ZippyWharrgarbl

 

Mata Nui had possibly the most powerful artifact ever on his face, he could use it at will, and all he did was make some weapons, give his friends some powers and turn a guy into a snake. Really. Why didn't Tuma become a snake? Heck with it, why didn't he run through his opponents going "You're a snake. You're a snake. Snake, snake, snake, snake!" I honestly don't think having the Ignika was well handled. They could have at least made it so he couldn't use it easily instead of having him forget he is wearing the Mask Of Life. Because come on. If your protagonist is basically a god, simply forgetting he has powers isn't enough. He needs to have an actual limiter.

Ignika was a sentient powerful mask...if you can recall the Toa Metru had extreme difficulty learning their mask powers....imagine how difficult it probably would be to use the ignika.

 

Added to that is the fact that the Ignika has a mind of its own. Even if Mata Nui is supressing its mind or whatever he's doing to stay in control, it'd still have some control over its power. Pressing his face against random objects might not have any effect, or it may have an effect that could be dangerous to his friends. He doesn't seem to have much control over what happens when something is transformed.

Tuma probably didn't become a snake because it's rather hard to press one's forehead to an opponent's in the middle of a battle. Also he might have turned into a really big snake and that would have been pretty bad. Also, snakes bite. I wouldn't want to fight a snake, especially if it was out for my death and possibly poisonous.

No Malum ;'[

Same. :c

I think one of the things people didn't like about it was the representation of the characters. Agori and Glatorian were meant to look more organic than the Toa and Matoran, and the movie made them look like robots. Added to that was probably the fact that we didn't get to see much of ordinary life on Bara Magna- a problem found through the entire Bara Magna arc. Also, some of the characters were not as they were shown in the books or comics.

I liked the movie, though. I thought Mata Nui sounded just the right amount of unusual and alien when compared to the Glatorian, and some of the voices sounded close to the mark. Even Kiina, if they had made her more like in the books. I will admit it's hard to see Berix as an adult with that high-pitched voice of his, but hey.

Is it possible they do it purely to "befriend" the Catapult Scorpions, as a defense mechanism? We haven't factored that Greg said Kikanalo are unusually intelligent. Maybe they're doing something like what ants do with aphids (though a bit different); maybe they're intentionally feeding the scorpions, so they won't be enemies, and thus if any enemies of the Kikanalo come near they'll be attacked by magma-shooting giant bugs?

 

So it might not comment at all on how they get food. They might travel to the occasional oasis, grab fish in a canal, or dig edible things they eat up. Maybe even visit Ga-Metru's forested reasons when they're hungry, making the plant-eating bit fit them here too.

I posted about that earlier. In fact, pretty much the exact same thing you just said. So, uh... yeah, that could be a legit thing. And good to see that someone's had the same idea as well!

As I said earlier, if we think about the nature of the catapault scorpion (it's hostile) and the fact that it considers everything BUT Kikanalo to be enemies, it'd seem pretty smart to be feeding a creature to keep it on friendly terms with you.

Maybe they stick their horn in the ground and push against the ground rapidly, plowing through the ground?

 

Also, where is the source for this? I have never heard of this before. Sounds like a strange conjecture off the Kikanalo BS01 page which has no storyline basis. Although if it is true that Kikanalo stampedes dislodge proto, I would say it's because of the force of the stampede, not their horns, and they might dig up proto using their horns when they are not stampeding. Good?

I have no idea where "Kikanalo dig while running" came from, but "Kikanalo dig up protodermis with their horns" comes from the book 'Rahi Beasts', on the Kikanalo page. It mentions that Kikanalo "trample" villages in the process, but not them digging up protodermis with their stampedes. It could be that they're rushing into the village to dig at leftover protodermis in the ground.

So, those sources say nothing about digging while running? Maybe they run a while, stop to dig, then run somewhere else?

I was puzzled a little by that, too. No, the Rahi Beasts book (which I assume is the book mentioned in the original source) doesn't contain any reference of digging while running. It says that villages get stampeded in the process, but I think that may be due to Kikanalo not really caring where they dig.

Also, it'd be a little hard to dig with your horn (as is mentioned in the book) while running. You'd have to be able to turn your head 180 degrees around, I think.

