Opinions on Kaita in the storyline.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

Here is something I've been thinking about for a while: the ability for beings in the MU to form a Kaita.

 

Let me explain. A Kaita has the combined strengths, powers, and knowledge of the three beings that merged to create him/her. Toa, Matoran, Turaga, Bohrok, Bohrok Kal, Bohrok Va,  Rahkshi, and Makuta all have the ability to form a Kaita. But the thing is, Kaita were rarely formed in the storyline. We never saw Matoran, Turaga, Makuta, Bohrok, or Bohrok Va form a Kaita in canon. The only Toa who created Toa Kaita were the Toa Mata and later three of the Toa Nuva to create a Toa Nuva Kaita. Three of the Bohrok Kal formed a Kaita once, and was only to fight Wairuha Nuva when Lewa, Gali, and Kopaka merged into him. As for Rahkshi Kaita, two were only seen in one comic and defeated by three of the Toa Nuva. (Well, maybe 'defeated' isn't the best way to put it. More like 'caused them to return to their individual forms.')

 

Now, I know that BS01 states that most beings didn't like to form Kaita because they were 'unwilling to submit to the process of losing their identities,' which I guess is a decent explanation as to why this ability wasn't used more often in the story. But it does make me question if the ability to form a Kaita should've been in the story at all. 

 

So now I ask you all. Do you think that the ability for Toa, Matoran and co. to form a Kaita should've been in the story at all? And if so, could you have liked to have seen this ability used more often in the storyline? And do you like this ability to begin with?

 

To answer my own questions, I do like that the idea that they could create a Kaita, but its something that always stood out to me when it came to Bionicle's story. Even though I thought the concept was cool, I just didn't think it fitted that well into the story. Thus, I don't think it should've been in the story to begin with. 

 

Note: Before anyone says anything, I do know that the Toa Mata needed to merge into Wairuha and Akamai to defeat the Manas. But I think that part of the story could've been changed to where the Toa Mata simply worked together to beat them. 

 

But what do you guy think? 

[Katuko]

The Kaita looked like silly mashups of the characters they were made from... which they were. Their characterization was next to none, and I've never been a fan of mind-merging/fusions in fiction. The one species I felt it could have worked for - the regular Bohrok, which were fully mechanical and with no individual personalities - never used it.

 

Although they showed up now and again in the story to scale the fights up a notch, Kaita could be completely omitted and I don't think we'd really lose anything that could have been replaced by a Mask of Growth or some form of co-op tactic.

[Zidonaro]

I love combinations. Makes me remember of DBZ and stuff and I love it. The Kaita are awesome, and unfortunately we never had another after the Toa Mata. I think Kaita have a more significant symbolism in the MU, because they are the epitomy of Unity, a virtue revered by Matoran.

 

Actually, I want a Toa Nui too.

[Click]

Well, the Kaita were one of those things that remind us that this is a Lego theme. Each character doesn't have just one way to build them, but if you buy the other two, you can put them together according to the instructions or build your own. Personally, I liked the idea and I wish that they were used more often, though most builds could have been better.

[Pomegranate]

I thought they were really neat, and they would've probably been a lot more accepted if they appeared more in the story and really became a thing in the Bionicle story instead of dying out pretty early on. Wasted potential, I think.

[fishers64]

I don't care, yes, and yes. The concept was cool, and I liked the idea, but it wasn't really executed in a very satisfying way, and ultimately forgettable.

[The 1st Shadow]

The Kaita were amazing concepts that I wish were explored a lot more deeply. Fusions like that had such potential. However, I am of the belief that they are not common knowledge. The Mata heard about them from Kopaka and Gali's vision, and the Turaga seemed to know only a little. Tehutti was the one Matoran in Metru Nui who knew of the Matoran Nui fusion, which the Turaga witnessed as Toa, and so could have passed that knowledge on to some of the Matoran on Mata Nui. Beyond that, I don't think many knew about it, and it would have been interesting to see some characters like the Inika/Mahri learn about it somehow, giving us some more insight into the nature of the fusions.

