maletoaofwater

I'm really enjoying this. I don't have much time these days to log on, but I like to check periodically to see if a new chapter has been posted, and I'm always excited when there's a new one. It feels completely canon, and at this point, i pretty much consider it to be so, so far - I'm glad it's so long! You're only 30 chapters in, and there's over 100?? yes, please. Do you have the chapters already planned/written, or are you composing from scratch each time you post a new chapter? (asking because you already know there's over 100 chapters, per your OP on this thread.)

i agree, just from a cursory reading that looks like a good way to do it. i'd still like to see a mobile game, but alas, i'm not a dev...

i liked this one - i thought the concept of the "glitch" was pretty neat. one thing though - as a toa of lightning, wouldn't she be resistant to the electricity, and not harmed by her own power like that? or at least resistant enough not to kill her...

Yeah, to clarify: attention everyone! Adobe's decision to discontinue support for Flash Player in 2020 will have zero effect on the functionality or playability of any archived Flash content. Such content includes the MNOG, the MNOG2, the Bohrok and Bohrok Kal Animations, the Piraka Animations, and any other Flash-rooted content that was: Created prior to the point of discontinuation in 2020.Or is created using offline tools that allow the .swf files to be stored in a self-contained manner.A number of commercially and freely available software tools are capable of playing .swf files, including Windows Media Player and VLC Media Player. Both are still fully supported by their respective manufacturers, both of whom have not announced any plans to cease to do so. I'd be psyched to be a part of a project to restore, reset, and possibly remake the MNOG and similar Flash-rooted files, particularly the ones that have suffered over the years. That said, the discontinuation of support for Adobe Flash will not directly lead to any need to do so in any way. -Azani could you go into more technical detail on this please? (and sources, if you have them! ) my understanding was that flash was going to be totally shut down - and if you don't want to/can't download the games, then they'd still be playing in the web browser, which wouldn't that mean that they wouldn't work? anyway: what about making some of these games into an open-sourced android/iOS game? i have no idea how we could convert to touch-based controls(technically speaking), but i think they'd translate pretty well to the game's physics/controls and stuff. i can imagine mnog now on my phone: as i touch one side of the screen, it moves that way, and with mnog2 you can just tap to click where you want to go, per the original. or, with mnog, you could even get the gyroscope involved: as you tilt the phone/tablet one way, the game moves that way (instead of moving your mouse to a side of the screen as you did in the original desktop, you'd just tilt your device.) i remember there was an effort on this a while ago, but it didn't get very far because people didn't get very involved and it petered out quickly. that said, i think someone managed to get a watered down version of it running, if not playable, on their android device, and that was years ago. android (and iOS) has evolved so much since then, i think it'd be interesting to take another look at doing this. (it would also be great b/c it shouldn't require any data usage, so you could play it offline. long commute/airplane rides, anyone?) since it's technically IP of a company, you probably couldn't publish it on the play/app stores, but at least for android that shouldn't be a problem, as the game's installation file can always be sideloaded - but it should still be open source, so that it can be vetted for security and stuff that the play store would normally do. that turned out to be much longer of a post than i intended...

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but i figured that the people who contribute here would probably be best suited to this. If this is in the wrong place or i'm wrong about that, let me know. Anyway... As you all may have (or may have not, i guess) heard, Adobe is killing flash. It's a good thing, since it has tons of security problems, and if i recall correctly, it is being replaced by HTML5, a better, more secure, and more capable alternative. It will slowly be phased out, to give developers time to port their projects over, until finally in 2020, it won't work on anything anywhere anymore. The only problem with that is that loads of original BIONICLE media runs on flash, and isn't something that's going to be updated like a modern website will be. The original MNOG, MNOG 2, the piraka animations, the bohrok animations, etc... they all run on flash, and will be inaccessible if we don't find a solution. We need to find a way, before flash dies, to convert these important parts of bionicle to something that can be run and used the same way as they can now, without resorting to (excessively) hacky methods and the use of non-updated software. We want to keep the bionicle media alive, without keeping the security flaws of flash alive as well. I don't really have a good closing for this, but maybe that's a metaphor of what will happen if we don't find a solution. Anyone have any ideas?

