This is pretty incredible; the sheer amount of detail paid to the organic and inorganic systems is crazy; just the muscular system is described hugely. If you really want to triple-check your work, I would contact Bonesiii and fishers64 on BZPower. They are absolute experts in this area of the canon.
Perhaps we should contact Google X and ask them if they could start building one.
Based off MoL, they got 6 packs and skin.
The Matoran or the Toa? Looking at the pictures of the Toa in Mask of Light, I don’t see any six packs…
Matoran
Yes, they are weird.
Hm… it’s sculpted like a washboard yet doesn’t quite look like it’s a solid part of the body. Some kind of cover plate maybe?
This is great. Love all the detail.
I really like this explanation.I feel like the organic parts, mainly the muscles, would be made of like a fleshy plastic sorta material.
I thoroughly enjoyed this - when I was a lot younger, I came up with some similar ideas. In fact, they’ve been laying on my desk to be combined into video form at some point or another - I’ll have to sit down and really dig into this later on, but there are several things I’d like to point out and address first:
This is really the only point that I have trouble believing. The first reason is that the structure of bones in the Matoran Universe is shown to change constantly. Disregarding the realignment of skeleton structure when one is turned into a Hordika, or transformed by Energized Protodernis (in some cases literally sprouting extra limbs), the Matoran are inherently built to have their bodies undergo a massive physical change when they become Toa. Additionally, there are countless other transformations (for instance, the Toa Hagah becoming Rahaga) that would necessitate that there be some organic component to the metallic skeletal structure in order to be reprogrammed.
My theory is that protodermis as we know it is a form of programmable smart metal, one that can not only contain data but also manipulate it. This program is not nessesarily akin to what we know as computers, it is the next level beyond that, much more similar to how a human brain thinks. In olden days, the closest thing we had to compare to a human brain was a clock (ergo phrases regarding “clockwork” to describe the brain), and protodermis would be to a computer program what a computer program is to a clock.
BS01 notes that Organic Protodermis is what makes up the tissue of all organic life in the Matoran Universe. My theory is that the bones are a subset of these, akin to normal Protodermis but more malleable than the metal Protodermis that forms the walls and structure of the buildings in the MU. This organic nature allows for the restructuring that the nuermous kinds of transformations impose on the skeletal structure of beings in the MU.
This smart metal can be reprogrammed using a combination of chemicals, or by combining different forms of liquid Protodermis into the desired effect. I believe that this is what is meant by the Makuta and their viruses (which don’t really make sense if you think about it? When’s the last time you saw a virus as a green liquid in a vat?) and the combination of these combine into a reaction of data - similar to a chemeical reaction, except wholly contained within the metal. This then combines into organic life (like Rahi, for example, which the Makuta were supposed to use the viruses to create).
Think of it as a metallic/technological version of CRISPR, which can seek out and change chemicals and the sequence of chemicals in your DNA. Imagine that this technology that can pick out specific cancer cells could target different functions - such as shutting down all movement, ejecting a conscious operating system from its hardware, or as the laymen would put it, casting a Great Spirit into a deep sleep?
All Protodermis can have a liquid or vaporous form, as the smart metal itself continues to evolve - see, the Makuta and how their consciousness still stayed even when they evolved and became vapor - possibly due to their constant exposure to different viruses and how that tampered with their DNA. The reason why Energized Protodermis is sentient is because it developed its own consciousness, similar to an evolving AI and lives on through the smart metal. It overrides the base structure (which you could refer to as code) of most organic beings. It can technically reform inorganic and organic metals (i.e. how the Toa Nuva got inorganic armor when they were transformed) by messing with the underlying structure of the metal.
That’s my working theory, anyways. I have no idea when my video would come out, so maybe you’ll get a kick out of it. I’ve stll got a lot of research to do before I could write a whole thing about it.
Perhaps some sort of low level plasmic discharge that breaks down the neutrients is used in the hands, and then that is passed through into the stomach/other organs? It would explain why they never need to use the restroom.
