#bionicle prototype

[tenosit]

Looking at the Faber Files video dropping just yesterday and

THEY WERE MEANT TO HAVE TECHNIC AXLE HOLE ARMS??? We've been robbed.

Also, split "hooves", like in MNOG. This is a pre-mold production prototype (alongside two more shown on camera) but damn.

(also of course note that, this being early designs, they still have the appropriative name attached to them. Call them just "2001 Matoran")

[northmarch]

Back on the old Bionicle site you could download lyric sheets along with mp3s of the songs used in promo material for the line. The lyric sheet for ‘Creeping in my Soul’ apparently features a shocking clear look at most of the late stage Barraki prototypes.

[tenosit]

Mechanical lifeforms born of a technogenic jungle, Vaerkers are the inhabitants of Asynplex. Reaching to height of average Velhelt's knee, they lack their abilities or powers, but make up for it with numbers, scrappiness, and cunning - they need them, as a lone Vaerker will easily get lost in bowels of the gargantuan, ever-deteriorating machine. To survive in this world, Vaerkers need to work together - and their own Tool-Staves won't save them on their own.

Few Vaerker settlements exist - they are largely trade stops for nomadic bands that traverse the Asynplex. Most Vaerkers explore the mechanical depths and towers for a living, scavenging for materials and attempting to restore power to machinery that could provide manufacturing and recharging functions. When delving into the Robo-Innards, company of a Velhelt is an invaluable boon, as little robots are hardly march for the worst Asynplex can offer.

Rumors are the currency between Velhelts and Vaerkers - and now, Vaerkers speak of STOR- and DODELIG-class Masks of Power being stashed in vaults across Asynplex. Who will be foolhardy enough to see the truth for themselves?

[More of creative exploration based on Bo Torstensen's concept art for Bionicle! The "Robo-Innards" artworks depict a Toa-like figure leading what looks very much like Turaga - not sure if Torstensen was aware of how Matoran will look like. Given that Matoran and Turaga were originally not supposed to be different "stages" of creature, exploring them in a different dynamic can be really fun - especially given that, without overt religious elements, they may view Toa quite differently.

As mentioned in prior post, the vocabulary is "inverted" - Māori, Hawai'i and Fiji terms are replaced with English, Danish, Old Norse ones. Feel free to offer suggestions!]

[tenosit]

In the infernal depths of the Maw, Stoker feeds the machinery that galvanizes the Asynplex to activity. With his great, spade-like hands, he shovels the carelessly-scattered fuel rods into ever-hungering plasma stoves, as STOR-class SKJOLD Mask of Shielding protects him from both their flares, and lakes of molten metal and burning chemicals. Fierce and not afraid to show who's the boss, those delving into the belly of Asynplex must know they are on his turf.

While Stoker is rarely out of chores to perform, the throngs of Vaerkers rarely descend into the Maw, leaving him as one of the more lonesome Velhelts. Those who had fortune to be escorted by him describe him as a determined, grim protector, but not much more. Even though many a Gevaerdyr has regretted his rage, Stoker longs for recognition claimed by heroes of old.

[I reckon a lot of people will try their hand at AUs based on the original story bible now, but I wanted to try my hand at adapting the creative concept artwork of Bo Torstensen (as seen here, for example)! The Stalker vibes can serve for very different interpretation of Bionicle, especially the images of Toa leading Turaga-looking folk through cyclopean, desolate "robo-innards", stalked by unusual beasts with beaded limbs. There is still a story, if a very different one from retail Bionicle, but I think it can be an incredible setting if life is breathed into it.

The model is inspired not just by art, but also the late '90s Technic sets, those with gratuitious "hard" hoses (which, I guess, early Bionicle also falls under, see Bahrag and Boxor). It is not all pre-2003 pieces, but I am still mostly content with the look of him - stability, though, I cannot vouch for. (I say Stoker is a he because he wants to be a classic saga hero, otherwise he's a biorobot). With exception of Mata limbs and hoses, and maybe the System bits, the pieces should be all real and thus theoretically you could build this Stoker pretty closely. Imagine that the mouth tube is held by a rubber band or something.

As for language - I went for mostly-Danish vocabulary, though I am glad to receive suggestions if someone wishes to add. I am not sure if diacritics fit the English-focused retail vibe. Bit of an inversion, you see!]