Pohatu, don't you know you're supposed to kick with the side of your foot, not the toe? Sure, you've got some extra padding, but your aim's still gonna be way off. And no, using your elemental powers doesn't count.

The classic upside down Toa of stone himself. I always liked how Pohatu was one of the more relaxed and friendly Toa in G1, bringing a nice vibe to the team.

You say Po-hay-tu, I say Po-hah-tu.

Pohatu rocks! Just can't beat a classic Toa!

My most favorite thing about this set was the rock being identical to the one used in Rock Raiders. Pretty sure I've got it mixed up with the Rock Raiders rocks by now so I'll never know (except with forensic testing maybe) if the one I have stored in the canister belongs to this or RR.

My least favorite thing about this set is the way Pohatu is hunched.

La-la-la-lore!!!

Early on in the development of the Matoran Universe, the Great Beings saw it necessary to create a series of failsafes in case anything ever happened to the Great Spirit Robot. Among these failsafes where the Toa Mata (Great Heroes,) six powerful warriors crafted by the legendary Artakha. Tahu, Kopaka, Gali, Onua, Lewa, and Pohatu. The six where sealed inside of vehicles known as Toa Canisters and locked away within the Codrex, a mysterious structure hidden away in the center of Karda Nui, the power generator that kept the GSR running. If the GSR where ever shut down, the Toa Canisters would launch out of Karda Nui so the Toa could repair systems and make preparations to turn the robot back on.

For millennia the Toa lay dormant and comatose inside of their pods, waiting for the day they would be called upon to save the universe.

Around 99,000 years after the GSR launched a dastardly betrayal took place. Terdiax, leader of the Brotherhood of Maktua, decided to stage a coup against the AI that ran the GSR, Mata Nui. Terdiax cast a "spell" that sent Mata Nui into a coma, and the GSR crashed landed on the ocean moon of Aqua Magna. The crash rocked the Matoran Universe, tearing the robot apart in an event known as the Great Cataclysm. Among the many things caused by this event, the GSR's cloaking system was damaged, and a fake island was formed over the robot's face.

The Toa Canisters launched to save their universe, but something went wrong. A malfunction in the Canisters (likely caused from Karda Nui basically exploding) prevented them from traveling to the correct part of the robot. Instead they fired straight out of the GSR's chest, then plummeted back to the waters bellow. For 1,000 years the Canisters remained idle, floating in the endless ocean, the Toa slowly rotting away inside.

But the Toa would eventually be retrieved. During the Great Cataclysm the people of Metru Nui where shepherded out of the machine by the Toa Metru (who would eventually become the Turaga.) The Turaga and Matoran settled down in six villages across the fake island, naming it Mata Nui in the Great Spirit's honor. The Turaga had heard legends of the Toa Mata, and spread stories of the great heroes among the populous.

Eventually one of these Matoran villagers, Takua, was sent on a grand adventure across the island of Mata Nui. These adventure culminated in him collecting the six Toa Stones form across the villages and assembling them in a temple. This caused a massive beam of light to blast into the sky, summoning the Toa Canisters to the island.

The Canisters washed ashore on the golden beaches of Mata Nui, and burst open to release the heroes inside. But years of decay had done a number, and the Toa where nothing but jumbled masses of loose pipes, tubing and gears. Despite their state, the heroes sprung to life, pulling their bodies back together piece by piece, donning their Masks of Power, and braving into the wilds of the island.

The damage of the Toa's decay was still prevalent however. It would take some time for their organs and skin to completely regrow, and, more importantly, all of their memories had been wiped! Eventually each Toa found the village of their element, where the Turaga taught them who they where and what their mission was.

Pohatu was the Toa of Stone. Warm and friendly, Pohatu would try to bond with everyone and anything he could. He would try to break the tension with humor and conversation, both among squabbling Toa and villainous foes, in the hopes of reaching peace. This friendliness often came to a fault, and he was often unable to take a hint when someone didn't want his company or to deal with him.

Pohatu often considered himself a pacifist. Not that he *wouldn't* fight, but he'd often put it off as a last resort. In fact, early in his Toa career Pohatu didn't carry any weapon, preferring to use his powerful legs to kick and brawl with foes if necessary.

Pohatu was equipped with the Kanohi Kakama, the Great Mask of Speed. This allowed him to travel faster than the eye could follow.