[Sir Kohran]

The only major story appearance of the Toa Kaita is the battle with the Manas. Despite the claim there that "the Toa Kaita's wisdom and valour were unmatched", the Kaita combination was only used once more in the storyline during the Kal arc (and that attempt failed). I don't know why Kaita dropped out of the story so quickly. From a storyline perspective, it may have been because the Toa were usually powerful enough already. Another factor is that the Kaita weren't sets by themselves, and the story had to star characters available as sets in the shops. One slightly random problem I see with Kaita is that their size makes them easy targets for ranged attacks.

 

From a design perspective, I think the original Mata two were the only Kaita that looked pretty good. The others were just a huge mess of parts thrown together in a vaguely humanoid form, lacking the compactness that made their sets appealing.

[Banana Gunz]

I like the kaita. The ones made are not extremely appealing visually but they're a really cool concept and were very symbolic as a physical form of the toa Mata/Nuva's unity.

[25K Now!]

I liked the concept of the Kaita, especially with Unity being one of the Three Virtues, but they were executed pretty badly and basically forgotten.

[TNR7]

I remember feeling of awe as a six year old when I realized I could put three toa together, and the storyline significance behind it. Toa were already essentially demigods, but the Kaita were truly mythic. I'd always thought of Akamai and Wairuha as a merging of the original six Toa, but that they also trancended them. They were two wise and courageous beings the Toa could act as a conduit for and could tap into in times of dire need.

Seeing Bohrok and Rahkshi use the same methods to form their own Kaita just raised the stakes even more for the heroes. Their distant brothers or twisted foes could reach the same heights of power and strength. I never liked the idea of matoran or turaga forming kaita (nui?) though, since (for me at least) the whole appeal was seeing the great (good or evil) join together to become even more. In a similar vein to what HoloTheWise said, I think I can blame that desire on watching DBZ.

I think the idea was underutilized, and there could have been good stories to tell about them but I'm glad they didn't, because it would have been far too easy to feel "gimmicky." Plus, I can't exactly say I miss Wairuha or Akamai since they had little to no development in their own right.

[Axilus Prime]

I liked them. Shame they didn't have more appearances, every story arc from 01-03 could easily have given Kaita more canon appearances and storyline significance without throwing the plot off at all.

 

I had a headcanon where Bohrok Kaita squads were occasionally sighted and fought against, that the Toa Kaita faced the Bahrag in a two on two battle, and that the Turaga Nui and Matoran Nui worked together to defend the entrance to the Bahrag lair to prevent any Bohrok from following after the Toa and helping the Bahrag. The Bohrok-Kal also formed their Kaita and defeated the Toa Nuva Kaita in one of the battles leading up to the final confrontation with the Vahi and Nuva Symbols. And the Toa Nuva Kaita fought the Rahkshi Kaita while Takua had to struggle to figure out what to do with the Mask of Light, defending him while he tried all manner of strange ideas until finally putting on the mask.

 

Actually, I've been considering doing a retelling of all the main story arcs with my headcanons put in.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Axilus Prime

[Mjolnitor]

Very cool and unique (amongst other settings), but underrated, underused and - as a result - forgotten concept.

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

EDIT: Spelling fixes.

 

Actually, I've been considering doing a retelling of all the main story arcs with my headcanons put in.

A few people including myself have been thinking about doing that.

 

I am not sure about it all: I find that the Kaita could have been used a couple of times, but I feel they were pieces of ancient forgotten knowledge and as such should only be used in extreme circumstances second only to the Nova Blast ability.

 

Times a Kaita would have been useful would be the Turaga forming a Turaga Nui to attempt to repel Teridax's forces in Metru-Nui under Ahkmou when said dark-lord had usurped the local deity, or when the Toa Nuva were in Karda Nui fighting the god-like Makuta invasion force in Karda Nui, their kaita in adaptive armor (if Artakha allowed them to function as such) would have been cool to see fighting alongside a giant Takua.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Iaredios

[Thormen]

Don't care, no, no.

