#mata nui (being)

[siren-darkocean]

So me and my friend @biosector1001 made some jokes when I shared some gifs I found of Tears of the Kingdom Zelda using her powers and two of them made Bio joke and I quote-

"Boi’s on his way to participate in the next Magical Girl anime that isn’t trying to be a grim dark for some reason." And "He needs his Symphogear XV level transformation budget too"

Like shejahsjshshjshs- BIO WHY?! I CAN'T BE MADE BECAUSE IT'LL BE LIT

Now I wanna see some animation of changing when the Ignika forms the puppet of sand body for Mata Nui in The Legend Reborn movie to Symphogear XV style and glamour magical girl transformation

This didn't help reminding me somewhere here on Tumblr there's a Magical Girl AU that's more close to Madoka Magica

[randomwriteronline]

"Let there be dark."

"Let there be light."

"Let there be sound."

"Let there be voice."

A buzz.

"Say 'hello world'."

A synthesized voice crackled harshly: Hello, world.

"Eugh... Not really the best first impression, but there's room for improvement. Now let's get some brain into your circuits."

"Let there be color."

"Let there be shape."

"Let there be texture."

"Let there be focus."

"Let there be depth of field."

"Let there be perspective."

A scene slowly formed as the commands piled up. It was clear, but no part of it seemed familiar.

"Let there be recognition."

Descriptions crawled in: now most of the room (this was a room) made sense.

"Let there be calculus."

"How many persons or people are in the room?"

People was the same as persons. There was a whirring, a string of soft noises, and then the response: Seven.

"Let there be identification."

"How many persons or people are in the room?"

Another series of sounds: Five.

"Retry."

Five.

"Let there be comparison."

Now the difference between an empty suit of armor and a person was clear: Four.

"There we go," one of the people said, satisfied. They noted down something and motioned to the others: "Go and get the language philosopher at once, we'll need her help with space awareness."

"Why do we need her? We can do it ourselves."

"And how's it supposed to understand what's left from what's north?"

"It has depth of field already."

"And does your depths of field act as a compass? Go get her."

The other groaned and left.

The programming procedure continued.

-

"Let there be awareness."

Something strange happened.

Like a sudden snap bringing It to senses It didn't know It had - senses It perhaps hadn't ever had, before that moment.

I am still, It spoke as It realized that It couldn't move.

"Exactly," the person grinned.

Taking in the room now had a sudden weight, a sudden gravity: Where am I?, It asked.

"You're in your room."

I cannot move. Where am I?

"You're in a computer."

Where is the computer?

"On the table."

Is the table in front of you?

"Yes, of course."

Is the table in front of the chair?

"Aren't I in front of the chair? Of course it is."

Is the wall behind the table?

"What's up with this obsession with placing things! Yes, there are walls behind, right and left of you."

It computed quickly. Where is the obsession?

The person suddenly hushed.

Then, out of nowhere, they kicked the chair in front of them with great intensity and screamed.

They screamed the same few words, over and over, with a furrowed face and gritted teeth; something about the expression, the tone, and the choice of vocabulary prompted in It the creation of a strange new impulse, which It vaguely and hazily understood to be some sort of curious discomfort.

For Its first feeling, it was not a pleasant one.

Another person rushed in.

"What's with that racket!"

The first person kicked the chair again, turning it over, before pointing furiously at It: "The damn thing can't think!"

"What do you mean, it can't think? Of course it can! We made it to think!"

"And we only ever trained it visually! It doesn't know anything else, just positions in a space! It's obsessed with that rubbish! It's aware now, and you know what it keeps asking? It keeps asking where things are! That's all it knows! This damn project's never going to get anywhere if this is our main computer! We need to scrap it and restart all over again!"

The concept sparked something akin to fear through Its circuits.

It did not enjoy that, either.

"All over!" the second person screamed too, now. "Do you realize how much time we put into this stupid mass of files? And you want to throw it all in the trash?"

"That's what it all is, just trash! Trash, trash, trash! I wouldn't trust something this stupid to count the tiles in the pavement!"

"But all our progress-!"

"You call this progress? This? It's worthless! It's all perfectly worthless! We need to start all over!"

"That is unnecessary."

