HeroraNui wrote:I have a question about this. To what degree were the set designers for original Bionicle aware of the direction of the story? Have they ever designed sets specifically for the story, or did they just make toys and it was completly up to the story team to decide who they were and what they did? For example, was it planned by the story team to set 2007 underwater and the set team gave them an underwater look, or did they just decide to make a series of deep-sea looking Toa, and it was up to you guys to determine what they were doing underwater?
Also as a comment, I must say that even though there was a lot shoehorned in, I think you and the story team did a great job of keeping it coherent and a fun story to read about. A lot of people complain about Bionicle's complexity, but to me that was one of the best parts. Nothing was ever simple, and everything had a deeper meaning to it. Going back to 2007, you could have easily have made the Barraki just a bunch of sea monsters, and no one would have batted an eye. But you guys made them beautifully complex characters with a great backstory. And you Greg in particular delivered this story masterpiece to us amazingly with your great books and serials, which I continue to re-read to this day.
Great question.
The set designers would go in knowing what the environment would be, how many heroes and how many villains there would be in a year, and what the prices of the different sets would be. But the story itself was not written until we saw their sets. They did their work first. So they were not trying to match scenes in story, we were writing to match the sets.
evo326 wrote:greg, i have been looking at your posts involving bionicle 2015 and when i ask this please be honest. Do You Like Bionicle 2015?
As I have noted before, asking a LEGO employee if they like a LEGO line (any LEGO line) is a pointless question, because supporting every line and hoping for its success comes with the job. It's like asking a Target employee if they like Target or Walmart better.
Got Buried again...
maletoaofwater wrote:
maletoaofwater wrote:
ScribeGT6817 wrote:
voporak1 wrote:
Hi mr Greg
3. The kanohi mask are magical mask or a form of advanced technology?
3) In old story, they were a product of GB technology. I do not know what they are in new story. There was no magic in old story.
What about elemental powers? (and other powers?). Those abilities clearly defy the universe's laws of physics (referring to bionicle's laws of physics... otherwise elements would respond to everyone, not just those with the powers). I agree that we can't call those powers "magic", at least not in the traditional "spell-casting" sense, but i don't think we can call it purely tech either. perhaps tech was how they achieved those powers, but the powers themselves can't be tech.
i think this got buried.
buried again...
maletoaofwater wrote:
maletoaofwater wrote:
ScribeGT6817 wrote:
Toa-Nuva-von-Mata-Nui wrote:Also, a short follow-up to this answer:
ScribeGT6817 wrote:
Thormmen wrote:Hi Greg,
If a Toa who already completed his/her destiny were to be locked up for a long period of time in the vicinity of an activated Nui Stone, long enough for the Nui Stone to completely drain the Toa of Toa Energy, what would happen? We saw these possibilities:
1) The Toa would be left with zero Toa Energy but remain a Toa. Since he/she never gave up any of his/her Toa Energy willingly, and will never be able to do so again because he/she is "empty", he/she will never be able to turn into a Turaga.
(...)
Which, if any, of these options is the correct one?
Many thanks!I personally would lean toward #1, however -- you could also have a case where the Toa is locked up and CHOOSES to remain so for some reason (maybe to protect others), and so could become a Turaga because he chose to remain in a situation where his energies were drained.
If the Toa chooses to remain in a situation where his energies are drained, does it matter whether he knows that his energies are drained? E.g. if he chooses to stay in his prison, but he does not know that there's a Nui stone lying right next to it, would he still become a Turaga?
Yes
yes it matters, or yes he would become a turaga?
i think this got buried as well.
buried again.
maletoaofwater wrote:
ScribeGT6817 wrote:
M0TR wrote:Hello Greg. I hope you are doing well.
1. Without a Ta-Matoran's resistance to fire, Takua must have been very uncomfortable in their usual habitats. Did he or anyone else ever notice this as being very odd?
5. We have it written down on BS01 that Toa armor is a separate object that Toa can remove if necessary (though with no source for that information), but a member asserts that Toa armor is just their regular protodermis exoskeleton transformed into a new shape and so cannot be removed. Which is correct?
1) That probably did inspire some of his wanderings
5) It is a separate object
1. Did other disguised Av-matoran have trouble fitting in with the other matoran tribes they lived with as takua did?
1a. How many av-matoran were relocated during the time slip?
1b. were there any other av-matoran in metru/mata-nui, or was takua the only one?
