"[Raanu] doesn't really want [Glatorian] around when it's not necessary. It's kinda like having a house filled with pit bulls. You feel safe, but you know that you can get hurt really bad if you tick 'em off."
The Bionicle Stars characters are canon, and the blue Skakdi is not Vezok.
The maze map seen at the end of The Legend Reborn plays a part in the transition story between 2009 and 2010. Teridax appears in the November comic.
Element Lords will be illustrated in Legends of Bara Magna.
Kiina regards Gresh like a little brother.
Tuma and Metus used each other. Tuma was getting information and a go-between with the bone hunters, and Metus was getting a chance to survive the coming war.
The Agori of the united villages dragged the robotic head from Roxtus because the Rock Agori had fled the village at that point.
The Element Lord of Water has the ability to project his consciousness into any body of water.
On the Element Lords: "I don't see them as insane, as that would mean they could not tell the difference between right and wrong. And I don't really see them as evil ... for all we know, the one who won the war might have made life wonderful for all the Agori. I think they are ambitious, power-hungry, often callous and reckless, but those don't add up to evil. I know a lot of people like that, they're not villains, just not people you would want to rely on."
The majority of the Glatorian population on Bara Magna are in service to the villages.
The Agori and Matoran languages have some similar terms, the same way that programming language in our world has some similar words with spoken language.
THE LEGEND REBORN
The general personality traits of each of the Matoran tribes are part of their initial programming.
"Mata Nui let the Glatorian think he was just charging up their weapons to what they once were. In truth, he was giving the Glatorian themselves elemental powers and the weapons were just the focus."
Tuma was not killed by Mata Nui.
The Skrall believed the giant formed by Scarabax to be a baterra invasion, which especially unnerved them.
The act of forming a pseudo-giant is a natural defense mechanism of the Scarabax.
Tuma is likely wandering away with the rest of the Skrall, who have mostly scattered into the mountains.
Mata Nui's facility to grant elemental powers is both a particular trait of his spirit and of his mastery over the Ignika.
"Well, Tuma might as well be dead, since no one is going to follow him now. And the tribe has fragmented, with some operating on their own, some following Stronius, and no doubt some following other elite Skrall."
A Kiina-Mata Nui romantic interest will be implied in the 2010 novel. Kiina, however, barely appears in 2010.
Exactly what Mata Nui's original mission is gets revealed next year.
The Kanohi Dragon was created by a Makuta. Miserix did not create it.
On the Matoran universe: "You have to keep in mind that the beings who consider it a universe are the ones who live in it. Basically, Mata Nui is giant robot with millions of nanotech beings inside of him and various mechanical "organs." So in that sense, you could even argue he is more like a synthezoid, a living being whose parts are all mechanical. So he has a universe inside him the same way you have one inside of you. You have living bacteria in your body, a waterway (your bloodstream) that travels the length of your body, and various places for the bacteria to live. Something in your liver that wants to travel to your brain would sail on your bloodstream, the same way someone who wanted to get to Metru Nui would sail on liquid protodermis to do it."
Greg: "The bone hunters and the Skrall were already in an alliance at the time of ROV. But Tuma wanted to a) make sure the bone hunters were strong enough to be worthy of being allies and b)see them bloodied enough by the Glatorian so they wouldn't be TOO strong a threat to turn on the Skrall."
The Element Lords are considered mutant versions of their original Glatorian species.
The Element Lord of Sand does not have a stinger tail, since the Vorox had not yet been modified by the Great Beings by the time of his selection.
The Sand Tribe's regression took place over the span of generations.
The Bone Hunters are all a part of one single tribe; there are no other contingents elsewhere in the desert.
On Click's condition: "It's not a curse, no, because Click controls when he transforms. If it was a curse, he would have no control over it. The mask transformed him the same way it transformed Dekar into Hydraxon, to assist in the defense of itself. Without a shield, Mata Nui would have died in battle, and the mask would likely have been destroyed."
The Glatorian species always spoke Agori and never had their own separate language.
"Aqua" means "water."
Stronius had his name before he defeated one of the baterra.
