#“toas” is intentional here btw

[bioniclechicken]

Quantumania was garbage

[the-gateway-to-madness]

Uhhhh let's see if I can figure out the secrets?? (I can never tell when these things are rhetorical so if this comes off as condescending that's not my intent, I just like rambling about ✨️the process✨️ and also krel's face- I adore your artstyle too btw, it's so clean and soothing to look at, I don't think you need anyone's drawing advice- so)

this turned out really long oof

Um. I pay a lot of attention to shapes and general profiles? I look at a lot of still references and how the shapes of the characters' features appear at different angles, to familiarize myself with them regardless of lighting or anything else that might trick me into remembering the shapes wrong. (How many times can i say "shapes"?)

Even then i can't draw more than like 3 angles lol

For ocs, I look at the most similar canon character face shape, so I can figure out the closest canon stylization and edit it slightly.

I study the style of each franchise I create an oc for, too- defining characteristics, consistent aspects of the style (like facial proportions- the eyes in the ToA universe are much bigger and the features are simpler than, say, Rise of the Guardians), and I figure out where the oc fits into the style.

like, here's my attempt at Cara in the character model style for ToA:

(A.k.a. THE ONLY DRAWING I'VE EVER DONE WHERE I REMEMBER HER TRANSDUCTION BAND)

vs. Mahina, my ROTG oc, in a relatively (eh) similar-to-movie style

BUT WE'RE HERE FOR KREL (ALWAYS) SO LET'S BREAK HE DOWN

In human form, narrow face shape, slight protrusion of the cheekbone that slopes straight down into the jaw, rounded chin that follows the taper of the cheek shape and the jaw. His hair's pretty flat at the top and flares out into curls (or as close to curls as toa can afford, ha). Nose is smol, curves upward, v sharp

His eyes in both forms have a slight angularity that slopes down to the inner corner of the eye. It's less pronounced in human form, but still there.

AKIRIDION FORM LESGO

tbh he's just got an anime face lol

Sharp jawline, narrow chin. His eyebrows' shape curve slightly downward at the inner end:

see what I mean about the angular upper eye shape? Anyway- the coronation ridge on his forehead shifts shape with his expressions and I have a lot of fun with that

his upper torso is literally just a triangle. so much shoulder. (he's so stressed all the time someone please massage his shoulders. somehow)

(massaging the lower shoulders would be a nightmare to figure out. the muscle structure would be insane)

also yeah muscle structure! figure out where the features stop and the muscles start on a given character and u can draw them well

at this point i'm just talking about art to avoid my homework

@slightartist this one's got no bernie, my apologies for that, but as it's a sequel to the last piece it felt wrong not to include ye

[acciopietro]

i’m sorry this is kinda lengthy but basically peter is a huge simp for reader but he’s scared to put her in danger bc he’s spider-man but some villains find out he likes reader anyway so they attack her but he’s nearby and rushed to help her only to see that her take them out and finds out that’s she’s an underground hero so he confronts her later and it’s super fluffy and cute

silk - p.p.

pairing: th! peter parker x fem! reader

summary: in which peter’s school crush is not what she seems.

word count: 5,030

tw: mentions of abusive relationships and violence.

a/n: i hope you don’t mind i changed up the plot just a little bit!! same idea basically but just slightly different. im in a bit of a writing slump so i hope you dont mind i used ur request to try and get my creative thinking back up and running LOL. i never know what to do when making reader a superhero so i just made Y/N like silk from the comics. if you don’t know who she is, google her! she’s awesome! thanks for the request <3 BTW this is not edited bc im lazy

PETER LIKED TO THINK HE WAS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW WHEN TO GIVE UP. He was an Avenger, for gods sake; if he could fight someone like Thanos, then he could accurately gage when it was time to take a step back and admit that not all battles could be won. Even if he was willing to fight until his last breath.

He had liked Y/N for a while. Longer than he’d ever admit to anyone else, even Aunt May or Ned. Since before he became Spider-Man, she had caught his eye, but Peter had always been a bit too nervous to approach her. He had gotten lucky when his schedule lined up with hers for his Junior year, having five out of his seven classes with her. The only issue, however, was her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend was no match for Peter. Peter might be Spider-Man undercover, but in the daylight of his high school career, he was... kind of a loser. Y/N’s boyfriend, James, was six-foot-three and Captain of the wrestling team, with broad shoulders and a strong jaw. Peter, on the other hand, was a measly five-foot-nine and often compared himself to looking like a toddler. Aunt May said otherwise, but that didn’t change anything.

“Hey, Pete,” she smiled at him, the apples of her cheeks round as she slid into the seat in front of him. She was the only one who called her ‘Pete,’ with the exception of Aunt May. Having so many shared classes had brought forth the closest thing he could get to being hers: an in-school friendship.

“Hi,” he pursed his lips into a smile, lifting a hand up in a meek wave. Fiddling with his pencil where it hovered above his graph paper, he eyed her and said, “I, uh— I like your shoes.”

“Oh, really?” she glanced down at the black-and-white skate shoes. “I was iffy about wearing them, ‘cause they kind of make me feet look like squares, don’tcha think?”

Peter peered back down at the shoes and cracked a small grin. “Maybe a little bit. But it’s not bad, I think they’re cool.”

