The Inika were canonically overcharged with some sort of energy at their creation (I think it was confirmed to be Toa Power that the Red Star gave them to make them become Toa). This would make them immune to the Antidermis as it had the same effect as Energized Protodermis, as well as manifesting itself as a permanent imbuing of the Inika with elemental lightning. Apparently the Antidermis can be destroyed by lightning and other plasma-based elements like fire, as it’s a gas, so the Inika basically had a built-in shield against Antidermis.
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With this recent theory about the Antidermis and the Makuta, I figure I might as well share my own theory regarding them (as well as the Golden Armor).
My theory actually shares quite a bit with @Willess12’s theory above: I propose that the Makuta were once a single mind that Mata Nui split into separate beings. For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to this single being as The Makuta, with a capital ‘T’.
I would then go a step further, and then propose that when the Makuta made the decision to betray Mata Nui, they actually physically removed the portions of their Antidermis that knew what their true purpose was and returned them to the pool they were made from, hence why Brutaka gained this knowledge when he fell in.
If I may diverge from canon just a bit, I would also propose that it was not specifically Teridax that was meant to pilot the Great Spirit Robot, but rather The Makuta as a whole.
I also have an idea to address the Golden Armor, but this is less of a theory and more a complete retelling of canon, since it blatantly contradicts what we know about the Armor.
My idea is that the Golden Armor was created at around the same time as The Makuta, and was meant as a way for it to interact with the surrounding world. The Makuta could enter the Armor as a fluid and “possess” it in order to move around, or someone else could wear the Armor to control the Antidermis.
Of course, with this changed origin story, the rest of the Golden Armor’s presence in the story also has to be rewritten, but it can actually be added to the official story without any significant changes. In this version of events, Axonn and Brutaka journey to the Antidermis pool not just to destroy it, but also to recover the Golden Armor to use it against Teridax. They then go to the Core Processor as in the official story, but are cast into space and end up in the Cursed Great Being’s fortress before the Armor can be used.
{Optional Change: Brutaka was wearing the Golden Armor during all this, and his mind-merge with the Antidermis was not a result of his species, but rather the fact that the Antidermis tried to possess the Armor while Brutaka was wearing it}
Then, once on Bota Magna, the group remembers what Tren Krom told them in the Core Processor and realize that the Armor needs to go to the Battle Of Bara Magna. Artakha could presumably teleport it there no problem, and it appears to Tahu and the rest of the battle plays out as in Journey’s End.
{Optional Change: Artakha’s teleportation was a bit inaccurate and the Armor got scattered across the battlefield as a result, as opposed to Teridax blasting it as in the official version.}
Then, rather than the Armor’s single use just being to destroy Antidermis, Tahu uses his newfound Element-like control over Antidermis to force the powers into his own body and destroy Teridax’s influence over the substance (and basically just destroy any mind in it).
To me, this version of events surrounding the Golden Armor feels a lot more natural. This way the Golden Armor is a known relic that the heroes intentionally seek out in the hopes of helping defeat Teridax, as opposed to the heroes being handed some never-before-seen weapon at the last minute that was basically purpose-built for the exact circumstance that they happened to find themselves in.
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I think @Willess12 has a very good theory, but there’s 1 part I disagree with. Namely that the energised protodermis and antidermis’s consciousness annihilating each other.
I like the idea of the makuta originally being a single consciousness being split 100-fold (wouldn’t that make Mata Nui the demiurge from the makuta’s POV?). Of course, once split, they diverged into different consciousnesses, like Vezon & Vezok.
Now let’s look back at Energized Protodermis. It’s already established that Protodermis and Antidermis are two halves of a whole (the whole being EP). Protodermis is non-sapient, but the other 2 substances are… so if Protodermis did not inherit sapience from EP, that means Antidermis did.
In other words, the antidermis consciousness is the EP consciousness… or at least branched from it.
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Bionicle Heroes GBA/DS was an alternate timeline where the Toa Inika also were defeated by the Piraka; the ‘Silver Toa’ was a Matoran whose destiny was to defeat the Piraka in the Toa’s stead and rescue the Toa Inika, so they may complete their mission.
The Silver Toa is most likely of the Magnetism element, but wields it in limited capacity due to lack of experience (build structures/deconstruct enemies/concentrate energy spheres). My headcanon name for him/her was ‘Argen’ From Argentum (Silver).
Toa of magnetism are pearl dark gray and black, but this one is plated with shiny Energized Protodermis.
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Great idea! If that were canon, then I love how in this timeline, despite winning against the Inika, the Piraka seem to be just wasting time doing random junk. Maybe after the Piraka won Terry realized that he needed the Toa to get the Ignika to Karda Nui to save the GSR, so he used his influence on the Piraka to make them all goof around until someone could beat them.
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Also, I am fascinated by Willess12’s theory on Antidermis. Very well done!
I am curious about one thing:
I always assumed that the Makuta’s evolution to a more gaseous state was Teridax’s idea that he put into effect after he took over. Probably so he could 1. have the ability to more easily possess beings and eventually the GSR, and 2. make the other Makuta stronger while also giving them all a new weakness only he would really know about. All this to say, I always imagined Miserix to be an unevolved Makuta.
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I have a theory regarding Krakua.
