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livedtoserve · 5 months

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Flora Lore Meta 01 - Regarding Birthright

Given that Flora in the Birthright Route of Fates is (a) not recruitable, (b) only relevant for 2 maps hey I guess that's better than CQ/Rev's 1 though! and (c) heavily shown at face value, practically coming and going after her death, I have decided to lay out Flora's activities from once the route split begins to her showdown in BR chapter 17. This is very relevant to how I portray her with TOA, and does include reference to other Fates muses. Any current muses in TOA (which only amounts to Iago, honestly) have been asked for use in this meta.

Oh, and for reference, I will refer to Birthright as BR, Conquest as CQ, and Revelations as Rev in this meta. Additionally, I refer to "Corrin" within this meta under the assumption that they are male or female (hence the default "they/them/their" pronouns).

Part 1: Route Comparisons (CQ and Rev vs. BR)

To start, I would like to quickly go over where Flora is/ends up on all 3 routes. Flora is battled in Birthright in Chapter 17, Conquest in Chapter 8, and Revelations in Chapter 12. Let's start with CQ, where she is met the earliest.

CQ CHAPTER 8 - COLD RECEPTION

Probably the most "similar" to BR thanks to the reuse in map and general matchup of Corrin vs. Flora. One obvious key difference off the back is the purpose of fighting Flora: to put down the Ice Tribe's plans of rebellion against Nohr. Along with that, Flora only serves as a mini-boss rather than chapter boss, playing more defensively with a Steel Dagger and Freeze staff. That is because the actual boss of this map is Kilma, the current Ice Tribe chief and father of Flora and Felicia!

...we never see him outside of this chapter. Don't worry about that.

When it comes to narrative, Corrin naturally resolves to clear tensions non-lethally, refusing to harm any villagers after clearing the map. Flora appears briefly in the aftermath, concerned if she can still serve her liege after threatening their life. They tell her to not worry, where Flora truly devotes her loyalty to Corrin. However, she only joins Corrin's army in their pocket dimension after Chapter 18 (likely lying low with the Ice Tribe to act like the rebellion was truly quelled).

A few highlights of information from this chapter (some possibly unrelated to the task at hand): several snippets of Felicia-exclusive dialogue seem to imply Felicia is slightly aware of their status as Nohrian hostages, yet she still seems to hesitate on finer details.

Felicia: Flora! H-How could you say such a dreadful thing? Fighting was supposed to be a last resort! Can't we talk this out? Or at least try to? Flora: Felicia, dear sister... You've always been ignorant to the ways of the Nohrians. War is the only language they understand. Side with them and you'll pay the price! (Cold Reception Pre-Battle Cutscene)

Flora: You really don't understand, do you? This goes beyond words. Don't you realize, all of our time in that castle was... I mean, it was just... Felicia: What are you saying, sister? Flora: Forget it, there's no point telling you now, after all that's happened. Let's get on with it. You may be my sister, but I won't go easy on you! (Cold Reception Felicia vs. Flora)

Additionally, this is one of two times Flora admits feeling for Jakob, the other being in their BR boss dialogue.

Flora: Jakob... In the b-beginning, I never swore my allegiance. I refused. After all, we were little more than hostages. Taken as children... All to prevent this from happening, to stop the Ice Tribe from rebelling. I often thought of running away, but I never did. I stayed...because of you... Jakob: Flora... Flora: I don't want or need your pity, Jakob! Let's finish this! (Cold Reception Jakob vs. Flora)

Her feelings toward characters can be saved for another day, but to sum up; this chapter heavily implies Flora planning to leave her maidly duties to pursue her life's true meaning in rebelling against the Nohrians that have kidnapped her.

REV CHAPTER 12 - FROZEN SEA

I won't go into as much detail here as the CQ section, partially because it feels like a heavily abridged version of her purpose in other routes. This time, she collaborates with Camilla in attempting to kill Corrin by freezing the sea they are currently traveling on. Her tribe is being threatened with death if the traitor isn't killed, similar to what will happen in BR. Also, shoutout for Flora being the boss here instead of Camilla? Maid power.

There isn't even any unique boss dialogue to go over here, and Felicia/Jakob's dialogue pre-battle is disappointingly very copy-paste of one another. Otherwise, the post-battle involves Flora holding off from joining Corrin due to needing to keep the Ice Tribe and her father (wow he gets mentioned!) from Garon. She does join later in the game just like CQ, this time joining after Chapter 22.

I wish there was more to go over here, but Flora is not immune to having to share the space of literally every other playable unit that is squished together throughout Rev.

BR CHAPTER 17 - LOST IN THE ICE

Her canon event.

I would like to be brief here, as the main meat of the meta is meant to cover how she gets to this point in the first place. Flora leads Corrin's party into the Ice Tribe village after the events of the previous chapter, in which Iago attacked the party within one of Garon's villas while Flora was conveniently present as well. While she fronts this route as a practical way to avoid the Nohrian troops stationed on the main path, Flora traps them within the village in an attempt to kill Corrin and Felicia.

The map is shared between CQ, but this one has a neat twist. While in CQ, the player races the enemies in visiting villages to prevent them from summoning reinforcements, BR has it so only the player visits villages, with most containing sneak attack reinforcements. This can be taken as the villagers being more prepared for battle compared to in CQ; able to react to Corrin's movements rather than surrendering immediately.

The boss-specific dialogue and post-battle is where Flora mainly reveals her resolve in battling. Before the fight, she claims she is acting on her own free will, only to debunk that after losing. She claims Garon himself threatened to murder her people, and she was forced to choose between them or Corrin and Felicia. She is faced with such immense guilt in failing to live up to protecting either choice, ultimately deciding to end her life.

Fun fact! If f!Corrin is chosen, Felicia joins right before Chapter 16 so that she doesn't miss the death of her sister. This also means that a player can get all of the boss dialogue in one run and does not miss out based on Corrin's gender. Unfortunately, said boss dialogue is rather generic, although this exchange with Corrin has always tickled me:

Corrin: Flora! Why are you doing this? Please! There must be a reason. Flora: I told you already. You betrayed Nohr. Now quit asking about it! Corrin: This isn’t you... Flora: You don’t even know the real me. Now it’s time for you to die! (Lost in the Ice Corrin vs. Flora)

Similar to her guilt after her CQ chapter, Flora implies that her time at the Northern Fortress was merely a front and that she never cared about living there despite being Corrin's retainer.

BR is definitely Flora's most interesting route on a story-front (slightly backed up by her appearing in Chapters 16 and 17), however there have always been loose ends for me. For one, where the hell is Kilma? He is never mentioned here, and even though Flora claims she must speak with the elders before returning with soldiers...

Corrin: Brr! Where's that warm cabin you promised, Flora? Flora: Just a minute, Lord/Lady Corrin. I need to check in with the village elders. Corrin: By all means. But please, hurry back—we're freezing out here! (Lost in the Ice Pre-Battle)

...I want to go against what the Fandom wiki states and believe this line is not referring to Kilma; Flora uses this excuse as a front to rally the villagers to battle. Where is Kilma then? Good question!

Flora also produces a heavy nationalistic front for Nohr in this chapter, though this front is easily teared away once she has failed in her mission. Why would she do this if her general aim throughout these Fates routes is to defeat Corrin and protect the Ice Tribe?

These questions and more are what I hope to answer throughout this meta. I would like to use the information provided in the other two routes to create a general narrative that explains how Flora ends up in the villa during BR - and later crossing blades with them.

Part 2: The Offscreen Narrative

To start, Flora's actions nearly parallel how CQ plays out. After Corrin departs from the Northern Fortress and ultimately makes their route choice, Flora is dismissed from the fort. She spends a small amount of time serving the Nohrian royalty until taking her chance to escape and reunite with her father in the Ice Tribe village. With all of the chaos of a new war breaking out, they agree that this is the best time to finally rebel against their oppressors and rise up against Nohr.

Only, two problems. For one, Nohr holds the clear advantage at the start of this conflict, wasting little time in sending an anti-rebellion force to the Ice Tribe, once again just like CQ. But problem 2, and unlike CQ, Corrin isn't assigned to stop the rebellion this time. The army is much more in-character, and stops at nothing to crush the last-second rebellion.

I'd like to propose that Hans leads this force. His appearances in BR are rather back-loaded, only showing up in Chapter 13 and 24, so whatever he gets up to in early game is up for grabs. In a sense, his purpose here can be similar to what Garon did to Corrin in CQ: seeing the Ice Tribe uprising as a simple obstacle to throw a pawn at to prove their loyalty. Plus, CQ loved to show how Hans handles stopping a rebellion in Cheve...

Either way, the Ice Tribe stands no chance against a Nohrian army that lacks mercy. It likely plays out much like the aftermath of CQ Cheve, where even innocents are not spared from their wrath. It takes until the tribe leader and her daughter are captured for the needless killing to end, and both are taken to Garon at Castle Krakenburg. They are kept prisoner there for some time, holding back from being murdered due to Flora's previous relations to Corrin. An asset that he can manipulate and get use from.

Eventually, after Corrin begins to swing the war in their favor, he comes up with a plan. A plan that requires the help of Iago...as well as Flora.

Flora is released from captivity and promised that the Ice Tribe will be spared on one condition: she collects the heads of Corrin and Felicia, her twin that has recently left and is now also branded traitor. Even when considering the lives of her sister and the prince/princess she has raised for many years, Flora cracks and chooses to save the lives of the people she has always expected to lead. While she prefers this execution to be silent and brief, Iago has a more dramatic and fun idea.

