Master Inika

Wall of History are officially my new favorite people. For real, I could look at the Red Star with that music in the background forever. It's just always there doing something. Even if it's a weird zombie-revival thing, the RS has always been in Bionicle.

My gut instinct reading this was sadness. Seeing the Kakama Nuva "Opinion" header gave me a rush of nostalgia but I could tell it wasn't entirely a good thing. I remember what it was like the first time I found BZPower. Someone mentioned it on the Lego Message Boards and I checked it out. I read all their archived set reviews and all kinds of fanfiction. This place was my first exposure to fanfiction. I saw BZP's coverage of the Toa Mahri. It was no time at all until BZP became my main place online. I wish things could keep chugging along like that forever, but I know it can't. "Less news" isn't something I'm glad to hear, but I can't keep up with reading daily updates, either. I'm not a general Lego fan as much as I am a Bionicle/Star Wars fan, too. It makes me sad, but it really shouldn't. All the stuff that I miss about BZPower is already gone, or only exists in my own head. I just want to say I love Bionicle and I try to be thankful for this community. It's just nice to be able to talk to people about Bionicle. It's really something I consider foundational to my life, silly as that sounds.

I don't think Lego's ever sold its intellectual property, and ngl I don't think anyone except Lego could do Bionicle well. I used to be more open-minded, and then Disney Star Wars happened.

I'm glad you posted this here, and I look forward to seeing where it all goes. I won't dwell on the mechanics of writing for too long, because I know most of what's posted now was written as a proposal more than a story itself, which is fine. It would be a good idea to try to develop more of a sense of "show, don't tell." One specific example I noticed was this: "The Glatorian feel sad that Perditus betrayed them and their friends." That should be a really emotional moment. Remember how everyone reacted in TLR when they found out Metus was the traitor? This should have that same kind of energy. Knowing the fact that the Glatorian were sad doesn't really tell me a whole lot at all. Ackar's from the same village. Did he feel like he failed his friends by not realizing it before? Little moments like that are what make a story great. You also tend to weave in a lot of Bionicle lore, which is cool for us longtime fans in small doses, but easter eggs like that lose their impact the more of them there are. Consider this one: "Tetrarmus, the Order of Mata Nui member with four arms and a multi-bladed axe that got killed by Voporak when he was getting the bottom half of the Mask of Time." It's an unnaturally and cumbersomely long statement, and it also happens to be literally everything canon about that character. That description has meaning to us as the audience, but it shouldn't to your omniscient third-person narrator. You don't need to wow anyone with your extensive knowledge of lore. If you had just written, "Tetrarmus, the four-armed Order of Mata Nui member," we'd all know who you're talking about. I do like the name Tetrarmus, though. It's on-the-nose, sure, but it sounds like a Bionicle name. It gives the story more of its own identity than when you just reuse existing Bionicle words. I wasn't expecting Velika to not be Velika. On one hand, kudos for throwing a plot twist my way that I was totally surprised by. But at the same time, it raises a ton of questions, like: why? "Velika" is already a false name the Great Being used when he planted himself into the MU. In what sense is he "pretending to be" Velika? In the official canon, there is, essentially, no character of Velika outside of the Great Being. I don't know if all you meant to imply was that Nynrah was Velika's real name or not, but that would be a more concise way of communicating it. I'm not sure why you think your dialogue is especially bad. It's not. It has the same strengths and weaknesses as your descriptions. I'm reserving judgment for now. I've only just started reading the first couple of chapters, and I am intrigued. I'll try to read up a little bit more and let you know my further thoughts. Keep on writing.

