Dume's lip sync in this shot is way off because he was originally animated to say "Matoran in the morning. Toa by afternoon." before his line was rewritten during post-production. You can clearly see him mouthing "noon" after he stops talking.

This scene also has one of LoMN's worst bits of careless directing and storyboarding. When the Toa get mad at Vakama for his plan to find the Great Disks, Nokama acts completely out of character and gets angry too... when she was the one who convinced them to follow Vakama's plan in the first place.

Vrahno@vrahno.bsky.social · 2w ago

When Turaga Dume dismisses the Disks as mere gifts, the other Toa get mad at Vakama, regretting that they wasted their efforts on his "bright idea". The scene of course exists to set up Dume as a villain who downplays the Toa's achievements to spread doubt and to label them as frauds and criminals.

The Morbuzakh, first villain of 2004, only gets a 12 second cameo in Legends of Metru Nui. This doesn't impact the film's plot but it causes a minor inconsistency. I used to think this was due to the film being written before the rest of the story, but it's more complicated.

This not a criticism of Bionicle, but it was always strange to me that the leader of the spider army was just some guy with zero spider design motifs because Lego had already used an arthropod-like villain design for an unrelated character a year earlier.

Legends of Metru Nui has many lines that were solely written to set up later mysteries and world-building elements, but the single mention of the Great Contest is an example of the film referencing something that was meant to appear but got cut or altered during production.

The Toa's lack of elemental powers in Legends of Metru Nui marks one of the biggest behind-the-scenes lore changes of Bionicle. It created such an obvious inconsistency that the filmmakers had to turn to Greg Farshtey, who then attempted to fix this plot hole in the books.

If this is legit, Minus Zero will be the second ever Japanese Godzilla film shown in Hungarian theaters, 38 years after Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla's theatrical release back in 1988. This could be monumental. godzilla.com/blogs/news/g...

The Bionicle movies often used low-quality models as background characters or crowd filler to save up on costs and rendering time. Standard CGI animation practice. They're mostly well implemented, kept out of focus, but occasionally they're easy to see, like in this crowd of blob-heads.

I feel like poo-pooing Bionicle: The Legend Reborn a little, so let's reminisce on how awful everyone's mouth looks in the film.

Thread #2 on the Vahki in Legends of Metru Nui and how they're written. Their role in the story is negligible, being disposable horde enemies. The film hardly explains what Vahki even are, their lore details being confined to ads, animations and magazine/website blurbs.

Thread #1 on the Vahki in Legends of Metru Nui. Of the Creative Capers Bionicle trilogy's canister-sized villain types (Rahkshi-Vahki-Visorak), their portrayal is sadly the most uninspired. For starters, the film only depicts two of the six Vahki types, both with the wrong tools.

Several elaborate animation effects were planned but ultimately simplified or removed from Legends of Metru Nui, presumably due to budget/tech/deadline issues. They include kinetic display screens forming the shape of Turaga Dume during public announcements.

Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui is a funhouse of half-realized ideas, mid-production rewrites and other compromises. Some scenes make more sense when compared to early script drafts, storyboards and the novelization. What do these tell us about the confusing Dume=Makuta twist?

Primer thread on Turaga Dume and how the movie Legends of Metru Nui piles a jumble of part-obvious, part-contradictory villain twists on top of each other. Fans have argued for decades on how to interpret these, with the actual twist the writers intended often getting lost in the confusion.

This bit in LoMN where Krekka abruptly jerks forward and looks sad used to confuse me, I thought it's an animation error. But looking at the storyboards, this was actually intended as a gag that got fumbled by the animation and editing.

Small thread on the Fire Drones, Vakama's little robot helpers who only show up for a handful of shots and are never acknowledged in the dialogue. They're recycled 3D assets composed of a Bohrok body and a Toa/Turaga head.

Lhikan's capture was originally a more elaborate action scene. This fanmade storyboard-to-film comparison shows some of the differences. Note how certain reaction shots from Lhikan and Nidhiki are reordered, reused or played in reverse to connect other shots. youtu.be/i9oZNYGjdJI

Lhikan's Capture Storyboard to Film - Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui

YouTube video by emily

youtu.be

Nivawk's film design is another confusing phenomenon. Described as a black bird in the script (still under the preliminary name Ka-ki) and released as a black-grey/silver Lego toy, his movie version is anything but monochrome.

These flying bricks with mean faces are Krekka and Nidhiki.

Nidhiki's toy can hardly escape allegations of looking like a giant Vahki, mainly since his head is an unaltered Vahki head. The Lego box art colors his "nostrils" like glowing eyes, which at least gives him some distinction. Legend of Metru Nui's movie design makes him more unique.

Even by Bionicle film standards, Krekka's design is a notoriously radical departure from his toy look, so much so that a casual person might think they're different characters. Especially since his Lego promo art misinterprets his "nostrils" as his eyes and his one true eye as a headlight accessory.

Bionicle's Dark Hunters evolved from an early concept of a couple throwaway bad guys with minor narrative roles to a full-blown faction of diverse but functionally meaningless edgelords who bloated the lore with more characters and plot lines than the writing could manage.

Trying to find thematic links between the Toa Metru's characters and their mask powers, Vakama first confused me. His arc is about getting over his self-esteem issues and becoming a leader, but his power is to make himself unseen. I might have found a mostly workable angle.

Thread on some efficient and clever ways Legends of Metru Nui establishes and develops its main characters in conjunction with their powers. Not only do they each have a personal flaw to overcome, these also had to be tied to their mask powers, which were laid out back in 2001.

Some tool-related continuity gaffes end up in the film due to rewrites and deleted scenes. After Whenua, Nuju and Onewa escape their cell using their mask powers, Whenua drills a hole in the wall to help the whole team escape. Makes you wonder why he didn't use them to get out in the first place...

Vrahno@vrahno.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Thread on how Legends of Metru Nui handles the Toa tools. There are contradictions compared to the toys and other media. To begin with, according to the novel and the guide book, the tools were found in the Suva shrine's compartments. In the film, the tools materialize out of nowhere.

Thread on how Legends of Metru Nui handles the Toa tools. There are contradictions compared to the toys and other media. To begin with, according to the novel and the guide book, the tools were found in the Suva shrine's compartments. In the film, the tools materialize out of nowhere.

Thoughts on the Toa Metru's movie designs. The sets were developed concurrently with the film, so it's interesting to see the two take the same template into different directions.

Some musings on how the differences between the Toa Metru and the Toa Mata designs mirror the thematic contrast of their stories and character arcs.

The Questing Oculus deserves its own thread for being an interesting worldbuilding idea that was near fully realized but went nowhere, becoming an obscure piece of behind-the-scenes trivia.

Vrahno@vrahno.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Legend of Metru Nui's ambitious nature is reflected in the number of finished designs, environment concepts and 3D models that either didn't make it into the film or were only partially used. The early teaser trailer features some of these. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQEd...

Legend of Metru Nui's ambitious nature is reflected in the number of finished designs, environment concepts and 3D models that either didn't make it into the film or were only partially used. The early teaser trailer features some of these. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQEd...

BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui Teaser

YouTube video by BricksOfSteel

youtube.com