What Could've Been | Top 10 Early BIONICLE Ideas 

The "only 12 matoran to a village" makes sense when you realize that there were only 12 mask designs for the matoran to wear. 6 from the toa and 6 from the turaga.

I'll be honest- the idea of the Great Beings, who embody the spirit of creation, make me think they're a symbol of us- the ones who, by playing with our LEGO sets, create and destroy characters, storylines, universes and entire legends. In that sense, WE are the Great Beings.

Tbh I think the initial mystical feel was far simpler, compelling, and easier to hop on to than the complicated and deep sci-fi tone of later on, but there's no denying that the latter definitely has fleshed out the world and its characters much better than the former would have. Ultimately I think the early years transitioned into the later ones really well and like Bionicle the way it is, although I would definitely introduce newcomers to the early years first.

What's most fascinating is that we still saw the DNA of these concepts in the repurposed canon. In Mask of Light, the Movie, the Toa are sometimes called the "Spirit" of their respective elements rather than "Toa." Makuta is still pretty much formless, as it is revealed later. We see him manifest his presence before Takua in the film, we see him as a tornado of Darkness in the second film (as he formed his new armor, and of course, his essence was contained in the Zamor Sphere vat he had Zaktan build. The purpose of the Bohrok was essentially intact. And, of course, the concept of mass stasis and memory loss stayed intact in some form or another.

"My duty is to the mask of shadows" could be taken figuratively, like a civil servant in the UK or Canada saying "my duty is to the crown," where the crown refers to the state rather than what the Queen wears on her head. "The mask of shadows" could refer to the Brotherhood of Makuta, where the Exo-toa armies are property of the mask of shadows, and the Nynrah ghosts who built it are paid by the mask of shadows.

We know that Mata Nui created all the Makuta, so there's a real possibility that Makuta represents Mata Nui's inner evil even in the canon as it currently exists. It would provide further explanation as to why Makuta is Mata Nui's metaphorical "brother."

I wish Lego made a poll on their site asking fans what their favorite Bionicle G1 set was and then,a week after the poll, say that they are going to produce that set again for a limited amount of time but with stronger plastic. But I already know this will never happen..

14:40 That's actually really *really* poetic. Intesting they used the term Malestrom, I wonder if LEGO Universe took any inspiration from that.

In the end, I always see Bionicle implementing more sci-fi topics into its theme as it developed, no matter what could've been changed. The sci-fi element was pretty much always there thanks to the giant robot, just intentionally not made obvious at the time. The only way to avoid a more heavy sci-fi theme being introduced would've been to dump the giant robot as a whole, and that would be quite a heavy slice of the pie to remove. The biggest issue their story faced will have always been the lack of a consistent mainstream piece of accessible and marketed media with rigid story management. There's a reason people only bother to say "the red one" not Tahu whenever I see Bionicle brought up on a popular message board. People saw a toy theme with a website full of secondary stuff, not a story first and foremost with quality merchandise. Everything LEGO made to tell its story contradicted the other at some point, or got cut off and changed to something else before it had time to become the staple. Ignoring the books of course, because you know, books /=/ mainstream appeal in the modern world, not without adaptions. Without a considerable mindset shift from a toy theme to a story-first property, and heavy investment from LEGO, it would've never hit the big time spotlight like other large properties such as Star Wars, especially with their dire finances during its lifetime. I don't think, at least for fans, it would've never been well handled or big enough for what LEGO could offer at the time. Hindsight is 20/20. Their effort was impressive nonetheless, a property I personally value as much as any of the other multi-billion dollar ones, and hey, I'm just glad they ended up making it.

Can we wake up the Bionicle community again? It's too quiet at the moment.

So Mata Nui was essentially Metroplex.

I kinda always thought as why Makuta reason for casting Mata Nui to sleep changed from wanting to spare him from pain to outright ruling the universe.

To me, the saddest cut was Makuta actually having noble intentions but nasty means of executing them. Now THAT would have been a twist because, frankly, Makuta, I'm sorry, Teridax just got on my nerves as he turned out.

Please make more videos like this about early/deep lore. It’s absolutely fascinating.

I’m such a big nerd for bionicle, I probably would of loved it either way.

My favorite is the 5th. I love antagonists with good motivations! Teridax should have been that way! Why didn't they keep that version of him? It would have worked perfectly, and made him into a more likable character!

“My religion has robots that have control over the elements, what about yours?”

Holy crap! Bionicle top tens are back!!!!

I like that last original idea. I alwayshad the theory that the Great Beings were humans, but this makes more sense. Though I think I liked what we got more.

If they ever do a BIONICLE movie set in the Lego Movie universe, they should use the Makuta representing destruction as a concept.

I like the Mata Nui Robot’s original purpose a lot better because looking at this version it really does make sense why the Matoran would worship him since Mata Nui in this case really is a savior. Though there are some flaws to this idea like if the Matoran lost their memories after the Great Cataclysm then how did they find out about the legend of Mata Nui and the Toa’s arrival? Things like that would need to be fleshed out but all in all I really like this idea.