 

I found the two books mentioned here! In 'Rahi Beasts', the Kikanalo page mentions that the Kikanalo churn up the ground and dislodge "bits of protodermis lost during the carvers' labours". It doesn't mention eating them, so I grabbed the more recent edition of the Bionicle Encyclopedia. That also mentioned digging up protodermis, but not eating it. So I don't think they actually eat the protodermis.

 

In 'Island of Doom', page 32, it doesn't specify Kikanalo. It merely says 'Rahi'.

 

"The area Hakann indicated was one of the few inland areas of the island that supported any vegetation. A thick bed of flowering plants somehow managed to survive the hostile terrain and flourish, much to the delight of the Rahi who came there to feed."

On a page before that when Hakann first arrives and talks to Balta and asks "What kind of rahi is that" Balta then tells him that they are Kikanalo and they eat plants when they can find them. Then Hakann disintegrates them and says they were blocking his view. Also why would the kikanalo dig something up the protodermis for no reason except to eat it which is what I assumed? Perhaps the kikanalo are omnivores but instead of eating plants and meat they eat protodermis and pants.

Oh, yes. Page 12-13 notes that Kikanalo eat plants "when they can find them". So they can eat plants. Sorry about that!

And perhaps the Kikanalo dig up protodermis to get at roots, as Dralcax suggested?

Actually, if we think about the fact that the catapult scorpions eat what they dig up, and the nature of the catapult scorpion itself- they're very hostile, and consider every other Rahi as a threat- it might be a sort of tradeoff between the Kikanalo and the catapult scorpions. The Kikanalo are pretty intelligent, and maybe they worked out that if they occasionally dug up some protodemis for the scorpions, the scorpions wouldn't try and attack them as much. The Rahi Beasts book remarks that the scorpions consider everything to be their enemy except Kikanalo.

Of course, that sounds rather convoluted, still.

I found the two books mentioned here! In 'Rahi Beasts', the Kikanalo page mentions that the Kikanalo churn up the ground and dislodge "bits of protodermis lost during the carvers' labours". It doesn't mention eating them, so I grabbed the more recent edition of the Bionicle Encyclopedia. That also mentioned digging up protodermis, but not eating it. So I don't think they actually eat the protodermis.

In 'Island of Doom', page 32, it doesn't specify Kikanalo. It merely says 'Rahi'.

"The area Hakann indicated was one of the few inland areas of the island that supported any vegetation. A thick bed of flowering plants somehow managed to survive the hostile terrain and flourish, much to the delight of the Rahi who came there to feed."

special shows may be?

Ah, yes. The annual Rookie Roundup, to celebrate the Glatorian that were in the final stages of their basic training. Or something. No one really remembers anymore. All that is remembered is that it is the best day of the year, week, or month, depending on the stores of Thornax.

Thanks, bonesiii! Gosh, that's a relief, thinking of the implications of implants... and I realise that the question was a little off-topic, so thank you for answering it anyway!

Makes sense. Assuming the spikes would be softened too. The stink factor would actually help, as it would provide motivation to avoid getting hit by it, making the practice more useful.

The only problem is how apparently rare the Thornax are. Well, maybe not 'rare', but they're hard to find. So, as entertaining as shooting trainees with stinkbombs must surely be, it might not be a common occurrence.

...

Maybe just on special occasions. Like, when people feel like they need a bit of cheering up.

It was actually one of our Story Squad canonizations, shortly before the old forum ended.

Well, that's one mystery solved. Thanks, buddy! Oh, and while I have you on the topic: was it meant as being an implant, or naturally forming metallic skeletons? I think they were meant as naturally forming, because implants most likely won't work for a couple of reasons. But I'm not sure, and I want to be absolutely sure. Do you know?

On the topic, apparently boiled Thornax had softer skin. So you could use those for practice I guess, despite boiled thornax being considered gross and stinky. But that'd still be a waste of Thornax, so I reckon rocks are still the better option. Maybe not for firing at Agori, though, since they may lack the metal bone structure.

