This was the Rahkshi that was animated rocking out on the guitar, but with just his staff. Singing Squid and Rahkshi Rock are the best fun videos LEGO ever did for Bionicle.
https://biomediaproject.com/bmp/files/vid/Character%20Videos/Rahkshi/Rahkshi%20Rock.mp4

@Mr__Thrawn said:
"He appears to be missing a lower jaw"
In-universe the heads split open like Gabora from Ultraman, so the Kraata can be exposed.

It's too bad the socket part doesn't some in tans neon green. It would have made the eyes so much more better. And so much more Blacktron. And then some white would round it out perfectly.

^Of course, the person with a Blacktron: Future Generation logo as their avatar would want that. Of course. ;)

Vorahk was my first Rahkshi, along with his brown kin, Panrahk. I eagerly ordered them through the LEGO Club Magazine in May 2003 ahead of their July 2003 wide release. After months of hype and a short focus on less-interestingly designed enemies, the "sons of Makuta" were here, and they did not disappoint! As I assembled Vorahk, I spent an inordinate amount of time admiring the KNEES and head articulation. The final product was pretty awesome, too. An ebon-armored, staff-wielding monster that towered even over my Toa Nuva! To put into perspective how cool this set was to me, I got a PS2 around the same time and as much as I enjoyed that console that summer, I played with Vorahk and his kin even more!

His menacing appearance befitted his role in the BIONICLE story. Vorahk was one of the most powerful and dangerous Rahkshi. His power was "Hunger", and through his Staff of Power, could deprive his opponents of their powers and use it against them! Upon release by the Makuta, Vorahk, Kurahk, and Turahk attacked Onu-Koro and faced down Toa Nuva Pohatu and Onua. Onua Nuva challenged Vorahk head-on, but swiftly realized his own immense strength via the Kanohi Pakari Nuva was worthless since Vorahk just took it for himself. Casting Onua Nuva away like a limp rag, Vorahk continued his search for the Herald of the Seventh Toa and the Mask of Light. Onua recovered enough, however, to trigger an earthquake that literally brought the roof down on Vorahk and the other Rahkshi.

Vorahk and the other five Rahkshi battled the Toa Nuva across the island, eventually winding up at the Kini Nui in the center of the island. There, Vorahk and his brothers were defeated at last. But the defeat of the Makuta that soon followed did not herald the true end to the threat of the Rahkshi. Vorahk was just one of 252 varieties of Rahkshi that could be created via Makuta's kraata. It is likely that in the ensuing battles between the Makuta and Toa teams across the universe, more Vorahk were created.

Huwbot does seem to have a soft-spot for the Rahkshi, lately, doesn't he?

These were always my favourite Bonkle bad-guys. I loved the designs, visually, and I liked the swinging-staff action feature, I always thought that was pretty cool.

Alright, lore time!

The Makuta were an ancient race of demigods within the Matoran Universe. They were created to watch and maintain the universe, focusing on environments and animals, while Mata Nui delved deeper into his studies of the galaxy at large. The Makuta had many powers, though one of the most unique was the ability to create Kraata.

Both before and after the Makuta turned into gaseous Antidermis, they had the ability to rip out parts of their bodies and solidify these severed portions into a worm like creature called a Kraata. These writhing creatures came in 52 color-coded varieties, each imbued with one of the Makuta's mighty powers.

If a Kraata were to be exposed to Energized Protodermis (a powerful mutagen) it would transform into a reptilian suit of armor called a Rahkshi. A Kraata of the same power could then crawl into the Rahkshi's spine to pilot the armor. The Rahkshi were nicknamed "the Sons of Makuta" and legions were assembled to protect different lairs and fortresses of the demigods across the Matoran Universe.

Vorahk, the full black Rahkshi, wielded the power of Hunger (one of the best powers imo.) If a target came in contact with its staff the Vorahk could drain the target's energy and life force to strengthen itself, much like a vampire. The Vorahk depicted in this set was sent by Maktua to attack the people of Mata Nui, as the power of Hunger countered the Onu-Matoran Principle of Prosperity.

While on the topic of BIONICLE, I found out recently that more content is finally being added to Generation 1 of the theme! While to toys and main story stopped production in 2010, additional side stories and fan contests helped keep the lore alive until around 2013. After that point Greg Farshtey would make occasional revisions or clarifications to the previous lore, but there weren't really that many major additions to Gen 1.

