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The first and most iconic era of BIONICLE stars a team of six Toa destined to awaken the Great Spirit as they protect the villagers of the island of Mata Nui from the many threats unleashed by the Makuta.

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The Toa Mata / Toa Nuva

In general

Unity

Great warriors with great power, drawn from the very elements themselves. Together, they were six heroes with one destiny: to defeat Makuta and save Mata Nui.

The Toa Mata were created to get Mata Nui back on his feet should anything ever happen to him, and they were put in hibernation until they were needed. After awakening, they eventually gained enhanced Toa Nuva forms, and even later on were given Adaptive Armor that can alter its abilities for any terrain.^note The known configurations are the "Phantoka" Sky Form and the "Mistika" Swamp Form used in Karda Nui.

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• 100% Heroism Rating: Among the Matoran of Mata Nui, who practically worship the ground they walk on. Even after witnessing the Toa's various failings and character flaws, the Matoran (except maybe Ahkmou) still universally honor the Toa. Notably averted among the Av-Matoran, although they definitely respect the Toa Nuva (and the Toa still have their Hero-Worshippers, like Solek).
• Abnormal Ammo: Midak Skyblasters draw light from the surrounding environment and fire it as a ball. The Toa Nuva Mistika's Nynrah Ghost Blasters shoot energy that the user can control.
• Adaptive Armor: Given to them by Artakha as a Mid-Season Upgrade prior to the Final Battle against the Brotherhood of Makuta. Notably, the armor's level of adaptation appears to be rather sensitive; Onua Nuva's weapon turned into a Midak Skyblaster upon arriving in Karda Nui, but when he journeyed to the Swamp of Secrets with Tahu and Gali, it turned into a Nynrah Ghost Blaster. Also, the Phantoka's^note Confirmed for Lewa and Pohatu; implied for Kopaka Kanohi Nuva masks adapted to interface with the Codrex vehicles when the Toa piloted them.
• Amnesiac Hero: All of them, upon washing up on the shores of the island of Mata Nui. They can't even remember their own names, although those come back pretty quick, and all of their memories are dark, vague dreams. However, in noted contrast to the Toa Metru, they have zero issues using or controlling their elemental and mask powers.
• Back for the Finale: After being Demoted to Extra during the Metru Nui story arcs, Badasses in Distress during the Voya Nui arc, and Heroes of Another Story during the Mahri Nui arc, the Toa Nuva return in style for the Final Battle against the Brotherhood of Makuta in Karda Nui, freshly upgraded with Adaptive Armor that significantly levels the playing field. Real Life Writes the Plot, as Jaller and company were supposed to return as the featured heroes in this arc^note the Mahri Nui arc was supposed to end with Mata Nui's death, with the Karda Nui arc covering the Toa's effort to revive him, but the decision was made to wrap up the Matoran Universe story saga with the Karda Nui arc, but the story team felt that the Toa who started the entire Matoran saga should finish it as well.
• Badass in Distress: Happens to the entire team twice on Voya Nui. After the Piraka defeat them and loot their Kanohi and tools, Zaktan orders them to be thrown into Mount Valmai and burned alive. Later, after Brutaka One-Hit KOs them, they get enslaved with antidermis, stripped of their Kanohi and tools (again), chained to a dungeon wall in the Piraka stronghold, and ordered to pour their elemental energies into a bottomless well until it kills them. Thankfully, after getting rescued by the Matoran resistance, they make a complete recovery and return to action none the worse for wear.
• BFG: Adaptive Armor weaponry: Midak Skyblasters and Nynrah Ghost Blasters.
• Bling-Bling-BANG!: The Golden Kanohi worn by the Toa Mata.
• Bifurcated Weapon: Several of the Toa Nuva's tools.
  • Tahu Nuva's Magma Blades, which can combine to make a lava surfboard.
  • Kopaka Nuva's Ice Blades, which split into ice skates.
  • Pohatu Nuva's Climbing Claws, which combine into the Kodan Ball.
  • It's indicated that Gali Nuva's Aqua Axes can combine to make a Cool Board as well, although that probably has more to do with her being the Toa of Water.
• Big Damn Heroes: Plenty of examples throughout the saga.
  • They arrive to bail out Jaller and Takua, who have been cornered in Kini-Nui by the Rahkshi.
  • Upon arriving in Karda Nui, they turn the tide of a battle in the sky between Av-Matoran and three Makuta. As they were literally teleported into the middle of the battle by Artakha, they're just as surprised by this turn of events as everyone else.
• Born as an Adult: If you consider the Matoran/Toa/Turaga cycle as an analogy for youth, adulthood, and old age, then they qualify.
• Breaking the Fellowship:
  • After becoming Toa Nuva, they decide that they each have enough power to protect their villages alone (mostly Tahu and Kopaka, with Gali being the major dissenter). Of course, the Bohrok-Kal force them to reunite soon afterward.
  • After Makuta's successful takeover of Mata Nui's robot body, the Toa Nuva scatter once again, this time out of necessity: Makuta has grown so powerful that he can casually kill them all at any time, and thus staying together would make the Toa too big of a target. Notably, unlike the other operative Toa teams (the Toa Hagah and Toa Mahri), the Toa Nuva never manage to reunite (at least not before the series was canceled).
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Unknowingly subjected to this by the Brotherhood of Makuta, as their quest to awaken Mata Nui actually plays a pivotal role in Makuta Teridax's Evil Plan. The Reveal makes the entire saga Harsher in Hindsight.
• The Caper:
  • The Toa Nuva infiltrate the Piraka stronghold to reclaim their stolen masks and Toa tools. While they have some problem getting through the door (which Reidak solves for them with some help from Lewa), the gear recovery proceeds without a hitch — mostly because the Piraka are busy fighting each other again. Unfortunately, the next phase of the mission — defeating the Piraka — doesn't go so well due to Brutaka's interference.
  • In a strange twist, they then wind up infiltrating Metru Nui's Great Temple — that is, a place that they normally protect — to swipe a hidden scroll that lists tasks that must be completed prior to Mata Nui's awakening. The absurdity of the situation is lampshaded by Pohatu.
    Pohatu: From Toa to sneak thief, in one easy lesson. Maybe, when this is over, we should see if the Dark Hunters have any openings.
  • Ironically, the Toa Nuva actually raid the Dark Hunters' base on Odina shortly afterwards, although they get caught and the Shadowed One actually lets them go in exchange for doing a job for him.
• Character Development: Over the course of the story, Tahu and Kopaka become more cooperative while Lewa learns to take his job a bit more seriously.
• Cool Sword: Tahu, Kopaka, and Lewa have all wielded these in various forms.
• Delayed Causality: The Toa Nuva are capable of utilizing their Elemental Powers in this fashion, most spectacularly when Pohatu triggers every stone in the Shadowed One's fortress to crumble into dust approximately an hour after the Toa leave Odina. It appears to be a Nuva-exclusive ability, so Tahu presumably loses this ability when he gets devolved into a Toa Mata.
• Demoted to Extra: Relatively averted during the Bara Magna story arc (really, the entire Matoran Universe up to and including Makuta himself are extras), but all of the Toa Nuva aside from Tahu and Takanuva get hit with this during the Final Battle — in the Journey's End story serial, Onua gets a single scene, Gali and Pohatu are mentioned in a single offhand comment, and Kopaka doesn't appear at all. Lewa likewise doesn't show up, but his absence is justified — he's stranded on Bota Magna at that point. Real Life Writes the Plot — Tahu and Takanuva were released as part of the BIONICLE Stars toyline while the other Toa Nuva were not, hence the story focus or lack thereof. Also, the other Toa appear in other story serials set during and after Journey's End.
• Dual Wielding: Gali and Onua Mata, all of the Toa Nuva in their base forms, and Pohatu Phantoka.
• Dumb Muscle: They tend to give off this vibe during their training on Daxia, as Hydraxon lampshades. It's possibly justified since they're in training, but their lack of unity continues to haunt them for nearly all of their time on the island of Mata Nui.
  Hydraxon: You Toa have plenty of power, but I'm not seeing much in the way of common sense. Without it, all that power isn't worth a pile of protodites.
• Experienced Protagonist: It's only retroactively made (painfully) apparent during the retelling of the legends of the Toa Metru, but from the instant that the Toa Mata emerge from their canisters on the island of Mata Nui, they're never shown to have any difficulty using or controlling their elemental or mask powers.
• Failsafe Failure:
  • Victims of this. Upon the deployment of the Toa Mata's canisters, a signal is supposed to be emitted to draw them to the island of Mata Nui. For whatever reason, the signal never transmits, leaving the canisters to float aimlessly in the ocean. It isn't until Takua accidentally triggers the signal — 1000 years later — that the canisters finally begin to make their way to Mata Nui.
  • The Toa Nuva themselves, as failsafes against Mata Nui system failure, avert this by succeeding in their quest to awaken the Great Spirit...only for the whole thing to be a universe-sized Double Subversion when Makuta reveals that he'd managed to hijack the robot in the interim.
• Fire-Forged Friends: By the time the Matoran return to Metru Nui, the Toa Nuva have become this.
• First Injury Reaction: When the Bohrok-Kal disable their immunities to their own elements, they all have to endure the worst of their respective elements turned against them.
• Flight: Provided to all by Adaptive Armor, at least in the known Phantoka and Mistika forms.
• Forged by the Gods:
  • The Toa themselves were created by Artakha for the sole purpose of awakening Mata Nui should the Great Spirit ever fall. Because of this, they were never Matoran like other Toa.
  • Their Golden Kanohi, Kanohi Nuva, and Adaptive Armor were also forged by Artakha.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: While the relationships between the Toa vary in strength, the story spends the most time with this team, so just about each of the six have had a chance to interact with all of the others. Not much with Kopaka and Onua, though. Most likely due to both of them being The Quiet One; they're usually paired with more talkative characters.
• Gotta Catch Them All: A large component of the first three story arcs. Justified In-Universe: the Kanohi and Kanohi Nuva are needed to level the playing field against Makuta and the Bohrok-Kal respectively (especially since the Kal stripped the Toa Nuva's elemental powers), while a complete collection of krana is required to unlock the Bahrag's lair.^note And, of course, on a meta level, the story existed to sell toys. LEGO sold packs of collectibles like Kanohi and krana, so they needed to get worked into the storyline somehow. Fortunately, the collectibles diminished in importance as the story went on, until they were finally phased out during the Karda Nui arc.
  • And then they have to collect all six pieces of the keystones to access the Codrex. And then they (mostly Tahu) have to collect all six pieces of Golden Armor! At least, in those cases, there are far fewer items to collect (six pieces total, instead of five or eight per Toa), and they acquire more of the pieces with relative ease — especially the keystones, some of which are simply given to them.
• Hero of Another Story: During the Mahri Nui arc, the Toa Nuva journey across the universe, performing (or attempting) tasks to prepare the universe for Mata Nui's awakening. Gali Nuva chronicles these adventures.
• Laser Sight: Kopaka Phantoka's mask and Blizzard Blade, Gali and Onua Mistika's Nynrah Ghost Blasters.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: During their time hibernating in Toa canisters, they grow to forget everything — their time on Daxia and Karda Nui, training with Hydraxon, even their own names. Conveniently, all memories of the Order of Mata Nui are also erased. Unfortunately, the Laser Guide turns out to be off a bit, causing them to forget too much. Also, the amnesia starts to wear off when they return to Karda Nui.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!:
  • After the disastrous attempt to retrieve the Staff of Artakha, the Toa Nuva split up into teams to tackle other tasks in preparation for Mata Nui's awakening. Surprisingly, all of these tasks are apparently completed without much difficulty, except for Tahu and Kopaka's mission to cap erupting volcanoes in the southern continents — and even then, it seems to be no worse than scorched armor.
  • Shortly after arriving in Karda Nui and beating back a Brotherhood of Makuta attack, Tahu takes Gali and Onua to investigate the Swamp of Secrets while the other Toa Nuva stay back to defend the local Av-Matoran.
• Living Legend: Probably invoked by the Turaga on Mata Nui, but it turns out that they're also this among the Av-Matoran due to their prior heroics in Karda Nui. Most strikingly, the possibly insane Matoran whom Jaller and company run into in the realm of Karzahni lists each of the Toa Nuva by name^note He's also an Av-Matoran, so it's possible that he personally encountered the Toa in the past.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Most notably the transformation into Toa Nuva, although that also winds up shackling their elemental powers to the Nuva Symbols which are vulnerable to getting stolen (as they find out the hard way). As noted above, their Adaptive Armor also qualifies.
• Morph Weapon: Part of their Adaptive Armor. During the Final Battle in Karda Nui, their tools adapt to make them all Toa of Kryptonite against the Brotherhood of Makuta.
• No-Sell: After they finally become truly united, Kurahk's anger power has absolutely no effect on them.
• Pulling Themselves Together: The first action they take after making landfall on the island of Mata Nui, as they were all in pieces when they emerged from their transport canisters. And then it's never mentioned again — at least until the Voya Nui saga, where Turaga Vakama theorizes that their original state of disassembly had occurred due to the extended stay in the canisters rotting their organic tissue.
• Put on a Bus: Notably averted for the most part. While the comics and web content are focused on the year's main cast of characters, the Toa Nuva actually show up in most of the books. The Metru Nui saga is framed as a series of tales told by the Turaga to the Toa Nuva and select Matoran, so at least one Toa is present for each retelling^note The major exception is BIONICLE Adventures 10: Time Trap, which notably includes virtually none of the year's main cast, much less the Toa Nuva — not even Vakama counts, as he's no longer a Toa Hordika at this point. Of the eight BIONICLE Legends books prior to the Karda Nui saga (which feature the Toa Nuva as central protagonists again), the Toa Nuva are major characters for the first two books and appear in three more — and two of the remaining three books^note Namely, BIONICLE Legends 4: Legacy of Evil and BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost are Villain Episodes where the star Toa team (the Toa Inika or Toa Mahri) doesn't appear either^note Technically, the Inika do make a cameo appearance in BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost, but they are not mentioned by name.
• Retronym: "Toa Mata"; they were originally just "the Toa" as they knew of no others.
• Sealed Good in a Can: They were inside Toa Canisters until those transported them to Mata Nui. And again (in different canisters) from Metru Nui to Voya Nui, and then back to Metru Nui (for a caper of all things).
• Super-Empowering: The Toa Nuva are the only Toa capable of using the powers of the Kanohi Nuva, which can share their powers with nearby allies.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In the early story arcs, Tahu and Kopaka never get along, and Gali is always frustrated trying to get them to put their differences aside.
• Time Abyss: It's eventually revealed that they were the very first Toa designed by the Great Beings and were created by Artakha during Mata Nui's construction — over 101,000 years ago. Helryx and Lesovikk are the only living Toa that are older than them.
• Training from Hell: Under Hydraxon in their Backstory.
• Tricked-Out Shoes: Kopaka Nuva, Gali Nuva, and Onua Nuva can attach their weapon to their feet for environmental transport. Lewa also has flip-out foot claws in Mask of Light.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Makuta Teridax. He planned on them fulfilling their destiny and awakening the body of Mata Nui, which he had already possessed.
• The Worf Effect:
  • Their first encounters with the Bohrok-Kal, Rahkshi, and Piraka go incredibly poorly. Not to mention Brutaka, who defeats all of them — and some Matoran besides — in a single blow, while Icarax beat up Onua offscreen and later did the same to all the Nuva save Gali with one blow each while they were in Karzahni (and he only failed with her because she managed to fire off a Nova blast.
  • The Bohrok-Kal stand out for dealing Curb-Stomp Battles to the Toa Nuva every single time they cross paths. Even the few victories that the Toa managed to pull on them (removing their krana-kal) was promptly undone by a Bohrok Va replacing the krana-kal. And they were the first enemies that the Toa faced after being transformed into Toa Nuva! This is somewhat mitigated, though, by the fact that the Kal had managed to cripple the Toa Nuva's elemental powers by stealing their Nuva Symbols earlier.

Tahu

Voiced by: Scott McNeil (English), Taiten Kusunoki (Japanese), Sergio Gutiérrez Coto (Latin American Spanish)

Toa Tahu

Toa Tahu Nuva

"And I pledge to you that as Toa of Fire I will do all I can to keep you and our home safe from harm. Remember — your bravery, your wisdom, your spirit, make you as mighty as any Toa!"

Toa of Fire and the leader of the Toa Mata/Toa Nuva, Tahu is bold and aggressive to the point of recklessness; nonetheless, he is a fiercely noble and courageous hero who takes his leadership role very seriously. While initially very hot-headed, he has since grown more patient and open-minded. Tahu was last seen reverted back to his Mata form, so that he could use a set of golden armor (though he retains his Adaptive Armor as well).

