The funny little Rahkshi looking dude back in his prime!

@GSR_MataNui will fill you in on all the correct details soon.

Dammit, I just got Norikrolled!

@MCLegoboy said:
"The funny little Rahkshi looking dude back in his prime!

@GSR_MataNui will fill you in on all the correct details soon."

Well, this is also what he looks like now since the Rahaga’s mutations were undone in the 2008 web serials

The Makuta were some of the most powerful beings in the universe. With a wide range of abilities and near immortality they didn't really NEED protection, none-the-less some of them picked the strongest Toa from across the lands to guard them (or, more accurately, their lair and assets.) These Toa became known as the Toa Hagah, or "Guardian Heroes."

Norik was a well renowned Toa of Fire. In his early days he was close friends with Varian, Toa of Psionics. The two became close friends, with her often using her mental powers to tease Norik in his dreams. One day the two were teamed up with a mysterious Toa named "Grey" to investigate crimes by the Dark Hunters.

The three Toa ended up captured by the Hunters. They were taken to the throne of the Shadowed One himself who gave Varian a choice. She would choose one of the Toa to live and he'd kill the other. Varian, of course, chose to spare Norik and used her mental powers to give him pleasant dreams on the way out. When Norik was gone TSO revealed his true plot. Grey was actually a shapeshifter who worked for him, not a Toa, and was never going to be killed. As for Varian she was placed into stasis, kept as a trophy for TSO's throne room, and Norik swore he would come back and free her some day.

Sometime after this Norik was contacted by none other than Maktua Teridax himself who wanted him to lead his personal Hagah team. Norik agreed and was given a custom sculpted mask in honor of a past hero alongside gilded armor, a fancy spear, and a shield with built-in Rhotuka Launcher.

These six Hagah served under Makuta for many years. Eventually they learned the Brotherhood of Maktua had stolen the Kanohi Avhoki, the Mask of Light, and were using Matoran slave labor. Realizing the true villainy of their employer, the Hagah chose to rebel. Norik and Irunii managed to fight Teridax himself to a stalemate, and the team managed to successfully escape with the Mask of Light, but not before Roodaka used her mutation powers to transform the six into tiny hunchbacked creatures she dubbed Rahaga.

The Rahaga fled with the Mask to the far northern city of Metru Nui in search of the legendary Keetongu, a beast rumored to be able to cure any ailment.

Many years later, after the Great Cataclysm, the Brotherhood of Makuta marched on Metru Nui, Roodaka herself arriving with the Visorak Horde. The Visorak captured the city's protectors, the Toa Metru, and transformed them into the hideous Toa Hordika. The Rahaga rescued the Hordika and together they set out to find Keetongu and heal their ailments. Along the way they also retrieved the Mask of Light from where they had stashed it deep below the city.

During this adventure Roodaka convinced Vakama, leader of the Metru/Hordika, to betray his friends and join her army. As payment for his entry, Vakama kidnapped five of the Rahaga, leaving Norik injured but alive to warn the others of his betrayal.

Norik and the remaining Hordika managed to find Keetongu. He revealed he could heal the Hordika since they were mutated by Visorak venom, but he could not help the Rahaga. Only Roodaka could undo her own work. Together this party marched on the Coliseum where they freed the rest of the Rahaga, convinced Vakama to be good again, and drove the Visorak away.

The Metru decided to take the Matoran population away to the island paradise of Mata Nui. The Rahaga, Keetongu, and Turaga Dume (don't worry about him) stayed behind to protect and fix the ruined city until their return.

Some time after the people of Metru Nui returned to their homeland, the Toa Nuva (the 2001-2003 protagonists) managed to capture Roodaka. They forced her to turn the Rahaga into Toa again.

When the Destiny War arrived the Hagah were recruited by the Order of Mata Nui (basically BIONICLE's secret service) to hunt down their old master Teridax. This quest involved getting underneath the Coliseum. The Toa Mahri (06-07 protags) refused to let them destroy the structure, and they fought for a while before finding a different way to get under.

This led them to the Core Pro

This led them to the Core Processor of the Great Spirit Robot, just as Makuta completed his plan to oust Mata Nui's soul and steal his body. With his newfound power Makuta cast an illusion on his old Toa Hagah team, making them believe the fight was won and the world around them was joyous and happy as it fell into dystopia. They were eventually freed from this illusion by the legendary Tren Krom and joined the resistance toward the Reign of Shadows.

As a Hagah Norik wore specially gilded gear to show his status, and could fire Rhotuka Spinners that slowed a target down. He wore the Kanohi Pehkui, the Mask of Diminishment, which allowed him to grow and shrink between his default size and six inches tall.

That Mask is actually a very interesting story. You see the 2005 Norik set was initially intended to be the Toa version of Turaga Dume, a character met the previous year. This meant it wore the same mask as Dume, but Dume didn't use a Pehkui. He used a Kanohi Kiril, the Mask of Regeneration.

