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Bionicle
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Bionicle is a toy line from the Lego Group that is marketed to 6-16 year old children. The toy line was launched in December 30, 2000 in Europe and June/July 2001 in Canada and the United States. The concept was derived from Lego Group's earlier themes Slizers/Throwbots and Lego RoboRiders. Both of these lines had similar throwing disks and characters based on classical elements. Contrary to popular belief, "Bionicle" is not "Bionic" with a "-le" suffix, but a portmanteau constructed from the words "biological" and "chronicle".
story of Bionicle is set in a world that is inhabited predominantly by biomechanical (part-organic, part-machine) beings.
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Encyclopedia
Bionicle is a toy line from the Lego Group that is marketed to 6-16 year old children. The toy line was launched in December 30, 2000 in Europe and June/July 2001 in Canada and the United States. The concept was derived from Lego Group's earlier themes Slizers/Throwbots and Lego RoboRiders. Both of these lines had similar throwing disks and characters based on classical elements. Contrary to popular belief, "Bionicle" is not "Bionic" with a "-le" suffix, but a portmanteau constructed from the words "biological" and "chronicle".
Story
The story of Bionicle is set in a world that is inhabited predominantly by biomechanical (part-organic, part-machine) beings. This world and its multiple races was once protected by a Great Spirit named Mata Nui, but he has since been cast into an unnatural sleep by the evil Brotherhood of Makuta, specifically Makuta Teridax, and the universe has begun to decay. This is a universal subject.
The following groups are the main characters in the Bionicle mythos; a summary of all of Bionicle's major groups can be found at Characters and groups in Bionicle:
- The Toa: Mata Nui's destined heroes and the main protagonists of the franchise. All Toa wear Kanohi Masks of Power and can control elements of nature. There are several exceptions like the Toa Metru, who were sort of robbed of their powers when they were transformed into Toa Hordika by Visorak venom.
- The Matoran: The most widespread and influential race in the Bionicle universe, as they are the civilians. The Matoran are not the strongest people but will often make brave stands against oppressors. The Matoran, along with the Toa,who make up most of the franchise's supporting cast. There are many different types of matoran, one for each element in the series. They were called Tohunga in the early parts of the series, but were changed to Matoran during the Bohrok saga.
- Makuta: Beings of shadow originally created to populate the world with Rahi (the equivalent of wild animals). After the rebellion led by the Barraki they took to protecting the various continents as well. Due to the corruption of their new leader, they have become beings of both shadow and evil, and their name synonymous with evil. They are led by Makuta Teridax. After the 2008 story, all but two Makuta (Teridax and Miserix) have been killed.
- Makuta Teridax: The primary antagonist of the Bionicle Universe. Every event leading up to the current plot has been orchestrated by Teridax as a part of his grand plan to seize control of the Matoran Universe, even his own seeming demise. After he took over Mata Nui's body, he proceeded to kill off every other Makuta in existence, leaving him and Miserex the sole makuta left alive. In the earlier story lines, he was simply known as "The Makuta", as the Turaga kept the knowledge of Metru Nui a secret from their fellow Matoran.
- The Dark Hunters: A band of mercenaries and thieves who works only for the highest bidder. Thus they are known to assist both protagonists and antagonists during the story. Due to a recent incident with Makuta Teridax, their relationship with the Makuta have diminished, and resulted in war. They are led by the Shadowed One, a mysterious and ancient being of terrible power.
- The Order of Mata Nui: A secretive faction formed out of the need to watch over the various species in the Matoran universe. The Order comprises not one species, but many diverse members. They are secretive, but have recently come out of the shadows to help against Makuta. The Order was founded and led by Toa Herylx, the first Toa ever created.
- Mata Nui: The great spirit and host of the Matoran Universe, Mata Nui was cast into a deep sleep some 1000 years prior to the current storyline, setting into motion the chain of events depicted in the entire Bionicle storyline. While his body is now repaired, Mata Nui's spirit has been exiled, and is heading towards Bara Magna in the Kanohi Ignika. He will be a bionicle set in summer 2009 with a yellow remoulded Kanohi Ignika.
2009
The BIONICLE story now continues in a new world, a new planet called Bara Magna.
Story:
There was once a planet in the Galactic Universe that was immense planet covered in mostly desert, volcanoes, and mountains, but a catastrophic disaster 100,000 years ago, split the planet into three pieces, the largest is now called Bara Magna and supports the population and the other two segments act as moons. The desert only supports so many resources, so each tribe has a Glatorian to battle for the resources. The victorious tribe collects all the resources for themselves. The villagers of this world are the Agori. The Agori together make up six different tribes, each affiliated with a region. The six tribes are:
- Roxtus (The Rock Tribe) - The rock Agori reside in the village of Roxtus in the Black Spike Mountains. Also associated with this tribe is an army of Skrall, who work for the tribe under their leader, Tuma. Skrall are one of the species allowed to fight as Glatorian, and the Skrall are the majority, as well as the fastest and strongest inhabitants in Bara Magna. Skrall are nameless, but if one distinguishes themself in combat, their leader Tuma will grant them a name.
