Master Inika

Very funny! I put the original song on right before to get my mind in the rhythm, and you did a good job packing so much detail into so few syllables. I like it.

Very nice. It looks so clean and shiny. It would be a Toa Krakua trading card. I especially like how expressive you made the mask. The Hau usually looks so stoic, but you managed to work in a very human-looking gaze that is more emblematic of Krakua himself.

[How quickly the time goes by. I've been working to muster the drive to get this story restarted for a while now. Without further ado, I present the much delayed next installment of Out of Their Element!] Episode 8: The Smiths’ Darkest Hour Claire’s home, already on the smaller side housing a family of four, appeared comically tiny containing the assortment of brigands and cutthroats that went about making small talk and commenting on her immaculately placed family photographs. She had always been too much of a lady to ask unnecessary questions about her husband’s line of work, but something about these men, especially their leader who insisted on being called “the Shadowed One,” set off red flags in her head. “Claire,” she whispered to her daughter, “go to Turaga Dume and tell him the Dark Hunters are here.” “I don’t want to,” Jessica whined. “Then I have to get on that weird blimp thing, and it takes forever!” Claire would have to think fast to get around her daughter’s teenage moodiness. “Did I say Turaga Dume?” she asked, feigning fatigue. “I meant to say, tell Toa Lhikan.” Claire, needing no further convincing, darted for the front door. However, the Shadowed One intercepted her before she could escape the house. “Where are you off to in such a rush?” he asked with a sinister smile. “It’s none of your business, Shadowed Weirdo!” she said. “So feisty, like an untamed Shallow Cat,” he purred, running a cold metal claw down her cheek. “Far be it from me to allow my hostess’s daughter to wander this dangerous city without an escort.” The Shadowed One summoned an orange-eyed giant, whom he introduced as Mimic, and told him he was not to let Claire out of his sight. Seeing no other choice, Claire accepted the chaperone, already forming in her mind a plan to ditch him later. ---- Kio away, Roger and Jake slowly made their way back home aboard a tiny dinghy, an even smaller and less seaworthy vessel than the already modest one they left Metru Nui aboard. The father and son were struggling to keep the vessel on course through the harsh waters when the father spotted a landmass in the distance. “Land ho!” he cried with joy, wasting no time redirecting the boat’s trajectory. “No, Dad! Wait!” Jake shouted, but it was too late. The current carried the dinghy to shore, smashing it against the rocks. The father leapt from the destroyed boat and began kissing the ground. “Oh, Metru Nui!” he sang joyfully. “Metru Nui, I never thought I’d be so glad to see you.” “Dad?” Jake called. “This isn’t Metru Nui.” “What do you mean?” Roger said. He looked up, and only then did he realize that the distinctive skyline of Metru Nui was not present. What he did see, however, was a horizon of rocky outcroppings punctuated by bizarre architecture that hurt his eyes to look at for too long. The sky was purple, the clouds scattered about it were green and black, and the atmosphere itself above the land seemed darker and more twisted than it had seemed just minutes earlier. “Where… Where are we?” he begged his son. “This is Karzahni,” Jake answered. “But it has another name: the Land of the Abandoned.” ---- Jessica had not actually been to the Coliseum before this point, but she recognized its distinctive shape from all of her little brother’s BIONICLE building instructions. Getting away from Mimic had been difficult enough, and it was only a matter of time until he tracked her back down. She ran inside, wondering how she would convince Lee to give her another chance after their less than enviable first date. Then, she recalled the other problem regarding her mom and the Dark Hunters, and against her better judgment decided she might mention that first. What she was not expecting was the situation she ran into: the central arena in a state of pandemonium. Crowds of those little people--Matorians, or something like that--filled the stands while Turaga Dume watched the chaos unfold below him. A small handful of beings the same size and build as Lee were fighting the order enforcement robots, the Vahki, as a whirlpool of sorts whizzed in the midst of it all. Jessica pressed her body against the hallway as another of the Lee-sized beings--the Toa--fell into the swirling whirlwind. Three of the beings, one red, one green and one blue, rushed past her. Seeing no better option, she gave chase and reached them outside the Coliseum. “Wait!” she called out. The green one was the first to turn and notice her. “Who in the wide-world are you?” he asked. He readied his dangerous-looking blades. “And, if you’re looking for a hard-fight, you’ve found yourself the right Toa-heroes.” Claire stopped in her tracks and raised her hands. “Matau, wait,” the blue one said. “Are you in trouble? You don’t look like a Vahki or Dark Hunter.” “Them! Yes!” she cried. She struggled to get the right words. “The Dark Hunters! They’re at my house, having dinner with my mom, and they’re getting weapons!” “More Hunters?!” the red one lamented, sounding as if he were going to faint. Even Jessica thought he seemed like a drama queen. “Then that settles it,” the blue one said. “We help her. Take us to the Hunters, friend.”

Do not be so hard on yourself. I think Tuma is my favorite of what you made. I like how he looks like a giant metal samurai.

Great models. If only there were UCS Bionicle sets and they looked like these.

We know what happened to one of them. (I know it's not an official lifesize LEGO model, but it's the first thing I thought of.)

Beautiful work. The original sound effects took me off guard but fit perfectly.

