Is Huwbot trying to use up a year's worth of "X"s in set names in the first week of January?

Looks like 2022 is going to be the year of Constraction! Huwbot knows what's up!

My dad gave me this set when I was little. I like bionicle sets they are fun to play with and have rich lore.

I'll be disappointed if this thread isn't filled with Mantax jokes

@Bhahouighf said: "As if property tax wasn't enough..."

Yeah, I feel like I paid my mantax with my first ex-boyfriend.

No refunds there, no. Sadly.

@TheBrickPal said:
"Yo yo Barraki!"

Yo Yo barraki

The squid launchers on the loose nothing you can do
The Crab on the move
The squid comin through
Manta ray, shark, Takadox comin to
Add the ehlek that makes Barraki crew

Yo Yo baraki

The squid launchers on the loose
Nothing you can do
You can try but why you know youre gonna lose.

Yo Yo barraki
(yeah)

Barraki on the street
Its time, tick tocka.
The squid launchers on the loose in your school locker
At your home too, in your friends room
Nothing you can do, The squid launchers are on the loose.

Yo Yo barraki

Yo I rap to the beat
The squid launchers are on the loose
Barraki in the street, That's a lot of heat.

The crab
The squid
The shark
The manta ray
Ehlek
Takadox
All that makes barraki
(ungh)

Yo Yo barraki

Barraki go Barraki
Barraki go Barraki
Barraki go Barraki
Barraki go Barraki
Ey yo go Barraki
Lets go go barraki
Ey yo go Barraki
Go barraki Go barraki
Lets go go Barraki
Ey yo go Barraki

1/1 THORNRAXX
1/2 MANTAX
1/3 MYDADAX?

La-la-lore!!!

Long ago, the Mata Nui AI was placed in charge of the Great Spirit Robot. The program was designed to run all forms of vital functions for the machine, maintaining order among the populous, repopulating animal breeds, managing the weather, ect. However, Mata Nui's primary function often clouded it's judgement. The GSR's primary purpose was to study other planets and cultures, in an attempt to reform it's broken and postapocalyptic homeworld. As Mata Nui delved further and further into his studies, he oversaw his internal workers less and less. Eventually he decided to pawn of the responsibility all together. Thus the Makuta and Six Ruling Species where born.

The Makuta lived in the shadows. 100 demigods that would maintain wildlife populations and develop new species. The Ruling Species were glorious and beautiful creatures that would maintain sociopolitical order among the sapient species. Each Ruling Species was manned by a Warlord, known as a Barraki.

As time went on, the Barraki became lustful for power and dominance. When nations would not bow to their orders they would wage war and conquer the people. Soon the entire MU had fallen to their empire, sans the great northern city of Metru Nui and the uncharted Southern Islands.

But such conquest was not enough. The Barraki had beauty, land, armies, power... what more was there? They would become gods! The Warlords staged a coup, attempting to overthrow Mata Nui and take control of the machine (a task they had nowhere near the knowledge to actually accomplish.)

This coup was cut short. One of the Barraki, Takadox, had sold out the order to the Brotherhood of Makuta. Teridax stopped the league and captured the Warlords. Terdiax planned on executing them, letting Takadox live and likely inherit their power, but before he could land the killing blow he was interrupted by Botor. Botor whisked the Warlords away, imprisoning them in the Pit, a hidden jail embedded in the roof of the Southern Continent's dome.

During imprisonment, Mantax came to the realization someone must have betrayed the order, but it would be eons before he discovered it was Takadox. For thousands of years the Barraki remained trapped under the watchful eye of the jailer Hydraxon.

Eventually, catastrophe struck. Inspired by the Barraki's coup, Terdiax attempted to overthrow Mata Nui himself. As a result, the Great Spirit Robot crash landed on the ocean moon of Aqua Magna, causing earthquakes to rock throughout the universe in an event known as the Great Cataclysm.

The Great Cataclysm caused the Karda Nui powerplant to overload. An explosion caused a portion of the Southern Continent (Voya Nui) to break free, rocketing up and bursting through the Pit. The chamber flooded, nuclear energy from Karda Nui bellow and salt water from Aqua Magna above mixed and mashed in the prison's halls, creating Pit Mutagen. This mutagen struck the prisoners, twisting them into hideous and monstrous fish-like forms incapable of breathing air. During the turmoil, Hydraxon lost his life and most of his Maxilos guards where smashed.

The prisoners had been freed from the dark stone of the Pit, only to emerge into the bleak and cold waters of Aqua Magna. The Barraki soon became rulers of this wasteland, though they longed for the power to breathe air again and reclaim their lost empire.

