That Matoran with a Vahi

"Gathered friends. Listen again to our legend... of the BIONICLE." I wanted to celebrate Mask of Light's 20th. We all know, I'm sure, that it's not the greatest movie out there by a long shot: but on a personal level it's still one with incredible significance to me. It's one HUGE part of my... well, not really childhood, it just slightly missed that, more like teenagerhood? It came along just after I'd started Secondary School (i.e. UK middle-to-high school) and was feeling very self-conscious about the move up there; having something so new and fantastic from my then-favourite fandom to latch onto... I can hardly overstate what a massive help that was in keeping me grounded. Very happy 20th, Mask of Light; and an immense thank-you to all those who made it a reality just when I needed it most.

IC: Jeizmel, Streets of Atero "No price is too high for such craftsmanship." Maybe she shouldn't have said that, Jeizmel was well aware, if she didn't want to encourage Xani to raise the cost on her right then and there... and even if she was happy with the amount, she could practically feel her wallet cringing as she extracted the required currency from it. She could afford it, sure, but it would leave things a little tight for her finances if she didn't find some kind of job soon-- But, again, Jeizmel was enough of an odd-jobs woman to be confident that some paying opportunity would cross her path soon enough: either here or in Tajun. She had no need to be worried. She slid the currency into Xani's hand, then busied herself with arranging the glittering trinket perfectly around her left wrist. She nodded her approval with how comfortably it settled into place; then, in the name of keeping the conversation rolling, she glanced to Xani again. "Were you thinking of heading to Tajun after this? I know you said you're not a fan of the sport, but I'm sure you'd find a lot of customers in the tournament crowds." @Daniel the Finlander @Toru Nui

I love Muaka and Kane-Ra. On the one hand I wish they were a bit different from each other, because it's a weird world where tigers and bulls are identical except for their noses, ears, feet and colours... but they're just such a cool, immersive build that it's hard to hold that against them. I have legitimately not found any other action feature in a Bionicle set that is as satisfying as the two of them lunging forward with their necks and their jaws snapping shut, it is just. The coolest. I didn't get them when they were new, only a few years later, but I fell in love with them right away. I like, too, how their faces are just built out of normal technic, very few specialised parts, yet are still very clear what they're meant to be. I also like 2008!Takanuva a lot, too, for being an impressively substantial Titan build who - more than any of the other Toa that year - resembles the character he's meant to be... who himself is very significant to me because I loved Mask of Light so much as a child. (unfortunately that's one set I don't imagine I'll ever own again: I sold him while I was clearing out a decade ago, and now he only goes for like £90+ on eBay and I cannot justify spending that much to get him back!)

IC: Akie - Onu-Koro Square Oh boy. Bad memories, huh? She winced a little. Definitely a good time to stop making assumptions, if even just the mention of Turaga seemed to spook her new friend so much; Akie could make a hundred guesses at why it might be such a touchy subject, but in all honesty she didn't need to know. A settlement ruled by its own Matoran might be a new concept to her, but clearly it worked... And clearly things were different on Mata Nui than what she dimly perceived as expected, so she'd keep her thoughts to herself and learn, instead. Seemed, at least, that Toa were still respected here at least, though, even if Turaga weren't; at least, that was what she gathered from the suggestion that her presence may open a few doors with the Akiri. She shrugged a little, a light bounce of her shoulders. "Glad if I can be of help. I..." She guessed he'd been hoping to speak to the Akiri too, anyway, given how quickly he jumped at the chance of joining her. She might have said that aloud, in fact, if not for the distraction of him accepting the widgets back, and then-- Her eyes snapped wide as she saw him stumble, and the moment his feet left the ground Akie on instinct thrust out a hand. Her element of gravity thrummed through her veins and out of her fingertips, catching Gonrae and making him just a touch lighter. Enough to keep him from hitting the ground, while also being careful not to overdo it - didn't want to send him floating away, of course. "Whoa, careful there." Just sounding casual, as if catching people with her elemental powers was something she did every day. @oncertainty

