#I do generally really like my Mahri

[ashilean]

"I believe that mask belongs to me."

It has long been my intention to--if not actually becoming active here again--at least keep this place relatively up to date. So here is the last of BIONICLE month from 2020, most of which is now very old or out of date but still nice to have all in the same place. I believe the remaining prompts were for a toa of water, toa of air, turaga, matoran, adversary, and titan (which is the Hydraxon piece above).

I'm fairly certain at this point all of the custom masks were designed by KhingK and the cordak blasters are my attempt to ape BobtheDoctor27's really slick stud shooter ones. Hopefully get to posting my modern projects here soon!

[ctrl-alt-tahu]

The Last Toa

I have a not-quite-100% finished thought rolling around my head about the legacy of the Toa Metru, and in attempt to get it complete, I'm trying to write it down.

So, the Toa Metru are the final stop in a line of Toa going back to the foundation of Metru Nui, right? They were made Toa by Lhikan, the last of the Toa Mangai, and as his heirs and mentees, they are the last Toa of Metru Nui.

Indeed, the GSR generally, they come awfully close to being the last Toa--period. Not the last Toa in existence, obviously, but the Mata/Nuva, Takanuva, and the Inika/Mahri are all Toa in some other special way: Artahka originals, the Mask of Light, and intervention by the Red Star. None of them represent the passage of energy from Toa to Stone to Matoran: that lineage, which I assume goes back all the way to the earliest days of the GSR.

I think Krakua is the only real monkey-wrench in the idea that the Metru were the last Toa made in the conventional way. I'm pretty sure he's the only non-Inika example we know of in canon definitely after the Cataclysm.

There's something wistfully sad about the Metru being the Last Toa Ever™ and yielding their own Toa power to revive the Matoran, with no new Toa to follow them. When the Toa Mata arrive on Mata Nui, it becomes something like an Arthurian return, but it's also a supplanting: "the line of Dume and Lhikan and those even before them has failed" and a better thing takes their place.

Some basic Googling/BioSector01ing seems to suggest that there's not a lot of canonical detail in HOW Krakua becomes a Toa--so even if we accept that he's a fairly recent Toa, we can allow ourselves some speculation that he ALSO might not have been an old-school Toa-Stone-made Toa.

Why does any of this matter--other than poignancy, which is a consideration of its own? Well, I was thinking about Matoro (as one does) and the unique way in which he could carry on the legacy of the Toa Metru: he's the one Matoran (and thus the one transformed Toa) who knows their tale before the reveal at the end of MoL. Alone of the amnesiac Matoran, he has knowledge--though not memory--of Metru Nui, and while he kept the Turagas' secrets, he can't have helped being shaped by them in the 1000 years of doing so.

Destiny is the will of Mata Nui (well, destiny is a thorny subject, but let's call it that here). The Toa Mata, Takanuva, Krakua--what if they were all attempts in some way or other to supply the "needed" Toa to save the Great Spirit? But, though he is dying, the Great Spirit doesn't want any of these: he doesn't want to saved by Artahka's demiurgic Toa, or the Avokhii-wearing saviour, or any of the washed-up leftovers (Lesovikk, "the forty living Toa," the Hagah): instead, when the Red Star intervenes--the Red Star that echoes his will in a way the Order of Mata Nui can never hope to--he chooses one of them, and he chooses the one of their number who is the truest heir of the Toa Metru--his Toa.

Destiny is a big theme of the Metru in a way that was never true of the Mata (unity is their theme), and this really comes to the fore with the dancing back and forth between who was destined: them or the Mask Matoran. Destiny also comes up big with Matoro--and perhaps their destinies are the same.

[rrbobani]

hiii, i just wanna say that your toa onewa design and toa mahri jaller design are like, super pretty :D (tbh the same can be said for the rest of your designs) and i was wondering if you had any other neat facts/hcs about your au? i really enjoyed the ones you shared last time and just wanted to know if you had anymore that weren't mentioned before? (it's completely ok if ya don't btw, no pressure/rush)

No worries! It makes me happy that people enjoy my ideas and interpretations of these guys ;v;

I can’t think of too many, but there is one that I guess doesn’t only have to be applied to my humanized au. Just a little detail that could add a bit of spice to Vakama.

Again, only headcanon, BUT…

Thinking about how Vakama knew about the plans to make great masks in the first place or have these visions of the future and the like - in story, that’s because the great beings implanted him with this knowledge, right? (I think that’s how it goes, I can’t really remember OTL)

But I thought it may be cool like at the BEGINNING of the bonkleverse that Vakama was actually an apprentice to Artahka. As in he resided in Artahka’s realm and developed new tools, masks, and what have you with THE best of the best.

It’s another way of explaining how this guy knows how to engineer literally a legendary mask, like how Artahka would. Vakama sitting in his little dorm room, creating the plan for the Vahi and memorizing every detail he accounted for. Even then, Artahka could’ve gifted him Somethjng special for excelling as a student of his - the gift to visualize future projects, or just seeing future outcomes in general (hence the cross wired visions)

As to how he got to Metru Nui, I imagine he was sent there before to help in getting Ta-Metru furnaces in order and help teach some matoran how to make masks. But then everything changed when matoran literally forgot everything about their pasts, and Vakama has no clue that he originated from the Artahka island :’)

But in the end, Artahka’s gift and vague memories of how to mask make still remained ingrained in his mind.

So in the end, it’s just a neat little headcanon I think is worth being shared, hopefully you guys think it’s interesting too~

Sorry I can’t think of more atm, but I do appreciate the ask!! Thank you!

[magicalgirlmascot]

Thoughts about your AU where Matoro is stuck in the Ignika. (And probably Mata Nui, too.)

- Mata Nui didn't want to retreat entirely. But he'd just recently recovered from a coma, a seizure, brain damage, and damage to his heart and more of his insides. Then he socialized with people in the first time ever, worried about his people, was diminished, then fought Makuta who was in the Great Spirit Robot.

He needed another nap after all that.

- The exertion also weakened Matoro and Ignika. Ignika still has their defenses up - no touching or coming closer without their consent - but both of them were barely aware of their surroundings for a while.

- Matoro hears voices he knows talking to him. He wishes he could answer them - they often sound so sad - but he's so tired... (And to talk with him they have to don the Ignika. Which is still very dangerous for most people even with Ignika's consent.)

- However, Matoro can write with ice energy. (And do pranks. It's sometimes very boring being stuck in one place.)

- As for who can don the Ignika safely:

The Toa Mahri

Kiina and Ackar and Berix

Wairuha or Akamai (because of their connection to Mata Nui)

Vakama because he created the Mask of Time and wore it

- Ignika is lowkey scared of Vakama. They sense time-fuckery around him.

- People do rotations on a voluntary base where they read to the Ignika or tell stories. It started with Kiina who wanted to share her adventures and new experiences and hoped Mata Nui would hear her. It grew from there as a way to honor Matoro and Mata Nui and Ignika and others who died to protect the GSR inhabitants and Spherus Magna inhabitants.

Then it turns around they're still there, that they can hear them, and that they're bored.

- Mata Nui, listening and observing, has a lot of time for self-reflection. He wonders who he is: He doesn't want to be a god. Being a god didn't help him against Makuta. He couldn't help his people because he was unaware that everybody had become self-aware.

It's also amazing how big this new world is. Not in size, but in the amount and variety of lived experiences.

