Jump to content

MNOG Chronicle – Early Bionicle Lore


Mister N

Recommended Posts

2 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:

I just realized--if the Matoran were supposed to be able to make Rahi by hand, were they intended by the GBs to create functioning ecosystems to inhabit the planet?

My assumption was that only the rahi actively used by the matoran were created by them. It actually says that some of the bigger ones, like the muaka and tarakava, were simply beyond the abilities of matoran biosmiths.

Quote

It seems like the creation of big set Rahi titans, like Tarakava or Muaka wasn't within the Matoran's capabilities and they were originally created by the Great Beings. That's why the Matoran respected these "Great Beasts" so much in my eyes.

These ones could have been made by Makuta, been self-replicating, or been made by the Great Beings themselves. As far as what their ecological role was, I am not sure they were meant to have one the same way animals do on Earth. Remember that all their energy came from the masks, so there was no natural food chain to speak of. Each species would have been created to fulfill a specific role  in the universe, just like the matoran. This means that each individual specimen could have been individually created at the beginning of the universe, just like the matoran.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, Biological Chronicler said:

My assumption was that only the rahi actively used by the matoran were created by them. It actually says that some of the bigger ones, like the muaka and tarakava, were simply beyond the abilities of matoran biosmiths.

These ones could have been made by Makuta, been self-replicating, or been made by the Great Beings themselves. As far as what their ecological role was, I am not sure they were meant to have one the same way animals do on Earth. Remember that all their energy came from the masks, so there was no natural food chain to speak of. Each species would have been created to fulfill a specific role  in the universe, just like the matoran. This means that each individual specimen could have been individually created at the beginning of the universe, just like the matoran.

So this makes me wonder: where did the plants come from? They look like they evolved in an Earth-like ecosystem. Some even have fruits--organs specifically used by plants for reproductive purposes, which only works if animals eat them.

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"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Sir Keksalot said:

So this makes me wonder: where did the plants come from? They look like they evolved in an Earth-like ecosystem. Some even have fruits--organs specifically used by plants for reproductive purposes, which only works if animals eat them.

Wasn't the island supposed to have been completely artificial? If so, I could see the plants as part of the landscape itself rather than lifeforms living on it. They would exist specifically to provide raw materials to the matoran.

Also, they were a lot more ambiguous about the rest of the planet back in those days, so they could have been migrants from another continent or island. It would help to explain why the bohrok would destroy trees as part of their effort to return Mata Nui to the "before-time". Back then, there wouldn't have been any plants on the island at all!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:

So this makes me wonder: where did the plants come from? They look like they evolved in an Earth-like ecosystem. Some even have fruits--organs specifically used by plants for reproductive purposes, which only works if animals eat them.

Some of the fruits have actually been depicted with Lego pieces, like the Bula Berry:

fruity.png

Vuata Maca Fruit in LoMN looks more like a glowing ball of energy than anything. As it does in Quest for the Toa:

Vuata_Maca_Tree.PNG

In fact, this tree looks like it's made out of living metal rather than wood, doesn't it? In other words, Biodermis. So I think the idea with some of these "plants" is that they were either transplanted directly from the Matoran Universe (the villagers would of course want to bring their energy source to the surface), or possibly evolved from something that was originally inside it. The Vuata Maca trees seem to be a remnant of the concept that was mentioned by Christian Faber here: "It was the original intention that everything would have a bio-mec original design so no ordinary palm trees but only strange new species with new features." This wouldn't be the last time we missed out on a much more alien and unfamiliar biomechanical world in Bionicle. I think why we saw so many earthlike plants had more to do with out-of-universe reasons than lore-based ones. Designing environments takes a lot of time, especially if you're making it all up from scratch, and leaning too hard on the unfamiliar and strange might've alienated some potential buyers.

Edited by The Shadow Imperator
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Alexander123 said:

Maybe now that you are done exploring the mysteries of the MNOG you can explore early Hero Factory or Chima ideas as your next project.

Were there any notable plans for those? I know there's some neat concept art, but that seems to be where it ends. Also, OP literally JUST said he wants to proceed with Bionicle investigations.

