So, uhh… this has been a bit overdue.
My last Bionicleanup post was back in October of 2021; to be honest, with the cancellation of the canon contests and life coming at me fast, I haven’t had the drive or ability to be able to get these put together. That being said, I’ve been on a bit of a Bionicle kick recently, and been focusing especially on the Metru years, which I didn’t much care for growing up but absolutely love now. Reading back through some of the guides, it’s amazing how much thought went into how the city was designed and functioned. 2005 is typically looked back on, however, with disdain, with many considering the year to be a pointless filler arc, and admittedly I had thought so as well. Looking back now however, this year was not only necessary, it was essential to the story and was needed to connect the world of Metru and Mata Nui. Despite this, the handling of this year was a nightmare, seen especially when simply looking through the set instructions for the year, of which I believe every single one has a mistake of some kind (there must have been an intern put in charge of content creation or something, it’s truly baffling). With all that being said, I’d like to crack my knuckles and get back into these discussions, and hopefully you guys are still interested after all this time. So, let’s dive right into to 2005: the Hordika Arc.
Since it’s been so long, let me recap the purpose of these topics: An interesting brain exercise I sometimes partake in is taking a story from a movie, game, or book and seeing if I can rework it to be better or make more sense, and Bionicle is a story I have done this for many a time. While I continue to hold that the overall story outline is a masterpiece with the themes it tackles and the way it was built up and presented over the years, once you dive into the nitty-gritty of the novels, serials, etc… that’s where things start to get a bit messy. I mean absolutely no disrespect to Mr. Farshtey with this; many of the characters and plot points he introduced were fascinating to see and consider, and writing an entire legacy like Bionicle must have been unbelievably taxing. With that being said, some of the story choices he made were bizarre, inconsistent and strangely goofy. He actually wrote dialogue in one of the later books where Lewa tells Tahu to not be “such an ash” and that almost made me drop the entire series. So, this topic allows me to put myself in the role of Bionicle’s story revisionist and see if I can make some suggestions that would improve the story.
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Purpose: To best revise this year, the most important first step is to outline its purpose. In the official story, the toa metru return to the ruined Metru-Nui, cast into perpetual darkness following the eclipse and subsequent creation of the island of Mata-Nui above, to find it overrun with rahi let loose from the Archives and Visorak hordes invading from other lands. The visorak are capturing and mutating the loose rahi… because. Just because. After being turned to hordika, the toa work with the rahaga to protect the rahi and to find Keetongu, defeat the horde, and transport the matoran to the new island.
So, a big focus is the rahi. They’re loose throughout the city, the hordika are part rahi, the rahaga are working to protect them… and then they’re just left to their own devices, and according to Farshtey, “migrate” to Mata-Nui. You cannot expect me to believe a Nui-Jaga could cross the ocean of protodermis on its own, I’m sorry. Next is the Visorak; we know now that Makuta is meant to represent a tumor, and similarly the visorak are meant to represent a disease as well, seemingly some sort of cancer, attacking the cells of Mata-Nui’s brain. In the story the visorak mutate the rahi into terrifying monsters, but that’s just it - there’s no other stated purpose. Why would Makuta, who was so clearly concerned with the safety of the Matoran population due to his efforts to protect them in stasis during the cataclysm, allow dangerous monsters to be created to be loose in the city?
So here’s my new story outline: the visorak corrupt rahi to serve them. Hordika venom not only causes mutations and mental degradation, it makes the victim subservient, or at least allied to, the horde. That way the rahi wouldn’t be unpredictable, and instead controllable by the horde, and make them more dangerous to the toa as they have a purpose to serve the head of the horde - Makuta. After saving as many rahi as they can, the remainders are ferried to the island of Mata Nui alongside the Matoran in the ships as an arc, while those mutated remain on Metru Nui to be cured by the remaining Keetongu with the assistance of the Rahaga (explains why rahi introduced on Metru-Nui weren’t seen on Mata-Nui), while Dume begins slow repairs to the city with his mask. It is during these adventures that the toa gain appreciation for the rahi and the purposes they serve, the ability to live without dependence on technology, and gain valuable insight from their mentors that shapes who they are as Turaga. -
Iruini: I remember a quote stated by Farshtey that the only mistake he believes was made in the Bionicle storyline is that it should have been Matau, and not Vakama, who betrays the team as a hordika. I completely and utterly disagree. I think Vakama should be the one who ends up corrupted… only that the way it was done in the story should have been handled better.
