Master Inika

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?

This MOC sounds like the Transformers sound effect.

On the other hand, the internal narration from the Zadakh in the quoted portion isn't lacking in any way. That Vahki seems to be acting reasonably enough given the circumstances, even recognizing to retreat from a dangerous situation. They just got handed an unwinnable position, and were probably only included to make the Visorak look even cooler and more dangerous (not unlike the Exo-Toa in 2003 or Toa Nuva in 2006 being easily defeated).

Nice models. The first one in particular is a good mix of early G1, late G1 & G2. They are very cute, and the printed mask is awesome too.

Couldn't the Vahki in 2005 also shoot disinegrator blasts from their staffs because of the power surge, and also talk? That was a really underexplored element of 2005.

Episode 9: The Truth Time had lost any semblance of meaning for Roger Smith. How long had he spent wandering the bizarre and unsettling landscape of Karzahni? Months? Years? He was grateful that he had his son Jake as a guide. The boy seemed to know everything there was to know about the otherworldly island. Jake was flipping anxiously through the pages of BIONICLE: World by Greg Farshtey. He had thus far been able to avoid the Dust Falls and the canyons where Karzahni’s Manas dwelt, but finding a way off the island without facing any other dangers would be difficult. “We could find the Tunnel of Darkness, which leads straight back to Metru Nui,” he pondered out loud. “But then again, it is full of darkness.” “I just want to get out of here!” Roger cried. It was at that moment Roger realized something. “The weapons,” he cried in horror. “Son, where are all the weapons we bought? We came all this way, and now we don’t even have the weapons!” “Dad, chill!” Jake said. He opened his palm, which he was holding miniaturized versions of an assortment of dangerous tools in the middle of. “I used our Kanoka Disk of Shrinking to make them easier to carry. I have a Disk of Enlarging back home to make them full-size again.” “Oh, you wonderful child!” Roger said. “Only, we need to think of a plan for when we get back,” Jake said. “We can’t actually hand all these tools over to the Dark Hunters. They’ll destroy the city. We need to find some Toa to bring back with us.” ---- Toa Vakama, Toa Nokama, Toa Matau and Human Jessica ducked down behind a stone slab. Energy blasts from the Dark Hunters Mimic and Tracker threatened to vaporize their hiding spot--and them along with it. “Surrender, Toa, if you know what’s good for you!” Tracker roared. “I’m not doing this because I want to,” Mimic cried out. “But just the same, we must return to the Shadowed One.” That comment resonated with something deep in the teenage girl’s mind. Jessica wracked her brain for meaning. She poked her head out to get another good look at Mimic. His body was massive and alien-looking, but there was something… off about him. Amateurish. Unrefined. Not bad or ugly, but he didn’t look like he fully belonged. Neither did her ally, now that she thought about it. That was it! They were Dark Hunters. On every family road trip, Jake bored the family to tears by reciting, page by page, the BIONICLE Dark Hunter guide he got for Christmas. They were fan-made characters that won a contest. There were so many of them, though… How could she ever recall which ones the two attacking her were? A memory came back to her. One of the Dark Hunters had a friend, but he lost her, and he only served the Hunters because he wanted to find her again. She couldn’t quite remember if it was one of the two attacking her, but it might be the first one, Mimic. She took a deep breath and stepped out from her hiding spot. “Jessica, no!” Nokama cried. “It’s okay, Nokama. I know what I’m doing,” Jessica said calmly. She walked out to face the two giants. “Mimic!” she called out. “I know you miss someone.” Mimic lowered his weapon uneasily. “Don’t listen to her, brother!” Tracker called out, firing another blast. It took a focused gust of air from Matau to divert the attack. “I know what happened,” Jessica said, wracking her brain for more details. Jake must have spent hours reading verbatim from that book. He had to have something useful to her current situation. Then, finally, with great difficulty, the memories came. “I know what really happened to her. It was the Shadowed One who kidnapped her!”

