bonesiii

Only some... as to which ones, it's hard to pick a best and worst. I like the Hau for seeming perhaps coolest for a mask worn on Tahu's face, and for looking probably the most like its original (maybe Akaku though). But in terms of MOCing potential... eh, not the best. For that I like Pohatu Nuva's mask, even though as "looks like Pohatu" it fails miserably. The brown helps. Worst? I picked Miru, but it's really a tossup between that, Kaukau, and Pakari, but Pakari has reasonable MOCing potential, and Kaukau I haven't used in a MOC but I could see it working. Miru Nuva also looks too clearly like only a face, and it is so disappointing compared to the brilliant original Miru. The Akaku I still don't know what to think about, though. As for why Nuva masks seem worse... Well, to explain that, it's best to see this image from the G2 concept art (and this shows a problem I have with G2 as well)... We could have had masks that actually "coolified" the original shapes; we could have had something that made us go "MUST BUY!"... we could have had... this:

No, then you would be dead, not "neither dead nor alive." "Neither" means "not" -- and so does the prefix "un", RL. Reanimation after having completely died (like Tryna) is one way to become undead. But with Sentrakh and Mask of Undeath, there's no time of normal death in between life and undeath. Hence the inspiration. (And hence the "re" in Reanimation.) The difference, of course, is that Sentrakh was put in that state intentionally (apparently), while generally MoU wearers were attempted to be killed normally. But we aren't told how he was put into it. For all we know, the power of this mask was granted him and he was "killed". All we know is "experiments" were done to reach that state, which tells us almost nothing about those experiments... and may even suggest some of them failed in a deadly way and he was indeed reanimated -- who knows! As for semantics, you brought this up as a semantic argument, but agreed, it doesn't really accomplish anything (that's why I mentioned that... should have mentioned it was semantics, but there it is.). Yes, I knew you meant "Sentrakh isn't undead", but had just pointed out why that wasn't true (hence my saying your "basically" wording is technically close to true). Actually folks, I agree with RL on the RS example, and I brought it up partly as a nod toward his perspective. But mainly simply because he'd made it sound like there was only one case of undeath, and that's another apparent case, so that seems to be incorrect because of the RS too, not just Sentrakh and MoU users. As to whether they're shamblers, Mavrah isn't, but I don't see him as one of the ones Greg probably meant by zombie anyways. Revived does not equal zombie -- and the final scene of the story implied there was something evidently somewhat slow moving and very creepy approaching that Mavrah clearly portrays as different from himself somehow. Greg also said that they tend not to come back right. That doesn't give us much but it does imply that this was going to be Bionicle's foray into the "shambler" version of undeath. (And again a horde.) Then again "not right" could mean this group has a lot of variety. Some might be undead, some just physically malformed, others just psychologically disturbed (as he suggested for Botar as the reason he hasn't teleported back), and of those who are undead, some may lose physical speed too, and others may be able to move at normal speeds but be hard to kill, etc.

Now you're just repeating the "it's different from this other case" logic, but of course it is. Why would we want to do something new that is just a copycat/clone of something already done?? Also, he is undead, as you admitted half a sentence later -- he's neither living nor dead. Well, since Sentrakh is just one person and you did put that caveat in there of "basically", this one's closer to true. Then again, you yourself were ignoring weight earlier, so if we just look a number of types, there's three -- Sentrakh, users of the Mask of Undeath, and puppets of the Tryna. Of course, Greg also said the plan for the RS was to have a "zombie story in space", so there's sort of that too. Regardless, this accomplished nothing. It's like saying, "Flight moving forward was basically the only hovering-related power in Bionicle... so the Miru shouldn't be canon." I see it more as that during life it only charges up the battery, and then at death it "back ups" what the user wanted at that point, but yes, the part about it not being able to develop your mind the way you would if you were alive to move on to new goals makes sense. Then, if the brain's available, draws also on knowledge still stored there. (Incidentally, this reminds me of another reason I might have written, though I don't recall for sure, the part in the original explanation about "a few years or so" -- although the mask obviously preserves the body, it might not do a permanently great job of it!)