Also, rocks don't have sharp, armour-tearing spikes. And apparently, according to... BS01, I think it was? Anyway apparently Glatorian have a metallic bone structure. So a rock would leave a bruise if it hit with enough force that the armour didn't absorb the impact, but wouldn't do all that much to a metallic skeleton. Something that could tear through metal armour, however, could do damage to it.

EDIT- Yeah, it was from BS01. I assume it was from an ask to GregF or something.

Presumably known skill at careful use of Thornax in non-lethal ways would be considered by the villages before the match as part of the Rule 4 process. I wonder how they train at it. Maybe with fake Thornax?

Well, it HAS been mentioned that you can load Thornax launchers with rocks. That was how Agori were training with them in Raid on Vulcanus. They used rocks because they didn't want to wase Thornax ammunition, but you could see them being used for non-lethal purposes, too. Rocks probably would leave a bruise, but wouldn't tear through armour.

Okay, I have some references for all of you, which should help!

Mata Nui's Guide to Bara Magna has half a page on the Thornax plant on page 22. I'll skip through to the parts about its nature.

"When they ripen, the shells of a Thornax turn rock-hard. Then the fruit is harvested for use as ammunition in the Thornax launchers carried by Glatorian, Skrall, bone hunters and others. The spikes of a ripe Thornax are hard and sharp enough to do damage to Glatorian armor."

"When allowed to become over-ripe, Thornax become explosive. While the use of explosive ammunition is allowed in arenas only in special cases, Glatorian who need to travel the desert often carry a supply for protection. The Thornax is safe to use as long as the shell is not ruptured. Once it is launched and strikes an object, it explodes with a force powerful enough to shatter rock."

Next, in Raid on Vulcanus, pages 122-123, we see it in action!

"Fero snarled and fired his launcher. Ackar tried to dodge, but the Thornax caught his sword arm, tearing open his armour. Fero took aim for a second shot."

Later on, it mentions that Ackar had a "wounded arm", so it was also strong enough to harm his arm along with the armour. By the sounds of it, it was a non-explosive thornax.

When Stronius held Strakk at "gunpoint" with the launcher, it could have been deadly. A headshot from that distance could tear through the helmet and do extensive damage to Strakk's head. In the arena, I guess it's assumed you won't go for headshots or shoot from close range. Maybe it's against the rules?

I hope this helps!

It's hard to see how that rule could be truly enforced, though. That's a principle they can choose to live by, but how would anyone prove that they hadn't given it their all?

Yeah, I don't know about that. All I know is that it's in the book. But I guess that they were talking about more obvious examples, like walking into the arena, throwing down your weapon and then bowing to your opponent. Or being a very bad actor. Either way, it's probably something that could be exploited- I know it's not canon, but didn't that plotline for the fifth movie feature a pair of Glatorian con men who planned to do exactly that?

There's also the mention of bribes. If someone found a bag of bribe money in a Glatorian's hovel, then the Glatorian could very well be exiled, disgraced or fired. I think that's the point for that one. If there's evidence or proof, then the fighter will be in big trouble.

But yeah, of course there'd be cowardly people in the villages. I was just trying to say they're not cowardly as a whole. As you said, there's plenty of individuals there.

Well, I suspect it's something involving "all of the above." Still, those are all some useful quotes. I didn't realize, especially (or really forgot ) that they were challenging over and over on the same thing. Of course, on the other hand that means the Skrall could just challenge right back and likely win it immediately back?

Well, in the case of the Skrall River, winning it would give them enough time to break the dam down and gather as much water as they could until the Skrall managed to win it back and build the dam again.

Actually that raises the possibility that Glatorian might be throwing some challenges on purpose, or at least not putting their all into it. I dunno.

That's actually against one of the rules of the Glatorian arena. There's a few rules listed in Mata Nui's Guide to Bara Magna:

"1) All Glatorian must fight to the best of their ability. Accepting bribes to lose a match or in any way trying to affect the outcome unfairly is prohibited."

There's five other rules, which I can list if anyone wants them for this topic.

Also, is cowardice the right word? I mean, cowardice means a lack of bravery. Fearing a force that only holds back in taking everything you hold dear because they chose to humour your system doesn't sound like cowardice. I think it sounds like a decent reaction to the situation.

