Another Bionicle? Cool! (Pun most definitely intended (please laugh))

Surprisingly, the name isn't a Maori word compared to almost every other character in the Bionicle theme!

Also, two Bionicle sets in a row! @GSR_MataNui will be happy!

Two Bonks in a row! Now I will say Nuju was a part of the same team as Whenua, so I'm gonna skimp out on main plot details and focus on unique things he did during his adventure or parts of his personality.

Nuju was once one of the most profound seers in the city of Ko-Metru. He would study the stars (which were in truth Mata Nui's neurons) in order to make predictions about the future. His talents were unmatched.

When Nuju became a Toa he was sent to find the Matoran Ehrye. Ehrye was an errand runner for the Seers, though he wished to be a scholar himself. Nuju had denied him the promotion in the past, so convincing him to help would be difficult. To make matters worse, the Dark Hunter Nhidiki managed to find and trap the Matoran first, sealing him under a pile of ice blocks that, if removed in the wrong order, would topple and crush the Matoran to death. Luckily, Nuju had a knack for predicting things and could easily suss out that order.

Nuju was often paired with Whenua, and as mentioned yesterday Nuju's focus on the future and Whenua's obsession with the past often made them butt heads.

When trapped in a cell with Lhikan, Lhikan helped Nuju unlock his mask power by making him haul stones across the room and build a tower, helping him better understand that you shouldn't get *too* caught up in where you're going, and sometimes its best to take things one step at a time. This (alongside breaking up a fight with Onewa and Whenua) helped him unlock his mask power of Telekinesis, which he used to rip open the wall of their cell to escape.

After being mutated into Hordika, Nuju was paired with the Rahaga Kualus. Kualus was able to speak the tongue of fliers, and communicate with birds and insects with a series of clicks, whistles, and hand gestures. Their missions together slowly broke down Nuju's disgust and confusion with nature. By the time the Hordika were healed and returned to the surface, Nuju had learned the language himself. He took what his teammates considered a vow of silence, if whatever they had to say was so important to bother him, they would have to have the patience to either learn the language of fliers themselves or find an interpreter. He would break this vow three times.

After giving up his Toa power and becoming a Turaga (pictured here) Nuju founded the Village of Ko-Koro, shielded by an icy glacier atop the island's largest mountain. He named this mountain Ihu, after his dear friend and mentor who had perished some time ago. His "vow of silence" caused issues with communicating with his tribe, and so he trained a translator. Matoro would be his Right Hand and translator. Thanks to attending all of the Turaga's meetings Matoro would learn many secrets about Metru Nui that had been wiped from the other villager's minds, and he took his own vow of secrecy to keep the people safe form Maktua's lair and the dangerous tunnels that now separated them from their homeland.

When Kopaka arrived on the island Nuju broke his vow for the first time to inform him of his mission to collect the masks of power.

After the Toa's victories over the Rahi, Bohrok, and Bohrok-Kal, some of the Turaga found them ready to learn the truth about Metru Nui. During these debates Nuju was the most staunchly against revealing secrets, as the Tow were not ready. In the end the council decided to reveal the truth after the upcoming Kohli Championship, only for the discovery of the Mask of Light to interrupt them.

After the coming of the Toa of Light and defeat of Makuta the way to Metru Nui was opened once more, making revealing its stories much less risky. Vakama revealed to the people the finding of the Great Disks, the duel with Krahka, and their time as outlaws under Dume as agreed. When the story was finished Vakama wished to reveal their time mutated by the Visorak horde. Nuju objected to this, as such stories may damage the Toa's faith in Unity, but Vakama persisted. Nuju broke his vow for the second time with a single word. "Hordika." he spit on the ground and stomped away from his fiery brother.

When the

When the people returned to Metru Nui, Nuju and Dume learned something terrible studying the stars. "As few as they are now. Mata Nui is not simply asleep my friends. Mata Nui is dying."

The Toa Nuva were sent on a quest south, in secret, to recover the Legendary Mask of Life, but were captured at their destination. Eventually the Matoran grew sick of waiting without answers, and so Jaller, Captain of the Guard, led a city-wide strike. Eventually Nokama, Turaga of Water, spilled the truth. Jaller and six Matoran, including Matoro, headed south as well trying to find the Toa Nuva. Along the way they were transformed into Toa themselves!