“Thanks!�� Y/N leaned down to unzip her backpack, taking out the notebook of graph paper with a series of messy scribbles along the margins. She flipped it open, turned in her chair to face him. “Okay, so I’m assuming you did the homework? I seriously have no idea how to do this, and I figured you did.”

“Oh, yeah — yeah, I — I did the homework,” Peter nodded fervently, leaning forward over his desk so he could see her notebook. She placed it on the top of his desk, fully facing him, and pointed to the second problem on the sheet.

“So I used SOH-CAH-TOA to find this angle, but then I guess I messed it up somewhere along here....” she continued talking, explaining the process of her attempt at solving the calculus problem. Peter listened intently to her words, all while staring at the different flecks of color in her e/c eyes and losing himself the way she bit the inside of her cheek in between sentences. “Peter?”

“Yeah?” he snapped out of it. She was smiling at him and oh, shit, he hadn’t heard the second half of what she was saying.

“So do you think you could help?” she asked. Her eyes shifted over towards the clock on the front wall. “‘Cause we got like three minutes until the period officially starts and I seriously need a good grade.”

“Yeah, of course,” Peter gulped and grabbed his calculator, focusing his eyes on the graph paper and began copying down the equation from his own notebook. It was dreadfully difficult to keep his focus with her leaning so close to him, her perfume flooding into his brain and fogging up his mind. He scribbled down the solution as fast as you can.

“Oh, duh!” she slumped her shoulders. “I guess I multiplied wrong. I always screw up simple math.”

“No, you did it right the first time,” Peter gently smiled at her, careful not to keep eye contact for too long. “Just a little mess up in the middle. But all the other math was, uhm... spot on.”

“Thanks, Pete,” she nodded, tapping her fingers on the spiral spine of her notebook. “I’m really glad that — oh shit!”

She jolted in her spot, a pair of hands coming down to squeeze her shoulders. She turned around and sighed; Peter followed the hands and was disappointed to see James, her boyfriend, standing beside her desk.

“You scared the shit out of me!” she said breathily, one hand flying to rest over her heart. “Jesus!”

“Sorry, babe,” James chuckled, slipping into his spot— which just so happened to be right beside her, diagonal from Peter. “What’s good, Penis Parker?”

Peter felt his ears turn red, and he clenched his jaw, avoiding the other boys eyes and shifting awkwardly in his seat. Y/N abruptly whacked her boyfriend on the arm, suddenly frowning.

“Don’t be a dick,” she said pointedly. James laughed.

“It’s just a joke,” he lifted his hands in defense. “Parker doesn’t care, does he? Do you?”

Peter glanced up, eyes darting between James and Y/N. He only shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter,” Y/N said, scooting her chair under her desk as soon as she saw the teacher enter the classroom. “It’s still rude and immature and his name is Peter.”

“Okay, chill out,” James muttered. “Hey, you did the homework, right?”

Peter watched Y/N send her boyfriend a very tired expression, her shoulders slouching. “Seriously?"

“What? C’mon, I had practice ‘till late last night,” James frowned. “And you know how much I struggle with Calc.”

Y/N gave another sigh before reluctantly handing him her notebook. Peter watched the exchange with a slight frown, biting his tongue to refrain from saying something about cheating and morality or something equally as stupid. He wasn’t going to tattle. He didn’t want to do that to her, not that he gave a flying fuck about what happened to James.

James wordlessly threw the notebook back to her after a few minutes; she caught it swiftly and spared him another longing sort of glance before bowing her head and facing the front of the room. Peter clenched his jaw and sent a glare towards the back of James’ head; he knew he was a dick, and she knew he was a dick. So why the hell was she dating him?

There was no way in hell that James had some kind of brilliant quality about him that made this kind of treatment worth it. It’s not like he was remarkably thoughtful, or funny, or attractive. He was pleasant looking, sure, but Peter was sure there wasn’t a single redeeming quality about him.

As though he had heard his thoughts, James suddenly turned his head around and was met with Peter’s lingering glare. He narrowed his eyes at him, glanced at Y/N, and then looked back at Peter. Peter fought the urge to bow his head and shy away; he was Spider-Man for fuck’s sake! He could handle some stupid high school asshole, couldn’t he?

Peter frowned the entire walk from class to his locker, where he tiredly turned his lock and swung open the metal door as though the interaction in Calculus had taken a serious toll on him.

“Peter!” came a cheery voice from his right. Leaning back to look over his locker, he saw Ned, grinning. “You look so unhappy to see me. Is there a reason for this, or are you just, like, being moody today?”

“Being moody today,” Peter mumbled. “’Cause of stupid James Lewis.”

“Ah,” Ned said wisely, leaning against the other lockers as Peter slipped out his textbook and closed the metal door. “Yeah, that can really wreck a guys mood.”

“Yeah,” Peter breathed, watching as Y/N approached her locker on the other end of the hall. James followed at her heels, laughing obnoxiously with another boy on the wrestling team and ignoring his girlfriend entirely. Y/N took out her books, clutching them to her chest, and turned to speak to James; Peter watched as she fiddled nervously with her necklace as she waited for her boyfriend to look at her. “Why’s she dating him, man? He’s so awful.”

“I dunno, dude,” Ned shrugged. “Women are the world’s greatest mystery.”

“So are men,” Peter muttered, sending James a final glare before he and Ned turned the other way.