It remids me of Raanu in Raid on Vulcanus. See, he was faced with two options: fight, and possibly face a burned-down village full of bone hunter casualties; or send the Glatorian away and let the bone hunters take whatever scraps were in the village. The only thing that stopped him from sending away the Glatorian was hearing that the bone hunters were actualy planning on wiping Vulcanus off the map and probably killing everyone in it, which is when he decided to fight.

And BTW, now that I'm posting and on the subject again here, my guess, then, as to why the other tribes continue to agree to matches against Skrall would be (aside from fear of open war) that they hope the Skrall's winning streak is somewhat of a trick of statistics; that they only seem to be unbeatable because they rarely enter matches. As in, given enough time fighting in matches, the best Glatorian might learn enough of a Skrall's tactics to beat them a small percentage of the time.

Also, it's mentioned somewhere that surrendering means that the fighting village gets the resources. Another thing; there's a quote in Raid on Vulcanus, page 36:

"The two Glatorian struck out to the north. They rode in silence for a few hours until they reached the banks of the Skrall River. Once, enough water had flowed to provide for all the needs of nearby villages. Now it was barely a trickle, thanks to a dam built by the Skrall. Many Glatorian, including Ackar, had challenged the Skrall in the arena, over that dam. The Skrall won every time, and the dam stayed in place."

So, they may have been challenging the Skrall and accepting their challenges out of necessity, not cowardice. I mean, sure, they were unbeatable. But what if, by some off chance or stroke of luck, the opposing Skrall warrior was defeated? What if they could secure just one oasis, one dam, one shipment of resources? It'd be a morale booster, for a start, and in the case of the Skrall River, would better the lives of the Agori. They'd have things slightly better until the Skrall came back to challenge again. And in Bara Magna, that's probably all they could hope for.

Glatorian is not a species. It's just the name we use to describe the species that became glatorian (job) on Bara Magna, because we don't have a name for said species.

 

In other words, job.

Sorry, I used 'Glatorian' there because we really don't have a name for what they are in canon. It's just that they're usually referred to as Glatorian in the story, because that's what the majority of them are now. Skrall aren't really referred to as Glatorian as much as the other species.

But if we're talking Skrall included, then Skrall. They're trained to fight from a really early age, and the Agori/Glatorian probably would have fallen to them if not for Mata Nui.

That said, maybe the Skrall have been defeated before in the arena, fighting against a Glatorian. It's certainly possible. (Assuming of course that it's not canon that everyone who has ever challenged a Skrall in the arena has lost)

 

The Skrall by a mile - there was no contest. In the year between when they joined the glatorian system and when it was abandoned, no Skrall ever lost a match.

 

That's only in arena fights, mind you. On open battles and village raids, the fighters weren't constrained by rules and fought in different environments. Then, it was possible for some ordinary glatorian to hold their own some of the time.

 

BS01 quote:

 

He [Tuma] eventually forced the Skrall into the Glatorian system, competing with other tribes for resources and other valuables. The Skrall were stronger than the Glatorian other villages employed, and won every match, acquiring more resources to prepare for their siege of the desert, intended to delay the Baterra's inevitable assault.

I wasn't aware that the Skrall even counted. They're not the same species as the Glatorian, though they did fight in the arena. Do they count? Are we talking Glatorian as in the species, or Glatorian as in the job?

Does Malum count? I mean, the dude was pretty tough and didn't really hold back all that much, which sort of makes up for his lack of tact and thought in his fighting. He also won arena fights on a pretty regular basis, from what I gather.

But, if he doesn't count, then Tarix probably has my vote. Why, you ask?

As quoted from Mata Nui's Guide to Bara Magna, on Tarix's bio page:

"From the start, Tarix was one of the top four Glatorian, although he did not win any championships in the first few thousand years. Following the death of Certavus, the field became more competitive, with Tarix, Ackar and Vastus usually battling right to the end for the title in Arena Magna. Tarix would go on to set a record, winning the tournament 93 times in a row."

It states earlier that he is also currently holding the title for champion. I think he sounds like a pretty fierce competitor for Best Glatorian!

