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crystaltoa · 5 years

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Toa Pranks

The “Monkey On Your Back”

Perpetrator: Hewkii

Victim: Hahli

Equipment: Six bunches of Bula berries, an accomplice skilled at conversation and keeping a straight face (Hmmm.. Kongu, maybe?) and a caged Brakas.(Note: Works best with a monkey taken fresh out of stasis and still slightly drowsy. )

1. Have the accomplice distract Hahli, keep her talking and relatively stationary for a few minutes.

2. Taking advantage of the fact that your sister has two protosteel fins attached to her back, and pretty much no sense of touch in said fins, sneak up behind her and decorate them with some fresh berries while she’s occupied.

3. Now get the Brakas out of the cage. Use the Garai to reduce its weight to almost nothing. Apply monkey to sister. Once it’s got a grip on her fins, leave it to chow down on the berries while you find a place to hide. Your accomplice should probably make an excuse to leave right about now too.

4. Take bets with your friends how long it’s gonna take before she notices*, and what she’s gonna do to you when she does**. Anyway, it will definitely be Worth It.***

5. And when she does find out... Run.

“Think Fast”

Perpetrator: Tahu

Victim: Jaller

Equipment: None

1. Sneak up on your target. Yell “Think fast!” and throw a fireball at his head.

2. Just at the last moment, activate the Kanohi Hau Nuva to shield him from the fireball

3. Remember, too late, that you’re a Toa Mata now and can’t do that anymore.

4. Oops.

5. Well, at least he’s a Toa of Fire too so it didn’t really singe him. Not badly anyway....

6. Run.

The “Devolution”

Perpetrator: Takanuva

Victim: Everyone except Jaller, who can literally see through this sort of shenanigans. Also he seems even less in the pranking mood than usual this year for some reason?

Equipment: One Mask of Stealth (actually Concealment would have been better, but you’re gonna have more luck getting Nuparu to lend you his mask than Vakama...) One powerless Great-style Pakari, and one willing Av-Matoran accomplice (Solek).

1. Spend an hour or so practicing using the Mask of Stealth, specifically the not-falling-over-your-own-feet-because-you-can’t-see-them bit.

2. Meanwhile, Solek is going to practice mouthing your words as you speak, trying to perfect an accurate lip synch. Work out a rough script, but know ahead of time that you may need to resort to improv. Oh! Also, find out if he can fake crying convincingly?... no... no he cannot. Let’s just stick to lots of hysterical yelling then.

3. Solek dons the Pakari and changes his armour to a familiar red and blue colour scheme. He carries the Avokhii, while you go into stealth mode. Now you’re ready to prank your friends.

4. Following behind Solek, barge in on everyone while yelling, “Guys! Help! I touched the Ignika and look what it did to me!”, with Solek mouthing the words as you say them. Then you say, “I tried to put the Avokhii back on but it didn’t change me back!” and watch them lose their minds trying to think how to turn you back into a Toa.

5. Oh... uh... apparently that may have been a slightly insensitive joke to play on Tahu given his actual devolution...

6. Run.

*Two minutes, twenty three seconds. Nuparu won the bet within a 15 second margin.

** This was the day Hewkii discovered that Hahli’s mask power can borrow abilities from pretty much any terrestrial Rahi up to and including the Rahi Nui’s kanoka powers. Before he knew what was happening, the Toa of Stone had been shrunk to six inches tall, had his mask smeared with berry juice, and then was handed over to the delighted monkey to be nibbled, shaken and otherwise manhandled for an hour before Hahli decided to change him back.

*** So. Not. Worth it...

#bionicle #april fools day headcanons #hewkii #tahu #takanuva #jaller #hahli

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rebuiltbionicle · 6 years

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Gaardus

I wanted to write about the Maze of Shadows first but I wanted to reread the book, so I’ll move onto other things beforehand.

So Gaardus is a pretty hated character, and the Velika reveal a pretty unpopular one too. So I have a solution.

Gaardus was a Great Being, one of the eighteen technocrats of Spherus Magna. While working on the Elemental Lord project, Gaardus objected to setting them up as their viceroys, claiming the Great Beings should continue their direct rule. When the Core War began, Gaardus claimed this as proof that direct Great Being rule was superior, and that the failure of the autocratic system lay in the Element Lords personally rather than the system itself.

