Random set of the day: Toa Nuparu
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8913 Toa Nuparu, released during 2007. It's one of 31 Bionicle sets produced that year. It contains 59 pieces, and its retail price was US$9.99/£7.99.
It's owned by 2,696 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 $103.50, or eBay.
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22 comments on this article
He just doesn't feel right without all the spikes and claws from his Inika form. I think I've seen a version made that included some orange, one of Nuparu's original colors as a Matoran, and it looked a lot better.
I really like those shield pieces. Though I'm not sure how much protection it would offer with that big gap down the middle.
I've got this one. Loved the missile shooter.
@Brickbuilder0937 said:
"I really like those shield pieces. Though I'm not sure how much protection it would offer with that big gap down the middle."
It’s probably a hitting shield more than a defensive shield.
Anyone else kind of bummed that the first version of Nuparu was the only one with orange parts?
If you’re interested in the design process of this set, or just of Lego sets in general, the original designer uploaded a whole video going over it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCvTJVc_1WU
Super interesting stuff, perhaps most fascinating to me being that the “shield” was actually intended as a bladed weapon with a energy blasting core made from two mirrored halves, but due to budget restrictions the halves were made identical and inadvertently more shield-like. It *is* the “Aqua Blaster Blade” mentioned in early story material, which ended up accidentally reinterpreted as a completely separate, physically unseen tool that Nuparu just also owned :P
My boy, my man, my favorite version of the engineer!
Nuparu was once a Matoran of Earth, working as an engineer in Metru Nui. He was the chief creator of the Vahki, the robot enforcement squad that served as the cities police. Seeing how the Vahki were used to create totalitarian rule, Nuparu swore to invent something that would actually protect people some day.
Much later, after the Great Cataclysm, Nuparu was one of the many Matoran who evacuated to the island paradise of Mata Nui. For 1,000 years he toiled as a 2nd class engineer in the mines of Onu-Koro. When the Bohrok War broke, a squad of the giant robot bugs flooded the underground city. The miners attempted to retreat, but three failed to evacuate and were trapped. Onepu, Taipu, and Nuparu found themselves sealed in a dry chamber along several Bohrok corpses. Nuparu dissembled the bugs and transformed them into giant mech suits he dubbed "Boxors" to dig their way out. These Boxors turned the tides of the war, helping liberate Le-Koro.
Some time later the Matoran returned to their ancestral home of Metru Nui. Once there, the Turaga learned the Great Spirit Mata Nui was dying, and sent the Toa Nuva to the far off land of Voya Nui to retrieve the Mask of Life and revive him. When the Toa failed to return, Jaller, Captain of the Guard, assembled a small rescue team to go after them, including Nuparu.
These six Matoran headed south and found themselves trapped inside the hellish realm of Karzahni. The warlord of the same name tried to strip them of their identities. He stole Nuparu's orange Mask of Strength and replaced it with a black Mask of Flight. Eventually they manged to get their hands on a set of Toa Canisters, and used them to flee the realm.
As they washed ashore on Voya Nui, these canisters were struck by lightning from the Red Star. These energies transformed the six into Toa heroes, who dubbed themselves the Inika. They soon learned that Voya Nui had been taken over by a gang of thugs known as the Piraka. They had taken the Toa Nuva prisoner, and brainwashed most of the Matoran. The Inika used weapons designed by the surviving Matoran to free the others form their mind control and free the Nuva. Kongu, Toa of Air, was particularly jealous that Nuparu was the one to get a Mask of Flight, which he once notably used to engage the hive-mind-swarm body of Zaktan in midair fight, dragging him into the sea.
Eventually both Toa and Piraka found the Staircase of 777 steps that led to the Chamber of Life. After many trials and traps, the Toa managed to free the Kanohi Ignika from its guardian, only for the mask to take flight and dive into the sea. The Toa tried to follow it using the mysterious Cord, only for the Mask of Life to strike them with its powers, transforming them into the water breathing Toa Mahri.
Nuparu did little of note as a Mahri, but assisted his brothers in trying to get the Mask of Life back from the underwater Barraki Warlords. Eventually the Toa managed to recover the Mask. Matoro took it to the bottom of the Pit to the place it should be used, while Nuparu and the other four fended off the Barraki's hordes of underwater beasts.