I always thought since I’ve first heard of them, that Great Beings were humans (if as an alternate universe to ours then past that colonnised the earth or future that searched for a new home)

What if the story ended, and then humans were woken from hypersleep? What would the fan reaction have been? Probably chaos and a few deaths, but you know, it's better to not focus on what could have been and just be happy with what you have.

My favorite theory about makuta is that he knew that once mata nui fixed spherus magna, the matoran and all the other MU inhabitants would be shut down, and that by taking over the MU, he could disable that function. I’m also really glad the Toa were personally relatable instead of being stoic “gods.”

Hearing the original intention of the Mata Nui robot definitely reminds me of the story from Xenogears. Original Bionicle would have made for a really cool JRPG.

It is cool how Makuta began as a matoran to an entire worlds as the mata-nui robot.

It's funny to hear the term of "Rahi evolution" because I recently compiled a full list of all the Rahi from Metru Nui and Mata Nui with pokemon-esque stats and types. Some Rahi evolve into others but not TOO many. About half maybe

I remember when I was a kid seeing in the description of Makuta saying "some say he has three heads" and being obsessed with that concept. Somewhere stored away in my room I'm sure there's still really bad drawing I made on what I thought that would look like. When we finally saw him in 2003, I was a little disappointed with the lack of two extra heads, but I got over it lol

I have to admit I probably wouldnt have enjoyed the story more in the beginning had they started off with the Great Spirit Robot and everything. I liked following the first part of Bionicle from the eyes of the Toa, only knowing what they knew about the island and all this mystery about what was going on. It would have been interesting if Cahdok and Gahdok (probably didnt spell those right. The Bahrag) hadn't experienced amnesia and knew what was going on the entire time and questioned the Toa fighting them and wondering why they were being stopped from completing their mission.

I always saw the floating parts version of makuta to be representative of destruction, whilst the toa were representative of creativity, the bohrok sitting somewhere between the two by wanting to exact a balance or have things the "right" way. I imagined makuta was a spirit of destruction, and wanted only to make the world as chaotic and disorganised as himself

FINALLY A G1 BIONICLE VID WE NEED MORE BIONICLE G1 IN THIS WORLD

Very very low key wish Bionicle had only lasted the first three years with all those originally concepts of aloof gods in MNOG, and that it had really just been a colony, and I love the three finger bohrok island and and and and gahhhh this stuff is so heckin cool

I wish that the toa inika were the chroniclers company from MNOG.

I wish Bionicle comes back, only much better than the short G2 version.

Super interesting and engaging video, good job guys!

To be fair about the whole "Makuta sparing Mata Nui from suffering" thing, he actually might have been in the way the story worked out too. After all, we later find out that Mata Nui was dying. It may have been a painful process if he wasn't asleep.

I think that a lot of the early concepts and what concepts that did become into the story that a gen 3 Bionicle could be made by polishing the lore some more by incorporating the mythical aspect as the main focus.

Well as long as many of these ideas seem really interesting, I think Bionicle has gone into really good direction and worked well as this interesting mash-up of sci-fi and fantasy, really wish G2 was more successful

I’m glad you guys are bringing back the top tens, since that’s how I found ttv. Happy to see the variations

This was a nice surprise to wake up to. Thanks so much for helping to spread this around! --Maku

It's been awhile, my childhood.😢

woah the early Bionicle ideas are interesting!

The very earlier iterations of Bionicle were by far my favorite. Everything that came out after the movie just felt like it was losing that shine that made it so appealing for me.

19:00 I know this might be weird, but I imagine the Great Beings were or are humans (they are never often seen in images so maybe). Is there any sources that suggests otherwise

I never knew that the Great Spirit Robot was originally planed to be an evacuation ship. That's a really cool idea that would have taken Bionicle in a completely different direction.

Omg Bionicle was my childhood. I love ur channel. Please do more reivews 😎

The twelve Matoran idea could be expanded for more: characters like Jaller, Takua, and Nuparu have secondary colors. They there could be Matoran that have secondary colors and those that don't. I can see why they changed this: to allow for the Metru Nui storyline. Without there being more its the equivalent of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, LA, Huston, Phoenix, each having a population of like twelve people.

I like and dislike the idea of the giant spirit robot; the idea of him being some kind of downed machine which the Matoran, Turaga, and Toa are basically programmed to think of as some dormant spirit makes for a brilliant bit of Sci Fi, but at the same time I've never really thought of Bionicle as a Sci Fi series desite it having obvious Sci Fi elements, to me it's always been more of a mythological series, mind you I only followed Bionicle from its release to the second Metru Nui sets so I may be a little bit bias.

What if they had combined both versions of Makuta Teridax? That would give us the greatest Villain ever! Or at least up there with Thanos and the Joker!

So what you're telling me, is that Makuta was originally a virus that was on a giant space ship? That sounds sick!

Nice, you're back to top 10 lists!