When work began on the Great Spirit Robot, Gaardus was one of the voices that pushed for sapience amongst the robot’s inhabitants. He further argued that instead of a mission to restore Spherus Magna, the Great Beings should inhabit the robot and abandon the planetary ruins for good. Nobody listened to this idea. He also opposed the creation of the Marendar. It was Gaardus’ project to create Artakha and Karzahni, as well as the Kanohi Korusca, mask of creation. He heavily pushed their role as Creator-Rulers of the Matoran. Eager to watch the Matoran Universe in action, Gaardus announced to his compatriots that he was going into self-imposed exile, and uploaded his mind into a Ta-Matoran and settled within the universe.

Gaardus the Matoran settled on Stelt. He gained a reputation among his neighbours (all oblivious to his nature) as being very curious, always wanting to know what was happening in the universe at large. He was initially curious and positive about the direction Artakha and Karzahni were taking, but was displeased by Atakha fading into myth, and most upset when his Po-Matoran friend Velika failed to return from Karzahni. Mata Nui creating new species for the universe intrigued him, especially as three new speices were fabricated on Stelt. He became quite jaded when the Ruhora turned Stelt into an island of castes slavery. The rise of the League of the Six Kingdoms concerned him greatly.

Gaardus decided to influence the Matoran Universe rather than just observe it. He attempted to rally the Matoran against the League. He gathered very little support, as the League had been given the blessing of the Great Spirit. Gaardus was arrested by Pridak’s police force. Instead of executing or enslaving him, Pridak and many other dissenters were shipped over to Xia, where he was subjected to experimentation, attempting to create the ultimate super-soldier. While what Gaardus became wasn’t exactly a super-soldier, it was of impressive strength, enough that he was handed over to Pridak’s army, and enough that he was able to escape without being killed.

Seeking revenge, Gaardus volunteered with the Brotherhood of Makuta’s army, and served in the invasion of Hagah Nui. Vengeance was cut short by the Barraki being taken away to the Pit, though Gaardus felt that disappearing forever was punishment enough. The Brotherhood seized the League’s assets, which included much paperwork, which Gaardus used to discover the specific identities of them responsible for his experimentation. The Brotherhood, intrigued by the mysterious being Gaardus appeared to be, was willing to train him, and was quite disappointed when he handed in his resignation.

Trained in his abilities as a stealth hunter, Gaardus started a reign of terror on Xia, killing all the Vortixx complicit in the experiments. He also killed those responsible for his arrest. Getting to used to the hunting and killing, Gaardus made an attempt to invade Karzahni and rescue Velika, though the realm of Karzahni proved impenetrable even to a Great Being in a stealth hunter’s body. After doing this, Gaardus was disturbed by his own actions, but by then had become used to it and saw it as justified.

As the situation in the Matoran Universe began to decay, Gaardus tried his best to keep the project alive and kicking. His interventions were mostly of the deadly stealth hunter vengeance variety and made questionable difference. Notably, he killed those who attempted to kill Kestora, and also tried to terrify miners away from Energised Protodermis pipelines.

At some stage, Gaardus came into possession of a Kanohi Olmak, and using it managed to transport himself to the Red Star. His teleportation powers allowed him free access even after he passed the Olmak on. The resident Kestora and Voltest attempted to drive him out as a contaminant. To get around this, Gaardus altered their minds to become sapient like the Matoran Universe inhabitants. He structured their society to allow the continued operation of the Star, while also being completely at ease with him entering and using the equipment at his leisure.

He attempted to contact the Great Beings continuously, but only ever contacted Glatorian or Agori that had kept themselves some surviving communications equipment from before the Shattering. He learned that his comrades were not maintaining technocratic rule of Bara Magna, and was greatly disappointed by them. He resolved to restore the old technocracy under his own individual rule, and began recruiting agents for this task. He employed several families (it was going to be generations before he returned), including uppity Rock Agori, Fire Glatorian, a city of Vorox, and an Iron Tribe caravan.

Gaardus realised what the Makuta were planning and exacerbated the growth of their arrogance and tried to spread goodwill about the Makuta to ensure the Brotherhood’s takeover would be painless. After the Great Cataclysm, which Gaardus was blissfully unaware was the Makuta’s fault, he aided the Brotherhood’s expansion under the pretense of rebuilding. When the Destiny War broke out, word that the Makuta had caused the Cataclysm and were trying to stop Mata Nui’s restoration gave Gaardus pause, and made him rethink his position, and spent the whole war trying to figure out the truth.