He takes her to Palace Macarath, one of Garon's vacation villas. The Nohrian troops are purposefully decreased within the building, with the idea being that Flora ends up running into the Hoshidan army, who sneak in with a false sense of security. Prince Takumi turning ill is only a boon, allowing Flora to heal him and look more innocent before an inevitable betrayal.

Flora would not be alone, though, as Iago arrives on the scene shortly afterwards. He gleefully plants doubt in Corrin's mind while putting on a grand show with Flora. The maid acts as a neutral party, only to be slapped down three times by fire magic. A theatrical they planned in advance, yes. Though the choice of fire certainly stings.

Once defeated, Iago continues to grow those seeds of doubt before departing and setting up Flora to do the rest. When Corrin even mentions the potential of a traitor in their party, Flora ignores the comment. Likely just because she is quick to care for the sick Takumi, but it is a rather chilling word to wake to, one that falls perfectly in line with her own future actions.

The rest of the events play out similar enough to what is shown in-game. Flora offers the Hoshidan army refuge within her tribe's village, only to turn on them and desperately kill her closest allies and win back favor with King Garon. Afraid of finding out her fate after failure, Flora decides to take the lethal way out, preventing her father, Corrin, Felicia, or anyone else from being disappointed by her.

Now that we are finished with the timeline, I would like to answer and discuss some specific details. For one, the giant elephant missing father in the room. He was captured after the failed rebellion, yes, but what about his fate afterward? In Flora's mind, when Garon threatened the state of the entire Ice Tribe, that included her father as well. So when she decides to follow Garon's command, she is doing so to protect the village and her father. And when she ends up failing?

Garon no longer has need for Kilma. You can make of that what you will.

Furthermore, it would be strange for Garon and Iago to rely entirely on Flora to take out Corrin's army, even if the move is moreso emotional manipulation against Corrin. Flora, just like her initial forced recruitment as a maid, is merely a pawn in Garon's eyes, an additional piece that can be moved only for the sake of moving.

As for Iago, BR as a whole has Iago playing a lot more defensively, especially so once Corrin marches into Nohrian territory. Even if the plan of sending Flora against the army isn't an ideal or optimal one, Iago sees it as a dispensable plan, one to stall for time while he comes up with a more sound strategy. Hence his future preparations to trap Corrin in Fort Dragonfall and the final attempts to stop them.

Lastly, regarding Flora's contradicting nationalism during her boss fight...to me, I imagine her speaking these as the empty words they are. She is not fighting for Nohr, she still sees this more as fighting for survival. In the case that Nohrian eyes are still on Flora, however, she must act faithful until the very end. Anything for her people.

Conclusion/Timeline

To conclude this (very) long meta, I would like to provide a simpler, bullet-pointed list to outline what Flora does between her departure from the Northern Fortress and her defeat at the Ice Tribe Village in BR.

After Corrin leaves the Northern Fortress, the servants are dismissed from the location and sent to other areas within Nohr. As a trusted maid, I imagine that Flora is sent to Castle Krakenburg along with Felicia/Jakob to serve the royal family.

Flora bides her time while serving the Nohrian princes/princesses, eventually capitalizing on the confusion thanks to Corrin's betrayal to escape and return to her father in the Ice Tribe Village.

Garon is already aware of the Ice Tribe planning rebellion, and learning of Flora's departure is the last straw. Hans is sent to quell the rebellion, a task meant to prove his loyalty to Nohr.

Hans and his forces squash the rebellion army easily, going beyond and slaughtering innocents before they finally surrender with the capture of Kilma and his daughter.

Flora and Kilma are imprisoned in Castle Krakenburg for a while, until Flora is brought out with a deal: deliver the heads of Corrin and Felicia or else her entire village falls. Flora puts her people above her liege and twin sister.

Together with Iago, Flora sets up a scheme of betrayal where she will meet with the Hoshidan army within Palace Macarath and act as an ally to lure them into her village.

Flora fails and melts down from the surrounding pressure.

I hope this meta serves well in illustrating Flora's actions throughout Fates' Birthright route and explain why she feels the way she does toward her allies/foes on a general level.

#. ooc #. headcanons #. metas #(this is huge for my portrayal so sorry she didn't have it for a while)#(will be linked on her profile in the near future!)

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insecuregodcomplex · 1 year

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i posted these tsats theories before i actually read it — following up after reading

i’m planning on:

trogs are definitely coming back, nico mentions their help because hades has forbidden him going to the voice in ToN and also there’s this from the preview (x) — yes correct ✅

nico will at least have to acknowledge his solo tartarus trip which will make me yell and scream i hope he gets to share details of how fuckin horrible it was alone and without the mist ok (x) — yes correct ✅

general theories

maybe it’s not Bob who wants out, maybe it’s someone else (Michael Yew?) (x) — wrong, also, Michael Yew is mentioned but not much more ❌

helm of darkness appearance (x) — not how I meant but it’s included (but not how I meant)

parallels to HoH scene (i have read the first five so like i do know about the cupid reference but i also mean the other parts included in the reblog here x) — yes, it was less of a direct parallel I was thinking of but these points were circled back to imo. Love is a choice love is hard etc

because we know we’re getting information about will and nico getting together, could the marked flashback chapter(s?) have something to do with that?? (x) — wrong flashback chapters lol

Mark and that character they said deserved more attention (? I’m butchering the quote probably) — Michael Yew and Ethan Nakamura are my top candidates for that but much moreso expecting and hoping for Michael Yew — which?? character?? was it??? (Nyx?) neither Ethan nor Michael were stars ❌

the idea of Nico telling the truth to will makes me excited and nervous…just had a thought about what if it’s like. the truth of how deep his self hatred goes/how scared he was/etc?? ouch (continuation of the HoH post) — um. actually. yeah? he had to tell the truth about his experiences and his fears and when he Tells The Truth it’s about that so ✅

so when I read the leaked preview I had this idea — Nico dreaming in shadows maybe is Styx, and then his mom would be his lifeline. Her calling to him would be her going to tell him to let go/move on/move forward and leave his past behind him…which would be something of equal/important value as Bob the Titan. Like Nico’s whole backstory/life/who he was. — and leaving Nico’s memories has definitely been tossed around at least, and I’d be curious if my first theory for this book was realized at all — yeah to Nico moving forward, leaving memories/backstory/who he was to an extent, no to the Styx moment, I think what I was getting at was what Nyx ended up being

i’m hoping for

acknowledgement of will losing siblings, other campers too but will siblings <3 Michael Yew love u (river acheron post) — Will acknowledged patients he’d lost but not really mentions of Apollo siblings especially in Acheron

Nico (and Will) and Small Bob (comic of this) — yes correct! ✅

will not keeping his shit together (x) — with all of my love this boy hardly kept his shit together for most of the book ✅

partially prompted by Percy saying this in SOH I hope there’s a Melinoe feature especially to explore both Will and Nico’s ghosts — the win here is pretty much River Acheron stuff, no Melinoe feature

some sort of nod/s to will and Nico knowing of each other before they got together (like the Apollo cabin fighting with the Ares cabin in TLO, callbacks and their POVs on stuff like that) — YES CORRECT. this was a big win ✅

Solangelo/Hades interaction (would also love any apollo feature and can’t decide if TOA makes me think it’s more or less likely to happen) — Hades and Nico!! Will talking to Persephone doesn’t really count but does get at the idea I was going for. Also Will and Nico future trip to Hades palace (mostly a win but technically not so no green check)

i’m excited by the idea of:

will getting injured and talking nico through how to save him (from this post) — Nico actually learned from Will enough to take care of him, taking that moment as fulfilling this ✅

similarly – “character seeing their SO being fatally wounded and reacting” (see: “will’s grip was very weak”) (tagged this post as TSATS) — oh wait this actually. is fair? less of a fatally physically wounded but they do fight for each other as they go through various pain (emotional/mental especially)

michael yew dream sequence!!!! (x) (as i tagged in that post…maybe what nico has to tell will the truth for?) — sad. no ❌

reverse octavian situation, where will says someone can’t be saved type of thing (x) — no role reversal although I made note with Amphithemis for a realization for Will that not everyone can be saved, just because he thinks he’s giving someone a chance at life doesn’t mean it’s the right move type of thing (also we got some conversation about Octavian)

learning more about will’s tattoo and maybe the reason(s) for getting it (x) — YES although it’s like. a paragraph but ✅

“let me see Nico cross the border of life and death only to emerge then as the most stunning, gorgeous existence this universe has to offer…Or Will. The sun is a star anyway. I’m not picky about it.” from this post — ok yeah tell me this isn’t what happened. ✅

will being afraid of snakes (this post) — unconfirmed ❌ did get to see he’s afraid of Stymphalian birds and backstory slay

simply characters talking about being queer!!! would love piper to be in this <3 — yes! queer discourse will never be perfect for all audiences however I wanted this acknowledgement and I am glad to have gotten it ✅ also Nico Piper besties agenda ALSO MORE CANON QUEER RIORDANVERSE CHARACTERS

potentially bianca didn’t go for rebirth and was just hiding from Nico trying to bring her back (in TSON he says that’s what he was doing when he found Hazel) — OK WELL. WHO KNOWS IF BIANCA TRIED FOR REBIRTH RICK AND MARK DONT???? (Bianca is in Elysium according to this book)

i wonder if…

Rachel says the prophecy has repeated itself twelve times and how twelve is an important number for Olympus and the Doors of Death (mine) — ok the point is this wasn’t acknowledged as something in that vein but also ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I dunno, hades sent it, feeling like there’s something (tldr this wasn’t a plot point)

georgina parentage confirmed at all? (x) — lmao nah my TOA focus recently made me too excited ❌

also seeing as we’re going to learn about how they got together…if anyone wants to read either of my two fics about it lmk lol they’re on ao3 — honestly I still stand by them the one I worked hard on hits on some of the backstory we got but also ofc it’s different

it was also interesting because things I thought of and saw conversations about from an early point were not far off — the darkness in will/light in nico and how they learn and grow from and with each other especially by the end of the book, nico leaving that which has burdened him behind, things like that.

