Nice Britney Spears impression

Imagine if policemen went running around with serrated blades in our world. Yeah, that's right, according to the lore, the Vahki are kind of like the police of Metru Nui.

Surrender or run.

@MCLegoboy said:
"Imagine if policemen went running around with serrated blades in our world. Yeah, that's right, according to the lore, the Vahki are kind of like the police of Metru Nui."

I'd be a little more disturbed if they also spit frisbees.

Now that is a mean hockey player.

Fun fact for this guy and the rest of its counterparts (the Vahki collection) were all written as being complete robots (as opposed to being biomechanical in lore like most BIONICLE characters) and thus had no personality beyond rough robotic law enforcement. It apparently made head writer Greg Farshtey hate writing for them because there was little he could do with them in his narratives.

Ostensibly they couldn't even speak understandable language in-lore either, but the next year they did manage to gain that ability, though by then at best they were cannon fodder for next years' baddies the Visorak in their few appearances.

Sometime between 15,000 and 4,000 years ago, the City of Metru Nui decided it needed some sort of defensive force to protect the city. Such a force would be two fold, protecting the Matoran from wild Rahi beasts being driven North by the Visorak Horde, and ensuring the Matoran kept up their vital work to maintain the Great Spirit's health.

The engineer Nuparu was selected for the job. His first attempt, the Kralhi, were deemed ineffective. Krahli were capable of draining the energy from a target, and while that was an effective deterrent, it also made disobedient Matoran unable to work for several days.

The second attempt was much more successful, named "Vahki," the Matoran word for "Law." Consisting of six standard and two special forces models, Vahki were purely mechanical automatons that operated out of hives around the city. Each of the standard units was equipped with a mouth-mounted Kanoka Launcher that allowed them to fire disks of power at targets with various effects. Each also carried a pair of Stun Staffs, a set of blades that could alter the mental functions of a target to make runners easier to catch or more willing to comply.

Over time the Vahki gained quite the negative reception among Matoran. Their no-nonsense attitude for upholding rules and regulations, and their poor ability to assess nuance or hear out people's explanations made them an aggressive and dominating police force. While their Stun Staffs meant that they never killed the Matoran, the lingering effects they could have on people's minds was considered vile and invasive. This was doubled down on when Maktua Teridax kidnapped the city's elder, Turaga Dume, and fashioned things into a full on police state.

Matoran quickly realized there were only two ways to deal with a Vahki. Surrender or Run.

During the events of our main story, Makuta (disguised as Dume) branded our protagonists, the Toa Metru, as outlaws and the Vahki hunted them throughout the city. Even prior to this manhunt, the Toa Metru's missions often brought them into off-limits and restricted areas that caught the cop's attention. While not much of a threat to a fully fledged Toa, their numbers still made them an imposing sight and the Toa Metru had to stick to the shadows to keep their city safe.

During the events of the Great Cataclysm most Vahki were charging in their pods. When the city experienced a power surge and blackout, most of the robot's circuitry was fried and melted. Those few that survived experienced a glitch and took on a more drastic method to maintain order - kill any and all beings with organics, as they are too chaotic.

But these murderous Vahki were short lived. Just after the Great Cataclysm the Visorak Horde reached Metru Nui, and the Visorak would hunt the machines for fun. All standard issue Vahki are presumed dead, though a handful of elites and several Krahli were seen in the Maze of Shadows and (especially in the Krahli's case) may have survived.

Keerahk were the Vahki of Ko-Metru, the City of Ice. True to the Ko-Matoran's nature as future-tellers, Keerahk had an analytic eye. Rather than chase or hunt a target, they would predict the most likely place the target was to go and beat them there to spring a trap. They carried Staffs of Confusion, which could scramble a targets sense of time and place, leaving them dazed.

This set came with a code 447 Kanoka disk. This disk was crafted in Ko-Metru, granting it the ability to doge obstacles in mid flight. It carried the power of Remove Poison, allowing it to cure the target of toxic substances. It had a power-level of 7/9 (given only the Great Disks can actually carry a power-level of 9, this is technically the second strongest disk of this type possible.) While Remove Poison Disks can be crafted into Kanohi, no Masks of Remove Poison ever actually appeared in the story and their name might've been different.

A lot of people think these are meh, but honestly? I think these are some seriously underrated and over-hated set designs. Just in terms of toy design, I really dig the twin modes between the upright and 4-legged spider stance, and they have both a solid gear function for melee combat AND a launcher built into their head!

That's not even getting into the aesthetics and story relevance of them. While I know some people really appreciate it, I for one was never that big on all of the dark grey and colors present with the , but the Vahki fare better I think with that great splash of color on their head. Like many things in BIONICLE, they've got such an inspired design. That Xenomorph-Queen like head plating and long cranium, the mandibles, that reptilian underhead, they're pretty alien but also have a more robotic look to them than the likes of the Rahkshi.

Plus, in-story they're portrayed as these mindless drone cops patrolling and capturing the denizens, with these staves with insanely unethical abilities, like seeing & recording everything the target does without them knowing, or removing their ability to think temporarily and leave them only able to perform basic motor tasks. Couple with the Templar Studios animations of Vahki propaganda, it was pretty impressive for LEGO to play with such bold and evocative imagery with their toyline.

Anyhoo I like the action figure, it's cool.

@JMaster especially considering how often LEGO City Police are the "good guys" it is still wild to think that Bionicle over here was making stories about dark oppressive police drones who were the iron fist of Makuta.

I love the toys too. They're clone sets and the gray colors are not flashy, but I do enjoy the disk launchers and the transforming features like you mentioned.

