RahiSpeak

The diameter of the earth is 41,807,040 feet.

Boy, sure wish I had been following this topic more closely before it became so large; that's a lot of reading-material. Anyway, I am uncertain why there is still a debate about the size of Mata Nui. As miraculous and lucky as it is, a 600 mile-high head fits on a forty-million foot body with the proportions that were used. Since Mata Nui is so large, continents in the sense that we think of them can exist inside without needing to make the smaller. Assuming that Energized Protodermis can turn the rock within the planet into negative-mass, Spherus Magna is a super-massive planet with the gravity of Earth. If Spherus Magna is that big, then the surface is still mostly flat relative to the giant robots so no balancing-act is required. The size of the planet has nothing to do with the passing of time, Spherus Magna simply has to move faster.

No fears, it is very much possible to get that out. Simply push a toothpick through from the other side of the shield and out comes the pin.

Huzaa! Tufi Piyufi has updated the entry list!

I'd say that's reasonable, but then again, you would think that Tufi Piyufi would say something since we have been talking about it; she has answered all other questions. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not think she has actually been on since Saturday.

While it may be hard to believe, the contest organizers have lives beyond the keyboard I'm sure that everything will be up shortly, and with the infux of last minute entries it may be taking Tufipiyufi a bit longer to get things sorted outI can understand that. I just assumed that she would put a notice like "Voting moved to the 25th" or "Voting post-poned indefinitely; check back daily!". It's just... Agh! The suppense is killing me!

Wow, my mind has just been completely blown. In addition, my respect for the original story-team has also grown significantly.

Um... Didn't it say in the rules that voting would begin February 23rd? Well, it is eleven o' clock where I am and I don't see any polls. Actually, what about the rest of the entries? Many still have not been added to the entry list.

See, I'm inclined to believe that this means that the size of the island of Mata Nui is the more accurate figure, given that we got the island's dimensions in official story materials in 2001, whereas the 40 million thing was more of an off-the-cuff behind-the-scenes tidbit that got thrown randomly at us. I don't think you read that right. They had the whole of the robot figured out back when the line first began, meaning that the island's dimensions would have followed after. The dimensions for the island, if you recall, came from a page in the magazine. The GSR was described multiple times in-story as being 40 million feet tall. So, if 40 million was figured out at the beginning of the line, and was still used later on, then that's all the more reason to accept that as an answer, because that's the measurement that has lasted longer and had far more significance. I'm not sure why you say that the 40 million feet has been around longer -- if you're right, then both measurements have been around since the beginning. Which takes us right back to square one in terms of conflicting measurements. In the original story plan, I think it must have been that the island covered Mata Nui's face 1:1, based on all the place names that use the Maori words for body parts (Tiro = eyes, Ihu = nose, Mangai = mouth, Mata = face).Whoa! Hey! Do you think they planned the whole "giant robot" thing from the beginning? That would be awesome! Actually, how did you know the translations for those words; did you just decide to randomly look them up or did you know them? Brilliant observation anyway.

Hey guys! I'm going to recommend that you check this out before discussing the matter any further.

We have had a big long discussion (#85 onward) about the size of Aqua Magna and Spherus Magna in another topic. Based on the size of Mata Nui and his appearance in this image, we calculated that Aqua Magna has a radius of 1.09*105 km, about 100 times the radius of Earth which has a radius of only 6.37*103 km! Combining that information with this image, we found that Spherus Magna is about seven times that size (or seventy times the radius of Jupiter)! After getting such astronomical numbers, the implications have been discussed for pages (even now). I'm going to recommend that everyone look at this before we go much further off course! Really great find!

My least favorite is Skull Scopio; his color scheme is awkward, his torso looks ratty and incomplete, and his tail looks so out of place that I think it was more of an after-thought; "We need to add some sort of function to Skull Scorpio or else this guy is never going to sell; all the other sets have one". My favorite has got to be Skull Basher; he's purple, got giant axes, most unique function, and is only 14.99 USD. Plus, he has my favorite of the Skull masks. Sure, I could vote for Ekimu vs. Skull Grinder because it is the biggest and includes Ekimu with the Mask of Creation, but to me, the coolest one is really Skull Basher. in six months I might be too cheap to buy Ekimu vs. Skull Grinder (maybe) but I am certainly getting Skull Basher, no question.

