That Matoran with a Vahi

Okay, I have to ask. Of the images in that article, what games are these two from? Batlord and Royal King fighting outside the former's castle Johnny Thunder standing in front of the wall panel depicting Horus I thought I knew of every Lego game from the pre-TT era, but those two are completely unfamiliar to me, which leaves me very puzzled! xD

Oh, VERY nice! I love their attention to detail with literally every aspect of it; it feels really effective, like I've just walked straight out of the jungle in MNOG, with the Chronicler's Company at my back, to see it for the first time. Really fantastic work on capturing both the atmosphere and the distinctive shaping!

I remember reading that, when Lego was looking around for a studio to produce Mask of Light, almost all the ones they approached were only interested if they could focus the movie on a 'real' human child discovering the island of Mata Nui; when Lego stuck to their guns and said "no human child, Bionicle characters only" most of the studios no longer wanted anything to do with the idea... Miramax was reportedly the only one willing to run the movie as Lego wanted it, so they got the contract. Maybe that's what this is referring to? I don't have a source for that, unfortunately; it was several years ago and I don't remember where, other than probably here on BZPower. It might be somewhere in BS01's copy of the Official Greg Discussion archive, since it's most likely the info came directly from Mr. Farshtey, but I've no idea how to begin searching through that for a single specific answer.

Question: in your mod, do you retain the ability to play as the other six Piraka even after you've beaten Vezon? That was always one of the biggest frustrations for me with the original game: that if you played each level through once, including the final boss battle, and only THEN went back to previous levels (as I tended to do, because to me it seemed redundant to take a second run through each level before fighting Vezon, knowing that I still wouldn't be able to complete them to 100% without him) you missed out on the chance to play the other Piraka completely, because Vezon replaced them as the bonus character in all levels. Since you've put so much work into upgrading them all, it would be a shame to lose the ability to play as them upon unlocking Vezon; if there was some way to keep them available as playable characters, that would be fantastic! In any case, though, looks like really nice work! If I ever play through the game again, I'll give your mod a try!