I think that covers the theories, at least what comes to mind 🤩👍🤪

#riordanverse #tsats #tsats takes #tsats spoilers #the sun and the star spoilers #the sun and the star #v reads tsats

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i-spilled-my-soup · 1 year

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what are your thoughts on will's (presumed) main insecurity being 'powerless' compared to the other apollo campers? (im saying this prior to reading tsats so ig nothing is really 'confirmed') cus some ppl think it's goofy some ppl think it's interesting

he got minmaxed into damage reduction so i get that he feels insecure around all the dps people around him. but also the "weak but actually op" trope is very prevalent and i. kinda want to see an average built main character? like no fancy tricks? nothing glamorous? it would be so cool if will was killing people without even plague "powers" just really efficient methods of assassination(but i guess riordan wouldn't want kids to know how to do that) kinda goofy but i hope he stays powerless

tangent into my personal response to riordan books

whenever i think abt riordan demigod powers i gripe a little. a decent amount. cause the riordan storyline is a parallel to kids with absent parents, and that the kids are thrust into danger by their parents who don't even acknowledge them, right? and its huge character moment when the kids get even a little recognition, or when the gods straight up appear to talk to their kids? but in ancient myth, thinking homer, virgil, ovid, the demigods have no control of the elements or anything like that. their greatest power is their leverage of godly bias. cause the gods are everywhere. so the ancient trope and riordan trope are pretty much fully contradictory so i can't. it'd hard to add historical interpretation into riordan for me

and. it's so. it's y. you can be so cool without magic.

yes riordan's characters are cool and their scenes are noteworthy because they are flashy. because they can summon waves, and terraform, and shoot fireballs, and it must have been imperative for riordan when writing this series for a younger audience. but now i'm looking at these guys doing it constantly, and their strength keeps increasing, and the physical rebound keeps increasing, and i've . hit a wall in my interest? like no one is weak and no one is making mistakes and the greatest character flaws are jealousy, stubbornness, and... selflessness?

it all feels predictable at this point. like, i could not have predicted that this guy who survived three successive bouts of treason cause of his otherworldly rizz had said flutes were un-liberal as a kid, leading to flutes getting removed from the school curriculum, and also he had a sexy lisp. i couldn't have predicted that two bros would force sparta into their first ever military defeat, the philosopher bro using 3d chess strats in his phalanxes and the bodybuilder bro clutching with his 300 strong gay bodybuilder gang.

but. tsats preview where there's another obscure deity and she wants to hear about these teenagers' love lives? and it all begins with a star wars reference? yeah that's about what i could have expected

it just feels like there's no stakes at this point. i still stand that things would be way more interesting if they just died at this point, cause it's been drilled in that "you were so close to death" "you could have died" "you will die" and so on. but even so somehow i didn't feel much when the side characters or main characters died in hoo or toa?

it could be the direct characterization . riordan , especially in recent days, really loves his direct characterization. i think so, cause i did like the bits in tower of nero when the characters were just being silly and being friends.1!! like. just talking about cows. just throwijg each other around. the good stuff. the characters just feel like flat pngs and riordan adds filters to them every other chapter

tl;dr: my tastes have shifted to out of pocket ancient greek and roman myth/history and i don't enjoy romances

#soup ask #tsats

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escape-from-arcadia · 2 years

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Okay but the concept that I can just make something in my sketchbook and post it here and some people will actually seem to like it? Especially the fact the stuff in my sketchbook was something from my brain?? You know how wack my brain is???

Bonkers my dude.

#ananonspeaks #yeah I'm talking about ambrosia diner #(and my maggie stuff- who I hope to post a comic about soon!!)#even though i just started the au #i'm very excited about it #and i'm happy y'all seem to like it #because we haven't even gotten to the fun diner stuff yet #and the lore of this world because there's definitely a few shifts #and i really want to talk about how the other toa characters will appear #but i must be patient ahhhh #douxie already came way earlier than i anticipated #and i don't want to throw everything else off so :'D :thumbs_up:#plus i have to redraw panels digitally for Ao3 #I might just stick with digital ones and make a whole bunch on the long weekend #but idk #also i'm so sorry for the art style shifts #i'm building an art portfolio and i'm having an art identity crisis #especially after all the experimental character design stuff with maggie #anyway thanks for reading the tags #and thank y'all for the support #it might not seem like a lot #but it does mean a lot to me #i can't guarantee an ending #because this year will be really busy for me #and honestly i still don't have a clear picture of where this will go #what side plots to include if any #and what the ending even is #but i'm really glad y'all are enjoying ambrosia diner #much love <3

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tiredspacedragon · 2 years

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Ooh, I'd love to read your meta on the tools/weapons thing, whenever you write it!

The time has come!

*Warning: Long Post*

Okay, so initially, I was going to talk about how, as Bionicle went on, it shifted away from the idea of the Toa Tool toward standard weaponry, and how this shift was a shame because the concept of using tools for combat instead of straight-up weapons is deeply interesting from a worldbuilding perspective, and not one that is typically seen outside of post-apocalypses or other crisis scenarios when characters are forced to use whatever they have on hand to defend themselves. Bionicle is different in that the choice of tools over weapons is a deliberate one, and even though it most likely was fuelled by Lego trying to cling to a family-friendly image on the Doylist side of things, from a Watsonian perspective it tells us a lot about the culture of the Matoran Universe and how they viewed conflict and Toa's role in conflict in particular.

But, and this is the reason I've taken so long to get around to this ask and consequently every other one, I realized that this line of thought was invalidated by one simple fact: I was wrong. About a fair amount, actually.

Firstly, the concept of the Toa Tool is something that really only came about in 2004. The seeds of it were there from the beginning; all of the Toa's weapons were chosen with their environments in mind, to help them traverse and embody their terrain while also serving as tools for combat. But it feels like the weapons were designed more as extensions of the Toa's bodies than separate tools they choose to wield, and if their prototype names are anything to judge by, I'd say I'm right on the money there. Pohatu is built around kicking, Onua around digging, Gali around climbing, Lewa around slicing, Kopaka slashing, and Tahu burning. No wonder there was so much confusion back in the day over Tahu's sword. I doubt that even all the people on the Bionicle team were on the same page as to whether the Fire Sword was an actual physical blade he held in his hand, or a torch that was part of his body, meant primarily to light the way and project his power. The Mata's gear wasn't intended to lean towards weaponry or gadgets, it was more like their own natural tools, just like the natural tools of their first opponents, the Rahi. It had more in common with fangs and wings than with a gun or a hammer.

And then the Nuva came along, shifting the dynamic by making the Toa's equipment definitively separate from their bodies, but they haven't quite landed on the Toa Tool idea yet. If the Mata's equipment was natural tools that could be used as weapons, then the Nuva's equipment was weapons that could be used as tools. They were swords and axes first, and the fact that they could be used for other purposes, mostly transportation, was bonus, which goes completely against the narrative I initially intended to push.

It wasn't until Takanuva that it started to shift the other way. The Kolhii Staff of Light was definitively tool first, weapon second, even having been transformed from a regular Kolhii Stick. Its main purpose was to scoop and toss, the fact that it was also good for hitting things was the bonus, and that idea is what carried over into 2004 with the introduction of the term "Toa Tool."

The Toa Metru's tools exemplify this point, mostly through how utterly bizarre they look. Most of them are not recognizable as particular weapons. Unlike with the Nuva, you can't easily point at them and say "That's clearly an axe. That's clearly a mace," because their appearances are more closely tied to their use as tools. Nuju's Crystal Spikes are a pair of pointy snowshoes, and they look like it. You certainly wouldn't want to be hit with one, but that's only their secondary use. They were designed to be snowshoes that can be taken off to smack somebody, not the other way around. Even with, Vakama's Disk Launcher, you have to squint before you can call it a crossbow, and even then, in-universe, it's the most basic and tool-like a Toa Tool can be, being pretty much just a Matoran Disk Launcher on steroids, aside from the jetpack thing, which just classifies it even more as equipment more than weaponry. Even Lhikan's greatswords fit into this paradigm because, even though they are obviously swords when he's wielding them, they're weird-looking swords. He has to hold them at an odd angle, and their shape isn't terribly swordy, but most importantly, the open notches on their backs are obviously intended to fit together, and they only look complete when combined into his skyboard.

The Hordika's tools follow the same pattern. We have blowtorches, climbing hooks, jackhammers, etc. All these different tools that don't immediately resemble weapons, that are mainly meant to serve another purpose, but make effective weapons nonetheless. The noteworthy part of 2005, though, is the Toa Hagah. Norik and Iruini carry spears and shields...and that's pretty much that. Yes, the shields are also Rhotuka Launchers, so that kind of makes them count as tools, but that's entirely dependent on their spinner power. And the spears are 100% weapons. They have powers of their own, but those powers only serve to make them more destructive. Now, this is all fine, actually, because we know the Toa Hagah are supposed to be A) Elites who don't conform to the standards of other Toa, and B) in the employ of the Brotherhood of Makuta, AKA Evil Incorporated, so it makes sense their tools would stray away from the Practical Purpose side of things and lean more into Big Whack territory. So it's fine for the Hagah to have these tools since it makes sense from an in-universe perspective, but it also sets a precedent for Toa carrying straight up weapons that serve no purpose other than weaponing that previously hadn't been touched since Kopaka's sword.

