Wrinkledlion X

 

Whoa, I signed up when I was nine. I'm 22 now, so I guess I've been on here for over half my life.

 

I just spent an hour or so browsing through old threads on the Wayback Machine, and it's clear that the average age has increased dramatically over the years. As evidence, I submit this thread that was the #1 hot topic one summer day in mid-2003: https://web.archive.org/web/20030801102503/http://bzpower.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=30&t=74636&st=0

 

Good grief. I remember how long it took me to get used to the minimalist art design of the rebooted forums, but looking at that link you posted, the old forums were an absolute EYESORE. Was there any real need for the post divider line to be that particular shade of maroon?

 

The bright colors are quite cheerful, though.

I remember seeing those on the LEGO site a really long time ago, probably 2002-2003. It was an article about the origins of the BIONICLE franchise. It talked about the Pacific island cultures that inspired the island of Mata Nui, early set prototypes (specifically, this one) and, of course, these mask prototypes. There was this one really freaky one, too:

 

I always liked this one. Makes me think of a Toa of Ice Cream. 

I'm not gonna say this definitively (because I'm no mask expert) but that might just be a black and white photo of the gold Kraakhan: http://imgur.com/a/lFJGD#0

Whoa, I signed up when I was nine. I'm 22 now, so I guess I've been on here for over half my life.

I just spent an hour or so browsing through old threads on the Wayback Machine, and it's clear that the average age has increased dramatically over the years. As evidence, I submit this thread that was the #1 hot topic one summer day in mid-2003: https://web.archive.org/web/20030801102503/http://bzpower.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=30&t=74636&st=0

 

Go further back dude! Recreate this look: https://web.archive.org/web/20050216202138/http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=30&t=165883&st=0

Oh man, I would be all over that. Or, even better! 

 

Come on, let's go all the way: https://web.archive.org/web/20011019063831/http://www.bzcommunity.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi

Go further back dude! Recreate this look: https://web.archive.org/web/20050216202138/http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=30&t=165883&st=0

Yo xccj! 

Very fun entry. You nailed the G1 rahi look with that Vako—the whole "face made of technic parts" is really reminiscent of the Master Builder Set. Was there ever an official rahi with a head made out of those rounded bracket pieces? I feel like there must have been. 

The sunglasses are pretty ingenious too. I really like the way they mount to the head from the back; it's clearly based on something from the real world, but adapted in a weird way that fits well with Bionicle. My only complaint is that the Le-Matoran seems a little dark... I kind of wish he had a brighter secondary color, both because it would seem more "beach-y" and because it would make the sunglasses pop more if they were the only major black part on his body. 

I really love this.

Contrary to what other people are saying, I think it feels very G1—gives me a 2002 vibe. Conceptually it's similar to the Exo-Toa and Boxor, and the dark grey with yellow industrial patterning reminds me of the kind of technology you'd find in an Onu-Koro mine. The classic Pakari also makes it feel very old-school.

I enjoy how understated the color scheme is. You'd expect that much grey to make it look bland, but the light blue is well-distributed and makes it look very airy and appealing. You've also succeeded at creating a strong shape language, which pulls the whole look together in spite of all the busy complexity... Feels very utilitarian and industrial, as it should. The Slizer limbs in the torso are also a really neat touch and add depth to the torso while creating a very distinct silhouette. 

Nice job, makes me want to make a moc again for the first time in eight years.

There's always the lovely fan theory that it'll be somehow "connected" to the original universe, which would be pretty fun and has some evidence for its possibility.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of evidence is there for a connection? I don't, uh, actually follow the story

Soft reboots, hard reboots flaccid reboots, who cares?

I love flaccid reboots.

polished. mr shiny big head

Strong boxy robot made of many boxes. he transforms. he transforms into a box 

(link fixed) 

storm from x-men as a mii

(it's a heavily processed version of this old moc from 2003)

man eats snake. news at 11

 

True true.......correct but is it like this

Wow, I had no idea they were making Bionicle costumes that late. Does anyone know what year the last Bionicle costume was produced?

I love these movies. I was so conflicted a few years ago when I realized that that Indian guy was actually a Jewish guy in brownface. 

I desperately hid it all through late elementary/middle school, and though my interest waned in high school, I was still embarrassed to bring it up.

Now that I'm in an art college, though, no one cares. Everyone loves to talk about their childhood interests, so if I bring up Bionicle, everyone's happy to reminisce. It's really nice. 

I'm not all that into the new Bionicle, but I've got to say, I'm really refreshed by the fact that G2 characters are allowed to eat and drink and do normal people things. 

Don't the limbs... well, belong on the limbs?

...No.

Lewa is a transgender female

I thought that was Onua?

A lot of people hated Gadunka at the time (I don't know what the modern consensus is), but I absolutely adored that set. I've always appreciateed a bit of goofiness in my rahi designs. 

 

 

The movie appearances of characters being considered canon, even though the toys are the primary media for Bionicle? The tubes on the Toa Mahri being organic gills, even though they're silver and attached to what pretty clearly looks like scuba gear? The Glatorian and Agori being fully organic beings in armour, even though they don't look at all like they are? The GSR being immeasurably, unrealistically gigantic?

 

Yeah, I'm not keen on a lot of Greg and the story team's decisions. Sure, they made Bionicle interesting, but they also made a lot of choices which just leave me thinking "What?". It didn't help when Greg was just canonising random titbits of headcanon here and there, even after G1's end.

 

I'm hoping this won't happen with G2.

Really? I thought the external gills were unique and interesting. I mean, I am not sure I would have ever come up with that, and I consider myself a creative person.

