Random set of the day: Vezok
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8902 Vezok, released in 2006. It's one of 47 Bionicle sets produced that year. It contains 41 pieces, and its retail price was US$8.99/£6.99.
It's owned by 2151 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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23 comments on this article
I'm assuming, bad guy?
YO YO PIRAKA!
It's a shame I can't make one of my usual jokes of turning the set into part of the Piraka Rap, but like, to get an actual Piraka, it can only happen so often.
YO YO PIRAKA INDEED!
You guys hear that rap music all of a sudden-
I have a Happy Meal version of this guy--however, he is, more or less basically an action figure, roughly five inches long with a light-up sword. Not really LEGO.
Nostalgia
YO YO
@Zordboy said:
"I'm assuming, bad guy?"
*Confirming your assumption*
THE GANG IS ON THE LOOSE!
NOTHING YOU CAN DO!
YO YO PIRAKA!
Vezok was one of the cooler-looking Piraka, but personality-wise, he lived up to the one-dimensionality of his nickname. Like his fellow Piraka (a word that means roughly "thief" and "murderer"), Vezok was a Dark Hunter, one of those vile bounty hunter-type rogues playing a secondary evil role in the BIONICLE universe. Vezok was once more intelligent, but an encounter with the Spear of Fusion in Makuta's lab caused him to be split into two entities: Vezok and Vezon. Vezon abandoned the other Piraka on a mad quest to find the Mask of Life for himself. Therefore, Vezok hates him, as he needs him back to use the spear of fusion on them both to re-unite their minds and bodies.
Imitating a Toa of Water, Vezok and the other Piraka eventually made it to Voya Nui, where the Mask of Life was hidden. He helped to enslave the Matoran population and aided in the defeat of the Toa Nuva when they arrived to claim the mask for themselves. As they "ruled", there was a lot of backstabbing between all six Piraka, but the arrival of new Toa, the Toa Inika, they were forced to unite alongside Brutaka and challenge their new foes head-on.
In the race underground to reach the Mask of Life, Vezok finally found Vezon again, now fused to the Mask of Life itself and a monster named Fenrakk. Wielding the Spear of Fusion as a weapon, Vezon manipulated the other Piraka to turn against the hated Vezok. He was fused into a monstrous abomination that caused chaos until the Inika heroes arrived. In the battle with Vezon, Toa Matoro claimed the Mask of Life briefly before it shot upwards to the surface and then down to the depths of the sea beyond. Vezok was unfused, and joined the other Piraka in following the Toa back up the tunnel.
On the surface, they found the Inika were now re-united with the warrior Axonn (who had defeated Brutaka), Botar (who had come to take Brutaka to his eternal imprisonment), and the restored Toa Nuva. Not wishing to test their skill against 12 Toa and Axonn, the Piraka retreated. When they did pursue the Toa Inika down the undersea stone cord, their encounter with the mutagenic waters caused them to transform into hideous, eel-like sea snakes. Still possessing their powers, they fought the Inika-turned-Mahri one last time before being defeated for good. An ignoble end for some of the most hyped (and powerful) villains encountered in the BIONICLE mythos so far.
Oh man, I love that song.
I had this one, along with his buddy Hakann for a real good deal. They looked cool but I the spine piece that connects to arms and the head was sort of limiting the movement of the arms. Shortly after, I end up selling them because I wasn't really into Bionicle.
Yo, yo, Piraka!
Yo, yo, Piraka!
The gang on the loose
Nothin' you can do
The Beast on the move
Bully comin' through
Trigger, Tracer, Drifter comin' too
Add The Snake that makes Piraka crew
Yo, yo, Piraka!
The gang on the loose
Nothin' you can do
You can try, but why? You know you're gonna lose
Yo, yo, Piraka!
Piraka on the street
It's time, tick tocka
The gang on the loose in your school locker
At your home too, in your friend's room
Nothing you can do, the gang is on the loose
Yo, yo, Piraka!
Yo, I rap to the beat
The gang is on the loose
Piraka in the street, that's a lot of heat
The Trigger
Tracer
Drifter
The Snake
The Beast
The Bully
All that makes Piraka
Yo, yo, Piraka!
Piraka, go Piraka
Piraka, go Piraka
Piraka, go Piraka
Miraka, go Piraka
'Ey yo, go Piraka
Let's go, go Piraka
'Ey yo, go Piraka
Go Piraka, go Piraka
Let's go, go Piraka
'Ey yo, go Piraka
@Zordboy said:
"I'm assuming, bad guy?"
no need for guessing, just look at him
I recently picked up the BIONICLE Annual 2006 (which ended up never being an annual thing), it didn't include the trading cards but it was on clearance for an absolute steal of 5 bucks where I lived or less than 4 USD. Unfortunately, the prose covered the Toa Mata arc which I'm already intimately familiar with, whereas it was the other activities that touched on the Voya Nui arc including the Matoran, Toa Inika and Piraka. Still, I enjoyed the book and am glad to have it in my tiny little BIONICLE media collection.
