Volitak_Boxor

Nice to hear that the Protectors get names!  They're not especially outstanding or anything, but I think they'll grow on me.  And, from the various snippets from the book that people have mentioned, it seems like it will be less Tahu-centric than the animations, which is a definite plus.

Found some photos of the Comic-Con Bionicle Poster on eBay.  I've gotta say, the main image is pretty neat, and I like the checklist on the back, even if none of its art is new.

Front

Back

I have already built The Battle of Metru Nui and The Visorak Battle Ram alternative models as best as I could figure them out, and given the parts are all used, i would say they are fairly accurate. I could make instructions for those? I looked really close at the picture and counted studs as I went to make sure I used the correct pieces. I'm also working on The Tower Of Toa and The Visorak Gate as well, but don't have much time currently.

Not sure if anyone is making much progress with them, but I would be open to helping out with instructions for the alternate playset models in a couple of months.  I'm currently unable to do so because I am in the middle of a move and won't have my sets for a while.

 

On a different, but still alternate/combo model related note, has anyone attempted to make instructions for the combiner model made from Onua and the Protector of Earth?  I was hoping that Lego was going to release instructions for it with the May/June Lego Magazine like they had with the Tahu and Kopaka models.  And with the release of another Lego Magazine and no sign of the instructions, I am not holding my breath.  Such a shame since I was really hoping for combo models for Lewa, Gali, Pohatu and their respective Protectors.

 

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Mask Collector and Toa Lhikan Hordika, not a whole lot of progress has been made on the alternate model front.  Cheesy Mac n Cheese mentioned that he might try to work on a couple models, but I don't know if he has started yet.  If you could provide instructions, that would be fantastic, but at this point, if you think you've got the correct build, even some photos of the final model from a couple different angles would be helpful.  Also, if you have access to the original boxes and a scanner, some high-resolution scans of the images of the alternate models on the box backs would be good to have.  Cheesy made some good scans for Piraka Stronghold and Race for the Mask of Life, but as you can see here, the current images for the other 2005/2006 playset alternate models are either watermarked or have a very low resolution.

On another note, since you two have very extensive collections, would either of you happen to own an opened copy of a Kabaya version of one of the 2003 Matoran?  Those sets contained instructions for another combiner model, but there isn't a very good scan available online.  More details in this topic, if you're curious.

As far as Onua/PoE goes, I don't think anyone has attempted instructions yet, although I think I recall someone trying to recreate the model itself a few months back.  At this point, I doubt we're seeing combiners for the $15 Toa and their Protectors, which is a shame, but I'm still hoping we get official instructions for the Onua/PoE model.

TomRoid, thanks for sharing the Tahtorak info.  Where in the model are the gray pieces that are unaccounted for?  

I've put together a set of photo instructions for the Turahk/Panrahk Kabaya Combiner, since the published instructions have so little detail.  They're available here.  I've got the Kurahk/Lerahk model built, so hopefully I'll have a similar set of instructions ready in a couple days.  My next goals are photo instructions for the Turahk/Vorahk/Guurahk model, and I might be able to cobble together enough parts to tackle Krahka soon, since I recently got a couple more Toa Metru sets.  Oh, and I added the Kabaya combiner for the 2003 Matoran to the Google Doc, too.

Edit: Kurahk/Lerahk instructions are done, visible here. 

Additionally, both the comic and box art for Skull Warrior include many silhouettes of Skull Warrior lookalikes in the background.  Not the most concrete sources, so we'll probably have to wait for more specific story info. 

Has anyone else received a copy of this issue yet?  I'm curious to see whether there's any more Bionicle content.  Maybe we'll finally get instructions for the Onua/PoE combiner from the iOS game, and more summer story news would be neat, too.

I tried using some Japanese keywords in Google, and I was able to find a second image showing the instructions for this combiner.  I also cropped the original image.

Original:

New:

Unfortunately, the second image has a lower resolution than the original, but at least we can see what's in the lower left corner now (although it's not much of a  surprise).  I didn't have any luck finding a nice scan, though.  Does anyone on BZP actually own a Kabaya version of Macku, Hafu, or Hewkii, and would they be able to provide a scan?  

