>>7505040>>7505080>>7505165From what I understand, the ending to Mask of Light being such a custerfuck is mostly the result of plans changing last minute regarding the GSR reveal. Bionicle was only going to go for a single year like Roboriders, then it got a 2-year extension after it performed so well, and another indefinite extension some time in the latter half of 2003. Going by concepts that would have been observed by the story team at the time, Makuta wasn't terrorizing the Matoran and keeping Mata Nui asleep just because he was an evil asshole, but because reactivating the GSR would destroy the island, killing all everything on it. His main function was to protect the inhabitants of the robot at any cost, so even though his methods might have been ruthless or extreme, he saw his actions as necessary to carry out his duty. Tempar's most recent MNOG blog entry even alluded to this, "(...) because from the beginning, that’s not what it was about. The Makuta wasn’t evil, and his brother, Mata Nui, wasn’t good."
While while Makuta's motivation was a little muddled from the outset (i.e. keeping all Matoran out of Mangaia, the one place they would be safe from an awakening Mata Nui), he was always intended to be revealed as an opposing force and sympathetic antihero instead of a straight-up villain. Takutanuva, at the time of writing, was likely representative of conflicting ideologies merging; a greater, mutual understanding emerging from an exchange of information, and the ability of both sides cooperating to reach a solution. Takanuve realizes why Makuta is being such a dick, and Makuta realizes he doesn't have to be a dick There's a significant amount of material cut from the Takanuva/Makuta encounter that we'll never see, but the deleted scenes from the DVD release at least line up with the "Makuta is a misunderstood good guy" angle they were going for initially.
