Random set of the day: Pahrak Va
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8553 Pahrak Va, released during 2002. It's one of 27 Bionicle sets produced that year. It contains 27 pieces, and its retail price was US$3/£1.99.
It's owned by 1,835 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $17.50, or eBay.
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23 comments on this article
More little Bonkle helper dudes!
I think I got at least one copy of this guy in that massive haul I got from KayBee. This was the standard retail version, and one of two that never got a Kabaya release.
Ah, yet another Bohrok Va. And this is one of the three I don't have. I felt like Pahrak Va wasn't as distinct as it could've been, but I guess people that love recolors got the Turaga Onewa staff in a new color, not just brown. Otherwise, after three Bohrok Va, I never saw fit to complete the collection, and I frankly didn't see them on really good sales in my small town. Like, we didn't even have a KB Toys that apparently had a firesale on these guys and high quantities to boot. Oh, to have been an employed LEGO fan in the early 2000s!
Pahrak Va, in the BIONICLE storyline, had a distinct nickname by the Matoran. They were often referred to as "goatdogs", and that's not something the other types of Bohrok Va earned. Like the rest of the Bohrok Va, they heard the Bahrag's telepathic call to return once the Bohrok Kal neared the completion of their mission. It was the role of Pahrak Va to provide Pahrak swarms with their necessary Krana. This is why Bohrok Va exist, and they often went between the swarms and the Bahrag queens who lurked below, who would provide them with more of the requisite Krana creatures.
One can presume the Bohrok Va, including the Pahrak Va, went back into hibernation underground once the Bohrok completed their mission and wiped the surface of Mata Nui island clean. Though this dumbfounded the Toa Nuva at the time, the reason for a clean, life-free surface of Mata Nui would soon be evident once the Great Spirit was awakened by later efforts of the Toa Nuva within the core of the universe. But that is a different story!
Hey! The first time I have the RPotD, RMotD, and RSotD on the same day! I always liked that they recolored Onewa's staff for this guy, shame they didn't recolor the pieces the other Va used for their tools. Or just use System pieces for all of them, like with 8552.
Bonc.
Happy 2 wks post Bonc Day!!
That's all I'm allowed to say. ;)
Those guys came with ice cream from ice cream truck, not a bad deal.
@Graw said:
"Those guys came with ice cream from ice cream truck, not a bad deal."
Ice cream, huh? They weren't packaged together like Kabaya candy, were they? I'd hate to see what someone might be willing to pay for a MISB copy, if they were.
In BIONICLE fanbase news, Christian Faber put out a new Faber Files video. A lot of it is stuff we saw before, but there were some cool Rahi recolors and a awesome prototype Matoran hand piece that let them actually hold tools dating back to June 2000.
I'll keep lore quick. Bohrok were a swarm of robotic beetles that lived inside the head of the GSR. The GSR would create islands on his face or body to camouflage, and when he was ready to leave a planet the Bohrok would emerge and destroy the island. During the 2001 story the Bohrok were released when there were still people living on the Island of Mata Nui, which caused problems.
Bohrok were controlled by small, parasitic creatures called Krana. If a Krana was lost, either by accident or by trying to absorb more creatures into the swarm, the Bohrok would go dormant. Bohrok-Va's job was to replace Bohrok's missing Krana, or swap out their Krana if they needed a new power. Pahrak-Va were the Bohrok-Va of Stone, who usually followed around the Stone Bohrok.
They had some nice feet recolors.
Looks rather froggish, to me.
Now we just need 8554-1 to be a random set to complete the collection.
https://brickset.com/article/51879
https://brickset.com/article/84234
https://brickset.com/article/96008
https://brickset.com/article/36885
The Bohrok Va were sets I never got as a kid, but bought a full collection as an adult (with the rare black pins oft swapped for blue as Bricklink sellers tend to do). I like them a lot, lots of high articulation for being a 2002 Bionicle figures.
But there is nothing that makes one really stand above another. They're neat figures yes, but they're more army builders than major storyline stuff. Back in the 2000's their best selling point was being simply cheap!
Owned this set as a kid, sold it in my Bionicle dark age, and habe since restored it. It should surprise no one that the hammer was the hardest piece to acquire. Even that was not by much.
Pahrak Va was my penultimate Va. It was missing the Krana, but fortunately I had found them in this color in a mask/krana pack.
In the story this is one of the more memorable Bohrok Va. At the seige of Ga-Koro (a water village. The villagers removed the bridge) they switched the krana of full-sized Pahrak Bohrok for Krana Vu. These let them hover over the water. If it wasn't for the toa defeating the Bahrag leaders of the swarm, the two villages who were huddled up in there would have been annihilated.
Never underestimate the small guys! Or the support units!
Problem with having those eye pieces jutting out so much is my brain kinda sees 'em as fangs and uses the two pin holes in the head-shield as eyes instead. Looks a lot more spidery that way
“It's one of 27 Bionicle sets produced that year. It contains 27 pieces,”
Yo Yo Bohrok Va!
Every day another random bionicle set.
Nice for the recolors.
@SwingTop said:
"Every day another random bionicle set. "
Preach!
@SwingTop said:
"Every day another random bionicle set. "
We should be so lucky…
A GOATDOG!
@SwingTop said:
"Every day another random bionicle set. "
Yes and?
@SwingTop said:
"Every day another random bionicle set. "
Yes, the Random Set of the Day generally involves random Lego sets on a daily basis...