---

EARLY THAT EVENING, just before he left for patrol, Peter’s phone rang. Which was fairly normal, considering Ned called him a million times a day and Aunt May often send him the occasional call on her way home from work. This time, however, startled him, because the name on the call was not Ned, nor was is May. It said Y/N.

“H-Hey, Y/N, hi!” Peter stammered out after pressing the green answer button, steadying his grip on his phone after it had almost slipped from his grasp. “Hello!”

“Hi, Pete,” her voice said, sounding sweet. “Sorry to call you at such a weird time. I—er— had a question about the homework?”

“Oh, yeah!” Peter held the phone to his ear with his shoulder and shot his hand out across his room; a web flung from his wrist and stuck itself onto his Calculus notebook. It soared towards him, and he frantically flipped to the most recent page. “Which one?”

“Uhm, number three.”

Peter scanned the page through the latex of his mask.

“I don’t think we had to do number three tonight,” he answered with an awkwardly laugh. Through the phone, she gave a noise of disapproval.

“Ugh, of course!” she said exasperatedly. “I always copy down the wrong numbers from the board. Thanks for telling me. Sorry to bother you!”

“No, no, you’re not — you’re not a bother!” Peter insisted in a shrill voice, grabbing his mask from the top of his head and tugging it off of his face. “Never a bother!”

With a laugh, she said, “I totally procrastinated my homework... I was totally binge watching all the Spider-Man videos on YouTube. Have you see them?”

Peter coughed rather loudly. “Erm, yeah, a few. Don’t really pay attention to, uh... to Spider-Man...”

“They’re totally awesome,” she gushed, and Peter felt heat flood up into his cheeks. “How do you not pay attention to Spider-Man? I feel like that’s right up your alley.”

“I dunno,” Peter shrugged absentmindedly. “We’ve got tons of Avengers, y’know? Guess I’m just... erm... kinda desensitized to it.”

"I’m kind of a dork about the Avengers, actually,” she said timidly. “I don’t care how many times I see Captain America on the news— I am totally mesmerized each and every time. Same with Spider-Man. I think they’re so cool.”

“...mesmerized?” Peter perked his head up. “Uhm... how so?”

“Thought you didn’t care about Spider-Man?”

Peter pressed his lips together. “I don’t.”

You dismissively waved your hand and said, “Then, I’ll stop. I don’t mean to be geeking out.”

“No, it’s okay!” Peter said hastily. “Really, I don’t mind. I think it’s cool that you think the Avengers are cool. They are cool.”

“But not Spider-Man?”

“I — well — no, Spider-Man is cool, I never said he wasn’t cool,” Peter went on. “But, I’m just saying, like... I dunno. The other Avengers are better. Like... like Iron Man, he’s awesome. Black Widow, she’s... the best.”

“Hm,” she paused. “I think I’ll be her for Halloween. You totally just sparked my imagination, thanks!”

“No problem,” he replied, willing himself not to think about what she might look like in the tight, leather suit that Black Widow wore. There was a beat of silence, and Peter was sure he had started sweating.

“Okay, well... I ought to finish the homework that we actually have to do,” she joked, a smile heard within her words. Peter felt himself grin. “I’ll see you tomorrow in class, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah— see you!” he said, and with a Click! she was gone. Turning off his phone, he tossed it onto his bed and groaned, putting his head in his hands and frowning. He was way too enthusiastic to say See you!. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his phone again and slipped it into his pocket before grabbing his mask and slipping it over his face; it was time to patrol, not to daydream. Cracking open his window, he was gone.

---

SOMETHING WAS WRONG. Peter felt it as soon as he went on patrol for the night. The streets of the city were empty, the night breeze whisking up the dust of the pavement and paving a path for no one. It was unlike Queens to be so quiet at this time of night; even at a quarter past midnight, the city was usually lively, however this night was different.

Mindlessly winging along the sides of the cities skyscrapers, Peter wondered what could be the cause of this weird occurrence. It wasn’t like someone kidnapped and hid away the entire population of Queens... nor was their some kind of alien abduction (he would’ve seen it). Maybe it was a holiday he wasn’t aware of and every happened to go on vacation at the same time. Or maybe—

“Woah!” said a voice, and before his eyes focused back into the world around him, he slammed face first into another figure. He shot a hand up as he flipped upside down, a web sticking onto one of the nearby billboards above, and watched as the mysterious figure slid down the wall before coming to a pause. He blinked. How were they sticking to the wall?

Lowering himself down, he stared at the figure. He might have been watching them from an upside-down point of view, but he could see clearly the web design on their suit. 

“Hi,” he said, tilting his head to the side as though to watch them more clearly. They lifted their head, pushing h/c out of their eyes; they had a red mask over their nose and mouth, e/c eyes blinking up at him. 

The torso of their suit was silver, with a red-and-black web pattern across their chest, however the arms and legs were black with the exception of her fingers, which were painted a bright red. Woah.

“Uhm,” Peter said again. “How’s it hangin’?”

“It’s all right,” the figure said; the voice was feminine, familiar. He felt his stomach jump for a second, as though he knew who it was, but it went away after a moment. “With the exception of you slamming into me.”

“Sorry about that,” Peter lowered himself more and crawled up the single web so he could be right-side up, at her eye-level. “Wasn’t paying attention. Hey, who are you?”