IC: Jeizmel, Streets of Atero "Ooooh." Her eyes sparkled at the sight of the beautiful objects on display. Their delicate details, the way they gleamed as the overhead sun caught them... all at once she was transported back to that moment all those years ago, when she had first discovered just how deeply crystals of ice in their very purest form touched her soul. Every piece of the jewellery seemed to call her back to that moment, reminding her of the thing she thought so important in life... If she hadn't been convinced before, she knew now that she had to get one of them for herself. Blue gaze scanned over the items, searching for the perfect one that really called to her, and it took very little time for her to make her choice. "How much would you ask for that bracelet?" The one she pointed at was a good thickness - enough so that she'd notice it every time she looked at her arm, not so much as to get in her way while doing tasks - and glinted sharply just like the most freshly-formed icicles. It would be perfect-- Just supposing she could afford it, that was. @Daniel the Finlander @Toru Nui

I know my favourite was one of the Onu-Koro ones. Took me a minute to place exactly where it fit in the game, I wanted to say it was the one that plays near the Le-Koro dig site, but I couldn't remember for sure. I just went looking on YouTube though, and found it again - yes, this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yy8u-D0Ud0 It's always been one of my favourites, it's just... such a great ambiance piece, I really like it.

OoooOOOH, I loved that last chapter! It feels like such a perfect culmination, and such a strong note to end on with Exxan taking his first steps to move forward. Really nicely written, too, got me very invested in it ^^ (I also have to mention that I really appreciated the passing mention of Blizzard towards the end there; I'm happy to know that Exxxan will be taking her up on he offer )

Okay, so this is... random. But it's just something that occurred to me and now I'm puzzled. The Toa Mata, right? As we learn in Swamp of Secrets, the Toa Mata haven't had the most eventful past. They were created in what seems to be secret by the Order of Mata Nui, spent (x) amount of time training, (x) more months battling thingies in Karda Nui, and then got into canisters and stayed there for multiple thousands of years. While some Matoran who would end up on Mata Nui, like Takua, did meet them in Karda Nui, they had their memories wiped in the Time Slip when they were placed in the wider world, so that knowledge would have been unlikely to progress far. No-one in Metru Nui is mentioned or implied to have known about the Mata during the 04-05 story (it's stated in Maze of Shadows that the Toa Metru hid the Toa stones with the intention that they would be used by future Matoran to become Toa, rather than to summon already-existing heroes as they eventually were), and almost everyone who the Nuva meet in the wider universe, apart from members of the OoMN, don't recognise them as special from any other Toa. Yet, then there's 2001. Where not only do the Matoran of Mata Nui know that they're expecting Toa to arrive, they know exactly who those Toa are, even down to their physical appearances if all the statues of them around the island are any indication, and have multiple stories and legends about them. And I just have to wonder, how? In real life, of course, this can probably just be attributed to a difference of vision between the earlier and later iterations of the Bionicle story team; but I was wondering if there was - or could be - an in-universe explanation for it, too.

IC: Akie - Onu-Koro Square So, Makuta was a he... that was good to know insomuch as it would make it easier to refer to him, although it otherwise didn't increase her understanding any further. She could take plenty of guesses as to the nature of this Makuta, sure, but without the context Akie felt like she would shoot pretty wide of the mark. She already had in her head that he was some kind of undead being, and even that may not have been strictly true... so she'd wait until she knew a bit more before voicing any such guesses aloud. Fortunately, her companion already had a follow-up suggestion for her. "Akiri? You mean you're not led by a Turaga?" That was standard practice, she had assumed... but in fairness, Akie would have been drawing from a pretty small pool of reference even without her amnesia. Maybe settlements were usually lead by Akiri Matoran, and wherever she'd come from had been the oddity; she, again, could hardly say. Maybe she should just hold her tongue on making random assumptions from here on out, when this place clearly had its own effective ways of doing things. "But that sounds good! Whatever he needs of me, I should be able to do." Whether it was joining a Toa team, at least temporarily, helping make other preparations for what she presumed would be a battle, or what. Akie was a girl who liked to make herself useful when she could, so she'd run with whatever was demanded of her. "Where would I find him? Oh, and--" remembering something, she held out back to Gonrae the bag he'd had her pay for his drink from. "Your widgets, by the way." @oncertainty

