#writeup

Mata Nui Online Game is one of the most core parts of Bionicle for me, I'd even go as far as saying I'm more of a MNOG fan who is also a fan of the tie in action figures.

I think one of the most endearing things about it is its art style, its sometimes quite rough, but it just comes together to make some very evocative imagery.

One of the most interesting examples of the very economical way in which this game was made is, I think, the Ussal crab.

The Ussal is first introduced in the Onu-Koro chapter of the game, an area focused around a large mine, and in keeping with this there's a lot of machinery. A few years ago I 3d modelled a lot of them, which is where I first had the realisation that the bulk of them are actually reusing Ussal graphics.

Its something that's come up quite a bit since so I feel I'd like to have a document that covers it all in detail for future reference.

To begin with: this is the Ussal. Its a cute little crab. It has a little rubber band function that lets it do little punches. Even though it first appeared as a set in 2002 it was all over 2001, from MNOG, to the card game Quest For The Masks, to the video games Quest for the Toa and the cancelled Legend of Mata Nui, and its even one of the first creatures you see in the comics!

MNOG, being a flash game, constructed the Ussal out of several simplified collections of parts that could be animated separately. They then reused these parts, flipping them around, overlapping them, scaling them, all sorts, to make all the various machinery you see throughout the area.

So I thought it would be a bit fun to tear apart a couple Ussals for purely demonstrative purposes.

These are all the main usages that I'm aware of. Note these aren't 1:1, there's some scaling involved in some plus extra little bits here and there.

Small Lava Valve

Large Lava Valve

Lava Pump-aka Tower of Crab Corpses

Drill-This one also contains parts of Whenua!

Light Stand-As I recall this was the what made me finally realise the Ussal connection, the bent beam was confusing me until I worked it out.

Lever-Yeah every time you ride this thing you're grabbing an Ussal's eye.

Elevator Winch-its up there, looming out of the darkness.

This object also includes many parts seen in the ziplines.

And while that may be it for the Onu-Koro chapter the Ussal bits make one last surprise appearance in the little electric bug from the next chapter, Le-Koro.

This one is playing a lot with scale, and its using the back of a Kewa bird for the abdomen. it means that the little guy isn't really buildable, but I've tried.

These are all the usages I'm aware of, I'd love to know if anyone's found any others! I'd also like to quickly note where the Ussal was not used, as I find it interesting.

When the Toa Kaita fight the Manas, a much larger, treaded crab, they end up having to smash these large control towers. The towers are full of miscalaneous mechanical bits, but no crab bits.

And at the end of the game, the void features entirely Toa bits and tubing, so no crab bits there either.

I just wanted to make a note of that since it was something I once wondered when looking in to this.

In conclusion, I find it so inspiring how effectively they used their assets. Like, did you know that Lewa's head here when he gets the infected mask knocked off is just reusing the foot graphic?

Wild stuff. Its just very in keeping with the whole building system Bionicle is based on and I love it.

Look at that cheek, and those eyes.

And idk man, I was just really happy to see Law

Gorillaz's 'The Mountain, the Moon Cave, and The Sad God' is not only a wonderful addition to the band's wide catalogue of short music videos, but also manages to set itself apart in the sheer meticulous attention to the visuals. It takes on a traditional animation approach to the backgrounds and effects, and while these are also wonderful in their own right, I'd like to bring attention to the middle section of the short that becomes looser and more surreal.

Personally, I was blown away by the transition from grounded luscious backgrounds into the cave section's explosion of colour - the manic energy of it all. When I first saw it the first thing I thought was: 'God, I really hope we get some info confirming the people behind this section, their voice is fantastic'. Usually animators and designers online will slowly trickle out bts shots and WIPs post publishing, so I was keeping an eye out to see if we'd get any info.

Luckily I didn't have to wait long - the new bts on Youtube contains an interview section with Jonathan Djob Nkondo. Not only is he credited as sequence director, but he confirms in the short clip that he solely animated the section, a significant amount of work for what was probably a shorter production. There's a LOT happening, with a lot of bits and pieces and multi-character animations layering on top of each-other. The explanation as to why makes sense - it would likely would be easier to keep it to one person instead of attempting to match the intent between shots when done by other people, especially when said person is used to working independently.

For other animation geeks out there, Nkondo is a talented artist who's worked previously with The Line (an incredibly skilled boutique studio that has also previously done music videos for Gorillaz in the Song Machine era.) on some of their marvel snap ads. More notably, he did character design and animation on episode 1 of Scavenger's Reign, something that aligns more with his personal sense of style imo.

In his personal career, Nkondo is a phenomenal short filmmaker. His short 'Little Taste of Joy' is just one example of the fluid, creative style shown in the Gorillaz video. I absolutely adore the portrayal of human bodies in his work, mixed with the abstract throughout his body of work. There's an emphasis on how malleable and physical they are, contrasted with organic shapes that come alive. If you haven't checked out his work, I highly recommend taking a look through this short, through the rest of his channel, or his illustration work!

(Just wow, the sense of composition and shape is so fantastic.)

Personally I hope this short helps bring more attention towards the visionaries and creatives behind the project! Animation artists also deserve the time people give to researching other creative auteurs!

Spoilers are coming, you've been warned.

“I know, but if I say it out loud, something inside me will shift.”

SIX WEEKS LEFT until tazgn6 is out (7/16/24)! I wanted to share a writeup about the process of making the cover for this one, which was a really fun challenge. Apologies and thank you to Nozaki-kun.

There's still time to submit your preorder receipt here and get a free acrylic keychain from :01 (US/Can)! I think it runs until they run out of keychains? It's cute, I had fun designing it, go snag one!