I'll do you one better, Whonua!

No one ever asks HOWnua... :(

Ah yes the guy who wears Toa faces for shoes and apparently their spine for a weapon... Scariest Bionicle character?

Shortest Bionicle character of all time?

Ah, it's always a good day when a Bionicle appears! And an original one, to boot. Whenua was the only Turaga of the original six that did not enter my family's collective collections on Christmas Eve 2001. I finally put him together close to a decade later, though he was still using a light grey head and a borrowed staff ("The Drill of Onua") until I found half of him in a batch of used LEGO last summer.

Lovely little grampa gremlin.

@MCLegoboy said:
"I'll do you one better, Whonua!"

I’ll Drax YOU one better: WHYnua?

@MCLegoboy said:
"I'll do you one better, Whonua!"

I'll do you one better, Whynua

There’s just one more to ask after Wherenua. (Therenua. There castle.)

When u a $3 Bionicle that looks like this u a mad Bonkers Bonk.

Whenua gonna come up with better pun?

Lore! Lore! Lore! Lore! Lore!

Long ago, on the island city of Metru Nui, Whenua was a well respected Archivist. As with most of the Onu-Metru population, it was his job to collect artifacts, inventions, and live Rahi from across the Matoran Universe to store and showcase in a grand museum beneath the metropolis. For many years he worked alongside his close friend and coworker Tehutii to catalogue as many things as the universe had to offer.

But as the years went on, Metru Nui fell to disarray. The city's proud leader, Turaga Dume, and been kidnapped by the dark lord Makuta Teridax, who then disguised himself as the elder. Under Teridax's influence Metru Nui fell to dystopia. Vahki enforcers placed strict curfew and working regulations on the populous. A giant sentient plant known as the Morbuzakh had begun destroying the city and stealing its populous. Worst still, the city's defenders, the Toa Mangai, and begun mysteriously disappearing one by one.

Soon it came to pass that only one Toa was left. Toa Lihkan. Fearing the safety of Metru Nui and its people, Lihkan choose six Matoran to imbue with his power and create a new generation of heroes. Among them was Whenua, who was given a Toa Stone along strict guidelines NOT to archive it.

Lihkan was able to hand out the six Toa Stones, but soon after was captured by a pair of Dark Hunters that Teridax had hired to imprison or kill him.

Whenua and the five other Matoran gathered at the Great Temple in Ga-Metru, where the Toa Stones imbued them with immense power. Whenua was Matoran no-more, he was a Toa of Earth!

Shortly after their transformation one of the Toa, Vakama, was flooded with mysterious visions of the future. Vakama learned that in order to save the city from the Morbuzakh the Toa would need to use the six legendary Great Disks. He also learned the names of six Matoran who had each discovered the Disks some years ago.

One of these Matoran was none other than Tehutii. Whenua set out for the Archives to find his old friend, saving him from a collapsing tunnel in the process. Tehutii gladly led Whenua to his Great Disk deep within the Archives.

Once the Toa had all six Disks they ventured beneath Ta-Metru's Great Furnace and used their powers to destroy the Morbuzakh. The Toa returned to the surface triumphantly, and headed to the colosseum to show everyone the Disks as proof of their heroism.

Along the way they took a detour to the Archives to stop a report of flooding. While down there Whenua was kidnapped by the shapeshifting Rahi Krahka. Krahka posed as Whenua and used the Toa's trust of him to capture them one by one. Eventually the real Whenua was found and the other Toa saved, but in the process the Toa drained most of their elemental power.

The Toa arrived at the Colosseum expecting praise as heroes, however Dume (who, again, was actually Teridax in disguise) branded the Toa as imposters and blamed them for Lhikan's disappearance. Vahki descended on the Colosseum and the weakened Toa struggled to fend them off. Whenua, Onewa, and Nuju were captured by the law enforcement, while Vakama, Matau, and Nokama escaped with the Great Disks.

While Vakama and gang snuck through the city searching for their friends, Whenua and co where sent to a prison in Po-Metru. There they were locked up with non-other than Lhikan, who was now a Turaga! Lhikan taught the three how to harness their abilities and activate their mask powers, and Whenua discovered he had the power of Night Vision. The inmates managed to break out of their cell and raced out of the prison just as Vakama's crew burst in the front door.