“None of your bees-wax,” she sassed, lifting a hand up. “I gotta go.”

“Woah, woah!” Peter shot out a web to intercept hers, swinging up to follow her. “Hey, c’mon! You know who I am, right?”

“Obviously,” she said, her back to him as she swung away. “Doesn’t mean I owe you anything.”

Peter frowned under his mask. “Well, how’re you also SpiderMan? Or... Spider-Woman? Sorry.”

“It’s Silk, actually,” she said exasperatedly. “And I’m what you call also SpiderMan because some nasty insect decided to bite me two days ago.”

“Yesterday?” Peter mused, still following her. “How’re you swinging so well, then?”

“Practice,” she shrugged and came to a stop on a nearby rooftop. “Are you gonna follow me all the way home, or what?”

“Oh, sorry,” Peter launched himself towards her, landing on the same roof. “I’m just... curious. Hey, were you the reason why everyone was gone?”

“Yup. Huge robbery at the edge of the city. Everyone sort of flocked outside when I got ‘em out of the place,” she said, crossing her arms over his chest. Peter stared, eyes trailing over the fine details of her suit. She furrowed her brows. “Hey! Look me in the eyes when I’m talking to you, you creep!”

“Sorry! Sorry!” Peter flinched. “I wasn’t— I wasn’t staring at your— I was looking at your suit! It’s really cool.”

“Thanks,” she avoided his eyes and rubbed the side of her head. Peter then noticed she had a bruise forming on her upper cheekbone. “I need to go home, okay?”

“Okay, yeah,” Peter nodded feverishly. “Didn’t mean to keep you.”

“All good, SpiderMan,” she gave him a salute and said, “See you ‘round.”

---

WORD OF SILK had spread faster than Peter anticipated. The next day at school, her name permeated about the hallways, whispers of her trickling around Peter wherever he went. She was the first thing Ned spoke of when Peter saw him that morning, and he was floored to find out Peter had actually met her.

Y/N was not in the calculus classroom when Peter walked in. She usually was there before him, however the seat in front of him remained empty. James, her boyfriend, came in earlier than usual, looking especially cranky. Peter gave him his own glare (which wasn’t very menacing, but he liked to pretend it was) before averting his eyes to his graph paper. 

“The hell are you looking at, Parker?” James barked. Peter shifted his eyes up.

“Nothing,” Peter said.

James scoffed and slumped into his seat, running a hand through his hair before sending a nod of a greeting to the girl who sat on the other side of him. Peter frowned at this, watching as the random girl blushed and sent a wave back. 

Right before the bell rang, as the last kids settled into their seats, Y/N speed-walked in, frantically apologizing to the teacher as she hustled into her seat. Peter sat up straighter, staring to try and meet her eyes, but she slid into her seat without looking up at anyone. 

The teacher, Mr. Bruno, began to teach, and Peter watched as James leaned over to nudge Y/N with the eraser of his pencil. She snapped her head over; her eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks flushed red, and her fist was clenched around her pencil.

“Woah,” James whispered. “What happened to you?”

She deeply inhaled through her nose, closing her eyes for a moment. “What do you want?”

“Don’t take that tone with me,” James furrowed his brow. “You did the homework, right?”

“Yes, but I can’t give it to you now,” she whispered. “Mr. Bruno’s teaching, and I’d get in trouble—”

“Oh, come on, Y/N, just slide it over,” James said dismissively. “Won’t hurt you. It’s really not that big of a deal—”

“She said no,” Peter blurted. James whipped his head around, as did Y/N. She blinked at him, e/c eyes shining, and she gave him a pursed-lip smile that said thanks, but you shouldn’t have done that.

“The hell did you just say?” James hissed. “Huh, Penis Parker? You got somethin’ to say?”

“Yeah,” Peter gulped. “She said no. Leave her alone.”

“She’s my girlfriend,” James barked. “This is our business, all right?”

Y/N said nothing, avoiding both of their eyes; she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, and Peter saw her chest begin to ride and fall rather quickly. It was then he noticed, as he stared at her, that there was a large bruise on the side of her cheek. Oh god, Peter thought. He’s hitting her.

“You shouldn’t speak to your girlfriend that way,” Peter muttered, turning back to face the whiteboard, copying down the notes that Mr. Bruno had written. “It’s disrespectful.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m going to take your relationship advice, Parker,” James scoffed, shaking his head. “No girl could ever date you, man.”

“Quit being a dick, James!” Y/N said rather loudly, to which Mr. Bruno finally turned around and set his eyes on her. The classroom fell silent.

“Ms. L/N, please don’t use that kind of language in my classroom,” he said gently, to which Y/N melted into her chair and nodded her head.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, casting her eyes down. She didn’t speak for the rest of the class, ignoring glares she received from James. She didn’t even turn around when they were told to work independently. Peter prayed she wouldn’t pay for his actions.

“Hey,” he said to her as soon as the bell rang, reaching over to touch her shoulder. She jumped back, eyes wide, before her shoulders deflating at the sight of him.

“Oh, sorry, Pete,” she said, her voice tired. Her eyes were still bloodshot and glistening, and he stared at her gently with concern. “Scared me.”

“Wait here for a sec,” he told her, watching as James threw his bag over his shoulder. She gave him a look. “Please?”

