Most Inelegant Part Of The Story?

[Protodite Karzahni]

'09 disappointed me quite a bit. The whole concept was a good idea, just the details could've been improved. A lot of things were vague, like the Glatorian system. And the Glatorian themselves were a bit vague in my opinion.

Have to agree with you, it's mainly because Lego decided to drop Bionicle as soon as they moved onto Bara Magna, but surely they could have handled it a little more delicately. It was all handled fairly sloppily, and I would have liked to see more of the average day of a Glatorian, before all Karzahni broke loose and everything became Spherus Magna.

[StoneyRaptor]

(aka Foot Door) -SK

That moment put me of of the last sort of sort line Bionicle had as it felt very chesey and a bit rushed

[renaldohoek]

This bugs me. When I look back to the 2001-2004ish era, I see a world full of mystery, spirituality, adventure, and rich storytelling, all revolving around a group of biomechanical beings with souls. Identities. Personalities. Now, it's just organizations of glitchy robots fighting other organizations of robots, all inside of one giant robot. It's like a carbon copy of Transformers (Only they typically weren't inside Primus).

My sentiments exactly. As bad as all the paradoxes of Takanuva "traveling the multiverse" (sounds like a line from Sliders, lol... And if you don't get that, you just must not be old enough to have watched TV in the 90s - your gain) are, I have to say the worst plot descision in my opinion was making everything and everyone we loved as characters into the little cogs and gears of a... (shudders) giant robot. I loved the mystery and nuances of the island Mata-Nui, and the action and exploration of the Toa Metru/Hordika, but turning it all into a "Clash of the Titans" was simply a betrayal of the characters.

Well, actually, Bob Thompson himself had planned for Mata Nui to be a titanic robot at the very beginning. I think there's actually a piece of concept art from '01 somewhere on BS01 that shows his silhouette in the Virtuvian Man stance. Still, that's no excuse for bad story writing; 2005 on could have been better in so many ways. Scratch that. From 2006 on. '05 was completely pointless.

[Kojol]

Really, it was a lot better before it went sci-fi.However, an especially bad point was how no part of 2008's storyline made sense, Makuta-wise.The eight Makuta sent to the core should have gotten suspicious if they were told to just stall the Toa - any one of them could have done that easily, as The Makuta did in 2001. If it really did take that many Makuta to hold off the Toa, Greg obviously doesn't understand how powerful they are.

[Ballom Nom Nom]

The entire ending. Well, after two seconds of fighting, Terry suddenly became completely unaware of his surroundings, lost his cockroach-like tenacity, and keels over dead while handily leaving everyone else in the MU fine. Mata Nui then shows his hidden prowess as a gardener. ~B~

[Lewa0111 Nuva]

Oh, and on another note, the story serials starting in 2008. Some things, like FoF and the Sahmad one (forgot the name) were good, but after going back and reading the old story serials straight through, I realized how jumbled and confusing they were. Some of them, especially Reign of Shadows, felt more like a bad fanfic than an official part of the story; plot threads kept getting picked up and then forgotten about just as quickly as new ones were introduced. By the end of the serial, there were like 50 things going on at once, then SUDDENLY, MOON. And everything in RoS became pointless.

 

Lewa0111 Nuva

Edited December 10, 2014 by Lewa0111 Nuva

[The True Zedd of BZPower]

In retrospect, nothing in 2009 made sense.

[Freddy Mallins]

It's my belief that it's completely impossible for Greg to write himself into a corner; he's always got some explanation or another, even if it's just made up on the fly.

For me, I think that Hahli's mask in the Inika saga was a bit too convenient. Out of the hundreds of masks, Hahli gets the one that would help her and her team do exactly what they needed to do? What do you think?

I think every Toa team suffers from this problem, to be honest. The problem with having masks that are too convenient - such as Detection (as mentioned), Water-Breathing, Translation, Fate, Kindred, Summoning - is that they suffer from one of two things: either they can only be used in very specific situations (such as water-breathing or translation), or they're way too overpowered and really no other skill is needed but the mask (such as inter-dimensional teleportation or fate (I'm talking about the Calix, btw)). However, I think a fine line has to be drawn, because obviously Greg can't give them masks that are completely useless and have maybe one or two uses total, but at the same time he shouldn't give them masks that are too convenient or too overpowered. Edited October 20, 2011 by Tom Mc. Israel

[ALVIS]

There were too many Kanohi introduced. What makes me more annoyed is that we got a whole bunch MORE canonized by Greg, and given images, too. I feel that although the EM masks are cool (and I've actually used a few in my stories), those images should have gone to official masks without images.