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"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, The Shadow Imperator said:

Some of the fruits have actually been depicted with Lego pieces, like the Bula Berry:

fruity.png

Vuata Maca Fruit in LoMN looks more like a glowing ball of energy than anything. As it does in Quest for the Toa:

Vuata_Maca_Tree.PNG

In fact, this tree looks like it's made out of living metal rather than wood, doesn't it? In other words, Biodermis. So I think the idea with some of these "plants" is that they were either transplanted directly from the Matoran Universe (the villagers would of course want to bring their energy source to the surface), or possibly evolved from something that was originally inside it. The Vuata Maca trees seem to be a remnant of the concept that was mentioned by Christian Faber here: "It was the original intention that everything would have a bio-mec original design so no ordinary palm trees but only strange new species with new features." This wouldn't be the last time we missed out on a much more alien and unfamiliar biomechanical world in Bionicle. I think why we saw so many earthlike plants had more to do with out-of-universe reasons than lore-based ones. Designing environments takes a lot of time, especially if you're making it all up from scratch, and leaning too hard on the unfamiliar and strange might've alienated some potential buyers.

Having plants which are made of metal but grow organically would be interesting to see. It would imply that at least some organisms are capable of organic growth. This would help to explain where certain kinds of wild rahi come from,and how they are able to reproduce. Also, that Metru Nui poster reminds me of the Engineer ship from Alien. Cool stuff.

7 hours ago, Daler99 said:

Another very intriguing article! :D  I’d love to see how BIONICLE would turn out if all the original concepts were kept. 
 

In the biodermis smith’s lab, is that half of Turaga Onewa on the floor? :P

Well, we never did find out how new matoran came into being, did we? Maybe they were also crafted by the smiths, just with different materials. Or it could have just been a source of spare parts, sort of like an organ bank.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/23/2020 at 12:08 PM, Sir Keksalot said:

Were there any notable plans for those? I know there's some neat concept art, but that seems to be where it ends. Also, OP literally JUST said he wants to proceed with Bionicle investigations.

I heard that the Chima story bible was more in depth then Ninjagos and that Greg Farshtey said that it was going to be the biggest thing since Bionicle. Hero Factory probably had a lot of unused ideas( and it is very close to Bionicle them being both constraction).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/20/2020 at 4:12 PM, Darth Jaller said:

Something just occurred to me that I find interesting: the idea of Matoran building domestic Rahi wasn't entirely lost forever when it was dropped from MNOG. In fact, it reoccurred in perhaps one of the most unlikely non-canon sources: 2003's BIONICLE: the Game. At about the midpoint of Tahu's first level, he encounters Takua, who tells him the following:

"We need Rahi power to open this door. But all our friendly Rahi have fled from the Bohrok. Rescue Matoran helpers to build a replacement." Tahu, of course, does this; and the rescued Matoran create an otherwise-unknown (as far as I'm aware, at least) fox-like Rahi.

Naturally, I always assumed this was just to slide in a reference to Lego as a building toy, or that someone working on the - already blatantly non-canon - game didn't quite get how creatures worked in Bionicle and pulled up the idea out of nowhere just for game mechanics. But in light of your information, it's interesting to note that might not be the case; it could be a remnant of that old, cut idea from MNOG that perhaps wasn't completely erased from whatever source material the game developers used.

I dunno if it's significant; but it seemed relevant enough to be worth mentioning ^^

Wow, this is a very curious find. Thank you for drawing my attention to this. Honestly, I doubt that MNOG and the Game are somehow connected or used each other's materials. But it is possible that this was part of the idea of the original creators of Bionicle themselves and the adding the Rahi building is the result of consultation with them.

On 2/23/2020 at 1:58 AM, Biological Chronicler said:

Wasn't the island supposed to have been completely artificial? If so, I could see the plants as part of the landscape itself rather than lifeforms living on it. They would exist specifically to provide raw materials to the matoran.

Also, they were a lot more ambiguous about the rest of the planet back in those days, so they could have been migrants from another continent or island. It would help to explain why the bohrok would destroy trees as part of their effort to return Mata Nui to the "before-time". Back then, there wouldn't have been any plants on the island at all!

