The Building Chronicle: A Critical Consideration of LEGO's "Bionicle" Series - Building Through part 3.4 - 2003

As we come in for our finish of the 2003 sets, I'll apologize for the decline in quality of my pictures. 2004 will be better, I promise. One of the things the 2004 wave introduced to the series was the idea of the Titan figure - larger-scale figures that combined the action figure style builds of the Toa with more complex Technic pieces. The large sets from 2003 prefigure these Titans, but don't quite qualify.

The Mask of Light follows the exploits of two Matoran, Jaller and Takua. They are sent on a quest to find the Seventh Toa, the Toa of Light, which takes them through the varied landscapes of Mata Nui, and in and out of conflict with the Rahkshi. As with most children's movies not intended for theatrical release, Mask of Light is kind of a drab piece of storytelling, more an advertisement than a story, really. It stands in stark contrast with the series of books that comes out in its wake, those dealing with the tales of the Toa Metru, which are routinely dark and explore some interesting aspects of morality and duty. Two of the large sets of this year depict these two main characters. Takua and Pewku is a pretty neat set. The giant crab that Takua rides around the island is a neat mix of Technic elements, and its movement mechanism, small wheels concealed beneath moving, but cosmetic, legs is really great. As with the other Matoran from this wave, Takua (and Jaller) is a bit wobbly. The builds for the various Matoran throughout Generation 1 are amongst the weakest. The balance between simplicity and poseability never seems to have quite worked out, though I'd have to say that the Mahri Matoran from 2007 are probably, in my opinion, the best. The Jaller and Gukko Bird set is an odd choice, reflecting a scene from the film that lasts only moments, and the bird has no feet and/or stand on which to display it, hence, in the picture below, my choice to hang it from the bottom of the shelf.

In the picture at the top, it looks like we have three different versions of Makuta, which is sort of correct. The one in the middle is the Makuta set, and is actually quite fascinating for its identity as the only official model of the storyline's main villain that was ever released. We have combiners (such as next year's Ultimate Dume set) that portray versions of the villain, but never another specific set called "Makuta." This is odd, considering his intrinsic place in the tale. Makuta, the set, attempts to offer some more poseability, though combines it with the odd wobbly build of the Matoran from this year, making him a good model, but not a great one. The same goes for the two combiners that flank him. One is a beastial version of Makuta, a combination of the Makuta, Takua, and Jaller sets. Again, it's good, but not great. The other is Takutanuva, the end result of the battle between Makuta and the Toa of Light.

The last large set from this year is the Seventh Toa himself, Takanuva, who, you may be able to guess from the similarity of names, is actually MoL protagonist Takua reborn as a Toa. It's hard to see in the picture, but Takanuva comes with a really great vehicle that he can ride, though his actual build is still using Toa Nuva pieces from the previous year, and so is a little underwhelming. But the character himself stands as a messianic figure in the prophesies of the Matoran, so our interest in him can stem from the fact that this kind of a prophesied figure is not only brought into what really amounts to a kids story, but also incarnates, so to speak, in the material realm as a toy. Which, I suppose, if one considers the fact that I own a Jesus Christ action figure, is not so odd.

The next post will be a bit larger a consideration of the Toa of Light from a building stance, and then we'll move on to the saga of the Toa Metru, and of the City of Metru Nui, where things get a little more murky, narratively speaking.

The Building Chronicle: A Critical Consideration of LEGO's "Bionicle" Series - Building Through part 3.3 - 2003

Our second-last foray into the Mask of Light-era of G1 brings us the Rahkshi. Created from strange, slug-like creatures called Kraata, the Rahkshi, at least the ones that the Toa Nuva encounter in this particular stage of their quest, are foes unlike any they've faced before. The six Rahkshi lay waste to Ta-Koro and Onu-Koro, and hand up defeat after defeat to the Toa Nuva until a new ally reveals itself. More of that next time.

Though, as with many of the villain waves, the Rahkshi are basically clones, their construction raises them up from the level of the Bohrok clones of the previous year. I noted in a prior post that the movement of the head on later waves of Toa give them far more potential for poseability and character, but that this innovation doesn't reach the Toa until the introduction of the Toa Metru in 2004. However, the Rahkshi demonstrate a rudimentary form of this articulation, and, though their bodies are, like the Matoran of this year, a bit wobbly, their ability to gaze at you, snake-like, is unnerving and cool. Of all of the models up to this point, including the large ones from previous and the current years, the Rahkshi are the ones who begin to transcend simply being representations of living creatures in a fiction, and instead start to embody those creatures.

The Rahkshi also provide some very, very cool combiner models, although the ones included in the back of the instruction manuals are not the greatest pieces.

The three combiners you see here are culled from the Japanese version of LEGO Magazine, as far as I can tell. The first two have instructions here, and are definitely a couple of my favourite combiners. The top one, made from pieces of the red and brown sets, has a very cool martial artist aesthetic, which is reflected in it's possibilities of poseablity. The second, the green and white, takes a good deal of inspiration from the mechs popularized in Manga and Anime. It's not quite as poseable, but it makes up for that in the intimidating presence that the build exudes. And, as you can see, the ability of these builds to move their heads allows much more characterization, and much more expressiveness, than their predecessors. The bottom picture, a blue/red/black combiner, appears only as a picture in the North American LEGO Magazine, one highlighting the kinds of cool creations that appear internationally in LEGO communities. No official instructions were ever released, I think, but there's a fan-made video on YouTube that demonstrates how to build this figure. As with the Matoran combiners from this year, such models can be extrapolated from pictures based on the available parts in given sets.

Next time, we'll have a look at the proto-titan sets that round out this year, and finish off this part of the story.

