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Happy 15th anniversary, 2004 storyline! :)


Lenny7092

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Hi, guys!:) I know that Bionicle had ended three years ago sadly, but let’s be happy about Bionicle for something else. You see, this year, 2019, is the 15th anniversary of Bionicle’s 2004 storyline, which is a prequel where the Turaga of Mata Nui from 2001 are telling their people and Toa who they truly are and their history with a new place that they are settling in, which is an island city called Metru Nui. The Turaga were once a team of six Toa called the Toa Metru and were Metru Nui’s heroes, which explains why the Toa Nuva and Takanuva were not the first Toa on the island of Mata Nui. In the Turaga’s story, to Toa Metru go to collect six mysterious magical disks called the Great Disks while protecting Metru Nui from a mysterious threat. Anyway, I know that this year doesn't have anything Bionicle-related (well, has anyone seen anything Bionicle in The Lego Movie 2, like The Lego Movie in 2014?), but let’s celebrate the 15th anniversary of the 2004 storyline. That would enlighten you more.:)

 

Let me tell you the 2004 storyline:

The storyline started when the Turaga and their people are moving in to Metru Nui, which is ruined and abandoned, they tell the Toa Nuva that they were not the first Toa, which surprises the Toa, so the Toa have the Turaga explain this. So, the Turaga tell their story.

Their story started a thousand years ago, when the Matoran were living in Metru Nui when it wasn’t ruined and use magical disks called Kanoka Disks, which shaped like the Bamboo Disks in 2001. The Disks can be used to make Kanohi masks. Metru Nui is divided into six city districts, and each is where each Matoran type lived. The districts are Ta-Metru, home of the Ta-Matoran, Ga-Metru Ga-Matoran, Le-Metru Le-Matoran, Po-Metru Po-Matoran, Onu-Metru Onu-Matoran, and Ko-Metru Ko-Matoran. The island itself looks like Mata Nui by shape and color. Also, each of the Metru was looked after by one of six types of robotic law enforcers called the Vahki.

A Toa of Fire named Lhikan (his name makes me think of Lincoln. Lol.) sensed danger in the city, so he went to get six magical stones called the Toa Stones, the object that Takua used in Tale of the Tohunga in 2001. However, two Hulk-sized villains, Krekka and Nidhiki, who were bounty hunters called Dark Hunters, were after him, but he got away. Krekka is an unintelligent ape-like blue being who is the brawn, lost the right eye, and has a shoulder-mounted launcher that shoots Kanoka Disks. Nidhiki is an insect-like green monster with four insect legs and pincers who is the brains, was once a Toa, and shoots Kanoka Disks from his mouth. Both of them can fly.

Lhikan delivered each Toa Stone to a Matoran from one of the Metru, and they are Onewa the Po-Matoran, Whenua the Onu-Matoran, Nuju the Ko-Matoran, Matau the Le-Matoran, Nokama the Ga-Matoran, and finally Vakama the Ta-Matoran. After that, the Dark Hunters kidnapped Lhikan, and Vakama witnessed this and had a vision about something relating to this. Vakama felt bad about Lhikan’s capture. Lhikan also told the Matoran that they have to go to a shrine where they will use the Stones, and when they went inside the place, they met each other. When they put the Stones in a pedestal in the middle of the shrine, the Stones turned them into new Toa. They had no idea how to use their new Toa powers or weapons yet. Vakama had another vision where they must find the Greak Disks, which are mysterious and special Kanoka Disks. The Toa formed a team called the Toa Metru, and Vakama is their leader.

They went off to find the Disks, and each of the Toa must find its Metru’s own Disk. They got a group of six Matoran who use guns called Kanoka Launchers, which shoot Kanoka Disks, to assist them. Along the way, they fought against an evil and talking plant-based monster called the Morbuzakh, which was threatening Metru Nui. The Toa defeated the monster.

They then went to the middle part of Metru Nui called the Coliseum, where they are greeted by the city’s ruler named Turaga Dume. Dume challenged the Toa with some challenges. The Toa saw the Dark Hunters accompanying him and he had been acting suspicious, so they tried to tell their people about it, but they didn’t listen. Dume tried to capture and imprison the Toa, but Vakama, Nokama, and Matau escaped while the others got kidnapped.

