#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

[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.

[randomwriteronline]

I wonder if the toa mata recognized themselves in their own memories from before mata nui.

I dont know, i think theres possibilities to be explored about that. Suddenly remembering yourself and what you find being a complete stranger is a common thing for amnesia plots i guess but also i think this could be even more jarring. Like a more genuine difference between killing machine and living being.

Its less a matter of nature vs nurture and more a matter of nature with a certain type of nurture. Nature dictates they are powerful and driven and well meaning, but the way they are brought up produces completely different people.

Their first taste of life was a sterile room with nobody but each other and a disembodied voice reading out their duties, establishing an arbitrary hierarchy within them, and then sending them to a glorified bootcamp where a ruthless instructor worked on making them into skilled combatants and nothing else, teaching them how to use their elements as tools and weapons without indulging in them; they got a vague sense of what and how a community feels like with the Av-Matoran - as outsiders, as its protective shield, there for them but not with them - only to get that stripped away from them too because their role as life saving tools to be preserved under glass just in case of a crisis was more important.

I wonder if the Toa Mata, the ones who were taken to the Koro of Mata Nui and listened to the Turaga's tales and reprimands and would have moved mountains for the Matoran who treated them like older siblings, return with their minds to things they said or thought or did from before the Island of Mata Nui and stop in their tracks. Whose memory is that, they think? That can't be mine. I am not like that. My siblings are not like that. Some things are perfectly right, they cant deny that; but just as many if not more are so wrong that they almost feel like a really cruel joke somebody planted into their heads.

Kopaka and Tahu got along, even if they dont want to admit it because they need to bicker like children or theyll die, but are more surprised that they werent as tentatively close with anybody else. Lewa remembers so much frustration and tedium and anger that if he stalls in his memories too much he genuinely starts feeling queasy, Pohatu has remnants of bitterness and passive aggression that still cling to him like the smell of a cigarette on someone who gave up smoking, and they both hate that because its nothing like them. Onua and Gali feel like theyre peering into some kind of imperfect clone's brain when they try to remember - its themselves, they know that, it has to be, but there are certain things they know about themelves that are just completely missing and its kind of dizzying to realize that.

Im not even sure they liked each other. They work together because its their destiny, but they don't seem to seek each other out for fun or anything else. In their training days they had to be shoved in each others direction or they would have never solved their obligatory group assignments.

I wonder if their terrors and flaws could partially come from this first life that they had too. Gali's fear of her anger and Lewa's disregard for duty stemming from Hydraxon's methods - she internalized his reprimands about feeling guilt for living enemies, but without any memory of him she believes the words resurfacing in her mind from time to time are her own, and is appalled by their cruelty; he was forbidden from enjoying himself, from indulging in any form of fun, of entertainment, of joy, and unconsciously now he rebels by shirking away from responsability to do whatever he wants.

The responses to Tahu's decision regarding the codrex haunt him, the whole situation, really; how he stripped his siblings of any say on their fate because he was the leader, not even telling them or explaining himself until they had no other choice, and if he could treat them like that once then what would stop him from doing so again and again until he doesnt even think about it? Kopaka is uneasy about it too. He knew the plan and supported Tahu only because he tagged along, but hes very, very acutely aware that he would have been left just as much in the dark as everybody else otherwise, and he would gave not even had anybody to seek any comfort from because hes fairly certain none of the others would have liked him enough to care.

Onua as @cantankerouscanuck pointed out to me mightve taken Hydraxon's teachings to heart, hence why he's so quiet: no use in expressing weakness, right? But karda nui must have been hellish on his senses, with all that light - a tangible physical discomfort that would bleed out into an emotional one as he becomes conscious of how none of his siblings go through this, thus he must be damaged in some way, faulty, out of place, and so he seeks to be alone, digging himself away. And its not hard to imagine how Pohatu (who hasnt had the chance to grow into the affable, kind toa his siblings can always lean on when they need to yet) would become convinced of his uselessness within the team and seethe about it.

They arrive on Mata Nui as broken war machines with no clue who they even are and suddenly find nature and community and love, and in a moment theyre people.

I wonder if the environment helped. Being thrown upon a beach in the open air with nothing but a whole world that is so alien and yet feels so right beckoning them to come closer. Discovering their powers and their domains freely, immediately - first thing they did was dive into their respective elements without a second thought, naturally magnetized, taking after them like it was the simplest thing in the world, because they are the first toa, the first beings capable of harnessing these powers in their whole universe, and its in their nature to be so connected to them. Maybe it helped. Maybe it made them feel connected to their own selves enough to figure themselves out in a way they couldnt have done so before.

Maybe it helped to find out their collective destiny each on their own, in their own environment, at their own pace, surrounded by younger siblings who look at them with awe and curiosity and frustration sometimes, guided by people who know how being alive works with all its good parts and messy bits and who can tell what having so much power means when youre barely aware of how to use it or what to do. And maybe it helped to find out who their siblings were in a similar way, introducing themselves as they wanted, as they felt like, without a specific order, and learning to recognize each other as siblings with all the things that make them insufferable and all the things that make them the best and what makes them happy and what makes them angry and how they sound when theyre worried and how likely they are to chase you down to the other edge of the island for doing something stupid, and like real people they grow and develop and change and stay the same, and then they meet the memory of themselves from before becoming people and its...

