Sir Kohran

The game itself makes a continuity error about this; he's shown having his golden mask at the end of the Le-Koro chapter yet at the Kini-Nui meeting, the mask's its original colour as are the other ones, and they then switch to gold when descending. That seems to imply they all already have their golden masks and are simply switching to them, not that they got them at that moment. But why would they have switched back to the original colour just before that?

The game itself makes a continuity error about this; he's shown having his golden mask at the end of the Le-Koro chapter yet at the Kini-Nui meeting, the mask's its original colour as are the other ones, and they then switch to gold when descending. A comic from around that time and the second clip from the Legend of Mata Nui game showed more than two Manas, so I think that was canon at least then. Was that changed later? Technically he isn't using its power, because that's x-ray vision and he's only shown zooming in (though there's no explanation for how he does that). Matoran definitely aren't shown using mask powers at any other point. There's some truth to that, even though those episodes clearly try to set up for the movie by featuring Takua and Jaller prominently and introducing Hahli. I did play it at the time, although its full greatness has only become clear with the lack of anything like it in later years. A bit bare to say the least, but with less internet and the concept completely new it's reasonable it would take longer to get going. What glitches are there? The second game is a far worse offender in that respect (one glitch actually made it impossible for me to continue the game). And the Kewa ride makes it far less tedious than the second, which has nothing like that and makes you walk absolutely everywhere. The note bit's not exactly thrilling, but it hardly takes forever. And what was wrong with the battle?

Whatever it was between Maku and Huki never plays any part in the game's story. There's a stronger hint of romance between Jaller and Hahli in the first film, but I haven't heard that Mask of Light is non-canon because of that. Could you provide some examples? I do know that Greg included a reference to the Po-Koro plague in one of the serials.

I'm fairly sure MNOLG is fully canon. I mean, what's there that would make it non-canon? I did play it in 2001 when it was first available from that three-site portal page, though technically I also downloaded it years later to play it again, after it was removed from Lego's site in or after 2003.

This topic doesn't concern Bionicle sets in general, but a specific group, often called 'playsets', released in 2005, 6 and 7 that rendered content from those years in the style of System. Most fans have never been crazy about them.

It's a play on the similarity between Onua and (the singer) Enya's names, though I'm not sure why Bfahome decided to randomly slip it into his Onua review on the previous page.

But telling kids that every effort to do right will fail and wrong will win forever is just setting them up to never bother trying to do right at all. Is that a better message to put across?

I see what you mean, but ending with Makuta winning leaves good having never won (because all previous good victories in earlier Bionicle years were part of his long term plan) and evil with the greatest victory. That's basically the same problem that you pointed out, but with the two sides reversed.

I add that taking a story that presented us with both good and evil and ending it with evil winning would put across the message that brutal and self-interested actions and aims are acceptable, and will in turn be rewarded with lasting success, whilst trying to act heroically in the interests of others is pointless. Whether or not the situations and struggles of reality reflect such a message, that surely isn't what we want to see happen in real life, so stories that deal with good and evil shouldn't push such a message. Obviously not every story has to end with the right people or cause winning - we wouldn't have any tragedies or cautionary tales if that was the rule - but I do think one like Bionicle's needs to.

I agree with these posts, and they actually make me wish Lego hadn't stretched the Ignition saga over three whole years and instead spent more time on the Bara Magna story.

The line is "Pohatu leaped to the ground and immediately swung his weapon at the boulder." I guess it could just mean he kicked it with his foot, but a 'weapon' is meant to be an object, not a part of the body, so it does read a bit oddly.