The Dark Hunters tried to capture Vakama’s part of his team many times, but they couldn’t succeed. Along the way, Vakama noticed that the Great Disks can be combined into a new disk. The Toa also met a pack of big rhino-like Rahi called the Kikanalo, which are led by a chief. Both parts of the Toa team were learning how to use their Kanohi masks’ powers and their weapons while Vakama kept getting more visions. Nokama, who uses a Kanohi mask that can translate languages, was able to understand the Rahi, so she had them help her part get to the other part. The Toa Metru fought the Vahki along the way. The other part, which consisted of Nuju, Onewa, and Whenua, were assisted by some Turaga stranger who helped them how to use their Kanohi powers. The two parts of the team eventually reunited while encountering various Rahi. Every Toa but Vakama know how to use their Kanohi powers, and Vakama is having some self-doubt about himself as a Toa by title. The Turaga revealed himself to be Lhikan as a Turaga, who sacrificed his Toa power to create the Toa Metru in the first place. The Toa fought that Lhikan wanted them to save the city since he also said that cryptic saying “Save the heart of Metru Nui”, but Lhikan clarified that he meant the city’s people. Plus, they discovered Dume sleeping in a sphere-like container called a Matoran Pod while Lhikan revealed that there is an evil imposter who is pretending to be Dume and is the one who is accompanied and employs the Dark Hunters.

Along the way, the fake Dume, who is assisted by a Hulk-sized Rahi bird called a Niwark who transports him and tells him information, had the Matoran get inside the Matoran Pods. Meanwhile, the Toa and Lhikan got themselves a beetle-like vehicle to travel and get to the Coliseum to try to stop the fake Dume from getting the Matoran, but they were too late. The fake Dume revealed himself as Makuta from 2001 and 2003, the very villain who the Toa Nuva fought and the one responsible for the events in the storyline and is the main antagonist of it. He also revealed his plan to use the Pods to wipe out the Matoran’s memories, use a special Kanohi mask called the Vahi, aka the Mask of Time, the very mask that Tahu used in the early 2003 storyline with the Bohrok-Kal, to accelerate the process, and become their leader. He used Metru Nui’s energies to put the Great Spirit Mata Nui into a coma, which is said in the 2001 storyline. Great disaster happened because of this. The Toa and Lhikan got the captive Matoran in their Matoran Pods to get away from Makuta. Makuta used a dark power called a Shadow Hand, which is a physical arm made of his shadow energy that can grab things, to get his Niwark and the Dark Hunters, and he then absorbed them to kill them, so he can have their essence to transform into a more powerful and bigger form, which is Hulk-sized and uses his victims’ body parts. Makuta then tried to stop the heroes, but the heroes survived, but lost some of their Matoran into a sea of Protodermis. Along the way, Vakama combined all six of the Great Disks into a new disk called the Disk of Time, and then used his mask-making skills that he has when he was a Matoran to turn the disk into the Vahi, something that Makuta tried to have Vakama do when Vakama was a Matoran. Vakama went to face Makuta with the Vahi in hand. He tried to use the Vahi against Makuta while Makuta tried use the Shadow Hand to eat Vakama, but Vakama only slowed the attack down while the Hand is still after him. However, Lhikan saved Vakama’s life by using his shield to block the Hand, which grabbed the shield and put some shadow energy into Lhikan, which was deadly. Lhikan was dying, but he gave his Mask of Shielding to Vakama for safekeeping. Vakama then learned how to use his Mask of Concealment. He stopped Makuta from his getting claws on the Vahi by shooting Vahi out of Makuta’s claws and it sunk into the sea. Makuta got angry and then used the Hand to try to get Vakama in revenge, but Vakama kept dodging the attack by tricking Makuta into getting some rock pillars. Vakama then tricked Makuta into getting a bigger pillar to hurt himself by slamming into a wall. While Makuta is greatly weakened, the other Toa Metru reunited with Vakama and then the whole team combined their elemental powers to create a Toa Seal to imprison Makuta, the same thing that the Toa Mata used to imprisoned the Bahrag in the 2002 storyline.