Author's note: composing this on a mobile device apparently does not allow formatting, so I may edit this work after publishing it. It's a quick-and-dirty (not like that - this is game of thrones after all) story I thought up after watching game of thrones, not meant to be part of a larger work or anything. You don't have to worry about spoilers either - I'm just imagining what a game of thrones plot line would look like in a Bionicle context. Enjoy! Toa Tahu had been alive for a very long time. 100,000 years, more or less. When you're that old, a few centuries here or there don't matter anymore. He'd been asleep for most of it though, thanks to the fact that he was destined to save the great spirit if something happened to him. After almost two years of wakefulness inside the robot that turned out to actually be the great spirit, he had lived on spherus magna for many more, and it had been a relatively peacefully life - until the Others came from the north. Today, as he fell from the sky toward the army of the dead marching below, he wondered if his life was going to come to an end. A number of years ago, an expeditionary force of ko-matoran and ice agori had gone north, to find out what lay at that geographical extreme. It was rumored that that is where the great beings had gone, among other rumors that swirled among the denizens of the new metru nui. They didn't find anything - or so everyone thought. A couple months after they left, horrible beings descended upon the new society from the north, bringing cold and death with them. They seemed to have ice powers, and beyond that ability to control snow and other forms of frozen water, they had the ability to destroy heat it seemed as well - that was not a standard part of elemental ice powers. More than that, it seemed they also had the powers of the kanohi tryna - for along with them, they brought an army of the dead, and they added to that army all who fell before them. Eventually, it was discovered that the dead were vulnerable to fire, although the strange Others - dubbed "white walkers" by Turaga Matau - seemed to require extremely high temperatures to be felled, as they were more resistant to the heat, likely through their destruction of it. They could be felled, however, by a particular type of stone that had formed from cooling magma, and this was used by onu- and po-toa to help drive them back. After being driven back North to a certain point, a great wall was made, and charged with the elements to repel any of their attacks, and the matoran and agori were allowed to rebuild their city for a time. The wall became known to the matoran as the new great barrier, thanks to another astute observation by turaga matau, but they knew in their hearts that they couldn't ignore the white walkers forever. What few were aware of, however, was that there had been a captive taken during the war. While those creatures were extremely durable, they could still be held captive, and interrogated. What was discovered was that, no, they hadn't harmed the ko-matoran expeditionary force sent north years earlier, they were the expeditionary force. They had found a small pool of energized protodermis in the north, and a kanohi tryna hovering above it. In their efforts to investigate, they had fallen in, and been transformed, not into toa or glatorian, but a horrible homogeneous mix of the two with powers and abilities that were yet unseen, and a burning hatred for all. The mask had also fallen in, and that, apparently, is where their ability to raise an army of the dead came from - and nothing with any of this had to do with the red star, who's inhabitants had been brought back to live properly, and who had since lived under suspicion when the White Walkers came. On one cold late-autumn day a few years later, the guard force on the great barrier reported a massive army - larger than anyone had ever seen - marching towards the wall. Surely, all the toa and glatorian in all of their great cities could not withstand such a fight. A painstaking decision lay before the toa. With knowledge from Gali and the other two nuva, they knew what a Nova blast could do. With that power, they might be able to save their people. After much debate and deliberation, with the turaga, glatorian, matoran, agori, and amongst themselves, a battle plan was decided upon. That was why Tahu was currently plunging to his doom. As he fell, he remembered a final rehearsal of the plan before taking off. It was absurdly simple, yet still horrible. Tahu, as the only toa with enough other powers - from his use of the golden armor - to fight after using up his elemental power, and as a fire toa, was chosen to be the one to go. Lewa, as his brother in arms, volunteered to fly him over the army of the dead. From there, tahu was to fall towards the army, and unleash a Nova blast of fire, effectively becoming a bomb over them. The flames would wipe out a good portion of the army, and it would take time for the rest to reach him. Botar was waiting on the wall - he would teleport to the toa and bring him back - but in the event that he was too late, tahu had other powers he could use to fight the walkers before he could be extracted. Tahu fell, and he charged his blast. He wanted to wait as long as possible before releasing it, to allow lewa to get away, although he prayed he was high enough up that it wouldn't matter. Closer... Closer... The dead looked up and saw the glowing fireball descending upon them. From how many there were, tahu guessed they had raised an army of everyone who had ever lived and died. Less than a second before he would have hit the ground, and falling at a considerable speed, and still about a hundred feet in the air, tahu unleashed his power. It was as great and terrible as Gali had told him it would be. His fall rapidly slowed as the concussive force from the explosion pushed on him. He felt the power flowing from him, and it seemed to never end. A compression wave of hot flames rushed over the dead, far and wide, and they were cremated instantly, allowed to finally rest in peace, freed from the enthrallment of the white walkers. Tahu barely saw the ground rushing up through the flames, and he fell into the crater and hit the ground hard, and lay still. Botar saw the mushroom cloud rise, and covered his audio receptors, and braced himself. A second later, a shockwave greeted him and the toa standing with him on the top of the wall's highest tower. After the light died down, and only smoke and ash were billowing in the sky, he vanished into thin air. Tiny fires smoldered for kilos around. At the center of it all, a red toa lay in the bottom of a crater, unconscious. Botar appeared next to him, scooped him up, and vanished again, as he heard the characteristic sound of animated corpses screaming as they ran towards him. Tahu slowly opened his eyes. He was laying on something soft, somewhere dark and quiet. Everything hurt. He sat up quickly, and fumbled for his sword, thinking the battle wasn't over. Lewa and Gali stood over him, and the rest of his teammates were in the room as well. Lewa clanged his fist, meeting his questioning gaze as he realized what was going on. "We did it brother," he said. "It's over. It's finally over."