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• Accidental Truth: Cornered by the Makuta, he tries to claim that the Toa Nuva already found the Mask of Life and that the Phantoka are using it against the Makuta up above. Bitil easily calls his bluff with a telepathic flash, only to discover (to everyone's surprise) that the Ignika has actually created a body for itself, allied with the Phantoka, and defeated Icarax in single combat.
• Actually Pretty Funny:
  • After Lewa shanghais him into swinging on vines and cracks a joke about the situation. Upon hearing the tale, Turaga Vakama heartily agrees.
  • Thinks this of Vakama's revelation that (he thought that) the Toa Metru were chosen by Makuta, to the point of laughing in his Turaga's face about it. Vakama is very not amused, to the point that Hahli thinks that she glimpses his Toa Hordika rage during his rebuttal.
• Amnesia Episode: Inverted. During the Toa Nuva's time in Karda Nui, all of them begin to remember fragments of their previous training and adventures; however, only Tahu recalls the full history — including his trickery that caused the Toa Mata to become imprisoned in Toa canisters for 100,000 years, which he confesses to Gali.
• Ax-Crazy: A combination of Lerahk's poison and Kurahk's anger drives him violently insane, forcing the other Toa Nuva to defeat and heal him.
• Bad Powers, Good People: After using the Golden Armor, his skillset now includes such unsavory powers as darkness^note Although Dark Is Not Evil is very much a thing in the Matoran Universe, as the Makuta were always creatures of shadow even before their Face–Heel Turn, fear, anger, and poison.
• Badass in Distress:
  • Gets buried by a rockslide triggered by Tahnok-Kal, after his fire powers mysteriously stop working. Downplayed in that he swiftly digs himself out afterwards.
  • Gets Driven to Madness during Mask of Light (see Ax-Crazy above).
  • Gets stunned by the Codrex's protective forcefield while exploring, followed by Makuta Krika draining his energy to the point that he can't create fire. While he does call for aid, he manages to escape Krika on his own — and, as it turns out, Krika wasn't trying to defeat him anyway.
• Barrier Warrior: His Kanohi Hau, Mask of Shielding; its upgraded form can also protect those near the wearer.
• Batman Gambit: During the Toa Nuva's training on Daxia, he takes Kopaka to storm the Order of Mata Nui's fortress and demand answers of Helryx — and promptly surrenders, causing the guards to arrest them and bring them to Helryx as desired.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Saves Gali from an ambush by Tarakava and Nui-Jaga. Notably, as Gali gets knocked out early in the conflict, Tahu defeats all of the infected Rahi by himself.
  • Saves Takua from death by lava at the beginning of Mask of Light.
• Big Good: Becomes one of these to BIONICLE as a whole after the Final Battle and Mata Nui's dormancy. Ironically, this turns him into a Supporting Protagonist in subsequent stories.
• Blatant Lies: After Passing the Torch to the Toa Inika (see below), Tahu promises to be waiting for them when they return. The Toa Inika are barely out of earshot when Axonn calls out Tahu for this deception. As it turns out, the Toa Nuva are nowhere in sight when the Toa Inika (now Toa Mahri) return to Metru Nui, and the two Toa teams only reunite after Mata Nui's awakening.
• Bling-Bling-BANG!: His Golden Armor. Emphasis on the "bang."
• Body Horror: Zaktan defeats him by stabbing him through his armor, then using the protodites that make up his own weapon to attack the tissue within.
• Book Ends:
  • He starts as one of the first sets released for the franchise in 2001 as a Toa Mata. He is also one of the last sets released as the story concluded in 2010, reverted to his Toa Mata form.
  • To a lesser extent, his first duel after the return to Metru Nui is with a Skakdi leader called a Piraka (Zaktan), who taunts him about his reliance on his powers; Tahu takes the bait and loses miserably, barely escaping with his life. His final duel (before the series was canceled) is with another Skakdi leader called a Piraka (Nektann), who also mocks his reliance on his powers; this time, however, Tahu refuses the bait and defeats his enemy.
• Brought Down to Badass: The Ignika reverts Tahu back into a Toa Mata, as the Golden Armor could only be used in that form. It more than makes up for it when he absorbs all the powers of the Rahkshi that he destroys.
• Cannot Spit It Out: While he manages to keep it together long enough to rally the other Toa Nuva to free the Bahrag, he winds up losing his nerve and being unable to tell them to unleash the Bohrok to devastate the island of Mata Nui. Onua has to do it for him.
• The Chessmaster: Manages to trick the Toa Mata into entering the Codrex shortly before devastating energy storms begin to erupt in Karda Nui, trapping them inside. It helps that Kopaka is in on the plan, although he disagrees with Tahu's decision to employ manipulation and favors simply telling the others the truth about the Codrex and the Toa's ultimate purpose.
• The Chosen One:
  • For whatever reason, Helryx announces that Tahu will be the leader of the Toa Mata. Since all of the Toa awakened for the first time mere minutes earlier, and since they only just got to learn each other's (and their own) names, the others are understandably hesitant to simply accept this decision.
  • It's also implied that the Golden Armor only works when he's wearing it (as opposed to, say, Takanuva, who was also in the area when the armor was created), and the other Toa Nuva were pointedly not devolved back into Toa Mata when the armor was created.
• Confusion Fu: Resorts to this when leading Nuhvok-Kal into the Le-Matoran's trap, suddenly taking to swinging on vines — much to Lewa's surprised amusement.
  • Leads the Toa (and assorted denizens of the Matoran Universe) in doing this on a global scale after Makuta hijacks the Mata Nui robot, as it's literally the only thing they can do against him at that point.
• Cool Board: As noted above, Tahu Nuva's Magma Blades can combine to make a lava surfboard that can also surf on water.
• Determinator: Absolutely refuses to accept defeat, which both irritates and impresses Kopaka. This leads to a serious out-of-character moment when it seems that absolutely nothing (not even the Vahi Mask of Time) can stop the Bohrok-Kal from accomplishing their mission.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Significantly downplayed, but he — or, more accurately, the Golden Armor that he wears — is the only one (aside from Mata Nui himself) who deals serious damage to Makuta during the Final Battle on Bara Magna. More importantly, it distracts Makuta at a critical moment, allowing Mata Nui to set up his final defeat.
• Double Weapon: Tahu Nuva can do this with his Magma Swords, but he usually Dual Wields them instead.
• Dramatic Irony: During the Turaga's recounting of their adventures in Metru Nui, Tahu confesses (in response to a question from Vakama) that his greatest fear is ignorance — that he might endanger or even doom his team due to a lack of information. While the narrative purpose of this confession is to foreshadow the Toa Metru's fall in the beginning of the Visorak saga, it becomes much Harsher in Hindsight when one considers that the Toa Nuva's next fight will be against the Piraka, where Tahu's fear is played out almost to the letter.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Turaga Vakama thinks so, anyway, as his morose retellings of his failings as a Toa Hordika are interpreted by Tahu as tales of victory. However, it's worth noting that the Order of Mata Nui ultimately agrees with Tahu on this point.
• Easily Forgiven: After he confesses his earlier chessmaster actions (see above) to Gali, she forgives him almost immediately.
• Elemental Personalities: Tahu, the Toa of Fire, is bold, short-tempered, and aggressive to the point of recklessness.
• "Eureka!" Moment: After the Easily Forgiven moment above, Gali makes an offhand remark about "Lewa Nuva as a fighter pilot," causing Tahu to realize that the Codrex's vehicles could give the Toa Nuva a chance to escape Karda Nui's energy storms.
• Everyone Has Standards: Tahu is utterly disgusted at Gorast's killing of Kirka, especially since Kirka was trying to warn her and the other Makuta of the incoming energy storm. Tahu nearly kills Gorast by superheating her armour till it begins to soften, but stops himself short of fully killing the Makuta.
• Flaming Sword: Tahu's Fire Sword (Mata form) and Magma Blades (Nuva form).
• Godzilla Threshold: Considers the Bohrok-Kal's beginning the process of freeing the Bahrag to be this, causing him to bust out the Kanohi Vahi, the Mask of Time. Downplayed in that even the Vahi proves incapable of stopping the Bohrok-Kal, although Tahu manages to turn it back off without causing any damage.
• Good Is Not Nice: Even discounting his temper, he coldly refuses to empathize with Makuta Krika and later vetoes the suggestion to help the surviving Makuta evacuate from Karda Nui (although that's mostly because it's an open question whether the Toa Nuva can evacuate Karda Nui in time themselves).
• Headbutting Heroes:
  • With Kopaka, at least until Mask of Light.
  • During the Toa Mata's time in Karda Nui, he also buts heads against Lewa, whose inquisitive nature leads him to nearly stumble upon secrets that Tahu is withholding from the rest of the team. Ironically, Tahu's backed up none other than Kopaka, who's also in on these secrets and supports Tahu's position as leader while even disagreeing with his actions.
• Honor Before Reason: Zaktan's taunt about the cowardice of Toa, combined with the discovery that the Piraka have downed Gali and Kopaka, spurs Tahu to fight the Piraka leader without using his Hau Nuva. The narration even lampshades how idiotic this decision is. Unsurprisingly, Zaktan doesn't bother handicapping himself and swiftly defeats Tahu. Tahu and the other Toa Nuva are only saved from execution by an extremely lucky volcanic eruption, and as mentioned under Taught by Experience below, he learns not to fall for such baiting again.
• Hot-Blooded: With Personality Powers to match. He's a very short-tempered and direct individual.
• Human Popsicle: He gets temporarily frozen by Kopaka after being corrupted by the Rahkshi Kurahk in Mask of Light.
• Immune to Fire: As a Required Secondary Power of his fire-creation abilities, Tahu is immune to flames and intense heat. When his powers are stolen by the Bohrok-Kal, he becomes susceptible to high temperatures and burns.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his stubbornness and fiery temper, Tahu is unquestionably devoted to the Matoran and to the Toa's quest to awaken Mata Nui. Thankfully, Tahu manages to rein in his Jerkass tendencies over the course of the story.
• Lava Adds Awesome: Tahu Nuva's Magma Blades.
• The Leader:
  • Of the Toa Mata/Toa Nuva. Notably, despite varying levels of friction with other members of the team, no one ever questions Tahu's authority.
  • As noted in You Are in Command Now below, Tahu eventually assumes command of all of the universe's surviving Toa after Makuta's hostile takeover of Mata Nui's body, and he later becomes a key authority figure in the reformed Spherus Magna.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Demands this of Lewa after swinging on vines to weaken Nuhvok-Kal, to the point of threatening him should he ever squeal. However, as noted under Actually Pretty Funny above, it's indicated that at least the threat wasn't serious. And it should be noted that Turaga Matau later learns of the incident, probably because Tahu forgot to demand silence of the Le-Matoran who were involved.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Orders the "Mistika" Toa Nuva (himself, Gali, and Onua) to split up to cover more of Karda Nui's Swamp of Secrets while searching for the Mask of Life. Naturally, each Toa gets ambushed by a Makuta shortly afterwards. Of course, none of them are ever in any real danger, but they don't know that at the time.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me:
  • Is almost never seen without his Kanohi Hau, the Mask of Shielding, which turns him into a Barrier Warrior. However, it cannot protect against ambushes, and extremely powerful attacks can penetrate even the Hau Nuva's protective field, as Tahu discovers the hard way during Mask of Light.
  • He gains a physical shield in Karda Nui, using his Rotating Fire Blades to deflect projectiles.
  • The Golden Armor also includes a shield, although in this case it actually averts this trope since Tahu never uses the shield — the armor, on the other hand...
• My God, What Have I Done?: Experiences this in the Codrex upon remembering his actions the last time the Toa were there (specifically his chessmaster gambit mentioned above) and promptly confesses it to Gali.
• Noodle Incident:
  • The Bohrok instruction manuals include a short comic where Tahu gets stripped of his Kanohi mask and has a krana placed on his face. Subsequent material indicates that he managed to remove it before he could be absorbed into the swarm, and he refused to talk about it afterwards.
  • As one of the tasks to be performed prior to Mata Nui's reawakening, Tahu and Kopaka journey to the southern islands (including Artidax, where — unbeknownst to just about everyone — Makuta Miserix is imprisoned) to quell a series of active volcanoes. By the time they regroup with the others on Daxia, Tahu's armor is scorched, and Kopaka is in even worse shape.
• Odd Friendship: With Lewa. Despite the Toa's opposing attitudes towards their quest (Lewa sees it as a fun adventure, Tahu as a serious mission), Tahu notes to himself that he likes Lewa and always has.
• Oddly Shaped Sword: Tahu Mata's Fire Sword is, as the name implies, shaped like flames.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Upon discovering three Kanohi Nuva in the Place of Shadow, he suddenly gets suspicious that the setup is some sort of trick. Unfortunately for him, he turns out to have been Properly Paranoid.
• Painful Transformation: While he doesn't physically transform, Tahu does scream as the power of the Golden Armor courses through him and channels the powers of all the Rahkshi on Bara Magna into him.
• Passing the Torch: Entrusts the Toa Inika with the mission of saving Mata Nui's life. It's significantly downplayed, as the Toa Nuva have determined that this quest is the Inika's destiny and not theirs, and they continue to work towards their original goal of awakening Mata Nui in the interim.
• Protagonist Power-Up Privileges: Is The Leader and only one of the team to gain a set of Golden Armor and all the Makuta powers it absorbs.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Even before his Character Development, he proves to be a good strategist, inspirational figure, and dependable ally — he's mostly weak at handling interpersonal conflicts and differing viewpoints, and he's since improved significantly on both counts.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Fittingly, he's the red to Kopaka's blue.
• Required Secondary Powers: As a Toa of Fire, he's much more resistant to heat than the other Toa. Unfortunately, he also loses this resistance when the Bohrok-Kal steal his Nuva symbol, as he learns the hard way during a confrontation with Pahrak-Kal.
• Secret-Keeper:
  • Near the end of the Bohrok-Kal arc, he reveals that he holds the Vahi, the legendary Mask of Time, unbeknownst to the other Toa. While it came across as something of New Powers as the Plot Demands in the animated Flash webseries (and even then, it was downplayed as the Vahi ultimately wound up not helping the situation either), the book Makuta's Revenge (released some time after the Bohrok-Kal arc concluded) includes a scene depicting Turaga Vakama handing the Vahi to Tahu; it turns out that Vakama only gave him the Vahi after the Toa's transformation into Toa Nuva, and he requested that Tahu not inform the other Toa Nuva about this development.
  • It turns out that he and Kopaka were informed of the Codrex and of the Toa Mata's true purpose during their training on Daxia, and — possibly at the behest of the Order of Mata Nui, which gave this information to them — he conceals this information from the other Toa. Kopaka likewise keeps his mouth shut, although he argues that it's better to tell the others.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Downplayed. He spends much of the Bohrok-Kal arc collecting Kanohi Nuva like the rest of the Toa Nuva, only to lose them all (aside from his Hau Nuva, which he was wearing at the time and hadn't needed to acquire) when the Rahkshi destroy Ta-Koro during the very next arc. It's further downplayed by the fact that the other Toa Nuva almost never switch their Kanohi afterwards either^note The barrier surrounding Karda Nui is known to be able to No-Sell the Toa's mask-switching efforts.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: An interesting variant, as he rebuffs Makuta Krika's speech explaining why the Makuta (including Krika himself) suck.
• Sore Loser: Significantly downplayed, but when Ga-Koro pulls a stunning upset in a kolhii tournament, Pohatu (whose village of Po-Koro was favored to win) cheerfully clanks fists with Gali while Tahu glumly stares at the ground and declines to return the gesture.
• Spanner in the Works: Assuming that he's the only one able to use the Golden Armor, as suggested under The Chosen One above. After seizing control of Mata Nui's robot body, Makuta is perfectly capable of killing Tahu — he even kills one of Tahu's Ragtag Band of Misfits just to make a point — but he never bothers, which comes back to bite him hard during the Final Battle on Bara Magna.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: The main function of Tahu Mistika's Rotating Fire Blades.
• Sword and Gun: Wields both a Nynrah Ghostblaster and Rotating Fire Blades when wearing his Adaptive Armor.
• Superpower Lottery: His use of the Golden Armor not only destroys every Rahkshi on Bara Magna, but it also grants him all forty-two Makuta powers, easily making him the most powerful Toa of all despite having been reverted to regular Toa-level control over fire and losing the ability to use Kanohi Nuva masks.
• Taught by Experience: When Nektann pulls the I Shall Taunt You card during his fight with Tahu, the Toa — having experienced the disastrous results of taking the bait during a previous duel, with another Skakdi, no less — promptly rejects it and decisively defeats the Skakdi warlord.
• Tragic Keepsake: Recovers Lhikan's Noble Hau from the realm of Karzahni after Gali floods it.
• Tranquil Fury: Eventually learns to channel his anger into this, rather than reacting explosively.
• The Trickster: When the Shadowed One demands that the Toa Nuva eliminate Roodaka in exchange for information on the whereabouts of the Staff of Artakha, Tahu agrees to the terms, much to Gali's surprise. Naturally, Tahu has no intention of killing Roodaka, instead manipulating the situation to extort her into re-mutating the Rahaga back into Toa Hagah.
• Vine Swing: Resorts to this during a Le-Matoran ambush of Nuhvok-Kal. Lewa doesn't know whether to be stunned or amused.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Gets this from Jaller during yet another failed Leeroy Jenkins attack on Pahrak-Kal. To his credit, he manages to avoid exploding at the Matoran, which is especially notable since this incident occurs prior to his Character Development.
  • Delivers one to Takanuva in the Codrex when the semi-corrupted Toa of Light starts ranting about killing the Makuta. As Tahu points out, that kind of talk is close to the Makuta's own philosophy.
• You Are in Command Now: Non-lethal variant. After Makuta seizes control of the Mata Nui robot, Tahu winds up assuming overall command of all of the surviving Toa in the universe. Later, after Spherus Magna is reformed, Tahu serves as one of the key leaders in the transitional government.
• Zerg Rush: Leads a swarm of Tahnok against Nuhvok-Kal, who effortlessly sends them floating into space and pins Tahu to the ground.

