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i think Wilma is my favorite choice for a name. It may not really fit her, but she reminded me of my grandma, Wilma, when i looked at the finished piece... Rest in peace, grandma <3

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Finally a Bionicle animation. I drew a vague concept of this back in 2011. Took a while to get it done.

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Still working through commissions, but here's one I finished recently! Featuring Zaliki from MtG

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Mata Nui from Bionicle

Mata Nui has a Ryu Number of 5.

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🌊It’s Toa Gali! 🌊

My first time attempting to draw water, but I think it turned out alright. I’m happy with it, at least.

Credit to @mellon-soup for the pose reference used!

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Ey so what was your thesis about Bionicle as a meta-narrative/story-about-stories? I´m a huge fan of meta-ficiton/meta-narratives and never thought of the series that way so your take regarding it got me really interested.

So, there’s a bunch of facets to this.

Basically, Bionicle characters know they are in a story. This doesn’t mean that they know they’re fictional characters or that there’s an audience of humans watching, but their universe designates people as heroes, villains, and bystanders/victims. The universe runs on story logic, almost to the same extent as Discworld, though with superhero comics and hero mythologies rather than high fantasy and fairy tales. The “genre savvy” characters are of a more subtle type as well. The heroes go into a situation with an expectation of how it will end, because they have some idea what their destiny is, and heroes are always expected to win, right? But they are still often surprised by the outcome, because the story they were told is only a fraction of a more complex reality.

Let’s start with the first obvious storyteller: Vakama

The backstory, as first told to us by Vakama invokes mythic tropes such as creation stories, Cain and Abel style brotherly betrayals, and heroes who arrive from a distant land. Despite the fact that the characters are clearly some sort of robots or cyborgs, we’re immediately told that their setting runs on the logic of magic and myth. So Vakama and the other Turaga, as the storytellers, give the heroes and the audience an idea of how this world works and how things will turn out. This mythic story also represents the power of stories to persist and carry meaning through time, shaping thought and belief, even after the original facts have been long forgotten.

But then Vakama pulls out the rug from under us with the reveal of Metru Nui. Suddenly the story shifts from fantasy to scifi, from humble villages in harmony with their environment to a futuristic dystopia. This time the heroes are not beloved figures of myth, but vigilantes pitted against a corrupt police state. Again, Vakama is telling the story though, and he holds control over how his audience perceives the events and characters. And yet again, he is leaving something out- the Visorak and Hordika. Initially, he intended to keep that secret. It didn’t fit the story he was trying to tell. He had a perfect character arc laid out for himself in Legends of Metru Nui in his journey from a shy, anxious mask maker into a confident hero and leader. That was all anyone needed to know, right?

The Hordika represent yet another genre shift, this time into noir/horror. The heroes do not act heroically. They do not look heroic. Their character development is often negative. They are implied to be an aberration at even the cosmic level, since the Great Temple, and implicitly Mata Nui himself, rejects them. They find out that their selection as Toa came about thanks to Makuta himself. The story has gone horribly wrong, and the heroes know it. But nevertheless, the Toa resolve their differences, teamwork saves the day yet again, the prophecy is fulfilled For That Is The Way Of The Bionicle.

Vakama has very little to do in the legends arc. Because he’s been established by now as a less than reliable expositor, it is the always truthful Nokama who drops the reveal instead: Mata Nui is dying.

Vakama’s stepping down from his storytelling role allows for the gradual reveal of another storyteller: Makuta Teridax.

Chronologically, Makuta’s first real foray into weaving the narrative around others happened in Time Trap. He constructs his own elaborate narrative around Vakama in order to manipulate his mind and behaviour. But Vakama fails to play his part as the protagonist correctly, causing Teridax’s constructed narrative to fall apart.

By the time we become aware of his role in the ignition arc, Teridax has improved his technique as a puppet master/ storyteller considerably. Almost every conflict the heroes face has been orchestrated by him, pitting minor villain groups against the heroes to give them the victories that their story requires. Teridax seems aware that heroes have to ‘win’ because Destiny demands it, so he lets them, but it’s all in service of his own ultimate victory. Instead of the ‘cross-wired’ and unpredictable Vakama, Teridax targets the dutiful but socially isolated and secretive Matoro, who he basically grooms to be the perfect little sacrifice. Matoro performs his role perfectly, and gives the heroes an apparent bittersweet victory while allowing Teridax to put the final stages of his plan in motion.

