What do the symbols from Bionicle Metru Nui Disks represent?

Au-Plau-Se · January 20, 2025, 5:04pm

When I saw the Disks from the original Bionicle 2001 McDonalds sets, I noticed that there were Kanohi Masks on them.

But on 2004, there had been a new story of Bionicle as well as the Throwing Disks getting revamped with two new design types; one is the Kanohi corresponding to the color as well as the toa.

The second design type is the most confusing for me because there are six symbols that represent different shapes and lines in there.

Can someone tell me what each of the six symbols represent? (Also for example, if you are going to give an answer, please explain the parts of the markings for each of the Kanoka give a full explanation of the various meanings and significance have many stories behind the symbols for every Kanoka.

E.g., the Trishula from Hinduism is a trident that represents past, present and future or creation preservation and destruction.

Minethuselah · January 20, 2025, 5:26pm

The markings represent significant aspects of each Metru.

The red, blue, and brown disks are strange and I can’t definitively state their intended design, but the green, black, and “white” disks are pretty clear.

The green disk represents the chute systems of Le-Metru, as seen by the stuff flying through that middle channel. The curved bits on the sides can either represent more chute systems or the supporting systems for the original chute.

The black disk represents the Onu-Metru Archives. The middle dots can either represent lightstones or an elevator, depending on what you prefer. The things on the side represent shelves, storage cases, or displays for each of the exhibits.

The “white” disk represents the knowledge towers of Ko-Metru. Not much to say, it’s pretty much just the knowledge towers. The two dots on either side of the three can either represent twin suns or the stars that the scholars studied.

For the Ta-Metru disk, if I had to guess, I would say it’s a forge or even the Great Forge, but I can’t quite figure out how we are supposed to get that. The others I cannot even begin to fathom.

TahnokTrapper · January 20, 2025, 7:08pm

This is purely speculation, but the Ga-Metru disk could represent the circular platform in the middle of the water on which the Great Temple stands (white is land, blue is water). The three circles could be the three virtues. The half circles on either sides could be pieces of the Ga-Metru mainland.
As for Po-Metru, the central form could be a stone sculpture, being molded by the three hands jutting from the three indents.

Au-Plau-Se · January 20, 2025, 8:16pm

If the curved white lines represents either the other chutes or the supporting system, what are the green dot in each of the curved white lines?

Also what is the white line in the middle with the notches?

If that is the knowledge towers, then what are those vertical blue lines in the Ko-Metru kanoka? What do they represent in the Knowledge Towers?

Ghid · January 20, 2025, 8:28pm

The brown disk clearly has patterns reminiscent of the Mata head design, and since there are six of them it obviously is meant to represent the voices in my head

Au-Plau-Se · January 20, 2025, 8:33pm

I think I can see the resemblance of the Mata Nui Head design.

When you mean mainland, what places in Metru Nui are you talking about in Ga-Metru?

I see the silhouettes of the three hands on the Po-metru Symbol. But what does the gear in the middle represent?

TheJerminator · January 21, 2025, 4:42am

To be honest, I don’t think the exact meaning behind each of the six Metru symbols was ever explicitly explained. Each Metru just put a different “logo” on the disks to differentiate where they came from, since each Metru imbued their disks with special properties (in addition to its normal Kanoka power).

The standard Kanoka have already been explained, but this one right here is a Toa Disk. Through some unexplained mechanism, when a Matoran becomes a Toa, they can get a Kanoka Disk with the mask on it, and it contains their Elemental power rather than any of the usual eight Kanoka powers. In theory, Vakama’s disk could be forged into a Mask of Fire, and the Kanohi Garai would typically be made from a Toa Disk of Gravity.

All six of the Toa Metru got Toa Disks in the story, but Vakama’s was the only one made in set form (because of his Toa Tool).

As for the original disks:

The in-story explanation is that after the Matoran relocated to Mata Nui and their Kanoka Disks eventually ran out of power, they started making these wooden disks. I’m not sure if this part was ever explicitly stated, but the inclusion of the mask images on the disks was likely to honour the Toa Mata.

