#Av Matoran

[beesgav]

Finally finished up the last ones from this crew because I'm making TH profiles for them :V

[jaymilepland]

OK, I need this answered now

Rebolg cuz I need answers

[irradiated-imp]

For some posts in a friend's discord server, I made my own takes on the various Matoran builds. Figured since I just did a post with the Okotoran build, why not post the rest of them? They're in order of appearance. 01/Mctoran 03/Kolhiitoran 04/Metrutoran 06/Voyatoran 07/Mahritoran 08/Av Matoran

[toa-kohutti]

who has $55 united states dollars plus shipping costs from the united kingdom and wants to help me made a terrible mistake: the all-chrome av-matoran

[nattarthetimedragon]

Tanma, Photok, Radiak, Kirop, Solek, and Gavla

[artek97]

Nella, optimistic Av-Matoran

Mask printed by Iron Foam Factory on Shapeways.

[randomwriteronline]

One night, when all is over, when all can rest; when Kiina sleeps listening to the waves, Berix nursing the newest still unfinished project, Gresh not having any new scars to count, Click barely batting a wing; Ackar hears the voice of Mata Nui smile with such infinite love, and wakes up.

He sits up and listens again: if he strains his ears, if he forces himself to shut down the frantic beating of his heart, he thinks he can hear that voice again. He could swear he is talking, maybe humming, so close and yet so impossibly far away, even further than the resting place of the Ignika but somehow right next to him, tone filled with mournful joy, with an affection that brings one to tears.

Someone is out there, outside.

Someone is singing, outside.

He leaves.

One night, when all is over, Ackar forces himself to stumble out of town and into the cold, into the slowly receding desert which is giving way to life once more; he follows beneath the starlit sky barren of blue or green moons the sound, the song, the voice, an enthralled sleepwalker chasing desperately after a lucid dream he knows cannot be and yet so desperately wants to find, a spellbound seaman bewitched by a cannibal siren's serenade dragging his ship against the jagged cliffs upon which the object of his desire perches with monstrous arms outstretched so lovingly towards him.

He chases after the sound, the song, the voice: he could swear it's the same, the same deep and comforting sound upon whom he once laid his hand on to call 'friend'; he could swear it's the same, so sweet and so heartbroken, and his throat twists tight into a knot as he knows he will not see what he wants, yet he wants so badly.

He chases after the sound, the song, the voice: it splits but does not shatter. Like the hairs of a braid its pieces join together, tangle gently, form a harmony that no mouth can replicate.

He stops.

He looks.

One night, when all is over, Ackar watches and listens.

He knows them, he recognizes them: the twelve of them arranged in two concentric circles, only six of them singing, only six of them silent, their language so far beyond what his anatomy could comprehend or hope to produce, and yet he understands.

He understands from the inner circle's tight fists, their shaking shoulders, their shuddering chests as they struggle to breathe. He understands from the outer circle's solemn pronounciation, the anguish in their shining eyes, their longing and trembling voices.

He understands and hushes, and listens to their mourning song.

One night, when all is over, the Toa Mata mourn who they were fated to protect and instead failed.

One night, when all is over, the Toa Mahri mourn who they could not hold back from the choice of fate.

One night, when all is over, Toa Takanuva mourns all who he will never accept he could not die in the stead of.

Six voices raise, six lights like an aurora across the sky - two figures, mighty and wise and yet so powerless, dancing in their dirge with bodies composed of mourning songs harmonizing together - warriors burying a king, a peer, a friend, a stranger. Six more join, louder to the point of wailing, no composure, burning stars bursting as violently as their destructive end allows, children crying inconsolable the death of a hero, a peer, a friend, a sibling.

The Toa howl like wild hounds into the empty desert night in which no bloody star shines, in the heartbroken artificial language of their manufactured living people.

One night, when all is over, Ackar looks and listens.

In their twelve voices he hears yet another, at once earth and sky, enormously strong yet as light as the birdsong.

In their thirteen voices he hears Mata Nui.

In their thirteen voices Mata Nui smiles.

He smiles with such infinite love.

One night, when all is over, Ackar whispers: I love you.

One night, when all is over, the Toa scream: I love you.

One night, when all is over, Matoro booms: I love you.