AAAAAA I CAN'T BELIEVE I MISSED THIS SOMEHOW I'M SORRY

Honestly I love all of this!! "Mata Nui is tired of being god" is one of my favourite takes on the character tbh so having him just like. completely fine with just having a nap for an undetermined amount of time in the Ignika is great lmao. He has dealt with so many medical problems in the last 1000 years he needs a nap. A real one this time, not a forcibly induced coma.

I think that Nuju would also be able to wear the Ignika, if only because 95% of the time when someone gets to wear it it's because either Matoro or Mata Nui is calming Ignika down and trusts that person completely. I also think, however, that Nuju would abjectly refuse to put it on. Absolutely not. That thing killed his closest companion. (He does go talk to it in Bird sometimes, though. If nobody else is around to see him. He has his pride. The other Turaga all 100% know though)

People Matoro Has Pranked:

All of the Mahri at least twice each

Takanuva

Berix

Kopeke (only once and he felt really bad about it after)

Nuparu also constantly comes by with various ideas for contraptions to allow Matoro (and Mata Nui by extension) to be able to communicate better. None of them work but they appreciate the effort

If Matoro thought being attached to Mata Nui was weird, actively sharing headspace with him is even weirder somehow. Mata Nui is nothing if not a considerate roommate(?) and Generally A Pretty Swell Guy. They wind up becoming pretty close friends once Matoro is finally able to get over the whole Great Spirit thing.

[tiredspacedragon]

Which Ta-Toa are you the most infuriated with in regards to how the fandom mischaracterizes them and why?

The scale of Ta-Toa misinterpretation, as far as I have seen, goes as follows, from least misinterpreted, to most misinterpreted:

Norik - Lhikan - Jaller - Vakama - Tahu

Norik's a granddad. We all know it. He's seen some shit, and his fondness for lizards and bugs isn't often talked about, but I think Norik is a pretty simple character to understand.

Lhikan could shift around a few places, really. He's where he is on the scale simply because so much of Lhikan is a mystery to us. We know his origins, and his end, but we know very little about what he was actually like as a Toa. As such, I figure pretty much any interpretation is fair game so long as it holds to the few things we do know about Lhikan: that he was steadfast, noble, serious, kind, and generally a model hero. Anti-hero Lhikan wouldn't fly with me, but otherwise, I think it's up to the individual whether they prefer stern Lhikan, or haunted Lhikan, or even dry humour Lhikan. He's a pretty flexible character in that sense.

Jaller's in the middle, but he's honestly fine. The only thing I would consider about him is that the fandom tends to over-focus on his Matoran personality, which isn't a bad thing, because it's still pretty accurate to his Toa self, but I would like to see/hear more post-Pit Jaller discussion. Yes, he's mostly the same, but he and the other Mahri were fundamentally changed by their time there, and I don't doubt that it's left them one of the most vicious Toa teams out there. For Jaller in particular, we got to see that for all his effort to set himself apart from the stereotype of hot-headed Fire Toa leaders, he's really quite typical, with a fierce temper of his own and a prideful, stubborn streak as long as the Pit was deep. I don't think he's misinterpreted so much as the harsher sides of him are more rarely acknowledged. He'll always be responsible Jaller, but he has as much of a wildfire in his soul as any other Ta-Toa.

Vakama is a special case, because the fandom recognizes two versions of him. There's canon Vakama, and uwu Vakama. uwu Vakama is the one who's an anxious bean, and he mainly comes from Vakama's portrayal in LoMN, which, as fun as a movie as it is, did its main character no favours by cutting all the scenes in which he shows his confidence, capability, and leadership skills before the final confrontation with Makuta. uwu Vakama is the reason we have discourse about how Vakama should not have been the leader of the Toa Metru, which grates on my nerves every time I see it, because canon Vakama's entire character (as a Toa) is built around leadership. It's his defining character trait, the part of him that rises to the front in moments of crisis. I don't actually have anything against uwu Vakama, I actually like that the fandom is able to love Vakama not in spite of his mental issues, but because of them. What annoys me is when people confuse uwu Vakama with canon Vakama, who has all of uwu Vakama's baggage, but isn't defined by it.

And of course there's Tahu, the misinterpretation of whom I have talked about before, so I'll try to keep it brief. Angry Fire-Baby Tahu existed exclusively in 2003. Not before, and not after. Proud, hotheaded Tahu existed elsewhere, but the popular conception of him as a boastful, thoughtless, rage toddler comes only from his portrayal in Cathy Hapka's Chronicles books. It baffles me that so much of the fandom's opinion of Tahu comes from this one part of his history. For one year, he was portrayed god-awfully, and it's like the other nine don't matter half the time. As if 2001 didn't first portray him as the Toa's de facto leader, who could rally the others behind him with inspiring words and actions. As if MoL didn't have him good-naturedly teasing Takua and didn't make a point to show that the poison was the source of his rage in the middle of the movie. As of 2004/5 didn't have Tahu listening intently to Vakama's stories and discussing with him about his fears and how he wants to improve himself, and 2006 didn't have him cracking jokes about himself and letting his pride relax. As if it wasn't a major part of 2008 that Tahu had grown tremendously into a cunning tactician and a great leader of Toa, while simultaneously revealing that he was the same way 100,000 years prior.

Simply put, people like to default to what's simple, or most iconic. Or in the case of Bionicle, what's most accessible and easily consumed. Norik, Lhikan, and Jaller are all perceived well because they're portrayed well in their most accessible appearances. Norik and Lhikan are dead-on in their respective movies, and MoL gets Matoran Jaller pretty much right, though maybe a little less serious than he is elsewhere. Vakama and Tahu, however, get screwed because of faulty portrayals in their most iconic arcs. As much as I love 2008, when most people think of the Toa Nuva, they think of them in 2001-2003, and the simplest and most convenient way to experience the story of those years is through the Chronicles books, which flat out portray Tahu wrong. It may be hubris on my part to say that, but I have come to believe it firmly. Compared to every other piece of media released in those years, the Tahu in Hapka's books is almost a caricature, disregarding most of his positive traits in favour of amping up his negative ones to ridiculous levels. Similarly for Vakama, his most iconic appearance is LoMN, which presents a very narrow, trimmed-down version of the character. In both cases, the altered version of the characters take the place of the true, complete versions that appear everywhere else in people's minds, resulting in interpretations of them that veer wildly off-course because they're based on sources that don't properly convey the essence of the characters. All in all, I can't really blame the people who do misinterpret Tahu and Vakama, because they were set up for it, but it does still bother me that the misinterpreted versions are the norm when the complete, far more likeable versions of the characters are right there in the books.

[sumi-sprite]

Dumb Theory of the Tryna...

Yo I forgot to post this last week lol

Don’t take this remotely seriously, I just thought it was a neat idea and a sort of interesting “what if” scenario. It basically all boils down to, if given little ot no physical or mental limitations by using his mask, could Kingdom!Matoro, in theory, reanimate Mata-nui’s dead corpse? And whether or not there is any sort of implication of this not only being true, but was his being given a Tryna perhaps pre-determined in case Matoro failed to revive Mata-nui in time?

Under the cut for length!

So in regards to Kingdom!Matoro (or Matoro as a Mahri I'm general) he was bestowed with the kanohi Tryna - the mask of necromancy reanimation. An interesting choice by the Ignika (which is the supposed source of his and the other Mahri’s mutation) but it got me thinking... (ie I was VERY bored at work).

Now again, this is not to be taken seriously, but after rereading the Into the Darkness podcast transcript again, something just really bugged me about the whole situation with Teridax and Matoro. So, Teridax’s goal was to blackmail Matoro into reanimating Tuyet, because she had remnants of the Nui-stone embedded in her armor (though apparently in the main universe, it wasn’t Nui-stone fragements), and the reason was...so he could bestow it on a Toa? 

