BIONICLE
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Bionicle is a line of toys made by LEGO and marketed at 6-12 year-old boys. The line was launched in 2001.
The toys are posable, articulated characters and share some pieces with the LEGO Technic line. Characters in the toy line are based on the classical elements and Polynesian mythology. The characters, the Toa, are matched to their elemental power.
- Ta — Fire (Ta-Koro/Metru) Red/Orange/Yellow
- Po — Stone (Po-koro/Metru) Brown/Tan/Sand Red
- Onu — Earth(Onu-Metru/Koro) Black/Dark Gray/Purple
- Ko — Ice (Ko-Koro/Metru) White/Light Gray/Sand Blue
- Le — Air (Le-Koro/Metru) Green/Lime/Turquoise
- Ga — Water (Ga-Koro/Metru) Blue/Light Blue/Dark Blue
Sometimes, a Matoran/Toa can have his chest, arms, legs, or mask be a different colour than his Koro/Metru. For example, Takua the ex-chronicler was from Ta-Koro, yet he wore a light blue Kanohi Pakari.
Though the LEGO Corporation had previously created building sets based on Lucasfilm's Star Wars films, the BIONICLE line was the first LEGO project to get a story developed in-house, and was the first in the company's history intended to last for over 2 or 3 years. It was also the first LEGO product to have its own motion picture.
The BIONICLE Story
In the time before time, the island of Mata Nui was a tropical paradise. The villagers, called Matoran. Their elders the Turaga, who lead the villages, lived in peace. That was before the Makuta came. Dark brother of the spirit Mata Nui who gave the Matoran their three virtues Unity, Duty and Destiny, the Makuta quickly engulfed the island in evil after casting a spell over the Great Spirit, who fell into a deep slumber. Matoran and Turaga inhabitants had almost lost hope in the legends handed down over the years. legends that told of the coming of six mighty heroes, the Toa, who would free the island of terror. And then, on one unsuspecting day six large canisters washed up on the shores of Mata Nui. Inside the canisters lay the saviors of the island, the Toa.
Each of the six Toa had a special ability to control an element of nature. Tahu was the unspoken leader of the Toa who controlled the element of fire. The solitary Kopaka controlled ice. Clumsy footed Lewa was Toa of the air. Gali, the Toa of water, was the only female Toa. Onua, Toa of Earth, was as wise as he was strong. And the sluggish Toa of stone, Pohatu, used his large feet to kick boulders great distances.
The Toa knew what was required of them: defeat the evil that terrorized the island. They also knew that they could not tackle that quest without the aid of six Great Masks of Power, called Kanohi. Thus began the Toa's first quest, the search to find all of the Kanohi masks.
After the Toa had undergone many trials and gathered all the Kanohi masks, they gathered at the Kini-Nui, the Great Temple, where they received golden Kanohi. At this point, they descended into the Makuta's lair. A long struggle ensued, but the Toa triumphed over Makuta and returned to the surface of Mata-Nui as heroes.
However, this was only one of many great tasks the Toa would undertake. For Makuta had many, many more tricks up his sleeve.
After all that the immortal Makuta was weak and sent out a signal that woke up the Bohrok (the Bohrok were not meant to wake up before the Matoran/Turaga/Toa had left the Island but Makuta woke them up earlier). They rampaged the island, destroying every thing in their path. The Turaga (who know a lot more then they are telling, usually with the excuse "We thought they were fables.") tell them the way the Bohrok work through the Krana (living creatures that look like small masks that fit in their head plates) they have. So the Toa go around the Island, capturing Bohrok and taking their Krana. When they had collected all the needed Krana, they went underground to find the source. After a while they came to a room where there were carvings on the floor that fit the Krana they had. So they placed their Krana on them and six huge doors openend, inside of which was an exo-toa suit (special robotic suits with a claw arm and a "rocket launcher".) So, in these Exo-Toa, they took on the Bohrok queens, the Bahrag. The queens telepathicly controlled the Bohrok through their Krana. But they realized the suits took away their elemental power, and they could not defeat the queens. Then the Toa took off the suits, and they all blast elemental energy at the Bahrag, and it formed a cage of protodermis(a strange substance they know little about). With the Bahrag trapped, they fall into a pool of energized protodermis, and they come out transformed! They were the Toa Nuva, and had much greater power than before. They were ready for new challenges ahead. But could they handle the new foes? After the bohrok were defeated the island turned back to normal until one day a new version of the Bohrok, called the Bohrok-Kal started to steal the Toa Nuva symbols. Without them, the Toa then turned powerless. The Toa searched the island for them. When they found them the Bohrok-Kal easily defeated them. The Toa then decided to split up and find the Kanohi Nuva masks. When the Toa Nuva found all of the masks they re-united and found the Bohrok-Kal in the Bahrag's lair. They were going to use the Toa Nuva symbols to free the Bahrag, but at the last second, Tahu activated the Vahi, the mask of time, and slowed down the Bohrok-Kal. Then Gali had an idea, the Toa then channeled their energy into the symbols destroying the Bohrok-Kal. The Toa's power was restored. Meanwhile above the Matoran were transformed. The Turaga had made their bodies larger and stronger.and peace was restored ... or was it deep below the ground an evil force waited for the right time to strike. Soon a new foe came along. The Rahkshi. These six shadow creatures were searching for the "Mask of Light" (as introduced in Bionicle: Mask of Light the Movie). The Rahkshi were said to be sons of Makuta. Two Matoran Jaller and Takua had earlier found the Mask of Light. The soon were sent on a wild goose-chase to find the Toa of light. It was said the Toa of Light would bring light to the shadows and awaken the Great Spirit, Mata Nui. At the end of the chase it was discovered that Takua was the Toa of Light! The newly christened Takanuva defeated the remaining Rahkshi and then defeated Makuta. Afterwords they discovered the ancient city of Metru Nui. The original home of the Turaga and Matoran. It was also discovered that the Turaga were once Toa themselves!