Love 'em or hate 'em, thanks to the kanohi Olmak, Bionicle is full of them. On my BS01 userpage I made a list of a bunch of them that probably exist, given the fact that there are literally an infinite number of alternate realities that could exist in the canon. I thought it'd be a fun writing prompt to post here (if i've posted this in the wrong place, please let me know!) and see what everyone comes up with: pick one of the alternate realities from the link above (or make your own!) and write a little short story based on it. (make sure to say what's different from the main canon reality before your story starts!) Make a new topic so people can comment on your story per usual, and reply to this with the link so everyone here can see it! Have fun!

this is awesome - more original bionicle content available online is great. nice work! how did you talk to BMP to get them to post this? i thought their message boards were defunct.

mata nui, this is great! you don't by chance have "BIONICLE: World" do you? that's the only book i haven't been able to read yet, and i would love to read it.

anything ever come of those scans?

Have you guys heard of an app called candid? apparently there's a bionicle group on there - but it doesn't look like there's much activity/people on it. i think it'd be cool if more people from here joined the group. it's basically an anonymous twitter for whatever group topic you join.

guys look what i found: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lfcjizo0yeykac7/Makuta%27s%20Guide%20to%20the%20Universe.pdf?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/2kvf0d6lhqg71rl/Bionicle%20Encyclopedia%20-%20Updated.pdf?dl=0 that's two reference books at least... i was looking for them before through the bionicle world search terms, but as soon as i looked for the makuta guide, i managed to find that. they came from a reddit link that i cannot seem to find again, so credit to whoever posted them

That would be fantastic if you could!

A while ago, someone posted scans of all the bionicle novels on tumblr, and it allowed tons of fans to catch up on something we might have missed, even though the original copies were no longer available. i have no idea if i'm asking in the right place, but does anyone know of a way to read some of the guides, like makuta's guide to the bionicle universe, and the encyclopedias, online? i never got to see them, and i can't seem to find them anywhere - even like a kindle download off amazon or something. thanks in advance!

I posted this to the LMBs, but since they're going to be shut down, I figured I'd post it on BZP too. Feel free to post your own thanks if you want. Greg, Since this might very well be the last chance I get to post something that you'll see, I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for your work on the BIONICLE universe over the years, and your continued activity among the fans that are still paying attention, even though most of us have become adults now. Lego's Bionicle franchise more or less defined my childhood for me. I received a toa set for Christmas in 2001, and after going to the website listed on the canister with my parents and reading the epic story about the characters, I was hooked - for life, apparently. To this day, I still believe the story that the Bionicle team put together over the years is one of the best ever told - and you were a huge part of that. Many stories these days are recycled versions of other stories, yet the Bionicle team managed to put together something that was original, intriguing, creative, and long lasting. Bionicle truly was one of a kind, and I don't think anything will be able to replace it for a long time to come. Bionicle certainly had some flaws - the rumors online that some Lego employees thought the theme was too violent (or my personal pet peeve: too many elements - ice and water are the same thing! haha) show that. But the fact that we held, and apparently still hold, the theme to such a high standard is a testament to how great it truly was, even with its flaws. (And furthermore, it couldn't have ever been the toy that saved Lego if it wasn't what it was, "excessive violence" and all!) There were many people who worked on Bionicle and made it great, and myself and the other fans are grateful for all. But only you, Greg, interact(ed) with the fans on the level that you do/did, so for that, thank you. It's been said before, but I'll say it again: whatever you do in the future, know that you've already made something fantastic for so many kids who opened their first toa canister under the Christmas tree and found a legend inside. With Gratitude and Nostalgia, A.

I really like the way you depicted the memory loss - headcanon accepted here too haha.

