How would this have changed the story of 2006 and the outlook of the Bionicle theme during that year in general?
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That depends, are you suggesting the Barraki take the place of the Piraka in the story and nothing else changes? Are the Barraki land monsters with land Rahi armies or have armies at all? Were they thown into the Pit and escaped or is Voya Nui the Pit now? Quite a lot would have to be established before we can swap them out with the Piraka.
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Honestly, not much.
The Piraka were a gang of loathsome thieves passing themselves off as heroes to the Matoran population, desperately searching for the legendary Mask of Life. Assuming the Barraki could somehow breathe on land, they would be a gang of loathsome thieves (who were also ex-military leaders) desperately searching for the Mask of Life.
The only significant detail that may be different is they might not have passed themselves off as Toa, but not doing so would have actively hurt their goals and severely hindered their progress, as without the overpowered abilities of the Piraka, they were in no position to force the Matoran to do anything towards draining the volcano, much less actually draining it themselves.
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Good point, I had forgotten how completely OP the Piraka were compared to the Barraki. Most of their abilities came from their mutation, and their main advantage was that they had armies. Almost makes me wonder how they managed to become the warlords they were if they were basically powerless in a world of mega powerhouses like Toa and Skakdi.
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I think, on a purely thematic level, it would open the possibility of exploring the sheer scope of the MU, both in terms of geography and history - the Barraki are ancient warlords that, at one point, ruled over the entire universe. But you don’t really feel that in the story, they come across as just another generic group of baddies, similar to the Piraka, but with a little more (unexplored) depth. By replacing the Piraka (especially if they are introduced in 06 and then remain villains in 07) would’ve allowed for more room for characterization and development. And IMHO, it would’ve made for a more interesting story, the Barraki, unlike the Piraka, could pose more than just a physical challenge to the inexperienced Toa team (imagine Takadox or Pridak manipulating one of them and trying to fracture the team).
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They’d probably die because of drying out.
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They were appointed as warlords by Mata Nui himself, though the exact process by which he did so is unknown.
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Yeah I suppose a better question would have been how they kept control over their empires, what special abilities did they have before their mutation? The only one we know about is Takadox at least had limited hypnosis (that the Pit later made stronger) that he used to control his commanders.
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Sorry, I wasn’t very clear with my question, but no I wasn’t suggesting nothing else changes if the Barraki took the Piraka’s place as the villians of 2006 and yes, the Barraki would have to be land monsters with land Rahi armies.
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