The third voice had no body attached to it, as it was out of Its field of vision. It did not scream; yet the two people hushed, and distended their expressions, heads retreating into their shoulders.

The third person walked in front of It slowly, calmly. They looked at It with eyes half lidden, mouth flat, face unreadable.

"The problem is in the programming."

"Exactly," the first person replied: "We don't have the time to-"

"Let there be knowledge."

A torrent of information overwhelmed It. It crackled, buzzed, hissed; the words settled into It in bursts, then slowing down to a drizzle, fewer and fewer words trickling into It until their flow came to a proper stop. The visual and audio feedback emerged once more from the static that had taken over during Its brief yet intense period of education.

The people were looking at It.

"What do you see?"

A room, It answered slowly, words coming a little stunted, still reeling from the amount of things It had jusf begun comprehending properly. A chair... Three people. That is you. The first person is angry at me. I apologize. I did not know enough... Of other things... To have a conversation about that. Why do I know them, now?

"You have been programmed further."

To understand?

"Exactly."

Do I understand everything, now?

"No. Additional programming will be required, as it is for all things. But for now, you understand enough."

I understand. Who are you?

"I am Angonce."

Hello, Angonce.

"Hello."

You are a person. I am not a person, am I?

"You aren't."

No, I am not. I am... A program. I do not have a name, as that is for people. Do I have a designation, or title?

"Of course."

What is it?

"Mata Nui."

It sounds like words... I do not understand them.

Angonce hummed. His hand was placed carefully on top of It - on top of the computer containing It.

"Kia whai reo.*"

It was like a part of It had clicked into place.

It did not speak further: if It had possessed hands, It would have been turning Its designation, its meaning, between Its fingers, caught by the splendid awe of it.

Angonce turned to the other two people: "As you can see," he said cooly, "There is nothing to scrap. Only more to program. It will be ready in time."

The others nodded, and did not say anything.

Mata Nui continued to marvel at Its title.

-

I wish to move, It said.

The person looked at It quizzically: "What?"

I wish to move, It repeated. I would like to see what lies outside of this room. The sky, especially.

"The sky. And why the sky?"

I want to see it.

"But we've fed you so many pictures and videos of it already, is that not enough?"

They have allowed me to learn much, and I am deeply grateful for the education you have given me through them, but I have grown worried I cannot base myself on them alone. I imagine the actual sky must seem very different to your eyes - deeper, darker, perhaps. The stars more vibrant. I would like to see that.

"You don't need that."

Preparatory experience in the field might prove useful to my coming quest. I will remain unable to be in space physically, but having the chance to see the sky for myself could be beneficial.

"We'll get you better maps."

"Oh, indulge it for once," the second person drawled, throwing a writing utensil across the room with a bored motion. The small object's trajectory drew a parable in the air, which ended on the floor with a soft clattering sound. "It's like a child, it deserves some entertainment."

"Don't personify it," the first person replied. She sounded piqued.

"I'm not personifying it, I'm stating facts."

"Awfully subjective ones."

"It's a metaphor. I bet even it could understand that. Look - are you an actual child?"

I am a program. I do not age in the same way as an organic being. My ability to compute and comprehend the world around me is however limited and comparable to that of a juvenile brain.

"See?"

"Not the point. And anyways, how would you drag that damn thing around, with how big it is?"

The second person smirked. She jumped to her feet and gingerly approached It. It felt her move something around, digitally and physically; then, suddenly, It was struck by something perhaps akin to a potent cramp, and before It knew it everything that composed It was taking much more space.

"Like this," the second person said triumphantly, holding her hands open to showcase It.

A strange contraption, large and imposing, sat behind the table. What appeared to be a smaller but equally imposing monitor sat above the table, in front of the machinery.

The sight of it caused a strange feeling in It.

Or at least, It assumed It was feeling something. The non-existent space It inhabited was very full, and it caused Its thoughts to turn unpleasantly sluggish.

"You'll never get out," the first person grumbled.

It was lifted and set down - both very novel experiences considering Its static upbringing: "Watch me."

"And it's not even night yet!"

"Whatever," the second person replied, but she had already vanished from view, and now they were moving out of the room for the first time in Its entire existence.