So, I've been working on these all month! You might have heard of the Inktober art challenge: the aim is to do an ink drawing for every day of October, and a list of prompts is provided for inspiration. In addition to that, I like to pick an overall theme to work within, so I'm not just shooting off wherever for ideas. This year was my second time participating; and, looking at the prompt list in advance, all I was really thinking of was Bionicle ideas for a few of the prompts. This may have come down to me being SUPER-inspired by NickonAquaManga's The Toa Bionicle retelling, which I'd just finished reading (which you should totally check out if you haven't seen it, I can't speak highly enough of it!) and having a ton of Bionicle inspiration that needed an outlet! But in any case, I had in mind Bionicle for my monthly theme, particularly 2001 - 2003, from which most of my relevant inspiration comes, and... I ran with it. So here we have days 1 - 31 of Inktober 2020, Bionicle-themed! I posted more detailed explanations for most of these on DeviantArt, where I was uploading them daily; to explain to my non-Bionicle-savy watchers what was going on, and also just musing around what I picked and why. But to an initiated Bionicle fan, most of these are more self-explanatory, so I'm just going to summarise here, unless there's something that I feel really needs an explanation (like the unashamedly silly one for day 29!). EDIT: The images seem to have broken after a few years, so I'm just gonna replace them with links to the pictures instead. Day 1 - A Ga-Matoran fishes for her living. Day 2 - After Tahnok-Kal steals his Nuva symbol, the most Tahu can summon are wisps of smoke. Day 3 - Onua and Pohatu, the two bulkiest Toa. Day 4 - Kopeke finds an old piece of Metru Nui technology, a radio, that got left behind when the Turaga dismantled the airships. Day 5 - Interesting. The power is in me. The sword is but the focus. Day 6 - To Onepu's dismay, a Kinloka rodent has broken into an Onu-Koronan storehouse. Day 7 - What's more fancy than a golden mask, in Bionicle terms? Gali unlocks hers at her Suva. Day 8 - Matoro (and Takua) find themselves up a little too close and personal with a Muaka's mouthful of teeth. Day 9 - Tamaru in the battle of Kini-Nui, throwing a disk to repel Rahi attackers. Day 10 - "No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand. [Makuta] learned this lesson once. We will teach it to [him] again. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. (Quote source: Babylon 5 2x20, The Long, Twilight Struggle) Jala rallies the Ta-Koro guard with a speech of hope, during the 1000 years of the Makuta Wars. (And one of my favourite quotes from that show, honestly!) Day 11 - “Remember that time I was hanging upside down in a swamp hole, just above some hungry mud crawlers,” said Nuparu. “You know, the ones with the acidic tongues and the breath that smells like Tarakava that’s been out in the sun too long?” “Sure, what about it?” answered Kongu. Nuparu sighed. “Those were the good old days, huh?” I don't know about anyone else, but that sounds like a particularly disgusting situation to be in, to me. And yes, that is a little Kongu up there being all like "Nuparu, how in the HECK?!" (Also I made up what mud crawlers look like, because according to BS01 that was literally their only mention in the storyline and they don't even have a full page on the site, much less an image!) Day 12 - On Takua's first trip to Ko-Wahi, he was probably not prepared for how slippery the icy terrain was underfoot. Day 13 - Pohatu and Hafu pause, for a moment, to appreciate the dunes of Po-Wahi in all their harsh majesty. Day 14 - The freshly-transformed Toa Nuva inspect their new armour for the first time. Day 15 - "Ta-Koro used to reach all the way to the coast; the Charred Jungle used to be a green, peaceful place, but in the fury of our battles it was burnt." Kapura mans a small outpost near the border of Ta-Wahi, across the charred forest from the main city. Day 16 - *You are an obstacle. You do not belong. You will be removed.* "Beware, monster... this "obstacle" has a sting!" Tahu fires the Exo-Toa's electro-rocket. Day 17 - "Water!" "Wind!" "Together, we can summon the might of the storm!" Day 18 - Having caught a Tarakava in her rahi trap, Kotu cautiously takes a few steps forward, hoping to prise off its infected mask. Day 19 - When the Chronicler's company reach the ravine with the broken bridge, Takua naturally turns to his team for suggestions. Most of them helpfully point towards Tamaru's agility and skill with ropes to get across; Taipu, however, has possibly the most invaluable contribution to the discussion: "When I stand at the edge and look down, it makes me dizzy." Day 20 - Diving deep to the bottom of Naho bay, Gali discovers a thriving growth of coral on the sea floor... unbeknownst to her, covering one of Metru Nui's sun-holes. Day 21 - "It is said the Bohrok sleep an eternal sleep, waiting to hatch. Once awakened, the swarms are unstoppable... a force so powerful, they can reduce mountains to rubble, and turn life-giving rivers dry as the desert sands." Day 22 - Because I had literally NO CONTEXT for the term chef in Bionicle, I improvised and took this in a less serious direction... and also took a chance to include the OTP, since it was remiss of me to not have planned them in anywhere else. Huki and Maku, on a date at a Matoran restaurant, are served by the chef herself! Day 23 - "The krana controls your body, Lewa, but not your will. If it is so strong that it can make you harm a friend... then go ahead -- I will not defend myself. But I know you, Lewa. I have fought beside you... and I know you are stronger than this parasite. You are a Toa -- prove yourself worthy of the name!" "Yes... Toa... my people... my friends...! I will not harm Onua, creature... I WILL NOT!" Day 24 - Onua, at home in his element. Day 25 - Sometimes, your best buddy is a giant crab and you ride around on her back when travelling the island. And there's nothing wrong with that. Day 26 - Hahli hides from the Rahkshi during the fall of Ta-Koro. Day 27 - "Who can walk silent in the Wood? Taku-cry and Fikou-chirp, windhorn and trunkdrum, all around is the ceaseless junglesong, dawn, highsun, and night! To unite their voice with this music is the duty of all Le-Matoran." Plus Taipu, the band's biggest non-Le-Koronan fan, dancing along in the foreground there! Day 28 - When he gets some rare downtime during his quest for the Kanohi, I imagine Lewa likes to take advantage of his mask of Levitation to float high above the jungles of Le-Wahi, just kicking back in the air and watching over his realm. Day 29 - "What. Are. Those." "Oh, I dunno. I thought they looked kinda dashing." "I've got twenty-four hours to get rid of this BOZO. Or the entire scheme I've been setting up for 1000 years goes up in smoke. And you. Are wearing. HIS. MERCHANDISE?!" Okay, this one takes a bit of explaining, because it's unashamedly silly and I don't apologise. But the shoes prompt... Bionicle characters don't WEAR shoes, so I was stumped at first. But then I thought of the Rahkshi and Toa Nuva sneakers that had been produced in 2003 to promote the brand. And then I remembered this scene from Disney’s Hercules. And THEN, I discovered that there had been a Takanuva version of the sneakers, in addition to the Tahu/Gali/Lewa ones I remembered… and that was just too perfect an opportunity for me to pass up. Day 30 - "Chronicler, heed us! We step now through the gates of doom." The Toa prepare to enter the ominous heart of Mangaia to confront the master of destruction himself. (And yes, I cheated and photoshopped the background, because I didn't have a red pen for the glow from the entrance, and the scene just didn't capture that ominous feel without the colour!) Day 31 - Captive in the Nui-Rama hive, a pair of Le-Matoran attempt a desperate crawl for freedom. However, with a lightning bug watching their progress, it's unlikely they'll get very far... I am... not altogether sure how I managed, in thirty-one drawings from the Mata Nui arc, to not focus on the Turaga beyond a background appearance on day 1. I just didn't think of them, I guess; my focus was just on whatever seemed to work for any given prompt... as well as making sure that each of the 'main fifteen' Matoran characters, the ones with bios on Bionicle.com in 2002/2003, got featured at least once. And, um. Yes. My style was not very finalised during this. As you can tell, I kind of went back and forth on how expressive I made the masks, and, well... Matoran and Toa have hair. Which... yes, is weird. I'm not honestly sure why, quite, the idea came about, only that it crept into my style years back, when I was doodling Bionicle characters all the time as a teen, and I kinda liked it so - when I wasn't going for complete set-realism - I kept it around. It makes these otherwise very alien beings just a little more human-like, I feel, and that's something I like when I depict them. As you can tell, I went back to MNOG, the comics and (occassionally) the movies for reference; but I tried very hard not to copy directly, instead taking elements and changing around camera angles, poses, etc. to make them more 'my own work'. There are, I must admit, some of these that I like the result of A LOT better than others... but I hope you enjoy seeing the biggest output of Bionicle work that I've produced in many years!