Kopaka

Voiced by: Michael Dobson (English), Masashi Sugawara (Japanese), Humberto Solórzano (Latin American Spanish)

Toa Kopaka

Toa Kopaka Nuva

"If you wish to help me, fine. If you wish to talk... seek out Toa Lewa."

The Toa of Ice, Kopaka is a cold and aloof Toa who prefers to work alone and often butted heads with Tahu early on. He has grown to understand the importance of Unity, even if he still isn't comfortable with it and simply leaves when he feels that he is no longer required. A skilled intellectual, his analytical mind has won many battles.

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• Badass in Distress:
  • Falls off an ice bridge into a deep ravine after his ice powers mysteriously disappear, and needs to get rescued by Turaga Nuju and his Mask of Telekinesis.
  • Gets ambushed by all six Rahkshi, and while he holds his own much better than the other Toa Nuva up to that point, he eventually gets overwhelmed and needs to be rescued by his fellow Toa.
  • Later, he gets captured by Makuta Mutran, who begins to tear his mind apart using his psychic powers. He's rescued by Solek, to everyone's surprise (including Solek's), but it also turns out that the Makuta are operating under Can't Kill You, Still Need You when it comes to the Toa Nuva.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: He's The Quiet One, but also one of the Toa Nuva's best fighters, regularly shown to defeat or at least hold his own against enemies that his teammates struggle with.
• Big Damn Heroes: Gets knocked out during Jaller and Takua's scuffle with the Rahkshi in Ko-Wahi during Mask of Light, but when he comes to, he singlehandedly defeats the Rahkshi and allows the Matoran to escape. Later, he digs out Pohatu and Onua after the latter inadvertently buries them alive, which Gali can't resist snarking about.
  Gali: Kopaka had to dig out the chief miner?
• Chainsaw-Grip BFG: How he holds his adaptive weapon.
• Character Development: Individually, the end of Reign of Shadows shows him demonstrating this shortly after the Battle of Bara Magna. While he finds a secluded place to gather his thoughts and assess what to do in wake of Spherus Magna's reformation, he refuses to put down his weapons until he finds Lewa in wake of him being missing. And then immediately after that, upon seeing the Toa Mahri under the influence of the Golden-Skinned Fusion, ensures that the Toa Hagah keep an eye on them for the time being - a long way from the solitary warrior who eschewed the help of others.
• Combat Pragmatist: Upon arriving on Odina and encountering the Dark Hunter sentry Minion, Kopaka simply flash-freezes him while the other Toa Nuva debate how to handle the situation.
• The Comically Serious: Often finds himself playing the Straight Man when interacting with Lewa, and to a lesser extent Pohatu.
• Cool Sword: His Ice Blade as a Toa Mata.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Once they piss him off, he wipes the floor with the Voya Nui Resistance Team, despite lacking both his weapons and his mask which weakened his abilities. It's implied the Toa could have done this anyways if not for the risk of their elemental powers killing the Matoran, but he does this so fast by the time Tahu tells the others to back Kopaku up half of the Resistance has already been flash-frozen and they have to hold him back so he doesn't end up breaking the Thou Shall Not Kill Toa code instead.
• Deadpan Snarker: All of the Toa Nuva qualify, but Kopaka really takes this up a notch, befitting his status as the team's resident cynic. It's particularly noticeable given his taciturn nature.
• Dual Wielding: Briefly splits his Ice Blades apart to do this from time to time, such as after giving Jaller and Takua his shield during Mask of Light.
• Due to the Dead: He gives a brief but heartfelt eulogy to Pohatu after the Toa of Stone is Buried Alive in a rockslide, journeys all the way from Ko-Wahi to Po-Koro to give the Hau Nuva that he collected during their adventure to Turaga Onewa as a Tragic Keepsake (a major case of Honor Before Reason, as no one in Po-Koro can utilize Kanohi Nuva masks and Kopaka et al. need all the power they can get). Even when it turns out that Pohatu is Not Quite Dead, Kopaka insists on giving him the mask even though Kopaka himself still needs one.
• Elemental Personalities: Kopaka, the Toa of Ice, is cold and aloof, and prefers to work alone.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Pohatu especially, but also with Lewa.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: Kopaka's Akaku's right eye (left as a Phantoka) is covered by a device that functions as a scope. If one of the other Toa Mata/Nuva wore the Mask of X-Ray Vision, this would have happened to him/her as well.
• Good Is Not Nice: Easily the least pleasant Toa Mata/Toa Nuva to be around, although he's unquestionably on the side of light.
• Good Is Not Soft: After "rescuing" Roodaka from the Tahtorak-Kanohi Dragon brawl on Xia, he at least detains her long enough for the other Toa Nuva and Rahaga to arrive, setting up Tahu Nuva's successful plan to extort her into re-mutating the Rahaga back into Toa Hagah.
• Headbutting Heroes: With Tahu, at least until Mask of Light. It turns out that the two couldn't stand each other even back during their training on Daxia. Despite this, Kopaka respects Tahu's position as the Toa Mata's leader and backs him up when Lewa openly defies his orders.
• Heroic Willpower:
  • In Comic 14, Kopaka is able to overcome Turahk's paralyzing fear and freeze the Rahkshi.
  • Averted and played straight during the Toa Nuva's raid on the Makuta's sky hive in Karda Nui. Mutran is able to use the power of fear to cause Kopaka to hesitate long enough to defeat him, but when the Makuta proceeds to tear Kopaka's mind apart, the Toa manages to maintain his sanity until Solek unexpectedly intervenes. (Of course, Mutran probably wasn't going to significantly harm Kopaka anyway.)
• Harmless Freezing: His MO, whether fighting enemies (since Toa don't kill) or Hero Antagonists (like an Ax-Crazy Tahu or the Voya Nui Resistance Team).
• Hoist by His Own Petard: When Avak traps him in a cage of fire, Kopaka stubbornly tries to freeze his way out (rather than targeting Avak) despite Avak informing him that it'll just make the bars hotter.
• I Work Alone: Pretty much his Catchphrase. Even after Character Development makes him more willing to work with others, he still prefers to operate solo as much as possible. It's at least somewhat justified by his One-Man Army status.
• Indy Ploy: After Lewa impulsively shoots down Kirop, Kopaka captures him and quickly hatches a Batman Gambit to trick the shadow Matoran into leading the Toa Nuva to the Brotherhood of Makuta's sky hive — and, by way of Contrived Coincidence, nets them another piece of the Codrex keystone in the process.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being a cold, distant loner, he's just as heroic as every other Toa.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: His stance on Tahu's insistence on secrecy during the Toa's initial adventures in Karda Nui.
  Kopaka: How would you feel if someone you trusted kept secrets from you?
• The Lancer: Seems to have served as this to Tahu during the Toa Mata's training and initial mission to Karda Nui, as Tahu brought him along during his "raid" on the Order of Mata Nui's fort on Daxia.
• Leave Me Alone!: Essentially what he tells Pohatu on at least two separate occasions, both while searching for Kanohi Masks of Power in Ko-Wahi^note The first occasion was also Kopaka's first meeting with another Toa, shortly after arriving on the island of Mata Nui and meeting Matoro and Turaga Nuju; the second occasion was during the quest for the Kanohi Nuva masks, after the Bohrok-Kal stole the Toa Nuva's elemental powers. Fortunately, Pohatu is not so easily dissuaded. For extra History Repeats points, Muaka tigers are involved in both incidents.
• Logical Weakness: Does not do well with fire and heat, although he seems somewhat more resistant to it than Gali. Really makes one wonder why Tahu brought him along on the mission to cap erupting volcanoes in the southern islands, instead of someone like Pohatu.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: His Ice Shield, both as a Toa Mata and a Toa Nuva. Notably, his Adaptive Armor does not include a shield during his time in Karda Nui.
• Noodle Incident:
  • As one of the tasks to be performed prior to Mata Nui's reawakening, Tahu and Kopaka journey to the southern islands (including Artidax, where — unbeknownst to just about everyone — Makuta Miserix is imprisoned) to quell a series of active volcanoes. By the time they regroup with the others on Daxia, Tahu's armor is scorched, and Kopaka is in even worse shape.
  • Solek excitedly babbles about the time when Kopaka defeated three dozen Zyglak by himself. This one is somewhat Played for Laughs, as Kopaka has long since had his memory of the event removed, so he's as clueless as the audience about this exploit.
• Not So Stoic: His icy demeanor is broken from time to time, such as in the book Tales of the Masks when Pohatu has a Disney Death, or his moment of Tranquil Fury in Dark Destiny.
• Number Two: Tahu appoints him as his second-in-command prior to the Final Battle.
• One-Man Army: All of the Toa Nuva qualify, but Kopaka stands out with his impressive showings against the Shadow Toa and the Rahkshi. And the Zyglak, if Solek is to be believed.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Admits that the situation with the Toa Mahri^note Specifically, they appear to have been brainwashed into serving the Skakdi is "more than I can handle on my own," which Gaaki recognizes as being extremely serious despite not knowing Kopaka very well (she's presumably aware of his pronounced I Work Alone mentality).
• Out of Focus: Gets hit with this after Makuta's takeover of Mata Nui's body, not showing up in the story again until after the Final Battle. He's not even mentioned at all in the Journey's End story serial. Averted after the Final Battle, where he and Pohatu are the main protagonists of a (sadly canceled) story serial.
• Pet the Dog: Makes a conscious effort to be gentle to the Av-Matoran, aware of the Trauma Conga Line that they've recently endured.
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone: He and Gali receive visions of the team combining into Akamai and Wairuha. Unfortunately, his vision is fragmented and ultimately useless.
• The Quiet One: Known for being the most quiet of the Toa Nuva, speaking even less than Onua.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Fittingly, he's the blue to Tahu's red.
• Required Secondary Powers: As a Toa of Ice, he's much more resistant to cold than the other Toa. Unfortunately, he also loses this resistance when the Bohrok-Kal steal his Nuva symbol, as he learns the hard way during a mask-searching expedition on Mount Ihu.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Shortly after becoming a Toa Nuva, Kopaka shows off his new power boost by freezing Tahu's flames that surround him. It's why he's so confident that he can escape Avak's fire cage; alas, Avak's "perfect prison" trick proves to be even more effective.
• Secret-Keeper: It turns out that he and Tahu were informed of the Codrex and of the Toa Mata's true purpose during their training on Daxia, and Tahu orders him to conceal this information from the other Toa. Kopaka complies, going so far as to physically stop Lewa from exploration that might reveal these secrets, but he argues that it's better to tell the others.
• The Stoic: As a Toa of Ice, he doesn't react all that much.
• Take a Third Option: When Hydraxon unleashes Spinax on the individual Toa Mata during their training on Daxia, Kopaka is the only one who manages to escape the energy hound — by freezing him solid. Hydraxon compliments him for his original thinking. And then pummels him. Repeatedly.
• Those Two Guys: With Pohatu, thanks to Kopaka's I Work Alone attitude coupled with Pohatu's stubborn insistence on teaming up with him. If Kopaka's not off by himself or with the rest of the Toa Nuva, it's a safe bet that Pohatu's with him. Notably, the two (along with Lewa) are assigned to the Phantoka group defending the Av-Matoran in the sky, and after Makuta's final defeat, they team up on another adventure (which sadly has No Ending due to the saga's cancellation).
• Tranquil Fury: When they're fighting the Voya Nui Resistance Team, Dalu enhances Gali's sight to the point of madness. Kopaka immediately walks through a wall of fire (which Toa of Ice are explicitly weak against) and flash-freezes three of them, and he almost kills the other two before the other Toa Nuva intervene. It's described as an "icy rage."
  Kopaka: I have had enough. And more than enough.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Pretty much yells this at a semi-corrupted Takanuva to talk him down from his Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• When He Smiles: Downplayed, as he actually smiles somewhat regularly, but the narrative tends to draw attention to those occasions.
• Winged Humanoid: Kopaka Phantoka has jet wings.
• The Worf Effect: His One-Man Army status only serves to make his defeat by Avak that much more embarrassing.
• X-Ray Vision: His Kanohi Akaku, the Mask of X-Ray Vision.
• You Are in Command Now: Non-lethal and temporary variant. As Tahu's Number Two, Kopaka assumes command of the group assigned to protect the Av-Matoran while Tahu leads Gali and Onua down to the Swamp of Secrets.

Gali

Voiced by: Kathleen Barr (English), Romi Park (Japanese), Gabriela Gómez (Latin American Spanish)

Toa Gali

Toa Gali Nuva

"For despite all our interesting elemental powers we may have, I expect that our best weapon is our minds."

The Toa of Water, Gali is as wise, warm, and gentle as the oceans she commands. Thus, she takes it upon herself to be the peacekeeper among the Toa. That said, she is also a formidable fighter and will not hesitate to use her awesome power in the defense of her people.