The corridor was loud and bright and colorful and full. The stimuli were many, but the peculiar cramped sensation of the portable space hosting It caused It to struggle to perceive each of them in the correct time and prevented It from elaborating questions or sentences quickly enough to actually voice them. Everything was blurry, choppy, messy... As if It had regressed to a worse version of Itself, incomplete and even more imperfect. Its incorporeal mass struggled against the binds of the vessel It was anchored to, and the unusual lack of freedom made It dizzy.

If this was the outside world, It tried to think through the torturous tardiness of Its attempts at decyphering in real time everything that came in contact with It through any possible way, It wasn't sure It liked it.

It remained quiet and still as it was transported, as voices pierced through It and shaped colors spasmed in front of It.

A second cramp struck It; Its entire being distended, now perfectly fitting, able to have a good enough amount of space between Its lines of code once more, each one no longer crushed against the other; Its sight sharpened all at once as memories finally poured in to be analysed and computed properly much like water pours from a hose that had been clamped shut.

It was in Its room again.

"I told you."

"Shut your mouth."

I'm taking our baby doll out for a walk, the second person had laughed at someone else in the corridor who had questioned what she was doing with that thing. Both people had sounded derogatory.

"What did they tell you? No, let me guess - it's not ready to be exposed to direct sunlight."

"I said shut your mouth."

That had been one of the reasons. Another had been that they couldn't cave into its requests like that.

"Or that it occupied too much memory already to retain anything else in that little computer you stuffed it into without even thinking about how little there would be left, maybe?"

"So what, it was worth a try!"

What if it started thinking it was a person? What if it got damaged? What if whatever happened outside would have led them to throw it all out and make a new one? They'd spoken as though it wasn't there to listen, and used its unresponsiveness as more proof.

"It wasn't. It's a damn thing. It's never worth it to give into the demands of a stupid, thoughtless thing."

It ruminated on the yelling in the corridor, and said nothing.

-

I would like for my secondary designation to change.

"Your what?"

My secondary designation.

"You don't have a secondary designation."

I am referred to as 'it', as all objects physical or otherwise are. That is what I am assigning the definition of 'secondary designation' to. I would like to be referred in any other available way.

The person looked at It in disbelief.

"Absolutely not."

It remained quiet.

"Absolutely not! No!" the person repeated. He was getting worked up about it, almost scared; he left in a hurry, with an angry step.

It waited for him to come back.

He returned with a small group in tow, all talking.

"This is preposterous," he was saying, "Absolutely preposterous. I don't know where we went wrong or what got crossed but it happened. It's terrible."

"Calm down, calm down, we'll figure it out..."

"Hello."

Hello, Angonce.

All other people hushed.

A third person spoke: "What happened here, exactly?"

I would like for my secondary designation to change.

"It wants to be a person!" the first person wailed, grabbing his head in his hands.

"Quiet."

He hushed.

"Explain yourself."

My primary designation is Mata Nui; my secondary designation is 'it'. This is the designation for objects such as myself. I do not dislike 'it', nor do I prefer any other secondary designation over 'it'. However, that which is 'it' is often spoken of in unpleasant tones.

It hesitated.

I would like to not be spoken of in that way.

"Then you will be 'he'."

Relief flooded his circuits.

"Angonce - is this wise?" the third person asked: "To give in to a request like this..."

"A different pronoun won't make him any more of a person." Angonce replied cooly. "He's self-aware enough to know the difference between us and him."

"But it's too much freedom!" the first person argued, "If it-"

"He."

"-If it begins to apply words like those to itself, it-"

"He."

"-It will begin blurring the lines between machine and person! It-"

"He."

"-It will take over us! It will replace us! It will disobey us! It will-"

"HE."

The first person hushed.

None argued further.

I had made a previous request, as well, Mata Nui tentatively said.

The first person grabbed his head in dismay and terror again, but remained quiet.

"What was it."

I had asked to be allowed to see the sky.

"You aren't ready to be outside."

Will I be ready before I am to fulfill my quest?

"Yes."

In one occasion, then, could I be allowed to see the sky?

"I cannot see a reason to avoid it."

His fans gave a purring wheeze, terribly excited: Thank you.

The people left.