I wasn't around for the Voya Nui arc at all and so know very little about the Piraka. But my impression of the Toa Inika was that they were the most hideous-looking Toa ever made, and I'm not sure if it was intentional lore-wise. The Piraka, despite their rather cliché-looking grimaces, looked much more menacing and I wish I had been able to experience the sets.
@ArmoredBricks said:
" @Zordboy said:
"I'm assuming, bad guy?"
*Confirming your assumption*"
Though interestingly a bad guy who spent a decent chunk of time pretending to be a good guy. When actual good guys showed up they weren’t fooled for a second
Ah yes, my least favourite Piraka. I got all of them, of course, since 2006 was the absolute height of my Bionicle completionist phase; but, character-wise, Vezok always felt like the least interesting of the crew... Avak and Thok, I think, ended up being my favourites.
I think my favourite thing about the Piraka sets were their dual-purpose weapons; their arm piece had a bigger gap behind the lower balljoint than other Bionicle limb pieces, allowing space for the hand to turn 180-degrees back on itself, giving the impression of them flipping their weapon around to its secondary function - in Vezok's case, this was a hook / buzzsaw type thing. I dunno, it's a little thing, I just always thought it was really neat ^^
Also, friendly reminder that the word "Piraka" is, essentially, stated as the most vile obscenity in the Bionicle language, that this group specifically claimed as a name for themselves. The details of its actual meaning, naturally, aren't specified beyond "thief and murderer", but it's definitely seen in-universe as a more unpleasant word than that translation would imply. So... that's a thing, too.
The twin brother of Thok 8905, who together with Vezok you could create a double ball throwing Bionicle. They both had that unusual rib-cage spine piece 4279753, which would look great on any alien creature.
Yo yo yo Piraka. (Drops mike)
Eyy, my first bonk right here. It's this guy that got me hooked on the franchise, and remains a favorite of mine to this day.
@BionicleJedi said:
"Ah yes, my least favourite Piraka. I got all of them, of course, since 2006 was the absolute height of my Bionicle completionist phase; but, character-wise, Vezok always felt like the least interesting of the crew..."
I used to feel that way, but in the years since BIONICLE ended, Vezok's possibly grown into my favourite of the Piraka. Sure, most of the times we see him in the story, he's just a dumb brute, but the element where he loses his intelligence to Vezon, and yearns to get it back, have helped elevate him above the other Piraka in a way. He has a personal side-motivation that is not directly related to "get more power", unlike the other Piraka.
@Futurism said:
"I used to feel that way, but in the years since BIONICLE ended, Vezok's possibly grown into my favourite of the Piraka. Sure, most of the times we see him in the story, he's just a dumb brute, but the element where he loses his intelligence to Vezon, and yearns to get it back, have helped elevate him above the other Piraka in a way. He has a personal side-motivation that is not directly related to "get more power", unlike the other Piraka. "
Oh, that's actually a really good point, I didn't consider that :o
I guess some of the reason I'd overlooked it is due to how that facet of him wasn't drawn out until the fourth Legends book; so because we were first introduced to him for three books without specific reference to that part of his personality, it's easier to miss the full impact that had on him. Thanks for pointing it out! :D
I got as a kid Vezok, the Vezon and Fenrahk (?), Avak, Zakatan and H... H... Hahakan? You know the red one! Never got Thok and Reidak though. Yeah I had fun with those guys, but my childhood Bionicle obsession would end about a year later and wouldn't kick off again until the 2015 reboot when I was an adult.
2006 Bionicle's marketing was... infamously over the top. For some reason they decided to be as edgy as possible that year and use rap and alt-rock songs to try and market the brand. Remember the time the Piraka kidnapped the All American Rejects in the non-canon Free the Band campaign? That's right, Lego made a story of Vezok and his friends kidnapping an alt-rock band that year and the Toa having to go rescue the band. There are rumors that Lego originally intended to use Fallout Boy for the campaign, but a leak of a band member's "private images" that year caused Lego to go for the more family friendly All American Rejects.
2007 toned back the marketing tone a bit and brought it back to more regular Bionicle style, although the alt-rock continued with the use of Danish band Cryoshell that was formed specifically to produce alt-rock music for Lego's brands. Cryoshell has managed to stick together post-Bionicle to some degree of success, they're still around making music.
For the kids who weren't old enough to remember the mid-00's; "Lego founding its own internal alt-rock group for marketing" is the most violently stereotypical mid-2000's phrase possible.
Wow. I'd never heard that story before. Bionicle just keeps getting more and more ... bonkers ... every day.