Actually I'd go farther than that. When the quest is very important, even a low risk of death becomes good reason to get this mask, if the importance of the quest is high enough (especially if others' lives are threatened). To do your best (though you can still fail) to make sure it is accomplished. That was just a most-obvious example. Not everybody even who isn't trained reacts like they were in shock, and Toa have been shown in plenty of situations that should have triggered that reaction. Whether it's meant to be something just innate to being a Toa, or psychological because they know they have so much power, or just because Matoran who become Toa have tended to live so long and face lots of dangers, or all of the above. However, the kind of Toa likely to go on such quests may get such training, or already have such experience. Lhikan did some training of some of the Toa Metru, for example, and there were the highly experienced Toa Hagah too. The Toa Mata were trained too. That last case is one that always gave me the impression a lot of this stuff could have been preprogrammed, too -- since Hydraxon presumably hadn't lived through a lot of battle to learn what he taught them by direct lesson from life. I've theorized before that probably all or most Matoran go through basic survival training, regardless of their jobs. And we also know they have a lot of knowledge like basic language automatically downloaded -- we don't know that much of this sort of thing isn't included. (Really, if you were in charge of that knowledge download, why not give them that?) Anything's on the table, if they can soundly show a real problem. Including pointing out a real problem to Greg and asking for a (previously agreed by fans here) solution. If it could be proven for example that shock is a magical curse (not to mock, but it's what T seems to be saying) that always or usually prevents mask switching or grabbing something from your backpack from the moment you begin dying, or close enough -- then we could ask for a change to the other idea of adding an auto-Suva power to it. But from what little I've heard from news stories of people not trained, etc. I don't think it works that way in real life, even, and certainly doesn't seem to in Bionicle. Anyway. ?? How can you say that when it was already brought up that the other example of Sentrakh actually inspired this mask? Not that it matters -- before those there was none. What's your point, exactly? It seems -- correct me if wrong -- to be that Matoro's mask somehow proves that undead must be shamblers. Offhand, I don't recall it being said that mask did that. But if it did, so what? That's that power. Since that creates swarms of undead, that would even make sense. That's usually how it goes with pop-culture undead; swarms are usually the weaker kind (but still harder to kill), and undead "main characters" like Barbossa are more like normal people plus hard to kill. (Though there was also I Am Legend, which was even stronger seemingly than normal people, although that didn't seem to be true undeath per se if badmem serves.) The rules for each power are their own, RL. Just like the fact that Levitation only lets you hover doesn't mean that Telekinesis can't make objects both hover and move sideways. (Or Flight move you forward, but those two were right in 2001.)

I did think afterward that that wording about shock was unwise, but figured you were replying so rapidfire, better to see if you'd understand rather than try to edit (as my computer is acting... sluggish ( )... right now... It didn't like opening the 100-page EM guide PDF while having the massive finished Part 9 of my retelling open lol). Anywho, I said "shock" because your earlier wording made it sound like any "surprise" or fear, the moment you begin dying, makes it impossible from then on, versus medical shock. Shock is also used nontechnically like that, but yeah. It would have been better to say that you'd made it sound like any "shock" due to sudden extreme danger automatically turns into medical shock. The point is, your assumption about that doesn't work, as cases like soldiers trained to handle such situations show. That's why I brought up experience earlier, etc.

My point was, the fact that the description doesn't say that it isn't on either extreme doesn't imply it is, and what you already know about seeing other powers in use implies you should assume a balance. Kids are perfectly capable of doing that. Although you will inevitably get the kid who says "Tahu can control all the stars in the galaxy!!!" I guess, but that's no reason not to have a Toa of Fire. Why are you trying that again? They told us that was indeed their intent, so how can you argue against it while simultaneously arguing that you're presenting what Bionicle "aimed" to do?? If you have to put yourself on the opposite of what they said they wanted Bionicle to be (and evidently helped it keep going for 10 years), that's as good an argument against your view as any, really. No -- my point was that you don't do that. For that power. But you DO assume one or the other extreme for this one apparently. My point is that's inconsistent. As for "on the tin", we've been over that too. "Sheilding" alone doesn't imply the ambush thing, nor does "Mind Control" imply "only if they don't oppose it", nor "Translation" "only written if Noble", etc. But yes, some are more like that, like Strength.

