Random set of the day: Takanuva
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8596 Takanuva, released in 2003. It's one of 39 Bionicle sets produced that year. It contains 200 pieces, and its retail price was US$30/£19.99.
It's owned by 2264 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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I bought this as a kid one year to donate it to Toys For Tots. So for 15 minutes I owned this set before donating it!!
I feel for karma reasons I should re-buy it on Bricklink for myself now that I am older. ;)
TA-KUUUUAAAAAA!!!
What are you doing down here all alone? We're supposed to be in the Kohli match!?!?!
Oh the memories...
Gee, I wonder: does anyone on here know this character's history, legacy, and how they fit into Bionicle lore...? ;-)
^Considering the first Bionicle film was about this guy... Then yes... Someone here can tell you the backstory!
"It all started when the Great Beings made the first Av-Matoran... "
:P
"... and then there was the alternate dimension with the floating mask head! ..."
"... and then Fire nation attacked! ...."
A vehicle large enough for a Toa to ride? With retractable three-point landing gear? Teenage. Mind. Blown.
Ahh, the nostalgia. Can we all agree how great the BIONICLE storyline was? I've recently been rereading all my old BIONICLE books and comics. Greg Farshtey is a genius.
My favorite thing about owning this set is owning it as part of 10201 Takutanuva with the exclusive movie edition mask but never getting around to building the combiner model.
I still have him, the rest of the Toa, and Makuta Teridax on display.
The sweet feeling of nostalgia, I still want this set.
I liked that LEGO goes back to making bionicle sets.
I never managed to grab this one as a child, os I obught it off the local eBay equivalent site for 15 Euros, wholly complete and instructions included. What a steal, and what a set!
First off: SPOILERS
Takua was the first of Av-Matoran, Matoran of Light, to be created, and the first Matoran ever. He was tasked with maintaining the core of the universe with his Av-Matoran bretheren. Several thousand years into the Matoran Universe's creation, the Order of Mata Nui became suspicious of Makuta Terdax and his brotherhood. Since Makuta were beings of shadow, they would likely target any beings of light and destroy them if they ever went bad. To combat this, the Order of MN kidnapped several Av-Matoran, including Takua. The Matoran had their memories wipped and were disguised as other kinds of Matoran to blend into soceity, Takua became a Matoran of Fire in Metru Nui.
1,000 years before the events of the story, Metru Nui was attacked by the Makuta. All of the Matoran were trapped in Matoran spheres that wipped their memories so the Makuta could convince them he was their god. Makuta's plans were thwarted however by the Toa Metru. The Toa Metru rescued the Matoran spheres and brought them to the island of Mata Nui for saftey, and the Matoran where awakened.
Takua's exploritive nature quickly made him an outcast. After continuely sherking his duties and changing jobs he was outcast from the village shortly before the main story begins.
(That was all backstory fed to us over the course of the franchise, now for the actual story)
Takua attempted to regain entry into the village by completeing a series of quests for the Turaga. In doing so, he accidently let off a massive beam of energy that knocked him out, wipped his memory (for a third time...) and summoned the Toa Mata. Takua began to explore the island to try to figure out who he was, all the while helping the six villages overcome their problems and witnessing the Toa Mata's heroic duties. After saving Ga-Koro and Po-Koro from certain doom, he was granted postion of The Chronicler (the first job he was ever good at) and began recording the Toa's adventures. When it came time for the Toa to face Makuta for the first time, Takua assembled a group of Matoran (one from each village) to defend the entrence to Kini-Nui and ensure the Toa wouldn't end up trapped underground with Makuta.
Takua continued to help the villagers throughout the Bohrok War and the Bohrok Kal Invasion, keeping records of the Toa's deeds. Soon he was added to the Ta-Koro Kohli team in preperation for a grand tournement. Takua and Jaller managed to win enough Kohli matches to enter the grand three way tournament between Ga and Po-Koro. Before the match began, Takua wondered off and ended up finding a strange totem containing a glowing mask. After the Kohli match was finished, Takua visited the Turaga who revealed the mask was the Kanohi Avhokii: The Mask of Light, and that the mask would choose a chosen one to take it around the island and discover the mysterious seventh Toa. Takua tricked the Turaga into thinking Jaller was the chosen one, and Jaller in turn ropped Takua into the adventure by making him chronicle the adventure. After a long journey being chased by Makuta's minons, the Rakshi, the two found themselves at Kini-Nui. There one of the Rakshi mangaed to fatally wound Jaller. With his dieing words Jaller told Takua how much he meant to him, and that he was destined for greatness. Takua put on the Mask of Light and was transformed into Takanuva, the Toa of Light. When the Rakshi were all defeated, Takua dissassembled them to build the Ussani (or something like that, I can't remember it's name) and mounted Jaller's mask on the vehicle and a memorial. He then set off to fight Makuta Teridax and attempt to end his reign of shadows.