Magnets would attach the mask to their face - and I believe that, if my theory holds true, it would alter/bolster the phsyical abilities of the host by genetically modifying limbs, as well as using a personal reactor located within the mask (hence why it runs out of charge eventually).
I don’t know if that’s exactly how it works, because there was one point in time where Pohatu sped up his molecules to vibrate through a wall, and I don’t think he could have done that if time had a different perspective to him. The speed has to directly effect him and his molecules for that effect to happen.
I don’t think they have skeletons as we think of them, just because they have a humanoid shape doesn’t mean their biology resembles our own, I think they’re biology is more akin to exoskeletons than endoskeletons, or more accurately, some combination of the two.
I do agree on their skeletal structure is most certainly made of protodermis, and I think you’re theory holds weight.
Never, actually. Not even in Bionicle (if I remember correctly). I think the only time a virus actually was “shown” was when alternate Krika used that virus in powder form on Takanuva to give him the ability to fly.
Otherwise BS01 describes viruses as “composed of energy that is similar to Antidermis”
I personally think that “raw” viruses thus can usually only be “felt”, but not seen. They are simply energy that influences a being’s… “DNA” or whatever. Or creates this “DNA” in the Rahi creating process.
Since they’re so close to Antidermis this might also explain why only the Makuta (and Artakha) are capable of doing anything substantial with them/creating them.
Makuta aren’t made out of Protodermis, but of Antidermis (although BS01 says that Antidermis is a byproduct of Protodermis). As seen when the Piraka enslaved the Matoran of Voya Nui this Antidermis seems to have a strange effect on Protodermis-based life. Perhaps some kind of code incapability? Or some kind of override?
Since viruses seem to be pretty close to Antidermis there probably are only two ways they could influence the Makuta: a) not at all - which would make it impossible to use a virus to any effect on a Makuta’s substance (at which point you might speculate if the Shadowed Ones’s and Pridak’s plan to end Teridax’s reign might even have worked…?), or b) it affects them in a quite different way than Protodermis-based beings - for example it maybe caused their substance to become gaseous over time.
I might be confused with seeing something in Makuta’s lair in Mask of Light? Regardless, what viruses are is so extremely vague in Bionicle that I’m not entire sure as to how else to describe it.
They might not, but especially for something humanoid, a skeletal structure is both necessary and efficient. There’s a reason why we don’t have any large bipedal invertebrate species walking about, and why invertebrates in general do not get too large (or just live in the ocean).
Having a skeletal structure is tantamount for designing a humanoid, bipedal species - we do it in real life when we design robots, and we know that the Great Beings designed the Matoran/Toa off the Agori and Glatorian, which are very similar to our biology - so it’s logical to think they’d reach the same conclusion. Additionally, there are many references to bones (“Makuta-bones!”) and spines (the Spine Slug), to the extent that it is very reasonable that they do indeed have a skeletal structure. I don’t see any logical reason as to why they wouldn’t.
From that point it makes sense, I suppose it’s just from the molds we’ve gotten over the years they never looked like they had humanoid skeletons, and also I feel toa anatomy just being human-but with metal bits is disappointing.
Though like I said, I think they have a combination of exo and endo skeleton such as a spine, a skull, some bones in the limbs, but a carapace over the chest and parts of the limbs, they have a combination of pistons and muscles for motor functions, and their skeletal structure is metallic so it’s stronger than bone, it’s not that far fetched, remember that the great beings augmented the glatorians and agori to improve them, so obviously they thought they could improve on nature.