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• Artificial Gill: Her Kanohi Kaukau, Mask of Water Breathing. As Matoran/Toa/Turaga of Water are air-breathers like other Matoran/Toa/Turaga, this actually gives Gali an advantage over other Toa of Water, at least until Hahli gets transformed into an amphibious being.
  • Its upgraded form, the Kaukau Nuva, features the same Super-Empowering capabilities as the other Kanohi Nuva, which comes in handy when Gali flash-floods the realm of Karzahni while the half-dead Toa Nuva are still in it.
• Badass in Distress:
  • Gets ambushed by Nui-Jaga and Tarakava while searching for the Kanohi Masks of Power. Thankfully, Tahu comes to the rescue and winds up defeating all of the Rahi by himself.
  • Gets ambushed by Makuta Gorast while searching Karda Nui's Swamp of Secrets for the Mask of Life. Unlike Tahu and Onua, who were also ambushed by Makuta, Gali doesn't manage to escape and only survives the encounter due to Onua's timely intervention and the fact that the Makuta are under orders to keep the Toa Nuva alive until Mata Nui's awakening.
  • Sort-of subverted when she gets abducted by Makuta Krika, as he winds up explaining the Brotherhood of Makuta's history to her, giving her a Brotherhood tablet of transit, and all but begging her to leave Karda Nui. As Krika refuses to explain the reason for his actions, Gali naturally declines his request, and the arrival of Takanuva drives Krika away before he can do anything else.
• Beware the Nice Ones: When push comes to shove, she's the one who completely destroys the realm of Karzahni.
• Character Blog: Keeps a blog of the Toa Nuva's adventures during the Mahri Nui saga. Oddly, while the blog is mostly written in the first person and past tense, it switches to third-person for a single entry and present tense for a different entry.
• Combination Attack: Can combine her power with Lewa's to create or control thunderstorms.
• Designated Girl Fight: Gets ambushed by Gorast (the only female Makuta in Karda Nui) while searching Karda Nui's Swamp of Secrets for the Mask of Life. Unlike Tahu and Onua, Gali isn't incapacitated by (or before) the ambush and holds her own against Gorast — for a while.
• Elemental Personalities: Gali, the Toa of Water, is wise, warm, and gentle, and serves as the group's main peacekeeper.
• Eyepatch of Power: Appears to have one over the left eye of her Adaptive Armor's Mask of Power, as it's large and flat (as opposed to Kopaka's Akaku Nuva's scope). Oh, and if it grants her any abilities, she's never seen to use them in the story.
• Friend to All Living Things: Delivers a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Tahu for burning down a tree while collecting the Kanohi Masks of Power, and later goes out of her way to heal the badly wounded Kardas Dragon (granted, it's unknown whether she knew of how it had nearly killed the Toa Inika just a short while earlier, but it's unlikely that she would've acted any differently had she known).
• Friendly Sniper: Her Mistika design is apparently intended to evoke this, between her Mask of Power's scope-like device over the left eye (not unlike the scope on Kopaka's Akaku Nuva) and her Nynrah Ghost Blaster's targeting reticle and Laser Sight. However, these design elements are never brought up in the story.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: In Dark Destiny, Dalu temporarily enhances Gali's sight to the point that she can see into other dimensions through her closed lids and hands. Gali utterly loses it as a result until Axonn heals her.
• Godzilla Threshold: Understandably, Makuta Icarax beating the Toa Nuva to a pulp is Gali's, and it pushes her into performing a Nova blast that devastates the entire region of Karzahni. And even that's not powerful enough to stop Icarax!
• Hartman Hips: The original set design incorporated a set of Technic pins plugged into her hips; combined with the larger end of the leg piece being used as the thigh rather than the shin, the result is that Gali has thicker hips than the other Toa (except Pohatu).
• Healing Hands: Which she uses to heal a poisoned and maddened Tahu during Mask of Light.
• Hooks and Crooks: Gali Mata uses two. Notably, they're her tools, not her hands.
• In the End, You Are on Your Own: An odd, non-combat example. While all of the Toa Nuva (including Takanuva and Toa Ignika) enter the Codrex, almost all of them sans Gali and Toa Ignika eventually leave to continue holding the line against the attacking Brotherhood of Makuta; thus, Gali is the only one present to witness Toa Ignika's Heroic Sacrifice — and the first thoughts of the awakening Great Spirit Makuta Teridax.
• Lady of War: She is graceful and intelligent, and even invented her own martial arts/gymnastics discipline.
• Logical Weakness: As a Toa of Water, she's vulnerable to fire and extreme heat, which have been used against her on numerous occasions.
• Mercury's Wings: Her Mistika form features mask-mounted wings and ankle-mounted rockets.
• Morality Pet: For the Toa Nuva in general. Kopaka and Onua have both gone into startling levels of Tranquil Fury when something happens to her.
• Nice Girl: She's easily one of the nicest of the team and tends to play peacekeeper when Tahu and Kopaka are close to blows.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Becomes unusually angry with the other Toa Nuva after the loss of their elemental powers, blaming their (specifically Tahu and Kopaka's) I Work Alone mentality for getting them into this mess. Turaga Nokama gently chides her for this attitude.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: During the Behemoth Battle between Makuta and Mata Nui on Bara Magna, the former casually mentions that Gali and Pohatu devastated half a legion of Rahkshi. Note that these Rahkshi were previously established to be improved models of the ones that gave the Toa Nuva and Matoran so much grief during Mask of Light.
• Out of Focus: Gets hit with this after Makuta's takeover of Mata Nui's body. The Offscreen Moment of Awesome mentioned above is the only indicator of her activities^note It's mentioned that she engages in study of the Great Beings at the Great Temple during Makuta's reign, but the results of this research are unknown, although she's a Supporting Protagonist in stories set after the Final Battle.
• Person of Mass Destruction: All Toa have the potential to be this, but Gali's the only one who's shown to do it within the story, and she's horrified by the sheer amount of devastation that she unleashes.
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone: She and Kopaka receive visions of the Toa Mata combining into Akamai and Wairuha.
• Psychic Link: Establishes one with Takua before the Toa Mata enter Mangaia for the initial confrontation with Makuta, allowing the then-Chronicler to witness the merging of the Toa Kaita and the fight with the Manas. The link comes in handy much later, when Takua — now a semi-corrupted and abnormally large Takanuva, Toa of Light — has to convince Gali and Pohatu that he's not a disguised Makuta.
• Psychic Powers: They're not brought up often, but she does establish a Psychic Link with Takua (see above), and it's not explained how she's able to find the Great Beings' scroll in the Great Temple when not even Kopaka's Mask of X-Ray Vision can spot it.
• Sacrificial Lion: Non-lethal variant. She's the first Toa Nuva to fall during the clash with the Piraka, alerting the other Toa Nuva (and the audience) that the tide of battle is turning against them.
• Sole Survivor: After Makuta Icarax wipes the floor with the Toa Nuva during their clash in the realm of Karzahni. Of course, she then promptly reminds Icarax why he should Beware the Nice Ones. Downplayed in that the Toa Nuva ultimately survive, although Gali doesn't know it until after the battle.
• Talking the Monster to Death: An interesting version, as Toa Ignika is essentially a Goo-Goo-Godlike rather than a monster, but Gali manages to defuse a confrontation between Ignika and Tahu inside the Codrex and convince Ignika to sacrifice its "life" as a Toa to awaken Mata Nui.
• Water Is Womanly: The Toa of Water and a calm, gentle woman much more graceful than her brother Toa.
• Women Are Wiser: She's one of the more level-headed of the Toa.

Lewa

Voiced by: Dale Wilson (English), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese), José Antonio Macías (Latin American Spanish)

Toa Lewa

Toa Lewa Nuva

"Lewa, mystery-king of know-nothingness. That's me!"

The Toa of Air, Lewa is wild, free-spirited, and always willing to help. Initially overconfident and preferring to go it alone, his experiences being unwillingly controlled by the Makuta and Bohrok have wisened him up.

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• Ace Pilot: Of the Axalara T9, despite never having flown one before. Of course, as a Toa of Air, he has plenty of flying experience, not to mention his control of air.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Despite his impulsive nature, Lewa has a solid head on his shoulders and is very capable of thinking his way to victory.
  • When his, Tahu's, and Gali's Big Damn Heroes moment backing up Kopaka against six Rahkshi is unexpectedly interrupted by the latter two Toa starting to bicker, he quickly guesses that they're under Kurahk's Hate Plague influence and dispatches a mini-cyclone to relieve the offending Rahkshi of its staff.
  • During a fight with the Brotherhood of Makuta, he advises his fellow Toa that the key to defeating their enemies is to figure out what they want.
• Badass in Distress:
  • Given his turn as the resident Brainwashed and Crazy Toa twice over, he's arguably the biggest example of this trope in the entire franchise. Aside from, you know, the whole "Mata Nui has been asleep for 1000 years" thing.
  • After he launches himself into the sky to show off his enhanced control over air, his power mysteriously vanishes, causing him to fall helplessly to the ground. Kongu and his Gukko Ka have to catch him.
  • Winds up ruining his own trap for Nuhvok-Kal with an ill-advised grab for his krana-kal, causing him to get rooted to the ground by the Bohrok-Kal's Gravity Master power. Tahu has to bail him out. Fortunately, the trap has drained so much of Nuhvok-Kal's power that it beats a hasty retreat rather than press its advantage.
  • During the encounter with the Rahkshi Kaita, he gets hit with Rahkshi Kaita Vo and drained to the point that Tahu has to sound a retreat and carry him out.
  • Nearly gets hit with this yet again in Karda Nui, when the Phantoka Toa Nuva are captured by the Brotherhood of Makuta and Mutran nearly introduces him to a shadow leech. Fortunately, Pohatu busts them all out in time, although it's unlikely that the Makuta would have gone through with the shadow leech infection in any case.
  • And then, after Makuta's takeover of Mata Nui's body, Lewa gets sent to retrieve Artakha, only to be redirected to Tren Krom's island prison and subjected to a "Freaky Friday" Flip that strands him there, unable to move or call for help. Fortunately, Artakha bails him out.
• Bearer of Bad News: Gets the unenviable task of informing Jaller and Takua that Ta-Koro has been destroyed by the Rahkshi.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's one of the nicest Toa, but, as Reidak finds out, Good Is Not Soft.
• BFS: Lewa Phantoka's Air Saber.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • During Mask of Light, he rescues Jaller, Takua, and Pewku from a run-in with an angry ash bear.
  • Tries to be this when swooping in to distract the Guurahk that is menacing Gali, but the Guurahk promptly snaps the vine that he's swinging from, causing them to fall on Tahu and Lerahk and setting up the Toa Nuva's defeat.
  • An interesting variant when Makuta ejects a group of powerful beings into space; Lewa is with this group, but he's not teleported out with the others, so he grabs one of them in mid-teleport and winds up saving the lives of everyone in the group.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Twice, first with an infected mask again with a krana. Onua saves him both times.
• Combination Attack: Can combine his power with Gali's to create or control thunderstorms.
• Constantly Curious: Used to be this during the Toa Mata's initial mission in Karda Nui. He's still this in the present day, although it's somewhat less pronounced.
• Elemental Personalities: Lewa, the Toa of Air, is free-spirited, humorous, and independent.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Tahu's sarcastic suggestion that the Toa Nuva ask Nuhvok-Kal to give them their elemental powers back inspires Lewa to set up a trap for the Bohrok-Kal.
• Fighting from the Inside: As it turns out, he's doing this while under the krana's influence. Onua exploits this to talk him into removing the krana on his own.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: Is subjected to this by Tren Krom during Makuta's Reign of Shadows, stranding him on his island. Artakha has to undo it.
• Fun Personified:
  • Although he becomes somewhat more serious after the krana incident, he never loses his sense of adventure.
  • Kongu credits Lewa with showing him how to lighten up and defuse tension with humor while remaining focused on the mission.
  • He's the one who comes up with the "Skyblaster" part of the Midak Skyblaster's name — because he's always wanted to have a weapon with that name.
• Good Is Not Soft: Discussed with Reidak, while Lewa's pounding him into the ground:
  Reidak: Here I thought you Toa were so peace loving.
  Lewa: Peace loving. Not weak.
• Grand Theft Me: Gets suckered into a "Freaky Friday" Flip by Tren Krom. Fortunately, Artakha sets things right.
• Guile Hero: Effortlessly tricks Reidak into breaking down the door to the Piraka stronghold, getting in some good jabs in the process.
• Handicapped Badass: He's stated to have trouble walking compared to the other Toa, but he's far more adept at (and has more fun with) swinging from trees and gliding with his twin katana.
• Hates Baths: Well, he hates water in general, just like all Le-Matoran.
• Hive Mind: Is connected to the Bohrok hive mind due to his time as a servant of the swarm. It makes him quite uncomfortable, and other Toa like Tahu suspect that it might make him an unwilling Sleeper Agent, but he is able to utilize it to gain insight into the Bohrok's (and later the Bohrok-Kal's) plans.
• I Shall Taunt You: Most notably when goading Reidak into breaking down the Piraka stronghold door.
  Lewa: Very deep-impressive. You will be remembered in legends as Reidak, defeater of doors.
• Jetpack: Lewa Phantoka (though they're actually on his shoulders).
• Katanas Are Just Better: Lewa Nuva's twin Air Katanas, which can also be used as makeshift gliders.
• Mission Creep: An incredibly convoluted one. After Makuta hijacks Mata Nui's body, Lewa makes his way to the island of Artakha to evacuate its ruler. Instead, Artakha teleports him to Tren Krom, who promptly pulls a "Freaky Friday" Flip with him, and when he gets back to his body (thanks again to Artakha), he finds himself in a subterranean control chamber with a bunch of other superpowered characters, shortly before Makuta ejects the lot of them into space (well, except for Lewa, but he tags along), the gang gets unexpectedly yanked into a strange prison on a place called Bota Magna containing a Great Being, and upon escaping from the fortress and exploring, he stumbles upon a giant lizard and strange and hostile natives...and then the saga was canceled, or who knows what sorts of crazy hijinks Lewa would continue to get himself into.
• Nature Hero: Loves exploring the jungles of Le-Wahi, is a friend to all Rahi, and of course is a Toa-hero of Air.
• Nice Guy: Downplayed due to his more prominent Fun Personified personality, but Lewa is a genuinely kind Toa, as Jaller, Takua, Pewku, and at least one ash bear can attest.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: After Reidak breaks one of his Air Katana, Lewa tosses aside the other one and proceeds to beat the stuffing out of the Piraka.
• Not Quite Flight: His Kanohi Miru, Mask of Levitation. Of course, when you're a Toa of Air, the difference is negligible.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Gets seriously offended when Tahu practically accuses him of being in cahoots with the Bohrok-Kal. Which simply goads Tahu into actually accusing him.
  • His final interaction with Tahu prior to entering his canister in the Codrex is an angry threat of "a long talk" when the Toa Mata emerge from their canisters. Of course, as the audience (and Takanuva) knows, the Toa will wind up hibernating in those canisters for 100,000 years, they'll lose all of their memories, and Lewa's long talk with Tahu will never occur.
• Odd Friendship: With Tahu, despite the Toa's opposing attitudes towards their quest — Lewa sees it as a fun adventure, while Tahu considers it a serious mission.
• Skewed Priorities: Insists on telling Kopaka and Onua a story "about the three Matoran, the Nui-Rama swarm, and the carry-basket of bula berries" — in the middle of a skirmish with the Brotherhood of Makuta. Sure, the story has a moral that directly relates to the Toa Nuva's current situation, but a more concise explanation would definitely have sufficed.
• Spanner in the Works: When Makuta forcibly ejects Axonn, Brutaka, Helryx, Miserix, et al. into space with the clear intent of murdering them, Lewa tags along and creates an air bubble to keep everyone alive until the group unexpectedly gets teleported to Bota Magna. That's right, some of the most powerful beings in the Matoran Universe^note Full list: Axonn, Brutaka (who's long since Taken A Level In Badass), Artakha, Makuta Miserix, Toa Helryx, Toa Tuyet, and the Matoran Hafu and Kapura owe their lives to Lewa Nuva.
• Super-Reflexes: To pull off the Spanner in the Works stunt mentioned above, he manages to grab onto Brutaka mid-teleport.
• Sword and Gun: Wields a Midak Skyblaster and Air Saber in his Adaptive Armor.
• Talking the Monster to Death: After capturing the ash bear that's menacing Jaller, Takua, and Pewku, he releases her, soothes her, and gently dismisses her.
• Third-Person Person: Briefly refers to himself this way in Mask of Light.
  Lewa: If Toa Lewa helped on your search, might he be a spirit-lift?
• Token Flyer: Due to his elemental control over Air coupled with his Mask of Levitation. Downplayed after his transformation into a Toa Nuva due to the Miru Nuva's Super-Empowering capabilities.
• Vine Swing: A master practicioner, like all Le-Matoran.
• Wrecked Weapon: During the initial confrontation with the Piraka, Reidak snaps one of his Air Katana. Velika crafts him a replacement at the end of the Voya Nui story arc.
• Zerg Rush: His trap for Nuhvok-Kal amounts to this, using a hail of thrown branches, stones, and other debris. It's quite effective.

Pohatu

Voiced by: Trevor Devall (English), Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), Ricardo Mendoza (Latin American Spanish)

Toa Pohatu

Toa Pohatu Nuva

"Why not team up? It might make things easier."

The Toa of Stone, Pohatu is a friendly, easygoing sort. Dependable and brave, he is a reliable, personable ally who boosts morale among the team.