Author's note: here's the rest of it... I think. Most of the rest of it, anyway. It's not quite what I originally had, but close enough. *** The kestora standing above the ko-matoran, and the ga-matoran he'd arrived with, worked quickly. Matoran universe people's souls, for some reason, don't leave their bodies as soon as they're dead. Maybe it has to do with the kanohi for some - it's established that a kanohi maintains a link to its wearer's soul after they've died for a short while - but the soul eventually leaves the body, to wherever body-less spirits go, so the kestora had to work quickly. The ga-matoran wasn't as damaged as the ko-matoran, so it was decided that the same body could be used for that one. Aside from a few twisted joints, he'd need the hole in his head repaired, and a new kanohi, but nothing more. He was shipped off to the revival surgery unit. The ko-matoran, however, was badly damaged from his fall. All his armor was cracked, and the back of his skull casing and all the armor on his back was totally shattered. His organic components were riddled with internal bleeding as well, totally damaging his body. A new body would have to be made, and so he was shipped off to the cloning machine. "The cloning machine" is really a misnomer. A clone is a mere copy of something, but it has its own identity and own soul. What the machine that dominated the room the kestora were now working in did however, was transfer the soul of the dead into a newly created body, effectively making the new a continuation of the old. As the ko-matoran was put in the machine, it first extracted his spirit, like a certain kanohi iden does. Then it began scanning the body, and growing and building a new one. When the process was finally complete, the soul was allowed to inhabit the body, and the ko-matoran was put on a bed, and wheeled towards the return teleporter. His old body was automatically moved deeper into the machine, to be broken down and used for future regenerations of other beings. In a room not far away, the ga-matoran's revival surgery was taking much longer than expected. While the joint repair had been quick, and a new kanohi had been crafted easily enough, the head wound had damaged a critical connection in his organic brain. More than once the kestora had considering scrapping the procedure and using the cloning machine, but they pushed forward and eventually it turned out alright in the end. The ga-matoran was taken from the surgical table and placed on a bed, then wheeled after the ko-matoran to the return teleporter. *** Far away, in a land to the south, there was a small island with a mountain. The mountain was capped with snow, and fur trees grew among the virgin snow. As the moonlight shown down one night, a soft, short ripple in space appeared behind one of the trees and deposited a ko-matoran down in the snow. After a few moments, his eyes slowly came to life, and he sat up, taking in his surroundings. He tried to remember... He wasn't sure what it was he couldn't remember. He was certain of his name, and he had what felt like a half remembered dream of bright lights and pain. He thought he remembered a large city with lots of fighting, but that clearly wasn't right. He stood up, and noticed the lights shining in a village at the base of the mountain. Brushing the snow off himself, he started down the mountain towards the village. *** Far away, in a land to the south, there was a short beach. The beach was surrounded by tall dark rocks and the sand was a dark brown. In the dark night, the water glowed blue occasionally with the bioluminescence of microscopic rahi. Beyond the sands was a plain of grass that stretched to the base of a tall snowcapped mountain. At the base of the mountain the lights of a small village could be seen. A blue matoran lay prone in the surf, looking as though the tide had brought him in, but in reality be had been teleported. When the next wave met his face, he awoke with a start, and quickly coughed up some seawater. Crawling on his hands and knees, he moved towards the drier warmer sand. He sat looking out at the water trying to remember how he'd gotten there. He'd lived in metru nui... And there was a lot of fighting. There had been a mission... then I died! he realized. Killed by an unseen sniper. Was he still dead, then? Was this the afterlife? Almost as if in answer, a small crab or snail like rahi crawled up and closed its metallic pincers on his foot, causing him to cry out in pain. He hoped an afterlife wouldn't have pain in it so soon. He was standing now, and looked to the lights of the village behind him, and began walking to what he hoped would be somewhere he could sleep. *** A few weeks later, a small village compromised mostly of bo-matoran was going about its normal business. Those who didn't have blue/green armor stood out from the grassy backgrounds more than those who did, and so perhaps that is why an onlooker's attention might have been drawn to the white armor of a ko-matoran carrying some goods to market. He was walking along the narrow path, and tripped over a stone in his way, spilling his cart all over. The noise distracted a nearby ga-matoran , whose distraction cost him the accidental destruction of the project he'd been working on. They both looked up, and met eyes. For a moment, there was a glimmer of recognition, but in the next, they both dismissed it - thinking it was probably because they were simply among the few different matoran here. The ga-matoran offered his help to the ko-matoran, who gladly accepted, and before long, the mess had been cleaned up nicely. They continued to talk after a brief introduction, and soon began to enjoy each other's company. In another life they wouldn't remember for a while, they had been enemies, but now after a rebirth of sorts, they were starting over, as friends.

