Do BIONICLE characters have more abilities than they could practically use? For example, during the 2006 story Jaller Inika possessed:
- The ability to create, control and absorb fire (combined with lightning powers)
- The Kanohi Calix, mask of fate (which gave him greatly enhanced agility and reflexes)
- An energized flame sword (which could be used both for melee combat and to fire blasts of electrified fire
- A Zamor sphere launcher (which could be used to free enslaved Matoran and as an offensive weapon against the Piraka/the environment)
These powers have a lot of potential to be used and combined in interesting ways that showcase individual character strengths. However, while rewatching Noah Productions’ adaptation of the 2006 BIONICE storyline I was struck by how often character powers are either sloppily shoehorned into action sequences or forgotten altogether.
What do you guys think? Has anybody else noticed this issue with G1’s storytelling/world-building? If you write your own BIONICLE stories, how do you juggle all of these different abilities?