#toa inikia

[a-thread-of-green]

The Three Virtues Aren't Virtues

At least, not in the sense that they stand for anything morally good. Before I go any further, though, I want to clarify that this isn't me critiquing Bionicle, but suggesting some depth and foreshadowing to the story that I think many people may have missed.

So let's look at the virtues one-by-one:

Unity: This is maybe the closest to an actual virtue, since it implies some love for your community. But what unity really comes down to is "working together," and so how morally good unity is depends entirely on what the community's goals are. The matoran of Metru Nui might have caught on to Makuta impersonating Turuga Duma if they weren't so united behind their leader.

Duty: This one basically means "do your job," which is only really as moral as the job. Most of the matoran of Voya Nui were dutiful enough to follow the Piraka's orders even before they were mind-controlled with Zamor spheres, but that was hardly for the best, and the least dutiful rebels were the heroes in the end.

Destiny: This has a moral dimension if you believe in a destiny written by some benevolent and omniscient higher power but, in the Bionicle universe, Mata-Nui and the Great Beings are capable of making mistakes at best and amoral at worst. Destiny seems more like a way to tell characters to stay in line and accept their appointed tasks. Yet over and over we see characters who do the most good by rejecting their appointed task (Takua, Jaller's team when leaving for Voya Nui, the Voya Nui rebels), not because they think they have some other destiny , but because it's the right thing to do.

Looking at all these points together, it seems clear that the three virtues are really just an order of obedience dressed up in the language of morality and religion. Considering that the creatures of the Matoran universe were built to be nothing more than workers keeping the Mata-Nui robot alive, then it makes sense that they would be taught to worship obedience and hard work. This gives dark undertones to the adoration of the three virtues, but in turn makes it all the more beautiful that these characters developed culture, individuality, and true morality when they had been made as nothing but slaves.

(By the way, this is all on my mind because I'm planning on shirking unity (in my family), duty (to my job), and (biological) destiny by transitioning female in a few months and I wanted to set up a moral backdrop for that).

[joompheart]

My Voya Nui Velociraptors! The 2006 Bionicles are my favorite. It feels like they have the best of everything.

Tons of personal thoughts below.

The Toa Inikia strike the best balance between homogeneity (so that each set is as functional as the others) (and fun to have to full lineup of) and heterogeneity so that each set is unique and not just like the next (different ways of holding weapons, different feet, different forearms, different zamor and light up weapon colors, different gimmicks between multi-color armor pieces, translucent joints, and bonus claws or chains, not to mention slight differences in thigh and shoulder armor placement or even which slot the axle joint holding the head uses). They're incredibly dynamic and easy to pose in a lot of ways. Plus I think they have the best looking masks out of all the bionicles, period. Kongu and Hahli are personal favorites.

Brutaka is my favorite set out of all Bionicles, forever. That's partially nostalgia, he was the first one I ever got, but he would probably be my favorite on his own anyway. He's got a super cool personality and story in the lore (Seriously how badass is it that after exposure to pure liquid antidermis he gets so much stronger that his armor starts to crack from the increased size of his muscles!!), and his set strikes me as being the most functional of all the really good looking titans (though I've yet to get many of the titans).

The Matoran Resistance members are also my favorite of all the smaller set series. They have a bunch of unique construction techniques, cool tools, and badass lore. Plus they're about as mobile and articulate as any set their size, putting the Av-Matoran to shame. The Metru matoran might be contenders for their unique masks and disk launcher toys, but these will probably always be the matoran for my heart.

I actually put a lot of thought and effort into setting up this display, Trying to show off my favorites in the best light. There's a window to the right of these shelves, so as I think is clear from the pictures that Kongu and Brutaka get shown off really well. I tried to put Matoro and Jaller in the light as well to show off the translucent joints but it only half worked out I think. Hewkii can stand to be in the back because of his yellow, and Nuparu is in the middle distance because he's not my favorite but any further back and you can barely see him at all because of all the black. Hahli is kinda unlucky and in shadow most of the time which is unfortunate but still fine because of how up front she is I think. The contrast with Velika works well. In the future I'll try to get her more light to show off the blue, she's definitely one of the most muted blue characters in all of the original run I think. But its sooo cool with the white and blue wash!

I would put the Piraka up there too but because of their spines they don't fit. In the end it's fine because this way they get a shelf to themselves which they fill really well. Probably better this way.

I really want to get Vezon and Fenrakk is the last set I really want from this chapter, I used to not like him because I thought the cape looked out of place and I didn't really like the idea of a "discount piraka" riding some random beast technically counting as much as Brutaka or Axonn. But now I really like him a lot from the lore and want to get as much as I can stand from 2006. More Skakdi is more good, after all!

[joompheart]

My Toa Mahri and Barraki!

The Toa Mahri are super duper cool but they also show off the weakness of being too unique, imo. Where previous Toa series like Metru and Inika were pretty uniformly viable to play with and equally cool, Nuparu and ESPECIALLY Kongu just get left behind with the Mahri I say.

Like, from the Inika sets: Matoro and Hewkii are way cooler than they were, going from middle of the back to the best by far for my taste. Jaller and Hahli are at least as cool as they were, if not cooler. But Nuparu still has the same problem of being so black he blends in with himself and is hard to really admire. Plus his mask went from super iconic to probably the most forgettable, a sort of blend between Hydraxon's and Matoro's. Still super cool, probably the best thing about the set after the shield.

Nothing really needs to be said about Kongu but I'll say it anyway. Poor guy gets NO unique parts, just a slightly interesting breathing tube setup that's overshadowed by the really cool ones like Matoro, Hewkii, and Jaller. Torso construction is cool but shared with Carapar who actually does have unique parts AND is more colorful. Two guns could be cool but he doesn't have anything else! The Cordak blasters look great but they don't function super well, so he ends up feeling like the worst version of Kopaka from Phantoka or Onua from Mistika, or Pohatu from Phantoka. All of them have a better focus on the action gimmick or a better use of the torso construction. (I still love him though who can dislike Kongu :])

Matoro Mahri and Hewkii Mahri are some of my favorite sets out of all the original run though. I love the Great Kanohi Garai a LOT, probably my single favorite overshadowing even the Inikia's organic masks. And Matoro has really grown on me, he subtly has the best set of all the Toa I think.

For whatever reason the Barraki have never done much for me, but I still appreciate them. I think I'm inclined against too much "biological" in my "biological chronicle," oddly enough. The squid launchers are pretty worthless in my book, even though they look cool. And I didn't really like the funky construction of a lot of their torsos, though I appreciate it as super cool and a way to make more unique bodies than you could if you were sticking rigidly to the Inika building system.

Mantax and Takadox are my favorites. They're the best for actually playing with, and have really great colors! I can appreciate the other four in one way or another, especially for the colors, but I don't super duper like any of them. Pridak especially is super hard to pose because of how weirdly bunched up his joints are, moving one part throws everything else off too.

I think I came off as really critical here but I wouldn't have these guys if I didn't love them :]. Complaining about them is really just an excuse to keep paying attention to my favorite things in the world!