Banana Gunz

That Great Being civil war sounded AMAZING. And it'd be a chance for Takanuva to be given a very prominent front and center role. I can imagine an inner dialogue of his reminiscing of how he used to explore strange foreign places, yet now he is fighting for them. On the brink of a political war, he is the ultimate ideological symbol, and he bridges the gap between two worlds, two people, two futures, yet with how things are going it seems he only gets to choose one.

Budget doesn't equate to set size. If LEGO tells you "OK, you can make a lineup of six sets at a $8 price point, here's a budget, go crazy," you still can't make 6 $13 sets, even if you can somehow stretch the money that way, because LEGO only wants $8 sets on the market and $13 BIONICLE sets are going to cannibalize the Ben 10 set sales. But creating new parts does take up a lot of money and I would think reduces the amount of money you have left to develop the rest of the set with. You do have a point, but I think that it's possible more money could have been put towards building up the set and giving it more pieces that are more readily available but make it a better built set overall. I think the big cost comes from creating new molds more than it does recolors. Five new molds isn't much compared to the, what, 45 new molds of 2009? Though by 2010 Bionicle was on its last leg. 2009 probably still had a decent budget as it was still being planned and supported by LEGO, but 2010 was never even planned to have any sets. We really don't know what the budget for the last year really was though, so it's hard to say anything without making wide assumptions. It doesn't really matter though I guess, since 2010 couldn't have had THAT tiny of a budget and as you mentioned five new parts isn't a dramatically large number.

Trickle-Down Theory Not much of a theory, but when I was younger I thought the Barraki were the Toa Mahri/Inika of the time. I also always wondered about that weird floating gold mask in MNOG underneath the Onu-koro mines. I keep forgetting if there was ever any canonical explanation of it but I imagine around 2003 lots of people were thinking it had been a sign of the coming of the seventh Toa.

Budget doesn't equate to set size. If LEGO tells you "OK, you can make a lineup of six sets at a $8 price point, here's a budget, go crazy," you still can't make 6 $13 sets, even if you can somehow stretch the money that way, because LEGO only wants $8 sets on the market and $13 BIONICLE sets are going to cannibalize the Ben 10 set sales. But creating new parts does take up a lot of money and I would think reduces the amount of money you have left to develop the rest of the set with. You do have a point, but I think that it's possible more money could have been put towards building up the set and giving it more pieces that are more readily available but make it a better built set overall.

It's worth noting how we got like five new pieces and several recolors, so it seems that they had enough of a budget to make better sets had they focused their resources there, but that's not known for certain at all. I mean, it's possible I guess, and if so LEGO had a fair enough reason to do so but I doubt the designers were sitting down thinking about how to make Bionicle go out poorly. Besides, Bionicle to many was on a bit of a decline to many, so it could be argued that people would've been more excited and positive about Bionicle had the final wave been great. I don't think LEGO has much business purposely making their sets bad, because even though that psychological phenomenon can be true, people are different and too many having an underwhelming final wave would simply be less of an incentive for some for it to come back, and rather make them want to see something new. I really don't know lol, I wish there could be more direct communication between people working on Bionicle and the fans. Not as extreme as it was with Greg, but G1 is long gone and passed, I think it would be cool to hear more about what was happening at the time from places other than Faber Files.

It also depends how you define destiny. I believe Iaredios was looking destiny as more of a prophecy, a saying of a single final outcome, but to me destiny simply means "what you are destined to do", meaning future. So for me every single moment in the future is destiny. And that's not to say one is right or wrong. For story telling the first choice is typically better but for general more life-true purposes I think the second option is a more "real" one. Still, that was a great point to bring up. Definition and perspective are excellent distinctions to be made, though sadly it only seems to make this problem in Bionicle even more difficult to come to a concrete explanation. But for either one even I still think the argument can be made that no one has free will. I don't particularly agree with it, but it's possible. It's all perspective really. One could say that the illusion of free will and inability to see the future isn't enough to garner true free will, which I suppose would garner a responsibility to escape time somehow. On the other hand, even if you have the right to choose in the moment and near future, your larger overarching destiny decides what you do, even if you decide how you do it you still can't escape the outcome i.e. If you were destined to kill your best friend against your wishes you'd still end up doing it however it happens, no matter what you want or try to do to stop it. Perspective is such a dangerous thing sometimes. It seems though like insanity has come through the door and is now eating all the pies, oh and looky Vezon has now teleported in to start drawing on the wall with broken crayons.