You said a lot, but I feel like you didn't really reply to any of the points I brought up. You've made it pretty clear that you enjoyed Bionicle. I did, too. What I don't get is why you so strongly associate "Bionicle was an exceptional Lego theme" with "Lego must continue it no matter what." It's also telling that you take it for granted that only Lego can keep Bionicle alive while also subtly insulting them, by saying Bionicle had heart "unlike most themes." If you think Lego generally releases a product without heart, why are you so gung-ho for them making more? What I think you mean by "heart" is that Bionicle had incredibly immersive worldbuilding on multiple media platforms that provided an experience kids our age in the early 2000s weren't used to. Bionicle was definitely a trailblazer in that regard. But I would argue that that's the norm now, so Lego wouldn't be doing anything impressive by just continuing what they were doing 20 years ago. Bionicle got canceled the first time because it wasn't selling like it used to. All that worldbuilding and immersion that we loved required a lot of adults working full-time jobs with guaranteed incomes. It's not reasonable to expect them to keep doing it purely for our gratification. Fortunately, Bionicle's the kind of thing that can be enjoyed without Lego actively releasing new material. You're acknowledging the narrative that you progressively enjoyed constraction less and less. You didn't enjoy HF as much as G1, or G2 as much as either of them. Neither did I. That's why their lifespans kept getting shorter and shorter. It's also pretty disrespectful to accuse Lego of having "nerve" for not doing whatever is it you want them to do to celebrate Bionicle. Especially since, when most Lego lines end, they just end with no sort of sendoff. That's normal for Lego. Bionicle getting Journey's End was a major exception, because Greg and the Story Team wanted to do something special for the longtime fans even though it Lego didn't have a huge financial incentive to. It's childish to expect Lego to give Bionicle that kind of dedication 24/7 because it made us happy when we were kids. I'm just going to give it to you straight: Greg Farshtey isn't counting down the days until Alexandria's 18th birthday so that he can finish the online serials he wrote in his spare time and published for free. In a perfect world, we'd get to see Marendar and everything Greg had in mind. It's telling that you know exactly what we're all thinking: it most likely won't happen. I don't say it to get under your skin, but it's true and relevant to what we're talking about. You're just listing all the various loose ends of these Lego stories. You tend to list off a lot of basic information in your posts, which makes them get long without saying a whole lot. It's mildly interesting to me what kind of things Lego had in mind for those cliffhangers (the Bionicle ones, at least) but I'm not expecting Lego to finish them purely for our benefits. The fact that Lego brought back old characters sometimes without releasing new sets of them, like the Bohrok being activated in 2008, was unusual because the Story Team was extra good to us. It doesn't reflect well on us if we're all still here 10 years later obsessively badgering them for the next piece of lore. Sometimes, a story is more meaningful because of how it makes people feel than the objective events that happen. I know that's how it is for me. Look at Star Wars. The idea that there are millions of planets out there and there's something happening on all of them is, in and of itself, a lot more fascinating than the actual plot of Star Wars sometimes. That's how I felt as a kid, at least. Also, reusing random names for unnamed character is kind of lazy. And why do these characters "need" names? The crazy Av-Matoran who saw Tren Krom doesn't have a name, and he's one of the most memorable non-set characters in all of Bionicle. You're admitting here again that, between the two, HF is the weaker franchise to Bionicle. You're accepting that Lego got worse at meeting your needs as an adult fan, not better. The MCU was created from the ground up to be a shared universe. It would be a far different thing if Marvel tried to fit the MCU into the same continuity as the original comic books, which can have an incredibly different tone. As for the story you've presented on its own, it's fine. It's not my cup of tea, but I think it's cool you put all that thought into it and got it written down. It's really the entitled attitude you take toward Lego that's objectionable more than the actual story you want them to tell. Which, again, you seem to have it all pretty much figured out in your head already, so what do you need Lego for exactly? It's weird that you're so willing to insult Greg's writing style by calling the Bionicle multiverse, a pretty big part of Greg's writing that he seems to enjoy creating and consider important to Bionicle's themes, a "mess," while also expecting him to prioritize finishing that story over raising his child. I don't mean to mock you. People on the Internet can be cruel. But do you see even a little bit how you feed it? The things you treat as realistic and reasonable expectations from Lego just aren't. You want Bionicle back, but you want in back in an incredibly specific way seemingly tailored to you personally. You say you love Lego and Bionicle, but you also say some pretty disparaging stuff, unprompted, about the people behind it. I'm also surprised that, in response to my suggestion that you produce your own fan content independently of Lego the company (the main point of my first post), you dedicate one line to addressing it directly. Writing fanfiction is tough. I look and some stuff I wrote back in the day and cringe pretty bad. But it's fanfiction. It's a different standard. I always have fun writing it, and I like to think other Bionicle fans have fun reading it. That's a lot more important to me than what happens to the cursed Great Being. I hope you pick on that I love Bionicle and, in a perfect world, I'd like there to be new sets and story, too. The way you choose to budget your time and energy in the fan community makes it seem like you have no identity outside of wanting Lego to do a Bionicle/HF crossover, though. Do you?