(It’s also possible that the images are only there for set collectability and the disks are actually just plain in-universe)

Invader_Naj · January 21, 2025, 3:47pm

the ga metru one always looked like a stylized depiction of what happens when a drop falls into a larger amount of liquid:

the circles in the middle would be that pillar that forms while the two surfaces to the side are meant to be the ripples forming around it.

could either be in reference to the channels that snake through the metru or the protodermis purification chambers they have throughout the metru.

that imagery is also often associated with tranquility and spirituality. and ga metru is metru nuis spiritual center

Ta metru with a lot of artistic liberty could be interpreted as: the rounded H shape at the bottom is a flame. yes not realy how a flame is typicaly depicted but if one was forced to keep it symmetrical that would be one way to do it. the missing chunk at the bottom is just where the flame typicaly would change in color while the one at the top is just empty space between two of the fires “tongues”. the two circles above could be seen as smoke plumes rising upwards and the other six half circles could be smoke rising from different fires nearby.

all that of course would represent the many furnaces of the metru.

have to say i never realy had an idea what the po metru one could be but after reading the interpretation of it being a carving or some other object being worked on by several people its hard to not see it as exactly that. it makes perfect sense

unless im misinterpreting what lines you mean id say those arent meant to be lines on the towers but a way to show more towers on very limited space. if youd think them away youd have only 3 towers. however with them you can show 7 towers. more than double

if they are indeed other chutes it could be that the middle one is one of the main ones thats constantly full of cargo and passengers while the other ones are lesser used ones that only have the occasional thing flit through them.

TahnokTrapper · January 21, 2025, 7:09pm

I didn’t go so deep so I couldn’t tell you.
I quite like @Invader_Naj’s explanation for the Ga-Metru symbol, makes more sense than mine.

Invader_Naj · January 23, 2025, 7:45pm

I went through a bunch of media depicting the onu metru archives to see if i could narrow down the exact meaning of the disk. now i know this came out a year later but this section seems so similar that i think it can give us a good idea of what that symbol represents

ToaKebaka · January 25, 2025, 10:31pm

Sure, I believe I figured these out some time ago, although some are more obvious then others. They basically represent important structures in each Metru.

Le-Metru: the symbols represent the Chutes and cargo/passangers traveling inside - you can see three chutes depicted in the symbol.
Flash_Le-Metru

Ko-Metru: this one shows three Knowledge towers, the think centers of Ko-Metru, and two of the many stars on the sky of Metru Nui, which are used by scholars residing in these towers to make predictions of the future.

Ta-Metru: This one is less obvious, but it is the Great Furnace. The double crescent shape at the bottom is the furnace smoke stack itself and it puffs up smoke (circles) that rises and forms clouds in the sky of Ta-Metru (semi-circles). This kind of depiction is a deliberate art decision described in the 2nd movie bonus commentary:
“Ta-Metru with the towers that the, where Vakama has his foundry, you know, we made those the towers that actually created the clouds in the environment cause they were putting out, you know, big puffy clouds so we brought them to life.”

Onu-Metru: this symbol seems to represent either the sub-levels of the Archives (if side view), or a corridor in the Archives (if down view).

Ga-Metru: this one is the hardest to discern for me and the only one I’m not sure about, but my best guess would be Great Temple, which is also circular and juts out into the sea, only being connected to the mainland by a bridge - same as the middle shape in this symbol. The two bottom curves could be the coast or docks of Ga-Metru.
Great_Temple_Aerial_View

Po-Metru: This one is very straightforward as it shows the sculptures carved in Po-Metru and later on Mata Nui. They are the sculptures shaped like a Toa head* and in this symbol, there are three big and three small ones arranged similarly to a triskelion. Only the upper half of the heads are shown.
*it is important to note that Matoran do not just randomly put unmasked head sculptures everywhere - the reason these sculptures are seen everywhere is that they actually depict the Great Spirit Mata Nui, like statues of dieties in our world (source: BIONICLE Mask of Light)

Willess12 · January 29, 2025, 4:33am

I have been summoned from the void!

