Actual Shape of the Coliseum

I was inspired to do this after I saw a topic on BZP asking the same question. The Coliseum in Metru Nui has a very distinct shape when shown in the Metru Nui skyline but appears with just one tower in the movies and comics.

I have been trying to figure out how to make a building that has the shape seen in the skyline as seen from each Metru. The following screenshots are a quick CAD model I whipped up last night to try to answer this question.


If anyone has any thoughts on what the Coliseum actually looks like, I’d love to hear them!

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I personally prefer the movie design just because it looks a bit cooler, but the silhouette from the skyline is also iconic.

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Bionicle 2004’s Colosseum with 2 spires and 1 tower is one of the most iconic locations in all of G1 Bionicle. It was in all of the promotional material for that year (and 05); animations, instruction booklets, posters, etc.

Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui’s Colosseum (to me) looked awesome from the inside, but the outside left a lot to be desired. It lacked the iconography that Metru Nui desperately needed in that movie. Your interpretation, however, is one of my favorites. And it makes sense how each metru has the same skyline (I hadn’t even thought about how that would work until your post). Excellent work on rendering one of the coolest locations in fiction!
Flash_Le-Metru

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I think you’re pretty close(r to the truth) here, though I think there might be only four spires, rather than six. Looking st the map of Metru Nui, there are four little rectangles around the central Coliseum towers, and I think those might be intended to be the spires we see in the silhouettes. Either way, very well done!

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Thank you! :smiley: Oh yeah, it does look like there are 4 spires. I’ll have to cad it up to see how it looks and then share it here. Thanks for the insight and info!

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@TheRedToa
@Daler99

but if there were 4 spires, would it still look the same from every region of Metru Nui?

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It wouldn’t look the exact same from every angle, but from most angles, I think you’d be able to see a silhouette with a central tower with two side spires.

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I mean even with 6 spires, wouldn’t the silhouette look a little wonky if you view it from directly between a pair of spires? Mental geometry isn’t my strong suit though

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Yeah, I think it would, but with 6, if you look from the center of each Metru, it’d look decent. With 4, it’ll be a bit more specific, I think. Not entirely sure until it’s cadded though

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Oh but what would it look like with 5 spires??? Didn’t think of that one did ya!? :crazy_face:

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Ah, but if it had four spires, and we counted the Coliseum as well, then there actually would be five spires! Ultimate bamboozlage! :crazy_face:

And I thought of the silhouette when I looked at the map, and of course it wouldn’t be perfect everywhere, but there really isn’t a way for it to be, so eh. But yeah, with four spires, the three-pronged silhouette would be mostly preserved. If we stick with the “center of each Metru” idea, it should more or less work. Each Metru would perceive different spires as the two side-towers, with some Metru seeing two opposing spires and a third blending into the central tower, while some others would only see two adjacent spires.

Can’t be certain without seeing it front-on though. I eagerly await the four-pronged cad.

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Okay, here’s something I whipped up quickly for four spires:
image
image

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Looks great! That thinner silhouette reminds me of the way they drew the Coliseum in the Vahki Animations

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