Planetperson

Yeah, and I can't believe it. Man, the world these days is just so...so...worng... SZ And "Christmas" being filtered is..."worng"?

Animating four frames of Christmas lights didn't take too long . And it's Christmas break -- of course I have spare time .

Hey, don't forget DSL, either .

Sunday, December 24, 2006 Look at my blog! Look at it! You can do it to your blog, too! [img=http://www.majhost.com/gallery/DihydrogenMonoxide/RatherRandomStuff/christmas_lights.gif] [img=http://www.majhost.com/gallery/DihydrogenMonoxide/RatherRandomStuff/christmas_lights_down.gif]

Toa Gali was a Toa of Water and one of the Toa Mata. She was gifted with the elemental power of water; wore a Kanohi Kaukau, the Great Mask of Underwater Breathing; and carried two hooks through which she could channel her elemental water power. Gali and the other Toa Mata were a part of the legend of Mata Nui, a legend that the Turaga of Mata Nui often told to the Matoran during the millennium between the Great Cataclysm and the Toa Mata’s arrival. The legend itself was spawned by a mix of common Matoran legends, the past experiences of the Turaga as the Toa Metru, and Turaga Vakama’s visions. The legend, as the Matoran of Mata Nui knew it, stated that the Great Beings sent the Great Spirit Mata Nui from the heavens into the world to care for all living things. Mata Nui brought with him the Matoran to the paradise that was the island of Mata Nui, named so in his honor. Mata Nui gave the Matoran the Three Virtues to live by: unity, duty, and destiny; and the Matoran lived happily under Mata Nui’s loving protection. Unfortunately, Mata Nui’s dark brother, the Makuta, had followed Mata Nui from paradise and coveted the world and all that his brother had. Makuta cast a spell over Mata Nui that caused him to fall into a deep slumber. Then, Makuta claimed the world as his own, bringing darkness and destruction everywhere. Fields withered away, sunlight grew cold, and the ancient values of the Matoran were eventually forgotten. However, all was not lost; for the Great Beings would send six mighty Toa to defeat Makuta and awaken Mata Nui once more; and one day, the Toa finally did appear. Like her fellow Toa Mata, Gali’s origin before coming to the island of Mata Nui is very mysterious. She probably came into being about 95,000 years before she arrived on the shores of Mata Nui. She had never been a Matoran prior to being a Toa, and it is possible that she and the other Toa Mata’s sole purpose was to serve as a failsafe for the Great Spirit Mata Nui should he ever have fallen into danger. As happens with every Toa, Gali’s spirit star came into being, which rested in the sky above Mata Nui. Whatever island that Gali and the rest of the Toa Mata came from, they were trained in the use of their powers as Toa: the use of their elemental powers, the use of Kanohi, and the ability to form Toa Kaita. A Matoran local of the island once described the place as the “world that feeds the world,” the “wellspring of flame that burns none but its bearer until nothing is left, not even ashes.” Some time later, on the same island, the Toa Mata willingly put themselves into transportation canisters that the local Matoran created especially for them to fall into a deep sleep and await a call to action. The Toa Mata’s call came when the Great Cataclysm occurred and Mata Nui was cast into endless slumber. Their canisters were activated and rocketed up into the sky above Mata Nui to safely fall back down again into the ocean surrounding the island. Had their canisters been working properly, the Toa would have arrived on the shores of Mata Nui, made their way underground to Metru Nui, and found a way to defeat Makuta while he was still weakened and awaken Mata Nui. Unfortunately, an unintentional mechanical fault caused their canisters to malfunction. Instead of steering themselves toward the island of Mata Nui, the canisters floated freely in the ocean with the Toa inside of them for a thousand years. Due to their prolonged time sealed in the canisters, some of the Toa’s biological ligaments decayed over time, causing some of their mechanical parts to fall apart. Their memory faded during that time as well. All the while, on Mata Nui, Makuta harassed the Matoran for a thousand years with his Rahi beasts. A thousand years after the Great Cataclysm, the adventurous Matoran Takua gathered the Toa stones from all over the island of Mata Nui and brought them together at the Kini-Nui. In doing this, he unwittingly sent a beacon to the Toa’s canisters that finally steered them toward the island. Gali’s canister washed up on the south-eastern cape of Naho Bay. The canister opened, and Gali’s loose body pieces flew out onto the beach. Gali reassembled herself, her organic tissue regrowing once she fitted her mechanical parts back together. Once Gali noticed her Kanohi Kaukau lying on the ground and put it on, she felt a surge of energy course through her that she had probably not felt for centuries. Just as the Matoran’s legends had foretold, Gali remembered nothing except dreams of darkness and her own name. Gali traveled inland and wandered throughout the island of Mata Nui until she met up with Tahu, Onua, and Lewa at the foothills of Mount Ihu. Pohatu and Kopaka soon found this meeting of Toa and joined. Gali learned from the other Toa what each of their Turaga had told them of the island’s situation: how Makuta had been using the Rahi to harass the Matoran for centuries, and how Makuta had cast the Great Spirit Mata Nui into endless sleep. The Turaga had informed the Toa that, in order to gain the strength needed to defeat Makuta, they all needed to go on a quest for the Kanohi masks of power that were hidden all over Mata Nui. Additional to her Kanohi Akaku, Gali would have to collect five other Great Kanohi – Hau, Kakama, Pakari, Miru, Akaku; and retrieve five Noble Kanohi – Huna, Komau, Ruru, Mahiki, and Matatu – that had been stolen by the Rahi. As the Toa conversed, Gali calmly analyzed each Toa in turn, noting their personalities. During the meeting, Gali strongly supported the idea of the Toa working together as a team in their mission. After a heated discussion, however, the Toa decided to split up during their quest for the masks rather than working together as a team, much to Gali’s dismay. The Toa then got a first taste of Makuta’s own power when he sent a brief combination of hail, lightning, and an earth tremor against them to disrupt the meeting. Gali departed from the meeting with Lewa. They were traveling through the jungle when Lewa saved Gali from an “angry” pool of water under the power of Makuta. Despite this close encounter, Gali and Lewa parted ways. Gali traveled far from that point towards Ga-Koro, where Turaga Nokama lived with the Ga-Matoran. On her way, Gali encountered a Tarakava while she was swimming toward the village. She trapped the Rahi in a cave; but when she arrived at Ga-Koro, she found that a Tarakava had attacked the village as well. Gali arrived in time to rescue Nokama and the Ga-Matoran from the Tarakava, and the village welcomed Gali as a hero. Nokama soon showed Gali a rocky peak on top of which rested a Kanohi Miru. Gali climbed up this great rock spire and reached the resting place of the Kanohi Miru only to have the mountain crumble under the power of Makuta. Gali snatched the mask as both were falling to the ground below and quickly put it on her face, using its power of levitation to safely land. Unfortunately, Gali soon found herself surrounded by a few Tarakava and Nui-Jaga, although Tahu suddenly arrived to help Gali fight the Rahi off. During the battle, Gali was knocked unconscious and tossed into the sea, where she received a strange vision of two beings called the Toa Kaita. When Gali came back to reality, the Rahi had fled. Tahu told Gali that he had come to tell her that, after the Toa had realized that they had all had limited success in finding the Kanohi masks alone, Onua had called a meeting near his landing site. Tahu took Gali to Onua’s meeting, where all of the other Toa waited. After a great battle against the Rahi and Makuta’s power over the island, this meeting ended in one unanimous decision: the Toa would work together as a team. The Toa turned to the Ta-Matoran for the location of the next hidden Kanohi mask to find. The Ta-Matoran told the Toa that Tahu’s Kanohi Miru was beneath the waves of the shoreline just south of Po-Koro. With this in mind, the Toa traveled to this location as a group, although they still wasted much time on petty disagreements. When they arrived, the Toa who already possessed the Kanohi Kaukau – Onua, Kopaka, and Gali – went underwater to retrieve the mask while Lewa, Pohatu, and Tahu guarded the beach. The Toa underwater encountered a Tarakava from which they removed its infected mask. The Toa retrieved Tahu’s Miru and returned to the surface successful. As Gali collected Great Kanohi on her quest, the masks were teleported back to the Ga-Suva when they were not in use, and could be summoned back and forth for her use at any time. If Gali came across a Noble Kanohi, she returned it to Turaga Nokama when she had the chance. As Gali collected more and more Kanohi, she gained more and more abilities from the Great and Noble Masks. After the Toa collected several more Kanohi with significant success, they split off into two groups to find Pohatu’s two last Great Kanohi. Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka went to Po-Wahi; and Tahu, Onua, and Gali went to Le-Wahi. Gali grew angry with Tahu for burning a tree to the ground in order to get the mask that rested in its branches. The Toa’s quest for the masks finally ended in the drifts of lower Mount Ihu where they found Tahu’s Kaukau. After the Toa had collected all of the Great and Noble Kanohi and had for the most part freed the Rahi from Makuta’s control, they were uncertain of what to do next. They had heard rumors of Gold Kanohi, and both Gali and Kopaka had had brief, mysterious visions of the Toa Kaita and of a massive temple in the center of the island. The Toa, having each collected all six of their necessary Great Masks, returned to their Koro. When Gali visited the Ga-Suva in Ga-Koro, where her Great Masks were kept, and placed her own mask on it, her six Great Kanohi formed a single Gold Kanohi in the shape of her Kanohi Kaukau. Armed with her new Gold Kanohi, which gave her the powers of the six Great Kanohi she had collected, Gali journeyed with the other Toa to the Kini-Nui. It was there that they met the Chronicler’s Company, who agreed to defend the Kini-Nui from the Rahi while the Toa were facing Makuta. The Toa then unlocked an underground passageway to Mangaia, Makuta’s underground lair, through the Kini-Nui with the Makoki stones. The Toa traveled through this tunnel down to Makuta’s realm. When, on their way to Makuta, the Toa encountered the Manas – Makuta’s two most powerful Rahi guardians – they could not find a way to defeat them until they merged their beings together to form two powerful Toa Kaita. Gali merged with Lewa and Kopaka to form Toa Kaita Wairuha. The Toa Kaita were able to defeat the Manas and move on toward Makuta’s inner lair. Once the Toa Kaita reached Makuta’s inner lair, they split apart once again into the six Toa. It was there that the Toa faced the Shadow Toa – dark essences of themselves given independent life by Makuta. The Toa were evenly matched against their Shadow Toa counterparts. The Toa, faced with essentially fighting themselves, still managed to triumph by acknowledging that the darkness was a part of them, just as it was a part of all beings. This realization enabled the Toa to reabsorb the Shadow Toa back into their bodies, ending their threat. With the Shadow Toa defeated, the Toa faced the Makuta himself. Makuta revealed only a small part of his true form to the Toa, at first taking on the appearance of a pitted, scarred, infected Matoran. Then, after greeting the Toa, he transformed into a mass of tentacles that quickly beat back the Toa. Even with their mask powers, the Toa were rapidly caught up in an intense battle that did not seem to press on in their favor. It was only when the Toa used their elemental powers together against Makuta’s being that they were able to defeat him. Makuta, beaten, mysteriously disappeared. After their great fight, the Toa started back up to the surface of Mata Nui victorious. The Toa, it seemed, had saved the island of Mata Nui and its Matoran at last. When the Toa reached the surface, they did not hear the sounds of peace but the sounds of turmoil all over the island’s landscape. They found a Ta-Matoran near the Kini-Nui who repeated one word over and over: Bohrok. The Toa used their Kanohi to speed their way to Ta-Koro to investigate, where they found mysterious creatures attacking the village. As it turned out, these new creatures were swarms of Pahrak and Kohrak. Gali was able to combine her powers with Lewa to create a storm to drive away these creatures; but the Toa had just faced Mata Nui’s newest threat: the Bohrok swarms. As the Toa stood around a single fallen Pahrak, Turaga Vakama told the Toa the legend of the Bohrok, which was yet another prophecy spawned by his visions. This legend stated that the Bohrok had slept a seemingly endless sleep for thousands of years. When they wakened, they would rampage throughout Mata Nui and devastate the island. The weakness of any Bohrok, however, was its Krana – a purely organic creature within the Bohrok’s head plate that guided the Bohrok on its mission and gave it extra power. Even the mightiest of Bohrok would be rendered helpless if parted from its Krana. Turaga Vakama told the Toa of a new mission: to gather the eight Krana breeds from each of the six Bohrok swarms – a total of forty-eight Krana to collect. The Toa took a Krana Xa from the fallen Pahrak. As leader, Tahu ordered the other Toa to return to their Koro to make sure their villages were safe and to start on their mission to gather the Krana. After leaving the others, Gali traveled through the jungles of Le-Wahi on her route to Ga-Koro. She encountered a swarm of Tahnok trying to destroy the Vuata Maca trees, with little success. Just as the swarm was about to move on towards Po-Wahi, Gali summoned a rain storm to turn the already swampy ground beneath the Tahnok even stickier, making her task of gathering some Krana even easier. Gali then sped to Ga-Koro to make sure its villagers were safe. Gali soon left Ga-Koro and met up with Pohatu, Onua, and Kopaka at the Tiro Canyon in Po-Wahi. Onua dug a tunnel from the canyon wall to the sea, and Kopaka froze the opening. Onua and Kopaka left, while Pohatu and Gali waited to spring the trap. When a group of marauding Tahnok marched through the canyon, Pohatu kicked a boulder that shattered Kopaka’s ice plug, causing the waters to gush out of the opening and flood the canyon. Pohatu watched as Gali quickly dove into the already boiling waters and retrieved four Krana from the submerged Tahnok. The two fled when the Tahnok started climbing up the canyon wall toward them. The Tahnok later caught up with Pohatu and Gali in another canyon in Po-Wahi. Pohatu stopped the swarm with a rock wall; and Gali flooded the canyon with her elemental power of water, dissuading the Tahnok from following them. Gali traveled up the foothills of the Mangai Volcano with Pohatu, where the two met up with Tahu and Kopaka, who had discovered the entrance to the Bohrok nest. Onua and Lewa soon arrived; and when the Toa summed up the Krana they had collected, they realized that they had gathered all they needed. At Lewa’s suggestion, the Toa wasted no time in traveling with their Krana to the entrance of the underground Bohrok nests. The Toa descended into the tunnel, trying their best to avoid exiting Bohrok and fighting past them when they could not. After the Toa traveled into the tunnel for some distance, Tahu descended down an opening in the floor that sealed itself shut once he was inside the Tahnok nest below. Meanwhile, a slab of stone suddenly came down and sealed the tunnel ahead of the Toa waiting up above. The five Toa then faced a surge of lava flowing down the tunnel they had come just down through. Desperate to escape, Onua and Pohatu worked on shattering the stone slab while Kopaka tried to slow the lava flow. Despite all of Onua and Pohatu’s strength, they could not produce even a scratch in the stone. It was Lewa, who had survived the experience of having a Krana attached to his face, who realized that the stone slab was an illusion. Once the Toa stopped believing that the stone was actually there, it dematerialized. The five Toa escaped from the tunnel and met up with Tahu once again when he burst through the floor, having heated the air in the Tahnok nest until the air pressure blew the nest apart. The floor gave way under the Toa, sending them falling into a large chamber below. The Toa used their mask powers to cushion their fall and landed safely. They noticed special niches in the ground specialized for the Krana they carried, so they placed in them the Krana they had worked so hard to collect. Once the Toa did this, the ground shook, causing six doors in the walls of the chamber to crumble. The doorways revealed six entrances, and each Toa went into his own passageway. The Toa discovered Exo-Toa armor in the new chambers, which gave them more power than ever before. Coming back to the larger chamber and occupying the suit of Exo-Toa armor, Gali watched as Tahu encountered Cahdok – one of the Bahrag, twin queens of the Bohrok swarms. Tahu drove Cahdok back into the larger chamber as Lewa and Kopaka drove Gahdok into the area as well. The Toa quickly surrounded the Bahrag and drove them into the center of the chamber as a strategic move. However, the Bahrag’s symbiosis allowed them to grow more powerful as they came closer together. When the Toa attacked the Bahrag with the new weapons of the Exo-Toa, they had no effect. Despite the new power that the Exo-Toa gave the Toa, their battle with the Bahrag did not seem to be in their favor. The Bahrag quickly smothered Gali in waves of heat. Most of the other Toa were promptly overcome, and they found themselves once again fighting a battle that did not seem to move along in their favor. Tahu finally reasoned that the only hope to win the fight was to get out of the Exo-Toa, which hindered the use of the Toa’s elemental and Kanohi powers. After he ordered the Toa to shed their Exo-Toa armor, the Toa attacked the Bahrag as one, this time combining their elemental powers in a single beam against the Bahrag. This beam of the Toa’s six elemental blasts combined created a barred cage of indestructible solid protodermis around the Bahrag, imprisoning them. Because of this, the Bahrag’s mental link was cut off from the Krana, and in turn cut off from the Bohrok. The Bohrok all over Mata Nui ceased their rampages at once, and the Toa had saved Mata Nui once again. Immediately after the Bahrag’s defeat, the Toa were drawn into tubes in the floor of the chamber that were filled with energized protodermis. As destiny would have it, the Toa were transformed by the substance into something more powerful than any other Toa had ever been, with greater elemental powers, stronger Kanohi masks, and shiny new armor. No longer were they Toa Mata. Forever after, they would be known as the Toa Nuva. Gali became known as Gali Nuva. Throughout her existence, Toa Gali possessed the elemental power of water, which basically allowed her to create and manipulate water and moisture by using elemental energy. Gali could also absorb elemental water energy from her surroundings to replenish it in herself. Gali carried two hooks for Toa tools, which she could use to channel her elemental water power and climb slippery rock surfaces. Before she received her gold Kanohi, Gali favored to wear her Kanohi Kaukau, which she had possessed even before her time on Mata Nui. The Ga-Matoran were very loyal to her and greatly respected her power. Gali was also known for her incredible wisdom, which was perhaps greater than that of all the other five Toa put together. She was very skilled at noting the personalities of the other Toa Mata and the interactions among them. She was the most agile and gymnastic of the six Toa, having incredible jumping abilities and her own brand of acrobatic self-defense. Gali easily found herself at home both in and near water; and she could swim quickly through waterfalls and worked in harmony with the waters, which helped to protect her in times of danger. However, Gali was weakened and slowed in excessive heat and drought. Gali always stressed unity among the Toa Mata, and was discouraged when they refused to work together.