When Teridax took over the Great Spirit Robot, Gaardus realised he had made a mistake. He returned to the Red Star to sabotage it, stranding the GSR on Aqua Magna. He discovered that a civil war between the Kestora and Voltest had already rendered the star inoperable in that regard. The survivors had made peace by the time of Gaardus’ return, and blamed Gaardus for the war, driving him out, and stopping him from interrupting their repairs. Gaardus attempted to reach the core processor, but couldn’t make it past the Rahkshi patrols and ended up having to be a resistance fighter, ironically joining up with the Barraki’s new armies.

Despite his fears, Teridax was killed and Spherus Magna reformed without incident. He escaped to the surface and enacted his plan to take over the world. First on his mind was revenge on the Great Beings who had abandoned the old technocracy. He began seeking out his fellow Great Beings and murdering them. He also gave the order for his followers to rally.

He killed five of his fellow Great Beings before arriving at the Fortress of Hieronyma, the maddened Great Being, with intent to kill her. The attempt failed, and several powerful beings from the Matoran Universe were there to confront Gaardus. Gaardus teleported away to safety, but at his destination he was still under threat by a Toa team led by a Glatorian who was seeking the Great Beings. He was eventually cornered by both groups, but was defended by his rallying followers.

He retreated, defended by his followers, but was again cut off by the Kestora of the Red Star descending to Spherus Magna. Led by their mad Skakdi King, Vezon, and joining with the pursuing Toa, Gaardus’ followers were cut off and forced to surrender. Gaardus attempted to teleport again, but was out-teleported by Vezon, who incapacitated Gaardus. Their teleportation was disabled, and now Gaardus is a prisoner of the new society.

Gaardus desired peace built upon order and people doing what they were told. He was a strong believer that the masses could not be trusted with their own lives, and that their intellectual superiors needed to control them. This was why he was such a proponent of enlightened despotism. Its constant failure with the Elemental Lords, Artakha and Karzahni, the Barraki, and so on, did not deter Gaardus, and he blamed its failure on the individuals not being good enough. In his arrogance, he didn’t believe anyone else but him was capable of a decision-making role.

Physically, after uploading his mind, Gaardus was indistinguishable from any other Ta-Matoran. They had red armour and an orange Hau, and a resistance to heat. After his mutation on Xia, Gaardus ended up a being a little over the size of a Toa, with four legs, four arms, fully functional wings, and talons. He gained the ability to use Kanohi and could also teleport to anywhere he had already been. He trained in fighting with the Brotherhood’s armies, and managed to become an accomplished hunter and assassin. Though becoming too used to murder, he believed he was doing it to earn a day where he could sit down and create wonders once again.

#bionicle #bionicle rebuilt #figures #great beings #spherus magna

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vrahno · 6 years

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Extended version of Tale of the Toa

One of the more curious bits of international Bonkle trivia are those 50 extra pages in the Hungarian release of the novel Tale of the Toa -- thanks to Kovalenkaya for having brought this to the community’s attention. In all likelihood, the book had gone through a revision for its English release, and the translation was based off the non-truncated original text.

At Pereki’s request, I re-translated the cut bits back into English as best as I could. It turned out the revision wasn’t done to merely lower the pagecount -- Hapka’s original writing contained plenty of continuity errors and lore contradictions, and the revised text issued a couple further changes of its own.

Click here for the .doc of my rush-job re-translation. Credit goes to BZPower’s TuragaNuva and Toatapio Nuva for their digital release of the book. I inserted the extra bits into their version. Check out their project that aims to compile all of Bionicle’s written story here (they may also be interested in this stuff). For further details and observations, or if you just don’t have the time to go through the whole book, keep reading.

Hapka’s writing drags a lot due to excessive redundancy, a tendency to break into exposition and scenes that just go nowhere. Getting rid of these made sense.

There’s a lot more character moments, some of which I’m bummed to see got cut. Like Tahu’s multiple visions foreshadowing storyline events up until Takanuva (a lot of fans forget this book came out in 2003, so most of those “future” events had already gone), Onua exploring Onu-Koro, Pohatu admiring his reflection, Kopaka’s uneasiness from being underground, or more elaborate descriptions of the Kaita. In particular, over half of Gali’s chapter got cut, depriving fans of her meetup with Lewa (though there’s an old Russian comic that gives a different account). Another missing scene is Kopaka’s fight against a Nui-Jaga. Some banter between the Toa also got deleted, along with all moments where they bump fists with each other.

