Question about the Mask of Life’s flipping function in Bionicle: The Legend Reborn

[Lenny7092]

Hi, guys. When I watched Bionicle: The Legend Reborn (please don’t talk about immature hate), I noticed something about the Mask of Life. When Mata Nui is not battling, he makes the mask do the flip-mouth-guard thing, like how some Autobots from the Transformers movies and Transformers: Prime in 2010-2013 do it. You see, the mouth part opens up and disappears, revealing Mata Nui’s blue mouth. When Mata Nui goes to battle, he makes his mask do the opposite flip function to cover his mouth. 

It’s not just Mata Nui that has the flipping function. Gresh and Tarix do that with their helmets. The same thing happens to the Hero Factory Heroes from the Hero Factory TV show, too, because both TLR and the HF TV show are made by the same animation company. Tarix’s case is when the hose part of his helmet removes itself from the main part of it by falling off and then goes back on somehow. Tarix uses the hose to breathe underwater, like the Toa Mahri, right? 

In Strakk’s, Bone Hunters’s/Rock Agori’s, warrior-class Skrall’s, special forces Skrall’s/Stronius’, and Tuma’s cases, however, their helmets have jaws that open and close when the guys talk. Nothing to do with battling. 

In Hero Factory’s Invasion From Below episode, the Heroes remove their helmets, as if the helmets don’t have the flipping functions.

Some of the helmets in The Legend Reborn, HF’s Savage Planet episodes, and and Invasion From Below did not have mouth-guarding parts as well. Raanu from The Legend Reborn is like that, too. 

In the Miramax Bionicle movie trilogy, Kanohi masks act as their wearers’ organic mouths. Other Bionicle and Hero Factory media do not show the flipping function because they are not present in the sets, which is understandable. 

So, my question is this: Do you think all Kanohi masks have the flipping functions or is it just the Mask of Life in its Glatorian helmet form in 2009? In my head-canon, I would choose the former if you want to see Kanohi-wearing people in general show their mouths. Plus, I think Mata Nui looks reasonably casual and natural with his mouth shown, and he looks fine either way. It’s like how many Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes having a habit of showing their faces without wearing their headgear.

Edited August 22, 2023 by Lenny7092
Grammar mistakes.

[Nato G]

I feel like you've kind of answered your own question here already. Some helmets are shown to have mouthguards. There is no evidence that Kanohi do.  

The Ignika is an exception since it's known to shapeshift, and was clearly functioning as a helmet on Bara Magna. 

[Master Inika]

Since TLR is the only source of the Glatorian helmets doing this, I’m comfortable saying they are non-canon. BIONICLE has never been exactly consistent with how much Kanohi can move. I don’t have the books on hand, but I recall one line about a character “smiling beneath [their] mask” while at the same time characters can smile/emote like humans do and other characters perceive it. The Miramar trilogy went the route of making the masks organic, whereas the comics went the route of keeping the solid forms and just ignoring/embracing how foreign and inhuman it made them look.

TLR, on the other hand, gave the protagonist characters whose mouths are covered the option of uncovering them. Notice all the antagonists (Skrall and Bone Hunters) who do not have retracted helmet forms are portrayed as blubbering morons anyway. It is only the characters we are meant to associate positively with (Mata Nui and Gresh) who have this feature, since they are the only protagonists whose mouths are not already visible anyway.

[Lorentz]

TLR's depictions of the characters are extremely inaccurate to the lore. They are supposed to be fully biological creatures (with some implants here and there) wearing armor. No glowing eyes, no spinning axels, etc.

 

******, the Scopio monster had the guy riding its back for no reason. 

[Lenny7092]

On 10/21/2023 at 4:13 PM, Lorentz said:

TLR's depictions of the characters are extremely inaccurate to the lore. They are supposed to be fully biological creatures (with some implants here and there) wearing armor. No glowing eyes, no spinning axels, etc.

 

******, the Scopio monster had the guy riding its back for no reason. 

Off-topic, man. Nothing to do with the helmets.

[Lorentz]

On 10/25/2023 at 10:06 AM, Lenny7092 said:

Off-topic, man. Nothing to do with the helmets.

It had everything to do with the helmets

Edited November 1, 2023 by Lorentz