Jump to content

Bionicle Story/Lore Childhood Misconceptions


Recommended Posts

I'm sure there have been plenty of threads like this in the past but I just wanted to talk about how I got a lot of things wrong about Bionicle as a kid, which I largely blame on the movies. I also missed much of the lore because I was not a well-read kid.

My childhood misconceptions

  • Matoran = children, Toa = adults, Turaga = elderly (in a literal temporal sense)
  • Turaga are weaker than Matoran (old person stereotyping)
  • Metru Nui had a larger population than Mata Nui (I just assumed the city had a bigger pop. than the island and not everyone made it)
  • Takua being is just a weird-looking Ta-Matoran
  • Bohrok Va can directly throw Krana onto toa

Apologies that I was the sort of dumb-dumb smooth-brained child that caused people to say Bionicle lore was too complicated for kids.

  • Like 1

Jaller Inika looks like C-3PO and I hate it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, here’s my misconception: 

1. Matoran being children, Toa being adults, and Turaga being elders (like you said). 
2. Levahk having air powers. 
3. The Bohrok-Kal being enhanced versions of the Bohrok’s powers, like the Toa Nuva. 
4. Takua being a weirdo to the Ta-Matoran because of the blue color and the fact that he became a Toa of Light. 
5. Rahkshi, Vahki, Visorak, and Barraki having elemental powers, like the Toa teams. 
6. The 2001 Rahi doing fusions based on their combiner models in the set instructions (for example, two Nui-Rama combing into a Nui Kopen). 
7. Takanuva being a Toa Nuva by having the same armor shape. 
8. Takua and Takanuva being two different people because Takua has to “search for the seventh Toa). 

9. The Bahrag being biological mothers for the Bohrok. 
10. Makuta in 2003 being an enhanced version of an Exo-Toa similar to the Toa Nuva. 
11. Metru Nui being next to the island of Mata Nui. 
12. Turaga Dume being a Matoran of his similar structure to the Metru Nui Matoran in 2004 in the Bionicle sets. 
13. The Toa Metru being a still-existing Toa Team that the Toa Nuva encountered. 
14. Toa Lhikan being a Toa of Light. 
15. The Piraka using their elemental powers by themselves rather than depending on one another. 
16. Toa Lhikan riding a Kikanalo in the story. 
17. Keetongu being a person. 
18. Vezon having the elemental power of combining. 
19. Vezon still working for the Piraka. 
20. Nocturn or Gadunka being the seventh member of the Barraki. 
21. The Av-Matoran in 2008 being from different types of Matoran because of their colors. 
22. Teridax’s “Ultimate Dume” form being a different character. 
23. Takanuva having the Adaptive Armor because of the pieces in 2008. 
24. Takanuva getting his 2008 weapons from the Order of Mata Nui. 
25. The Great Spirit Mata Nui being Teridax’s identical twin brother, but as a god and have light and creation powers. 
26. When people in the Matoran Universe called their world “the Matoran Universe”, I thought they meant the whole outer space universe. It was actually a world within Mata Nui’s giant body. 
27. Takutanuva awakening Mata Nui by opening a gate. 
28. Nidhiki and a bunch of other Dark Hunters being always freaks rather than actually being mutated. 
29. Spiriah having a Matoran and a Tridax Pod in his set model. 
30. Takanuva’s Matoran type being called “Tak-Matoran” and having his own village called “Tak-Koro”, region called “Tak-Wahi”, and city district called “Tak-Wahi”. 
31. Hakann or Vezon being the leader of the Piraka (because Hakann is the fire guy while Vezon is the most powerful of the Piraka). 
32. Kalmah or Nocturn being the leader of the Barraki (because Kalmah is red like Tahu while Nocturn is bigger and stronger than the Barraki). 

33. Metru Nui, Voya Nui, Mahri Nui, and Karda Nui being named after people, like Mata Nui. 
34. The Glatorian and Agori having elemental powers because of their tribes being associated with the elemental powers. 
35. In 2010, the Lego set descriptions said that Makuta gave Skrall shadow powers while Gresh became a primary Glatorian by becoming a veteran, but they didn’t happen in the story. 
36. Every villain up to 2007 were working for Makuta. 