[King of the Madness Isles]

As Jovan2 said:

Turning Metus back into an Agori. There was no reason for it(except for wierd fans) he deserved what he got and should have stayed that way, and it didn't help the plot at all.

I mean really. They make a big dramatic point of teaching him a lesson, then they undo it just to have something in the story. That ruined Bara Magna for me...course, if you ignore that, Bara Magna was cool.

[Erebus]

Really, it was a lot better before it went sci-fi.However, an especially bad point was how no part of 2008's storyline made sense, Makuta-wise.The eight Makuta sent to the core should have gotten suspicious if they were told to just stall the Toa - any one of them could have done that easily, as The Makuta did in 2001. If it really did take that many Makuta to hold off the Toa, Greg obviously doesn't understand how powerful they are.

Well, the swamp did limit some of the Makuta's powers.

[BZCoolness]

Probably the Piraka being mutated, the Barakki (cool idea that was hardly even touched, in my opinion), and the whole backstory of the Order of Mata Nui was unnecessary.

[The True Zedd of BZPower]

I keep forgetting this but I have one word: Visorak.So,Jaller, Hahli, and Nuparu all go on a super-dangerous quest to Artidax, they plant the Visorak ehart in the volcano, and even after getting hypnotized they are able to succeed and survive.What happens next? visorak are alive again. Rendering basically the entire half of the serial pointless.

[Triggons]

Everything right before the end. While the end was decent, the gold armor and the huge battle going on between the good MU inhabitants/Bara Magna inhabitants and the bad MU inhabitants/Skrall definitely detracted from the end. Honestly, I could do without anything from '09-'10. Having the entire Matoran Universe be a robot killed the importance of the MU, in my opinion. Besides, they were more interesting characters for the most part.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Oni

[Wrinkledlion X]

The 2008 serials got REALLY busy. Also, the final two story-years. 2009 was actually one of my favorites, but it was only meant as a stepping stone that would lead to greater things... When everything abruptly ended in 2010, it turned it into a weird little epilogue, reducing the punch of everything that happened from 2001 to 2008. If they had just ended 2008 with Makuta being defeated, it would have worked so much better as a cohesive story. I actually really liked the twist that they were all inside Mata Nui, and I thought the official animation of his awakening was probably the most awe-inspiring sequence since 2001. I just wish it had been treated with a bit more DIGNITY after the fact. The fact that he was constantly referred to as a "robot" really bugged me, in particular—sure, he's a robot, but he's a living being full of other living beings, and in that sense he's not much more of a robot than any other character! It was a wonderful twist and all, but the way it was described after the initial reveal was so painfully mundane! Here he is, this giant spacefaring god rising out of the sea, with a whole universe of followers inside him, worshiping him blindly, unaware that he surrounds them always—and what do we call him? A robot. Oh, okay. It's okay, guys, he's just a robot.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Wrinkledlion X

[renaldohoek]

The 2008 serials got REALLY busy. Also, the final two story-years. 2009 was actually one of my favorites, but it was only meant as a stepping stone that would lead to greater things... When everything abruptly ended in 2010, it turned it into a weird little epilogue, reducing the punch of everything that happened from 2001 to 2008. If they had just ended 2008 with Makuta being defeated, it would have worked so much better as a cohesive story. I actually really liked the twist that they were all inside Mata Nui, and I thought the official animation of his awakening was probably the most awe-inspiring sequence since 2001. I just wish it had been treated with a bit more DIGNITY after the fact. The fact that he was constantly referred to as a "robot" really bugged me, in particular—sure, he's a robot, but he's a living being full of other living beings, and in that sense he's not much more of a robot than any other character! It was a wonderful twist and all, but the way it was described after the initial reveal was so painfully mundane! Here he is, this giant spacefaring god rising out of the sea, with a whole universe of followers inside him, worshiping him blindly, unaware that he surrounds them always—and what do we call him? A robot. Oh, okay. It's okay, guys, he's just a robot.