5. This seems odd to me... as noted in the original question, there's no source for the fact that toa armor is something separate they wear like clothing. additionally, in the films, (which are canon, right?) we can clearly see the toas' organic parts right beneath their outermost layer, indicating that they only have their mechanical parts and their organic ones, w/o anything extra on top of it, further pointing to the fact that they don't wear any extra armor on top of their mechanical exoskeleton. Isn't their "armor" just their mechanical parts?
5a. Additionally, considering the MU inhabitants are mostly mechanical (instead of organic), and the great beings were trying to conserve resources (red star is an example of that), wouldn't it make sense for them to just have the toa use their natural bodies as armor w/o creating additional stuff that would require more resources? if a robot is designed to fight, (as the toa basically were) you wouldn't make it so that it had to put on additional armor to defend itself, you'd just incorporate the armor into the design.
buried
maletoaofwater wrote:
ScribeGT6817 wrote:
alienduck wrote:This got buried.
alienduck wrote:
- Naho was known to meet her demise on a mission to shut off the flood gates at the hands of Eliminator. It's known that a Kakama was found around the are she would be. Is it safe to say that Naho wore a Kakama?
1) Yes
Is the fact that she wore a mask of speed also the reason she was the one to sneak through enemy lines to go get reinforcements during the toa-DH war?
also buried haha...
alienduck wrote:
alienduck wrote:3) Kanoka disks have been shown with the abilities of the Mask of Levitation and Mask of Speed, despite how those masks were made with disk combinations. Can you make those disks by combining the combinations used to make those Masks, and by extent does that mean that you can create a Disk of any mask by combining them?
5) And if not that, what powers would a disk made of two other disks combined have other than the Kanohi it would make?I think this got buried.
1) Yes, because you have to have created the power in a disk before you can make a mask from it. So any mask had to have existed as a disk with that power, at least if it was made in Metru Nui.
maletoaofwater wrote:5 This seems odd to me... as noted in the original question, there's no source for the fact that toa armor is something separate they wear like clothing. aditionally, in the films, (which are canon, right?) we can clearly see the toas organic parts right beneath their outermost layer, indicating that they only have their mech parts and their org. ones, w/o anything extra on top of it, further pointing to the fact that they don't wear any extra armor on top of their mech exoskeleton. Isn't their "armor" just their mech parts?
5a Additionally, considering the MU inhabitants are mostly mechanical (instead of organic), and the great beings were trying to conserve resources (red star is an example of that), wouldn't it make sense for them to just have the toa use their natural bodies as armor w/o creating additional stuff that would require more resources? if a robot is designed to fight, (as the toa basically were) you wouldn't make it so that it had to put on additional armor to defend itself, you'd just incorporate the armor into the design.
5b That said, we know that matoran can rebuild themselves into stronger forms, as seen in the 2003 story. it would seem to me that they do this by modifying their mechanical parts, and leaving their organic ones alone. (yes?) relating to what the original question said about toa being able to take their armor off if need be, i'd think that toa could still do so, even if said armor is just their mechanical parts: considering matoran can do so to rebuild themselves, what's stopping a toa (the same species as matroan) from doing the same thing?
5c another thing i just thought of: if toa armor is akin to clothing instead of simply being part of their body, doesn't that make the exo-toa pointless? i remember when those sets were released, the big selling point was that now you could actually put your toa in a suit of armor. if toa armor is a separate thing, doesn't that contradict the point of the exo-toa?
buried...
TomGyroid wrote:Thanks again Greg! Hope you don't mind if I ask some questions again
1) How would Vakama and the other Turaga react if they knew Lhikan was alive, or at least in stasis?
2) Would there be any good reason to canonise any of the other non-canon promotional sets besides Gold Good Guy/Turaga Lhikan?
8026 Kraatu
6934 Good Guy
6935 Bad Guy
7217 Duracell Bad Guy
7716 QUICK Good Guy White
7717 QUICK Bad Guy Green
7718 QUICK Bad Guy Yellow
7719 QUICK Good Guy Red
6944 Good Guy 07
6945 Bad Guy 07
6946 Squid Launcher Function
6126 Good Guy 2008
6127 Bad Guy 2008
6128 Function 2008
Perhaps such as puppets (if that was the official explanation), Rahi, Skakdi (6935, 7217), Matoran (6944, 6126), Matoran Hordika (7716, 7719) or Rahaga (7717, 7718), assuming that doesn't interfere with the "if they already had an indentification it won't be canonised as something else" rule
3) There was a enemy in BIONICLE Heroes that was like a dragonfly (I think it was called the Acid Fly), and it was essentially a hip part with two long socket pieces for wings. Is that canon or canonisable (I hope I'm not giving of a "oh he'll canonise anything" feel)?