So that's where this dude came from. There's another 7 years of story with him shifting between side and main character but I think that's enough info for now.
Oh, very nostalgia, I approve. This was - and probably still is - one of my favourite of the Bionicle sets that I collected. The fact that he's a movie tie-in probably adds to that for me; even though Mask of Light is a little underwhelming from an adult's perspective now, I loved it when I was a kid, and still have a massive soft spot for everything related to it x3
Still have this set, too... it was one of the few I kept when I sold the rest of my collection ^^
"... and then Makuta Teridax said, 'No... I AM YOUR FATHER!'" ...
In 2003, I was so glad BIONICLE had gotten cheaper overall. The Exo-Toa and Boxor sets last year took all my spare LEGO cash, and I still wanted Cadhok and Gahdok, which were a whopping $60 at MSRP. It wasn't as bad as 2001, where BIONICLE sets got as expensive as $90 for the Manas, but still, BIONICLE had distinct pricing tiers. 2003 changed that, in that Takanuva here was the most expensive set, excluding combiners. After getting the Makuta in early July, I managed to snag Takanuva in August. You may appreciate that this was a solid month and a half before the release of the DVD movie, Mask of Light, so the set made no sense to me, other than I knew Takanuva was the Seventh Toa, and that the Toa Nuva were looking for him (per the BIONICLE comics), fighting Rahkshi along the way.
Even so, the set did not disappoint. I was pleased to see his design conform the Toa Nuva form established in 2002, and he cut a most impressive figure in all white with gold armor. Certain elements, like the staff blade and the axle-peg for the mask of light, were new to me when I got Makuta. Therefore, most of my wonderment was with the Ussanui, the weird mechanical conveyance that comes with Takanuva. Without knowing the plot of the film, I assumed the gray Kanohi Hau was just another Great Mask someone found to add some protective shielding to the vehicle. The significance of the six Rahkshi back components in the construction of the vehicle was lost on me at the time, but did introduce new play opportunities for the Kraata I was collecting after I saw the film in September. But I mainly appreciated how smooth the landing gear mechanism worked, and did have quite a bit of fun swooshing the Ussanui around with Takanuva riding it.
The best "surprise" (it was shown on the box cover, but I didn't understand what the image meant) was an extra mask of light, the Kanohi Avohkii. This one, however, wasn't gold, but translucent, with sparkly gold glitter flakes scattered throughout to make the mask look like it was constantly shining. I suppose that was to demonstrate what the mask looked like "in action", and would occasionally have Takanuva wear it. But for the most part, I treated it like some special collectible.
Overall, it was $30 well spent, and an excellent companion to the Makuta set I had. I was so pleased by the duo that, after seeing the movie and understanding where Takanuva really came from, I felt no desire to acquire the other "large" sets from that summer wave, Jaller and Gukko and Takua and Pewku. As far as the story goes, 2003 was Takanuva's year, although I was fond of his more conflicted turn in 2008. But I leave those reflections and memories to whenever 8699 is the Random Set of the Day.
Woah, look at these Bionicle fans go! I love it. Remember, Bionicle isn't dead, just keep revisiting the stories and making your own stuff, and it will keep living on.
While I understand that Bionicle has a significant fanbase, I've never got the appeal of the theme. To me it had several fundamental issues:
1 - Weird/useless parts, even weirder than modern Technic.
2 - Too large scale, only allowing building the characters themselves and (as in this set) the occasional motorcycle-sized vehicle. No buildings, playsets or other locations, in essence their whole world was missing (for a short time there was some minifig-scaled sets, but apparently they weren't popular).
This also lead to 3 - It made absolutly no sense unless you watched the show (which never aired here), it was just a collection of generic robot-like action figures. While Lego have made many other licenses and tie-ins the sets have usually been good enough to stand by their own, with looks/play value that could be appreciated even if you knew noting about the show and the characters. So - did most Bionicle fans got attracted by the sets themselves, or did they first watch the show and then bought the sets?