Gaza no longer has internet or cell service due to Zionist bombing.
Ever since I've realized the Toa Inika's lighting powers were meant to evoke defibrillators and connect to Karda Nui's electric storms,
I've been wondering if the original story plan was for the Toa Inika to bring the Ignika to Karda Nui rather than the detour of being transformed into the Toa Mahri and searching for the mask in the ocean.
It was! The original plan was for them to have an adventure in Karda Nui. That's a major reason for the biggest complaint about that year's Toa sets, they don't look like the Toa Nuva because they weren't planned to be the Toa Nuva when the sets were designed. While they were always planned to go deepsea as Toa Mahri, they were going to go on to Karda Nui. Some concept art from Christian Faber might even imply that Matoro's sacrifice was meant to be at the Codrex, and that Toa Ignika's sacrifice was repurposed from that.
The Ignition Trilogy as those three years were called was meant to mainly be about the Inika, but according to Greg, plans changed because Lego decided to wake up Mata Nui earlier than originally planned (there wasn't a hard plan of when, but Greg said they had way more stories to tell inside the MU). Based on this, and other statements about how long in advance Lego planned story elements (the decision to end the series was made in 2008), its very likely that they decided to wake up Mata Nui early in order to begin wrapping up the series.
I don't have the time to find all the sources for this, but I know if you look through FaberFiles (Christian Faber's blog) you can find what I'm talking about
Not sure of the temperature of this take, but I feel like Lego and the story team chose overall one of the weaker versions they could've gone with for "Okay we've only got two and a half years to wrap it up."
Like, they could've used the original 08, with the Mahri saving Mata Nui's life in Karda Nui, but not waking him up. They're jump-starting his heart to keep him alive, not turning his brain back on, after all.
Then follow up with 09 being about the Toa Nuva going to the Core Processor to awaken Mata Nui, and having to battle Makuta there to stop him taking over, ending with them succeeding and closing out the series' overall story with Mata Nui Rising, the ending to the saga we followed since 01.
Then Stars can be a non-canon highlight real or whatever. Pick six dudes from the past lines, make 'em small and cute, don't think too hard about the story.
Instead they decided to do Mata Nui's awakening immediately, shoved the Nuva into a story that wasn't theirs, but added the twist of Teridax taking over at the end. And that twist is amazing, I love it, I love that Teridax's massive plan actually worked, but they did not have the time needed to actually explore that. Especially when they were going to cram literally everything in the MU into a single serial while the main focus, including the toys, fucked off to Bara Magna, which they also didn't have time to actually explore. They could've done one thing great and settled for doing two things okay.
Of course, the decision to cancel the line was only made in 2008, and by that point they had already finished the Mahri arc, but I don't know why "Mahri go to Codrex to save Mata Nui, Nuva go to Core Processor to awaken Mata Nui" wasn't the plan from the off.
My belief is they didn’t exactly know when they were going to pull the plug. They knew it was soon due to the declining set sales, but maybe they wanted to see how things work out. But just in case they ended it early they wanted to make sure they do the big reveal. But I don’t think they knew for certain they had the 2 and a half years, the corporate side of Lego could’ve cut it sooner depending on sales so they adjusted as they could and kept going for as long as they were able.
I believe I saw a statement from Greg once that the decision to awaken Mata Nui was made in late 2006 (which also makes sense with how Lego’s timeline goes). Still time to maybe have a comeback, but if they didn’t they would want to get the reveal in when they could
Ever since I've realized the Toa Inika's lighting powers were meant to evoke defibrillators and connect to Karda Nui's electric storms,
I've been wondering if the original story plan was for the Toa Inika to bring the Ignika to Karda Nui rather than the detour of being transformed into the Toa Mahri and searching for the mask in the ocean.
It was! The original plan was for them to have an adventure in Karda Nui. That’s a major reason for the biggest complaint about that year’s Toa sets, they don’t look like the Toa Nuva because they weren’t planned to be the Toa Nuva when the sets were designed. While they were always planned to go deepsea as Toa Mahri, they were going to go on to Karda Nui. Some concept art from Christian Faber might even imply that Matoro’s sacrifice was meant to be at the Codrex, and that Toa Ignika’s sacrifice was repurposed from that.
The Ignition Trilogy as those three years were called was meant to mainly be about the Inika, but according to Greg, plans changed because Lego decided to wake up Mata Nui earlier than originally planned (there wasn’t a hard plan of when, but Greg said they had way more stories to tell inside the MU). Based on this, and other statements about how long in advance Lego planned story elements (the decision to end the series was made in 2008), its very likely that they decided to wake up Mata Nui early in order to begin wrapping up the series.
I don’t have the time to find all the sources for this, but I know if you look through FaberFiles (Christian Faber’s blog) you can find what I’m talking about
The hardest thing about coming up with Bionicle OCs, especially Toa, is that if you want them to have been active inside the Matoran Universe, unless you want them to be part of the relatively small group of survivors that makes it to Spherus Magna, you have to come up with an answer to the question "What happened to them?"