But the rescue had come a moment too late. In saving Lhikan, the Toa Metru had failed in Lhikan's mission for them. The Matoran were in danger! The False Dume had sent a city-wide summons and brought all Matoran into the Colosseum. Once there the Vahki sealed the populous inside of mysterious pods that thrust them into comas that wiped their memories. Teridax would awaken them in time, and when he did convince them he was their rightful ruler.

And shortly after the last Matoran was sea

And shortly after the last Matoran was sealed away, and the Toa were bursting into the Colosseum, disaster struck. Maktua's grand plan had reached it's next peak. A virus he had planted in the brain of Mata Nui years ago had finally taken hold, and the Great Spirit fell into a deep sleep. Mata Nui's titanic robot body crashed into the ocean moon of Aqua Magna, and in doing so rocked the universe within. This Great Cataclysm tore the world apart at its seems in the most devastating earthquake the Matoran had ever seen.

But even with their people enslaved and their god comatose, the Toa Metru wouldn't quit. In the grand duel that followed Lhikan gave his life to save our heroes, and the six Toa combined their elemental powers to trap Makuta Teridax in a seal of protodermis.

The Toa set sail through a crack that had formed in Metru Nui's grand sea wall, and traveled through a winding set of tunnels and tribulations. They emerged on the other side at a mysterious tropical island that had formed on top of Mata Nui's face. They named the island Mata Nui, after the Great Spirit himself. The Toa Metru soon hatched a plan to retrieve all of the Matoran pods from the ruined Metru Nui and bring them to this paradise to start life anew.

But when they returned to Metru Nui something had clearly gone wrong. The entire city was coated in mysterious green webbing. Whenua found the webs familiar, but by the time he realized what it was it was too late. Visorak spiders!

An army of giant deadly spiders had begun colonizing the ruined city. Minions of Makuta Teridax, they had traveled here to help him prepare his new empire only to find the dark lord sealed away behind a near impenetrable wall. The Viceroy of the Visorak, Roodaka, formed a plan to free her master, but in order to do so she needed the elemental energies of the six Toa.

The Visorak captured the Toa Metru and wrapped them in cocoons miles above the Colosseum. There they were injected with the Visorak's venom which mutated them into hideous monsters known as Hordiaka. Roodaka planned on letting the now belittled Toa plummet to their death so she could drain the power from their corpses, but as they fell the Toa Hordiaka were saved by six mysterious flying figures.

The Rahaga, six diminutive beings that had themselves been mutated by Roodaka long ago. The Rahaga had been in Metru Nui for some time in search of Keetongu, a legendary being who could cure any aliment. With his power, the Toa could undue their mutations!

And so the Toa and Rahaga set out on a grand quest to find Keetongu. Along the way they also hunted for the powerful Mask of Light and fought off the gigantic Zivion. During their adventures Whenua himself was temporarily sealed in the Realm of Shadows.

Eventually the Toa found Keetongu. He agreed to help the Toa, but first they had to save Vakama (long story) and drive the Visorak from the land. During the climatic final battle the Visorak were successfully driven off, but when the Toa fired their elemental powers and Roodaka she took their blows head on, absorbing their powers into her necklace and breaking the seal around Teridax. The Makuta rescued his Viceroy, and the two slunk into the shadows once more.

After being healed by Keetongu the Toa Metru loaded the Matoran pods and many Masks of Power onto several airships, then set off for the Island of Mata Nui. Once there the Masks of Power were hidden away across the island, awaiting the prophesied coming of the Toa Mata.

Eventually, when their work was done, the Toa Metru sacrificed their Toa Power to awaken the Matoran. This process transformed them into less powerful Turaga, but brought the amnesiac villagers back to life.

Whenua, unsurprisingly, lead the Matoran of Earth to create the village of Onu-Koro. Nestled deep beneath the ground, Onu-Koro was dimly lit mining colony. Its people dug grand tunnels around the island, gathering precious stones and metals for the people above. Underground highways helped link towns miles apart, and Onu-Koro's great engineers crafted many interesting mach

Whenua, unsurprisingly, lead the Matoran of Earth to create the village of Onu-Koro. Nestled deep beneath the ground, Onu-Koro was dimly lit mining colony. Its people dug grand tunnels around the island, gathering precious stones and metals for the people above. Underground highways helped link towns miles apart, and Onu-Koro's great engineers crafted many interesting machines to help the other villages. Whenua's leadership was shared with his right hand, Onepu, and his left hand, Taipu, who served as an exemplary soldier and miner respectively.

