Onepu the Protector

Sorry to be that guy, but Greg's more recent revelations never cease to disappoint me.

EDIT: Fixed a minor grammatical error.

Am I the only person here who doesn't think that the switching from Mata Nui to Metru Nui was such a huge tonal shift as people make it out to be? Sure, a tribal setting is different from an urban setting but the mystical elements, such as Toa being the mythical chosen ones instead of expendable troops the expanded universe turned them into, were still there.

 

That was definitely something that frustrated me, starting way back in 2004 with the decidedly organic Morbuzakh vines (or, if you go back even further, to the virus enemies from the Roboriders theme). One of the big appeals of any sort of action figure line is role play, and it's much harder to do that when you're given no way to effectively represent the villains your characters are meant to fight.

To be honest, it was never too annoying for me. As a kid, I either substituted such villains with MOCs or some non-Lego objects. With that said, it still seems like a rather odd marketing strategy on Lego's part.

However, as far as the "Where did G1 go wrong?" question goes, I'll have to agree with the people who said that the post-toyline serials were unnecessary and had some of the silliest ideas in the entire story.

It's even better when you realize that most Bionicle characters were created artificially - the Toa Mata being created by Arthaka and the Matoran being built via some sort of machine operated by Turaga. xD

Huh, at first I thought the hole in the wall was some sort of a visual reference to the Ignika/Mata Nui symbol.

Personally, I'm pretty tired of the "Bionicle G2 failed because of a certain arbitrary thing I happened to dislike - and it has to be true because the mere fact that G2 ended somehow proves it true" logical fallacy present in the community. It's okay to speculate about the reasons why G2 got cancelled but at least try to stomach the fact that you may be wrong, okay?


 

2. I don't think G3 would be there that quickly.

At this rate I think we can reasonably expect it in 2037.

It should be noted that Vakama's "own powers" (I suppose you're talking about his Elemental Powers, right?) have been used up while battling Lohrak.

I feel like G2 might have fared better if it hadn't directly included any G1 material at all. We had a fairly interesting new, a host of new characters and locations to explore, some decent lore... 

 

...and then they went and crammed a bunch of weirdos into it who shared the names of G1 characters, but acted nothing like them. 

They tried switching the focus to an entirely new cast of characters in 2009 and it didn't work at all. In my opinion, Tahu & Co. were an important part of Bionicle's identity (being the most iconic Toa in the whole story, as well as having the most set forms) and I'd like to see them again in any hypothetical reboot of the franchise. All-new universe populated entirely by unrecognizable characters would possibly feel like a Fan Fiction (with only OCs) or a different Lego theme altogether.

Some websites have rules against selling bootlegs as far as I know...

Maybe Core Hunter's and Von Nebula's Hero Cores are just covered by their (new) armor? Granted, the latter's HC doesn't connect anywhere on the set and the former doesn't include it at all but the sets have never been 100% accurate to the story. The theory could be backed up by the fact that Core Hunter has a Superhero chestplate on top of a 'standard' Breakout Hero torso... I could also symbolize the fact that these two villain can't escape their origins no matter how much they try.

 But it's hard to say for sure because those things never wound up happening in the story, and we didn't have anybody like Greg Farshtey answering random hypothetical questions that were never raised during the events of the story.

I don't want to sound rude but that's certainly a good thing...

Fair enough. Personally, I abandoned the idea of the shorter Protectors eventually but I think shorter size could be achieved by shortening the limbs, the CCBS armor shells and the torso by 2-3 pixels each - I actually tried that but I didn't save the result (it looked terrible and needed a lot of work anyway). It made the Protector roughly the same height as a 2008 Av-Matoran, however.

As far as the colors go, I pointed them out because the color palette you used in the kit seems quite washed out, honestly (and no offence for that). I know that you tried to make the colors as true to the sets as you could but what's realistic isn't always the best for pixel art and more contrasting, defined colors of the original Rayg 2.5 work a lot better in my opinion.

To be honest, I won't miss Mixels too much. The sets were cute and all but the show failed to capture my interest, to say the least. I just hope the pieces introduced for this theme (smaller ball joints, ball joint and 1x1 round tile eyes, etc.) will be reused in other themes.

I want that black piston add-on... Other than that the figures don't particularly excite me. I'm afraid that after Bionicle's cancellation we'll end up getting CCBS pieces mostly in colors such as browns, greys, black and white. I can't blame Lego for that, considering most clothes and suits of armor in SW are either grey, black or brown but I still hope we'll get an original IP with more vibrant color schemes.

