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Mukaukau Nuva

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Posts posted by Mukaukau Nuva

  1. 1 hour ago, Lorentz said:

    This is a myth.

    The creative team can deny it all they like, but that's clearly who they're meant to be (if not Dume and Nidhiki specifically, then they're supposed to represent the same characters that the Dume and Nidhiki sets ended up representing). Greg may have said otherwise, but honestly, his word means nothing to me (Greg's role in the Bionicle project is vastly overblown, in my opinion), so I don't really pay him any heed, and there's too many coincidences that suggest otherwise:

    The Norik set is red, has the same mask, and uses the 04 Matoran chest armor (like the Dume set). The Iruni set is green, has a Vahki-like mask, uses the same chest armor as the Nidhiki set, has gold armor like Lhikan, and the spearhead piece they've chosen is even similar to Nidhiki's pincers (like the Nidhiki set). To me, that's too coincidental to buy that they were designed to be something totally unrelated. Most of the time, that's definitely true, but I don't think it was the case this time.

  2. I'd be willing to settle for being great toy line 😉 I'm sure there's bound to be something since 2010 that can rival Bionicle, and even if isn't, "Last" implies a certain finality to it; that there can never be another great toy line again, which I don't think is true. Even if more recent generations spend a lot of their childhood on the phone, toys will always have a place, and so I'd hope that future generations have their own great toys.

  3. On 8/3/2022 at 7:32 PM, Axelford said:

    Also he has a new job at another Toy Company, they make wooden blocks, junior tablets and playground stuff. Guess he'll be writing catalogs etc. for them.

    Sound like a bit of a step-down for him (given that he won't be exercising his creative muscles writing fiction), which is unfortunate. Though I guess that partly explains why he's starting up the original story/blog, since it would give him an outlet for creative stuff.

  4. On 8/3/2022 at 7:06 PM, Axelford said:

    I think it wouldn't a bold claim to say between that and the Flickr Mocs, Discord servers etc. that the Moc making community is well and thriving!

    I've even seen Mocs floating around on reddit! So I agree it does seem like that side of the community is alive and well.

    On 6/3/2022 at 7:30 AM, Distorted said:

    Probably the biggest news is that the long-lost PC game Legend of Mata Nui is now available to play.

    Do you happen to know if the Biomedia project link for Rebuilt still active? I've played around with it before but only found a 404, but that could be because I didn't use the launcher installer 😅

  5. On 7/30/2022 at 4:58 PM, Xboxtravis said:

    So its not impossible to bring Bionicle up to the modern era, but a lot of what made it so great is a relic of a past time. And as others have mentioned, Lego would have to invest a lot to make sure Bionicle stood out against their own offerings; something they failed to do for G2 and well G2 suffered as a result. Maybe someday the nostalgic gold mine of Bionicle will appeal to Lego when they want to tap into Millennial and Gen-Z nostalgia baiting, and we'll end up like Transformers with endless tribute toys trying to capture our nostalgia and wallets. But if Lego wants Bionicle to have the same cultural impact it had back in the day, it would require a very heavy investment to top and surpass Lego's own offerings elsewhere. 

    I agree. I think Ninjago is part of that as well; there would be little incentive to revive a Bionicle theme with all the same investment, coordination, and detail as it during the original run when Ninjago is still around and basically fulfilling the same role as Bionicle did back in the day (when it comes to being the standout original theme).

    It would also be hard for a revived theme to scratch the same 'itch' as G1 without being nostalgia-bait, which would just undermine Bionicle's legacy somewhat, at least in my opinion. 

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  6. I'd put less emphasis on the novels as the 'primary' source of canon. Mainly because for colourful, robotic toys, I think a visual medium is necessary for kids to tell who's who. The movies are probably too short to convey the necessary details, but web games or a TV show would be ideal.

    I'd also switch the Toa Norik and Toa Iruni sets back into Toa Dume and Toa Nidhiki, as they were initially designed to be. They're so obviously depicting Nidhiki and Dume that it's kind of weird they aren't. 