The story of the creation of Mata Nui is a very mysterious part of the original bible. The only thing we know is that it exists, and it differs from the modern canon. For example, when the Mask of Light was created, Bob Thompson told the directors how the island was created and what role flora and fauna play in it. You can read about it in the Shadow Imperator's document in the Rahi section:

Quote

"Bob Thompson, the creative producer, was explaining to us the story of Mata Nui the island (and its inhabitants as far as like, wildlife), is it's going through a transition right now. From things that were natural are starting to turn into biomechanical [sic]. So we had to approach all the wildlife (the birds, the ash bear, and the fish and I believe also one of the Gukko birds) so you'd see them so they're almost half and half. Actually, really, in a way the ash bear was handled almost all the way mechanical, but the other characters are almost halfway transitions between natural and mechanical"

I can also add that MN was intentionally designed to look alien and synthetic, as seen in the final movie:

Spoiler

LdstXzj.png

 

0jEpfGN.png

 

HZeDWwa.png

 

lH3MXOL.png

 

On 2/23/2020 at 7:36 PM, Alexander123 said:

Maybe now that you are done exploring the mysteries of the MNOG you can explore early Hero Factory or Chima ideas as your next project.

Oof, well, to be honest I was never interested in these themes and I know almost nothing about their lore. The only thing I know is a bunch of concept art that everyone saw, and the fact that Chima was always planned for three years, as this video says, although for some reason many people think that Chima should have been going on for much more. Moreover, as I said earlier, I have plans for other articles about Bionicle, which I’m much more interested in working on, sorry.

On 2/23/2020 at 11:31 AM, The Shadow Imperator said:

Some of the fruits have actually been depicted with Lego pieces, like the Bula Berry:

fruity.png

Vuata Maca Fruit in LoMN looks more like a glowing ball of energy than anything. As it does in Quest for the Toa:

Vuata_Maca_Tree.PNG

Huh, strange. In QftT Vuata Maca Fruit looks like Bula Berry you showed above. Is your pic from LoMN?
And if I remember correctly Matoro used Vuata Maca Fruit in MNOG to heal Takua (and it also looked like Bula Berry in your pic):

Spoiler

1838172706_2020-02-2502_33_37.thumb.png.fbb92899e6639592c49d5eed6cf757e3.png

 

1268259673_2020-02-2502_40_15.thumb.png.752227d45898410d5944253f8cddad25.png

 

On 2/23/2020 at 8:28 PM, Biological Chronicler said:

Well, we never did find out how new matoran came into being, did we? Maybe they were also crafted by the smiths, just with different materials. Or it could have just been a source of spare parts, sort of like an organ bank.

I had this theory too and I think it is very logical for the 2001 lore. BTW we actually know that Jala was the son of Lhii. You can read more about it here.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Mister N said:

I had this theory too and I think it is very logical for the 2001 lore. BTW we actually know that Jala was the son of Lhii. You can read more about it here.

I wonder what this would mean for being beings who are crafted rather than born, if that is indeed the case for matoran. Did Lhii craft Jala? Did he lend part of his body to a smith? Who knows?

35 minutes ago, Mister N said:

I can also add that MN was intentionally designed to look alien and synthetic, as seen in the final movie:

I can't believe I've missed these details all this time. It certainly does look very artificial. I always though the Gukko birds looked a little bit too organic, the part about the island life transitioning would help to explain that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Biological Chronicler said:

I wonder what this would mean for being beings who are crafted rather than born, if that is indeed the case for matoran. Did Lhii craft Jala? Did he lend part of his body to a smith? Who knows?

In my eyes it looks something like this:

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

This has been a fantastic read. I can't remember the last time I was so thrilled to read about Bionicle lore.

While I'd read about the early store bible, I had no idea so many things were discarded and changed on the go. A cult of Makuta-worshipping Tohunga? I would pay to see this.

I would literally pay to see this become a reality. Is it possible to modify the MNOG with new content? Can @Peri do that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Illuminatus said:

I would literally pay to see this become a reality. Is it possible to modify the MNOG with new content? Can @Peri do that?

I dont wanna derail the thread too much but to answer briefly - definitely possible, and something I would like to get to someday. There's already a mnog mod out there by Nuparu77 if youre interested!

  • Like 4

believe victims. its actually not that hard, and youd look kind of bad if you were to, say, side with an abuser because theyre your friend

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 3/10/2020 at 5:59 PM, Illuminatus said:

This has been a fantastic read. I can't remember the last time I was so thrilled to read about Bionicle lore.

While I'd read about the early store bible, I had no idea so many things were discarded and changed on the go. A cult of Makuta-worshipping Tohunga? I would pay to see this.

I would literally pay to see this become a reality. Is it possible to modify the MNOG with new content? Can @Peri do that?

Thank you very much, I experienced similar feelings myself when I first read the Shadow Imperator's document and learned the original background of the Robot and the Great Beings. It became some sort of G3 to me and an inspiration to get interested in Bionicle again.

