Seems like a lot of extra red tape, effort, and headache to determine answers to questions that barely exist, and even so, are for a contest that may not even happen for more than a year.
Can we wait for the Tuyet contest to get an official start date before we start hashing out how to do the contests after Tuyet?
Iâm about 95% certain that if we held such a poll for Ordeâs mask, the Sanok would win. Zaria, Iâm less sure on; the mask of Adaptation is popular, but not quite so unanimous.
That said, there is some merit to this idea. I remember at least one person commenting that entering the Hagah art contest was basically a gamble on which armor color distribution people wanted, so a poll like that would have been helpful in that instance.
Donât tell anyone I told you this, but I have it on good authority that the Tuyet contest will start sometime before January 1st, 2025.
I just went back and watched this video for real (I didnât watch it before because⊠I didnât need convincing).
The guy really provides very clearly (and with jello substitute) how a backward-facing barb just doesnât do what Greg wants the barbs to do, so the only direction the barbs can face is the direction that most people wouldâve assumed anyway.
Then you didnât understand the video.
As stated in the video, the wound plugs around a backwards facing barb and yanks the flesh on the way back out, causing extra damage and making a mess.
He says âyou wonât be able to pull that out of yourself easily without an immense amount of painâ
Because a person doesnât want to put themselves through pain.
Now if someone else stabbed you who wanted to hurt you and even had superhuman strength it wouldnât be an issue, and it would be effective at yanking flesh and additional structures on the way out
question: why does this matter
Like actually, why are we arguing about this? People were angry when TTV was mandating specific things like this in the previous contest, and unlike those, this does not matter. The functionality of barbs on the sword does not matter. So many Bionicle weapons have blades or pistons or anything that would not function irl, and itâs ok because it is not real life. Mandating the way the barbs face would not only hinder creativity in some cases, but spark backlash that is very, very unnecessary.
Because the Greg quote specifically says deal more damage when being pulled out.
The contests have gotten flack for having âless integrityâ because of inaccuracies from previously given descriptions. We shouldnât seek to be less accurate because we donât want to put in the extra effort or because we want to get away with something
I feel like you misunderstood me (something that context shouldâve been able to clarify considering weâve been on the same side of this whole thing?).
By âbackward-facing barb,â I am referring to what is called in the video a crescent arrowhead â the barb is âbackwardâ and cannot do what a normal arrowhead/barb is designed to do.
My apologies. Youâre right, I misinterpreted you. People have being sayin things ery which way and has me confused at times 
To add to what Takutanuva said:
I totally agree that the contests, in general, should not mandate very small details of characters and should not hinder creativity. I wrote a post earlier in this thread that attempted to demonstrate some examples of what I donât think the Tuyet contest should mandate. Throwing in extra details that werenât previously known to canon (like TYQ Toaâs tools, even though I recognize TTV didnât mean to do that) is an example of something I donât think we should be doing either.
However, the barbed broadsword was given a description by Greg, and the description makes clear how the sword is designed. Therefore itâs in the interest of accuracy to make the canon visual art for the sword as close to the canon description as possible.
Why nobody considers the option that Greg didnât call the sword a broadsword, because it would be similar to an actual broadsword in any way, but because he imagined it to be just a large maybe even two handed sword with barbs?
I think the general consensus is that Bionicle weapons donât follow historical nomenclature to a tee, and therefore, pretty much any sword will do
Like Atobe_Brick said, it really doesnât even matter what kind of sword is used. Honestly, whether it even needs to look like a sword is questionable, looking at the:
The broadsword shouldnât be required to fit the aspects of a broadsword, but the barbs should definitely look like barbs. The other adjectives in weapon names have been accurate to their weapons, usually in fulfilling a function or aesthetic â like âLaser Lanceâ or âExploding Boomerangsâ or âFire Sword.â
Edit: Took out the Laser Axe because it looks more like an axe than I made it out to be. The harpoon and drill are staying.
Doesnât seem particularly practical âŠ
To be fair, hunting boomerangs that the indigenous Australian people used to actually kill with were not designed to come back, so it does make sense from that perspective.
On the flip side that was 100% not where Greg was going with the name.
Edit: Also the hydrodynamics of a boomerang thrown underwater are not even debatably comparable to the aerodynamics of throwing one in the air and unless the boomerangs that he used in the Pit were totally different from the ones he used in Karda Nui to train the Mata, they shouldnât work underwater. (I guarantee you he didnât own a special set of underwater boomerangs just in case his universe crashed into a water-covered planet and his prison ended up exposed to the surface of this water planet and flooded, reacting with his entire worldâs engine oil to create a mutagenic substance that turned him into a water-breather.)
Fantasy weapons are run by different standards.
Edit 2: Additional research shows the non-returning, hunting boomerang was possessed by ancient Africans, Europeans, and North Americans. Some were even found in King Tutâs tomb.
Boomerangs are also incredibly effective, lethal weapons against flesh-and-bone animals ranging from birds to even kangaroos and humans. I can understand why an exploding one might be necessary for people with mechanical exoskeletons though.
I donât want to nitpick on you but I have always liked the Laser Axe precisely because it looks like an axe
I mean, youâre right, and I hesitated to include it. It certainly has resemblance to an axe. Itâs got, more or less, an axe head and a back side depicting a thinner axe head. In some cases, by some judges, it may be certified as an axe to be used for logging and fire rescue. But it, like the Laser Harpoon and Laser Drill*, are also configured to be used just like swords, and the axe is built around the same core as the Energized Ice and Flame Swords.
*The Laser Crossbow is also configured to be held like a sword, which is absolutely mind-boggling. I didnât include it because it closer resembles a crossbow in my opinion than the Laser Axe resembles an axe. I recognize this is subjective and up for debate.
The Inika swords in general are affected by the fact they all need the same battery box and light core in the base, yeah. I do think the two handles were genius though
It can be configured like a sword, but the Kongu Inika still set holds it like a crossbow.
Itâs quite common for Bionicle weapons to have âhandlesâ where they shouldnât be, just for the sake of increasing utility.
I agree with this, but I also still think the Laser Axe looks like an axe.
Honestly, all of the Inika weapons match their descriptions pretty well, especially when you consider the fact that theyâre all built around the same core.
Gonna have to dispute that one. While thatâs definitely the case with 2/3 of the Inika weapons (which I maintain are configured to be held as either a sword or ranged weapon, and in some media they are used as swords), most Toa Tools and tools in general only have one available handle. Exceptions are:
edit: can I just say I find it unspeakably hilarious that my earlier post has four clicks for the link to a picture of an actual piton, like itâs obvious that just like me until an hour ago, absolutely nobody had any idea what the frick a piton was and probably just assumed it was a made up name and suddenly iâm providing a real life picture of one so what could this mysterious implement be? oh, yeah, itâs a spike for mountain climbing that doesnât begin to resemble onewaâs tools, that makes sense
In fact, only laser harpoon seem to have been used like sword of course, laser swords are sword
harpoon is definitely a weapon to throw
Laser drill was actually a laser gun, but I think it makes sense.
