Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The Bionicle legend told in stone and sand

Back in 2000 when not much Bionicle material was produced I was faced with a difficult task. On the CD-rom that would be included in some of the launch canisters we were to explain the Bionicle legend visually. How could I show the foundation of the legend without destroying the epic vision?. I would be impossible to produce the 3D scenes that would do the idea justice with giants rising above the clouds. At the same time explaining the foundation would give away the secret of the great robot beneath the seabed. The answer was “keep it simple”. I decided to tell the story in simple shapes of sand and stone. A circle filled with sand where the Turaga would tell the legend and keep the score of good and evil by moving the symbolic stones around. That became the stone legend and it was staged in an ancient temple in the jungle. This temple also worked as the navigation of the CD-Rom produced by Advance with 3D assets from our own 3D department and Ghost. This CD-Rom also included the small movie clips that introduced the original Toa and their environment.







Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

11 comments:

  1. AanchirOctober 17, 2012 at 9:56 AM

    I had this CD-Rom. Got it with the Tahu set I got from a LEGO Mania Magazine offer in summer 2001. It was definitely a great introduction to the BIONICLE mythos.

    And of course the BIONICLE legend as told in the Amaja circles had a wonderful sort of mystery to it, whether as told on this CD, as told in the beginning of BIONICLE: Mask of Light, or as shown in the Mata Nui Online Game's cel-shaded Flash cutscenes. Truly the decision to tell the story this way had a powerful impact on the BIONICLE story, since it never became tiresome in the retelling.

    I seem to remember that in the CD, when it was telling you about the Makuta, there were some carvings presented... was there any special meaning to the individual carvings, or did they just represent Makuta's role as a shapeshifter? Same goes for this carving.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sir Phil Mirrory, Toa of MirrorsOctober 19, 2012 at 10:32 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sir Phil Mirrory, Toa of MirrorsOctober 19, 2012 at 10:33 AM

    The symbol in the middle of the bottom-right picture of the bottom-right image... was it designed with Mata Nui's real body in mind?

    ReplyDelete
  4. FaberOctober 22, 2012 at 1:31 PM

    Thanks for the comments. These carvings were all the naive Matoran icons for a being that could both an individual hero or the center of the legend, Mata Nui. The Matoran that lived on Mata Nui by the time the Toa arrived actually didn't know what the signs ment and that they were a part of this dormant giant. They were weakened by devolution and superstition and overpowered by nature.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dual MatrixOctober 23, 2012 at 12:29 PM

    Wow I am amazed, you alraedy thought about the giants rising in the sky form the beginning. Thats just amazing tinking ahead!!

    Great job, but did you also knew from the start what his mission was (the redormation of Spherus Magna) and als was the real purpose of the bohrok already known.

    Thanks for this great blog,

    A fan

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bahrag92November 16, 2012 at 5:08 PM

    Hey Faber, Love the blog you have. I have a question. Before the 2001 Rahi was brought out, was there any other Rahi ideas that didn't make it to production of the sets?

    You have the Muaka & Kane Ra, Nui jaga, Nui Rama, Tarakava and the Manas. But was there other Rahi that was designed or was put on the table as a idea?

    I'm just wondering because there was the Sand Tarakava. So may there have been other infected Rahi that was going to be one of the main titans of the 2001 story line, that was decided not to be put into the story line for what ever reasons? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  7. FaberNovember 18, 2012 at 3:22 PM

    Hi Bahrag92
    I can tell you that I just found an old DV tape containing shots of all the prototypes of the Rahi of 2001 and there were some very nice ones that didn't make it to the shops. My favorite was a remote controled walking beast with a rotating ball and chain. If I get the go from LEGO I will cut an edit of the tape and post it here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bahrag92November 20, 2012 at 7:38 AM

      Hey Faber, thanks a lot for replying to me in such a short time. That sounds really interesting and I believe will answer a lot of questions to a lot of fans. I hope that you get the go from Lego because I think it will be amazing to see a part of the history of Bionicle in another light. I hope we can all see these Videos because it sounds fascinating. Thanks a lot for replying, I really enjoy your Blog for what you have done for Bionicle but also I enjoy looking at the other projects you have done. I hope to see this video in the near future.
      Thanks Bahrag92

      Delete
    2. Dual MatrixNovember 20, 2012 at 12:53 PM

      Totaly agree with mr. Bahrag92 up here.

      I also hope you will one day join BZP. That would be awesome!

      I really love your work and the way you shaped bionicle.

      Thanks alot

      Delete
  8. WyxApril 25, 2015 at 4:37 AM

    This CD, as well as the one included in Nestlé cereals, came in extremely handy for us who didn't get the comics and couldn't go on the internet at the time. I believe this is where I first found out that Gali was a girl, and tons of other important info.

    The presentation was really atmospheric too. The simplistic storytelling with the stones and carvings, the ambient jungle sounds in the background, and how everything looked so ancient and mysterious. And of course those great character animations, those had a big impact on me as a kid, and I still like to rewatch them. Set a nice tone for the line's introduction.

    ReplyDelete
  9. jamesOctober 9, 2020 at 8:01 AM

    i never know the use of adobe shadow until i saw this post. thank you for this! this is very helpful. marble fireplaces

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)