Master Inika

It's funny because I could easily see it.

Spherus Magna, 100,005 years after the Shattering Toa Sabiun was bored. The streets of New Atero were safe as Matoran and Agori lived their lives. Airships, both Matoran-built and in the pre-Shattering Spherus Magna style, soared in the skies, carrying goods and passengers to and from other cities and lands. In the Great Hall, Turaga and aged Agori sat together discussing the issues of the day. It was the worst time to be a Toa. Sabiun looked longingly at the mural at the center of the Toa headquarters, depicting the epic battle between Mata Nui and the Makuta. During that harrowing duel, he had been a mere Matoran, running away and hiding as the universe around him crumbled. It was in that climactic final standoff that Sabiun’s local Toa team gave their lives to guarantee his safety. In her dying moments, the last Toa pressed into his hands a Toa stone, granting him the power and responsibility of a hero. The following years had been uneventful ones. He was now the youngest Toa in existence, and aside from the occasional skirmish with the Skrall or Dark Hunters, his powers were going totally wasted. At least he had the Toa headquarters computer to play on. Even in the throes of unrelenting boredom, the nostalgic and comforting atmosphere of Mata Nui Online Game, its simple yet captivating landscapes, its soothing yet vaguely foreboding tribal/techno musical blend, warmed his inner circuitry. He logged on and headed over to biomediaproject.com to start a brand new game. What? Toa Sabiun thought. How could this have happened? He was horrified. He felt nauseous. What was he going to do? It took a moment for the full weight of this revelation to strike him: the Huai Snowball Sling, MNOG II, Piraka Attack, even Agori Defender… they were all Flash games. Toa Sabiun rushed to the window and focused on an open space he saw outside. The power of his Kanohi Kualsi transported him from where he stood to where he wished to be. For times of crisis such as this, he had trained himself to traverse long distances through a series of rapid short-range teleports. It was a skill he had almost completely perfected. Materializing in the middle of a normally quiet street, a vehicle veered by, nearly flattening him. “Watch where you’re teleporting!” an angry Skakdi shouted. “Sorry!” Sabiun said before teleporting away. He finally reached the home of his friend, Tarduk. The green-armored Agori had been eager to learn about the Matoran, and for that matter Sabiun had been equally excited to learn about the Agori. The mutual interest had made them fast friends, and Sabiun soon learned that, if you needed a problem solved, Tarduk’s expertise on ancient, forbidden knowledge made him the Agori to see. He explained the situation to Tarduk, and Tarduk smiled. “My friend, I have been waiting for an opportunity to show you this.” Tarduk led Sabiun to his subterranean workshop, where an enormous behemoth of a spacecraft rested. “It hasn’t been tested yet, but hypothetically it should be fully functional,” Tarduk explained. “I designed it to explore the stars. This planet will soon be fully excavated, and I knew it wouldn’t be long until there was need to look beyond.” Sabiun was confused. “Is there something in space that will let me play Mata Nui Online Game?” he asked. “There is a legend,” Tarduk began, “of a magical place beyond this world, where not only Bionicle Flash games but all Flash games can be played. But I must warn you: the journey will be perilous and fraught with unimaginable… perils.” He added under his breath, “I need to work on my expositions.” He then returned his attention to his friend. “So, if you will accompany me, I will be honored to embark on this quest with you.” It was all so much. Instinctively, Sabiun looked out the window at the top of the secret workshop, where the safe, familiar sunlight of Solis Magna peered in. But then, he remembered the boredom. The horrible, horrible boredom. He could not return to it. He would not. “I will accompany you,” he declared. Tarduk’s smile grew larger and more emotional. “Excellent, my friend. Return here at this time tomorrow. I must assemble more crewmates to join us on this expedition. Forget neither your weapons nor your wits.” Next Week: New faces! Old faces! The journey of a lifetime begins! …or I forget or lose interest and disappear for another six months, one of the two. But the journey of a lifetime potentially begins!