Also, there were sealed Kabaya versions of Macku and Hafu for sale on Bricklink that I found, if anyone really wants to get ahold of these instructions, but I personally didn't think it was worth the money.

I took a crack at building this model, substituting in Kopeke's parts since I don't own Macku.  Here's how it looks assembled:

Here's a few more photos:

Front

Side

Back

The instructions were blurry, partially obscured, and a bit unclear or inconsistent in places, but I think what I built more or less matches the official model's build.  As for the combiner itself, it's a bit floppy and front-heavy, but it's not as bad as I thought.  The head construction looked like it would be really loose, but it actually fits together pretty snugly.  It's kind of odd-looking (and the color scheme's pretty drab without the blue), but  it was an interesting combiner to assemble.

I've been working with a few other people to create a database containing information and instructions for all known combination models for Bionicle sets, and today, a user with the screen Name JBOboe720 shared some information about a model I'd never seen before: a Kabaya combiner for the 2003 Matoran sets Hewkii, Hafu, and Macku.  It's been known that Kabaya versions of these three sets existed (they're mentioned on Bricklink, for example), but unlike the Kabaya Turaga and Bohrok Va, their boxes show the standard 2003 Matoran Combiner (the four-armed figure and quadruped) that's depicted on American boxes.  However, these sets' instruction sheets include steps to build a different model that uses pieces from just Hewkii, Hafu, and Macku.  As far as I can tell, this model has been pretty much forgotten by the BZP Community, since nobody has mentioned it in previous discussions, and neither Google Image searches nor searching the news archives of BZP seemed to provide many details of this model, or even of the 2003 Matoran Kabaya sets in general.  An old Mask of Destiny page (we can talk about them now, right?) that I found after doing some more research mentions the existence of the instructions, but there's no images, just a broken link to a decade-old forum topic.  Anyway, JBOboe720 provided me with a link to a Japanese web page that includes photos of the three Kabaya Matorans' boxes and the instructions for their combiner (as well as another picture of a Lerahk wielding Surge's lightning weapons, oddly enough).  Does anybody here remember this combiner or know anything about it?  If someone actually owned one of the 2003 Kabaya Matoran and could provide a better image of the instructions, that'd be spectacular.  I don't think the model itself is all that great, but it's neat to know that there's still combiner models out there that I never knew about before.  

JBOboe720, thanks for the tip!  If you're a BZP member (which I assume you are, since you found the combiner database), and you want to share your username here, I can give credit where credit is due.

What do you guys think of this "new" model?

I scanned the best I could. Not only was the Piraka Stonghold box too big for my scanner, but the actual image of the alternate model was, too. I had to scan three images. If someone could make a composite image of the three, that'd be great (I'd do it myself, but I'm sure it would turn out terrible). The box for Race for the Mask of Life was also too big, but the the image of the alternate model wasn't. However, since I had to squish the box into place, the upper left corner of the image is somewhat blurred (it really only affects the Hahli minifigure). All images are in a raw, lopsided, untrimmed format, as I haven't edited them yet.

 

Piraka Stronghold 1

Piraka Stronghold 2

Piraka Stronghold 3

Race for the Mask of Life

Those are some great scans!  I pieced the Piraka Stronghold images together, and it came out pretty nice.  Someone with Photoshop could probably do better, but it lines up in the important images.  I took the scans, found images of the rest of the playset alternate models, and put them into a PDF here: http://tinyurl.com/qzmkld6. There's a pretty wide range of resolutions; it'd be good to get high-res scans for the 2005 playsets, Lava Chamber Gate, and Piraka Outpost if anyone owns those boxes.

Also, I updated the 2001 and 2002 sections of the Google Doc with links to the photo instructions I've been putting together these past couple weeks.

My vote goes to Wairuha (couldn't have guessed that, huh?  ).  It's just a classic for me.   I enjoyed building the Rahi alternate models, too, but none of them particularly stood out to me.

Did we add the Cable Crawler?