I feel like the metal being armour is disappointing, I’d prefer it to be more like skin
Good points on the metal bones, and I like the idea of the protodermis being programmable in such a way as to allow body parts to grow, evolve, and rapidly mutate if the right (or, as the case may be, wrong) ‘commands’ are presented to it. These could include chemical commands, more ‘elemental’ manifestations, or very specific signals that are transferred from things like a “reconstitute at random” Kanoka or Roodaka’s mutation spinner. Here’s my thing on protodermis, though: I don’t think that it’s just a single substance able to assume solid, liquid, and gaseous states. I think that the term “protodermis” describes a whole group of compounds that share among them certain base components (similar to how organic molecules as we know them generally contain Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen) and this ‘programmable’ property. With chemistry in real life, even small variations in the molecular structure of a compound can produce vastly different effects, and that’s what I think all these ‘protodermi’ are; slightly different molecular compounds, but their differences produce those vastly different properties.
Some examples along these lines, just for brainstorming’s sake:
Pure or “Purified” Protodermis consists of the distilled ‘base components’ of all protodermis with as few impurities left in as possible. The way that these components bond into molecules and the way that those molecules in turn bond to form larger structures devoid of impurities produces a kind of arrangement that is capable of producing powerful elemental manifestations. This arrangement is similar to runes in that a particular pattern produces a particular effect when activated, but it is three-dimensional and produced on a molecular scale and hence much more intricate and powerful. However, for this ‘super-rune’ structure to work it needs to be absolutely perfect, like how only hyper-pure silicon crystals can be made into computer chips; even a small number of impurities disrupt the pattern and hence cause its properties to degrade. However, when you do get such hyper-pure protodermis, it can be made into masks, disks, and other things with tremendous powers courtesy of the particular chemical structure within. Perhaps it could even be made into an elemental ‘battery’ of sorts to explain the powers of the Toa… I hadn’t actually thought of where their elemental powers came from before, but that could work.
Protosteel is mentioned on BS01 to be a form of protodermis; I think it’s what you get when you alloy the base components of protodermis with a lot of metals. The resulting compound cannot produce elemental manifestations on its own due to it being very impure by definition, though it can effectively be used to channel them from elsewhere, as Makuta do through weapons and armor. The molecules formed between the atoms of protodermis’ base components and the introduced metals have the property of forming strong but still flexible bonds, making protosteel extraordinarily tough; different alloys could be harder or softer depending on the rigidity of the molecular bonds (as well as their temperature at time of testing), and in order to truly qualify as protosteel, a certain ‘grade’ has to be achieved in the substance’s production. Like those of purified protodermis, protosteel’s properties are highly sensitive to the presence of impurities; protosteel is hard and expensive to make and produce because you need both very pure metal and very pure protodermis to make it. Protosteel is still programmable to a great extent, but must be subjected to powerful impulses (viruses, high-end mutation powers) to do so due to the rigidity afforded to it by the metal atoms incorporated into its molecular structure.
“Organic” Compounds: protodermis with any of a number of non-metallic impurities or with both metallic and non-metallic impurities can take on a staggering number of properties depending on the nature of the impurities present. This can also greatly change the tactile properties of the resultant material; protosteel looks and feels to all intent like metal, for example, while the battery gel filling a Toa or Matoran’s reservoirs would be high on impurities of some lithium-like material to store an electrical charge. The compound that makes up muscle strands has a fibrous texture, making it easy to shape over the underlying structure of the body, and is able to produce directed force in response to an electrical current through a kind of piezoelectric effect.
I wasn’t thinking of protodermis when I wrote this, so yes, “inorganic” isn’t really the word I should’ve used. However, I do think that the protodermic compound that makes up the bones of Toa and Matoran has to be one that includes a lot of metal impurities for structural integrity reasons. It certainly wouldn’t be a protosteel-grade of purity (though it could be in some beings, making them both super-expensive to produce and very resistant to the kind of mutation effects the Toa and Matoran are often subject to), but the metal impurities would be numerous enough to make the whole compound resemble metal physically.