There used to be a rule about all comedies being at least 300 words, and this is just barely over that line, but it also made me remember why we had that rule in the first place. There's a funny concept in here. Ngl, I am curious what happens to Savage next, but the formatting and punctuation make it hard to read, which isn't a huge issue because of how short this is, but for longer works you should consider more thorough proofreading.

None of the lines being discussed (G1, G2 or HF) are still active, so clearly none of them were performing as well as they could have by their end. But that's not an effective measurement of whether or not franchises would make interesting crossovers. Lego City and Lego Star Wars are both evergreen themes, but that doesn't mean they have compatible storytelling goals.

I voted big no. They're just so different in terms of tone that it wouldn't contribute to either of their universes. They represent hugely distinct eras of LEGO storytelling. Within the context of Ninjago/Chima/Nexo Knights, I could see any of those easily having a crossover because of how similar their storytelling is. They're visually similar, generally use the same format (TV show) and have a similarly lighthearted tone. It would be jarring to see Bionicle try to copy that tone, or for any of them to adopt Bionicle's. Hero Factory or G2 might be more compatible, but even then I don't think it would add anything.

*relative dignity The Exo-Force storyline just stopped one day with no resolution. That could have been Bionicle.

It always gets mentioned as the worst year of Bionicle. I was surprised the first time I heard it called the worst year, and even more surprised when I really knew just how popular the idea was. Not only do I like 2005, I think it may have been one of the best years of Bionicle. (2007 was the best, but 2005 might be a second-place winner for me). I admit, the reason I love the Great Rescue so much might be somewhat subjective. 2005 was when I really began to lean in to the Bionicle comics and understand the complexity of the storyline. 2005 is the year I spent having awesome sleepovers with my friends, reading the comics, watching Web of Shadows back-to-back with Pokemon: Destiny Deoxys, another mediocre film I admittedly only enjoy because I associate it with childhood. But I maintain that, personal memories aside, 2005 remains a worthy year and not meaningfully worse than the surrounding years. What do we mean when we talk about Bionicle being "good" or "bad"? I see three possible angles we may analyze it from: sets, story and marketing. Let's break down how 2005 did in each category. Sets: 2005 sets were awesome. The Visorak were some of the most innovative canister villains we had gotten. The Toa Hordika, too, I think offered many things we had not seen before. Personally, I was never in love with the gear functions, especially not the way the Toa Metru utilized them. (For the Metru, it always looked more to me that they were just running as opposed to fighting). I enjoyed how easy to integrate into sets the Rhotuka Spinner was. The Titans were my favorite, though. I maintain that 2005 is when Bionicle Titans came into their own and, without becoming repetitive, established an expectable level of quality and complexity. Story: I don't think Vakama turning evil was the worst possible decision. It could have been executed better, maybe with more foreshadowing in '04, but it was a feasible direction for his character to go in. Even better than that, though, 2005 is the year that really made the Brotherhood of Makuta a thing. The Bionicle world began to feel more like a world and not an island on top of another island. When Roodaka reminisced about the Mountain, it really made it tangible that Metru Nui was only one small land, and there were a plethora of worse places to be in the universe. Between the movie, comics, books and web animations, 2005 was also arguably one of the densest in terms of content and most difficult to pierce together. I consider this a good thing. Even as a kid, I enjoyed the experience of trying to figure out what order events happened in and how they impacted each other. I recall trying to figure out when, during Web of Shadows, Matau and Nokama had their excursion in the Visorak Battle Ram. It made me feel like an archaeologist and was a taste to me of what studying actual history can be like sometimes. Marketing: 2006 had worse marketing in every way. Gangsters and chain link fences aren't Bionicle, and I'm thankful that Bionicle never tried to be that modern ever again. The nicest thing I can say about 2006 was that it paved the way for Cryoshell, and their music actually manages to sound Bionicle-centric and not like Earth music transposed onto it. In contrast, I consider 2005 the real final year of classic Bionicle. While it was not emphasized as much, the tribal element was still there. The Rahaga filled a wise sage role that the Turaga on Mata Nui had, and Bionicle did not feature elder-type characters in a major way after 2005. It was the final time that a major section of the story was the six heroes splitting up with their little companions to go on solo missions, which I consider to be a hallmark of 2001 and the mask quests. There's something I can't put into words about how 2005 appeared in magazines and promotional art that indicated to me continuity with '01 that I don't get from the latter half of Bionicle. This analysis did end up being more subjective than I expected, but I still hope someone understands what I'm saying here. The Piraka were the first time I remember looking at new Bionicle sets and thinking "These don't look like Bionicle." The Toa Inika (and everything in late 2006) make it a great year overall, but 2005 gives us a more consistent, more Bionicle experience in the month-to-month. Sometimes, I feel like the 2005 hate ignores the progress that had been made. Neck, elbow and knee articulation was unknown except for the Rahkshi until 2003. Mask of Light was mostly a truncated version of The Lord of the Rings. The Visorak were a step toward diversity in clone sets, and 2005 was the final year every canister model was included in at least two combiner models. 2005 doesn't deserve to be the go-to worst year of Bionicle.

