Wanna play some Kolhii?

So um, he plays lacrosse with that stick launcher thingie?

Ah Kopeke, who was one of the more memorable Matoran of Mata Nui for the ridiculous fact that he said nothing when you interacted with him in Ko-Koro (often signified in the dialogue bubbles as "..."). He looked different back then in the 2001 BIONICLE Mata Nui Online Game days: still a white body, but instead of dark gray feet and mask, he had that same shade of blue as Matoro. Also, his Kanohi mask was a Komau, not the Matata in this set.

Kopeke helped out Takua and was one of the "Chronicler's Company" that defended the Kini Nui from Rahi attacks when the Toa descended down into the depths of Mangaia to face the Makuta for the first time. When all the Matoran got upgrades after the defeat of the Bohrok Kal, Kopeke gained the greater stature and dark-gray coloration you see in this set, which came out in the summer of 2003 in the run-up to the release of the DVD film, "BIONICLE: Mask of Light".

In the run-up to the film's events, there were several Kohlii (the soccer-like sport played by the Matoran of Mata Nui) matches around the island. In Ko-Koro, the village of Ice, Matoro and Kopeke formed the Kohlii team that would play against the pairs from the other Koros. The top three teams would play in the Grand Tournament (as seen in the movie). Being more scholars than athletes, Matoro and Kopeke did not make the final cut and remained in Ko-Koro until the Rahkshi attacked, destroying the village and forcing the Ko-Matoran to seek new refuge in the rediscovered city of legends, Metru Nui.

Now, I love all the Ko (ice) BIONICLE sets, so at the time of release, Kopeke was one of the first Matoran sets I got. I was really pleased by the new design, as iconic as the original "flinging disc arms" version was. Why Kopeke and Matoro were chosen instead of a more colorful pairing (like Kongu and Tamaru) I'll never know, but I suspect it was due to the ease of getting production to make the parts. The dark gray masks were already in circulation because they were the same color as the masks worn by Turaga Whenua. Playing with the Matoran sets, however, as intended was not easy. The Kohlii "ball" was more like a hockey puck that you could get the Matoran figure to flick about, but it wasn't accurate to the depiction in the film.

Anyway, I collected Kopeke and the other five Matoran sets that summer. A great bunch of impulse buys that represented the peak of this particular size of BIONICLE set. After this and the Metru Nui Matoran, things went downhill a bit with the small characters until 2007.

@Cooliocdawg:
Except the other end is a mallet, like they use in polo or croquet.

I know that there is a story explanation for Kopeke's color and mask change, but does anyone know the actual production reason? I would have preferred his original mask in sand blue, but for some reason Lego did not do this. Perhaps to add variety of color to the Matoran line-up?

The Bionicle hockey team wasn't totally unwarranted, it seems.

I just recently sold my modest Bionicle collection, but held onto the three of these various Matoran sets as they were my very first and favorites. I remember a lot of fun playing with them as a child. These simple sets really encompassed what I loved about Bionicle. The gears, posing ability, and the fantastic storyline that went with it.

@LegoSonicBoy said:
" @DragonLord56 said:
"How is this pronounced? Ko-peck? Ko-peek? Ko-peek-ee? Cop-eck? Kopee-key?"
Ko-peek. Most people will tell you that the "ke" is its own syllable, but you couldn't blame them really."

Hooo boy, I don't fit any of those choices of pronunciation. I always pronounced the name as "Ko-PECK-Eh".

Kopeke lore time! I love the Chronicler's Co. We'll skip a bit ahead to the Mata Nui story 'cause he didn't really do anything in the backstory or Metru Nui arc.

On the island of Mata Nui the Matoran of ice lived in the village of Ko-Koro, hidden away in the icy crags of a blizzard battered mountaintop. The village was overseen by Nuju, a wise Turaga who long ago took a vow of silence, and now only communicates in the clicks and grunts of animals and beasts. As with all Turaga, Nuju had two "hands" who oversaw the village's proceedings. His right-hand Matoro, and his left-hand Kopeke.

As with all left-hands Kopeke was less involved in his village's politics and inner workings, instead being knee-deep with the laborers, but was nonetheless seen as a figure of authority and moderate celebrity. While right-hands were often treated as second in commend to the Turaga, left-hands were instead more like the common man. However all left-hands shared a common trait. They were eccentric. Matoran of the same village often have the same tastes, hobbies, and skills, but the left-hands were always a bit different. Tamaru was a Le-Matoran who was afraid of heights, Kapura was a Ta-Matoran too slow to fight, ect. Despite this the right-hands often considered the left-hands close friends, and the Turaga saw them as irreplaceable members of the community.

Kopeke's eccentricity was rather different than the others. You see, Ko-Matoran are often cold shouldered. They aren't talkative and like to keep their emotions hidden. Kopeke takes this to an extreme, often speaking only a word or two per conversation and remaining dead silent around strangers. Most Ko-Matoran are quiet for they simply don't like to talk, but Kopeke was different. He is shy. Not antisocial, not snobby, not aloof like his brethren, he's just afraid to open up. While other Ko-Matoran would gather to read in silence in the Sanctum, Kopeke would slip away to his own little space and try to stay out of the spotlight.