Certain changes affect the story. Apparently Hapka couldn’t differentiate between the Toa Mata and Nuva, so the Nuva tools are frequently brought up. Gali has hooked arms in the beginning, but hands later on. Tahu has double Magma Swords, Gali has her Aqua Axes, Pohatu has Climbing Claws and Lewa has green(!) Air Katana. Strangely, even the revised text alludes to the Shadow Toa having Nuva tools at some points.

All mentions of the masks already having color and belonging to their respective Toa before they actually acquire them were changed to them being gray, as in other canon media.

The Turaga’s role was originally somewhat diminished. The Toa know of the Golden Masks and the Manas from their dreams, but the final text gives credit to the Turaga.

In the published version, Kopaka sees a vision of the Toa Kaita when a chunk of ice bonks him on the head (recalling Gali’s similar experience from the comics when she’s knocked out by a Tarakava). In the original text, that vision was actually sent by someone while Kopaka was still conscious, but we never find out who sent it. Though he apparently has the power to freeze a Toa in place.

Interestingly, Hapka originally made a point of showing each of the Shadow Toa’s remains retreating back into the tunnels. This causes an even wider divide between her and the canon account, in which the Toa absorb their evil selves. In the finalized novel, the Shadow Toa just break apart, melt or burn, so we can at least envision the Toa snorting up their remains.

Other miscellaneous observations:

There’s a water pump under Onu-Koro

Kopaka is big on math, calculating his chances down to the approximate percent

Lewa is afraid of getting his hair wet

Tahu knew of the Kanohi Hau, but didn’t realize he was wearing it until Onua told him.

Shadow-Lewa tries to stab his real counterpart. Though it doesn’t succeed, I can see why this bit was removed, given Lego’s strict anti-violence policies at the time, especially regarding weapon-usage (think of how neutered the fights in the Miramax movies are)

The original text mentions a Kahu bird and a Madu tree. A Volo tree is mentioned in the revised text.

The Hungarian translator couldn’t tell the difference between “hurry” and “hurray”, which makes one of Tahu’s lines uncharacteristically cheerful

Before the Shadow Toa show up, there’s a paragraph that recaps the story. It could have added to the scene’s dramatic tension, but the book’s so full of redundancy that it comes off as annoying instead

The separate passageways branching off the chamber where the Toa fight the Shadow Toa are reminiscent of how the final level seemed to have been set up in the Legend of Mata Nui PC game. Except the Toa don’t actually go into them

No, even this version doesn’t have the fight with Makuta at the end. I know the book completely ignores MNOG (as well as stuff like the Makoki stones), but wasn’t that fight part of the original story outline? Although I guess having the Manas fight, the Shadow Toa fight and the Makuta fight all happen in succession would have been... redundant

Finally, forgive me for my crude translation work and formatting of the text. My goal was to give fans a more complete view of this book’s “missing” contents in an accessible form, not to restore the book to how it may have originally been written. While most of the deleted lines were easy to translate back into English (it’s a children’s book after all), at times I could only guess what the original writing might have been -- especially when it came to wordplays, Lewa’s treespeak, or the Hungarian translator’s mangled sentences. Anyone who has the time (and can better mimic Hapka’s writing style) can feel free to fix up the text for a better reading experience.

I also recommend comparing my translation to the three chapters done by Kovalenkaya, as I can’t be sure I didn’t commit some mistakes of my own.

#Bionicle #Tale of the Toa #books #translation #C. A. Hapka #Hungarian #novel #missing content

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toa-ahkmou · 7 years

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Upgrades

Ahkmou walked through the tunnels below Po-Metru, beside a grey and orange-armoured Matoran, yellow eyes glowing behind his mask. After a few days of work, the project he had provided the mysterious group of Fe-Matoran with was complete.

“It took a while, that battle you got into put this machine through the wringer, but the repairs and upgrades you required were no challenge for the Nynrah Ghosts.”

“Of course, that's why I hired the best.” Ahkmou nodded, as they entered the chamber where the team had been working on the Boxor prototype.

The robot stood tall against the rear wall, its armour repaired and repainted, now gleaming silver, blue glowing lights dotting its frame. The arm was re-attached, and the armour bulked up and smoothed out.

“It certainly looks different, and not entirely like what I wanted... care to explain?” Ahkmou raised an eyebrow, glancing at his comrade.

“Certainly.” The Ghost nodded, leading Ahkmou onto the gantry around the mech. “The jagged pieces of armour were pointless, in fact, worse than that. Flairs on armour just give your opponent something to grab onto or lever against. We smoothed it out and thickened it, so it will do its job better. As an extra layer of defence, a Kanohi Hau has been built into each shoulder assembly.”