    • Like 1
  7. 1 hour ago, zerack: the rogue said:

    I think we also have to take into account the state of LEGO as a company back in 2001. It was still in a downward spiral so when the Bionicle line started the company was looking for a win. It was willing to take huge risks to try and salvage what it could. When G2 came out, and even now, LEGO has established licenses and other brands to profit off of and don't need to take those big "Do or Die" type of investments. They can try and bring back a theme like G2 and if the numbers don't add up there isn't a loss to the company to discontinue it like what would've happened back then. 

    Yeah, that's true as well. LEGO didn't really need to have faith in G2, since everything else is selling like hotcakes anyway in 2015. 

    Honestly I think the big hurdle in any constraction/Bionicle toy today is probably the price of plastic. I recall recent LEGO sets being pretty expensive for what they are (for a variety of understandable factors), and constraction lines tended to use fairly large pieces, so the prices would probably be too high for what they were. Bionicle's original $10 price point that made it so accessible to kids probably isn't within arm's reach anymore, so the success of a modern theme would be limited by that on top of everything else that's been discussed already.

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  8. On 6/1/2022 at 2:33 AM, Master Inika said:

    Po-Metru looks like a boulder to me, like it's been rolling on the ground until the most distinctive element is in the center.

    On 4/17/2022 at 10:08 AM, Aderia said:

    Haha, and Po-Metru is anyone's guess, I agree. Maybe it's meant to be a common layout of assembler's villages or sculpture fields? 

    On 4/17/2022 at 10:26 AM, Daler99 said:

    I think Po-Metru’s symbol is a bunch of Mata-head sculptures around the center point to represent the carvings and sculptures made in Po-Metru.

    I thought the Po-Metru one might be depicting the top of a column in the Fields of Construction, but my memory is a little hazy as to what those columns exactly looked like 😅

  9. On 7/26/2022 at 10:13 AM, Distorted said:

    I think it's also worth noting that Bionicle's early marketing was really a product of its time.

    Back in 2001, going to a website to learn more about the lore was a relatively novel experience. Streaming 3D computer-generated animations of the toys on the internet - in glorious 144p - was a relatively novel experience. Playing a whole interactive and episodic point-and-click adventure in your browser was a relatively novel experience.

    (Not to mention, the idea of a big-budget Lego theme and even the actual toy concept of a Lego action figure you can build was fairly new itself...)

    In the era of Youtube, social media, fan wikis, affordable CG animation, an oversaturated digital marketing landscape, and a Lego brand that's releasing all kinds of posable action figure sets, managing multiple big-budget themes and even doing whole animated TV series and movies now; none of these things are special any more.

    It's easy to say Lego didn't do enough marketing in 2015 - and they probably didn't - but Bionicle 2015's marketing team had a much bigger uphill battle. They couldn't just repeat the same tricks and expect to recapture the same lightning in a bottle.

    I think this is definitely true. Though being novel doesn't always convert to success, G1's multimedia approach is one of it's strongest aspects, and the exposure it got from that was extremely important (though there were kids whose interest lived and died with the toys).

    Even though I wouldn't lay the blame of G2's failure entirely at the feet of the uphill battle it faced in this regard, I'm sure it had a part to play. If only because Lego's executives themselves doubted that "repeating the same tricks" would yield the profits they wanted, and thus didn't even really bother to try (either to replicate those same tricks or develop new approaches to a multimedia toy franchise). 

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  10. TBH I find myself surprisingly OK w/ using Keetorange as a replacement brown colour; it's eye-catching, it doesn't seem like it would otherwise be widely used, & (correct me if I'm wrong), it started out as a unique Bionicle colour. Sure, it's inconsistent w/ brown, but if you have to get rid of brown then I think it's the ideal replacement colour.

    I'm less in favour of using plain yellow, or even worse, plain orange, tho. Up to 2008, plain orange was long enumerated to be an accent colour for red Bionicle sets. While I'm hardly one to advocate for stringent types, I would like a certain amount of consistency, & esp. on a character like Pohatu plain orange just seems strange to me.

