Bionicle: Masks of Power - Matoric Conlang Dialogue Files
As you may have seen, it's now been publicly announced that LEGO has asked for the Bionicle: Masks of Power fan game by Team Kanohi to be shut down.
You can read the announcement letter from Team Kanohi here, and also view a walkthrough of the game demo on YouTube, with and without dev commentary. The demo would have been released on 8/10 of this year.
As I've posted about before, the game was slated to feature fully voice-acted lines in the Matoran Language conlang ("Matoric"), and I've been contributing Matoric line translations for this purpose for a few years now. This work amounted to nearly 800 individual lines of Matoric dialogue translated.
Needless to say, this was a very disappointing thing to experience behind the scenes, after the amount of work that Team Kanohi had put into the game, and (in my opinion) it's an extremely poor repayment from LEGO for the enthusiasm that the team has created in the Bionicle fandom over the years, although not unexpected or shocking on LEGO's part.
With that said, there is some solace to be found in the fact that many resources from the game, including 3D models, music, art, and other development materials, have been preserved by the team (for the time being) via Google Drive. This includes all of the individually recorded voice-actor lines in Matoric!
Here is a link to the full Google Drive.
Here is a link to the folder containing the Matoric line recordings.
Here is a link to a spreadsheet containing all of the written Matoric lines and their English translations (along with a few fun easter eggs).
Finally, here are the credits for the audio directors and individual voice actors whose excellent work was represented in the game:
Voice Acting Directors
Tasch Ritter
Gort (Garrett B)
Voice Acting
Lewa ……………….. Dane Braddy
Pohatu ……………….. Gianni Matragrano
Gali ……………….. Tasch Ritter
Onua ……………….. Ashley Quills
Kopaka ……………….. Tom Schalk
Tahu ……………….. Wes Wiggins
Makuta ……………….. Justice Washington
Mata Nui ……………….. Justice Washington
Matoran 1 ……………….. Ethan Godwin
Matoran 2 ……………….. Viator
Matoran 3 ……………….. Lou Haroldson
Matoran 4 ……………….. Tasch Ritter
Matoran 5 ……………….. Mark (Markle) Stefely
Matoran 6 ……………….. Anna Maguire
Matoran 7 ……………….. SyntheticCharmVa
Matoran 8 ……………….. Tabitha Bardall
Matoran 9 ……………….. Mark Beischel
Matoran 10 ……………….. Jordan (Jocool1231) Willis
Matoran 11 ……………….. Quinn Stokan
Matoran 12 ……………….. Abigail Adair
Matoran 13 ……………….. Cody (MasterGir) Littlefield
Matoran 14 ……………….. Zane Schacht
Narrator ……………….. Justice Washington
Announcer ……………….. David Michael Williamson
I was honored to be able to contribute to this project in a small way, and I hope that the Bionicle community will continue to support the team as it rebrands and moves on to future projects.
There was a discussion on Reddit quite a while ago about making individual projects based on Bionicle, but not within the Bionicle universe so they can be released independently of Lego, in part as a result of the Bionicle: Masks Of Power incidents. I guess I've been doing a bit of that. I've never been fully comfortable writing fully Bionicle fiction tbh, something doesn't jive about it for me, so I've never produced a proper fanfic work that wasn't "Bionicle, but a bit weird".
I'm working them into the Pick-n-Mix Comix universe, though, slowly and a little at a time. It's weird, because I keep wanting to write about Bionicle species like Matoran and Vortixx because the names are so similar (Bionicle's lore-crafting has always been a direct influence on my own, especially now that I'm working with alien fantasy races like the Dragoreans, Dreenok, Braxanites, Rusidrans, Byrennians, etc...), but I have to refer back to my own, original species and concepts for it because it's not set in the Great Spirit Robot or on any of the exterior planets at all.
And obviously, I don't own Bionicle, so I wouldn't be able to fully market or brand any of it at all, or publish it as my own thing whatsoever.
Getting across exactly what I want to achieve with it is the hardest part; making it similar enough that it gives me the same vibes, but differentiated enough that it has its own identity. In large part because of its origins as a toyline's gimmick story, I'll never fully be able to replicate large swaths of the spirit of the lore, but I still like working it in where I can with my own thing.