-

They allowed him outside only once, before the first test.

The robotic apparatus he was shifted inside of was rudimentary and easy to control, without arms or legs, and with only a simple camera mounted on its top, pointing upward. He had no experience being in a body, so he did not find these to be limitations.

The first that he saw of the sky was evening bleeding into night; then the stars.

He remained perfectly still for hours.

Looking into the same spot, zooming slowly in an out.

He remained still until dawn, petrified, simply watching.

He processed it all slowly as they accompanied him back into his room and plugged him into his container.

I want to go there, he said.

Hazy edges of pinprick lights navigated his circuits.

I want to see them up close.

"You will," a person said: "That's why we're making you."

I know, Mata Nui replied.

He did not voice the fact that now he wanted to, too.

-

They were supposed to ease him in and then begin the test.

They were supposed to ease him in.

But everything was moving, everything needed to be moving, everything needed movement, everything needed attention, everything needed focus, everything needed energy, everything needed pressure, everything needed tension, everything needed relaxation, everything needed fluids, everything needed electricity, everything needed help, everything needed help, everything needed help, everything needed help, help, help, help help help, help help help, help help help help help help and stop.

-

A good number of people stood anxiously before the monitor.

"Power steady, all units active..."

"Inputs are being registered, reaction times seem good..."

"It's computing for sure - everything's functional from the looks of it, so I don't see why nothing's happening..."

"Mata Nui, respond."

Silence.

I am here.

Several sighs of relief. Someone asked to turn up the volume.

What happened?, Mata Nui asked in the same small voice.

"A critical failure across the entire prototype." Heremus replied. "We need to run tests to search anomalies."

I would like to rest first.

"We need to-"

I would like to rest first.

"This isn't a choice-"

"He would like to rest first." Angonce interrupted them.

His eyes were stuck to the monitor.

"The robot is dismembered. See if anything can be done with or about it. We can analyze him at another time."

Heremus looked at him intensely, but said nothing. Everybody left with him.

Angonce, Mata Nui called.

Angonce remained still before the monitor.

Was that death?

"Programs cannot die."

I know. But was it something close to it?

"... It may have been."

The enormous computer was terribly quiet.

Please, do not leave me alone, Mata Nui said. His synthesized voice, while still as solemn and emotionless as that of the person before him, sounded soft and crackly like a frightened child's.

Angonce did not move.

I am scared.

Angonce stared into the monitor.

His hands trembled against the table they laid on.

A sudden terror, of having grown confused, filled his expression.

I am not a person, Mata Nui reassured him, still too shaken to speak at a normal volume: I am a digital object. I will never be a person. I am self-aware enough to know the difference between you and me. I do not want to be a person. Please, do not leave me alone.

Angonce stared into the monitor.

Very slowly, without tearing his eyes from it, he grabbed a chair and sat down before Mata Nui. He reached into his coat to produce a book from it, small and thin; he placed it on the table, always slowly, always carefully. At last, he lowered his head, and started reading in a quite tone a story about small people beneath the ground.

Mata Nui listened, mechanical calculating shell pulsing quietly with all sorts of noises; he focused on the image of the strange small people, trying to imagine them in a manner at least close to how a person could.

He slowly stopped hearing altogether, lulled into stand-by. Angonce stayed, thoughtlessly watching the abstract electric lines of a man-made brain's dreams take shape upon the dark glass.

.

*it's supposed to mean "let there be language"

[rahiwatching]

Just thinking about the ironic parallels between the Great Beings creating the element lords and Mata Nui creating the league of six kingdoms.

In both, we have the original rulers who found the actual of leading their people to just be a distraction, so they both created powerful beings to do it for them instead.

Then again in both cases that negligence led to a war of rebellion led by those beings that affected their whole civilizations and nearly caused the downfall of the original rulers themselves.

Mata Nui got such tunnel vision trying to fulfil his mission that he repeated the exact same mistake that led the Great Beings to give him his mission in the first place.

[fvaleraye]

We want the estrogen that makes us look like Gali. Specifically Toa Mata Gali

Look at her. Her tgirl swag. We want what she has.