IC: Akie - Onu-Koro Square Ah. Akie felt a little bit of a chill caress her spine as Gonrae explained to her. Not that what he said added much to her understanding, but between it being very old and very bad, and the mention of ghost stories, she figured she could put together some pieces... and found she wasn't most comfortable with what they suggested to her. Whether this Makuta was genuinely some kind of undead that had menaced the island before, or whether her guess was going wide... Well, either way. It couldn't be good. "Well... with Toa Akie on the case, you shouldn't have anything to worry about! Who's the best person to talk to about sending this thing back where it came from?" She... didn't necessarily feel the level of confidence that she was projecting; if she was honest, it was mostly just an act that she hoped would lift her friend's spirits even for just a moment. This place surely had Toa forces of its own that she could lend her strength to, even if she wasn't officially joining up with them; she might generally fly solo, but even she knew when something was far too big to handle alone. ooc: @oncertainty No worries, I completely understand! I've been slow myself too, sorry!

Thanks for including it! If I may make one tiny correction, though... in the last paragraph of your introduction, where you said 'wanted to share his story'; I didn't make it clear, sorry, but Blizzard's actually a girl. I'd like to add, though, I really enjoyed the introduction there; the perception of the world that you've given to Exxan is a really interesting one, and I like all the little ways you express that in his narration ^^

IC: Jeizmel, Streets of Atero "I confess I didn't bring a fortune with me; but I'll certainly buy something small, at the very least." She had some money, after all. Like she'd said, it wasn't exactly a fortune, and she should probably really be saving most of it for supplies and lodging for as long as she was going to be moving around... but this was a special case. Not only was it helping to support a fellow tribeswoman, one who was of a like mind to herself no less, but having a little pendant or such to carry around with her, displaying this beautiful, intricate purity, would be a constant reminder of everything that she stood for; it would be perfect. And, as she'd told Vraek just before Xani had arrived, she was confident she could earn her own keep as they travelled, enough to make back whatever she spent here; an odd-jobs woman like her, surely, could always find something that she could do. She hid a little grin behind one hand as Vraek made sure to clarify that the idea of things of beauty being delicate didn't apply to herself. Perhaps the Glatorian hadn't meant it specifically to be humorous - hence, hiding her reaction, since she had no intention to offend - but it certainly was enough to amuse Jeizmel a small amount. Though not that she would have thought otherwise of Vraek, even without the clarification. @Daniel the Finlander @Toru Nui

Ooh, I KNOW I've seen photos of that one, or at least a very similar model, back in the day. I thought it was here on BZP, but a quick search through the news archives didn't immediately reveal it. I definitely have a saved photo of the model that I must have found somewhere on the internet though; from that picture's context it looks like it was a model at an official Lego shop, or maybe a Legoland park store? Definitely must be from 2005, that was the year those sets were new. I wonder if a deeper trawl through the BZP news archives for that year might turn up something more on it...

Belatedly, but: Whoo, Lhikan! He's been possibly my favourite Bionicle boy since LoMN, I'm really happy to see him come out top; though for me it was definitely a tough pick between him and Takanuva! I'm surprised by just how few votes Tahu had compared to them though; I thought for sure he'd put in a tighter race, since he's the face of the brand. I guess against any other sets he might have done better; but I remember that both the golden boys were very impressive back in the day, and still feel like particular stand-outs to this day in my view, so it makes sense ^^ Looking forward to more of these brackets, because this was fun!

IC: Jeizmel, Streets of Atero A fan was... as good a description of herself as any, Jeizmel figured. More a fan of Vraek as a person than as a fighter; but in the end it all amounted to the same thing. She nodded her head a couple of times, agreeably; but was distracted from saying more by their new companion's next words. A crystal crafter? She knew it, she had been sure this was someone who appreciated ice for its purity just as she did, and that - as well as the mention of being misunderstood - was all the confirmation that Jeizmel needed. Surely this was a lady of like mind to her own! "It is beautiful," she added her own appreciation to Vraek's, her voice soft as her blue gaze wandering the intricate shaping of Xani's mask. "I'm not really an artist, but there's nothing I appreciate more than the purity of such work. I'd love to see more." Oh of course, names, names... "I- I'm Jeizmel. It's a true pleasure." ooc: Iiiiii'm sorry this is so late! I've been working on other things and kinda neglected to check in here for a while ^^; @Daniel the Finlander @Toru Nui