During his time as a Toa, Matoro was faced with many strange trials. Tests of if he would help people he had never met. Tests of if he would give his life to protect his friends. Tests if he would follow guidance to the Black Depths of the sea. The Toa Inika/Mahri would recover the Mask of Life from its chamber only for it to flee to the bottom of the sea, where they followed it again and dueled the Prisoners of the Pit for it's possession.

But the many fights and chases drew their time thin. And when the Toa finally got their claws on the Mask, it's golden glimmer faded to dull silver. Around the Matoran universe the air grew chill, the last star went out. Mata Nui was dead.

But Matoro refused. In a final gambit he fled to the bottom of the Pit with the Mask, his friends holding off hordes of aquatic monsters to buy him time. He entered the Great Waterfall and fell into the Core of the Universe were the Mask spoke to him, and spoke a simple command, to wear it. It also gave him the knowledge of what would happen if he did so.

Matoro wore the Mask of Life with no regrets, no fear, and no hesitation. He was granted one last wish for what he was about to do, and he wished the other five Toa Mahri be returned to Metru Nui, safe and sound. He was pulled apart, atom by atom, in a brilliant golden flash of light. In an instant the stars not only returned, but sunlight as well, as the Matoran Universe was bathed in the light of the Great Spirit for the first time in 1,000 years. Matoro gave his life for Mata Nui's, and now he was one with the Universe.

As the lights returned Nuju broke his vow for the third time. "He lives! The Great Spirit lives!" and the being who's heart was so cold showed pure joy and laughter for the first time many could remember.

But this joy was short lived upon seeing the rescue team was down from 6 to 5. That night Nuju sat restless in his study. He didn't know if it was selfish or not to say, but he didn't know if this sacrifice was worth it. His most loyal villager, no, his greatest friend, gone for the sake of a God who never even knew he existed? Was the universe so cruel and unforgiving? Where they that small and insignificant to Mata Nui, or the Great Beings, or whoever chose to make the Mask of Life work in such a way? What force of good would make this someone's Destiny?

Yes, yes it was selfish, but for the rest of his days he couldn't shake that gnawing feeling. He'd rather the world be cold and black for all of eternity, if it meant he could have his darling Matoro back with him.

Nuju wore the Kanohi (haha, actually gotta look this one up for once) Matatu, the Mask of Telekinesis. It let him lift objects or even people and move them with his mind. However, objects could only be moved if in direct line of sight, and as a Turaga he couldn't lift as heavy of objects or lift them as far as he could as a Toa. This mask used to have a custom telescopic lens built by Vakama, but it was somehow lost or removed when he became a Turaga. His badge of office was an Ice Pick that could channel his limited Ice powers to cool things. As a Turaga he still had some level of elemental control over Ice, though not as strong as a Toa.

My first retail BIONICLE set! 1389 was my first set overall. After that, it took 22 years but I finally completed my collection of Turaga last autumn.

What are the odds of two BIONICLE RSotDs back-to-back from the same group of characters? And on top of that, Whenua (a character always focused on the past, in his chronologically-earliest set) coming first and Nuju (a character always focused on the future, in his chronologically-latest set) coming second? Is this coincidence, or is it the third virtue of Destiny?

Nuju remains one of my favourite characters, I suspect in part because most of my early knowledge of Bionicle lore came from the comics and Nuju is the first Turaga we meet there. Just a weird little robot dude being philosophical in the snow, it was definitely memorable

It feels like Lego has been neglecting the $3-5 price point; only using it for a few polybags (where it's often difficult to find the one you're looking for) and CMF (usually not themed and a blind purchase) these days instead of cultivating a shelf presence for it. I get it, it's way easier to ship polybags in bulk than boxes, but bizarrely Lego LEGO.com and brand retail don't sell polybags so they're not considered part of product waves. Bionicle's success in the 2000s was definitely due to pursuing entry-level prices (free Happy Meal Tohunga, $2 mask packs, $3 Turaga, $7-8 Toa) that made for excellent chore rewards and were cheap enough that getting one per kid in a household was a reasonable prospect. G2 comes around and the entry level is $10 and main characters are $15-20... getting your kids one each is a harder sell.

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot my language. I meant, of course:

Click tweet whistle click chirp Matau. Clack whir toot chirp whistle click clack chirp woot whirp. Tweetle beep cheek woot whirp chirp. Click woop tweetle clack tootle tweep whir. Tootle wootle chirp cheep tweet click...