Personally when I first saw the GSR I first thought, wait is that a toa? Mainly from the abdomen and head shape being so similar to the Toa Mata’s body and Head designs.
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So I’ve been off for a few weeks and have finally come back. What’ve I missed?
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Numerous debates on the merits of G2 and some concept art.
And Skrall shields. Lots and lots of Skrall shields.
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So, nothing outside of the normal. I’ll take a look at the art and give my thoughts.
Art looks nice! Not much else to say. It all looks amazing and is bursting with potential. If only we’d get some actual story or context to go with it.
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I know, right! All we can do is speculate.
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Honestly with his comments about trying to make a “Modernized” Bionicle story…kinda worries me.
I have no problem with making a relevant minded story, but Bionicle is set “in a time, before time”. The world of Spherus Magna, the Matoran Universe and the Island of Mata Nui are locations that are not meant to reflect the state of “our world” to our human minds, or to put in another way, a world beyond our human comprehension with their own destiny; their own biological chronicle. Because in their time, their issues were different from the issues we have now because their time was long before our own.
Making a modernized Bionicle worldview like what Faber wants would defeat the mystery and grand scope of G1 if he made a Bionicle retelling/Bionicle inspired IP that dealt with issues like Climate Change and what have you. Those are issues we face, but to alien beings like those seen throughout the Bionicle franchise such issues aren’t needed.
If he wants to deal with environmentalists stories I feel he should stick with Rebel Nature to tell that. For Bionicle I don’t mind a widly different take on it as long as there are at least a few familar elements (Bara Magna, Metru Nui and the Ignition years did that fairly well) but having a take that reflects a human condition to characters that aren’t human loses the mystique of the franchise.
I will stick around and see what he plans on it but some of his wording kinda concerns me he might have missed his point of the world he concieved all those years ago.
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I figure it will be more along the lines of “soul vs programming” or “machine or nature” etc
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Perhaps. We’ll have to wait and see ofc
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I personally don’t see a problem with this, I mean Bionicle was a product of its time and G2 showed all to well that this is true. If bionicle is to survive it needs to tackle a more modern relatable topic that kids will grab onto.
First and foremost, “In a time, before time” relative to what for all we know the G1 story could have been parralled with our timeline. Secondly you bring many compelling arguments here but what is it that say that our worlds issues and problems wouldn’t be likely to happen elsewhere. I mean climate change is a natural thing but because of a sentient species aka humans it’s becoming a bigger problem than it has ever been or will be. Now what is to say that another sentient species can’t causes there planet to undergo simular effects of climat change of those currently on Earth.
What says it can’t be mysterious and grand, some examples of things that come to mind is did their civilaization always look like this or is this the aftermath of a species undoing? What caused these drastic climate changes, was it ignorance or by accident? And so forth, tying fictional stories to real life things doesn’t always hinder a good story keep in mind that G1 had lots of influences from Maori culture and other medias like comic books and sci fi. Even the original concept was pills that released warriors who fought diseases into the body. I also believe that G1 had alot to do with finding yourself and your place in the world hence the three virtues, characters such as Vakama and Matoro being central characters. Bionicle dealt with issues that was important to Faber back then considering he was taking medicine because of a brain tumor. Also I wouldn’t have a hard time thinking he might had have to face these issues as well. Knowing full well that his life was on the line. Which also is a great parallel to the GSR dying in 06. My point is that original Bionicle dealt with things that was important to Faber back then and had several real world connections that created a story about realizing who you are, where you belong and fight for your beliefs until the end.