2006 onward was where I was going to start bemoaning the loss of Toa's creative tools in favour of plainer weapons, but this is the other problem: I'm wrong. 2006 marks a notable decrease in Toa Tools serving practical purposes outside of combat, but it doesn't erase it entirely. Yeah, Jaller and Matoro just have swords and Kongu's crossbow is just a crossbow, but Nuparu has a drill, Hahli carries a harpoon with an attached grappling cable, and Hewkii has his Climbing Chain in addition to his axe. The notion of Toa Tools as actual tools is still present, just diminished, and the same is true for 2007 and 2008. 2007 is the all-time low, but Hahli has grappling talons, Matoro's claws are explicitly climbing tools, and Hewkii still has his chains. And while you'd be forgiven for thinking 2008 was all weapon all the time given that it was the most sci-fi year yet with guns and aircraft everywhere, you'd actually be wrong because 2008 instead marked an increase in tool-based Toa weaponry. Yeah, Lewa's Air Saber is just a sword, and Gali skips a second tool entirely so she can focus on Gun Time, but Kopaka's bayonet is mostly a targeting system, Pohatu's propellers are his means of flight before anything else and also double as drills, Onua's shield can be used as a shovel, and Tahu's blades are made to slice through dense swamp growth.

Tools as weapons only disappeared entirely in 2009, when we moved outside the Matoran Universe completely and landed on the much harsher world of Bara Magna. Here we weren't following noble heroes who stand for peace and justice, we were in the company of gladiators struggling to survive in a dying land. The best tool in this setting is anything that makes whatever's attacking you too dead to continue murdering you, and a sword will do that a lot better than a glorified wrench.

So, as it turns out, my planned complain-fest is actually a pointless endeavour, because it turns out that the concept of the Toa Tool both is not as old as I thought it was, and lasted a lot longer than I gave it credit for. But it did noticeably drop off in later years so maybe there's still some relevance? Eh, whatever, I have better things to do than complain anyway. Like get to the point, for instance.

Said point is the fascinating way in which Bionicle approaches weapons, and more specifically, the way that approach constructs the way violence is perceived by the culture of the Matoran.

Bad, guys, it's bad.

Matoran value Unity, Duty, and Destiny, whatever those mean, above all things, but a close second is Creation. Go figure for a Lego theme, right? Makuta Teridax says it himself, "The people of this world are builders." That's what Matoran do, they build things. They built the very god-universe they lived inside, for crying out loud. And as a result of how much the Matoran are built around creation, they naturally abhor its opposite, destruction. You can see it in the way they describe Makuta, their ultimate evil, as a being of pure destruction, and, most telling in my opinion, it's particularly obvious in which Kanohi Mask Powers are considered immoral. Namely, any mask power whose only purpose is causing violence and destruction is taboo. The premier example of this is the Kanohi Jutlin, Mask of Corruption, which makes inorganic material rot and decompose. You could use that power constructively, but only in very particular situations, and even then you'd still be destroying something to do it. The Jutlin doesn't do anything else but destroy, so it is reviled.

The concept of the Toa Tool is built around a very similar idea. Matoran, and by extension Toa, would never support violence for violence's sake. So most Toa avoid using weapons that are good for nothing but fighting, and instead opt to arm themselves with tools that can serve a purpose in peacetime as well as war. Something they can use for transportation or to help Matoran in their day-to-day lives. Instead of swords, one Toa has a pair of garden shears that can split in two. Another Toa has an extendable paint roller that makes a really good bo staff in a pinch. If and when Kazi ever becomes a Toa, he's going to be walking around with a pair of giant tuning forks. Every "weapon" has another purpose beyond causing pain, whether it's something the Toa has found their tool is good for, or because they simply took a Matoran tool and repurposed it into something that can also function in battle.

And this practice even extends beyond Matoran and Toa to villains and other characters! Bohrok shields have pincers and jackhammers and buzzsaws built into them to help them accomplish their tasks, and something similar can be said for Vakhi staffs. Some villains skipped weapons entirely, like Nidhiki and the Visorak, while others did carry weapons, but they served non-combat purposes as well, like Sidorak's Herding Blade being mainly for signalling, and Roodaka's Catcher Claws being primarily a defensive tool. Even Makuta Teridax himself carried a giant Kolhii Staff as a weapon!

The result of this tool-based weapon system is that you really get a feel for how the Matoran Universe values peace and productivity. They're so anti-destruction that even their warriors choose to avoid true weapons. Which means that whenever actual weapons do show up, the tone is immediately darker, and just having a true weapon is enough to tell you a lot about a character. 2006, the peak of edge, gave us the Piraka, a gang of bad guys with actual guns. In 2007, the Toa Mahri were armed to the teeth, ready to set the Toa Code aside in their darkest hour. And in 2008 we learned of Toa Tuyet and her Barbed Broadsword, a weapon specifically designed for maximum damage, and that tells you all you need to know about her thoughts on Toa-dom.

All in all, I'm not entirely sure there's much of a point to all this rambling I'm doing, other than to say that it's really impressive that Lego managed to take a reluctance to portray weapons and spin it into a complex culture of builders that place such a value on creation that they shun anything made for the sole purpose of destruction, and so found a way to construct their tools in a way that would allow them to be easily and effectively used for self defense without compromising their effectiveness as instruments of construction, recreation, and transportation. I guess what I'm getting at is that the commitment to using tools as weapons is a really neat and original idea, and something I wish hadn't been so toned down in later years. I'd love to see it picked up and used again somewhere else too. I think there's a lot of potential in the concept, and it lends itself particularly well to stories with weird and wonderful settings, and those tend to be some of my favourites.

#bionicle #toa #toa tools #sorry this took so long #and sorry it's so dang long #even i didn't expect me to ramble this much #look forward to more completed asks soon #i'm on a roll

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sergeantsporks · 2 years

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What are your thoughts on huntlow being heavily implied to be cannon in season 3 during the posthoot stream with Dana blushing and looking away? I really don’t like it😭

Yeah, I know. The thing about the blushes being an indicator of a crush is just. AUGH. I know it’s SUPPOSED to be read as a crush, I know that’s the intention, I’m trope savvy! They’re just not a super convincing indicator, at least to me, when Hunter is a character who blushes at the drop of a hat.

It’s also… [sighs] I think the hiatus really played a huge role in how convinced I am of this headcanon. Like, if all the episodes had aired one after each other, it would have only been a few weeks between Eclipse Lake and then seeing him again in any sport in a storm and seeing the beginnings of what I’m apparently intended to read as a crush. If it had even OCCURRED to me to hc him as aroace in that timeframe (gotta let my blorbos marinate for a bit and at the time I got into the owl house, I was still a toa blog), it would have almost immediately gotten squashed by the fandom at large. I probably still wouldn’t ship him bc that’s my guy!!! But yeah, I probably wouldn’t have been so vocal about it bc I would have been immediately shot down.

But that’s not what happened. No, I got a months-long break. Plenty of time for me to start thinking more about this character and his motivations. About how he appeared, about how acts. And I came to a pretty solid conclusion: that he’s aroace. And I sought out (and found!) like minded people! And I had to FUCKING DEFEND MYSELF AND MY HEADCANON from shippers who wanted me to shut up about my headcanon, who told me I was “stereotyping aspecs by headcannoning Hunter as aroace” who kept telling me I was being unfair to shippers (as if my headcanon was any less valid than their ship and shouldn’t be said), and all of that. And I’m sorry, maybe I’m not so willing to go “yay shippers! Good job!” after some of them tried to tear down my headcanon for months. Not all shippers are like that, I have very pleasant interactions with shippers as well, but that doesn’t ERASE the negative asks and flak that I got.

So yeah, maybe I’m just being stubborn at this point, and a lot of posts on the matter by (equally fairly frustrated) huntl0w shippers will probably tell me I am, and that I just can’t let go of my headcanon in the face of overwhelming evidence. But I’m SORRY, given a lot of time to think about a character pre his very rushed blushing arc, I just can’t see romance as a satisfying end to his character, or even an addition that makes SENSE! OR Willow’s! I know I talk about Hunter a lot in this regard, but Willow has NEVER expressed an INTEREST in Romance, and it bugs me that this is being tossed out there as a possibility all of a sudden!

#toh #asks #rant

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sepublic · 3 years

Text

At the end of Web of Shadows, Keetongu suggests that the Toa can just as easily retain their Hordika forms and continue embracing them, after learning to reconcile with the ‘beast’ inside. While the Toa say no for their own reasons, I think that’s a really fascinating concept and implication; That there have been Hordika who were able to make peace with their forms and retain their identities, while still making the most of their transformed bodies.

At the very least, it’s a totally feasible idea; Keetongu has the ability to literally see the good and evil in others after all. And I don’t think he suggested this just to ‘test’ the Toa, given this entire film they’ve been pushing against those transformations; I don’t think it’s matter of seeing if they can resist the temptation or not. There IS a sort of ‘temptation’ in giving into one’s primal urges, but aside from that, maintaining a balance with the beast within is also possible, and it’s definitely where the Rahaga are sort of left off before this was changed in the serials.

So yeah, I think that’s a cool idea; That some victims of the Visorak ultimately learned to embrace their Hordika forms, and make the most of them. They don’t want to be cured anymore because to them, there is nothing to be cured; Either because their form brings new abilities, and/or because they’re already comfortable in this body. I guess one could equate it to living with a disability or condition of some kind, although this isn’t one-to-one of course, and depends on individual examples; Some people are genuinely faster and stronger and want that, while still maintaining their minds.