    Not sure I would have preferred a Keetorange Pohatu, however... TBH the colour schemes are only part of a wider issue for those 2008 sets, none of whom really resemble their counterpart that well, in terms of colour or otherwise. 

  11. I've kept most of mine. The only exceptions (& I can't think of any specific ones now) are the Mahri & Phantoka 'canisters' that fail to serve as proper storage space. Frankly, I don't know how you could 'keep' those, given you basically have to destroy them to get them open. 

    Ditto for the Av Matoran & Agori 'canisters.' I tried to keep them, but the cardboard bent out of shape anyway and rendered them unusable. 

  12. In defense of Gold Good Guy, I believe the set was supposed to be free. I think you could find sets that are worse relative to their price-point at the time. Like, if cheap sets are bad, then at least you aren't out a lot of money. If Titans are bad then you're out more than chump change. 

    With that in mind, I think you find far worse sets in 8623 Krekka or 8939 Lesovikk (setting aside whatever you feel about the character, the set would be mediocre even if the lime green joints didn't break, but alas, they do). 

    The least favourite set of mine that I actually owned was 8952 Mutran & Vican. For some reason the allure of 'limited edition' made me look past the fact it was basically a re-colour of Chirox & Kirop. I mean, technically you get more value for your money w/ Mutran (since I believe the bundle was cheaper than buying Chirox & Kirop separately), but I'd be lying if I said I thought Av-Matoran brought much value to anything, but that's just me. 

  13. The Happy Meal Maku... But I was only like, 4 years old & I had no idea what Bionicle was at the time. The same was technically true when I got Gali Nuva & Onua Nuva as a gift, but thankfully I still have all 3 of these sets today.

    I think the first Bionicle I got where I was cognizant that this was a Bionicle & I knew what that meant was Kazi & Matoro in 2006. 

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  14. Wow! I think you've put more thought in your reply than I did in my original post (which is the best I could have hoped for; begetting good discussion is the whole point).

    I'm glad you brought in the books; that is certainly a deficiency in my little write-up. I think I've read Bionicle Adventures 5 as a kid (somehow that was the only one I acquired), but being a little averse to eBooks (& not knowing they were available online) means I haven't 'caught up' w/ them for some time. Perhaps not something a 'responsible' Bionicle fan ought to do, but perhaps this is just the time to start.

    A lot of really good catches in the novels, tho. (& things I never knew about either). I think you're right that these scenes continue to demonstrate Nokama's leadership qualities. I actually find her characterization surprisingly consistent, for want of a better word. There are one or two things you pointed out that really got my brain rolling, tho. they might be a bit scrambled:

    2 hours ago, Aderia said:

    it was most convenient for Greg to tell us what everyone was feeling in this scene through Nokama's eyes

    IIRC Greg preferred writing for Gali & Kopaka for the prior team, did he not? If Greg saw Nokama & Gali as somewhat similar characters (which I think he did), then perhaps that's why he favours Nokama in some of these scenes? I don't want to chalk it up entirely to 'girl=heart power' b/c hopefully it is not that shallow. B/c even if he's contractually obligated to write in the PoV of every Toa, now & then, that wouldn't explain why both Gali & Nokama get the same kinds of scenes, if you get my drift. 

    1 hour ago, Aderia said:

    So, I guess it's not obvious from these snippets, but the dialogue between Vakama and Nokama, she's telling him to step up and lead, essentially.

    I think these snippets show all you want them to and more; heck, I think both of them are trying to get the other to step up and lead, as you say. Vakama is even basically demurring to Nokama as he does so ("I'm sure you'll do a fine job"). Admittedly, I don't know how much of that is his sincere faith in her abilities or his own lack-of-confidence. I think 'in-canon' it is supposed to be the later, & Nokama picks up on that & tries to support him.

    And poor Nuju & his gendered language! "I don't care who leads us, as long as he doesn't expect me to follow" indeed! 

