Relan Society for a Better Yesterday

Of the Relan people, by the Relan people, and for the Relan people.Dedicated Bionicle fan-blog.

[ids5621]

Vorahk, Son of Makuta. Rahkshi movie moc

[toakiora]

Beautiful.

[relan-society]

The best Vorahk I have ever seen.

[relan-society]

A dynamic shot of Topaz’s fall off the cliff. He hits the ground hard.

Gaet sends down piles of rubble and stone that crushes and entombs Topaz. Never to rise again... right?

[relan-society]

Helix prepares to sling a rock at Topaz.

And Topaz is hit dead on.

[relan-society]

While the others are safe for now, Gaet must hurry and get help. This requires a daring jump from one giant rock to another.

But the dangerous mercenary Topaz appears in his path.

[malwarewolf-mocs]

In the tags put your favorite Matoran, your favorite Titan, favorite Rahi, favorite Dark hunter, and favorite Toa.

[relan-society]

As you can plainly see, Caime is terrible at rescuing folks.

[relan-society]

Helix gets himself into a tough spot, as he is known to do, and none other than Caime comes to his rescue.

And Caime promptly screws it up.

[relan-society]

Helix, the Relan Chronicler, traversing the wasteland alone.

[relan-society]

As Zark creeps up behind Katy, Gaet sneaks up on Zark and takes him out with a rock.

[relan-society]

Zade, Toa of Sonics, is the former leader of the Toa Modra. Of the team of nine, seven were lost in battle. Now only Zade and Diamass, a female Toa of Gravity, remain. They parted ways, and now Zade defends the Relan village of Kope.

Zade is armed with his massive Decispear and the Kanohi Vaike, the mask of friction. In battle he combines their power to send his enemies sliding out of control before obliterating them. His heavy armor absorbs all forms of energy, but only if the armor itself is hit. This is an incredible advantage, but leaves many areas of his body vulnerable.

[relan-society]

The mercenary Zark, a dangerous fellow indeed.

[bioniscribbles]

It’s honestly astounding how many times the Matoran have been faced to abandon their homes, their villages, everything their lives were. Abandoning Voya Nui, Karda Nui, Mahri Nui, Mata Nui, the whole damn universe. And yet they kept on going, rebuilding and starting new lives every time. That’s impressive as hell. Indomitable, that’s what the Matoran are. Honestly, that’s kinda inspiring.

[malwarewolf-mocs]

Not only that but how adaptable the Matoran were. An underwater village just spitting distance from the most dangerous prison in the universe? They lived and thrived in it. A gigantic cavernous fusion reactor chamber, only habitable by living on stalactites? They made jetpacks. How about the population being reduced to a diminutive state, almost half their original size? They kept going like nothing had happened.

It’s obvious the Great Beings put a lot of work into making sure the Matoran fit into every crack and crevice of their universe with ease.

[relan-society]

The Matoran were made to adapt, built to build. They are natural workers, small and compact, perfect for what they need to do. That’s why i’m certain that, even after every time they’ve been moved, they would still hunker down and build the next bunch of houses rather than just settle for tents. Matoran have never settled for anything, always working for what they need.

Matoran are near bloody perfect, aren’t they?

[xfirecorex]

Bionicle spiritual successor

Even if a bunch of Bionicle fans banded together to make the coolest fan sequel ever, Lego still owns the IP and can pursue legal action if they feel they are being infringed upon.

It’s safe to say there won’t be any more official content for a very long time. The best thing we can do to keep Bionicle alive is to make a spiritual successor…a story and setting that has the aesthetics and themes of Bionicle without actually being Bionicle.

If it was an original story, a piece of media could even be kickstarted/crowdfunded. A whole toyline probably wouldn’t be feasible, but a comic or some animations might.

I’d love to hear from you guys how you think the feel of Bionicle could be best incorporated into an original story.

Different people like it for different reasons so I’d love to get a wide variety of opinions about what works and what doesn’t.

[bioniscribbles]

I feel like, in a way, Steven Universe is already managing that, with sort of episodic adventures like the early comics and heavy arcs about badass aliens, as well as a moral core. And, of course, fusion.

In terms of aesthetics it’s very different though. And there’s far less engagement with spirituality. But it shows some similar principles. Could be useful to look at for what a modern Bionicle analogue would be, at least.

[crystaltoa]

I was actually thinking the other day that a SU-style 11 minute episode format might actually have suited Bionicle quite well. JTO suffered from trying to cram everyone into every scene, and so nobody really got enough screentime to develop the Toa’s relationships with each other. The short episode format could give us time to focus on two or three Toa at a time, or even just one Toa and their relationships with their Turaga or Matoran (G1 Pohatu and Onewa hanging out more would have been interesting given how different they are). More slice of life stories about life in the Koros would have been a great addition to the G1 canon as well.

The way SU does worldbuilding is actually pretty similar to how Bionicle handled it- lots of foreshadowing and implied plot points before later giving confirmation of them, and it saves having to have massive infodumps interrupting the pace. 

Bionicle has also played around with different genres in short bursts much like SU, so that’d be a fun thing to see in animated form as well.  Don’t know if they could quite pull off a full musical episode, but it’d be fun to see them try.

[malwarewolf-mocs]

Thinking about seeing Makuta take over after 8 seasons of a SU formula show just made me shudder guys.

[relan-society]

I’ll just weigh in, then. Steven Universe is exactly the opposite of everything I loved about Bionicle. That’s just about all I can think to say, as it sums up my feelings quite perfectly.

[relan-society]

Katy, having reached the top of the quarry, speaks to the foreman Godla. Gaet, a worker, busies himself with clearing leaves from the last leaf-fall.

[relan-society]

How to build a basic Relan. Really simple and easy. Most people who would care to try will be able to figure it out from this picture alone. For those who can’t, click to see the photographed steps taken on my own driveway.

Get yourself the two basic pieces the body requires.

And this step shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

That’s really the only part I think was hard to see in the finished picture.

Didn’t take too much time on this, because you can see everything you need.

Simple enough right? Arms attach to legs, obviously.

And that’s it. If you can’t fill in the blanks, you haven’t been building for very long, have you.

Of course, arms, legs, and tools are all perfectly customizeable in shape and color. This little lady is Kuda. Professional student at the moment, but hoping to become an officer of the law.

[relan-society]

Katy arrives at the quarry and begins her ascent.

[relan-society]

Zikii is a Relan hunter.