This eventually landed him a position as guard at the Tren Krom Redoubt, a military outpost + cable car that helped people travel between the villages of Fire and Ice.

This leads us to the story of Takua the Chronicler. Takua's story is complicated, so I'll spare you details and skip to the point Kopeke joined his story. After assisting in the villages of Water, Stone, Earth, and Air Takua returned to his home of Ta-Koro to receive a new mission. Transmissions between the Tren Krom Redoubt and Ta-Koro had gone silent, and Captain Jaller was growing fretful. Takua was sent to investigate.

Takua arrived at the outpost to find a shack abandoned. Tracks fled from the scene into the mountains, and Takua followed them to find Kopeke frozen stuck to the glacier wall (we have no idea how. No really, it's never explained.) Using a heatstone Takua thawed the Ko-Matoran. Kopeke fled without a remark deeper into the pass and Takua followed him to a strange room. What appeared to be mirrors of ice lined the walls providing camera-like views all across Ko-Wahi. Kopeke returned to work watching the monitors, giving Takua little more than his name and opening the passage to Ko-Koro.

Sometime later in his adventure, and Takua was chosen for a grand quest. The Toa were preparing to enter Kini-Nui and face off against the dark lord Makuta, but while underground they risked attack from behind. The Turaga could not give up their armies, for the Makuta's forces could easily destroy the villages instead. Takua was tasked with gathering one villager from each village to create a company and defend the temple. Each Turaga gave their left-hand, and Kopeke joined the team.

Takua, Kapura, Macku, Taipu, Hafu, Tamaru, and Kopeke set off across the jungle to reach Kini-Nui. Along the way, Kopeke helped the team by carving a key out of ice to open up a passage in the mountains.

The Chronicler's Company reached Kini-Nui just in time to bid the Toa farewell, and then the attack began. Rahi animals, under the Maktua's mind control, swarmed the temple. It started small, a Nui-Rama th

The Chronicler's Company reached Kini-Nui just in time to bid the Toa farewell, and then the attack began. Rahi animals, under the Maktua's mind control, swarmed the temple. It started small, a Nui-Rama there, a Nui-Jaga there, but then it grew. Swarms of Rama, Tarakava, Muaka, and even Kuma-Nui battered the tiny Matoran, pushing them further and further up the steps of the temple.

But as our hero's masks fell to the ground, and the great beasts raised their claws, a screech was heard on the horizon. The ground began to rumble and horns sounded over the hill. It was the armies of the other villages! It turns out that when the Toa entered Kini-Nui, the Makuta changed tactics. Instead of attacking the towns, all Rahi fled for the temple, and when it became clear a siege wasn't happening, the prepared armies raced to the only place the dark force could've gone.

Kopeke would have a minor background role through most of the 2002 and 2003 story. Sometime between the events of the Bohrok War and the Hunt for the Seventh Toa his mask was broken and he replaced it with a Kanohi Matatu, the same mask Turaga Nuju wore. Eventually he and Matoro were chosen to represent Ko-Koro in the grand Kohli Tournament (as pictured in this set) however the duo were knocked out of the competition pretty early in the running.

Kopeke's story would get an interesting conclusion, however. As Chronicler, it was Takua's duty to record all of the goings-on of the island of Mata Nui to preserve it's history, but when he became a Toa the duty was passed on to Hahli. Hahli herself would become a Toa not long after, and so she passed to torch down to Kopeke, who keeps it to this day. We never been given any canon details of how Kopeke preformed as a Chronicler, but I personally believe the people's intrigue into his insight and genuine interest in the stories he could tell would've helped him break out of his shell.

My one complaint about this wave, is that by focusing on making teams of Matoran while still sticking to six figures in the release wave... we ended up with only two Ga-Matoran, two Ko-Matoran then two Po-Matoran. Then in the titans sets we got two Ta-Matoran (or a Ta-Matoran and one Av-Matoran in disguise if we really want to split hairs).

So it means that Le-Matoran and Onu-Matoran were never released. What makes it even worse, is that this Matoran design used several special one-off molds so that means those colors were never released ever. People have painted parts to get the needed green and blacks, but a completionist Bionicle collector will have to just deal with lacking two villages this wave if they don't want to modify parts.

This was my first matoran ever. I was super stoked!

Some very interesting circumstances surrounds the moment of when I got him. It was Christmas 2003. 3 AM. I was a young lad of 11 and SUPER excited to open my stocking. I couldn't sleep so I slowly crept to the stocking (At 3 AM!) quietly opened it. At some point I must have made enough noise, or perhaps I simply woke, some of my other siblings. There was at least 3 or 4 of us going through our stockings around 3:30 AM at that point.

Then Dad comes in and very angrily tells us to go back to bed.

We do go back to bed, but I took Kopeke with me to bed, and set him aside on my dresser.

Interestingly enough, Kopeke is the Most Blacktron looking of the Matatoran. This was shortly before I even knew what a Blacktron was. I also was half convinced he was an Onu-matoran, too. I hadn't played MNOG at that point, so I did not recognize the name, though the KOpeke kinda gives it away as to his proper village. And I thought it was pronounced KOH-PEEK-EE. I did discover the proper pronunciation later on.

- Me: Mom, can I have Kopaka?
- Mom: We have Kopaka at home.
The Kopaka at home:

"…"