Reminder this is 8554-1 with bonus candy! Bionicles and sugar!

I like the yellow Krana this and 8554 use. I had some of the yellow Krana as a kid before getting the set as an adult.

Lore time:

Same thing I commented on the Lehvak Va’s turn, except these are the robots that work for the fire Bohrok.

“Hey look everyone, I’m Vakama! ‘Back! Back you foul creature!’ Hahahahaha!”

“Oh Terry you screwball…”

I loved the yellow Krana and Vakama's fire staff is a nice element to have in a different set.

Bionicle sets are so ugly, did anyone actually buy these?

The not-kabaya version was my first Bohrok Va. I still treasure it to this day!
It was nicely posable for the time (double neck articulation!!!) Making it very expressive. It also had a useful staff weapon and could even launch a krana from its back!

Interestingly, the Kabaya sets often had instructions somewhere to build exclusive alternate models. They were... wild.

https://biosector01.com/wiki/Set:1431%2B1432%2B1433%2B1434

https://biosector01.com/wiki/Set:1431%2B1432%2B1433%2B1434_ (Alternate_1)

https://biosector01.com/wiki/Set:1431+1432+1433+1434_ (Alternate_2)

It might be nostalgia but I greatly prefer the color combinations of red-black-brown and white-green-blue frkm the regular Kaita Ja and Kaita Za combiners.

Never having been to Japan, it may be little surprise that I do not own this variant--just the candy-free standard one. It came out right in the middle of my peak Bionicle years, and it was a Red One™, my favourite kind. He did NOT survive the sell-off of a majority of sets at the start of my Bionicle Dark Ages, having no real character, but not being 8538, has not been difficult to restore to the family.

I think I under-appreciated the Bohrok Va at the time, even though my grasp of the lore was looser rather than exacting. The potential of these guys isn't in whacking and smashing (which seemed like the point of Bionicle at the time) but in devious and cunning humour.

Tahnok Va was the only Bohrok Va who I never officially got. Emphasis on officially, because I did have a Tahnok Va in my collection... only it wasn't 8554 or 1431. Rather it was:

- torso and head socket of a duplicate Pahrak Va
- eyes and headplate (/ handshield) of an incomplete duplicate Tahnok
- arms and firestaff of an incomplete duplicate Vakama
- krana from a krana pack
- exclusive-to-the-set back-pan and feet in red bought from Bricklink

The Pahrak Va had come from a lot I bought of eBay because it had other sets I wanted in it (Turaga Matau and Nuju, specifically); the incomplete red guys had been charity shop purchases for their parts; and the first and only krana pack I had bought (that I got specifically for one of the gold kanohi masks) just happened to have had a krana of the colour that this guy used. I can even remember which krana shape it was: the one that's top row, second-from-right in that image. The Ca, I believe?

Anyway, since I had all of his non-exclusive parts in my spares anyway, I figured why bother seeking out the set when I could just buy his three remaining pieces off Bricklink? So that's why I don't count this guy as being one who I officially owned ^^

Forgot to check in last night, so here's the quick lore.

Bohrok were an army of bug like robots designed as a part of the Great Spirit Robot's catalogue system. When the GSR landed on a planet, it would create a fake island on its face. When the GSR was ready to leave, the Bohrok would emerge from it's face underground and destroy/weaken the island so it could stand back up.

Most of the actual Bohrok were mindless, controlled by these organic mask-like things known as Krana. If a Bohrok lost its Krana, it would go completely limp. To counteract this, the swarm had Bohrok Va.

Bohrok Va were far far weaker than normal Bohrok, having none of the island destroying abilities, but they were capable of ferrying Krana to and from the swarm. If a Bohrok lost its Krana or needed a new Krana power for a job, the Va would assit.