“Ah, excellent.”

“As requested, thrusters have been built into the shins and back of the suit, it should allow some level of flight. You said mobility was your chief concern, yes?”

“Yes, exactly.” Ahkmou nodded. “Nuparu is building a walking tank, I need something that will suit my methods more.”

“Very well. Of course, weapons are still a priority, so we made sure to upgrade all of those too.” The Ghost said, gesturing to the large swords attached to the machine's back. “Handheld weapons should give you a greater range of control. They magnetise to the hands and can be super-heated by the core.” He then pointed to the twin cannons on the right forearm. “Both of these are capable of independent targeting, and have been made twice as powerful as before. They also run off the core, so you need not worry about ammunition.”

“Hmm, excellent. And the saw?” Ahkmou asked, pointing to the left forearm, where the disc appeared to have been replaced with a heavy, flattened bar with sharpened ends. “Call me an armchair weaponsmith, but that doesn't look all that deadly.”

“Understandable, many make that error if they aren't educated enough to recognise the inherent flaws with the design.” The Fe-Matoran explained, failing to hide his judging of the former carver. Ahkmou frowned, but shrugged it off. He needed their help anyway. “The saw-blade is an inherently flawed weapon for fighting anything with tough armour. It needs prolonged contact to cut through armour. After all, how many people do you see using hacksaws as weapons?”

“Hm, good point. So why the bar, and not just a completely different weapon?”

“The bar runs on the same idea, a spinning weapon, but it uses kinetic energy, building up a lot of it before transferring that to the target. If it doesn't manage to go through the armour, it will wreak havoc on the internals. And listen to the noise...”

The Fe-Matoran pressed a button on his remote, and the arm moved forward, the bar spinning up quickly, producing a loud, high-pitched hum.

“We call it the Death Hum.” He said proudly, as the bar slowed down to a stop.

“I like it... but if it's all about kinetic energy, won't it also damage itself?”

“An astute observation, and thus, we included a kinetic compensator. High-strength shock absorbers will prevent it from damaging itself, and the gears that turn the bar can disengage to prevent stripping.”

“Ah, I see...” Ahkmou said, grinning behind his mask.

“So, satisfied?”

“Oh, most definitely.”

#bionicle #ahkmou #nynrah ghosts #Dark Mirror #Dark Mirror Month #DMM #DM #Boxor #Upgrades

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ctrl-alt-tahu · 3 years

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ctrl-b-Tahu

Tahu was my first Toa--and from the beginning, my favourite. Perhaps inevitably, since, he was The Leader, but my choice in the matter had as much to do with him wielding a sword (the best weapon, per my Tolkienian tendencies) and bearing the Hau, which is still my favourite Kanohi and you can’t convince me otherwise.

Mix that with a love of the Mata and a distaste for the Nuva going back to 2002 and I was pretty okay with Stars Tahu--even with his truly nonsensical in-story turn to that form. Naturally, loving Tahu so much, and for those reasons, I ended up a big fan of Lhikan.

“You remind me of him,” Vakama told Tahu as they looked out over the lava flows one even on the edge of Ta-Koro. The new Toa had just returned from another search of the island and seemed to be glad to be back with his people, though he did not say as much. Tahu was spoke often and loudly, but rarely of his own feelings.

“Remind you of who, Turaga?” asked Tahu, always deferential to the Turaga. Vakama had noticed that Tahu, who believed firmly in his own authority, believed in more in Authority as such and he was deferential to those who wielded it, though he held back from affection. If Tahu had a true friend, Vakama did not know it, for the Toa guarded his feelings with shields stronger than his Hau.

Still, the Toa were still new and learning themselves, and if Tahu was respectful but distant of his Turaga, Vakama himself was keeping secrets. The Toa knew nothing of Metru Nui, or of the whole sunken world of which they, the Toa themselves, were made and were made to serve. The Turaga were all a little disquieted by this ignorance, Nuju being particularly caustic, and Vakama did not know if he could trust this stoic warrior--a figure of justice, not mercy--with the failures and doubts that surrounded his memories of Lhikan and their exile from Metru Nui.

“Whom do I remind you of, Turaga?” Tahu rephrased the question, still with iron politeness.

“Oh, Captain Jala,” said Vakama, and if you thought only of his mask, it wasn’t a lie. “You’re both so serious”

#Bionicle #toa #Turaga #alt-canon #tahu #vakama #lhikan

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