Uh, yes, T, I can, because you're actually the one who turned the original concept around. The concept was never "you never get this mask unless you know you're going to die", but "you get it if you think there's a good chance of it." (I'm not sure now if you're applying that just to getting the mask, or donning it at the final moment, but the same answer applies to both.) I'm also curious how you would answer Zox's final paragraph. That's a very wise point -- if shock prevents concentration, then by your logic all other mask powers should become impossible the moment somebody faces danger. It makes no sense, T. I had a feeling you'd say that! Should have put up a "just in case" answer. Anyway, it's simple -- the "how" is already clear; you switch to it if it's in your means, and it's in your means if you made sure it would be (Suva, backpack), and you don't die instantly. Logically that then leaves the question of if there are situations where you don't die instantly, and how likely they are. This is all pretty clear, and was already clear back on page 1...

I'll say more on this below, but first -- you made it look like you were summarizing my main answers, not what parts of the answers you agree with. By leaving it out, you create the impression of imbalance. It would have been better to fairly represent my answers and then reply. So you're back to "how do you know you'll die"? How is that an answer, since you also don't know you won't, and the mask is meant in case you do? Fatal stab, poison, drowning, overheating, disease. We could also just run through the ways characters have died in Bionicle (including ones who couldn't use mask powers, like Jaller's slow death by fear, or ones who had already achieved their destiny, like Lhikan's slow death after a powerful impact, since those methods of death could happen to a Toa etc.). Cancer. Fatal life energy drain. I could go on and on, but really, does anybody actually have trouble thinking of these situations? I don't buy it, really. Actually, I finally just looked up the original EM description, and "sluggish" actually did come from what I wrote there. My bad on that... but it doesn't help your view; it says "slightly" sluggish. However, why I originally quoted this is because I did not recall this being in the official description (the one Greg approved), and just checked -- it's not there. So this is left open to interpretation as far as canon goes. I certainly don't see it that way -- I don't know what I meant by "slightly sluggish", but I might have had in mind what I said about the mind not being commanded to do things irrelevant to the main goal. On that topic, though, I don't see anything about the "main quest" in the original description either. Now I'm not sure where it came in. I know I came up with it to keep it from being overpowered if somebody charged it up for a LONG time (possible with the lifespans), but it may have been wrongly added to BS01 based on later clarifications intended for the EM. The original did say "for several years or so", which does imply there's some kind of extra limit besides the one mentioned next of chargeup time. It may have been meant to be behind that wording, I don't recall. Regardless, Greg didn't approve that part, so this is all rather tangential... Right, but I'm talking about weight of each one, not just how many there are, and that's not all that a Toa is anyways (they can accomplish a lot without using the powers anyways). He said "half-capable", not just "having half the number of powers". Pirates 1. Again. We've been over this. Other portrayals vary too. I do agree it would have been better to clarify that that one wasn't in mind, though. (And since it wasn't, it's open to interpretation too -- but you were claiming it WAS the case, and that was never intended.) So, knowing what you know about mask powers in Bionicle, the logical thing to do is interpret it as intended to be balanced, in-between those things! Just like how the Akaku doesn't mention range (re: another current topic), so "short blurb" could mean you can see an atom in the next galaxy... but nobody reasonably interprets it that way because that would be inconsistent with Bionicle power limits shown so far.

