Wrinkledlion X

I've gone on about this elsewhere, but here's my idea for Bionicle's return: Don't make it a return of Bionicle, make it a sequel to Bionicle. The fact that it takes place in the same world as Bionicle is something that's only ever hinted at, because this is a new LEGO constraction line that just happens to have easter eggs for older fans.

 

So, our hidden background: Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the Mata Nui robot crash-landed on what was once called Spherus Magna, and its camouflage activated, creating an enormous mountain range. (For the purpose of this series, let's say he landed face-up instead of face-down.) One end of the mountain range resembles the island of Mata Nui, in the form of a vast plateau, but it's never spelled out explicitly. Possibly, the Matoran and Agori merged together into a single race over time, and those can be our protagonists—LEGO can handle that however they like.

 

With this as a backdrop, you can tell whatever new stories you want with your main characters. On the rare occasion that characters go deep underground beneath the mountains, perhaps you can find ruins of dead cities and islands, but you don't have to explain it other than to say that those who lived there once are gone now. I think this approach would embrace the mysterious spirit of classic Bionicle, but it would allow for completely different stories to be told in a setting that's basically new. We wouldn't have to worry about young fans getting confused the way they did with Bionicle's crazy-complex story, but it would still be built on a solid foundation.

Since I haven't been active in the Bionicle community for a few years, I had actually forgotten until now that his name was Teridax.

 

I think the big problem with "Teridax" is that it feels really forced. It hits all the bases of a cheesy science fiction character's name—incorporate the word "terrible" in there, work in an "X," etc. Obviously I'm biased toward "Makuta" because I knew him that way for eight years before they changed things, but it feels a lot less generic. It comes across as more natural and organic since it's rooted in 2001's naming conventions, which were designed around a real-world language.

Ah, I missed that. Well thar we go.

Yeah, but I can't find anything that suggests "Jala" was taken from another language. There are a few towns around the world with that name, and it looks like it's an obscure synonym for "water" in Sanskrit, but that's all I can find for it.

 

But mostly it's the weirdness of the respelling itself that always got to me. Why the silent R? It doesn't sit well with the rest of BIONICLE's spelling conventions at the time.

Just thought I would draw attention to this:

 

Also, if "Jala" isn't Maori, I'd love to know why they changed his name to "Jaller." That was always the most bewildering of the name changes that year.

I wanted more symmetry in the ending.

 

I always loved the idea of Mata Nui flying through space and landing on different planets, forming a new island each time. I think when the MU robot was destroyed, it should have landed on its back instead of face down, and regenerated a new "island" in the middle of the desert. How cool would it be for the island of Mata Nui to rise again, this time as a mountainous plateau on another planet?

 

It just seems a little kinder to the fans. End the story with all the Matoran emerging onto the island of Mata Nui and seeing the light of day again.

Difficult to say. My Matoran character wore a Ruru, but I'd probably go for a Miru.

 

So pointy.

Is anyone here able to get rid of the thin, square border around all our avatars? It's a minor quibble, but for years I had a circular avatar with a transparent background, and I kind of miss how clean it looked.

We've entered the modern age at last!

Well I'm both glad and depressed that I chose today to pop back in. How do I search the archives for my old posts? I can't log in for some reason.

Gotta be Onua. I like that he's the most wise and stable of the Toa, but isn't as "preachy" about it as Gali. (Not that she's preachy, per se, but she draws more attention to herself than Onua.) Onua is introverted in a really cool way—he just waits around in the background while the other Toa squabble, and he's always there to rescue them when they get themselves in trouble.

 

I remember in the early story bible stuff, he was referred to as the oldest of the Toa, and he really does function like a big brother in a lot of ways.

Ah man, I remember spending hours as a kid playing the MNOLG. Not even playing it, exactly—mostly just exploring it. I would go up onto the cliffs and stare into the telescope for ages, listening to that eerie music.

 

I always assumed there were Throwbots out there.

I think you could make a very strong case for Kapura, but the others are pushing it. I like the idea that not all Matoran of one breed have to be the same, so the misfits in the Chronicler's Company are nice to keep around.That said, why so little discussion of Midak? That guy could definitely be an Av-Matoran.

Inertia, but the good kind. This was the first home base I ever had online, way back in January 2003... It's not my home base anymore by any stretch of the imagination (it's been replaced by a certain social networking site), but I owe it a lot.

Although, the reason the Toa Inika existed was that Jaller took it upon himself to betray the Turaga, and that, in turn, was because Nokama told him about Voya Nui. I don't think Nokama would have trusted any other Matoran to carry the information (from the other Turaga's POV, even Jaller couldn't be trusted).

I actually really did like the betrayal aspect of the story—it was a fun bit of intrigue. (2006 had a really strong start, even though the middle was uneven.) That said, I think it would have been a worthy sacrifice in exchange for a stronger cast of characters over the next two years.

Naturally heavier, with "strong sense of balance" in second. Keep it simple!

 

(Just make them fatter than other matoran)

On that subject, I think it would have been great to see the Chronicler's Company as Toa instead of Jala & Friends.

 

I don't know how Greg would have re-introduced them after so long, but they'd have made for a Toa team like we'd never seen before. Instead of another quiet-but-smart Toa of Earth, we'd get dumb-but-lovable Taipu. Kapura probably wouldn't work as leader, so we'd have to put somebody other than a Fire Toa in charge—perhaps even our first leaderless Toa team, because everyone in the Chronicler's Company is such a misfit. Even with everyone getting along great, we'd have gotten a lot more characterization than we ever did from the Inika/Mahri.

 

Plus, Kapura would get to meet Velika!

For me, the most annoying part of BZPower is kind of indefinable—it's an aspect of the site's culture.

 

We've always had this weird compulsion to jump on any point of discussion—be it a complaint or a theory or what have you—and just beat it into a pulp. I mean, we've got a guy in this topic who says he'd like to talk religion and politics, and five different members respond to him, each enlightening him with several paragraphs of typing. Why so intense? He only wrote a single sentence and then dropped out of the conversation, and it's not like this hasn't been discussed before, anyways. You don't need to tackle every possible viewpoint with such intensity. Most anywhere else you go online, things are pretty laid-back compared to BZP.

 

That said, I do feel nostalgia whenever I drop by to visit the site and see that it's as tense as it's always been. We've been going at it like this since 2003, at least.

As in you have it, or you want it so badly?

___

 

As in "I've wanted it desperately for over ten years."

How about the yellow Ruru from the Sand Tarakava? That set is my holy grail:

 

I used to, years ago. Onua Nuva would go with me everywhere, and often I'd buy a new set while on road trips with my dad. I remember getting both Nidhiki and Gadunka while on the road.

What nonexistent pieces do you really wish existed? They can be functional pieces, or simply re-colors.

 

I really want Mctoran pieces in different colors. A teal body and lime-green feet for Tamaru would be just magical. Why must so many of these characters be impossible to build?

Taipu from the 2001 Power Pack. (Technically Hafu, but come on—we all know which one really wears the Ruru.)

Toa Mata, followed (oddly enough) by the Piraka. Two very different approaches to set design, but they're probably the best example of their respective styles.

@Tazakk, Yes, I was looking for the story year animations, not the Templar cartoons. Thanks for the "popular video site" referral—it's exactly what I'm looking for. Great to hear that dramatic music again! I remember they had some of the same music in the second Bohrok Kal animation, but not in its entirety as it is here.