Congrats, you've made the thing I would least like to see crawling under the covers in the middle of the night. Without the weapons, he's actually kinda cute. Good model.

Welp, this is a thing you made. I'm trying to be nice. I really am. But I'm still perplexed by your need for Bionicle and HF to continue with Lego's permission. You seem constitutionally incapable of enjoying these things without official sanction from the overlords in Denmark... which defeats the point a little. I have never seen a piece of fan-created media from you, either a fanfiction or a MOC (except, arguably, this, but that's only because you're single-mindedly obsessed with the blessing of canon being offered). I know I'm speaking to the near-universal fan experience here when I say that Lego is fun because it lets you make your own models and have them play out your own stories, and it's almost unthinkable that someone seemingly so committed to Lego seems to emphasize it so little. I'm not trying to tell you how to enjoy Lego, it's just... strange. You want Lego to do all the creative work for you. I'm also perplexed by your need for Bionicle and HF to share a universe, even though it wouldn't add anything to either storyline. Whenever asked, or whenever justifying these highly unlikely and undesirable crossover projects, you only make the vague point that they are "similar" and also that they both have loose ends. Those aren't good reasons for them to share a universe. What if Tahu met Furno just isn't a meeting I as a Bionicle (and partial HF) fan am interested in seeing play out, and I know that's the majority opinion so far. Have you ever heard the term continuity lockout? I'd recommend reading the article on TV Tropes dedicated to it, but basically it's when a fictional storyline becomes so complicated and plot-heavy that it becomes almost impossible for new fans to jump in. It's fine with things like books or movie series marketed to adults, because they generally can be expected to seek out previous material and purchase it. Bionicle is a toy line marketed primarily to children, though, so when continuity lockout hit Bionicle, it hit hard. I bought my first BIonicle set when I was seven, in 2003. For a seven-year-old buying his or her first Lego set today, they weren't even alive when G1 ended. Lego is deciding what they do next based on those fans, the ones who are going to be spending their parents' money with reckless abandon for the next ten years, and that's okay. When I really think about it, the most Lego can do for me as someone who grew up with Bionicle is to put that same creative energy in groundbreaking new projects. So that the next generation can experience what I experienced. Seeing Lego sets advertising apps and all that does make me cringe and feel old, but that's probably how my parents and older sister felt when I spent hours each day on the family computer playing MNOG II, Junkbot and World Builder (the old Flash game). In a way, when I see little kids at the Lego store, I feel like a Turaga getting to watch Matoran hear the tales of the Toa fresh and new. Lego might realistically make some kind of one-time Bionicle tribute, like maybe a Kini-Nui set, but it's probably going to be like $99 and I probably wouldn't be able to actually buy it because I pay bills. I can tell that you put a lot of effort into this. At the very least, you individually gathered several hundred Bionicle- and HF-related topics. That's pretty impressive. You get a lot of flak, mostly from me, but I don't want you to feel disheartened. You definitely have the same love for Bionicle that I do, and I understand wishing things were like they used to be. I think your ideas and the energy you bring to the fandom would be far better used and appreciated in writing fanfiction. I'm harsh on Bionicle/HF crossovers when they're presented as something for Lego to realistically consider, but I'm far more forgiving when I'm reviewing fanfiction, believe me. When you say Bionicle and HF should share a universe and team up to fight all the remaining antagonists, what does that mean to you? What do you picture in your head? Maybe it's awesome. Maybe you'll prove me wrong about Bionicle/HF being a bad idea and I'll be eating my words. I'm not able to access the documents in the proposal you listed because I don't have an account, and I don't feel like making one. But BZPower has a fanfiction forum right here that's been hopelessly neglected for years now. Writing out your ideas and posting them on here would by and far be the best, most productive and most constructive thing you could possibly do for the Bionicle fandom. (So would making a MOC, or something else creative. Do you play music, draw or sculpt? Those are all great ways you can express what Lego means to you.) My only real point is this: if Lego were to hypothetically look at BZP right now and just see us badgering them to give us more content, then they're just going to feel annoyed with us. If they see us keeping the legend alive ourselves, that will indicate to them that there's still committed fans with interest in what happens to these characters. If you decide to post your ideas in the library, or anywhere else, you'll have my full support.