Pohatu was equipped with the Kanohi Kakama, the Great Mask of Speed. This allowed him to travel faster than the eye could follow. When his Mask was upgraded to the Kakama Nuva, he even gained the ability to phase through walls by vibrating his molecules as fast as possible.

As a Toa of Stone Pohatu could create and control the element of Stone. This would often take the form of ripping rocks out of the floor and walls to hurl at enemies. He was also one of the two strongest Toa, at one point launching a boulder three times his size half the length of Denmark just to show off.

Pohatu tried to be friends with all the Toa, but ironically he was closest to the Toa of Ice,. Kopaka. Kopaka was distant, silent, and antisocial, often preferring to work alone. At first Kopaka found Pohatu obnoxious and nosey, but (while he won't admit it) he quickly grew found of the character. In fact, one of the two times we saw Kopaka showing actual emotion throughout the series was crying when he thought Pohatu had died.

That covers the backstory of the Toa Mata and Pohatu's specific powers. Given the Toa Mata where the main characters, the rest of Pohatu's story is essentially just the main plot, so I'll try to keep this brief.

The Toa's first adventure was the Quest for the Masks. Each Toa had to collect five more Masks of Power to get a full set of six. With these they could enter Makuta's lair and face the villain for the first time. Pohatu's most notable appearance during this arc was helping Takua destroy a Nui-Jaga nest where they where crafting infect masks.

Next was the Bohrok War. A mysterious race of bug like beasts called Bohrok began destroying the surface of Mata Nui. The Toa where sent out to collect a full set of eight Krana from each Bohrok breed in order to open their nest. Inside the nest, the Toa crated a seal to imprison the Bahrag, Queens of the Swarm. Afterwards the heroes fell into a vat of Energized Protodermis, transforming them into the more powerful Toa Nuva.

As a Toa Nuva, Pohatu carried around a pair of climbing claws and gained the ability to share his speed power with the other Toa.

Next was the fight against the Bohrok-Kal. The Kal stole the source of the Toa Nuva's elemental power, the Nuva symbols. But this didn't stop Mask Powers, so the Toa went on a quest to collect six Nuva Masks each and recover the symbols.

Then was the Hunt for the Seventh Toa. Takua discovered the mysterious Mask of Light and was sent on a quest to uncover the mysterious Toa of Light. After being chased by Makuta's children, the Rahkshi, Takua discovered he WAS the seventh Toa, and donned the Mask of Light to transform. During this adventure, Pohatu and Onua where briefly presumed dead when Onua accidently caused a cave-in fighting the Rahkshi.

After rediscovering the Matoran's ancestral home of Metru Nui, and learning it's legends from the Turaga, the Toa Nuva where sent to the far south island of Voya Nui to retrieve the Legendary Mask of Life. (Mata Nui was dying, and needed a revival.) While on Voya Nui, the Nuva where ambushed and captured by a gang of thugs called the Piraka. Six Matoran villagers from Mata Nui traveled to Voya Nui to save the Nuva, becoming a Toa team in the process. This team of Toa Inika/Mahri would be the main focus of the 2006-07 story while the Nuva took on side stories.

During these side stories, the Nuva where given a scroll of preparations for Mata Nui's awakening. While the Mahri brought Mata Nui back to life (but still comatose) the Nuva re-awakened the Bohrok to destroy the island of Mata Nui, recovered the Staff of Artakha to repair damage caused by the Great Cataclysm, and more. In the end they where granted an audience with Artahka himself (well his voice) who provided them each with a set of special Adaptive Armor. This Adaptive Armor could shapeshift to help the Toa better fit their environment. With this new equipment the Toa where teleported to Karda Nui for their final mission.

Karda Nui (post Great Cataclysm) was dominated by villages built on top of giant stalactites, and s

Karda Nui (post Great Cataclysm) was dominated by villages built on top of giant stalactites, and so the Adaptive Armor took on flying forms so the Nuva could travel easier. Pohatu gained a set of giant propeller gauntlets to fly and was given his first proper weapon, a shoulder-mounted canon that could shoot balls of solid light. Pohatu named the canon the "Midak Skyblaster" after an old Matoran friend from Mata Nui.

While in Karda Nui the Toa had to collect six keystones to unlock the legendary Codrex, all the while being plagued by other members of the Brotherhood of Makuta. Once inside the Codrex, the Toa's memories of their past began flooding back, and they set to work turning the generator back on to restart the GSR.