I hear you, man. I've said this a million times before, but it's true: LEGO, even with all their awesomeness, felt the need to strip even the most minute mystery and spirituality from Bionicle. Why, I don't know, but it just feels like an injustice to old and new Bionicle followers alike. I'm guessing it has something to do with the religious neutrality thing LEGO has established, but spirituality is not biased towards any religion, and trying to reach above pointless action sequences, deus ex machinas, and scientific explanations for everything shouldn't offend anyone.

[DeLaSouth]

The 2 robot giants fighting in 2009. 1. When Teridax plunged Mata Nui's head into Bara Magna, how did Mata Nui's head not get ripped off and pulled into the planet core? Doesn't gravity do anything?2. Teridax was stronger & ready for him, Teridax should have won.

[Mr. Anon1]

Actually, I think Vakama's descent to darkness (if a bit rushed and made too Darth Vader-ish) was handled well by Farshtey. He did a good job of piling up all the factors, from Vakama's guilt for Lhikan's death and his failure to save the matoran in time to the fact that he personally caused his team to get mutated. His apparent learning of his origin from Makuta was merely the finally pushing point. Consider all these reasons, plus the fact that he is under Hordika venom, which prevents him from acting rational over his primal urges.

[Erebus]

Having the entire Matoran Universe be a robot killed the importance of the MU, in my opinion.

Doesn't the MU being a robot validate its importance?

[UltraHau]

My biggest issue is why the Kakama (phrase copyrighted) did Takutanuva stay under that gate in Mangia while he was reviving Jaller? If he let the gate down, then revived Jaller, Makuta would never have had a chance to commit grand theft universe.

Edited November 1, 2011 by UltraHau

[Triggons]

Having the entire Matoran Universe be a robot killed the importance of the MU, in my opinion.

Doesn't the MU being a robot validate its importance?

I mean it kind of made the MU seem small in comparison to the big picture. Imagine waking up one day to find out you're just a pawn in someone's game of chess (that was a pretty classy metaphor). It sucks.

[P962]

I thought 2005 was one of the weakers years. I didn't really care much for mutants and giant spiders, but maybe that's just me...

[Takatu]

My biggest issue is why the Kakama (phrase copyrighted) did Takutanuva stay under that gate in Mangia while he was reviving Jaller? If he let the gate down, then revived Jaller, Makuta would never have had a chance to commit grand theft universe.

Well, it was quite a while before anyone knew that was his end goal. Besides, it's been said that since Makuta's mask was removed prior to the fusion, Takanuva had more control over the body, and knew that Makuta could probably take control at some point, having really strong willpower (kinda like how he eventually gained full control after absorbing Nidhiki, Krekka and Nivawk), and maybe Takanuva saw it as an opportunity to weaken the body enough to potentially kill Makuta, ending his threat seemingly forever.

[Mr. Anon1]

OK, I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet. The Mahri killing the entire Visorak Hoard. Web of Shadows established at the end that the Visorak were not inherently evil, but were simplistic beings who favored an "honorable" leader like Sidorak over someone cruel and deceptive like Roodaka. Vakama even freed them to establish the point, and in Time Trap a Visorak actually tries to help him. Then 1000 years later the Mahri hardly think twice about murdering the entire species (which violated the Toa Code that they were supposed to follow).

[Kopekemaster]

I would say the whole thing with Makuta getting whacked in the head with a meteorite and dying right there. The Official Bionicle encyclopedia stated that Makuta didn't need a physical body. So how did a meteor kill him? And that Spherus Magna was the Bionicle symbol all along. So basically all of the Glatorian stuff seemed a bit strange.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

I keep forgetting this but I have one word: Visorak.So,Jaller, Hahli, and Nuparu all go on a super-dangerous quest to Artidax, they plant the Visorak ehart in the volcano, and even after getting hypnotized they are able to succeed and survive.What happens next? visorak are alive again. Rendering basically the entire half of the serial pointless.