LEGO survived the late 90s downturn because of Bionicle and Star Wars together (Source: "The only reason Lego survived during this difficult time was due to the success of the Bionicle and Star Wars series"). The writing was on the wall with Bionicle. It was a unique and innovative property that caught lightning in a bottle for a surprising span of time from about 2003-2008. But they can't just keep making Bionicle products until the end of time. That's not a reasonable thing to expect. It takes LEGO time and resources to make products and it's not realistic or respectful to LEGO to just want them to make things for us at a loss. Let's look at a few of your proposals in more detail: 2. #recontinueandendBionicleG1sstory Greg Farshtey frequently reminded us that the BIONICLE storyline existed to promote the BIONICLE toys. That's what made it worth LEGO's time to pay Greg to write it. And even then Greg gave us more than LEGO requested of him--the serials in the later years barely had anything to do with the sets being released; Greg just worked on them out of passion for the craft. And even more the unfinished serials after the first cancelation, when there were no BIONICLE toys and Greg just wanted to do something nice for us. Compare BIONICLE to any other LEGO line that ended--the sets and storyline just stop being updated. 5. #makeG1TahuaToaNuvaagain and #giveTahuhisKanohiNuvaback I've never heard anyone want that, and it doesn't specifically bother me that Tahu's not a Nuva or doesn't have his Kanohi Nuva (which he lost in 2003). For all the problems associated with later BIONICLE, this wasn't one of them. For that matter, how would LEGO even fulfill this one? Do you want them to release an official statement that Tahu became a Nuva again and got his Nuva masks back? 6. #moreToaKaita , #makeAkuamiNuvahappen , #moreMatoranNui , #makeMatoranKaitahappen #makeToaNuihappen , #makeTuragaKaitahappen , #makeTuragaNuihappen , #make36moreRahkshitypesinLego ,#make8moreToatypesinLego , #make8moreMatorantypesinLego , #make9moreTuragatypesinLego , #make8moreSkakdiinLego Why would it be desirable for LEGO to produce stories and products involving every conceivable fusion or elemental type in BIONICLE? If I want to experience a Turaga Nui or Skakdi of Magnetism doing something, I can just make a MOC or write a fanfiction about it. That's the beauty of LEGO. 7. #bringbackthePiraka , #bringbackVultraz , #bringAlternateTeridaxbackhome , #bringAlternateTakanuvabackhomes Again, LEGO isn't preventing anyone from creating fanmade media in which those characters return or those events happen. 8. #MakeLegocelebrateBionicles20thanniversary The idea that we should "Make" LEGO do anything is just disrespectful. 11. #moreMataNuiOnlineGames The media form that made MNOG so wonderfully early 90s (Adobe Flash) no longer exists. As much as I wish LEGO continued making interactive games with Templar all throughout the 2000s, it's a bit late for it now. And MNOG's ambiance and storytelling just wouldn't be done justice in HTML5. 13. #releaseBionicleTheLegendRebornconceptart and #releaseBionicleTheLegendRebornsoundtrack Here is a fan-produced isolated score of the entire film. There's no reason to ask LEGO to do pretty much the exact same thing and they're not going to take fan requests seriously if some of the things we ask for already exist. 14. #makeBionicle5thmoviehappen and #makeBionicle6thmoviehappen (or #make5thand6thBioniclemovieshappen ) The 4th BIONICLE movie is across the board the most reviled of all of them. Why would LEGO continue along that trajectory when all we did last time was complain about Kiina going "WOO-HOO"? 16. #makeBionicleHeroes2happen , #remakeandimproveBionicleTheGame2003 , #remakeandimproveBionicleHeroes , and #giveBionicleareasonableTTvideogame Again, the storyline (even the video games) exist to promote the toys. LEGO's not going to expend resources fixing or making video games involving toys that haven't been commercially available for over a decade. Has any company ever done anything like that? 17. #releasetheG2Makutaset and #releasetheMaskofUltimatePower LEGO has already released enough images necessary to make your own G2 Makuta using secondhand sources like BrickLink for parts. The request for an official release of the Mask of Ultimate Power is the only one I would call even moderately possible. I could see LEGO offering a MoUP with every order over $50 on LEGO.com or something. That would be something the average fan like me could consider backing with my own money. But it's nuggetted between so many outlandish demands that LEGO's not going to take it seriously. 18. #makemoreMatoranspeciesmembersandremovethegenderlock LEGO's not producing more BIONICLE story media. Changing the rules now would be an empty gesture. If you want to make a female Po-Matoran now in 2021, you can do it. 19. #remakeBioniclesets This is called revamping. BIONICLE fans have regularly revamped sets as long as I can remember. 21. #makeLegopromoteBionicleTheLegendofMataNuiRebuilt and #makeBionicleTheLegendofMataNuiRebuiltcanon Why? The game has already been 100% finished and released. You can go play it and enjoy playing it right now. LEGO's not stopping you. Why do you feel you need LEGO's permission to enjoy fanmade BIONICLE content? If the fanbase as a whole were to actually try spamming Twitter with even half of these requests, it would just annoy LEGO. All of them are either things LEGO couldn't feasibly do if they wanted to, things that would inevitably only satisfy some fans and not others, or things that there's no conceivable need for them to do. All of these are drowning out the few meaningful ideas, like the Mask of Ultimate Power. It feels like you can't enjoy something LEGO-related unless LEGO actively stamps a seal of approval on it--which completely defeats the point of playing with LEGO!

According to BS01, even the Bahrag are in that not-Rahi-but-considered-Rahi-by-Matoran category. Rahi are, to us, a type of fauna in a fictional LEGO franchise. For us to disagree with the characters in the fictional franchise about what is a Rahi creates a weird objective definition for something that we know it's real. Imagine if Pikachu wasn't really a Pokémon--Ash Ketchum and Professor Oak just erroneously thought he was.

I have to agree. The only Bionicle hashtag that's ever been arguably necessary was #BringBackBIONICLE, which captures the spirit of all the other ones, and even that one wore out its welcome quickly. Some of them, like #4 and #9, are things I don't want to happen. #10 and #22 are odd for wanting Lego to release material that was never even completed. I also don't get #12. Have you even seen BIONICLEsector01's concept art gallery? I've seen more concept art for Bionicle than any other LEGO line--plus, it's not exactly difficult for us to get more. Thus far whenever we find individuals who posses it they've been very generous about sharing it. The implication behind a hashtag is almost like calling a company out for not treating its consumers fairly, and LEGO doesn't deserve that. I miss BIONICLE too, but all LEGO did was decline to continue producing a series that was giving them diminishing returns.

That's a really cool headcanon. This does presume that Keetongu's species were created after or alongside the Visorak. For some reason I assumed his species would have been older. According to BS01, Matoran consider Krana and Kraata (and even Shadow Leeches) to be Rahi, "even though they are not", but not Makuta. It raises some really interesting questions about epistemology--how can Matoran identify something as a Rahi and be wrong? Since the definition is already so subjective, isn't anything Matoran consider Rahi technically one?

I wonder if Keetongu's species were created by the Makuta out of viruses and liquid protodermis. That's probably the most objective definiton of Rahi we'll get, even if some (like Crystal Serpents and Protodax) do not fit that description.

Is it just me, or does the prototype with the smaller mouth hole look more like Hewkii's mask in Mask of Light?