You know how it goes, say it with me:

Yo...
Yo...
PIRAKA!

After a brief hiatus, Huwbot returns to Bionicle.

I find it hilarious that Vezon’s “enlarged” Fenrakk is smaller compared to a character than the “regular-sized” one shown here.

The other day my friends and I had the Piraka Rap cranked with the windows down.

So Random Bionicle Set of the Day is back after a brief interlude.

@Monopoly said:
"I find it hilarious that Vezon’s “enlarged” Fenrakk is smaller compared to a character than the “regular-sized” one shown here."

I had no clue those were supposed to be Fenrakk spiders... oof.

I ultimately find these Bionicle system sets to be, unappealing. I get why Lego did it, Bionicle was a pricey theme with specialized molds and maybe the logic was that via producing system sets they could begin to move Bionicle a bit away from its constraction roots to easier to produce system sets. But the end results are unappealing, often very juniorized looking towers and builds with a few regular Bionicle bits slapped on it to try and make it look Bionicle. Instead they end up looking like simple rectangular boxes with spikey bits on them. I think the only Bionicle system set that showed any potential was the Toa Terrain Crawler from 2007, that showed more focus on a vehicle toy than a location one.

Its a shame too, Bionicle had tons of rich locations that were begging to be explored that Lego never showed beyond CGI renders and artwork. The island of Mata-Nui or Metru-Nui would have been ripe locations to explore in a modern system theme style like how Ninjago explores its locales, but instead we had to imagine them based off what we saw in comics and video games. My island of Mata-Nui as a kid was usually a few blankets tossed over some pillows that I could then put the action figures on for example. Yes, imaginative play so successful in that regard; but adult me wishes we could see some of the Bionicle locations explored more lavishly in set form than just having to look at box art and say "oh, well that is pretty." But its also symptomatic of Lego of the era, I don't remember any really appealing location based sets from the early 2000's other than say Hogwarts Castle and its various extensions from Harry Potter (even those were compromised by their hollow empty designs in those early years). There is a Kini-Nui MOC I see floating around Lego websites regularly that makes me really appreciate how stunning Bionicle would have looked if given the modern treatment.

So honestly if Lego ever brought back Bionicle as a primarily system theme, I wouldn't complain if it meant getting to revisit the G1 locales we never saw in physical form but now in modern system Lego style. Yes, I think Bionicle's heart will always be in buildable "constraction" action figures, but if that is off the table I would gladly take a location based system line that managed to capture Mata-Nui in physical bricks as beautifully as we saw it in MNOG back in 2001 on my old dial up computer.

Anyone else bummed we never got the Rode in another color?

When it comes to the 2006 BIONICLE playsets, 8893 and 8894 are heavily involved with the plot, 8624 is completely non-canon, and this thing sits somewhere in between.

That little green guy front and center is actually Toa Kongu, who we had on RSotD last week! For the first part of our lore breakdown here I'll basically just copy paste a portion of my spiel on Kongu:

in the 2006 story, the Matoran uncovered their ancestral home of Metru Nui. However, upon returning to it they found a dark secret. The Great Spirit was dying. The Turaga kept this secret from the Matoran, but sent the Toa Nuva on a quest to the far off island of Voya Nui to collect the legendary Mask of Life and bring back the Great Spirit.

But the Nuva weren't the first with this idea. Six criminals, known as the Piraka, had already arrived on Voya Nui in search of the Mask of Life. They posed as Toa to gain the Matoran's trust, and eventually used Zamor Spheres filled with the Makuta's Antidermis to infect and mind control the populous. When the Toa Nuva arrived they were quickly defeated and imprisoned by the Piraka.

As weeks rolled on, the Matoran of Metru Nui noticed their Toa were missing. Jaller, Captain of the Ta-Koro guard, lead a city wide strike were the Matoran stopped working and demanded answers. Eventually, Turaga Nokama came clean and informed Jaller of the Toa Nuva's mission to Voya Nui. Fearing the worst, Jaller decided to take the quest into his own hands, and assembled a team of six brave Matoran to follow the Toa to Voya Nui and save the day.

The trip was not easy, however. The Matoran soon found themselves in Karzahni, the literal hell of the Matoran Universe. It's deranged ruler imprisoned the six visitors and stole their masks, giving them new and twisted ones. Eventually, with the help of a local Matoran of Light, the six got ahold of Toa Canisters, and launched toward Voya Nui.

When they reached Voya Nui something strange happened. The Red Star, an important Star for prophecy crafting, shot a bolt of lightning at the six canisters! The Matoran inside were transformed, and became Toa themselves. The Toa Inika (which translates to "Heroes Imbued with the Energy of a Star") emerged on Voya Nui in new bodies with new powers they didn't know how to control.

Not only had the Red Star granted the Toa Inika with elemental powers, it also gave them the power of electricity! The Inika soon met the island's Matoran survivors, who had discovered Energized Protodermis could cure people infected by the Makuta. Armed with curing Zamor Launchers the Inika set out to free the Matoran, save the Nuva, stop the Piraka, and find the Mask of Light.

Okay, now for the new stuff:

The giant creature at the front of this set is a Fenrakk Spider, a large and monstrous species with acidic venom native to Voya Nui. They came in many shapes and sizes, and while one Fenrakk was enlarged and fused to Vezon to serve as a guardian of the Mask of Life, a number of others on the surface were tamed by the Toa to fight against the Piraka. These tamed Fenrakk were outfitted with cannons and platforms for the Toa to ride into battle!

(It's worth noting however, when comparing the canonical size of Vezon's Enlarged Fenrakk to this one here, the "Enlarged" one has a wider stance and larger head, but isn't as long or tall. Both are significantly larger than the one in the Piraka Stronghold set, however.)

As for the Outpost itself, you guys got me, I had to actually look up the lore on this one 'cause I had no idea what it *actually* did in the story. The Piraka Outposts were twelve defensive structures scattered across the island of Voya Nui. The towers were outfitted with specially designed technology that allowed them to repair and reassemble themselves if damaged, which combined with their Nektann cannons made them a deadly threat. They were less heavily armored underneath themselves, but their repair ability meant that attacking this weakpoint was just a temporary victory.

@xboxtravis7992 I think a system based set of Kini-Nui for around $120 with the Toa Mata and Chroniclers Company would be amazing. A day one purchase for me.

Any Bionicle fan that has NOT voted for the Huwbot Ideas project yet, better do so now. Huwbot has definately been trying to please you these past weeks, so you had better reward that effort with a supporting vote! :-)

What was that, four days?

C'mon, Huwbot, you can beat that not-a-Bionicle streak!

@SearchlightRG said:
"Anyone else bummed we never got the Rode in another color?"
Yes, I'm disappointed that masks recolors all but disappeared by the end of Bionicle. Starting with the Toa Metru, the "collectibles" moved towards projectiles and the collectability of the masks was forgotten.