It’s commonly brought up how future-Krakua’s message to Vakama through the Kratana doesn’t really make sense: Vakama never really sends the Toa Inika on their mission, and even if we accept Greg’s explanation that he technically “sent” them by not trying to bring them back, it still doesn’t explain why Krakua would send the message back in time in the first place.
My theory is that the version of Krakua that spoke to Vakama was from an alternate universe where the events of the Ignition arc played out differently.
This theory is heavily based around the idea that parallel alternate dimensions “split” from each other when something different happens between them: since they only become separate at that point, they share the same past. So future-Krakua is from a parallel dimension that split from the prime dimension at some point in between Vakama receiving the message and when the Toa Inika went to Voya Nui. In Krakua’s universe, Vakama sent the Toa Inika more directly, but when Krakua sent the message back, he sent it to the shared past of the prime universe and his own.
Then, in our universe, the split-causing decision eventually led to Vakama not sending the Toa Inika directly, while in the alternate universe he did. For all we know, Vakama’s decision could be what caused the split in the first place.
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Since Greg said that it was unlikely that Lehvak-Kal would have survived atmospheric re-entry, and since we know the Ignika is fragile, my headcanon is that Teridax (to avoid the mask being destroyed and testing his unproven belief that the mask’s catastrophic explosion of power would only happen within the universe) enveloped the Ignika in some kind of electromagnetic shealth that protected it from the atmospheres of Aqua Magna and Bara Magna, and from the crash-landing on Bara Magna. Being able to extend this electromagnetic sheath across so great a distance, with seemingly zero conscious effort by Makuta, was possible due to his powers being massively amplified upon takeover of the Great Spirit Robot, in the same way that he was now to maintain with minimal effort the powerful “Miserix as a painting” illusion that previously would have required his full focus.
Another headcanon: water scarcity is the reason why heavily food-insecure Agori and Glatorian “waste” Thornax for weapons in Glatorian matches instead of immediately boiling unripe Thornax for eating, however disgusting it tastes. They just don’t have enough water for Thornax to be a dietary stable. Whereas Bone Hunters, which have lived in the desert for much longer and appear biologically better-adapted (judging by the extra inner eyelid that protects their eyes from sunlight), require less water to survive, so they can use more of their water to boil Thornax so it can be a dietary staple for them.
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One about the first Toa. At their creation, the first Toa were granted specialty masks- those though replicable were unique, complex, and powerful. Such as the Mask of Psychometry. A strange yet useful and oddly potent ability that only has one documented user, Helryx.
Or, perhaps it was a message directed to Krakua to send by some unknown party such that the events that were meant to take place, would happen. Like the idea that if you were to try to change history, your actions would have been an original part of history to begin with, and as such nothing changes.
EDITED FOR DOUBLE POST - Spiderus Prime
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I kind of wish Greg hadn’t said that Lehvak-Kal burned in the atmosphere. If it were me, I’d have him survive. It seems kind of pointless to say he survived the initial blast of energy, only to have him die offscreen. I love the idea that he landed on Bara Magna and started leading the Baterra swarms.
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Before coming up with the alternate universe theory, this was my preferred approach as well, that Krakua was instructed to say those exact words by someone else. It might have even been Vakama himself.
I agree with this. Lehvak-Kal’s Vacuum power would even help survive reentry and slowing down its fall.
The main issue I see with the idea, though, is that there’s nothing for Lehvak-Kal to do; the Bahrag Queens are awake, so Lehvak-Kal wouldn’t really have any reason to fight anyone. Even if it did, I can’t imagine it would take to much effort to defeat a single Bohrok-Kal.
How? And why?
Maybe it could have something to do with the fact that the Bohrok were derived from the Baterra in some way?
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By the end of their run, Lehvak-Kal was as power hungry as the others and had abandoned the Bahrag. Perhaps he’d set out to build an authority of his own
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As Wekua mentioned, the Bohrok-Kal were beginning to become power-hungry, stating that they would surpass the Bahrag. As for how, like you said the Baterra are a kind of prototype Bohrok, and the Kal have the ability to control the Bohrok swarms, I could believe that the tech would be similar enough for Lehvak-Kal to take over the Baterra swarms.
This would be a great way to make the Kal not feel like a footnote in the overall story. It could also help move the Baterra’s story forward, since Lehvak-Kal can organize them into a more full attack force.
(As for how it would end, I have some ideas. I’ve mentioned in another post that if I were in charge of the story, I’d have Tahu split his 42 Rahkshi powers among the Toa Mata, including Lewa getting “Insect Control.” With that power, plus his previous connection to the Bohrok hivemind, Lewa would be the one to take the Baterra from Lehvak-Kal.)
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Matoran don’t have a sense of taste. Since they mostly eat by absorbing energy through their hands, they don’t really have a need for one.
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Ye we only hear of Skakdi physically consuming things.
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I belive Marendar can fly. It gives it enormous advantage against grounded toa and those few who could flight couldn’t now escape him.
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And Matoran find it revolting.
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They do actually have a sense of taste; near the end of Voyage of Fear, Nokama comments on the taste of the waters around Mata Nui. Though I imagine this sense of taste is only applicable to their liquid intake, because as you said, the species prefers not to eat their food
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At least in the conventional method (via mouth).
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Who absorbed all the pies?! Who absorbed all the pies?!
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