#liking bionicle is ok

[randomwriteronline]

You know its true that out of the four stone toa we know Onewa is the exception due to being An Asshat but i think we could focus more on Pouks being the white sheep of a flock of goats. Hes the only one of them who was like, formally employed and working an actual job as a toa. His siblings are just his coworkers. I dont think he knows a sport. He was so glad Pohatu and Hewkii were nothing like Onewa for all of twelve seconds before dreadfully discovering that they are exactly like Onewa, just in previously unimaginable ways, such as the batshit circumstances of their toahood and accidentally kicking a ball into each others face at mach speeds for fun

[downtofragglerock]

Okay, just remembered that, during Orde's time, there were male ce-matoran, but then Orde fucked up with the Zyglak and the great beings decided that hencforce, all matoran of psionics would be female, for some reason

The question is though, what happened to all of those male ce-matoran? Did the great beings cull them? Did they force femme the lot?

[leenfiend]

..........is dirty laundry the reason ppl always have lance and keith care about star wars in fics : I

[magicalgirlmascot]

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

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

He needed another nap after all that.

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

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

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

- As for who can don the Ignika safely:

The Toa Mahri

Kiina and Ackar and Berix

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

Vakama because he created the Mask of Time and wore it

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People Matoro Has Pranked:

All of the Mahri at least twice each

Takanuva

Berix

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

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

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

[crunchworldsupreme]

Rate my setup

[wjbs-bonkle-au]

Ok but like. As stupid as the original Hero Factory ending concept was (where Makuro was a Turaga and it was the Bonkleverse all along and there was an evil Villain Factory under the Hero Factory building or whatever), there is something kinda profound about a creation of the Great Beings proceeding to not only do basically what the GBs did, but also to make his own creations resemble the species that created him in the first place (the 1.0 and Breakout designs used the same head-piece as Bionicle's '09 sets).

EDIT: This might not actually be a real thing. I thought it was, but I can't find any actual evidence.

[braxiations]

“What’s your dirtiest fantasy 😏” ok so me and my friends get together and we play a Bionicle themed TTRPG, but we actually have MOCs for each of our characters. The dm also has pieces for items like armor, masks, and weapons so our physical characters reflect our characters in-game

[randomwriteronline]

ALSO based on my previous post abt the mata going into elemental withdrawal. I think they wish each other to be caught in natural disasters as like a very genuine have-a-good-day-take-care alternative. Which on one hand yes it does come off as regular Sibling Behaviour but also it sometimes comes off as them fucking hating each others guts

"hope you get caught in a blizzard" "hope you walk into an open fire" "hope you fall into a cave" "hope you land in a stone pile" "hope a tornado catches you" "hope you get swept by a tsunami"

What they hear: i love youuu <3 <3 <3 :) :D

What everybody else hears: DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE

[crystaltoa]

Designing Modern day Human AU versions of Bionicle characters:

Ok, so they have to look like themselves but in a Just-Some-Guy kinda way.., hmmm… there are a number of ways I could do this…

YOU get a goatee! YOU get a goatee! You all get a goatee!

[herora-nuva]

"These machines were never built to make things right.

"These machines were never built to BURN ALIVE!"

Ok but can we talk about how fucking hard these lyrics go?! "As Above, So Below", the new song by @essengermusic and Cryoshell, is a masterpiece and dripping with thematic references to Bionicle, and in particular these two lines from the pre-choruses stick out too me because they feel so filled with meaning to the series. Like obviously I'm not Essenger, so I don't know everything that went into these lyrics, but I have to talk about what they make me feel because I can't stop thinking about them. So, here's my attempt at a lyrical analysis! :D

"Don't you feel that its too late to turn the tide. These machines were never built to make things right."

This line feels so interesting, because it feels like an acknowledgement that the characters were never really meant to be heroes. The Toa and Matoran were just meant to be the worker drones to keep the Mata Nui Robot functioning. Things were never meant to go this wrong, these beings who were just machines were never built to face evils and right wrongs of this magnitude. And yet they did, they rose to take on more than they were ever meant to.

"Don't you feel that its too late to turn the tide. These machines were never built BURN ALIIIIIIVEEEEE."

And then this line hits even harder! At the same time as calling them just machines, it calls them alive, and that they were never meant to burn, never meant to experience this pain. It calls them machines but evokes a pity of them, they were never meant to pay the price for these mistakes.