 

Yeah, that’s a lot. I was greatly confused for years.

Edited by Lenny7092

I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/14/2020 at 5:32 PM, Lenny7092 said:

7. Takanuva being a Toa Nuva by having the same armor shape. 
9. The Bahrag being biological mothers for the Bohrok. 
14. Toa Lhikan being a Toa of Light. 
15. The Piraka using their elemental powers by themselves rather than depending on one another. 
17. Keetongu being a person. 
19. Vezon still working for the Piraka. 
21. The Av-Matoran in 2008 being from different types of Matoran because of their colors. 
25. The Great Spirit Mata Nui being Teridax’s identical twin brother, but as a god and have light and creation powers. 
26. When people in the Matoran Universe called their world “the Matoran Universe”, I thought they meant the whole outer space universe. It was actually a world within Mata Nui’s giant body. 
27. Takutanuva awakening Mata Nui by opening a gate. 
34. The Glatorian and Agori having elemental powers because of their tribes being associated with the elemental powers. 
36. Every villain up to 2007 were working for Makuta. 

Yea, I thought these as a kid too, don't worry. I think we both got rigid conceptions of how the Bionicle world worked during the golden years and then got confused as kids when things deviated.

Jaller Inika looks like C-3PO and I hate it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/14/2020 at 9:38 AM, Presto said:

Metru Nui had a larger population than Mata Nui (I just assumed the city had a bigger pop. than the island and not everyone made it)

This is still my head canon. It just... makes sense. I know its debatable since Mask of Light showed that the population of three villages filling up a massive arena, but the world we see in MNOG, MNOG II and other early media just has... such a smaller population. Like its hard to imagine that for each village we saw in MNOG there was 980+ Matoran in each hiding off screen that we never saw. 

But yeah, I always head canon'd it that the Toa Metru did have to leave a portion of Matoran behind. It does create a plot hole though in "how did the Matoran wake up without the Toa Metru there to sacrifice their powers?" but that could always be retconned away in the same logic in how Dume woke up... somehow their spheres failed and they woke up naturally without the Toa's aid... but that creates another plothole in that now we have Matoran running around Metru-Nui with Dume and the Rahaga before the Mata Nui population returned... So I guess canonically it makes sense that the entire population of Metru Nui made it to Mata Nui, but it still feels wrong because the villages of Mata Nui were so... sparse. Maybe there were a lot of Matoran like Midak living in isolated rural homesteads to explain the discrepancy, large parts of a Wahi's population lived in isolated homesteads away from the village "capitols." 

52641688958_d61c0bc049_w(1).jpg.c0871df0de376218d7ca2bc4f409e17d.jpg

All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, Xboxtravis said:

This is still my head canon. It just... makes sense. I know its debatable since Mask of Light showed that the population of three villages filling up a massive arena, but the world we see in MNOG, MNOG II and other early media just has... such a smaller population. Like its hard to imagine that for each village we saw in MNOG there was 980+ Matoran in each hiding off screen that we never saw. 

But yeah, I always head canon'd it that the Toa Metru did have to leave a portion of Matoran behind. It does create a plot hole though in "how did the Matoran wake up without the Toa Metru there to sacrifice their powers?" but that could always be retconned away in the same logic in how Dume woke up... somehow their spheres failed and they woke up naturally without the Toa's aid... but that creates another plothole in that now we have Matoran running around Metru-Nui with Dume and the Rahaga before the Mata Nui population returned... So I guess canonically it makes sense that the entire population of Metru Nui made it to Mata Nui, but it still feels wrong because the villages of Mata Nui were so... sparse. Maybe there were a lot of Matoran like Midak living in isolated rural homesteads to explain the discrepancy, large parts of a Wahi's population lived in isolated homesteads away from the village "capitols." 

I just always assumed, post-2004, that the MNOG populations (especially MNOG II) were so small just because they had to program each one with their own behavior and dialogue. I always hear that there were supposed to be 12 Matoran per village. You think Onu-Koro had a thriving mining industry with 12 people? And that's assuming no one does anything else.