I'm working on a storyline at the moment about a pair of Mechosians called Tumohl and Hepni, and I think that's the best introduction to this branch of the Pick-n-Mix Comix world because they're the most "Matoran-like", and Mechos Megrod where they were created is in many ways inspired by Metru Nui and the industrial vibes of the GSR as a whole.
If you're interested, I have some lore-dumps about the world of Mechos Megrod under the cut, because there's not much else to do with it at the moment. I've been working hard on polishing up chapters for the webserials Sable's Journey, Grace Morgan & The Offering Of Markor, and the upcoming Common Grounds: The Graveyard Café as part of @grimshawcycle today, and I guess lore-dumping about worldbuilding is how I relax.
Also, it's 810nicle Day and, since I don't have anything genuinely Bionicle to contribute, I might as well do this instead. (Most of the core ideas were me trying to retroactively adapt what was supposed to be an AU for Bionicle fanfics based around a set of Great Being OCs representing the six core elements of Metru Nui and Mata Nui anyway, and I could never figure out how that worked in Bionicle terms, so I figured — why not bring them into the Pick-n-Mix Comix fold instead?)
Mechos Megrod is a city built by and for Mechosians. Like Metru Nui, it's an industrial, urban center where every Mechosian is separated by specific "type" and given a specific role to play and purpose in the ongoing functions of the city, although their types are only partially elemental in the way we're familiar with from the Matoran Universe. Also, like the Great Spirit Robot, Mechos Megrod is spaceborne — it is functionally an artificial asteroid, a star station built to contain the city of the Mechosians and everything they need to sustain themselves in the harshness of the Chasm of Stars, the "secondary world" space opera/alien fantasy setting for some corners of the Pick-n-Mix Comix universe beyond the Other Realms (where story cycles like @grimshawcycle are set).
It's not the only spaceborne colony in the Chasm, but it's the only one populated by Mechosians, who are ultimately a very specific type of socialoid; artificial beings that can either spawn naturally from in-universe lucidite crystals becoming the seed crystals for biogenetic crystal particles called georine or be spawned artificially in "lattice tanks", as in the case of the Mechosians by default. In either case, georine comprises their interlacing bodies and joints, supplemented by handcrafted fabrics and dermorium armor (or sometimes argosium, if they're desperate or not allied with Mechos Megrod for one reason or another), and it's from these lattice tanks at Mechos Megrod that new Mechosian-native socialoids are born.
The complex and function of Mechos Megrod was originally assembled by a socialoid called Karu-Nisi, remembered today as an ancient heroic figure, a mythological idea who brought naturally-spawned socialoids together from across the Chasm for the purpose of creating one singular world where all socialoids could belong. The Chasm is a world of flesh and breath and blood and torment, where aliens of all species fight and battle each other, and in this world, crystalline beings like socialoids are thought of more like resources than as distinct beings of their own — in building Mechos Megrod and the Mechosian society, Karu-Nisi sought to give the Chasm's socialoids a sense of belonging and internal respect for themselves, away from the fleshiness and inherent organicness of the worlds they more than likely spawned on.
For instance, Khofu — an Olmopran socialoid, born on a desert world surrounded by Olmopra's native humans, the elephantine Lephrall, and constant remnants of the once-king, the Dragorean lord Balurkar. Few other socialoids were known to Olmopra at the time, and Khofu became assistant to Balurkar, but in time, the world moved on. Mechosians — and all socialoids — live as long as natural crystals otherwise do, so long as their lattice bodies stay intact, so Khofu outlived countless generations of Olmoprans and Lephrall, and personally witnessed the fall of King Balurkar in the dragon's final days.
Mechos Megrod gave Khofu a home, if he wanted one — where he wouldn't have to witness the flesh-strewn wither and die, but instead be surrounded by the crystalline matrices of his own fellow socialoid kind.
But there are more. To construct the Mechosian society, Karu-Nisi chose six crucial socialoids, the Silastra Maheri, to lead the six Mechosian "types" to which all Mechosians are assigned, as well as watch over the six regions the city would ultimately be divided into:
Silastra Bohdoh, of the Boh-Mechosians, who function as cleaners and custodians of Mechos Megrod, and call the Closets of Bohdoh their home in Boh-Nisi.
Silastra Akantai, of the Ak-Mechosians, who keep the knowledge and lore not just of their own socialoid history but of the Chasm of Stars as a whole, sequestered as they are in the Libraries of Akantai in Ak-Nisi.