In the story, Matau is very vocal about his disdain regarding his new form, but ultimately it is Vakama’s quiet, building frustration that leads to his downfall. I love the twist that Matau seems to be taking his transformation the worst, and the rahaga agree to keep a careful eye on him, while the one everyone least suspects is the one going through the most inner turmoil. This best hit me in the comics, where Vakama has to witness the sight of the Kikanalo herd, after selflessly assisting them to find Lhikan, now being downed by visorak to be captured and transformed. He tries to stop the attackers, but is ultimately overwhelmed, and is forced to retreat with the knowledge that the Kikanalo will fall (explaining why they were never seen on Mata-Nui). This, combined with the frustration of his teammates and himself doubting every move they make, leads to a snapping moment where he can no longer control his anger. This of course leads to him as a turaga being adamant that Tahu express his feelings and control his temper.
Now on to Matau and Iruini. With each rahaga pairing up with a toa during their rahi-saving Keetongu-searching mission, the rahaga’s purpose is to give a positive example of what the toa should exemplify, leading to their character on Mata-Nui. With Iruini, in my revision, he saves Matau by giving him an example of what not to be. This is another idea spawned from the comics, where Iruini reveals that the rahaga were once toa, to Matau’s shock. I love the idea that Matau is on his adventure with Iruini, going on about how hard life is, and Iruini makes a comment that it’ll be easier to just accept his new form and that he does, in fact, know exactly what he’s going through. This stops Matau mid-sentence, who looks back and finally notices Iruini’s gold spinner, the last cruel reminder of his past, and it clicks why the rahaga know of, and are searching for, Keetongu themselves.
Iruini tells the tale of how the Hagah served Makuta, but that he reviled his position as the Makuta had no need for guards, and that they were simply “jewels decorating his fingers”; symbols of status. He decides to quit the team, as he believes his abilities as a toa would be best used to save matoran, and it is during this time the remaining Hagah learn of the Avohkii’s theft, take it themselves, and are captured (bar Norik). This leads into the rescue mission where Iruini is horrified to find his comrades transformed; small with rahkshi traits, a cruel joke by Roodaka to show them as being “Makuta’s pets”, and that their form now matches what they always were. This sends Iruini into a fury, but he and Norik are both inevitably turned as well, yet they all escape with the mask. He believes this to be penance for abandonment of his team, and decides to accept his new form, giving in to despair.
Matau realizes he is going down the same path as Iruini, and this helps snap him out of his bellyaching and instead gives him new drive. After Vakama’s downfall, it also helps him realize the pain Vakama has kept hidden from the rest of his team, which helps bring him back in the finale. In the conclusion, as the rahaga are seeing the toa off, Iruini will admit that he has been given hope by the transpired events, and urges Matau to hold on to his positivity and humor. This, of course, is the start of his legacy. -
Heart-to-Hearts: We really didn’t get to see a lot of transformative moments for the toa for this year shaping themselves as the turaga, despite having vastly different personalities at the start of 2004, so here are some ideas:
Nuju- In my previous Bionicleanup I stated Nuju would lose his voice, at least partly, due to an injury from Nidhiki. This would cause frustrations as he couldn’t communicate properly, making him more rahi-like. Kualus would show that silence can be beneficial to focus, and that an ancient past language could instead use gestures and limited sounds to convey ideas. Simple but efficient. He would expand his understanding that knowledge can be found from the past to help predict the future, and that one should study both to be best prepared. This would lead in to Nuju bringing up Matoro, a matoran who studied language and other past knowledge from the archives, leading to him being shunned by the other Ko-Matoran. Kualus would state that he may have been one of the wisest of the Ko-matoran, leading to a new appreciation for him, as well him being an immediate translator upon arrival to Mata-Nui, realizing that “Wait! I… understand what he’s saying!” Despite not remembering what the language is, or studying it on Metru-Nui.
Whenua- While searching through the ruined archives, Whenua and Bomonga hear something in the darkness. Bomonga tells Whenua to be silent, so that they know how to proceed. Eventually Whenua’s patience gives out, and he charges the creature, furious that it would attempt to hunt him. He finally corners it, prepares to attack… and seems a small group of ussal crabs, huddled together and shivering in terror. Bomonga catches up and tells Whenua that not every rahi is out to get him, and that even friendly, docile rahi are victims of the visorak. This leads into an attack by either visorak or a hordika mutant (and a lesson of the importance of hunting in silence by Bomonga), and the saved ussal, now trusting of Whenua, curiously begin following him around. While unloading the rahi onto the shore of the Great Barrier, the ussals continue following him like ducklings, and join the Onu-matoran underground on Mata-Nui.