Author's note: just a quick something i thought up and wanted to write. i figured the red star must have been functional at this point, right? what would that have been like, since i'm sure it was being used a lot... I got logged out while typing this, so was only able to post this much. I'll either finish it later, or add it as another post. Currently having problems while editing on mobile, so that's fun too. Anyway... Here's what I managed to save. Is there a way to save draft posts manually? For a while now, the city of Metru Nui had been at war. It had started as something petty between po-matoran and ta-matoran, but the other districts eventually got drawn into the conflict, and the fighting started to get more serious. today, that's why there was a ko-matoran sitting at the top of a knowledge tower in a sniper's nest with some new kind of launcher the city's matoran had recently been employing to great lethal effect, rumored to have been built on Xia. there was a small scope on top of a long cylinder, with a trigger mechanism at one end. when the trigger was pulled, a small explosive charge launched a tiny metal fragment out of the other end of the cylinder at a very high speed. The ko-matoran willed the mechanical lens in his akaku to activate, sliding down in place over the right eyehole in his mask. it softly wirred as he inspected the landscape. if his intel was correct, the canal below him was about to allow a small squad of ga-matoran to sneak into the metru, and break into the knowledge tower he was in to steal or destroy some rather valuable documents detailing plans on ko-matoran war strategy. as the sniper on his team, it was his job to take them out as they arrived in the canal, before they could do anything to the researchers in the tower on the floors below him. nobody thought they'd be dumb enough to openly row in on a boat, but just as a precaution, all shipments to the area had been put on hold for the day. Snow began to gently drift down from the grey skies above. the ko-matoran still sat in wait, peering out the open window. every once in a while, he'd check his weaponry, making sure everything was ready, even though he knew it was. a couple times, he almost reached for his radio to ask their leader if they were sure this was the tower the ga-matoran were after, but realized the noise could give away his position to anyone who might be watching - a relatively new tool, the radio he was using was not refined, and made a loud cackle whenever someone on the other end started talking, so it would have to stay off for now. As the appointed time limit came and went, every ripple in the water made the ko-matoran jump. the gentle breeze moving between the towers made far more ripples than he could pay attention to, but some were larger than others, and drew his attention quickly, and increased his heart rate, which, he noted, was not good for someone who needed to be a good shot. There. That last one wasn't just a wind-created ripple, he was sure of it this time. once more employing the lens on his akaku, he zoomed in, and saw that, indeed, a small and discreet periscope had just surfaced in the canal, peering left, then right. with his heart pounding, he willed his mask's lens to move out of the way, and instead lined up his eye with the scope on his weapon. a blue mask came out of the water, and the matoran wearing it followed. as the ga-matoran silently climbed out of the canal, three others surfaced and followed. at the top of the tower, the ko-matoran made a mental note that their latest source of intel on ga-metru was one for one so far. still watching through his weapon's scope, he slipped his first finger over the safety switch, and disabled it. the ga-matoran who had climbed out of the canal first turned away from his teammates and began moving towards the tower, signaling for the others to follow. the ko-matoran had a perfect shot, but once one was down, the others would be harder to hit, and he'd likely be compromised. he exhaled all of his breath. it was a risk he'd have to take, since there wasn't anyone else on this mission with him today. maybe we ice matoran should reconsider working alone, he thought. his finger began to squeeze the trigger... moments earlier... A ga-matoran and her three ga-matoran teammates swam through the icy canals of ko-metru. over their kanohi masks, they had a breathing apparatus that would allow them to stay under water without surfacing for air. besides that, they did not have much else with them, for they were on a stealth mission - they aimed to steal valuable information on enemy positions, and more gear would just be noisy and slow them down, particularly in the typically quiet district of ko-metru. when they reached the designated spot, their leader swam towards the surface of the canal, and pulled out a periscope to scout the area. the ga-matoran watched his head breach the surface, and then his signal for the rest to follow. the ga-matoran waited for her turn as the second of her team swam her way to the surface and climbed out, then she followed. as her head breached the surface, she felt the frigid air blow across her mask's eye and mouth holes, and the back of her head, chilling her. she climbed out of the canal, and turned to help her last teammate, who slipped a little as he climbed out. their leader nodded to them, turned and motioned for them to follow him to the knowledge tower he was pointing at. CRACK. The loud report of the rifle echoed a thousand times through the icy ko-metru air. up above, the ko-matoran took a breath, and reached to chamber another round in his weapon before realigning his eye with the scope. on the ground, it seemed like the next half second took an hour, and the following seconds ages. the ga-matoran saw her leader stiffen and jump backwards, then twist and collapse, supine on the ground before his team. the first thing they noticed was that his eyes and heartlight were dark. then their attention was drawn to the spiderweb of cracks on his mask, all drawing their origin back to a large hole where he'd been hit. blood began to seep from behind the mask and the back of his head, staining the many snowflakes that had begun to accumulate on the street. his second-in-command gestured sharply for the team to retreat, and they obeyed without questioning her order, although the ga-matoran couldn't help but steal a look back at their fallen leader. her teammate that she had helped out of the canal dove back in, quickly resurfaced, and raised a smaller projectile weapon, aiming where he thought the attack had come from, covering for his two remaining teammates. High in the tower, the ko-matoran took aim at the woman who was obviously the first man's lieutenant, and fired again. his first shot had been a bull's eye, but with his targets now on the move, his second shot missed, and barely clipped the arm of the other woman on the team. the last ga-matoran still standing, a man who had been carrying most of their minimal gear, was already back in the canal, and was returning fire, giving time for the lieutenant to go back for their fallen commander. as the matoran in the canal fired wildly, the ko-matoran was forced to pull back for a moment as a stray shot came too close for comfort, even though it was obvious his opponent had no idea where he was. Two of the ga-matoran were now back in the canal, and the last was on her way. the ko-matoran fired again, forcing her to drop the fallen first matoran as the ko-matoran missed and hit her hand. the ga-matoran tripped, and fell into the water. the ko-matoran leaned out the window just a little more to get a better shot - this was his last chance to hit another one of them before they got away, he was sure of it. his shoulder brushed up against something, but he payed no attention to it - he had to make this shot! unfortunately, that something started to fall out the window, and too late, he realized het'd made a fatal error - his radio! if that fell, then his position would be compromised, and beyond that, anyone who took the fallen item might be able to spy on ko-matoran communications. he took his hand off the barrel of his weapon to swipe at the falling object, and... He caught it. just barely. inching himself back to safety inside the tower, he held the radio in one hand, and his weapon in his other. however, with only one hand to support the weapon, it was too heavy, and began to sag forward, and the stand he had it propped up on to steady it popped out from underneath it. the sudden motion pulled him forward, and with both hands full, he desperately grabbed at the window sill to no avail. he slipped from his perch, and watched the ground suddenly rush closer, with the wind whistling in his ears. *** The body of the slain ga-matoran laid alone on the ground in streets of ko-metru. the snow was falling harder now, and the other three still living matoran had fled, under attack with no obvious source, and unable to defend themselves. were it not for the body and bloodstains, the scene would be peaceful, beautiful. as if to remind an onlooker that this scene was not in face peaceful nor beautiful, a second matoran, this one of ice, suddenly came falling from the sky and crashed to his death on the pavement next to the first matoran. his armor was cracked all over, and his blue eyes and heartlight flickered briefly for a second before going dark. his hands slackened, and the rifle and radio he was holding softly clattered as they laid on the pavement. *** the ko-matoran woke up, or at least he was pretty sure he did. there were bright lights, bright enough to make it hard to see. he was laying on a slab, and someone or something, maybe many someones or somethings, were poking, pulling, and prodding at him. before he could figure out much more of what was going on around him, he fell painfully back asleep.