This is the same as in real life. Think about it, you got your personality from your parents which would determine how you interact with those around you. As you interact, they interact back and affect you. Based on that you start building up an identity through the years, but you never got to control your surroundings or the contexts that affected you. You never really had a choice to be who you were, no matter the illusion of choice. Add onto that the possibility that the future is always already written. So this is less of a simple Bionicle issue and more of a general problem. The solution? Well at some point the illusion of free choice is so potent and so blatantly unreal that it becomes real. The future may already be written, but you have no way of knowing what that future is so you have to live under what you do know. Because of this, you still choose, even if it's technically an illusion, but you have no way of knowing so your only guide is yourself. And the past is so saturated and filled with so many outside things affecting you that it's impossible to track down exactly what changed you and helped make you who you are, so for the sake of living the lives we do it's important to not simply excuse others for who they are and use the better knowledges that we have gained out of coincidence and share them with others to create a better world and better selves. Bionicle and many other fantasy stories use prophecy to challenge the idea of free will, and the most effective of those are the ones explore the concepts of free will under prophesy and how that makes people react. Prophecy and knowledge of the future is dangerous, because it creates a paradox as crazy as time travel itself would make. It brings up the question if you were meant to know that information and be able to try to change it or if you were destined to know your destiny and still follow it no matter how hard you try to escape. Stories like the Star Wars prequels explore prophecital heroes that have so many people believing in what they are suppose to be that they end up becoming the complete opposite, for prophesy is always either vague or easily misinterpreted. And in terms of choice, choice is something you simply have to hope/believe in, like reality. The same way you can endlessly ask "why" without ever reaching an answer and continually question every sign to reality with the Matrix argument or our limited and flawed senses, choice can only ever be real if you believe it is or until the day our minds have grown, evolved, and expanded to comprehend the paradoxical concepts of the universe. I don't know about any destiny algorithm, but I think a large part of Bionicle is that no matter what destiny is strewn out for our heroes, they are not guaranteed success or identity based on prophecy. Destiny is something you create and something that belongs to you. Until the day we can become more, freedom is something we have to create, no matter how paradoxical it is, because otherwise we never really go anywhere. Hope is acknowledging all the possibilities for what could be true, but putting faith in the possibility we desire. All we really ever know is "I think, therefore I am." and everything else must follow. PS, I wouldn't think too closely about destiny in Bionicle in particular. There are a lot of problems with the Bionicle writing that make it so much more difficult to do this i.e. the destiny algorithm which is complicated. The moment you try and turn destiny into a science rather than a philosophy in our current human state is the moment you invite insanity to dinner.

Well matoran romance doesn't even have to particularly include kissing. They could simply have recognition of their feelings for each other and perhaps develop bond and marriage.

For me it's definitely Matoro's death as number one. It was heart breaking and in some ways life changing to me. It was really the first time I saw that happen as a kid in media and it's resonated with me a lot. After that it's definitely the awakening of the Mata-Nui robot with Teridax in his head and the Mask of Life floating through space whispering "I will return..." So bad a$$! Some other great moments were also the Mata facing Makuta at the end of MNOG and the destruction of the Mata-Nui robot/Tahu lifting up the Ignika.

Is that why the MU seemed that way? Or is it because Farshtey moved the plot along so aggressively that there were few moments where the characters could interact with each other on a personal level? A combination of the two, I think. I get the impression that while the explicit reason Greg gave for the lack of romance was the lack of sexual reproduction in the Matoran Universe, the implicit reasoning was that he just didn't want to have to actually write relationships, or at the very least, wanted an easy escape clause to having to field shipping questions. Either way, it eliminated a lot of perfectly legitimate and relatable storytelling possibilities and retconned several fan-favorite relationships out of existence, so I can't really consider it to be a very well thought out decision. I just wrote a whole piece in the story line and theories forum about/inspired by this! I recommend checking it out if you'd like a cool new perspective on the issue.

