Mask of Light: Takua/Takanuva character analysis

[HeartOfMetruNui]

Hi there folks. I want to share with you my observations and thoughts about my favorite Bionicle character, Takanuva.

In this article, I will discuss the philosophy of character deveopment, and the way that Takanuva's arc is being unfolded in the movie. For my own comfort, Im gonna call Jaller "Jalla", because that's what he's called in the movie. Also, to be more focused, I won't take into account plot and lore details from media that is not the movie, as it was made to mainly stand on it's own.

So let's dive right.

What is character development?

Character development is the process of a character reshaping their beliefes, approaches , ablilities, or perspectives during the course of a story. There are many ways to achive character development.

For example:

1. A protagonist could start the story weak and powerless, and get stronger until he can overcome the antagonist.

2. A charachter might be greedy, and during the story let down his friends for profit, but later on learn that his friends are more important than greed, causing him to pay for his friend's expensive surgery.

These two examples can be distincted from one another, because while the first one thechnically is character development, the second one is a meaningful character development. That's because every character development comes from a character flaw. In the first example, the character flaw was weakness. However, it was never mentioned that his weakness had any effect on the plot. In contrast, the second example was meaningful because the character's flaw - in this case greed, served to benefit the story by causing an event, in which the character let down his friends.

In other words, for a meaningful character development, it is neccesary that the character's flaw will somehow negatively effect the story. After the character reshapes their ideals, the story should demonstrate how their new resolve helps them overcome the main problem.

So the process of a character development is:

Flaw ----> problem caused by the flaw -----> reshaping of oneself ----> demonstration of resolution.

 

Takua:

now, after establishing the principles of character development, I can explain Takua's arc.

Flaw: Takua's flaw, as being established very early on, is being irresponsible. The very beginning of the story depicts how Takua has disappeared right before his kohlii match, to research an old totem. Our very introduction to his character paints him as someone who has a weak sense of duty. We are also intoduced to another character, Jalla, who serves the story as the voice of reason for Takua. During the course of the story, he will challenge Takua's resolve time and time again.

Takua's character flaw gives contributes to the core problem of the story: Takua declines his duty as the herald of the seventh Toa.

Problem caused by the flaw: Makuta threatens Takua in the cave. Because of Takua's lack of dedication and responsibility, he abandons his quest as result of said threats. He's duty comes second to his fear.

Walking away from his duty, Takua's path takes him to Onu-koro. Suddenly, the Rahkshi appear and attack the city. Takua witnesses the damage that he has done, reflecting on himself. "What... have I done...", he says to himself outloud. It is in this moment, that he changes his resolution. With determination in his face, instead of running away, he now, as a mere Matoran, orders pewku to go back, and he tries to confront tha rahkshi.

He is rescued by Toa Lewa, who sets him back on the path. "Quick speed to Jalla, warn him". Takua, confidently says, "I will". "C'mon Pewku, we gotta find Jalla".

Demonstration of resolution: After Takua reunites with Jalla, they arrive at Kini-nui. They are then attacked by all six rahkshi. Jalla, instinctively says "Give me the mask!" and takes it from Takua's hands. Takua, however, has changed. Instead of letting Jalla take the mask, he now says "Jalla, no, we both know tha mask chose me, Im the true herald".

Jalla then, proceeds to challenge this resolve. "Are you sure? even now?" The situation is very dangerous. All six rahkshi are after them. The old Takua would have ran away. But the now changed Takua, despite the risk, demonstates his resolve! Confidently, he answers, taking the mask back into his own hands, "Yes! I AM the herald! and I say RUN!". Takua has now fully accepted his own duty. Even while risking his life, he is commited to his own resolve.

 
 

It is this resolution that let's him understand who he really is. When Takua puts on the mask of life, he is ready, mentally, to become the seventh Toa. As Turaga Vakama says, his journy was not to be on the island of Mata Nui, but in his own heart.

As Takanuva, he now had the courage and commitment to face Makuta himself, event sacrificing himself under the gate, before being revived at the end.

And that, is why Takua/Takanuva is a well rounded character in this movie. That's it. I hope you enjoyed this article, I definetly enjoyed writing it.