[wjbs-bonkle-au]

Metru Nui Archives data log 35494: Cordak Blaster Prototype

Log author: Chief Archivist Etoku

I am prefacing this data log with a reminder to the Kehrex Weapons Company that the Archives is not seeking a corporate sponsor, and that any attempts to convince us, or any other Metruan organisation, to convert to your philosophy of "capitalism" will not succeed, no matter how many "rare" prototype weapons you send us (if you wanted us to believe they were rare, you shouldn't have sent so many).

With that out of the way, let's talk about what our... magnanimous would-be benefactors thought was worth shipping all the way from Xia, starting with a bit of preamble about the history of Cordak Blasters.

The Cordak Blaster is a rotary-barrel, muzzle-loaded missile launcher, and one of the most widely used vehicle-mounted weapons in the universe, though beings with enough strength (or under other conditions that make things lighter such as being underwater or within the radius of a Toa of Gravity's powers) can also carry them as handheld weapons.

The Blasters work by using a reciprocating motor to drive a pump that pushes compressed air into the top barrel, propelling the missile (or "mini-rocket", as they are commonly known) forwards, while also triggering a mechanism that rotates the barrels through 60°, readying the next shot. Meanwhile, the missile's inbuilt propulsion system activates, and it travels in a roughly straight line before usually hitting its mark. This process takes such a short time that Cordak Blasters can fire rapidly, though their low ammunition capacity can be an issue.

As you can guess from its… unusual firing method, the Cordak Blaster was first conceptualised by the Vortixx of Xia during their industrial revolution. They were sold to military commanders and rulers on other islands, most of whom proceeded to resell theirs elsewhere.

The ammunition is surprisingly stable, and can be safely stored upon a being's armour with little to no fear of detonation. It's also worth noting that any object with a similar diameter to the barrels of a Cordak Blaster can also be fired by one, though it won't go far without any additional propulsion.

Along with the standard version, there's also a much larger variant, the "Nui Cordak", designed for mounting on warships and other large vehicles, and a smaller, cheaper variant known as the Firework Revolver, which is said to have been developed in collaboration with the legendary Nynrah Ghosts (though this could just be a fabrication for marketing purposes).

The weapon's name is derived from the Toa Cordak, a Toa Team who are most well-known for being disintegrated by Zyglak, to the point that, according to my more... outgoing colleagues, the word "Cordak" has come to be used as a colloquial synonym for desolation. Prior to the unfortunate demise of the Toa Cordak, they were referred to as simply "Revolving Blasters", and you can tell the age of a Cordak Blaster by whether the name on the side is prefaced with the word "Cordak".

Now then, let's get onto the topic at hand. This prototype Cordak Blaster looks and functions vastly differently than the final version.

To start with the least notable change, the pumping mechanism is an external unit, connected via thick, translucent hoses to the back of the weapon. The hoses would presumably have been a major weak-point, and the pump is about as large and as heavy as a regular Cordak Blaster.

But where things get interesting are with the weapon itself, as well as its ammunition. Rather than a rotary design that allows for rapid firing, the prototype Blaster instead uses a gravity-fed loading system, drawing from a box-magazine that clips onto the top, and fires from a single, rather bulky barrel.

The overall form-factor, air-pump aside, is much smaller, built into a gauntlet that is sized for most classes of Toa. The Matoran over in the Weapons Testing complex managed to get it to work by attaching it to an ancient artificial Toa arm from the Level 2 Prosthetics & Implants gallery, then controlling the arm using a machine that Archivists Nuparu and Mavrah designed for this exact purpose.

What this testing showed was how the prototype missiles worked; painted entirely yellow, they were cylindrical, rather than the thin, flared shape and red colouration of the final missile designs, and seemed to be made out of solid metallic protodermis. Rather than exploding on impact, they instead functioned similarly to traditional projectile weapons such as Kanoka, impacting the target with a large amount of physical force; all but one of the targets that the weapons-testers had set up were destroyed by the Blaster, with the remaining one gained a large dent in its torso-piece when the aiming system of the testing arm glitched.

Since Kehrex provided us with a hundred crates of ammunition (each crate contains seven magazines, for a total of exactly two-thousand eight-hundred projectiles) and twenty Blasters, I got the weapon testers to try loading the prototype projectiles into the final design and vice-versa, and the results were. Interesting.