These Toa faced terrible danger in the city of Metru Nui. After receiving their powers from the former hero of the city, Toa Lhikan, they set out to find the legendary Great Kanoka Disks. Using these disks, they defeated the evil Morbuzakh plant, which had been threatening the city with its vines. As the Toa Metru made their way to the Coliseum, they received warning of a new threat to the city. Descending into the deep caverns of Onu-Metru, they confronted Krahka, a shape shifting Rahi. She was able to adapt all their powers and confronted them with extreme strength before she was driven off. However, the Toa Metru quickly found their victories to be insignificant. Betrayed by a false Turaga Dume, three of them were imprisoned and the others on the run. Pursuing the spirit star of Toa Lhikan, the Toa Metru faced off against Vahki law enforcers and mysterious Dark Hunters alike, but escaped with the help of a Kikanalo herd (kikanalo is a rahi, and rahi is the word that bionicles sometimes use for creature). In the process of these events, five of the Toa obtained their mask powers. When the team reunited, they also found Lhikan: Toa no longer, but Turaga. Lhikan encouraged Vakama to take charge, and Vakama did so after discovering the true Dume unconscious in a statis pod. The Toa escaped and returned to the Coliseum, but the false Dume, revealed as Makuta, had succeeded in his plan. Makuta intended to place the Matoran into a slumber within the statis pods that would erase their memory of the past, and he would replace Mata Nui for himself as their great spirit. He then absorbed all the energy from the Metru Nui powerplant. The Toa, undaunted, commandeered a Vahki transport and six Matoran containers. They had plans to escape to a new land. However, there escape was delayed by Makuta, who after absorbing the city's power along with the Dark Hunters, transformed. Vakama faced off with him, and utilized the newly crafted mask of time. The mask was lost into the sea, and Turaga Lhikan perished. Vakama took Lhikan's Kanohi, and the Toa Metru then imprisoned Makuta in an icy protodermis shell.But when the Toa returned to take the rest of the pods to a new land (mata-nui), the found the city overrun by evil spider-like Visorak, and their king, Sidorak, and the queen and viceroy of the Visorak hordes, Roodaka. The Toa discovered there were six beings call Rahaga who had been horribly mutated by Roodaka. They planned to find a legendery rahi called Keetongu. But the Toa got mutated by the spiders into Toa Hordika! Keetongu is their only hope, which tied their fate with the Rahaga's. Can they find Keetongu in time?
See Also
- Characters in Bionicle
- Creatures in Bionicle
- Places in Bionicle
- Species in Bionicle
- Objects in Bionicle
- Collectibles in Bionicle
- Franchise of Bionicle
External links
- The Official Bionicle website (http://www.bionicle.com/)
- BZPower: N00bs, Reference and Discussion (http://www.bzpower.com/)
- Bionicle Sector 01 Reference (http://www.bioniclesector01.com/)
- MaskOfDestiny.com: Bionicle Fan Site (http://www.maskofdestiny.com/)
- Mata-Nui Online Version 3 (http://www.mnonlinev3.com/)
- IMDB Entry for Mask of Light (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369281/)
- IMDB Entry for Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru-Nui (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387658/)
- LEGO Site Irks Maori Sympathizer (http://www.wird.com/nes/cuture/0,1284,56451,00.html?tw=wn_story_related)