Random set of the day: Gavla
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8948 Gavla, released during 2008. It's one of 35 Bionicle sets produced that year. It contains 14 pieces, and its retail price was US$6.99/£3.99.
It's owned by 1,932 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $51.20, or eBay.
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16 comments on this article
The real short version of the story:
It's the girl that went goth, and it wasn't a phase.
I feel like it was about then when I just stopped paying any attention to Bionicle, because I feel like all of these characters are brand new, to me.
Another of my favorites!
Matoran of Light were the oldest and most powerful breed of Matoran in the Matoran Universe. Their ability to blast bolts of light and potential to become Toa of Light made them incredible valuable, but also at incredible risk. They were hidden away within the land of Karda Nui, far away from those that may wish them harm.
Their largest threat were the Brotherhood of Makuta. As beings of Shadow, a potential Toa of Light would be fatal to their dark schemes. They wished to find the Matoran of Light, to capture or destroy them, and eventually found a method. Not only did they discover the path to Karda Nui, but they developed a new creature known as Shadow Leeches who could drain the moral light of Matoran, turning them into slaves of the Brotherhood and (in the case of Matoran of Light) give them shadow powers.
Gavla was always a bit of a social outcast. She never really managed to make friends with her fellow villagers, often being turned away. She became increasingly bitter, rude, and aggressive, which only exasperated her problems. When the Makuta made their assault on Karda Nui, Gavla was the first Matoran of Light to be bitten by a Shadow Leech, and was transformed into the bat-like creature you see here.
While most saw this fate as enslavement, Gavla saw it as a new lease on life. Within the Brotherhood she found a sense of belonging and appreciation she had never known before. (Even if it was just the Makuta just manipulating her, as cults do.) She quickly rose through their ranks, becoming the personal aid of Makuta Vamprah and a prominent leader of their armies. She had never received the levels of attention and assurance and reveled in it.
Eventually Takanuva, the Toa of Light, came to Karda Nui. His memory had been wiped long ago, but he quickly pieced together this must have been his original homeland and swore to free his kin. Eventually he met Vican, a Shadow Matoran that had recently been cured from the Shadow Leeches' power. He had been freed from the Makuta's enslavement after being hit by a sonic blast from a creature known as Klakk. The two began bringing Shadow Matoran to the creature and, sure enough, they were freed. As more and more Matoran were brought back to the Light, they were cured faster and faster.
Eventually only one Shadow Matoran remained. Ironically the first* to fall. Gavla. Takanuva managed to personally bring her to the Klakk, but once she was hit, he was surprised by her reaction. Every other Matoran had been thankful and overjoyed to have their free will back, but Gavla was enraged. She had felt more at home in the Makuta's ranks. She feared going back to her old life, as she knew she'd just be ignored and cast away again. Reluctantly she joined the Matoran of Light as they fled Karda Nui's energy storms to take refuge in Metru Nui, and later took part in the mass exodus of the Matoran Universe for the paradise of Spherus Magna at Journey's End.
To her credit/defense, Gavla was never "evil." While she was a bit snappy and dismissive, as a Light elemental she never had a desire to hurt anyone or inflict violence, something that she gained as a Shadow elemental and lost once more when cured. She really did just want to belong to something, and in desperation took the first path to show her an ounce of comradery. It's honestly kind of depressing how sad and defeated she sounds after being cured. She really thinks things will never get better and this is all she's good for.
*Well, actually Vican and Vultraz were infected first, but they weren't Matoran of Light nor form Karda Nui so weren't the first slaves of *this* conflict.
@MCLegoboy said:
"The real short version of the story:
It's the girl that went goth, and it wasn't a phase."
In my experience most goth people seem to be nice, and it was in fact a phase, so I'd equate Gavla more to the mean girl dating the star athlete (in this case, probably former village leader Kirop 8949 ) (being an assistant to 8692 Vamprah probably helped her social standing.
@Zordboy said:
"I feel like it was about then when I just stopped paying any attention to Bionicle, because I feel like all of these characters are brand new, to me. "
Ironically this is the same wave when the original team came back after 5 years, and 2009 was the only year that didn't feature any characters from the original 2001 wave
I’m getting Sloth from Goonies vibes. Anybody else?
@ShilohCyan said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"The real short version of the story:
It's the girl that went goth, and it wasn't a phase."
In my experience most goth people seem to be nice, and it was in fact a phase, so I'd equate Gavla more to the mean girl dating the star athlete (in this case, probably former village leader Kirop 8949 ) (being an assistant to 8692 Vamprah probably helped her social standing. "
“Damnit Gavla, stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen!”