Toa Kopaka was a Toa of Ice and one of the Toa Mata. He was gifted with the elemental power of ice; wore a Kanohi Akaku, the Great Mask of X-Ray Vision; and carried an ice shield and an ice sword through which he could channel his elemental power. Kopaka and the other Toa Mata were a part of the legend of Mata Nui, a legend that the Turaga of Mata Nui often told to the Matoran during the millennium between the Great Cataclysm and the Toa Mata’s arrival. The legend itself was spawned by a mix of common Matoran legends, the past experiences of the Turaga as the Toa Metru, and Turaga Vakama’s visions. The legend, as the Matoran of Mata Nui knew it, stated that the Great Beings sent the Great Spirit Mata Nui from the heavens into the world to care for all living things. Mata Nui brought with him the Matoran to the paradise that was the island of Mata Nui, named so in his honor. Mata Nui gave the Matoran the Three Virtues to live by: unity, duty, and destiny; and the Matoran lived happily under Mata Nui’s loving protection. Unfortunately, Mata Nui’s dark brother, the Makuta, had followed Mata Nui from paradise and coveted the world and all that his brother had. Makuta cast a spell over Mata Nui that caused him to fall into a deep slumber. Then, Makuta claimed the world as his own, bringing darkness and destruction everywhere. Fields withered away, sunlight grew cold, and the ancient values of the Matoran were eventually forgotten. However, all was not lost; for the Great Beings would send six mighty Toa to defeat Makuta and awaken Mata Nui once more; and one day, the Toa finally did appear. Like his fellow Toa Mata, Kopaka’s origin before coming to the island of Mata Nui is very mysterious. He probably came into being about 95,000 years before he arrived on the shores of Mata Nui. He had never been a Matoran prior to being a Toa, and it is possible that he and the other Toa Mata’s sole purpose was to serve as a failsafe for the Great Spirit Mata Nui should he ever have fallen into danger. As happens with every Toa, Kopaka’s spirit star came into being, which rested in the sky above Mata Nui. Whatever island that Kopaka and the rest of the Toa Mata came from, they were trained in the use of their powers as Toa: the use of their elemental powers, the use of Kanohi, and the ability to form Toa Kaita. A Matoran local of the island once described the place as the “world that feeds the world,” the “wellspring of flame that burns none but its bearer until nothing is left, not even ashes.” Some time later, on the same island, the Toa Mata willingly put themselves into transportation canisters that the local Matoran created especially for them to fall into a deep sleep and await a call to action. The Toa Mata’s call came when the Great Cataclysm occurred and Mata Nui was cast into endless slumber. Their canisters were activated and rocketed up into the sky above Mata Nui to safely fall back down again into the ocean surrounding the island. Had their canisters been working properly, the Toa would have arrived on the shores of Mata Nui, made their way underground to Metru Nui, and found a way to defeat Makuta while he was still weakened and awaken Mata Nui. Unfortunately, an unintentional mechanical fault caused their canisters to malfunction. Instead of steering themselves toward the island of Mata Nui, the canisters floated freely in the ocean with the Toa inside of them for a thousand years. Due to their prolonged time sealed in the canisters, some of the Toa’s biological ligaments decayed over time, causing some of their mechanical parts to fall apart. Their memory faded during that time as well. All the while, on Mata Nui, Makuta harassed the Matoran for a thousand years with his Rahi beasts. A thousand years after the Great Cataclysm, the adventurous Matoran Takua gathered the Toa stones from all over the island of Mata Nui and brought them together at the Kini-Nui. In doing this, he unwittingly sent a beacon to the Toa’s canisters that finally steered them toward the island. Kopaka’s canister washed up on the cold, mountainous shores of northern Ko-Wahi. The canister opened, and Kopaka’s loose body pieces flew out onto the beach. Kopaka reassembled himself, his organic tissue regrowing once he fitted his mechanical parts back together. Once Kopaka noticed his Kanohi Akaku lying on the ground and put it on, he felt a surge of energy course through him that he had probably not felt for centuries. Just as the Matoran’s legends had foretold, Kopaka remembered nothing except dreams of darkness and his own name. Kopaka walked inland until he spotted a Ko-Matoran, Matoro, who had watched him come ashore. Kopaka used his ice power to bring Matoro sliding back to him when he tried to flee. Matoro struggled to answer the questions that Kopaka immediately started asking and agreed to take Kopaka to Turaga Nuju in Ko-Koro. On their way to the village, the two reached a chasm. Kopaka was about to create an ice bridge across the gap when a Nui-Rama attacked Matoro, sending him falling into the crevice. Kopaka selflessly jumped in after Matoro to rescue him from his fall. Kopaka and Matoro reached Ko-Koro, where Matoro introduced Kopaka to Nuju. Nuju told Lewa of the island’s situation: how Makuta had been using the Rahi to harass the Matoran for centuries, and how Makuta had cast the Great Spirit Mata Nui into endless sleep. The Turaga informed Lewa that, in order to gain the strength needed to defeat Makuta, he and the other Toa needed to go on a quest for the Kanohi masks of power that were hidden all over Mata Nui. Additional to his Kanohi Akaku, Kopaka would have to collect five other Great Kanohi – Hau, Kakama, Pakari, Miru, Kaukau; and retrieve five Noble Kanohi – Huna, Komau, Ruru, Mahiki, and Rau – that had been stolen by the Rahi. Nuju told Kopaka that a Kanohi Hau was to be found at a “place of far-seeing.” Kopaka traveled up the slopes of Mount Ihu, where Pohatu accidently buried him in rocks when he was practicing his elemental power of stone. Kopaka, getting himself back up again, did not welcome Pohatu’s presence; but Pohatu still tagged along as Kopaka climbed to the peak of Mount Ihu. Kopaka found the Kanohi Hau at the top of the mountain; and just like the other Great Kanohi masks that he would collect during his quest, Kopaka’s Hau was teleported back to the Le-Suva, able to be summoned back and forth for his use at any time. Kopaka then spotted the other Toa down below with his Mask of X-Ray Vision. Pohatu followed Kopaka as he started back down the mountain to meet them. As the two Toa made their descent, however, a Kane-Ra attacked the two Toa. Pohatu helped Kopaka defeat the Rahi beast. All six Toa met each other at the bottom of Mount Ihu. Kopaka advocated the idea of the Toa going their separate ways to find the Kanohi masks of power. Kopaka’s ideas always seemed to contrast Tahu’s, and an uneasy rivalry settled between the two Toa that would remain long afterwards. After a heated discussion, the Toa decided to split up during their quest for the masks rather than working together as a team, much to Kopaka’s satisfaction. The Toa then got a first taste of Makuta’s own power when he sent a brief combination of hail, lightning, and an earth tremor against them to disrupt the meeting. Kopaka departed from the meeting alone. As Kopaka collected Great Kanohi on his quest, the masks were teleported back to the Ko-Suva when they were not in use, and could be summoned back and forth for his use at any time. If Kopaka came across a Noble Kanohi, he returned it to Turaga Nuju when he had the chance. As Kopaka collected more and more Kanohi, he gained more and more abilities from the Great and Noble Masks. Kopaka’s quest for the masks took him to the Lava Lagoon in Ta-Wahi. Through much effort, Kopaka crossed the lava to an islet on which a Kanohi Pakari rested. Kopaka’s return crossing proved much more difficult, however. The Toa of Ice was knocked unconscious and received a brief, partial vision of a massive temple in the center of the island and of the Toa Kaita. Kopaka snapped out of it; and when his venture was about to turn deadly, Lewa showed up to save him. Lewa told Kopaka that, after the Toa had realized that they had all had limited success in finding the Kanohi masks alone, Onua called a meeting near his landing site. Lewa took Kopaka to Onua’s meeting, where all of the other Toa waited. After a great battle against the Rahi and Makuta’s power over the island, this meeting ended in one unanimous decision: the Toa would work together as a team. The Toa turned to the Ta-Matoran for the location of the next hidden Kanohi mask to find. The Ta-Matoran told the Toa that Tahu’s Kanohi Miru was beneath the waves of the shoreline just south of Po-Koro. With this in mind, the Toa traveled to this location as a group, although they still wasted much time on petty disagreements. Kopaka continually threatened to leave the group if they did not stop bickering. When they did arrive, the Toa who already possessed the Kanohi Kaukau – Onua, Kopaka, and Gali – went underwater to retrieve the mask while Lewa, Pohatu, and Tahu guarded the beach. The Toa underwater encountered a Tarakava from which they removed its infected mask. The Toa retrieved Tahu’s Miru and returned to the surface successful. Along with the other Toa, Kopaka found more Great Kanohi as well as Noble Kanohi, which he would return to Turaga Matau when he had the chance. Kopaka’s quest once took him to the drifts of Mount Ihu, where he rescued Matoro from a Muaka. After the Toa collected several more Kanohi with significant success, they split off into two groups to find Pohatu’s two last Great Kanohi. Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka went to Po-Wahi; and Tahu, Onua, and Gali went to Le-Wahi. Kopaka watched as Lewa voluntarily used his own Kanohi Miru to retrieve Pohatu’s Miru from halfway down the highest bluff in Po-Wahi. The Toa’s quest for the masks finally ended in the drifts of lower Mount Ihu where they found Tahu’s Kaukau. After the Toa had collected all of the Great and Noble Kanohi and had for the most part freed the Rahi from Makuta’s control, they were uncertain of what to do next. They had heard rumors of Gold Kanohi, and both Kopaka and Gali had had brief, mysterious visions of the Toa Kaita and of a massive temple in the center of the island. The Toa, having each collected all six of their necessary Great Masks, returned to their Koro. When Kopaka visited the Ko-Suva in Ko-Koro, where his Great Masks were kept, and placed his own mask on it, his six Great Kanohi formed a single Gold Kanohi in the shape of his Kanohi Akaku. Armed with his new Gold Kanohi, which gave him the powers of the six Great Kanohi he had collected, Kopaka journeyed with the other Toa to the Kini-Nui. It was there that they met the Chronicler’s Company, who agreed to defend the Kini-Nui from the Rahi while the Toa were facing Makuta. The Toa then unlocked an underground passageway to Mangaia, Makuta’s underground lair, through the Kini-Nui with the Makoki stones. The Toa traveled through this tunnel down to Makuta’s realm. When, on their way to Makuta, the Toa encountered the Manas – Makuta’s two most powerful Rahi guardians – they could not find a way to defeat them until they merged their beings together to form two powerful Toa Kaita. Kopaka merged with Lewa and Gali to form Toa Kaita Wairuha. The Toa Kaita were able to defeat the Manas and move on toward Makuta’s inner lair. Once the Toa Kaita reached Makuta’s inner lair, they split apart once again into the six Toa. It was there that the Toa faced the Shadow Toa – dark essences of themselves given independent life by Makuta. The Toa were evenly matched against their Shadow Toa counterparts. The Toa, faced with essentially fighting themselves, still managed to triumph by acknowledging that the darkness was a part of them, just as it was a part of all beings. This realization enabled the Toa to reabsorb the Shadow Toa back into their bodies, ending their threat. With the Shadow Toa defeated, the Toa faced the Makuta himself. Makuta revealed only a small part of his true form to the Toa, at first taking on the appearance of a pitted, scarred, infected Matoran. Then, after greeting the Toa, he transformed into a mass of tentacles that quickly beat back the Toa. Even with their mask powers, the Toa were rapidly caught up in an intense battle that did not seem to press on in their favor. It was only when the Toa used their elemental powers together against Makuta’s being that they were able to defeat him. Makuta, beaten, mysteriously disappeared. After their great fight, the Toa started back up to the surface of Mata Nui victorious. The Toa, it seemed, had saved the island of Mata Nui and its Matoran at last. When the Toa reached the surface, they did not hear the sounds of peace but the sounds of turmoil all over the island’s landscape. They found a Ta-Matoran near the Kini-Nui who repeated one word over and over: Bohrok. The Toa used their Kanohi to speed their way to Ta-Koro to investigate, where they found mysterious creatures attacking the village. As it turned out, these new creatures were swarms of Pahrak and Kohrak. Lewa and Gali wer able to combine their powers to create a storm to drive away these creatures; but the Toa had just faced Mata Nui’s newest threat: the Bohrok swarms. As the Toa stood around a single fallen Pahrak, Turaga Vakama told the Toa the legend of the Bohrok, which was yet another prophecy spawned by his visions. This legend stated that the Bohrok had slept a seemingly endless sleep for thousands of years. When they wakened, they would rampage throughout Mata Nui and devastate the island. The weakness of any Bohrok, however, was its Krana – a purely organic creature within the Bohrok’s head plate that guided the Bohrok on its mission and gave it extra power. Even the mightiest of Bohrok would be rendered helpless if parted from its Krana. Turaga Vakama told the Toa of a new mission: to gather the eight Krana breeds from each of the six Bohrok swarms – a total of forty-eight Krana to collect. The Toa took a Krana Xa from the fallen Pahrak. As leader, Tahu ordered the other Toa to return to their Koro to make sure their villages were safe and to start on their mission to gather the Krana. After leaving the others, Kopaka sped to Ko-Koro, which the Bohrok had not yet reached thanks to its hidden location. As Kopaka explored other parts of Ko-Wahi, however, he found a great deal of damage done by a swarm of Tahnok. Kopaka tracked the Tahnok swarm responsible for the damage to the slopes of Mount Ihu, where he fought them off until they scattered to find easier tasks. When Kopaka returned to Ko-Koro, he found that more Bohrok had broken through and had devastated the village. Although he at first felt a need to stay with the Ko-Matoran and lead them against the Bohrok, he decided to go out and see if the other Toa had found anything else out about the enemy. Kopaka met up with Pohatu, Onua, and Gali at the Tiro Canyon in Po-Wahi. He helped set up a Tahnok trap in the canyon by freezing solid the opening of a tunnel leading to the sea. Kopaka soon left the others to check on Tahu. On his way to Ta-Koro, he spotted a lone Tahnok Va and trailed it to the rocky plains between Ko-Wahi and Le-Wahi. It was there that he discovered a tunnel entrance leading far below the surface to the Bohrok nests. With this discovery, Kopaka hurried to Ta-Koro, where he told Tahu what he had found. Kopaka led Tahu back to the tunnel entrance, where he had to convince Tahu to refrain from charging into the nest until all six Toa had regrouped. Kopaka and Tahu were traveling up the foothills of the Mangai Volcano when the two met up with Pohatu and Gali, and later Onua and Lewa. When the Toa summed up the Krana they had collected, they realized that they had gathered all they needed. At Lewa’s suggestion, the Toa wasted no time in traveling with their Krana to the entrance of the underground Bohrok nests. The Toa descended into the tunnel, trying their best to avoid exiting Bohrok and fighting past them when they could not. After the Toa traveled into the tunnel for some distance, Tahu descended down an opening in the floor that sealed itself shut once he was inside the Tahnok nest below. Meanwhile, a slab of stone suddenly came down and sealed the tunnel ahead of the Toa waiting up above. The five Toa then faced a surge of lava flowing down the tunnel they had come just down through. Desperate to escape, Onua and Pohatu worked on shattering the stone slab while Kopaka tried to slow the lava flow. Despite all of Onua and Pohatu’s strength, they could not produce even a scratch in the stone. It was Lewa, who had survived the experience of having a Krana attached to his face, who realized that the stone slab was an illusion. Once the Toa stopped believing that the stone was actually there, it dematerialized. The five Toa escaped from the tunnel and met up with Tahu once again when he burst through the floor, having heated the air in the Tahnok nest until the air pressure blew the nest apart. The floor gave way under the Toa, sending them falling into a large chamber below. The Toa used their mask powers to cushion their fall and landed safely. They noticed special niches in the ground specialized for the Krana they carried, so they placed in them the Krana they had worked so hard to collect. Once the Toa did this, the ground shook, causing six doors in the walls of the chamber to crumble. The doorways revealed six entrances, and each Toa went into his own passageway. The Toa discovered Exo-Toa armor in the new chambers, which gave them more power than ever before. Coming back to the larger chamber and occupying the suit of Exo-Toa armor, Kopaka helped Lewa defend himself against Gahdok – one of the Bahrag, twin queens of the Bohrok swarms. Kopaka and Lewa drove Gahdok back into the larger chamber as Tahu drove Cahdok into the area as well. The Toa quickly surrounded the Bahrag and drove them into the center of the chamber as a strategic move. However, the Bahrag’s symbiosis allowed them to grow more powerful as they came closer together. When the Toa attacked the Bahrag with the new weapons of the Exo-Toa, they had no effect. Despite the new power that the Exo-Toa gave the Toa, their battle with the Bahrag did not seem to be in their favor. Kopaka was buried by earth and rock. Most of the other Toa were promptly overcome, and they found themselves once again fighting a battle that did not seem to move along in their favor. Tahu finally reasoned that the only hope to win the fight was to get out of the Exo-Toa, which hindered the use of the Toa’s elemental and Kanohi powers. After he ordered the Toa to shed their Exo-Toa armor, the Toa attacked the Bahrag as one, this time combining their elemental powers in a single beam against the Bahrag. This beam of the Toa’s six elemental blasts combined created a barred cage of indestructible solid protodermis around the Bahrag, imprisoning them. Because of this, the Bahrag’s mental link was cut off from the Krana, and in turn cut off from the Bohrok. The Bohrok all over Mata Nui ceased their rampages at once, and the Toa had saved Mata Nui once again. Immediately after the Bahrag’s defeat, the Toa were drawn into tubes in the floor of the chamber that were filled with energized protodermis. As destiny would have it, the Toa were transformed by the substance into something more powerful than any other Toa had ever been, with greater elemental powers, stronger Kanohi masks, and shiny new armor. No longer were they Toa Mata. Forever after, they would be known as the Toa Nuva. Kopaka became known as Kopaka Nuva. Throughout his existence, Toa Kopaka possessed the elemental power of ice, which basically allowed him to create and manipulate ice by using elemental energy. Kopaka could also absorb elemental ice energy from his surroundings to replenish it in himself. Kopaka carried an ice sword for a Toa tool, through which he channeled his elemental ice power. Kopaka carried an ice shield as well. Before he received his gold Kanohi, Kopaka favored to wear his Kanohi Akaku, which he had possessed even before the time he arrived on Mata Nui. He preferred to be alone much of the time, left to his own thoughts. He was the least communicative of the Toa Mata, but he would join them in battle when necessary.

