Ice Spider before Mandalorian made Ice Spiders cool.

@MCLegoboy :
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Ice_spider
https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Ice_spider
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Spiders

You mean these guys?

The Visorak were an ancient scourge upon the Matoran Universe. Developed long ago by the Makuta Chirox on a far off island, these vicious and insatiable spiders quickly murdered all their homeland's natives and named it after themselves. In their tongue, Visorak roughly translates to "Stealers of Life" or "Poisonous Scourge."

Each Visorak was equipped with fangs dripping with Hordika venom and Rhotuka Spinners on their backs with unique powers for each breed.

The Brotherhood of Maktua saw great potential in the beasts and began rearing them to bolster their armies. Whenever natives were unruly or rebellious to the Brotherhood's causes they would unleash the horde who would rampage the island and kill or capture all creatures living there. Creatures captured by the Visorak were injected with their powerful Hordika venom, which mutated anything or anyone into a savage and monstrous beast. Visorak assaults were often sent to small and forgettable regions, which combined with their high efficiency for killing kept the horde secret for long, and many thought they were just rare yet powerful Rahi.*

That would all change after the Great Cataclysm. 1,000 years ago, Makuta Teridax cast a spell over the Great Spirit Mata Nui, sending him into an endless slumber, and trapped the Matoran of Metru Nui inside of brainwashing pods to try and take over the Matoran Universe. However shortly after Teridax's victory, the Toa Metru confronted the tyrant and sealed him away in a prison of Protodermis.

Once the Toa Metru found a new homeland (a tropical island they named Mata Nui) they returned to Metru Nui to retrieve the Matoran Pods and bring them to their new home. But when they returned to their once great city it was in ruin. All wildlife had been purged or driven from the island, and it's once beautiful and inspiring towers were coated with a thick and sickly green web. The Visorak had arrived.

Before the Toa could fully realize the threat the Visorak captured them and mutated them into the monstrous Toa Hordika. The Hordika then went on a grand quest to find a cure for their mutations and free the Matoran (the main plot of the 2005 story.) Long story short, over the course of this adventure Toa Vakama betrayed his team and joined the Visorak, eventually becoming Lieutenant of the horde.

In the end Sidorak (King of the horde) was slain and Roodaka (Viceroy of the horde) ordered Vakama to kill his friends. But his teammates managed to regain their leaders trust, and Vakama instead ordered the Visorak to disband, for the horde to seek their own goals and destinies wherever they choose. In an instant, the Visorak scattered, the horde fleeing the the furthest reaches of the MU in search of purpose.

The Visorak's freedom from the Brotherhood was short lived, however. Soon after Vakama's return to the light Roodaka managed to escape and free Teridax, who eventually used a powerful artifact known as the Heart of the Visorak to reclaim the horde's loyalty. Much like Rahkshi, the Visorak soon became synonymous with the ever present might and tyranny of the Brotherhood.

(Also at one point the Visorak were driven to extinction and then instantly brought back by Teridax's top Rahi builders, only for Teridax to be killed and the horde freed again before he could really do anything with them. Weird plot point.)

Suukorak were the Visorak of Ice. They were master tacticians, leading other Visorak's advances and retreats during battle. In times of desperation they could slow their life processes to a death-like state to trick foes into thinking they were slain. Their Rhotuka could form nets of electricity that would surround and bound prey.

Have we confirmed whether Huwbot is himself a bionicle yet?

@PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Spiders
You mean these guys?"

Ha, this set came out 2 years before that movie! They're gonna be hearing from Makuta's copyright lawyers...

Ahh, the Visorak. The antagonists during my first year of Bionicle. What's interesting is that these sets were fully designed and shown off in promotional material at the start of the year, but didn't release until the summer.

I've still got the green one sealed in its canister, along with one of the Hordika and Toa Metru making up the very oldest members of my Lego backlog.

*The story isn't exactly clear on how well known Visorak were to the public. Most Archivists and similar scholars knew what Visorak were and their powers, and most major military factions knew the Brotherhood of Maktua had an army of them, but the universe at large seemed to be unaware of the genocides ordered by the Maktua up until Teridax's betrayal.

@MrBob said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Spiders
You mean these guys?"