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• Ace Pilot: Of the Rockoh T3, surprisingly enough.
• Acrofatic: If you pay attention in the online animations, you can notice that Pohatu makes heavy steps as he walks. Since he has the Mask of Speed, the weight makes no difference.
• Armed Legs: Pohatu's large, armored feet.
• Audience Surrogate: An interesting example. Pohatu's straightforward nature prompts him to ask the questions that all of the Toa Mata are wondering after they awaken for the first time and receive an Info Dump from a disembodied voice. Thing is, by this point in the story, the audience already knows the answers to all of Pohatu's questions.
• Big Damn Heroes: Rescues Hafu from the Tahnok in the Bohrok Online Animations.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Loud, cheerful, and loves a good fight.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: During his first meeting with Kopaka, he wonders aloud whether a Muaka tiger that's menacing the two "is an ally or enemy." The question actually startles Kopaka until he realizes that Pohatu's just kidding.
• Delayed Causality: As mentioned earlier, he triggers every stone in the Shadowed One's fortress to crumble into dust approximately an hour after the Toa leave Odina. Tahu later mentions that Pohatu taught him the trick, implying that Pohatu figured it out on his own.
• Disney Death: Gets Buried Alive in a massive rockslide during a search for Kanohi Nuva masks but shows up alive shortly afterwards. Justified due to Kopaka's presence and actions: he was also caught in the rockslide but was protected by the power of the Hau Nuva, whose Super-Empowering capabilities also saved Pohatu; also, while Kopaka wasn't able to dig Pohatu out, his efforts made it that much easier for Pohatu to free himself.
• Elemental Personalities: Pohatu, the Toa of Stone, is enduring, supportive, and often the first to offer a listening ear or a helping hand to his fellow Toa; he's their rock.
• Extremity Extremist: Pohatu's main weapons are his feet.
• Graceful Loser: Immediately congratulates Gali via fist-bump after Ga-Koro wins the kolhii championship in Mask of Light, even though that means that Pohatu's own village Po-Koro (which was heavily favored to win) lost the match.
• The Heart: Always tries to the bring his fellow Toa together when they inevitably end up clashing.
• Hero Antagonist: In Karda Nui, he briefly opposes the giant-sized Takanuva when the corrupted Toa of Light demonstrates control of the power of Shadow and Pohatu suspects that he might be a disguised Makuta.
• Humble Hero: Regards the Po-Matoran as equals, a much different relationship than what most of the other Toa have with their villagers.
• I Know Madden Kombat: Pohatu enjoys sports and games the most out of his team and even carries it into battle. As a Toa Mata, he kicks kolhii balls (read: small boulders) in combat and later does the same with his Kodan ball as a Toa Nuva. Since his feet are his main weapons, he only ever adopts the early soccer-like version of the sport instead of the lacrosse-based version introduced in Mask of Light.
• Improbable Weapon User: As a Toa Mata, he kicked boulders around like soccer balls.
• Intangible Man: The Kakama Nuva allows him to vibrate fast enough to pass through solid objects a la The Flash. Ironically, Gali is the first Toa to demonstrate this ability.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: After an encounter with Gahlok-Kal results in a bunch of Maha goats magnetically stuck to Pohatu's body, he sheepishly requests that Takua leave that bit out when recording the incident on the Wall of History, leading to a humorous Continuity Nod:
  Out of their Elements (article written In-Universe by Takua): "It wasn't fun," was Pohatu Nuva's only comment. "Frankly, I'd rather not talk about it anymore."
• Lightning Bruiser: Thanks to his Mask of Speed paired with his natural strength.
• Nice Guy: Though possibly not the nicest Toa, he's easily the most outwardly so, and his Dark Mirror counterpart is the Token Good Teammate in the Toa Empire.
• Non-Standard Character Design: His first two sets had an upside-down body part to facilitate his kicking function, giving him a narrow torso and wide hips.
• Only Friend: For the longest time, he was pretty much the only Toa who was willing to team up with Kopaka for any length of time (indeed, he would often force his companionship on Kopaka despite the latter's efforts to make him go away), and it was his own friendly nature that helped Kopaka open up to the rest of the team.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Despite his easygoing personality, he has a strong sense of right and wrong, and he will not hesitate to yell at his teammates and allies if he feels that they've stepped out of line.
  • In particular, he's very uncomfortable with the Toa Nuva's caper in Metru Nui's Great Temple and strongly opposes freeing the Bahrag and allowing the Bohrok swarms to clear out the island of Mata Nui, and he's not shy about speaking his mind. That said, he does willingly combine his elemental powers with the other Toa's to break the Toa seal imprisoning the Bahrag.
• Person as Verb: Has graduated to this in the aftermath of Makuta's takeover of Mata Nui's body, at least in Tahu's vernacular.
  Tahu: We're going to do a Pohatu on [Makuta].
  Kopeke: A Pohatu?
  Tahu: That's right. "When in doubt, smash everything and hope you're somewhere else when it all goes boom."
• Plucky Comic Relief: If Lewa's not the one cracking jokes, it's Pohatu.
• Shoulder Cannon: Pohatu Phantoka's shoulder-mounted Midak Skyblaster.
• Spectacular Spinning: Pohatu Phantoka's Twin Propellers allow him to fly when spinning, basically giving him helicopter hands.
• Super-Speed: Granted by his Kanohi Kakama, the Mask of Speed. He can cross whole biomes of Mata Nui in seconds with just a casual usage of its power.
• Stereotype Flip: Inverted due to being the first Stone-element character introduced in the story. Pohatu and Turaga Onewa are warm, kindhearted people, so it can be a bit surprising that such friendliness is actually not a trait of Po-Matoran — Hafu is rather arrogant, Hewkii is kinder when not under the influence of a Hate Plague but has more of a stereotypical athlete's attitude overall, and Ahkmou is the Token Evil Teammate of the Matoran as a whole. The contrast is downplayed as the story progresses and shows Pohatu's more abrasive side (not to mention Onewa's Backstory as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold).
• Super-Strength: Comparable if not a little stronger than Onua's base strength, though he falls behind when the latter taps into the Mask of Strength. Combined with his speed, however, it's a moot point.
• This Is a Drill: Pohatu Phantoka's Twin Propellers could work like this, but this was never really used in the story.
• Those Two Guys: With Kopaka, thanks to Kopaka's I Work Alone attitude coupled with Pohatu's stubborn insistence on teaming up with him. If Kopaka's not off by himself or with the rest of the Toa Nuva, it's a safe bet that Pohatu's with him. Notably, the two (along with Lewa) are assigned to the Phantoka group defending the Av-Matoran in the sky, and after Makuta's final defeat, they team up on another adventure (which sadly has No Ending due to the saga's cancellation).
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Dishes out a truly epic one on Turaga Whenua upon learning that the Turaga have been imprisoning captured kraata in a cave in Po-Wahi without informing the Toa Nuva. It's arguably the first time that he's ever shown to be truly angry, which is doubly startling given his laid-back personality.
    Pohatu: What else have you Turaga been keeping secret? Just whose side are you on, anyway?
  • When Onua tells the recently-released Bahrag to reawaken the Bohrok swarms to devastate the island of Mata Nui, Pohatu wastes no time giving his brother Toa a piece of his mind, even getting in his face to berate him.
    Pohatu: What have you done? We have to cage those two up again — now!
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Like all Po-Matoran, he's afraid of water, which is unfortunately exploited by Turahk to incapacitate him during the Rahkshi's attack on Onu-Koro.
  Pohatu: No... Water, sinking, drowning...!

Onua

Voiced by: Scott McNeil (English), Kiyoyuki Yanada (Japanese), Mario Arvizu (Latin American Spanish)

Toa Onua

Toa Onua Nuva

"I believe I've done what I had to do. I've taken the first step toward the future. No one ever said the trip would be an easy one."

The Toa of Earth, Onua is very wise and patient hero. A Toa of few words, he only speaks if he feels there is something necessary to be said.

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• Adaptational Personality Change: In the books and comics, he's The Quiet One and considered one of the wisest of the Toa. In Mask of Light, he's more of a typical Boisterous Bruiser who accidentally demolished his own village.
• Beware the Nice Ones: When Gorast nearly kills Gali, he grabs her and hurls her into the ground with every ounce of strength his body and his mask power could provide. Gorast compares the blow to being incomparably stronger than a Tahtorak charge.
  "Stay down while I check on Gali," Onua said, his tone that of an earthquake about to erupt. “And if she’s hurt, so help me, I will send you back where you came from in pieces.”
• Chainsaw-Grip BFG: How he holds his adaptive weapon.
• Chainsaw Good: Onua Nuva's Quake Breakers; also used as Rollerblade Good.
• Creepy Good: Onua Mata. He's a completely black hunchback, with long arms, Sickly Green Glowing Eyes of Doom, large claws that look like Creepy Long Fingers, and his mask makes him look like Jason Voorhes. And yet, not only is he a good guy, but also arguably the most level-headed and nicest of the team.
• Elemental Personalities: Onua, the Toa of Earth, is wise, patient, and level-headed, and prefers to speak little.
• Hockey Mask and Chainsaw: Again subverted, as he gets Quake Breakers when becomes a Toa Nuva, but otherwise has the same personality.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Has this type of confrontation with Lewa twice.
  • Fights an infected-kanohi wearing Lewa and knocks it off the air toa's face, freeing him.
  • Against a krana controlled Lewa in the Bohrok arc, it ends with him successfully getting Lewa to pull the mask off of himself.
• Improbable Use of a Weapon: The Quake Breakers. Chainsaw rollerblades.
• Made of Iron: He takes hits from three Piraka and he's still standing, though four proves to be a bit too much.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Onua lampshades this in the Swamp of Secrets; he's a Toa of Earth in a world of mud and effortlessly clobbers hundreds of copies of Bitil.
• Nice Guy: He's one of the nicest of the team, never bickering or arguing with his fellow Toa.
• The Quiet One: Usually only speaks when he has good reason to.
• Shoot the Dog: The group discovers they have to reawaken the Bohrok and let them destroy the island of Mata Nui as part of the preparations for Mata Nui's awakening. Onua winds up being the one who does it when the others can't bring themselves to.
• Super-Strength: His Kanohi Pakari, Mask of Strength, amplifies the user's physical strength. As Onua naturally has Super-Strength by virtue of being a Toa of Earth with only Pohatu giving him competition there, he's downright the strongest when using it. Onua using all of his natural Super-Strength and Pakari to send Maktua Gorast crashing to the Swamp floor, was stated by her to be the hardest blow she's ever taken.
• Team Dad: Notably, he also disagreed with the Toa Nuva going their separate ways prior to the Mask of Light arc, but didn't speak against it because he felt the others would be better suited to learn from their own mistakes.

Toa Kaita

Akamai and Wairuha

Three shall become myself, Akamai, and walk the path of the warrior.

Three shall become Wairuha, and walk the path of wisdom.

The Toa Kaita are the fusion of three Toa. Akamai, the Toa of Valor, was formed from Tahu, Pohatu, and Onua, while Wairuha, the Toa of Wisdom, was formed from Kopaka, Gali, and Lewa. The Toa combined into them once to battle the Manas, and Wairuha was form once again to battle the Bohrok-Kal.

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• All Your Powers Combined: Naturally, they had all the elemental and mask powers of their component Toa.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Akamai, being a combination of Tahu and Pohatu even with Onua in the mix.
• Fusion Dance: Formed through concentrating on Unity.
• Lightning Bruiser: Akamai's Kanohi Aki grants him both enhanced speed and strength, alongside shielding.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Both are never brought up again after 2003.
• Worf Had the Flu: Wairuha's second appearance. Not only was he deprived of his Elemental Powers, but the Bohrok-Kal could form a Kaita of their own!

Takua / Takanuva

I am Takanuva, Toa of Light!

^{Click here to see Shadow Takanuva}

^{Click here to see Takua}

Voiced by: Jason Michas (English), Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), Moisés Iván Mora (Latin American Spanish)

You know me — always different!

Takua was an adventurous and eager Matoran who became Takanuva, the first and so far only Toa of Light. He's still unsure of himself in the role of a hero, but very willing to step up to the cause.

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• Amplifier Artifact: The Power Lance.
• Arm Cannon: He used a Midak Skyblaster strapped to his forearm in Karda Nui.
• Awesome Backpack: in the Mata Nui Online Game.
• Back from the Dead: He was killed when Takutanuva was crushed at the end of Mask of Light, but Vakama was able to revive him using the same ritual Takutanuva used to revive Jaller.
• Bag of Holding: Although many of the items he can obtain during the Mata Nui Online Game are relatively small, his backpack qualifies as this due to also storing items such as a Koli ball and a lava surfboard.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's normally fairly easy going and understanding... until he got hit with a shadow leech and lost half of his light. He then gained something of a mean streak against the Makuta who did it to him, including contemplating killing them.
• Care-Bear Stare: His Mask of Light has the power to spread understanding to others.
• Casting a Shadow: Gained Shadow powers briefly while corrupted in Karda Nui.
• Character Exaggeration: Mask of Light really played up his dislike of working to the point that he almost seems like a far cry from the Guile Hero he had previously built himself up as. The novelization for addresses this; where getting into his thoughts more reveals he's just massively insecure about having such a huge responsibility and legitimately thinks Jaller is more suited to the task.
• Cool Bike: The Ussanui, a hovering motorcycle-like mount built mostly from the bodies of Makuta's Rahkshi.
• The Dreaded: To all Makuta as "The Toa of Light", with them being shadow-based creatures.
• Dual Wielding: by Bara Magna he has twin Light Staffs.
• Elemental Eye Colors: Takanuva, Toa of Light has yellow eyes, representing his light-based powers. His first toy also came with yellow eyes, though later incarnations changed them to lime green.
• Energy Weapon: The Midak Skyblaster he used in Karda Nui.
• The Exile: in Quest for the Toa for his poor work ethic, but he's later allowed back.
• Featureless Protagonist: At first, he was the Player Character in the first Mata Nui Online Game.
• Flight: Temporarily in Karda Nui, thanks to a virus given by Krika in the Toa Empire Pocket Dimension.
• Fusion Dance: With Makuta into Takutanuva (Not an inherent ability but via a quick dip in a bath of Energized Protodermis).
• Gold and White Are Divine: He is basically the Matoran Universe's Jesus and is clad in white and gold armor. It helps that he not only wields the power of light but was also a member of the Av-Matoran, who were the prototypes for all other kinds and had more powers than the usual Matoran.
• Guile Hero: Scored many victories against the Rahi and Bohrok when he was still a Matoran strictly by using strategy and leadership.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: The Avohkii grants him Toa-level control over Light... which he already has as a Toa of Light, making the mask seem redundant outside of its secondary Care-Bear Stare function. However, this redundancy makes the Avohkii a good backup for when his innate elemental powers are inhibited or nullified.
• I Have Many Names: Protagonist example. He was called Takua, later occasionally called "The Chronicler" during the course of the Mata Nui Online Game, later upgrades to "Takanuva", the Toa of Light.
• Immortal Immaturity: He acts remarkably young for the first Matoran ever created. Justified due to Mata Nui giving him and everyone inside him a Laser-Guided Amnesia during the Time Slip, done to protect the relocated Av-Matoran from the Makuta.
• It Was with You All Along: Takua's journey to find the Toa of Light ended with him becoming the Toa of Light.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Especially as Takua.
• Light 'em Up: As a being of Light.
• Man of Kryptonite: His nature as a Toa of Light made him this to the Makuta, who were beings of shadow.
• Master of Illusion: He's learned to manipulate light to create holograms.
• Older Than They Look: He's usually presented as a Kid-Appeal Character, and in both Matoran and Toa form, he has somewhat of a youthful demeanor. It would eventually turn out that he's actually the first Matoran ever built.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: In Karda Nui; the location's unique Light energies made him grow to at least ten feet tall.
• Paint It Black: When corrupted with Shadow, the gold parts of his armor turned gunmetal.
• Sixth Ranger: An unofficial one to the Toa Nuva. And a textbook example, even being referred to as "the Seventh Toa" before his identity was revealed.
• The Slacker: As Takua, he was infamous for doing very little work, to the point that others joked he had an entire squad of Vahki to make sure he did his job. This continued in his time on Mata Nui, as he tends to wander off on his own than stay and help in the village. This largely went away when he became Takanuva, most likely due to the greater importance of his duty. (That, and his job is more adventuring and heroism than hard work.)
• Superpowered Evil Side: In Karda Nui when he lost part of his light.
• Supporting Leader: Before becoming a Toa, that is.
• Sword and Gun: Staff and Gun, actually, in Karda Nui.
• Time Abyss: He's the very first Matoran, made by the Great Beings themselves over 100,000 years ago. He's even older than Tren Krom, Umbra, Artakha, Karzahni, Ignika, Helryx, his own Toa team, the Makuta and the Rahi. Only Mata Nui (Whose mind was made before his body) and the Great Beings are older than him.
• Trapped in Another World: Three times in a row before actually getting to Karda Nui in his own universe.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Jaller, who was occasionally annoyed by Takua's adventuring antics as a Matoran.
• Vocal Dissonance: In Mask of Light he sounds like a young teenager both before and after becoming the Toa of Light.
• Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: His blue mask is not a Ta-Matoran color, and an indication that he's not just an odd Ta-Matoran.
• The Worf Effect: Notable in that he's the only one of the Toa Nuva to subvert this, as he's won the majority of fights he's ever been in.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: For a brief period, but it was there when he was a "Toa of Twilight".

Other characters

The Turaga

L-R: Nuju, Vakama, Onewa, Nokama, Whenua and Matau

The chieftains of the villages of Mata Nui, who got A Day in the Limelight for the Bionicle Adventures saga, so go to that page for information on them.

Matoran of Mata Nui

Note: Jaller, Hahli, Kongu, Hewkii, Nuparu, and Matoro become Ascended Extras during the Bionicle Legends saga, so go to that section for information on them.

Onepu

I am Onepu, High Commander of the Ussalry, Veteran of the Makuta Wars, Right Hand of Turaga Whenua, and Champion Kolhii Forward of Onu-Koro. At your service, my Lady.

He's the captain of the Ussalry, the military force of Onu-Koro. Rather haughty and quick to pawn off his labor to Taipu.