?? How haven't I? Or how is it not clear right from the description? The mask comes in when you die, but not instantly, and when you have the means to get it onto your face in time. What is unclear about this? Whether that happens in any situation needs to be thought out by somebody writing the story with it. Sometimes it doesn't work, others it does. Uh, no, not at all. How is that anything but a circular assumption invented precisely because you don't want it to work, for whatever reason? At least this time you do seem to be trying to do what you need to do -- show that it CANNOT EVER work, rather than merely that cases can happen where it doesn't. But this one is baseless, and frankly looks like grasping at straws. (And it's overzealous; you don't actually need to show "not ever" but close to it... or overpowered.) We also might be able to test it. Has the story ever had dying characters who use powers, mask or not (but esp. those) after they begin to die? I dunno offhand, but I highly, highly, highly, highly (you getdapichah!) doubt that LEGO meant to say powers become impossible once you start to die! Re -- how would you know you were poisoned? Depends. If you're stung by something you know has a deadly poison and you can't get the cure or there is none (you would know this if others had died from it etc. -- same way we know about poison in this world!), you know, you know? You do get "objectivity points", if you will, for suggesting one (albeit small) point against the negative, that a friend could put the mask on for you. But there really is no need, as if you got it, you would probably make sure you had the means to put it on, barring loss of limbs in the backpack case. (Although in that case, I could definitely see an ally putting it on for you, I suppose.) Of course, we could have removed your confusion entirely by going with a version of the power that automatically activates and Suva-izes it to your face if you spent any time at all charging it up. I considered that, but rejected it as probably overpowered, and frankly less interesting. It's already agreed that the immoral thing limits it. That was, again, intentional, and also applies to a large extent to all other immoral masks, since non-Toa mask users are rare anyways. The only real help I see for the anti- position here is that Makuta are major mask users but (after becoming gaseous at least) would probably have no use for this. But then there were only about a hundred of those and they're already hard to kill, so yeah. Although this is probably the least limited of the immoral masks, since there's such an obvious reason for Toa to make this one exception when they have vital tasks, whereas other immoral masks like Crast could be imitated to a large extent by others like Levitation. And anyway, we all know (due to examples like Crast, and especially Matoro not tearing his Tryna off) that the "immoral" thing was more of a questionable tradition thing than something absolute. This part needs quoted: 1) Yeah, what of it? That's clearly intentional. (You left out the "high importance quest" part, though... Why?) 2) That's not even close to fair. I've given many specific examples, and you admitted you saw one in that very post! Anybody can imagine others. 3) Sluggish was RL's misconception; already answered. As for "half" capable, depends on if using other mask powers is "half" -- I dunno what to think on that one. Less capable in terms of powers, though, yeah (assuming you don't do the Vakama maskstack thing... which you might... ) And "one goal" was, again, not part of the canonically approved description; I'm unsure if Greg would consider that canon or not, and it's "your one main quest", so "one goal" is not the best description (it could lead to RL's other main misconception). [Edit: About "half" re: mask powers, we haven't even discussed how likely it might be or not whether you might also prepare a tool power with your favorite power to use after death, or at least whatever tool power you can get your hands on that suffices. That's just as possible in Bionicle as mask powers (and even more common than masks; even Matoran can do that).] Notice you changed each one of those to make them much more convenient for your position. That's a pretty standard red flag.

That's not really what I had in mind by "home". I guess if they were dying slowly enough, but I see this as a mask obsessive types are more likely to have, so they would probably keep it nearby at all times. If they're traveling, then the person in that scenario would be storing it at whatever temporary home they're using wherever they are. I agree we should only expect Suva to be used by Toa (and Turaga). The bottom line is, the mask works as an extra precaution in addition to other masks, which makes success more likely. That was always the intent and there's really no room for any of the criticisms to change that, especially not by going over the basics that were givens like that sometimes it would fail and that unlike most masks it doesn't help you while you're alive. It was intended for fairly rare situations (since both death and people who would want to use it are somewhat rare), but ones that could have an unusually high priority -- a vital quest, etc. So far nobody has even really tried to deal with this in their attempts at a criticism, but that's what a criticism mainly needs to do. It also does the one thing none of those other masks do -- keeps you going after those other masks fail you. Let's face it, Pakari, Hau, doesn't matter, they all can fail you, and once you die, they don't help you anymore. This one does. (Well... it helps the people you were trying to help, if you succeed in your quest. ) Sure, it's not guaranteed to help you after death, but Hau, etc. are guaranteed to be worthless after death, on their own. No power guarantees success. And I've already pointed out why deaths where this probably would help are fairly common. I'm not sure if it's the majority or a large minority, but certainly far more than enough to justify the mask. As for "many variables" -- there's many variables to what could hit your Hau's shield too. That alone proves nothing.