Of course, technically you can modify the game as you want. As Peri already said, Nuparu77 was already doing something similar. But apparently this is a truly hard process that requires the work of more than one person. On the other hand, it is strange that for 20 years, fans haven't created a large number of modifications for the game, although it has a cult status.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Just reposting a dev quote from Gordon Klimes from youtube comments, so it gets more recognition. Fascinating background!
 

Quote

In the early stages of preproduction we received some files from Saphire for visual reference. I don’t think they were in any sort of playable version, just 3D models of a few environments (not all of them). As I recall we had 3D models for Onu-Koro, Po-Koro, and I believe Ko-Koro which we used as a basis for our art. Ga-Koro and Le-Koro were pretty much left open to our interpretation so I had a lot of fun designing those. I think there was a concept illustration for the exterior of Ta-Koro but no interiors so I just made that up. Lego sent us prototypes of the toys; Toa, Tohunga (Matorans), Turaga, and Rahi, and miscellaneous fauna. Our 3D artist modeled each piece from scratch which we then vectorized to work with in Flash. At first we tried to vectorize entire character animations but the line clean-up and coloring was too laborious, so we adopted a more compartmentalized approach, building character animations in a lego-like fashion. This also allowed us to color tint body parts as needed and build up a library of motions. These different approaches should be apparent when looking at the early Ta-Koro cutscenes compared to later ones. We also received a story bible put together by Greg Farshtey which detailed the world, main characters, overall storyline for year one, and super secret spoilers of Mata Nui. The storyline was focused purely on the exploits of the Toa and their quest for the masks of power. This was all to be handled within the PC game and therefore off-limits to us at Templar. Instead we were tasked to do something with the throwaway Happy Meal villagers. All we had were names and one sentence descriptions of the Turaga and two main Tohunga per village. For instance Kapura’s description was something like “Not very smart, can travel fast by moving slow, farts fire.” The rest of the Tohunga we just made up as needed, submitting names for approval to Lego. From these meager beginnings we fleshed out the characters and their stories, interweaving it through main story plot points that we weren’t allowed to show and introducing new Rahi to coincide with release dates for the toys. We worked one to two months ahead of each game update, and halfway through the year were told that the PC game had been cancelled. It now fell on us to tell the climax of the story with the final battle against Makuta and the rest is history. After the success of MNOLG Lego showed particular interest in Hahli’s Quest, setting up a focus group with a bunch of kids to play test the beta version before release. It was weird sitting behind a one-way mirror watching them play our game and getting quizzed about it afterwards. The one thing they seemed to focus on was if anyone cared that the hero was a girl, and whether her bag should be called a purse vs satchel lol. Production went smoothly for the most part though I think we suffered from featuritis, over-stuffing the game with ideas that we didn’t have time to properly follow through with. Again what we could show at the end of the game was restricted by the release of the Mask of Light movie, so the ending is all rather disjointed and ambiguous.

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Production went smoothly for the most part though I think we suffered from featuritis, over-stuffing the game with ideas that we didn’t have time to properly follow through with" that is interesting to hear from Gordon, since I have struggled with MNOG2 for that reason, I find that so many of the game features bogged down the story and slowed the pacing in a way that felt like a step backwards from MNOG's brisk movement. Especially in the era of dial up internet, MNOG2's slower game and features really just caused it to grind to a halt. 

With that said, a lot of credit to Gordon and the Templar team for creating so many of the Matoran we know and love. I think Bionicle owes a lot of its longevity to the "NPC" characters MNOG created and how it fleshed out the world into something that felt alive. 

  • Like 2

52641688958_d61c0bc049_w(1).jpg.c0871df0de376218d7ca2bc4f409e17d.jpg

All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic entry once again, and I also love your original MNOG-styled illustrations included with each article! Looking at the Turaga as village champions instead of exclusively as village elders is a fun outlook. It also encourages play between siblings, with two characters going on adventures together. I had always assumed the Turaga tagged along with the Toa similar to how Yoda piggybacked on Luke Skywalker during the youth's Jedi training in Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back. Despite seeming "old" they could certainly hold their own between the noble masks and their ability to tap into the limited use of the elemental powers of their respective Toa. There is also the fact that the Turaga captured/hunted many Kratta and defended their villages from Rahi long before the Toa showed up.