One of my favourite what ifs is definitely the first movies' interpretation of Makuta. I kinda dislike how he was portrayed later on.

I'm glad they took out the 'worshipping Toa" thing...... I like the characters more with their down to earth unique personalities and protective nature towards the Matoran.

the secret texts have been revealed!

Awesome video, this is the type of content that makes the day better

If lego some how decides to do a gen 3 for bionicle, they should used some of old ideas for the series and make the story darker. edit: lego should make bionicle into a game series similar to metroid or zelda and for the collectors edition you get a bionicle set. edit (2): bioshock, halo 1-2, warframe, Doom 4/2016, titanfall 1-2 with zelda & metroid would be good games for inspiration for a g3 bionicle if lego decides to bring bionicle back, again.

Out of everything from my childhood Bionicle is probably the thing I tend to look back on with the least amount of scrutiny but when I do I can see it wasn't perfect. I love what came later too but it definitely would've been preferable to take more from that first take on Makuta and blend the more mystical aspects in to the following years. I still don't think Bionicle suffers as a whole all that much from it's flaws though and feel it's the best original world to come out of the last 20 years of fiction.

I still remember the sense of wonder I had playing the online game. Getting the piece of the sundial, figuring out where it went and using the lights tone to reveal the path to the golden mask. So many core memories from that game alone.

13:11 the “he could have three heads” line further strengthens the idea of makuta as the devil. In Dante’s inferno, satan has three heads.

So the initial concept for Mata Nui reduced all the characters to glorified utilities.

A+ for the voice acting, Meso. If they ever make Bionicle G3 and a movie to go along with it, they should consult you for voice acting rolls.

wow. this is amazing. i love seeing what could have been. this was fantastic to hear thank you.

Cheers Meso, and everyone involved.

5:01 the ideA

Bruh the agori being humans sounds so cool tho

Thanks Meso for providing inspiration for my G3 :)

TTV IS BACK TO BIONICLE? WOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!

I see you've been grave digging

your ideas ar e worthy of being a dissertation topic for a University-level Anthropology class. It's extremely high-level, and I would love to see someone make a thesis on this!

Ayy Bionicle Top Tens are back, memories have returned (lol)

What if Bionicle had a second parallel continuity in which these unused ideas - notably the #2 ranked one with Teridax being that embodiment of destruction - were used?

I always thought, as a kid, that Makuta in Mask of Light was sort of an authoritarian survival process for Mata Nui. That Mata Nui had been damaged or injured somehow and that Makuta had placed him in a state of stasis. I also anticipated that Metru Nui housed whatever had injured Mata Nui and that in keeping Mata Nui asleep as well as keeping the Matoran from Metru Nui, he felt like he was protecting them. I thought that on returning to Metru Nui, the Toa would have to join with Makuta to fight off the REAL bad guy of Bionicle to save Mata Nui and wake him. I was, of course, very very wrong haha.

in the bohrok transformation the middle one looks like one of those creatures in the makuta orbs

A top 10 Bionicle, i say yes!

Trigun lore parallels. Great vid!

Love this channel

Top tens are finally back!

Hmmm... I see some ideas in there that could be incorporated into Brickonicle.

New top tens....Hype!!

man you guys have such a beautiful intro

HOLY HIGH HEAVEN A TOP TEN VID!!!!

Cool a new top 10 and a really interesting one too

Yay I love the top 10s

I think I prefer what the role for the Great Spirit Robot would have had, a giant robotic ark for the inhabitants of the Great Beings' doomed home world, rather than what we got, which was a giant robot built to fix the Great Beings' world after taking a trip across the universe to continue the Great Beings' quest for knowledge.

I REMEMBER THESE THINGS I LOVED THEM!!!

Tbh I prefer the old concepts of Makuta then what we actually got. Him being the dark side of Mata Nui is so much more interesting than the kind of goofy villain we got

I guess the Makuta thing makes sense in the actual G1 story, specifically the Toa Empire universe where Teridax had a Hau instead of a Kraahkan

I much prefer the original direction of Bionicle. That’s what drew me into it in the first place. Once the Inika came around I was out.

The gravity Matoran and Pyshonics were a cool concept too

Makuta, no matter which version, is my favorite villan ever.

If LEGO does a Gen 3 version of Bionicle, make it a reboot of Gen 1 and follow the original story that was envisioned from concept in 2001.

Could the next top 10 detail the inconsistencies within the Canon Bionicle Lore?

An important question: How is the music called, that you use in these kinds of videos? Is it custom or bionicle related?

it would've been nice if these 10 early ideas for Bionicle came to existence.

11:40 When have Makuta been manipulating the island?

Teridax being able to be good on the inside one way or another is also implied by the Melding universe's Teridax, who still wears the Mask of Shadows to fight its dark influence every day.

I’m surprised someone uploaded a video for bionicle

Man new gen 1 material time to read up!

I pray for the day that bionicle comes back

Humans in Bionicle... What an interesting concept that would be! Unfortunately, that very same concept has been used countless times in really bad fanfictions...