After the threat was defeated, the Toa got all of the Matoran and then brought them to the island of Mata Nui. The Toa sacrificed their power to awaken the Matoran from their sleep in the Matoran Pods, and this caused the Toa to turn into the Turaga of Mata Nui. The Matoran got shrunk and weaker a little when they were in the Pods. When one of the Matoran named Jaller’s mask broke, Vakama used Lhikan’s mask to give Jaller back his strength. That’s where the Turaga started their new life on Mata Nui, as they turned the Pods into their villages and ruled over the Matoran way before the 2001 storyline happened. However, there is something in between Makuta’s defeat and the new settlement in the island of Mata Nui, and that’s where the 2005 storyline happened.

 

To celebrate, let me ask you this:

What are your fond memories about the storyline and/or what do you like about it?

For me, I like the canister sets. They look cool, and I love their vast range of new pieces. I like the Toa Metru’s new heads, where you don’t have to lose their masks easily. Plus, I like that they have bendable limbs, both arms and legs, but how the torso is designed is weird because it’s V-shaped in the chest, but you could make the Toa look like that they are running. Lol. Anyway, I like their new weapons and how you can store them and do multiple functions with them. The Disk launchers in general are neat because that they keep the discs tighter than the 2001 Matoran’s hands can. The Toa’s masks are neat. However, the Toa Metru don’t have unique secondary colors, like the Toa Mata/Toa Nuva, as they have gray parts.

As for the Vahki, they look cool. It’s neat that you can turn them into four-legged insects. Plus, you can shoot Kanoka Disks from their mouths.

As for the small sets, which are the Toa Metru’s Matoran helpers, well, they look cool. Again, nice new pieces, including the limbs and the triangle-shaped torsos, but the colors are the same problem sort of. It’s neat that their masks look like they are switched from 2001 in a sense for variety on the new Matoran and that they have silver parts blended on the masks. Plus, it’s cool that there are both Great and Noble versions of the Turaga’s masks from 2001. Also, these Matoran are from Mata Nui Online Game 2 in 2003.

As for the Titan sets, they look neat. I like Krekka’s launcher and how it can retract. I am not fond of his arms, though. I wonder what would he look like with he had kept his lost eye. Nidhiki looks cool. I like his claws, insect legs, his shooting mouth, and how he can change from centaur shape to crab shape. His limbs look kind of lanky, though. For the Turaga Dume and Niwark pack, that is a neat set. Dume looks cool, but looks more of a Matoran than a Turaga. Lol. I like Niwark’s clawed feet and the function on his torso to carry Dume around. His wings look weird, though. There is the Lhikan & Kikanalo set. That’s neat, too. I like Lhikan’s mask, big swords, and gold armor. It’s cool that he can combine his swords into a shield. I like the Rahi. He looks cool. I like his claws and horn and the use of the Chronicler’s Staff head pieces on the head, but some of his joints are kind of stiff. Sad thing is that Lhikan and the Rahi never worked together in the story.:(

As for the combo Titan set, Ultimate Dume, which is Makuta’s winged Titan form and is a combination of Krekka, Nidhiki, and Dume & Niwark, that looks awesome! I like the wings, teeth, and claws, and he’s very tall! I like that he has a version of Makuta’s Mask of Shadows, which is design to fit over his big head. I also like that it looks kind of like the 2003 version. He looks kind of lanky, though.

There’s a pack that gives you some Kanoka Disks. That’s neat, as you would want to collect these disks because there are many different kinds of them.

The plant monster is not officially a Lego set, but in a Lego magazine from Europe, there is a sponge toy based on it. That’s weird, but alright.

Next, the combo models. Well, they are cool and alright. The centaur-like combo model, which is made of Vakama, Onewa, and Matau, looks neat. I like the tail and blades. The other model with the other three Toa Metru, which looks like a penguin, looks alright, and I like the claws. There’s also the six-Toa-Metru model, which looks awesome! Ain’t she a beauty? I like how she has the colors and tools of the whole Toa team! The combo models for the Matoran look alright and cool, too. I like that you can shoot Kanoka Disks from one of them. They both look cute as well. The Vahki combo models look awesome! The Lorahk model, which is made of Nidhiki and Dume & Niwark, looks cool, but kind of lanky. I wish that Lego could have provided instructions on the Toa Metru’s Toa Kaita (never happened in the story, but would be nice in many ways), the Matoran’s Matoran Nui (featured in the story only), and Krekka could combine with Nidhiki and Dume & Niwark individually, if you know what I mean.