This is absolutely fantastic! It looks even better than the original comic scene; and I especially love what you've done with the lighting: both in making the characters' eyes glow so believably, and in the reflections on the golden masks. The composition, too, is incredible; and I really, REALLY like the way you've done the background... if I hadn't looked at the time-lapse video, I would have assumed it was a single photo, you've brought it all together so perfectly. Really excellent work! (And on a more minor note, I enjoyed the way you used music from Bionicle: the Game as the audio on that video too!) May I ask how long it took to make? ^^

I think the most jarring thing about this is the realisation that it means Web of Shadows has now existed for more than half of my current lifetime. (Actually, last year it would have been exactly half, but I didn't think about it then.) I don't know what to do with this realisation, but it makes me mildly uncomfortable because it just DOES NOT feel like that long ago in the slightest. Oh yeah, I absolutely agree: that is, hands down, my favourite part of the movie's arc. The fact that it's Matau, of all the team, who is one who puts the most determination into bringing Vakama back. Honestly, that's probably what makes the whole movie for me; Matau's character growth there is so easily understated, but seeing the way he comes around to fight SO HARD for Vakama at the end is just so good, imo. I will say, though... that in-universe, I feel like Vakama hyped the story up to be darker than it actually ended up being? At the end of Challenge of the Hordika, this is how he builds it up: And I have to say, reading that for the first time several years later, my reaction was something along the lines of how is he talking about Web of Shadows in its finished form? What was the story ORIGINALLY going to be like to justify that intense build-up? xD

I think there's definitely evidence to back up this theory. On the one hand, I don't think the twelve-matoran-per-village thing was ever strictly adhered to: it is exactly how many Matoran are shown per village in MNOG II (with the exception of Le-Koro, where half the inhabitants are out on Gukko patrol, and Ta-Koro which has twelve-plus-Takua), which I think is where the number comes from, but even that doesn't strictly correlate with previous media. For example, we see several Matoran in the first MNOG who don't match any of the named characters depicted in the second; plus, in comic #5, To Trap a Tahnok, looking closely at the scene where Tahu is rallying the Ta-Koronans, reveals about twenty Matoran visible in a single panel (although they're clustered close together, so the most that can be seen of several of them is just the very top edge of their masks!). But that's tangential; as I was saying, comic #6, Into the Nest, gives us this little insight from Pohatu: In addition, while I know that it's non-canon, 2003's Bionicle: the Game backs up this idea too: all throughout the various Wahi the Toa explore, there are various clusters of Matoran huts set apart from the main village; though we see very few inhabitants in any of them, the fact that such buildings are there definitely points to the idea that many Matoran live apart from the main villages. Those are just my observations to add to this, at least ^^

Oh yeah, I should do this too, huh? Good: JSLBrowning (buyer) - All went well, smooth transaction, no problems at all.

