Lego is danish you know… 
Seriously though, most of Bionicles names use unshifted vowels (traditional latin-style pronounced vowels), since the early names are derived from Maori culture. So most names are pretty obvious… if you’re not english.
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Something to point out is that this wasn’t an impromptu inclusion in canon when the movie dropped. The Bohrok anims already hinted at Jaller and Hahli hooking up.
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I suppose that’s true.
Although, if we’re willing to ignore American grammar rules (which Bionicle clearly is), then how do we know that the “Hah” is Hahli is actually pronounced like that? Obviously we, the fans, know that it is, but not because of grammar rules. It seems like a double standard to say that Bionicle names are complicated because they break grammar rules, but then also say that “Hahli” is simple because it clearly has to follow grammar rules.
This just moves the problem to a different piece of media, since those same animations also had Huki and Maku’s canon-defying adventures. Whether it’s the movie or the Bohrok animations, Macku was still taken.
And the movie was in english and targeted America as its global demographic (and Jaller sounds horrifically American in the film).
Which is exactly what the movie’s main audience was. English-speakers. Amercans, to be more specific, since that was where Bionicle sold the best.
We as fans and we as two internet acquaintances arguing over it have a specific point of view, and the marketing team for a movie may have another - namely, that putting the name Hahli to be repeated numerously in the film would make more sense from a financial standpoint than the name Macku.
It happens to be pronounced exactly how one would think it is, and there is very little room for casual error in marketing tests, so if there was any initial intent to use Macku instead of Hahli, I can see an alternate decision being reached from that alone.
EDIT: Another reason came to mind.
MAH-Koo
Mah-KOO-Tah
And considering Hahli literally shows up in his lair…
It’s really funny how Greg spoke his irrevocable word and the entire rest of Bionicle’s media (including some of the books Greg wrote, ironically enough) can point a completely different way.
Ah well. This’ll just allow him to clarify that love is canon at some point in the future and completely destroy the entire Bionicle continuity and every single Bionicle fan’s mind.
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Not when I watched it it wasn’t.
Yes. And what was his original name? Jala. Beautiful, unshifted, Jala.
Same with Maku, Hali and Huki.
Well, turns out that just because you have a target audience doesn’t mean you have to assume they are completely unaware that the entire rest of the world exists.
Even then, English speakers may have been the largest audience individually, but they don’t have the absolute majority. We’re not comparing english speaking audiences to other languages one by one, we’re comparing it to every other audience combined. After all, English is the only language with vowelshift so the majority of viewers will prefer that.
Also it’s a MOVIE. There wouldn’t be any misinterpretation of the proper pronounciation of some letters because the movie literally tells you.
Edit: So apparently shifting is a ■■■■■■■ swear word.
I’ll make sure to tell my uncle he’s being offensive by working the night ■■■■■.
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That makes way more sense. Good catch.
Canon future, but our past:
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Ah, the power of the international lawsuit.
Then it looks like you weren’t the problem. Good for you?
I don’t know if I should respond to this seriously or not.
You do realize the U.S. market is, like, a lot bigger than each market of each country in Europe, right? Pandering to it and marketing to it is financially advantageous no matter who you are or what you’re selling.
Heck, LEGO knows this because they keep making sets of American pop culture icons and films. But we’re getting off topic.
Uh… No we’re not. It’s not America vs. the entire rest of the world; America is the largest individual market LEGO could appeal to and many of the other markets are familiar enough with english that individual pandering and consideration wasn’t necessary (Mask of Light had a box set release in Israel; I really doubt they heavily considered the culture and language before releasing there). Why not think of the American market first?
That is true. However, most likely the people designing the film saw the names written before they heard them spoken. Concept art and sketches usually label the name of the character or location or scene being depicted, and decisions of that nature are made by higher-ups acting casually and not the people actually working on the project.
“This sketch seems good, but MACK-oo seems a bit rough.”
“No, sir, it’s pronounced MAH-koo.”
“What, like Makuta? That’s going to be confusing, since they show up in the same place. Swap it with someone else.”
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That’s the thing. They changed it because of the lawsuit. Not because they had a problem with the sound or readability of the pronounciation.