There may still be some Skrall on Bota Magna, although odds are they have mostly been killed by baterra.
Fero is part of the Bone Hunter army which serves the Skrall in the movie plot.
The Great Beings did not create the Iron Wolves from scratch; they modified existing creatures.
On the Great Beings' construction of the Mata Nui prototype: "There was no overall intent. It was an experiment they were doing for the sake of seeing if it could be done."
Prior to the Shattering, there were few signs of the impending disaster other than some quakes; the actual event happened quite abruptly.
The story bible states that Mata Nui ends up empowering the Glatorian with Toa-like elemental powers, not merely charging their weapons with elemental power.
MATORAN UNIVERSE
Greg believes Keetongu's judgment vision is based off of the proportion of light to shadow in a being.
Although the Visorak hordes were exterminated at Artidax, Teridax has since recreated the species.
Miserix, like all Makuta, once created Rahi of his own, specializing in reptilian Rahi, as referenced by his affinity for shapeshifting into reptilian forms. He created the Tahtorak.
Kojol created the Proto Drake.
Chirox created the Catapult Scorpion.
On Tren Krom's motivations: "He is not out to run the universe, he knows he's not capable of that. But he doesn't want what he once looked after to be ruined by Makuta."
There is likely some structure which belonged to the Element Lord of Water that still exists beneath the sea on Aqua Magna, possibly having been discovered by escaped Pit inmates by now.
Greg would say an Element Lord is a good two times as powerful as a Toa.
Skopio were not employed in the Core War, since they cannot be tamed.
SPHERUS MAGNA
Sahmad's tribe lived in the forested region of Bota Magna.
The Skrall's original homeland from which they were cut off was the forested mountains located in Bota Magna.
Greg thinks that the Sand Tribe consented to the Great Beings' mutations, not knowing what they were getting themselves into.
The villages of Atero, Roxtus, Tesara, Vulcanus, and Tajun all existed prior to the Shattering.
Greg: "There is reproduction on Bara Magna, but it's not something we bother to go into since we have no 'Bara Magna child' sets or any reason to include that in story."
The Skopio's treads were also bestowed by the Great Beings.
The snakes from which Vastus collects venom are common.
MATORAN UNIVERSE
On the Bohrok's repurposing after the invasion on Mata Nui: "The Bohrok were reprogrammed, remember, so part of that reprogramming could have made them receptive to verbal commands."
Greg is sure that there are some other living Toa Hagah still out there.
Lewa Nuva still has his elemental power over Air, but it is unknown if Tren Krom's body supports the use of the power.
Like Makuta in other bodies, Tren Krom has access to powers while in Lewa Nuva's body that are mental in nature.
Kanohi
The Mask of Untranslation is now called the Mask of Incomprehension.
The Phantoka Makuta, preferring that their Shadow Matoran wear evil masks, forced Radiak, Kirop, and Gavla to replace their original masks with the noble Jutlin, Shelek, and Avsa they wear in the sets.
The eyes of the Matoran seen wearing the Mask of Undeath in Bionicle World are unlit because a black visor piece is placed beneath the mask.
The recently identified "Mask of Absorption" is the same kind of mask worn by Toa Pouks.
On the Mask of Incomprehension: "Make it that the mask power does not need focus to work over a span of time. So you use it on A, it will work for say 10 minutes or something, then you do it to B, C, and D in quick succession. So it can't be used on more than one target at once, but it CAN keep working on a target after the user has targeted someone else."
The Order of Mata Nui would have no qualms about using evil Kanohi.
None of the Toa Mahri's masks are really in their normal forms, since they have tubes sticking out of them.
Skrall may be assigned to hard labor jobs that the Rock Agori are unable to fulfill.
Telluris is now mad because he saw his entire village basically wiped out and no one came to help.
Sahmad was always in possession of the Baranus V7 and Spikit.
Greg would not say that Ackar and Malum were close friends, just colleagues.
On the likelihood of Strakk's banishment: "It would make sense that he would be. The alternative is no one will accept Iconox's challenges and they would have no way to win the resources they needed."