So, I was thinking, which as you all know is already a bad sign. Let's talk about love! Love in Bionicle G1 isn't canon, and it's been specifically stated as so by the mighty Greg Farsthey, his great power moving mountains and bringing back thousands characters from the dead in a single motion. And for many this has been a point of contention with the Greg-Nui, for to many it makes no sense why this would be the case. Is love not unity? Is love not allowed because they're part robots? I mean seriously, love doesn't have to be sexual, and Hewkii x Macku is the cutest thing ever! Well gather round my young matoran and look into the fire, for there are secrets to be revealed: Love not being canon is deliberate, important, and one the smartest, most interesting and powerful themes in Bionicle G1. Yep, that's right. This is coming from the banana that's made posts about the unfortunate and cruel senselessness of the de-canonization of love. So why? Why isn't Greg-Nui feeling the love? And far less importantly, why aren't I? There's a chance it has something to do with me being a simple banana but there's more to it. Let's take a look at the history of the matoran. The matoran were designed by the Great Beings to keep the Mata-Nui robot functioning, like cells. In working, doing tasks, etc. they were keeping the Mata-Nui robot functional. Without their work, Mata-Nui would get sick and die. They initially were simply unfeeling bio-mechanical workers designed solely to operate the robot. After all, them having relationships might intervene with their work. Some matoran might decide to go off and play kolhii instead or throw rocks at Ahkmou; it's just plain inefficient. The last thing I want is for some cell in my body to get lazy and decide it doesn't feel like keeping me alive, it can be a bad influence on the others. But as Angonce (I believe) remarked, the matoran didn't stay that way. They began to wage wars for their freedom, fight for each other and their deity. They believed, learned, grew, and became more than the micro-workers were ever meant to be: truly alive. This was an evolution, and with this evolution they became alive in the mind. They were arguably the Great Beings' greatest creation, for it's the first thing they created that could fight for and shape its own destiny. But if they can feel now, if they've evolved, why can't they love? It's senseless, ridiculous! Love is such a huge part of the mind, and it makes no sense for them to not have it... except that it does, for now. Evolution is typically a slow sucker, never really in a hurry to be useful. But it never really stops happening. Even you, are evolving right now into the next stage in humanity. Why should it be the same for the matoran? Why would they just stop? They've established themselves as a growing and changing species, so picking a comfy spot to chill in for the rest of their existence hardly makes any sense. So the answer is that they're not done evolving, and that love is something they're still developing. That's the ultimate difference between them and the agori: the agori are far more advanced them them biologically and more evolved. They've been in existence for far longer than the matoran, and in the story serve as a physical vision of what the matoran could become, as well as what they should not be (considering all the fun war and splitting your own planet into three pieces sort of thing). The agori can love because they're more advanced than the matoran, and the matoran can't love canonically because they haven't reached that stage yet in their growth. And what about Hewkii and Macku? Well they actually make sense here. They are shown being "very affectionate" of each other in the MNOG animations, and that's not untrue. They may love each other, but not really know what it means considering it's nothing the rest of the matoran have ever likely felt before. They are the anomalies, and it's always the anomalies that change the world. They're the pin that fate balances on, and when they take that step forward and recognize their feelings (likely to be sparked by meeting the agori and learning from their example), the rest of the matoran race will follow and evolve to learn that feeling too. Think of it as the X-Men! The X-Men stories show an evolution of the human race, with small amounts of people gaining super-human/advanced abilities. More and more people gain that ability as they evolve as they become a part of it, except in Bionicle's case, the ultimate power is the power of LOVE! (Side theory: Mask of Ultimate Power actually the Mask of Love?) Love not being canon doesn't mean it doesn't have the potential to exist for the matoran, and the evolution of the matoran is one of the smartest and most meaningful themes to come out because of this. The evolution of the matoran is a reflection of the human race, and it demonstrates a people learning to grow and fight to become something, growing beyond the menial tasks they were build for and becoming so much more, even escaping and growing above the need for their deity and shell of a universe. The migration of the matoran out of the robot is a metaphor for them literally seeing the light. Mata-Nui himself explains how the matoran don't need him anymore and how he would just be a shadow standing over them, limiting their potential for what they could become. Evolution stands for so much in humanity. It stands for the breaking of the shackles that bind us and hold us down to the slavery of mortality, and climbing the ladder to become more than submissive and worshiping, but becoming productive to ourselves and each other. And while the agori nearly destroyed themselves, it is out of them that the matoran were shaped, except directly changed to have Unity, Duty, and Destiny, so they would not make that mistake. In being given this, they were by design destined and shaped to become more; to work on themselves, on each other, and the future they would all occupy as one. They show that their destiny IS their evolution, and vice versa. So rather than cursing Greg-Nui for de-canonizing love, we ought to be thanking him, for after thinking about it the design of it makes so much more sense this way and makes for a far more meaningful and powerful story. It's beautiful, like poetry, and is just one more reason to love the Bionicle.