I'm currently searching for a reference of the Shadowed One having a tail instead of a third leg, as the statement sounds familiar to me- I'm sure it was mentioned somewhere- but in the meantime, I think that it would probably be a tail; I can't see a third leg being much use to an upright-standing creature, especially one positioned at the base of the spine.

In fact, I highly doubt it would be a third leg, if the Shadowed One has a way of walking that is similar to ours. See, in humans, our hip movement is a big part of walking, and a third leg would not have the same amount of mobility at the back of the pelvis when compared to the two in the usual position. If you take the skeletal structure of a person and then throw in an extra leg at the back, it's not going to do much to aid movement; I don't think it'd do more than hop about a bit behind. It'd help with balance if he was standing still, I suppose; then again, a tail might do the same thing.

This is me theorizing, though, and as such I will keep searching.

I thought something like that would be happening. Well, I'm still really excited!

I'd really like to know how judging's going on, too. The anticipation is too much for me!

I have a few points I'd like to make!

1. Has anyone really thought about masks being different? I think that different versions of the same mask would be different, because think about it: they're HAND-MADE, by the sounds of things. So, if you have a whole bunch of mask-makers in a room and ask them to make a Hau, are they all going to make identical masks? Even if you had one mask-maker make a whole bunch of Haus, each one would be ever-so-slightly different. So, my guess is that each Kanohi would be unique in their own way, depending on the crafter, and even to very slight differences due to being hand-made.

2. I like to think that each element has its own unique body type; like Ga-Matoran being more suited to swimming or Po-Matoran having stronger muscles. It sounds like a decent assumption to make, seeing as they already have a skill for each element.

3. Over time, the organic parts of the may adjust to their way of life. If a Po-Matoran lazes about all day, he probably won't be as fit as one that, I don't know, jogs around the village twice a day or whatever you do between Kohlii matches. This could possibly affect their outward appearance to a degree. Also, their armour and mask's condition may provide a hint as to just who you're talking to. I'm assuming that everyday life will leave a few dings and scratches here and there. Not to mention that a person's personality can reflect on their appearance; a Matoran who smiles a lot and has a confident posture would probably be easy to tell apart from one who slouches and scowls.

4. Okay, don't quote me on this, because it's entirely a guess on my part: factories often have manufacture flaws. There may be Matoran out there that are slightly taller,slightly shorter, have odd eye colours, or anything else that would make them stand out. Maybe even a lack of armour pigment. But yeah, this is the least credible of all the stuff I've written, so feel free to ignore it.

That's all I could think of to help at the moment!

Thank you, Toa of Italy, for passing my story!

Thanks, X-Ray! And I agree with you that Makuta Teridax probably wouldn't be that careless; I would change that, but it's a bit tricky to, since if he was REALLY as careful as he usually is, he'd have locked the door. I didn't really realise this error until you ponted it out, so thanks! Maybe I'll just say that maybe he was sort of careless that day and decided to be more careful in future.

I also agree that I probably should have developed Kodan more and had him interact with more people. In the future, I'll see to it that I put more thought into things like this. At the time, I was a little worried about keeping it as canon as possible. I didn't want to add in a character who didn't fit- this was a problem in the first draft of the story, which had much more interaction but read more like a shopping list than a work of fiction. I probably shouldn't have dropped the interaction, ha ha!

And thank you very much for your well-thought review, Mister X-Ray! And good luck to you on your future endeavours!

FYI, I'm a big fan of Tahu.

 

First impression: What did you do to him?

 

Second Impression: Yeah, okay, he's kind of cute. I'm not sure Tahu would approve, but...

 

He's got a bit of an awkward stance there, his feet are pointed together. And you scratched his leg?! How could you... I like his expression, though, and the puff of breath. Based on that, I'm not sure he does approve of being so chibi-fied. Overall, it's like Tahu crossed with a teddy bear. Interesting concept.

 

Nice drawing. I'd like to see Makuta done like this...

Thank you very much! I'll take note of the stance, and work on getting better! The feet pointing together was to make him lok a bit more adorable, like how a cartoon child woul stand. I think I muddled it up a little, though!

Ha ha, now THERE'S an idea! I might do Teridax sometime. Maybe some other characters. I gotta find those Glatorian.