This thread was inspired by an existing thread related to the topic. I highly recommend giving it at least a cursory read, since there are some interesting takes in it.
The topic of guns in BIONICLE has long been debated, coolly, in fan circles. Often the discussion is easily one-sided, with canon purists readily destroying the notion that guns can exist in BIONICLE, purporting that they do not exist in canon and would be unviable even if they did exist. They are partially right.
In this essay I will be exploring the canonical possibilities of guns in BIONICLE and whether they would be viable in the Matoran Universe, and I invite you to join me.
Before I begin arguing for the canonicity of guns, we must first distinguish what a gun is. For the purposes of this essay, a “gun” will not be defined synonymously with “firearm.” A firearm is a ranged weapon by which a projectile is propelled by means of a contained explosion of a substance such as gunpowder; a “gun” for our purposes will be any projectile or energy weapon that propels ammunition through a barrel-shaped tube for the purpose of accuracy, in which the projectile is not self-propelled – that is, Cordak blasters and other self-propelled projectiles do not qualify, nor do Midak Skyblasters or Zamor launchers as they do not feature a barrel.
There are several guns that exist firmly in the realm of BIONICLE canon. Although their design histories have not been canonized, the tools themselves are fully-canon and accepted by many stringent purists, myself included. These weapons are:
- the Lightstone Rifle
- the Firework Revolver
- the Energy Extraction Rifle (EER)
- the Impact Crystal Launcher (IPL)
- the Hagah Plasma Cannon (HPC)
- Ice Gun
The first of these weapons, the Lightstone Rifle, is a relatively simplistic construction in which an electrically-charged lightstone is propelled by a Kakama disk forged into the shape of a trigger; when the trigger is depressed, it makes contact with the lightstone and sends it hurtling toward a target. Shattering on impact, the lightstone can blind and stun most opponents (the shrapnel likely being ineffective on most targets in the MU) while offering more substantial results when combating Rahkshi or other, relatively weak creatures of Shadow. It is specifically noted that the gun’s metal frame can be used to “clumsily” block melee attacks, or perhaps serve as a club in close quarters; I will explain later how this factors into the irrelevance of guns in BIONICLE.
The Firework Revolver is pretty much a complete proof-of-concept of firearms in BIONICLE; all it needs is gunpowder. Developed by the Xians with Matoran fireworks, it acts pretty much exactly like a flare gun would in real life, firing an oversized round (a small firework, in this case) that causes burns and presumably some form of kinetic damage on impact. The fireworks are specifically noted as coming from elemental disks, implying most likely Fire, Plasma, or Lightning to achieve the effects of a firework. Again, when applied to most residents of the MU, this weapon is probably not extremely harmful unless a shot to the head or another weak point is established. More damage is probably caused by the projectile impacting or exploding against the target than would be caused by fire or lightning, although plasma damage may burn through metallic protodermis.
The EER siphons energy from an opponent to fire back at them; this makes it a useful and viable tool for powerless species like Vortixx, Matoran, or the numerous nameless breeds of the MU to combat other beings such as Toa or Skakdi. Notably, when used on Makuta, the condensation of a Makuta’s power damages the rifle but produces a Kraata. I almost hesitate to call it a “gun,” but it’s the right shape and it does fire energy, if only as a secondary function to draining an enemy’s.
The IPL is a fascinating example of a BIONICLE-style gun. Firing small Knowledge Crystals, the IPL was built after the Great Cataclysm by the Vortixx, who in its unofficial history added a laser sight to the weapon. Ironically, it was only manufactured once Knowledge Crystals became a rarity in the MU, making this weapon useful for the capture of important enemies but not for widespread use in areas such as law enforcement. Notable is its laser sight, which implies that such a technology is relatively easy to develop in the MU. I hesitated to even include this as a “gun,” due to its nonlethal nature, but it does fit the definition, and its laser sight is an interesting insight.
The Hagah Plasma Cannon is an example of a heavy direct-fire weapon in the MU, operating as either a fixed gun emplacement for smaller beings or a shoulder-mounted heavy weapon for species with Toa-like strength and stature; one might imagine that larger still beings like Brutaka may be able to wield the HPC with ease. The HPC is a technically complex weapon, featuring no known Kanoka functions yet employing a force field, plasma generator, laser sight, and battery. The laser sight specifically requires ambient light to work, suggesting use of a focusing crystal (which is actually present on the MOC, set above the magnifying glass presumably being used as an eyepiece – picture below for reference) rather than a self-powered laser sight such as on the IPC or even Kopaka’s Midak Skyblaster. The HPC was used in No One Gets Lets Behind to completely destroy a house capable of believably housing at least four Toa, reducing it to nothing but rubble and debris. The HPC is a highly-effective heavy cannon that proves that BIONICLE technology is more advanced in some areas than can be assumed at first glance, while also setting something of a standard for destructive power: if a weapon that can be wielded two-handed by a Toa can completely destroy a large building in a single blast, then less powerful “guns” still hold the likelihood of doing real damage to a Toa or other being.