    I can still (kinda) tie this back to something I read earlier. I remember reading (I may have written down where, or maybe not. At any rate I've forgotten now) that a lot of women feel (or are made to feel) unqualified for leadership positions even tho. they have all the qualifications for it (which I've seen spun either as the requisite humility required in a true leader, or oppression at work, or perhaps both).

    I think you could read some of these scenes w/ Nokama in that light; some of the team (or at least Vakama) recognizes her abilities, but she doesn't, or if she does, she does not feel that this ought to be her role, regardless of how suited she would otherwise be to it. Now, we don't know if Ga-Matoran experience the world the same way women in our world do, but given Nuju's comment (& the fact this series is written by-&-for humans), I think we can say it is close enough.

    2 hours ago, Aderia said:

    Whether or not Vakama was actually an effective leader is a whole different discussion

    Yeah, I thought about getting into that a bit, but considering his half of the story is already discussed to death (for good reason), I figured it was a good idea to let dead horses lie in this particular arena. In any case, the films do NOT portray Vakama in a good light as a leader (& I still like Vakama, ofc.). The books, & the 2004-2005 story as a whole... I think that case is a lot-less clear-cut, & I'd have a much higher bar to clear if I wanted to claim that Vakama is a mediocre leader in all media for all time. I think the jury's still out on it, for sure.

    2 hours ago, Aderia said:

    side point: the only thing that really happens, canonically, after WoS is they fly to Mata Nui with the Matoran Spheres, except Vakama literally abandons ship to have an adventure with the Makuta, then they all turn into Turaga and go on to lead their own villages. So, Vakama coming back from the dark side as 'the leader' kind of was fruitless anyhow

    Yeah, I was thinking about that too. B/c I think this is where maybe my perception of the story, & not just the 'what happened in canon' is at play here. B/c WoS ends without cutting back to the end of LoMN, so the 'conclusion' to the Metru storyline isn't left to sit with the viewer in cinematic form in the same way. There may also be a bit of my projection at play; I assumed that Vakama remained nominal leader of the Metru even after their transformation into Turaga. Certainly 2001-2003 media don't imply this too much (since in MNOLG the Turaga basically make decisions as a group), but the movies certainly do. IIRC only Vakama has a speaking role in Mask of Light, & he's the one narrating the story in LoMN WoS; both have the framing device of him telling the story to Takanuva (& Hahli, I think?), without any of the other Turaga present. 

    Admittedly, this only technically implies that Vakama's the best story-teller of the group (or the one with the best memory), but considering important stuff seems to accumulate onto Vakama like a magnet, I just kinda lumped it into his leadership role. I mean, he is technically teaching, & as you pointed out that's an important role for a leader to take.

    Anyway, thank you more than enough for the feedback. It may take a while for the Roodaka piece to come out (since I'd basically only finished the introduction), but my thoughts on her character remain basically the same. We'll see how it goes; Web of Shadows probably won't give me a lot to work on, on its own, but that could be the perfect excuse to incorporate the novels as well (in which case, I need to do some reading). 

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  15. This is an essay that I've been working on for... sadly, almost two years now. Writing it was one of the reasons I signed up for BZPower in the 1st place! But it sat on my shelf, and, after a few revisions, I've decided to release it into the world. I'm not sure if my views today are 100% in accordance to the arguments I've made herein, but they're generally close-enough & I'm willing to stand by most of what I claim here.

    To begin, Bionicle is... not well-known for depicting a large variety of female characters; mainly because most female characters are exclusively confined to the Water element (at least when it comes to the female characters that get set and story space) and are subsequently saddled with Water's stereotypes.

    In particular, Bionicle is lacking in positive depictions of female leaders. Pomegranate talked about this in a much earlier post:

    Quote

    Only time I'd seen a female be a leader in Bionicle is when they're the villains, or Helryx who was never even mentioned in any of the official books or comics, so what's that supposed to teach kids? Maybe it wasn't done to tell kids that women can't be leaders and if they are then they're evil, but that's something that kids could think or have imprinted upon them with little effort. Bionicle was not obligated in any way to teach kids that women are good leaders, that's not its job, but it still ended up providing stories that can be used as evidence against it. It's not their fault, it wasn't done intentionally, but the fact remains that there is a bad influence present and they could've tried harder to prevent that, but didn't even consider it 'cause "girls don't play with LEGOs" and "we are old guys who have no idea how the female psyche works let alone that of youth" and they just didn't care about that.

