it says the toa were summoned but where were they befor that???  please dicuss

I belive they were just up in the heavens with the great beings that created them.

I think Mata Nui made them because of a moment of foresight, and put them in an orbit around the planet before Makuta put him to sleep. Their orbit would be of such a pattern that after a period of time, they would come down again. That would explain how the Turaga knew when the Toa would arrive.

i remember from my card game booklet it said that tahu
was made at the time the planet was forming.

It depends on what you mean by "summoned." If you mean "summoned when Mata Nui first fell asleep," then yes, you did see them fall from the sky (but where were they before that is still a mystery...)

If you mean when Takua summoned them to the island with the Toa stones, they had been floating in their canisters for hundreds, possibly thousands of years at that point, dormant.

Greg

Well, Mata Nui and Makuta were in Paradise before they came to the planet. The Toa will have probably been with them.