Reblogged firesidefantasy
did you ever expect to understand? // you will find your own way someday ♡
Reblogged
Ey so what was your thesis about Bionicle as a meta-narrative/story-about-stories? I´m a huge fan of meta-ficiton/meta-narratives and never thought of the series that way so your take regarding it got me really interested.
So, there’s a bunch of facets to this.
Basically, Bionicle characters know they are in a story. This doesn’t mean that they know they’re fictional characters or that there’s an audience of humans watching, but their universe designates people as heroes, villains, and bystanders/victims. The universe runs on story logic, almost to the same extent as Discworld, though with superhero comics and hero mythologies rather than high fantasy and fairy tales. The “genre savvy” characters are of a more subtle type as well. The heroes go into a situation with an expectation of how it will end, because they have some idea what their destiny is, and heroes are always expected to win, right? But they are still often surprised by the outcome, because the story they were told is only a fraction of a more complex reality.
Let’s start with the first obvious storyteller: Vakama
The backstory, as first told to us by Vakama invokes mythic tropes such as creation stories, Cain and Abel style brotherly betrayals, and heroes who arrive from a distant land. Despite the fact that the characters are clearly some sort of robots or cyborgs, we’re immediately told that their setting runs on the logic of magic and myth. So Vakama and the other Turaga, as the storytellers, give the heroes and the audience an idea of how this world works and how things will turn out. This mythic story also represents the power of stories to persist and carry meaning through time, shaping thought and belief, even after the original facts have been long forgotten.
But then Vakama pulls out the rug from under us with the reveal of Metru Nui. Suddenly the story shifts from fantasy to scifi, from humble villages in harmony with their environment to a futuristic dystopia. This time the heroes are not beloved figures of myth, but vigilantes pitted against a corrupt police state. Again, Vakama is telling the story though, and he holds control over how his audience perceives the events and characters. And yet again, he is leaving something out- the Visorak and Hordika. Initially, he intended to keep that secret. It didn’t fit the story he was trying to tell. He had a perfect character arc laid out for himself in Legends of Metru Nui in his journey from a shy, anxious mask maker into a confident hero and leader. That was all anyone needed to know, right?
The Hordika represent yet another genre shift, this time into noir/horror. The heroes do not act heroically. They do not look heroic. Their character development is often negative. They are implied to be an aberration at even the cosmic level, since the Great Temple, and implicitly Mata Nui himself, rejects them. They find out that their selection as Toa came about thanks to Makuta himself. The story has gone horribly wrong, and the heroes know it. But nevertheless, the Toa resolve their differences, teamwork saves the day yet again, the prophecy is fulfilled For That Is The Way Of The Bionicle.
Vakama has very little to do in the legends arc. Because he’s been established by now as a less than reliable expositor, it is the always truthful Nokama who drops the reveal instead: Mata Nui is dying.
Vakama’s stepping down from his storytelling role allows for the gradual reveal of another storyteller: Makuta Teridax.
Chronologically, Makuta’s first real foray into weaving the narrative around others happened in Time Trap. He constructs his own elaborate narrative around Vakama in order to manipulate his mind and behaviour. But Vakama fails to play his part as the protagonist correctly, causing Teridax’s constructed narrative to fall apart.
By the time we become aware of his role in the ignition arc, Teridax has improved his technique as a puppet master/ storyteller considerably. Almost every conflict the heroes face has been orchestrated by him, pitting minor villain groups against the heroes to give them the victories that their story requires. Teridax seems aware that heroes have to ‘win’ because Destiny demands it, so he lets them, but it’s all in service of his own ultimate victory. Instead of the ‘cross-wired’ and unpredictable Vakama, Teridax targets the dutiful but socially isolated and secretive Matoro, who he basically grooms to be the perfect little sacrifice. Matoro performs his role perfectly, and gives the heroes an apparent bittersweet victory while allowing Teridax to put the final stages of his plan in motion.
#OH MY GOSH#yeah i need to reread everything and then be Very Emotional#but this makes me think of Mata Nui on Bara Magna#drawing others into his own narrative about heroes and villains and forgotten powers buried in the desert#winning his fight with the skrall glatorian because he knew he must#and because he too believed in this narrative arc#bionicle#story#destiny#meta narratives
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t h e f i s h
fish is a minor npc from my dnd campaign. she is a nixie who appears as a school of fish underwater, and humanoid on land.
this mini diorama is made of clear & blue plastic sheets and 3d printed fish. the plastic box is empty inside; the fish are all glued to each other and to the top of the box.