Just the contrast between these two lines (and I gotta say, I LOVE me some slight changes in repeating lyrics that give new context and meaning) captures what in my view is one of the most poignant themes in Bionicle, that they were never meant to be more than machines, and yet they became a people on their own, burdened with the weight of their creators' mistakes.

"Our sanctuary burns while you play god."

Who this refers to is also very interesting. It works for Mata Nui, Makuta, and the Great Beings, and I'd say most of all the Great Beings, who played god while their world burned.

"The world outside is dying as we slowly drown."

This line comes a little earlier than the previous one I mention, and I while it evokes the overarching theme in the song of the world in peril while the subjects are dormant, locked away in a paradise. It makes you think about the Great Beings off who knows where while their creation struggles. Though the drowning metaphor also makes me think of Mata Nui, also a dormant god who made mistakes, drowning from the waters of Aqua Magna literally filling his heart with the waterfall of Karda Nui. Love me some lyrics that have multiple potential meanings and interpretations.

GOD, this song is so sorrowful, and yet feels brimming with a determined rage to make things right, though wondering if ti may be too late. That feeling was so palpable in Bionicle, especially late Bionicle in the Ignition and Bara Magna Sagas. Ahhh, I love it so much, thank you Essenger, I know this was your dream, but to the rest of us, this was a gift beyond measure.

[jayysnest]

🔥Vakama, Toa Metru of Fire🔥

Vakama | Nuju | Whenua | Matau | Nokama | Onewa

Thoughts under the cut

they had no business making him pose like this in his character render, lips parted, vakamussy out, disk launcher ready to go, ofc I had to draw him a little slutty ❤️‍🔥

ok anyway

Boots are loosely based off the Metru feet/shins because I had to keep this Bionicle somehow

Vakama’s apron, coat, goggles, gloves, and elbow armor are all allusions to him being a mask-maker; I watched lomn again to make sure he was right handed. That being said I might just change his goggle design to the ones in the movie because I liked those!

I cut & pasted the disk launcher from his render bc I didn’t want to try drawing it

His overcoat zips all the way to cover his neck if worn properly. Worn like this, he has the other sleeve turned inside out and tucked behind him so it doesn’t dangle.

The apron and belt are one piece and the buckle should probably be on the short side but I wasn’t thinking about that when I drew this ope

His hair is pulled back into a little messy bun and, tied with a hair tie, and maybe has a few bobby pins that he stole from Nokama. It’s naturally wavy, thick, and always seems to get in his eyes when it’s down

Boobs

[toaskello]

Ok, so people on Bionicle Discords are talking about Creeping in My Soul and Bring Me to Life. I think it's a common sentiment that the former is almost certainly based on the latter (though is a definite improvement IMO). But what if I told you that Bring Me to Life is actually way more relevant to Bionicle than its "copycat"? Specifically, it's a conversation between Mata Nui and Matoro at the end of 2007.

Going to need to go line by line for this

How can you see into my eyes like open doors?

Starting off a bit weak, but Mata Nui's eyes are quite literally doors. BA6 shows that Naho Bay is where the Toa Metru first arrived on the island above, and that's directly above one of the GSR's eyeholes.

Leading you down into my core

Matoro is being led to Karda Nui, which is often referred to as the core of the universe, by the return of Voya Nui.

where I've become so numb

The core is numb, the energy storms have stopped.

Without a soul, my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold

It's essential to the conclusion of 2008 that Mata Nui's spirit temporarily left his body.

Until you find it there and lead it back home

Pretty self explanatory, Mata Nui wants Matoro to use the mask to return his spirit to his body before he dies.

Wake me up inside

Again self explanatory, Mata Nui telling the beings inside him to wake him up.

Call my name and save me from the dark

Three guesses as to what the dark represents.

Bid my blood to run before I come undone

Either referring to the repopulation of Metru Nui (Matoran are often likened to red blood cells) or reactivation of the energy storms (Karda Nui is the heart).

Save me from the nothing I've become

A bit of foreshadowing for the twist ending of 2008. Mata Nui has realized that Makuta, who is often referred to as "nothing", has become the Great Spirit.

Now that I know what I'm without, you can't just leave me

Mata Nui's character arc is about recognizing how he completely ignored his inhabitants. He took them for granted, and he recognizes that here.