 

I can understand how the Kaita somehow have this 'awesomeness' factor being that they are our heroes, combined. However, the problem I have with them is their identity: who are they? What are their character traits, what have they done in the past, what have they learned, how have they grown in the storyline? I remember when I first played MNOLG and the two Kaita emerged from those round doors in Mangaia, I didn't know who they were. Of course I had read the comic with Gali's vision and the promo CD told all about them, but their personality eluded. Akamai had Tahu's 'face' and Wairuha Lewa's, so I was inclined to assume that they were the ones that gave personality to the Kaita, but I knew that that was not the case since they were combinations of all the personalities. So I eventually settled for considering them to be completely new characters that had all the memories and knowledge of the Toa Mata, but I thought that kinda sucked because I had seen the Toa Mata come that far and I had grown to love those characters, and then for their final battle, they just disappeared and were replaced by two completely new characters. That's why I was relieved when the Kaita were broken apart in the final battle with the Makuta: I wanted to see the Toa Mata battle him.

 

And I know that canonically, the Kaita's personalities are combinations of the Mata's personalities, so the Mata didn't really 'disappear' when they formed the Kaita, but storywise that's how it worked in my head.

[Toatapio Nuva]

I love the concept of Kaita, if only because it fits in well with the Lego theme of creation and using a set of pieces to create new entities, which connects well to the world of Bionicle. It doesn't really matter to me that we didn't see many Kaita in the actual storyline, since it would definitely get repetitive after a while. It would be great to see them in the 2015 Bionicle though.

[ALVIS]

Honestly? I don't think the Kaita should have existed at all.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm totally cool with the idea of combiners and alternate models. But introducing a mechanic for any three characters to fuse into another being? Oh, god, that just created a logistical nightmare. Do you know how many potential Rahkshi Kaita combinations there are? 11,480. And we met two of them. It boggles the mind.

 

I guess the main problem I have with Kaita is that, while there are so many different combinations, we only saw them used in the first few years of story. Only the Toa Mata/Nuva, Bohrok-Kal, Rahkshi, and Matoran have ever been seen to create any kind of naturally occurring fusion. Frankly, I'd prefer to imagine that only the Matoran Nui, Akamai and Wairuha, and the Bohrok-Kal Kaita can naturally occur, and just discount the Rahkshi Kaita entirely. It makes everything much simpler.

 

Of course, there's "Generation 1" BIONICLE for you. Overly, unnecessarily complicated in trivial or unimportant areas, and not detailed enough in important areas. I don't know why we even stuck with this story for so long when it's so unbalanced and full of glaring errors.

[Click]

I love the concept of Kaita, if only because it fits in well with the Lego theme of creation and using a set of pieces to create new entities, which connects well to the world of Bionicle. It doesn't really matter to me that we didn't see many Kaita in the actual storyline, since it would definitely get repetitive after a while. It would be great to see them in the 2015 Bionicle though.

CCBS really does lend itself to Kaita combiners. I mean, with the Mata, their arms and legs were arms and legs, and they had to snap onto ball sockets, which had to snap on via pin to the torso. With CCBS, limbs can be used to add extra armor, or wings, or something else crazy. A 2015 Kaita could look a lot less messy and end up being its own cohesive, awesome entity. I hope they bring them back. If not, I'll try building my own.

[Wrinkledlion X]

I remember feeling of awe as a six year old when I realized I could put three toa together, and the storyline significance behind it. Toa were already essentially demigods, but the Kaita were truly mythic. I'd always thought of Akamai and Wairuha as a merging of the original six Toa, but that they also trancended them. They were two wise and courageous beings the Toa could act as a conduit for and could tap into in times of dire need.

 

Seeing Bohrok and Rahkshi use the same methods to form their own Kaita just raised the stakes even more for the heroes. Their distant brothers or twisted foes could reach the same heights of power and strength. I never liked the idea of matoran or turaga forming kaita (nui?) though, since (for me at least) the whole appeal was seeing the great (good or evil) join together to become even more. In a similar vein to what HoloTheWise said, I think I can blame that desire on watching DBZ.

 

I think the idea was underutilized, and there could have been good stories to tell about them but I'm glad they didn't, because it would have been far too easy to feel "gimmicky." Plus, I can't exactly say I miss Wairuha or Akamai since they had little to no development in their own right.