The Tahnok Va were responsible for maintain the fire branch of the Bohrok Swarm. There's one pretty iconic piece of art of Toa Tau having his mask replaced by a Krana, leaving him mind-controlled by the swarm, and a Tahnok Va stands over him victoriously clutching his old mask.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"i hate bionicle"
Galidor breathes a sigh of relief...
;-)

@PurpleDave said:
" @DavidSkyroller said:
"These days, Tahnok Va are endangered since they are often harvested for their red Matoran feet, usually to make the Matoran Kapura."

https://www.maskofdestiny.com/0002832

I made a Kapura McToran, way long ago, but it was based off the Mata Nui Online Game flash animation, and I saw that I wrote about some sort of mixup between the Pakari and Ruru masks. So, while he officially was supposed to have a red Pakari, somewhere in a box is this little guy, with his red Ruru."

Yeah, weird that they mixed up the Pakari and Ruru for both Kapura and Hafu/Taipu. Since the game developers also show the blue Tarakava with a Ruru instead of a Pakari (for the most part), them receiving the sand Tarakava with a Ruru could have been the source of the confusion. It would have just taken some written documentation given to them without a picture saying the Tarakava had a blue Pakari. I know Hafu had his own power pack, so that was firmly committed, but it seems odd for them to switch Kapura's mask between the two Mata Nui Online games since I don't remember him appearing anywhere else. I like the first game SOOO much better, that I prefer Kapura with the Pakari. I was actually disappointed when the last update to the Legend of Mata Nui video game (fan fixed/completed) changed Kapura's mask from Pakari to Ruru. And to make things more confusing, in the Toa Vakama Metru Nui mini CD game, they label a Matoran with a Pakari as Kapura. I suppose what makes the most sense would be if Kapura's Pakari was damaged and replaced with a Ruru during the Bohrok invasion. Here is my more recent McToran Kapura with a Pakari: https://www.facebook.com/100083104917729/posts/155138907266272/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

Also, since this is actually a Tahnok Va page, here is my take on Turaga Tahnok from an alternate universe:https://www.facebook.com/100083104917729/posts/142878155159014/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

@Maxbricks14 said: "i hate bionicle"

I must admit that I at one time hated Bionicle too, but now that they're a thing of the past I guess I'm mostly indifferent towards them. While the odd, barely-even-Technic parts certainly didn't help, my main gripe has always been how the large scale prevented making sets of anything but the characters themselves and a few small vehicles. They're supposed to have a rich lore and a ton of exciting locations, but this wasn't part the sets at all but only shown in in the catalog and secondary media (much of which was not readily available here), without this it was just a bunch of very generic robot toys.

They tried amending this with a minfig-scale sub theme but it failed, not necessarily cause it was minifig-scale but cause it was crap - the first-year figures were just a single piece, and the "castles" were just open scaffolding with a few full-size accessories slapped on.

I'd love to see them make some "system-bonkles" like 40581, but I guess the old-school fans weren't amused. Not sure why there's so much hate towards this one, even if you think real Bionicles should be made from Bionicle parts maybe it's better to see it more like a "Lego-Bionicle", similar to the 10302 Lego-Transformer and the 21311 Lego-Voltron. Maybe not "the real thing", but a pretty good approximation (and functionally better than most "Real Thing In Lego" sets).

@kingalbino said: "Bionicle sets are so ugly, did anyone actually buy these?"

According to the "Bionicle saved Lego" crowd *some* people must have bought them, but but I'm not sure if that automatically means it's a good Lego product. To me it appears more like an unexpectedly successful "lightning in a bottle" fad toy than a good Lego theme, they were lucky once (the right thing, the right way and at the right time) but it's unlikely they'll be able to easily repeat that success.

@axeleng , as a big Bionicle fan myself there is some lightning in a bottle effect going on. Bionicle tapped into the same energy that made Pokémon, etc. popular in the late 90's-00's. The early creators of Bionicle had an eclectic passion for post-humanism, spiritualism, environmentalism, sci-fi and medical science that made it a sort of "dream team" to imagine something truly wild. Even the Mata Nui Online Game became a timely post 9-11 allegory in its final chapters, as the game developer studio was based in Manhattan and saw the towers fall in real time; and reflected that back into Bionicle's story.

