Piraka Online Animations

[Valendale]

Man, I just watched these things for the first time since probably 2006. Anyone else remember these things? They were coming out right around when I was first getting into Bionicle. I think they were probably the first story material I was really exposed to, despite not being canon, since I wasn't getting the comics at that time and I didn't start buying the books until I had enough of the sets under my belt, so later in the year. Despite not technically being cannon, they did a really good job of setting the mood of the year in my opinion. They showed the Piraka infighting but begrudgingly working together and really captured the feeling of going down into a cave to find the mask of life.

Also gotta comment on the small games included. These things are actually surprisingly hard. I only got passed one of them on my first try (the boulder) and just skipped the rest. I don't know how 8 year old got passed them, but I know he would have had too much pride to just skip like I do now. The fifth one with filling in the Inika names is actually a pretty cool concept for a game, but I just find it hilarious the way they just get slightly bigger each time you correctly select a letter. 

Edited September 15, 2019 by Valendale

[Master Inika]

I agree, the Piraka Online Animations are a gem. I feel like 2006 was the last year that we received so much storyline information. I feel like having so much of it be non-canon was a fair tradeoff for the intimate details that were (like the Piraka team dynamic, as you mentioned).

The minigames were so hard. Avak destroying the mountain was always the hardest one for me.

[That Matoran with a Vahi]

Oh yeah, I loved those back in the day! I don't remember a whole lot of them now - I meant, a while ago, to go back and play them again... and completely forgot - but they were a lot of fun to me. Especially, like you say, the way they captured the Piraka team dynamic - and, for that matter, did it so effectively without using a single line of dialogue.

Though I have to say, it's still bizarre to me how much non-canon material was produced for 2006. Between those, Bionicle Heroes, Piraka Rap, 'Free the Band'... with all that contradictory material floating around, I feel like it must have been a confusing time to jump into the fandom xD

Edited September 15, 2019 by Darth Jaller

[Valendale]

Yeah the amount non-canon material from 2006 was something I had not really considered. I think it worked though because it was a lot of either silly, obviously non-canon stuff (free the band, Piraka Rap) or things like this and heroes that could almost be canon if you weren't real familiar with the material and still captured the overall mood well.

[Master Inika]

I miss when BIONICLE was like that. The non-canon material was more focused with establishing a mood than necessarily telling a single continuous narrative (kind of like the Star Wars Expanded Universe). While it could be cluttered, in hindsight I prefer it to more media-barren years like 2009.