That got me to thinking just what this implies. We’re all fully aware of Teridax’s psychopathic ability to plan and prepare a thousand backup plans to his backup plans. We also know he has an invested interest in The Plan to take over the Matoran universe, but it can’t be achieved if Mata-nui dies. So, taking into account his tendency to have backup plans in stacks, could he have, say, predicted Matoro being given the Tryna, and thus, his plans for the Nui-stone were in fact to somehow sway Matoro to his side, give him the Nui-stone, and in the event Mata-nui dies, have Matoro harness the stone and, I don’t know, reanimate the husk? At least enough to allow Teridax to slip into the Core Processor and do what he needed to do, because as it stands, it SOUNDS like for him to even get into the GSR, Mata-nui HAD to die at least briefly. 

And to me, it just doesn’t entirely add up. Or maybe I’m not remembering things correctly (it’s been A While since I read the books). Why would he want the Nui-stone to begin with? As far as I can tell, it’s used exclusively to enhance Toa.

He showed an unusual interest in Matoro, and I’m going to guess it’s because, one, Matoro is inherently linked to the Ignika for obvious reasons, and two, he has a mask that may or may not be of use to Teridax in some way if something goes wrong. 

So, if given the Nui-stone, could Matoro have proved useful in reanimating Mata-nui? My guess is yes. In Tuyet’s hands, she apparently was able to essentially take over the Toa Empire Universe. If given that enhancement, Matoro probably could reanimate a massive, universe-sized robot with very little strain; at least long enough for Teridax to do whatever he needs to do. 

On the flip side of things, there is also the possible reason why Matoro got the Tryna. The Inika/Mahri were mutated by the Ignika, and due to the Ignika’s sentience, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had chosen their masks from the get-go. So why the Tryna for Matoro? Why such an obscure, taboo mask? 

Supposedly masks are a sort of nod to a trait of a Matoran/Toa's personality or ability, or perhaps at the least prove utility to their programmed profession. So, supposedly, masks align with one’s destiny. Matoro’s destiny is to die to revive Mata-nui. If we assume over-use of mask powers causes strain, we can assume if he tried to reanimate Mata-nui without a Nui-stone, he would probably die in the procees. But what would be the point? There is no utilitary reason for Matoro to have the Tryna that isn’t just symbolism (which is rife within the MU, but I digress). The other Mahri, on the other hand, all got masks they could utilize to their new enviroment. Jaller got echolocation, Hewkii got gravity powers, Hahli can mimic Rahi, Kongu can summon demons and Rahi and god knows what else, and Nuparu got stealth ninja powers. One could argue there’s A Lot of dead things in the ocean, but there is literally SO many other masks Matoro could have been given that would have been much more useful in The Pit. 

So does the Tryna just imply his destiny is to revive someone (ie Mata-nui)? Or was he given the Tryna because, regardless of the Ignika and REGARDLESS of whether or not Matoro dies or if he has a Nui-stone, the Tryna would act as an end all contingency? I can't see it being the former, and while the latter is REALLY pushing it, it makes more sense. This may or may not also be supported by the fact that a contingency mask DOES exist, and that is the Ignika itself. It’s supposed to both be Mata-nui’s defibrillator, but it’s also a reset button.  

I don’t know, it just feels very off to me, both Matoro’s mask and Teridax’s motivations for the Nui-stone. I can’t recall if it was ever expanded upon if he even had a Toa in mind to give the stone to, and if not, I doubt he would have gone to the trouble of finding it. That’s a HUGE detour to take when he’s on such a tight time crunch now.

Anyways, that’s gonna do it for me, so if anyone has any thoughts, discuss! 

[whiteheartlight]

in a timeline where all nineteen of the main Toa (Toa Metru, Toa Mata, Toa Mahri, and Takanuva) are Toa at the same time, the following things would happen:

Onewa and Tahu hate each other hate each other hate each other HATE EACH OTHER. Pohatu has to drag Tahu out of rubble periodically and Nokama is the only thing stopping Onewa from getting his armor melted off like a Skakdi general with a big mouth

Takanuva, Lewa, and Matau are way too good of friends and wreak havoc everywhere they go

Onua is the brawny Earth Toa and Nuparu and Whenua are both fucking nerds lmao

Dume's probably their Turaga and he could really use some siblings. Toa Metru are fairly respectful but cause more trouble for him than anyone else, Toa Mahri mostly act responsible, and the Toa Mata don't listen to a fucken word he says

Takanuva just hangs out with anybody he feels like but they all still see him as a kid lol

Kopaka finds Matau so goddamn annoying he actually warms up to Lewa even faster than he does in canon because he's not as bad as Matau, just energetic and a little foolish. Matau actively tries to piss him off. Lewa thinks this is great on both sides

Nuju and Matoro still have a great relationship, but Nuju is less a mentor and they're on more equal terms. they actually end up causing a lot of trouble together and they fight really well side-by-side. Matoro's the only one who can thaw Nuju out a little

girls are all best friends while their brothers argue. i know girls are allowed to have conflicts and they do not all have to be angels but imagine them all hugging. do it. oh my gosh. they kick ass together and they love each other don't fight me on this. and when one of them flips out, it's best to send her sisters to calm her down too

Vakama is intimidated by: Nuparu, Kopaka, Jaller, Hewkii, Gali, and Onua. luckily he can't get any more insecure than he already is so it doesn't change too much

either they live in Metru Nui and the Toa Mata are always trying to fuck up city life or they live on Mata Nui and the Toa Metru are always complaining about having to life in an uncivilized wilderness. the Toa Mahri are adapters

Kopaka, Nuju, Matau and Onewa periodically threaten to defect

the Toa Mahri and Takanuva would have to go through a "we lost our powers" situation like the other Toa teams did and Hewkii, Nuparu, Hahli, and Jaller would handle it pretty well, but Takanuva and Kongu whine like babies. Matoro keeps falling into the snow and getting stuck because he weighs more than he did when he was a Matoran :(

losing Matoro would be such a blow both the Toa Metru and the Toa Mata would have no idea what to do. some of them are comforting and some of them just back off to give them space. Nuju becomes so bitter and quiet he's actively lashing out at the others and nobody knows what to do for him. Nokama and Matau get him through it more than anybody else, but he never gives the anger up entirely

oh boy there would be an arc where Jaller and Tahu would have to square up a little bit trying to prove themselves as leaders. Vakama wants nothing to do with this.

"Oh, you guys had to fight a team of Makuta?? well we got turned into RAHI so why don't you STOP COMPLAINING FOR TEN MINUTES"

the Matoran are just amazed these are the people chosen to be Toa

[beesgav]

What do you think about Takadox? Or the Barraki in general?

I just remembered I had this ask uh

I think the Barraki just weren't really my type of villain- I'd mentioned during my read-through of the Mahri arc that the attention was split between so many characters that none of them really got sufficient development, and the Barraki were big sufferers of this. I also kind of question their backstory, like... okay, they were warlords from a bunch of different islands, but the idea that Mata Nui selected them to be the rulers of the MU doesn't make a ton of sense to me. I understand the desire for unity (hah) within your universe but, like... things were relatively fine after they all got disappeared to the Pit, so why were the Six Kingdoms necessary to begin with?

I also think they were kind of undercut by the overarching elements all coming into play, like... The Barraki are meant to be the main threat to Mahri Nui, but they almost never attack them directly and the worldbuilding before the Toa arrive is more about the Mahritoran struggle to survive in this harsh environment than it is their struggle against the Barraki forces. And then once the Toa do arrive, the Barraki have to compete for the antagonist spotlight with Hydraxon, Teridax, and, uh. Gadunka. And they're by far the least interesting of each of these, they're all just kind of generically serious and spiteful with some kind of extra feature or quirk stuck to them.