I agree with this completely, but the Visorak being brought back didn't annoying as much as the fact that they basically did nothing important when they returned. All they really did was repair damage Teridax received from Mata Nui in their fight. They didn't do anything else in the story, and that annoyed me.

[The First Speaker]

OK, I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet. The Mahri killing the entire Visorak Hoard. Web of Shadows established at the end that the Visorak were not inherently evil, but were simplistic beings who favored an "honorable" leader like Sidorak over someone cruel and deceptive like Roodaka. Vakama even freed them to establish the point, and in Time Trap a Visorak actually tries to help him. Then 1000 years later the Mahri hardly think twice about murdering the entire species (which violated the Toa Code that they were supposed to follow).

I agree with this. Also, I found it rather inelegant that, while the story had started with six heroes landing in a mysterious island, it ended with two giant robots fighting with lasers. A bit incoherent for my liking, the whole robot fight was more Transformers than Bionicle for me. Edited November 2, 2011 by The First Speaker

[Roablin]

Pssh. Although I like the story, I think almost all of it was all inelegant.But the most was at the end, although the idea of a giant fistfight between two giant robots was good, it happened far too quickly with not enough happening.I mean, the end of Bionicle didn't even get any books.MNOLG though, was unbelievably elegant.~Roablin

[Erebus]

I mean, the end of Bionicle didn't even get any books.

Journey's End pretty much covered the end of BIONICLE.

[Exo-Kahgarak]

Let's see:- The transition to sci-fi without any kind of actual attempt at scientific explanation of the sci-fi.- The Heart of the Visorak, which was not even hinted at previously, suddenly being discovered and used to kill every single Visorak... only for Teridax to bring them back a short time later.- GIANT ROBOTS WITH LAZORZ!- The way-too-rushed end to the story.- Teridax, who is the Matoran Universe, dying without, you know, any real damage to the Matoran Universe. I actually would have liked it better if Metru Nui were vaporized when the Core Processor was (but no, the heat in the core processor was enough to vaporize antidermis but not melt through 1/4 mile of rock at most to hit Metru Nui).- Powers being added randomly with no explanation (especially when the story supposedly transitioned to sci-fi).- The serials had way too much going on in way too little space.

[Parugi]

The entire Alternate Teridax plot really grinded my nerves due to how badly it was handled. I can understand why, as a serial character, he wouldn't actually turn out to be the main element in defeating the main universe Makuta; but that doesn't excuse the fact that his entire entrance into the main universe was treated as a gigantic event that would totally change the course of the war with Makuta, only for him to get into one fight against a few of Shadow Takanuva...... only for it to turn out that, five minutes after killing them, Makuta gets defeated. After boasting about how powerful he was. Because apparently Makuta was fighting Mata Nui while that was happening. Making the entire point of Alt. Teridax moot and invalid, not to mention wasting what could have been a truly interesting plot.sigh...

[CroMagnonMan]

One thing that has always bugged me was the way the Toa Nuva were handled upon their transformation. Recalling for a moment that this was 2002, all we had heard about the Toa up to that point told us that they were "spirits of the elements", incredible beings with inherent abilities tied to nature and the forces of the planet. There was a definite, though ambiguous, quality of reverence about it. Then, out of nowhere, they get a tacky "upgrade" and suddenly their powers are tied to some "cube" that randomly spawned at the same time. What? I still don't know how that even made sense, and it just killed the mystique about the Toa, because when the cube was stolen they lost their powers and everything that gave them character and history. (Plus, isn't it embarrassing being the only Toa who can't use their powers without an outside source?)The fact that some Av-Matoran are apparently "destined" to be transformed into Bohrok was completely pointless and a little bit disturbing as well. What, wasn't there a better way to supply Mata Nui with them without... THAT weirdness? Did he even need new ones -- aren't there supposed to be tens or hundreds of thousands of the things in hibernation? When the swarms were awakened in 2002, it didn't even take their whole arsenal, did it? That twist came totally out of left field and was just sort of... there.And as a side note: the whole concept of "Destiny" in general. I still have no idea how it works. Okay, everyone has a "purpose" in life. Who assigns them that purpose? I used to think it was Mata Nui, but then it turned out he was a robot, so how could he? Was it just another "glitch"? For that matter, how does anybody even KNOW about how Destiny is supposed to play out? The stars? No, wait, turns out the Red Star is just a part of Mata Nui's take-off gear... so how does it predict the future again...?Finally, Orde's gender and his whole backstory. It doesn't sit well with me. There was no apparent reason to make him a male except to... actually, there just ISN'T any. And the guy apparently messed with the minds of a whole species of beings, driving them to an ever more alarming degree of anger and hatred... because he got MAD? Am I the only one who finds that utterly horrifying, as in grade A psychological horror story material? I'm sorry, but in my world that would make him either a villain, or an extremely messed up guy, whether or not it was an accident. Word of advice: You can't just put something of that magnitude into a character's backstory and treat him like just another character! Realistically, this guy would have issues.