Did you get a chance to listen to Greg Farshtey's 20-year anniversary message on YouTube? If not, I'd highly recommend giving it a watch. It is very short and Greg really lays out what, in his mind, makes Bionicle dead or alive, and I agree with it 100%. I don't primarily engage with Bionicle by seeing it on shelves and buying sets. I don't even really engage with Lego at all exactly like how I did when I was younger. If I want to enjoy Bionicle, I make a MOC or watch a cool fan series like SuddenlyOranges's Reviving Bionicle. I wish Bionicle could be pumping out 2003 levels of story (quality and quantity-wise) 24/7 but it's just impossible. I'm glad Lego retired G1 with dignity when they did instead of milking the franchise until it was a shadow of its former self (looking at you, Total Drama). G2 barely left an impact on me. I think it deserved a full third year, but I bought very few of the final wave of sets, and that's all I could have done that would have actually incentivized Lego to continue it. Ninjago and Chima have incredibly similar tones, target demographics and animation styles. Bionicle never understood itself as being kid-friendly in exactly the same way, and there's no way they could have done a crossover without it feeling awkward and forced. Many Samurai Jack fans (myself included) think Season 5 was the worst season. Not that it was bad; there was a lot to like about it, but it was rushed and unnecessarily retconned a lot of great points of the show's original run (for instance, Jack never becomes the warrior king he was prophesied to). I don't think anyone sees Samurai Jack as a show with five equal seasons: it was a show with four seasons with a final one tacked on after the fact. When I want to experience a burst of elementary school nostalgia, I don't think to put on the Samurai Jack that came out when I was in college. I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I've never actually seen you contribute to the Bionicle fandom. I've never seen a MOC built by you or read a fanfiction written by you, nor do I really see you even comment on other people's fan works. I only ever see incredibly repetitive posts about why, against all logic, Lego should revive a franchise that enjoyed an impressive run but was clearly past its prime.

I couldn't help but think on seeing him that, in another life, Greg could have been an Orthodox priest. Hearing him talk about Bionicle was such a joy. For some reason it makes it so much more resonant knowing he knew how important Bionicle was to us.

I love Greg, but the his writing it at its best when he has other people working with him. Bionicle at its peak was not Greg winging it alone, the convoluted serials of 2008-10 were. As much as Ninjago could be better, I think it's at its best when Greg is doing his own take on the larger narrative. Giving him full control would not necessarily make it better, it would just make it edgier.

I didn't keep my canisters growing up, and it's one of my big regrets. I think the last packaging I bought in-store for G1 that I remember keeping for a long period of time was the Ignika tops to the Mistika, but I don't even have those anymore. I have a couple of canisters I've gotten secondhand. Two Toa Inika, Toa Norik and some others. I have the original box to the squid pack as well that I enjoy looking at from time to time.

I have my fair share of weirdly flat and long Kraata too. I don't prefer them, but it's not a big deal. They don't hit me in the nostalgia like good ol chunky Kraata.