One night, when all is over, Mata Nui smiles: I love you.

Ackar cries.

[afanofmanyhats]

You've mentioned your dislike about the Bionicle timeline before. What's your take on it and what doesn't work about it for you? I'm curious to hear your interpretation.

The main issue is the fact that it's a ridiculously, laughably long time for people to stay alive. It takes me out of my immersion to remember that this whole storyline takes place over a period of time ten times greater than the existence of Jericho, but characters like Ackar and Kiina on Bara Magna and the majority of characters in the Matoran Universe have lived that whole time. I'm not opposed to immortal/long-lived characters as an idea, but the story needs to do something with that time scale.

For instance, in Tolkien's works, the ages of the Elven characters has weight in their characterization and relationships to the others. The Silmarillion highlights their horror and sadness as they realize their new human friends will age and die in what feels like no time at all to the Elves. In the Lord of the Rings, the lifespans of Elrond and Galadriel add extra gravity to their advice and foresight; they've lived longer than any of the main characters and know the threat of Sauron better than anyone. Their longevity makes them unique, provides diversity and contrast.

Meanwhile, everyone in BIONICLE ages the same way, so there isn't really a highlightable difference in how aging affects you. It's entirely subjective. Helryx and Artakha are all the same age as Takua, possibly even younger, but they're the ones noted for being ancient. I know Takua had several layers of amnesia, but his personality largely stayed consistent, so the fact that he was apparently an irascible scamp since creation makes him feel static. You're telling me he only underwent major personality changes in the last few years?

The ridiculously long timeline also makes the story feel static because it's frankly pretty sparse. Bara Magna has been a desert wasteland with a half-dozen tribes since the Shattering; the only major political shift occurred when the Skrall migrated to Roxtus less than two years before the '09 arc. The MU's timeline is more detailed, but the information we do have still suggests its development is relatively stagnant. The League of Six Kingdoms and the Matoran Civil War/Great Disruption happen back to back, but then the timeline's fairly empty for 75,000 years. All we have to go off of for the main markers is the Brotherhood consolidating power and Dume is active as a Toa. We don't get more detailed politics until the time of the Toa Mangai, and then things start happening with greater and greater intensity that feels natural.

All this to say: when you're making an expansive timeline, it helps to make it feel dense, especially the closer you get to the events of the story. Human history is intricately complicated, with even Dark Ages still providing us ample discussion through archaeology and the lack of written evidence. BIONICLE's timeline has great worldbuilding from a political and social development lens, but it's too stretched out. I'd say that cutting the timeline down to 10,000 years would solve a lot of the issues I discussed. Also reducing the ages of many of the characters, especially the ones on Bara Magna. It's hard to sell Gresh as young when he'd be old enough to remember when humans first started leaving Africa, you know?

[byz-was-here]

I imagine that after the events of Mask of Light, Takanuva and Jaller probably had a heartlight to heartlight about the "You know who you are" comment before Jaller mostly-died.

"So how did you know I was the seventh toa?"

"Well, I had a month of wandering all over mata nui with nothing else to think about. You don't fit in with the other ta matoran, you don't have the best heat resistance, you always go sunbathing, I SWEAR i've seen your feet change color, and Im pretty sure I've heard you mumble about how different light sources taste. I just needed a vacation from running the guard to put it together."

"Oh. Uh... Huh. Wow."

"That and the mask only lit up when you were touching it. Kind of a big, bright 'Destiny' signal if you ask me."

"Heh, yeah, go figure. ...so what were you going to do after I left?"

"Funny thing. I was going to give it to Midak. he's as weird about light as you are so I figured it'd be worth trying."

"....Wait, what?!"

[ctrl-alt-tahu]

Fiddled with some used parts today and, perhaps reflecting my 2009 mood, I ended up with what I think is an Agori--or might be an Av-Matoran. Mostly, it was an exercise in trying to get a villager-sized torso out of that Mata Nui clavicle plate.

Definitely nothing fancy, but I like him/her/them.

No nuance allowed. The fandom isn't big enough for throwaway answers.

[dontfindme445]

Av-matoran question

like, do the Av-matoran have a bunch of bohrok cages lying around? What do they do when somebody becomes a bohrok? How do they stop said bohrok from going on a rampage!?