Is he named after the sound he makes when he stomps the ice...:)

@xboxtravis7992 said:
" @JMaster especially considering how often LEGO City Police are the "good guys" it is still wild to think that Bionicle over here was making stories about dark oppressive police drones who were the iron fist of Makuta.

I love the toys too. They're clone sets and the gray colors are not flashy, but I do enjoy the disk launchers and the transforming features like you mentioned. "

Yeah, and don't forget Space Police 3- which hey, I love that theme, and think the potential ramifications can add to the dystopian urban issues in space vibe- but it's still a bit weird looking back. At least here they make it clear that the mindless drones here are actually in service of the enemy, that an authoritarian police state is bad, actually.

I will say- the Clone sets critique could be applied to literally every canister set released from 2002 to 2006- though the Vahki definitely suffer a bit more from it, not being named characters people would feel the need to get to complete the gang.

@Drewsko said:
"Fun fact for this guy and the rest of its counterparts (the Vahki collection) were all written as being complete robots (as opposed to being biomechanical in lore like most BIONICLE characters) and thus had no personality beyond rough robotic law enforcement. It apparently made head writer Greg Farshtey hate writing for them because there was little he could do with them in his narratives.

Ostensibly they couldn't even speak understandable language in-lore either, but the next year they did manage to gain that ability, though by then at best they were cannon fodder for next years' baddies the Visorak in their few appearances."

I remember they had some variations in approach at least, the Keerahk here being more methodical, preferring to figure out where you were going and wait for you there in contrast to, say, the Zadahk who went for sheer brute force ploughing through anything in their path to get to you, but that was about it. Given the Vahki were pretty much background characters though, with most of the characterisation going to the new Toa and Dark Hunters chasing them, how much writing did Greg really have to do for our police drone buddies?

I think the category needs to be renamed "Random Bionicle Set of the Day".

@Brickalili said:
" @Drewsko said:
"Fun fact for this guy and the rest of its counterparts (the Vahki collection) were all written as being complete robots (as opposed to being biomechanical in lore like most BIONICLE characters) and thus had no personality beyond rough robotic law enforcement. It apparently made head writer Greg Farshtey hate writing for them because there was little he could do with them in his narratives.

Ostensibly they couldn't even speak understandable language in-lore either, but the next year they did manage to gain that ability, though by then at best they were cannon fodder for next years' baddies the Visorak in their few appearances."

I remember they had some variations in approach at least, the Keerahk here being more methodical, preferring to figure out where you were going and wait for you there in contrast to, say, the Zadahk who went for sheer brute force ploughing through anything in their path to get to you, but that was about it. Given the Vahki were pretty much background characters though, with most of the characterisation going to the new Toa and Dark Hunters chasing them, how much writing did Greg really have to do for our police drone buddies?"

Well, he apparently felt that there was so little he could do with them that it felt necessary to introduce:

*Two monstrous sentient vine-growing plants.
*A shapeshifter with a chip on her shoulder.
*A biologist with an army of prehistoric sea monsters.

To reintroduce:
*Ahkmou, a minor antagonist from an online game.
*Rahkshi, who had just barely been the minions of the previous year’s story.
*The Rahi Nui.
*Energized protodermis, now with a personality and matching god complex.

And that’s aside from bringing in Nidhiki months before the fans ever got to see him in set form. Essentially, there was a considerable period in which the Vahki served as antagonists, but in which they did little of note. @GSR_MataNui didn’t even bring up how a number of Vahki pursued the Toa Metru as far as the tunnels beneath the island of Mata Nui. To be perfectly honest, it’s barely worth mentioning.

Ah yes, that time Bionicle's setting was a dystopian police state.
Which in terms of the grander story of Bionicle was akin to a cancer-virus thing using an artificial immune system in the brain to help orchestrate the host from falling into a coma.

Yes, the city of Metru Nui is the giant robot Mata Nui's brain. Complete with 'crystalized knowledge towers', 'learning centers', 'a creative sandbox', 'deep archives', 'a transportation hub', 'foundries to create things' (in the story mainly masks used for the workers to function). And an 'arena' to test these various things in the middle.

The Great Cataclysm, the event where a gigantic earthquake destroyed much of the Matoran universe, was because he literally crash landed on a water planet and lay on his back. It was preceded by the matoran workers being taken from their workplaces in the city and put into sleeping pods. So Mata Nui's brain flatlined basically.

This is why it's called 'Biological Chronicle'. Because the story follows the inner happenings of the robot Mata Nui.

Anyway, I own this one again after coming across it in a job lot. Fun set. Keerakh are the more colorful ones :)

I like the timing of this one! I just yesterday ordered a Vahki cheap off Bricklink - not this one, but still - because there was ONE more piece I that needed to complete 8085, the last set from last October's lot that I needed to more-or-less complete before I could start selling them all on their way. With said piece being the Talz's head, there were only a few stores within the country that had it in stock: I picked the one that was selling it cheapest, but still had to buy a little more to reach their minimum spend. About the only other things they had in stock were a bunch of old Bionicle sets... and me being nostalgic and 8614 being the cheapest of them, I added him to my order...

And not even a day later, another Vahki RSotD? Pretty nice timing ^^

Actually, this guy here, while not the Vahki I bought yesterday, was actually the first one I got way back when they were new (almost two decades ago...???). Not specifically by choice: where we were on summer holiday in 2004 when they first were released, the local shops only had Keerakh and none of the others in stock. Naturally, at the height of my Bionicle Phase, I didn't want to wait any longer than I had to to try out these new sets, which meant that Keerakh here inevitably became my first of them.

In hindsight, I think he's my favourite of the Vahki too. Clone sets they are, sure, but this guy just has such a sleek, clean colour scheme that it really shows off the design at its best: some of the others are just a bit dull in comparison, to my eyes.