  • Upvote 1

"You are an absolute in these uncertain times. Your past is forgotten, and your
future is an empty book. You must find your own destiny, my brave adventurer.
"
-- Turaga Nokama

nichijou2.jpg

Click here to visit my library!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Xboxtravis said:

Maybe there were a lot of Matoran like Midak living in isolated rural homesteads to explain the discrepancy, large parts of a Wahi's population lived in isolated homesteads away from the village "capitols." 

I think there's actually some support for that in canon! In one of the Bohrok comics (comic #6 overall, I think?), when Pohatu and Gali are running from the Tahnok after their only-partially-successful trap, Pohatu points out that in the canyons they're passing through "the Matoran used to live in the caves above -- before the Bohrok drove them away". We never see evidence of that... anywhere else really, as far as I can recall, but it shows there is a precedent for Matoran living away from the main village.

Also, though non-canon, Bionicle: the Game also shows plenty of seemingly uninhabited Matoran huts scattered throughout their various Wahis, which could support this, too ^^

  • Upvote 1

Banner.png.3e903c5c49a30ba9503c72b2d57066b0.png

"New legends awake, but old lessons must be remembered.
For that is the way
of the BIONICLE."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, That Matoran with a Vahi said:

I think there's actually some support for that in canon! In one of the Bohrok comics (comic #6 overall, I think?), when Pohatu and Gali are running from the Tahnok after their only-partially-successful trap, Pohatu points out that in the canyons they're passing through "the Matoran used to live in the caves above -- before the Bohrok drove them away". We never see evidence of that... anywhere else really, as far as I can recall, but it shows there is a precedent for Matoran living away from the main village.

Also, though non-canon, Bionicle: the Game also shows plenty of seemingly uninhabited Matoran huts scattered throughout their various Wahis, which could support this, too ^^

I guess doing the math (forgive me for using imperial system for this guys); the Island of Mata Nui has about what, 1000 Matoran for each village? Landmass wise, I noticed that Mata Nui is a bit smaller than say the State of Utah or Colorado. Using my homestate Utah as an example, we have a population density of 33.2-37.8 people per square mile. If we plopped all of Mata Nui's population into Utah (six Toa, six Turaga, 6000 Matoran) we get 0.071 Matoran per square mile. In comparison the population density of Wyoming one of the most empty states in the union, is a 5.8 people per square mile. So I guess it makes sense that Mata Nui can support a massive rural population outside of the main villages, its so large and expansive it could easily fit those thousands.

But it does raise a question, if Metru Nui had the same exact population how the heck do you have a metropolis city with just 6000 people? At approximately 828 square miles, Metru Nui is a 7.26 population density per square mile; which is still rural Wyoming type population sizes... I guess we could assume that large swaths of Metru Nui were industries and factories which filled up the city, but its still hard to believe a city that large runs off a population smaller than most rural cities... again why I can't help but wonder if Metru Nui had more Matoran in it than the Toa Metru could rescue. 

  • Like 1

52641688958_d61c0bc049_w(1).jpg.c0871df0de376218d7ca2bc4f409e17d.jpg

All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Xboxtravis said:

But it does raise a question, if Metru Nui had the same exact population how the heck do you have a metropolis city with just 6000 people? At approximately 828 square miles, Metru Nui is a 7.26 population density per square mile; which is still rural Wyoming type population sizes... I guess we could assume that large swaths of Metru Nui were industries and factories which filled up the city, but its still hard to believe a city that large runs off a population smaller than most rural cities... again why I can't help but wonder if Metru Nui had more Matoran in it than the Toa Metru could rescue. 

Yea, that never sat well with me. An appropriate population for an island of small is far less than is appropriate for a major city. It would've made more sense to me if most of the population was put in stasis in matoran spheres and left behind while only a small few bubbled up to Mata Nui.

Jaller Inika looks like C-3PO and I hate it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My originally thought was that Rahi were specifically the monsters created by Makuta and that they were just regular animals he mutated by throwing some of them into a magic cauldron he had. Oh and that Bionicle existed in the same world as Lego Island Adventure but was on a really distant island so no humans had gotten there.