In his new fish-like form Mantax took on traits of manta and sting rays. A hunched back, huge shoulder pads, tentacle covered face, he was hardly the epitome of beauty he had been before, now his true nature was laid bare to those around him. Equipped with a pinching claw and a Sea Squid launcher Mantax would often bury himself in the sand, waiting for unexpecting "prey" to pass overhead before attacking. His tentacles granted electrical abilities, and touching the Mask of Life briefly gave him the power to vampirically drain other's life force. Most of his banishment was spent traveling back into the prison, hunting for any clues as to who had sold them out all those years ago.

Over the next 1,000 years a portion of V

Over the next 1,000 years a portion of Voya Nui broke off and landed on a field of airweed, creating the underwater city of Mahri Nui. The Matoran of the village never strayed far from their home so they wouldn't enrage the Warlords.

1,000 years after the Great Cataclysm the BIONICLE story proper began. After a confrontation between the Toa Inika and Piraka, the Mask of Life fell into the sea and sunk into the Pit. The Toa Inika went after it, becoming the water breathing Toa Mahri.

The Mahri needed the Mask of Life to save Mata Nui from dying, while the Barraki needed it to breath air again. Various battles over the mask broke out between these teams. During the fights Mantax learned of Takadox's betrayal, and he was eventually captured by Dekar-Hyrdaxon (long story short, one of the Mask of Life's guardians.) The Mahri retrieved the Mask of Life, and Dekar-Hydraxon recaptured all the Barraki.

During the Destiny's War, the Barraki where offered freedom if they helped the Order of Mata Nui fend off the Brotherhood of Makuta. Equipped with water-breathing equipment to remain on land, the Barraki helped recruit the Dark Hunters (basically BIONICLE mafia) to fend off Makuta as well (with the two factions plotting to betray the Order when the Brotherhood was done in, as you'd expect.)

After the final battle between Mata Nui and Teridax, Mata Nui used the last of his power to restore the planet of Spherus Magna. During this restoration he turned the Barraki back into their premutation forms, and made them amphibious to boot.

The only thing I knew about the Barraki were the eyes. Until now. Thank you for that lore.

Mantax was a great example of how LEGO tried to step away from the clone builds of the last 3 years and try some extreme variations in set design for the canister BIONICLE sets. Mantax was one of my favorites due to not just his head design, but also the weird placement of the Rahkshi backbrace into the Vahki hips in order to give him more of a Manta ray profile. The shoulder armor recolored from Carapar helped, too, and the tail piece added to the back was the finishing touch. Throw in some new feet pieces and you have one creepy, stand-out figure.

Personality-wise, however, Mantax wasn't too different from his fellow Barraki and the Piraka from the year before. While not loaded with a bevy of powers and abilities, the Barraki were all gunning for the Mask of Life to change them back from their freaky fish forms into their land-dwelling selves. They all squabbled with one another and had vicious power struggles to claim the mask, often fought with their armies of undersea life. The Toa Inika, now Mahri, could've easily beat them if it came down to a one-on-one fight, but they were divided in trying to save the Matoran of Mahri Nui, avoid the obsessed jailer Hydraxon and his fellow guards of the Pit, and also recover the Mask of Life for themselves.

The 2007 story gets a bit muddled in my mind due to graduating high school and starting college, so I don't personally recall specifics about Mantax's efforts during the battle under the sea. But his army, and those of the other Barraki, did not defeat the Toa Mahri nor find the Mask of Life. The Mask, as willed by Toa Matoro, whisked the Mahri back to safety (and land) and left the Barraki empty-handed. Only the Pit and Hydraxon awaited them.

Wake me can you hear me calling?
Out of darkness they come crawling!

@xccj:
All right, I...I know one joke. There’s a Mantax, see, and...and he walks up to a sea...well, he doesn’t walk up; he swims up...well, actually, the Mantax isn’t moving. He’s in one place. And then the sea cucumber? Well, they...I’m mixed up. There was a Mantax, and a sea cucumber. None of them are walking. So just then the sea cucumber looks over to the Mantax and says, “With fronds like these, who needs anemones?”

This 'Barraki' line always makes me laugh, as the Walloon word 'baraki' means 'chav' or 'redneck' :D

@Brickalili said:
"Wake me can you hear me calling?
Out of darkness they come crawling!"

Here I am
I am lost in your land
And I hope you will be
Creeping in my soul
Shadows fall
Let me out, here my call
And I'll always believe
Creeping in my soul...

I found out that there was a classical orchestra version of that song released a couple of years ago, and it is EPIC. That is all.

Also, Mantax. Mantax was cool (until he got turned into boiled barraki by Jaller, naturally). While, set-wise, Pridak and Ehlek's designs were by far my favourites, from a character perspective I remember that I liked Mantax best out of the Barraki. In hindsight I'm not sure why especially; he was the distrustful, secretive loner of the group... though I guess, you know, I was at the point of my secondary-school life where that felt kinda relatable xD

@xccj said:
"I'll be disappointed if this thread isn't filled with Mantax jokes"
Mantax is a levy you have to pay for having the Y chromosome. If you have two X chromosomes, you have to pay Womantax :~P