Pssh. Although I like the story, I think almost all of it was all inelegant. ...MNOLG though, was unbelievably elegant.~Roablin

Agreed on both points.Ultimately Bionicle is a pretty messy business -- tons of world-building went on but mostly it just made everything more convoluted. Nothing seemed focused to me. Ironically MNOLG, with its straightforward, simplistic setting, is my favorite part of the whole deal, probably because the people involved in making it had to go to great lengths to make the world seem very big within the parameters given to them. It was all about the setting and the characters, not the progression of the plot or expository blocks of information (of course, MNOLG did present many pieces of exposition over its course, but it was always through the characters and with respect to the atmosphere of the moment). Compared to everything we now know about the Bionicle universe, how much have we actually experienced instead of having it told to us?~QMark

[Phovos]

I have loads...The transition from threat to threat in 2002-2003 annoyed me. It was only five minutes ago that we had a huge swarm of Bohrok and now we have more Bohrok and then suddenly they conveniently kill themselves and then suddenly we have Rahkhsi, and then suddenly the Rahkhsi are just a ruse for Makuta and then we have a lame battle.Speaking of battles, most of them seemed quite lame. There was no earth-shattering battle between any very powerful characters, something which wasn't elegant.I also found the whole idea behind 2007 rather annoying. Oh dear, we have dropped our mask of life into the sea and now we have to go down there and get it. The story was good, but the fact that they were down there in the first place was just awkward.Then we head to 2010, our last year, set-wise. Really, we needed something to clean all the mess up and tie it all up neatly, so we could have new stories stemming from that. But what we have is a mess of stories and unfinished works, riddled with alternate or parallel universes.And to finish off, the alternate universe gimmick is very awkward. It solves everything.

[Wrinkledlion X]

One thing that has always bugged me was the way the Toa Nuva were handled upon their transformation. Recalling for a moment that this was 2002, all we had heard about the Toa up to that point told us that they were "spirits of the elements", incredible beings with inherent abilities tied to nature and the forces of the planet. There was a definite, though ambiguous, quality of reverence about it. Then, out of nowhere, they get a tacky "upgrade" and suddenly their powers are tied to some "cube" that randomly spawned at the same time. What? I still don't know how that even made sense, and it just killed the mystique about the Toa, because when the cube was stolen they lost their powers and everything that gave them character and history. (Plus, isn't it embarrassing being the only Toa who can't use their powers without an outside source?)

Yeah, the cube was definitely an awkward point in that. Cube aside, however, I think the Nuva transformation was probably the best-handled transformation we ever got. It actually had far-reaching effects, damaging the Toa's unity. Future "upgrades" would just get glossed over—besides new weapons, did the Inika really change at all as Mahri?—but a lot happened with the Nuva. I remember there was a really grave, ominous feeling when they first changed, and lots of fear that they wouldn't be able to handle their new power. I preferred the Mata's appearance, of course, but what you gonna do.

I also found the whole idea behind 2007 rather annoying. Oh dear, we have dropped our mask of life into the sea and now we have to go down there and get it. The story was good, but the fact that they were down there in the first place was just awkward.

I've got the opposite problem. I love the premise, but the execution made the year action-driven to the point of monotony. Anyway, it wasn't really an accident that the mask fell into the sea—it knew what it was doing when it flew down there.