Yeah, Cable Crawler's been up for a while now.  What Munty recently found was previously-unknown packaging for a two-pack of Vakama Hordika and Whenua Hordika that advertised the Cable Crawler, but we've had Cable Crawler instructions since 2005.

 

Does anyone have instructions for the rahkshi Kaita found in a Japanese lego club magazine?

 

No, but people have recreated it themselves. I am not aware of any fan-made instructions either, but a YouTube user names Loosertribe mad a video review of it and shows it off from various angles and in various poses. Here i a Brickshelf gallery with many pictures. BS01 claims that it isn't an official combiner and was merely sent in by a fan, but any discussion on this was lost.

 

Another issue: what about the alternate models pictured on the back of the playset boxes? They never had any instructions made, but they're probably still important enough to include. Plus, some of them don't look too complex to recreate. I also discovered that I still have some playset boxes (Piraka Stronghold, Race for the Mask of Life, and Toa Terrain Crawler, specifically), so I can try and provide better quality images.

 

Rahkshi Kaita: The video's a pretty good source, but I plan on putting together a set of photo instructions for this model in the next couple of weeks, if you're interested.

Playsets:  I thought it would be a good idea to document the alternate models from the playsets, but one of the main issues is the lack of good photos of the backs of boxes, because that's the only place the alternate models for the 2005 and 2006 playsets are shown.  If you could provide some better photos, that'd be a big help.  This isn't as much of an issue for 2007 playsets, because their alternate models are depicted in the backs of their respective manuals, sans instructions, and there are high-quality PDFs of these booklets readily available online.

 

I put together a set of photo instructions for the Japanese Bohrok Combiner, if anyone wants to see:

 

http://biosector01.com/wiki/images/6/6f/Fusion_Bohrok_Instructions_Steps.pdf

 

(I should really update the Google Doc sometime soon...)

 

Good. The existing instructions were some of the vaguest I've ever seen, just like the instructions for Krahka. At least they were in color, though.

 

I finished building the Jala/Huki/Onepu Kaita, so I could make more detailed instructions now.

 

I tried making some instructions for the 2001 Matoran Kaita last week, which are up on the set database on BS01 but haven't been included in the Google Doc yet.  Of course, nothing's stopping you if you want to take a crack at it, too.

Do you, by any chance, own the full set of 2003 Matoran?  I don't, and it'd be nice to have a set of instructions for their combiner.

I put together a set of photo instructions for the Japanese Bohrok Combiner, if anyone wants to see:

http://biosector01.com/wiki/images/6/6f/Fusion_Bohrok_Instructions_Steps.pdf

(I should really update the Google Doc sometime soon...)

Looks like some good work on the contest model front.  I've shifted my efforts over to BS01, now that the set database is starting to come together.  I put up some instructions I made showing a way to convert the main Kabaya Turaga Combiner model into the other two forms.  I also made some basic Matoran Kaita instructions, just for completeness's sake.

Turns out the poll was actually meant to tie in with a stats sheet provided by the latest LEGO Club magazine. So it wasn't necessarily just another popularity contest, although the results likely would have been the same. I wonder if this will change the way the votes go at all...

Judging by the accompanying images, the "Super Toa" combinations are just the standard combo models we've known about for a while now, where the Toa just take the Protectors' equipment, and not models that actually require major disassembly (like the mobile game alt. models).  That's a bit disappointing, because now the odds are looking pretty bad again for seeing more complex combo models between Gali, Lewa, and Pohatu and their corresponding Protectors.

This poll practically confirms that there will be combo models for all six Toa/Protector pairs, not just the three we've seen for the $20 Toa.  I'm excited for that!  I wonder how they'll release the instructions for the rest?  I could see Lego continuing with the one model every two months pattern, going through the summer, too, but it would be a little odd to keep focusing on the winter wave instead of the summer sets. 

Sorry I haven't been around much;  I'v been busy with school, etc., and I've mostly been lurking lately.  As far as media Rahi go, if they can be built, just not in the right colors, I think they're fine to be included with a note.  It'd be way too redundant to list all the Matoran who could be built with color errors, but since most Rahi have varied construction, I think it'd be fine.  I mean, lots of Rahi could come in different colors, anyway.  Even if the Sand Tarakava isn't official, I think it's iconic enough (relatively speaking) to include.  Plus, I've seen the bits of Munty's instructions - they look really nice.

