Mean!

Oh wow! It's a ... thing?

I remember when I got this for Christmas, my cousins got the other one.

I've never been a Bionicle fan but there were some memorable ones. This looks to be one of them.

Ah, one of the sets I never felt I could justify buying myself or asking someone else to get for me as a kid.

I never knew Bionicle also had vehicles of sorts. Can't remember seeing those in catalogues. Then again, I probably just saw the figures, which didn't interest me at all (didn't even see this as being "proper" LEGO to begin with) and skipped right by all the Bionicle pages.
This thing at least looks...interesting...in a weird kind of way.

I always liked the look of the Karda Nui vehicles, but the Axalara was just too massive for me to actually have kept anywhere. That thing is gigantic, I could only have stashed it somewhere in pieces

Axalara, easily one of the best Bionicle sets ever produced.

This set's always been really neat, though I didn't get it; by 2008 I was sort of losing my 'BUY EVERYTHING BIONICLE' mentality of the previous years. Probably, for the best, since my interests were shifting anyway... and I would never have had the money - or the space - to get all three of the major battle vehicles. I did get the Rockoh for Christmas that year, though, which was cool.

Though for all the talk of Axalara being expensive at the time - and it was one of the most expensive Bionicle sets to date - I imagine it's even more pricey on the secondary market these days!

So was this the biggest Bionicle vehicle set? (In the action figure as opposed to minifigure scale)

such mad awesome! wish they made sets like that again.

@Norikins I'm pretty sure Skopio XV-1 is the largest, but it's close!

This is the only Bionicle set I have which was given to me as a gift.

It sits on a shelf and is HUGE.

This set was definitely really rad! Not gonna lie, Bionicle vehicle sets like this feel especially remarkable in this day and age, considering that Technic has largely shifted away from the futuristic sci-fi subject matter that characterized so much of the theme in the late 90s and early 2000s (when I was first getting into Technic) and towards more realistic, "serious" subject matter.

I can respect that shift on some levels, but I wish there were still another Technic-based theme or subtheme that left more room for fantastical or speculative applications of those kinds of elaborate mechanical features. At the same time, I wonder if the lack of such sets might be due to themes like Ninjago and Chima making more elaborate use of Technic functions despite having a System foundation.

@AustinPowers: There were quite a few Bionicle vehicle sets! You can see some more varied examples under the tag https://brickset.com/sets/tag-Bionicle-Vehicle

Many of these were pretty impressive, but they could be kind of a hard sell sometimes since the average price point of Bionicle sets was generally a lot lower than the average price point of System or Technic sets, and these were typically priced far higher.

After Bionicle ended there were a few vehicle sets in the Hero Factory theme (7158-1, 7160-1, and 6231-1), but otherwise the price points of constraction themes from 2010 onward didn't tend to exceed a $40 price point, which left less room for sets that had both a vehicle and a buildable action figure.

I loved BIONICLE because of the characters. It was always a character-driven story and toyline. Occasionally, there would be larger sets that served as vehicles. 2002's excellent Boxor and Exo-Toa come to mind, as well as 2003's Ussanui. Often, these served extended story purposes as well, beyond even the initial year of release. But sets devoted to the vehicles took off in a big way in 2008 with the "Battle for Power" at the core of the Matoran Universe, the Codrex. Rockoh T3, Jetrax T6, and Axalara T9 were all enigmatically-named, but served a quick, one-time function in the BIONICLE story. They weren't destroyed, to my knowledge, but considering the BIONICLE story took a major pivot in 2009, right after the events of the final battle within the core of the universe, these mighty vehicles were never heard from again. If perhaps the biggest they got was the size of the Rockoh T3, perhaps it wouldn't be such a sin, but something about the vehicles felt a bit too gratuitous for me. Axalara T9, by virtue of being the largest of the bunch, stood out as the chief offender. Visually, it was just a glob of red with silver accents and a randomly redesigned Lewa Nuva. Story-wise, it needed to be large to help transport out as many Av-Matoran as possible, but other than that, what was the point? It was just cool, but for me, after 8 years of BIONICLE, things had to do more than just "be cool".

Now, the part where I sound like a total hypocrite is when mid-2009 rolls around, and this time, LEGO releases more giant BIONICLE vehicles, but made for ground, not air, transportation! And I love them! Mostly...I only ever got the Thornatus V9 and Skopio XV-1, but both played memorable roles within the comics and the DVD movie, "The Legend Reborn" that came out that year. Thornatus V9 was everything the Axalara T9 wasn't, story-wise. It was the main vehicle the heroes used to cruise around Bara Magna, and the toy even allowed for one to pose all characters on it during play (even though it only came with some random Glatorian).

I do own Rockoh T3, though, but I have yet to open it and build it. Maybe when I do, I'll like it enough that I will lament not having Axalara T9. If so, I will happily admit I was wrong and change my outlook on this set.

@Lego_Lord_Mayorca When the Toa arrived at Metru Nui the three vehicles teleported back to the Codrex. Their purpose was to get people out of Karda Nui in an emergency, so they were sent back for the next emergency. Kind of a dumb reason when there was huge war going on and they could've just blown them up to get rid of them, but at least there *is* a reason.