- Tesara (The Jungle Tribe) - The jungle tribe lives in small jungle oasis in the desert, mostly in the village of Tesara.
- Iconox (The Ice Tribe) - The Ice tribe lives on the snowy peaks of the White Quartz Mountains, mostly in the Iconox Village and by Elbow Peak.
- Vulcanus (The Fire Tribe) - reside in the volcanoes of Iron Canyon, and are led by Agori Raanu in the Vulcanus Village.
- Tajun (The Water Tribe) - live by the Sea of Liquid Sand and Sandray Canyon in the village of Tajun.
- The Sand Tribe used to be intelligent, until the disaster destroyed their city. In crisis, they devolved into monsters and now they roam the deserts of the Dunes of Treason and Creep Canyon hungry for other Agori. Vorox are the species represented for Sand Glatorian, and Zesk are the devolved Sand Agori.
Movie:
A new movie will be arriving in late 2009 with a two planned sequels the first sequel in 2010 with the final (6th) film in 2011.
Sets:
6 Glatorian have been released as of January 2009. Four of these Glatorian are considered the same species, but represent different tribes. Gresh, the Glatorian of the Jungle tribe, Malum of Fire, Strakk of Ice, and Tarix of Water. The two other canisters are considered separate. The two sets include a Vorox and a Skrall. Unlike the other groups, the Skrall are a completely separate species that are led by an elite Skrall named Tuma. Although Vorox are called by individual names in their own language, Skrall are not named unless Tuma gives them one for doing something important.
Extra Stories
The website Bioniclestory.com features several web serials and podcasts related to the main story.
Late 2007
Early 2008
Late 2008
Early 2009
Bionicle.com also featured a series called Takanuva's Blog, describing the events of 2008 through the eyes of the character Takanuva, but has now been taken off the site.
Controversy
In 2001, Lego faced legal action by Maori activists from New Zealand for trademarking Maori words used in naming the Bionicle product range. Lego agreed to stop commercial use of the Maori language. This resulted in changes being made a number of existing Bionicle words, while others were removed. Maori terms involved included:
- "Huki" means "hammerstroke", "quaking", or "convulse"; it was used as the name of a stone character and changed to "Hewkii".
- "Kahu", meaning "cape" or "cloak", and "Kewa" were used for types of birds; they became one and the same as "Gukko birds". (However, a recent advertisement for the Toa Mahri listed Kongu as a "Kahu" bird rider.)
- "Maku" means "wet"; it was used as the name of a water character and changed to "Macku".
- "Puku" means "stomach", "belly", etc.; it was used as the name of a pet Ussal crab belonging to Takua the Chronicler. The crab's name was changed to "Pewku".
- "Tohunga" means "craftsman", "expert", etc.; it was used for the race of villagers and replaced with the term "Matoran"
Lego made up for the name changes in 2003 by introducing a new holiday to the Bionicle story line after the defeat of the Bohrok-Kal, ‘Naming Day’. When ‘Naming Day’ comes Matoran who had done heroic deeds are honored by having their name lengthened.
However, a number of Polynesian and Melanesian terms still remain the same, specifically ones introduced early in the storyline during Bionicle Chronicles. Here are some examples, though this is by no means a complete list:
- "Akamai means "clever" in Hawaiian, and is the name of a Toa Kaita.
- "Kanohi" is the Maori word for "face" and is the Bionicle word for "mask"
- "Toa" is the Maori word for "champion" and is the title held by Bionicle's main heroes
- "Kopaka" is the Maori word for "cold" or "ice" and is the name of a Toa of Ice
- "Onewa" is the Maori word for "basalt" and is the name of a Turaga of stone
- "Pohatu" is the Maori word for "stone" or "rock" and is the name of a Toa of Stone
- "Tahu" is the Maori word for "burn" and is the name of a Toa of Fire
- "Turaga" is a Fijian title for village chief and used similarly in Bionicle
- "Whenua" is the Maori word for "earth" and is the name of a Turaga a of Earth.
- "Koro" is a Fijian word for "village" and is used similarly.
Since this controversy, Lego has been careful to make sure that all new Bionicle names are not common terms in other languages. The closest exception to this is the character named "Umbra". The use of "umbra" was considered acceptable because of Latin's status as a dead language.
External links
- Official Bionicle Website
- Official Bionicle.com subsite to feature storyline information
- Unofficial BIONICLE fourm site
- Unofficial BIONICLE Wiki
- Unofficial BIONICLE Wiki
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