Two Bionicle sets a day apart!

I don't remember, but I'm sure there's a story reason for how he went from being Titan sized to the smallest version of him ever aside from Matoran forms of Takua. I kind of feel like since the Stars line was intended to more or less just be a greatest hits selection of sets to represent the themes 9 year run, that the physical traits weren't actually intrinsic to the story, but I also know that's not true, I just don't know why everyone became small that was part of the Stars line.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"Taka in Maori means to fall, and nuva is a non existent word. So, i'm confused."

Probably because by this point they had stopped directly using Maori words for their characters, but still kept a similar sound and feel as what was already established.

Huwbot seems to be on a friends/bionicle kick right now and I’m all for it!

@Maxbricks14 said:
"Taka in Maori means to fall, and nuva is a non existent word. So, i'm confused."

Novus is Latin for "new", and words that are similar to "nuva" likely appear in every Romance language as a result (nuevo/Spanish, nouveau/French, nuovo/Italian, novo/Portuguese). The Toa Nuva were new versions of the original Toa (later called Toa Mata to distinguish them from all the other waves of Toa that followed in the theme). Nuva is the actual word for "new" in Ido, a descendent of the constructed language Esperanto (though not many people actually speak Ido).

However, perhaps the most interesting meaning comes from Hopi, where it means "snow". Combined with the Maori word "taka", his name would then mean "fallen snow", which is frequently used as a metaphor for something that is fresh and pure.

Ah, the rinky-dink Takanuva for those who missed out on him 2003 and 2008. Since I own both of those prior iterations, I didn't bother with this one in 2010 (or much of the "Stars" anyway).

At this point in the story, Takanuva had been purged of his "darkness" and wholly a Toa of Light once again. Furthermore, once removed from Karda Nui (the ancestral home of Matoran of Light like he once was), his proportions returned to that of a regular Toa. Emerging from the giant world robot that Makuta possessed, he emerged onto the sands of Bara Magna, confronting a myriad of enemies both strange and familiar. He helped Tahu obtain a piece of the Golden Armor that, once fully equipped by the Toa of Fire, simultaneously fried every Kraata in existence. It ended the threat of the Rahkshi armies and was enough of a jolt to stun Makuta himself, giving Mata Nui the opening he needed to defeat Makuta for good.

With that, Takanuva joined the Toa Nuva, Glatorian, Agori, Matoran, and more upon the surface of their new, reunited paradise Spherus Magna. A happy ending if I ever saw one.

As a side note, I want to remark how much I enjoyed seeing all the other Exo-Toa stories people shared about the set a couple of days ago. It speaks to the uniqueness and greatness of the set that it spoke to so many people and became fascinating pieces of BIONICLE collections worldwide.

@MCLegoboy said:
"I don't remember, but I'm sure there's a story reason for how he went from being Titan sized to the smallest version of him ever aside from Matoran forms of Takua. I kind of feel like since the Stars line was intended to more or less just be a greatest hits selection of sets to represent the themes 9 year run, that the physical traits weren't actually intrinsic to the story, but I also know that's not true, I just don't know why everyone became small that was part of the Stars line."

He was Titan-sized due to being in Karda Nui, an environment that had that effect on Toa and Matoran of Light. In this form he’s supposed to be back at 2003 size, though obviously the actual set isn’t. He’s also changed color so that he’s less visibly distinctive.

I could say more, but GSR_MataNui will undoubtedly be along and give us all an exhaustive lore dump before long.

One of the few cases LEGO recasted a presumably retired mold for this one time. Unless they still had it for seven years.

Next to Tahu, Takua is arguably the main character of BIONICLE. I mean that in the sense that he's not really the main protagonist of the story, but in the sense that the 2001-2003 story is supposedly a collection of his writings that have been loosely translated from Matoran to English (think Middle Earth's There and Back Again vs our The Hobbit.) He does still play a major part at different points in later years and through the entire run is sort of an audience surrogate, so forgive me if I'm brushing over a lot of his plot points, he's just in too much to cover it all.

Takua was created 100,000 years ago as the first ever Matoran. Matoran were intended to be "nano-bots" that would operate the colossal Great Spirit Robot on it's mission off-planet. This GSR would study other worlds and return to reform the three broken chunks of Spherus Magna into one world. The Matoran would eventually develop sapience and create culture, revering the ship's guiding AI as a deity named Mata Nui.