Because of course, all these characters do not age. Or at least they do so at a monumentally slow rate. So the natural inclination to go "Oh yeah this character's life began here, then they went on a grand series of adventures before settling down and eventually dying peacefully here" does not work here. If this character is not around anymore by some point in the story, it can only be because they died horribly.
I think I understand the purpose of Tolkien having most of his functionally immortal characters Sail to the West a lot better all of a sudden.
Well I guess with Toa specifically you can have them become Turaga which is basically retiring. The only thing we know about how many Turaga survived is that there are more Turaga than Toa, so there could be any number, and you can have your OCs among them.
But yeah I see what you mean, it’s a real issue.
The Owl House is actually Bionicle (and its AWESOME)
Mystical island formed from the body of a long dormant god? Check
Lonely but optimistic and adventurous, light-themed, ADHD coded, protagonist who is cast out from their home, doesn’t fit in the islands elemental category system, and goes on journey of self discovery befriending more oddballs and learning to believe in themselves? Check
Shapeshifting eldritch abomination villain with a god-complex that posed as the society’s beloved authoritarian ruler and later possesses the body of the dormant island god for ultimate power? Check
Hot wise old mentor lady with a staff whose backstory involves being forcibly transformed into a violent half-beast form? Check
Are they the same? No. But are there a TON of fun parallels between these two stories I love? YES!
“These machines were never built to make things right.
"These machines were never built to BURN ALIVE!”
Ok but can we talk about how fucking hard these lyrics go?! “As Above, So Below”, the new song by @essengermusic and Cryoshell, is a masterpiece and dripping with thematic references to Bionicle, and in particular these two lines from the pre-choruses stick out too me because they feel so filled with meaning to the series. Like obviously I’m not Essenger, so I don’t know everything that went into these lyrics, but I have to talk about what they make me feel because I can’t stop thinking about them. So, here’s my attempt at a lyrical analysis! :D
“Don’t you feel that its too late to turn the tide. These machines were never built to make things right.”
This line feels so interesting, because it feels like an acknowledgement that the characters were never really meant to be heroes. The Toa and Matoran were just meant to be the worker drones to keep the Mata Nui Robot functioning. Things were never meant to go this wrong, these beings who were just machines were never built to face evils and right wrongs of this magnitude. And yet they did, they rose to take on more than they were ever meant to.
“Don’t you feel that its too late to turn the tide. These machines were never built BURN ALIIIIIIVEEEEE.”
And then this line hits even harder! At the same time as calling them just machines, it calls them alive, and that they were never meant to burn, never meant to experience this pain. It calls them machines but evokes a pity of them, they were never meant to pay the price for these mistakes.
Just the contrast between these two lines (and I gotta say, I LOVE me some slight changes in repeating lyrics that give new context and meaning) captures what in my view is one of the most poignant themes in Bionicle, that they were never meant to be more than machines, and yet they became a people on their own, burdened with the weight of their creators’ mistakes.
“Our sanctuary burns while you play god.”
Who this refers to is also very interesting. It works for Mata Nui, Makuta, and the Great Beings, and I’d say most of all the Great Beings, who played god while their world burned.
“The world outside is dying as we slowly drown.”
This line comes a little earlier than the previous one I mention, and I while it evokes the overarching theme in the song of the world in peril while the subjects are dormant, locked away in a paradise. It makes you think about the Great Beings off who knows where while their creation struggles. Though the drowning metaphor also makes me think of Mata Nui, also a dormant god who made mistakes, drowning from the waters of Aqua Magna literally filling his heart with the waterfall of Karda Nui. Love me some lyrics that have multiple potential meanings and interpretations.
GOD, this song is so sorrowful, and yet feels brimming with a determined rage to make things right, though wondering if ti may be too late. That feeling was so palpable in Bionicle, especially late Bionicle in the Ignition and Bara Magna Sagas. Ahhh, I love it so much, thank you Essenger, I know this was your dream, but to the rest of us, this was a gift beyond measure.
Honestly the Mangai are basically the closest Bionicle gets to a classic multinational superhero team.
One could argue the Toa Hagah are too, given that they all came from different teams before being selected by the Brotherhood
810NICLE Day Is Tomorrow!!
Get ready guys, cause 810NICLE Day 2023 is tomorrow, and the line up of fantastic Bionicle fan works is some of the best it’s ever been!
Be sure to watch the main livestream event here: https://810nicleday.com/home.html starting at 12 Noon Eastern Time on Thursday AND Friday
Yours truly will have a new Bionicle Deep Dive analyzing the Bohrok Kal Arc and how it handles the trope of heroes losing their powers at 3:30 on Friday.
There’s going to be TONS of other cool stuff, including a new music video and song collaboration between Cryoshell and the fan @essengermusic, some great fan essays from other Bionicle tumblr folks like @rahiwatching and @kanohivolitakk and even a commentary from on Mask of Light from some of the original creators!
Seriously the Bionicle community has only gotten more creative and incredible, and the projects being worked on are truly mindblowing! The future of Bionicle looks bright in our hands. See you tomorrow Gathered Friends! 😄
It’s 810NICLE day tomorrow!
Be sure to tune in for for a special edition of the Knowledge Tower on the livestream! You can watch it here:
The video will also be up on my YouTube channel after the stream premiere.