They both have their ups and downs. MOCing makes you think creatively, official building makes you think spatially and objectively.

Thank you so much! I love that Kopeke. That was very thoughtful and I'm honored.

Technically, none of those responses are incorrect.

This was the best chapter yet. I meant to read it last night, and I'm glad I didn't wait any longer. It's official, Kulu is my favorite character. There was just something so cathartic about watching him win. I can sympathize so much with how he wants Vortidax's respect and I feel a wave of joy every time Vortidax rewards. I'm hoping Kulu's life before being a Makuta's minion is explored. Unlike Gavla, he doesn't seem like a particularly unpleasant individual, and unlike Ahkmou, he doesn't seem to be forced into this role. It's something Bionicle has never showcased, a legitimately dangerous enemy who serves the Makuta with a real sense of nobility to them. I have to remind myself Vortidax is supposed to be the antagonist, too. Unlike other Makuta, he doesn't belittle or shift blame onto Kulu. They oddly have a genuinely healthy, respectful master-servant relationship. As much as I like the good-aligned characters, a full chapter dedicated to our antiheroes was just what I needed from this story.

I know what you mean. I think Nexo Knights when I first realized I was just an adult lagging ever behind what Lego was doing.

Poor Greg having to pretend that fan wasn't figuring out the entire story.

Hard to think, five years ago I watched Journey to One and proceeded to never think about it again.

I remember how heavily Universe was originally pushed. I never did end up getting into it, so I guess I can't be too surprised what became of it.

As much as I love Vladek, Ogel and Meca-One, they're all basically watered-down versions of Makuta. Evil plan to take over the world, always scowling, dark aesthetic, defeated by power of teamwork and things like that. Come to think of it, though, Ogel is the only villain character who isn't jealous of living in the shadow of someone else (Mata Nui, King Matthias or Sensei Keiken).

Sometimes I look at that beast and wonder if anyone actually built it... for all we know, he could have just built the head and feet and plopped them onto a dragon-shaped pile of parts.

This was a great read! I had never explored Corpus Rahkshi when it was active, but I do remember seeing the name. It sounds very much like what I imagine a school for intelligent Rahkshi would be like. It reminds me of a Sith Academy. I admit I was genuinely unsure who would win and was enraptured by the musings of Exxan as he reflected on his victory. The characters also remind me of Gorast and Krika. Was that a direct inspiration at all?

If it based the colors off the Toa who used it, it would definitely have picked Matoro. He didn't seem to respect the first one too much. More likely is just that yellow is the most Light-looking color it could think of at the time.

I like him very much.

I'm proud to have a good amount of misprints, a prototype all-black Skrall shield, an Aqua Blaster Blade and the Toys R Us Kanohi Carrier.

But then again, "kanohi" is allegedly just the Matoran word for "mask." But then we end up back with the "the vahki is the will of Mata Nui" problem.

In 1932, a Danish carpenter began making toys to give to his customers' children; one thing led to another, and now people are buying new-to-gently-used sponges from strangers on the Internet.

I will attempt to summarize the fan view of the sets and story: The sets: 2009 was a step up from 2008. While it retains many of the weaknesses of '08 (the frail joints and overreliance on the Inika build specifically) the '09 sets saw a return to the elemental motif that characterized early BIONICLE but was basically abandoned in '06. You could easy tell who the ice characters or fire characters were at first glance, even in black and white. This gave the sets a character highly reminiscent of 2001. The large sets of that year were Tuma and Fero & Skirmix (fairly forgettable) and Titan Mata Nui (a poorly-designed, gap-filled mess, but the only way to get the gold Ignika). The vehicles were the high point of the year, continuing the well-received shift to advanced Technic-built vehicles began the previous year. The story: again, a mixed bag. In some ways, 2009 was darker and grittier than previous years, even the grimdark chain-link-fence year of 2006. There were no elemental or mask powers, making the whole thing seem a bit more grounded in reality. The setup was bizarre, too--LEGO gladiators? Some people thought the post-apocalyptic desert setting was boring, others noticed it was a good opportunity to explore some themes that BIONICLE's more fantastical original state could not. Specifically, 2009 pushed a sense of resignation to a bland and unrewarding life more than any other year. The early half of the year existed to ask questions that Mata Nui's arrival in the latter half would answer, and some story threads (like The Crossing) were quite engaging. Unfortunately, the year climaxed in The Legend Reborn, a film that doubled down on the kid-friendly goofiness and failed to fully capitalize on the atmosphere set by the rest of the year. Worsening the situation, 2009 was meant to be the start of a three-year arc much like the Ignition arc, which was unceremoniously cut short as everything planned afterward was awkwardly crammed into the Journey's End book and Mata Nui Saga of 2010. The worst part of the 2009 story was that it wasn't a full story, it was only an introduction to something that may well have been game-changing.

Bara Magna and G2 sort of went this route by at least merging the Matoran and Turaga equivalents into one species. It was an interesting change, but I think the original formula has (or had) immense relevance to Bionicle's target demographic. Seeing Vakama as a Matoran and Toa in 2004 was around the same time I first recall seeing younger photos of my dad and beginning to understand that all adults used to be young too, and that gives Bionicle some more emotional weight.