Addition I forgot to mention to previous -- [Edit: And I see I was Ninja'd by Zox lol ] my first thought at the panic point was that it probably depends on experience. Those experienced at battle tend not to react that way to serious danger; they're more likely to focus on tactics in the moment. It may happen even to them, though. It's not like I've died a few times to know what it's like personally. To your latest post, not much really to add. It seems like you don't realize that I am aware there are downsides and situations where something happens to make things like that fail, but I've been saying so all along, so that's... kind of puzzling. (For that matter, what happens if you're a Matoran and somebody smashes your mask? Well... you go into a coma and maybe they kill you. Ow.) This kind of vast array of "there's this but then there's this" is exactly why I love powers like this -- it's far better for stories than powers so basic we really pretty much know what will happen (a possible downside, from a storyteller's perspective with the Pakari, for example -- there's only really so much "grunt and lift heavy thing" that's entertaining... depending on if you do it right, heh). I may be misreading, but I've been getting the impression in several of your posts that you haven't realized that. So from my perspective, this very sort of discussion that can go back and forth on the mask working in one situation but not in another proves the mask power was a good choice, as it opens up story potential.

? Isn't that what yo-yoing means? Uh, that's a clear strawman, RL. I just finished saying that's NOT the case. I agree that is a weakness. But again, it's a logical weakness and it is balanced by other things, like now being harder to kill. That's the only reason you wear it while alive, so why would you exclude that? Wearing it while alive is the chargeup time. And that's been answered -- if you bother to get this mask, it's probably your second mask, and you probably got a Suva, so in the battle you use your other mask, until you realize you're dying because something happened that that didn't stop. Simple. Why not? Do you KNOW you're not? I agree this is arguably a problem with the approved description, and would not have been necessary to it. But on the other hand, it also means it isn't overpowered, and as discussed already, instant death in Bionicle is rare. It's also part of why it was one of the taboo masks, fitting to something Karzahni likes. Realistically, not every power mixed will happen to be ideal. Indeed, why not? That's exactly what I'm asking you. It still seems you're saying that just because somebody has Undeath, they DON'T focus on their other mask(s), but I've said several times they would, and it's mentioned in the description. Shadow Destroyer, that post was massively unfair and borderlines on flame. They are making arguments that do not in my judgement make sense, and I am pointing out why and giving them every opportunity to explain, if I'm wrong, why I'm wrong. I feel that they are arguing in good faith and appreciate the effort. It's quite another thing to insultingly dismiss all my points simply because I proposed it, without addressing them! If you think you see a good argument why the mask doesn't work, please focus on explaining that reason, not on accusation. Not all the arguments have been bad, though. Some point out legitimate downsides, but they have mostly been ones we were aware of and are balanced out by the upsides that both me and others are also pointing out. Anyways, I do appreciate that you're trying to support them, and I forgive the... questionable word choice. Just please try to relax and look at it from my perspective too, or better yet from an objective one that judges the mask by the same standards as other masks within the vast variety we were told could exist with protodermic powers. I appreciate the wise call to see others' perspectives, though. I always try hard to do that; that's why I ask questions to try to learn more about them. And remember this mask has been fairly popular before, so it would be wise for you to abandon assumptions that everybody including me would react just like you. If that was true, I would have rejected the idea before proposing it, although it's still possible I could have missed a logical reason why it doesn't work -- hence the need to carefully discuss the scenarios out. 1) That could easily happen, yes. Would depend on the character and how much knowing you have that mask and being focused on that mission (that you are presumably obsessed with since you bothered to get the mask), so have less reason to be panicked than somebody who doesn't have it. 2) That would be one of the sniper equivalents where this mask fails. 3) Indeed, it would be pointless in this situation. As would having the Hau on when you're ambushed, or the Pakari when a light touch is what's needed, etc. 4) Already discussed earlier; basically, I agree. Now what did that prove? You listed three, possibly four of the situations that we all agree are possible where the mask can fail you. No mask covers all situations, or if it does it's probably overpowered! We've already listed situations where it WOULD work, and pointed out that in Bionicle those are probably a bit more likely. Even so, the mask was always "just in case" -- not only just in case you die, but in case you died in a way where it WOULD have worked and by not getting the mask you did less than you could have done to make sure that goal gets accomplished. So we're back where we started. That's true (as far as I know), but they could also carry an extra mask in a backpack as shown before in Bionicle, and some species that can wear and use masks don't normally wear them anyways, so if those ones did wear this one sometimes while alone and safe, it doesn't really change much. Even ones like Brutaka could surely keep it in their home, in case they end up dying from slow poison or the like, and charge it up only there, though that's admittedly much less likely.