“Y/N, c’mon,” James beckoned her. Y/N spared Peter a look before she turned and said.

“I’ll catch up,” she said carefully. “I gotta talk to Pete.”

James glanced in between them cynically, before his malicious glare settled on Peter. He clenched his jaw and said, “Fine,” before stomping out of the classroom.

“Are you okay?” Peter asked Y/N once James was out of earshot.

“I’m just tired, I promise,” she assured him. “I didn’t sleep well.”

“You’re all flushed. And your face is bruised...” Peter lifted a hand up absentmindedly as though to graze the bruise with his knuckle, but he snapped his hand back down to his side when he realized what he was doing. Glancing back at the door, where James had disappeared, Peter said, “Look, if somethings wrong... if you’re not safe...”

Y/N furrowed her brows. “Safe? I’m plenty safe, I promise. What is this about?”

“James,” Peter said. “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, but... he kind of treats you like shit, Y/N.”

“I — he’s just...” she gulped. “He gets angry. I know it’s not good, but...”

She clenched her jaw and glanced feverishly behind Peter. 

“It’s not like I can just dump him and have everything be all rainbows and sunshine, okay?” her shoulders tensed. “He’s my first boyfriend, I... I can’t just dump him.”

Peter frowned and glanced down at her bruised cheek. “But he’s...”

Y/N lifted a hand to touch her bruise, and with a faint smile she said, “I know what you’re thinking. He didn’t hit me, Pete.”

“You don’t have to lie,” Peter pressed further. Y/N furrowed her brows. “You can tell me. I can help you—”

“It’s not from him, Peter!” she insisted and threw her backpack over her shoulder, however it accidentally whacked her water bottle than had been sitting on the corner of the desk. 

Peter, the hairs on his arms raising, lunged forward to grab it, however his fingers bumped right into hers. Lifting his eyes up, he saw that she had caught the bottle before he had. How...? he couldn’t finish the thought. She pursed her lips and turned to tuck the water bottle into the side pocket of her bag. 

“Don’t worry about me, Peter,” she said hastily without looking at him, her hand not leaving the water bottle on the side of her backpack. 

She shook her wrist around as though to try and take her fingers off the bottle, however her hand stayed put. Peter watched intently. Y/N finally settled on taking the bottle out and holding it in front of her. 

“I’m fine,” she told him firmly. “Erm — see you.”

And she circling around him without another word, starting towards the door. Peter hastily turned to grab his own bag in an attempt to rush after her.

“Wait, you left your—!” Peter picked up her pencil and turned around, but she was already gone. Sighing, he moved to put the pencil down, but something caught him off guard; a strand of a spider web wrapped around the eraser like a cocoon. His head snapped up.

No fucking way. 

---

DESPITE HAVING A good amount of classes with her, Y/N seemed to keep slipping out of his grasp again and again throughout the day. She ignored the notes he kept asking Ned to give her in History, pretending like she didn’t see him staring at her in English, speed-walking away from him in the cafeteria. Peter was sure he’d have to web her to keep her in one place just so he could talk to her.

By the sound of the final bell, Peter raced out of his last class (Physics) and practically sprinted to his locker before pushing his way down the stairwell in an attempt to reach the main entrance to the school to find Y/N. She parked her car on the side of the building, and although Peter walked the other way to catch his bus home, he decided to walk to her car. But when he reached her car, and she wasn’t there, he realized how creepy he probably seemed.

“Pete?” he heard his name, and he grimaced before turning around. Y/N was standing on the sidewalk, books hugged to her chest.

“Hey,” he dragged out, tensing his shoulders. “Uhm. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she sighed, walking around the other side of the car to drop her backpack and books onto the passenger seat. “What... erm... what’re you doing at my car?”

“Well, that’s... it’s...” Peter pursed his lips. Digging into his pocket, he took out her web-wrapped pencil. Her brows twitched. “I found this.”

“Thanks,” she reached out and grabbed it from him. “I was looking for it.”

“No, that’s... look at the end of it,” Peter said. At this, she furrowed her brows in confusion and glanced down at the eraser, covered in silk. She clenched her jaw and said nothing. “I... you can tell me, y’know.”

“Tell you what?” she said, putting her pencil back in her pocket. Peter opened his mouth wordlessly. “What’s up with you and your accusations today?”

“Okay, in my defense, it’s kind of hard to not thing you’ve got an abusive boyfriend when he treats you — and everyone else, might I add! — like shit all the time, every day.”

“I — he doesn’t —”

“So when you come into class looking like you’re about to cry, and with a bad bruise on the side of your cheek, excuse me for being just a little bit concerned!” Peter blurted. Y/N stared at him wordlessly. “And now there’s spider-web wrapped around your pencil. And the whole school is talking about this mysterious spider-woman—”

“She’s not a Spider-Woman,” Y/N muttered, brushing past Peter and opening the door to the driver’s seat. “Her names’ Silk.”

“Proving my point!” Peter threw his arms up. “I know it’s you! Silk said the same thing!”

At this, Y/N squinted and peered at him oddly. “What do you mean Silk said the same thing? Have you met her?”

Peter opened and closed his mouth like a fish for a moment. “I — that’s — no! Of course I haven’t! When — when would I have —?”

“Ah, okay,” Y/N suddenly smirked. “Why don’t you tell me what your deal is, then? I know it’s you!”