The fight between Mata Nui and Tuma is not the final battle in the movie.
The Great Beings' fortress which we encounter this year is situated north of the Black Spikes.
The Great Beings tampered with the Skopio creatures, making them bio-mechanical, as one of their experiments, hence the Skopio having a Thornax.
The "Gatherers' Hideout" included on the Bara Magna map on bionicle.com references the Bone Hunters' originally proposed name for 2009, which the story team ultimately revised to "Bone Hunters."
CORE WAR
Vastus was more like a battalion leader than a general during the Core War.
During the War, Tesara was merely a tiny outpost of the Jungle Tribe; Jungle held almost a quarter of Spherus Magna.
Element Lords themselves did not partake in battle, instead employing battalion leaders, squad leaders, etc.
A squad commander would be higher in rank than a squad leader.
The tribes of Spherus Magna referred to EP mostly as "the substance" or "the spring."
During the Core War, Malum was a soldier or, at best, a squad leader.
SPHERUS MAGNA
Food was always hard to come by in the Northern Frost.
Mata Nui was launched from Spherus Magna quite discreetly; only a few Agori ever saw the robot.
The Vorox were called Vorox even before their regression.
The Great Beings probably would have called the baterra something like "Armed Combatant Pacification Drones." Being scientists, it would make since that the Great Beings gave technical names to their creations. The Great Beings still referred to Mata Nui by that name because they hoped he would carry the spirit of Spherus Magna with him as he traveled.
Baterra most likely communicate through subsonics. They do not have names for each other.
Aqua Magna was Spherus Magna's only major sea.
It's confirmed -- Aqua Magna and Bota Magna are the moons orbiting Bara Magna.
Greg would say that the site of Mata Nui's construction on Spherus Magna was not far from the Great Volcano but not on Bara Magna, essentially just across the border into Bota Magna.
Sahmad and Telluris's tribe mostly resided in Bota Magna.
MATORAN UNIVERSE
All of the Makuta's Toa Hagah were picked from pre-existing groups. Not all teams necessarily had six members or members of the six cardinal elements.
Teridax knows full well where the Ignika has ended up, since he can track its power.
The Toa Hagah's illusion is about to be dispelled in the next chapter of "Reign of Shadows."
"Forgive the delay, Turaga." Hey look, I'm here. The internet at my school was knocked out all day, which was a pain.
THE LEGEND REBORN
On Strakk's banishment: "Right after Strakk's match are the rest of the events of the movie, during which time the Agori are a little too busy worrying about Skrall invasion to deal with administrative matters. They will have time to worry about Strakk's punishment if they survive the war."
The aftermath of the attack on Tajun is seen in the movie.
SPHERUS MAGNA
The Sisters of the Skrall did not fight in the War.
The Sea of Liquid Sand does not represent where Aqua Magna originally existed. Its waters were never a part of the Bara Magna geography.
The Valley of the Maze will become important to current/future story.
Force blasters were invented before the Core War.
In order to supply Mata Nui with his considerable reserves of energized protodermis, the Great Beings sent Agori out to get them a sample of it during the Core War and then were able to put the EP into an environment where its volume would increase.
Before and just after the maze existed in the Valley of the Maze, it was one of the places where the Great Beings lived.
Like the other Great Beings, Angonce participated in the leadership of Spherus Magna and the construction of Mata Nui. He is not the Great Being who was cursed by the Ignika.
The third chunk of Spherus Magna is called Bota Magna. It was mostly covered by forest and was the realm of the Element Lord of Jungle.
The Element Lord of Rock was once a Skrall, likely one of the leader class.
Baterra armor in default mode is silver.
The current storyline is very unlikely to be taking place on Bota Magna anytime soon.
Bota Magna means "Great Jungle" or "Great Forest."
The Element Lord of Sand does not have a tail like the other Vorox.
Aqua Magna was southwest of Bara Magna.
BARA MAGNA
Rock dragons, sun-rock dragons, and sand dragons are all related species.
Skopio, large as they are, are rarely seen living anywhere close to each other.
Sandray Canyon is named after a creature called a sandray.