Graphic Novel #1: Rise of the Toa Nuva, for me, literally yesterday. I've been taking part in Inktober this year - you know, the challenge to make an ink drawing each day of October, based on a list of prompts? - and, I decided to take Bionicle's early years as my overall theme for this year; as such, I've been delving particularly into MNOG and the comics for visual reference and inspiration. And perhaps naturally, it's easy to get sucked into the nostalgia and find myself continuing reading anyway, even beyond what I specifically was looking for xD So, needing to reference the Exo-Toa yesterday, I found myself flicking through much of Into the Nest and What Lurks Below, especially. And I'm already expecting today's to take me, again, into The Bohrok Awake... ^^

That. That is my favourite thing about G2, right there. I can't speak for much else; I missed G2 completely. In fact, I didn't even realise that detail for the longest time; I hadn't ever stopped to look closely at the sets until I had the chance to win one from participating in the fanfic exchange. I was just looking at the images on Brickset to see what I thought of them, and that detail absolutely leapt out at me; my respect for G2 increased a lot from just that tiny little inclusion!

If I may ask; is that the same version that was available for download from Bionicle.com back in the day, or is this a better version? I've still got the 2006-or-so download version, but it had a few dialogue files and such missing; is the BioMediaProject one more complete? Because if so, I may have to replace the one I have with that version ^^

I completely agree with this one; but I think I eventually figured out the reason why we never got them. When they were released, in America, it was to coincide with the theme's summer debut, to promote them to people who would likely never have seen a Bionicle set before. The franchise was new, most people would have had little context for it, and their goal was to pique people's interest over a happy meal. Over here though, of course, the Toa had been available for half a year already, it wasn't such a 'NEW BIG THING' that needed promoting; and I assume sales were already good enough as it was so Lego didn't feel like they needed to spend more on making sure it caught interest over here, since it had already taken off so well. Which... yeah. I can kinda see the logic behind that, but I still regret that we never saw them here, especially since MNOG became such a big hit. Though it did mean I was all over the 2003 Matoran when they dropped xD But the MNOG designs were just so small and appealing... I would probably have got my hands on a small army of the little guys, if they'd been available here!

Oh, absolutely Mata Nui. I'd make my home in Ga- or Onu-Koro, for sure - they both feel like really soothing environments to me - but I can't pick a favourite location; I love the sense of atmosphere and depth to the whole island world, from the jungles of Le-Wahi to the volcano with Ta-Koro at its heart to the central Kini-Nui temple. It was just such an amazing - and, as Bionicle Guru says, exotic - place that you feel like you could spend weeks, months, even years exploring it and still not have seen everything. It's just such a fascinating world. Also? That concept art of Ga-Koro looks amazing

It doesn't answer the question; but his abilities and traits section, further down his BS01 page, elaborates at least a little more on what it meant by big and little problems: Though, again, that's [citation needed] too, so I couldn't say how accurate it is. I hadn't even heard about his quitting the team, besides the tiny amount we got given in comic 25, until I was looking at the Rahaga pages on BS01 earlier this week.

I think, aesthetically, I honestly like water best. A lot of the elements are cool, but there's just something about the calming, soothing aspect of water that makes me love it more than, say, ice or earth or fire. Then, personality-wise... I'd say I'm kinda a blend between earth and water, but I went with the former just to give a different answer to both parts. Curiously enough, according to the topic Aderia linked to, I would fall under Psionics by that categorisation... although I relate to that element not at all and, despite testing as the relevant personality type, don't match the description of it in that thread either xD Their description of earth, in fact, feels much more like me than the others, which may have swayed my vote on that part too.

