Guns and weapons that resemble realistic firearms in Bionicle canon

I’ve never understood this either. It seems like such a weird power for Toa to take issue with when there’s so many other things they’re fine with using (a Mask of Fusion isn’t immoral, from memory. And Telekinesis definitely isn’t.)

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Also the Crast has a more focused AOE. It has to have a more specific target, while levitation is just “repel gravity”.

It’s a plot device for the lines’ target audiences. The bad guys wear evil masks.

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I think it was stated on the Shelek that Toa just dislike any Mask that is worn by any Makuta on principle, regardless of how bad the power actually is.

Then again, maybe it’s not the power itself that’s immoral but the method it is achieved by. Similar to how electricity isn’t immoral but coal power plants are?

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I don’t know about that. Thok’s Ice Gun and Hakann’s Lava Launcher are the closest I’ve seen that resemble actual guns.

@Toa-of-Snow I’ve always found the Komau, Mask of Mind Control, an EXTREMELY immoral mask especially when it was used to make Krekka and Nidhiki literally destroy themselves by being thrown into Teridax’s shadow vortex.

Edited for Double Post - BioKnight

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Well, technically they just fell off the caravan; Teri grabbed them after they hit the road.

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In that instance I agree, but the point still stands that manipulating someone’s mind has no moral issues for Toa but mentally pushing things away is despicable. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Morals kind of depend on culture though. The culture of the GSR is vastly different from our own so they have a completely different definition of what constitutes “moral”.

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… mayyybe

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If that’s true, that’s absolutely hilarious that Jaller was completely dumbfounded by one of the most basic human inventions.

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From Bionicle Legends 5: Inferno:

“The yellow-armored being who stood on the stairs holding a wicked staff could not have been further from his friend. Jaller’s eyes were drawn to the figure’s feet, which featured rounded devices that looked something like gears. The Toa of Fire could not recall seeing anyone actually standing on their gears before, though.”

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The Rockoh T3 is basically a gun in set form with some extra doodads on it.

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I certainly agree about the Komau, but the immoral Kanohi topic is much more nuanced. There are two major reasons a Toa would take an issue with a mask:

  1. They find the mask’s power disturbing.
  2. A famous person who wore the mask was evil or did terrible acts using the mask.

For the first I’ll take Crast as an example because people seem to misunderstand how it works. It’s not that the mask “pushes things away”, that is not its power.
Crast makes the very nature itself find you disgusting and get away from you as fast as possible, thus creating the “push away” effect as a consequence. The user of the mask just defines what and how much something dislikes you and which one of you is allowed to be pushed away. They do not control any telekinetic, nor levitation powers, which themselves do not turn nature against you. The “Repulsion” in the mask’s name refers to “I find you repulsive” basis of the power.
For the Toa who are in touch with nature on a fundamental level, such a thing is a horrifying prospect (just look at Gali when she lost her powers to the Kal).

The second reason is more obvious - Makuta are evil and wore these masks, thus they are associated with them. Gorast is said to have performed many heinous acts with the Felnas. It should come as no surprise that Toa who strive to be paragons of good would distance themselves from such objects.

There is one more aspect unrelated to the moraility as to why a Toa wouldn’t wear some of these masks. Most of these were commissioned by the Brotherhood, so most other beings wouldn’t have access to them.

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The second half of this topic probably ought to be in its own topic but on the subject of realistic guns in Bionicle, I personally don’t mind their presence as long as it’s minimal. Bionicle weaponry has a unique vibe to it and maintaining the style of a story world is important for its cohesiveness.

It’s my personal opinion that, in a story, there may always be exceptions to the rule, but the exception must never become the rule. Making traditional projectile weapons a niche element of the story world would probably be the best compromise between allowing the story to grow beyond its restrictions and preventing it from losing its identity. The aforementioned use of wheels in G1 is a great parallel to this

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Oh yes, I don’t mind any of the launchers introduced, but the most unique ones were always Kanoka, Rhotuka, Squid launchers and Tridax Pods.

One could argue introducing and later normalizing too many realistic projectile weapons is an overused LEGO trend at this point - just look at Ninjago an G2 Bionicle…

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