We haven’t quite delved into the interactions and treatment of the Toa with the rest of the islands populace yet, so really it’s hard to say. My understanding is that the Toa spirits are essentially tools by the Elemental Gods to protect the island in times of need, they are not deities of any kind and wouldn’t really be seen as demigods. They’re simply heroes with ancient power bestowed upon them that no one really understands.
It’s also worth noting that there hasn’t been any Toa for a very long time, I’d hazard to guess that the majority of the inhabitants wouldn’t know what a Toa even was. This will all tie into our religion discussion going forward, but I would even say there are matoran that don’t even believe in elemental gods or Toa, and would likely not see them as people worthy of their trust immediately.
There’s a lot of opportunity to flesh out this world with unique characters that hold different viewpoints on how the world works. In a sense, we’d essentially be combining the “destined chosen one” angle with an underdog story. Especially since our chosen matoran are already misfits amongst society for their lack of elemental abilities before the time event happens.
These are simply my musings on the concept, however.
So my thought is similar to @Payinku
Ok so the toa who were originally elemental powerless matoran. So they tended to be looked down upon by the other matoran (clique right?) and then bad things happen yada yada and there is an [quote=“IllustriousVar, post:89, topic:34404”]
ancient power bestowed upon them that no one really understands.
[/quote]. Journey ect. save matoran ect. Well the matoran are greatfull that, but they are afraid of the toa, because they were once elemental powerless matoran who suddenly have these powerful ancient abilities that they don’t understand. Then given they fact that the toa are still learning to control such powers would from time to time leave a matoran hurt, and property damaged. This could cause the toa to doubt themselves and whatever the reason they became toa (insert toa getting butt kicked, character building, ect.) eventually leading to the matoran to except them.
sorry if its too long or seems as if I’m writing the story, just a thought I had
Fair enough, still, the matoran taking the name(and presumably also the appearance) of toa spirits still rubs me the wrong way, them being on borrowed power and wearing the figurative ‘masks’ of toa spirits makes it feel almost like someone else is getting the credit of their deeds,
I’d be content with the toa spirits concept if they were simply imbued with the power, but keep their names and general appearances.
People have suggested that the mata names be the names of these toa spirits, but I feel that the toa spirits shouldn’t be entities in their own right but something closer to ‘fighting spirit’ where toa translates to spirit warrior, and the toa are the same people as when they were matoran.
I’ve come to realize I’m awful at debate, so hopefully that came across alright.
At the moment I actually do agree with you, however we still haven’t heard the religion discussion yet, which might make this new take on the Toa a little easier for us to swallow. We’ll just have to wait and see.
I had an idea for the Po-Wahi Raiders we were talking about earlier. What if they were like these desert pirates that travel across the sand on these sort of desert sailboats. Like the Sand-Sailors from Avatar. This could also be a way to incorporate a vehicle set that doesn’t feel out of place in Bionicle.
No. This was talked about a few comments up. There’d be a band of Po-Matoran raiders - the majority of Po-Matoran would be your everyday ordinary villagers, and it doesn’t have to be just the raiders using the proposed sand sleds.
Also, I meant that I had ideas for how the other villages could incorporate vehicles, like chariots or bobsleds.
Alright, fair enough,
I’d expect po wahi to be the largest region to allow for that,
also, why not have the odd other matoran type in there, the odd ta/le matoran and the like.
Personally I prefer the idea of the Toa being awakened with no memory rather than matoran previously living in the cities becoming Toa. I can see why people would like it that way. It makes the toa more personal and have them feel like they actually grow stronger and achieve something rather than;
“oh i was able to easily do this due to my toa powers I didn’t know I had.”
I feel like this can still be achieved with them all starting out as Toa however. They can still be sort of screw ups and maybe not really live up to the legend of the toa at first really having to grow and prove their worth. I also think it would fit the increased focus on the mask of time. The toa and makuta could be sealed in some kind of stasis until the brotherhood of makuta shatter the mask of time.
Maybe the reason they are in stasis in the first place could be because they are just one team of toa to fight makuta in and endless cycle and they were just the first ones to screw up requiring them to be placed in stasis to heal and to stall makuta.
This would allow the idea of different toa/matoran taking up the mantel of the Toa and them being given their powers by elemental gods to stay as well as give them cause for some character development and self doubt. It would also mean they could easily explain some parts of the world and characters or give exposition to kids seeing as they have no memory.
That’s just some of my thoughts on the matter though. Maybe I’m just to attached to G1 and how it handled the toa and the mysterious and legendary nature they held.
These aren’t bad ideas at all, and it bring more focus unto the main plot/quest, but I must disagree somewhat with the premise that we want to make the story more focused and streamlined.
I’d like to make it perfectly clear that I do not think there anything is anything wrong with what you’ve said, it could all work, but it leaves out some of the world-building potential that could be gained from exploring the Toa’s past lives, like they did with the Toa Metru, and that world-building is sort of what we are trying to recapture here.
That being said, your pitch isn’t a bad idea, we might use it for something else in the future, and I’d love to see what else you come up with.