I loved how Matoran masks mirrored those of the canister sets in 2006.
@whiteghost said:
"I loved how Matoran masks mirrored those of the canister sets in 2006."
you mean 2008?
The packaging for these matoran (and the 2009 Agori) was strange. They were two colored plastic halves fashioned after stalactite and stalagmite rock with a paper rolled up into an oval with squared off corners. It was fastened by a ziptie.
Combined with the then new 'Av-Matoran build' (the specialized parts you can see pretty much everywhere but the hands and weapons here), these felt quite strange. From 2001-2007 matoran were a lot more technic-based and were sold in regular small rectangular boxes. These newer ones were also slightly more expensive at 6,- euro instead of the 5,- from previous years, which added to the weirdness.
Hence why I only got Kirop to go with the Chirox I bought alongside it. I later was gifted a Tanma and Photok. And right now I'm more than content to just leave it there. Radiak and Gavla I had encountered with bulk buys but I sold them afterward. They were bought quite quickly, actually.
@Billbuilds said:
" @whiteghost said:
"I loved how Matoran masks mirrored those of the canister sets in 2006."
you mean 2008? "
Haha indeed indeed, my bad.
Gavla and Kirop might be the only Bionicles of mine that broke to the point that I couldn't reassemble them.
I think the Av-Matoran deserve most of the flack they get, but they did have fair build variety from the start.
Remember, this was 2008, and going goth for social status was a thing back then. (And even if it wasn't, I was five, so I don't remember anything)
@Binnekamp said:
"Radiak and Gavla I had encountered with bulk buys but I sold them afterward. They were bought quite quickly, actually."
Interestingly, your experience differs from mine; when I was downsizing my Bionicle collection around 2012 Gavla was almost the ONLY set who I couldn't get to sell; I listed her over and over again on eBay and it felt like it took forever until I finally got a taker!
That said, I 100% agree about the Av-Matoran feeling like a big step down from previous Matoran sets and not worth the asking price. I guess the higher price was the side effect of all the new moulds that the Kardatoran used having to be paid for somehow, but when those chunky new pieces were the whole reason I didn't like this wave much, it definitely soured me on getting any more of them. Myself, I bought Tanma and Gavla, and that was the point I decided to break my attempted Bionicle completionist streak because I simply didn't care enough to get the other four.
That ALSO said, story-wise Gavla was absolutely my favourite of the Kardatoran, and indeed the only one whose unique personality traits I actually remember, the others really just blur together for me. But Gavla stood out as unique, and I would love to have known where her story took her after the return to Metru Nui. Did she try and fit in, and find that Metru-Matoran weren't as exclusionary as Karda-Matoran, and potentially made friends for the first time in her life? Did she follow Ahkmou's footsteps in supporting Makuta Teridax's rule of the universe, since she had felt like she belonged with the Makuta... or did she instead resent Teridax for his Plan™ being the reason that all the Makuta who she had seen as family were dead, and join in the resistance purely out of spite? Did she want nothing else to do with Matoran, Toa, or Makuta and just wandered the universe looking for somewhere to belong? There are so many potential directions she could have gone in, and all of them sound interesting... maybe one day I'll write my own fanfic about what became of her, perhaps...!
My First Lego Set :)
@Binnekamp said:
"The packaging for these matoran (and the 2009 Agori) was strange. They were two colored plastic halves fashioned after stalactite and stalagmite rock with a paper rolled up into an oval with squared off corners. It was fastened by a ziptie."
I found it surprisingly fun to use those plastic halves as rocks or decor during a battle scene. Nowhere near as good as something like a Toa Canister or Bohrok Canister, but I always loved how BIONICLE tried to incorporate play features into the packaging. Even the first wave of HERO Factory did it with HERO Pods.
@GSR_MataNui said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"The packaging for these matoran (and the 2009 Agori) was strange. They were two colored plastic halves fashioned after stalactite and stalagmite rock with a paper rolled up into an oval with squared off corners. It was fastened by a ziptie."
I found it surprisingly fun to use those plastic halves as rocks or decor during a battle scene. Nowhere near as good as something like a Toa Canister or Bohrok Canister, but I always loved how BIONICLE tried to incorporate play features into the packaging. Even the first wave of HERO Factory did it with HERO Pods.
"
My favorite way of incorporating the packaging int the play is still the X-Pods.