Alyska

Well, since Matoran and Toa are kind of the same species, it makes sense that they would have similar programming. Maybe the Matoran would be intended to have more of a work ethic, and perform the same task over and over, while Toa could be sent on a variety of different missions, but other than that I think the AI would be more or less the same.

I think Greg said that their brains are AI. But if it is simply a matter of programming, what would the differences be? I mean, if the female Toa were literally programmed to be more gentle, then we have to assume that that sort of programming failed, or at least, was not as effective as it should have been. But, as I said before, this is the sort of bug that should have been picked up when they first made Helryx.

Actually, this topic has got me wondering exactly what the Great Beings would do in order to make a "male" AI brain into a "female" one. I don't think hormones are a factor for Matoran and Toa, so perhaps they'd try and emulate the structural differences between male and female brains...

Well, one scenario I've been thinking about for a while is that a Toa of psionics encountering an organic mind for the first time must think it's some sort of horrific abomination, given all the icky chemicals and hormones. Add to that the possibility of a specifically female Toa of Psionics encountering the mind of a male Agori or Glatorian, and you've got the potential for trouble...(*Toa spends the next three days curled up in a corner, rocking gently*)I expect Orde wouldn't have cared too much about it initially, but upon becoming female, he'd suddenly find he was attracting a lot more attention (after all, female Toa are modelled on female Glatorians, who seem to be very rare on Spherus Magna). Also, a main character trait of Orde is that he habitually reads everyone's mind as soon as he meets them, which isn't going to end well. Yes, he/she would wind up being pretty messed-up psychologically and possibly doing some nasty things to people who upset him/her, much to the confusion of the Great Beings observing the situation. I think some of the humour could be derived from the wildly inaccurate conclusions that the GBs come to.Also, the various ways female Orde would try to punish her admirers. Once Orde gets a grip of how romantic attraction works, it shouldn't be too difficult to redirect that annoying guy's affection to, say, that Thornax fruit he's holding...Yes, I have a pretty odd sense of humour. It could possibly work as a black comedy or dramedy, but I don't think I'm the sort of person who should be allowed to write comedy on BZP.

Actually, come to think of it, a story about Orde getting captured by Great Beings so he could get... "fixed" would be interesting. ...Is it bad that I think that that premise could work as a comedy?

I think we should be a bit more respectful to Greg. The update will happen when he can get to it.No offense to Alyska or anyone who agrees with her, but I think this makes us look fickle. First, we were angry that Bionicle ended. Then, we were happy that it stayed alive in the story serials. Now, we want the serials to end?Of course a reboot would be nice. But, as Dorek said, the franchise has to end first. I think we should stick to what we have now, and enjoy the serials. They will be updated when they will be updated. Greg can end the storyline when he, or Lego, sees fit.Unless anyone would rather have NO Bionicle at all?

My main concern about the current serials is that they just seem to make the story more complicated, rather than tying up loose ends like I expected. I know Greg has plans for at least some story threads, but at the moment I'm not convinced that they'll be given a satisfying conclusion. For the most part, they're fairly well written, but, and this is just my personal opinion, they're not quite to my taste. Some of my favourite serials were back in '08, when Greg went for black comedy and strong characterisation rather than sudden, LOST-style plot twists. Honestly, I'm not even completely sure if Greg really wants to keep updating the serials, when he has so many other new and exciting projects to work on. You know, the ones he actually gets paid for. The over-complexity is the main reason I would like to see a clean-slate reboot. I would like Greg to be involved, though. He'll probably still be at Lego in five years or so, so I don't see why he wouldn't be.

I guess they could be on trial over something like Orde, or perhaps one of the GBs would have observed all the violence in the MU and attributed it (wrongly) to the excessive number of males...Edit: Ooh! Could the Toa of Fire in question have been deliberately picked due to a "fiery" temperament, to see if a sex change calmed him down?

So, does this mean that it's set before the Matoran Universe left Bara Magna? Or do the Great Beings have a way of accessing the MU via teleporter or something? (I assume that the GBs are still on Bara Magna, so they have to get a Toa out of the MU, give him a sex change, and then put him/her back in). Alternatively, you could set it after Spherus Magna was put back together, so that the Great Beings and Toa are actually occupying the same planet.

Based on people's lists of their other favourite shows, there seems to be a pretty big overlap with the Doctor Who fandom. Is this all because of a certain background pony, or is there another reason?Avatar: The Last Airbender also seems popular, but I find that one less surprising for some reason...

And of course Bionicle, since the plots are similar (for the Season openers at least,) except they're using the elements of Harmony, not those of nature, and they're all girls instead of five guys one girl. Avatar: The Last Airbender is essentially the same thing, but with like four people. (again, only one girl.) Except this show is more awesome because ponies are the manliest things to dwell the earth (save for Chuck Norris,) and it has an awesome recreation of the scene from the end of Star Wars IV.