Silastra Nihua, of the Ni-Mechosians, who work in the Nihua Power Cores at the heart of the city, and keep the mechanical engines and drives of the city alive from Ni-Nisi.
Silastra Mataku, of the Mat-Mechosians, who build, rebuild, and maintain all a socialoid might see in Mechos Megrod, and are all members of the mobile Mataku Building Society, headquartered in Mat-Nisi.
Silastra Ivahai, of the Iva-Mechosians, who watch the stars for visions of the future, and visit with fellow socialoids at the Parlors of the Future in Iva-Nisi to fortune-tell as they wish.
Silastra Kanoha, of the Ka-Mechosians, who craft and forge the dermorium armor each Mechosian wears, working all day in the Kanoha Armorwells in Ka-Nisi.
These six, the Silastra Maheri, are one of the more obvious areas of Bionicle influence, as they're actually a direct inclusion/adaptation of the six Great Beings from my aforementioned themed AU. In fact, using my experience from crafting the Mechosians, I can probably translate them back into a more-functional, "official" Bionicle AU and explore that side of them just as well; but in any case, I do have some concern over their inclusion into Mechosian lore, as the names were directly taken from either Bionicle stuff proper, or, in the case of Akantai and Ivahai (and, I think, Nihua), @outofgloom's Matoric Language work because they were supposed to represent specific Great Beings who, in this AU, were responsible for specific aspects of the Great Spirit Robot:
Bohdoh created the Bohrok and was associated with the Onu-Matoran of Metru-Nui.
Ivahai was a seer who foresaw the Great Cataclysm and called for various failsafes such as the Bohrok to be created (becoming associated with the Ko-Matoran and the Knowledge Towers of Ko-Metru along the way).
Mataku was the designer of the Great Spirit Robot and creator of the Matoran overall, in turn giving his name to the idea of the Great Spirit Mata Nui and becoming patron of the Po‐Matoran and the carvers of Po-Metru.
Nihua was the creator of the Red Star, where Matoran are created and which once served as a power source for the Great Spirit Robot in this AU until it's torn out during the Great Cataclysm; as an engineer, Nihua became patron of the engineers of Le-Metru and the Le-Matoran overall.
Akantai, the keeper of history and knowledge. As with the Mechosian version, this Great Being original concept was the first known chronicler, who wrote down Ivahai's prophecies, recorded the designs of his fellow Great Beings, and became patron of the teachers of Ga-Metru and the Ga-Matoran overall.
Kanoha, creator of the Kanohi masks worn by Mataku's Matoran, as well as the kanoka discs thrown in Metru-Nui. As such, Kanoha became the patron of the Ta-Matoran forgers of Ta-Metru, like Vakama would one day become.
I never quite figured out what to do with them in this AU, and I ended up with about three different fan-universes for my various Bionicle lore and storylines over time, so I'll admit they're a bit of an awkward inclusion. Especially in the cases of Kanoha and Bohdoh, whose names are so directly drawn from preexisting Bionicle lore from Lego themselves (the Bohrok and the Kanohi/kanoka discs) that they basically make no sense at all when separated from their origins this much.
So, I might change them for Mechosians. I might not. They're minor players in the main Mechosian storylines anyway, but crucial for establishing the divisions and purposes of Mechosian society in general. Also, if @outofgloom turns out not to be comfortable with me co-opting some of their Matoric words for a project that isn't even Bionicle-related anymore, it's probably best to change them than leave them as they are; I haven't asked, as this is the first time I'm posting about this lore outside of my original fan-blog where I made a few posts regarding the AU several years ago, quite a different theme over there than here...
In any case, individual Mechosian stories are fun to plot out. I have a Bionicle OC named Toa Sozonis from one fic meant to explore the idea, whom I've adapted as a Braxanite socialoid who gets destroyed by a Braxanite human named Arzel Toron (who then impersonates Sozonis as a "fake Sozonis"); Sozonis is then "reborn" in Mechos Megrod, as the lattice-keepers known as Kesran are able to pull the residual consciousnesses of fallen socialoids from throughout the Chasm of Stars to Mechos Megrod and "resurrect" them there in brand new bodies spawned for the purpose of rendering them new members of the Mechosian society.