But they were too late. The Great Spirit, Mata Nui, died. Unwilling to accept defeat, Matoro pressed on. He traveled to the very bottom of The Pit, and in the hidden land of Karda Nui gave his own life to revive the Great Spirit. His final wish gave the other five Mahri the ability to breathe air again, and teleported them back home to Metru Nui.
The remaining five Mahri would have a series of smaller quests in the weeks to come. They briefly fought the Toa Haga before helping them find a way into the mysterious Core Processor. While on a mission to investigate trouble on the Skakdi's home island, they witnessed a strange ritual where many beings, including the Piraka they had fought before, were fused together into a powerful Golden Skinned Being. This GSB took over the minds of the Mahri. The last we saw of Nuparu, he and his brothers were still enslaved by this titan, who brought them to his new fortress on Spherus Magna after the battle at Journey's End.
When the Mask of Life transformed Nuparu into a Mahri, it gave him a new mask and new tools. He wore the Kanohi Volitak, the Mask of Stealth. This mask hides its user and while it doesn't make them completely invisible like the Huna does, it also hides their shadow and dampens the sounds they make. His main tool was was a Razor-Edged Protosteel Shield. In addition to a massive blocking range, this shield could easily slice through obstacles or be folded for storage. While not pictured in the set he also wielded an Aqua Blaster Blade that could unleash shockwaves on his opponents. After meeting the people of Mahri Nui he obtained a Cordak "Desolation" Blaster. This gatling gun could fire explosive torpedoes and were key in destroying The Cord. As a Toa of Earth he could control dirt and soil, which was slightly useless in the open sea. Since the end of the '07 story he is amphibious. Nuparu's defining trait was his superior intellect and love of machines. While this could be a boon in creating new inventions for his team, it also gave him a tendency to admire enemy machines (such as the Piraka's Nektann) so much he'd forget to actually fight them.
@TotalMaddness said:
" It *is* the “Aqua Blaster Blade” mentioned in early story material, which ended up accidentally reinterpreted as a completely separate, physically unseen tool that Nuparu just also owned :P"
I always found it a bit funny they held a canon contest to design an actual version of the Aqua Blaster Blade, only to wind up with something so clunky and unwielding I can't really picture him even using it https://biosector01.com/wiki/File:Set_Aqua_Blaster_Blade.png
We're reaching Cloud Strife levels of oversized with that thing.
@SearchlightRG said:
"Anyone else kind of bummed that the first version of Nuparu was the only one with orange parts?"
I'm disappointed that he looks more like a Toa of Ice than one of Earth.
I’d say not just the blandest version Nuparu but the blandest of the Mahri too. Just…a dude with a shield, no real uniqueness or identifiers
You may not agree with me, and it's fine, but to me, 2007 is Bionicle's last good wave. After that it just lost all appeal it had in my eyes.
Interestingly, the torso stays the same from the Inika version. There's also a holder on his back that contains two 1x1 trans neon green round bricks. It actually helps the color scheme. It's just weird that it's only visible on the back.
This set is also notable for debuting those swooping armor panels on his upper limbs. They later appeared in silver on Chirox and Toa Ignika... and nowhere else. A weird part. And they come in a set of left and right versions too!
Finally, the use of piraka arm parts for the limbs give the feet and hands less range of motion because those only rotate one way on both ball socket ends. It makes a strange amount of sense for the ankles, which don't need a full range of motion anyway. Up and down and slight side to side is enogh. For the cordak hand it's okay, but the shield hand is now weirdly static because it only rotates up and down too.
Ah, Bonkle-Not-Clickets has returned.
All is right.
@PurpleDave said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"Anyone else kind of bummed that the first version of Nuparu was the only one with orange parts?"
I'm disappointed that he looks more like a Toa of Ice than one of Earth."
Yes, they somehow began messing up the color schemes of Earth and Stone quite a bit beginning with the 2006 sets...
Anyways I wonder why they choose Nuparu over Onepu in the first place. Same can be said about Hahli vs Ma(c)ku, but at least Hahli had a growing story significance from 2002-2003. I feel like Nuparu just disappeared from the story after he got celebrated for the Boxor invention.
It also would have been interesting to see if they actually had used some sort of purple for a "Toa Onepu"... His original shade was gone by that time of cause.
@Atuin said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"Anyone else kind of bummed that the first version of Nuparu was the only one with orange parts?"