Skopio and rock steeds are carnivorous, Spikit and Scarabax are omnivorous, and sand stalkers are herbivorous.
GLATORIAN
Greg: "Telluris is a nutcase."
Perditus participated in the Core War. He was also present for the Fall of Atero.
It is possible that members of the same tribe could be set to fight to each other for the winning title at the Great Tournament.
A vehicle match is won by disabling the vehicle of one's opponent.
Greg believes Malum took his sword with him when he was exiled into the wastes.
MATORAN UNIVERSE
Reef Raiders are native to the Matoran universe.
Particularly who the two Glatorian left near Mata Nui's consciousness are is not so important as the fact that they are there.
KANOHI
Greg, in cooperation with bonesiii and Swert, has approved the matching of the following Kanohi mask powers with these forms:
Mask of Rebound; makes projectiles bounce back to you, assuming they don't shatter or explode.
Mask of Absorption; temporarily absorb powers of those nearby.
Mask of Sensory Aptitude; improves all five senses, but not as much as an Akaku for example would improve vision.
Mask of Conjuring; uses the fact that Matoran language is programming language -- you can verbally command it what power to have by describing the power you want in detail. Temporary, and you must specify downsides or it ignores you. Greg: "Basically, if you get the slighest thing wrong in your description, you'll wind up with something terrible happening to you (the same way that if you screw up programming, you can crash a program/computer). For that reason, it's not a mask that most want to wear in a potential combat situation, because it's too easy to make mistakes when pressed and they don't want to fry their brains."
Mask of Fusion; basically staff of Fusion power, or Kaita-ization, but you can merge with an enemy for a time. Example use, force an enemy to merge with you as a Kaita, walk to a place where you have the upper hand due to surroundings, and split apart again.
Mask of Biomechanics; have limited control over mechanical robotics, if simple and near you. Examples include strengthening your own mechanical parts, or slowing down opponents' mechanical parts. Cannot control clockwork brains but does give a mechanical version of telepathy with robots.
Mask of Undeath; a taboo/evil power also considered unlucky to wear. Does nothing while you're alive, except siphon off a fraction of your energy (similar to the Nui Stone). If you're wearing it when you die, it animates your body for as long as it has energy charged up for, and makes your body carry out whatever you would have wanted to do if still alive. When undead your eyes and heartlight are black.
(Vultraz's mask) Mask of Vulture; another evil power, inspired by the Inheritance trilogy. When a being dies in your vicinity, you absorb all their escaping energy.
Mask of Age; evil power, basically Voporak's aging power, but not as powerful.
Mask of Untranslation; opposite of a Rau, it scrambles the target's speech or writing. Evil power; example use is to scramble the speech of a Toa Team's leader, so the others can't understand their orders.
Mask of Adaptation; basically the Rahkshi power that adapts your body to your surroundings, or like adaptive armor.
I thought I would give you one (possibly final?) Farshtey Feed...
SPHERUS MAGNA
The Great Beings created the Iron Wolves, as they did most things, as an experiment, not specifically for use in the Core War.
The large northern forested region on Spherus Magna was located south of the Northern Frost.
There were only the six rival tribes we have already encountered who participated in the Core War.
The Kaxium model was used in the Core War.
BARA MAGNA
Vorox eat small animals and whatever plant life they can find.
Telluris is somewhat known throughout Bara Magna. He lives as a nomad and occasionally raids trade caravans, although he generally does not bother the villages themselves. He is motivated by revenge against other tribes, who he feels abandoned his to its own fate.
GLATORIAN
Surel is older than Certavus, although they are probably close in age.
On Raanu's reluctance to stand up to Glatorian: "Thing is, Raanu, like most Agori, lived through the war. He knows what Glatorian are capable of, and he knows Agori probably couldn't stop them if they decided to seize control of the villages. So he doesn't really trust them and treads very carefully around them."
On Strakk's blatant cheating: "…Iconox has no Second Glatorian since Gelu quit, meaning if they exile him they have no one to fight for them. So he figured they wouldn't punish him."