Because let’s be real, some of us would love to be monsters, so it’s cool that the story keeps this open as an option that isn’t necessarily bad for you. And I appreciate Keetongu’s respect for consent here, given this all boils down to one’s relationship and agency over their bodies; Do they intend to reclaim it by returning to their old body, or by embracing the changes? I like it a lot, and I wish we could’ve seen at least one character who went that route of staying Hordika and co-existing with that part of themselves.

At most all I can think of is Vican, who isn’t Hordika but was mutated; But he chose to stay that way as a punishment and reminder to himself. I want to see someone who sticks with their mutation solely because it’s awesome and they genuinely prefer it over their old body! And I’d like to see them framed as not some sort of power-hungry maniac for doing so, as a madman who’d sacrifice their Bionicle equivalent of ‘humanity’ to achieve strength; It’s their choice and it’s a totally valid way of life!

Plus, one can only imagine how the story might’ve changed if at least one Toa chose to remain Hordika; Could they have still imbued Toa power to awaken the Matoran via Rhotuka, and become a Turaga Hordika? Which Toa Mata would most benefit story wise from having a beast mentor- Lewa, given his connection to animals and nature? It’d be ironic yet fitting that Matau, the one who openly complained the most about his mutation and it’s effects on his appearance, would be the one to embrace it in the end...!

And I can see Nuju retaining it, given how he goes on to talk like a Rahi, because he wants to encourage people to put in the effort to communicate with him; Being an animal and having the Matoran overcome this difference anyhow would help that, and be interesting then for the asocial Kopaka. Then there’s Whenua, who loves Rahi, Onewa with his connection to Krahka, and Vakama might keep the Hordika form as a teaching moment for another arrogant Toa leader... When the time comes for him to actually talk about his past of course. In which case everyone forsaking the Hordika mutation might be necessary to hide the truth, so as to avoid questions on someone’s backstory and why the other Turaga aren’t the same.

#bionicle #Hordika #keetongu #Toa metru #turaga

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reactionimagesdaily · 3 years

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I dont understand bionicles at all, so maybe a crash course into like. 1) what a bionicle is 2) general plot of the bionicle story? happy 5k btw <3 love ur page!

OH BOY OH BOY, this is a question I've been waiting for. Thank you so much for asking, and I’m glad you like my page!! <333

A couple of disclaimers, before I start: I'm going to focus mostly on the mainline plot, but let it be known that there WERE a bunch of serial stories and comics and games that added to the story overall. Bionicle was, I think, one of the first big instances of a plot that was consumed through a bunch of different mediums.

I'm also going to try and do a lot of streamlining - it's not that I DON'T want to talk about bionicle, but there's 10+ years of story to cover, so... yeah. :P

Also! Sorry in advance to anyone whose 'read more' function doesn't work, because this is gonna be a doozy

So, what is a bionicle? From a meta perspective, Bionicle is a Lego theme that ran from 2001-2010, and was briefly rebooted from 2015-2016. It's name is a mashup of biological chronicle, and it was hugely successful in its time, essentially helping to save the Lego company from bankruptcy. The idea is that you use finnicky technical pieces to build humanoid figures (and sometimes their vehicles!) and then. play with them

From a textual/lore perspective, I'm not sure Bionicle is an in-universe term lol. But the characters that we recognise as 'bionicles' are grouped into a bunch of different classifications - 'Toa', 'Matoran', 'Makuta', 'Glatorian', and so on. The characters are kinda like inverse cyborgs, where there's metal on the outside and flesh and muscle on the inside. They often function like robots (e.g. have removable and replaceable masks that they constantly wear over their faces) but are still essentially living creatures.

So, what's the general plot of the story?

...[inhales deeply] Okay

In the time before time, there's an island called Mata Nui that sits in the middle of the ocean. It's populated by these dinky lil' guys called 'Matoran' that live in six villages organised by elements - fire, water, ice, air, earth, and stone. They eke out a life as best they can, facing dangerous wild animals (collectively called 'Rahi') and worshipping the Great Spirit, who is confusingly also called Mata Nui. (They named the island after him.) The great spirit, they say, once watched over them all, but was long ago forced into an enchanted sleep by his evil brother.

(These are the matoran. Look at these cute little guys :3)

One day, six canisters wash ashore, on the island's golden beaches. And out of these canisters step six strange figures called Toa. Tall, strong, and heavily armed, there is one of these 'Toa' for each of the villages, and each of these guys have control over an element. They are the main 'heroes' of this story.

(These are the six Toa. Here's a fun game - spot the girl!)

Each of the six Toa are named characters - from left to right we have Onua (wise and grounded), Lewa (fun-loving and mischievous), Pohatu (friendly and confident), Tahu (hot-headed and impulsive), Kopaka (cold and quiet), and Gali (intelligent and compromising). Some of the Matoran are also named characters - there's Jaller, the captain of the guard at the fire village, Hahli, a sports player from the water village, Matoro, a translator from the ice village, and Takua, who's technically from the fire village but is also an 'outsider' who tends to wander the island. Takua is especially important because he becomes the Toa's 'chronicler', following them around on their adventures and writing everything down for posterity.

Without getting into too much detail, the Toa spend two real-life years getting into wacky highjinks. They hunt for masks (as aforementioned, the masks they wear can be removed and replaced) that grant them special powers, fight the Rahi, and also face up against a terrifying race of creatures with mind-control powers called the Bohrok that are determined to strip the island of all life. They also fight against a being called Makuta, a mysterious shadowy figure who claims to be the brother that forced Mata Nui into his slumber. When they first meet him, Makuta takes the form of a Matoran to throw them off, before turning into a nebulous black void and doing his best to murder them all to death.

(Makuta as he appears in 2001's 'Mata Nui Online Game'. As far as villain introductions go, marching out to meet all the heroes and then telling them "I bore you, for I am nothing. It is from nothing that you came, and it is into nothing you will go. The people of this world are builders, but look into their hearts, and you will find they also have the power to destroy. I am that power. I am destruction. And I will destroy you." is pretty fucking solid though I say so myself.)

There’s a lot of cool worldbuilding and mysterious details about the island. At one point, the earth Matoran note that they can only dig so far into the dirt before they come across some hard material - some type of metal - that they just can’t break through. Also, amidst the stars in the sky, there’s an ominous blood-red star that’s appropriately known as the Red Star. What’s it doing there? Nobody knows

Also at one point, the Toa also get mutated into new forms after falling into a liquid that's called 'energized protodermis' but should really be called 'McGuffin Sauce'. There's a lot of changing forms and characters being mutated in this series in general, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact that Lego always needed new figures to make into toys.

(This is how the Toa look after being mutated. In these forms, they're referred to as the Toa Nuva -and let me assure you that that distinction will soon become necessary. :P)

So, in 2003 in our world (I’m not sure about the timeline within the lore), Takua the chronicler finds a mysterious mask and brings it back to the Turaga, who are the wise old rulers of the Matoran (The most promiment of the Turaga is the Turaga of fire, who’s called Vakama. He’s an even-tempered and wise old man who’s not above hitting villains with his walking stick if they threaten his village.). It turns out that the mask is special - it’s the mask of Light, and it’s part of a prophecy that involves the arrival of a seventh Toa who’s destined to defeat Makuta. So Takua and Jaller go on an adventure to try and find the seventh Toa.

Meanwhile, Makuta isn’t just going to sit around and wait for the Toa who’s destined to defeat him to rock up: he unleashes his secret weapons, the Rahkshi, who are, in lore, suits of armour driven by slugs. Sounds corny - in practice, they’re hella intimidating.

(Look at these bad boys)

Some more adventures happen and, to make a long story short, the Rahkshi kill Jaller and Takua the chronicler puts the mask of light onto his own face, transforming into Takanuva, the Toa of Light. The audience surrogate and ‘weird’ character was the secret hero all along!! I love that honestly.

(Takua and Takanuva - before and after)

As someone with light powers, Takanuva is essentially the perfect counter to the big bad Makuta, who has shadow powers, so he finds Makuta’s lair intent on beating him. Makuta challenges him to a game that’s called ‘Kohlii’ but is basically this universe’s version of lacrosse - Takanuva accepts and proceeds to wipe the floor with him. During their fight, they fall into another conveniently-placed pool of energized protodermis and become merged, forming a new being called ‘Takutanuva’. Takutanuva doesn’t stick around very long, because he’s this weird contradictory being of both light and shadow, but before he fractures he opens a gate underneath Mata Nui and lets the Toa, the Turaga, and some named Matoran get through. Inside, they find a hidden city - a whole other world.

Takutanuva then manages to use his powers to hack the universe and bring Jaller back to life. Hooray! After that, he dies, and Takanuva is back. Makuta is nowhere to be found. [eyes emoji]

So now the Toa, the old Turaga, and a couple of Matoran are inside this whole new location, and they’re all wondering what the heck is going on. Well, not all of them are wondering. Vakama, the head Turaga, steps forward and admits that actually, the six (seven) Toa heros that we’ve come to know and love... aren’t actually the first Toa. Gasp!

The next two years of sets and story are essentially one giant flashback, as Vakama tells the current heroes about adventures past. It turns out that the hidden city they’ve found is called Metru Nui, and once upon a time, Vakama and the other Turaga were Toa themselves, fighting to keep the city and the matoran safe.

(New (old) Toa! The flying green one is Matau, who was a stunt-driving excitable madman, and then on the ground from left to right we have Whenua (nerdy chronicler), Nokama (schoolteacher-turned-superhero), Vakama (anxiety-ridden leader), Nuju (absent-minded stargazer), and Onewa (racist prick who needs (and gets) a character arc). To differentiate themselves from the Toa that we’ve come to know and love, these Toa are the Toa Metru)

They had a bunch of adventures of their own. They fought the Vahki (capture robots upholding an authoritarian police state) and the Morbuzakh (evil sentient vines), and they also had ‘arch enemies’ in the form of the Dark Hunters, who were mercenaries that hunted Toa.