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• The Ace: Extremely competent in all matters regarding Ussal Crabs, having won many races.
• Casanova Wannabe: In Mata Nui Online Game II, either he's this or he just likes flirting with Hahli, as he is shown address her as "my lady" and seems to enjoy it when he has her attention.
• Demoted to Extra: Between being one of the original six "Mctoran", being the most highly-ranked, and sharing the mask of his Toa, it's pretty obvious in the first year that he was intended to be the "main" Onu-Matoran. Unfortunately for him, Nuparu handily took over that role.
• Purple Is Powerful: Well, powerful for a Matoran, holding a high rank as captain of the Ussalry.

The Chronicler's Company

L to R: Hafu, Kopeke, Kapura, Tamaru, Macku, and Taipu as they appear in the Mata Nui Online Game

A group of Matoran whom Takua banded together to defend Kini-Nui from Rahi while the Toa fought Makuta.

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• Putting the Band Back Together: This occurs during the later story serials and is lampshaded in-story.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A gassy slowpoke, a troublesome adventurer, a narcissistic statue maker, a Kindhearted Simpleton, an acrophobic chatterbox, and a shy ice carver.

Kapura

It is as Vakama said. I practiced and became skilled. I now know the secret art of traveling great distances by moving very slowly. It is only a small matter for me to be wherever I am not. It is a useful skill.

The other Matoran never thought much of the slow-to-act Kapura, but Vakama knew how wise he truly was, and taught him the art traveling quickly by moving slowly.

---

• Gasshole: He let off a few Farts on Fire in the Mata Nui Online Game.
• Riddle for the Ages: How does his practice of traveling quickly by moving slowly work? Not even Word of God knows. All we know is he's really good at it.
• Offscreen Teleportation: He just appears wherever you need him, despite the fact that when you're looking at him he's moving at a snail's pace.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Takanuva winds up in the Toa Empire Pocket Dimension, Kapura is the first of its inhabitants he encounters; not only does Kapura not recognize Takanuva^note as Takua never became the seventh Toa in this dimension, but his behavior is enough for Takanuva to realize something is wrong, as Kapura is seen running and, when caught up to, is babbling in fear.

Maku / Macku

It is good to be on an adventure with you again! I thought Nokama would keep me locked up in the village forever.

She's a talented girl with a thirst for adventure, who often snuck out of the village to slate said thirst and cavort with the apple of her eye, Hewkii.

---

• Demoted to Extra: Similar to Onepu, her role in the story was greatly reduced after the first arc. Unlike Onepu she was a major character during the Mata Nui arc of the story, but later faded when Hahli was introduced, though she was still involved as her kohli partner.
• Plucky Girl: Macku is ever helpful, brave, and adventurous.
• Nonstandard Character Design: Of the original "Mctoran", she's the only one to not share her mask with her respective Toa (probably due to the extremely low budget of those early sets putting the translucent Kaukau out of reach).
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: With Hewkii, especially in the Bohrok animations.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Hahli's girly girl, she's the more experienced Kohlii player and often goes out of Ga-Koro to find her own adventures while Hahli's more of a Shrinking Violet. The way they approach their Implied Love Interest (Hewkii for Macku, Jaller for Hahli) at the end of the Bohrok animations summarizes it. Becomes zig-zagged later where it's Hahli who becomes a Toa and grows into an aggressive fighter.

Hafu

Another Hafu original!

Hafu is a Matoran of many skills, most prominently carving, as was very proud and boastful of that fact.

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• The Determinator: Goes out of Po-Koro to knock down his statues to prevent the Bohrok from coming in, even if it means barring himself from entering as well.
• Heroic Sacrifice: As mentioned above, Hafu risks his life to prevent the Bohrok from entering Po-Koro and most certainly would have perished had Pohatu not intervened in the nick of time.
• The Prankster: He sends people to look for things that don't actually exist just for the fun of it.
• Pride: To be fair, he does have the talent to back his boasts up.

Taipu

A long time ago many rocks fell on my head. That did not hurt much. Neither do these Rahi.

Taipu can be very gullible, but he's nontheless a loyal, hard-working sort with a big heart.

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• Distressed Dude: If you take him along when travelling through Le-Wahi, he gets grabbed by the Nui-Rama and is later rescued by Onua and Lewa.
• Dumb Muscle: Onepu liked to trick him into doing his work as well as his own.
• Guest-Star Party Member: When discovering Le-Wahi, the player has the option of taking him along.

Tamaru

Highbranch home locked and protected. Downtree guard am I, set here because... I fly not.

A spirited yet clumsy Le-Matoran whose dream of flying is dashed by his fear of heights,

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• Acrophobic Bird: Relatively speaking, anyways. He can run through the treetops just fine, but all Le-Matoran consider the canopy 'ground'-level. Above them? That he can't handle.
• Ironic Fear: A Le-Matoran afraid of heights.
• Tragic Dream: His fear of heights dashes his aspirations of joining the Gukko Force.

Kopeke

His current appearance.

Only hardy Matoran can withstand the wind and ice of Ko-Koro. These Rahi will find me tough to overcome.

Kopeke was merely shy as opposed to the antisocial people of his village, but his talent as an ice carver is second to none. He is the current Chronicler.

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• Ascended Extra: In contrast to Macku, Kopeke didn't initially have a physical toy. When the Matorans were remade, he got a model and was Matoro's Kohli partner. Years later, he was given the important role of the new Chronicler in-story.
• Passing the Torch: After Hahli returns to Metru Nui, she hands the Chronicler title onto him.
• Shrinking Violet: In contrast to many other Ko-Matoran who are cold and anti-social, Kopeke is just shy.
• You Don't Look Like You: Kopeke had his appearance changed almost entirely when released as a set, sporting a different mask and color scheme.

Legends of Mata Nui

Mata Nui was the Great Spirit who was sent by the Great Beings to look after the world, until he was put to sleep a thousand years ago by his brother Makuta. Mata Nui and the Great Beings were Minor Major Characters until their secrets were revealed in the Bara Magna saga, so go to that section for information on them.

Makuta

^{Makuta in the first movie}

^{Makuta in the second movie}

Voiced by: Lee Tockar (English), Daisuke Gōri (Japanese), Sebastián Llapur (Latin American Spanish)

"Even my... setbacks... are planned for, and so I shall win in the end."

I am the shape in the shadows. I am the darkness in the heart of Mata Nui. I live in the dread stories told by the Turaga around the village fires. The dark creatures — the Manas, the Rahi — are my servants. I am Makuta.

The Big Bad. The Villain to end all villains. Described in legends as the brother of Mata Nui, he envied his reverence and executed a daring plan to wrest control of the universe away from the Great Spirit. His real name is Teridax, but he prefers to go by his title of "Makuta" (specified as "the Makuta of Metru Nui" when there's more than one Makuta around) to the point that few outside his brother Makuta know what his real name even is.

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• A God Am I: When he takes control of Mata Nui's body. To be fair, he always had this mentality. This analysis video argues that this is the crux of his villainy: in a world where major figures tend to be heavily mythologized and treated as perfect and absolute, but remain conscious of their own flaws and willing to work to improve themselves as people, Teridax, despite ultimately being as flawed as anyone, is unable to recognize that he is anything but an absolute, ineffable, godlike force.
• Animated Armor: By his Antidermis energy.
• Assimilation Backfire: Absorbing Matoro ends up killing them both, as Matoro was able to fight back as his will was greatly weakened after the failure of his plan in that universe.
• Badass Boast: Many times, but subverted with one of his more famous examples where he simply says "Unacceptable". There's no need for him to boast at this point, because at this point his very existence is a threat.
  Makuta: Destroy me? You cannot destroy me. No more than you can destroy the sea, or the wind. Or... the void.
  Gali: You are like the sea? The sea bears life! The sea bore us!
  Makuta: I bore you. For I am Nothing. And out of Nothing, you came. And it is into Nothing that you will go. I stand with Mata Nui, side by side. I am his brother. The people of this world are builders. But look into their hearts... and you will find that they also have the power to destroy. I am that power. I am destruction. And I WILL destroy you.
• Big Bad: For all years bar 2009.
• Blasphemous Boast: In a sense; During his epic duel with Mata Nui on Bara Magna, when the former is desperately trying to tell him that the Great Beings intended their Destiny to be to re-unify Sphereus Magna, Teridax ignores him and mockingly calls for the Great Beings to reveal themselves if they intended his destiny to be so important.
• Body Horror: in "The Kingdom" pocket dimension, where he absorbed the mass of his fellow Brotherhood members, in addition to their knowledge.
• Cain and Abel: According to legends, he was Mata Nui's "brother" and betrayed him. After the full truth behind the Turaga's tales comes to light, it becomes unclear what the connection between Mata Nui and Makuta was supposed to be... until eventually it's revealed that Teridax's destiny was to work together with Mata Nui using the Great Spirit Robot to restore Spherus Magna, therefore becoming his "brother."
• Characterization Marches On: In his first appearances, he was basically Giygas, Zeromus and Ahriman if they were a swirling mass of mechanical body parts. Nowadays, he's a much more conventional villain with an eye for planning and gambits that would make David Xanatos proud.
• The Chessmaster: When he has around 80,000 years to plan, and even succeed at near the end, Makuta definitely counts as one of the greatest of these. A Running Gag among the Brotherhood is that he even has a backup plan for his breakfast.
• Classic Villain: Representing Pride, Ambition and Envy.
• Cold Ham: Very hammy in dialogue, and has a deep voice, but rarely raises his voice.
• Complexity Addiction: His fondness for absurdly complicated plans is known even in-universe. For an example, in order to find out what happened to the Mask of Time, he trapped Vakama in an illusion for almost half of Time Trap, constructing a fantasy world where Vakama stayed a Matoran and the finders of the Great Disks became Toa Metru instead, and even recruited a failed creation of his to play a character in the illusion. Not only can Teridax read minds, but the illusion itself wound up giving Vakama himself far more context about the mask's fate than he knew previously!
• Cool Mask: His Kanohi Kraahkan, the Mask Of Shadow.
• Dead Alternate Counterpart: Inverted and subverted initially; Mazeka returns to the main dimension with a good version of Teridax from an alternate dimension. In the main dimension, the Teridax here is the Big Bad who recently managed to takeover Mata Nui's body and the entire Matoran Universe. Later, in a giant robot fight between Teridax and Mata Nui in the Prototype Robot, Teridax is believed to have been killed after a Colony Drop from a fragment of Aqua Magna hits his head.
• Deadpan Snarker: Combines this with numerous examples of the Badass Boast. "There are a thousand ways I could destroy you right now. And nine-hundred-and-forty-one of them hurt.
• Eldritch Abomination: During the first few years of the Matoran Arc. He was later downgraded to The Chessmaster, but some elements of this still remain.
• Elemental Powers: Casting a Shadow, as with all Makuta.
• Energy Beings: He eventually evolved into Antidermis.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Usually known as "Makuta" or "the Makuta of Metru Nui".
• Eviler than Thou: Provoked the Brotherhood/Dark Hunter War, shattered Karzahni's mind, challenged the Barraki (though he threw that fight), and eliminated the other Makuta.
• Evil Is Petty: What's the first thing he decides to do after having gained a stable-enough control over the Matoran Universe? Hunt down Mata Nui (who he had previously trapped inside the Kanohi Ignika and then exiled to wander the cosmos forever) and snap him like a twig for his own amusement.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Courtesy of Lee Tockar, he sounds deep enough to make Darth Vader sound like a soprano.
• Expecting Someone Taller: For his very first actual appearance at the end of the Mata Nui Online Game, Makuta takes the form of a Matoran to mess with everyone.
  Makuta: You expected something else? Something like... THIS!?
• Fatal Flaw: Pride. He kept a pretty good lid on it thanks to his various contingencies at first, but once his plan came to fruition, Makuta became so sure of his godly power that he didn't bother to outright smite his enemies, instead Just Toying with Them. As a result, the only casualties of his reign were C-List Fodder, and Mata Nui was able to turn the tables on him in their Final Battle.
• Forgot About His Powers: As a Makuta, Teridax has dozens of different powers available to him- more than forty in total when using his main body, in fact. Not only do many of these powers never see use, even when he's not losing on purpose, but sometimes he even flat out forgets to use abilities he'd already used in that very story. Case in point: in the climax of Time Trap, Vakama takes the Mask of Time hostage, threatening to destroy it, and time itself, if Makuta doesn't leave the Matoran alone. The best solution Makuta can think of is blasting Vakama's hammer out of his hand, and the possibility of the attack missing is enough to prevent him from trying it. He never considers just teleporting the Vahi away, even though he'd easily teleported a pair of eye beams out of the sky earlier that day- and to make matters worse, after negotiating a deal with Vakama, Teridax teleports the Toa to the island of Mata Nui... with the Vahi. Which Vakama was not holding before the teleport. Meaning that Teridax must have teleported the mask into his hands.
• For the Evulz: In the Mask of Light movie, Makuta decides to toy with Takanuva in "a simple game of Kolhii". It doesn't end well for him when Takanuva gets pissed.
• Fusion Dance: With Takanuva into Takutanuva.
• Galactic Conqueror: His ultimate plan was to use the power of the Great Spirit robot to become this, but he perished before he could so much as conquer Bara Magna.
• Genius Bruiser: His intellect allowed him to spin together an Evil Plan to Take Over the World and succeed, and not only is he a Super Power Lottery winner as one of the Makuta, he's noted In-Universe to be among the most powerful of the species with only Miserix (the former leader of the Brotherhood) and Icarax (outright called the best fighter amongst the Makuta) giving him competition, and he defeated both of them on separate occasions through smarts and power.
• Genocide from the Inside: He killed all other Makuta except for his former boss Miserix and a good alternate version of himself.
• Genre Savvy: Knowing the other Makuta might turn on him after he achieves ultimate power, he arranges to have them all killed before he does so in order to prevent them from recreating the virus that downed Mata Nui. It is only his arrogance (and a bit of Destiny) that defeats him in the end.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His attempt to destroy Bara Magna allowed Mata Nui to smash his possessed body's head into a chunk of Aqua Magna, killing him permanently.
• Hijacking Cthulhu: He ultimately succeeds at taking over Mata Nui's body. Ironically, if he had just waited, Mata Nui would have let him succeed him as the new Great Spirit once he saved Spherus Magna.
• I Am the Noun: "Under Brotherhood law? I am Brotherhood Law!" And later, "I am the universe!"
• Karmic Death: After assuming the power of the Great Spirit Robot, he absentmindedly contemplates vaporizing the entirety of Aqua Magna For the Evulz. During The Final Battle, he gets shoved by Mata Nui into a falling shard of Aqua Magna and was finally Killed Off for Real. In other words, the planet he thought about wiping out from sheer curiosity is what ultimately kills him. Additionally, his entire species was created by the Great Beings to help Mata Nui fix the Shattering of Spherus Magna, and he's believed to have been killed by one of the fragments of Spherus Magna when he tries to firmly eschew that destiny by turning "Mata Nui's favorite sandpile" into a black hole.
• Large and in Charge: Towards the Rahkshi.
• Last of His Kind: In a Self-Made Orphan kind of way, though he did leave Miserix merely trapped to have something to gloat over.
• Mad Scientist: While he's quite intelligent and patient, he's ultimately too warlike to be an effective one like Mutran is. To his credit, though, he was able to create both the Morbuzakh and Karazahni Botanical Abominations.
• Manipulative Bastard: To Palpatine-like levels.
• Meaningful Name: "Teridax" sounds quite close to "terror", doesn't it?
• Mook Maker: He can spawn Kraata to make Rahkshi.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: During the Metru Nui arc.
• Multiversal Conqueror: Subverted. After taking control of the Matoran Universe, he aspires to rule all of reality... but because the Matoran Universe is "only" the inside section of a Humongous Mecha roughly the size of Earth, it's more an aspiration to rule "just" the cosmos.
• Mysterious Watcher: He was chosen to watch over and protect the island of Metru Nui from harm; a great honor considering it was considered one of the most important location in the Matoran Universe because that's where Mata Nui's "brain" is located. He ended using said position to further his own plans for universal domination.
• Narcissist: Honestly, it's amazing the Matoran Universe can contain his ego. Even though he was loved and respected by the Matoran and other races of the universe, he resented the fact that they loved and respected the Great Spirit more than him, spurring his rebellion. He regards himself and his fellow Makuta to be an absolutely superior form of life and holds himself as wholly superior even within that circle. He boasts that he has no equals and his ultimate goal is to rule the universe and be worshiped as a god.
• Never Found the Body: Well being a Makuta he doesn't really have a body to find. But the final book leaves it somewhat open whether he could have escaped the great spirit robot prior to it being crushed by the Aqua Magna shard like he had with the Maxilos Robot.
  “Do you think Makuta’s really gone?” asked Takanuva.
  Tahu nodded. “Yes, I do. He never saw it coming, so he had no time to will his spirit out of that body. I think – I hope – he died with the robot.”
• Never My Fault: When Gali gives him a You Monster! speech, he answers: "I, a monster? For ridding Metru Nui of the threat of Nidhiki and Krekka? For knowing my Spirit Brother needed a good, long rest from his labours? For offering my benevolent leadership to the Matoran in their times of need?" Never mind that Nidhiki and Krekka were in Metru Nui on his orders, Mata Nui never asked for a rest from his labours, nor did the Matoran ask for his leadership and their time of need was caused by him anyway! Shifting blame for one's own actions onto other people is a trait of sociopaths invokedin real life.
• No Name Given: Up until the Karda Nui arc. Which became a bit jarring when other members of his species with actual names was introduced. Even in "The Mutran Chronicles" serial which focuses on the various Makutas he is just refereed to as "Miserix's lieutenant" until the third chapter or so. After which his actual name is suddenly used out of nowhere.
• No-Sell: Zig-Zagged. While he wasn't reduced to a gibbering wreck like most other people exposed to Karzahni's visions, seeing a future where all his plans failed and being punished by Mata Nui for his betrayal still caused him lots of pain. Enough that he straight up lost his cool and preceded to tear Karzahni's mind apart using his own powers as revenge.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Greg Farshtey compared his and pre-Character Development Matau at one point, stating their desires for glory are very similar to each other.
• Obviously Evil: Hmm, let's see… Teridax has got glowing red eyes, a deep voice, a reddish-black colour palette, and towering frame in his Shadow Titan form, a name derived from the word "terror", a powerset including umbrakinesis, and instilling fear or hatred in others, delusions of godhood and Satanic overtones attached to his character. Yup. He's evil, alright.
• One-Winged Angel: Does this a few times; with Legends of Metru Nui being the most noted example.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Teridax's usual personality (following Characterization Marches On) can be described as a charismatic and narcissistic Faux Affably Evil Deadpan Snarker. As such, any time he loses his cool (such as when he briefly screamed in genuine fear and agony after being exposed to Karazahni's visions), it will be guaranteed to have the audience sit up and take notice.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: He was an exceptionally powerful member of even his already powerful species, led the army that defeated the League of Six Kingdoms to prevent them from taking over the universe, was assigned to watch Metru Nui, one of the most important locations in the Matoran Universe, and was feared and respected for his abilities and deeds. It wasn't nearly enough for him, and in his hubris and envy he turned his back on all of it and dragged his kind down the path of universal domination and godhood, killing and enslaving anyone who disagreed.
• Pet the Dog: After Roodaka was critically injured absorbing the elemental energy needed to break his Toa Seal, it was well within his power and character to simply leave her to die, but he chose to teleport away and heal her. Amusingly, Roodaka being Roodaka, this actually turned out to be a mistake.
• Power Gives You Wings: After fusing Nivawk with himself, he gains its wings. He never got much use out of them- his first fight after the transformation ended with the Toa Metru sealing him away until the end of the Visorak war, and he only had days of freedom before the Shadowed One disintegrated the wings with his eye beams.
• Race-Name Basis: For much of the storyline, he is simply known as "Makuta" or "The Makuta of Metru Nui." It isn't until the other Makuta make their appearance that his given name "Teridax" is finally revealed. By the time his plan has succeeded, with the exception of Miserix, he's killed all the other Makuta, making "Makuta" something that only he is.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When he takes over Mata Nui's body, the body's eyes turn red.
• Redemption Rejection: Right before their final confrontation, Mata Nui tries to convince Teridax to help him fulfill their original purpose of reforming Spherus Magna. The latter rejects the offer and instead seeks to conquer the cosmos with the Great Spirit Robot.
• The Resenter: He hated how, despite his actions to protect the Matoran and universe (regardless of his methods), any and all praise was given to Mata Nui and the Toa. Eventually, he decided that he might as well become God himself and force them to give him respect.
• Satanic Archetype: A Fallen Hero from one of Mata Nui's elite soldiers, grew envious of Mata Nui, wants to supplant him and rightly believes himself capable of doing so, a Consummate Liar (one may go so far as to call him "the Father of Lies"), an absolute master of manipulation... yeah, that sound about right. His title of "Master of Shadows" evokes Satan's title as "Prince of Darkness", he has control over demonic beings such as the Rahkshi, gives orders and acts with authority whilst hidden in his underground lair and when Takanuva tears off the Mask of Shadows, he's met with a blinding light from Makuta's face, evoking Lucifer's status as a former Angel of Light.
  • Perhaps ironically, he was actually the Archangel Michael to Pridak's Lucifer prior to his own rebellion.
• Shapeshifter Baggage: Mass is shunted into a pocket dimension when he takes on a smaller form, but he still needs to absorb mass and energy if he wants to make himself bigger.
• Shapeshifter Default Form: His "Shadow Titan" form.
• The Sociopath: Lampshaded by invokedGreg Farshtey who claims that Makuta "has no conscience, no emotional connection to any living thing." Additionally, he's highly manipulative, narcissistic, with a sense of charisma about him.
• Sociopathic Hero: Before becoming a villain. Unlike most Toa, he had no qualms with killing people who threatened the universe, from the reasonable (preparing to execute the Barraki for war crimes) to the extreme (trapping the leaders of the Matoran Civil War in Metru Nui inside the Archives before releasing the exhibits to kill them all). These tendencies likely played a role in how the Matoran never really gave him or the Brotherhood praise.
• Stellification: To show that he has taken over Mata Nui's body, he creates a constellation resembling the Kraahkan over the night sky of Metru Nui.
• Tranquil Fury: Used to rather chilling effect during his battle with Karzahni, after being tortured by Karzahni's Mind Rape powers which caused him to scream in fear. Once he recovers, Teridax calmly says that Karzahni made a mistake before backhanding the mad dictator and using his own telepathy to shatter Karzahni's mind completely.
  Makuta: "You... made a... mistake, Karzahni. You see, I don't get nightmares... *backhands Karzahni* I give them."
• Villain on Leave: He often ends up like this, whether it be from getting trapped somewhere, recovering from his latest beatdown, or doing something related regarding the current villain from in the background.
• Villain with Good Publicity: During his role as the Makuta of Metru Nui and in disguise as Turaga Dume.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: One of his Kraata powers.
• We Can Rule Together: Upon seeing Vakama has successfully forged the Vahi, a pleased Makuta offers him a chance to join the Brotherhood. It's up for debate if he was sincere, since he might have truly wanted someone with possible Ultimate Blacksmith ability and corruptible self-doubt issues on his side, but when Vakama steels his resolve and refutes him Makuta has no problem trying to kill him and take the mask off his corpse.
• Wicked Cultured: What form does he transform Miserix into so that he can watch helplessly as he goes about his plans? A painting! Until then, we didn't even know paintings existed in Bionicle.
• Winged Humanoid: When he absorbs Nivawk as part of his "Ultimate Dume" form, he gains wings. When he clashes with The Shadowed One, the Dark Hunter leader burns them off with his laser vision.
• Xanatos Gambit: He put the Great Spirit Mata Nui to sleep and on the verge of death while he took over in the power vacuum — but if some heroes would arise to heal Mata Nui and wake him up again (something which Makuta was clever enough to expect would happen), then he could usurp the revival process and commit Grand Theft Me, essentially becoming the God of that world. Eight years of storyline passed before this was revealed. A quote from Time Trap says it best.
  Makuta: "Little Toa, you have not yet begun to see even the barest outlines of my plans. I have schemes within schemes that would boggle your feeble mind. You may counter one, but there are a thousand more of which you know nothing. Even my... setbacks... are planned for, and so I shall win in the end."
• Xanatos Speed Chess: He didn't take the rescue of the Matoran of Metru Nui into account, though managed to get past that. When part of his plan called for leaving his body, he didn't expect it to be destroyed by the end, but he still managed to keep his plan going smoothly. He didn't think Mata Nui would actually die from his actions (though he assumed it was a potential risk), but relied on the Toa to succeed in fixing that and even turned it to his advantage by taking over Mata Nui's body in the short period between its revival and Mata Nui's spirit reuniting with it and finally claiming the Matoran World within it at the end of 2008's arc.
• You Are Too Late: Probably just about as powerful and as awesome as the former Trope Namer.
• You Can't Fight Fate: In a more ironic fashion — he and his species were originally created to help Mata Nui restore the shattered Spherus Magna to its original state, but he rebelled against that to take the universe for himself. During the final battle with Mata Nui, he ended up pulling the fragments closer together and was most likely killed when one crushed his head. But because he brought them so close to the planet, Mata Nui was able to finish the restoration on his own.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: His entire evil plan ultimately succeeds, thanks to either arranging it so that the pieces would succeed in spite of, or even because of, the heroes' efforts. He only loses long after the original plan has succeeded and he himself becomes Drunk with Power, now confident that there's no way he can lose.

