Is Shapeshifting not a Kraata power? With gunmetal/lime Kraata and blue/gold Rahkshi?
I agree with and quite enjoy what Dag brings up about topology and shapeshifting, and I’d like to add a sort of clarification to what Geetonguga says - to me, they couldn’t fix their eyes or grow new ones through shapeshifting because they can’t just generate new organs. They can redistribute their mass into new shapes, if they have special armor that allows it, but sensory input mechanisms are complex artificial “organs” that shapeshifting couldn’t replicate. It is shapeshifting after all, not complete reconstitution of the body’s structure.
It is a kraata power, but the Makuta also seem to have a different “version” of Shapeshifting on top of their kraata powers. My understanding is that that’s why they can stay shapeshifted while using other powers, and without constant concentration.
Maybe in the case of Makuta and Rahkshi, shapeshifting refers more to the action than the state? What I mean is, once you’ve entered a new physical state, you are no longer considered to be actively shapeshifting, freeing up opportunity for the next kraata power.
Of course that suggests Rahkshi can retain a shapeshifted state indefinitely, and I’m not sure where canon stands in that regard
I haven’t yet found anything explicitly confirming whether or not Rahkshi of Shapeshifting need to maintain concentration, but there is this quote which confirms that Shapeshifting is an additional power that Makuta have on top of their kraata powers:
There are many others, as well, that imply it, but this was the most explicit.
This can also be surmised from the fact that Rahkshi cannot change their mass when changing shape, but Makuta can. This implies that Makuta’s Shapeshifting is a different power entirely.
This is something Greg was adamant on, but I never understood it. Does this mean Makuta have two Shapeshifting powers, or do they not have access to the Rahkshi power? If they don’t have access to it, does it have something to do with their evolution into energy? This wasn’t made clear.
Preferably, I would have them be the same. This is also something I’ve thought about with Mind Reading and Telepathy. Telepathy is said to be a separate power Makuta have apart from the Rahkshi powers, but I think its the same as the Rahkshi power of Mind Reading. The reason the Rahkshi power is only Mind Reading is because Rahkshi are not intelligent enough to communicate, so their “Telepathy” is only one way.
While I don’t like this idea, it does make sense with how Light and Shadow as Elements were presented in the story (which I also don’t like). There were times when beings were shown to gain Shadow powers, so you’re right that it makes sense that the reverse could be done.
I’m just not sure if that would make someone a full-fledged Toa/Matoran of Light.
Maybe not through meditation but if an light leech is developed and used then it makes semse it would be able to create av matoran as shadow leech can create shadow matoran, which have been guaramteed to be able to become toa of shadow.
Edit: Makuta of main universe could purge all light amd become pure beings of shadow.
Makuta of the Melding universe could do the opposite to the point of their Kraata powers becoming positive versions of themselves.
Of course it could be that matoran can’t achieve neither light nor shadow powers through meditation (akhmou would have those, although he might have darker colours already?)
But point stand sthat light powers should be gained through meditation and moral purity and matoran of light could be created artificially like shadow matoran can.
When Vultraz and Vican became shadow Matoran, did they have elemental bolts or combination powers? I can’t remember, but my inclination is to think those were results of Av-Matoran being leeched. Maybe an artificial Matoran of Light would have smaller power set.
It seems you are partially correct. Vican and Vultraz were cabable of shooting shadow bolts. But neither gained any new powers when connected to a toa or makuta since they were not av matoran.
All Matoran elements are multi-gendered. The only reason Orde got called out on his gender is because Psionics type are rare compared to others and most if not all of the ones that are known are female.
As far as I know, the whole “gender-locked by element” things was only ever addressed in-universe in The Yesterday Quest and has never come up anywhere else in the story, with it all coming from comments by Greg and other BIONICLE creators. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong on that (not that it’ll change my headcanon lol).
I think leadership was a little spread out, and a few Makuta had authority in their own right. Antroz was the head of field operations, Mutran was quietly the most knowledgeable of their purpose there and headed up home operations in the hive, and Gorast was the loyalist simp snitch keeping an eye on everyone
My headcanon is that Kinetics is in fact an element and we just never got around to seeing it in story
I don’t disagree with you. I’m just saying Teridax never really trusted any one person with anything, and any authority he gave was limited to the outcome he desired. Teridax was a flexible thinker, and if we’re willing to share that headspace with him, we start to view his lieutenants’ authority as partial at best, and never in one basket.
Tl,dr; in a textbook sense, you’re absolutely right. But in a practical sense, anime_athena makes a valid point worthy of some yield.
I think first and foremost it would require a wave of the “Bionicle physics” wand to patch over the scientific holes everyone was pointing out back in the day
Beyond that, I always imagined it as a broad overlap. Vibrating an object to generate heat, or stilling the atoms to freeze it; telekinesis-like ability, similar to how a Toa of Gravity could simulate telekinesis with gravitic rearrangement; could reroute water flows, or generate earthquakes -maybe the Great Beings made them as a counter weight to the other Toa, giving them a broad scope of capabilities wrapped into a single power set, in case some buggy software made them a threat. An anti-Toa that was, themselves, a Toa.
They could also spontaneously absorb all momentum, bringing an object to a halt, or transfer that momentum from one object to another. For example, my buddy Toa Voriki is falling from a great height. I take her momentum, so she lands gently on the ground, and transfer it to our enemy, launching him into the sky at terminal velocity. A few unique functions, a lot of slight overlapping abilities, and plenty of room for further evaluation
I hadn’t thought about the microscopic or atomic scales of application; that’s certainly an interesting idea, especially when the same abilities can be used essentially-telekinetically. It’s not like any of those powers are unique, but there’s not really anything that lets you do all of them.
I feel like transferring kinetic energy is kind of pointless if you can also absorb or create it. Perhaps transferring would be easier?