emily

Interesting to see that Faber is behind the version of the Kanohi Kraahkan used on the box art for BIONICLE: The Game. It always did seem to be different from the art style of the rest of the game. The only instance of the Avohkii being used that I can think of is in a super close-up in the introduction to issue eleven of the comic. It is a shame it was not used anywhere else. I always thought that it was Tahu in the Seventh Toa poster, but looking more closely it appears that it is in fact a prototype for the 2003 Matoran Jaller model. I suppose that means that the poster was made before the summer 2003 sets were finalized. Legends of Metru-Nui was initially planned as a theatrical release, but for whatever reason (I would suppose it was lower than expected sales on Mask of Light) it was downsized to direct-to-video format. At that time, it was hoped that Web of Shadows would be released theatrically, but of course that too was lowered in its scope eventually.

Why thank you for pointing that out! I probably never would have noticed otherwise. I always thought it was odd that Templar would neglect to give several of the Tohunga something to say, but I had never reached far enough in the original online game to know if it was an error in the 2006 version or not. It brought a huge smile to my face to hear more from the characters, however little it may be.

Papu and Rangi are, as I understand from my brief research of Maori mythology, the father and mother gods that represent the sky and the earth respectively. Whether their inclusion was completely Templar's idea, or an early concept of LEGO's that was removed as a result of the lawsuit, we may never know. In any case, it is clear why the names were removed. Kornan sounds like a misspelling of Koronan, as Takua Dragonstar7 said. I would speculate that Papu and Rangi were removed hastily at some point during the game's initial run, around when the Maori lawsuit began. It would explain why they missed removing it from one of the text files, and why the replacement is phrased differently in a few of the corrected files. By the theory, whoever made the change was in a hurry, so as to avoid the troubles that could occur if LEGO was shown to be directly referencing the most important (I think) Maori gods. Unfortunately, there is probably no way to know for certain. I knew that LEGO had been considering releasing a physical copy of the game in 2002, and I suspected that the 2006 release might be somehow related, but I didn't know that we had gotten actual confirmation of it. Interesting.

Ah, that explains it. Thanks.

Is that a teal Hau? Might I ask how you obtained it? I do not want to buy it or anything (just to be clear, as I don't want to come across that way), but I would definitely be interested to know it's origin.

Thank you. I would appreciate it if you could point out to me when specifically you felt the Tohunga nodded too much. I'm guessing you are referring to the beginning of the scene outside the Sanctum? If so, I was trying to give the impression that the Tohunga were partaking in some discussion unrelated to the plot, with no subtitles since that was how Templar did it in Tahnok Surround Po-Koro, Matoran Lost in Fray. I can see how that wouldn't be clear, though. Yes, at the end Kapura falls over because there was a large amount of shaking - an earthquake that admittedly needed a sound effect to signify it's occurrence.

For those curious, I have begun a blog that will chronicle my work on upcoming episodes. Since the time between episodes will likely be considerable in length, this blog will serve as a way to keep anyone who is interested up-to-date on the project. Thanks! Good to know that the ending with Kapura was not confusing, as I feared it might be, but instead humorous, as I intended.

Very nice work, you clearly put a lot of time and effort into this. There is a ton to explore for what is only the first chapter, and I am curious to see how the plot will progress in further as the game goes on. I am kind of picky about grammar, so I feel obligated to point out that I did notice a few grammatical errors in the text. For me, at least, it would enhance the overall impression of the game if those could be avoided in the future. But really, aside from that, this project is very impressive in many respects, and I look forward to seeing how it develops. Again, nice work!

Thank you! I am fairly certain that I won't be adding in the arrows, as I think I will be able to work around them if need be. Thanks! I am glad you enjoyed it.

Nice work! I was particularly impressed by how the lightstone cast light about itself at the end. Like others have already said, the lightstone in Takua's hand did seem to need a little adjustment. Beyond that, this is a nice test.