Hey, did anyone else notice that even after Tufi Piyufi has updated the entry list there is no "edited"-indicator? Is that big-people power that I'm seeing?

Wow; quite stunningly amazing! Now it does not look too much like Ancient -- far too much gold (none of which should be on the legs) and that great protrusion of the chest (which should actually be flat) -- but that is really the point of the contest, to represent Gen1 characters in a new style and with as much creative license as one can muster while still remaining within the distinguishable bounds of the character. With the old building-system there were some things that looked right and some things that looked wrong. Since this is a completely new way to build, what looked right with the Gen1 builds often needs to be changed to lend itself to the new one. You did an incredible job with that! You didn't take the challenge too literally by trying to match the original as closely as you could on a larger scale but instead built something that I can identify as Ancient or as a stand-alone creation in and of itself. The usage of pieces however was the real star for me. Many I do not recognize because I have not payed particular attention to CHIMA or HERO FACTORY, but those spikes and masks/helmets really make this MoC what it is. Actually, at first I did not even notice all of those old pieces that you used because they were integrated so well into the build. Now I have to ask how you did a couple things. First, I noticed that there are some technic pieces in the shoulders. So, if I were to look into the body of Ancient, what would I find; more technic or CCBS? Perhaps you might post a partial-skeleton picture of that torso? Also, How is it that you were able to attatch an Inika mask to the head; I just can't see a possible connection point. I mean, I thought that those masks were completely useless but here you are using one to make something really unique and one of the most recognizable features of the entire model. Oh, and one more thing; how much of this did you visualize before building it? I can't imagine that you had all those specific pieces just lying around. Shipping pieces takes time and even missing just a couple can put you days behind. Actually, how much of this is improv and how much did you plan ahead? I just want to know your thought process. Anyway, great job; really fantastic. Not much that I can say other than that; questions are most of what I can supply because you obviously know what you're doing.

Boy am I excited now! This contest got really interesting in that last day; I wonder how many entries we are allowed to vote for because I am going to be hard-pressed to narrow down my list of favorites. Of course, the better the competition, the smaller the chance of victory. But who cares? MoCs that great have nothing to do with availability of pieces; pure skill all the way. It has been a pleasure to see what everyone has built!

I must say, Tesseract, these are incredible! You can be fairly certain to receive a vote from me. All of your rahkshi are unique from one another and yet, at the same time, there are similarities between them like bohrok-shields being used in the shoulder-area and including all of those classic rahkshi-pieces. I love how you did that. Moreover, the way that you integrated the old technic building-system with the new CCBS system is marvelous; some rahkshi have more of on than the other but that just adds to their uniqueness. Really top-notch; I do not know what I could really criticize. If I may ask, how well do these guys hold together? Are they pretty solid? They appear so.

It appears to be popular practice now to post entries in this topic. Certainly not one to start breaking the tradition, here is my entry: Nuhvok Kal - Protector of the Swarm!

It should be noted that both Ekimu and Makuta are Protector-like mask-makers. Over the years, it has become common practice for LEGO to release new "elements" (or similar to) in multiples of six. If more Protector-like mask-makers were to exist then it is most likely that there would be four, not six. However, it is very unlikely that anything quite like that would happen because it would detract from the binary-nature of Ekimu versus Makuta. Perhaps there may be more mask-makers, but they would probably not have such a close connection with Ekimu as "student". One thing is for certain though, I would love for "mask-packs" to be reintroduced.

You know I kind of seeing this as a viable option. I mean think hard on it (but not too hard). In the Legend it is said both brother's are knocked into a lifeless sleep. Well Being liked and valued much more so than Makuta; Ekimu was buried properly and his body preserved for the day he could be awakened again. Now as for Makuta; well let's just dig a hole and throw him in it.... Where Ekimu's body is preserved and Protected, Makuta's is left to the furry of the elements. Safe to say he did not age well over these past generations...Something else to keep in mind is that even the organic characters in Gen1 had metallic skeletons. Now here we are in Gen2 and all the skeletons include a heavy use of gunmetal while keeping the transparent colors. So Makuta losing his black-color and keeping the orange/red is not too far fetched!