That really is. I've never seen or heard of those Nuva weapon misprints.

Lego and Christmas went hand in hand for me growing up. I remember a lot of the specific sets I got. 2004, the Battle of Yavin IV and TIE collections. 2008, the Tiny Turbos Brick Street Customs. 2009, Skopio XV-1. Also Maxilos and Spinax, the 2008 Takanuva, and more. I used to put Balta and Piruk up in the tree, or some other Lego sets. I think I made a Bionicle nativity once, and I wish I remembered which sets I used. This year I asked my mom for Moff Gideon's Light Cruiser, and I'm looking forward to it. I don't think I've gotten a good-sized Star Wars set since 2014. I have one of those tiny Lego Christmas trees that I put up every year, and it's up now. I like thinking about it, but it also makes me sad. The holidays aren't the same when you're an adult, and I don't know how all the adults around me when I was young got through it.

This hurts to look at.

It looks to me like the top is Greg (G. Farshtey) and the bottom is Martin Pasko, the BIONICLE comics' editor.

It also looks like Sentai Mountain. They must all take place in the same universe.

Just for simplicity, I once had a headcanon that there are only six shapes of Rahkshi staffs that each go with seven different powers. Think about how many other pieces get reused in Bionicle. Is there really a canon reason for Lewa, Balta and Sidorak all to have the same shaped blade?

I'm a sucker for blue and orange color schemes. It could use a little more blue, though. Especially from the back, the orange is overpowering. I love the custom torso, weapon and hand designs. And that hat is perfect. That mod to give McToran eyes is the best thing to happen to this fandom in ages.

OHH. That's genius if it is.

Took me a second to get that the Bohrok eye is a suit, but now that I see it, I love him. It was jarring at first, seeing so many open studs on an otherside BIONICLE build, but it makes sense. He reminds me of robots from classic cartoons whose faces are just monitors that can show whatever the plot needs them to. He's cute, and 10/10 would watch on a Saturday morning cartoon.

Took me a second to figure out what the head piece actually was, and boy am I impressed. It's lovely and I appreciate how you've combined two totally different aesthetics. He looks like a skeletal robot body that somehow learned what nature is and wants it. It's endearing and full of personality.

I'm so used to Kazi's hand-head seeing him with an actual head just looks weird. Excellent model, though. The custom limbs look like G2 (I'm out of the loop, maybe they are) but they still fit as quintessentially Kazi in terms of scale and feel. It almost looks too good. Canonically, the Voya Nui Matoran are supposed to be poorly-made, so Kazi looks too healthy and strong to be the Kazi we know. But that's hardly a criticism of the build. Good job.

I'd rather see the 2015 Uniters in 2001 colors. This is an interesting project though, and thanks for putting the idea in picture form. It's not the type of thing it would have occurred to me to wonder before, but now that I can see it in front of me, it's really fascinating and I think it shows how differently LEGO uses color in 2015 vs. 2001.

Reminds me of the Tim Burton movie 9. He looks wise and noble, but he also looks like he's wearing khaki shorts, like a goofy grandpa. Very expressive yet also quintessentially robotic like BIONICLE is known for.

Gali's face is going to haunt my nightmares. Seriously, these are so creative and abstract, yet together they're all clearly the Nuva. They look like the Nuva if they were also Dark Hunters. I love it.

This is beautiful to look at. The ramp in particular looks a lot more complex and full-scale than it really is. It wasn't until I really looked at it that I noticed it was all normal pieces. The portal itself is magnificent. The parts flow together seemlessly. It's one of the best types of BIONICLE MOCs, the kind that doesn't even really look like BIONICLE at first it all goes together so nicely.