Toa Lewa was a Toa of Air and one of the Toa Mata. He was gifted with the elemental power of air; wore a Kanohi Miru, the Great Mask of Levitation; and carried an axe through which he could channel his elemental power. Lewa and the other Toa Mata were a part of the legend of Mata Nui, a legend that the Turaga of Mata Nui often told to the Matoran during the millennium between the Great Cataclysm and the Toa Mata’s arrival. The legend itself was spawned by a mix of common Matoran legends, the past experiences of the Turaga as the Toa Metru, and Turaga Vakama’s visions. The legend, as the Matoran of Mata Nui knew it, stated that the Great Beings sent the Great Spirit Mata Nui from the heavens into the world to care for all living things. Mata Nui brought with him the Matoran to the paradise that was the island of Mata Nui, named so in his honor. Mata Nui gave the Matoran the Three Virtues to live by: unity, duty, and destiny; and the Matoran lived happily under Mata Nui’s loving protection. Unfortunately, Mata Nui’s dark brother, the Makuta, had followed Mata Nui from paradise and coveted the world and all that his brother had. Makuta cast a spell over Mata Nui that caused him to fall into a deep slumber. Then, Makuta claimed the world as his own, bringing darkness and destruction everywhere. Fields withered away, sunlight grew cold, and the ancient values of the Matoran were eventually forgotten. However, all was not lost; for the Great Beings would send six mighty Toa to defeat Makuta and awaken Mata Nui once more; and one day, the Toa finally did appear. Like his fellow Toa Mata, Lewa’s origin before coming to the island of Mata Nui is very mysterious. He probably came into being about 95,000 years before he arrived on the shores of Mata Nui. He had never been a Matoran prior to being a Toa, and it is possible that he and the other Toa Mata’s sole purpose was to serve as a failsafe for the Great Spirit Mata Nui should he ever have fallen into danger. As happens with every Toa, Lewa’s spirit star came into being, which rested in the sky above Mata Nui. Whatever island that Lewa and the rest of the Toa Mata came from, they were trained in the use of their powers as Toa: the use of their elemental powers, the use of Kanohi, and the ability to form Toa Kaita. A Matoran local of the island once described the place as the “world that feeds the world,” the “wellspring of flame that burns none but its bearer until nothing is left, not even ashes.” Some time later, on the same island, the Toa Mata willingly put themselves into transportation canisters that the local Matoran created especially for them to fall into a deep sleep and await a call to action. The Toa Mata’s call came when the Great Cataclysm occurred and Mata Nui was cast into endless slumber. Their canisters were activated and rocketed up into the sky above Mata Nui to safely fall back down again into the ocean surrounding the island. Had their canisters been working properly, the Toa would have arrived on the shores of Mata Nui, made their way underground to Metru Nui, and found a way to defeat Makuta while he was still weakened and awaken Mata Nui. Unfortunately, an unintentional mechanical fault caused their canisters to malfunction. Instead of steering themselves toward the island of Mata Nui, the canisters floated freely in the ocean with the Toa inside of them for a thousand years. Due to their prolonged time sealed in the canisters, some of the Toa’s biological ligaments decayed over time, causing some of their mechanical parts to fall apart. Their memory faded during that time as well. All the while, on Mata Nui, Makuta harassed the Matoran for a thousand years with his Rahi beasts. A thousand years after the Great Cataclysm, the adventurous Matoran Takua gathered the Toa stones from all over the island of Mata Nui and brought them together at the Kini-Nui. In doing this, he unwittingly sent a beacon to the Toa’s canisters that finally steered them toward the island. Lewa’s canister washed up on the shores of the Kanae Bay in Le-Wahi. The canister opened, and Lewa’s loose body pieces flew out onto the sandy beach. Lewa reassembled himself, his organic tissue regrowing once he fitted his mechanical parts back together. Once Lewa noticed his Kanohi Miru lying in the sand and put it on, he felt a surge of energy course through him that he had probably not felt for centuries. Just as the Matoran’s legends had foretold, Lewa remembered nothing except dreams of darkness and his own name. Lewa swung on vines through the jungle trees of Le-Wahi. Lewa traveled far inland until he found the village of Le-Koro, where Turaga Matau and the Le-Matoran lived. He was welcomed as the Toa come to save them; and Matau told Lewa of their situation: how Makuta had been using the Rahi to harass the Matoran for centuries, and how Makuta had cast the Great Spirit Mata Nui into endless sleep. The Turaga informed Lewa that, in order to gain the strength needed to defeat Makuta, he and the other Toa needed to go on a quest for the Kanohi masks of power that were hidden all over Mata Nui. Additional to his Kanohi Miru, Lewa would have to collect five other Great Kanohi – Hau, Kakama, Pakari, Akaku, Kaukau; and retrieve five Noble Kanohi – Huna, Komau, Ruru, Matatu, and Rau – that had been stolen by the Rahi. Lewa set out from his village to find the other Toa. All six Toa met each other at the bottom of Mount Ihu. Lewa advocated the idea of the Toa going their separate ways to find the Kanohi masks of power. After a heated discussion, the Toa decided to split up during their quest for the masks rather than working together as a team, much to Lewa’s satisfaction. The Toa then got a first taste of Makuta’s own power when he sent a brief combination of hail, lightning, and an earth tremor against them to disrupt the meeting. Lewa departed from the meeting with Gali. They were traveling through the jungle when Lewa saved Gali from an “angry” pool of water under the power of Makuta. Despite this close encounter, Lewa and Gali parted ways. Lewa went back to Le-Koro, where Matau told him of the location of a Kanohi Kakama. Lewa was annoyed to find out that the mask was on the bottom of a large pool of water in a Le-Wahi cavern. Lewa reached the spot after defeating a Nui-Jaga, but was almost drowned by seaweed that was under Makuta’s power upon his first attempt to swim to the mask. Lewa retrieved the mask, however, and prepared for the journey back to Le-Koro. Just like the other Great Kanohi masks that he would collect during his quest, Lewa’s Kakama was teleported back to the Le-Suva, able to be summoned back and forth for his use at any time. Lewa was swinging through the trees when he was ambushed by a Nui-Rama and had his Kanohi knocked off. Lewa then fell to the ground toward the jaws of a Muaka only to save himself by grabbing a vine. Onua then came to his rescue when he pulled the Muaka into the earth. Despite Onua’s efforts, however, Lewa was captured and had an infected Kanohi mask put on his face that made him a servant of Makuta. Lewa was taken to a Nui-Rama hive elsewhere in Le-Wahi where Turaga Matau, Taipu, and many of the Le-Matoran were being held captive. After Takua, Kongu, and the Kahu Patrol launched an attack on the Rahi hive that resulted in their own capture, Onua dug himself into the hive to rescue Lewa. Onua fought Lewa and ended the battle when he knocked Lewa’s infected mask off and freed him from Makuta’s influence. Lewa and Onua then helped the Turaga and all of the Matoran escape from the hive and return to Le-Koro. Lewa and Onua later met up with Pohatu. After the Toa realized they all had limited success in finding the Kanohi masks alone, Onua called a meeting near his landing site. Onua sent Lewa to bring Kopaka back from his quest, which led him to the Lava Lagoon in Ta-Wahi. Kopaka’s task was about to turn deadly when Lewa saved him from falling into the Lava flow. Lewa took Kopaka back to Onua’s meeting without fail. The rest of the Toa returned from all over the island to discuss their situation. After a great battle against the Rahi and Makuta’s power over the island, this meeting ended in one unanimous decision: the Toa would work together as a team. The Toa turned to the Ta-Matoran for the location of the next hidden Kanohi mask to find. The Ta-Matoran told the Toa that Tahu’s Kanohi Miru was beneath the waves of the shoreline just south of Po-Koro. With this in mind, the Toa traveled to this location as a group, although they still wasted much time on petty disagreements. Lewa kept on getting distracted and wandering away from the group, which also slowed the group down. When they arrived, the Toa who already possessed the Kanohi Kaukau – Onua, Kopaka, and Gali – went underwater to retrieve the mask while Lewa, Pohatu, and Tahu guarded the beach. The Toa underwater encountered a Tarakava from which they removed its infected mask. The Toa retrieved Tahu’s Miru and returned to the surface successful. Along with the other Toa, Lewa found more Great Kanohi as well as Noble Kanohi, which he would return to Turaga Matau when he had the chance. As Lewa collected more and more Kanohi, he gained more and more abilities from the Great and Noble Masks. After the Toa collected several more Kanohi with significant success, they split off into two groups to find Pohatu’s two last Great Kanohi. Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka went to Po-Wahi; and Tahu, Onua, and Gali went to Le-Wahi. Lewa voluntarily used his own Kanohi Miru to retrieve Pohatu’s Miru from halfway down the highest bluff in Po-Wahi. The Toa’s quest for the masks finally ended in the drifts of lower Mount Ihu where they found Tahu’s Kaukau. After the Toa had collected all of the Great and Noble Kanohi and had for the most part freed the Rahi from Makuta’s control, they were uncertain of what to do next. They had heard rumors of Gold Kanohi, and both Kopaka and Gali had had brief, mysterious visions of the Toa Kaita and of a massive temple in the center of the island. The Toa, having each collected all six of their necessary Great Masks, returned to their Koro. When Lewa visited the Le-Suva in Le-Koro, where his Great Masks were kept, and placed his own mask on it, his six Great Kanohi formed a single Gold Kanohi in the shape of his Kanohi Miru. Armed with his new Gold Kanohi, which gave him the powers of the six Great Kanohi he had collected, Lewa journeyed with the other Toa to the Kini-Nui. It was there that they met the Chronicler’s Company, who agreed to defend the Kini-Nui from the Rahi while the Toa were facing Makuta. The Toa then unlocked an underground passageway to Mangaia, Makuta’s underground lair, through the Kini-Nui with the Makoki stones. The Toa traveled through this tunnel down to Makuta’s realm. When, on their way to Makuta, the Toa encountered the Manas – Makuta’s two most powerful Rahi guardians – they could not find a way to defeat them until they merged their beings together to form two powerful Toa Kaita. Lewa merged with Kopaka and Gali to form Toa Kaita Wairuha. The Toa Kaita were able to defeat the Manas and move on toward Makuta’s inner lair. Once the Toa Kaita reached Makuta’s inner lair, they split apart once again into the six Toa. It was there that the Toa faced the Shadow Toa – dark essences of themselves given independent life by Makuta. The Toa were evenly matched against their Shadow Toa counterparts. The Toa, faced with essentially fighting themselves, still managed to triumph by acknowledging that the darkness was a part of them, just as it was a part of all beings. This realization enabled the Toa to reabsorb the Shadow Toa back into their bodies, ending their threat. With the Shadow Toa defeated, the Toa faced the Makuta himself. Makuta revealed only a small part of his true form to the Toa, at first taking on the appearance of a pitted, scarred, infected Matoran. Then, after greeting the Toa, he transformed into a mass of tentacles that quickly beat back the Toa. Even with their mask powers, the Toa were rapidly caught up in an intense battle that did not seem to press on in their favor. It was only when the Toa used their elemental powers together against Makuta’s being that they were able to defeat him. Makuta, beaten, mysteriously disappeared. After their great fight, the Toa started back up to the surface of Mata Nui victorious. The Toa, it seemed, had saved the island of Mata Nui and its Matoran at last. When the Toa reached the surface, they did not hear the sounds of peace but the sounds of turmoil all over the island’s landscape. They found a Ta-Matoran near the Kini-Nui who repeated one word over and over: Bohrok. The Toa used their Kanohi to speed their way to Ta-Koro to investigate, where they found mysterious creatures attacking the village. As it turned out, these new creatures were swarms of Pahrak and Kohrak. Lewa jumped into battle only to be frozen by a Kohrak. Once freed, Lewa was able to combine his powers with Gali to create a storm to drive away these creatures; but the Toa had just faced Mata Nui’s newest threat: the Bohrok swarms. As the Toa stood around a single fallen Pahrak, Turaga Vakama told the Toa the legend of the Bohrok, which was yet another prophecy spawned by his visions. This legend stated that the Bohrok had slept a seemingly endless sleep for thousands of years. When they wakened, they would rampage throughout Mata Nui and devastate the island. The weakness of any Bohrok, however, was its Krana – a purely organic creature within the Bohrok’s head plate that guided the Bohrok on its mission and gave it extra power. Even the mightiest of Bohrok would be rendered helpless if parted from its Krana. Turaga Vakama told the Toa of a new mission: to gather the eight Krana breeds from each of the six Bohrok swarms – a total of forty-eight Krana to collect. The Toa took a Krana Xa from the fallen Pahrak. As leader, Tahu ordered the other Toa to return to their Koro to make sure their villages were safe and to start on their mission to gather the Krana. Lewa arrived at Le-Koro to find a horrifying reality. Le-Koro had already been attacked by the Bohrok; and Turaga Matau and all of the Le-Matoran (save Kongu and Tamaru) had had Krana affixed to their faces, which, when worn, could steal the mind. Lewa, not daring to fight against his own villagers, allowed them to overcome him and place a telepathic Krana Za on his own face. A week had passed when Onua grew truly concerned about Lewa, the only Toa who had not been heard from since he left Ta-Koro for his own village. Onua gathered a group of Matoran-piloted Boxor vehicles to follow him and went to Le-Wahi to check on Lewa. Onua soon found a party of Lehvak Va carrying Lewa’s gold Kanohi mask, which troubled him even more. It was not long before Lewa, under the Bohrok swarm’s influence, ambushed the worried Toa of Earth. Onua, facing a Lewa who was not himself yet again, was unsure how he could ever defeat the Toa of Air. Instead of fighting him directly, Onua stood in front of his friend, not defending himself. He reached out to the Lewa behind the Krana, trusting him to let his will win over that of the Bohrok swarm’s. With Onua’s new motivation, Lewa ripped the Krana Za off of his face himself. Onua gave Lewa’s mask back to him as a group of Lehvak charged them, which the Boxor vehicles were able to defeat. When Lewa had undergone the experience of wearing a Krana, Lewa’s mind had been filled with thoughts that were not his own. Lewa, therefore, had a better idea than any of the other Toa or the Turaga of what the Bohrok were really up to. The Toa of Air even became able to understand communication among the Bohrok. Lewa, however, was troubled by the thought that the swarm still might have had some influence over him. Lewa traveled up the foothills of the Mangai Volcano with Onua, where the two met up with Tahu; Pohatu; Gali; and Kopaka, who had discovered the entrance to the Bohrok nest. When the Toa summed up the Krana they had collected, they realized that they had gathered all they needed. At Lewa’s suggestion, the Toa wasted no time in traveling with their Krana to the entrance of the underground Bohrok nests. The Toa descended into the tunnel, trying their best to avoid exiting Bohrok and fighting past them when they could not. Tahu showed that he was uneasy about Lewa’s encounter with the Krana, suspecting that he might still be influenced by the Bohrok. After the Toa traveled into the tunnel for some distance, Tahu descended down an opening in the floor that sealed itself shut once he was inside the Tahnok nest below. Meanwhile, a slab of stone suddenly came down and sealed the tunnel ahead of the Toa waiting up above. The five Toa then faced a surge of lava flowing down the tunnel they had come just down through. Desperate to escape, Onua and Pohatu worked on shattering the stone slab while Kopaka tried to slow the lava flow. Despite all of Onua and Pohatu’s strength, they could not produce even a scratch in the stone. It was Lewa, calling upon his knowledge of the Bohrok, who realized that the stone slab was an illusion. Once the Toa stopped believing that the stone was actually there, it dematerialized. The five Toa escaped from the tunnel and met up with Tahu once again when he burst through the floor, having heated the air in the Tahnok nest until the air pressure blew the nest apart. The floor gave way under the Toa, sending them falling into a large chamber below. The Toa used their mask powers to cushion their fall and landed safely. They noticed special niches in the ground specialized for the Krana they carried, so they placed in them the Krana they had worked so hard to collect. Once the Toa did this, the ground shook, causing six doors in the walls of the chamber to crumble. The doorways revealed six entrances, and each Toa went into his own passageway. Lewa’s foreign memories from the Krana were haunting him at this point, informing him of what the Toa were about to find. The Toa discovered Exo-Toa armor in the new chambers, which gave them more power than ever before. Coming back to the larger chamber and occupying the suit of Exo-Toa armor, Lewa encountered Gahdok – one of the Bahrag, twin queens of the Bohrok swarms. Kopaka helped Lewa drive Gahdok back into the larger chamber as Tahu drove Cahdok into the area as well. The Toa quickly surrounded the Bahrag and drove them into the center of the chamber as a strategic move. However, the Bahrag’s symbiosis allowed them to grow more powerful as they came closer together. When the Toa attacked the Bahrag with the new weapons of the Exo-Toa, they had no effect. Despite the new power that the Exo-Toa gave the Toa, their battle with the Bahrag did not seem to be in their favor. Lewa was half-frozen by Gahdok. Most of the other Toa were promptly overcome, and they found themselves once again fighting a battle that did not seem to move along in their favor. After a close call against Gahdok, Tahu finally reasoned that the only hope to win the fight was to get out of the Exo-Toa, which hindered the use of the Toa’s elemental and Kanohi powers. After he ordered the Toa to shed their Exo-Toa armor, the Toa attacked the Bahrag as one, this time combining their elemental powers in a single beam against the Bahrag. This beam of the Toa’s six elemental blasts combined created a barred cage of indestructible solid protodermis around the Bahrag, imprisoning them. Because of this, the Bahrag’s mental link was cut off from the Krana, and in turn cut off from the Bohrok. The Bohrok all over Mata Nui ceased their rampages at once, and the Toa had saved Mata Nui once again. Immediately after the Bahrag’s defeat, the Toa were drawn into tubes in the floor of the chamber that were filled with energized protodermis. As destiny would have it, the Toa were transformed by the substance into something more powerful than any other Toa had ever been, with greater elemental powers, stronger Kanohi masks, and shiny new armor. No longer were they Toa Mata. Forever after, they would be known as the Toa Nuva. Lewa became known as Lewa Nuva. Throughout his existence, Toa Lewa possessed the elemental power of air, which basically allowed him to create and manipulate the air and wind by using elemental energy. Lewa could also absorb elemental air energy from his surroundings to replenish it in himself. Lewa carried an axe for a Toa tool that he used to channel his elemental air power. Before he received his gold Kanohi, Lewa favored to wear his Kanohi Miru, which he had possessed even before the time he arrived on Mata Nui. He preferred to be among the treetops, as he was somewhat clumsy on flat land. Lewa was extremely competent with aerial activities, highly energetic, and very acrobatic. This caused him to be overly talkative and easily distracted from what the other Toa were saying. Lewa could also be incredibly impulsive, which often got him into considerable danger. Lewa was known to base many of his decisions merely on hunches – which, much to the other Toa Mata’s surprise, often turned out to be correct. Lewa, though, could always be counted on to jump into a fight first, protecting the other Toa Mata before himself.