Excellent read. I too have realized how leaderlike Nokama is and how underexplored it was. Even as a kid (and a fairly progressive kid I think) I always understood somehow it was just because Vakama was the main character.

I've never heard anyone criticize the name Makuta. It sounds like what it's supposed to be. I always thought it sounded like "cocoon" and I imagined Makuta as hibernating beneath the island until he was at full power. Every time the Toa defeated him, he just retreated back into his shell to wait for the next opportunity to strike. Teridax, Antroz, Miserix, all those names could have been switched around and no one would have even noticed. Not that they're bad names, they just don't have the Polynesian touch Makuta or Mata Nui or Toa does. But I'll still defend the name Teridax. Why? It helps differentiate between how Makuta views himself and how he really is. To a degree, the original Legend of Mata Nui is how Makuta likes to imagine himself: Mata Nui's brother, his equal in power, only evil. The reality is that he is nowhere near as powerful as Mata Nui except when he takes over his body. Makuta can never compete on his own; he can only become powerful by imitating something even more powerful. Mata Nui is by his own nature powerful. Teridax probably dislikes his name just as much as we do, and he builds up all that "the Makuta" stuff to make himself feel more mysterious and otherworldly.

I could see it going either way. It would have been smart of Teridax to have a servant directly monitoring Metru Nui prior to him assuming Dume's identity. Teridax himself might have gifted Nivawk to Dume. Plus, it would help deflect any suspicion if Nivawk had been a common sight prior to Teridax's plan. I like the idea of Nivawk being part of a species. I always liked picturing groups of Nivawks flying over Voya Nui when I was younger.

I wish I took a screenshot now. No one will believe us if we try to tell them about it.

Not really. Him being Hero Recon Team actually made his character interesting and wasn't a twist I saw coming.

You'll notice the Rise of the Rookies rating is based on only one review, and it's obviously a troll. Read it for yourselves.

Great model. I could imagine Vezon wiping the floor with a Skrall. My only complaint is (at least for me) the dark gray hand sticks right out. I know there's not really a better option, though. Also not a huge fan of the extra black armor on the shins. My favorite part are the weapons. All the different blade types in the shield go together so well I didn't realize at first just how many distinct parts there were. The sword/flail is awesome, too.

BIONICLE and Slizer/Roborider had tons of overlapping concepts (as vague and bare-bones as Slizer was). A planet being destroyed and elementally-themed gladiator fights are two very specific concepts that aren't normally a part of LEGO storytelling. Plus, Slizer (as far as I know) did not have a significant fanbase bemoaning its cancelation--anyone who was a Slizer fan pretty much got onto the BIONICLE bandwagon from the get-go. That is not how it worked out with HF. Ninjago, Chima and even Nexo-Knights all fall into roughly the same "color-coded heroes fight a bad guy." (BIONICLE falls into that too, but BIONICLE took it in a significantly different direction tonally). It's not a bad thing, but all three of those lines are much more kid-friendly and comedic than BIONICLE. Tbh, Hero Factory would make more sense incorporated into those universes than BIONICLE. I've still yet to be convinced that crossing over HF and BIONICLE could contribute anything meaningful to either line.

Excellent model. It strikes me as an Asian-style dragon instead of the more Western looking official one. I loved the incident report. It reminded me of an SCP article.

I don't know if "collage" is necessarily the right word, but I've been wanting to make these for a long time. They're nothing special; anyone could have made them but I've always loved BS01's special title banners they have for all the old Bionicle stories and wanted to be able to look at them all at once. I hope you all think they look cool, too:

New theory: Keetongu is the only Keetongu who can actually speak, like Meowth. Imagine Keetongu finally reuniting with his species (in an alternative universe or something) and they all just grunt incoherently

I hate to say it, but it wouldn't really add anything to either franchise if that were the case.

This is a good theory. I know canonically the Toa did collect Noble masks. I wish I had enough information on how LEGO production works to confirm or deny; maybe somebody else does. Were fans the first to call them misprints?