Most of the Maori Tohunga tasks mentioned are also associated with Bionicle's Turaga. If you look into the translations of the Turaga's names and masks they often refer to roles they play, powers/tools they wield, or something exclusive to their region (eg. Onewa is Maori word for "granite/basalt" as well as "a short weapon made of stone"; Rau can mean "to catch fish with a net" in Maori, but also "to enumerate" in Rotuman; Matau is Fijian for "adept" and "an axe used for boat building"). Let me know if you need any help on an essay on Polynesian words used in Bionicle, I have a few sources and translations I posted here you're welcome to use!

I think it's interesting that 12 Maori Tohunga roles are mentioned, and there are 12 original Kanohi masks. It could also be the reason there were initially only 12 Tohunga for each village. You could tell all Tohunga in one village apart by just their Kanohi mask, rather than mask and color combination. The masks could also reflect the roles they play in each village (astrologer, artist, builder, defender, navigator, etc.). I always found it somewhat irritating that all the "right hands" of the Turaga wore masks of their respective Toa-- except Maku; And that all 6 of these right hands had one color distinct from their Toa and Turaga-- except Maku. Hahli, funny enough, actually follows this rule (wearing the Kaukau of her patron Toa, and having dark blue as her distinct color). I would love to delve more into the color theory of the Tohunga sometime, but I digress.

Also important that you tied this all back to the Bohrok and their parallel nature with the Tohunga-Turaga-Toa evolution. Something I realized after reading this post is how the Bahrag fit into all this. We associate the Bahrag with the Bohrok because they are "the queens of the swarms". However, they are NOT part of the evolution of the Bohrok. If you look at the early concept of the Bahrag "spiders" they are OUTSIDE of this evolution iconography. Although they are responsible for "creating" the Krana, they neither wear Krana nor Kanohi. Interestingly they do share the powers of the Bohrok, which are very similar to the elemental powers of the Toa.

Two beings of great power, each with 3 elemental powers, who become more powerful when they stand together. Where have we heard that before? The Toa Kaita. Perhaps the ideas of Papu and Rangi (earth and sky beings), the Kaita, and the Bahrag are all connected. Even the opposing red and blue colors suggest an earth-sky relationship, the same way Akamai and Wairuha are opposites. Perhaps the Bahrag had originally been intended by the writers as gods/titans that had played some part in creating the Bohrok AND the Toa/Tohunga/Turaga. Maybe they also had made the Kanohi masks, since they had mastered making Krana by dipping objects into energized liquid protodermis? Perhaps they were the ones who initially taught/created the Toa in their past life? And now the Toa have come home to overthrow these "Titans" the same way Zeus and his siblings had in greek mythology. 



 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, chuckschwa said:

I would love to delve more into the color theory of the Tohunga sometime, but I digress.

That actually sounds great. Please do! (At the very least we can discuss why the Onu and Po Matoran share the Black & Tan color scheme... that is an oddity that still sticks out to me. :P)

52641688958_d61c0bc049_w(1).jpg.c0871df0de376218d7ca2bc4f409e17d.jpg

All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent article once again.  It occured to me that there may be a connection between tohunga professions and the 'clans' touched upon in earlier chapters, ie the 'Clan of Lhii'. Could it be that all members of this clan wear Hau's to identify themselves and work as professional soldiers or watchmen? That would certainly explain Jala's demeanor, and the parallels between him and Tahu.

It also makes Takua's role in the story more potentially interesting. If there are normally only twelve villagers(or professions) per tribe, why is there a thirteenth Ta-Koran? He does not seem to have a profession in the same way as the other villagers. Instead, his role as a Chronicler is seemingly unique. Perhaps he comes from the seventh tribe, just like how he comes from Karda Nui in current canon? I think he would be a very interesting subject for a future article.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yet another fantastic article!  I find the original roles of the Turaga more intriguing than what we got in Mask of Light and on, but I still love the Turaga.  I bet the fact that the G2 Protectors resemble the original Turaga roles was a deliberate decision.

 

I can’t wait for the next article!

~Daler

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Huh. I prematurely posted a topic about something like this on the forum. Well, glad you all know about these articles.

 

What I find most remarkable is how poorly they covered their tracks. Maybe this is why Greg would constantly remind us that MNOG was not really canon. No one ever suggested it was not canon until after the most major internal retcons took place in preparation for MoL. They probably declared it “non-canon” because if yoy really read the dialogue closely, MNOG contradicts the 2003+ canon so egregiously. The Turaga being liars the whole time is the biggest retcon.

