Sure! I’m perfectly okay with that, but if you could describe your two characters to me, I’d appreciate it, just in case.
Wow! Thank you so much for going the extra mile for me! These are all great suggestions!
My favorite phonetically is Matumi, but in terms of meaning, Luakku is what I could imagine as the new name for the Residents.
I’ll have to think about which of the two, but the rest turned out great too!
Thanks again for your help!
However, there may be a significant change to my story that I’m not 100% sure about, but that’s why I’d like your opinion on it (and, of course, those who may be reading this topic.):
I recently got to the point where I might drop the re-use of the Toa Metru as the main characters in my project because I realized that with a whole new batch of protagonists, I could have more creative freedom in the narrative.
Do you think it would be worth keeping the Metru, or is it really better to create a whole new team for the main roles?
I am not sure. Having Toa Metru in 2001-like setting sounds cool, and having a new cast of Toa also sounds cool, so I am not much of help regarding this issue, but I at least have a suggestion. If you decide to have entirely new characters, you could name them after place names of G1 Mata Nui to provide some familiarity. So new Toa of Water would be named Naho, new Toa of Stone would be named Motara, new Toa of Ice would be named Ihu, and so on.
Are Toa Mata going to make appearance at all? We know they are not main characters, so if they even appear, it will in a different way.
I like your idea of characters named after G1 locations! Though, I recently had a rough idea for a Fire Toa, whom I have named Flama (Flaa-mah), which comes from the word “flamma” which means flame in Latin. (Yeah, not the most original name of the century, I know… )
It is possible, however, that the solution you suggest would be better.
I will think about it, but again thanks for your great suggestion!
Regarding the re-appearance of the Toa Mata:
No, they will not be in my story for a very simple but all the more important reason:
As you pointed out in the Lego unpopular opinions topic earlier, a real G3 will only be popular and successful if it doesn’t try to copy its predecessors.
For that reason, I’m not trying to retell the story already told by the previous two Gens, but in a slightly different way.
Of course, many people will rightly question this:
“What other story can be told with the Bionicle logo that has all the familiar elements but still has something new and fresh to show?”
Well, the answer is something I don’t know yet, but I’ve been working on this project for 5 years to find out.
I was thinking that Toa Mata could fill different role than in G1. I marked my ideas in spoiler in case you decide to use them.
Perhaps they are roughly equivalent to Toa Mangai, ancient Toa who got either hunted down or gone rogue. I wonder who the traitor would be in that scenario.
Perhaps they are ancient team of Toa who were defeated by evil they fought and mutated into Rahaga equivalents, perhaps named Matarahi. They remain on infested remains of their island, evading pursuit until the main Toa come to retrieve some important artifact. Toa are unfamiliar with this dangerous environment, and have to rely on half-insane Matarahi for guidance.
Perhaps they are simply place names. That could contrast with main Toa being named after G1 places, if you use that idea.
However, I’ve been in an urgent dilemma lately:
I can’t decide at the moment who should be the main characters in my story.
As I wrote earlier, I originally wanted to start with Toa Metru, but then I had this idea: “But with new characters, I’d have more creative freedom!”
And since then, a conversation with one of my friends has stirred my ideas even more.
When I shared my ideas for my project with him, He said the following:
“Why can’t the Toa Mata be the heroes again? All the Transformers reboots so far have largely had the same protagonists as before, and almost no one has bothered!”
Although TF has always been a pop culture phenomenon that allows non-fans to recognize almost any of its cast, while Bionicle never had that luxury, I was unintentionally struck by what he said.
What if he’s right, and both Mr.Faber and I have been wrong so far?
What if an actual G3 only needs to be partially reinvented to be successful with the new generation?
Either way, it sounds good. With new characters, more fans could understand the context of the story. But with the original characters, old fans would easily be willing to jump on board.
The great Miru and adaptive Hau inspire the mask’s design.
The name, Flama, belongs to the character who wears it. (whom I already mentioned before.)