But I haven't seen you answer those points in a way that works. Most of your previous post rehashed points I'd already answered and you'd left hanging before... To letting down your guard, say you stab somebody, it's a fatal blow, and you turn away (say you're in a battle and there are other foes to worry about). They switch to it at the last second, and stab you back. Or, you threw everything you had into finally winning that tiring swordfight, but even after you should have won, your enemy is still going. Don't even need to turn your back -- now he's still fighting, and the number of ways to stop him has shrunk. Eventually you slip and he gets you. Which is why it's bad luck to wear and why if you do go for it because you care enough about your goal, you wear it only when you're pretty sure you're safe (so they don't know you have it until it's too late). And once again, you're arguing both upsides and downsides. All that accomplishes is showing a balance, RL. You need to pick one and prove only that to show imbalance. It has both strengths and weaknesses, like any power. Even a simple power like Pakari does (a limit to just how strong it makes you). Look, there's a really easy solution here. Instead of yoyoing between it's overpowered, no it's useless, no over, no under, just say "yes" to all of it, it's both weak and strong, depending on the circumstances -- like any other power.

Alyska, well, amend that to Toa or something... probably... because I doubt Matoran could charge it up. I suppose that one's debatable, though. That's cool and all, but we've cleared up that misconception already, so why are you still going back to it? That was never the intent. That makes no sense -- if it's "horribly useless" then it isn't balanced. What definition of balance are you using if not that? Um, RL? You're making it sound like this is something new. If you read somebody else adding the "one goal only no matter how small" idea (or something to that effect), that was the new thing that we never said. And I've never seen anybody say it but you. Most of your other points I've already answered; to review: -I don't think it's odd that in Bionicle an instant sniper-headshot type of death is unlikely. They would happen, but there's plenty of room for death by poison etc. -I get why people might assume a "shambling" type of undeath, but I keep mentioning Pirates because that shows that the concept of undeath doesn't at all require that, and that was evidently accepted just fine given the movie's popularity. -Again, still being near who killed you goes both ways -- you can surprise them with a revenge blow after they might let down their guard, thinking they won. It all depends on the situation. -I don't see it as a flaw that what happens, happens with mask powers and they don't magically ensure nothing bad ever happens to make them fail (like Hau having that weakness). It's more realistic and more interesting when you don't know for sure how things will turn out and there's room to think "what changes if THIS happens versus THAT?" That would be bad storytelling. So again it comes back to -- you can't have it both ways; it can't both be a flaw that it's not overpowered because it has a weakness, yet also be a flaw if it stops some bad things so it's not useless. That's how you get balance, my friend. -I think things like Pakari are much simpler than Hau, as they haven't sparked so much question about the details, like whether the MNOG portrayal that you can still get hit from behind while the shield's up is canon or not. So, pretty bad example to say Hau is one of the simplest... But again, if you want to ignore all the questions and details and say it's simple just because you can sum it up with "bubble shield", then Undeath is as simple as its name. I'm not sure why we're talking about Sayger all of a sudden, but actually, although most of what Sayger did was pretty awful, that was one of his smarter decisions, because statistically it wasn't plausible that every new Matoran we met just happened to have one of the few masks we've happened to see on a Toa's face. (And whoever made the mask that became Undeath made a good choice there too -- that wasn't Sayger, as cleared up earlier here.)