But the basic building blocks of Bionicle, strong characters in a color coded team, a multi-media project to advertise it, toyetic story beats... Ninjago and a dozen other Lego themes continue to repeat that formula to the present day. Lego repeats Bionicle's basics every day, year after year. But the more esoteric aspects of Bionicle were very tied to the world of the 2000s.

I joked once that Frank Herbert of Dune fame would have probably liked the Bionicle story had he been alive to see it, but it speaks to the weirdness of Bionicle as a Lego theme that it was trying to tackle so many "mature" subjects in a plastic toy line alongside childish goofballness (Kapura fart jokes). Just a wild imaginative world with lots of rough spots.

@xboxtravis7992 said: "But the basic building blocks of Bionicle, strong characters in a color coded team, a multi-media project to advertise it, toyetic story beats... Ninjago and a dozen other Lego themes continue to repeat that formula to the present day"

The key difference is that themes as Ninjago actually includes this *in the sets*, even if you've never seen any of the media you can look at the sets and get a reasonable impression of the setting, the lore and what's going on. Bionicle gave you *nothing* except some beautiful tropical landscapes in the catalog. If Ninjago had been like Bionicle you'd only get some battlepacks with the main characters and at most some *very* basic mechs (and I'm not talking 71794 here, but only the most basic of Superhero/4+ ones). No Ninjago City. No amazing dragons. No Destiny's Bounty. All of this would be strictly part of some abstract media universe and not part of the tangible ABS world we love at all.

Yeah I am a bit bitter we didn't get great location sets when Bionicle experimented in System scale from 2005-2007. I would love to see the Ninjago designers tackle Bionicle locations like the Kini-Nui or the Codrex in modern system form. I personally wouldn't be opposed to Bionicle tribute sets in Minifigure scale to give us location based sets someday.

However don't discount the appeal of plastic robots. Transformers has been getting away with just plastic robots since the 1980s, and Gundam for about as long if not longer. While we were robbed of seeing Bionicle locations in physical ABS, there is a market for just the robot figures as we got.

@DavidSkyroller said:
"Yeah, weird that they mixed up the Pakari and Ruru for both Kapura and Hafu/Taipu. Since the game developers also show the blue Tarakava with a Ruru instead of a Pakari (for the most part), them receiving the sand Tarakava with a Ruru could have been the source of the confusion. It would have just taken some written documentation given to them without a picture saying the Tarakava had a blue Pakari. I know Hafu had his own power pack, so that was firmly committed, but it seems odd for them to switch Kapura's mask between the two Mata Nui Online games since I don't remember him appearing anywhere else."

His official cgi bio picture on Bionicle.com, from late 2002 when they added bios for the named Matoran who didn't have physical sets, was to the best of my knowledge the first source for Kapura having a ruru: https://biosector01.com/w/images/bs01/9/98/Set_Kapura.png

The original MNOG always had a weird relationship with the pakari, however: on a lot of characters who wore them, the mask had its normal shape but facial details more akin to those of the ruru - with the cheek slits, open forehead and angular eyes (even Onua, who in the fight against Lewa had a set-accurate mask, switched to that design for all his later appearances as well).

I wonder if that confusion over the pakari's look may have contributed to the mask switch - perhaps whoever made the cgi images recognised that the facial designs from MNOG looked more ruru-like (the pakari usually having rounder eyes, different cheek slots, and three slits in the forehead instead) and ran based on that rather than on the mask's shape?

Although this is all just guesswork, of course. I still puzzle over which version should be regarded as 'more official', too... I tend to prioritise the cgi images since I saw them first as a kid, but I do love MNOG too. it's definitely a weird situation.