Breathe into me and make me real

Ok yeah I got nothing

Bring me to life

Self explanatory.

Frozen inside without your touch, without your love

Another reference to ice, Matoro's element. This is starting to get into the importance of Matoro specifically, elaborated on in the next line.

Darling, only you are the life among the dead

Matoro is the Ignika's chosen bearer. Only he can hold it without being cursed. He's also about to be very much not alive, but Mata Nui reassures him that his spirit will live on. It's also a nod to the Kanohi Tryna that was given to him as a test of character. He would resurrect the dead, being the only life among them.

All this time I can't believe I couldn't see

Alright, Matoro lines. What has he realized?

Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me

Ah, he's realized the true identity of Mata Nui! The Great Spirit has been in front of him all along, just not in a form he recognized. Canon materials often used the phrase of toiling "in the dark" when describing the Matoran creating the GSR as a euphemism for being unaware that their home was the body of the Great Spirit.

I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems, got to open my eyes to everything

lol

Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul

Matoro is transforming into energy. He's beginning to lose his corporeal form.

Don't let me die here, there must be something more

Matoro regrets his decision to don the mask. This is something that explicitly doesn't happen in canon, but this isn't actually a Bionicle song and I'm doing my best here ok

Bring me to life

I've been living a lie

Matoro grappling with the revelation that Mata Nui is the MU.

There's nothing inside

Again an oblique reference to Makuta taking control of Mata Nui's body.

so there you have it, incontrovertible proof that this popular mainstream song that was released in 2003 was written about the plotline of a 2007 toy. i will not be taking questions at this time.

[driver270]

Bionicle fans in 2006: Hey Lego! Can you release some Bionicle sets that have articulated fingers?

Lego: OK! *Releases Axonn*

Bionicle fans: No, not like that.

[byz-was-here]

Ok, so.

What the hell is up with the Red Star Arc that got canceled.

I know it was supposed to basically be "bionicle zombies"

but like, Were they gonna go Night of the Living Dead, Evil Dead, or go full DOOM with Kopaka & Pohatu going full on rip & tear???

Do we even know???

[theechoingasteroid]

Lego-themed Discord server (includes Ninjago & LMK)

Tumblr for some reason hates my transparent images so you get a random blue background version too. There's tons of Monkie Kid and Ninjago discord servers but what if i wanna talk about BOTH !! so uh i ended up making a server for it myself. (it also includes chats and roles for other lego shows/media, including Dreamzzz, Chima, Lego Movies, Bionicle, and Nexo Knights, along with a Misc Lego chat for any ones i didn't include) The art above is the current icon for the server :D Redson and Lloyd you DON'T need to be an artist to join! theres art chats but there's also chats just to talk about lego in! its not very big yet but it could be :333

(the server is like PG-13, so don't be TOO weird in it ok thanks)

[downtofragglerock]

Botar’s replacement is still such a ludicrous part of the story for me. 

Ok, so greg kills this character Botar, they’re not really that important, they’re just a combo model given a name, and also it’s the latter years of the story and things are getting dark and mature so you gotta kill off named characters, but this is still meant for kids so not named main characters. That’s fine, bionicle at this point has so many tertiary and minor named characters that you can do this easily, ex. Botar, seemingly.

But here’s a problem, Botar was able to teleport and that was an important thing story wise because it presented an easy way for characters to get out of particularly sticky situations, particularly the group Botar was a part of, the order of Mata Nui, who are basically bionicle’s illuminati/knights templar. So what do you do now that this character who served a story function is now dead?

Do you A: explore the fact that this strategically important and vital member of this group is now gone, and how basically every single plan they have now has to be changed or even dropped because they no longer have a guy who can teleport?

Do you B: revive this character, while we are a few years off story wise from the whole red star incident, characters still have been revived in the series prior to this, although for a tertiary character like this it feels kind of excessive?

Or do you C: Bring in a guy who can also teleport and looks, acts, and functions the exact same way as this dead character, who doesn’t have literally anything to set them apart from their predecessor, and is not even named and is just referred to as this character’s replacement?

if you guess c, then you already knew about this.

And it just, alright this character died but that death literally didn’t matter both in-universe and from a meta narrative sense because Helryx I guess just had a spare Botar in the back of the garage or something.

I should also probably mention that Botar was like, a twelve foot tall giant with a large mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth, and also he had floppy dog ears.