The Prologue is up!

Author's note: i should have mentioned this in the OP's background info section, but a memory crystal works just like a pensive from Harry Potter. You hold it to you head like a wand to extract memories, and that draws them out into the crystal, and then that is the receptacle for your memories instead of a basin/sink-like object. You look into the crystal the same way you'd look into a pensive, and it's pretty much the same from there. PROLOGUE At the end of a long day in the field, Naho walked along the narrow path to her makeshift house, somewhere on the Northern Continent, shedding her lab coat as she walked. She had been living here for almost a year, doing work for a laboratory company in Metru Nui on their Matoran Genome Project. Her brother had originally been chosen to lead the research team south, but a little while after leaving, his data shipments stopped coming. Eventually a letter followed, explaining that he had become a toa, of all excuses. Naho had already known this, of course, since he'd sent her an encoded message explaining as much, but she hadn't expected to be chosen so quickly to replace him. As she rounded the corner and approached her house, a small makeshift hut that could be assembled and disassembled easily, she noticed her mailbox, attached to the hut beside the door, had a small parcel in it, which she grabbed. It was a small plastic canister. She fumbled with her keys, unlocked her door, and stepped through the doorway. Inside, she hung her labcoat on the wall, then moved to a small table in the kitchen area, where she set down her mail. She looked out the window at the rolling, grassy hill beyond that led to the beach, then turned her attention back to the small canister. Sitting down, she twisted the lid off, and peeked inside: it was a collection of several parts of what she guessed would become a LEGO action figure. These figurines were an uncommon, but usually effective, method of private, secure communication, used for short messages. The plastic or metal parts fit together to form a crude likeness of the exoskeleton of either the sender or receiver, and somehow, a message was to be derived from it. Unfortunately, that was how they were so effective at being private: the message was often difficult to decode. As she fit the pieces together, Naho recalled the first time she had received a package like this. It had been her brother's way of telling her he had become a toa before telling their boss at their lab: in that canister, there were two figures, one of her brother as a matoran, and another of his new toa form, with a simple note scratched on a piece of paper: "this job has changed me a bit." It didn't take Naho long to finish assembling the figure. She wasn't surprised that it depicted her brother, since he was one of the only people she knew who used this method to send messages, but there was no note, or anything else she could see, that hinted at the meaning of the message. I better figure this out soon, she thought to herself, I have to meet the others in an hour to go fishing for dinner. After trying all sorts of poses, and examining each of the parts, she noticed something funny: the last figure she had gotten from him had a Kanohi Hau on its face, like he wore as a matoran, while this one had a Kanohi Faxon. He wouldn't go to this trouble just to tell me he got a new mask... She pulled it off the figure's plastic face, and examined it more closely. Then she saw it: etched on the inside of the tiny mask, near the forehead, was the message she'd been looking for: "C U soon. Shh!" So he's paying me a visit after all this time... and apparently doesn't want anyone else to know about it! Nearly a week later, the plastic figurine stood on Naho's bedside table, and she had nearly forgotten about it - who knew when her brother would show up? Today's routine was, for now, pretty much exactly as any other. Get up, meet with her neighbors, and walk to work, then walk back at the end of the day. It was boring after doing it for so long, but she knew it was important work. As she rounded the corner on the path to her house from work however, she noticed something different. In front of her house, there was a large statue sitting on her porch. Passing by the other houses in the row, she came up and examined it more closely. It was of a toa, sitting in a meditative pose. So bewildered was she, she never heard her neighbor's door open. The male ko-matoran stepped out, and greeted her with a friendly "Hello!" while reaching for his own mail, scaring Naho slightly. Ko-matoran usually aren't so unnecessarily social, but this one was apparently interested in information from her. "That's quite a delivery you've got there!" he noted, pointing. "No kidding! Did you see who delivered it?" Naho asked, stepping off her porch to talk. The ko-matoran shook his head. "No, I've just gotten home a little while ago myself," he said. "Although I wish I could have seen that thing brought in! I can't imagine the regular postman hauled that himself!" They finished their small talk, and the ko-matoran went back inside without saying goodbye. Naho turned her attention back to