The story team's explanation for this was that Kanohi power actually has nothing to do with its shape. As established in the '04 story, Kanohi actually get their powers based on the types of Kanoka Disks used to craft them. While there are standardized designs, the actual shape these masks are carved into don't *really* matter. Just as Tahu and Lhikan's Hau's look different, a Kanohi can theoretically look like anything.

Norik used to wear a standard looking Pehkui, but when he became a Hagah he was granted a custom silver-plated mask in honor of a past hero. Norik idolized a Kiril user of old and so modeled his new mask after him.

@Robot99 said:
" @WolfpackBricksStudios said:
"Dammit, I just got Norikrolled!"
Okay, this cracked me up X-D"

[Sung by @GSR_MataNui ]

We're no strangers to Lego
You know the rules and so do I (Bonc not
really Lego)
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around with Hero Factory
Never gonna make you cry (tears of Toa)
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie (Bonc is Lego) and hurt you...

@PurpleDave said:
"Special Edition? Was there a regular edition, and how was it different?"

Ironically enough, this listing might actually be the "regular edition."
In the United States Norik and Irunii were only available as a two-pack exclusively available at Walmart. In most other regions of the world the two were sold separately and in a wider variety of stores. This is the more common individual release of the character, so I'm not sure why it's marked like that.

@GSR_MataNui said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Special Edition? Was there a regular edition, and how was it different?"

Ironically enough, this listing might actually be the "regular edition."
In the United States Norik and Irunii were only available as a two-pack exclusively available at Walmart. In most other regions of the world the two were sold separately and in a wider variety of stores. This is the more common individual release of the character, so I'm not sure why it's marked like that. "

I remember Iruni being available individually in the US and the two-pack being Walmart exclusive. We got the single Iruni first and the two-pack later, which was welcome because Iruni's mask was fun to use for MOCs. I was surprised to learn later in my online days that Norik was available as a single in other markets.

Strong memory in 2005 of asking for the Norik and Iruuni two-pack for Christmas from my grandparents.

My mom later confessed that the Bionicle names and products I was asking for were so obtuse and specific she'd buy them, then hand them to my grandparents to wrap and gift to me.

So today's RMotD and RSotD both depict characters who were, at some point, deformed in some way.

Took me a bit by shock, that I hadn't realized he's the same guy as one of the Rahaga...

After Mask of Light I went a bit into "soft Dark Ages" and followed Bionicle only with one eye open. Didn't realize they had the same name, lol.

The Toa Hagah were the best versions of the Toa Metru style of toa build. The shield arm is connected with a friction pin so it stas in place but can be posed. The lower arms are longer. And the spear had far more range -being a spear-compared to even the longest Metru weapon. And the oherwise static shields have a built-in launcher.

Naturally I own none and passed up multiple opportunities to collect the two. At the time I hadn't been looking for them so I sold the ones I happened upon. And with them I mean Toa Norik, multiple times. He's just worth to much to not sell it. At least, for now. As I said, this is a good Bionicle set.

@GSR_MataNui said:
"
That Mask is actually a very interesting story. You see the 2005 Norik set was initially intended to be the Toa version of Turaga Dume, a character met the previous year. This meant it wore the same mask as Dume, but Dume didn't use a Pehkui. He used a Kanohi Kiril, the Mask of Regeneration.
"

I thought that was a rumour? I know that’s something the fandom ran with (along with Iriuni being Nidhiki) but I thought Greg Farshety had quashed it every time someone asked him about it?

@whiteghost said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Special Edition? Was there a regular edition, and how was it different?"

The Toa Hordika and the Visorak were the "regular" canister sets that year. Build-wise, Norik and Iruini were beefed-up versions of the Toa Metru from the year before.

I was never super fond of the Hagah. The colors were nice but not really popping and it was never a full set, only a teaser from the team. The reused weapons and parts also felt lazy to me at the time."

In this era you often saw stuff like 'limited edition' or 'special edition' on the box of sets. It often just meant it wasn't sold everywhere and was exclusive to a few store chains. Or it was exclusive to certain countries due to this as well. Remember that the internet wasn't as vital to marketing as it was now. People in stores couldn't yet see just how (un)common something was. Or at least not your average shopper. Labels like those help in such cases to market them better.

@GSR_MataNui
Is there anything Bionicle that you *don't* know?

@Brickalili said:
" @GSR_MataNui said:
"That Mask is actually a very interesting story. You see the 2005 Norik set was initially intended to be the Toa version of Turaga Dume, a character met the previous year. This meant it wore the same mask as Dume, but Dume didn't use a Pehkui. He used a Kanohi Kiril, the Mask of Regeneration. "

I thought that was a rumour? I know that’s something the fandom ran with (along with Iriuni being Nidhiki) but I thought Greg Farshety had quashed it every time someone asked him about it?"