I just meant I watched it in german, quite simply because I’m german 
It usually isn’t, but in terms of pronounciation it really is. At least to the point where I find it hahli unlikely that they made the switch entirely for this niche naming reason you’re suggesting.
Especially since Hahli had already pushed Macku well out of the spotlight for a while before the movie happened.
And again, they didn’t seem to mind introducing the even more “exotic” (to you, at least) original names in the first place and would have kept them if they weren’t forced otherwise.
With these three points in mind, the theory that they sidelined Macku for naming reasons looks like more of a stretch than your terrifying jaw.
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Yeah, I…
…Never said they did.
This feels like a red herring. I’m saying a possible reason for the focus being shifted from Macku to Hahli after 2001 might’ve been the movie, and the movie might’ve switched them because of the name being less of a hassle.
This wasn’t a LEGO decision (if it was a decision at all), it was a theoretical decision which could’ve been made by either management at Create TV & Film or producers at Creative Capers. And even if it was, the Maori lawsuit had nothing to do with it.
Ok.
My point was that has nothing to do with the argument. You seeing it in german means there was a german dub, not that the film wasn’t produced in english.
This one is the evil pun topic
Unlikely, sure. But possible.
Also, as I said a couple posts ago, equally possible (and more likely) any potentially proposed concept to have macku instead of Hahli would’ve been axed due to increasingly obvious similarity between the pronunciation of Macku and the Pronunciation of Makuta.
Quote:
You’ve been ignoring that point thus far.
Granted, I’m not arguing that this absolutely occurred this way - just that it may have. If you reread the topic, this isn’t solely about the movie, but why Macku was nudged out of the spotlight as a whole (and also mask debacles).
Straw man fallacy. I never actually said or implied this, only that America - being a giant demographic - was likely to be the focus of their attention when it came to marketing, plot, script, etc. and not, as an example I listed, Israel.
Here’s that box set btw:
It comes with Mask of Light and Legends of Metru Nui, as obviously indicated on the cover, which also has Hebrew script. I’d like to get my hands on one for collector’s purposes.
That - again - has nothing to do with it.
I would make some comment about the good old days where Bionicle community members didn’t ignore an entire topic just to prove one person wrong and taking a stab at profile pictures (thank you for admiring it btw) but it’s actually been worse in the past, so…
Hopefully you’ll be willing to reread my posts where I started things off with suggestions of how it could’ve occurred, and notice the transition from “how likely could it be” to “how many ways can it be wrong”, and give my argument some amount of grace because I, like all the others here, am just a fan taking stabs at explaining something I could not witness and am trying to offer a potential solution.
If not, I think we’re done.
Greg didn’t drop his “love isn’t canon” thing until a few years after 2003 IIRC. And I’m not certain he really meant what that says on the tin–he could have been intending to say certain love-related activities aren’t canon, but he obviously couldn’t say that on Lego’s message boards. It’s not a guarantee, but possible.
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Yeah, honestly if Greg could be less vague about certain things, it’d make everything a lot easier. Just say ‘make baby is not canon’ and we’re good.
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Onua and Onewa was hard for me
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Bringing it back to the physical sets: There is a theory that the ‘Maku’ McToran was originally going to have a Mata-blue torso and light blue mask and feet - this would would fit with others having primary-coloured bodies (bar Huki and Kongu), and the existence of the light-blue Kaukau.
Just a theory tho.
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Seems highly unlikely considering they didn’t have a problem with Onua and Onewa, Hahli and Gali, and Vakama and Nokama (all very similar sounding names).
We’re coming up with some conspiracy theories regarding the names, but to me the reason Hahli took the spotlight seems pretty obvious - the story team just decided they would prefer to explore Hahli’s character more. Consindering she was clearly-not-the love interest of Jaller, Jaller being one of the main characters in the movie and one of the most prominent characters in the story overall, it’d make more sense to focus on her rather than Macku.
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Who said they didn’t? Onewa is never referred to by name throughout the entire movie.
These examples aren’t as bad as Maku vs. Makuta. These examples only rhyme, while the pronunciation of “Makuta” requires the pronunciation of Macku’s entire name, albeit with different inflections.
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Initially I thought Onewa was Oh-NEE-wah to help make a difference, but then the Iliad crew beat the proper pronunciation into me and yeah they’re way too similar.