the statue. What in Mata Nui's name am I going to do with this?? she wondered. Almost as if in answer, the small flat tray the statue was sitting on filled with water, spilled over the sides, and froze solid, making it much slipperier and thus easier to move. Naho then realized something important: this statue looked just like how she imagined her brother would, if his Lego shipments were anything to go by. Again, almost as if in answer, the "statue's" eyes turned from stone to a glowing blue, and its head turned to stare Naho in the face. Grinning at the sheer irony, or brilliance, of it, Naho grabbed the rope on the statue's tray and dragged it inside. When it was fully over the threshold, and Naho had closed the door, the statue stood up, and its stony texture changed rapidly to the smooth metallic exoskeleton of a Toa of Water. He was notably shorter than most other toa, and he wore a Kanohi Faxon, with two bladed oars strapped to his back in an "X" harness, and a small backpack clutched in his hands. "It's so good to see you again, sis," the toa said, grabbing Naho in an embrace. She returned the hug, "You too! How have you been? Are you okay? What have you been up to?" "Unfortunately I don't have much time, but I did bring an answer to some of your questions," the toa smiled, and reached into his pack. "Also, I've been going by the nickname Mister... don't ask, it wasn't my idea," he added. "You've got to be kidding me," she teased. "Nope," he affirmed, and emerged from his pack holding a large-ish crystal, about the size of a matoran forearm, that glowed a faint blue. "That was a neat trick becoming a statue, how'd you pull that one off, "Mister"?" Naho asked. "Kanohi Faxon," he said, pointing at his mask. "Let's me imitate Rahi powers. You ever hear of a Visorak Roporak?" "No..." "Be glad. Nasty little f*ck*rs, but they have the ability to camouflage themselves pretty well, so that's worked out nicely a few times for me. Here, take this," he said, pushing the crystal into her hands. "Is this a... memory crystal??" Naho looked at him with surprise. "Yes. It's mine, but I think it got cracked a little when I shipped myself to you. The memories might be a little bit out of order." "But why..." Naho shifted her head to look at him slightly sideways. "There's more: it's a toa stone too. You have to become a toa, Naho. I don't have time to explain, but I'm going to Metru Nui. That crystal will show you a couple of the things I've done, and while you're watching it, the toa power inside will turn you into one." Naho staggered back and leaned on the wall. The crystal suddenly felt much heavier now. "But... wha... I need a minute to process all this. How do I even use this? I've never used a memory crystal before." "You stick it on your mask, and just... look into it? I guess that would be the best way to describe it. I wish I had more time with you right now, I've missed you so much. I've got to go though. You also can't work for Lab Corp anymore - meet me in Metru Nui as soon as you can. Nothing else matters anymore. We'll rendezvous at the Coliseum." He grabbed her in a final embrace. "I'll see you soon - bye, and love you. I'm so glad you got my message." "Love ya..." she weakly echoed. And just like that, he was gone. He pulled a hooded cloak from his bag, and his mask glowed slightly, and he shimmered from thin air, just like a Fader Bull. That wasn't exactly the kind of visit she had been expecting. She wished she had more time to talk to him, but then again, what did she expect? She knew from his Lego message that it was to be a discreet visit, so why didn't she expect something like this? So stunned was she by the sudden turn of events, that Naho went and sat at her table staring at the crystal he had given her for a long time, thinking about what this meant for her future, and what she'd say to her co-workers in their makeshift neighborhood. The blue glow of the crystal shimmered and swirled back and forth inside, and as she turned it over and over in her hands she felt a tiny crack along one of the tapered, chamfered ends. Finally, she took a long, deep breath, and turned the clear flat side to face her. As she raised it to the eyeholes of her blue kakama, she could almost hear the whooshing sound of the blue glow getting louder and more anxious, which she now realized were memories, getting louder and brighter as they swirled inside. She peered through the little window into the blue fog, and with a small "clink", the crystal attached to her mask, and the outside world, if anyone had been watching, no longer could see the bright glow coming from the crystal's little viewing window. She felt as though she was still moving forward into the glowing blue fog more and more, and then she felt like she was falling, although she knew her body was still sitting in her hut. Soon, the glow began to subside, and a scene came into view before her........ to be continued in Chapter 1

I just made an edit to the OP for the story thread, adding the characters' tools. from now on though, i'll try to make edits in a separate post so you don't have to sift through what you've already read to try and find the difference.