I've got a couple of wild Kraata I'd like to sell (sell, not trade) but you have to wait until I come back home the next Saturday.

Well, it helps that CCBS actually blends very well into the aesthetics of Lego System, while the same can't be said about the Bionicle parts. Well, Exo Force did use the Bionicle weapons and feet effectively but that was because it avoided using the most greebly ones (pieces like Toa Mata Feet, Matau's Aero Slicers, Gali's Hooks or Takanuva's Staff are relatively minimalistic for Bionicle standards, the use of the Metru feet was a mistake, though - but I probably wouldn't complain about them if they came in some unique color ).

 

I always thought that the MoUP just made G2 Makuta really really strong, and that the evilness came from within.

The specific line from the video "The Legend" is "When Makuta put it on, it took control over him". And in the graphic novel Battle of the Mask Makers, when Makuta first puts on the Mask of Ultimate Power, he proclaims that he will use it to help the people of Okoto: "New land will rise from the surrounding waters! New forests will provide more food! New cities will be cleaner and safer! Never will an islander want for anything! And I will control it… I will control… I will control… I WILL CONTROL… EVERYTHING!" It's at that point that Ekimu arrives and knocks the mask from him with his Hammer of Power. Judging from that sequence, Makuta's intentions when he put on the mask were very different than when it was finally knocked from him.

 

As for G2 Makuta, I see less megalomania and more someone who thinks - and may possibly be right - that they can run things more efficiently. The GSR is really just a machine, internal islands and sentient nanomachines notwithstanding. I think the Barraki were the "evil for evil's sake" baddies who promptly failed. Makuta Teridax was happy to do his thing while keep his ideas and malcontent to himself until the league gave him the idea that maybe taking over the GSR was actually possible. The way his backup plans had backup plans did get a tad tedious in later years, but overall I think he's less of the mustache twirling dastardly villain who wants a million dollars, and more of a cold and calculating individual who genuinely thinks he'd be better at running things, but keeps up the whole bond-villain act to convince his henchmen to follow him (well, when convincing was needed).

In the arcs where the villains were minions of Makuta, like Rahkshi or the infected Rahi, his grandiose evil-villain monologues probably served to intimidate his foes (though obviously the guy has an ego), while in the case of, say, the Barraki or Sidorak, he needed to illicit the "wow, this guy is really evil! let's follow him!" effect. 

I mean, sure, this isn't exactly conveyed by the canon, but so rarely do we get a first person glimpse of what goes on in Teridax's head that it might as well be true. It really is up for interpretation.

We did get a thorough first-person glimpse into Teridax's head, though, in Makuta's Guide to the Universe. And in that, it's made clear that his actions are evil and without remorse. Thinking he could run the universe more efficiently is one thing, but the things Makuta did were more than just a facade to look tough and scary to his followers. He genuinely did not care for the lives of anyone but himself, and delights in crushing anyone from his most loyal followers to those who he perceives even the slightest disrespect from. And frankly, nothing ever so much as implies that he did once have a heart — rather than being a good person who turned evil, he was an evil person who just happened to work with the good guys for the several thousand years it took him to realize that there was an alternative. This is reinforced when we encounter The Melding alternate universe's version of Makuta, who despite ostensibly still serving the forces of good is just as ruthless, spiteful, and uncaring as the main universe's counterpart. When the only thing it takes to put together a scheme to take over the universe is realizing that you can get away with it, nobody can claim you were ever anything but a self-absorbed monster. You were compliant once, maybe, but never good.

 

Now, in the early years, there was indeed some evidence that Makuta might have had some deeper motivations than just run-of-the-mill megalomania (including the style guide that got posted here on BZPower a few years ago). But by the end it's clear that any plans to give Makuta any kind of moral complexity had been abandoned — his only reason for turning to evil was realizing he could get away with it at no cost to himself. And no, his evil was not purely in service of the "goal" of running the universe. In the last pages of Makuta's Guide to the Universe, he plainly considers all his goals achieved. And yet, does he boast of how perfect and benevolent his new reign will be? Of course not. Rather, he gloats that he has "an infinity of years with which to torment Tahu, Jaller, and all the rest," that the Toa would be "reduced to huddling in fearful anticipation of when I would end their pitiful existences, and that "I have nothing more to fear from Mata Nui. But this universe and its people have everything to fear from me." That's not evil in the service of a goal. That's evil for evil's sake, taken to utterly cartoonish extremes.