There is a project out there that has the game, but, as Strakkorotus said, it is not allowed to be discussed. You could try running a Google search for the game, and see if you can dig anything up. You may have a difficult time of it, though, as I can't seem to find the project in the first few pages of search results when I look. Unfortunately, while the BIONICLE Online Games Archive website is still up it would appear that their downloads are gone.

Thanks, I'll give it another try. If anything of note happens, I'll post again or edit this post.

It's no trouble! Yes, that is just how I do it. I just copy the color ratios that Templar used rather than creating my own, though.

Thanks! There will probably be more mechanical sounds made by the Tohunga (and other characters) in future installations. I was avoiding placing them in when any of the characters were simply speaking, as that is something Templar did later on - I may have to change my methods, though, depending on how the sounds complement the scene. There were a few places that still needed a few sounds, beyond that, like when the Ta-Koronans walk off screen. 1) De-compile and reassemble in Flash. That way, I have the freedom to show new areas of the villages, while ensuring everything looks like it came out of one of the original animations. 2) I went with the first method in my original Kapura test animation, but I realized how inefficient the method was when I looked more closely at how the characters were colored in the original animations (and subsequently adopted that method). With color consistency, I was mostly referring to how Jala's shades were inconsistent with the other Ta-Koronans, because I had taken his colors from a scene with different lighting than the one I based the rest of the colors on. It could actually be that Jala was intended to be a slightly different shade of red, but I would have to check to be certain.

Thank you! I put a lot of thought into making the animation seem like it came from Templar Studios, so I am glad to hear that it turned out that way.

Very nice animation! I admire your ability to make the Korahk crackle with electricity; that is something I haven't worked out how to do myself.

Thank you! It did take quite a bit of time to do this, but it was an enjoyable learning process. 1) That is a good point, I will be sure to implement it next time. I suppose I assumed that everyone would understand that there is no text as it is Nuju that is speaking, but I had not considered the possibility that it could come across as an error/something I hadn't finished yet. 2) I have thought about doing this, but to be honest I am still on the fence over it. Templar's later animations did not have this feature, and for me this has always increased the ease of viewing them. But then, we have (in part) as a result of the button's removal the terribly paced "Defeat of the Bohrok-Kal." It occurs to me that if people are having difficulties reading the text in time, I might be able to upload a version with a slower frame rate. 3)That was probably a result of my timing, not your connection. I really admire all of the artwork in MNOLG, so I probably focused on it a little too long. I was trying to stay in the ballpark of the length of the opening shot for "Le-Koro Liberated!" with the opening shots of my own animation, but in truth the opening for the other animation was quite lengthy, too. I cannot say for certain when the next animation will be coming along, but it is definitely on its way. Thanks again! Thank you. I will be sure to shorten the length of those scenes in future animations. I am glad you enjoyed the animation!

Ta-Koronan Guard Arrives in Ko-Koro Tensions Mount as Danger Threatens By Takua Today, after a long journey, the Ta-Koronan Guard arrived in the icy village of Ko-Koro. The Guard has rarely left Ta-Wahi in past years, but the arrival of the Bohork swarms has changed everything for the inhabitants of Mata-Nui. "Ta-Koro has always had a courageous defense force," Guard Captain Jala reports, "but not every village is as fortunate. With Ta-Koro secure for the time being, Turaga Vakama has had the foresight to dispatch several able guardsmen to ensure the safety of the less-protected villages." Upon their arrival in Ko-Koro, the Guard was met with a cold reception. It was only after some discussion that it was decided they would remain. Turaga Nuju remains skeptical towards the situation. "Nuju respects the noble desires of the Ta-Koronans," explains Nuju's interpreter, Matoro, "but he is simultaneously aware that they have placed themselves in grave danger by remaining here." The air in the village remains tense with anticipation of the upcoming threat. Is there any danger that Ko-Koro might be invaded by the terrible Bohrok? *** "What is this? There was never an animation like this on BIONICLE.com!" you may be saying to yourself. And you are correct, there was not. This is but the beginning of a new series of animations that I have undertaken to create in order to compliment Templar Studios' excellent work from 2002. Templar's work has always been the crowning achievement of BIONICLE to me, and I can only hope that my work is a suitable tribute to their animations. I am eager to hear what you think, and take your feedback into account for the next animation I produce. Of course, since I am only just beginning, and there are a few things that I hope to implement as improvements next time: - Center the animation - Lower the text size - Improve the consistency of colors - Ensure that everything that happens in the plot is perfectly clear. As it is, I feel that the ending of this animation may be confusing. If this is so, please do not hesitate to ask. Beyond that, any and all comments are much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to watch, and I hope the characters and their interactions seem to you to be true to Mata-Nui Online Game! A blog for progress on upcoming episodes can be found here.