It's giving you that "you don't have permission..." thing, isn't it? That's because the Akaku entry isn't published yet. I'll get to doing that one of these days .

A specific group of Toa named the Toa Mata – Tahu, Toa of Fire; Pohatu, Toa of Stone; Onua, Toa of Earth; Lewa, Toa of Air; Kopaka, Toa of Ice; and Gali, Toa of Water – was simply known to the Matoran of Mata Nui as “the Toa.” Just like all Toa, they were gifted with amazing elemental powers and Great Kanohi masks. Their name referred to the Great Spirit Mata Nui, as it was their destiny alone to awaken him. Led by Toa Tahu, the Toa Mata were a part of the legend of Mata Nui, a legend that the Turaga of Mata Nui often told to the Matoran during the millennium between the Great Cataclysm and the Toa Mata’s arrival. The legend itself was spawned by a mix of common Matoran legends, the past experiences of the Turaga as the Toa Metru, and Turaga Vakama’s visions. The legend, as the Matoran of Mata Nui knew it, stated that the Great Beings sent the Great Spirit Mata Nui from the heavens into the world to care for all living things. Mata Nui brought with him the Matoran to the paradise that was the island of Mata Nui, named so in his honor. Mata Nui gave the Matoran the Three Virtues to live by: unity, duty, and destiny; and the Matoran lived happily under Mata Nui’s loving protection. Unfortunately, Mata Nui’s dark brother, the Makuta, had followed Mata Nui from paradise and coveted the world and all that his brother had. Makuta cast a spell over Mata Nui that caused him to fall into a deep slumber. Then, Makuta claimed the world as his own, bringing darkness and destruction everywhere. Fields withered away, sunlight grew cold, and the ancient values of the Matoran were eventually forgotten. However, all was not lost; for the Great Beings would send six mighty Toa to defeat Makuta and awaken Mata Nui once more; and one day, the Toa finally did appear. The Toa Mata’s past before coming to the island of Mata Nui is very mysterious. The Toa probably came into being about 95,000 years before they arrived on the shores of Mata Nui. They had never been Matoran prior to being Toa, and it is possible that their sole purpose was to serve as a failsafe for the Great Spirit Mata Nui should he ever have fallen into danger. As happens with every Toa, their spirit stars came into being, which rested in the sky above Mata Nui. Whatever island that Tahu and the rest of the Toa Mata came from, they were trained in the use of their powers as Toa: the use of their elemental powers, the use of Kanohi, and the ability to form Toa Kaita. A Matoran local of the island once described the place as the “world that feeds the world,” the “wellspring of flame that burns none but its bearer until nothing is left, not even ashes.” Some time later, on the same island, the Toa Mata willingly put themselves into transportation canisters that the local Matoran created especially for them to fall into a deep sleep and await a call to action. The Toa Mata’s call came when the Great Cataclysm occurred and Mata Nui was cast into endless slumber. Their canisters were activated and rocketed up into the sky above Mata Nui to safely fall back down again into the ocean surrounding the island. Had their canisters been working properly, the Toa would have arrived on the shores of Mata Nui, made their way underground to Metru Nui, and found a way to defeat Makuta while he was still weakened and awaken Mata Nui. Unfortunately, an unintentional mechanical fault caused their canisters to malfunction. Instead of steering themselves toward the island of Mata Nui, the canisters floated freely in the ocean with the Toa inside of them for a thousand years. Due to their prolonged time sealed in the canisters, some of the Toa’s biological ligaments decayed over time, causing some of their mechanical parts to fall apart. Their memory faded during that time as well. All the while, on Mata Nui, Makuta harassed the Matoran for a thousand years with his Rahi beasts. A thousand years after the Great Cataclysm, the adventurous Ta-Matoran Takua gathered the Toa stones from all over the island of Mata Nui and brought them together at the Kini-Nui. In doing this, he unwittingly sent a beacon to the Toa’s canisters that finally steered them toward the island. The Toa Mata’s canisters each landed on the coast of their Toa’s corresponding Wahi. Each of the canisters opened, and the loose pieces of each Toa’s body flew out onto the beach. The Toa reassembled themselves, their organic tissue regrowing once they fitted their mechanical parts back together; and once they put on their Kanohi masks, they felt a surge of energy course through them that they had probably not felt for centuries. Just as the Matoran’s legends had foretold, the Toa remembered nothing except dreams of darkness and their own names. The first thing the Toa did after arriving was to travel inland and find their Koro (except Gali, who found Ga-Koro later), where the Turaga and Matoran lived. The Turaga told each of the Toa Mata of their situation: how Makuta had been using the Rahi to harass the Matoran for centuries, and how Makuta had cast the Great Spirit Mata Nui into endless sleep. The Turaga informed the Toa that, in order to gain the strength needed to defeat Makuta, they needed to go on a quest for the Kanohi masks of power that were hidden all over Mata Nui. Additional to the Great Kanohi that each of the Toa already wore were the thirty Great Kanohi that were hidden all over the island and the thirty Noble Kanohi that had been stolen by the Rahi. The types of hidden Great Kanohi were Hau, Kakama, Pakari, Miru, Akaku, Kaukau; and the types of stolen Noble Kanohi were Huna, Komau, Ruru, Mahiki, Matatu, and Rau. The six Toa all met each other later at the bottom of Mount Ihu. After a heated discussion, they decided to split up to find the Kanohi masks of power on their own rather than working together as a team. They got a first taste of Makuta’s own power when he sent a brief combination of hail, lightning, and an earth tremor against them to disrupt the meeting. Each Toa battled their share of Rahi and the forces of nature that Makuta used against them to collect a few Kanohi masks. As the Toa collected Great Kanohi, the masks were teleported back to the Toa’s Suva shrines when they were not in use, and could be summoned back and forth for the Toa’s use at any time. If a Toa came across a Noble Kanohi, they returned it to their Turaga when they had the chance. As the Toa collected more and more Kanohi, they each gained more and more abilities from the Great and Noble Masks. After the Toa realized they all had limited success in finding the Kanohi masks alone, Onua called a meeting near his landing site. The Toa returned from all over the island to discuss their situation. After a great battle against the Rahi and Makuta’s power over the island, this meeting ended in one unanimous decision: the Toa would work together as a team. The Toa turned to the Ta-Matoran for the location of the next hidden Kanohi mask to find. The Ta-Matoran told the Toa that Tahu’s Kanohi Miru was beneath the waves of the shoreline just south of Po-Koro. With this in mind, the Toa traveled to this location as a group. The Toa wasted much time over petty disagreements. When they arrived at their destination, the Toa who already possessed the Kanohi Kaukau – Onua, Kopaka, and Gali – went underwater to retrieve the mask while Tahu, Pohatu, and Lewa guarded the beach. The Toa underwater encountered a Tarakava from which they removed its infected mask. The Toa retrieved Tahu’s Miru and returned to the surface successful. After the Toa collected several more Kanohi with significant success, they split off into two groups to find Pohatu’s two last Great Kanohi. Pohatu, Lewa, and Kopaka went to Po-Wahi; and Tahu, Onua, and Gali went to Le-Wahi. Both groups were successful, and met up with each other once again. The Toa’s quest for the masks finally ended in the drifts of lower Mount Ihu where they found Tahu’s Kaukau. After the Toa had collected all of the Great and Noble Kanohi and had for the most part freed the Rahi from Makuta’s control, they were uncertain of what to do next. They had heard rumors of Gold Kanohi, and both Kopaka and Gali had had brief, mysterious visions of the Toa Kaita and of a massive temple in the center of the island. The Toa having each collected all six of their necessary Great Masks, they returned to the Koro. When they visited their Suva shrines, where their Great masks were kept, and placed their own mask on it, each of their six Great Kanohi formed into a single Gold Kanohi. Armed with their new Gold Kanohi, which gave the Toa the powers of the six Great Kanohi they had collected, the Toa journeyed together to the Kini-Nui. It was there that they met the Chronicler’s Company, who agreed to defend the Kini-Nui from the Rahi while the Toa were facing Makuta, and then unlocked an underground passageway to Mangaia, Makuta’s underground lair, with the Makoki stones. The Toa traveled through this tunnel down to Makuta’s realm. When the Toa encountered the Manas – Makuta’s two most powerful Rahi guardians – on the way to Makuta, they could not find a way to defeat them until they merged their beings together to form two Toa Kaita: Akamai and Wairuha. The Toa Kaita were able to defeat the Manas and move on toward Makuta’s inner lair. Once the Toa Kaita reached Makuta’s inner lair, they split apart once again into the six Toa. It was there that the Toa faced the Shadow Toa – dark essences of themselves given independent life by Makuta. The Toa were evenly matched against their Shadow Toa counterparts. Faced with essentially fighting themselves, the Toa still managed to triumph by acknowledging that the darkness was a part of themselves, just as it was a part of all beings. This realization enabled the Toa to reabsorb the Shadow Toa back into their bodies, ending their threat. With the Shadow Toa defeated, the Toa faced the Makuta himself. Makuta revealed only a small part of his true form to the Toa, at first taking on the appearance of a pitted, scarred, infected Matoran. Then, after greeting the Toa, he transformed into a mass of tentacles that quickly beat back the Toa. It was only when the Toa used their elemental powers together against Makuta that they were able to defeat him. The Toa started back up to the surface of Mata Nui victorious. The Toa, it seemed, had saved the Matoran at last. When the Toa reached the surface, they did not hear the sounds of peace but the sounds of turmoil all over the island’s landscape. They found a Ta-Matoran near the Kini-Nui who repeated one word over and over: Bohrok. The Toa used their Kanohi to speed their way to Ta-Koro to investigate, where they found mysterious creatures attacking the village. It turned out that these new creatures were swarms of Tahnok, Pahrak, and Kohrak. The Toa were able to drive away the Bohrok swarms, but the Toa had just faced Mata Nui’s newest threat: the Bohrok swarms. As the Toa stood around a single fallen Pahrak, Turaga Vakama told the Toa the legend of the Bohrok, which was yet another prophecy spawned by his visions. This legend stated that the Bohrok had slept a seemingly endless sleep for thousands of years. Whenever they awakened, they would rampage throughout Mata Nui and devastate the island. The weakness of any Bohrok, however, was its Krana – a purely organic creature within the Bohrok’s headplate that guided the Bohrok on its mission and gave it extra power. Even the mightiest of Bohrok would be rendered helpless if parted from its Krana. Turaga Vakama told the Toa of a new mission: to gather the eight Krana breeds from each of the six Bohrok swarms – a total of forty-eight Krana to collect. The Toa took a Krana Xa from the fallen Pahrak. As leader, Tahu ordered the other Toa to split off and return to the Koro to make sure their villages were safe and to start on their mission to gather the Krana. After many struggles against the Bohrok in gathering Krana and defending the Koro, the Toa finally gathered the forty-eight Krana necessary for their mission. All six Toa later met on the foothills of the Mangai volcano. At Lewa’s suggestion, the Toa wasted no time in traveling with their Krana to the entrance of the underground Bohrok nests in the rocky wastes between Ko-Wahi and Le-Wahi. The Toa descended into the tunnel, trying their best to avoid exiting Bohrok and fighting past them when they couldn’t. After the Toa traveled into the tunnel for some distance, Tahu descended down an opening in the floor that sealed itself shut once he was inside Tahnok nest below. Meanwhile, a slab of stone suddenly came down and sealed the tunnel ahead of the Toa waiting up above. The five Toa then faced a surge of lava flowing down the tunnel they had come just down through. Desparate to escape, Pohatu and Onua worked on shattering the stone slab while Kopaka tried to slow the lava flow. Despite all of Pohatu and Onua’s strength, they could not produce even a scratch in the stone. It was Lewa, who had survived the experience of having a Krana attached to his face, who realized that the stone slab was an illusion. Once the Toa stopped believing that the stone was actually there, it dematerialized. The five Toa escaped from the tunnel; and they met up with Tahu once again when he burst through the floor, having heated the air in the Tahnok nest until the pressure blew the nest apart. The floor gave way under the Toa, sending them falling into a large chamber below. The Toa used their mask powers to cushion their fall and landed safely. They noticed special niches in the ground specialized for the Krana they carried, so they placed in them the Krana they had worked so hard to collect. Once the Toa did this, the ground shook, causing six doors in the walls of the chamber to crumble. The doorways revealed six entrances; each Toa went into their own passageway. The Toa discovered Exo-Toa armor in the new chambers, which gave them more power than ever before. The Toa returned in their new Exo-Toa to the larger chamber, where they met the Bahrag – the twin queens of the Bohrok swarms. The Toa quickly surrounded the Bahrag and drove them into the center of the chamber. The Bahrag’s symbiosis allowed them to grow more powerful as they came closer together; and when the Toa attacked the Bahrag with the new weapons of the Exo-Toa, they had no effect. Despite the new power that the Exo-Toa gave the Toa, their battle with the Bahrag did not seem to be in their favor. Tahu finally reasoned that the only hope to win the fight was to get out of the Exo-Toa, which hindered the use of the Toa’s elemental and Kanohi powers; and so he ordered the Toa to shed their Exo-Toa armor. The Toa surrounded the Bahrag once again, this time combining their elemental powers in a single beam against the Bahrag. This created a barred cage of a type of indestructible solid protodermis. Since the Bahrag were imprisoned, their mental link was cut off from the Krana, and in turn cut off from the Bohrok. The Bohrok all over Mata Nui ceased their rampages at once. The Toa had saved Mata Nui once again. Simultaneously, the Toa were drawn into tubes in the floor of the chamber filled with energized protodermis. As destiny would have it, the Toa were transformed by the substance into something more powerful than any other Toa had ever been, with greater elemental powers, stronger Kanohi masks, and shiny new armor. No longer were they Toa Mata. Forever after, they would be known as Toa Nuva.