Again I can’t see an issue with him using this as a thematical basis for a retelling of Bionicle. To further prove my point I would love to direct you to one of my favourite shows from my childhood and that’s a Swedish show that aired during the summer called “Vintergatan 5a” (Milkyway 5a). The show was about 3 teens and a taxi driver going to space and landing on different planets to collect wildlife. Through out the series we are never told why they need to collect them until the last episode but before I touch on that let me tell you what the shows purpose was. The purpose of this show was to express existential questions that kids could understand and relate to and give them a broder perspective of life. So does the last episode fufill that goal absolutely let me tell you. The last episode begins with the crew returning from a planet called the dooms day planet. Which was ones a planet like ours with an civilaization about as advanced as ours that had wiped themselves out due to ignorance. Anyways the planet is now nothing more than a toxic and radioactive wasteland where it’s inhabitants has turned into mutants. Anyways back to the plot in the previous episode we saw the gang that had been sent down to the planet trying to fight off the mutants from the vessel they where going to leave the planet with. The reason for their hurry was due to them activating a selfdestruct mechanism of the planet. Anyways they left the planet and escaped with one sneaky mutant that hitch a ride on their vessel but in the end it was the last piece of wildlife they needed. So afterwards their guide on this journey approperatly named Alien tells them what their mission was about and that had been to save Earth from a similar fate to the dooms day planet. As the planet explodes some of the casts reflects over what had just happened and in doing so not only conveying the series purpose to kids but also sending an enviromental message they hinted at earlier. The shows ends with them saving earth from all their problems as these mysterious creatures from another civilazation and then going back to their old lives. So what is my point here where to I want to get with this well the point I’m trying to make is that you can create a good story with an underlying message even with a modern topic such as climate change. Its an issue I think should be tackeled in even more childrens media because its one of our biggest issues and will probably be for another generation if not even more pressing for future generations.
Again climate change is a normal part of Earths functiong that’s one reason why seasons exsist on Earth and that the weather and stuff changes. The problem is that we as a sentient species are using the planet against itself straining it and causing it to negatively effects itself. The reason I’m stressing sentient species so hard is because it doesn’t natter if its humans, Aliens or biomechanical creatures who have caused these things to happen all of them are equally likely to cause those problems we humans currently faces. The Great Beings technically caused the destruction of their own planet due to not caring about wasting resources or caring about its inpact on the enviroment so even G1 tackeld this.
Great do so! I’m not gonna prove you wrong, I just wanted to broden your view about this topic. In the end its your call whether you’ll like his bionicle retelling/Bionicle inspired story or not.
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Thanks for that run down though. To be honest perhaps I am overthinking it a bit.
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No problemo, dude!
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Well, I know Tarkur already wrote a novella replying to this, but I have a simpler take.
Good stories can deliver any message through any medium. It just isn’t the case that simply because Faber’s Bionicle is trying to deal with modern issues that it won’t have mystery or scope or familiar elements. In fact, I’d argue that G1, and even G2, already had the groundwork for “soul vs machine” or “natural vs artificial” setups, but chose not to focus on them.
What I’m trying to get at is stories can be clever. Any kind of meaning can be woven into any setting, so to assume that just because it’s “modernized” that it won’t have elements that we recognize as Bionicle is to not give the potential story enough credit.
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True that
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I honestly would prefer to have no environmental message to be honest…
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I’d like to clarify, it’s not “environmental,” at least the way I see it. It’s more about the philosophy and psychology of the machine’s opposition to nature.
It’s more to me about asking what a machine’s place is in a natural world and exploring their interactions, rather than “machines are bad for the Earth, save the ice caps,” stuff.
It most especially allows one to examine the philosophy of machines by contrasting them with the natural environments.
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If it’s handled well, there’s no problem. Saccharine “save the trees” appeals aren’t the only way to get the idea across; there are very practical reasons to promote a healthier relationship between people and the planet.
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Wall-E is a good example of an environmental message that does something more than just the “technology is bad. save the trees” message.
as in, the message was more “we should use technology to aid us in making the world better, not be so dependant on it that we almost become too lazy to bother to do anything.”
of course… some people got a different message from that movie and instead believed the human race was doomed anyway.
anyway, the point is that there are many examples of environmental messages being done differently and better than just saying “technology bad, nature good”.
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S̶i̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶p̶i̶c̶ ̶t̶u̶r̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶e̶n̶v̶i̶r̶o̶n̶m̶e̶n̶t̶a̶l̶ ̶d̶e̶b̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶p̶i̶c̶?̶
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Since people said, bionicle wouldn’t work if it tried to convey environmental propaganda.
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Which it’s not, and no one ever said it would.
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