    As mentioned, Gali, Hahli, Macku, Vhisola, and Tuyet are not leaders (at least officially). Helryx is one, and Roodaka, while a leader (and someone who I'll probably talk about in a post after this one) is both a villain and has her own representational hangups. While I could talk about Helryx, I'm instead going to talk about a character that is given greater focus and who serves as an example of what happens when female leaders do exist but aren't acknowledged. 

    Yes, we're talking about Toa Nokama. 

    Nokama is not the leader of the Toa Metru, yet she suspiciously does everything an actual leader would do (as well as things the actual leader of the Metru should be doing but isn't). For the sake of simplicity, I'm only going to concern myself with how Nokama is depicted in "Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui" and "Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows". I might veer into comic book territory in a separate post. Why do I choose the films and not the books and/or comics? I’m choosing the films for a variety of reasons. For one, the films probably reached a larger audience of children than the novels did, and thus, from a broader cultural standpoint, the films are perhaps more important. Plus, it dishes out more of the story than the comics do. Finally, given my preclusion for being long-winded, this material is more than enough for me to work with. Comparing the depictions of Nokama across all Bionicle’s media would be time consuming and ultimately pointless, because how she is depicted in the novels is going to be different than the video games and the comics.

    (Just as a note, I'll reference most of my observations--the ones that didn't slip my mind, anyway--with a timestamp, so you can follow along with me, if you want).

    For starters, Nokama is the first Matoran who Toa Lhikan gives a Toa Stone to (LoMN:3:05). In doing so, he tells her to "guide them with your wisdom." That Nokama is chosen first singles her out (admittedly Vakama, by virtue of being chosen last, is also accorded a special position), especially given the advice Lhikan gives her. Guiding her fellow Toa could be taken as a directive to lead them, especially since none of the other Toa are given advice that singles them out as leaders also. 

    Vakama, treated as the actual leader of the Toa Metru, is told to "save the heart of Metru Nui" (LoMN:7:55). While Vakama's task is important (perhaps the most important directive any of the Toa are given), it does not explicitly call him out for a leadership position. This isn't the first time Nokama comes first, as it happens. She is also the first Matoran to place their Toa Stone into the Suva, inadvertently calling the other Matoran to action to do so themselves (LoMN:1147). When Vakama receives a vision (from Mata Nui, don't let Greg fool you with his talk of glitches ;) ), all the other Toa are convinced he's gone haywire; only Nokama decides that the visions should be trusted (LoMN:14:54). 

    And it is partly on Nokama's word that the Metru go along with the plot to find the Great Disks. Vakama suggested it, but none of the others apart from Nokama appear enthusiastic about the idea. This isn’t really a majority vote either; Vakama and Nokama is still 2 against 4. Onewa states that he's "doing this for Lhikan, no one else," but this line doesn't follow--the Great Disks have nothing to do with Lhikan to Onewa's knowledge. Onewa is also one of the most emotionally defensive of the Metru; what he says isn't always how he feels (for example, he cares about his brothers after they've been captured, yet he disparages them the entire time). His reluctance could be a cover; Nokama's leadership qualities convince him somewhat, but he doesn't want to admit it.

    I want to shift gears a moment to when the Toa are tasked with crossing the sea of Protodermis. Here, Vakama (future leader of the group) freezes up and issues no commands to his team; when Onewa asks "what do we do now," Whenua, not Vakama, answers him (LoMN:19:02). Rather, it is Nokama who tries to lead the group out of danger; after a quick "follow me" (LoMN:19:12), she directs Vakama to shoot at the statue of Lhikan, ultimately securing escape for herself, Vakama, and Matau. Nokama also takes initiative to use the Le-Metru chute system to escape Nidhiki and Krekka, with Matau and Vakama following her example (LoMN:23:05). When the chute's flow changes direction, Nokama is the one who leads the trio out of danger, using her Hydro Blades to catapult them out of the chute (LoMN: 28:00).