I understand why people would enjoy them and 07 as a year, but for me there just wasn't enough time devoted to them, or to the story as a whole, to make them really interesting villains in my eyes.

Toy-wise, though, I like them a lot. They bring a large amount of bodily diversity that the previous villains were sorely lacking. Didn't matter so much with the Bohrok or Rahkshi or Vahki, since they were basically drones, but I would have a ton of trouble telling you which Piraka is what color, and I loved the Piraka! You also can't go wrong with a good fish monster design, kids love those.

[kanohivolitakk]

Your opinion on Bionicle Edgyverse?

 Parts of it are a BIT too edgy and off wall for my taste, but I do think theres geniunely good to great ideas in there.

In particular what I really like include Lewas arc of staying in Bota Magna (though him becoming a king feels kinda weird and not really incharacter), the conclusion to Yesterday Quest and Powers that be (to an EXTENT well get to that batter) and what was done with the Barraki and the Dark Hunters. All of these felt super clever and neat ideas, and ones that I could see happening in canon. I also like the ideas and parts of stuff like Takanuvas visions, the SM council civil war and operation SALVATION, but details werent to my style tbh (again more of that later). All of these ideas felt natural contiunations of the story that made sense and worked well for their purpose. I also liked the choices of who Velika killed off, though I know its somewhat controversial given that many people had soft spot for the Yesterday Quest Trio, but them being sacrificial lambs made sense.

Then theres stuff I felt mixed about: This includes stuff like Toa Mahri disbanding (I can GET behind the idea but don’t necessarily LIKE it on a personal standpoint). The Red Star subplot doesn’t really go what I thought it woul, but Lhikans goodbye was rather nice so made up for it

The Civil War subplot is probably the one thing I’m the most mixed on. I do think it makes sense for a civil war and I do like it but at the same time I don’t. Like, I do feel it wouldve been that the MU inhabitants and Agori/Glatorian tried to UNITE but then Velika and his supporters would like start a war or something. But thats just me

And then there is stuff I don’t really like personally. The main big thing is...I don’t really like Tahu turning a full on villain. It feels a bit too “edgy fanfiction written by a 14 year old”.

There’s also the general tone. Like yeah Bionicle being edgy is a thing I love about it but at times I feel that the edgyverse goes A BIT TOO far with the edge, you know what I mean. It goes from dakr and compelling to just plain gramdark.

So yeah, Theres a lot stuff I love about it, but there’s also a lot stuff I don’t if you catch my drift

[findteenpenpals]

Email buddies

Hello, my name is Mahri. I am 16 years old, and am from Canada. I’m gender-queer. I am fluent in both English and french (my grammar in french sucks) and am currently learning sign language and danish.

Some things that I like, would have to be; -Netflix (I watch a little bit of everything, but right now, I’m really into Shameless, and Gilmore Girls) -Music (I don’t really have a solid genre that I listen to, but I do listen to a lot of indie, rap, hiphop, musicals, and a few pop songs) -Art and writing -Aesthetic things

I don’t really have an “ideal penpal” because no two people are the same, but as a general guideline, if you’re nice, and like to converse. Please do not contact me if you are racist, homophobic, or sexist.

You can reach me via; email; baziltongrimm@gmail.com

[ask-mazeka]

How did you and your mentor come across the origins of the Makuta race? What were you studying?

“Before I talk… Know there is a special kind of irony that I can like. Doesn’t make me laugh. Makes me think. I rarely find myself having that kind of gift, you have my thanks. Human.“

“I can only answer your question in the one way I know of. A story. A very long one. Do not regret that you have started me on this, you perked my interest and now I shall satisfy yours. Simple. Or I would hope so.”

“What do you know of the Trem Krom Peninsula? That it’s a desolate wasteland complete with geysers of metal-boiling acid and dermis-hungry rahi? You wouldn’t be wrong. We got the name for this region from travelers that either willingly came… or washed ashore. Some pilgrameged, like the silent-mouths of the De-Matoran villages… others saw it as a potential new beginning. Many saw this place as forsaken, gave it a name as ugly as the ripped earth. It was endearing. Those of us who had called the Peninsula home had no name for it, far as we could remember it had been as horrible as people often cry out about it. We made do. My village learned to track not the stars, but sun, to calculate the time of day and rise of the tide. A high tide meant potential larger rahi would wash inland while low meant the possibility to salvage materials, even rare metals lining the mouth of the oceans floor.”

“Weird. Eccentric, right? Jerbraz taught me those sort of… annoyingly puffy words… My Mentor was one of those… Eccentric things… He was part of a generation that was lost on the village. Went against thinking about what might be, and what had been. It more than often put him up against the will of other scholars… especially when he brought up old bones… Back before I even remember, back when maybe Rahi weren’t so bloodthirsty around those parts… Our village was obsessed about what came from the ocean.”

“The earth.”

“Black stones, black as the nights sky, lined with straight cuts impossibly sharp and deep. Back then my elders, famous scholars… would be… had gripped to some spark of hope in the nearly inhospitable land of the Trem Krom Peninsula. This was some test from the Great Spirit of Mata Nui, to find out what these stones were. Oh yes. Travelers brought tales of the mask upstairs– It made the days bearable. From what I hear. The nights were spent shivering away in tents that could easily be tucked away in case of a rahi raid.”

“Countless pebbles, boulders, were assembled and then left. The quest stopped, was abandoned. The elders had come to a… answer. Through questions to travelers, through dedicated searching and digging, scrapping the sides of the razor crystal falls… Those stones they found had originated from the island. That was their theory anyway, words that killed an entire generations hope, why should they care about weird rocks that came from the island and weren't thrown there? Sean there. This made those scholars start to think about the present and future, tossed away their roots. Why they had even appeared on the island, all those questions were gone.”

“My Master… Ah yes he was a Master back then, became a mentor once I worked enough courage to beg him for work– He took up those questions. I was still so… so… soft. Seeing him stand up to the scholars I held like light-stones to the dark? It made me run after him.“

“The first few years were spent on extensive tests, we had the whole island against us. Not physically, but they refused to help. Days blurred, so did weeks, the months came quicker than sleep. First was where the pebbles came from, they were indeed foreign, what coated them was something that made us look even harder for clues. It was hard, at first, cracking the material on the outside of the stones, the biggest of which often broke our tools. It was hardened top soil, I hear you need that to farm. Given all the acid… lava… magma… lack of plant life really… the dots snapped together. Connected. Whatever. These rocks when they impacted, we suspected likely as an even bigger rock, knocked off the top soil so roughly what was left over became the crystals we see now, all those precious minerals locked away… The scarred landscape filling with heat and poison, again, fitting name for such a place.”

“We hadn’t even read the stones.”

“Destroying the outer layer of hardened soil it… it revealed impossibly made patterns on the white stone, the blackened soot of the Peninsula showed white that hurts my eyes even now thinking about it. The deep lines, they seemed to squirm when you got close and pulse when touched– we were frantic and tested for days, weeks, the contours of each stone we cracked. Some lines had curves, hooks, that felt the same while others didn’t. It wasn’t a pattern, but it wasn’t random. A comically long time for us to realize it was a language. Those pebbles that had made our island a dingy rock… they were letters, fragments of some big book. Question was back then, why? Why the notes? Why the impact?”