Once it's summer and I'm back home with my sets, I think I'll work more on some of the models that don't yet have instructions.  Until then, I'll keep checking in, but I don't think I'll get too much done concretely on my own.

Oh, and TomRoid, thanks for finding the Kabaya Rahkshi images.  They look nice, and I'll get those in soon.

 

I find it hard to believe that the stated reason for wanting the Vahi (speeding up the relatively quick amnesia process) was Teridax's main reason.

I don't know about main, but "stated" is right -- it's the stated reason, meaning the reason we happen to have been told about. I doubt you make a Legendary Mask of Time and not have later uses in mind too, heh. Then again, not sure if he knew exactly what kind of Mask of Time would be made -- he may have not realized that was a Legendary power. Not sure how he would, actually -- would TK know, and if so, tell Mutran? Seems questionable.

 

Either way, speeding time up would be useful.

 

And more to the point, a few months may have been strategically bad for him, considering competing forces might try to get a foothold in Metru Nui when the Matoran were podded. He probably wanted to wake them up right away.

 

But personally I suspect it was more out of frustration that he had failed to invent a power that would do everything he wanted quickly, and when Makuta wants something, he's not the type to give up on it. So even if he didn't see the Vahi as necessarily important for later goals, he may simply have wanted to create the power (or effect from a combination of powers) that he'd had in mind, and based his plans around. He may have already been well into plans based on the assumption that he'd be able to easily invent a mindwiping power, and it might have been too late to switch to some backup plan when he discovered it wasn't so easy.

 

If he did know what the Vahi would be, it would make sense to just use it for a small goal.

 

Might sound counterintuitive, but that's actually exactly how you should use a power that if overused goes out of control and breaks time. Then, after that one use, he would control it, and since (if this is actually right; it's been called into question recently) there can only be one (or there only will be one since other Great Disks aren't available to the rest of the universe besides Artakha), he's got a lock on it. This means then he prevents anybody else from making one and using it foolishly and breaking time in the universe Makuta wanted to conquer. (Or using it wisely to stop him.)

 

Yeah, I agree that Teridax was motivated by simply wanting to control the Vahi.  Do you think the idea that mindwiping the Ta-Matoran would be a significant roadblock to getting the Vahi holds any water, or do you think that finding other skilled maskmakers wouldn't be too much of an issue?

 

If the story team initially thought that Teridax had only been preparing for a few months or a couple of years, six months is a lot larger percentage of total scheme time, and saving that six months seems a lot more desirable.  Of course, I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes; I'm just throwing out ideas.

Just to emphasize because not sure if clear above, it's actually not as simple as just comparing the span of time that it would shorten to the span of time the whole plan would take. As an analogy for why, if you have a long car trip, and your planned route goes over a bridge that's out, it doesn't matter that the bridge is a short distance compared to the total route, only that it's a long enough distance that your car can't get over.

 

Ok, that was a bit of a fallacy on my part.

 

So, what we should be comparing and analyzing here is how much time (and what factors affect it) is too long for a "clean" memory wipe and indoctrination program to complete?

 

Possibly months waiting doing nothing in spheres would be very problematic to such a scheme, as that's months somebody might steal the pods, for example, or maybe hack your indoctrination technology if he was going to use that (who knows how he would do it for 1000 Matoran though), or at least interfere, providing opportunities to speak and counter the propoganda. If you do it instantly, there's no time for the rest of the MU to do any such thing; they go to sleep one day with a populated Metru Nui as we know it, they wake up the next with a populated Metru Nui being taught Makuta's ways. (And travel times to the island from other islands factors here especially.)

 

At first, I was under the impression that closing the sea gates would sufficiently isolate Metru Nui to prevent such a problem, but on second thought, that probably wouldn't stop factions like the Order of Mata Nui.

P.S. Also, if you don't mind, how do you split a reply-quote into multiple boxes?  Thanks.