Peter clenched his jaw. “What... don’t turn this on me! This is about you!”

“You just made it about you,” Y/N stepped forward to him, and lowering her voice to a whisper, she said, “Spider-Man.”

Peter flushed and jumped back. “No! No, that’s — I don’t know where you’re getting that from! Look at me, I can’t be — I could never be — look at me! I don’t even—”

Y/N suddenly threw her phone out towards the ground at Peter’s feet. Cutting off his ramble, he struck his hand out nonchalantly and catch the phone. Handing it back to her, he continued, “Careful with that. But, anyways, it’s not me!”

“You just caught that in less than a second,” Y/N deadpanned. “If you’re honest with me, I’ll be honest with you.”

Peter stared at her for a moment, unsure. Rocking back and forth on his feet, he squinted and said, “You first.”

Sighing, she rolled her eyes and said, “Okay. You’re right.”

“Ha!” Peter pumped a fist in the air. “Knew it!”

“Now you.”

He frowned and took a deep breath. “You... I... you can’t tell anyone.”

She suddenly beamed. “Y’know, I thought there was something suspiciously charming about Spider-Man.”

Red-faced, Peter said, “Charming?”

“Yeah,” Y/N shrugged sheepishly, her face tinged pink. “Look, I... James is...” she sighed. “I broke up with him. Right after last period.”

Peter’s face lit up.

“But... it’s not all sunshine and roses now,” she muttered. “He made a big stink about it and now he won’t stop calling me, and... he just... he scares me a bit.”

He frowned and took a step closer to her, leaning against the side of the car to face her. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

“Thanks," she said half-heartedly.

“I’m serious,” Peter said, bowing his head slightly and staring down at her. “He might be a wrestler or whatever he is, but I’m literally a superhero.”

She snickered.

“What?”

“Nothing, it just sounds funny,” she giggled and glanced away, her cheeks still pink. “I appreciate it, Pete. Really.”

She was closer to him than he had anticipated, her sweet-smelling perfume flooding his sensing and ensnaring him in his place. He swallowed, his hands twitching at his sides as he felt an invisible force push him closer, faces leaning in.  

“Hey!” came a voice from their side. An old woman, standing by the door of her house nearby Y/N’s car was parked. “You can’t stay parked there all afternoon, y’hear!”

“Sorry, ma’am!” Y/N called back, giggling. Peter laughed as well, ducking his head and running a hand through his hair bashfully. “Looks like we should move.”

“Yeah,” was all Peter could find it in him to say. She grinned and glanced to her side again. Peter followed her eyes, noticing that she was watching the old woman walk back into her house. “What should —!”

Y/N had shot her hand out, a web flying from her wrist and sticking to his side to pull him in and press her lips to his. It was hasty, the kiss, and just as she pulled away, she beamed and slid into the driver’s seat.

“You want a ride, or what?”

---

a/n: okay i kind of love this a lot. its cute. 

taglist: @childishnewt @niallhoransupremacy @criesinlies @fairydxll @mcximffs @minbeatriz16 @slvtforfictionalcharacters @kaqua @thorrealgf @pagesbetweensheets @xlucyintheskywithdiamondsx @eichenhouseproperty @julster

[reactionimagesdaily]

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

[creativenicocorner]

Piggybacking off of @undeadchestnut​ ‘s wonderful thoughts in this post  (and decided to make my own post because although my thoughts are in the ballpark it might deviate from the posts original intention - and that’s not fair to op ) 

I am eternally glad I’m not alone in these thoughts! Because I absolutely believe Jim has never resolved his trauma both on screen and off. 

And what we see in ROTT is the unfortunate consequences of that, be it as an anxiety induced nightmare or not.

 It is a cautionary tale all the same.

The show has always had a sort of brushing away from trauma and skipping away from a moment to mourn (most likely to get to the next pretty thing or fart joke). It’s a little less in season 1 but still.

And yes, that choice could easily be an executive decision in trying to keep the target audience entertained and laughing - which is fair, but also not so fair. It would have been amazing - especially under the brand name of GDT monster lover extraordinaire - for a kids show to take the time to teach its audience that mourning and looking out for yourself is Important and Needed otherwise there’s a risk of self destructive tendencies developing and heightened stress affecting behavior and judgment [ point to slightly out of character Jim ]

Children should learn how to mourn, and know yes it is sad, and those feelings are okay and should learn how to navigate through them in a healthy way. Its just as important as occasionally scaring kids in shows - they are far smarter and cleverer than we give them credit for and sometimes showing sadness and scary things is beneficial! Just look at Inside Out! Or just any interview with Neil Gaiman on the importance of this!!

Gaiman confesses that the “Hansel and Gretel” fairy tale really frightens him, but he does believe that children must be exposed to dark stories. Gaiman thinks that “if you are protected from dark things then you have no protection of, knowledge of, or understanding of dark things when they show up. I think it is really important to show dark things to kids—and in the showing, to also show that dark things can be beaten, that you have power.” quote from here [x]

And while TOA had attempted this they never committed to it! And the attempts and commitments has, in my opinion, depleted since after season one.

