#morbuzakh

[demitsorou]

Taking obscure bionicle villains and turning them into giant hot plant-monster daddies.

Morbuzakh and Karzahni

[supersumc]

Me, a BIONICLE fan: "Haha, surely the Morbuzakh has no basis in reality!"

The Southeastern US:

Me: Oh. OH. O_O

[dougielombax]

Yeah he can’t make it today.

No. He was fine last night.

It’s just that something happened.

No.

No.

No! God no. Perish the thought.

No.

No, he was….

He was ambushed and devoured alive by weaponized Kudzu.

…

Yeah.

Sad.

[afanofmanyhats]

The Bad Batch season 3 straight up has the Morbuzakh

[alastheswarmleaderhasescaped]

I mean Turaga Dume was canonically locked away into a tiny sphere... who's to say Teridax didn't have a little fun with him beforehand 🤷

In relation to this post.

[wjbs-bonkle-au]

Lynn’s Bionicle Media Looking-At Thing Part 9: Stop The Morbuzakh Is Nostalgic But Also A Mess

Don't have much to say about this one, other than that Vakama is obviously just a png in the opening cutscene and that I got in trouble for installing this on the family PC without my parents' permission. There's very little else to talk about.

What's more fun to talk about (to me) is how I made the controls... work.

Here's the default controls:

As an FPS aficionado, this is painful. However, as a Bionicle Heroes DS enjoyer, I knew how to get this to be at least somewhat playable; namely by connecting my PS4 controller and setting up a custom DS4windows profile that maps the game's default controls onto the controller in a way that matches what I'd expect from a console game:

Forwards and backwards are bound to up and down on the left stick.

Turning and vertical aiming are bound to the right stick.

Shooting is bound to the left and right triggers.

Switching disks is bound to the left and right shoulder buttons.

While this is servicable, this doesn't stop my main problem with the controls, namely the lack of strafing.

[puppynametaken]

Bionicle Morbuzakh vines to Human Domestication Guide pipeline

[themadauthorshatter]

I'll reblog this, but Bionicle x Kingdom Hearts

You play as Sora(duh) and you're in Metru Nui. You have Vakama as a party member, mostly

Kh1: Find the Great Disks and help defeat the Morbuzakh. Meet back up with Vakama later in the have, find Toa Lhikan and the other Metru, and defeat the Makuta

Kh2: Hordika arc, baby. This time you have Matau as your party member, after Vakama leaves, and Vakama is a boss battle, like a more intense Beast battle in Enchanted Castle

Kh3: Time Trap. For added affect, you are separated from Donald and Goofy and get lots of introspection and heart talk with Vakama, who found his way through his own darkness, and also just tells Sora that if he really wants to keep his friends safe by any means, that should mean ANY, even if those means put everything on the line

I had this on my head a lot last night. Just had to get it out there

[xenon-noble]

we've all been morbed.

You know what? This seems as good a day as any to remind you of The Sponge.

[tiredspacedragon]

I haven't really made anything in time for 810NICLE Day this year, so instead I want to take some time to brag about how I have the coolest mum in the world.

She made me these Metru Nui vignettes last year for Christmas (with my dad's help on Ga and Po-Metru) and I never got around to posting them, which is a travesty, because look how cool these are. Ta-Metru has a lava river, a furnace and a little Morbuzakh vine. Ga-Metru has a waterfall with a little observation area. Po-Metru has face statues. Ko-Metru has knowledge towers and rock spires. Le-Metru has chutes, control towers, and the test track. Onu-Metru has an entrance to the Archives, tunnels underneath, and airships above. The Coliseum has the Akilini field, the Lhikan statue, and even a little crowd of Matoran.

She's also made me a bunch of Bionicle shirts like this one:

Which I got a few compliments on today, so that was lovely.

Basically, I won the parent lottery, and I'm here to show off about it :P Happy 810 everybody!

[bionicle-ramblings]

Having more Lhikan thoughts, and they involve the Ta-Metru Trio

Just imagining him as the unofficial guardian of the three because trouble keeps finding them

Imagining after a mission to keep the peace with Metru Nui and other places, Lhikan returns and is essentially having an "everyone is an idiot" moment(he talked to a very ostentatious stelt). He winds up going the same way as Vakama, who just acquired some Kanoka disks after AN HOUR of negotiating. Lhikan doesn't give too much detail on who he talked to, but he does give the basics. When he asks about the disks, Vakama admits he bartered for them, but he would have been better off trading with Takua because at least when he's with his friend, his time isn't wasted. Lhikan points out that Takua is usually at either Vakama's side or Jaller's, but Vakama says they can convince him to stay working and stay out of trouble. And the three live together now thanks to the Morbuzakh. Lhikan calls him lucky, but doesn't elaborate. Vakama doesn't pry either because that's not their thing. As they near the Ta-Metru forges and the Coliseum, they part ways, Lhikan telling Vakama to stay out of trouble, and says one of the disks is faulty before walking away. It makes Vakama freeze and immediately check each disk. None of them are faulty. Still makes Lhikan smirk, especially when Vakama calls him a liar and says his jokes are awful, in a cheeky friend way, before returning to his forge