4) Are the sets generally all in canon size to each other besides the stars (like 2002 Toa Nuva - Piraka, 03 Matoran - 08 Matoran, 03 Takanuva - 07 Jaller, etc.)?
5) If the Bohrok will be reprogrammed to help Spherus Magna, what will happen to the Bohrok Va?
6) Did the 08 Matoran shrink back down to their original size when they left Karda Nui?
1) I assume they would be happy to hear it
2) I have no plans to canonize every promotional set that ever came out, no
3) I never played BH, so not something I can comment on.
4) Yes
5) Why would anything in particular need to happen to them? Why would their jobs change?
6) Unknown. The effect of the energies may well have been permanent.
Hey greg the 06 matoran had mask identical to the 04 toa are they wearing great mask that they can't use or is there some other explanation? on another note I know this wasn't your domain but how did a 43rd rahkshi all of a sudden apear during the Stars wave? also somthing I don't get every other rahkshi had a staff power but this one apparantly had heat vision why is this one different? Also what happened tothe last of your least favorite characters the Vahki? One last question would the Toa Metru be considered the "normal" toa of the ones put into sets. the hagah as well as lhikan had the same build and the other ones in sets were made toa by unusual circumstances.
These questions pertain to content from BZP that is sourced to you... since i don't think i can post a link on here, i'll just quote what it says for each question.
1. "It is already known that the Matoran of Mahri Nui were partially mutated during their brief exposure to the Pit mutagen, and that this mutation altered them to resemble how they looked before their botched reconstruction by Karzahni. Greg believes that when Mata Nui undid the mutations of anyone exposed to the Pit mutagen, he had the ability to be selective and did not revert the Matoran back to their Karzahni forms. Greg believes that there was also no need to make the Matoran amphibious, since they were no longer living underwater."
-Why did MN just make the matoran non-amphibious? Or were there other pit inhabitants that he made only air-breathers?
2. "In Greg's words, this is what would happen if two Agori from different tribes were to have a child, and what tribe that child would belong to: "Agori are not born with colors. They simply wear armor that has the color of the tribe they are in. So it would come down to which tribe the child (or their parents) chose to live in. For example, now that resources are not so scarce, if a Fire and Water tribe couple had a child, one parent or the other might choose to change villages and bring the child along.""
-This kinda goes along with all my toa armor questions... you said that "agori are not born with colors", as if distinguishing them from the matoran species which are born with colors... same goes for "they simply wear armor..." This seems to me to further indicate that a toa's armor is merely their mechanical components.
3. running out of characters, more to come...
3. "The Matoran will be able to feed on the organic animals found on the new Spherus Magna, just as they fed off of organic fish on the island of Mata Nui."
-A little while ago, you compared agori eating protodermic food, like bula berries, to humans eating drywall. however, considering the quoted info, wouldn't it make more sense that if matoran can eat organic food, that agori could also eat protodermic food? If the food is similar enough that both work the same way on the matoran, wouldn't both work the same way in the agoirs' system? after all, liquid protodermis and water are similar enough that toa of water can control both.
4. "Special Av-Matoran will continue to transform into Bohrok even on the new Spherus Magna."
-Why is this? Aren't the systems that transform them broken down? Or is it something internal in each matoran... like certain ones were designed at creation to transform at a certain time?
5. "In Greg's words, the Order of Mata Nui is currently doing "Pretty much the same thing they were doing before, enforcing the will of Mata Nui.""
-Does this mean they are helping in the search for the great beings?
6. Matoran dream when they sleep, as humans do.
-Did they do this before they gained sentience, or was this a result of that?
7. "In Greg's words, on the likelihood of a Toa of Stone having been a part of the Toa Mangai team: "I can't see why there wouldn't have been one.""
-So far, we know that there were 11 total: 2 water, 1 fire, 4 ice, 1 air, and 1 stone. Of the 6 primary elements, only earth isn't represented in that list... was there a toa of earth on the Mangai team? Assuming there was, that leaves one last unknown toa... what element was (s)he?
Thanks again for answering our questions!
Dear Greg,
I don't know if this was answered before, but was there ever any specific story element in BIONICLE you had wanted to do that TLG did not? Thanks