Episode 10: The Battle for Metru Nui Poison had just finished his second serving of apple pie a la mode. Vengeance committed to memory the name of the department store where Claire Smith had purchased her drapes, intent on ordering some for his cell on Odina upon his return. Darkness licked from his bladed fingers the residue of melted ice cream. Finally, the Shadowed One rose. "Enough!" he roared. "The time of waiting has reached its conclusion. The time for action has come. We will march on the Coliseum. We have no need for more weapons, we are Dark Hunters! We have powers and skills beyond those lowly Matoran, their laughable Vahki or that pathetic lone Toa of Fire. Come!" Primal sighed. "But I wasn't finished with my--" "COME!" The assembled Hunters reluctantly left Claire's house and headed toward the Coliseum, leaving the frazzled housewife alone. All she could do was wait and hope that help was on its way. Jake always said something in times like this, and it only seemed appropriate for her to echo him: "Mata Nui protect us." ---- Claire led Vakama, Nokama and Matau through the halls of the Coliseum. They found Turaga Dume in his office, flanked on either side by a Vahki. "So, the false Toa have returned," he said calmly. "Surrender now and perhaps I'll--" "We don't have time for this!" Vakama cried. "An army of Dark Hunters is headed right for us!" There were many excuses the villain was expecting the young Toa to make, but that was not one of them. If he was telling the truth... "They can't," Dume said, more to himself than anyone else. "It's too soon." He turned to the Vahki on his right. "Summon every Vahki unit in the city. Either we turn all that aggregate power on the Dark Hunter army approaching us... or on these liars if no army arrives." ---- It was a rare sight on Metru Nui: all six metru devoid of Vahki. All squads had been recalled to the Coliseum, which they ringed in a defensive perimeter. If Dume knew the Shadowed One, he would not be approaching in a straight line. The Dark Hunters struck where and when they were least expected. In the chaos, Claire had managed to slip through and reunite with Jessica. The mother and daughter embraced. "Did Dad and Jake make it back yet?" Claire asked desperately. "No," Jessica said. "It looks like we're on our own. We have six Toa and those robots, but that's nothing compared to the Hunters. We tried to tell Turaga Dume, but he wouldn't listen." They approached from the east: hundreds upon hundreds of armored beings, every shape and size, all of them looking ready for a fight. The Vahki prepared for combat, but the first wave of Dark Hunters made quick work of the first wave of Vahki. Even the mechanical minds encased within clockwork in the remaining Vahki's heads could calculate that there was little hope the rest of them would fare any better. "What we need is a miracle," Jessica said. "Did somebody say miracle?" The voice was young, coming from the opposite side of the Coliseum. All looked, and there was Jake, and beside him Roger, and coming up behind the father and son, Toa. First a handful, then a dozen, then a few dozen, then a few hundred. Without words, the epic battle erupted. Rays of plasma melted through spiked armor. Bolts of ice froze enemies solid. Protosteel shields deflected blasts of fire. Gale-force gusts of wind blew towering giants to the ground. Elemental blasts of every kind flew in every direction. Blades, sword, axes and spears rained upon every area of the Coliseum. As both armies slowly lost troops, the Smith family, together with Turaga Dume, watched the action unfold from the top of the Coliseum's central tower. "That's it," Roger said. "This has gone on long enough. I'm ending this." "But how?" Claire said, clinging to her husband. Roger looked back at her and smiled. "Don't worry, honey. I've got a plan." He stepped out and shouted to the warring crowd: "Everyone stop!" Roger was so puny and insignificant that the combatants were too curious to ignore him. What was this short, squishy being going to say that could change the course of so great a battle? The man said nothing, simply held up an item he had hidden away in his pocket. Most in the crowd failed to recognize it, but the Shadowed One did. "No," the creature said. "Impossible!" "Yes," Roger declared. "I hold in my hand a device capable of causing extreme pain in any biomechanical being's mechanical components. Just one press of a button, and this battlefield turns into a living Karzahni for all of you." He looked back with a smile at his family. "All of you with mechanical components, that