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Q & A: Toys & MoviesLego Bionicles Good or bad? |
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Answer: (From a concerned parent) Somebody asked me about these and what the story behind them is. This is the story as told by my son:
Mata Nui came down from the "other world" and gave the six villages peace. Then his brother Mukuta came down and cast a spell on his brother and put him to sleep and took away the peace. Then there was a legend that six Toa would come down and find the six masks of power. There are six different
masks for all six of the Toa. Once they found all six masks, they can fight off the Mukuta and restore the peace.I have watched and read stories with fantastical powers and they didn't bother me. But I guess the masks with powers did. Have you ever just gotten a bad feeling about something? It seemed to fall in line with Pokeman and Harry Potter.
The eyes on these Legos look a bit intense, if you ask me. They have an evil look to them. The Lego behind them is clear and colored so for example; one of them looks like it has fiery red eyes. I have to admit that it looked kind of eerie. One of them has claws and another holds a huge ax. These are supposed to be for manual labor but it doesn't look like it to me. I honestly thought these were robots and had no idea there was some story behind them until Michael looked at the CD story that came with them.
Toys are one of those areas where it seems to be a constant battle. I really thought I could trust Lego because they've done such wonderful things to help these boys learn all sorts of building skills. But this is too weird. =-)"
Answer: (From "Robin") I have always been happy that my boys enjoy Legos, and never thought to even investigate any new item that they put out.
I was upset to find that I was so careless, I not only let that junk into my home, but encouraged it without even checking it out.
Warning to Parents: Do not rely on the past reputation of any toy company, check them out! Information quoted from "Bionicle, Part 2 of 3, Trapped by the Rahi!" July 2001, Lego/TechnicAlso see www.bionicle.com
From Robin: I have always been happy that my boys enjoy Legos, what a great toy, and never thought to even investigate any new item that they put out, we even ended up on the mailing list and now receive numerous catalogs.
One day I noticed them role playing with their beloved "bionicles" which I thought to be harmless robots, and heard them saying things that sounded just like they were playing with Pokemon (or close enough.) I immediately asked them (while my skin was crawling) where they were getting all those wild ideas from. "It's right here in the book, Mom!" Come to find out, these Bionicles have quite a story to tell, all spelled out in the Lego magazine in a comic strip format, which my boys had been devouring for weeks.I was upset to find that I was so careless, I not only let that junk into my home, but encouraged it without even checking it out.
The story speaks of "..The Great Spirit Mata Nui descended from the skies like a burning star." "He walked the world and marveled at its beauty and watched over all living things." But he was followed by "..his brother, The Dark Spirit Makuta. Makuta coveted this world and all that his brother had." The "Dark Spirit" cast a spell that made "Mata Nui" fall asleep, now this world (sometimes referred to as an island) is in "Darkness" and in need of rescue. That is where the Bionicles come in, the have been sent by the "Great Beings" to save the world. And of course, these "mighty heroes" are to be equipped with "six Kanohi Masks of Power." "Each mask grants the wearer new power and wisdom."The "Great Mask" list:Miru - The great Mask of Levitation (to float and glide on air)Hau - The Great Mask of ShieldingKakama - The Great Mask of SpeedKaukau - The Great Mask of Water (to breath under water)Pakari - The Great Mask of StrengthAkaku - The Great Mask of X-Ray VisionSound familiar?More masks are being added to this story, and I have not had enough time to research any further. Just annoyed that I didn't see it coming. My boys could make better use of their time.What really gets me is that these "Bionicles" do not even require much effort to assemble - Lego is promoting new age role playing along with "dumbing down" what used to be an educational toy! (Now they also have a Harry Potter line!)Warning to Parents: Do not rely on the past reputation of any toy company, check them out!Information quoted from "Bionicle, Part 2 of 3, Trapped by the Rahi!" July 2001, Lego/TechnicAlso see www.bionicle.comThank you, Robin. I really appreciate all this information and am sure it will help others.
The following comments are found on BIONCLET: Mask of Light website at http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2003/bioniclemaskoflight.html. It's sobering to see how many children from Christian families simply accept occult or pagan suggestions because they seem similiar to Christianity in some ways. That's all the more reason to teach our children to "put on" the whole Armor of God and to read The Invisible War.
Synopsis of the movie:
"Jaller and his best friend Takua set off on their journey to find the 7th Toa, a mysterious guardian who will help protect their island home. With the guidance of the Mask of Light and the united strengths of the other six Toa, the brave companions must overcome the powerful Makuta and his menacing Rahkshi. They must prevail or the island of Mata Nui will be doomed to an eternity of darkness! [In other words, the pagan heroes rely on a magical Mask to save the island]
"...A young hero and his brave companions must overcome powerful forces and dangerous obstacles in their struggle to save their world and fulfill ancient prophecies." [But remember that in a pagan context, all magical forces become evil in the sight of God, no matter how "good" they may seem in the fantasy.]