Yeah, I…
…Said that too.
Yeah, they saved him for the prequels, when Onua didn’t exist in-film. Bit of a smart move.
Also, technically, Onua and Onewa don’t rhyme, and are definitely the most similar in pronunciation. But yeah, pronouncing Macku’s name - especially after Makuta has been mentioned - is problematic in general, and even moreso if she took Hahli’s place and went directly to his man cave.
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Yeah but he is referred to by name in the second movie. People who watched these two might still be confused why the brown Toa in LoMN has a name that sounds almost identical to the black Toa from MoL. But was hardly an issue for anybody.
Yeah but like… so what? You and Ghid claim it’s problematic but I don’t see how it is. Yeah the “Maku” part is in “Makuta”, but that’s the case with hundreds if not thousands of words all around the world. What, is it because people would think Macku is evil or something, because the first two syllabes of her name are the same as Makuta? I know this movie was made with American market in mind, but come on, people aren’t that stupid.
No you didn’t? You said that the filmmakers chose Hahli over Macku because Macku was already taken, implying Hahli wasn’t. Which is just not true. They couldn’t choose Hahli in order to establish her relationship with Jaller in the movie, since their relationship was already established prior to the movie. Both Hahli and Macku were taken. Hahli and Jaller clearly show affection to each other in the 2002 Bohrok Animations (and possibly in MNOG2 as well, but it’s been ages since I last played that).
What I said, on the other hand, is that the filmmakers chose Hahli because of her already established relationship with Jaller. Since Jaller is the MC, it would make more sense to give his gf (come on we all know that’s who she was, no Greg, no, shut up) a more prominent role than Macku who was Hewkii’s gf, and Hewkii himself was barely in the movie as well.
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You’re equating our claim of casual confusion for catastrophic confusion. No, neither of us are saying that, only that when the extremely American vocal cast of the hit direct-to-vhs-and-dvd Bionicle Mask Of Light movie say both the names Macku and Makuta over and over - possibly in the same sentence - there’s going to be some level of confusion among the intended audience of children under the age of 15.
I said - and I will repeat it until it is comprehended - that it MIGHT’VE, COULD’VE, or POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN that way. Not that it was or that any alternate theory is a load of bunk. In fact, I’m not saying the movie producers considered Macku existing at all!
This topic is about answering the questions posed by Potato_Goose in relation to why Macku, one of the only Matoran to receive a physical form in 2001, was booted out from her position as poster girl of Ga-Matoran everywhere by a character formally introduced to the story the next year, as well as questions relevant by association, like why she didn’t come with Gali’s transparent Kaukau mask (which was IMO due to each of the Matoran having a new color of mask and a different shade of blue wasn’t exactly a radical new color) and the question of why she got the spotlight in MoL isn’t even in the original post at all.
Your theory about Hahli’s specific inclusion is likelier than mine, definitely, and - assuming MNOG/Bohrok animations were cared about at all by the filmmakers - probably correct. But it’s also a theory that was first stated to show how wrong my possible answer was, meaning either I admit my answer couldn’t exist whatsoever and I was completely wrong, or I have to fight the validity of your reasoning.
And given that I agree with you, I don’t want to do that.
So maybe we can just agree to disagree? If we’re going to continue lambasting each other over this, staff will eventually interpret it as intentionally spiteful, and one or both of us will end up in trouble unintentionally. I fully agree with the reasoning behind your argument and the argument itself, and that it’s a likelier answer than the one I’ve presented, although I hold my answer is still possible.
Also I’m pretty sure potato goose has run for the hills at this point
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I mean, yeah I get where you’re coming from, but still I don’t think that was an issue, considering the movie has an island and a god deity sharing the same name. And yes I know one has been named after the other, but still.
Yeahh well I guess I worded my post poorly, I obviously know that what you said didn’t mean that this was the reason “100% for sure no doubts Ghid EXPOSED the filmmakers of Bionicle Mask of Light Gone Wrong”, just that it COULD HAVE possibly been the reason. But hey, my point still stands either way, I don’t think that could have been the case given my later reasoning.
Perfectly doable 
Well he should have known that people on this forum love to endlessly argue over the most pointless and insignificant things. I don’t know what was he expecting 
/s
i’d like one because it would be funny
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