I’ve been working towards understanding the mask making process as well as the logic behind what disks are used for what mask. While I of course don’t have all the answers, and probably never will, I’ve made some theories that are pretty sound.
The same disk power cannot be used more than once in a mask (there’s nothing in canon that directly says this, but from the known disk combinations, this is simply an observation).
Every non-elemental disk power has an opposite disk power [1]. Shrink and Enlarge, Weaken and Regeneration, Reconstitute at Random and Removes Poison, and Freeze and Teleport.
An opposite non-elemental mask power can be made by taking the opposites of each individual disk that make up a non-elemental mask. Examples of this are the Jutlin (Weaken) and Kiril (Regeneration) [2], and the Pehkui (Shrink) and Mask of Growth (Enlarge).
From this, we can make several logical conclusions, even though they might not be directly canon. The Mask of Incomprehension is the opposite of the Rau [3], which is made from Removes Poison and Enlarge disks [4]. The disks required for the Mask of Incomprehension would just be the opposite, which are Reconstitute at Random and Shrink. This does not conflict with an already canon disk combination.
Greg has said the Mask of Mutation is made from at least a Reconstitute at Random disk [5]. It’s logical to assume the Mask of Healing is the opposite of this mask. If this is true, then the Mask of Healing should have at least a Removes Poison disk, which makes sense for healing. However, we know we need at least one more disk for each. Figuring out what else could make up the Mask of Mutation is rather difficult, but another disk easily fits the Mask of Healing, and that’s Regeneration. This means the second disk for the Mask of Mutation is the opposite, which is Weaken. The problem is that the Mahiki is already Weaken and Reconstitute at Random [4]. This means the Mask of Mutation and the Mask of Healing each need a third unknown disk in order to be made.
Increase Weight and Levitate disks also exist, which Greg has said are made using a combination of the other 8 [6]. The Levitate disk clearly corresponds to the Mask of Levitation, which is made from Teleport and Weaken disks [4]. We can reasonably assume these two are opposites of each other, and since we know how to make the Levitate disk, we can easily find how to make the Increase Weight disk, which would be Freeze and Regeneration. Again, there is no conflict with a pre-existing disk combination, so this is entirely possible.
This is all probably just grasping at straws, especially since there may have been no rhyme or reason for which disks made what masks, but it makes more sense than anything else I’ve seen.
EDIT: Removed point 4 due to being incorrect.
UPDATE 1:
Only one mask corresponds to only one disk combination [7].
The only primary disk powers are the main 8 along with the elemental disks [8].
At the time I made this post, I did not have a canon justification for my first point, but now I do [9]. Technically, you can combine two disks of the same type, but the resultant disk would just be the same. For example, two Enlarges and Teleport would be the exact same as just one Enlarge and Teleport.
Under this model of each disk power having an opposite power, a mask cannot be made of only a disk and it’s opposite (for example, Weaken and Regeneration), or else that mask will be its own opposite, which is paradoxical.
I do not see how removing poison from an object is opposite to randomly shuffling its molecular composition.
This point is simply not true - Mask of Time is made out of six disk combination.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for one of the disks in increase weight to be enlarge? If we look at known mask/disk compostions, we can see that they are based on what makes “very rough sense”, rather than idea of opposites.
I am not against using such logic where it works (your mask of incomprehension), but a model with unstable foundations should not overrule something, that is much more obviously already in place as a “guideline” for making disk combinations.
I do not see how removing poison from an object is opposite to randomly shuffling its molecular composition.
Shrink, Enlarge, Weaken and Regeneration are pretty much set in stone, so we just have to make sense of the last four. Reconstitute at Random is more like mutation for two canon reasons. The one I’ve already talked about is that Greg said is that it’s used for the Mask of Mutation. The second is that a Matoran was hit with a Reconstitute disk during disk dueling and was turned into something like a Rahi, which sounds like a mutation (Kanoka - BIONICLEsector01). Remove poison makes sense to be the opposite if you consider a mutation a poison or illness. It’s closer to being an opposite than Freeze or Teleport are.
This point is simply not true - Mask of Time is made out of six disk combination.
The Mask of Time was made from six Toa disks, and a Toa disk has the power of that Toa’s element. That’s why I specified non-elemental disks.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for one of the disks in increase weight to be enlarge?
Perhaps, but the implications of this could lead to contradictions.
Nice theories for these masks, but there is a larger flaw at hand, the Vahi. It’s not made from 6 Toa Disks, but from level 9 Great Disks of Enlarge, Regenerate, Weaken, Freeze, Teleport, and Reconstitutes at Random. So there can be more than three powers on one disk. Besides, I don’t want to imagine being limited to 336 mask powers when there is such a vast world of abilities.
You already ran into contradictions with pre-existing canon when you used the “opposites model” to come to conclusion for mask of mutation - that being Mahiki
This here I am afraid is circular reasoning. What you say here is true, but only under assumption that the opposites exist - an assumption that you argue in favor of because of “how they fit”.
Yes, but at that point, it is not exactly an opposite disk composition anymore. And it still contradicted the first logical choice, painting Mahiki as the opposite of Mask of Healing.
This here I am afraid is circular reasoning. What you say here is true, but only under assumption that the opposites exist - an assumption that you are argue in favor of because of “how they fit”.
Do you think Enlarge is the opposite power of Shrink and that Regeneration is the opposite power of Weaken, because the mask powers that these disks turn into are certainly opposite. Why can’t we say the same for the remaining 4 disk powers?
Yes, but at that point, it is not exactly an opposite disk composition anymore. And it still contradicted the first logical choice, painting Mahiki as the opposite of Mask of Healing.
I don’t understand your point. I’m saying that the Mask of Mutation can’t just be made from Reconstitute at Random and Weaken because that would be the Mahiki. To avoid this contradiction, at least 3 disks are required, and if the Mask of Mutation needs 3 disks, so does the Mask of Healing (if they are opposites).
Personally I subscribe to the whole opposites thing - thought of it myself a few years back. Here’s my logic:
Reconstitutes at Random is a distortion of the form - as said earlier, its function is closer to mutation than true scrambling. Removes Poison works to restore the form, removing harmful poisons and impurities. They aren’t exact functional opposites, but they are conceptual opposites of a sort.
Same goes for Teleportation and Freeze. Teleportation is movement, where Freeze is fixing something in place. These two are closer to functional opposites, even if Freeze uses ice instead of a stasis field or something more fitting.
I agree that those seem opposite to each other. However some of them are not so obvious - particularly Random reconstitution and Remove poison do not seem to have any connection.
So when you try to use the argument of “all single non-elemental disks come in pairs with opposite powers” as an evidence for existence of the “opposites model”, you then cannot use this model (built on shaky assumption) to retroactively say Rec.at random and Rem. poison are opposites because it fits under the “opposites model”.
Sorry, I didn’t catch that you also changed Mask of Healing to 3 disks. My bad.
However in case of increase weight, it still leads to conclusions that are more dubious than where you would get by using the pre-existing “disk logic”.
Just to clarify, I think it is great to try and make sense of things! I just have to challenge something when I spot inconsistencies.
All good, but I don’t think there are actually any contradictions. Sure, perhaps there isn’t an opposite for every disk power, but I ran with it, and it didn’t lead to any direct inconsistencies with canon, so I’ll continue to use it until that happens.
That is not really different, at all.
And all of the masks made from more than one disk, are created this way - first combine the disks, then carve the mask.