Flama’s personality wise is a mix of G1 Pohatu & G1 Tahu.
He’s a warm-hearted and friendly individual, who likes to befriend everyone else, but it’s easy to get caught by his emotions, especially in tense situations.
I’m still not 100% sure if I want to go with this direction instead of the redux Toa Metru idea, but we will see.
I’m currently working on more mask variations while still trying to figure out everything else regarding the plot and world of my story.
In the meantime, I would like to show you this:
It’s supposed to be a re-design/interpretation of the original UDD symbol from G1.
I’d draw inspiration from an old drawing I made back in late 2012 with MS paint.
It is still not the final version though I plan to remake it in PS (photoshop) to look like an ancient carving or tribal painting on a wall texture.
Driven by curiosity, yesterday I tried out the “3D-render” function of the latest version of Adobe Illustrator for a new Title Logo variant.
It turned out pretty well, and although some parts of the letters are a little thinner than I intended overall, I’m pretty happy with the result.
Also, I plan to show you more details about my G3’s story and set designs, but I’m a bit busy at the moment with finishing my two-year graphic design course, so it will take a little more time to make them.
Although I cannot show you anything specific yet, I’d still like to share these here:
These are some of the scraps and drafts I’ve made while designing the sets for my G3 fan project.
I’d just posting them here to give you a little insight into my creative process & methods of creating elements for my imaginary sets.
I hope you’ll like them!
Still busy designing my characters and their sets, but here is something new!
Although I’ve shared the overall synopsis and premise of my G3 story, this is my first attempt at posting an actual summary of the epilogue of the plot.
As usual, I am all ears to every suggestion plus feedback!
Could you provide an example? I’m kind of having trouble seeing how this is a limb-specific piece.
On its own, though, this seems like a cool piece. I don’t know the exact dimensions that you’ve used, but I would recommend making it as in-System as possible (make the piston a standard bar diameter, match the height of the bar with other brick-mounted bars, etc.). To that effect, the second iteration above looks to me to have the most reuse value.
Yeah, but right now, I can only provide textualexamples of how I imagined this piece to work, as, at the moment, I don’t have time to make a visual presentation for its intended use.
Okay, so this heavily modified plate element is meant to be used as a base for limbs, both arms and legs:
-The wider top section with the two studs is meant to place your typical 1x2 plate with the Mixel ball cup or ball-jointed part onto it.
-The lower narrower section with the 2x1 studs at the bottom is meant for attaching a 2x1 plate with the same type of Mixel ball/socket piece.
-The angeled piston or pump-like structure on the side is a handle-bar connector that provides space for attaching various hand-clip connectors onto it.
-The “base plate” is reversible and would also come with a mirrored twin version. It would come in 3 color variations (3 pairs within one wave of Toa/Canister sets.)
To summarize:
This design is intended to be a modern equivalent of the G1 Toa Mata leg piece. It could be used for both upper/lower legs and arms.
It’s not finalized yet as it is still missing a few things, but soon, I may be able to finish it.
Also, I plan to make a new type of Mixel joint part that will essentially function as a kneecap that can be inserted between two regular ball-socket.
It would extend the length of the limbs a bit more, but it also would make the knees and the elbows able to bend in and out at a much wider angle than anything on the same scale.
After much consideration and hesitation, my project will return to the Technic system.
There are several reasons for this, the most important three of which I would like to highlight:
Due to the nature of the building system, Technic sets are still structurally more durable than their system-based counterparts.
System sets, while more detailed, are made up of more pieces and would therefore be more expensive.
System has a much more limited design direction than Technic, which has more options for creating more unique pieces.
I made my final decision based on these considerations.
At the moment, I’m trying to combine Technic lift arms with a new ball joint, which is essentially a sub-type of the well-known Mixel joints.
Hopefully, I will soon be able to finish my first vector drawing and post it here.
It’s not the most “professionally made” design, but as a first attempt at bringing my vector-based design into 3D, I think it’s not too bad for what it is.
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