"...the Great Spirit illuminated us with the three virtues: Unity, Duty, Destiny." [This sounds like politically correct propaganda for the new global values!" See Becoming an Ant]
Comments from other critics
"Presents a... Greek/Roman/primitive/pagan worldview where darkness and light come together... Distinctions between good and evil are therefore blurred...."Positive - I watched this movie with my 13 year old & 6 year old sons. ... I found a number of biblical references throughout the movie...."
Comments from young people:
"Positive - It did have some things that surprised me, such as Gali meditating, referring to the Toa as 'spirits', and Jaller coming back to life... "
"Neutral - A great story moral about sacrifice, but with magic and ancient powers, Parents should watch with their children." [Watching with parents doesn't protect the child's mind against the many suggestions and occult images.]
"Positive - I am a major Bionicle fan, along with my little brothers and sisters. This movie had some events matching those in the Bible, (the part where Taka Nuva tells the matoran to gather the villagers and wait for his return matches the biblical event of Jesus telling his followers to gather and wait for his return)..." [No, it doesn't! Here truth blends with myth and the result is spiritual synthesis and confusion.]
"Positive - ... In the end, good always triumphs over evil." [Does it? Here in this world -- among those who embrace paganism?]
"Positive - ...The movie showed how Jala and Takua have a duty to mata-nui, just as we have our duty to Christ."A comment from Straker, a bionicle fan:
i collect bionicle and enjoy the near endless adaptability of the toys, i customize them all, so when i was looking for some info i found this site and , well the first thing i read was several people trying to draw similarities to that horrible reject of a cartoon pokemon (insert flesh crawling shudder here). well i was taken aback, i can not understand what can be so bad about this.
see the story is written as if ...well say you didn't know anything about robots or computers or technology at all, then one day a machine walks across your yard .... that is the way these stories are written, let's draw some parralells o.k.?
The spirit of mati nui and all that, and makuta , and the toa and the islanders and all of that are machines, lets get that established right now. As reference i suggest you take a look at the bionicle web site and watch the very slow and time consuming animation section, you will notice that every time they move it is accompanied by the sound of a motor whirr. at no time is the image of the character any different from the toy likeness, in fact the characters even show up on the island in containers like the toys come in.
The masks of power can easily be interprited as bad if you don't think "technology." See , it's like a computer like that, the toa are a walking moving computer, the masks are a program/ driver that work off the power packs that run the toa, each mask contains a different program allowing for different abillities: anti gravity, force field generaters, enhanced vision, and even a field that reenforces the structural and physical strength of the robot, things that science is working on right now.
but what of the spreading of peace and darkness, well as stated before if all the inhabitants of the island are machines, than the answer is as simple as a computer virus , implanted by makutas mask of darkness and the spreading of peace wold be an anti-virus program, or an opposite of a bad virus...whatever that may be...don't laugh, it was late when i wrote this.Now as to the actual story, that's a different matter, most companies that write stories to acompany a toy line have multiple writers that think up stuff that may be based on their own personal beliefs. That being said , i think that parents should be wachfull in anything that their kids watch, or read, however don't let that stop you from buying the toys , let your kids own imagineation make them up if you don't care for the story, and don't attack the building value of the toys either, as if in some lame justification of your self you need to say, well they just weren't that great of a toy annyhow!
I could show all of you just what can be done with these building toys, they are very upgradable, and can be merged with even stanard legos.
well that leaves just one point: the idea that they look evil, the glow feature is desighned to look neat, one person desribes the eyes as fiery red eyes. Yeah, um thats what we call clear red plastic...not the fires of hell and not those ax's and claws. They are weapons, that is why the one that looks like it carries a sword and sheild , is carrying a sword and sheild.Aside from mindless atomatons, i've never seen a toa robot kill any thing in any of the stories i've read or wached. and to reenforce the whole robot thing, those they hove dimantled by force (heh, heh) have been salvaged for parts by the islanders to make new machines...so don't even try to tell me these aren't robots we're dealing with.
Many people think that bionicle is coming to a close any way, that the line has run it's course an that lego will soon reveal that these bots were built by man and that the world they live in is earth along time from now and the toa are military robots, and mati nui himself was a defense satilite that reactivated the robots on earth, and makuta is a combat controll computer from....wherever and that mati nui takes place after mankind is extinct. But we all know that won't happen , that it's impossible ,
that in the end it's just sci fi. so lighten up, get an imagination and if you don't like it don't watch it, buy it , or lash out against it, and let people make up their own minds about it , because unlike the characters in bionicle, we're not all mindless machines.
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