Season one ends with Aargh turning to stone, and Jim watching Toby mourn, and in turn making a choice to go into the Darklands alone instead of taking the time to mourn WITH Toby. Season two after showing how Jim in the darklands alone was Not a Great Idea At All and wonderfully shown the teamwork between Jim and Nomura and was saved from Gunmar with the help of Jims friends. That sharing the burden leads to better results than carrying it alone. Season three we have Merlin going ‘no friends! only you!’ and thus begins the return of Jim’s hero Atlas ‘its gotta be me’ complex. Granted!! It’s not always there!! But the instigator sure is.

But I’m getting ahead of myself ldkjg What I’m underlining is Attempts have been made, these topics have been brought up, but there has been a lack of confidence in committing to it. Most likely due to executive and producer influence - which brings me to...

And while we can go as in depth as we want, we cannot ignore the cold hand of that ever present shadow of Capitalism and Showbiz Executives. The company has products to sell and watching kids cry is not going to sell little plush toys. Showbiz gotta showbiz, and when producers think fart jokes sell more toys than tears well..[vague hand gesture] you get some questionable disappointing choices.

But I digress.

ROTT could have had this wonderful potential in showing that Jim has finally learned and accepted that he doesn’t have to do this alone. Putting this immense stress on an individual and not showing how to share the burden leads to questionable choices!! Cue the previously mentioned self destructive tendencies and warped behavior.

The theme discussed as far back as season 2 is ignored, and instead we go digging even more into the whole Atlas spiel when the Atlas thing (I think) was more of a cautionary nickname given by Strickler. It was originally the Titan Atlas’s punishment to hold the heavens. What was a mythological condemnation is treated as Jim willingly putting the weight of every burden on his own shoulders and that’s not okay!! Not great for adults and especially not great for teens!! And while mythologically speaking Atlas does eventually get relieved from his duties with the Pillars of Hercules, Jim does not! He turns away time and again from a support system that could help ease the weight on his shoulders.  (yes I know the Pillars has multiple stories, but I’m choosing the power of friendship one on this).

Young Atlas does not choose liberation or Pillars of help in ROTT, he passes the burden of the heavens to Toby instead. Jim does not resolve his trauma but pushes it away, and hurts (unintentionally or not) those around him in the process.

The Krohnisfere - which is a very wonky way of spelling CRONUS or CRONOS or KRONOS (The Titan of TIME btw) - could have been used as a plot device in learning to take the time to process, resolve trauma, and care about yourself.

Which sounds potentially boring mixed in with a bunch of magic and robot mecha fights (well not to me lkjg) but it could have been done in an interesting and creative way!! Jim could learn to take the time tor process and accept help and we could still get the giant mecha pacific rim reference fights (and subsequently sold toys that looked like robots). What I’m Trying to say is, they could have done so much more with all of this and still get this message across. 

Anyways ROTT is a cautionary tale on what happens when you don’t take the time to take care of yourself, and subsequently hurt others and (intentionally or not) pass trauma onto others.  

So take the time to take care of yourself kids!! Because THAT is how “Krohnisfere will make right.”

Or as Strickler famously quoted Billy Joel’s song James in Season 1, Episode 1 said, “Do what's good for you, or you're not good for anybody.”

This is one hefty 2 cents on my part  and a very wordy way of saying HARD AGREE, but what can I say? 

ANYWHO I’m HCing Jim wakes up from this nightmare back at his house at the end of Wizards, and asks Barbara and Strickler about potential therapists he can see, and has a heart to heart, and Jim/Young Atlas finally finally learns to accept the Pillars of Hercules/his friends + support group. 

Because no one should be condemned to hold up the heavens alone. You’re not alone. 

Best Wishes,  Nico

[aisuho]

7′sCarlet #2 (Toa)

Spoilers to follow. You’ve been warned.

Toa Kushinada

As I replayed the common route to get to Toa’s, a thought occurred me... the eye observing the heroine in the forest are very girly... and they’re red, which made me remember what MC said about her eyes becoming red when taking pictures.

Anyway, going back to Toa, he’s a shy character. I didn’t know much about him since he barely appears in the other’s routes. He is always surrounded by cats and is a little clumsy.

I was looking forward to having a more light time with him, since Isora was suffocating in many ways.

About the concert thing... I was wondering what was the point of that in the last two routes, but since it was always cancelled and left more to the side, I didn’t pay it much attention. It became clear, however, as I tried to get Toa’s route in the common/general one, that it would play some part in his. Yeah, it looks like Toa is the said celebrity, A-TO.

Beginning his route, you learn right from the start a little more about him and the fact that he was born (and spent his childhood) in Okunezato. He also talks about the Okune Panda and how a child created it. Hm...! Not very subtle, Toa,

As you go back to the hotel, Toa reveals to MC that he forgot to lock up his room; not only that, it’s also said that Yua stepped out for a moment to buy food, which means that for some time the hotel was left unsupervised, free to whoever do whatever. And yet, as if those signs weren’t enough, MC finds dirt and a leaf in the lobby. Do I smell trouble or what? I just wish the game was more subtle than that.

As you meet him in the Okune Shrine the next day, he confirms that he was the child he talked about, the one that created the Okune Panda. You also learn about the second accident, although not much comes from that for now.

One thing that bothered me is how you go back to the hotel, and after taking a bath you go to the cafe, when the same scene that has happened in Isora’s route (or was it in Hino’s...?) is repeated. And you can’t skip it. Like, why??? The only difference was that instead of talking about the mystery of the fox fire, Isora talks about the crescent shape of the town. Otherwise, the dialogue is the same and ends up with Yuki asking for the club to be disbanded.