I think it may actually just be a forge, not specifically the great furnace.

If you take a look at this picture from the Legends of Metru Nui bonus features, you can see that the cauldron of molten protodermis is forming a very similar shape to the pattern of the symbol, and it is sending bubbles of gas into the air that could be what the small circles on the sides and above represent.
Moreover, the stacked cauldrons are reminiscent of the circle with three circles.

(Also, the matoran text on the side says “This is not…” and now I really want to know what the rest of it says)

HOWEVER. This doesn’t fit with the fact that the other disks represent the geography of their Metru, but I think it could represent a disk launcher, possibly even Vakama’s Disk Launcher, firing a disk.

Look at the Vahki logo.

Notice a similarity? I never realized it before, but I think the Vahki logo represents their disk launcher/mandible heads.

Also, look at Vakama’s launcher:

The double crescent could be a stylized version of this type of tool. Remember, even though Vakama never started using it until the events of 04, before that it was stored in the Great Temple with several other Toa Tools. It’s possible it was something that was mass-produced, and Vakama’s wasn’t the only one. Or it’s possible it was a weapon used by a past Toa.

Given the fact that the other five definitely represent the geography of their Metru, I doubt this one is the exception, but it is an interesting idea.

I think this definitely represents the geography of Ga-Metru in general, with bridges and circular platforms. Take a look at this image, again from LoMN. You can see multiple circular spots of land connected by bridges.

It’s possible it specifically represents the Great Temple, and the other circles are platforms on the bridge to it. Web of shadows both supports and counters this theory. On the one hand, we see the bridge to the Great Temple, straight to the temple with nothing in-between that we can see. However, it’s possible that this is some amount of artistic liberty – this same scene shows the Rahaga flying on their totally canon propellers.

Interestingly, this idea is actually supported in Web of Shadows:

You can see in this picture, the gate leading to the Great Temple has two other gates off to the sides. One has the symbol for Ta-Metru, which makes sense, since it’s the neighbouring district, and it lies directly to the south of the temple (right relative to this picture). There’s no bridge to Ta-Metru on the map, but then the map doesn’t show the bridge to the Great Temple itself either. The other has the symbol for Le-Metru, which is odd, but I think it means the pathway leads to a Chute Station, possibly one leading to Le-Metru, or just a Chute Station in general since they’re associated with Le-Metru. Whatever the case may be, the placement of these gates suggest that the places they lead to are in the same general location as the two bottom curves.

Well, that was fun. Time to dissapear into the void again.

2025-01-28T06:00:00Z

ToaKebaka · February 2, 2025, 7:21pm

Thanks for bringing more ideas to the table! I have a few more thoughts about this.

I can’t say I really see the resemblence in the case of Vakama’s anvil, but being a forge in general vs the great furnace I can’t really object to, since it’s not something we can differentiate at the moment, so it could go either way. I simply figured great furnace was the most representative one.

Oh certainly. I agree that it most likely gets inspiration from the mandibles/disk launchers, and while it would explain some of the Ta-Metru disk symbol, the semi-circles would remain unacounted for. And I also agree that it deviates from the geography connection. Overall I think the furnace and smoke/cloud explanation fits the best for Ta-Metru disks. Also the great furnace kind of resembles the disk symbol.

That may very well be. Check out the other version of this render, where the nodular nature of Ga-Metru is even more prominent:

There are even semi-circular platforms, which fit with the large semi-circles on Ga-Metru disks.

Nice observation about the metru-assigned gateways in front of Great Temple! Likewise, I was unable to find depiction where the bridge had extra circular platforms on it. But if we explain that by general stylization and went with the coastal idea for the semi-circles, then the Ga-Metru and Ta-Metru coastlines could fill that role:
ga-metru disk inspiration
BH_Ga-Metru_Great_Disk