Greg does not see Malum as being evil, but rather having anger management issues.
MATORAN UNIVERSE
On the two Glatorian species members near Mata Nui's mind: "I can tell you they were not forgotten about, they were where they were supposed to be and for a reason."
It's a big one, complete with an entire "Core War" section.
GLATORIAN
On Kiina's personality: "Brash. Energetic. Impatient. Loyal. Caring. Stubborn."
Gelu was aware that he had the potential to make First Glatorian but had no interest in the job. There is more money to be made as an escort than as a First Glatorian.
Iconox gets Gelu's preference if he has more than one client for his services. Most of the work he does is for them anyway, because they are shipping exsidian all over.
Ackar personally sees a lot of potential in Gresh.
Except for trainees, villages tend never to waste resources sheltering extra Glatorian species members who do not serve them.
On Strakk's banishment: "The official story is that Iconox had to postpone the decision due to the events of the movie. My assumption is they will revisit the matter later."
BARA MAGNA
The Skrall targeted Tajun "because Tajun has the bulk of the water supply the other villages rely on. Choke that off and the other villages fall like dominoes."
Tesara consists of two villages with an arena between them and a lot of jungle growth.
Greg would assume that, like all of the other villages, Tajun is one large structure and a bunch of smaller shelters, all built around in this case an oasis.
Tesara, like Iconox, also did not exist prior to the Shattering.
Roxtus did exist beforehand, but who lived there before the Skrall remains a mystery.
On Telluris's dealings with the Skrall: "Yes, but nowhere near as often as Sahmad. Once in a blue moon, Telluris learns something out in the desert and trades the information, but that is very rare."
Dozens of Glatorian now populate Bara Magna, along with hundreds of Agori per tribe.
Zesk have not always had tails and once stood upright, although they always looked similar to one another.
Empire of the Skrall Chapter 6 takes place before Raid on Vulcanus.
The September comic will deal with the beginning of the movie, and the November comic will detail events after the movie plot.
In Comic 3, it is Fero who tries to attack Vastus from behind.
SKRALL
"The female Skrall are, if anything, nastier than the males, but also more manipulating, where the males prefer to just go bash heads."
On Skrall procreation: "Well, we have not discussed at all how new life comes into being on this planet, but ... let's assume you are right for the moment. There are TONS of examples in nature of species where the males and females get together only to mate, and are actively hostile to each other the rest of the time (with the males actually becoming threats to their own children after they are born). The idea of romantic love -- or even like -- being necessary for procreation is a human conceit."
Skrall females naturally possess mental powers.
Rock Agori all wear identical helmets.
MATORAN UNIVERSE
Teridax currently is still on Aqua Magna, and Greg does not intend for him to leave during this story year.
The Mata Nui robot is constructed out of metallic protodermis (not protosteel).
On the Mata Nui robot's ability to pull together fusing the pieces of Spherus Magna together again: "I would say not on its own, no."
Tren Krom was never able to swap bodies before because a being has to consent to it. Lewa was the first to be open to "anything."
A Makuta needed to be in physical contact with a being on whom it is using its teleportation power.
CORE WAR
The following six items of background information on the Core War were provided by Greg Farshtey for BS01's contest: 1. The original discovery of the EP was in the ice EL's area, so they were defending it for much of the war. It was Ice Agori who made the discovery firsthand, and it was in the Northern Frost. 2. The final battle of the war saw the fire armies seize control of the EP spring. 3. The GBs released the baterra toward the end of the war. 4. Alliances between armies were basically made of sand ... everyone wanted the spring, no one wanted anyone else to have it, so no one worked together for very long. These alliances were made during the war, not prior to it. You had six groups, all after one thing -- Ice has it, everyone else wants it. So Fire and Jungle might make an alliance, one attacks from the south, one the north .. but if it looks like fire might get to the spring first, jungle suddenly turns on fire because they don't want fire getting it either. 5. The ice tribe lost control of the spring a few times during the war, but never for very long. And the fire tribe knew when they seized it they wouldn't be able to hold it for very long, so they rushed to tap its power despite warnings of what would happen. 6. Mostly deaths, and some transformations of animal life occurred as a result of contact with EP. The only really concerted effort to tap its power -- to basically drain and collect the EP -- was done by the fire tribe and precipitated the Shattering.