    When the three need to travel to Po-Metru, Nokama seeks out the Vahki transport to use; Vakama (the future leader) instead preoccupies himself with the presently-useless Great Disks, almost missing the transport altogether (LoMN:29:59). When they finally get to Po-Metru, Nokama becomes the first Toa Metru to discover her mask power (something the film treats as an important plot point), which she then uses to track down Lhikan by getting help from the Kikanalo (LoMN:35:26).

    After this incident, Nokama proceeds to do absolutely nothing of consequence for the rest of the film (don't worry, there's always the next film), as when reunited, the Metru are lead by directives given by Turaga Lhikan, and once Makuta reveals himself, the film's focus switches to Vakama exclusively for the rest of the film. Still, it's a rather impressive run; this is almost half the film's running time! Most of these points could be condensed down into "Nokama does something, then some (or all) of the Metru decide to follow her," and I'm sure it sounded more than a little repetitive. But my point was to show that Nokama's leadership qualities in B2:LoMN were not a one-time event.

    In a vacuum, the end of B2:LoMN shows that the Toa are, at the very least, taking turns as leader. No one is explicitly called the leader at any rate, and while Nokama shows her value at the beginning of the film, Vakama shows his value at the end of it; forging the Vahi, battling Makuta, following the light, and being the first to give up his Toa power to awaken the Matoran. Who lead the team depended on whose qualities were best fit for the situation, reinforcing Bionicle’s themes of Unity and Duty (if not Destiny).

    Unfortunately canon, and B3:WoS, have to go ahead and ruin that interpretation. The film begins with Vakama as the definitive leader of the Metru; trying and ultimately failing to rescue the Matoran. Instead, the whole team is captured, and Vakama decides to blame himself rather than motivate the team to look for an answer. While Norik offers support and a potential way out of the mutation, Vakama rejects that offer, instead deciding to abandon and betray his teammates in favour of seductress Roodaka. Granted, Vakama has been suffering depression and lack of confidence for two films in a row and has just been rendered more bestial (whatever that means) by the Hordika venom. The Vakama of B2:LoMN isn’t a perfect leader, but in certain situations he can lead the team effectively in a positive way. But the Vakama of B3:WoS is categorically unfit to be a leader, between getting his team captured, abandoning and betraying his team, and his prior history of low-self esteem and freezing up in dire situations in B2:LoMN. Let me reiterate—this is not Vakama’s fault, per se, but it means that he is not a good choice for a leader.

    Nokama’s leadership skills, however, are still in full force. She is the one who insists the Metru must believe in Keetongu, even as Vakama and Matau doubt her (WoS:19:04). She also speaks on behalf of the team on staying out of the Great Temple while mutated (WoS:26:31). When the team enters the coliseum to rescue Vakama, Nokama is the first one to call out to him (WoS:46:22). When diplomacy fails and the Toa charge their Rhotuka, it is Nokama who gives the order (WoS:47:25). When Onewa doubts they should keep charging the spinner (instead of firing it), it is Nokama he directs the question to, implying she is in command (WoS:47:34). When they do fire the Rhotuka, it’s on Nokama’s order (WoS:47:43). Given what results, it is implied that the plan to use the Rhotuka to fly is also Nokama’s doing, given that she gives the order to let go (WoS:48:03).

    Web of Shadows ends with the Toa not only accepting Vakama back into the team but letting him stay on as leader. This is crucial—the virtue of Unity required that the Toa accept Vakama back, but there is no reason why he had to return as leader when his prior experience in the role resulted in such failure. In Web of Shadows, Vakama fails his way upwards, as you will, in that his failures as a leader result not in him being reprimanded, but instead in his authority being upheld without further question.