1000 years after the Great Cataclysm the Toa Mata arrived on the Island of Mata Nui. Whenua helped lead and guide the new Toa of Earth, Onua, on his quest to revive the Great Spirit. Whenua taught Onua the value of patience and remembrance. How it was important to learn from the past to prepare for the future, and how you must wait until you have all the information you need and the moment is right to act.

As a Turaga, Whenua's Badge of Office was the Drill of Onua, a simple drill named after the prophesied hero. He wore the Kanohi Ruru, the Mask of Night Vision. As a Turaga this mask allowed him to see in the dark, and as a Toa it let him create a flashlight like beam to help guide his allies.

Whenua gonna give me a torso?

@sirventricle said:
"Ah yes the guy who wears Toa faces for shoes and apparently their spine for a weapon... Scariest Bionicle character?"

IMO the scariest BIONICLE character is probably either Karzahni's original form https://biosector01.com/w/images/bs01/6/6a/Karzahni_%28Being%29.png

Or Makuta Teridax's Void Form.

I'm gonna go with Void Makuta. A swirling mass of dismembered and rotting corpses who spouts philosophy of the very nature of destruction is... an interesting choice for the first baddie of a children's franchise.

People are always asking Whenua. Nobody ever asks Hownua.

@GSR_MataNui Don't ever stop doing what you're doing, you splendid human being : )

Whenua… comin over?

Whenua Bionicle, you Technicly LEGO?

Living in Aotearoa New Zealand, the appropriation of Maori words for the Bionicle line is still very jarring to me

OH OH OH, BTW, since this is a BIONICLE post its a good time to bring it up:

DuckBrick's Toa Tuyet Fanon Contest has just entered the voting phase. While the final winner won't be flat out canon like TTV's old Helryx or Artakha contests, the community is coming together to create a public headcanon of what Tuyet might look like. If you're a BIONICLE fan and you want your opinion heard, go check out his YouTube channel for voting deets.

@lotographia said:
"Living in Aotearoa New Zealand, the appropriation of Maori words for the Bionicle line is still very jarring to me"

Well, I also live in New Zealand, and can trace my lineage back to Hongi Hika so feel I can offer another perspective to this.

Fortunately, I’m not negatively triggered by other nations using the Maori language; in fact, I find it rather pleasing that the reo (language) is being disseminated in this way.

I’m also 100% certain that LEGO in no way meant any harm to or were looking to appropriate or misrepresent the Maori language in any way. If you look hard enough, you’ll find all sorts of identical words in multiple languages all over the world.

Indeed, most NZers that I know (either descended from Maori or otherwise) are more relaxed and resilient about such things.

@GSR_MataNui said:
" @sirventricle said:
"Ah yes the guy who wears Toa faces for shoes and apparently their spine for a weapon... Scariest Bionicle character?"

IMO the scariest BIONICLE character is probably either Karzahni's original form https://biosector01.com/w/images/bs01/6/6a/Karzahni_%28Being%29.png

Or Makuta Teridax's Void Form.

I'm gonna go with Void Makuta. A swirling mass of dismembered and rotting corpses who spouts philosophy of the very nature of destruction is... an interesting choice for the first baddie of a children's franchise. "

There is a picture of vortex Makuta, too: https://biosector01.com/w/images/bs01/b/b1/MakutaMNOLG.PNG

Such a great villain, just look at him. MNOG was such a fantastic game.

@GSR_MataNui said:
"Whenua, unsurprisingly, lead the Matoran of Earth to create the village of Onu-Koro. Nestled deep beneath the ground, Onu-Koro was dimly lit mining colony. Its people dug grand tunnels around the island, gathering precious stones and metals for the people above. Underground highways helped link towns miles apart, and Onu-Koro's great engineers crafted many interesting machines to help the other villages. Whenua's leadership was shared with his right hand, Onepu, and his left hand, Taipu, who served as an exemplary soldier and miner respectively.

1000 years after the Great Cataclysm the Toa Mata arrived on the Island of Mata Nui. Whenua helped lead and guide the new Toa of Earth, Onua, on his quest to revive the Great Spirit. Whenua taught Onua the value of patience and remembrance. How it was important to learn from the past to prepare for the future, and how you must wait until you have all the information you need and the moment is right to act.