Uh, no, RL -- DEM refers to something coming out of the blue that the character didn't earn and that doesn't fit in the world to rescue them unexpectedly. This they have to seek out -- if they're Toa, risking rejection by others -- and spend time charging up. Then it does something it's perfectly reasonable to expect Bionicle powers to be able to do, with two limits. (More than most masks.) If you can warp the definition of DEM so much even that goes under it, then so is the Hau's shield appearing when you needed it. (Or so is the Pirates of the Caribbean undeath. Besides, who says they actually succeed in defeating a bazillion Gadunka? All that's guaranteed is what's been described about the conditions needed to keep you going. If one bites your head off, you fail.) The problem with your logic, going back to the original post (as I should have mentioned but forgot ) is that you call the lunch the "played straight" goal. Why would anybody want to see that as their main objective when the scenario clearly said defeating Makuta was the main objective? You know obtaining any goal has smaller goals along the way, right? Like if you are going for an object across the room, you have to take one step first. By your apparent reasoning, the very first goal, no matter how small, becomes the main goal. That just doesn't make sense. Besides, we don't know that the dead body even need lunch anymore, since that's nutrition to keep the muscles working and the mask can animate those. And come on -- you really think that as you're dying and switching to Undeath that you charged up for so long with the intent of using it to stop Makuta, you're suddenly going to think, "But now I just want my dead body to eat lunch -- forget about Makuta!" Most likely in this scenario the body would just forget about the lunch, but even if they do need it, it's just a step along the way. Alyska, that could work. I think it would overcomplicate the description for canon, though. I would leave that open to fan interpretation. As for the transfer of energy, if that is possible, it certainly opens the door for some treachery -- somebody could spend a long time charging the mask, only to have it stolen and used by somebody else (maybe their own enemy, heh). But we never did establish that either way. I tend to think it's possible, because where else would the energy go? If it isn't, it would suggest it stores multiple "partitions" of energy and has a personal lock on each one, and we didn't put anything in the wording like that.

That would be one example; another is somebody who does value life but values their goal more. (Like a Toa who wants to save a group of Matoran from a murderous villain.) As said before, usually it would not be "instead", but in addition to. And this ensures their "survival" in the sense of still having a chance at their goals even after things happen that other masks can't stop (like the Hau if taken by surprise). So this is in a way the same thing in a different way, just focused on that goal rather than only on perpetuating the user's own life. Both villains and heroes can have such goals. That would count, although in the Gen 1 main story we know that didn't happen. If it's a Toa who knows their destiny, it would probably be that. If a villain, probably whatever causes the most pain in others after they're gone. It would basically not be anything that only gives value to the user while alive, like "get that treasure so I can be rich the rest of my life". Again, it can't be both "almost useless" and have "too much power". The too-powerful claim could be made about nearly any mask -- why isn't the Hau too powerful since it could hypothetically protect somebody their whole life against 5 million overgrown Gadunkas? Well, neither is too powerful because they both have downsides that balance it out and make sense with how it works. The Hau doesn't artificially patch that vulnerability in the back or the like, and Undeath doesn't keep you alive before death or after the charge you built up runs out etc. I haven't heard this. What's that based on? Do you mean some might be 2 inches, etc.? But I knew what RL meant -- it's beside the point. Unless their brain was damaged, as I see it. The mask draws on any knowledge still stored in the brain that would help for the goal. Yes, if talking helps achieve the goal and everything that makes that work is functional. Or maybe if the nerve connections or whatever equiv are broken it might puppeteer the lungs to make it force air in and out anyways, maybe a sort of whispered version of the voice... really creepy. But usually probably a normal voice that just doesn't seem to emote right. Like, normally if somebody comments on something completely irrelevant to your goal, but it was something that made them sad, you would say something comforting. That probably wouldn't happen now; your body would be silent. But if it's relevant, you might ask for more detail but there wouldn't be any comforting tone to your voice. (Unless, maybe, your brain had enough knowledge that imitating that tone would help achieve the goal faster.)

In short, yes, Gen 2 is a reboot or reimagining and Gen 2 does not exist within the same universe. Whether it exists as a parallel universe within the same story franchise that characters could hypothetically travel to with an Olmak, I don't know if that's been commented on. Those are two different things, remember. And I doubt they would comment on it, because Gen 1 isn't the point of Gen 2. They're just trying to tell new stories that stand on their own merit.

I don't recall it being brought up, and I won't say this is a final answer, but if it's animated I would think it would count as media.

Good point. I was taking it as a time of total blindness... But the book and the quote do indeed both just say "weakened." I'll edit, though I won't go into detail about it...