Edited November 30, 2019 by HeartOfMetruNui

[Bonkle]

Excellent analysis on your part, but for me personally this movie doesn't hit at all because of all the story elements before it. In MNOG Takua pretty much has this same arc, he's the lazy outcast with strange behavior that leads everyone to mark him as irresponsible. But when the Toa prove to not be enough, he steps up to the plate and proves himself to be a capable and worthy hero in his own right.

You're right that the movie works as a stand alone piece, but in the larger Bionicle story it feels like a cheap rehash in terms of character development.

[HeartOfMetruNui]

3 hours ago, Terrorsaur said:

Excellent analysis on your part, but for me personally this movie doesn't hit at all because of all the story elements before it. In MNOG Takua pretty much has this same arc, he's the lazy outcast with strange behavior that leads everyone to mark him as irresponsible. But when the Toa prove to not be enough, he steps up to the plate and proves himself to be a capable and worthy hero in his own right.

You're right that the movie works as a stand alone piece, but in the larger Bionicle story it feels like a cheap rehash in terms of character development.

Thanks for the feedback!

You are right. The writers had to reverse Takua's previous lessons and achivements for this movie to work on it's own.

However, for me, the movie HAD to work on it's own. Maybe you could deduct as much by my spelling and way of speaking, but Im not native english speaking. I live in Israel. I did play the MNOG as a kid, but it was never translated to my hebrew, so I could only understand the visual bits of the story:

The lore being told by the stones, Tahu's arrival, the Matoran standing up for themselves, etc. I never knew who Takua was. Everything I knew about Bionicle was from the old catalogs, which they did translate to hebew. Bionicle was widely popular here as well (at least within my school). The movie, luckily, was dubbed in hebew. And bless Mata Nui for that! It was my first time ACTUALLY understanding the story. Actually hearing the dialog.

So for me, even now as an adult, this movie is my first window to the Bionicle world, that I could clearly see through. I have special feelings for it, and that's why I can personally forgive Takua's character reversal.

I would totally understand other fans not being fond of it though.

[chuckschwa]

Quote

But when the Toa prove to not be enough, he steps up to the plate and proves himself to be a capable and worthy hero in his own right.

I kind of disagree with this. Yes, Takua does become a capable hero, but I wouldn't go so far as to say the Toa were worse off without him.

A while back I posted my Mask of Light fix to the r/fixingmovies subreddit. To sum it up, I found it kind of lazy that the Toa and Turaga allowed Takua to face Makuta alone. I understand that he is the hero of the story, and that confronting the villain should be the climax of the film. However, we started BIONICLE with "six heroes, one destiny". The Toa are only able to defeat the Rahkshi after the Nuva heroes are all united again. Although Jala is killed, this leads to Takua's transformation into a Toa. The Six heroes have now become seven... but when the time comes to face Makuta, they suddenly become just one Toa, for no reason. I don't believe for a second that Tahu, or Vakama, or even Takua's fellow Matoran friends, would have let him walk in there alone. Yeah, they show up in Makuta's lair in time for the finale... and just sit slack jawed while the two play Koli.

The Toa were more than enough, but thanks to the single hero trope, the script ignores their potential to unify their powers.

[Bonkle]

57 minutes ago, chuckschwa said:

I kind of disagree with this. Yes, Takua does become a capable hero, but I wouldn't go so far as to say the Toa were worse off without him.

A while back I posted my Mask of Light fix to the r/fixingmovies subreddit. To sum it up, I found it kind of lazy that the Toa and Turaga allowed Takua to face Makuta alone. I understand that he is the hero of the story, and that confronting the villain should be the climax of the film. However, we started BIONICLE with "six heroes, one destiny". The Toa are only able to defeat the Rahkshi after the Nuva heroes are all united again. Although Jala is killed, this leads to Takua's transformation into a Toa. The Six heroes have now become seven... but when the time comes to face Makuta, they suddenly become just one Toa, for no reason. I don't believe for a second that Tahu, or Vakama, or even Takua's fellow Matoran friends, would have let him walk in there alone. Yeah, they show up in Makuta's lair in time for the finale... and just sit slack jawed while the two play Koli.

The Toa were more than enough, but thanks to the single hero trope, the script ignores their potential to unify their powers.

I was talking about his role in MNOG. Without him making friends that would later help defend the Kini-Nui, the Toa might not have won against Makuta.