I think I saw a quote where Greg said once that they considered that idea, among several other potential thoughts, for maybe five minutes before going "nah" and assigning different characters to the designs, since Dume and Nidhiki were otherwise not at all relevant to 2005's story.

That said, I can definitely see where the rumour comes from: Norik is primarily red like Dume, has Dume's mask (in shape only), and Dume's torso as his chestplate; while Iruini's main colour is dark green like Nidhiki, his mask looks suspiciously like the shape of the Vakhi head that Nidhiki's mutated form used, and has the same Gahlok-Kal handshield as his chest armour. It's for sure a weird set of similarities to be purely coincidence.

But since the implication of that Greg quote is that the sets were designed first with no story-team input, and assigning them a place in the story was only done after the fact, I'm not sure how it quite works out. Unless someone on the set design team decided to be clever by referencing the previous year's sets, only for the story team to not take that option...?

-

For myself, Norik was one of only four Bionicle sets that I emerged far enough from the RotS-hype void to get in mid-2005. New Toa characters were always exciting to me - especially since so many of the franchise's Toa sets were essentially 'that same guy you already have, but with new mask and weapons!' - so he and Iruini were deliberate dives back into Bionicle to grab, even though I was otherwise not all that interested in the 2005 story compared to what Star Wars was doing that year. I specifically remember mowing the lawn and washing my parents' cars *several* times that summer in order to earn enough extra chore money to get them xD

To my mind, Norik was always the somewhat less-cool of the two. He's pretty great, still; but between having a reused mask to Iruini's unique design, and using the quickly-becoming-overused silver as his armour colour instead of Iruini's still-pretty-rare gold, he just didn't land as solidly for me. Still not a bad set by any means, but just didn't stand out as much as his brother Toa.

@alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @GSR_MataNui
Is there anything Bionicle that you *don't* know?"

I can never remember any of the Vahki or most of the Visorak names. I can't remember what Vahki had what staff powers. A bunch of the combiner models and Dark Hunter contest winners kinda muddle together in my head. I forget a lot of the exact placement of things on the timeline from flashbacks. (Was Kojol or the Makuta of Stelt killed first? for example.)

@GSR_MataNui said:
"I can never remember any of the Vahki or most of the Visorak names. I can't remember what Vahki had what staff powers."

Curiously, in my case, while my overall knowledge of the mythos is not at your level by any means - and I definitely applaud your ability to keep on top of so much of it! - the Vahki are perhaps the only clone-army-style antagonists whose unique powers and traits I *do* remember. Although I guess in fairness, 2003, 2004 and 2006 were my major Bionicle-focused years, so I am 85% more likely to remember minutia from those years than even major details from other parts of the story... xD

Going off on one a bit here, but just to put my memory to the test now that it's been mentioned...

Nuurakh, fire Vahki, had staffs of command: implanted one overriding instruction - usually just "get back to work" - in the target. Don't remember if they had any unique personality traits.

Zadakh, stone Vahki, had staffs of suggestion: made the target susceptible to orders from anyone and everyone until it wore off. Zadakh were the fighty Vahki, so this let them just zap Matoran troublemakers and leave their fellows to deal with them, so that they could focus on rampaging rahi and other threats that put up more of a fight.

Bordakh, water Vahki, had staffs of loyalty: made the target unswervingly loyal to the government to the point where they would willingly betray even their closest friends with no remorse. Bordakh were the chase-loving Vahki, and would sometimes let a criminal go just so they could have the fun of chasing them down again.

Vorzakh, air Vahki, had staffs of erasing: basically removed all the target's higher mental functions for a while, leaving them aimlessly wandering as little more than zombies. Vorzakh were the Vakhi that were painstakingly programmed to go around obstacles in the crowded Le-Metru transport hubs... so naturally, they quickly learned to bypass all that programming effort with the discovery that going *through* obstacles was much more efficient in a chase, making them the most destructive hive of Vahki despite best efforts otherwise.

Keerakh, ice Vahki, had staffs of disorientation: essentially removed a target's sense of time and place, leaving them lost. Keerakh were the prediction Vahki, good at figuring out where a criminal was planning to go - sometimes even before they knew it themselves - and getting there ahead of them, all the better for not disturbing the Metru's silence-loving scholars with noisy chases.

Rorzakh, earth Vahki, had the odd-ones-out in terms of staff powers which, instead of inflicting a mental effect on the target, rather intangibly tagged that target, letting the Rorzakh see through their eyes and know where they were at any given moment for easy interception.

The one thing about the Vahki I never can remember, though, is which way around the 'h' and the 'k' go in the name...!

(As to the Visorak, while I remember barely any of their unique powers (Oohnorak were mimics... that's the only one I recall...!), a cheat I remember for their names, from back in the day, is that each one contains their respective elemental prefix, just in the middle of the name rather than at the beginning: e.g. Bo-GA-rak are the water Visorak, Kee-LE-rak are air, Ru-PO-rak are stone... it was the only reason I was ever able to learn those names!)