That is quite interesting. The key would appear to be identical to the one that you must retrieve from the infected Maha later in the game to save Vakama, save for the fact that it is silver, not green. I would theorize that Nokama was originally trapped in a cage such as Vakama is, and that this key would have freed her. If that were the case, the developers probably intended to remove the key completely, but somehow missed out on the fact that it still appears momentarily. The Ga-Wahi Ussals can be difficult to track down, so its possible that it is just a case of no one noticing the problem during testing. I would like to try this out on my copy of the game and see if it happens to me as well. Could you possibly describe what area of Ga-Wahi this occurred in? EDIT: I found the area where it occurred, based on your photographs. My Nokama theory might be out, since the area is part of the path to Ga-Koro, not the path to the Makika cave where Nokama is kept. The key may have had something to do with a different, removed mission, though. It is even possible that, even though the map the key is in is used on the way to Ga-Koro in the final game, it was originally designed as part of the Nokama rescuing area. In any case, I have tried attacking what I assume to be the same Ussal as yours, but it only flips onto its back like any other one. Perhaps we own different versions of the game, or your may even be experiencing some sort of glitch. Do you know if there is any particular item you attacked it with (e.g. Madu Cabolo, a disk, snowballs), or a specific place in which you stood? I am still hoping I might be able to recreate the event somehow. Thanks!

As for the 2001 movie, Templar Studios revealed that there had been plans for it on their blog. Seeing as we never heard anything about it before then, I think we can safely assume that it was cancelled at a very early stage in planning. Perhaps you are thinking of the original trilogy of BIONICLE movies? Close to when Mask of Light was first announced back in 2002, it was said that LEGO was planning a theatrical film for 2004. Later, this film (Legends of Metru-Nui) was lowered to the status of direct-to-video, and LEGO announced that their third film (slated for 2005, became Web of Shadows) would be theatrical. Presumably due to lower than expected sales, this became direct-to-video as well. I am not sure to which one you are referring. The Infected Lewa Animation can be found on a popular video site by searching for it's title, for the other one, try searching "Mask of Light Trailer."

Interesting. I'll have to do some searching to see if I can find that site. Do you happen to remember if this was on a BIONICLE fan site or not? I guess that would mean that this was a fan animation after all. It is quite odd that whoever made it was serious enough of a BIONICLE fan to make it in the first place, but yet hasn't been around in the last several years to clarify the animation's origins. I've never heard of a 2002 movie, but I could easily have missed something. It's a definite possibility for the animation's origins if the film was planned, though (although, according to Toatapio Nuva, we can probably assume the animation is fan made at this point). Do you remember where you heard about the movie?

