Bionicles and books...
Jan. 3rd, 2006 03:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishMy kids finally got Lego Bionicles for Xmas, as they finally fit the age bracket, so now they are all consumed with learning Bionicle lore. I have to admit, when Bionicles first debuted, I was kind of intrigued by the story created for them. They look like robots, understandable since they are put together with Lego Technics parts, but live in an island paradise and all seem to have pseudo-Polynesian names. The island they live on is called Mata Nui, which should sound familiar if you know the real name of Easter Island - Rapa Nui. The inhabitants are all allied with one of the classical elements; air (green), fire (red), stone (brown), earth (black), and water (blue), each of which have a major village associated with them. The great heroes who appear to save the day against the various evils that show up are called Toa, and show the same elemental alignment.
What really intrigues me are the water Bionicles, who live in the village of Ga-Koro. All of them seem to be female (much like my project here at work - haha!). And of course, the water Toa, now named Nokama (there have been several incarnations of Toa, apparently), is the only female Toa. Somebody's got to keep the boys on track, hey?
I started playing the online game at the Bionicle website along with the boys (they aren't so good at reading the dialog yet), and I love the little water village, which seems to be made mostly of giant lily pads and bamboo, floating on the surface of the water. It's very frustrating to find out, though, that since it's been online for a few years, several updates have caused files to be lost, without which the game can't be finished. Consulting a few forums revealed that Lego has no interest in fixing the problems, presumably because it's going to be replaced with something else fairly soon. Bummer. Figures - I discover something just before it disappears.
Another thing that bothers me is that of what I've seen of the story, which is admittedly, very little, is that in the past year or two it has shifted from island paradise/small villages to a more urban storyline of the city of Metru Nui. A new storyline is coming out with a completely new "floating island" where the new villains, called Piraka, are actually being introduced with rap music, and what I've seen so far has a very inner city feel to it.
Anyway, I had to look around DA for some Bionicle fanart (partially because Angus would climb on the arm of my chair and demand, "Look up Toa Iruini!" and partially because I was curious) and of course, I was gratified to find a few artists who put their own spin on the characters...
The upshot of all this; I had to purchase my own Rahaga Gaaki, so I can put her on my desk at work with all my other toys; I can imagine her swimming around her water village. Maybe she can help King Triton fight off Ursala the Sea Witch, or I can send her off to collect some spawning sardines for us...(I put her together at lunch today, and everyone had to take a turn firing off her Rhotuka spinner, which once bounced off the ceiling and landed in ML's salad.
(edit: everything you could ever want to know about Bionicle mythology at Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionicle, including How Lego got in trouble with the Maori )
And I finally got a copy of the latest Harry Potter book (Barnes & Marmoset member discount + coupon for 15% off + sale 30% off = more than half off!) and am now free to devour all the debates/spoilers I've been so scrupulously avoiding....
What really intrigues me are the water Bionicles, who live in the village of Ga-Koro. All of them seem to be female (much like my project here at work - haha!). And of course, the water Toa, now named Nokama (there have been several incarnations of Toa, apparently), is the only female Toa. Somebody's got to keep the boys on track, hey?
I started playing the online game at the Bionicle website along with the boys (they aren't so good at reading the dialog yet), and I love the little water village, which seems to be made mostly of giant lily pads and bamboo, floating on the surface of the water. It's very frustrating to find out, though, that since it's been online for a few years, several updates have caused files to be lost, without which the game can't be finished. Consulting a few forums revealed that Lego has no interest in fixing the problems, presumably because it's going to be replaced with something else fairly soon. Bummer. Figures - I discover something just before it disappears.
Another thing that bothers me is that of what I've seen of the story, which is admittedly, very little, is that in the past year or two it has shifted from island paradise/small villages to a more urban storyline of the city of Metru Nui. A new storyline is coming out with a completely new "floating island" where the new villains, called Piraka, are actually being introduced with rap music, and what I've seen so far has a very inner city feel to it.
Anyway, I had to look around DA for some Bionicle fanart (partially because Angus would climb on the arm of my chair and demand, "Look up Toa Iruini!" and partially because I was curious) and of course, I was gratified to find a few artists who put their own spin on the characters...
The upshot of all this; I had to purchase my own Rahaga Gaaki, so I can put her on my desk at work with all my other toys; I can imagine her swimming around her water village. Maybe she can help King Triton fight off Ursala the Sea Witch, or I can send her off to collect some spawning sardines for us...(I put her together at lunch today, and everyone had to take a turn firing off her Rhotuka spinner, which once bounced off the ceiling and landed in ML's salad.
(edit: everything you could ever want to know about Bionicle mythology at Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionicle, including How Lego got in trouble with the Maori )
And I finally got a copy of the latest Harry Potter book (Barnes & Marmoset member discount + coupon for 15% off + sale 30% off = more than half off!) and am now free to devour all the debates/spoilers I've been so scrupulously avoiding....