Btw, the body found fell the day before, which means it was during the festival. If you and Toa were both there watching the fireworks... how could that be? Well, Toa said he heard a voice during your talking with him.

Oh, later an accident leads MC to finding out that Toa is in fact, A-TO (A...To, To...A, LOL). Was that a basic “awkward and shy girl (in this case, guy) turns out to be a beauty/someone famous” cliché? You bet it was, and I have no problem with it whatsoever. Anyway, as you leave the cafe Toa is left behind to clear the heroine��s mess, and my dear... what in the actual forsaken spirit was that scene of a creepy female voice moaning “Toa”?

The next day we find out what the woman in suit (supposedly A-TO’s manager) and Yua were arguing about. I like how the missing pieces of the puzzle are slowly revealed and fit together.

Toa than goes on to tell MC that he had a sister, and more about his childhood his life as A-TO. That made me think that the voice in the cafe was hers -- Toa’s sister’s.

It seems like Toa has met MC before, probably from the time she lived there, as he reveals that he wrote a song for his first love. And his confession towards the heroine too...! It came really early, but the romantic scene ended so abruptly... Now that I think about it, the romance scenes in this games are all very short, and end suddenly. I’m not sure why was that.

I’m not too sure what to think about his manager, honestly. Her threat made it sound like she had a thing for A-TO, but I can’t say for certain.

Oh, MC does something smart too; in Toa’s route she uses her position as a staff in the hotel to look on the record of past guests, to see if her brother stayed in there. Although she finds nothing, we learn that her brother may used an alias while in town (which she may know); sadly, she never had the opportunity to confirm that last part, as Yuki shoos her off.

Then MC goes and tell Toa they can’t see each other anymore. Hm... I’m glad he saw right through MC that his manager must have said something, though. I felt a little sorry for him, he seemed really sad about it.

A-TO runs away from his rehearsal and MC goes to find him. He then confesses his love and MC accepts it, leading to them to make up. It was a cute scene and all, everything seems to be going fine... BUT IS IT? Men in black appear and shovel Toa down, rip his shirt in search of something... and when everything is a mess, Sosuke appears from out of nowhere and tells the men to back off, saying Toa isn’t a revenant. Yup, Sosuke is more than he lets out (remember how he was missing during the club’s last meeting?).

Honestly, when the unknown voice appeared, at first I thought it was MC’s brother, haha. I’m guessing the men in black are the so phased vigilance committee (which is confirmed in the next scene).

Fast-forwarding a little, you get a note from Toa to meet on the overlook. Only to find out it was a trap and our phased masked-man appears. Toa then comes to the rescue, followed by the vigilance committee (and Yasu), which makes the masked man escape. However, he lets out a warning to MC first, saying that more like him will come after her, that it was her fate and so on.

Well, in the end it turned out that Toa did meet MC at the same period she met Isora, so you can find a pattern here already. But I wonder what happened to her brother during that time? There doesn’t seem to be a mention of him at any moment, and also... that moment when Yuzuki cornered her about her intentions of coming to Okunezato, he seemed to recognize her; was it from that period? Did he recognize her from when she was a child? I’m not sure how old he is, so I can’t guess his age from during that summer, a few years back.

Interesting enough, during the flashback from that summer, young-MC says she must go back because her aunt and uncle would be worried. Again, no mention of brother.

In the end, everything is kind of solved, although the concert did end up being cancelled.

I really liked Toa’s character and his route. As I’ve imagined, it was lighter and fun. He is always kind and truthful, both as Toa and as A-TO. It’s adorable how he fumbles, without it being too much to the point of annoyance.

However, I have some critics about the route. The first one is that the others characters really fade away, Hino makes no appearance after the meeting, which was quite weird when thinking about it. Although you see a lot of Yuki in this route. Also, it seems that he wasn’t kidnapped this time around, given that the club didn’t disband. Not to mention, MC’s brother’s disappearance was also left to the side, with no new discovery other than he might have used an alias while in town (after that he is never mentioned again). That doesn’t make the route less enjoyable, but it feels like the main point was quite of forgotten.

Also, Toa’s fears of hospitals is never explained, nor is the voice he heard in the cafe -- or in the overlook, for that matter (to be fair, MC guessed the later to be  masked-man’s voice, but given his reaction when questioned, I have some doubts regarding that).

One last thing, that had already bothered me in Isora’s route but also happened in Toa’s is that the character’s art doesn’t seem to reflect they estate. I’m not talking about their expressions, but like for exempla, when Isora’s in the hospital and his hand is hurt, his character only has the hospital’s robe, no injured hand whatsoever. Something similar happens to Toa, when near the end he cuts his cheek, no alteration to his character’s art. It’s not a problem per se, but given how the game goes out of its way to make MC’s avatar change according to her clothes (and so is everyone else), it felt like something was lacking.

Oh, but we did learn a lot of things this time around!

First, we finally get to see the vigilance committee, which led to us discovering the other half of the revenant’s mystery (the fact that when a revenant kills someone, he receives a scar as part of the curse). We also learned that Sosuke is tied to said committee (and possibly Murakamos). Lastly, we finally got to know who’s house MC stayed in when she was younger.