 

I like what you're saying. Akamai and Wairuha definitely had a mystique to them, and I don't know that it could have been maintained in later years when the story became less mythic. If they focused more on the merging of minds, and possibly the idea that only those who are in perfect unity can combine, they might have laid a better groundwork for using Kaita in later years.

[Thormen]

 

I remember feeling of awe as a six year old when I realized I could put three toa together, and the storyline significance behind it. Toa were already essentially demigods, but the Kaita were truly mythic. I'd always thought of Akamai and Wairuha as a merging of the original six Toa, but that they also trancended them. They were two wise and courageous beings the Toa could act as a conduit for and could tap into in times of dire need.

 

Seeing Bohrok and Rahkshi use the same methods to form their own Kaita just raised the stakes even more for the heroes. Their distant brothers or twisted foes could reach the same heights of power and strength. I never liked the idea of matoran or turaga forming kaita (nui?) though, since (for me at least) the whole appeal was seeing the great (good or evil) join together to become even more. In a similar vein to what HoloTheWise said, I think I can blame that desire on watching DBZ.

 

I think the idea was underutilized, and there could have been good stories to tell about them but I'm glad they didn't, because it would have been far too easy to feel "gimmicky." Plus, I can't exactly say I miss Wairuha or Akamai since they had little to no development in their own right.

 

I like what you're saying. Akamai and Wairuha definitely had a mystique to them, and I don't know that it could have been maintained in later years when the story became less mythic. If they focused more on the merging of minds, and possibly the idea that only those who are in perfect unity can combine, they might have laid a better groundwork for using Kaita in later years.

 

I like the story potential in your idea, since a writer could have maintained the characters' identities this way. I don't know if anybody has read the Bartimaeus books, but in the third book (SPOILER ALERT) one main character, the djinn Bartimaeus, gets bound into another main character, a wizard, and the two minds share control over a single body. (/SPOILER ALERT) . I don't think they could've managed to feature something like this in MNOLG, but it was definitely possible in the books that followed later.

[Wrinkledlion X]

There's a really good short story by GSR about Akamai & Wairuha, and it delves into some of the stuff we're talking about here. I love the idea that the Kaita exist in a kind of netherworld until they're called into existence. 

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

The KAITA WERE AWESOME! I loved the concept and wish they were used WAY more. In fact, I was hoping they would return for 2008 but it was unfortunately not to happen. 

 

I just love the concept of the Toa sharing a mind and body and becoming much more powerful entities altogether. I loved their names too - Akamai and Wairuha - and that made them feel like these new characters to exist only when the Toa converge into one. It was just awesome. Wish they used Akamai Nuva at least once as well. 

 

And the combiners themselves were really great. I remember when my brother and I built them for the first time and were in awe. Awesome design. 

 

Also really liked how other beings could become Kaita as well. Should have been more of that!

 

-NotS

Edited September 22, 2014 by Nidhiki of the Shadows

[Vartemp]

I liked the concept of Kaita, but I wouldn't of liked it if they were formed all the time. I liked how Toa only used them as a last resort. I would've also liked to see standard  Bohrok combine. It would've been interesting to see under what circumstances they would do that.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm totally cool with the idea of combiners and alternate models. But introducing a mechanic for any three characters to fuse into another being? Oh, god, that just created a logistical nightmare. Do you know how many potential Rahkshi Kaita combinations there are? 11,480. And we met two of them. It boggles the mind.

I can see why that might turn some off. I'm guessing Rahkshi might combine more often when there are a limited amount in one area, since other than the ones on Mata Nui, we've seen entire hordes of them usually.

[Zeb]

I think the Kaita were interesting illustrations of unity, and having the characters combine like that works really well because it's a Lego story. I really hope there are Kaita-style combiner models in 2015. A CCBS Kaita of any sort would be interesting...

[Ragnar Lothbrok]

Didnt mind the idea of Kaita in the story, but some of the Kaita in terms of sets and build were truly awful. I mean Wairuha Nuva and Akamai Nuva... what was that all about?