And there's Tumohl and Hepni, as I mentioned. Tumohl is a Mechosian of Knowledge who discovers Hepni was resurrected from an Olmopran socialoid, which is strange because it was believed that Khofu was the only known Olmopran socialoid, and so Tumohl goes on a semi-illicit quest to figure out what the heck is actually going on and what happened to Hepni before her resurrection in Mechos Megrod.
I've already included a set of Bionicle MOCs I made once upon a time, for a currently-unproduced story called The Ghosts Of Desolation, into Pick-n-Mix Comix lore in the earliest webserial I started working on, Escape To Prolune, where they're known as the Desolators and consist of the animal-themed "protocoids" Vespulis, Azurea, Tamulon, Varanus, Sarctis, and Atraxis the Acromanther (but I need to adjust the narrative and retcon the lore from that one, in order to explain the current idea that naturally-spawning socialoids often take themes from the environment they spawn in, which wasn't even close to being an idea when I started working on Escape To Prolune earlier this year).
I think this all has a lot of potential, and still needs a lot of work, but info-dumping helps and pleases me greatly! Even if this wasn't completely Bionicle-related, I'm happy to post about something Bionicle inspired me to make, and reference some of my once-intended Bionicle projects (Adventures Of Toa Sozonis and Ghosts Of Desolation, respectively) along the way.
Check out my AO3 page for Pick-n-Mix Comix, maybe follow some of my story cycle blogs like @braxaniterising or @grimshawcycle if you want (or my original Bionicle fan-blog @inthetimebeforetime), and leave a like or comment if you wanna learn more, if you like piña coladas, or if you wanna pal around in the universe/liked the lore you learned.
Especially if you were able to get through this massive, massive essay about the whole thing. 😆
In order to practice @outofgloom ‘s Matoric language, I have started putting together a Journal in the form of my Matoran stand in character Jasui as he and his friends travel south during the early years of the Matoran Universe.
If anyone is still interested in Matoran, I’m making my version of the Matoran Dictionary (what I’ve been calling edition 2.5) available publicly.
It’s got every Matoran word used by outofgloom, me, youareshauni, and other translators up until around 2018. Check out outofgloom’s blog for a full grammar and rundown on how to use, speak, and write the Matoran conlang.
A while ago I found that the Rahi called the Infernavika doesn't really fit into @outofgloom's matoran language, much in the same way Protodermis doesn't fit the Matoran language, so I took it upon myself to create a Matoran appropriate word for the creature.
Tonoris |pn.| lit. "Volcano Bird" [from tono-rīs, tono "volcano, lit. fire-mountain" and rīs from reas "rahi bird"]
Tono |n.| Volcano [from to-ino, tau u-modified tā "spirit/essence, result of process" and ino "mountain, peak". Variant forms: taino, toino"]
This however brought forth an interesting question and conclusion, Infernavika must be Agori, such as how Protodermis must be too, since there is no other place for those words to have come from otherwise.
Breaking it down, Infernavika comes from Inferna-Vika "Pigeon/Bird which Perches near-to/upon Volcanos/Places of Internal Heat." I immediately see a resemblence with Inferna having to be from Ign-Feirna, with Ign coming from Ignis "Fire", which in and of itself coming from the older word/form Signis but thats it's own story to tell. Now what remains is Feirna, and well, it can be broken down further into fei(r)-na, with fei coming from the accusative vowel shifted form of fa into fe "to be bounded with/to, to be with/upon", i "subjunctive/proportional/genitive-collective plural(izer)", and the semantic metathesized na from an "single, individual, one such of (...) who." So ultimately Inferna means "Place of Heat", which may mean any such thing, from a volcano, to a thermal vent, to a furnace or broiler or even to a pot on a lit stovetop or such similar thing, really just a thing which holds heat.
Next is the word Vika which is easier to backtrack, not that the former was difficult however, from Feika, literally "to perch upon, something which perches" so a Pidgeon, within in the confines of it being a bird, with the modern word Vika specifically meaning more or less Pidgeon, along or seperate from the word 'Thunus' which simply means bird in Common Agori, which has variants across the Agori speaking world. Also to note, the skrall word 'veka', which means to settle, comes from a slight semantic shift from feika within the common proto-language of the northern Peshanic Agori, the Svel Peshani "North Mountainers."