  • Like 1

Has following the story become too complex? Look no further:


How to Follow BIONICLE

A Simple, chronological checklist

UPDATE May 22 2013: Every is now color coded!

Contains every bit of content, organized by story year

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Christ, dude, ALL THAT UNUSED LORE?! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?! i personally would love to see ALL early concepts mentioned in these articles and whatnot to be used in a potential Bionicle G3 and they call it "Bionicle: The Way Is Should Have Been"! lol if we could get Bob Thompson , Alastair Swinnerton, and Christian Faber to team up and produce the story that should have been into an online web-series animated by Ghost and give Bionicle fans the Bionicle that they should have got (and leave Greg Farshtey out ov it!) i would die happier than a vine-swingin' Le-Tohunga! lol 

i really should take a week to read the articles as the Bionicle canon we got (which i'm still grateful for) was a bit rough here and there! lol 

also, does anybody know where i can download the Seven Books ov Bob Thompson and the original story bible? i'm curious to read those! 

Edited by TheZOMBIEJ
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic made my unexpected visit to BZPower way worth the longer stay! At first, I just read Shadow Emperor's document to get the main breakdown, but the blog Mister_N is writing adds some nice flavor to the research as well.

Being a real detail-oriented person (and kid, back when I first got hooked on BIONICLE in 2001), I remember lots of these "cut" details from the original BIONICLE website and the MNOLG. In fact, my early play and story-telling experiences with my first BIONICLE sets (Tahu, Kopaka, Onua, the six Turaga, and Hafu from the PowerPack) ventured coincidentally into these same liminal spaces the "official" BIONICLE story ended up discarding or altering. I distinctly recall aligning my perceptions of the Toa personalities based on their "ages", per the original biographies on the BIONICLE website and even writing a short story wherein Kopaka uncovers a secret cult of Makuta-worshipping Tohunga (only because they were wearing infected masks, which I created by using clear Elmer's Glue and sand on black Kanohi). How interesting to read 19 years later that there were ideas generated for a "seventh tribe" of evil-worshipping Matoran!

I think my play experiences back then, as well as the behind-the-scenes facts uncovered and expounded on by Mister_N and company, reveal the ultimate secret behind BIONICLE's enduring appeal. Even with all that stuff cut out, forgotten, or retconned, there was still so much detail created for BIONICLE from the beginning that combined with the toys, LEGO birthed something that really was alive. I write "was alive", not "felt real", because that reflects the truth about BIONICLE in 2020. As a viable toyline and storyline, it is finished. But one can never discount that while it was extant, it didn't merely occupy space in one's mind like knowing how to tie your shoes or a shopping list. It was a living character that affected the lives of thousands of people, some who still celebrate it today. Don't we do that for cherished places, people, pets, or even histories? 

It would be a dream come true to have an official book published by LEGO next year that goes into detail on BIONICLE's creation, with official word from the people who conceived it in the first place. But perhaps it is still too soon. I was "old" as far as the target audience is concerned when BIONICLE launched in 2001--I was already 12 years old, so that means I'm on the old side for a BIONICLE fan. And I'm only 31 now. That means most fans from that long ago are probably still in their mid to late 20s. A potent age for remembering one's youth, but one also busy with careers, getting married, and having kids. Perhaps once the bulk of BIONICLE's first fandom is in its late 30s to early 40s (which means I'll be getting closer to 50. Yikes!), there will be such a loud demand for nostalgic BIONICLE content that LEGO will finally get Thompson, Faber, and Swinnerton (and hopefully GregF, too) together to author and document the "making of" BIONICLE officially. In the meantime, these fan-driven efforts are wonderful, and will do nicely until the day our collective buying power (and voice in the AFOLdom) is too great to ignore!

  • Like 4
Bornicleban.gif

RIP BORNICLE

2004 - 2011

"There are a thousand ways I could bore you...and only 942 of them will put you to sleep. Permanently"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...
On 9/27/2019 at 7:07 AM, Mister N said:

Technically in 2003 we already had Bohrok-Kal, but let's be honest - these guys were invented at the last moment and did not have a character as such. As for me, even six Rahkshi hunters had more personality due to the special behavior of each of them.

In concepts for the Rahkshi It shows that they were originally driven by Krana. So, I wonder if the Rahkshi were the original Bohrok-Kal?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...