    Ultimately, this series of events begs one simple question:

    Why is Nokama not the “official” leader of the Toa Metru? She approves missions for the team to follow, leads them out of dangerous situations through quick-thinking, and is the first to learn important aspects of being a Toa that her teammates then follow by example. What else is required of a leader? Who among the Metru can seriously boast being a more qualified applicant?

    Greg, the Wikia, or the canon in general, have explained the above with a mix of "it was Vakama's destiny to lead the Metru" and "Nokama was the Deputy Leader of the Metru, and was acknowledged to be good enough to be the actual leader by herself and her teammates, but decided to step aside from the role because it was Vakama's destiny." In other words, a heaping load of bull. Destiny is important to Bionicle, no two-ways about it, but Vakama's actual destiny is shown to us; forge the Vahi (for himself) and save the Matoran of Metru Nui (with the other Metru). Nothing about his destiny requires he be the leader, other than the fact that he's:

    A) The protagonist

    B) Male

    C) The red toy

    These three points are interrelated, but to give a counterexample, Matoro was arguably the protagonist of the "Ignition" arc, he was male, and he was one of the most marketed of his team (though not red, both he and Vakama are right up front in the posters). Yet he isn't the leader of his team; he doesn't have to be, and no one expects it of him. His role is even more important than Vakama’s but said role is not diminished by the fact he’s not the leader.

    This is all to show Bionicle’s strengths and weaknesses as a storytelling medium. We have strong female leaders in this story. But while the story-verse is gracious enough to treat these female leaders not as a rarity or an odd-quirk, it also doesn’t acknowledge their contribution nor fully reward them for their efforts as often as I think is probably warranted.

    And that's it! I regret to inform you that T-shirts declaring 'I read Mukaukau Nuva's essay & all I got was this lousy T-shirt' are not forthcoming, but I wish they were. Thanks for reading :)

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  16. Both names are slightly silly-sounding to Anglophone ears. But Makuta has the benefit of being an actual word, w/ an actual etymology. "Mākutu" is a Maori word (what else would it be, given this is 2001 Bionicle?) meaning 'witchcraft' or 'to bewitch.' Debates about cultural appropriation aside, Makuta is the more meaningful name. 

    "Teridax," conversely, appears to just be a name Greg thought sounded cool (given he supposedly used it on a World of Warcraft account once). Whatever else you think of Greg, he's not exactly a Tolkien (who was a veritable name-nut), so the names he invents aren't always of top-quality. 

    • Like 3
  17. I think writer (not necessarily the Bionicle writers; as has already been noted, the idea the story could have continued w/out toy sales driving it is pretty outlandish) could have done a lot w/out being attached to toys. For instance, I think you'd have a greater degree of character development for the original 6 Toa. They were our protagonists for the 1st 3 years, ofc. But we could have followed them beyond that if there's no need to sell Toa Metru or Toa Ignika sets.

    Moreover, I think you'd continue to have a more Tohunga/Matoran-centric story. I can't imagine 2001's Tohunga & Turaga sets were among the highest sellers, & the small-sets of subsequent waves would get increasingly little focus & characterization in the story-proper. 

    I think, in general, the original story bible (whatever was contained therein) would have been followed more closely, given there would be nothing else to go on. But exactly what that would entail is a somewhat debatable; I know there are varying interpretations of what direction the story was intended to go from the very outset (beyond those elements that did make it into the later story, such as the Mata Nui Robot, obvs.)

    • Like 2
  18. My Bionicle collection isn't really anything special; Toa Mata Nui is probably the most special thing I own, aside from random collectables (an orange Vahi & a Ga-Metru Great Disk). But I certainly don't have the room (nor the desire for!) a vast collection. A few things here-&-there are enough for me :)

    As for sentimental value, it amazes me I still have my 1st Bionicle set; the Maku I got at McDonald's 20 years ago now (minus the throwing disk, which I believe I lost at said McDonald's 20 years ago, lol). More than that, she's still in pretty good shape! I remember the arms of my friend's Nuparu (from the Boxor, ofc.) being all frayed & bent out of shape, & this was only in 2006 or so. Maku's arms look brand new by comparison, still good for a few more throws (assuming she had a disk!)