I'm disappointed that he looks more like a Toa of Ice than one of Earth."
Yes, they somehow began messing up the color schemes of Earth and Stone quite a bit beginning with the 2006 sets...
Anyways I wonder why they choose Nuparu over Onepu in the first place. Same can be said about Hahli vs Ma(c)ku, but at least Hahli had a growing story significance from 2002-2003. I feel like Nuparu just disappeared from the story after he got celebrated for the Boxor invention.
It also would have been interesting to see if they actually had used some sort of purple for a "Toa Onepu"... His original shade was gone by that time of cause."
Wasn’t the first time they mucked with the color schemes. The Toa Metru shifted 2/3rds of the flavors to dark-red, dark-green, dark-blue, and whatever funky color they used for Stone, as well as making dark-bley the universal secondary color for all six elements. And of course Takua and Nuparu both combined color schemes from two elements (fire/water and earth/fire respectively).
@TotalMaddness said:
"If you’re interested in the design process of this set, or just of Lego sets in general, the original designer uploaded a whole video going over it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCvTJVc_1WU
Super interesting stuff, perhaps most fascinating to me being that the “shield” was actually intended as a bladed weapon with a energy blasting core made from two mirrored halves, but due to budget restrictions the halves were made identical and inadvertently more shield-like. It *is* the “Aqua Blaster Blade” mentioned in early story material, which ended up accidentally reinterpreted as a completely separate, physically unseen tool that Nuparu just also owned :P"
I'll have to watch that, I'm curious to see if the video goes into the silver masks Nuparu and Matoro Mahri got stuck with. I think metallics, especially silver, were overused as Bionicle went on, but the (default) mask seems like the one thing that absolutely should be a more character-specific colour.
@Atuin said:
"It also would have been interesting to see if they actually had used some sort of purple for a "Toa Onepu"... His original shade was gone by that time of cause."
I'd say you've just to look at the amount of orange on Toa Nuparu to get your answer.
@SearchlightRG said:
" @Brickbuilder0937 said:
"I really like those shield pieces. Though I'm not sure how much protection it would offer with that big gap down the middle."
It’s probably a hitting shield more than a defensive shield.
Anyone else kind of bummed that the first version of Nuparu was the only one with orange parts?
"
What I'm upset about, with regards to Nuparu, is that I never picked up his Toa Inika form. And he was one of my favorite Matoran!
@GSR_MataNui said:" @TotalMaddness said:" It *is* the “Aqua Blaster Blade” mentioned in early story material, which ended up accidentally reinterpreted as a completely separate, physically unseen tool that Nuparu just also owned :P"
I always found it a bit funny they held a canon contest to design an actual version of the Aqua Blaster Blade, only to wind up with something so clunky and unwielding I can't really picture him even using it https://biosector01.com/wiki/File:Set_Aqua_Blaster_Blade.png
We're reaching Cloud Strife levels of oversized with that thing. "
When I saw the last line, I thought this was a @Crux post; they're usually the one to reference things like Final Fantasy games.
Hey, I had this one!
@Atuin said:
"Anyways I wonder why they choose Nuparu over Onepu in the first place. Same can be said about Hahli vs Ma(c)ku, but at least Hahli had a growing story significance from 2002-2003. I feel like Nuparu just disappeared from the story after he got celebrated for the Boxor invention."
In fairness, I feel like Onepu's contributions to the story were pretty minor too. His main moments of significance were being part of the rescue force arriving at the Kini Nui at the end of MNOG, present when Nuparu invented the boxor, and on the first losing team of the Kolhii tournament; otherwise he really had very little role in official media despite being head of one of Mata Nui's three top military groups.
Nuparu may not have had a huge amount of screentime himself, but he did have the whole thing of designing the boxor to his name, plus had been name-dropped a few times in 2004 as having been the inventor of the Vahki in the distant past, so honestly it may just be that he was fresher in Greg Farshtey's memory than a character that he hadn't touched since 2001 (since Greg had no input on Templar's games and animations). I wonder if Nuparu having been in a widely-available set, rather than just a McDonalds promo, may also have had a hand in why he was chosen.