is." "You wouldn't dare!" the Shadowed One roared. "You would hurt your newfound allies as well as us." "I'll do whatever I must to protect my family," Roger countered. "Unless you'd like to see if I'm bluffing, order every Dark Hunter off of Metru Nui." The Shadowed One weighed his options. Roger knew not the capabilities of the weapon he held. He could kill the Shadowed One purely by accident if he turned it on. A retreat, even one dishonorable as this, allowed for the possibility of revenge. The Hunters would do as they always had: return to the comfortable safety of darkness and await their next opportunity. "We accept your terms, Roger... for now," the Shadowed One snarled. ---- Not a moment after the final Dark Hunter boarded his boat, the terrified Matoran controllers pushed it out and it rejoined the fleet headed back to Odina. "By the way, Roger," the Shadowed One bellowed back to the shore from his boat, "you're fired." So there was peace, and with it the great challenge of rebuilding. "To repair all this damage will take years," Dume grieved. For a moment, his voice darkened. "I sought to rule a city of legends, not a city of rubble." His eyed widened as he realized he said that out loud. "Um, I mean..." "Oh, give it a rest, Makuta," Claire said. "We've all been listening to Jake. Even I know you're really a bad guy hatching some sort of sinister plot." An old, frail Toa in a tattered cloak approached. Her hands and feet were blue, but little else could be seen of her. "Follow me, please," she said in a raspy voice, wise and battle-hardened. No one was sure if they recognized her from the great conflict. The Smith family followed her. "I am Toa Helryx," she said once they were away from the crowd. "I am--" "You're the first Toa!" Jake explained. "You lead the Order of Mata Nui. You do the jobs regular Toa can't. You're so cool you even get to break the Toa Code!" "Um... yes, I am," she said. "Anyway, you don't belong here. It's going to be hard enough for my organization to make sure things proceed here as they're meant to as it is. The time has come for you to return to where you do belong." The Smiths looked at each other, a myriad of emotions in their eyes. "I suppose it is time," Claire said. Roger nodded to Helryx. He had to do what was best for his family. Beside Helryx, a gold and blue giant approached. "This is Brutaka," Helryx said. "He shall open a portal to your home dimension--or at least, as close to it as he can get. Farewell, and thank you for your service to our world." The Smiths wanted to remain and say goodbye. So much had happened. Lhikan was now a Turaga like Dume/Makuta. The Toa Metru were still wanted fugitives. Two Dark Hunters remained crawling around the city, somewhere. But all of them--even Jake--seemed to comprehend that Helryx alone could properly appreciate who they were and just how out of their element they all were. Brutaka summoned a portal, and one by one the Smiths walked through. They expected to walk into sunshine and see perhaps a few clouds in the sky. That expectation was met. What they did not expect to see was a beautiful yet alien-looking city on the side of a distant mountain. The four Smiths looked around and made sure all four of them had made the journey safely. All immediately knew from the strange city before them that, wherever they were, it wasn't home. "Hi, there!" a cheerful voice said from behind them. All turned to see a purple horse with wings. "Welcome to Equestria! I'm Twilight Sparkle, and it looks like I'm your first friend!"

I enjoyed reading this. It's a very realistic depiction of Le-Wahi. Seeing it in MNOG, you get a feel for the physical beauty, but you really captured the actual danger of a jungle. That orange pollen sounds horrifying. In canon, the way the Makuta created everything gives it all a purpose, but in the real world, sometimes nature just hurts you for no good reason. There were certain spelling mistakes, and some proofreading would have gone a long way to making it a cleaner reading experience, but what you've presented is excellent. As someone totally unfamiliar with the BZPRPG, I was able to follow along well and quickly get an understand as to who's who and what's going on. Thanks for sharing this, and keep writing.

I once played the game and intentionally didn't get the chisel and it still let me progress and win. Without knowing exactly what you've done, it's hard for us to pinpoint the problem. There are one of a million things you could have missed. I'd start by just going around and re-delivering the letter to all five Turaga as a starting point.