Sea Scorpion

More Lore! Looking forward to it.

I still regret not getting the other Hydruka, 8631, but at least I got this guy and his GitD back. Although 8935, which I also got, had a lot more GitD pieces. And 8922 (which I did not get) while also having one GitD piece, had a much bigger one.

I always wanted this set as a kid. Not sure why my attention was drawn to it over the several other sets on shelves at the same time with more glow in the dark pieces, but it was.

Anyway yesterday I finally pieced one together out of parts from a few mixed bulk lots. What a coincidence.

Eh, looks better than he does in 'Antman 3'...Oooooh, that was Modok...nevermind.:D

As I mentioned before, money was tight in 2007, and my role as a "build and display" collector was coming to an end. However, the small BIONICLE boxed sets were released early enough in the year for me to go through the same rituals I had done for the better part of a decade proceeding it. The Barraki were freaky, but a welcome departure from the predictable clone set design in the Inika and Piraka. I got a couple of Barraki (Carapar and Kalmah) for Christmas in 2006, but I also got this set, Morak, in short order to start filling out my Mahri Nui collection. Dekar the Matoran soon followed, and I had plans to get the other Matoran boxed set, too. This seemed feasible because unlike previous years, there were only four boxed small sets, not six. However, the price was marginally higher.

I did not get Thulox because it was apparent that once I had Morak, I would be wasting my money on the same model in slightly different colors. Worse was the lack of BIONICLE story relevance. At the time, any experienced BIONICLE fan knew most of the small boxed sets weren't going to play a decent role in the comics or movies. And since these were Rahi, I bet they would have an even lesser role. I was correct, though I am glad I did get this one example because I like the color blue. It is definitely one of my most forgotten BIONICLE sets, however.

That's a weird interpretation of Morag, although it does come with the soul stone...

Looks like a scorpion but in the story is really more of a cow

@PurpleDave: Yep, typing on the numeric keypad and hit the key above the one I meant to hit.

@xccj: Absolutely nothing! There's a reason I want 8922. A big, glowy reason.

I've owned this set at least thrice. First as a gift of all four when they came out (that was rare. This was the first full set of anything I had since the Toa Mata). I eventually sold them along with most of my bionicle collection.
The 2nd was last year. I got one from a bulk lot that returned the now super expensive Nui Jaga to my collection amongst a few other smaller treasures. And a surprise Makuta and Takanuva! :D The Morak I sold because I wasn't planning to get everything I used to own back, right?
Well, I changed my mind. The four were still a part of my history and I missed them too. So in September I got them again as a set. Annoyingly they are actually supposed to have two spheres each. Mine have one. And those spheres are easily over 2 euro each on BL over here.
It's strange. Some of these sets weren't the best or even the most story-relevant. But I'm happy to own them again even if I don't have the space to display everything anymore.

Now I'm missing just either 5 or 9 depending on if I'd want to re-acquire the Stars I used to own again.

Moruk

@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"Yay, Bionicle! :D I've just been thinking of these sets more lately, so this makes me happy ^^

As for the lore... I'm a bit rusty, but as best I can remember: Hydruka like Morak here were a species of aquatic rahi beasts who lived in the seas surrounding The Pit. When the Matoran city of Mahri Nui sunk beneath the waves several hundred years before their introduction into the main storyline, the Matoran domesticated the species. This was because the hydruka had the natural ability to harvest air bubbles from airweed plants beneath the sea using their tails; and the air bubbles were essential to allow the Matoran of Mahri Nui to survive in their sunken city. The hydruka could also weaponise solidified bubbles of harvested air by firing them from said tails, as seen in the picture.

As best I can remember, the hydruka never actually got to do anything significant within the actual story, nor had individual personalities; they were just part of the worldbuilding surrounding Mahri Nui.

Personally, I think I'd rather have had Earth and Ice Mahri Nui Matoran to have the standard full set of six (when counted alongside the two packaged with Karzahni), especially since I liked the Mahri Matoran design - and all of them except Sarda had cool mask recolours for the first time since 2004 - but the Hydruka weren't bad. They just didn't feel very significant, all things considered."

Yeah, that sums things up rather nicely.

I think it was definitely a missed opportunity not to do recolored versions of Axonn and Brutaka’s masks along with the Hagah ones Dekar and Defilak got. Multiple colors for various pieces are never a bad thing.