Imagining Lhikan after the events of the Toa v. Dark Hunter war, after the murders were solved and the conflict was resolved. Lhikan's somewhere remote in Metru Nui(very hard to find on occasion), like a cliff face that overlooks , and he's just processing what happened and the fact he's the only Toa left. It's pretty gutting knowing he's alone in his duties, but what distracts him is the sound of rocks falling and hitting other rocks, over and over, like they're being thrown. Lhikan looks and finds Jaller, who's throwing rocks into the vastness. Turns out Jaller's just letting off steam after everything that's happened; he did help with figuring out the Matoran murders afterall. Lhikan still asks him how he's held up, and Jaller, respectfully, asks Lhikan the same thing, giving how worn he looks. Lhikan is hanging in there, admittedly, but doesn't go further than that because he's curious as to why Jaller is out on his own and not with his friends. Turns out Jaller was with some friends out of his Metru and just needed some quiet for a moment. A lot's hairbrush and he just needs a second. It's a feeling Lhikan gets. There isn't much talking between the two after that; they're just coexisting in the silence for a while. After a moment, Jaller guess back to his friends, though he did than Lhikan for everything he does. Lhikan tries to brush it off, but Jaller insists; Metru Nui wouldn't be standing if it weren't for Lhikan and a lot of Matoran would have gotten hurt or killed. With that, Jaller leaves and Lhikan takes in what he said, resolving himself to fight for the city and the Matoran, even if he's alone, though also has a feeling of, "it's all I have left," with that resolve

Imagining Lhikan battling some smaller, less powerful Morbuzakh vines and ending up in a bit of a pickle. Luckily, a couple shots from a disk launcher and some well aimed strikes to debris wins the battle and the vines leave. Once he's taken a breath, Lhikan turns to see who helped, and sees Takua throw down the disk launcher he used and say, "I just showed up. Did you see who shot that?" Lhikan isn't stupid, and he asks what Takua was doing, not in the mood for shenanigans because he almost died. Takua comes clean: he was looking for something, namely a rare weapon, or piece of a weapon, that he can hold on to. Lhikan asks what he'd want with such a thing and Takua just says that he thought it would be interesting as he looks through a pile of dicarded stuff like disk launchers, broken masks, and tools. Lhikan keeps a very stem eye on him; Takua is good at running off. With the weapon not found, Takua admits he'd been searching all day and has been very unlucky. As it's getting late in the day, Lhikan essentially escorts Takua back to Ta-Metru, not wanting the Vahki to get to him again. Takua reluctantly agrees, though as they walk it's clear that Takua is kind of off in his thoughts. He's not upset about the weapon, but before Lhikan can ask, Takua asks him if he's ever been outside of Metru Nui. Lhikan doesn't really answer, but does want to know why Takua asks. Takua did try saying he's just curious, but light prodding makes him admit he actually wants to see more outside of Metru Nui; there has to be more than just a metropolis in the middle of the sea, right? Where do all the creatures in the archives come from, if not outside Metru Nui? Lhikan tells him that there is more outside of Metru Nui, but none of it is safe for one Matoran. Takua asks what that "more" is, but Lhikan simply tells him it would be enough to make his head spin. Takua asks Lhikan for a favor. Not a trip outside Metru Nui like Lhikan thinks, but rather a "report" of what's outside. He can say it's practice for reporting to Turaga Dume if need be. Lhikan agrees and tells Takua to stay out of trouble before leaving.

[legend-as-old-as-time]

It works better that we don't know how and why Mata Nui choose who were going to be the Toa Metru and who were the Great Disk Matoran. A mystery works better for it. Especially with the reveal in canon that Mata Nui was barely aware of what was happening inside his body.

But narratively? Metru Nui's culture fostered individualism and a strong sense of competition if you wanted a better lot in life. Or so were the matoran led to believe.

So, it had to be Vhisola, Nuhrii, and the others who were the Great Disk matoran.

They had the inherent drive to look for the Great Disks because of their strong envy / desire to gain fame in their respective Metru. Even to the point that they'd use illegal means or endanger themselves and others to find them.