Awesome -- thanks for the quotes, fishers, and more answers to the rest. About "most of them" -- if unknown is right about the emerging later thing, the initial wave might be "mostly" Heat Vision while the whole army wouldn't. I think I'll just avoid the issue and say "many".

Oh. That's what I get for skimming in a hurry lol. I looked at that real fast and didn't catch that part so I assumed it didn't mention it. Still wondering the rest, though, so glad I made that topic. Regardless, thanks. As for why, my guess (as I have the protagonist realize a moment later) is both vision powers being so easy to aim and hitting instantly outweighed the downside in Makuta's mind. Thanks for the Quick Healing bit. Might use it as a nod to that, we'll see.

Quick question for fellow story experts who are hopefully less forgetful than me and not as busy. I finally got back to writing the final battle of my retelling, and wanted to have the main character comment on the choice of most of the Rahkshi being of Heat Vision. I thought I recalled that the use of that power temporarily blinded the Kraata, but couldn't find confirmation on BS01 from a quick search. Am I remembering that right? Or was that Laser Vision? And/or only Kraata of a lower level maybe?? Or what? Also, does anybody remember any official comment on why Makuta did use mostly that type in that battle? (The idea for the comment would be that the temporary blindness made it seem like an odd choice, versus various other powers, making the protagonist wonder why it was chosen anyways.) I vaguely seem to recall something like that, but not the details, and I probably won't have time to research it myself this week. On a roll with the writing so wanted to keep at it rather than get sidetracked (I'll just leave a note to edit this part later).

The amount of time you're kept undead is the amount of time you spent wearing it while alive to charge it up. (Unless you accomplish your mission first.) So, you charge it up when you're pretty sure you're safe. Assuming it's not your only mask. And since Toa see it as immoral, they would almost certainly have a different mask already, and seek this out later if they get a mission they deem more important than their lives or their reputation. They would either keep it in a backpack or use a Suva. I already pointed out why this doesn't work -- they're not mutually exclusive. (This was part of the quote chain in your post... perhaps you skimmed? ) You wear the Hau in battle to shield yourself from killing strikes, but since you have to see the danger coming to block it (or teleport away with Kualsi, etc.), you might die anyways if taken by surprise. Then the Mask of Undeath comes in. Edit: Also, we already had tons of masks like that. Variety, man. Main reason for edit, though -- I had forgotten whether we said you do have to be wearing the mask when you die. I looked up the original quote, and at least in what we asked Greg, yes, you do. But the idea was you would switch to it as soon as you realized you were dying. It was intended for typical Bionicle battles, where something like an instant sniper shot to the brain would be highly unlikely. Now, if that happened, all your time charging it up would be for nothing... but then the Hau or Kualsi, at least, also wouldn't have helped. Not for the typical sniper headshot, anyways -- there would be other situations where those would work. The original question as I'd asked it also mentioned it would be considered bad luck to wear. So, clearly they would not be waltzing into a battle with that mask already on their face, as we wrote that question. Again it comes back to that they wear it while they're sure they're safe. (And some superstitious types might refuse to ever wear it on that point alone even if they didn't care about the morality of it, like if they were OoMN. Although I kind of doubt Order members would be that superstitious.) Interestingly, there's nothing in the question as we asked it to Greg that actually specified "main mission". That may have come from the EM version of the bio, unsure (we didn't write the BS01 wordings, but they were probably written with the EM bios in mind). All Greg approved was "whatever you would have wanted to do if still alive". And I'm out of time to check right now...

I just said it's plausible, not that it would be highly useful. (But I'm guessing it would be used by suicide bomber types, as you said. ) Well, that's probably not the best argument considering this story had the Matoro sacrifice. A hero might conceivably want to sacrifice themselves to stop a really, really, really bad villain. But main answer would be, who says only good guys make masks? (How did we get on this subject again lol? >_>) That could work, but it isn't what I had in mind, since that implies you need a brain holding focus on the mask while undead to keep it going, and I had in mind that if the brain WAS completely gone but the face somehow wasn't, the mask itself would still puppeteer the body. There was no scenario in my intention where the undead person could lose focus and the mask would stop working, just on that alone. So, whatever focus would be needed for innate powers, I would see as being available.

That's actually plausible, since the Mask of Elemental Energy is one-use.