If the explanation for the problem with the coat/mask is that "it's a replacement", then that does imply that this is a problem with all or at least many replacements. What would other uses be? Matoran masks are powerless; their one purpose is to be worn and Takua's replacement didn't fully manage that. Couldn't he get one specially designed for his head? I just find it strange that no media ever bothered to use this colour for any Ta-Matoran other than Takua, yet it's still supposedly valid for all of them. Maybe the reason I take issue with what you call the 'in story' things is that they remove a lot of the fun and intrigue that partly made the story enjoyable to begin with, when some things were left to the imagination. Think about the earlier and later explanations - Takua's mask doesn't not fit because he's destined to wear another, it doesn't fit because it's a poor replacement for a previous that did fit. Takua doesn't have blue because he's an exception to his red fellows, he has it just because blue's actually a standard colour that any of them could have and mostly just happen not to. Can you see what's happening? The 'mundane' later explanation replaces the 'dramatic' first one. And I think the dramatic ones make for a much more interesting story. It's similar to why the 'midichlorians' in the first Star Wars prequel bothered people, because it was an attempt at applying scientific or biological understanding to something mysterious that was meant to be beyond science and biology. Do you remember the dates for these?

Right, look at it like this: Takua was introduced as an irresponsible misfit, and it was revealed much later that he belonged to a Matoran group separate to the original six. Basically, he was an exception amongst the Mata Nui Matoran. Regarding colours, blue was reserved for water/ice characters and red, orange and yellow for fire characters. These elements and colours are generally seen as stark opposites, hence why there weren't any Ga-Matoran with red masks or Ta-Matoran with blue bodies. Takua had fire colours for his body but, bizarrely, a water colour for his mask (and legs by 2003), which prevented him fully belonging to either of the different groups. Many fans took this out-of-place blue as symbolising his odd-one-out status (and going further, his not belonging to any of the Mata Nui groups), in a similar way to how his poorly-fitting mask in the mask symbolised that he was destined to wear a different one that truly would fit. But much later we're told that blue is a standard colour for fire characters and there's actually nothing special about Takua's blue bits at all. So why did Lego never include another (unexceptional) Ta-Matoran with blue features to make that clear?

I don't know why you quoted the same sentence four times, or quite what you're getting at. To be totally clear, something that's rare exists in a small number, whilst something that's unique only exists in one instance. We've only seen one instance of a Ta-Matoran with blue parts, so that's unique until we see a second (which we won't because the old line has ended).

When I first asked why a replacement mask point was introduced, you said it was "to explain the poor fit" of that mask. So if Takua's mask doesn't fit, and that's solely because Takua's mask is a replacement, the logical conclusion is that it's a feature of replacement masks that they don't fit. You didn't state that there were exceptions. If the problem was with that particular mask, couldn't he just send it back and ask for one that did fit? That's not the same as unique, which is what Takua's blue colour seems to be.

In the very first comic, Matoro's Akaku that should've been blue is instead white, and he ends up looking almost like an infant version of Kopaka. The comics continued this white mask appearance in the Challenge of the Rahi one-off and as late on as the Bohrok Kal attack.

I think SPIRIT just said it a few posts up -- to explain the poor fit. Why would it be a poor fit just because it's a replacement? If it's a rule that replacement masks don't fit properly, shouldn't Jaller's mask also be loose seeing as his Hau was also a replacement? Why have we never seen any other Ta-Matoran with blue features?

Australia was founded by British settlers, so yes, the Australian accent has inherited some sounds. Perhaps, but I've listened to it on high volume and I'm pretty sure it's not Australian as he doesn't pronounce 'got' a bit like 'gort' as an Australian might.

Are you talking about his voice in the new episode? That sounded more like cockney to me.

If you're referring to his blue Pakari, it being a replacement doesn't make sense either because everyone on Metru Nui thought of him as a Ta-Matoran, so there'd be no reason to give him a mask of a non-Ta colour. Unless there was a shortage of Ta-Matoran masks, but given that mask makers were apparently all Ta-Matoran themselves that seems unlikely.

Because he's not from Metru Nui.

Does anyone know the point of this replacement mask aspect? It just seems like a repeat of what happened with Jala at the end of the second movie.

The only detail you're missing is that none of the characters are actually "voiced," per se. It's all the narrator doing the voices. Yes, but he clearly speaks differently with each Toa to give each a distinct voice, and Gali still sounds/ends up sounding male. Maybe the narrator just can't do or won't dare to try a female voice?

What a spineless thing to do.

Does anyone else find Kopaka's voice in this latest episode too different to how it was for his "I didn't slip" in the third?