Yeah, since we're all Bionicle fans (or, at least, were at some point), I figured the Airbender overlap was because of the similarities to Bionicle, not MLP.The similarities other people have mentioned between MLP and Bionicle only serve to convince me that Bionicle could have done really well as a flash-animated TV show.

I'd certainly read it, Alex. So, is it told from the Toa's point of view, or is it more about the Great Beings' observations of her?

That was beautiful. Macku's one of the characters I've been wanting to see more of. It seems like she has many adventures of her own (Getting attacked by Exo-Toa, finding Tuyet, re-uniting the Chronicler's Company), but the story is always focused on someone else.I have to say I agree that the first sentence should be presented as something Hewkii actually said, but other than that, I really liked it.

Based on people's lists of their other favourite shows, there seems to be a pretty big overlap with the Doctor Who fandom. Is this all because of a certain background pony, or is there another reason?Avatar: The Last Airbender also seems popular, but I find that one less surprising for some reason...

Well, I had been thinking it'd be nice to see a female character with a Pohatu-type personality, but Pohatu himself? (herself?)They wouldn't need to alter his design much, at least, not in his Mata form- he's already got the big hips!It would certainly give Pohatu's relationship with Kopaka a new dimension... at least, as far as the shippers are concerned, as per my sig.I was thinking more of minor characters like Tamna. His name is feminine enough, he's of an element that can be either gender, and I like the idea of Lewa teamed up with a female Matoran sidekick that's even more reckless than he is.

Random question- if the elements weren't an issue, are there any characters you think should have been the opposite gender?

I don't think it was at all necessary for Rarity to have lied aboout her and her friends' identities The six of them saved Equestria twice. I think that should make you notable enough to earn the respect of some stuffy upper-class twits.

I want the current incarnation of Bionicle to end, and I would like to see a clean-slate reboot in maybe five to ten years. Then again, it'd be nice if the current two serials were given some closure.

Before I say anything is this Lego stories in general or Bionicle only?

Well, I started it about Bionicle and Hero Factory, but if you have something to say about the other lines, go for it.

Yeah, I guess I am being a bit hard on Chiara... maybe I'm just prejudiced towards anything related to The Yesterday Quest in general- except Gelu, of course. But still, when a character is in this early stage of introduction, every little thing they do should be telling us something about her character. We've already established that she likes to zap stuff, so I'd like to learn something else about her personality now.

I think it's possible that Greg just thinks too much about a female character's gender when writing her. That's why Chiara, obviously designed to be an aversion of the stereotypes (she is neither gentle and pure, nor a femme fatale), in practice ends up being a flat character lacking any depth beyond "IMMA ZAP STUFF!"I also don't believe that Greg has some sort of agenda against women, Maybe he simply likes the idea of messing with the gender dynamics, but all the species/societies in the Matoran universe that give him that sort of freedom are the ones that happen to serve as antagonists.

JC, I'm not sure this is the place for that, but to give you some closure...Not all lesbians are man-haters. If she really is attracted to women, then it isn't because of you or any other guy. Maybe some people realise their attraction to other women after they find out that they're not compatible with men, but a lot of people know their sexuality very early on in life- sometimes even before puberty.There is the possibility that it's a phase, or that she's lying to you. Many women lie in order to get rid of unwanted advances- I know I'm guilty of it. If that's the case, then she's just not interested, and is definitely not the one for you. Pursuing someone like that will only end in tears.I hope that wasn't too harsh. Just remember that the one for you is out there somewhere, okay?

Well, I guess Bionicle's unusual gender dynamics leave a lot of potential for further exploration/deconstruction, since it hasn't been mentioned much in the canon.Although, Greg seems to like writing about societies with unusual gender dynamics, too.For example, we have the matriachal Vortixx (who are evil).The Skakdi, whose females are larger and stronger than the males (and are also evil).And, the Sisters Of The Skrall, who are very powerful, completely independent of males... and evil....I'm sensing a pattern here...

That car is what you get when you take your vehicle in for a new paint job, and don't provide any explanation other than "Make it cooler".

Well, MU characters seemed to have no trouble telling that Orde was male, so either his voice is the only thing they're going on, or there's some sort of visual clue as well.It's also backed up by other occasions when characters encounter new beings for the first time- there's rarely any doubt about what their gender is, even before they start to speak. In "Federation of Fear", I get the impression that Roodaka was able to recognise Lariska as female, even without knowing what species she was or hearing her voice. Then again, the indirect speech narration made it a little ambiguous whether those were Roodaka's observations or the narrator's, though.

To be honest, I just don't think that Bzpower itself is a particularly interesting subject to discuss. I come here to discuss other things, mainly Bionicle. I don't go on a site just to talk about the site.Taking out the Bionicle-specific content has really hurt this forum, in my opinion.

So, would the gender-opposites be limited to the Matoran Universe, or would it extend to Spherus Magna and surrounds? If the latter, it would be interesting to see how the character dynamics changed, if at all. For example, it's hinted that the reason there are so few female Glatorians is because they are percieved as weaker, and as a result, don't get jobs. If most of our favourite Glatorians had been born female, would they even be working as Glatorians?