Rahi Beasts

Tarakava, Tarakava Nui

The two types of Tarakava found on Mata Nui.

A strange reptilian Rahi that hunts by lurking beneath the water and ambushing with powerful punches. They are one of many Rahi species that Makuta controlled via Infected Masks to attack the Matoran of Mata Nui. Makuta also bred a stronger mutant specimen called the Tarakava Nui sometime prior to the enactment of his plan.

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• Bizarre Alien Locomotion: The sets have tank treads with kickstands; there's no indication that the in-fiction beasts are any different.
• Boxing Battler: Their primary form of attack is to punch at things with their arms.
• Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": Do they really look like lizards?
• King Mook: The Tarakava Nui
• Non-Standard Character Design: They're they only Bionicle sets to make a significant use of LEGO System bricks, having a System-built midsection.
• Underground Monkey: There exists a smaller, desert-dwelling subspecies known as the Sand Tarakava.

Nui-Rama, Nui-Kopen

The two types of Nui-Rama on Mata Nui.

These irritable insects fly at high speeds attacking with wings, claws, and stingers. The Nui-Rama and Nui-Kopen are bitter enemies due to the fact that they share the same prey, but Makuta's Infected Masks will certainly make them cooperate against the island's do-gooders.

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• Beware My Stinger Tail: Though it's difficult to tell in the sets.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Specifically, the Nui-Rama are flies, and the Nui-Kopen are wasps.
• Giant Flyer: These are not your normal flying insects. These are big enough to challenge the local birds, who are large enough to serve as air cavalry.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Nui-Rama and Nui-Kopen normally are enemy species, but are forced to work together due to Makuta's control. According to supplementary material, even with the mind control they seem to despise this arrangement.

Nui-Jaga

The two types of Nui-Jaga on Mata Nui.

These vicious, hotheaded scorpions posess powerful stingers that can either shoot venom from afar or deliver a deadlier blow up close. Naturally, they were perfect for Makuta to enslave with his Infected Masks.

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• Beware My Stinger Tail: The first Bionicle creatures to do so, long before the Vorox were even an idea.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: They're larger than the Toa Mata and easily four times the size of the Matoran.
• Dumb Muscle: Their main weakness. They can easily be tricked into attacking their own reflection with a sheet of crystal.
• Scary Scorpions: Gigantic scorpions that can blind and poison with their venom.

Muaka, Kane-Ra, Kuma-Nui

A Muaka (right) and a Kane-Ra (left).

One might not think of tigers and bulls to be similar animals, but try telling that to these beasts. With lunging necks and powerful bites, Makuta enslaved them in his bought against the island of Mata Nui, often teaming them up despite them not naturally coexisting. Worse still, the rat-like Kuma-Nui is surprisingly larger and packs a similar bite.

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• An Arm and a Leg: Their set's primary action feature has them attack the mask struts on their arms. Successfully removing these causes their arms to fall off in injury.
• Bizarre Alien Locomotion: They have tank treads in place of rear limbs.
• Brutish Bulls: Kane-Ra is a big red angry bull.
• Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": Only the Kane-Ra resembles a bull, and just barely at that. All three resemble some kind of crawling (or hunched over) angry dragon. It doesn't help that the Muaka and Kuma-Nui both share the same head, and Kane-Ra and Muaka only differ by what's on the back of their heads (Horns and vaguely feline-shaped ears, respectively) and their feet (claws for the Muaka, and vaguely hoove-shaped feet for the Kane-Ra).
• Man Bites Man: Their primary function is to lunge out with their extendable necks to bite your face off. The sets are designed so you can tear off the mask struts on their shoulders, causing their arms to fall off.
• Rodents of Unusual Size: The Kuma-Nui is suppose to be a mouse...that is canonically much larger than either the Kane Ra or Muaka. Both of the latter are easily as big as vehicles.
• Panthera Awesome: Muaka are described as tiger-like. They also prey on Rahkshi.

Manas, Mana Ko

The two types of Manas on Mata Nui.

These savage crab Rahi served as the guardians of Makuta's lair. Smarter than most Rahi and powered by heat, the Toa could only stand a chance against them by combining into the Toa Kaita. Manas were also found in the forgotten realm of Karzahni. The Mana Ko, rumoured to be Makuta's ultimate guardian, could fire blasts of disintegrative power on top of all that.

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• Always Chaotic Evil:
  • Manas are known to fight among themselves if they don't have any enemies to fight.
  • Zigzagged with the Manas of Karzahni, which are actually fairly disciplined. The author of BIONICLE World (a guide published by the Order of Mata Nui In-Universe) wonders why there are a bunch of water-dwelling crabs in the arid region of Karzahni and speculates that they're drawn to its evil.
• Bizarre Alien Locomotion: Crabs with treads instead of legs.
• The Cameo: A pair of Manas are among the crowd of enormous sea creatures encountered by the Toa Metru during their initial voyage from Metru Nui.
• The Dreaded:
  • Even the Toa are alarmed at just how strong and intelligent the Manas are.
  • The Mana Ko are even more so, with even hardened Piraka like Zaktan shown to be afraid of them.
• Giant Enemy Crab: Manas in a nutshell. Even the neutral-ish ones are antagonistic.
• Disintegrator Ray: The Mana Ko has this power.
• Elite Mooks:
  • Easily the most powerful Rahi on the island bar perhaps the Rahi Nui. Even the Toa Mata were barely able to win until they combined to form Akamai and Wairuha.
  • Karzahni also turns the Manas of his realm into an army, which he later pits against Makuta and Matoro in the Pit. Unfortunately, they're no match for Makuta's Rahi control power.
  • Makuta Icarax (the Makuta of Karzahni) also utilizes Manas in his short-lived bid to Take Over the World shortly after the Great Cataclysm. Again, Makuta Teridax simply seizes control of them and turns them against Icarax.
• Genius Bruiser: Compared to most Rahi, at least.
• Good All Along: Supplementary material reveals that the Mana Ko are members of the Order of Mata Nui, specifically so that they can keep tabs on their Makuta masters without suspicion. Greg has stated that they're equipped with Psychic Block Defense to No-Sell the Makuta's Rahi control power.
• Strong, but Unskilled: The Mana Ko are so powerful and feared that even the absurdly overpowered Piraka choose to flee rather than fight^note Avak does stick one in a Tailor-Made Prison, but he promptly gets knocked flat, and none of the other Piraka tries anything after that, but they consistently fail to hit a single Piraka with their Disintegrator Rays or prevent them from escaping Mangaia; in fact, they actually facilitate the Piraka's escape thanks to their powerful blasts coupled with poor aim.

Gukko, Kahu

This majestic, four-winged hummingbird Rahi are usually docile, yet highly effective defenders. After ages of difficulty, the Le-Matoran eventually managed to train these birds to serve as mounts for their military, the Gukko Force. There are three named subspecies of Gukko: the hawk-like Kahu (whose wings glow in flight), the vulture-like Kewa, and the duck-like Taku.

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• Giant Flyer: Large enough to have disc launchers mounted over their wings and be used as air cavalry.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Kewa and Kahu

Ussal crab (Puku / Pewku)

Strong, swift, and friendly, Ussal crabs are Matoran's best friend. They are often employed for cart-hauling, racing, and acting as mounts for Onu-Koro's military, the Ussalry. One Ussal named Pewku has grown a lot older and bigger than most, and has been passed down through many owners, such as Orkahm and Takua.

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• All Animals Are Dogs: Pewku once glomped Takua and licked his mask like an excited puppy.
• Horse of a Different Color: The Matoran of Onu-Koro use them like horses, to the point that their army is called the "Ussalry"
• Wall Crawl: Pewku has the ability to scale walls. Takua usually needs to strap himself in before she does this.

The Bohrok Swarm

Clean it all

Bohrok are insectoid drones whose main purpose was to clean all matter from the island of Mata Nui. Unlike the other biomechanical races, they were mechanical drones driven by organic Krana parasites. Initially awakened by Makuta, the Bohrok swarms were defeated by the Toa Mata when the Toa trapped the Bohrok's twin Bahrag queens in a cage of solid Protodermis.