  19. I've tried in vain to remove the smell from an old leather-bound book I inherited (my grandad was a heavy smoker). I've tried using baking soda, leaving it out in the air, etc. I can't tell if the smell is getting better or if I'm just getting used to it, lol

    Anyway, I'll ditto the dryer sheet suggestion, since that makes sense to me. Perhaps other scented, smelly things would help (like Febreze?). I'd be reticent to try any method that might permanently damage the canisters. 

    Basic household stuff seems like the way to go for me; baking soda, dryer sheets, & maybe vinegar (if someone seconds that).  

  20. I'm not sure what year/era I would be tempted to choose. I was active & aware during 2006-2010, & I pretty much got most of the sets I wanted during those times (as well as a few that I kinda regret getting), so I wouldn't feel the need to go back for round two.

    2001 & 2002 felt like ancient history to me at the time, so going back then to grab obscure stuff, like the Power Pack or random Kanohi packs would be right up my alley. I totally missed the collectables, & unlike the sets of that era, it's hard to 're-create' the experience by just re-building an old set. You'd have to actually open rogue Kanohi packs that managed to survive unopened for 20 years, but that feels flat-out irresponsible given how few sealed ones are left. 

    Plus the chance of grabbing Muaka & Kane-Ra is just too good to pass up. 

    The 2004 fan in me is tempted to pick that year for the chance to snag Ultimate Dume & the occasional Kanoka pack. Ultimate Dume always fascinated me as a kid, looking thru the encyclopedia. Now that I know that the 'exclusive mask' is just a weird misshapen helmet thing, & that Dume's mask is just a red-recolour of Norik's mask (I know Dume wore it 1st, but at the time I'd never seen the Dume set in person, while I had seen Toa Norik's), the set is obvs. less 'mysterious' for me than it was then.

    So yeah, 2001, for random hipster kitsch, no less. 

    • Like 1
  21. IIRC China does not recognize US or European copyright law (and why would you amirite?), so it's beyond easy to bootleg stuff there (since China underpays many of its workers, hiring those workers to make bootlegs is dirt cheap). Gibson guitars, movies, shoes, and yes, LEGO are all bootlegged. 

    Retailers outside of China aren't supposed to buy them, but many do it anyway, and besides, ordering as a private citizen directly from China is super easy anyway. 

    I'm sure this doesn't cover all LEGO bootlegs everywhere, but from what I understand that's the general industry. Anyone more in the know is free to chime in to correct me, however.

  22. Judging by images like these, it's happened at least twice. 

    Mainly caused by stepping on the mask. Masks like the original Hau have a lot of plastic on the sides so stepping on the mask from the front or sides will create a stress mark that may or may not begin to crack.

    Due to the materials these masks are made of, the plastic could splinter off with jagged edges. It may not have happened a whole lot, but ideally it shouldn't happen at all (given stepping on LEGO is practically cliche). The newer style ones could still be damaged by stepping on them, of course, but they would just bend, not shatter, so the person playing with them shouldn't get hurt. 

  23. They've done a few short films (none that I've watched, but I've seen them in places like Walmart, etc.) 

    I suppose they could make one. Lucasfilm has been reluctant to commit to features lately, however, focusing everything on streaming television. The Kenobi movie was moved to a TV series. The Boba Fett movie was cancelled. I believe D&D's trilogy was also cancelled. IX has no sequels planned. The only film-related project that hasn't been shuffled or cancelled to my knowledge is Rian Johnson's trilogy (fortunate considering it's probably the only one of these save Kenobi that has any chance of being good).

  24. I did not know about that transparent part before now, thanks! (now I know why these pieces were so hard to take apart from one another).

    That makes me all the more curious as to what exactly the trans glittery Avohkii and trans great Rau are made out of; presumably something slightly different from their dull gold and Metru counterparts respectively.

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