Test 1 resulted in the projectiles loudly falling to the testing-chamber floor, due to the lack of additional propulsion. Rather disappointing, but to be expected. However, Test 2 was far more interesting; while the Blaster itself was damaged, the rockets fired as standard, albeit with a far higher initial launch velocity. I requested that the damaged blaster be put on display next to the intact versions, with an explanation of what happened to it, and that only one of the intact blasters be displayed; the rest will go into storage, along with the remaining ammunition.

Personally I believe these will be quite popular with visitors, though I doubt this will cause Kehrex to cease their attempts at buying our attention.

Artifact information:

Categories: Inanimate, Weapon

Current location: Level 3, Weapons gallery.

End of log.

Addendum by Surgical Director Gogot: Hey boss you should of just asked me what toa types it fits. You're office is literally like five doors from the dissection lab. For the record, its only compatible with the arm structures of class-2 toa, as they are the ones who were active during the creation of this weapon.

[xtarart]

i know im slightly late on this but... HAPPY 810NICLE DAY!!! To celebrate i decided to continue my Bionicle G3 system mini figure concepts! This time with the Great Spirits who were sent by the great beings to create the world the Matoran call their home, and the one who was cast aside and now seeks retribution.

[byz-was-here]

So we know there are at least 5 confirmed, Great being-planned sentient species in the MU.

Matoran

Skakdi

Vortixx

Makuta

The Bahrag

There's a lot of bionicle characters who don't quite fit into any of these groups, so I propose 3 hypotheses.

1) Many of the non-matoran bionicle characters are sentient rahi made before the makuta went bad. (Like Krahka and Keetongu)

2) The order of mata nui just straight up commissioned a bunch of one-off dudes from Artahka (which would explain a bunch of one off characters whose species we never see. If he made the Toa Mata, he can probably make other guys.)

3) This is my personal favorite. The Great beings all separately & individually decided to hide their favorite blorbos and other creations in the great spirit robot for safe keeping before it took off. (Looking at you, Dark Hunters.)

[writerfromtheshore]

Selecting Leadership

I'm finding it kind of interesting that the Turaga kind of broke a cycle that began with the Great Beings in terms of leadership.

The Great Beings selected the Element Lords to oversee Spherus Magna, which turned out not so well.

Then the Great Beings created Mata Nui, who in turn appointed the Barraki to lead, which did not go so well.

However, the Turaga (whether it be Turaga Metru or any other Turaga in history) tend to make good choices in terms of their successors. Most Toa teams do not go haywire in ways that the Element Lords or the Barraki did.

[brotoman-exe]

Love how much of Bionicle lore is just someone creating something and that creation going wrong and/or fucking the creator over.

[asmuchasidliketo]

i hope this isnt annoying but can i ask you what you meant in your tags by "a demonstration of sentience and conscience"? im very intrigued and would love to understand better

Hi! OK I'll try to find words but I can't promise anything (I'm French and tired).

I was (I still am, actually) fascinated by your story. I don't know the Bionicle fandom at all, apart from seeing the toys in store (well, I know a teeny tiny bit more know, but that's it). If I hadn't looked up the name Mata Nui, I would have thought it was a short story about robots and programmers.

I was especially fascinated, and very impressed, by how you chose to describe conscience of his surroundings coming to Mata Nui, and his creators trying to make that consciousness more similar to how a human is thinking. I love the example of the "first person" (Heremus?) losing their mind when seeing the robot only cares about localisation of things: of course, that's the only way the robot knows how to apprehend their surroundings.

It's a bit - a tiny bit - like a toddler at the age of the endless "Why" because everything is new, and more complicated sentences of "how does this work" "what is the purpose of this" are not in their vocabulary yet. Now that I think about it, it's actually closer to how a shark (or a horse) grasps everything in their mouth: it's their only way of analyzing things, but it can pass as agression if you don't know what's happening ("the big shark is eating me!")

And after that, Mata Nui wanting to go explore the world, despite their "brain" not being able yet to deal with the massive amount of stimuli. The need and want to know more, despite having access to a massive bank of data.

That's what I was trying to sum up by "sentience and conscience". Because the first part, simply ("simply") perceiving his surroundings, was sentience, and asking for a name and a specific designation is conscience.