It would also be nice to see what Nidhiki looks like as a Toa, and released that form as a set. I also wish that there are five other Toa Disks rather than the Fire one in Vakama’s set.

Overall, for the sets, they look cool and neat. I like the Disk launchers. However, the gray color is overused.

 

For the story and media, well, I think it’s very great. The story is told through books primarily, comics, and a direct-to-video movie called Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui. Plus, there is an online game where you play as Vakama to fight against the plant monster by shooting its vines with Vakama’s disk launcher. There was originally a video game that is a sequel to Bionicle: The Game in 2003, but that got cancelled for some reason, probably because the first game didn’t go so well. There’s also a handheld game called Bionicle: Maze of Shadows, but it’s in 2005. I like the Toa Metru because they are cool people, and I understand that they are rookies when they are learning how to be Toa. Matau is a funny guy. I feel bad about Vakama’s self doubts about himself being a Toa and he had been seeing nightmarish visions. We get to learn a lot about how the Turaga of Mata Nui learn about the experiences in 2001-2003. Lhikan is a good character. I see that he was trying to be a good teacher for the Toa Metru. I like the villains. They’re cool. Nidhiki and Krekka make a good comical duo. I feel about about them getting eaten by Makuta. Poor guys. Makuta was always sinister and good at planning, and it’s sad to see that he put Mata Nui to sleep. That’s horrifying. It’s cool that he can use the Shadow Hand to grab and eat beings and stuff, which is scary to look at. It’s scary that Nidhiki called Lhikan his “brother”, which made me question who he was until that I learned that he was once a Toa. It’s sad to think about it. Krekka is a funny guy who is dumb. It’s interesting that the Kikanalo are ran by a chief, and that they helped the Toa Metru on their journey. It’s also interesting that the Matoran shrunk from their Metru Nui forms to Mata Nui forms. The 2004 Matoran are alright. One of The is the notorious Ahkomu, the very bad guy who made his people sick in Mata Nui Online Game in 2001. He should have learned better. The Vahki are cool. Overall, it’s a good prequel, it has very good character development, and it’s cool to learn about the Turaga’s origins and how masks are made. It’s one of my favorite storylines.:)

 

So, guys, what are your fond memories of the storyline, what do you like about it, what’s your favorite 2004 set, favorite character(s) in 2004, favorite moment in the storyline, what things remind you of the 2004 storyline, and/or how would you celebrate it? For me, well, my favorite sets are Vakama, Matau, Whenua, Nidhiki, Krekka, Ultimate Dume, and the red, blue and black Vahki, and my favorite characters are Matau, Whenua, Makuta, Nidhiki, and Krekka. The things that remind me are:

1. X-Men: First Class in 2011 - kind of similar.

2. Hero Factory - How Preston Stormer looked at Thresher as his teacher is like how Vakama looked at Lhikan. Plus, the Queen Beast reminds me of Nidhiki.

3. Bionicle 2015-2016 - Skull Slicer’s game reminds me of the Coliseum. Plus, Master Tahu’s swords are like Lhikan’s, but more connected, I would say.

4. Ninjago - How the early Elemental Masters experiences their encounters with various threats.

Edited by Lenny7092
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I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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I don't expect everyone to agree, but I think this was Bionicle's last really great year.

 

Metru Nui was the last island that was really fleshed out, with many people, locations and creatures, the Toa Metru were likable main characters, the Morbuzahk was an interesting change from the villains there'd been before that, the story was a bit more complex but still easy to follow with the simple media available, the mystery surrounding Dume was very involving, and the movie was a huge step forward from Mask of Light with a more serious feel, better animation, better music and much stronger emotion in many scenes.

