The TTV Podcast - 255 was released on July 10th, 2017 to Patreon and Youtube. It features several pitches for BIONCLE G3 regarding the societies of Kanae, Motara, and Naho.
Summary[]
The episode begins with the cast joking about the Eljaybot from a few episodes prior. Mesonak announces that the group is working on a G3 story bible.
Varderan pitches that the region of Kanae enters the transportation sector due to its citizens spending much of their time in the other regions. Their government is called a republic, but 90% of the Kanaeans live in poverty. Their people are hyperactive, talkative, daring, and have a short life expectancy. Families from Kanae tend to be large but quickly split apart. Children are considered adults in Kanae long before other regions would recognize them as such. These factors lead to the orphanedVizuna and the bitter Iruni.
In response to Varderan’s Kanaepitch, Jon suggests that some Kanaeans die from simply trying “insane Gukko tricks” and Var clarifies that death is not a big deal to the Kanaeans. Jon adds that perhaps the Kanaeans don’t have funerals, therefore they don’t acknowledge death. Eljay doesn’t argue with the specifics of the pitch, but voices his concern that it is “not very LEGO-like”. Varderan admits that the story would not actually show Kanaean children dying, explaining that many of the details of life in the regions only exist for the creators and writers in the G3 thought experiment.
Varderan adds one more idea for Kanae, that it is the only region that believes in the legend of the toa, holding Lewa in especially high regard. Mesonak suggests that the carefree Kanaeans would not be so religious, thinking they’d be nihilistic instead. Varderan ends this disagreement by proposing that the Kanaeans also believe in the afterlife and that it’s the Ihuans who are nihilistic and most out-of-touch with their elemental god.
Switching focus to Ihu, Varderan suggests that Ihu’s economy is dominated by technology, but Jon recommends Mangai serve that purpose instead. Jon reasons that technology is driven by the military, so the military society of Mangai would be the most advanced region on Artahka. Varderan is taken aback by this, arguing that his version of Mangai was more akin to ancient Sparta than any modern military society.
After this, Jon delivers a pitch concerning Motara. He envisions it as a canyon. There are three, heavily-guarded gates into Motara. There’s one from Mangai, one from Ihu, and one from Tiro. These gates are controlled by “Merchant-Kings”, who are similar to mob bosses. Due to the perpetual sandstorm, it’s hard to enforce any law throughout most of the region, so anarchy is dominant. All three merchant kings work together to set up a central bank in the eye of the sandstorm, which becomes the capital. This is the best guarded area in the region, and it’s home to the biggest kohli field on the island.
In Jon’s pitch, Hafu is one of the merchant kings. As a craftsman, his trade deals in finer things for the wealthier folk of the island. Velika is the oldest living merchant king. He’s a hoarder who speaks in riddles. The final and newest merchant king is Ahkmou, who deals in sports. At some point, he tells Nilkuu to throw a kohlii match, and Nilkuu refuses, causing calamity. The Motarans who are not merchants work in the mines. With lethal working conditions, the mines also serve as debtor’s prisons. There are organizations of hunters with the sole purpose of capturing people who owe debts to the bank and bringing them to work in the mines. The most notable of these organizations is the Dark Hunters, led by The Shadowed One. There are giant lightstones that are used to navigate the treacherous region.
Eljay finds this pitch rather boring, but Mesonak likes the similarities to the Wild West. Jon adds that the real name of The Shadowed One could be Umarak, and Mesonak is sold on the idea. Varderan’s only concern is that the inclusion of the Dark Hunters doesn’t seem necessary, but he also can’t think of a better place to put them in G3
They move on to Tiro, and Jon recommends that they draw from Onu-Metru and grant Tiro archives, universities, and hospitals. Varderan adds that Tiro probably doesn’t join the civil war right away. Mesonak offers that instead of being a chieftain, Korgot could be the leader of a commune. They stress that family is very important to Tiroan society, so it contrasts with Kanaean society (as wind contrast with earth).
Based on a pitch by Message Boards member DarkMaestro, Var proposes Kivoda’s origin story. Kivoda was born without elemental powers, so the High Priestess gives Kivoda the title of Eremite to demonstrate her “voluntary abstention” from elemental power. Only she and the High Priestess know the truth. Because of Kivoda’s lack of elemental powers, she is more capable in physical combat than the arbiters, earning her the attention of the arbiter’s leader, Helryx. There is a strange Kraken-like monster approaching Naho, so Helryx, Vhisola, and Macku bring Kivoda along to fight it. Vhisola is upset that Kivoda rejects Akida’s gift, but Macku tolerates it. As they fight it, they realize that it is learning their tactics. Then, when she needs to use the power to save a drowning arbiter, Kivoda admits that she cannot use elemental power. At this news, Helryx orders Kivoda to go below deck. Kivoda obeys, but continues to study the behavior of the rahi and manages to lure it on to the ship. She uses the ship’s mast to kill it.
Jon suggests that Nokama lead the arbiters, rather than Helryx. He thinks that Helryx could lead a secret, Order-of-Mata-Nui-esque division of the arbiters. Mesonak thinks it’s true enough to her G1 character for Helryx to lead some organization, even if it isn’t a secret one. Varderan adds that in the pitch, Nokama is the High Priestess. Jon maintains that Helryx can’t publicly interface with the rest of Artahka if Naho is supposed to be separate. He offers a compromise that the leader of the arbiters be named Tuyet and the name “Helryx” be reserved for some use later. Jon suggests that Helryx could be the counterpart to Umarak, forming the connections that will lead to the civil war. Varderan declares that he finally feels that they’re diving too deeply into something that the story doesn’t need. He also voices a concern that they might never bring in the version of Helryx that Jon wants, thus never putting such a highly-regarded name to its deserved use. Mesonak expresses his concern over the potential waste of Tuyet’s name, fearing that her G1 characterization as a villain has little in common with the leader of the arbiters. Varderan interjects that in the context of G3, the leader of the arbiters should be in conflict with Toa Gali. Mesonak admits that that the story serials involving secret societies were a polarizing aspect of G1 among fans. Varderan agrees. They mustn’t make the same choice as G1 and let the side stories overtake the main plot involving the toa.
Jon delivers his last pitch of the day. He suggests that there used to be an underwater city in Naho, but the Nahoans lost access to it when the ancient toa locked away the powered masks. This gives the Nahoans another reason to be angry with Gali. Mesonak offers that they draw from G1’s Mahri Nui and have some matoran still living in the sunken city, surviving off of air bubbles. Varderan adds one thing that he drew from DarkMaestro’s pitch, that Kivoda and Hahli are princesses, daughters of High Priestess Nokama. They close the episode by questioning if too many of the toa-destined matoran are royalty and promising to cover the fans’ Toa Nui pitch somewhere down the line. The episode ended with a Patreon Shoutout to ttr_cuddles.
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Trivia[]
- For the mostly US-based cast, this episode was recorded on a Wednesday evening, rather than the usual midday on Saturday.