What game? WHAT GAME? Go to Bionicle.com. Inika Island Assault. You will have fun.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006 Ah, school's finally over for the break! Me so happy . Yeah, I saw the Blue Man Group tonight. The show is very...creative. Very good. The toilet paper thing at the end is quite an experience. I invite others to comment on the show for those who have seen it. Especially if you were a...victim . I've been to the show a couple times before myself. Last time, my little brother caught the jelly cork thing that launches from the table in the middle of the show. It was really cool. And squishy. We tried to preserve it as long as we could until it like...disintegrated. Meh. Squishy things are short-lived. I finally got my two-year Avohkii last night! Thanks, BZP, for a great two years!

Saturday, December 16, 2006 Boo-yah! Who will dare to topple me from second place!? What a GREAT GAME. I'm addicted to it. Well, I slept for fifteen hours last night, from 5:30 PM yesterday until 8:30 this morning. That's what going to bed at 3:30 the night before will do to ya. That's also definitely what I call "pulling a Mata Nui."

Friday, Decmber 15, 2006 I totally just shattered -- and I mean SHATTERED -- this old record. It's 3:22. AM. :annoyed:z z Z

Well, Shine, I have a feeling that it may not be possible, but if you could find a way in BBCode to get rid of the underline in links, that'd be great.

Thursday, December 14, 2006 As of last Tuesday, I own the Piraka Stronghold, Thulox, Dekar, Defilak, and Thulox. For some reason -- we definitely didn't order it -- they were extra nice and threw in a couple of base plates in the package at no charge. Mistake? I'm not complaining. It kinda makes up for the lousy shipping service all year . Defilak Boxes for the small sets are clearly getting bigger year by year. What's inside the box: What comes right out of the box: Pieces you'll only find in this set: Whoah, that image creates kind of an optical illusion, right? Yes, that silver Bohrok tooth has appeared before in the Roodaka set, but it's a pretty scarce piece otherwise. How to build a Matoran of Mahri Nui: Dekar: What's inside the box: What comes right out of the box: Pieces you'll only find in this set: Again, the silver Bohrok tooth is simply an uncommon piece. I'll comment now that I really like the new dagger tools. All da pieces: Anyway, you build this thing and it ends up looking like this: Thulox: What's inside the box: What comes right out of the box: All da pieces: Pieces you'll only find in this set: A red Zamor and one of Kalmah's armor plates! Seeing as I don't think I've encountered a red one-of-those pieces before, I assumed it was uncommon as well. ...And that's when my camera died. Yeah, you probably wanted to see the Piraka Stronghold. Later, later...

If you haven't already, download Microsoft GIF Animator. Paste the image into the program as a frame, and under the "Image" tag, check "Transparency," with white as the "Transparent Color." Save it as a Compuserve GIF and you'll get something like this: That took like five seconds.

You said it. Such a long time ago.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006 There will be more -- only in this blog!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006 Woo-hoo! Up at 1 AM because of my homework XD! Way to be nocturnal! :annoyed:z z Z

Yayz. I watched them all in a row just now. That really takes you back...

Friday, December 8, 2006 Typping is very hard right now. I've totally lost my left arm. See, at the end of scghool, I had to carry my celloo through the halls and through the brutally cold outdoors to our car in order to bring it home for a concert tomorrow. I had to carry this huge instrument in its case in pone arm while carrying my music folder and in the other, ALL the while csrrying my heaqvy backlpack on my shoulders. Well, that weight of my cello and the freezing temperastures iof the outdoors...did something to that muscdle in my left arm and is involuntarily contracting. You may remember this entry, so this is kinda freakin' me out right nowe. Well, I'm gonna try to sleep this thing off now. (I'm also too much of a slacker tp go back and fix the tyoping erors I made withy one hand. Sorry.)

Wednesday, December 6, 2006 I've noticed that this winter all of the chicks are wearing these really fancy, high-tech-looking boots of various brands. They all look like they must do something besides keep feet warm, and they seem to be a big hit. Now, I don't know if they know it, but I foresee that the next fashion trend will be... » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «Rocket Boots! Seriously, I can totally see students rocketing through the halls to their classes. God knows what might happen if people should crash into each other; but hey, time is money . I've thought about it, though, and I've realized that the only bad thing about rocket boots would be if they were to go off in the middle of class . Yeah, I can imagine that that would get pretty messy. "Now class, who can tell me why angle A-B-E has to be congruent to ang -- " SSSSSSHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! "Oh God, I can't make it stop!," she screams, as she rockets toward the ceiling and her desk melts beneath the blasts coming from her feet. "AAAHHH!" The teacher takes quick action with the fire extinguisher. "I'll be taking those," the teacher says. "You'll get them back after I try 'em out during my lunch per -- I mean, I'll be holding on to them at the end of school for you." :blush: ... Gali's in style.

Carapar was one of the six Barraki warlords, led by Pridak. These six powerful beings were created by Mata Nui himself; however, the Barraki were looked down upon in the eyes of the Order of Mata Nui when they rebelled against him in some way or another. Carapar and the other Barraki were active and formidable conquerers well over 80,000 years ago, each commanding a significant army. The Barraki made a noteworthy alliance with the island of Xia, which led to that island’s success. As a group, the Barraki also came to be bitter enemies of the Brotherhood of Makuta. Carapar had always been the physical powerhouse of the Barraki; and his thick armor made him virtually invulnerable to everything except electrical attack, which is why he disliked Ehlek. Carapar was also known as the most ferocious of the Barraki – the slightest sign of disrespect from one villager would mean destruction and death for an entire village. He once ended a siege by withdrawing and leaving the enemy city a gift of foodstuffs, which turned out to be poisoned. Carapar’s appearance often led others to underestimate his intelligence; but, as Takadox noted, Carapar was not as stupid as he looked, as no one could be. Eighty-thousand years ago, the Barraki apparently suffered a crushing defeat. With this defeat, the Order of Mata Nui was able to send Botar after them and exile them to a place of confinement called the Pit. Carapar and the other Barraki remained in the Pit until the Great Cataclysm occurred a thousand years ago. During this event, the barriers of the Pit's subterranean pocket were destroyed, opening up to the ocean of the surface world above. The ocean waters completely flooded the Pit; and a mutagenic agent in the waters soon took effect on all of the prisoners of the Pit, changing the Barraki into forms resembling sea life. Carapar took on the appearance of a crab-like creature. The Barraki and all of the other prisoners of the Pit managed to survive this ordeal, adapting the ability to breath underwater. The barriers of the Pit were broken; however, all that the prisoners of the Pit could do was expand its area over the sea floor in its vicinity. Over time, the Barraki came to form armies of Rahi sea life that dwelled in the extended Pit’s locale. Carapar commanded an army of Keras coral crabs and Pit War Tortoises. Carapar also took to using a weapon that could launch fully organic squid at an opponent which sucked life out of whatever they latched onto. Carapar became a ravager of the seas, using his powerful embrace and giant claw to chop up and cut down anything in his path. Takadox, however, continually hypnotized Carapar to have him do his bidding. Carapar’s intellect became somewhat dulled after centuries of being hypnotized, but it was still perilous to base his intelligence on his appearance. Three-hundred years ago, a portion of the floating island of Voya Nui, which drifted directly above the Pit, broke off of the island and sank into the ocean. This chunk of land, known as Mahri Nui, sank and rested on top of great stone arches in the upper reaches of the Pit. The Matoran trapped on this chunk of land when it fell survived and were for the most part left alone by the Pit's inhabitants. The eventful coming of the Kanohi Ignika to the Matoran of Mahri Nui three-hundred years later was the beginning of a new grab for power by the Barraki.

Saturday, December 2, 2006 Hey, guys. I'm feeling much better than I did when I posted my last entry (and I did get a snow day ). Okay, here's the point of this entry. I just saw this Barraki pic: At first, I wondered why the heck LEGO Marketing would make the canisters in such a funny shape. They can no longer be stacked, which is something that every store that sells Bionicle canister sets has done before. Then I immediately realized something pretty smart on LEGO's part. The canisters are shaped in such a way that they must all be facing the same way when on display in a store, unlike the previously shaped canisters that get turned around by shoppers and get faced the other way so other shoppers can't even see the picture of what's inside the can. But the Barraki canisters are different now, so that when shoppers pass by an array of Barraki canisters, they get to see all of the front canister art of each of the six Barraki. I do think that LEGO engineered this to try to improve sales in some way, however small. From what GregF has told members, LEGO Marketing has been leaving no detail unchecked in order to increase purchases. Oh, there's another thing, too! Brickmaster comes all in one package now! The last couple years have been very annoying, getting the magazine and then waiting for the package to come, or getting package and waiting for the magazine to come. It made everything arrive later than it needed to, I think. Now, it looks like LEGO ships everything off in just one bundle, cutting the number of Brickmaster shipments in half. That means that there are a lot less shipments to sort out, which means I might start getting my stuff earlier in the month (or at least in the month)! It probably costs some amount less in shipping, anyway. Keep up the good work, LEGO! Here's some pics of the Brickmaster bundle: Package|Disk|Magazine (which came folded around the disk. It comes with a Batman comic as well as a Bionicle comic now) Well, I'm going to watch the Two Towers DVD now. Be back in four hours.

Thursday, November 30, 2006 I haven't blogged in a while, have I? It's a miserablely cold, dreary, dark day outside. Man, I just felt like crud today. I was alright early in the morning, so I went to my classes, but I began to feel weak and achey in school around eleven. That stank. Never try carrying a 1300-page lit book or a Bible in your backpack while walking through the halls when you're in that condition. It still hasn't gone away, either. I just feel...tired. And it's not just getting worse, it's accelerating. I want to go to sleep and not go to school tomorrow. Forget homework and waking up early. That would be great. That might become a reality anyway, if the weather that is supposed to come tonight is bad enough to evoke a snow day. I am doubtful, though, as I hear that my school hasn't called a snow day in six years. Yeah, doubtful. But I am hopeful nonetheless. A snow day tomorrow means I have no tests or classes to make up if I stay home from school. Wish I could have posted an entry with more holiday cheer, but I guess I'm really not in that kind of mood. Well, I just got up from my bed now, just like I did yesterday and the day before that. You see, my schedule has been pretty simple: school ends at three, I get home at four-fifteen, then I sleep. And I figure out my homework on the day it's due somehow. I guess I better get to that last part right now, just...in case.