The Building Chronicle: A Critical Consideration of LEGO's "Bionicle" Series - Building Through part 3.2 - 2003

Before Mask of Light dropped and we were graced with an official Makuta set amongst the large sets of 2003, the Toa Nuva had to finish dealing with their Bohrok problem. Though the swarms were defeated, and then Bahrag re-imprisoned, a last ditch failsafe plan comes into play, and six very special Bohrok attempt to steal the Toa's powers and reawaken the queens. The Bohrok-Kal.

As you can see, they're basically Bohrok with new paint jobs and tools, though they really are pretty badass, and in-story (which I'll be reading through in comics over at the Giant Box of Comics pretty soon) they bring the Toa to their knees.

Though, so do all of the other villains, really. And the Toa always bounce back. You know they do.

It seems that it wasn't only the toys that were starting to clone in 2003, and perhaps that's why the Mask of Light film seemed, despite the title, so lackluster. And even the promise of the awakening of Mata Nui, which was only really mysteriously hinted at in the film, wasn't enough to save the movie.

The Bohrok-Kal are notable, at least in my personal opinion, for one thing: one of their combiners. To combat the Toa Kaita Nuva, the Bohrok-Kal were gifted with the ability to fuse into a gestalt entity known as Bohrok-Kal Kaita Ja. He's a pretty great model, and as with Wairhua Nuva from 2002, branches out somewhat from the typical build.

Whatever that might mean.

This is all to say that Kaita Ja is one of my favourite models. I've used the head build for him in a couple of MOCs, and I don't think he's given up all of his secrets yet.

Today's post is going to be a bit short. I don't really have much to say about the Kal that I haven't said about their less-powerful cousins. The notable bits of this year happen in the second wave and in conjunction with the release of the film. The Kal suffer for this, feeling like an afterthought of the previous year's storyline, and a prologue, but not that important a one, for the coming of the Toa of Light.

Who we'll meet soon. But first, the children of Makuta rise, and the Toa actually face something they haven't yet encountered - real evil. Beware the Rahkshi.

The Building Chronicle: A Critical Consideration of LEGO's "Bionicle" Series - Building Through part 3.1 - 2003

2003 was an exciting year for Bionicle. Following the release of the first wave with the Bohrok-Kal, news broke of a film in the works. I was absolutely stoked to see a Bionicle film, to see the Toa, even if it was the Toa Nuva, walking around, talking, interacting with an environment as rich and mysterious as Mata Nui.

It was…well, anti-climactic. But I think that a problem that often happens with childrens’ features that are released directly to home media is that they’re not courting the adult market that a film released in the movie theatres needs to. Even if that market is just parents taking their kids to the film, there has to be something, so the parents will deign to come back for the next film. Pixar are masters of this. Bionicle: The Mask of Light was not.

But that’s not that big a deal. Not all branches that a franchise grows into can be amazing.

How were the toys?

 

I sometimes get the feeling in fandom that 2003 isn’t well-liked. The proto-titan sets of Jaller and Gukko, and Hewkii and Pewku usually meet lukewarm reception, as do the revamped Tohun….er…..Matoran (their name is changed as Lego is faced with a lawsuit from the Maori people over intellectual property issues – my thoughts on this are stewing still – I see both sides, and I’m not sure what the solution is). The Rahkshi are cool, but are clones, as are the earlier Bohrok-Kal. But there’s some interesting spots. In lieu of a video of me putting something together, I’ll jump right in, and we’ll look at the smallest sets of the wave, the Matoran.

Part of the story of Mask of Light is the gathering in Ta-Wahi of teams from various villages for a Kolhii tournament. Each Matoran set from this wave came with a Kolhii stick and puck, and a gear mechanism that allowed a swinging motion of the torso. They were sort of like Bionicle Hockey players, but a little less sturdy than one might hope. The looseness of the gear system also makes them quite difficult to pose, often relying on the stick to steady a wobbly body.

To cap this sort of disappointing revamp of what were once badass villagers, there was no combiner and only three of the villages were represented – Ko-Wahi, Ga-Wahi, and Po-Wahi, or White, Blue, and Brown. The larger sets featured red characters from Ta-Wahi, but never were any Onu- or Le-Matoran produced. And as a result of the colour schemes of the existing ones, MOCs are difficult to make. 

But back to the combiners, or lack thereof. 

A few years back, I discovered something in the recesses of BioSector01 (and, actually, right now, as I search for the link, I’ve just discovered something else in there, another Kabaya combiner – off to hunt again!). This picture, of what’s called the Matoran Kohlii Combiner is all the information I have about this model. I don’t know where the picture came from. But, as I gradually gathered the pieces together, I decided to attempt to build it. It’s an interesting process in the case where all one has is a relatively low-res picture. What I did was first figure out which Matoran it utilized. Then I went through my collection and put together as much of each of them as I could, which was a fair bit. And then, using only those pieces, I tried to put this four-armed dude and his dog together. The result was pretty good (though I’m still missing two light blue torso pieces for the feet.

I’ve messed about trying to make Matoran for the other villages, but their body pieces are so specific to their region that it’s virtually useless. I painted up some pieces to make an Onu-Matoran once, and I may attempt with my newfound proclivity for painting to create some Le-Matoran. We’ll see.

Before I finish for today, I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned the BioMedia Project before, but it’s an online initiative to archive all of the Bionicle digital media from the first and second generations of the series. Bionicle was one of the first media properties to really explore digital space, and it’s worth noting how it all happened. Here’s a video from 2003, one that was unlockable with codes one collected from the cannisters, called “Rahkshi Rock.” We’ll talk Bohrok-Kal next time.