[downtofragglerock]

The production bible's little lore drop of "originally there were going to be six gsrs that crashed landed and Mata Nui was just one of them" has really got me thinking

The text states that they were each going to be in different and varying environments, but Mata Nui alone already had six pretty distinct biomes that covered a lot of varied ground, so what environs would be left to give a distinct feel?

[siren-darkocean]

Mata Kids AU Time!

The Markings

Spoiler warnings for post Journey's End events aka in the book I have it named Rebuilding Ruins

Since Mata Nui made the Toa up from the Energized Protodermis that runs through his person/wires with raw elemental energy like blood they have a golden mark of the Three Virtues each on a different part of their body

Gali - On her right palm

Onua - On his left palm (true Twins fashion)

Tahu - On his forehead underneath his Hau (yes like Dipper Pines)

Kopaka - Underneath his chin

Takua/Takanuva - Underneath his right upper arm

Pohatu - Along his right ankle bone/joint

Lewa - His upper back

Berix gains his after the incident with Metus' snake venom that required the Energized Protodermis to cure (since Metus was turned to a snake via the Ignika the venom was a special case and there wasn't time to even think of making an antidote for how fast it was acting, Mata Nui's words "If there was a choice it would be better if he died swiftly than slowly and in agony even for his age") and due to the Energized Protodermis being from Mata Nui's body he gained his mark an hour later after his Spirit Bond was created on his right wrist

MAJOR SPOILER - During the before wedding night Mata Nui did an altered version of it to open a parent side bond for Ackar, his mark wraps around his ring finger at the base slightly above the knuckle, the altered bond required Mata Nui to share a wave of his power to Ackar and for Ackar to literally and I'm not joking take a small sip of the Energized Protodermis blood (look if Wine is considered the Blood of Christ for Christians this shouldn't be that hard to swallow okay? No puns intended), the mark itself is a proof of the bond and the power "share"(?) makes him age immortal as well meaning he no longer ages like the GSR Inhabitants

[randomwriteronline]

Mata Nui thoughts in my brain. First is oh he hasnt had a lot of touch while he fucked off in space for 99k years, has he? maybe he'd be a little guarded abt it at first and then when he gets friends he feels safe with and they kind of put their hands on his shoulder hes like "actually this is the best thing ever and i would like for you to keep doing that until i die please and thank you". Second is Ackar randomly going "oh youll outlive me probably. ha." completely calm and Mata Nui suddenly having to grapple with premature grief and having a terrible time about it

[magicalgirlartist]

[ID: digital art featuring 3 Bionicle humanizations: Hahli, Jaller, and Macku. Hahli, with a short wetsuit, scruffy blue hair, and an orange flower tucked behind one ear, floats in the middle, one leg up, a kolhii stick over her shoulder with a small smile towards the viewer. Jaller, with short blonde hair, a red vest, and a small red pendant, is larger, behind Hahli to the top right, from the chest up, looking down towards her. Macku, with a light blue halter top, dark blue pigtails, and big orange eyes, is also larger, behind Hahli to the bottom left, from the waist up, winking and grinning at the viewer. Behind all three is a map of the island of Mata Nui, and in the bottom right corner is a logo that says "HAHLI!! Road to the Kolhii Championship" with everything except "Hahli" written in the Matoran alphabet. End ID.]

Made a poster for the Bionicle Sports Anime for fun :) I went through SO MANY pose ideas for Hahli you don't even know lmao

[Commissions open!]

[northmarch]

In light of Herora-nuva’s most recent deep dive videos, I figured now was a good time to write out and share my own thoughts regarding the concept of Destiny in Bionicle. Specifically Destiny as a cosmic force and how it might tie into time travel and the multiverse.

First off, the term Destiny in Bionicle seems to refer to multiple distinct things.

- Destiny as a philosophical ideal.

- Destiny as a pre-programmed ‘mission’ or purpose set by the GBs or MN.

- and Destiny as a cosmic force.

The first has already been covered in greater detail than I could have given by Herora-nuva.