Also, that story about Makuta putting Mata Nui to sleep? Not a story so much as a history lesson! Ultimately, the reason that the city of Metru Nui was abandoned was because Mata Nui WAS awake, watching over them all, but then Makuta forced him into slumber and essentially caused a cataclysm. The Matoran were rounded up and forced to sleep as well, and the Toa Metru had to flee the city. When they came back, it had been overrun with Visorak (basically giant spiders), and they had to fight hard to defeat the horde and its leaders and escape with all of the sleeping Matoran.

Once they left Metru Nui (and arrived on the island that would become Mata Nui), the Toa Metru sacrificed their powers to wake up all the Matoran - which is how they transformed into the wise old Turaga. Also, the Matoran woke up with no memories, which is how they’d never known about Metru Nui up until this point.

Anyways, after exploring Metru Nui and making plans to move back in, everyone does some digging around and discover something about Mata Nui: his spirit is fading. Whatever Makuta did to him, it not only put him to sleep, but it’s also slowly killing him. After presumably having an existential crisis, the gang come up with a solution: there’s another legendary mask, the Mask of Life, that should be able to resuscitate Mata Nui, or at the very least, keep him from kicking the bucket while he’s sleeping.

(The Mask of Life! If you look closely, you can see that the faceplate is shaped like a humanoid figure (because, yaknow, life) and if you think that’s not the tightest shit ever you can get out of my face)

So, the modern-day Toa (the Toa Nuva, if you guys remember the name) are like ‘okay, give us the location of the mask, we’ll go and find it’. So they get sent to another island, this one called Voya Nui, and they arrive and... get their asses handed to them? What?

A quick backtrack: a gang of thugs called the Piraka had already arrived on Voya Nui in search of the Mask of Life, wanting it so they can use its power to blackmail powerful organisations and generally get ahead in the criminal world. (From a Meta perspective, they’re,,, really interesting. Up until this point, the villains in Bionicle had either been wild animals, or villains with grand overarching plans. These guys are basically overpowered street thugs, complete with their own theme song - the ‘Piraka Rap’. Look it up on YouTube; it’s fucking hilarious, because the rest of Bionicle is generally timeless, but the Piraka Rap was basically dated as soon as it came out. I love it.)

(The Piraka themselves! Fun fact; in Bionicle lore, ‘Piraka’ is a slang term for ‘thief’ and ‘murderer’, and was also considered so vulgar that if a Matoran called another Matoran ‘Piraka’, war would be declared over it. These guys are really just going around calling themselves slurs. I have to respect that.)

So, yeah. The Piraka defeat and imprison the Toa Nuva when they get to the island. Now what?

Well, now it’s time for the Matoran to get involved! A group of named and previously-established Matoran set out to see if they can rescue the Toa. There’s Jaller, Hahli, and Matoro, who I’ve already mentioned, and then there’s Kongu, Nuparu, and Hewkii. And I need to take a break to say that all these characters have been with the story since 2001 (it’s now 2006), and they’ve all contributed to the plot before!! Kongu is a prominent Matoran from the air village who led a flight of giant bird-riders to save the day one time, and Nuparu is an engineer from the earth village who basically invented mechs to help the Matoran defend themselves against the Bohrok. These guys are BADASSES and I want to bring up how a really strong initial 3 years of storytelling laid a great foundation for so many small characters. It’s just neat! :D

Anyways, these Matoran travel to the island of Voya Nui in canisters (like how the original Toa landed on Mata Nui) and while they’re sailing the ocean blue, their canisters are struck by lighting from the mysterious Red Star. And that lighting, say it with me now, TRANSFORMS them! Specifically it transforms them into Toa. They end up calling themselves the Toa Inika, because they’re searching for the mask of life, which is also called the ‘Ignika’.

(The Toa Inika. Being transformed by a bolt of lighting means that in addition to their regular elemental powers, they also have electric/lighting abilities.)

Souped-up and ready for action, the Toa Inika manage to defeat the Piraka and rescue the Toa Nuva. However, through plot shenanagins, the Mask of Life ends up being sent to the bottom of the ocean around Voya Nui, and the Toa Inika learn that under the waves is a hidden city - Mahri Nui. As they descend, the Mask of Life does something odd; it sends out a wave of energy, transforming the Toa Inika so that they can breath underwater. So now, they’re the Toa Mahri. (Because they’re headed to Mahri Nui. You get me?)

Mahri Nui is ruled by the Barraki - ancient warlords who were imprisoned under the sea many thousands of years ago after they became powerful enough to threaten Mata Nui himself. They were put in a prison called The Pit, but during the cataclysm caused by Makuta putting Mata Nui to sleep, the city of Mahri Nui sunk into the water and slammed into the Pit. Many prisoners and Matoran died, but the Barraki were freed. Uh-oh, spaghetti-ohs.

Speaking of Makuta - guess who’s back! Thought dead after no-one could find him after Takutanuva died, it turns out that his spirit is possessing a robot body that had previously been a prison guard. He spends some time hanging out with one of the Toa Mahri, Matoro, basically playing mind games with him and trying to get him to turn to the dark side. Eventually, three different characters and factions smack the shit out of him, and he slips out of the robot body to go do... something else (watch this space).

This year of story was REALLY plot-heavy and I kinda can’t do it justice here. The important developments are that the Toa Mahri eventually manage to reclaim the Mask of Life, and Matoro yoinks it. While his teammates act as a big distraction, he swims away and puts on the mask. It basically grants him ultimate power, but it also fuckin’ kills him. His final acts are to teleport his friends to safety, and then release a massive burst of energy that burns him up and saves Mata Nui’s life. The Mask of Life, with no-one left to wear it, sinks into the ocean.

(“In his last moments, Matoro feels no fear. He know he has succeeded--the Toa Mahri are safe, able to resume their lives in Metru Nui. The Turaga and Matoran will know that they became true heroes. Matoro does not see himself as a hero. As a Matoran, a Toa Inika, and a Toa Mahri, all he ever tried to do was his duty. Now that duty has led him to his destiny.”- Bionicle Ignition 11: Death of a Hero)

[dries tears] Anyways, now that Mata Nui’s life has been saved, the only thing left to do is wake him back up. To do that, the Toa Nuva (the Toa that showed up at the very beginning of this story, if you recall) need to journey to the core of the universe, and a civilisation called Karda Nui. Three of the Toa Nuva - Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka - are sent to a village in the clouds, where they protect the local matoran and battle the forces of Makuta. Because, as it turns out, the big bad Makuta that we know? Makuta is actually the name of his species. The guy just wanted to feel special, apparently. The Makuta that the Toa have been fighting for over half a decade is technically called Makuta Teridax (or just Teridax), while the other Makuta have other names that I can’t remember off the top of my head.

Anyways, while those three Toa are figuring that out, the other three - Tahu, Gali, and Onua - journey to a place called the Swamp of Secrets in order to find a set of keystones that supposedly contain instructions on how to awaken Mata Nui. And it’s there that they find an unlikely ally: the Mask of Life itself.

See, the Mask of Life has always been a weird one - if you recall, it released an energy pulse for no reason that transformed the Toa Mahri and let them breath underwater. (It’s also done some other fucky stuff that I haven’t been able to mention - there’s a short story about how one time, a guy touched it, and it gave him the ability to involuntarily bring everything around him to life, which ultimately drove him mad. So. You know. That’s fun.) Well, it turns out that when the mask sank into the ocean after Matoro’s death, it ultimately ended up in the swamps of Karda Nui, and it senses the battles raging about it. More than that, but it remembers Matoro’s bravery as he donned the mask knowing it would kill him, and remembers how his final wish was to save his friends. Wanting to know what it means to be a hero, the Mask of Life creates a body for itself, and ventures out into the swamp to discover its destiny.

(The Mask of Life has a body now!! Good for him! Good for him.)

There’s some more shenanigans that I’m skipping over - at one point, Takanuva (Toa of light, remember him?) rocks up to help. Long story short, our eight heroes - Tahu, Gali, Onua, Lewa, Kopaka, Pohatu, Takanuva, and the Mask of Life - fight their way through the Makuta and into the very core of the universe - the Codrex. Inside, after yet more shenanigans, the Mask of Life figures that in order to wake Mata Nui up, it will have to sacrifice the body it’s built for itself. The moment is sad, but the mask remembers Matoro’s sacrifice, and is inspired to act. He sacrifices his dreams of becoming a hero, and in doing so, becomes a hero... ;_;

The mask flies deep into the Codrex, its body dissolving; when it reaches the bottom, it creates a massive energy storm that the other characters have to escape. (Our heroes make it out - most of the villains end up getting vaporized, big RIP.)

And just like that, the journey is over. After years of battle, the Toa Nuva have completed their purpose, and awakened the great spirit, thus bringing peace back to the land. Everyone meets back up in Metru Nui - the Toa Nuva, the Toa Mahri, the Turaga, the remaining Matoran. It’s a glorious day. And as they gather, something happens.

Deep, deep beneath the ocean, energy pulses through rock, and machines that have been dormant for millennia begin to whirr and move. The island of Mata Nui - long abandoned as the Matoran moved back down into Metru Nui - cracks open like a wallnut, each half sliding into the sea. From underneath where the island had been, a tremendous head rises out of the ocean, countless galleons of water pouring off of it. Titanic shoulders follow. Then the chest, and the limbs, and slowly, surely, Mata Nui rises.

