While I was packing up my Bioncle sets to free up some furniture for moving, I got to thinking...where the heck has Takanuva been?

Things weren't going so well for Bionicle during the Bohrok/Kal stuff. I don't want to speak for everybody, but it felt like fans were growing tired of the repetitvness of the Bohrok. And though they were just as repetitive, the Rahkshi pics began to get people interested again. Not to mention the news of a new Toa.

Now, I'm an on and off PR fan. And one of the more interesting times of the year for both PR and it's Japanese counterpart is when news of the additional Rangers begins to spread. So it was no surprise when the mysteries of the 7th Toa began to grip everybody on BZP.

And then MoL came out, and Takanuva arrived. But then just as quickly, he was gone. The next year's storyline would go back in time to cover the tales of the Turaga when they were Toa. And upon the return to the present, the Nuva were taken out of commission and the Inika were called into action.

But during all this time, Takanuva has faded into the background. I vaugely remember references to some kind of force field or other "thing" keeping Takanuva from getting involved, but I can't help but think these are story elements that are being used more to keep him from being in the story. We don't have any sets of him afterall.

Takanuva was originally Takua, and was very good friends with a good number of the Tohunag/Matoran that would eventually become the Inika. What better time for him to reenter the story then when his old friends suddenly found themselves in the same situation he had been in earlier. Takanuva could've gone from being a sideline character to the trusted leader of the new team of Toa, and together they could've explored the challenges that come with the Transformation (the Turaga didn't seem to address this very well in the movie, there are chances...especially with Hewkii/Macku...where they could show problems in the relationships between Toa and Matoran).

But instead, he was written out, and after his dramatic indroduction in the first ever Bionicle movie, he has appeared to have done little to further cement his place in Bionicle lore. If you are/were a PR fan, you can recall just how well the first "extra" Ranger went back during the first season. The Green Ranger/Tommy became one of the most popular characters, and remained that way for so long that his actor was brought back more than a decade later to reprise the role.

Now, Bionicle may not run for ten years (though it is going into it's 6th now). When a decade has passed, what will the history books...and fans for that matter...say about the first ever "Extra" Toa?