Bionicle

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Bionicle is a toy line from the Lego Group marketed at 7-16 year-olds. The toy line was launched in December 30, 1999 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".^[1] Earlier Bionicle packages had displayed the Technic Logo, but it has since phased out, evolving Bionicle into its own system.

Contents 1 Story 1.1 2006 1.2 2007 1.3 2008 1.4 2009 2 Māori language controversy 3 Notes 4 External links

[edit] Story

The 2001-2008 storyline of Bionicle was set primarily in a science fantasy 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 was cast into an unnatural sleep by the evil Brotherhood of Makuta, led by Makuta Teridax, and the universe began to decay. Mata Nui has since been revived, with unfortunate consequences.

Please see List of Bionicle characters

[edit] 2006

The heroes were faced with the imminent death of Mata Nui and had to find the mysterious Mask of Life. After the Toa Nuva headed to the desolate island of Voya Nui got captured and imprisoned by the villainous six Piraka, six new heroes had to step up. The Matoran Jaller, Hahlii, Nuparu, Kongu, Matoro and Hewkii set out to find the Toa Nuva, but end up becoming Toa themselves. After allying themselves with the local resistance and their protector Axonn, the new Toa Inika face off against the Piraka. The battle started a chase down the underground tunnels of Voya Nui to the Chamber of Life where the Mask of Life had been placed. In the final battle that ensued, the Mask of Life flew up through the tunnels to the surface and into the nearby waters. The Toa Inika follow it down into the dark waters of the great ocean.^[2]

[edit] 2007

Following the chase for the Mask of Life, the Toa Inika descended into the waters. A burst of energy from the Mask of Life transformed the Toa Inika into water breathing forms that could sustain the pressure of the ocean. They discover an inhabited village from Voya Nui that had broken off and sunk a thousand years ago. The village was threatened by ancient warlords that had been corrupted by the nearby mutagenic waters called "The Pit". These six warlords went by the name of Barraki. The Toa Inika came to be known as the Toa Mahri and had to face the Barraki in battle for the Mask of Life. Old enemies had come back to life and schemed their evil plots to take over the universe and desired the Mask of Life for that purpose. The Mask of Life called the Ignika was the only thing that could hinder Mata Nui's impending death. In a desperate action when the life of the Great Spirit was depleted, the Toa Mahri Matoro sacrificed his life for Mata Nui. The Great Spirit was saved but he still had to be awakened. After the battle, the rest of the Toa Mahri were teleported back to the city of Metru Nui.^[3]

[edit] 2008

The Mask of Life had also been heading for the core when it absorbed the Toa Mahri Matoro's life force, and had to be found by the Toa Nuva. After being equipped with new armor and weapons by the Order of Mata Nui they arrived in the core called Karda Nui. There, they came to face the Makuta who were trying to turn the population of Matoran into Shadow Matoran. The Toa Nuva were helped by the arrival of a powered up Takanuva and the Mask of Life itself. The Ignika had made a body and mind for itself and followed Matoro's heroic example of being a hero. With their combined forces, they reached the center of the core (called the Codrex) where the Ignika had to sacrifice himself to awaken Mata Nui. The Toa Nuva rescued the Matoran and escaped the core before the Mask of Life sent out a storm of energy that would eliminate anything in its path. Back in Metru Nui, the Toa were hailed as heroes, but celebration was cut short when it was revealed that the Makuta Teridax had taken over the body of Mata Nui, the Universe of the Matoran themselves. Trapping the spirit of Mata Nui in the Mask of Life, he sent it flying out into space so that it could not have any power.

[edit] 2009

The BIONICLE story now continues after Mata Nui was banished from his body by Teridax on a planet called Bara Magna. The inhabitants, unlike those within Mata Nui, are organic with some mechanical implants, as opposed to mechanical with some organic parts, with the exception of a few wildlife species.^[4]

• Story

Bara Magna is a barren desert planet, which only supports so many resources, so each tribe on the planet has a 'Glatorian' to battle for resources, and the resources, such as water, are distributed accordingly. The villagers of this world are the Agori. The Agori together make up six different tribes, each affiliated with a region.

• Movie.

A fourth Bionicle movie will be released on DVD on September 15. It is titled Bionicle: The Legend Reborn. It will feature Michael Dorn as Mata Nui.

[edit] Māori language controversy

In 2001, Lego faced legal action by Māori activists from New Zealand for trademarking Māori words used in naming the Bionicle product range.^[5][6] Lego agreed to stop commercial use of the Māori language.^[7] This resulted in changes being made a number of existing Bionicle words, while others were removed. Māori 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 matoran 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 Māori word for "face" and is the Bionicle word for "mask"
• "Toa" is the Māori word for "champion" and is the title held by Bionicle's main heroes
• "Kopaka" is the Māori word for "cold" or "ice" and is the name of a Toa of Ice
• "Onewa" is the Māori word for "basalt" and is the name of a Turaga of stone
• "Pohatu" is the Māori word for "stone" or "rock" and is the name of a Toa of Stone
• "Tahu" is the Māori 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 Māori word for "earth" and is the name of a Turaga 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.^{[citation needed]} 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. Also, one of the new Glatorian of 2009 is named Malum, which translates to 'evil' in Latin.^[8]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• BIONICLE.com Official Bionicle Website
• BIONICLEstory.com Official Bionicle.com subsite to feature storyline information
• BZPower Unofficial BIONICLE forum site and news site
• BIONICLEsector01 Unofficial BIONICLE Reference Site
• KanohiJournal Unofficial BIONICLE fan magazine

v • d • e Bionicle Media Toys Games: Handheld Bionicle games · Bionicle: The Game · Bionicle Heroes Books: Bionicle Chronicles · Bionicle Adventures · Bionicle Legends Movies: Mask of Light · Legends of Metru Nui · Web of Shadows · The Legend Reborn Characters List of Bionicle characters · Toa