 

Thank you, someone finally said it! G1 Makuta was so irredeemably evil and dehumanized I'd expect him to eat little kittens off-screen... And, to be frank, it wasn't good writing. While the fact that he was utterly unlikable wasn't necessarily a bad thing (I'll admit that I like some of the despicable villains like Voldemort or the Emperor from Star Wars), why did he have to be so cartoonish and edgy about it? As flawed as this movie was, I prefer his characterization in The Mask of Light - the 'Slumber spares him pain; awake he suffers' bit was really interesting and I'd have liked to see it developed further but NOPE, Makuta was instead turned into generic evil megalomaniac. What a shame.

Plus, the 'it was planned all along!' shtick didn't really make him seem like an effective villain, instead it made the plot overly convenient for him, hurting my willing suspension of disbelief - and that means something, as I often defend stories other people tend to complain about a lot.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Teridax was apparently evil due to an innate flaw of his species - which basically means that he was born evil. Needless to say, I feel it also cheapens his character.

Anyway, what's the name of the song? It sounds like the main theme from the Bionicle movies but it has different beginning and seems slower.

I love the use of Nathan Furst's music - it's certainly a lot more distinct and dynamic than The Legend Reborn's soundtrack. However, I don't like the effect at the beginning, you know, the one with the movie clips overlapping. It just seems overdone and distracting and doesn't really work as a summary of the prievous years (if I weren't a Bionicle fan I probably wouldn't know what's going on here). Still, it's still a nice piece of fan-created work but an actual introduction to the movie (if we didn't get the official TLR one, that is) would be a lot less cryptic.

Well, the Crusher appeals to me the most because I love purple and tan Lego pieces but I think I'll go with Cole's Dragon. I don't like the fact that it includes stickers (you know, things get dusty really quickly in my room for some reason and I just don't know how to clean the pieces with stickers) but the dragon and the minifigures are really cool. The Sky Shark is an amazing set but it's bit a too expensive for me and I don't think the Airjitzu Fliers would be a good choice because I want to buy a set for display purposes and I have hard time imagining something that looks like an overgrown Rhotuka displayed on my shelf.

Anyway, thank you very much.

I still don't like it. I hate the overall idea of the Red Star being a respawn point but it's the revival of Lhikan that annoys me the most.

I remember that Lhikan's death left a big impact on me when I was a little kid (it even made me reluctant to watch B:LoMN for the second time for some time...). Now, as an adult, I realize it's pretty much both the 'hero's mentor dies' and 'taking the bullet for someone else' cliche and that LoMN wasn't too great movie to begin with but the scene of Lhikan's death still gets me every time I happen to see it (even though I hate to admit it most of the time). Seeing the awesome gold-and-red hero you wanted for Christmas in 2005 but didn't get become a fragile elder carried some sort of underlying sadness and his peaceful (well, by 'peaceful', I mean the way he faced it during his talk with Vakama, not the fact that he was killed by Makuta) death concluded his character's arc beautifully.

Too bad I deleted my Netflix account after my free month expired... I guess I'll have to wait for the movie to come out then.

Anyway, I'd also like to symbolically buy one single Ninjago set. However, I can't afford the big sets you mentioned in your previous post in the topic and I'd like to buy some sort of impulse set instead. What would you recommend in this case? It'd be nice if it included both a hero and a villain or more than one Ninja (which would be even better but I doubt it's realistic) but that's not neccessary.

The avatar of the person above is Takanuva who's more yellowish than usual.

I still can't get over the fact that Lhikan was revived in the Red Star. I can't really say it negates his sacrifice to save Vakama's life (because he wasn't aware of the Red Star's function at that point) but it certainly does reduce its impact from the storytelling standpoint.

Plus, because of his noble sacrifice, he was rewarded by being trapped in a place which is basically the Matoran's equivalent of purgatory or limbo. Sweet.

Sure, go for it! In my opinion there's never been a better time to be a Ninjago fan! The storyline has been going strong, and there have been some fantastic sets in the past couple years!

Well, personally, the story is one of the reasons why I find it difficult to get into Ninjago. I guess that's what the people who wanted to get into Bionicle around 2007-2008 must've felt...

Well, I recall the Piraka tossing a Matoran into a volcano, so they didn't have any qualms about killing the Matoran. I guess killing off large numbers of innocent civillians would be to depressing for the mainstream story media.

The in-universe reason for that might be the fact that the Great Spirit Robot needs the Matoran to function properly and their death would pretty much doom the entire universe - the universe the villains like Teridax wanted to take over, not destroy it.