IC: Tarutu - Black Spike Mountains "That sure works for me... depending on what our expedition leader says, of course." She quirked an eyebrow in Tekmo's direction. The deference, naturally, was little more than for show, and carried more than a small hint of sarcasm; Tarutu was sure they both knew that, whether she was permitted or forbidden, she was going to get involved anyway... and out here, the guard from Tesara had no real authority to override her choice. But it seemed fair to her to at least give him the chance to offer his opinion, one way or the other. But she doubted he'd have reason to say no, if they were all working towards the same goal here. "What do you say, Tekmo? Let a girl put her skills to good use?" @Toru Nui @Nato the Traveler IC: Kastir - The Arena "Oh, I wasn't thinking of going there. But am I wrong in thinking that there are Bota Magna natives living amongst everyone else in the cities, now?" She couldn't say for absolute certain, not when she'd been away from the (relatively) civilised world for some time now; and Bota Magnans, Bara Magnans, they all looked much the same to her at a cursory glance. But all the same, if there were some natives of Bota Magna about, tactful questioning should show her who they were, and she could surely bring someone back here to help... be they willing or not. The giant woman gave a shrug. "Shouldn't take me long to find one in Atero or Tesara, I'm sure. I can be there and back before you know it." That was an... exaggeration. While she could certainly be there that quickly, it was risky for her to use her natural teleportation powers more than once in a day; not impossible, but they were taxing enough that a single such jump would tire her out. A second, so soon after, would be foolish unless it came out of absolute necessity; but even so, there were other ways of getting back here once she found some suitable volunteer. She paused, almost hesitating for a moment. "Unless we think the Star thing is more likely?" @Ironfist @Click (ooc: Sorry, sorry I'm so slow! Other places, other projects, have been taking up my attention and creative muse. Gonna try and keep up better from here on out, though!)

Oh yeah. For me, mainly, the fact that characters never seemed to keep the same colour schemes when they transformed was a often puzzling. The Toa Metru, for example, could have looked neat with highlights in their Turaga colour schemes, instead of the ever-present dark grey... in fact, the Miramax movie designs do add traces of those shades to them, which feels a lot more natural to me. And even more so with the Toa Inika. I get that the bright colours of the Matoran didn't exactly lend to the 'dark and gritty' look that 2006 was striving for (and that teal was out of production by then, so Kongo would have lost out either way); but personally speaking, familiar colour schemes would have made a world of difference in making the Inika look like the characters we already knew and loved. Some hints of orange on Nuparu, maybe; not overmuch, just to make the connection with the little Matoran from the boxor in 2002. A bit of yellow for Jaller. Maybe going the Vorox route and making Hewkii's secondary colour tan, instead of yellow, since it was one that he wore as a Matoran. At least, that's my personal thoughts ^^ And I don't even know what to say about the canonically black and gold Karzahni being green in set form! I wonder, though. I wonder if the set department didn't design the Toa waves first, with no specific intent for them to be transformations of already-known characters; and it's only later that the story department decided "oh, this set of new Toa we've been given? They can be the same people as the little guys from 2001..." I've honestly long been curious whether sets were designed to meet story needs, or story had to just take whatever sets they were given and make something of them; though I feel like the latter might be more likely.

Oh wow, nineteen years. That's a long time! And to think, BZ wasn't even three years old yet when I joined it. That... makes me feel low-key ancient, even though I know for certain there are people here who have been members even longer than I have. Happy birthday to !