@ThatBionicleGuy said:
" @DavidSkyroller said:
"Yeah, weird that they mixed up the Pakari and Ruru for both Kapura and Hafu/Taipu. Since the game developers also show the blue Tarakava with a Ruru instead of a Pakari (for the most part), them receiving the sand Tarakava with a Ruru could have been the source of the confusion. It would have just taken some written documentation given to them without a picture saying the Tarakava had a blue Pakari. I know Hafu had his own power pack, so that was firmly committed, but it seems odd for them to switch Kapura's mask between the two Mata Nui Online games since I don't remember him appearing anywhere else."

His official cgi bio picture on Bionicle.com, from late 2002 when they added bios for the named Matoran who didn't have physical sets, was to the best of my knowledge the first source for Kapura having a ruru: https://biosector01.com/w/images/bs01/9/98/Set_Kapura.png
"
Glad to hear from someone who remembers the early days of the website! I had forgotten about those CG images. I remember seeing them at some point but was not aware of the source. I wasn't using the internet until after the Metru Nui storyline was introduced. Yes, the alternate Pakari design in MNOG is interesting. I like how the Masks of Power Legacy game tips their hat to that design by including that as an option in the settings.

@kingalbino said:
"Bionicle sets are so ugly, did anyone actually buy these?"

Well this particular one may have been bought for the candy.

@axeleng:
I don't remember this being the case at all. Yes, there were a lot of comments about the brickbuilt nature of the Bionicle GWP being "disrespectful" or somesuch, but I'm about as old-school as it gets, and I kinda pushed my budget to score three copies. I also remember a lot of the members who I know to be fans, both old and new, commenting that they fully understood that they weren't going to reproduce all those unique molds just for one GWP, and that after getting shot down by Ideas, Bricklink, and the fan vote, and getting ignored for any History of TLG announcement, getting _SOMETHING_ was a huge deal. Now, Sad Tahu, on the other hand...

Anyways, where Bionicle excelled, even very early on, was in the construction of organic characters. System, at the time, couldn't hold a candle to what could be accomplished with Bionicle parts. Anyone who's tried figbashing knows how difficult it is to do much of anything non-human. The increased scale let kids of all ages build as many characters as they wanted. Yes, vehicles were more difficult, and scenery might be best left to System bricks (if you had sufficient quantity, which many kids who only collected Bionicle had almost none of). These days, all the wild array of tiny detail parts that certain members here whinge about being "overpriced" make System every bit as capable as Bionicle was in making organic shapes, but they didn't really even start building that part of the catalog until 2004. It was probably at least another ten years before they'd hit critical mass.

@DavidSkyroller:
https://www.maskofdestiny.com/0001531
I have Facebook permanently blocked on all my devices, so I can't actually see your pics. However, I did dig around a bit, and it turns out I originally posted Kapura with a Pakari, and the Ruru version is something I posted when _lots_ of confusion emerged over Ruru/Pakari mixups, Kaukau colors, and exactly which color scheme was right for Takua:
https://www.maskofdestiny.com/0002833
https://www.maskofdestiny.com/0002834
https://www.maskofdestiny.com/0002835
https://www.maskofdestiny.com/0001529

All of those were at least partly based on one official source or another, and in the last picture you can even see that there were two instances of Takua being shown with yellow arms and red legs.

@Norikins:
Oh, I hope not. I had a friend who was living in Japan when the Kabaya Slave I released, and he sent me two of those and one of the TIE Interceptor. I don't remember if I opened both copies of Slave I, but I built one of each set, and they came with some weird gumballs that, if I absolutely had to pick, I'd say tasted somewhat like pineapple. More or less. And the flavor didn't last very long (another college friend got some blueberry gum from Japan, and the flavor lasted less than a minute).

How many Brickset members are, or were, from Japan? How many of those were Bionicle fans? I'd hate to think that many copies were bought by AFOLs living in other countries, just so they could play Sub-Par Candy/Gum Roulette.