Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Fulcrumfan91]

Anybody have a guess as to what will happen in episode 15 of the online animations? We've so far seen....some teamwork from all the Toa. They took down the skull warriors together, but I feel that Lewa was key to that victory. Likewise, we saw a similar display of unity by the Toa against Slicer, with Onua providing the key to victory. Scorpios are after Lewa and Pohatu is out of commission with Kopaka protecting him....which would leave Gali and Tahu as the ones to star in another comeback. I'd bet on Gali being the crucial component in their defeating the Scorpios. Who knows.

[MakutaOfWar]

How many more episodes are there? I'm thinking there will be a 2016 tease in the final one.

[Bigger Fish]

Anybody have a guess as to what will happen in episode 15 of the online animations? We've so far seen....some teamwork from all the Toa. They took down the skull warriors together, but I feel that Lewa was key to that victory. Likewise, we saw a similar display of unity by the Toa against Slicer, with Onua providing the key to victory. Scorpios are after Lewa and Pohatu is out of commission with Kopaka protecting him....which would leave Gali and Tahu as the ones to star in another comeback. I'd bet on Gali being the crucial component in their defeating the Scorpios. Who knows.

I read the book, Lewa beats them.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Bigger Fish

[Fulcrumfan91]

I read the book, Lewa beats them.

Ah, I see. Is there anywhere I can get an ebook version of the island of lost masks?

How many more episodes are there? I'm thinking there will be a 2016 tease in the final one.

This would be the 5th episode coming up, so I think there would probably be around 4 left after that.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

I wonder if Kopaka will actually have his mask stolen. If that happens they will need to encounter Skull Warrior(s) again, but according to character description they only appear at the gate, but the Toas have passed through already the gate. Or could it be that the story writers decided to drop that event?

[Dorek]

I wonder if Kopaka will actually have his mask stolen. If that happens they will need to encounter Skull Warrior(s) again, but according to character description they only appear at the gate, but the Toas have passed through already the gate. Or could it be that the story writers decided to drop that event?

The website mentions that they appear in the graveyard too, so it's possible the plot will be less straightforward than we think.

Though I haven't read the book =P

[Shakar]

I just realized it, so far we haven't seen a single instance of a Skull Spider mind controlling someone. I thought we'd get a "Toa gets corrupted" mini plot for sure like we would in G1, but nope. Maybe the upcoming book will feature it?

[Tazakk]

The website mentions that they appear in the graveyard too, so it's possible the plot will be less straightforward than we think.

Though I haven't read the book =P

That seems more like a typo on the website's part, they probably meant Scorpios and not Warriors. In any case, they definitely don't appear in the graveyard in the book (and so it would be really weird if they did in the episodes).

[Logan McOwen]

I wonder if Kopaka will actually have his mask stolen.

Nope. Only Lewa, Pohatu and Onua have their masks stolen in the book.

Edited September 9, 2015 by LewiMOC

[Tahu]

Nope. Only Lewa, Pohatu and Onua have their masks stolen in the book.

Actually at the end, Kulta will "steal" all of their masks. And by steal I mean breaking them.

[Aanchir]

I just realized it, so far we haven't seen a single instance of a Skull Spider mind controlling someone. I thought we'd get a "Toa gets corrupted" mini plot for sure like we would in G1, but nope. Maybe the upcoming book will feature it?

Bingzak was briefly mind-controlled in the first chapter book.

[Shakar]

Ah, that's cool. Though I still want to see a mind controlled Toa duking it out with someone who tries to help him/her. It's such a classical and well known aspect of G1, and I'd be surprised to not see it once, what with all the homages they've been giving us.

[DraikNova]

It's really bothering me more than ever in the recent episodes how masculine Gali sounds. Seriously, they bothered to give her a classically feminine look, why not give her a feminine voice as well? If it's the whole "young boys think girls are icky aspect" (I still don't understand this. Is it just something particularly common in the US? I never saw anything like that here in the Netherlands.), they should at least cash in on that to make a really creepy female villain. The only female villain we've gotten since I don't know how long has been the Queen Beast, who was an anti-villain at worst (and arguably just a victim).