There was just one problem. Karda Nui was essentially a giant nuclear generator. Anything outside the Codrex but inside Karda Nui's walls would be disintegrated as the power plant started back up. Luckily inside the Codrex where three powerful vehicles that could be used to race out of the deathtrap before the storms took full force. Pohatu became pilot of the Rockoh T3 and helped his fellow Toa escape the inferno.

The deed was done, The Toa had completed their destiny! Mata Nui was reawakened... or so they thought. It was here Teridax revealed the true nature of his terrible scheme. During the brief time between Mata Nui dying and the Mask of Life being used, Teridax's own spirit slipped into the GSR. When the Nuva finished their destiny they woke up Mata Nui's body... with Teridax's mind.

Teridax would eventually be overthrown, but Pohatu wasn't involved in that adventure so we'll cover that another day.

In the unfinished epilogue to BIONICLE, Kopaka and Pohtatu teamed up one last time to solve a murder mystery. It ended with the two being teleported onto the Red Star, which turned out to be a space station full of zombies, and then ended on a cliffhanger.

One last thing of note is that Kopaka and Pohatu aren't just close friends for their conflicting personalities. When BIONICLE was first conceived it had four elemental heroes: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. When LEGO demanded six technicolor toys be produced for the line, Ice and Stone where added to the line-up.

My 5th toa Mata, but certainly not because this set is any less excellent than the rest! Pohatu is one of the funkier toa, but unlike the upside-down torso on 8500 Torch/Fire, Pohatu makes it work. The overall appearance is slender with an emphasis on the legs, which works for the weilder of the Great Kakama, mask of speed. The Kanohi itself also works with his body desisn, featuring a prominent trapezoid form like Pohatu himself.
I'm much less of a fan of 8568 Pohatu Nuva too, as the chest armour cancels the tapering, triangular look of the original and makes him look fat. The mask is much less simplistic too, and works less well with the rest of his body. Not to mention that the mask is oversized in that set.

Pohatu! What a great Toa! I mean, I don't hold it against him that when I received him for my birthday 20 years ago and there was a piece missing (one of my first experiences with that in a LEGO set), for once I returned him to Wal-Mart and got another Pohatu, I was elated to assemble this upside-down Toa and get him to work kicking the rock included (which I later learned was a Koli/Kohlii ball, as seen in the Mata Nui Online Game or MNOG).

Of course, I and many other BIONICLE fans first met Pohatu in the pages of the first BIONICLE comic back in May, "The Coming of the Toa". After following Kopaka's arrival and first quest to obtain the Mask of Shielding, we literally run into Pohatu traipsing across the mountain, causing an avalanche to almost bury Kopaka. A rough introduction to the Toa of Stone, but the beginning of a long-lasting friendship for the Toa. Pohatu's resilience earned Kopaka's respect, and he was alongside the Toa of Ice when he obtained the Mask of Shielding from the top of Mount Ihu. Later, as they descended the mountain, the pair met the rest of the newly-arrived Toa, and the legend truly begun.

Pohatu was portrayed so vividly across BIONICLE media. Always the gregarious one, he managed to bring charm and light-heartedness to a variety of scenarios, such as when he defeated a Nui Jaga guarding a lair of infected Koli balls in Po-Wahi, or when he helped Gali recover Krana from some trapped Tahnok. But he wasn't without his edge. The Bohrok invasion really angered him, as the Bohrok caused much devastation to the homes of the Matoran in Po-Wahi and their works of art (some demolished in an attempt to halt the Bohrok advance). Gali saw Pohatu lash out at a swarm of advancing Tahnok, lifting the very bedrock of the desert out and on top of the swarm. Later, in the lair of the Bahrag, Pohatu used his natural strength and the power of the Exo-Toa to take the fight directly to the Bahrag, although he was actually fighting illusions for a good portion of the battle.

The transformation to Toa Nuva did little to change that personality, though he did get caught up in the Toa Nuva infighting, taking Gali and Tahu's side against Lewa, Onua, and Kopaka. He came to his senses quickly, however, when he was ambushed in the desert by Nuhvok Kal, whose powers of magnetism covered Pohatu in goats (Rahi, which like Pohatu, had mechanical elements) after stealing his Nuva symbol. After that, he teamed up with the rest to hunt down the Kal and eventually regain his powers. He tried to be a voice of unity after the victory over the Kal, but still, the Toa Nuva insisted on going their separate ways. The arrival of the Rahkshi changed their collective tune, though, and while Pohatu was not able to help Onua save Onu-Koro, he was able to defeat the Rahkshi with the rest of the Toa Nuva.