As a Turaga, Whenua's Badge of Office was the Drill of Onua, a simple drill named after the prophesied hero. He wore the Kanohi Ruru, the Mask of Night Vision. As a Turaga this mask allowed him to see in the dark, and as a Toa it let him create a flashlight like beam to help guide his allies. "

Yeah, yeah, yeah... next you're going to tell us that dirty scavenger is really the granddaughter of a Bionicle-like clone of the emperor and he is hanging out in a floating cube coliseum full of followers and clone experiments gone wrong on a hidden world beyond the known galaxy and now has ion-beam lightning jazz hands that can bring down an entire armada.

His staff saw a lot of use in Mars Mission sets. I always loved seeing Bionicle elements get reused in minifig sets. One of the reasons I loved Alpha Team: Mission: Deep Freeze, which also used his staff once.

As a kid, I always loved the Turaga. Still do, honestly. There's just something about the simplicity of their designs while still feeling like an effective part of the world, and the fact that they all had distinctive masks, just like the Toa did, that makes them incredibly nostalgic for me.

Makes me wonder why I decided it was a good idea to sell most of them when I was in my 'dark age'. While there are a lot of sets that I don't have any regrets over selling during that time, there are a select few that, in hindsight, I might have decided to keep hold of after all. The Turaga are definitely among that number.

Ah well, what's done is done! And as long as they made the person who bought them happy, that's good enough for me ^^

Is this still not lego enough for people? This set only has 5 non-technic parts! 6 if you count the brainstalk as a separate part! Here you can see how the theme evolved from its roots as a Technic subtheme at a time where it was one of the more classic types of building sets you could choose compared to scale etc.

Either this or 8533 was my first Bionicle set. My mother gifted it after we went to get perfume, I believe. It's crazy how nostalgic something like this can be. He's so small, even for the dimunitive Turuga sets. His head is directly in front of his torso! But even then, I just love it.
Originally it came with a rubber band so that a lever on the back can be used to have him hit things with his staff repeatedly. Unfortunately these rubber bands suck and they will dry up and leave rubber marks on the parts if left on the model for too long. But now the function is just slower and gravity-powered.
At the time I didn't know anything about the lore, mask powers etc. That all came later when I went on the internet more. I actually experienced the theme like people had before it with the RoboRiders and Slizers/Throwbots: fun sets with seemingly just some background fluff. Even so, the more humanoid design of these sets just worked! And this was the first time for me that I had a small set of a constraction theme as I never encountered the small RoboRider boxed sets.

@MCLegoboy said:
"I'll do you one better, Whonua!"

Don’t you mean “HUWnua”? After all, it’s Huwbot’s random selection, perhaps phonetically selected to honor its namesake and creator.

I once saw a Maori guy in a video say the word and its actually pronounced more like "Fenua" from what I remember.

@ThatBionicleGuy:
They also all had distinctly different bodies, achieved by changing the lengths of axles used for legs and neck, or by rotating the neck forward like this little guy.

@xboxtravis7992 said:
"I once saw a Maori guy in a video say the word and its actually pronounced more like "Fenua" from what I remember. "

BIONICLE actually did that a lot. Lewa's name is based on word that's typically pronounced "Lay-wah" and that's how they say its supposed to be pronounced in encyclopedias and guide books. However, the narrator of the old BIONICLE commercials would pronounce it "Loo-wah" and in the 2003 BIONICLE movie and everything from the BIONICLE reboot they called him "Lee-wah."

There's even some in universe examples of this. When Jala's name was changed to Jaller they kept the old pronunciation of "Jah-lah" instead of "Jah-lur" as you'd expect English to do.

Lots of BIONICLE characters from the early years take names from different cultures, largely Polynesian or European, that relate to their character in some way. Maku is Maori for "wet" and she's a Matoran of Water, Damek is Hungarian for "soil" and he's a Matoran of Earth, Pakastaa is Finnish for "freeze" and he's a Matoran of Ice.

I always found that a clever way to make your character's names puns without making things overly childish. Some of 'em where a bit yikes (Tohunga roughly translates to "priest" in Maori and they tried to make that the name of common villagers) and LEGO tried to copywrite a bunch of 'em (looking at you Disney's Coco) which caused the Maori lawsuit back in the day. Since then a lot of the more controversial appropriations were cut and they switched to giving names Latin roots around 2004 onward.

Some of the newer names were still kinda clever. Like Axonn. He caries around a giant axe, so that works with the first part of the name, but Axon is also part of brain neurons and he's an intelligent character. Most of them got a lot dumber though, like Vamprah... who's a vampire. Real creative there LEGO.