In this sense, protodermi as a group can be a kind of programmable ‘molecular cement,’ an underlying foundation of all living things in the MU. The beings of the MU refer to all of these compounds, excepting particularly rare or valuable ones like protosteel, as “protodermis” for simplicity’s sake, but the only pure protodermis to be found anywhere is the hyper-distilled material that Kanoka disks and Kanohi are made of. Protodermis and its defining components become to life in the MU what carbon is to, well, carbon-based lifeforms like us.
If the organic protodermis compounds can be ‘reprogrammed’ at such speed, maybe, but I’d find it difficult to believe that such rapid change is possible without providing a lot more raw material to work with… what if it works through an elemental manifestation within the muscle strands themselves? Take the mask of strength using a manifestation of Gravity, for example. Gravity is simply an attractive force between objects; what if the Mask of Strength greatly amplified that force between two of the ‘nodes’ that the muscle strands attach to? It’d be a kind of ‘gravity assist’ for the muscle strands, effectively making them stronger without needing to rapidly restructure the strands to some kind of ‘super efficient’ configuration. I mean, if such a configuration existed, why wouldn’t it be used all the time? Anyways, if this kind of ‘assist’ was applied to the nodes all across the body, the effect would be similar to wearing a power suit in that the user’s strength could be greatly amplified for short periods of time without the stress of physically ‘mutating’ them for the purpose.
He literally phased through a wall? As if the Kakama wasn’t OP enough already… And yes, I don’t really have an explanation for that at this point, or at least not an element-based one.
If they have mutagenic properties, it would seem that they’re some kind of ‘catalyst’ compound that causes protodermic substances to behave a certain way (mutation, for example). Such a compound could definitely take the form of a greenish liquid that worked on contact.
I think that the ‘carapace’ you mentioned would take the form of power-assisted armor, such as what I envisioned above with pistons included around the waist area specifically to help with bearing the load of a fully equipped upper body and arms. Pistons could be attached to armor designed for the purpose in other parts of the body as well, provided that there is some clearance for them. From the middle of the calves to the back of the foot, for example, or from near the shoulder to an extrusion of armor over the back of the elbow. In essence, I envision them more as a partial iron man suit than as part of the core structure.
Playing god… isn’t that where so many problems start? 
I specifically described the anatomy of the Toa in such a way as to make everything as self-contained as possible and hence avoid the need for a ‘skin,’ but no doubt there are compounds that could fit the bill if a skin was desired. Post-reformation, some Matoran might have even overhauled themselves and added one in the process to fit in better with the Agori… who knows? I mean, the self-contained, modular nature of much of the body as described above would make the MU a body mod-ist’s paradise.
I just mean, I’d prefer if there was none of the tissue showing through, just sorta fully enclosed in the metal
A fully enclosed, fully articulated metal ‘shell’ with all the movement range of a humanoid body would be soooo tough to design… but it’s possible. Tony Stark did it.
I see it more as they have a base level of armor by default, and I really think the pistons are inherently part of their anatomy, any additional armor they could have could very well also have pistons to allow full maneuverability while wearing it.
Well that’s what I imagine all the servos and pistons Lego designers added are for, you know? It’s a very cool concept, and some amazing design work, but I really don’t like the exterior organic tissue
By vibrating his molecules to pass through it. The Toa Nuva even did it as a group to break into the Great Temple to grab the “Awaken Mata Nui checklist” as I call it. This feature only works with Kanohi Nuva (and only if the user is a Toa Nuva), so it’s possible that the Toa received better neurological connections between their brains, bodies, and Kanohi, allowing them to harness their elements fully and completely (like doing the whole elemental time bomb thing) and allow them to access the new/better powers that Nuva masks have.
The Kakama Nuva allows the user to move every part of their body, down to the molecular level, any way they want. And if they synchronize their molecules movements with that of another object, well…
Think of it this way: if you spin two yo-yos close to each other, they’ll likely hit each other – unless they spin in sync with each other, i.e same speed and location. Think of that times a billion for each molecule, and that’s the Kakama Nuva.
~W12~