Ha, this set came out 2 years before that movie! They're gonna be hearing from Makuta's copyright lawyers...

Ahh, the Visorak. The antagonists during my first year of Bionicle. What's interesting is that these sets were fully designed and shown off in promotional material at the start of the year, but didn't release until the summer.

I've still got the green one sealed in its canister, along with one of the Hordika and Toa Metru making up the very oldest members of my Lego backlog."

I think the reason they were fully designed was due to alternating release schedules. The US got the Toa in the Winter wave, Europe got the Visorak then the next wave they switched!

@xboxtravis7992 said:
"
I think the reason they were fully designed was due to alternating release schedules. The US got the Toa in the Winter wave, Europe got the Visorak then the next wave they switched!"

They did that a few times with BIONICLE always seemed like a fun idea. Flat out delaying a set in a region is usually annoying, but releasing different waves simultaneously in different regions can encourage a lot of international trading. Most themes don't make all their sets the same price like BIONICLE though, so who knows how effective it would be today.

This was tied for last Canister-sized Bionicle that I acquired. Tied with Tarix. I probably could have built one out my loose parts easily enough, but I didn't. So I bought one. Now my set collection just needs a few titan set.

So very un-Blacktron. It's practically Ice Planet! Uggh!

@PurpleDave said:
" @MrBob :
You missed the edit. I think I have them in chronological order of introduction. Weren’t there also ice spiders in an episode of either Clone Wars or Rebels?"

Lol, was just a joke. XD Pretty sure we could find references to ice spiders from literature that's decades old if we looked hard enough.

Whatever language this is, I don’t speak it.
And in Canada, all spiders are ice spiders.

@GSR_MataNui said:
"The Visorak were an ancient scourge upon the Matoran Universe. Developed long ago by the Makuta Chirox on a far off island, these vicious and insatiable spiders quickly murdered all their homeland's natives and named it after themselves. In their tongue, Visorak roughly translates to "Stealers of Life" or "Poisonous Scourge." "
"Do they even have tongues? All I see are teeth!"

This may sound like an unpopular opinion, but this (like other Bionicle and Hero Factory sets) shows why I don't like that style of LEGO. I much prefer designs/sets that look good because they aren't made up of large, chunky pieces of plastic.

@GrosPanda1979 said:
"This may sound like an unpopular opinion, but this (like other Bionicle and Hero Factory sets) shows why I don't like that style of LEGO. I much prefer designs/sets that look good because they aren't made up of large, chunky pieces of plastic."

Well, this is actually one of the few Bionicle set lines in which most of the set was designed around a large piece of plastic. Most of the time, the specialized elements were reserved just for small masks and the occasional larger weapon.
And if you don't like designs that rely on larger pieces like this, well... good luck trying to replicate the intricate design with smaller pieces (trust me, it is quite hard, although I have seen some MOCists attempt it).

@ElephantKnight said:
"So very un-Blacktron. It's practically Ice Planet! Uggh!"

So the superior faction, then.

@Formendacil said:
"I'd "outgrown" Bionicles officially before the Visorak came around, but I still liked them and collected the red-brown-black ones (it's a whole thing...) through the Metru years, but the Visorak coming on the heels of the Vahki just didn't excite me as mindless mooks the way the Bohrok had and I still dislike rhotuka spinners, so these guys never stood a chance.

Coming in the midst of an early mid-life "crisis" (well, not a crisis, but I have been very into Bionicles of late), I'm liking this set, though it really is a weak entry into the Bionicle theme and not one to use to introduce people with. Colour-scheme-wise, though tradition would say I must avoid it, I like the blue-accented white. "

Honestly the color scheme is the one thing about the Visorak that is exciting. The Rahkshi and Vahki both had a primary color with heavy grays, accentuated by some transparent hues. The Toa Metru and Toa Hordika did the same thing, just with a bit more color being hero sets. The Visorak though, brought back proper secondary tones and toned down the grays which was a nice set up the Piraka and Inika would run with the next year. I think the Oohnarak with its black and flame yellowish orange (Keetorange) is one of my favorites of the bunch as for color matching. The brown and red colors on Roporak is also a nice pairing too, since we rarely saw red and brown mix outside of combiner models.