Adam Sandler is a God among men.

As a person who just finished the first Portal a week ago, I approve this SO HARD. Like this is just pure awesome! I think it's missing some of the iconic white, perhaps paneling of the first game, but that would be my only criticism of it. The way you capture the Aperture logo in a subtle way, integrating it into the portal frame is pure brilliance and I absolutely love it! I'd love to see a little white paneled walkway up into the portal with a Chell figure walking on in. Such a cool model! Good luck in the contest!

Yeah, that's a really good point you make. Selling the movie would be difficult because it's mostly adults paying for those tickets either way, for their kids. A fully animated movie, even one with the story caliber of Bionicle usually seems to make adults audiences brand it as a kids movie. So... Also a really good point! Trailers nowadays seem to dictate so much of the movie business it's almost scary. In Batman v Superman's particular case, I think its trailers were really good, except that the second trailer showed too much/the wrong things. It was mostly the negative reception and reviews that seems to have affected its box office. But still, a really good trailer could be what makes the decision for adults to go see the movie or not for themselves. A really positive reaction to the movie when it comes back will make or break the movie, but I think it's only right to put a lot of energy in making a good trailer that reflects the movie's quality.

Lol for me my only three wishes would be: 1. Bionicle get a reboot/continuation via comic book series 2. Bionicle gets a serious cinematic movie 3. Bionicle gets recognized and more popular in the public eye again, creating a really lasting impression

Doesn't seem like a problem to me. If LEGO were to do a cinematic movie of any kind, as they already have they would only want it to be of the highest quality. Just look at the style of the LEGO Movie! I'm not saying that's how a cinematic Bionicle movie should look, but I'm sure viectacular since LEGO isn't usually known for associating themselves with a project that has seriously cut corners. But I sorta disagree with the point of nostalgia and visual appeal being the only thing that will get non fans in. If the story is really intriguing and the world and themes are mysterious and unique enough than that is usually already enough to interest people. Sure, nostalgia and visuals are usually important, but it's never enough to get people to go and see the movie. I mean, I'm a HUGE fan of the original Robocop, yet I never went to see the reboot in theaters even though I have some nostalgia for it and the visuals looked great. I just wasn't a fan of the direction they were going with and it didn't look interesting, and so did apparently many others as it didn't do so hot at the box office considering its budget and intent to be a sequel spawning block-buster. I think setting is a huge part of Bionicle, but I don't think it's fifty percent, as there are so many other aspects like characters and emotional/meaningful themes that if they aren't nailed and done right, there's no point to going to see that movie. People will be awed and impressed by visuals, but even that they'll forget quickly after they leave the theater. An emotional and meaningful experience though is something that sticks with people for a long time, and for a Bionicle movie to be successful, not just briefly but for a long time, it needs to make a real impression on people today. Just look at the LEGO Movie: sure it doesn't have quite as much excitement around it as when it first came out but you go up to most people and start singing everything is awesome then they're gonna start remembering the colorful and fun characters and comedy, as well as the heartfelt moment at the end. A pretty movie with no story is like a super hot girlfriend/boyfriend that you simply have nothing in common with or no connection to. Sure, you'll try to make it work and stick around for as long as possible but eventually you'll realize that there isn't much behind those big pretty eyes and that it can't work long term that way, and it's time to find someone new that you actually enjoy being around for more than their pretty face. Oh no lol dating advice with the Banana close yer eyes lil kiddies.