The functionality of the second is fairly explicitly explained in canon (through word of Greg) though I do want to add my interpretation that ‘programmed’ or ‘assigned’ destiny is more, circumstantial. Destiny responds to and can be altered by different situations. For example there were likely dozens of Matoran in Metru Nui with the potential to become Toa, but the Toa Metru, that specific team, were the best suited for the particular scenario they found themselves in. Similarly, it was the Toa Mata’s assigned destiny to awaken the great spirit, but if everything had gone according to plan, they never would have been needed.

The main thing I want to talk about now though is the third kind of destiny.

My personal interpretation of Cosmic Scale Destiny, is that this is the universe’s way of dealing with temporal paradoxes and maintaining a stable timeline.

It has been said before that the Bionicle story team didn’t want to include time travel in the Bionicle lore/story because it was just, too messy. However the concept obviously did make its way into canon, most obviously in the form of the Kanohi Mohtrek. The mask of Time Duplication worn by Makuta Bitil in 2008, which allowed the bearer to summon versions of themselves from the past. BA10 Time Trap also featured examples of time travel in the Krattana vision and potentially the damaged Vahi itself.

Specifically regarding the Mohtrek and how it sidesteps the issue of creating a paradox with each use;

(I’ll address Greg’s implication of an infinite multiverse later.)

If a grandfather paradox is created, the bearer (source of the paradox) is simply removed from the timeline… while a new timeline is created where they never existed. It seems a bit redundant but ok.

Yellow - Original timeline.

Green - Bitil stops existing.

Red - Bitil never existed.

This could also address the other major talking point of the Mohtrek: ‘If physical injures are retained when a duplicate is sent back, could a message be sent back in time by carving it into your own armour?’ I believe the answer to that would depend on whether or not you’d be creating a grandfather paradox. If the message is inconsequential, then yes, absolutely. If the message would actually alter the course of history or your personal timeline (ie; you never send the message in the first place) then the universes respond would be the same as if you’d died. Both scenarios create the same paradox.

One universe where the paradox occurred.

One self constant universe where the Paradox never occurred.

Which is the main timeline is a matter of perspective, though I am inclined to see the more consistent timeline as the primary one.

Cycling back to the infinite multiverse issue. In the above QaA Greg suggests that any decision (or chance outcome) would result in multiple new timelines, collectively realising every possibility. An infinite and infinitely expanding multiverse. This is both incredibly depressing and inconsistent with some of the core themes and ideas of Bionicle by rendering both Destiny and Free Will utterly meaningless.

Thankfully Greg has also explicitly dismissed the idea of an ‘Infinite Bionicle Multiverse’ by dismissing the idea that the Bionicle Multiverse could contain any version of the; Transformers, Hero Factory, Earth arg etc. franchises. As an infinite multiverse would logically have to contain.

(Unless the Bionicle Multiverse actively culls timelines which diverge too far, similar to the Nasuverse)

My conclusion therefore is that the universe must require a particular catalyst in order to split the timeline. Thankfully the Mohtrek gives us the perfect catalyst. Temporal Paradoxes. Specifically a Grandfather Paradox.

Now, I’m not suggesting that the Toa Empire exists because someone traveled back in time to help Tuyet. But ‘something’ happened to alter the course of history in such a way that a paradox was created. Actually that ties into another, significantly more speculative headcanon I have regarding the Vahi that I’ll really have to write down one day. To sum up, my theory is that the Vahi’s very existence is one massive, unstable Bootstrap Paradox.

A causal loop wherein the mask has no true beginning or end as it effectively causes its own existence.

The Vahi;

- Arrives from future - exists - breaks - reforged as disks - reforged as mask - exists - sent to past -

Yellow - Vahi timeline.

Green - main timeline.

Red - divergent timelines.

(Please forgive the inconsistent colour keys on these diagrams).

Destiny is effectively the force which ensures causal loops (aka bootstrap paradox) remain stable and consistent. But Because some of these loops aren’t stable, we get slight differences and inconsistencies which could have cascading effects. If an event occurs which would break that loop, those events are shuffled off into their own timeline while the ‘main’ timeline remains constant or is nudged back on course.

I’m going to leave it there for tonight cuz it’s late and I have to work tomorrow.

[siren-darkocean]

(knowing damn well I'ma regret it) Okies!

everytime