[chuckschwa]

ah, I see that now. my mistake mate

[Xboxtravis]

I remember reading a few interviews with Alastair Swinerton a while back and some other suggested cancelled Bionicle ideas; and I find it interesting this movie was supposed to be the finale for the franchise. The reason Hahli had the Matoran go underground and spoke of awakening the Great Spirit "this day" was because Mata Nui was supposed to awaken and rise up at the end of the film. The decision to keep the line running longer than that pushed the Mata Nui reveal into 2008; but enough elements of it remain in the final film that its obvious that it was cut out. 
 

Also another oddity I noticed the other day... I saw a few people on Facebook comparing the new Knights of Ren sword to a Bionicle piece and complaining "Star Wars is so unoriginal making Bionicle knock off blades; I am glad Disney never messed with our beloved Bionicle!" I didn't have the gut to tell them... but Miramax and Buena Vista Pictures while they were making the Bionicle Trilogy where owned by Disney; so yes Disney already made 3/4 of all the Bionicle official films. The Wikipedia page for all Disney animated films even includes the Bionicle Trilogy there under Mirimax: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Disney_theatrical_animated_features#Films_distributed_by_Miramax I wonder if Disney still owns the distribution rights, or if they went with Miramax when it was spun off later? Or if Lego owns the distribution rights? If Disney still owns the distribution rights, it would be a strange twist if they somehow ended up on Disney+. 

I guess my ramblings have not much to do with your post, but its all been thoughts on Mask of Light that have been stewing in my head the last few days. 

[HeartOfMetruNui]

8 hours ago, Xboxtravis said:

I remember reading a few interviews with Alastair Swinerton a while back and some other suggested cancelled Bionicle ideas; and I find it interesting this movie was supposed to be the finale for the franchise. The reason Hahli had the Matoran go underground and spoke of awakening the Great Spirit "this day" was because Mata Nui was supposed to awaken and rise up at the end of the film. The decision to keep the line running longer than that pushed the Mata Nui reveal into 2008; but enough elements of it remain in the final film that its obvious that it was cut out. 
 

Also another oddity I noticed the other day... I saw a few people on Facebook comparing the new Knights of Ren sword to a Bionicle piece and complaining "Star Wars is so unoriginal making Bionicle knock off blades; I am glad Disney never messed with our beloved Bionicle!" I didn't have the gut to tell them... but Miramax and Buena Vista Pictures while they were making the Bionicle Trilogy where owned by Disney; so yes Disney already made 3/4 of all the Bionicle official films. The Wikipedia page for all Disney animated films even includes the Bionicle Trilogy there under Mirimax: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Disney_theatrical_animated_features#Films_distributed_by_Miramax I wonder if Disney still owns the distribution rights, or if they went with Miramax when it was spun off later? Or if Lego owns the distribution rights? If Disney still owns the distribution rights, it would be a strange twist if they somehow ended up on Disney+. 

I guess my ramblings have not much to do with your post, but its all been thoughts on Mask of Light that have been stewing in my head the last few days. 

I would commit all 7 deadly sins for actual HD verions of the Miramax trilogy.

[Toatapio Nuva]

18 hours ago, HeartOfMetruNui said:

I would commit all 7 deadly sins for actual HD verions of the Miramax trilogy.

No need for that, the trilogy is available in HD already.

[HeartOfMetruNui]

On 12/4/2019 at 8:30 AM, Toatapio Nuva said:

No need for that, the trilogy is available in HD already.

That's just fake HD, an upscale of the DVD. Also they messed up the aspect ratio for some reason.

[Toa of Italy]

There isn't much I can add to what has already been said.

Takua's character development in MoL is mostly as you set it out, but the authors completely failed to take into account the fact that he had already become far more responsible and heroic in earlier years (we can see this especially in 2002, where, in the online animations, Takua takes the lead in the defense of both Le-Koro and Ga-Koro).

In general, I must say that (unlike in 2004, where they truly nailed it with Vakama's character) the movie's authors did a pretty bad job with character building (though of course, it was nothing compared to the disaster of the Legend Reborn in 2009). It's not just Takua... Jaller also is portrayed in a completely different way compared to the previous years, where he was far more serious and formal. Of course, much of the blame can be attributed to the awful voiceovers (which also led to horrific mispronounciations such as "Jalla"). I think the general idea was to portray the Matoran so as to push kids to identify themselves with them... thus their more immature behavior (be it Jaller's or Takua's) and their young-sounding voices.