From an in-universe reason, could be that Jaller realised it would be a bad idea to deprive Metru Nui of all three of its chief military leaders at once (himself and Kongu being the other two), so he made sure one of them would still be present in the city should trouble arise in his absence. Too, Jaller was chosing Matoran who he specifically knew and trusted for the mission; and he would have known Nuparu from the defence of Ga-Koro, while the only times he and Onepu were ever seen in the same place were in the promotional comic for the McDonalds toys (which doesn't easily fit into the canon timeline of MNOG), and at the battle of Kini Nui where we didn't see them directly interact.
Whatever the reason, I'm personally very happy with the choice. Nuparu swiftly became my favourite of the Matoran when he was introduced, so seeing him as a Toa for the first time really made me feel like "my boy's all grown up!!!" - and Onepu just wouldn't have got the same sentiment from me...!
...
That ALSO said, I'm another in the camp of this being the least interesting version of the character in my book. To me, he doesn't do enough different from his previous Inika form, and what he does do differently - gappier limb pieces, dark grey joints instead of light grey - felt like a downgrade. I will grant that his Mahri mask is a bit easier to accept than the spiky hair of his Inika look, but as someone else who was wearying of Bionicle's reliance on silver (and dark grey) by this point, the colour choice didn't do it for me.
I did still get him in the end, since 2007 was the last year I went completionist phase with, but he was the last Mahri I got (I asked for and received him as my Easter gift for 2008), and... yeah. I didn't hate him by any means, but he definitely felt less special than his previous versions. I did like his cool new 'shield', though! ^^
@ThatBionicleGuy said:"Whatever the reason, I'm personally very happy with the choice. Nuparu swiftly became my favourite of the Matoran when he was introduced, so seeing him as a Toa for the first time really made me feel like "my boy's all grown up!!!" - and Onepu just wouldn't have got the same sentiment from me...!"
Same here, and that's why I'm so much more disappointed in myself for not getting 8729 than I am for not getting 8728 or 8731.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
" @Brickbuilder0937 said:
"I really like those shield pieces. Though I'm not sure how much protection it would offer with that big gap down the middle."
It’s probably a hitting shield more than a defensive shield.
Anyone else kind of bummed that the first version of Nuparu was the only one with orange parts?
"
What I'm upset about, with regards to Nuparu, is that I never picked up his Toa Inika form. And he was one of my favorite Matoran!
@GSR_MataNui said:" @TotalMaddness said:" It *is* the “Aqua Blaster Blade” mentioned in early story material, which ended up accidentally reinterpreted as a completely separate, physically unseen tool that Nuparu just also owned :P"
I always found it a bit funny they held a canon contest to design an actual version of the Aqua Blaster Blade, only to wind up with something so clunky and unwielding I can't really picture him even using it https://biosector01.com/wiki/File:Set_Aqua_Blaster_Blade.png
We're reaching Cloud Strife levels of oversized with that thing. "
When I saw the last line, I thought this was a @Crux post; they're usually the one to reference things like Final Fantasy games."
I don't usually comment on Bonkle-sets, as that franchise and its build-system are just way too far out of my wheelhouse.
Also, you are not the hidden superboss of me, good sir and/or madam!
@Crux said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
" @Brickbuilder0937 said:
"I really like those shield pieces. Though I'm not sure how much protection it would offer with that big gap down the middle."
It’s probably a hitting shield more than a defensive shield.
Anyone else kind of bummed that the first version of Nuparu was the only one with orange parts?
"
What I'm upset about, with regards to Nuparu, is that I never picked up his Toa Inika form. And he was one of my favorite Matoran!
@GSR_MataNui said:" @TotalMaddness said:" It *is* the “Aqua Blaster Blade” mentioned in early story material, which ended up accidentally reinterpreted as a completely separate, physically unseen tool that Nuparu just also owned :P"
I always found it a bit funny they held a canon contest to design an actual version of the Aqua Blaster Blade, only to wind up with something so clunky and unwielding I can't really picture him even using it https://biosector01.com/wiki/File:Set_Aqua_Blaster_Blade.png
We're reaching Cloud Strife levels of oversized with that thing. "
When I saw the last line, I thought this was a @Crux post; they're usually the one to reference things like Final Fantasy games."
I don't usually comment on Bonkle-sets, as that franchise and its build-system are just way too far out of my wheelhouse.
Also, you are not the hidden superboss of me, good sir and/or madam!"
It's sir, and I'll bet that's not even your true form!