 

 

Not being able to come up with something doesn't mean it's a particularly useful use of creativity. I'm sure many people wouldn't come up with a story where the Earth turns into a cheese curd; that doesn't mean such a story is a good one.

 

That said, I think the "tubes=gills" thing was just an unfortunate incident where sets did one thing, and story needed something else. When the set designers were told to make underwater Toa, they thought "scuba gear" and designed them as such. However, when the story came to explaining how they stayed underwater without ever needing to surface, gills made more sense than scuba gear (which would need to be refilled, among other things), so what was clearly scuba gear was forced into being gills, even if it didn't really make much sense when all put together. Of the things I would blame solely on Greg, that would not be one of them.

 

I don't really understand the issue with the gill tubes. Seems to me that a biomechanical being would have mechanical-looking gills.

That's the guy!

 

 

 

 Is Tren Krom really that ancient and terrifying when every other character is older than human civilization? 

Ancient, maybe not. Terrifying, absolutely. I don't care how old you are - if you can sort through and destroy my mind and possibly drive me insane, you are scary. Especially if you look like a spiky gelatin with a monster face.

 

An older version of that might be less scary, because they might have enough restraint or be convinced not to come near me. A little kid mind destroying tyrannical monster? I think I will elsewhere, thanks.  

 

 

Yeah, but it was playing off Lovecraftian tropes. In those stories, the horror always comes from encountering something far beyond your understanding, which typically is older than humankind. The gelatin and tentacles are mostly incidental. 

 

I thought I was the only one who picked up on that. Was it officially stated to be a nod to Lovecraft? If so that's pretty dang awesome.

 

Pretty sure Greg confirmed it over PM, but I'd have to dig to find it these days. 

 

 Is Tren Krom really that ancient and terrifying when every other character is older than human civilization? 

Ancient, maybe not. Terrifying, absolutely. I don't care how old you are - if you can sort through and destroy my mind and possibly drive me insane, you are scary. Especially if you look like a spiky gelatin with a monster face.

 

An older version of that might be less scary, because they might have enough restraint or be convinced not to come near me. A little kid mind destroying tyrannical monster? I think I will elsewhere, thanks.  

 

Yeah, but it was playing off Lovecraftian tropes. In those stories, the horror always comes from encountering something far beyond your understanding, which typically is older than humankind. The gelatin and tentacles are mostly incidental. 

 

Timeskips (but not really): Listen, buddy. you expect me to believe ackar, kiina, gresh and etc. were alive during the world-shattering Core War all those years ago? and yet, like, nobody mentions it much at all? how do you live through the destruction of your planet, and then for thousands of years, and not have some sort of horrid trauma for it? adding onto that, the use of "thousand" every time shows greg really liked to devalue the concept of time. sheesh.

 

I was going to make some joke about the Mask of Possibilities (which, let's be honest, is pretty ridiculous), but this gets at the core of the weirdest part of the series.  How can virtually immortal beings be at all relatable characters?  Most characters have been alive for more than 100 000 years.  To put that in perspective, imagine a caveman living throughout all of human history up until this point.  The number of things you can experience in 100 000 years is beyond human comprehension.

 

It really cheapens a lot of the legendary aspect of the series too.  I mean, the Matoran being stranded on Mata Nui for 1000 years sounds like a long time to us.  1000 years ago was 1015 (Viking times) -- so much has happened between then and now!  But if you live to be older than 100 000, 1000 years is <1% of your lifespan.  To put that in perspective, for humans (if we assume an average lifespan of 80 years), that's like being stranded on a tropical island for like 300 days.  That's nothing!  That's a minor inconvenience.  Heck, if someone stranded me on a tropical island for 300 days, I'd be thanking them, not summoning mythical heroes to kill them!

 

Now you could probably argue that this ties in to the amnesia epidemic that plagues just about everyone in the series whenever it's convenient to the plot.  I mean, it made sense when they needed to explain why no one ever talked about Metru Nui, but they just started overusing it after a while.  I guess part of that comes from the story team wanting to keep the creation of Matoran a secret, so you need an explanation for how characters don't know about things that they probably would have been present for.

 

That's why I'm glad that one of the first things they established in this story is that the characters don't live forever -- not without the assistance of magic, at any rate.

 

This may be the biggest problem with Bionicle's story, in retrospect. The whole immortality thing really causes everything to fall apart if you look at it too closely, and even affects individual character development. How is it that Takua behaves so young and irresponsible when he's one of the oldest beings in the universe? Is Tren Krom really that ancient and terrifying when every other character is older than human civilization? 

Speaking of over powered, the Makuta species is also really overpowered. They had access to 42 fricken elements. It worked for one being but a whole species? No way it will work. The things that could kill them were either massively wiped out, stupid (arrognant super beings are a cliche and boring), or not used a lot.

My final thing is the whole switch from fantasy to sci-fi. It was just Greg trying to answer things that didn't need to be. Making the Makuta a member of a similarly overpowered species devalues him as a villain. His ability to survive death was mysterious and highlighted how powerful he was. The explanation of "he's made of gas" ruined that. Point is, Greg went too far in explaining things. Did we really need to know that the bohrok were actually the matoran from Kardi Nui? That is one thing I'm not getting over any time soon.

 

I always thought the idea of Makuta having 42 powers was oddly specific, but I could see it working if it were played right. "The Forty-Two Powers of the Makuta" has a fun ring to it, in the same sense as "The 1008 Names of Shiva." But as is so often the case in later Bionicle, things were presented in too mundane a light.