Sir Kohran

I think the problem was the opposite. For 2001-4, the characters mostly stayed the same - Tahu and co, Vakama and co, the Matoran, and Makuta. It was from around 2005-6 that all these other characters and places appeared, mostly in the books, that had had no presence at all in the early years. So the story in later years often got almost unrecognisable from how it had been in the early years. I think this might explain a lot of the divide you mentioned.

It's almost like there were two Bionicle lines - the first years (or year) with rich media, charming and memorable characters, an interesting sense of mystery, then all the following years with very complex and overserious story, overcrowded cast, and most of the media that isn't the books being non-canon. Even www.bionicle.com doesn't lead anywhere now.

I've always wanted to know who was really at fault here. Did Saffire/Sapphire just take too long, or were Lego unrealistic in expecting a whole game to be completely ready in less than a year?

It's been suggested that that image is from the game, but I have doubts about that because it looks like a shot from a cutscene and the game's three cutscenes don't include Makuta. Do we know for sure that the game would've had the Makuta scene? I think the main problem was that it wasn't going to be finished in time for the year it was meant to be about and the sets it was meant to advertise.

I think it's unkind to tease us this long. Can't he just say what he's got planned?

I think it's a bit funny how what they planned was often more elaborate than what appeared in the final game, like Ga-Matoran and Po-Matoran also showing up at the Kini-Nui battle.

That's not very much to be miserable about compared to characters who lost friends and homes.

Perhaps, but why would he start posting about it almost a whole year before? I mean, original Bionicle wasn't exactly announced in April 2000.

It's been half a year since he started posting, surely if anything really big was going to come of this it would've happened by now, he/they wouldn't keep us waiting this long.

It wasn't selling as well as it used to and Lego wanted to make something new. They've already cancelled it again. :p The idea at the time was that Bionicle sort of wasn't ending as it would continue in story, but of course Greg gave up after a few years.

Didn't he have to become a Turaga for them to become Toa? ("Where did your power go?" "It lives on in all of you!") He would've had more of a chance at least. How is dying in the climax to save a friend anticlimactic?

If Teridax/Makuta won, why would he want or need to keep Lhikan alive? Just to be clear, my point was that whether or not Lhikan was captured didn't change whether or not he died, because his death (during Vakama facing Makuta) had nothing to do with the capture.

Lhikan escaped capture with some of the Toa, then his death happened in a separate situation and by then the Matoran had been Toa for quite a while, so whether the Matoran became Toa when he visited them or (as it happened) a bit later wouldn't have changed his ultimate fate.

In the Toa/Makuta MNOLG clip, Kopaka and Onua switch to the Kakama and Hau to use their powers even though they have gold masks.

So is a transformation only normal if it's through a Toa Stone? Was Takua's transformation not normal when it was caused by a mask?

If this is true, why didn't Jaller and co look like Toa Nuva or Takanuva when they became Toa?

It didn't. It gave us some comics, books and serials after Bionicle was created by some other people.

Does my wording need to be 'nitpicked'? The basic point here is that Lewa not speaking in Treespeak in the early comics wasn't a mistake because there was no rule at the time that he should. All media with him speaking in Treespeak dates from mid-2003 onwards, whatever Bionicle period it covers. Farshtey wasn't involved in MNOLG at all and Lewa didn't speak Treespeak there either, plus TLOMN doesn't look like it had much dialogue (there isn't any in the three cutscenes) so who knows if Lewa speaks in it at all? In any case, the game was never actually released so it doesn't carry much weight.

Although they cover the 2001-2 story, they were published at around the time of MOL. Definitely not in MNOLG: "Wait, Tahu! Have you given no thought to our return?" "The Rahi are fearsome. May their hearts prove greater than their size would suggest!" Treespeak in MNOLG is spoken only by Le-Matoran. I doubt it, as that was made in 2001 and, like I said, he didn't speak it until 2003. There was a topic some years back that listed the comic problems and this was something I mentioned.

There wasn't a 'should' about this when the comics were written. He didn't speak in Treespeak until MOL in the third year. Who decided on this change, why they did and how that fits with the non-Treespeak before then I don't exactly know.

Seeing as the female body is wide around the hips (whereas the male body is wide around the shoulders), I can see where your buddy was coming from.

The Adventurers line began with Egyptian sets in 1998.

I think its lack of strong sales and any really memorable media will keep it from being very well-remembered by many kids.

Why would he be a writer for a line that's been dead/inactive for the last three years?

I agree. If Bionicle does return I'd like Lego to do something new and different with it rather than just have Tahu and co landing on an island with villages to stop Makuta yet again.