Takua was placed alongside the other Av-Matoran in Karda Nui, a massive powerplant that powered the GSR. 60,000 years ago Takua (and other Av-Matoran) were removed from Karda Nui by the Order of Mata Nui. They feared the Brotherhood of Makuta may turn evil one day, and wanted to hide Matoran of Light in other villages so a Toa of Light may one day come to oppose them. Takua had his memory wiped and the ability to change his armor color blocked, and was posed as a Matoran of Fire in the city of Ta-Metru.

1,000 years ago the entire population of Metru Nui had their memories wiped by the evil Makuta during the Great Cataclysm, where he put Mata Nui into an endless slumber. These amnesiac Matoran were rescued by the Toa Metru who brought them to an island paradise they named Mata Nui in the Great Spirits honor.

Both in Metru Nui and Mata Nui Takua had a reputation for being a lazy sort who never really fit in and always felt lost. Just prior to the story's beginning he was sent on a quest to summon the fabled Toa Mata/Nuva to the island, heroes who could reawaken the Great Spirit. In doing so he lost his memories AGAIN, but went on quests that crowned him Chronicler. He would follow the Toa on their adventures and record their stories.

Takua helped a little during the Bohrok War and attack of the Bohrok-Kal, but his big break came the night of a grand Kohlii Tournament. While exploring he came across the Kanohi Avohkii, the Mask of Light. Legends said this mask would guide it's herald to the mysterious Seventh Toa. After a journey of self discovery with his friend Jaller, Takua realized that they weren't trying to find the Seventh Toa, he WAS the Seventh Toa, and donned the mask transforming into Takanuva, Toa of Light.

Takanuva was able to defeat Makuta Teridax in his lair, freeing the way for the Matoran to return to Metru Nui. When the Toa Nuva and crew led by Jaller set off to find the Mask of Life, Takanuva stayed behind to guard the city.

Fast forward around 6-8 months and the Brotherhood of Makuta started to cause trouble. They developed new creatures called Shadow Leeches that could drain the Light energy of beings and turn them into evil Shadow elementals, which they used on many Matoran of Light in Karda Nui. Takanuva was hit by one of these Leeches but managed to pull it off halfway through draining. This created the first ever Toa of Twilight.

Takanuva went on series of dimension hopping adventures before landing in Karda Nui and helping the Toa Nuva in their final steps to reawaken Mata Nui. While there he discovered a cure for Shadow Leeches and managed to heal and evacuate all the Av-Matoran, healing himself in the process.

But after awakening Mata Nui the Toa realized they were tricked. While Mata Nui was dying and everyone was looking for the Mask of Life, Makuta Teridax managed to replace Mata Nui's soul with his own. When they woke the Great Spirit they brought back his body, with the Makuta's mind. Makuta banished Mata Nui to the world of Bara Magna and established a Reign of Shadows, in which Takanuva was a

Makuta banished Mata Nui to the world of Bara Magna and established a Reign of Shadows, in which Takanuva was a valiant defender.

After a bunch of his own adventures in the desert, Mata Nui manged to reclaim another robot body and Makuta brought the GSR over to fight him. Armies from the Matoran Universe and Bara Magna dueled in the sands bellow the two titanic robots. When Takanuva joined the fray he used his color-changing powers from being a Light-elemental to turn white and silver so he could pretend to be a Toa of Ice and be less obvious to Makuta's forces. (That's the form you see here)

With Takanuva's help, Tahu was able to recover the Golden Armor and buy Mata Nui an opening to defeat Makuta. With Makuta gone Mata Nui fulfilled his mission of reforming Spherus Magna and died as well. Takanuva would become a major player in helping the societies of the MU and SM find peace and join together for a brighter future.

The BIONICLE epilogue Story Serials were never finished, but they had more plans to reveal what Takanuva's Destiny was (as all Toa in the series have a Destiny.) The Great Beings who built the MU did not see it's nano-bots as people, simply machines. After the planets reformation they would emerge from stasis and end up split into three factions. One believed the MU inhabitants were too dangerous and must be destroyed now that their mission was complete. The second believed they were their property and should fall under their rule and treat them as kings. The third group believed they had reached true sentience and should be allowed to govern themselves.

Takanuva was going to combine his Mask of Lights power to enlighten and fill people with positive emotions, alongside the many stories of his friends and their cultures, to convince the Great Beings they were real people and deserving of rights and respect, bringing peace between organics and the biomechanical.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"Taka in Maori means to fall, and nuva is a non existent word. So, i'm confused."