I'm still so confused why Snoke was motion capture lol. But on the topic of a G2 movie, I think most are somewhat aware of my generally negative feelings towards G2 (or rather my negative reaction to it, I'm so happy it happened, I'm just not thrilled with its execution so far), but I'd be jumping for joy if a G2-based movie were announced, same as how I was getting hyped for Journey to One. Now, I'd still be just as critical of the movie as I was Journey to One, and as it turned out that wasn't so great at all (for me at least), but I'd still give it a chance. Why? Because Bionicle is Bionicle, and the only way to keep it alive is to support it, ALL of it, even the parts we don't like. If it doesn't do well and fails, it shouldn't be because the fans didn't support it, it should be because it wasn't good enough and couldn't gain traction with anyone else (though with that said that shouldn't give anything Bionicle an immediate pass in quality with the fans, and we should all fully express earnestly if something isn't good. Bionicle just isn't a Star Wars Battlefront where not buying the game is telling the seller to make a better game, whereas with LEGO people not buying their Bionicle sets or watching the media tied to it is telling them people don't want Bionicle. Sadly that's just how they seem to see it). I don't feel execution would be a problem. Making a Bionicle movie work isn't some magical feat that you need to get lucky to pull off. You can make any concept work. Sure, some like Bionicle may be somewhat bizarre, but that's also called their APPEAL, and it seems many seem to find it impossible to trust in the viewer to hold some suspension of disbelief to get behind an idea. Think the Marvel movies, I mean Age of Ultron Now my problem would be that I don't really want a G2 cinematic movie at this point. Journey to One wasn't great and I'm not that invested in terms of story/quality at this point, since it's just not that well executed. And especially because releasing a movie in the middle of the themes life just makes zero sense and is why that wouldn't have worked if Mask of Light was released in theaters. If they were to release a movie, it ought to be separate from G2, perhaps when it ends to get rid of confusion among audiences.

The upper half of the G2 Vahi has been used for two things: seeing images of the future (which Ekimu did in this latest graphic novel in a flashback, showing a betrayal and six Toa and prompting him to create golden masks for those Toa to claim in his absence), and for summoning the Toa (which the six Protectors did in the first graphic novel and chapter book by all channeling their power into the mask as part of a ritual). The lower half of the G2 Vahi has not been seen yet, not even in-universe. My personal theory is that the ritual to summon the Toa worked similarly to the G1 Vahi's power—all six Protectors using the mask in unison managed to slow down time around the island of Okoto to preserve the island until the prophecied Toa's arrival. But there's no real confirmation of the mechanics of that. Either way, it has been more useful so far in the story than the G1 Vahi ever was, which was never shown to be controllable by any of its wearers in-story and thus was only really used productively once—as a threat of mutually assured destruction in Time Trap. Just to confirm, that image of the G1 vahi was a placeholder for the upper half right? I've been missing out on some small details like these lol. And I'm not sure why the mask of time would be able to summon the toa unless it was through time. Maybe they were ancient heroes of long ago (not a G1 connection theory lol) since we don't really know where they came from either, unless this is a Mask of Life deal where anything goes cause it's just a real important mask.

Alright, so follow up question: do you folks think that in the end of this main arc of G2 that Makuta and Ekimu will work together in some fashion or that perhaps Makuta realizes the error of his ways? Or do you think that as the novel suggests he was never actually evil or intending wrong on Ekimu, just corrupted by the mask? I still personally feel Makuta was filled with anger and spiteful of Ekimu. Jealousy is a very negative emotion, and it rarely comes packaged on its own. From jealousy usually spawns many other negative feelings. That's why I'd so much like a redemption arc for Makuta. It's almost like G1 is still affecting G2 in the fact that people have this expectation of it for a large plot twist, as if that's a part of the essence of Bionicle now. And plot twists are cool and all, but unless they're really cleverly built up to, it doesn't garner for great story telling, so a redemption arc for Makuta would be a smoother and more interesting thing to do, while still having enough surprise/excitement behind it to satisfy a lot of the expectations for some big twist.