“Only rough translations could be taken, we were no speakers. My Mentor barely knew enough to crack open these rocks let alone decipher such complex language– he rarely slept. Had the one thing those scholars, ones who laughed at us, didn’t. He was dedicated like a maniac.”

“4 whole cycles, years, passed until we had a very common word translated. The lines, when folded in on themselves were… not too alien with our own language. It was a stretch to assume this, but we went with it, quickly wrote down the shortest passages and pinched them together, compiled them. Shakily looked at it in the damp light of my Mentors tower.”

“They were the notes of Trem Krom. I will never forget how terrified I was… how pleased I was… Each passage detailed the start of our very world, higher beings that used us as mere tools. Similar to the ones we had discarded into the lower shaft of the tower earlier that day. There were gaps in the message, mainly just an introduction to who wrote it, why he wanted to write it down and what his purpose was. He was a overseer, of sorts, who was taking power before Mata Nui and these Great Spirits… Beings… well… soon they tossed him out, we know this because no matter how many fragments we found, tried to search for, they never went beyond stuff we had no memory about. In other words, nothing close to my Mentors past, nothing close to the islands archives past.”

“Maybe he threw it out of rage? Maybe the Great Beings tossed it into their great robots gut in the hopes it’d be destroyed? Either way they had ruined Bo-Mahri.”

“My home was not the Trem Krom Peninsula, it was the isle of Bo-Mahri, a lush grove of forests that spiraled off into a clear ocean, Notes on each region were common and went on for many boulders, My mentor and I suspect many were lost but after a while lost interest and most hope in getting more fragments. We focused on the far more cryptic parts.”

“The Makuta.”

“Not a Makuta, the. Trem Krom was very… specific in how he talked on and on about the ‘brood of mistakes’ that would take up what he used to do alongside Mata Nui. We learned about their faults, weaknesses, abilities, even their numbers. It was a maddening amount of knowledge, questions we had answered. So we sat about, My Mentor really, to put all of our findings into tablets. So we could publish them.”

“I still remember how heavy those tablets were in my hand that day. Still feel the grains of stone racking across my fingers.”

“Bo-Mahri was changed by the hands of something not of metal.”

“Now another asks about it.”

“For once I am glad to have memorized words Jerbraz often laughed out. Irony. What a good word.”

[goodguy2008]

Bionicle Asks

I’m in a talkative/rambling mood... All answered under the cut! Original post here.

1. When did you get into Bionicle?

I think I really started to get interested in 2006.

2.What got you interested in Bionicle?

When I saw the Inika commercials on Cartoon Network... I had a friend that lived across the street, and we’d meet in our front yards and talk across the highway. And the Inika commercials were definitely brought up.

3. What was your first set?

Jaller Mahri and Ehlek where the first ones I “bought”. But I’ve had a Tehutti set before them. Not sure how I became in possession of that one... And then there’s Macku as a McToran, but I never really did anything with her.

4. What was one set that you always wanted but never got?

I really liked Maxilos and Spinax, but because of a “deal” that friend and I had, (we get ones the other doesn’t) I never got him...

5. Which set is your least favourite?

I never liked Gresh... Normal version, or Stars version. (Especially Stars)

6. Which year is your favourite?

2007. No contest.

7. Which year is your least favourite? 

Story-wise and to some extent set related too, I’d have to say 2009. It’s a very neat world, and I like how it’s structured... But it’s not Bionicle...

8. What did you think of Gen 2?

It had some potential, but I wish they did more with it. If they wanted to make some connections back to Gen 1, I would have wished they just did a continuation rather than a reboot. -I should make a post about this...

9. Did you read or own any of the books?

I actually started to read one of the Metru books, but never finished it. I never really knew about them, or knew where to find them...

10. Which book is your favourite?

N/A, read above

11. Did you read any of the comics?

Yes! My friend was subscribed to the Lego Magazine, so every time he got a new one, we’d read the Ignition comic together. Years later, I ended up reading them all on BioMedia Project.

12. Which comic series was your favourite?

Definitely the Ignition series.

13. Ride the Crab?

Yes.

14. Which Bionicle game do you like the best?

MNOG. It’s the only one that has never pissed me off... I have more memories with the Mahri games, but I could never beat any of them.

15. Who’s your favourite character?

Jaller. He was just one of the more well rounded characters, and easily likable. Also my first Toa.

16. Best Toa team?

To not sound like a broken record, (Though you know I’m going to pick the Mahri) I’ll say the Hagah...

17. Which movie is your favourite?

The first one I watched was Legends of Metru Nui, when I found a copy on VHS in a St. Vincents... Really, it’s a tie between MoL and LoMN.

18. Which movie is your least favourite?

The Legend Reborn. It was really my least favourite year, and I didn’t like any of the characters.

19. What was your favourite aspect of Gen 1?

Just the sheer scale of depth of the lore, and the world. Which I never knew about until the last few years, and I feel like I missed out on so much...

20. What was your favourite aspect of Gen 2?

I think it’s probably the feeling in the community. I never experienced the Bionicle community during Gen 1, so it was great to see everyone enjoying themselves.

21. Do you hope to see a Gen 3 in the future?

Honestly, no. I’d rather see more effort put into continuing the story of Gen 1 in books, or do the same for Gen 2.

22. Dump all the pieces out and assemble, or sort pieces carefully and assemble?

Pieces were either all over the table/carpet, or still in the bags, being fished out. There was no real sorting. Screw that noise, man.

23. What’s your favourite Bionicle memory?

There’s so many... But I’ll go with the time I got Jaller Mahri and Ehlek and rolled them all around the floor of my grandparents house... 

24. Did you ever take your Bionicles outdoors to play?

All. The. Freakin. Time. I’d load them all up in a box, (I really only had a few at the time...) and go across the street to my friends house, he’d bring his out and we’d go all over. Funnily enough, I was walking down my gravel driveway last year, and I found connector piece from Takadox embedded in the gravel.

25. Do/Did you break pieces often?

Oddly no. I was never really careful with mine either, so how I never really did is beyond me... Even Ehlek with all his lime, I think only two pieces have been bad enough to warrant replacement. Though the dog did get a couple parts...

26. How many sets have you collected?

More than ten. And that’s all I feel like counting to right now...

27. Do you want to see a new Bionicle game? If so, from what year, and which genre?

I think I mentioned this once here before, but I’d love to see a Total War style game with all the different 2001-2002 characters. The Ta-Koro Guard can be an elite unit, with the Le-Koro airforce, and the Onu-Koro Ussal Rider Regiment. The Turaga can all be the “generals” in typical Total War fashion. Maybe a Ga-Koro Navy, too. That would spice things up. But they’d all be fighting the various Rahi, and maybe even the Bohrok.

Another idea would be a sort of FPS during 2007, and the you’d switch through the characters in different spots, and progress through that whole story.

28. How many of your childhood sets still survive?

They all do somehow, mostly... Even Hydraxon, who was frozen in a dirty pool for a year and a half...

29. Which did you like best, Gen 1 or Gen 2?

Gen 1. There was more to it, and it felt more alive.

[beesgav]

I'm realizing I never compiled my 2007 bionicle thoughts here so

- All in all, this one was definitely... unpolished, I would say. It had a lot of moving parts and I'm not sure how well it all gelled together in the end. My foremost gripe is how many perspectives it jumps between and how short it is in comparison with, like, 2004-2006, which really wound up giving it a rushed feeling.

- once the Mahri showed up, there was very little focus on the Matoran of Mahri Nui, which is a shame because the Matoran attempting to live their lives is generally one of my favorite elements of each year. I can still recall the VNRT pretty well (sorry, Piruk, I had to look you up), and I read 2006 months ago. I read 2007 in late December and the only Matoran characters I can remember by name are Defilak and Dekar.