Thok’s… Ice Gun. It’s in the name, guys. This weapon requires tapping into a being’s latent elemental power, virtually requiring that its user be a Toa or Skakdi of Ice. The same concept applies to Hakann’s Lava Launcher. I am deliberately omitting the Seismic Pickaxe because its functionality is entirely unknown and it is primarily a melee weapon.
Now that I have addressed fully-canon guns, I will discuss “less-canon” or “semi-canon” guns and the extrapolations therefrom. These weapons are present in BIONICLE media but not necessarily treated as canon; for extreme purists they may not belong in the universe, however they do hold some place in the line and I intend to treat them as canon even if the storylines themselves are not (just like the aforementioned weapons, which do not have canon histories but have canon functionality). These weapons were featured in the Voya Nui Online Game, and are:
The [Element] Launcher
The [Element] Power Launcher
The [Element] Ion Launcher
(Ice depicted above for clarity)
The Nui Blaster
The [Element] Launchers each fire a projectile made of their respective element. Now, it could be chalked up to gameplay mechanics, but any Toa can use any of the launchers and fire the respective element from them; this combined with the fact that these launchers are clearly not Toa Tools (which usually have some utilitarian purpose) suggests to me that they are elementally charged, perhaps with similar mechanics to the HPC’s plasma generator. This would make an elemental launcher the ideal, perhaps even mass-produced weapon for beings who cannot channel elemental power through a Toa Tool. (Extrapolate these launchers to secondary elements and you get the Iron Launcher, which would fire metal projectiles… like a firearm.)
The Nui Blaster deals Fire, Water, and Air damage simultaneously, and is capable of killing most VNOG NPCs in one shot. It’s possible this combination is meant to approximate plasma, but regardless of the projectile it fires, it is clearly a step above elemental rifles.
So, if these are semi-canon, and perhaps canon in functionality but not necessarily lore, why are they absent in the main BIONICLE canon? (Aside from the boring real-life answer.) The explanation is pretty simple. The characters we follow in the BIONICLE story tend to come from two backgrounds: elite warriors or ordinary civilians. In the former category are your Toa: they wield Toa Tools which are ordinarily not designed exclusively to be weapons, the notable exceptions being:
- the Toa Hagah, who were the Makuta’s bodyguards
- the Toa Inika/Mahri, whose circumstances were unique
- the Adaptive Toa Nuva, who were equipped specifically to combat the Makuta themselves
- Nidhiki and Tuyet, who hailed from dangerous regions of the world
- Lesovikk, who had given up his status as a Toa and was a wandering vigilante
These Toa were all capable of channeling their element through their tools, and indeed through any weapon they could get their hands on. A specialized launcher was unnecessary for them. Also in the former category were Dark Hunters and Order of Mata Nui agents, elite fighters who had the means to commission or outright steal highly-specialized, powerful weapons that had both ranged and melee capabilities. Channeling the elements through a simple gun would be a downgrade compared to the wide range of energy-channeling weapons available to them, in addition to naturally-formed Rhotuka and Kanoka which enable multi-purpose projectiles.
In the latter category were typically the Matoran, who perhaps did not have the means to obtain such weapons and typically had no reason to do so. For the average Matoran, a Kanoka launcher that could fire a Miru disk at a falling object or a Freeze disk at an escaping Rahi were far more useful than a rifle that could strike an opponent with a bolt of water. Social stigma regarding weapons carry in the normally peaceful Matoran society may also have contributed to this, as Matoran typically did not carry melee weapons either (the exceptions being Matoran living in very dangerous places).
Since the launchers had little to no close-quarters application (unlike many energy-channeling weapons that took the form of swords, spears, or even tri-bladed scissors), the launchers were likely also viewed as liabilities for warriors who expected close combat. It is likely that they were carried by sentries atop walls or by those who had no powers of their own to channel through a weapon, such as Krekka’s species.
If you got through my whole ramble, I hope you enjoyed it and this can serve as some form of expansion to your personal interpretation of the BIONICLE universe. I didn’t cover the possible ways to develop projectile weapons with existing methods (there are several ways to go about it) since I was trying to focus on already-extant weapons in BIONICLE lore, but perhaps I’ll cover that in another post. For now, thanks for reading and leave your thoughts below. I’d love to further develop this subject and discuss the viability of “guns” in BIONICLE.
Note: One may notice that I have omitted the Judgement Cannon. This is because the device is explicitly a one-off weapon and, while it fires projectiles, it does not and is not intended to inflict physical damage whatsoever; for the purposes of this essay, the Judgement Cannon is useless.