Nothing overly special to offer here, I'm afraid: but I've just lately been sorting a lot of my stuff in preparation for moving out, and decided to pass on a few of my remaining Bionicle things. I was gonna go for eBay, but I figured I'd let you guys have first refusal, just in case anyone's looking for these things. And I still haven't got around to going to eBay, so most of these things are still here if anyone wants ^^ I can provide photos of anything, if you want to verify condition before committing. I'm offering for sale or trade: 1x Glatorian Mata Nui set. Very good condition; only opened two or three years ago, been posed, displayed and stored but not seen a lot of wear. Unfortunately has one damaged joint (one of the yellow upper-arm sockets) that cracked when I was taking him apart, though the piece is still useable. Complete with canister and instructions. 1x Bionicle: Rahi Beasts guide. Decent condition; it came to me used, so it's not perfect, but no substantial damage. Just a bit of creasing, slightly tattered edges here and there. 1x Bionicle: Dark Hunters guide. Good condition. 1x Bionicle: Raid on Vulcanus novel. Very good condition, only read twice. 1x Bionicle: the Game for PC. Average condition; played a lot but not showing any damage, though the instruction manual has a couple of Bionicle stickers slapped on its cover. Can't get it to work on new systems (it ran on my old Windows 7 PC, even when I upgraded to Windows 10; but won't play on my newer laptop), but is still good for a pre-Windows 10 machine. A small handful of promo CDs: the Toa Mata, Nuhvok-Kal, Lehvak-Kal, Panrahk and Toa Nuju. The Kal and Panrahk have had the character names scrawled on them, however a CD-safe pen was used so the content isn't damaged in any way, and they still played fine when I last used them. I can't test the Toa Mata disk because it doesn't run on my current machine; but I recall it did work back when I had an older computer. Also a bunch of spare Bionicle pieces that my Bricklink store is failing to move. If you want to make me an offer for anything in particular, or just the job-lot of them (32 pieces total, plus 4 slizer parts, unless anyone else buys some from my store first), I'm open; I just want to get them off my hands at this point! On the same note, a few empty Slizer / Throwbot containers, if anyone wants them. I don't keep the sets in the containers, so I have no use for them; but I also don't just want to throw them out if someone else might want them. I know there's probably not a lot here of much worth; so I'm just running this like... I'm willing to accept reasonable offers, really. Alternately, there are a few things I'd be looking to trade, if we can reach a mutual agreement; I'm almost more interested in trading something for something than in getting money out of it, although I'll accept money offers as well. Basically, make me an offer whichever way works for you, if there's anything you're interested in ^^ I'm interested in trading for: **Tohunga / McToran, any except Kongu and Nuparu. Particularly looking for Maku, Matoro, Jala. Used condition is fine.** Possibly certain other G1 sets of appropriate value? I'm just a little nostalgic for a few of the ones who I used to have but don't anymore, although I don't have a specific list of what I'm after here; if I've anything you'd like to trade for, throw some suggestions at me, and we can hopefully come to something we're both happy with ^^ Maybe the 2002 gold Kanohi (except the Miru, which I already have), depending on what they're being offered in exchange for. Also of note: I'm in the UK, so international shipping costs may need to be taken into account. If you'd like a shipping estimate before committing to anything, feel free to ask!

Just a note for if it helps you in your search: the issues of the Lego Adventures magazine that you're looking for are #30, #31, #32, #33 and #34. They were the last five issues of the magazine's run ^^ In actual fact, I see someone's selling issue #30 on Bricklink, if that helps you at all? https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?B=amUK01Sep#T=S&O={"iconly":0} (Or if that's not convenient for you, I could always buy it from the seller myself and send it to you in the same package as the CDs we're already talking about?)

I don't think I have anything to even add here: I just have to say that I now want to visit @Xboxtravis's park, because that sounds LITERALLY AMAZING. I could totally believe that being a real theme park, and honestly it's everything I'd ever want from a Bionicle take on the concept!

Oh wow, neat! I've only ever seen this comic online; it's great to see classic D'Anda art of some of our favourite Matoran in such high quality. Thanks for sharing Though... one thing about this comic has always seemed weird to me, does it to anyone else? How Hewkii, the literal sports star, is the one who "always misses the target"? Granted, disk-throwing is kinda a different game to kicking a Koli ball about; but even so, it feels like a strange characterisation for the island's most famous sports player. Maybe I'm just being picky, though, so don't mind me xD

Let me preface by saying that I tend not to dwell on the disappointments. I'm sure I had plenty, back in the day; but, ten years on, I'd rather remember the good things about BIONICLE, not the things that didn't happen. And sometimes, even things that seemed horribly disappointing at the time even turned out to be for the better: like Legend of Mata Nui's cancellation, which saw MNOG rise in its place as the main story vehicle for the year and feels a lot richer for it. Though to actually answer the question! I'd say the one big disappointment for me, was one that I didn't even realise at the time because I didn't learn of it until a few years later: and that was, not getting the Tohunga McDonalds promotion in the UK. I love those little guys; but I was never able to find them anywhere; I didn't even know, for the longest time, that any of them except for Hafu and Nuparu had seen physical form at all! Naturally, this makes them difficult to get hold of on the aftermarket over here; it feels as though they slipped through my fingers through nothing I could affect, and I still low-key regret that being the case. Also, I mean. I just remembered that the lack of Templar involvement in Bionicle media from 2005-onwards was pretty disappointing, too! Would have been neat to have seen later years represented in their distinctive style; particularly if they had used it to slip in some callbacks to the original MNOG, too. (I just watched that Making of the Mata Nui Online Game video today, and may be slightly biased based on that... could you tell? xD)