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• Animalistic Abomination: They're vicious, nigh-unstoppable hordes of arthropod bruisers, but they're driven by instinct far more than they are malice.
• Be the Ball: They could compress their round bodies into balls to allow for ease of storage when they were inactive and also allowed for much faster travel over Mata Nui's rough terrain (via rolling) compared to their slow waddle when unfolded.
• Chainsaw Good: the Kohrak's Ice Shield resemble buzzsaws.
• Elemental Baggage: The Bohrok basically just blast their element out of their shields.
• Face Hugger: Their Krana could latch onto Matoran faces, making them part of the Swarm.
• Fusion Dance: They could do this, but only one group of Bohrok-Kal has been known to.
• Good All Along: The Bohrok are trying to resurrect Mata Nui, same as the Toa, but they function in two clashing departments. Whereas the Toa are meant to fight off infections like Makuta's darkness from within so he can wake up at all, the Bohrok's purpose is to sterilize his body from the outside and destroy anything that'd weigh him down so he won't hurt himself getting back up. Because the Bohrok were awakened prematurely by Teridax and because the Matoran were meant to be living safely inside rather than on top of the islands that formed over Mata Nui, they mistook the villages and their inhabitants for foreign bodies. After Teridax and his machinations are seemingly dealt with once and for all, and the Matoran are safely evacuated back to Metru Nui, the Bohrok are then allowed to fulfill their intended purpose as the Toa make the final preparations to awaken Mata Nui.
• Hive Mind: The Krana they control are all commanded by the Bahrag.
• Human Resources: Nuparu built the Boxor mech out of Bohrok parts. Later made Fridge Horror when it was discovered that Bohrok are transformed Matoran of Light.
• Interim Villain: They were released prematurely by Teridax to distract the Toa while he recovered.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: They carried twin shields to focus their powers
• Puppeteer Parasite: Their Kranas can do this to whoever's face they're attached to.
• Mooks: They would be the first canister-level sets to represent the bad guys and canonically came in swarms.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Subversion in that they aren't evil, just awakened too early. Eventually they are freed to continue their job. Though the Bahrag seem quite quick to use Mind Rape.
• Special Ability Shield: Each Bohrok carries two small shields that are also used to channel their Elemental Powers.
• The Swarm: They're called Bohrok Swarms for a reason.
• Use Your Head: They could snap their heads forward like a jackhammer.
• Was Once a Man: A small percentage of Av-Matoran were destined to transform into Bohrok at some point in their lives.
• Wetware CPU: The Bohrok comes in two parts; a purely mechanical body and an organic "brain" called a Krana. The Body is created from the remains of an elderly Av-Matoran.

Bohrok Va

The Bohrok Va were robot drones that act as scouts and couriers for the Bohrok, replenishing any lost Krana. Unlike their bigger cousins, the Bohrok Va are not Krana-driven, and thus not as easily incapacitated.

Bahrag

"You dared challenge the Bohrok swarms? You have no hope! — The mission will proceed!"

Now Mata Nui will be as it was in the Before-Time! All that does not belong will be removed... beginning with you!

Cahdok and Gahdok, collectively known as the Bahrag, are the twin queens of the Bohrok Swarms, telepathically controlling them through their Krana.

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• All Your Powers Combined: They had all the powers of the six Bohrok breeds.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Despite their rather nasty personalities, the Bahrag aren't evil. The only reason they can be considered malevolent is that they were awakened at the wrong time and have no understanding of that fact—as far as they're concerned, everyone else is just getting in the way of their job of cleaning Mata Nui's face. That said job involves reducing everything on the island to dust is just par for the course.
• The Dividual: The two are virtually identical and operate as one. Their powers even increase the closer in proximity they are to each other.
• Expy: Of the Borg and Xenomorph queens, in Star Trek and Alien, respectively.
• Foreshadowing: They react with anger and hatred when the Toa begin to trap them, demanding to know why they would stand against their "brothers". Years of storyline passed before the Nuva realized they were telling the truth, as the Bohrok are actually transformed Av-Matoran, in a manner similar to Matoran becoming Toa.
• Hive Queen: The Bahrag are the queens of the Bohrok Swarm and command their hive mind. Unlike other examples, they are not the same species as the ones they control, but are specifically made for this purpose.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Cahdok is blue and has long, thin antennae, whereas Gahdok is red and has short, flat antennae.
• Large and in Charge: They're huge compared to their Bohrok Mooks.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Albeit a can they can communicate through, though not enough to command the swarms anymore. Though they end up being freed by the Toa Nuva, and it turns out they're not so much "evil" as with a different idea of morality.
• Telepathy: The way they communicate.
• T. Rexpy: They bear more resemblance to the Tyrannosaurus rex than the Bohrok swarms they command. Most prominently, they have masssive jaws filled with sharp teeth that they use to bite and tear apart their enemies.
• Wonder Twin Powers: Their strength and power increased based on proximity; the two were strong already but functionally invincible when right next to each other.

Bohrok-Kal

Restart the swarms

They are an elite squad of Bohrok born from an unknown mutagenic substance. Possessing unique Elemental Powers and indepenedently-minded Krana-Kal, their mission is to rescue the Bahrag should anything happen to incapacitate them.

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• Achilles' Heel: Like their regular cousins, they shut down completely if their krana-kal is removed. This is the only method that the Toa Nuva have to defeat them. That said, their powers make it extremely difficult to get close enough to nab the krana-kal — and Bohrok Va are always on hand to replace them.
• Adaptational Wimp: In Bionicle: The Game the entire group is taken on and defeated by Gali Nuva on her own, rather easily at that. In the canon series, each one of them is a Toa-level threat on their own even before they deprive the Nuva of their powers.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: They're far more intelligent and independent than regular Bohrok — so much so that, as they get Drunk with Power (from the Toa Nuva channeling their elemental powers into them via the Nuva symbols), they start to get ideas about ruling alongside the Bahrag. Greg has stated that the Bahrag decided against replacing them due to this attitude.
• Death by Irony: After the Toa Nuva pump the Bohrok-Kal full of elemental energy through the Nuva symbols they stole, all of the Bohrok-Kal's powers go crazy and destroy them, though the krana-kal all survive. To wit:
  • Tahnok-Kal's electricity causes all of its moving parts to be fused together.
  • Gahlok-Kal's magnetism attracts all of the damaged Exo-Toa parts in the room to it, crushing it under their combined weight.
  • Lehvak-Kal's vacuum absorbs and releases enough air pressure in the area to blast it into orbit around Aqua Magna (along with the Tahnok swarm that Nuhvok-Kal sent up there).
  • Nuhvok-Kal's gravity manipulation causes it to collapse into a singularity and vanish from existence.
  • Pahrak-Kal's plasma superheats its body and causes it to melt through the chamber floor and keep going until it hits the planet's core (or whatever's down there).
  • Kohrak-Kal's sonics cause it to create a frequency that literally shakes itself apart (also one of the only instances of a character being forcibly disassembled).
• Elite Mook: Far more powerful than regular Bohrok, they were all able to defeat the Toa Nuva in one-on-one battles and steal their Nuva Symbols.
• Filler Villain: Unlike the regular Bohrok, the Bohrok-Kal serve no purpose in the greater scheme of things; even the stolen Nuva symbols are quickly forgotten once their arc is over^note It's Hand Waved by stating that the Matoran increased security on the symbols, and it's also worth noting that the symbols never come under direct threat after the Rahkshi attack; they relocate to Metru Nui with the Matoran, and the city later gets fortified and manages to withstand a Brotherhood of Makuta assault until Mata Nui awakens. Even the regular Bohrok were unleashed by Makuta to be his filler villains, though the standard Bohrok receive the dignity of being important later on.
• Fusion Dance: They can form Kaita like Toa and their unempowered brethren can. Unlike basic Bohrok, they actually use this form in the series proper.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: They steal the Toa's Nuva Symbols, both to rob the Toa Nuva of their powers and reverse their seal that imprisoned the Bahrag. As it turns out, the Toa are still connected to their symbols and can channel their elemental powers through them into the Bohrok-Kal — well beyond the Kal's capabilities to control them.
• It Can Think: Unlike regular Bohrok and Bohrok Va who are simply unthinking drones following their programming, the Bohrok-Kal all have autonomous self-awareness. They can even speak.
• Oh, Crap!: Several of them react in this manner as their powers go out of control, though only Gahlok-Kal actually has time to get out an "oh no" before it's destroyed.
• Palette Swap: They're physically identical to their regular cousins aside from their shield designs, and thus have the same features (their shields, rolling, and headbutting abilities). Presumably, they're also capable of ejecting their krana-kal at enemies, but they're never shown to do so in the story, since they steamroll the Toa Nuva with contemptuous ease almost every time their paths cross.
• Power Incontinence: How they are defeated, with the Nuva Symbols overloading the Bohrok-Kal's powers until they go haywire and destroy themselves.
• Praetorian Guard: To the Bahrag Queens. They were created specifically as their strongest warriors with the task of rescuing them should they somehow be incapacitated.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: Unlike the normal Bohrok, the Kal had much more powerful elemental powers, could absorb the elemental powers of the Toa Nuva through stealing the Nuva symbols, and had enough intelligence to operate on their own rather than with instructions from the Bahrag.
• Silver Super Mode: In the final moments before completing their task, the Bohrok-Kal's krana-kal turn silver and project Deflector Shields that are impervious to everything up to and including the Vahi Mask of Time.
• Smug Super: Exceptionally arrogant and more than capable of backing up their boasts. Their encounters with the Toa Nuva generally consist of two parts: trash-talking the Toa, and then trashing the Toa. That said, they're not invincible (at least not initially).
• Superpower Lottery: Other than maybe the Bahrag, they were the strongest things the Toa went up against up to that point. Nuhvok-Kal and Kohrak-Kal in particular have absurd power; the former casually launched an entire army into orbit, while the latter had a sonic shield that made it impossible to even approach without being shaken into dust.
• Telepathy: Their Krana-Kal communicate this way, but they themselves are capable of speaking the Matoran language out loud.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: The Toa Nuva can barely even slow them down — and then, on the verge of completing their mission to free the Bahrag, the Toa literally can't slow them down, not even when Tahu busts out the Vahi Mask of Time!

The Rahkshi

"Go my sons, use the shadows, and keep my brother asleep."

The Rahkshi are suits of armor operated by sluglike creatures called Kraata, which are spawned from the Makuta, earning the nickname "Sons of Makuta". They are used by the Brotherhood of Makuta as part of their army.

There are 42 types of Rahkshi, each possessing one of a Makuta's many powers. The main ones are the six named Rahkshi that Makuta sent after the Mask of Light: Turahk, Rahkshi of Fear, Guurahk, Rahkshi of Disintegration, Lerahk, Rahkshi of Poison, Panrahk, Rahkshi of Fragmentation, Vorahk, Rahkshi of Hunger, and Kurahk, Rahkshi of Anger. Makuta also used Rahkshi of Heat Vision in his invasion of Bara Magna.

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• Always Chaotic Evil: Notorious for being excessively destructive. Ironically, this is what caused Makuta to abstain from deploying them against the Toa Nuva, as he was originally interested in minimizing collateral damage.
  Toa Metru Vakama: If you controlled this kind of army, then why resort to trickery to capture the Matoran? Why not just unleash these monsters on the city?
  Makuta: If I had, there would have been no city left to rule.
• Arc Welding: Not the Rahkshi themselves, but the kraata are revealed to have been the ones who infected the Masks of Power that Makuta used to enslave the Rahi that troubled the Matoran and fought the Toa Mata when they first arrived on Mata Nui.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: To the Toa Nuva, the six individual Rahkshi they fought were this.
• The Bus Came Back: The first Rahkshi introduced outside of the original six was a yellow Rahkshi that was a Toyless Toyline Character. Years later, a yellow Rahkshi was included as one of the Stars and they made up most of Makuta's army.
• Close-Range Combatant: Lerahk and Vorahk must physically touch their staffs to their targets to use their powers.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: The six named Rahkshi take a story arc's worth of time to kill. But facing them down by the dozen makes them easy Cannon Fodder. It's justified In Story, as the Rahkshi in Mask of Light were made from and piloted by Shadow Kraata, as they had been long-prepared for the task, while most other Rahkshi are considerably less powerful. In addition, when not under the orders of a Makuta, Rakhshi are less focused and easier to defeat.
• Disintegrator Ray: Guurahk's disintegration abilities.
• Dramatic Shattering: Panrahk's shattering power.
• Elite Mooks:
  • The six introduced in the Chronicles saga were stated to be particularly powerful Rahkshi, possibly to explain why their later appearances have them being taken out by the dozens when they gave the Toa Nuva such a hard time. Notably, they were shown to be piloted by Shadow Kraata, the most powerful breed of them all.
  • In general, Rahkshi and Exo-Toa fill the role of elite foot soldiers in the Brotherhood of Makuta's armies, with Visorak as standard Mooks.
• Energy Absorption: Vorahk's hunger powers, though it has to be in physical contact with the target to pull it off.
• Eye Beams: Rahkshi of Heat Vision. Also Rahkshi of Laser Vision (not seen in the story).
• Fighting Your Friend: Kurahk likes to turn his foes against one another, as shown when he hits Tahu, accelerating the effects of the poison Lerahk infected him with previously and making the Toa of Fire attack Gali.
• Flight: All of them can transform into "flight mode" for quicker travel.
• Flower Mouth: Both the Rahkshi and Kraata split open their faces into four directions when vocalizing.
• Fusion Dance: Rahkshi Kaita Vo and Za once. Apparently, any three Rahkshi can combine together.
• Godzilla Threshold: Makuta considers releasing them to be this, and only does so after the Toa Nuva manage to defeat the nigh-unstoppable Bohrok-Kal.
  Makuta: Has it come to this? Must I release those who should never see the light of day?
• Having a Blast: Again, Panrahk with its fragmentation power.
• Hero Killer: Almost. Turahk was able to kill off Jaller through his Heroic Sacrifice, though he is later revived by Takanuva.
• Horse of a Different Color: Rahkshi Kaita Vo resembles a tiny Rahkshi riding on a steed version of one.
• Implacable Man: They spend most of Mask of Light powering through most of the Toa's powers.
• Logical Weakness: Being creatures born of shadow, they are weak to light-based attacks. Takanuva is able to defeat one almost instantly with a single blast of light. The Rahkshi that invade Bara Magna are more resistant to light, but still weak to it.
• Mooks: The standard Rahkshi, albeit very powerful ones. The Rahkshi of Heat Vision in particular were deployed en masse.
• Multiple Head Case: Rahkshi Kaita Za has its component's three heads arranged in a weird triangle array.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Panrahk, Lerahk, and Guurahk fit the bill with the nature of their powers dealing physical rather than mental damage, able to destroy an entire Matoran village in short order. When combining their powers together, they are able to destroy a mountain.
• Poisonous Person: Lerahk, who can use their poison abilities both in a conventional sense and also as The Corruption, poisoning Tahu's mind and turning him against his brothers and sister.
• Powered Armor: A Rahkshi is a suit of armor piloted by a kraata in the carapace.
• Power Glows: Panrahk and Lerahk's Kraata and spines glow when using their powers.
• The Psycho Rangers: The Rahkshi Teridax chose were specifically picked because their powers (Turahk's Fear, Kurahk's Anger, Vorahk's Hunger, Guurahk's Disintegration, Lerahk's Poison, and Panrahk's Fragmentation) are in direct opposition of Matoran Principles (Ta-Matoran Courage, Ko-Matoran Peace, Onu-Matoran Prosperity, Ga-Matoran Creation, Le-Matoran Purity, and Po-Matoran Faith).
• Supernatural Fear Inducer: Turahk. And it's fatal if one is exposed for too long a time.
• Super-Strength: On a purely physical level, they seem to have a slight advantage over the Toa, whom Word of God has confirmed as even the weakest of them being able to lift over a ton.
• Terrible Trio: Rahkshi operate in teams of three.
• Universal Poison: Lerahk have poison abilities, and they're VERY versatile. It was so poisonous it was able to dispel Tahu's flames.
• Unstoppable Rage: Kurahk is always in a state of perpetual anger, and it can make others in this state as well.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Without their staffs, a Rahkshi's powers are either weaker or completely inaccessible. This even extends to Rahkshi whose powers aren't focused in their staffs, like Rahkshi of Heat Vision. Of course, separating a Rahkshi from its staff is much easier said than done.
• Wetware CPU: A Rahkshi is comprised of two parts: a mechanical, non-sentient suit of armor and the Kraata that controls it. The suit of armor itself is a disturbing variant of this trope, as it's created by dipping another Kraata in Energized Protodermis.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: It's been stated before that Kurahk also draws strength from its own anger.
• Zerg Rush: Makuta summoned every Rahkshi on Metru Nui to attack Voporak as a distraction. These Rahkshi disintegrated when they reached Voporak's temporal zone that aged them into dust.