 

The only negatives are that the Vahki didn't get a lot to do, the movie is a little rushed with how much story it tries to cover plus its ending makes most of 2005 a bit pointless, and Templar's short Vahki clips weren't much for what was, sadly, their last contribution to Bionicle.

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I don't expect everyone to agree, but I think this was Bionicle's last really great year.

While I must agree, I would also posit that this also sewed some of the seeds of Bionicle's destruction. While the Toa Metru were probably the overall best build G1 ever got, this was also the year the story got more convoluted than ever and the year Lego strayed from the original high fantasy feel the line formerly had in favor of a more decisive pseudo-sci-fi atmosphere. It was also the edgiest the line had ever been, set in a post-apocalyptic future...er, past...where an oppressive dictatorship rules with an iron fist through robot police while conspiring to undo civilization with some mercenaries and a fart monster -bent on conquest. To compound the story problems, Teridax's motives went from something that could have been more complex than raw megalomania (which the climax of MoL implied could be the case) to...well, raw megalomania.

 

In and of themselves, most of these things aren't inherently bad. However, for a child's toy that needs to both hold on to fans and bring in new ones to succeed throughout its lifetime, they ultimately did a lot of damage in the long run. The story became a mess to get into for newcomers, even if veteran fans could follow along just fine; the radical genre shift was weird and jarring, even if it made sense in due time; the grim tone wasn't suited to something little kids were supposed to get excited about; and Teridax's potential for being an interesting character went down the drain.

 

Short-term, I don't think any one of these "flaws" (and I'm using quote marks here because science-fantasy, complex lore, and a dark tone aren't inherently bad) hurt Bionicle too much; but even if they could have worked for Bionicle, Lego didn't find a way to make them work well enough. It ended up being too edgy and too convoluted; and, later on, the toys became to uniform to motivate kids to buy more toys because they were basically buying the same thing every time. All of these things together, I think, were what got G1 to its lowest point.

Rule #1: Always listen to Kek.

Rule #2: If you break rule #1, kindly don't.

Rule #3: EVERYBODY TYPE IN THE CHAT "AVAK IS A STUPID TRIGGER"

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this was also the year the story got more convoluted than ever

It got more complicated, yes, but I don't think it was 'convoluted' then because the new characters, story and their media were all directly part of the main story (apart from maybe Lhikan and Nidhiki's past). It only got convoluted once Greg started writing 'other' books that, good as they might've been, had almost nothing to do with the main story in terms of what they showed and introduced.

 

for a child's toy that needs to both hold on to fans and bring in new ones to succeed throughout its lifetime, they ultimately did a lot of damage in the long run. The story became a mess to get into for newcomers, even if veteran fans could follow along just fine

That was largely down to the canon story getting too hard to follow due to being largely stuck in the books, and the disappearance of media like the movies and Templar stuff that people generally liked. This wasn't really a problem back in 2004.

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this was also the year the story got more convoluted than ever

It got more complicated, yes, but I don't think it was 'convoluted' then because the new characters, story and their media were all directly part of the main story (apart from maybe Lhikan and Nidhiki's past). It only got convoluted once Greg started writing 'other' books that, good as they might've been, had almost nothing to do with the main story in terms of what they showed and introduced.

 

for a child's toy that needs to both hold on to fans and bring in new ones to succeed throughout its lifetime, they ultimately did a lot of damage in the long run. The story became a mess to get into for newcomers, even if veteran fans could follow along just fine

That was largely down to the canon story getting too hard to follow due to being largely stuck in the books, and the disappearance of media like the movies and Templar stuff that people generally liked. This wasn't really a problem back in 2004.

 

Maybe it's a matter of poor word choice, but what I mean is that '04 started trends that, while not necessarily problematic or even apparent at first, became compounded later on. It didn't see the story get too complex to follow or get into, but it did see a higher focus on supplementary media like the books and comics. The story gained more layers and offshoots, and it only gained more going forward. It did little short-term damage but, long-term, it was sorta the beginning of the end in a weird way.

Rule #1: Always listen to Kek.

Rule #2: If you break rule #1, kindly don't.

Rule #3: EVERYBODY TYPE IN THE CHAT "AVAK IS A STUPID TRIGGER"

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