Reblogged that-one-person-you-follow
mostly-funnytwittertweets
Reblogged h311hound
making art is just like showering………can’t get up and do it, can’t stop when you’ve started. you want to crawl out of your skin if you don’t do it often enough. everything in the world is the exact same
Reblogged hellforcertain
Why does no one talk about the boredom of chronic illness? Like I have to spend so much time resting, that I’ve just run out of things to do, despite trying every hobby I can think of
Reblogged prismatic-bell
Source: youtube.com
Reblogged late-nite-scholar
BREAKING UPDATE ON THE PLUMOCALYPSE!!!
When I got home the neighbor kids were hanging around the parking lot as they usually do. I saw an adult making the rounds and popped out of my car hoping to snag her and ask if she’d like plums. I didn’t see her when I got out. But I saw a little girl and I said, “Is that your mom walking around?”
No, I was informed.
“Well can you ask your mom if she wants plums?”
She ran off. I looked over and saw two slightly older girls lounging. “Do you want plums?” I called.
Yes.
I grabbed my enormous box of plums and brought it outside. All three girls were waiting and the first kid said, “She’ll take them.”
I told them I had been given 106 plums. They were suitably impressed. I held out the box to let them pick out plums but the first girl confidently took the box. “You don’t have to take them all if you don’t want…” I offered dubiously.
“We want them.”
So I handed her the whole damn box, at this point somewhere close to 87 plums. And just like that, I was free. Her mom might be upset at receiving 87 plums or maybe her daughter gauged correctly that they could actually use them but either way. I am blissfully free.
THIS IS A FAIR ASSESSMENT OF MY BEHAVIOR
Reblogged void-tiger
Reblogged jackironsides
Jon: Wow look at all of these Freaks and Weirdos in these statements. Good thing that I'm unlike them and always logical and intelligent.
Also Jon: Supplemental-- I am in the walls.
supplemental: tim complimented my shirt today. i’m now stalking his home address
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Well I'm nothing if not inconsistent 😅 I just couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to make something nice for this girl, as she'd clearly been through it before she got to me. So I decided to finish up the first Comfi Cardi for her. Stayed up way too late to do it, but I'm glad I did. Had to shorten the sleeves quite a bit, but otherwise it's a good fit.
Might add some trim later but I hit my limit for the night.
I've decided Opal is a senior cat, as her cranky yet loveable visage reminds me of one of my sadly departed kitties who was with me nearly twenty years.
And now I really ought to be going to sleep 😴
Morning reblog of my late-night antics
Reblogged jackironsides
@leaving-earth requested the least seen movies. So here we have a list of the top 100 films that tumblr users reported as having heard of but not having seen per results on @haveyouseenthismovie-poll.
TW: A couple of films famous for racism are on this list so please enter at your own risk.
Reblogged wildfaeworld
i don’t paint often, but when i do
it’s world unicorns
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I’ve been talking about rutatarri in general, but I am returning to my three soldiers because man, I have fun with the rutatarri military.
I developed them originally for a tabletop setting, and the rutatarri are heavily melee-focused— while they have thumbs, their claws make them clumsier with delicate work than other sentients, and they struggle to use tools or weapons not designed for them. In modern times, their ranged weaponry is usually built into their armor or strapped to their arms.
But for close combat? You do not want to get in a bar fight with a rutatarri. Even naked and unarmed, they can kick hard enough to cave in a human rib cage, and that bite’s no joke. They’re also larger than any other sentient, save for a few bloodlines of squids that produce huge females.
So, it is a BIG DEAL when a couple of human captives who have never seen one before run into three of these guys who are ARMED, only to immediately get adopted by them
Turarri, Delri, and Ridei are part of a mated group that specializes in ship raids— their harem-keeper, Kren, was a grey captive in her youth and is a famously brutal, capable commander.
(side note— rutatarri full names are descriptive! affection-bonded rutatarri names translate out to “given-name role-honorific of home-location”, which is… shorter in their language. in introductions, they also number their mates and children. Translated example would be “Ruhi with high civilian status of Linguistics Bay, 3 mates, childless”. purpose-bonded rutatarri use their harem-keeper’s name instead, so these guys are “Turarri with military status belonging to Kren, 46 mates, 18 children” and so on.)
((untranslated, his name is Turarri-ahn ri-Kren))
(((I don’t actually have a full list of honorifics oops)))
Ship raiders have an obscenely high fatality rate, as the only safe way to handle a grey ship is to blow it up. Science ships, however, usually have both key intel and prisoners, so the rutatarri raid them instead of they can. When they find human test subjects during their raid, they are intent on bringing them along.