disks, though I doubt the storyteam had designed them that early on) and use them to "unlock" a tree, revealing the stone. This means someone had to build this mechanism before Takua came along. Maybe Matau decided to give the stone more protection later on, or perhaps the Rahi did... somehow... build that thing to keep it away from the hands of the Turaga. Either way, someone DID visit the hiding place.

 

IF the Toa Metru recovered the stones after they hid them, it would explain the mask carvings and the fact they were used as storytelling material. On the other hand, if the hiding places were final, I deem these game representations non-canon, although they still could've been stolen by the Rahi.

[bonesiii]

This is why MNOG and the associated things, including this, were "semi-canon" -- canon unless contradicted by other canon.

 

Officially the Toa Metru just found six random stones on the island and put their energies in them, then hid them. Most likely the locations where you find them in the GBA game would be the canon places the Toa hid them.

 

Note that it's also possible that everything about that other than the "carved" point is canon, since they're simply stated by villagers (who developed their own superstitions) and/or Turaga (who did lie about the past in several confirmed ways already, to protect the villagers from the dangerous truth about the way back to Metru Nui and the guardians of that way).

[Katuko]

In Legends of Metru Nui, the Toa stones we see look like this, and they look somewhat like the classic Mata Nui stone in shape. The ones that Takua handle in the games look like this. They are definitely carved into a figurine. How canon it is, however, is another matter. The ones that the Toa Metru got had their respective colors, which may or may not be true. It seems to imply that the element is predefined, but maybe it starts glowing once a destined Matoran touches it? The ones on Mata Nui, on the other hand, were all rock-colored. Gali's stone was not blue, for example.

[Dralcax]

Wait... Maybe the carved ones... were normal rocks containing and hiding the true Toa Stones? There might be scale issues, but that could be chalked up to artist interpretation.

[Katuko]

If Toa stones always glow, it would be a wise idea to conceal that glow, yes. Even as a Turaga, Onewa probably has enough elemental power left to coat a few rocks in a rock shell. Might have taken a while if he did something like half a Toa stone before he had to recharge, but they did have a full year safe from Makuta after Vakama's bargain. Or, since they made the stones before becoming Turaga, he might just have done it then.