On the duration of the Core War: "I had originally said six months to a year for the war, but it may have been longer than that … Years, probably."
Only the Great Beings used the term "energized protodermis"; the regular people of the world would have referred to it with another name.
No one living on Spherus Magna ever discovered that the EP was a sapient entity during the Core War.
Spherus Magna did once have larger cities, though we don't know if they were as sophisticated as Metru Nui, since Metru Nui is basically a mechanical brain.
There was no movement for peace during the Core War among the combatants.
The Great Beings, however, were involved in pursuing a diplomatic solution.
The Great Beings never fielded an army in the Core War other than the baterra.
Probably hundreds of soldiers served for each tribe.
Future Glatorian of the same tribe would have been well-acquianted.
Ackar would most likely have led a squad during the war.
Surel would have been chosen by his battalion commander, not the Great Beings, to train and to lead the Iron Wolves into battle. Surel and his Iron Wolves, of course, fought as allies to the Ice Tribe. The Iron Wolves had been about prior to the war and had been wild creatures up to that point.
Certavus participated in the Core War and was loyal to his Ice Tribe.
Vastus regrets "Hurting the people he hurt."
Glatorian in the war had weapons with elemental powers, the charges of which have long ago run out.
Force blasters were occasionally used during the Core War, but they were used as vehicle-mounted weapons and never as handheld devices.
When the Fire Tribe wrested control of the spring, they likely held onto it for mere hours. The time elapsed between the final battle of the Core War and the Shattering itself was a matter of hours.
Many were injured or killed as a direct result of the Shattering.
Factions
On the Element Lords: "I would say you had six equally powered beings who didn't get along that great but worked together because they had to and overall did it well. When something came along that threatened to make one of them way more powerful than all the rest, it created problems."
Element Lords never personally confronted each other during the Core War. Prior to the war, on the other hand, they did meet a lot.
The Element Lord of Sand would have held Bara Magna as part of his domain. Bara Magna was the Sand Tribe's main area, because that was the major desert on the planet. There wasn't a lot of sand in other areas.
The Element Lord of Fire would have ruled the region around the Great Volcano. The Element Lord of Fire would have also held sway over the southern volcano near the Iron Canyon, hence the settlement of Vulcanus there.
The Element Lord of Jungle ruled the great jungles and forests of Spherus Magna. During the Core War, the jungle where Tesara now resides was not their central territory; they would have been anywhere there was jungle or forest, and there was a vast area of green some distance away from the desert on Bara Magna. While Tesara's jungle would technically have been under the Element Lord of Jungle's control, the locus of his power would been that vast forest that was located on a different part of the planet.
The Northern Frost and the realms of the Element Lord of Jungle now exist on the third chunk of Spherus Magna. This giant forest to the north of Bara Magna developed into part of the third planet and was the same forest that Mazeka and Vultraz visited in an alternate reality.
The Element Lord of Rock held the White Quartz and Black Spike Mountains. Although the Skrall held the White Quartz Mountains before the Shattering, most of the Skrall legions were in battle in the Black Spikes when the war ended, and remnants of the Ice Tribe had migrated south to the White Quartz during the war due to the battles centered in the Northern Frost.
The Water Tribe would have owned fleets of waterborne transport ships.
Greg believes Aqua Magna would have originally been south of Bara Magna.
The Element Lord of Water also ruled the River Dormus.
There were no aircraft involved in the war.
The terrain of the Northern Frost was mountainous.
Spherus Magna had polar ice caps.
The Element Lords were created by the Great Beings "Thousands of years before the Shattering."
Sahmad's tribe was wiped out before the Element Lords were created, which is why it is highly unlikely that an Element Lord was created for that tribe.
Therefore, the Element Lords were created sometime less than 103,000 years ago, but not by more than a thousand or so.
The Element Lords at this moment are not fighting over Energized Protodermis, but over something else.