Meta context: for years, the nature of Mata Nui has been a mystery. Is he a metaphysical being? Is he a real person? No-one was sure... but they know now. That solid material that the earth Matoran couldn’t mine through, all the way back in 2001? That was his skin. The mysterious red star that created the Toa Inika? That was a failsafe machine orbiting Mata Nui, poised to create new Toa as necessary. The island of Mata Nui was atop his head, Metru Nui was his brain, Karda Nui was deep in his guts. The Matoran were workers to keep him functioning, the Toa were basically his immune system (the canisters they arrive in are literally shaped like pills)... All this time, all these stories, all these characters, this entire world - they have all been inside a robot the size of continents.

(Fucking hell. Look at this. The clouds come up to his ankles.)

Celebrations ripple through Metru Nui as everyone realises what has happened. The great spirit is awake again! The Toa have won! But as the Turaga raise their voices to try and congratulate the Toa, a chill spreads over the spectators as the air grows cold. Everyone stops and looks around. What’s happening now? And then, from everywhere and nowhere, a voice rumbles. It’s a familiar voice. An unwelcome voice. A voice that most of the gathered heroes thought they’d never hear again.

It’s the voice of Makuta - the original Makuta. Makuta Teridax.

And what does he say?

“I AM EVERYWHERE. I AM EVERYTHING YOU SEE.”

Matoro’s sacrifice had ensured that Mata Nui’s body did not die, but before the great spirit’s consciousness could return, Makuta supplanted it with his own. After that, all he had to do was wait for the Toa Nuva to achieve their objective. And as they finished the fight and won the day, they handed victory to him on a silver platter. No longer does he need to strive to rule the universe - he is the universe.

(Meta perspective again but like: FUCK, man. I can’t emphasise enough how mind-breaking this was for the kids who were invested in the series. Think Thanos snapping his fingers in Infinity War, except probably more devastating, because there wasn’t a direct sequel lined up to give the heroes another chance, and there wasn’t a way to ‘undo’ it. This was a plot development that we all had to live with T_T)

(You can tell things are bad because his eyes changed from green to red.)

And what of Mata Nui? What about the spirit that the Toa were actually trying to wake up?

Oh, Makuta stuffed Mata Nui’s consciousness into the Mask of Life - and then blasted the Mask into space.

[inhales deeply]

man...

Okay, in all honesty, part of me wanted to end it there. But you know what? We’ve come this far. And there is more to the story. So I’m going to ignore my concern I won’t be able to do it justice and blunder on.

Bionicle’s last chapter (2009-2010) follows Mata Nui himself - no longer an abstract spiritual concept, but rather a concrete character. A god felled from his pedestal, struggling to find a way to save his people. And it’s AWESOME. Armed with only the Mask of Life and a sentient shield named Click, he wanders the shithole deserts of the planet he crash-lands on, bringing the disparate tribes together, uncovering secrets about who made him and what his ultimate purpose is, and learning what it means to be a regular person. Also, at one point, in a move very reminiscent of the god that he once was, he turns a guy into a snake. You know. As a ‘fuck you’.

(There’s something really cool to me about a main character being someone who essentially lost all the power of the cosmos. Mata Nui might just be my fave character in this whole story honestly.)

Eventually, Mata Nui discovers some crucial pieces of information. Firstly: the planet that he’s landed on, Bara Magna, is his ‘homeworld’ in that it’s where his giant god body was built. Secondly: the two moons orbiting Bara Magna (the jungle moon of Bota Magna and the ocean moon of Aqua Magna) were once part of the planet itself, and split off during a planet-destroying cataclysm, leaving behind a desert wasteland in their wake. Third: the function he was ultimately built for (his ‘destiny’) was to reunite the three celestial bodies into one planet, bringing life back to Bara Magna’s harsh desert environments. He was on his way to complete this task when Makuta crashed his systems with a computer virus - which was what forced him into the ‘slumber’ that he was in for most of the mainline story.

His fourth, and probably most important discovery, is that he’s essentially his makers’ second attempt at a world-fixing giant robot. Before creating him, his makers (the ‘Great Builders’) constructed a giant robot that malfunctioned and exploded. Long-deactivated, the pieces of it are still scattered through the deserts of Bara Magna - in fact, many of the villages on the planet are set up in or around these giant robot pieces. Mata Nui figures that if he can reconstruct this old robot, he can use it to complete his destiny, and maybe even save his people.

It isn’t easy. He has to convince the villagers he’s come to befriend (the Agori) to give up their homes and their safety, and he has to find an experimental power source that’ll actually get the giant metal body moving again. But eventually, he figures it all out. Powered by the experimental source, the Mask of Life, and probably also friendship, he inhabits this enormous form and rises once again. Without missing a beat, he reaches out and begins to pull the moons towards the main planet. As far as he’s concerned, he’s going to fix everything, or die trying.

(The power of skybeams)

However, it won’t be that simple. Makuta senses that Mata Nui’s spirit has inhabited a new form (and I don’t mean that in a metaphysical way, I mean that in a computer/technology way), and he quickly jets over to Bara Magna. Obviously, flinging the fucker into space wasn’t good enough. It’s time for him to destroy Mata Nui, mano y mano. Giant robot y giant robot.

(Makuta and Mata Nui, facing off. God I love this picture.)

It’s the final battle - for real this time. The two giant robots begin to punch each other, and Mata Nui is up against some obvious disadvantages. For one thing, he can’t risk attacking Makuta with all his might, because he doesn’t want to hurt his people, who are still inside the giant robot. (Inside, they’re fairing... poorly. It’s like facism, but if facism was being actively enforced by God.)

In the fight, a hole gets blasted in Makuta’s body, and out pour a whole LOAD of Rahkshi. (Remember those guys?) However, Tahu and Takanuva also manage to escape, and join a ground battle that’s breaking out between the Agori (and their protectors, the Glatorians), the Skrall (a tribe of warriors native to Bara Magna who are absolute dicks - I’ve had to gloss over them, unfortunately, but believe me when I say that they’ve been major antagonists for as long as the narrative has focused on Bara Magna), and a bunch of guys who are called ‘Piraka’ but aren’t the gang of thugs from Voya Nui. (I think they’re the same... species?) Long story short: large-scale shitfight is happening at the feet of the two robots that are slugging it out. Makuta, being a dick, decides to try and literally stamp on all of Mata Nui’s friends down below, and Mata Nui has to desperately hold him off.

Around this point, the Mask of Life (which is really the MVP of this whole story) uses its convenient energy bursts to imbue Tahu with a set of golden armour that allows him to release energy blasts of its own. (Why it singles out Tahu, I’m not sure, but I’m presuming it’s because Tahu was the first face of the series and it just makes thematic sense for him to be a major player in the final battle.) Tahu uses his new golden armour to disintegrate ALL of the Rahkshi - and there were a lot of them on the field of battle, let me assure you. Makuta feels the loss of so many creations at once, and falters, and Mata Nui seizes his chance. He’d done his work well before Makuta had arrived, and the jungle moon is now in low orbit above the planet. Pouring every last ounce of his strength into one more push, he surges forward and up, pushing Makuta up and making sure that his head is right in the path of the falling planet.

Crunch.

(Kudos to Makuta Teridax for being such a persistent antagonist that the only way to get rid of him for good was to drop an entire damn planet on his head.)

Mata Nui guides the falling body carefully to the ground, letting it open and freeing his people. The remaining Skrall and Piraka surrender. The Matoran and Toa meet and mingle with the Agori and Glatorian. Mata Nui raises his hands, and completes his purpose; aided one last time by the Mask of Life, as well as his body’s innate systems, he enacts a synthesis on the now-united celestial bodies. Lush forests and large bodies of water appear in the desert. Life flourishes. Birds probably start to sing. Mata Nui has completed his purpose, and vindicated all of the heroes who fought for him for so long.

He feels himself fading. He lets his spirit withdraw into the Mask of Life. A new slumber - this one, earned, and of his own volition.

Perhaps one day, he will return.

(“We will honour Mata Nui, and all those who fought for him, in our memories. But the time has come to move on. His destiny is fulfilled, and for many of us, it has yet to be written. My friends, it is time to go.”- Tahu, The Mata Nui Saga, chapter 34.)

And there we go! Very, VERY long, but that’s the general plot of bionicle. There are an absolute tone of details I’ve missed out or skipped over, and I encourage you to search them out for yourself if you’re interested. But them’s the basics! :D

#Also: love (as in romantic love) is 'not canon' in the Bionicle universe. Big win for the aromantics #(I couldn't find a place in my lore explanation to mention that but my friend Zacch insisted I mention it somewhere)#also... fuck me dead this is a long post. I spent literal hours writing all of this down. Was it worth it? probably.#not a pic #Someone asked me a thing!#Ask mood: Don't Get Me Started #bionicle #bionicle lore #bionicle story

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garbagecrow12 · 2 years

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Nitpick against Tales of Arcadia: Wizards

So I really like Wizards honestly, primarily because Douxie’s my favorite character from ToA, but I wish there had been more to it. What I mean is that every show from the Tales of Arcadia series had one less season than the previous show before it, leading Wizards to have only one. Wizards introduces a lot of things in it which is most easily seen when comparing it’s first episode to the first episodes of the previous shows.