Try to imagine the Protector of Stone's eyes being blue in the animations; even though blue looks better in the set, it just does not have the same appeal in the animations. There will always be this disparity between the real world and the virtual one because they simply do not look the same. All is simply artistic license. You will notice that many Protectors only have one arm/leg-segment per side in their set form but have two in their animated form. This also means that any armor on the limbs covers the entire limb in the sets but only half in the animations. Does this mean that there was some sort of mix-up with the pieces? No, that is just the way that the sets were designed and the animators did their job of representing the sets as best they could. Ekimu's eye-color would not blend in too much because, as mentioned in another topic, the trans-neon-yellow glows particularly brightly and that is one of the main reasons the eye-color has been kept over the years. Also, trans-neon-yellow and gold can look very different under the right conditions (like light) whereas the blue eyes compared to the blue armor appear to blend together and since matching, do not stand out from one another.

In another topic I had mentioned that the new masks can be attatched to pieces other than the new heads, so naturally, I wanted to include a mask somewhere. However, that got me thinking, "What can I use the new heads for"? It is good to see that they are appreciated! Well, it seems that my "krana" and bohrok-transformation are becoming the real stars of the build. I don't know if I would have guessed it, but I'll take it. Thank you for your comments! Build-season just ended for the FIRST Robotics Competition. I never thought of using anything like a design statement or the like before, but since our "robot"(technically a drone) turned out so well, I wondered what would happen if I added some structure to the design process; I think I will do it again.

Remember, the sets are made before the animations. Something that you will notice with all of the Protectors and Toa in their set-form (with the exception of Pohatu) is that the eye-color never matches the accompanying transparent color. This is so the eyes do not blend in and stand out amongst the rest of the set. It is pretty important that the eyes stand out because that is crucial in really identifying the set as a character. Now in the animations, the eyes can be distinguished by means other than color like making them glow or expressing emotion. While Ekimu looks cool with blue eyes in the animations, they would not be distinguised enough when surrounded by a golden trans-blue and in a set.

Hmm... so let me see if I understand what you are trying to communicate: are you saying that the summer-wave of sets actually preceed the current sets? If you are, then the clear problem is that the BIONICLE reboot has just begun and it would simply be too early to start introducing prequels. I mean sure, we don't know too much about this current point in time and perhaps some history would shed some light on things, but we have just met the Toa and that would be really bad story-telling to just leave them hanging there without developing them more first. I don't think LEGO is all that bad at telling a story. If you are not implying that the summer-wave of sets takes place in the past then I have no idea what you have been talking about this whole time. Lyichir and I have been going back and forth because we cannot know anything for certain until August finally arrives. Nonetheless, we can reach a concensous on what is to be most likely. The problem with your theory is that we have seen the ultimate in official and it is by officiality that we can determine with 100% certainty what is or what isn't. Whatever point in time is being depicted, Ekimu is awake and battling Skull Grinder. Period. That picture on the box can neither 100% prove nor 100% disprove my theory that Makuta is Skull Grinder, but it can prove with 100% certainty that the set takes place in a time when Ekimu is awake. And considering the fact that the whole city appears to be abandoned and how awkward of a story it would be otherwise, it most likely (to the point where we can really say "absolutely") that it occurs in the present. I mean, we have an image of the official product, what more can we really discuss about it?

Prowl Nightwolf is right about the inconsistencies, of which I have mentioned some already in another topic. Really, there are several inconsistencies between the sets and the animations concerning color; in the animations, the Protector of Fire has grey hands; in the set, he has trans-orange hands. It has nothing to do with some secret story, which I am sure you understand since you said the proposal was somewhat of a joke, some color-combinations just look better as sets and others look better animated.

Takadox. Being that is most knowledgeable about the Matoran Universe and is also mentioned by name.