Idk. Its like the realization of who they used to be and the distance between themselves and those selves, and the fact that they dont like them.

[coldgoldlazarus]

Honestly, I kinda love that while yes, the hardships the Toa Inika/Mahri faced during the events of 06 and 07 was a contributor to shaping them into one of the most ruthlessly pragmatic teams out there, it's really only the cherry atop the sundae.

An arguably bigger factor is also having lived as Matoran on an island under a 999-year-long siege from its own wildlife, followed by the Bohrok crisis and the Rahkshi. Sure, their jaunt through Literal Hell in the first half of 06 didn't hurt, but they honestly had very little chill even before then.

[dougielombax]

I wonder if the Great Spirit Robot had something like a black box.

You know. A flight data recorder containing all the data and information concerning its journeys, work, and research, among other things.

I mean it all had to have been backed up SOMEWHERE!

Right?!

Just something to think about.

[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.

[drunk-on-starlight]

2009 is all about Click.

Click is a scarabax beatle, one of thousands in a swarm. Infinitely smaller then the glatorian. He's treated like his life doesn't matter, a nameless part of the horde. Symbolically, Click is everyone in the matoran universe.

Enter Mata Nui. Upon their first meeting, Mata Nui could crush him with a single step. But instead, he stops and apologizes and then Click saves his life. The reason Mata Nui doesn't is because to his old self, not only is he an insect but all of the matoran universe inhabitants are too. Small, insignificant and that's what toppled Mata Nui the first time(1).

This gets repeated in Journey's End, where Kiina says that to Mata Nui in the second robot, the "glatorian will look like scarabax with as much in common," but that could never be true, because to Mata Nui everyone matters, which is why he spared Click. Ignoring that is why the plot happened.

[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

[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?

[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!]

[randomwriteronline]

One night, when all is over, when all can rest; when Kiina sleeps listening to the waves, Berix nursing the newest still unfinished project, Gresh not having any new scars to count, Click barely batting a wing; Ackar hears the voice of Mata Nui smile with such infinite love, and wakes up.

He sits up and listens again: if he strains his ears, if he forces himself to shut down the frantic beating of his heart, he thinks he can hear that voice again. He could swear he is talking, maybe humming, so close and yet so impossibly far away, even further than the resting place of the Ignika but somehow right next to him, tone filled with mournful joy, with an affection that brings one to tears.

Someone is out there, outside.

Someone is singing, outside.

He leaves.

One night, when all is over, Ackar forces himself to stumble out of town and into the cold, into the slowly receding desert which is giving way to life once more; he follows beneath the starlit sky barren of blue or green moons the sound, the song, the voice, an enthralled sleepwalker chasing desperately after a lucid dream he knows cannot be and yet so desperately wants to find, a spellbound seaman bewitched by a cannibal siren's serenade dragging his ship against the jagged cliffs upon which the object of his desire perches with monstrous arms outstretched so lovingly towards him.

He chases after the sound, the song, the voice: he could swear it's the same, the same deep and comforting sound upon whom he once laid his hand on to call 'friend'; he could swear it's the same, so sweet and so heartbroken, and his throat twists tight into a knot as he knows he will not see what he wants, yet he wants so badly.

He chases after the sound, the song, the voice: it splits but does not shatter. Like the hairs of a braid its pieces join together, tangle gently, form a harmony that no mouth can replicate.

He stops.

He looks.

One night, when all is over, Ackar watches and listens.

He knows them, he recognizes them: the twelve of them arranged in two concentric circles, only six of them singing, only six of them silent, their language so far beyond what his anatomy could comprehend or hope to produce, and yet he understands.

He understands from the inner circle's tight fists, their shaking shoulders, their shuddering chests as they struggle to breathe. He understands from the outer circle's solemn pronounciation, the anguish in their shining eyes, their longing and trembling voices.

He understands and hushes, and listens to their mourning song.

One night, when all is over, the Toa Mata mourn who they were fated to protect and instead failed.

One night, when all is over, the Toa Mahri mourn who they could not hold back from the choice of fate.

One night, when all is over, Toa Takanuva mourns all who he will never accept he could not die in the stead of.

Six voices raise, six lights like an aurora across the sky - two figures, mighty and wise and yet so powerless, dancing in their dirge with bodies composed of mourning songs harmonizing together - warriors burying a king, a peer, a friend, a stranger. Six more join, louder to the point of wailing, no composure, burning stars bursting as violently as their destructive end allows, children crying inconsolable the death of a hero, a peer, a friend, a sibling.

The Toa howl like wild hounds into the empty desert night in which no bloody star shines, in the heartbroken artificial language of their manufactured living people.

One night, when all is over, Ackar looks and listens.

In their twelve voices he hears yet another, at once earth and sky, enormously strong yet as light as the birdsong.

In their thirteen voices he hears Mata Nui.

In their thirteen voices Mata Nui smiles.

He smiles with such infinite love.

One night, when all is over, Ackar whispers: I love you.

One night, when all is over, the Toa scream: I love you.

One night, when all is over, Matoro booms: I love you.

One night, when all is over, Mata Nui smiles: I love you.

Ackar cries.

[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.