And the Toa Metru needed them to destroy the Morbuzakh.

Also, their personal troubles would've affected them more at doing their new duty than the Toa Metru's affected them at the beginning. They likely would've taken longer to understand that Lhikan's role wasn't as glorious as most of Metru Nui believed. But that it was lonely and difficult and all-consuming.

As for the Toa Metru? In their respective situations at the time? They wouldn't have looked for the Great Disks if they had learned about them.

While also unhappy in some ways - even if unaware of some aspects - they were complacent with their position in life.

They would've doubted the Great Disks' existence or that they could stop the King Root. If they researched them, I doubt that they'd have gone to the lengths of the canon Great Disk Matoran to find them.

So, Nokama, Vakama, and the others needed to be the Toa Metru.

They needed the shake-up of the change to become active and aware of the other issues plaguing Metru Nui. Because they were comparatively more stable than their counterparts, they could focus better on seeing the larger picture.

So. Each group needed to be in their respective role for the story to work.

That's not even taking into account the narrative parallels between the Great Disk Matoran and Makuta Teridax - envious of their counterparts' reputation and renown and pushing to eclipse / supplant them, thus driving the plot -

and the Toa Metru and Mata Nui - complacent, unaware of their counterparts' issues but also the larger-scale ones plaguing everybody, needing to be pushed to take action.

In this essay, I will-

[crystaltoa]

As far as i know, only one of those has an official sponge.

Round 2 Group 4

Blessed Eternal artwork by @bortmcjorts

Propaganda and spoilers under cut

The Blessed Eternal:

it is there to ruin douglas eiffel's life personally. it is a failed experiment or perhaps if you think about it a successful one from dr hilbert and i'm not sure if it really deserves to be here since it has an eyeball and teeth but we get a little silly with it. can build nightlights and plays a mean game of backgammon and has hypnotic abilities and was possibly on the ship for the entirety of the show Previous Propaganda: Round 1 and additions

Morbuzakh:

bionicle lore gets weird so i'll do my best to simplify. okay. so first things first, the little meat robot mayor has been replaced by a power-hungry ex-protector whose job is to make fucked-up animals and shit. he's called makuta. he makes this semi-sentient plant, promises it that it can rule the city once it's done what he wants it to, and plants it in a fucking furnace. its job is to round up all the little meat robot civilians so they can be put into amnesia-inducing orbs. incidentally, its efforts result in some of them dying. six little meat-robot civilians get picked out by the local superhero and turned into big meat-robot superheroes. they go on a quest to find a bunch of magic frisbees in order to defeat the giant evil plant. the frisbees destroy the king root, and it dies this plant is notable because, though it was mostly cut from the animated movie adaptation of that arc, it appeared in one brief scene that led to many bionicle fans developing a bondage kink

[musurvivalistguide]

So in my attempt to better grasp how to write the Bionicle fantasy!AU I'd brainstormed before, I decided to fiddle around with a classic case of "the Toa Metru get Isekai'd into a fantasy AU and meet fantasy versions of themselves and need to find a way home". 😂

Still working on this fic, but decided to share this little snippet I had! Will probably explore more aspects of this AU when they're on Mata Nui itself as well, but otherwise I'm gonna have fun with it. Enjoy while I continue hammering away at things/remember how to write these characters again!

//////////////////////////

��What happened to my Metru?!”

These were not the words any of the Toa Metru wished to hear, yet it was hard not to share in the confusion and worry as they looked around Le-Metru…or what appeared to be Le-Metru. All around them they saw Le-Matoran chattering as they continued their tasks, a sight that would be considered normal…save for the blatantly obvious differences. Each Matoran wore cloth or leather material over their armor, goggles and other odd accessories decorating their masks and body. Most carried normal tools the Toa recognized, yet others held weapons like daggers, bows, and short blades. Perhaps the biggest difference that unnerved them, however, were the rahi.

The strange organic beasts mixed in with the normal biomechanical ones.

“Uh…any idea what that rahi is, Whenua?” Onewa asked, pointing out the Toa-sized two-legged bird tromping by. It possessed a wickedly razor sharp beak, its wing-arms tucked close to its body yet showing just enough to reveal what looked like barbs hidden beneath the feathers. Yet strangely enough, the terrifying looking rahi seemed unbothered by the fact it was being led by a Matoran with a rope lead, carrying saddlebags and packs worth of unusual wares towards what looked like a bustling marketplace.

“Honestly? Not a clue,” came the response, though it was hard to tell if he was excited or worried as he looked around at the other creatures around them. “It looks like an organic rock raptor, but…I’ve never seen anything like it—like any of these before!”