[Voxovan]

It's really bothering me more than ever in the recent episodes how masculine Gali sounds. Seriously, they bothered to give her a classically feminine look, why not give her a feminine voice as well? If it's the whole "young boys think girls are icky aspect" (I still don't understand this. Is it just something particularly common in the US? I never saw anything like that here in the Netherlands.), they should at least cash in on that to make a really creepy female villain. The only female villain we've gotten since I don't know how long has been the Queen Beast, who was an anti-villain at worst (and arguably just a victim).

She sounds more feminine in the English version than she does in any other (well, except Korean, because she has an actual female voice actor there), so I don't complain - she sounds better than in the last three eps from the first wave - however, the fact that she has a male voice still kinda irks me, and causes a lot of confusion for the fans. I get what Lego was going for with that decision, but it just doesn't work. I hope we'll get more voice actors in 2016, or maybe even a TV show, but considering how little budget went into this year's and Hero Factory's animations, I doubt this will ever be a thing...

[Fulcrumfan91]

It's really bothering me more than ever in the recent episodes how masculine Gali sounds. Seriously, they bothered to give her a classically feminine look, why not give her a feminine voice as well? If it's the whole "young boys think girls are icky aspect" (I still don't understand this. Is it just something particularly common in the US? I never saw anything like that here in the Netherlands.), they should at least cash in on that to make a really creepy female villain. The only female villain we've gotten since I don't know how long has been the Queen Beast, who was an anti-villain at worst (and arguably just a victim).

I think LEGO could only afford the one male voice actor. That's why her voice is so manly. What annoys me most is that Gali has done...little to nothing in the animations. I think that's worse than her manly voice. Since we are also on this subject, I wonder why there couldn't be more female characters adapted for the six toa....I could very well have seen Lewa and Kopaka as female characters. Anyway, that's just my opinion. I would love them all the same.

[Shakar]

^ Careful, I personally don't hate the idea of changing a few characters' genders, but a lot of people in the fandom do.

[DraikNova]

It wouldn't be so bad if they had put more focus on Korgot. Seriously, how did the guy with a shoulder-mounted cannon and very pathetic knives get more attention than the person who built a minigun into her body and dualwields a drill and a double-bladed knife? Sure, red is usually more popular than black, but I'm pretty sure the aforementioned factors would have more than counteracted that.

[Kalhiki]

I think LEGO could only afford the one male voice actor. That's why her voice is so manly. What annoys me most is that Gali has done...little to nothing in the animations. I think that's worse than her manly voice. Since we are also on this subject, I wonder why there couldn't be more female characters adapted for the six toa....I could very well have seen Lewa and Kopaka as female characters. Anyway, that's just my opinion. I would love them all the same.

A while back I brought up the idea of a female Takanuva, which was shot down due to the idea of potentially alienating the older fans. And I agree to a certain extent. I could see a lot of characters working with a gender swap. But as Shakar said, a lot of people wouldn't be so keen. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

[Aanchir]

I think Gali sounded plenty feminine in the most recent couple episodes, myself. Easily at least as feminine as most of the female characters in, say, the official Harry Potter audiobooks.

As I understand it, the original idea was to go with a single narrator/storyteller reading all the lines for the webisodes sort of like an audiobook, and there were only meant to be short snippets of dialogue. But as the writing process continued the creators found themselves wanting to work in more and more dialogue. If they had anticipated this stylistic shift, perhaps they might have worked with a full voice cast from the start. Or perhaps not. Hard to say for sure.

It's probably not a budget thing, since for the English-language webisodes at least there are plenty of people already employed at Advance who could have voiced the characters just like in the Hero Factory FM podcast. Of course, with that said, I don't remember how many languages Hero Factory FM was translated into, whereas these Bionicle webisodes are available in a lot of languages from the get-go. So that might have had some impact on the cost? Again, hard to say without having an "inside scoop".

It wouldn't be so bad if they had put more focus on Korgot. Seriously, how did the guy with a shoulder-mounted cannon and very pathetic knives get more attention than the person who built a minigun into her body and dualwields a drill and a double-bladed knife? Sure, red is usually more popular than black, but I'm pretty sure the aforementioned factors would have more than counteracted that.