I’d love to hear thoughts on other character or world-building scenarios like these, so please leave yours below! -
Keetongu’s Location: I thought it was pretty underwhelming that the riddle to find Keetongu was essentially “follow the river”, which doesn’t really make sense in Metru Nui considering there are canals running throughout the entire city, so this is also something I wanted to update. In the rahi guide, it was stated that the Blade Burrowers dug tunnels with strategic patterns, and seemed to be “building something”. This was ultimately forgotten, with Farshtey later stating they were just carving the three virtues symbol to “remind Mata Nui of his duty”. Yeah, sure, okay. Boring, pointless. What if they were instead connected to Keetongu? The riddle could be something like “seek the top of the highest tower at the lowest point”, and while searching for clues, Bomonga would bring up the BB tunnels to Whenua. Whenua asks him to draw out a general sketch, and realizes, though incomplete, the tunnels replicate the Ko-Metru disk symbol of three knowledge towers. Upon following the tunnels down and reaching the point that would be the tip of the peak, they discover the door to a chamber, where Keetongu waits dormant, plugged into the wall via cables like the Exo-toa of 2002.
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No Pointless Twist: Keep in mind this is currently an official part of the story: The hordika find “evidence” that it was the 2004 matoran who were meant to be toa, leading to them questioning their role, but the Karzahni plant appears before Vakama in Time Trap stating out of nowhere that it was a double cross by Mata Nui to trick Makuta into influencing Lhikan to turn the wrong matoran into toa, even though it was actually the right matoran. Clearly this is a case of double retcon that needlessly muddies the narrative and makes no sense when you start to think about it. This needs to be done away with.
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Terror of the Transformations: One of the biggest parts of 2005 was the combination models, with many different models being available to build, showcased on the back of the hordika canisters and promoted on the Bionicle website. Despite this, the majority of the combos were labeled as various rahi and used as worldbuilding that played no (major) part in the story. I would alter this, having the majority of the combos representing rahi transformed by hordika venom; most specifically, the abominable cable crawler, four-armed long-necked rock raptor, and bizarre gate guardian, venom flyer, and parakrekk. All of these combos have an unnatural, mutant-like appearance that would work to show the terror of the visorak’s power, as the only examples we got were the toa and a single image of a transformed kikanalo (which never appeared in set form).
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The Gate: This is something that has always bothered me, and that I failed to mention in previous entries: the Mangaia gate. In 2003 it was made clear that there is no mechanism in place to lift the gate, and that Takutanuva had to use his absurd strength to lift it and allow the matoran to all pass through. But this begs the question… how did the toa metru get through originally? How did the nuva get through to reawaken the bohrok, and how did the rahi get back through when the swarms destroyed Mata-Nui? Then it hit me: on Metru Nui, aerial vehicles were powered via levitation disks. As long as they had a powerful enough supply, the gate could be lifted via this power, long enough to pass through. The Piraka could be an exception due to Reidak being insanely strong, showcased numerous times. The Nuva could keep the gate lifted for the rahi being forced off the island, and a bridge to Metru nui could be created either by Kopaka (ice) or Onua/Pohatu (earth & stone) with their incredible nuva powers.
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Final Farewell: During their parting, I think this would be the perfect time for the rahaga to warn the toa of rahkshi and the legends surrounding them; that should they see their faces again, it will instead be the sons of Makuta, shadows that cower in the depths (exactly as foretold). They also give them a warning totem for protection and guidance for their mission, without stating what lies within, knowing it would be revealed when the time was right. Dume, with frayed memory, agrees that the matoran should not be forced to live in this dark, ruined city, and decides to remain to atone for his failure to the matoran as a leader, gives his blessing to the toa, and implores them to return when enough repair progress has been made.
Alright, think that about covers it. Nothing too crazy, but I feel these changes help to flesh out the purpose and narrative of the year. What do you guys think? Do you agree with these suggestions? Are there suggestions you would make for this arc? Let me know below, and of course, thanks for reading!