Trollhunters first episode shows the passing of the previous troll Trollhunter to the first villain of the show, the main human character Jim then retrieving the amulet of the previous Trollhunter which makes him now have the position, and encountering two trolls right at the end alongside character introductions which includes implications of one character knowing about the amulet. 3Below shows the royal siblings Aja and Krel having to be sent to Earth with their guard, Varvatos, after their planet is attacked and need parts to fix up their disguised ship to revive their parents. Wizards shows Douxie (a character who’s shown up as cameos in the previous shows with an air of knowing more than he’s letting show) is actually a wizard with a shapeshifting cat familiar, he’s about 900 years old, he also regularly deals with creatures that he sends to limbo, Merlin had apprenticed Douxie, Douxie wanting a staff, the Green Knight that’s implied to have a connection to Douxie, everyone from the first show getting back together at a floating Camelot, Jim’s in a coma with a shard in his heart/amulet thanks to the Green Knight, Merlin brings up how Arthur waged a war on magic and that this led him to bringing in apprentices to spare them from being killed, suddenly Arcane Order, Nari who seemingly has something to do with the Arcane Order, a character literally dying, and time travel.

The way I would have changed this if I was somehow in charge of the show would either be another season to explore more of current Douxie or even past Douxie to highlight a difference between the two. The other way would be more episodes to season 1 and the first episode would end with probably Toby asking where Jim is then the next episode would start from the perspective of Jim being attacked by the Green Knight. This would hopefully allow for more talk of the Arcane Order to be brought up before they actually appear.

#toa wizards #toa #there’s also the whole thing of Douxie and Arthur’s relationship #they just never really much talk about Douxie having to serve under the man that ordered for people like him’s murders #just me rambling

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nattikay · 3 years

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So I saw this post while browsing toa tags the other day. While I don’t think being obsessed with the school mascot automatically makes Toby a furry (though it is funny to joke about lol) since “being a furry” actually just means “being a fan of anthropomorphic animals” and doesn’t necessarily require any form of costuming or interest in such, it did get me thinking, hmmm...if he was a furry, what would his fursona be? 🤔 And from there I started wondering what Jim’s and Claire’s would be as well because y not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

BUT WAIT, I hear you say--haven’t you already drawn the trio as werewolves and wolfwalkers etc.? Wouldn’t those be their fursonas??

Well yes....but actually no.

I guess it’s a little hard to explain, but there’s a nuance between “[person] but as an animal” and a proper “fursona”. While a fursona is an animal character used to represent its person, it doesn’t have to physically resemble them at all as you would expect [person]-but-as-[animal] to. For example, if you were to design me but as a cat, you’d probably give it light brown fur and green eyes like I have irl. But my fursona, unlike my human self, actually has blue fur and purple eyes. You can give your fursona matching physical traits to your own if you want to, and some people do, but most use only a pinch of their irl appearance, if any at all.

The choices people make when designing their fursonas vary wildly from “it looks like me irl” to “it looks like who I want to be” to “I just really like this color scheme” to “this particular color/marking holds deep personal meaning to me” to “this particular pattern represents a particular defining moment in my life” to “idk it looks cool and i vibe with it” etc. etc. etc. Everyone has different reasons of varying depth for the decisions they make in designing their fursona.

Therefore, to design a fursona for Toby etc., it’s less a question of “what would this character look like as [insert species here]?” and more of “how would this character choose to present himself with his own [animal] character?”

And that’s a much trickier game than just transferring a character aesthetic to a new species. ^^; We have to kinda dive into the characters and makes some guesses about how they, if given infinite creative freedom to design an animal avatar with no rules or limits, would choose to present themselves.

So all that said, here’s what I came up with:

Starting with Toby because he’s the one who inspired the post. I think Toby might choose a wolfdog fursona. A lot of people who choose wolves as fursonas consider themselves to be overwhelmingly loyal to their friends, a trait that fits Toby very well. However, while Toby likes to be “cool”, I don’t think he really thinks of himself as much of an “alpha” type--he’s more of a sidekick, and he knows that, and he’s ok with that. He’s the wingman. So what better way to incorporate that than to add dog into the mix? Man’s best friend=Jim’s best friend. Sociable, humorous, and unwaveringly loyal. Wolfdog it is!

With the species decided, we can move on to the design itself.

I can’t imagine any form of Toby in anything other than warm colors. This is extra emphasized by the flamelike patterns on his legs and tail, which both speaks to his desire to be totally awesome-sauce as well as acts as an allusion to his flaming warhammer. It’s fairly common (not universal, but common) for people to give their fursonas a more “ideal” physique than the person actually has as a sort of way to live by proxy physical goals or fantasies they’ve been unable to attain irl for whatever reason. Given that we’ve seen Toby struggle with fitness from time to time, it wouldn’t shock me to see him take this route. His wolfdog self is still relatively short and stocky, but it’s all muscle, babey.

This fursona is strong, fun, boisterous, and generally just kicks butt. Concentrated awesomesauce flows through his veins. Just don't mess with his friends, or you’ll feel the flames!

Moving on to Jim. Jim was the hardest to nail down, and most definitely the hardest to keep my personal biases out of oof. Which I may have failed to do anways because yes, ok, I made my favorite character a blue feline, sue me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But hear me out first!

For Jim I ultimately settling on a cheetah/lion hybrid.

Cheetahs, in a way, are sort of the underdogs (er...cats?) of the feline world--at least, in their local ecosystems. They are built wholly for speed, not strength--and as such, just about every other large predator in their environment has them beat when it comes to raw strength. Remind you of a certain Trollhunter? plus the long lanky legs. don’t forget those lol

However, because of this disadvantage, cheetahs...usually surrender. They know it’s not worth it to defend their kill from larger, stronger opponents, so they’ll give it up and just catch something else. This aspect doesn’t quite fit our protective, selfless protagonist all too eager to risk everything to save his loved ones--so a pure cheetah may not be the right choice.

So what animal is brave and protective? That’s where the lion part comes in, of course!

Why not just make him a pure lion? Well, a little similar to making Toby a wolfdog instead of a pure wolf. A straight-up lion feels a little too “chad” for our sweet Jimbo. Too much of a jock.

Jim has the humble underdog nature of a cheetah as well as the bravery and fierce protective drive of a lion. Cheelion? Leetah? idk, but let’s design it!

Like Toby and warm colors, I don’t think I can possibly associate Jim with any color but blue. While it’s never directly stated, given that we’ve never really seen him wear any other color (with the exception of the Eclipse armor), I think it’s pretty safe to assume that that’s his favorite. Blue sweater, blue jeans, blue shoes, even his backpack and bedsheets are blue. So naturally, his fursona would be predominantly blue as well! Plus some yellowish accents to (somewhat) match the natural colors of his chosen species(s).

I imagine he originally designed the character without horns, but then added them after becoming the Trollhunter, since it became such a major and impactful aspect of his life.

His lion’s mane also continues down his back in imitation of the “mantle” found on baby cheetahs. This youthful feature could subtly represent the fact that he’s been forced to grow up too fast and take on so much responsibility so young--so his fursona can still be young and carefree as long as he likes even while his real self struggles with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

This fursona is relaxed, calm, and confident. He’s not just cool--he’s crispy!

Lastly but not leastly, we have Claire. Out of the three, I think Claire was actually the easiest to choose--or at least, I had the clearest idea of what I thought she might go for.

Claire is a bit of an interesting duck, because while she’s shown to be fairly popular at school, she’s definitely far from the stereotype of The Popular Girl™. Yes she’s smart and pretty, but she’s also a little spunky or even a bit quirky--she’s a theatre kid, she’s a huge fan of hard rock band Papa Skull, and while I wouldn’t quite call her “rebellious” per se, she’s certainly willing to bend some rules if she feels the situation calls for it (not telling her parents that she was going to the concert with Steve, literally sneaking into Jim’s basement to try to find out what was up with him, etc).

That said, I think Claire might go for a hyena fursona--something a little out of the box, but not totally out of left field. (she also shows a slight Gurl Power™ streak here and there “the staff was not meant to be wielded by man--” “I am not a man!!!”) and if you know anything about hyenas...well, yeah lol)

I think Claire would lean into her punk-rock “rebellious” side with her fursona design. This character is completely free of the pressure of being the councilwoman’s daughter and having to maintain her mother’s public reputation, and thus allows Claire to express a less restrained side of herself. She has a bold semi-edgy color scheme with bright accents (and some earrings to match her person’s hair clips) while still remaining feminine and (her own brand of) fashionable.

This fursona is spunky and sassy; she’s spicy and sweet all rolled up into one. She knows what she wants and she’s not afraid to chase it down. She lives her own life and she’s dang proud of it.

....sooooo yeah there’s my take on what Toby’s, Jim’s, and Claire’s fursonas could hypothetically be. And I guess since this post was inspired by a joke about Toby’s infatuation with the school mascot, here’s just some quick thoughts on how they might approach fursuiting to end us off:

Jim I don’t see as much of a suiter. He might try it once or twice if given the opportunity, but at the end of the day it’s not really his cup of tea--he’d rather act as the “handler” for his friends, if anything.

Toby and Claire, on the other hand, I could definitely see as suiters. In fact, with her interest in acting, Claire would probably particularly enjoy it--she’d be one of those suiters who really gets into character, absolutely refuses to break the magic publicly (outside of any actual medical emergency), and popular at cons because she just performs so well.

Toby, meanwhile, would be the more chill type--uses his normal voice in-suit, isn’t really too stressed about “breaking the magic”, just kinda hanging around like he would normally except “look I’m a talking dog, cool right?”.

also while I was typing this it occurred to be that since Eli is canonically a cosplayer then he could be a fursuiter as well; in his case i imagine he actually made his own suit it’s a protogen and it’s full of little LEDs and other electric gadgets, it’s not the prettiest thing ever as sewing is not his forte but boy did he try!! good for him. good for him

#so anyways I put way too much thought into this...enjoy I guess?#trollhunters #tales of arcadia #toby domzalski #jim lake jr #claire nuñez #furry #my art

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