[Sharnak the Bohrok Lord]

I do love the concept of kaita but I felt the execution was somewhat lacking, both in sets and in story. Some combiners like the rahkshi were cool but others looked terrible, the original bohrok combiners being the worst example.

 

In the storyline, their only major appearance was when the Toa fought the manas, which was only a brief scene. Really, it was only there because they had to promote the combining gimmick.

 

Since the combining function wasn't used often it brings up many questions. How does combining work? Can beings fuse only under certain situations or can they form anytime they want to? If the former, what are those conditions? Does it have to be during extreme situations or depend on the mindset of the beings? Is a being's destiny a factor in this?

 

What are the limits to which kaita can form? Does it have to be three or can it be any number? Could all MU beings theoretically form kaita or only certain ones? Can different species naturally fuse together? If skakdi could fuse together, would they gain access to their elemental powers? (My personal headcannon is that the piraka combiners are a form that they could theoretically take but can't, cause you know, they're the piraka.)

 

Does personality factor into the fused being? Akamai is the fusion of Tahu, Onua, and Pohatu, but if one were a different Toa, wouldn't that fusion be a different entity? What about creatures that lack sapience and individuality; does fusion work differently for them? For example, take the two different rahkshi kaita sets we got. Since rahkshi sets were the same but in different colors, you could build one kaita out of different rahkshi with no problems. Is this true in cannon as well or are those forms bound to those specific three subspecies combining?

 

 

These are just questions to explore since they were barely featured in the story. It seemed like the writers didn't like kaita and wanted to focus more on the individuals in the storyline. I know people loved the The Toa Kaita but they weren't featured in the story very well. They were only formed to fight the manas and then were never seen again. I remember reading a comic featuring the rahkshi kaita but they came out of nowhere and I don't recall them serving any purpose to the overall story.

 

I do think kaita could be incorporated in the story well, they just weren't done so well in the past. The new building system could be easily used to build fusions. Maybe we'll get to see them in the future, who knows?

[Toa Chuck]

Honestly, The primary issue with the Kaita is that they are clearly stronger than their component beings. This means that it would almost always be benefical to use them during big battles. As such, the deus de machina factor would get pretty old, pretty quick. I'm fine with their use against the manas, but other wise, I'm fine with their mostly non-presence in the story.

Wairua Nuva's appearance was rather nifty, being an attemt to overcome the power loss, and the Matoran Nui appeared twice, once superfluously, and once actually usefully.

The whole comic with the rahkshi kaita seemed pretty shoed in and rather pointless. Makuta are op as is, we don't need hundreds of different rahkshi kaita with unique abilities.

Besides, have you seen the combo models in later years? I'm glad it was only important 01-03. coughcoughPrododaxcoughcough

Edited September 23, 2014 by Chuck the Toa of crazyness

[NuvaTube]

I like the combinations in principle, even considering that they were rare occasions. For my the problem comes down to the fact that the combo sets looked so ugly. If they looked cool I think Lego and the fans would have felt better about them, and we would have seen them more often.

 

So, assuming they looked cool, I'd have been happy to have them and have them used more. Since I like them in principle (they're dramatic metaphors for unity too) I'm gonna vote yes despite the objections I mentioned

[Tuuli]

Love the original kaita sets, though I don't think they needed to keep on doing them. Especially with the metru nui arc, they really didn't need to be toa kaita. I think they did the story just fine how they said it.

[Pohatu: Uniter of Stone]

I forgot about the Kaita until I read the short story "The Days They were Needed and the Years They Were Not," which brilliantly characterizes the Toa Kaita. After reading it, the Kaita hold a special place in my heart. Rahkshi Kaita on the other hand... well, let's just say that you can have way too much of a good thing. The Japanese Rahkshi Kaita was pretty darn awesome, though!

[Timageness]

What got me into the idea for fusions and combiner models were the original Power Rangers series and the old Captain Planet cartoon. I didn't know DBZ did it too until 2003-4. Anyways...

Yes, they should have existed.

Yes, there should've been more.

For the third question, I said I wasn't sure, which isn't entirely true. I liked the concept, but I didn't like how it was executed. It just never sat right with me that Gali had to make a Kaita with two dudes.