- i know they were a return to form in terms of the sets and they do indeed have fun designs, but... I'm sorry, the Barraki just aren't interesting villains to me. They don't have the intimidation factor of Makuta Teridax or TSO and they don't have the fun personalities and dynamics (with the heroes, at least) of the Piraka. My favorite villain was honestly Nocturn because of how weird and crazy he was.

- Other than to give Lesovikk a target to go after... why was Karzanhi here? He felt so out of place and just kind of existed to spout doom and gloom and get his ass kicked.

- that being said, though- the lotus-eating scene (the one where Karzanhi gives Lesovikk a vision of his life if he had saved his team) was a legitimately good scene and the only time Karzanhi's presence felt like it brought a new and interesting element to the story. Shame it was such a short scene, though.

- Lesovikk and Sarda (yes, I had to look his name up) deciding to travel together was nice, and threw the poor guy a bone in allowing him to reunite with a long-lost friend.

- I feel like the Toa teams, aside from the Mata, pick three characters to have as the "main" characters and let the other half fall to the wayside, and it was definitely evident here, even moreso than 06 was. It just seems there's little to no emotional arc with Kongu, Hewkii, and Nuparu, and while they did get scenes in battle where they could be cool and occasionally got to take jabs at each other's egos, they felt way more like secondary supporting characters here and were nearly indistinguishable personalitywise. Hewkii being thankful Macku taught him to swim was cute though.

- Again... I feel like so many of these problems could have been resolved, or at least mitigated, by having another hundred pages or so (bearing in mind that I’m reading a compiled digital version with some stuff like the comics thrown in) and making it similar in length to 2004.

- But I don't wanna be completely negative and there's still a bunch of stuff I liked about it so

- Ironically, for as much as I was fearing it up to finally reading it, the darkest parts were what I enjoyed the most of the whole thing. The Teridax-posessed Maxilos robot sticking with Matoro and forcing him to do his bidding was fantastically dark. I only wish, like with the majority of these things, we could've seen more about how it affected Matoro's relationships with his team and how it messed with his head and self-esteem.

- The scenes where Matoro is forced to use his mask power against his will, where he's just made to watch this horrible ability that he has work for him, were also enjoyably painful to read. Matoro is honestly the best character in this year.

- I feel like this has been mentioned in a post on its own but Matoro being the one destined to sacrifice his life to save Mata Nui and continually getting powers related to death (the soul-scouting ability made his real body lifeless and convincingly dead to everyone but Hahli, and the dead-raising one... obvi) in addition to his mask looking vaguely skull-like is such grim foreshadowing I love it.

- but also my poor boy. I want to give him a hug. He didn't deserve this ; ;

- Hahli also really shines here. I knew about the "Hahli the barbarian" line before now but I never realized how much it actually was warranted. She's so cool. She also has probably what is one of my new favorite mask powers, next to the Calix.

- oh also speaking of- the lead-in to the scene where Matoro uses his mask to raise Tuyet is preceded by the story about her and the Nui Stone in the volume I read and honestly it's one of the best short stories in the whole run.

- Matoro's sacrifice was a little confusingly-worded but was still incredibly effective. Honestly his actual death was less impactful than the reactions to it for me (Hahli recounting it to Kopeke, the Toa going "hey why didn't the Ignika teleport us all back" before Vakama explains, and particularly Nuju realizing that he not only lost his translator but also his dearest friend) so I'm glad that we got to see a little bit of that.

- I could easily be missing an element of the story (I'm pretty sure I am, actually, but I won't know for sure until I read 08) but I'm still miffed that there was no Mahri/Takanuva reunion.

- All in all... it was okay. I took a lot of issues with the technical aspects of the story, but there were still tons of elements that really shined. And, hell, I read the entirety of it in a day, so it didn't, like, /disgust/ me or anything.

I do have to admit I'm worried about 08-10. It'll be interesting to meet the Av-Matoran, and I'm excited to finally follow the Nuva (plus Taka) again, but I haven't heard great things about it. Still gonna see it to the end, ofc, but I'm worried 06 may have been the highpoint of the story.

[ctrl-alt-tahu]

Alt-Canon

I have emerged from my Bionicle Dark Age to have started devouring all the Bionicle lore that I missed out on (roughly 2006 onward). Some of this is vaguely familiar, thanks to have never fallen into a true LEGO Dark Age or because I have been cursed blessed with three younger brothers who never quite let the Bionicle flame dim. And I’m thoroughly enjoying the acquisition of Facts and how they interact. As a kid who enjoyed encylopaedias, a teen who feel in love with Tolkien, and an adult who plays at worldbuilding... well, of course I do.

But... although all this is all Canon, it still doesn’t quite count as “my” canon, and I think that there’s something about canon built around a toy that makes it prone to everyone having their own version. In my own case, this tendency is heightened by the fact that, with LEGO generally, I’ve always written stories grounded in the games played with my brother. And there’s no way that Bionicle’s written canon, however closely we hied to it, would quite fit the games we played. And that play experience is an inextricable part of how I view Bionicle.

There are obviously some issues with rooting one's mental image of Bionicle in games played circa 2002. For one thing, I absolutely did not pick up on the Giant Space Robot hints, and thus Mata Nui was an island in my LEGO world's Pacific--and the Toa cannisters were launched there from space.

But the biggest problem was that those childhood games made provision for multiple copies of a character, originally the Toa Mata and the Toa Nuva. Because I wasn't about to retire my favourite (and the most perfect) Toa just because new sets were released.

Thus was developed "the Cave." One Toa entered, two emerged. As 2003 turned to 2004, the Cave developed into a true necessity for incorporating both Toa and Turaga and then Toa Hordika. That's the ballpark of when I last truly played with my Bionicles, but I continued to collect some as my Dark Age Drew nearer and the idea of how to play as I acquired some Inika and then Mahri continued to be ever more pressing, because--I strongly assure you--there was no way I was mothballing Matoran Jaller for Inika Jaller, let alone Mahri Jaller.

So now what? I've emerged from my Dark Ages to have acquired a far fuller picture of Bionicle's canon story than ever possible while it was still in process, and I want to merge as much of that as possible into something that takes all my childhood lore in as well. I guess it's an alt-canon or something but it's also not really--more like something else made with the same LEGO pieces.

[whiteheartlight]

OKAY that is IT I am going OFF here’s my hot take:

Vakama should not have been the leader of the Toa Metru.

Now hold up hold up don’t get me wrong: Vakama?? A lil angel. Did he commit some sins?? Yes, many. Was he a little evil there for a hot minute?? For sure. We know this. But I have nothing in my heart but forgiveness and affection for him he’s perfect don’t @ me

But should he have been the leader of the Toa Metru?

Perhaps not.

Why?? Okay let me ramble a little.

1.     From the beginning, Vakama demonstrated serious anxiety, insecurity, and stress at the idea of being the leader of the Toa Metru. Now I am all for “greatness thrust upon them” and “rising to your destiny” sort of things, but this is not what that was. Vakama voiced self-hatred, insecurity, and sometimes outright panic every time he failed to be the leader the others were expecting him to be. In the movies, his siblings pile the Great Disks that failed to impress “Turaga Dume” into his arms, symbolizing the weight he carries as their leader.

Okay maybe that’s me reading too much into it but oh my goodness his sad lil face.