Edited by Toa Jaxus
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay here is one more to add onto this... this is not my misconception, but one I see a lot out there: "G2 is a simulation." Like... what? I don't know where that came from, it just seems like a fan theory that somehow ascended to canon for some people. In general I see a lot of people confusing G1-G2 connections theories as canon, ignoring the fact the only official canon on it is purposefully vague and left for the viewer's imagination. 

Its bad enough G2 had relatively lower stakes and felt anti-climactic. Touting "its all some simulation the G1 Toa went through while training with the Order of Mata Nui" sucks G2 of any drama it had left. I.E. in that fan theory it turns G2 into a holodeck, something that "turns-off" as soon as the Toa walk off stage. And why people continue to treat it as canon when there is no canon to support it is beyond me. 

52641688958_d61c0bc049_w(1).jpg.c0871df0de376218d7ca2bc4f409e17d.jpg

All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Xboxtravis said:

Okay here is one more to add onto this... this is not my misconception, but one I see a lot out there: "G2 is a simulation." Like... what? I don't know where that came from, it just seems like a fan theory that somehow ascended to canon for some people. In general I see a lot of people confusing G1-G2 connections theories as canon, ignoring the fact the only official canon on it is purposefully vague and left for the viewer's imagination. 

Its bad enough G2 had relatively lower stakes and felt anti-climactic. Touting "its all some simulation the G1 Toa went through while training with the Order of Mata Nui" sucks G2 of any drama it had left. I.E. in that fan theory it turns G2 into a holodeck, something that "turns-off" as soon as the Toa walk off stage. And why people continue to treat it as canon when there is no canon to support it is beyond me. 

I've never heard the simulation theory before. I guess some people want G2 to not be real so bad they made it not real within G1.

"You are an absolute in these uncertain times. Your past is forgotten, and your
future is an empty book. You must find your own destiny, my brave adventurer.
"
-- Turaga Nokama

nichijou2.jpg

Click here to visit my library!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of these quickly got corrected thanks to me watching and rewatching the MNOG and Bohrok animations over and over, and discovering BZPower as a literal child. 1-9 on this list were all corrected for me by a single trip to Bionicle.com in mid-2002.

  1. Obligatory "I thought they were robots".
  2. I assumed that all Lego sets and stories coexisted in a fantastical world called Legoland. This included Bionicle. So my earliest memories of playing with Tahu and Kopaka (before I got all the others) in 2001-2002 were about them being giant robot warriors sent from the cosmos protecting "Legoland" from evil.
  3. I thought the Bionicle sets were in scale with regular Lego, so they were giants in a world of minifigs.
  4. I never owned any Roboriders, but when I saw them in stores I thought they were motorbikes for the Toa to ride on.
  5. When the commercials for the 2001 Matoran Happy Meals were out, I thought the McToran were just mini half-effort cheapo versions of the Toa. Like, Jaller was just literally a smaller, cheaper Tahu toy with a yellow mask for some reason. I guess to look more kid-friendly?
  6. I thought Lewa was the Toa of Jungle. (I think at one point I even called him "Toa of Swamp") This was corrected by a trip to Bionicle.com.
  7. I thought Lewa had machine gun fingers.
  8. I thought Lewa could fly, rather than glide or channel air while using his mask.
  9. My friend's brother, who had all six Toa Mata before any of my other friends or I did, convinced me that this mysterious white and light blue Technic set he had but didn't give me the name of was the secret 7th Toa. Looking back, I'm like 90% sure this was Ski from Throwbots (possibly modded), though said friend's brother kept him in a Bionicle-like canister assembled. (Look, I wasn't familiar with Throwbots at all back then)
  10. I thought "Rahi" only referred to animals under Makuta's control.
  11. When I first played MNOG, I assumed you played as a human who traveled to Mata Nui. Didn't help that you don't learn what the protagonist looks like or what his name is until literally the last couple cutscenes.
  12. I thought flight was one of Takanuva's powers because of the 2003 console/PC game.
  13. I thought the Rahkshi could talk.
  14. When the Bohrok Kal first came out, I thought they were basically Super Saiyan Bohrok.
  15. Before the 2nd movie came out, I thought Lhikan would fight alongside the Toa Metru, not be the Turaga who guides them.
  16. For a while, I referred to Mata Nui as a Great Being, rather than as the Great Spirit. This is because I thought the "Great Beings" were just godlike beings and Mata Nui was one of a pantheon. I was corrected here on BZP in 2008 or so.
  17. When the Glatorian were first revealed, I was expecting them to have Elemental Toa powers.