“Great. Just great!” Throwing up his arms, Onewa said, “First, we fight a giant plant in a giant forge, and now we’re in some weird version of Le-Metru with no clue how we got here from Ta-Metru? With rahi beasts even our resident librarian hasn’t seen before? What’s next? Flying razor whales?”

A low, melodic cry echoed above them as a shadow fell over the group, looking up to see a tri-horned organic whale floating leisurely by with a large cargo-carrying platform on its back.

“……you know, when I said that, I didn’t actually mean literally.”

“This must be some illusion or trick of the Morbuzakh,” Nokama uttered. “Did the Great Disks not work?”

“No, they did what they were supposed to do. The Morbuzakh was defeated,” Vakama said, pulling out his own disk as he examined it. The disk was whole, looking just as it had when he first found it. And yet…he felt something off about the disk. The tips of his fingers tingled with energy—different than it had been during their last battle. “…something’s not right. We’re not in Metru Nui anymore—at least, not the Metru Nui we know.”

“Oh really? What was your first clue?” Onewa asked. “The fluffy rock raptor bird or the giant flying razor whale?”

“Vakama’s right,” Nuju said, surprising the others as he frowned and tapped the side of his scope. “Outside the obvious, there’s something…different about this place. My scope goes haywire every time I use it, but what I can see is that everything is…glowing.”

“Glowing?” Matau repeated, looking around in confusion. “I don’t see any bright-glow.”

“That’s because you’re not seeing it through the scope,” came the retort as the device in question clicked and whirred. “When I look at the Matoran, they appear to be glowing from within. When I look at these…these…monsters…the light is so blinding that I can barely tell them apart from a lightstone! There is no mass, just…light. It’s almost as if they were made of-“

“Magic,” Whenua rumbled, his eyes wide in either shock or disbelief.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Magic doesn’t exi-“

“No, look!” the Toa of Earth said, pointing towards a group of Matoran near the chute. “Magic!”

Surrounding a large chunk of broken protodermis, a group of Le-Matoran—with palms glowing a mysterious blue-green light—chanted unfamiliar words in unison. To their utter shock and amazement, the broken pieces rose from the ground, rising higher and higher as the Le-Matoran raised their hands palm-out. Following the path, the Toa Metru spotted another group of Le-Matoran standing on what looked like glowing disks or puffy clouds, their palms also glowing as the protodermis floated in place. The glow flickered on their palms before the structure began to mend, melding together until there was no sign that the chute had ever been broken.

“…huh…”

[ctrl-alt-tahu]

Thoughts of Akamai and Wairuha

"You shouldn't talk about the Great Spirit like that," said Pohatu, as they continued to cross Ko-Metru. The wan lights above the dome were at their zenith, providing a pale glow over the ruined city. As they climbed around the exterior of one of the largest (or least-ruined) towers of the Metru, they could see at a distance other portions of the city.

"I believed in Mata Nui, once," said Voriki. "I even thought I met him… but what Great Being would claim to watch over the Matoran and leave us with this." He paused, looking out over the city. They were on a landing of sorts, a flat place that opened where the broad tower below them turned to a much narrower spire. They could see north, east, and south, and Voriki waved a hand over them all.

"You should have seen Metru Nui then, when I first came here: the Coliseum there"--he pointed north east at the most ruinous area they could see: the centre island broken and cracked--"the Temple of Mata Nui in Ga-Metru, the chute system, the great forge of Ta-Metru. It was the envy of the world, and envy it the Makuta did. I don't know all the centuries of war and scheming before my time, but they weren't without effect: Metru Nui no longer ruled its empire, and only one Toa still stood with Turaga Dume, who ruled this city: Toa Lhikan, Toa of Fire.

"I don't know where he got the Toa Stones that transformed us. I don't know why he waited until he was the last Toa left and the sea-gates were on the verge of being breached. I don't know why he picked the seven of us--but he did, and we became Toa: me, and the six you say you know as Turaga: Vakama, Nokama, Matau, Onewa, Nuju, and Whenua."

"A seventh Toa!" Lewa whispered. Onua nodded, but gestured for silence. Kopaka and Tahu shared a cryptic nod.

"We weren't enough," said Voriki. "While we tried to learn how to control our powers, how to control our masks, we sought the great Kanoka disks, drove back the Morbuzakh--and missed how much we were needed at the sea-gates. Important as our little quests might have been in peacetime, they were distractions when the city was threatened from without. What did it matter if the Morbuzakh was choking off the Great Forge when the Matoran were vanishing and the Visorak were invading?"