From the beginning he was having breakdowns about his inability to lead – “I’m just a cross-wired freak wasting everyone’s time” – and here’s the thing: he never really stopped doing that. His anxiety began to turn into rage and ferocity, causing him to bitterly embrace the weight his siblings put on him by giving brash, stupid orders, which again got them into trouble, causing another breakdown – “I’m sorry I failed you all” – and then another – you know, that whole Visorak thing?

We got to see Vakama realize that his siblings still wanted him around despite his failures because of Matau’s forgiveness, but that doesn’t automatically erase the fact that Vakama never really seemed to find a way to cope with the weight of leadership.

Compare Vakama with a natural (if REALLY AGGRESSIVE AND LOUD AND BRASH) leader like Tahu, who sometimes expresses anxiety or fear over the thought of failing his brothers, but doesn’t tear himself completely apart or break down after failures such as the Toa Nuva’s defeat at the hands of the Skakdi. That particular defeat just gives him a clearer perspective on the situation and allowed him to make better leadership choices, like sending Jaller’s team to Mahri Nui instead of his own, while Vakama seems to make worse and worse choices the longer he’s pressured to lead.

(Side note: I wish we could have seen more of Jaller’s reaction to Matoro’s death, because I think he may have shared many parallels with Vakama after the death of Lhikan. But that’s another essay.)

In my opinion, even at the end of their arc, Vakama seemed sad more than accepting and maybe even lonely. He embraced his leadership in a very quiet, tired way, speaking to Norik in soft tones in the scene where they prepare to leave Metru Nui and then giving up his Toa powers without speaking a single word to his siblings, just accepting his fate.

2.     And that’s especially bad and dangerous because guess what? Vakama was traumatized as hell at the end of their arc!!!!!!! He was!! So traumatized!! Get this boy to a therapist!! How do we know this? Well, not only was Vakama already an anxious, shy Matoran, but he was also in a deep grief over Lhikan’s death, which was clearly traumatic on its own because of his serious mood swings and personality changes. We could guess that the incident with the Visorak would be a second trauma even without confirmation, but we know for a fact that it is because, years and years and years later, he still can’t even fully tell the story to the Toa Nuva because of how deeply it affected him.

Vakama’s trauma was deeply intertwined with his duty as a leader – not only did Roodaka convince him to join her with the promise that leadership would come easy to him if he lead the Visorak instead of the Toa, but every time something went wrong in his time as a Toa, he blamed himself for it for failing Lhikan, failing his siblings, and failing the Matoran. This is not a Toa who should have been forced back into the position of leadership just because Matau was able to reassure him that they still wanted him around. It would have taken pressure off his shoulders and allowed him space to heal without being isolated from his siblings by his responsibility if he could have had a chance to recover without that pressure. Shoving him back into the situation that caused him so much stress in the first place would not be helpful even if the others all admitted they should have been more understanding about what he was going through. That still doesn’t solve the problem that Vakama never seemed to know how to deal with some of his siblings, command the team in general, or bring everyone’s ideas together into one cohesive whole instead of just all of them throwing themselves into situations and hoping for the best. That doesn’t solve the problem that he blames himself for small mistakes and lets them eat him alive. He didn’t need a fourth chance at figuring this shit out on his own – he needed collaboration with his team and time to process his recent and past trauma!

I wish we could have seen more of how Vakama recovered from what happened!! Like I got my Matau and Vakama moment, but I would have loved to see him and Onewa make up too since they fought so much. Honestly?? I would have loved to see him form loving relationships with… well, really anyone. It was clear that Nokama and Matau both loved him and were willing to show him that, and I really believe from the way the Turaga all became friends in the end that the others would be his friend and help him heal too, but we never really got to see that. Like what would Vakama’s relationships with the others even look like if he ever got a chance to not be the leader or the visionary, but to just be their brother? I’m getting off track. Cause here’s the third thing:

3.     Vakama never really demonstrated that many leadership skills.

I’m SORRY, okay, really I am!! But seriously. At the beginning, he only lead because he was a visionary and that is no way to choose a leader, especially since he so badly wanted to not be the leader at that point! Before the personality changes I associate with his grief over Lhikan, he showed himself to be nervous, insecure, shy, soft-spoken, unwilling to take control, not particularly communicative, reserved… these aren’t bad things, but they’re not necessarily shaped for leadership. He lacks confidence and a willingness to lead.

To be fair, he does have a lot of good leadership qualities too. He listens well to others, he’s intelligent and kind, and he’s very quick on his feet and good at putting puzzles together and figuring out how to destroy things like talking demon plants. This makes him a very good boy and also someone very good to have in a fight. But that’s a strategist, not necessarily a leader. He takes failures much too harshly, doesn’t command the others well, never shows any real interest of his own in leadership imo, and needs to be coaxed and comforted into making many real decisions.

The exception, of course, is that angry, hurting Vakama who snaps at all of his siblings and makes bad choices to try and convince himself that he’s a good leader. Remind me why we put that much of a burden on this lil dude?

(I actually have thought about that some – did the others see Vakama as the leader because they perceived Lhikan as seeing Vakama as the leader? Or, as I suspect, was it more tied to the apparent tradition of fire-spitters being expected to be the leaders? If Vakama was expected to lead because of his nationality, this could contribute to his anxiety over being expected to lead – is he a bad Toa of Fire just because he struggles with leadership? Did he know from the beginning that everyone would expect that of him? Even as a Matoran, did he feel less like a Ta-Matoran because he never met the stereotype of a commanding, confident, charismatic fire-spitter? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I love thinking about them because Vakama is 11/10 and other Fire Toa like Jaller and Tahu have struggled with similar insecurities and the struggle of trying to be good leaders and Fire Toa, reflecting on the expectations placed upon them, like when Jaller feared that he was fighting with Matoro because of their elements and when Vakama asked Tahu to admit that he was afraid of failing the others and leading them into harm.)

Okay, and yes, Vakama did seem to be a better leader by the time he was a Turaga. But honestly, from what we saw of them in meetings and moments, Vakama doesn’t particularly stand out as the leader. They all redirect each other when they’re getting off-topic, they all coax each other into telling stories or doing what needs to be done, they all go “NOKAMA tell me you did NOT show Gali that cave” and things like that lol. And that’s great!! Because they learned to be equals!! Incredible!! But in that case, there was no reason for Vakama to lead them as a Turaga, and if they had continued to be Toa, I really think they would have needed another leader.

 Here’s my proposition: Vakama should have been given space to heal. The others welcomed him back and accepted his leadership during the battle with Roodaka, but he didn’t actually do much beyond the obvious, which was “shoot her, guys!” And it was great. But it doesn’t make him a good leader necessarily. I think it would have been good for him to be able to step back from the expectations and the stereotype and to just spend some time adjusting to what happened and learning to rely on his siblings as his support system and family instead of the people always tearing him down for not being what they need him to be. He wouldn’t have had to abandon the leadership skills that he was beginning to develop because he would still have been the Turaga of Ta-Koro. He could have had some time just to learn his own leadership style: not shy or timid, not aggressive and brash, but rather embodying the things he does do well, like giving others chances to use their talents, listening patiently to their concerns, and then working to reign them in when things go wrong or certain Av-Matoran wander into danger too many times in one day. Managing Takua would be enough leadership responsibilities for any Turaga, that’s all I’m saying!

 Who do I think would have been a better leader for the Toa Metru? Easy. Obvious. Nokama.

She always should have been.