[bionicle-ramblings]

How funny would it have been if Takua was NEVER properly hidden as an Av-Matoran, like the most he got was the memory wipe and the Pakari mask, and a Good Omens Season 2 thing happens where he is ADAMANT he's a Ta-Matoran and everyone's like, "Yep. Can't argue with him"

Like, Roodaka finds him and tries to get the Visorak to capture him, but they come back empty handed and Sodorak is DEEPLY confused because there's a gold and white armored Matoran with a blue mask and EVERYONE believes he's a Ta-Matoran when he clearly isn't

Idk, I just think it'd be funny to have everyone be like, "Oh, yeah, he just over-polished his armor and we need to repaint and adjust his mask. Not sure what elese he could be, so he's a Ta-Matoran" and meanwhile Roodaka, Teridax, the other Makuta, maybe the Rahaga, and a few members of the Order of Mata Nui are just like, "THE UNIVERSE IS FULL OF IDIOTS, IF HE MANAGED TO NOT BE FOUND FOR SO LONG!"

[tahnok-kal]

Okay hear me out here, I have a plan to 'save' the Av-Matoran that were turned into Bohrok

It's really simple. We take a ton of normal Bohrok and turn them into Bohrok-Kal.

Now, I know what you're thinking, that's an insane idea. But our duty has been fulfilled, we're perfectly docile now. Having a sentient, intelligent being is way, way better than just reprogramming a bunch of dead shells. After all, you can at least have a half-decent conversation with me!

[irradiated-imp]

A COLLECTION OF MELUS! So Melu's my SelfMOC, one of them anyways. He's a Le-Matoran who becomes a Toa. A while back I decided to do designs of what Melu would look like in different Matoran and Toa Builds, and decided recently to update them.

MATORAN

TOA

I'm really happy with how all of these came out looking, especially the Hordika and Mistika builds for the Toa, and the Mahri and Shadow Matoran builds for the Matoran.

Here's the originals if you wanted to see them. I didn't have the AV-Matoran, Shadow Matoran, Phantoka, or Mistika builds with them tho. Some of them really only changed in terms of color. Originally I made them trying to stick to the OG Melu's color scheme and placement, but when I went back and updated them I decided to try and emulate the original color aesthetics of the builds they're based on.

[toa-kohutti]

"They said that he saved you. Returned your light to you. That you should be thankful. But you're not. It took years to finish rebuilding, to get back to where you belong. Your appearance frightens others. But you know, deep down, that you're missing pieces still."

Gavla, ex-Shadow Matoran, after reunification, undergoing procedures to return herself to the form she felt most comfortable with without losing her inner light. But not everything she lost can be replaced.

[downtofragglerock]

mata nui waking up and makuta immediately bodyjacking them makes it impossible timeline wise, but it think it would have been cool to focus on metru nui after the karda nui incident, specifically from the matoran side of things

Because I remember correctly, by that point they’ve got like, five distinct matoran diaspora populations there

you’ve got the mata nui matoran, who where formerly the metru nui matoran, but that was a long time ago and none of them remember it, so while the city might have an eerie sense of familiarity, it’s still very alien to them

you’ve got the voya nui matoran, who were living on hell hole of an island were every day was a fight for survival, and now they have to adjust to living in a place that doesn’t suck

you’ve got the mahri nui matoran, who had been living underwater for centuries with all the difficulties that entails, and also they had to deal with the warlords and criminals the oomn had put into their superjail that had since turned into street sharks rejects

you’ve got the av-matoran, who are now recovering from a traumatic experience, for half of them, the trauma came from being forcefully turned evil and having to fight and attack your friends, for the other half, the trauma came from having your friends be turned evil and them fighting and attacking you

and lastly you have the karzhani matoran, I don’t think I need to elaborate on that one

It’d be really interesting to explore the dynamics this would entail, it wouldn’t just all be angst, remember, the karzhani, voya, and mahri matoran all canonically knew each other, so there would probably be some heartfelt reunions 

Also you’d have the voya and mahri matoran talk about the toa ignika/mahri and the av-matoran talk about the toa nuva, and then you just have the mata matoran in the corner, who remember both teams early stumbles