Pohatu's strength and dependability was necessary against the Piraka, which the Toa Nuva encountered on Voya Nui, but even his stone powers were not enough to defeat the former Dark Hunters, and like the rest of the Nuva, he fell to their evil powers. After rescue by the local Matoran and splitting up from the new Toa Inika, the Toa Nuva did various tasks across the Matoran Universe to prepare for Mata Nui's awakening. This eventually led to Pohatu and the rest entering Karda Nui, the Core of the Universe, to battle the Brotherhood of Makuta and awaken Mata Nui once and for all.

Pohatu and Kopaka, his oldest friend, stuck to the high skies at first, and his adaptive armor (gained from a visit to the island of Arthaka) radically changed his appearance. But nothing fazed his determination, now honed after dozens of battles. It was Pohatu that activated and flew the mighty Rockoh T3 vehicle that was locked in the Codrex in the center of the Core, and used to battle the Makuta and save many Av-Matoran as the energy storm that signaled Mata Nui's awakening started.

[continued below]

Pohatu, of course, was shocked at Makuta taking over Mata Nui's body and controlling the universe. Eventually, the titanic conflict between Makuta and the exiled Mata Nui brought Pohatu and the other Toa to Bara Magna. In the reformed world that Mata Nui used his powers to bring about, Pohatu joined the others, old friends and new friends alike, with hope at last for peace.

"He came to his senses quickly, however, when he was ambushed in the desert by Nuhvok Kal, whose powers of magnetism covered Pohatu in goats (Rahi, which like Pohatu, had mechanical elements) after stealing his Nuva symbol."

I love Bionicle lore.

@iwybs said:
""He came to his senses quickly, however, when he was ambushed in the desert by Nuhvok Kal, whose powers of magnetism covered Pohatu in goats (Rahi, which like Pohatu, had mechanical elements) after stealing his Nuva symbol."

I love Bionicle lore."

The sense of humor in anything from the MNOG style (MNOG, MNOG II, Bohrok Animations, Bohrok-Kal Animations) is fantastic https://biosector01.com/w/images/bs01/a/a6/Flash_Toa_Nuva_Pohatu_With_Magnatized_Rahi_Mahi.PNG

GSR_MataNui just casually talking about Bionicle, nothing special. Bro I dont know how much time you put into these, but I predict that eventually sometime in the future of Brickset, people in the Bonkle comments are gonna be saying: "Remember that guy that used to write 30 paragraphs of Bonkle lore?" "What a legend!"

@gorf43 said:
"GSR_MataNui just casually talking about Bionicle, nothing special. Bro I dont know how much time you put into these, but I predict that eventually sometime in the future of Brickset, people in the Bonkle comments are gonna be saying: "Remember that guy that used to write 30 paragraphs of Bonkle lore?" "What a legend!" "

How is he even doing this??

Oh yes

Potato

My second Toa ^^ I remember picking him up in a service station shop, when we stopped for petrol on the way down to Torquay, which we were going to for a church event. I only had Onua by that point (and, I *thought* I had Turaga Vakama too, but all other accounts say the Turaga weren't released until that summer, even in Europe where we got the Toa and comic 1 half a year earlier than America did, so I dunno?), and I'm pretty sure the whole reason I made Pohatu my second choice was because, having built one Toa, I was intensely curious about the way Pohatu was constructed *the other way up* in comparison.

I love the classic Toa, and I especially love their respective box-art; they look so dynamic, so mysterious with those fantastic mask pieces (to me, no subsequent mask designs really quite captured the sense of mystique that made the original ones so great) and the shining eyes behind them; and the locations in the background, so different for each one, really hint at the wide world that they inhabit in such an enticing manner.

@LegoDavid said:
"I bet everyone who got this set has lost that rock piece by now... That's certainly the case with me at least, lol..."

I somehow managed to keep mine, although I had two of those pieces thanks to a Rock Raiders set I had gotten a year or so before then.

This guy on Bricklink though named "Ahkmou" says he has some more for sale. Comets he calls them, best Kohli ball in existence. I had a few friends buy some from him lately, but they actually all just came down with something and are feeling a bit ill and have to quarantine at home. I just got myself a Comet though and it kicks great, "Where are the pies!?". *Cough*