Tahu's effectively the Bionicle theme's most iconic character, and the Protector of Fire is the one who has to accompany Tahu. So I don't think the Protectors' designs or genders made a lick of difference in determining which Protector got the most screen time in the webisodes — it's purely a matter of which Protector was involved in Tahu's scenes and which five were not.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Aanchir

[Fulcrumfan91]

^ Careful, I personally don't hate the idea of changing a few characters' genders, but a lot of people in the fandom do.

A while back I brought up the idea of a female Takanuva, which was shot down due to the idea of potentially alienating the older fans. And I agree to a certain extent. I could see a lot of characters working with a gender swap. But as Shakar said, a lot of people wouldn't be so keen. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Oh I realize that. It's ridiculous that a gender swap could generate such unnecessary backlash from some fans. Cool! I very much would have liked a female Takanuva!

Edited September 9, 2015 by lambda_cla3391

[GK733]

I would not want a female Takanuva, but a female toa of light, yes please.

[Aanchir]

I would not like a female Takanuva in G2 for the same reason I do not think a seventh Toa in the G2 story should be named Takanuva. Takanuva's identity is firmly tied to the events that transpired in the G1 story: his origins as the inquisitive wayfarer Takua and the journey he took to discover the hero inside himself. Retell the same story and the surprise is ruined. Change the story and he's no longer really the same character at all.

The Toa Mata are a much different story. Their identities are defined more by how they act and what they do than by the surprises they've been through. In G1 we met the Toa Mata with clear-cut personalities but zero knowledge of their backstories, and that can happen no matter what universe we meet them in. By contrast, people have already jumped to call any villager who stands out in any way this generation's Takua — so if the writers at any point deliberately write a character as this generation's Takua, anybody familiar with the G1 version of the character on any level is going to see their destiny to become a Toa from miles away.

If we get a seventh Toa, I'd be happy for them to be a female character, no matter what their name and element. And I do not think that making Takanuva female would in any way be a disservice to the character. But I do not think Takanuva's story could be told again in a way that stays true to the character without ruining the surprises that made his story so memorable in the first place.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Aanchir

[Fulcrumfan91]

I would not like a female Takanuva in G2 for the same reason I do not think a seventh Toa in the G2 story should be named Takanuva. Takanuva's identity is firmly tied to the events that transpired in the G1 story: his origins as the inquisitive wayfarer Takua and the journey he took to discover the hero inside himself. Retell the same story and the surprise is ruined. Change the story and he's no longer really the same character at all.

The Toa Mata are a much different story. Their identities are defined more by how they act and what they do than by the surprises they've been through. In G1 we met the Toa Mata with clear-cut personalities but zero knowledge of their backstories, and that can happen no matter what universe we meet them in. By contrast, people have already jumped to call any villager who stands out in any way this generation's Takua — so if the writers at any point deliberately write a character as this generation's Takua, anybody familiar with the G1 version of the character on any level is going to see their destiny to become a Toa from miles away.

If we get a seventh Toa, I'd be happy for them to be a female character, no matter what their name and element. And I do not think that making Takanuva female would in any way be a disservice to the character. But I do not think Takanuva's story could be told again in a way that stays true to the character without ruining the surprises that made his story so memorable in the first place.

I would not want a female Takanuva, but a female toa of light, yes please.

Yeah, good points

[Kalhiki]

Good points, Aanch, though personally I'd still enjoy Takanuva in G2. Maybe because I'm a big Transformers fan where nameslaps and re-written character histories are a commonality (for instance, Blurr from Armada being a character who rarely speaks as opposed to his fast-talking G1 counterpart). So I guess it wouldn't bother me if Takanuva's history was re-written to the point of "not being the same character".

[Quisoves Pugnat]

There's another reason that I think makes a Gen2 Takanuva ill-conceived. Takanuva was designed as a counterpart to Makuta, a diabolical entity with a strong motif of decay, corruption, and darkness. Gen2's Makuta seems far more defined by his covetousness. He wears the Mask of Control, he forged a mask with all the elements, and he's been described as "the Mask Hoarder."

Barring a major change in the emphasis and portrayal of Makuta, a Toa of Light would come rather out of left field.