Many of you will no doubt recall the enigmatic animation that depicts a small Rahi and Lewa running about Le-Wahi. Dubbed the "Infected Lewa Animation" due to the worn appearance of the Toa's Kanohi, the animation has been identified as a test done by Miramax during their work on BIONICLE: Mask of Light. Why? Because another, less-known video was discovered, also depicting Lewa running through Le-Wahi. In this case, the animation was featured in an early trailer for Mask of Light. It was logical enough to assume that both the animations were completed by Miramax. However, the wildly different animation style between these and the final movie made me want to look back over them carefully, and see if there was something we missed. As it turns out, there are quite a few things of note about both videos. Image 1 I went in to this expecting to find that neither animation was produced by Miramax, so you can imagine my surprise at seeing the above in the Mask of Light trailer animation. Take a close look at that tree, and then compare it to this screenshot from Mask of Light itself: Image 2 The textures on the trees are nearly identical. There is little doubt, then that this test animation was made by Miramax, despite the significant differences it has with the MoL. With that out of the way, let's compare the two test animations: Image3 Image 4 When comparing these two screenshots, take note of the Technic bush just below Lewa's head. Have you spotted the difference? The one in the MoL trailer animation has gears on it, as opposed to the one in the Infected Lewa animation, which uses the standard piece. Image 5 Image 6 This time, it's Lewa's arms. The Infected Lewa version is, again, true to the set, while the one in the trailer reuses Lewa's left arm on his right side. Also, the arms are significantly different shades of green. What I am getting at here is that the Lewas in the respective animations are completely different models. This means it is highly improbable that the Infected Lewa Animation was made by Miramax. Why would they make two only slightly different models for the same character? What's more, Lewa is a character they would have known would not appear in the final movie. There is no reason for them to put work into minutely tweaking a model that they are just using for an early test. This leaves us with several possibilities for the origin of the Infected Lewa Animation: I. It is a fan animation This theory seems the least likely. If one thing is certain, it is that the animation is very professional. Even if a fan had made it, would not they be sure to show it off, and make it clear who produced such a remarkable work? Instead, no one seems to know where the animation came from. II. It was made by another company LEGO was considering to work on Mask of Light There is considerable logic in this. However, it is important to note that the animation has a distinct 2001 style to it, not 2003. I have already mentioned the set-accurate Lewa, but the environment and fauna in the animation all evoke thoughts of Mata-Nui as we saw it in BIONICLE's first year, and not later. III. It was a test animation made by Ghost and Advance Since it feels like a 2001 animation, it makes sense to guess it was a test for a 2001 animation. But look: Image 7 Image 8 Image 9 Image 10 Here we have a few screenshots comparing the Infected Lewa Animation to the final GCI Lewa animation by Advance and Ghost. We can see that there are distinct differences in the way the environments are created. IV. This is a test animation for the cancelled BIONICLE movie I daresay this is within the realm of possibility. Templar Studios informed us some time ago that LEGO did have plans for a 2001 film at some point. We have no idea how far they proceeded with the project, but there is some possibility they got as far as a test animation such as this. Although it remains unclear what its origins truly are, I believe we can safely conclude that the Infected Lewa Animation has nothing to do with Mask of Light or Miramax.

I agree with -Sidorak-, this seems to be a prototype. The lack of code would lead me to believe that this would have been one of the earlier tests they would have made, since most of the prototypes we've seen are from a phase with codes printed onto the front of the kanohi. If this is a prototype, it probably completely predates the idea of codes. Also, you say the kanohi is dark red. By that, do you mean more like the mask in Dual Matrix's photo (which is different from your kanohi, but still similar enough that the one could have been made with the end product of the other in mind), or more like the dark red color seen on the BIONICLE sets after 2004? If it is the latter, I would go with -Sidorak-'s other theory that this was fan-made, since that color did not exist in 2001. In either case, you have a rare kanohi on your hands. Congratulations!

I tried downloading them for multiple places including there. The links to the game seems to be broken there. Oh. From the looks of their front page, it seemed as if they still had the games. Sorry about that! It looks like Dual Matrix has everything figured out, in any case.

One of the websites providing the online games is currently down, but it looks as if the BIONICLE Online Games Archive still has them http://bionicleonlinegamesarchive.weebly.com/the-online-games.html]here.[/url]