"What are Visor--" Lewa began even as Gali asked "why were the Matoran vanishing?"

"Visorak are a sort of swarming, insectoid Rahi," said Voriki. "There were thousands of them, directed by Sidorak, a mighty servant of the Brotherhood of Makuta."

"And the Matoran?" asked Kopaka.

"We didn't realise it until much later," said Voriki, "but Turaga Dume was long gone. He was being impersonated by the Makuta himself, and it was all his plan: the Matoran were being put in stasis even as the city fell to the Visorak. Metru Nui fell to attacks from both within and without. Only the seven of us were left free in the city--well, and the five Matoran we stole away with us. Whenua, Nuju, and Onewa stayed behind in the Coliseum to buy the rest of us time to escape, and while we were on the run in Po-Metru, Vakama collapsed and Matau and I learned that he had been keeping a secret from us--visions, or so Nokama called them."

There no hiding the looks that the six Toa gave each other. So Vakama is still associated with them, then, Voriki thought.

"He said he had seen the Great Beings in council, and that they had told him that Mata Nui was asleep and we must wake him, and that Valour and Wisdom would guide us. At the time, I believed this was a sign, and that we had to save Metru Nui by waking the Great Spirit, and I believed that Akamai and Wairuha would come and help us--but though we found a Mata Nui of sorts, in the end, no Great Beings came and guided us. If Vakama's vision meant anything, it must have been metaphorical: wisdom and valour, not personified beings."

"They are true-real," said Lewa. "Takua told us."

The wind seemed to pick up, and the already chilly ledge was far from comfortable to any save Kopaka, but no one moved as Voriki stared at them.

"You mentioned him--Takua," said Voriki at last, "in your tale the other night: he is your chronicler."

"Yes," said Tahu.

"And he claims to have seen Akamai and Wairuha," said Voriki.

"Yes," said Pohatu.

"Not 'claimed'," said Gali. "He did see them. I have felt what he has seen."

"Was this before you came to the island?" asked Voriki.

"No, this was the first great battle with Makuta," said Gali. "As we said in our tale: after scouring the island for the Golden Kanohi and being united at last, we faced the Makuta beneath the temple of Kini Nui and defeated him, for a time."

"You said nothing of Akamai and Wairuha," said Voriki.

"We didn't exactly tell you every kick and blow," said Pohatu. "To be honest, most of that battle is a blur. We entered the cave, encountered the Manas and… returned later, victorious. Takua remembers more than we do."

Voriki said nothing, but it was plain that he wanted to dismiss the idea, and why not: if they remembered so little and if the Makuta hadn't even been truly vanquished, then perhaps they hadn't been victorious at all. Yet if their chronicler claimed to have seen Akamai and Wairuha…

"We should get going again," said Voriki. "We're almost there. If the Pituita Nui is still functioning, we can close the sea-gate. I'll have Tehutti see what we can do to close them permanently, and we need to find Nidhiki and Krekka, but that can wait till tomorrow."

He tapped a door that opened onto the ledge with the slightest jolt of electricity, and the door popped open, not quite chest-height.

"An access point for Matoran technicians, not Toa, I'm afraid."

"So, what happened next?" asked Pohatu, "in your story? You went from Po-Metru to find Mata Nui?"

"No, not right away," said Voriki. "First, we encountered more Toa."

[wjbs-bonkle-au]

Lynn’s Bionicle Media Looking-At Thing Part 8: The Last One Was So Depressing That I'm Also Doing The Barraki CD

Yeah so the Glatorian Arena trilogy sucked so hard I feel kinda bad, so I'm going to detox by covering another promo CD! In this case, it's one... with a funny design

Also jumpscare warning for the actual video, yes there is a video this time, I didn't bother doing one for Glatorian Arena because it would have been really boring but this one. Is interesting.

So the CD opens with the Barraki Teaser Game, which you can skip if you don't like jumpscares. The characters page is the most interesting part of this, because it shows some prototype parts (namely the smoother Ehlek head design and the early squid launchers which you can 3D print from here and here respectively), though I wish that more of the characters had proper animations outside the Barraki.

Downloads is fairly uninteresting, though you can listen to Creeping In My Soul. The download link even works, which is cool!

The "game" tab is just Creeps From The Deep, which you can play elsewhere.

And lastly, Movies! You can watch the Barraki trailer (which still goes hard), a demo for how the Squid Launcher. Should work. And also Singing Squid, which I somehow hadn't seen until today.

And with that, we're done with promo CDs; the last four posts in this series will be games! Stay tuned for a post about Stop The Morbuzakh, which will probably be even shorter than this one.