Takanuva himself is also somewhat neglected in terms of character development. From the moment of his transformation it just seems as if he is following the path that destiny has set out... no attempt is truly made to explain why he does certain things (why does he keep the Toa Nuva from joining him? why does he then have Hahli summon the Matoran? and so on...) and what is going on inside his head when he does.

I must say, however, that the authors did get one thing right: the scene of Jaller's sacrifice and Takua's transformation is one of the most fantastic moments of BIONICLE as a whole. That scene, at least, is in continuity with the previous years: Takua's transformation is the culmination of the process that began in 2001 and makes perfect sense seen in that light. I wasn't on BZP back then, so I don't know how many people had figured out the Toa of Light's true identity before the movie came out... but I'd dare speculate that even those who were expecting it must have found it immensely satisfying to actually see it happen.

 

 

[HeartOfMetruNui]

On 12/22/2019 at 4:07 PM, Toa of Italy said:

There isn't much I can add to what has already been said.

Takua's character development in MoL is mostly as you set it out, but the authors completely failed to take into account the fact that he had already become far more responsible and heroic in earlier years (we can see this especially in 2002, where, in the online animations, Takua takes the lead in the defense of both Le-Koro and Ga-Koro).

In general, I must say that (unlike in 2004, where they truly nailed it with Vakama's character) the movie's authors did a pretty bad job with character building (though of course, it was nothing compared to the disaster of the Legend Reborn in 2009). It's not just Takua... Jaller also is portrayed in a completely different way compared to the previous years, where he was far more serious and formal. Of course, much of the blame can be attributed to the awful voiceovers (which also led to horrific mispronounciations such as "Jalla"). I think the general idea was to portray the Matoran so as to push kids to identify themselves with them... thus their more immature behavior (be it Jaller's or Takua's) and their young-sounding voices.

Takanuva himself is also somewhat neglected in terms of character development. From the moment of his transformation it just seems as if he is following the path that destiny has set out... no attempt is truly made to explain why he does certain things (why does he keep the Toa Nuva from joining him? why does he then have Hahli summon the Matoran? and so on...) and what is going on inside his head when he does.

I must say, however, that the authors did get one thing right: the scene of Jaller's sacrifice and Takua's transformation is one of the most fantastic moments of BIONICLE as a whole. That scene, at least, is in continuity with the previous years: Takua's transformation is the culmination of the process that began in 2001 and makes perfect sense seen in that light. I wasn't on BZP back then, so I don't know how many people had figured out the Toa of Light's true identity before the movie came out... but I'd dare speculate that even those who were expecting it must have found it immensely satisfying to actually see it happen.

 

 

I agree about the writers disregarding the character's build up in previous media. However, I think that many Bionicle fans misinterpret the movie to be a direct continuation to the rest of the canon.

In fact, it's meant to be more like what the Ninjago movie is to the Ninjago series; it's made to stand on it's own, to be a self-contained story. It's set in the same universe but the characters are totally different ones. And that was a right decision IMO. In order to keep up with the story of 2001/2002 you needed 3 things:

1. already be a fan of the series who explored previous story mediums.

2. have computer/internet connection - in 2001/2 to be a kid and have computer access wasn't a granted thing. You also needed to be old enough to understand how browsers work. I was 6/7 YO at the time and Google was at it's infancy. If you wanted to get into a website you needed to manually enter it's URL. Who would believe this in our age, haha. Point is, it was reasonably complicated to find this content as a kid.

3. The animations and games were not globally translated. So many English speaking people are not aware that Bionicle was an international craze. The games and animations were only available in English (and sometimes German if I remember correctly). The movie, however, was dubbeed into 26 languages. 26. F-ing. languages. Think about it for a second, while the previous media was only available in 1 or 2 languages, the movie came out in 26. Wouldn't it be disappointing if as a kids who spoke one of the other 24 languages couldn't keep up with the movie's plot becuase they didn't speak the right language?

So while this movie almost completely ignores previous story mediums, I think that was the right decision for the franchise. Having Takua to be irresponsible again gave this movie an opportunity to have him develop during the course of the plot.

To sum up, yeah, if you judge this movie as a part of the larger plot it could really be disappointing. But if, like me, you were one of the kids who spoke the one of the other 24 languages, all this would never bother you.