That's because Takanuva is actually a bit of an awkward mashup of words to avoid spoiling a 2003 plot point without completely changing a characters name. When Takua became a Toa and joined the Toa Nuva he changed his name to Takanuva. This is a little odd given that biologically he is not a Toa Nuva, just a regular Toa, and the actual Nuva kept a space in their name. (Tahu became Tahu Nuva, Pohatu became Pohatu Nuva, ect.) Changing the spelling and pronunciation to Taka and mashing both halves together is strange.

Nuva is easy to explain. It and words similar to it mean "new" in various languages, and even in English it just sounds like "cool new." It was used to denote the Toa becoming new and cooler versions of themselves.

Takua is a lot harder to place.

Given most 2001 BIONICLE names are taken from Maori Takua could mean a few things. Google Translate is infamously not that good, but there are three translations I or others have gotten from it. It could mean "ask" which makes perfect sense his whole purpose in 2001 was to ask questions for exposition. It could mean "ship" which I don't really think works, but the GSR is a space ship and Takua was eventually reconnected into being the first passenger on it so I guess you can stretch it. He's also an explorer but he doesn't use ships to travel as much as characters like Macku or Marka. It could also mean "I'm sorry" which would work given how clumsy he is and how often he messes things up. Given how radically different those three translations are I'm sure at least 1 of them is wrong, and none of them fit that well regardless. You know Maori better than I, so if any of those fit it's up to you to decide.

Another possible translation I've seen pop up is in Swahili it could mean being religious or devout. This seems a better fit as Takua is essentially the Jesus figure of the BIONICLE narrative, and as mentioned before he's first "follower of Mata Nui" if you will.

In Tongan the word can mean "to call by, to designate." Given a major plot point of MNOG is that Takua has amnesia and can't remember his name, only to be told it in an emotional exchange during the final cut-scene, that could also work.

Takua as a name can mean someone is inquisitive, restless, and seeking nature, with a desire to help and improve humanity. All of these apply to Takua but I have no idea if these meanings were assigned/many people actually used the name prior to the series or not.

And finally we don't have an official full translation of Matoran to English, but you can make a few educated guesses as to what Takua's name means based on translations we do have. While Kua is hard to place, Ta is the Matoran prefix for Fire, and he was a Fire elemental before being retconned into Light.

All in all though ,the BIONICLE fanbase cannot agree on where Takua comes from and was probably just LEGO making up something vaguely Polynesian sounding.

Ah, of the three versions we got of Takanuva this is possibly the worst one. Barely any more articulated than the 2003 version and without the striking golden look

Bonkle supremacy

@Alia_of_AGL said:
"Making Takanuva fill the "white" role on a standard assortment of 6 always felt weird. Granted, the Stars kinda ignored the common elemental roles of each color slot, but making Takanuva all white with a silver mask rubbed me the wrong was as if they were trying to treat him erroneously as a Toa of Ice. I know they gave the story reason for him changing his armor color, but he doesn't scream "Light" in Bionicle color theory anymore.

Of course the practical reason they didn't have Takanuva be gold and white was because it would undercut the half-baked "Golden BIONICLE" gimmick they were doing as a collection incentive; slapping a bunch of gold parts on Tahu, proving both to be a lame collectible and a lamer plot device. It actually probably would have made the Stars much stronger in my opinion if they did a different collectible and actually gave Takanua here warm gold parts; it's both a color Takanuva has technically never been in and would make the throwback roster look a bit more flattering as opposed to having each entry look worse and weaker than the sets they pay tribute to; they'd still probably all be the worst versions of their respective selves but at least they wouldn't be as ugly."

Well, supposedly there wasn’t supposed to be a final wave of sets, even one so arguably lackluster. But the Lego execs were apparently convinced they should give us something by way of a send off, and they had the Stars line thrown together. And then, of course, the story team had to work them into the finale.

@Maxbricks14 said:
" @GSR_MataNui said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Taka in Maori means to fall, and nuva is a non existent word. So, i'm confused."

That's because Takanuva is actually a bit of an awkward mashup of words to avoid spoiling a 2003 plot point without completely changing a characters name. When Takua became a Toa and joined the Toa Nuva he changed his name to Takanuva. This is a little odd given that biologically he is not a Toa Nuva, just a regular Toa, and the actual Nuva kept a space in their name. (Tahu became Tahu Nuva, Pohatu became Pohatu Nuva, ect.) Changing the spelling and pronunciation to Taka and mashing both halves together is strange.