Alright, I can definitely agree with this actually. That's been my main criticism with the recent Star Wars movie is JJ Abram's idea of how surprise makes a better movie no matter what, and Star Trek Into Darkness is a really good example of how that flops/doesn't work, because the twist doesn't actually end up adding anything to the film. So I definitely see your feelings about how a twist like this wouldn't actually make the story any better, and I can largely agree. You bring up really good points about how G2 may actually benefit from being more contained, it's just it doesn't seem like it's been taking advantage of those benefits and most people don't seem to think that it will if the story continues the way it has been. And I don't think people are hoping for "darkness" or "grittiness" and expecting it to make the story better. I think that for Bionicle a darker story can be appropriate, which doesn't mean what most people think it does. Draining the color out of it and making it moody and depressing with dark tones and motifs is one of the worst crimes in my opinion for most properties (ie Man of Steel), whereas a dark story is one that is actually heavier iin terms of concept. For example, Legend of Korra (finished watching it months ago, I LOVE) is a children's show with humor and color, but that show is REALLY dark. No spoilers to anyone that hasn't seen it, but it gets really creepy and scary at points, and I felt so sorry that they let go of the first villain in the show that genuinely felt like a terrifying and scary threat. And as a whole I don't think most Bionicle fans want G2 to be darker or grittier, they just want it to be more complex and interesting. None of the Toa are really interesting or developed right now and the plot doesn't feel smart or new in any way so far. And I don't think that or the want for complexity is bad at all or is what's making people hate G2, and I think those are valid criticisms for some who are looking for that in the story and I wouldn't call them blind haters for having personal, valid criticisms of it. And I can see what you're saying about perhaps the dissatisfaction with G2 flooding out conversation about the good of it, but people are getting more excited now about it with the new image of the Vahi, which is enough because Bionicle needs some optimism right now. I can agree, it's probably healthier for us to focus more on the theme as it is right now rather than jump on hope for connections, but still, people are talking about Bionicle as a result and there's a lot of hopeful conversation about it as a whole. People are always gonna be looking for connections here the same way people are always going to be looking for Rey's parentage/lineage from The Force Awakens. Is it the best? Probably not, but it keeps people talking about the property and it was set up in such a way that it can't be unexpected. (sorry if this last paragraph doesn't make a ton of sense. I had difficulty responding because I mostly agree with you in this case and I'm kinda tired lol)

So, my thought for where G2 might go is what if Makuta isn't that bad of a guy? In the story so far we see that he is after two of the legendary masks in this world: the Mask of Creation and Control. My idea is that what he really wants is to use these masks to combine the two pieces of the Vahi and go back in time. Why? Because he regrets what he's done. Makuta so far is one of the more interesting characters in this theme, for his intentions were driven by jealousy that led him to create the Mast of Ultimate Power. But the last anyone saw him, the MOUP was being knocked off his face. I predict that now, he doesn't have the MOUP, and actually doesn't want it as it has become its own entity which corrupted him when he put it on. He's afraid of it now and is worried what it could do, and now wants to go back in time to undo his betrayal to Ekimu, and the creation of the MOUP. So he might be seeing the Toa as threats to his quest, which is why he sends Umarak after them. For all we know, Makuta could be trying to undo what he'd done, but is ashamed of it and can't face Ekimu to apologize, and knows after wearing it that the MOUP is unstoppable and has been the source of darkness in the world. So, I know this theory isn't super well put together, but do you think there's a chance that Makuta is actually a misunderstood hero/complex villain who truly believes their way is right? Right now, as much as I'm disappointed by G2, the biggest strength it has is its opportunity and finale to its current planned run. I feel that it could still end on a really high note, and I think Makuta is in a perfect place to be a really interesting and cool character.

You act like you've never seen a plot twist before or a red herring before. I mean, if they want it to be a surprise I don't think it's fair to call them sick liars for trying to tell an interesting story. I agree, I'm usually not huge on plot twists and JJ Abram's "Surprise box" as means of keeping a story interesting, but it's not inherently bad and they only stated once that it was a reboot, which doesn't inherently mean it can't be anything more. I agree, I don't like it when story tellers lie outside of their work about it, but what's to be done. I think the more likely idea is that it's not a continuation but is in some shape or form connected to G1, whatever that may be. I could be as mild as an easter egg to a smaller plot point for all we know. As everyone has said, I think it's more likely to be an alternate universe or something rather than direct past/future. I agree, it's cooler to have a reboot in a lot of the cases, but G2 has been remarkably unspectacular so far and I think for a lot of people they want to see something interesting. Can you entirely blame them? G2 just isn't as strong as people wanted it to be, and yes you can keep building it and making it stronger as it goes on, and that's fine but most people don't think it'll last that long to get that chance, and they want it to end on a note where it actually means something more to them than just a less-than satisfying reboot to something they once loved. Being Bionicle isn't enough to be good, so for many I can't call them stupid fan boys/girls for wanting to at least be reminded of the past.

Lol, this is pure genius. Let's make it canon folks. Brutaka is Portal confirmed.