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2guns

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For the (Greg denied) theory model that Bionicle are simulations of beings in the Solis system that Mata Nui encountered, I think this could be considered a feature.

The Geebs observed visorak at distance and wanted them in their simulation, but they did not want them to remain in it.

It's a stretch, like most things in bonk fanon, but I can see a little bit of a connection.

File under: Greg answers that just raise even more questions.

Great being 1: I have an item I think we need to add to the scroll of preparations.

Great Being 2: What is it?

Great Being 1: Throw all of the giant mutagenic spiders into a volcano.

Great Being 2: The WHAT?

Great Being 1: Hear me out… I think it would be a good idea to get rid of the giant mutagenic spiders before the Great Spirit Robot-

Great Being 2: Since WHEN does the Great Spirit Robot have giant mutagenic spiders?

Great Being 1: Well, it doesn’t. Yet.

Great Being 2: Yet?

Great Being 1: Okay, so you know how Mata Nui’s programming contains code to create a species called the Makuta, and the Makuta had some code for creating artificial animals called Rahi?

Great Being 2: Yes, of course I do!

Great Being 1: And you know how I said the code still contained a few, erm… “bugs”?

Great Being 2: Yes…

Great Being 1: Well, as it turns out, some of those bugs are giant mutagenic spiders.

Great Being 2: …

Great Being 1: Buuuut, since you’re always telling us, “don’t give me problems, give me solutions”, I come to you today with a fix for that!

Great Being 2: …the volcano?

Great Being 1: …Not JUST the volcano. I propose we create an artefact that, should the Great Spirit’s mission go on long enough for a Makuta to inevitably invent giant mutagenic spiders, we have an artefact already in existence that attracts giant mutagenic spiders! And them, you throw the artefact into a volcano so the spiders will follow it and get wiped out!

Great Being 2: …Wouldn’t it be easier to just remove the code for the giant muta-

Great Being 1: No.

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Please fill out my survey, for fun!

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Secrets 👁

I know all your secrets. I know why you're keepin' in the dark, lay your scape, waitin' for the day that you might have to meet them.

Inspired by lyrics from:

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See more Zaktan fanart

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So who else initially thought this post was about spaceship design?

“ships should at least make sense.” no. ships can make sense, sure. but they’re just fictional characters we play with for fun. they’re fantasies, not a fucking thesis paper. so no, they don’t always have to make sense. they just have to make you happy (or horny).

let people enjoy (fictional) things however they want to enjoy.

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Going to star my journey of reading the books, just to know what I'm missing

Here are some drawings that got me inspired

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Patreon request

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How do you make people fall in love with you

challenge them to a duel 

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the way I see it Kopaka's emotional intelligence is so low that every now and then something will happen like he'll be snapping and snarling at everyone and then Gali goes "cut it out, Kopaka, just because you're getting overhot in the sun for this long doesn't mean you can act like that." and he stops short because wait. is that why he's in a bad mood?? would literally never have occurred to him that the reason he was feeling waspish was anything other than the immediate annoyance of his siblings talking. he goes through a traumatic near-death experience and can't hardly sleep afterwards and Pohatu says something like "I'm sure it's hard to shake off that feeling of not being safe" and Kopaka genuinely did not even notice that he was wound up at all or that what happened had anything to do with it. honestly believes he isn't affected by something if he decides he doesn't want to be. he is his own mystery and sometimes needs a detective

it reminds me of the end of the series when he goes out for a walk and is just thinking to himself that now he feels really aimless and maybe even pointless and doesn't know what to do with himself. of course he feels that way. he's been fighting relentlessly for the last year or so, on the run for his life for the last month. he understands that all that's complete, but doesn't seem to make the emotional connection that the switch from constant danger to safety has left him feeling like he has no purpose in his life and needs to go seeking out new dangers (like deciding to go to the Red Star in an uncharacteristically reckless moment) just to feel normal and like himself again

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Can't find the post that inspired this but someone mentioned vis-à-vis Vortixx and Matoran desks being massively different sizes and. Well.