Then, unless Teridax waited for a significant amount of time after the events of Time Trap to awaken Akhmou, it only takes a few months for a Matoran Sphere's memory-wipe effect to fully work (a few months to a year was the timeframe for the 2004/2005 story, yes?).  Even if Ahkmou was underwater for years before Teridax found him, the Matoran waking up on Mata Nui also had significant memory loss after just a few months in the spheres.  Since Teridax had been plotting for centuries (having infected Mata Nui with the sleep-inducing virus 300 years prior to the events of 2004, according to BS01's MU timeline), I find it hard to believe that the stated reason for wanting the Vahi (speeding up the relatively quick amnesia process) was Teridax's main reason.  Is it possible that Teridax was afraid that the Vahi might never be forged?  If his plan succeeded, all the great Ta-Matoran mask makers would forget their craft after their memory loss.  I may be stretching a bit too far, but since Metru Nui was arguably the most important city in the MU, I think it's plausible that most of the best mask makers were there.  If they lost their skills and expertise before anyone forged the Vahi,  it might be that nobody left in the MU would have the requisite skill to do so.  To prevent this, Teridax tried to get Vakama to create the Vahi before he set his plan into motion.  Being able to use the Vahi to skip the six months of amnesia time would just be icing on the cake.

Or, from another angle, when researching a bit on BS01, I was reminded that Teridax's personality as a schemer wasn't cemented until Time Trap.  From an out-of-story perspective, it's possible that Teridax's intended use for the Vahi had been stated before the story team fully decided on the scope of Teridax's plan (perhaps even before the idea of the Plan being a centuries-spanning concept was created).  If the story team initially thought that Teridax had only been preparing for a few months or a couple of years, six months is a lot larger percentage of total scheme time, and saving that six months seems a lot more desirable.  Of course, I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes; I'm just throwing out ideas. 

Ok, let me see if I have this straight.  I'm trying to get an overall picture of many of the different aspects of Teridax's plan, so here's a list of plan components and rationales:

Using the Matoran Spheres: Seize control of Metru Nui, wipe memories, be viewed as a hero.

Getting the Vahi: Speed up Matoran-Sphere memory loss time.

Put Mata Nui to sleep: Spite/revenge/jealousy, keep from being spited.

Great Cataclysm: Not planned for/expected.

-Taking over the Core Processor/GSR was a later idea.

-Mata Nui still might've died if the original Metru Nui takeover succeeded, but that did not concern Teridax (if necessary, he could deal with it later if it ever became an issue).

Does this seem mostly accurate?

Also, as another tangent, it only took a few months for the Matoran Sphere to work on Akhmou, and Teridax was able to manipulate him pretty easily.  For how long Teridax had been planning, using the Vahi to save a few months doesn't seem like that it would be that useful.  I know that the Vahi is a powerful artifact that Teridax would love to control, but the stated reason for why he wants it seems pretty weak.

 

I understand that the Cataclysm occurred because Mata Nui fell asleep and crashed.  My question is, why did Teridax want to put Mata Nui to sleep in the first place?

Basically he was jealous, and corrupt enough to act on it.

 

Note I may be mistaken, but I was under the impression that Teridax only came up with the plot to take over the GSR and displace Mata Nui's spirit after he put Mata Nui to sleep

That's right, but the GC is irrellevant to Makuta's plans before that point because he wasn't using it strategically as your first post seemed to be saying. And probably didn't actually know the timing would be just right to cause it like that. The chances would be higher that either Mata Nui would be in space away from planets at the time, or already landed and observing a world.

 

The timing of being back to the Spherus Magna fragments at the time is still interesting. That could just be destiny, since Makuta was destined to take over the giant anyways and that actually needed to happen, though he was supposed to be good and working with Mata Nui, not against him. Or it might suggest his knowledge from Tren Krom might have involved some timing or some limited access to enough systems via some sort of tap-in to figure it out... but I doubt it.

 

The Matoran didn't know that the Great Spirit was a real being controlling the MU robot, so what reason was there for putting the Great Spirit to sleep?  That action doesn't seem to directly help the original spheres-and-Vahi plan.