I've created this thread for discussion on my draft epic, Journey for Two Aaaaaaand here's the link for the actual story http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/23518-journey-for-two/

Note for anyone reading this: is there a place to save drafts on here? I don't want it stored on my local drive. Also, how do I see all the posts i've made? it's been a while since i've logged on haha. Introduction Yes, the title may have been inspired by a certain Netflix series, but this is a G1 epic. The setting is simply the Matoran Universe - not during a particular time or anything. Perhaps it's not even in the main universe, who knows - it's meant to be somewhat non specific. There are several differences from the established canon though, that I thought I'd document here in order to make the story less confusing: 1. There are much fewer elements: ice/water, fire/plasma, stone/earth, light/shadow etc. are the same element. Any differences between the matoran tribes is strictly cultural. Light/shadow are basically two sides of the same coin, although I don't think we'll really see that come up in the story at all, considering right now I don't have plans to include a toa of light. Iron and lightning are still elements, "the green" is referred to as Wood. Gravity, magnetism, sonics, and psionics are not elements. 2. MU anatomy is a little more fleshed out (no pun intended) here than in official canon, although I don't think it contradicts too much. Matoran Universe Inhabitants (MUIs) basically have organic organs and such, and a metallic, clockwork-mechanical exoskeleton. 3. Clothing is worn more often in this version than in official canon as well, mostly for the same reasons that it is in the real world. 4. Genetic material used to create new matoran comes from existing matoran/toa, (just like in the real world... well, not just like IRL...) so it is possible to have actual siblings - a little nod to the fact that in official canon, many characters refer to each other as brother or sister. 5. All gender/element correlations from official canon are out the window. forget about them. they don't exist. all elements have both males and females. 6. Memory crystals are the bionicle universe's version of pensives from harry potter. see author's note before the prologue. I may add to this list periodically as I think of stuff, but there's nothing too drastic to be changed. One other note: since it fits with the story, and I'm horrible at coming up with character names, pretty much all my characters will simply have nicknames. I'm going to try to have the characters use these as little as possible, given how cringeworthy they all are. This story is also probably going to be told out of order, similar to ABC's Once Upon A Time, if anyone is familiar with that. Characters Mister - wow, that's a bad pun if I've ever seen one. truly sorry for this one. (Mist? like water?) A male Ga-matoran scientist from metru nui who works for a laboratory. While traveling for work, he became a toa. Main character. Mata feet, inika legs/arms, faxon. carries a pair of bladed oars that can be used separately or attached together to form a staff. Frosty - oh jeez, can these get any worse? (yup!) A female Ko-matoran from metru nui, she also works for a laboratory, and goes on the same work trip as Mister, where they both become toa. main character. mata feet, inika legs/arms, kaukau. carries an elongated shield and a weaponized ice-pick. shield can be used as a sled. Rusty - I told you these would be bad... He's a Fe-toa from an unspecified island. he knows mister from the past when they were both matoran; i think he was his contact for work on another island. main character. Miru. carries two projectile launchers (they're totally handguns) and almost always has an ammo belt or two. (he's a total Rambo bada**.) Volts - sorrynotsorryanymore. a female vo-toa from... somewhere. she's with rusty. main character. undecided mask, probably a rau. carries an electrified pike, or, ahem, a lightning rod, if you will. Naho - omn (oh mata nui) a "normal" name! This is basically Naho from canon, sort of. she's a ga-matoran from metru nui, and is mister's twin sister. after the lab they both worked for found out that mister became a toa, and thus didn't work for them abroad anymore, she was sent to take his place and finish his work. Kakama. Table of Contents - subject to change. Prologue. Naho receives a gift from an unexpected guest. Chapter 1 Mister and Frosty sail towards their mission. Chapter 2 Mister gets a mission Chapter 3 Mister and Frosty meet an old friend. Chapter 4 The foursome work on their mission Chapter 5 Something goes wrong Chapter 6 Whodunnit? That's all I have time for now, this will be updated periodically. Please post in the review thread to talk about this. Does any of this make any sense? is anyone actually looking forward to reading this? here's the review topic link: http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/23517-journey-for-two-review-topic/

We know that Jaller died outside the matoran universe, and so he wasn't teleported to the red star. as for what happened to his body, i think that's just the "Mask of Light" being a kids' movie and not showing that. As for what takutanuva did, we know he imbued the mask with some of his own life force, and jaller was revived because his kanohi still held an imprint of his soul on it. other than that, and the fact that the red star wasn't involved here, i don't think we can say much more about what happened there.

MU inhabitants definitely have real hands... the fact that the tahu and takanuva stars sets do are indicators of that. it would appear that the "movie versions" of the characters are most accurate, with the exception of TLR. if the sets were accurate, then they couldn't be biomechanical.