I don’t believe that Vakama would ever have become the leader of the Toa Metru if he wasn’t a Fire Toa and a visionary. Ever. He would have backed up, said no thank you, and I think it would have been better for him. Nokama would have been a great commander for him, cause guys?? She fucking loves her brothers. She loves Vakama when he’s breaking down, when he hates himself, when he fucks up, and she tells him that. She puts a hand on his shoulder and whispers encouragement and she defends him when the others turn on him. She protects him. She loves him. She fucking loves her brothers. She loves Matau when he’s annoying her, when he’s being goofy, when he’s fucking up too. She loves Nuju, trusting him with her secrets and being warm to him no matter his aloofness. She loves Onewa, seeing past his anger and flaws. She loves Whenua. Okay I can’t think of any examples on that one right at this moment cause I don’t have my books out but here’s my source: dude trust me.

She always sees the best in them, always supports them, always gives her heart to them. She is supportive, caring, kind, considerate. She’s Nokama. She’s really, really, really good.

But of course that doesn’t make her a leader. That could even make her a pushover. But honestly if you know anything about Nokama, you know that word could never be used to describer her.

This is a Toa who commands respect. Nokama is powerful, gaining swift control of her powers and later showing an interest in sparring with Nuju and improving on her fighting, trashing her fair share of enemies along the way and surviving serious injuries without complaint. When she does, you can see how much her bickering brothers are willing to come together to look after her, all of them pretty much shutting up and working together to protect her, all of them united in their worry for her. Nuju respects her independence enough to let her go jumping off the ship to explore the water in Voyage of Fear without telling anyone, and this isn’t the only time in her life Nokama makes a decision about what needs to be done and what should be done and then does it. She shows Gali the carvings in the cave without asking for permission. She goes to Jaller and tells him about the disappearance of the Great Spirit against the others’ wishes because she knows what’s right and she’s going to do it no matter whatever anybody else says. That’s taking command. That’s strong decision-making. That’s accepting responsibility and being able to deal with it. I love her.

Additionally, she’s rarely flustered and replies coolly to both flirtation (“And I thought Vakama had strange visions…”) and sniped comments from grumpy siblings (“Save the lessons for your class, teacher!” “Look, we’re here for a reason”) and she asserts herself when she thinks something needs to be said (“This is not Vakama’s fault!”) What’s more, the others actually listen to her.

That may not sound like a big deal. But this is the Toa Metru we’re talking about. So let me say that again: THE OTHERS ACTUALLY LISTEN TO HER OH MY GOSH WHY DIDN’T YOU GUYS ELECT HER QUEEN LIKE IMMEDIATELY? Her brothers are always fighting – she’s even fighting, sometimes! – but you think Nuju’s really going to ignore Nokama? You think Matau’s not going to put in the effort to work with her? You think Onewa’s going to throw a fit at her and that the others are going to let him get away with it? You think Vakama’s not going to feel calmer letting her take control? Why do I keep leaving out Whenua I’m so sorry I love him too but anyway –

Guys she just would have been such a good leader. She just really would have. She really, really would have. Like you look at that conversation where everybody’s like “well maybe I should be leader instead of Vakama!!” and you just… you have to laugh. Are you guys joking. Let’s look at the other options.

1.     Onewa: Don’t even start. His temper… oh my goodness. And Tahu has a temper too, but Tahu is not like Onewa. While Tahu seems to take pride in the chances he gets to lead his team and command the others effectively, Onewa is like this bitter little porcupine always fluffing his quills up at the others. Honestly, he would have HATED being leader. That would have required him to deal with his horrible family all day!!! Onewa I love you never change but you need a lot of alone time and very few people annoying you you little angel. He would have gotten really stressed and frustrated and lashed out at everybody. Also, you remember that time he didn’t feel like he had time to explain a plan, so he just mind-controlled Whenua to make him do it for him? His whole leadership would have been like that. He would try to do everything for himself because honestly, he’s really independent and proud and would be just a tiny bit evil with that mask of his <3

2.     Whenua: Okay mostly a nice boy. But he’s just really stuck in his head a lot of the time. That’s his and Nuju’s whole thing, right? He’s stuck in the past and he’s a really deep thinker. Nobody has time for that in an emergency. What’s more, Whenua’s people skills are not particularly strong. Like Vakama, he isn’t a very commanding presence, or at least once you get past the deep, booming voice he isn’t. Also he isn’t really a compromiser. He’s stubborn and I don’t think he would have done well at incorporating other people’s viewpoints into his own – especially Nuju’s!

3.     Nuju: this is a joke right. He would literally be so annoyed if he had to lead. He has less than zero interest in leading. Everyone would be like “what should we do, Nuju?” and he would just be so uninterested in explaining his thought process to these idiots or, worse, having to listen to their dumb-ass ideas and arguing and then having to work with those dumb-ass ideas. Don’t be confused, this isn’t the same as Kopaka. Kopaka is “you’re all so dumb I have to eventually step up and do something about it” which is why this poor sucker ends up as Tahu’s deputy despite his best efforts at being a loner. Nuju is “you’re all so dumb I’m going to go over here and do my own thing and if you need something, I’d rather you just trust me to handle it.” Literally this man is so disinterested in communication that he speaks a random-ass bird language just so nobody can talk to him without having to go through a translator. He is trying so hard to make his whole existence a “fuck you” to his siblings. I adore him. And, as a side note, Nokama could always handle him despite that. She was never even daunted by it.

4.     Matua: you know what?? I don’t think he would have been all that terrible if he was given time to mature and explore the role a little and stuff like that. There’s a reason the Le-Matoran adore him!!! But also, you know he can be goofy and sometimes too flippant and fun-loving, and I don’t think most of his siblings would fall into line for him… at all hahaha. Nuju taking orders from Matau?? Onewa?? Even Vakama, I think, would dismiss Matau as a joke. I think he really proves himself as a mature and capable young hero the moment he risks his life just to make sure that Vakama knows that he’s sorry and he still wants him as a brother. I think Matau would be a good deputy. But at the beginning of the story, seriously I think Nokama would have been so much more functional as a leader than any of the others.

Geez they’re just such a disaster team. I’m filled with so much love for them. Maybe nobody should be their leader. I think they found the best compromise in the end – that equality we see in books like Tales of the Masks. Teasing each other, holding each other accountable, pushing each other to be better versions of themselves, equals in their story circle. They just went through so much and it was so hard but I think really the strength of that team, in the end, is the intimacy with which they come to know each other’s weaknesses… and then learn to love each other despite them. They told the Toa Nuva stories that made them look like such assholes sometimes, haha, but you know they were all sitting together in that circle, making even laughing about something mean Nuju said or about how much they fought, though they always go quiet and somber for the moments of real grief, taking the time to sit with the truth of each other… To know each other’s flaws. To love each other anyway. To see each other temperamental, headstrong, goofy, cold, stuck in the clouds, and maybe just a little bit cross-wired, and then to see, even more clearly, all the ways that that makes them just, determined, joyful, protective, wise, and truly and earnestly good.

I don’t know. I guess I’m just thinking about the things I love about the Toa Metru, and I think Nokama was the one who saw those things first. She loved them. She supported them. Maybe she was never officially their leader, but I will always think that she could have played that role the best because she was someone who helped to show her brothers that all the parts of their team that they thought made them broken were really the parts that made them so wonderful and worthwhile.

And maybe Matau as her deputy, just for the moments where you need someone to shout at you about just how important and valuable and loved you are. And then you rescue him with this wicked spider-web bungee-cord and it’s SICK, FUCK YEAH.

Thank you for reading my complete ramblings (I didn’t double-check my facts and haven’t read the stories in a long time, so go easy on me if there’s small inaccuracies or things that you disagree with! But hey I’m always down to talk about just how great the Toa Metru are :)).