Think about it. Your enemy controls everything inside your realm, basically. You really gonna move ahead and "go public" that you're evil while he's still awake?

 

It's been stated a few places that Mata Nui usually didn't pay a ton of attention to what was going on inside of the GSR, right?  I was thinking that even though Mata Nui could potentially smite Teridax without a second thought, it wouldn't be very likely.  Of course, if I were Teridax, I probably wouldn't want to leave that up to chance.  (And I guess Mata Nui did do the change-the-stars bit, so he had already had some level of involvement against Teridax, even if Teridax didn't know it.)

Hmm... that brings up another question.  Did Teridax know that the virus would eventually cause Mata Nui to start dying?  If he succeeded in taking over Metru Nui, the Great Spirit's death would be a nasty surprise in 1000 years... or did Mata Nui die mainly because of Metru Nui being empty, not the virus itself?

I may be misquoting, but I thought Teridax had the whole thing planned out, even before the cataclysm.

He put Mata Nui to sleep so that he could slip in his own conciousness in the brief moment after Mata Nui died, but the death effect of the virus took 100 years to kick in. So he wanted the Vahi to accelerate those thousand years, ('Now it will take a lifetime's journey... to achieve both our destinies!' etc) and told the Toa Metru that his plan was to awaken and lead the Matoran as a cover story so they wouldn't figure out his true scheme. Again, this is based on my recollections, and probably has some headcanon mixed in too, but that's what I saw it as.

And as always, BS01 is your friend. 

I think this quote from BS01's page on Mata Nui's Reawakening may help clarify my question:

"Teridax first conceived the idea to overthrow Mata Nui from the Barraki, who had been planning to do so by strategically dominating key points of the universe. Using the knowledge Mutran received from Tren Krom about the secrets of the Matoran Universe, Teridax formulated his plan and used it to take over the Brotherhood of Makuta. He eventually infected Mata Nui with a specialized virus, designed to place the Great Spirit in a coma. Teridax's original plan was to impersonate Dume, and drive the Matoran of Metru Nui to the center of the city with the Morbuzakh. He would then force the Matoran into pods that would erase their memory, allowing him to present himself as their Great Spirit, granting him full control of a key city of the universe.

The arrival of the Toa Metru, who defeated the Morbuzakh, briefly altered the plan and Teridax was further able to get the Matoran of the city imprisoned, under the guise of Dume. At this time, Mata Nui fell asleep due to the virus and the Great Cataclysm took effect all across the Matoran Universe. However, Teridax was defeated by the Toa Metru, who trapped him inside a Protodermis cage. Teridax realized he could widen the scope of his ambition to taking control of the entire universe, by replacing Mata Nui's spirit. "

The emphasis is mine.  According to this passage, Teridax's original plan, before his defeat at the hands of the Toa Metru, only involved seizing control over Metru Nui, not the entire GSR.  Unfortunately, I can't find any citation for the concept that the GSR-takeover plan was developed after the defeat in Metru Nui.  I remember hearing that elsewhere before, but I can't recall specifically where.  Does anyone else know? 

The Great Cataclysm was merely a side effect of his virus attacking the GSR. Mata Nui fell asleep, and the robot crashed into Aqua Magna. I see no way he could have predicted that... you know, beyond the fact that he's Teridax.

I understand that the Cataclysm occurred because Mata Nui fell asleep and crashed.  My question is, why did Teridax want to put Mata Nui to sleep in the first place?  I may be mistaken, but I was under the impression that Teridax only came up with the plot to take over the GSR and displace Mata Nui's spirit after he put Mata Nui to sleep, the Cataclysm occurred, and he lost to the Toa Metru.  Before that, his plan only concerned using the spheres and the Vahi to seize control.  Since he had not yet conceived his universal takeover plan when he infected Mata Nui with the virus, Teridax must have had some other motivation for doing so.  The Matoran didn't know that the Great Spirit was a real being controlling the MU robot, so what reason was there for putting the Great Spirit to sleep?  That action doesn't seem to directly help the original spheres-and-Vahi plan.