That changed this year. This summer TTV (a popular fan podcast) and Greg Farshtey (main writer of the original books) teamed up for a series of events known as the Canon Contests. Basically a bunch of BIONICLE fans are given a character than only every appeared in the original BIONICLE books and are tasked with building a MoC of the character. A selection of best models are chosen and the fans vote for their favorite. The winning model is recreated in the art style of one of the old BIONICLE comics or promo art and that is officially added as the canonical depiction of the character.

So far only Helryx (the first Toa) and Artakha (master of Creation) have gotten the treatment, but the remaining four Toa Hagah are going to get the treatment sometime next year. Really neat way to keep the franchise alive. I've got fingers crossed for Lariska or The Golden Skinned Being to show up in it sometime soon.

OK, kids. If you’ve finished your chores and brushed your teeth, I suppose you can stay up a little later for Bionicle lore.

@LegoSonicBoy said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"The names of these made no sense after all the Bohrok had names based on the Toa that shared their elements."
I'm glad I'm not the only one who was bothered by this trend. This made it so much harder to keep track of which ones I had and which ones I still needed to get."

Black one, red one, brown one, blue one, white one and green one!

There is a dark yellow one too but we don't talk about that one.

Early summer 2003: My brother gets the black Rahkshi in the mail after winning a contest. I buy the white one for a friend's birthday party, decide the white color is boring, take it back to the store, exchange it for the green one, and keep that one for myself.

Late summer 2003: I'm invited to a friend's laser tag birthday party. Said friend likes Bionicle. I get him a Rahkshi, because they're new and cool; I get him the brown one because it's the boring color so that means nobody else will get him the brown one, so my present for him will be unique. After a couple rounds of laser tag and pizza, we all gather around for presents time. He unwraps the first one. It's the brown Rahkshi.
So is the second.
And the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, AND seventh.

The kid got not one, not two, but SEVEN brown Rahkshi at that birthday party. I don't remember his reaction, but it was probably simultaneously good humored and none too happy. The helium in the balloons helped take his mind and others off the extraordinary coincidence. The odds of that, if you must know, are 1 in 279,936. (Would Han Solo like those odds?)

There, that's my shaggy dog story about the black Rahkshi. Lore masters, were the brown ones canonically the most common variety of Rahkshi in the Rahi-infested lower levels of Metru Nui, maybe kind of like brown rats?

@PurpleDave said:
"The names of these made no sense after all the Bohrok had names based on the Toa that shared their elements."

I mean, thats because the Rahkshi don't share thematic elements the way the Toa and Bohrok do. Vorahk up there isn't a Rahkshi of Earth, he's Hunger.
Though to be fair the earth guys have always had a somewhat loose naming theme. Compare Onua the Toa, Nuhvok the Bohrok and Vorahk the Rahkshi to the red guys being Tahu, Tahnok and Turahk for example

@iwybs said:
"Late summer 2003: I'm invited to a friend's laser tag birthday party. Said friend likes Bionicle. I get him a Rahkshi, because they're new and cool; I get him the brown one because it's the boring color so that means nobody else will get him the brown one, so my present for him will be unique. After a couple rounds of laser tag and pizza, we all gather around for presents time. He unwraps the first one. It's the brown Rahkshi.
So is the second.
And the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, AND seventh."

That reminds me of a similar incident over here, a couple of years prior; a different friend, a different place, a different birthday party... but out of all six Toa Mata available, I'm pretty sure *all of us* got him one of the same two, so I think he ended up with, like, three Pohatus and two Lewas out of that party, and no-one else.

I think this is why, sometimes, coordinating gifts is important xD

Regarding Rahkshi, I don't have anything much to add that I didn't say back when Guurahk was Random Set. Vorahk here was my second Rahkshi and, unusually for me, I genuinely don't remember the circumstances under which I got him... I just know it was sometime between getting Panrahk for my birthday and Lerahk for Easter the following year.

Power-wise, Vo was definitely my favourite of the Rahkshi, which was probably why I chose him as the first one I bought; but I found his colour scheme to be one of the weakest since, all the Rahkshi having so much dark grey on him, the black didn't really stand out the way the brighter colours did. Then again, the same could be said of Panrahk's brown, and he's still my favourite Rahkshi, so...

*shrugs*

Those birthday party stories though are a great example of how far spread Bionicle was at its peak.