Nuva is easy to explain. It and words similar to it mean "new" in various languages, and even in English it just sounds like "cool new." It was used to denote the Toa becoming new and cooler versions of themselves.

Takua is a lot harder to place.

Given most 2001 BIONICLE names are taken from Maori Takua could mean a few things. Google Translate is infamously not that good, but there are three translations I or others have gotten from it. It could mean "ask" which makes perfect sense his whole purpose in 2001 was to ask questions for exposition. It could mean "ship" which I don't really think works, but the GSR is a space ship and Takua was eventually reconnected into being the first passenger on it so I guess you can stretch it. He's also an explorer but he doesn't use ships to travel as much as characters like Macku or Marka. It could also mean "I'm sorry" which would work given how clumsy he is and how often he messes things up. Given how radically different those three translations are I'm sure at least 1 of them is wrong, and none of them fit that well regardless. You know Maori better than I, so if any of those fit it's up to you to decide.

Another possible translation I've seen pop up is in Swahili it could mean being religious or devout. This seems a better fit as Takua is essentially the Jesus figure of the BIONICLE narrative, and as mentioned before he's first "follower of Mata Nui" if you will.

In Tongan the word can mean "to call by, to designate." Given a major plot point of MNOG is that Takua has amnesia and can't remember his name, only to be told it in an emotional exchange during the final cut-scene, that could also work.

Takua as a name can mean someone is inquisitive, restless, and seeking nature, with a desire to help and improve humanity. All of these apply to Takua but I have no idea if these meanings were assigned/many people actually used the name prior to the series or not.

And finally we don't have an official full translation of Matoran to English, but you can make a few educated guesses as to what Takua's name means based on translations we do have. While Kua is hard to place, Ta is the Matoran prefix for Fire, and he was a Fire elemental before being retconned into Light.

All in all though ,the BIONICLE fanbase cannot agree on where Takua comes from and was probably just LEGO making up something vaguely Polynesian sounding. "

Could you're explanation be any longer?"

Don't be mean to our Boncistorian.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"Could you're explanation be any longer?"
You asked for an explanation and got an explanation, no reason to be snarky about it.

@GSR_MataNui said:
"so forgive me if I'm brushing over a lot of his plot points, he's just in too much to cover it all. "

Totally justified, Bionicle lore is more complicated than MCU lore, and nearly as convoluted as comicbook Marvel lore.

The one thing I can add is that soon after Takua became this guy, the Seventh Toa, he got briefly merged with Makuta (Teridax) and was known as "Takutanuva," and became even stronger for a short time.

@StyleCounselor said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @GSR_MataNui said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Taka in Maori means to fall, and nuva is a non existent word. So, i'm confused."

That's because Takanuva is actually a bit of an awkward mashup of words to avoid spoiling a 2003 plot point without completely changing a characters name. When Takua became a Toa and joined the Toa Nuva he changed his name to Takanuva. This is a little odd given that biologically he is not a Toa Nuva, just a regular Toa, and the actual Nuva kept a space in their name. (Tahu became Tahu Nuva, Pohatu became Pohatu Nuva, ect.) Changing the spelling and pronunciation to Taka and mashing both halves together is strange.

Nuva is easy to explain. It and words similar to it mean "new" in various languages, and even in English it just sounds like "cool new." It was used to denote the Toa becoming new and cooler versions of themselves.

Takua is a lot harder to place.

Given most 2001 BIONICLE names are taken from Maori Takua could mean a few things. Google Translate is infamously not that good, but there are three translations I or others have gotten from it. It could mean "ask" which makes perfect sense his whole purpose in 2001 was to ask questions for exposition. It could mean "ship" which I don't really think works, but the GSR is a space ship and Takua was eventually reconnected into being the first passenger on it so I guess you can stretch it. He's also an explorer but he doesn't use ships to travel as much as characters like Macku or Marka. It could also mean "I'm sorry" which would work given how clumsy he is and how often he messes things up. Given how radically different those three translations are I'm sure at least 1 of them is wrong, and none of them fit that well regardless. You know Maori better than I, so if any of those fit it's up to you to decide.

Another possible translation I've seen pop up is in Swahili it could mean being religious or devout. This seems a better fit as Takua is essentially the Jesus figure of the BIONICLE narrative, and as mentioned before he's first "follower of Mata Nui" if you will.

In Tongan the word can mean "to call by, to designate." Given a major plot point of MNOG is that Takua has amnesia and can't remember his name, only to be told it in an emotional exchange during the final cut-scene, that could also work.