And some misconceptions from my friends and/or family:

  1. My friend thought Lewa could shoot vines from his hand. He convinced me of this for a while.
  2. My other friend thought that the Toa Nuva would transform back into their old Mata forms if their masks were knocked off, and could transform back by recovering their masks. We'd make believe that we were the Toa at recess, and that was always how he'd portray getting his mask knocked off.
  3. The friend mentioned directly above somehow had this idea that the Great Spirit Mata Nui looked like a red, gold, and silver Tahu Nuva, and had some special connection with Tahu specifically.
  4. My dad thought Onua was a villain because he was a scary dude with claws.

Man, I had a lot of misconceptions about Lewa alone. Maybe I should make a Lewa revamp with wings and an actual gun arm, Barret style.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Kamen Rider Hakura said:

 

  1. Before the 2nd movie came out, I thought Lhikan would fight alongside the Toa Metru, not be the Turaga who guides them.

To be fair, the Toa Metru thought that for a big portion of the film, too.

  • Like 2
  • Upvote 1

"You are an absolute in these uncertain times. Your past is forgotten, and your
future is an empty book. You must find your own destiny, my brave adventurer.
"
-- Turaga Nokama

nichijou2.jpg

Click here to visit my library!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • I seem to remember thinking - based on a scene in the first comic - that the Toa put newly-found masks on top of their existing mask, even though I knew this wasn't possible with the actual sets. Still not sure if that's what the comic artist was going for or not? Is that canon? :S
  • Not a misconception as such, but I remember seeing the Bohrok for the first time and being very confused that they didn't have masks. 
  • I thought the Krana were called 'Kranka' for at least a year or two.
  • After seeing the whole population of Le-Koro getting krana'ed in the comics, I briefly thought they'd all turned evil and started wearing Krana intentionally.
  • After seeing the Nuva for the first time (I think just Tahu and Onua), I initially thought they were sidekicks to the Toa and the pictures I saw made them look like they'd be smaller than the original Toa. I was quite disappointed when I realised they'd transformed the iconic Toa Mata.
  • I didn't really understand the epilogue of Mask of Light at all. I thought they'd somehow awakened Mata Nui, and I had no idea we were getting a glimpse of Metru Nui at the end. (I don't think I was the only one!)
  • I don't think I realised til about 2003 that Kini-Nui and Amaja-Nui were in the same place.
  • I saw the 2006 set leaks back in the day and somehow got it into my head that Brutaka was wearing an actual Kakama, or a updated version of a Kakama (still can't remember which one of these I thought at the time!). I've gone back and looked at that prototype pic several times, and it doesn't match with my childhood memory of it at all.
  • I also thought Axxon was a Toa for a while; again based on those protype pics.
  • For a while I thought the Piraka microsite and marketing was all canon, and I was super upset about it. 2006 was a weird year for Bionicle's marketing, y'all.
Edited by Distorted
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Distorted said:
  • I didn't really understand the epilogue of Mask of Light at all. I thought they'd somehow awakened Mata Nui, and I had no idea we were getting a glimpse of Metru Nui at the end. (I don't think I was the only one!)

I don't think the filmmakers understood the epilogue to Mask of Light.

  • Upvote 1

"You are an absolute in these uncertain times. Your past is forgotten, and your
future is an empty book. You must find your own destiny, my brave adventurer.
"
-- Turaga Nokama

nichijou2.jpg

Click here to visit my library!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
On 5/1/2020 at 1:23 AM, Distorted said:

I also thought Axxon was a Toa for a while; again based on those protype pics.

Order of mata nui member species affiliation is confusing. Like we don't know what species they are, but i just think about them being one species that i like to call ,,gurdians'' probably created by the great beings to, well guard stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@MR.StrawBerry13 please remember to check the date of the last post in a topic before you reply. The last post before yours was made in April 2020 — that's well over a year ago! This counts as topic revival.

If you would like to continue the discussion, feel free to start a new topic.

Topic closed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Eyru locked this topic
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...