Takua as a name can mean someone is inquisitive, restless, and seeking nature, with a desire to help and improve humanity. All of these apply to Takua but I have no idea if these meanings were assigned/many people actually used the name prior to the series or not.

And finally we don't have an official full translation of Matoran to English, but you can make a few educated guesses as to what Takua's name means based on translations we do have. While Kua is hard to place, Ta is the Matoran prefix for Fire, and he was a Fire elemental before being retconned into Light.

All in all though ,the BIONICLE fanbase cannot agree on where Takua comes from and was probably just LEGO making up something vaguely Polynesian sounding. "

Could you're explanation be any longer?"

Don't be mean to our Boncistorian."

Agreed! He does a lot of work writing all this out, and being rude to @GSR_MataNui is unkind and unwarranted @Maxbricks14 . You asked a question, and he answered it.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"Could you're explanation be any longer?"

I mean I could, but last time you asked for how a Maori word related to BIONICLE and I gave you a simple two sentence "in the BIONICLE language it means this, and this character did this" you said that didn't make sense and wasn't good enough, so I wanted to be thorough this time. If you don't want to know, don't ask.

@GSR_MataNui said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Could you're explanation be any longer?"

I mean I could, but last time you asked for how a Maori word related to BIONICLE and I gave you a simple two sentence "in the BIONICLE language it means this, and this character did this" you said that didn't make sense and wasn't good enough, so I wanted to be thorough this time. If you don't want to know, don't ask.

"

Some people just don't know what they want. Others just want to cause confusion and anger. A third type just want to watch the world burn. (I'm not sure which one applies to him!)

@StyleCounselor said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @GSR_MataNui said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Taka in Maori means to fall, and nuva is a non existent word. So, i'm confused."

That's because Takanuva is actually a bit of an awkward mashup of words to avoid spoiling a 2003 plot point without completely changing a characters name. When Takua became a Toa and joined the Toa Nuva he changed his name to Takanuva. This is a little odd given that biologically he is not a Toa Nuva, just a regular Toa, and the actual Nuva kept a space in their name. (Tahu became Tahu Nuva, Pohatu became Pohatu Nuva, ect.) Changing the spelling and pronunciation to Taka and mashing both halves together is strange.

Nuva is easy to explain. It and words similar to it mean "new" in various languages, and even in English it just sounds like "cool new." It was used to denote the Toa becoming new and cooler versions of themselves.

Takua is a lot harder to place.

Given most 2001 BIONICLE names are taken from Maori Takua could mean a few things. Google Translate is infamously not that good, but there are three translations I or others have gotten from it. It could mean "ask" which makes perfect sense his whole purpose in 2001 was to ask questions for exposition. It could mean "ship" which I don't really think works, but the GSR is a space ship and Takua was eventually reconnected into being the first passenger on it so I guess you can stretch it. He's also an explorer but he doesn't use ships to travel as much as characters like Macku or Marka. It could also mean "I'm sorry" which would work given how clumsy he is and how often he messes things up. Given how radically different those three translations are I'm sure at least 1 of them is wrong, and none of them fit that well regardless. You know Maori better than I, so if any of those fit it's up to you to decide.

Another possible translation I've seen pop up is in Swahili it could mean being religious or devout. This seems a better fit as Takua is essentially the Jesus figure of the BIONICLE narrative, and as mentioned before he's first "follower of Mata Nui" if you will.

In Tongan the word can mean "to call by, to designate." Given a major plot point of MNOG is that Takua has amnesia and can't remember his name, only to be told it in an emotional exchange during the final cut-scene, that could also work.

Takua as a name can mean someone is inquisitive, restless, and seeking nature, with a desire to help and improve humanity. All of these apply to Takua but I have no idea if these meanings were assigned/many people actually used the name prior to the series or not.

And finally we don't have an official full translation of Matoran to English, but you can make a few educated guesses as to what Takua's name means based on translations we do have. While Kua is hard to place, Ta is the Matoran prefix for Fire, and he was a Fire elemental before being retconned into Light.

All in all though ,the BIONICLE fanbase cannot agree on where Takua comes from and was probably just LEGO making up something vaguely Polynesian sounding. "

Could you're explanation be any longer?"

Don't be mean to our Boncistorian."

Because bionicle comes from 'Biological' + 'chronicler' I'd rather use the term 'Bionicler' to describe our experienced and excellent local loremaster.

You know on second thought 'Boncstorian' sounds better.