Some of you may know who I am, others… Well, I look forward to meeting you.
I am here today because this afternoon I published a project related to a certain theme I believe many of us have some degree of sentiment in. That’s right: Bionicle.
This is my first project on LEGO World Builder, which currently is my favorite website of all time. I have spent nearly an entire month on it before publishing, and while it’s got a lot of story figured out (1 out of 3 chapters written), it has a lot of work that needs to be done. It’s got a little of G1, a little of G2, a little of Brickonicle, and a lot of something new entirely. It’s designed to contain some of the vast mystery and story many of us fell in love with in G1 and some of the simpler, easy-to-understand elements of G2 for accessibility for new fans.
I hope you guys enjoy reading it, and consider contributing! I’m in dire need of art and worldbuilding. I hope you all have a fantastic day!
UPDATE (2/23/22): After some consideration, I have hidden parts 4-10 to encourage reading accessibility. I figured releasing all 10 parts (and over 21,000 words) would be way too daunting for new readers. I intend to release parts 4-7 on March 9th!
UPDATE (2/28/22): Realizing that not many actually have an account for this website and therefore cannot access my work so far, I have decided to to post the stories here as well. Just click here to find the three I’ve released at this time. Please, enjoy! And if you do, consider getting an account making some pitches! Collaboration is a major draw to LEGO World Builder.
UPDATE (3/9): Parts 4, 5, 6, and 7 are all out now! Introducing Captain Crau, the villain of Chapter 1, the cruel and self-absorbed pirate leader who claims the sea as his own. Parts 8, 9, and 10 (the finale of Chapter 1), will be released on March 23rd, so keep an eye out for those. Have a fantastic week!
UPDATE (3/23/22): Parts 8, 9, and 10 of Chapter 1 are out! I’ll be working on Chapter 2 for the first parts to release in April (as well as a possible character writing contest…), so be ready!
UPDATE (3/31/22): I couldn’t wait to release more, so I made an interlude! Just scroll up to find it. Good luck out there!
UPDATE (4/4/22): I finished the Toa Moda character bios! Plus, Kido/Toa Kidoma art by the awesome ultratoa7! Check it out!
UPDATE (4/25/22): New interlude! Meet Toa Narale before she meets the other Toa!
UPDATE (5/2/22): New interlude, plus amazing art of Captain Crau!
UPDATE (5/4/22): The penultimate interlude before I begin work on Chapter 2! Enjoy Vosala’s (slightly longer) adventure!
UPDATE (5/12/22): The final interlude, “THE SIBLINGS,” is here! Enjoy reading the last mini-tale before Chapter 2 begins!
UPDATE (3/1/24)
UltraToa7 has designed art for each of the Toa! See the lineup (minus Kidoma) here!
Comics #1 and #2 are posted on LEGO World Builder’s Instagram. Find the links here.
The waves lapped at the old wood of the boat, wiping away bits of sand that had gotten wedged between its planks. It was a small boat and a few decades older than either of the Matoran operating it, but it was just as dependable as the day it had been made.
One of the Matoran held in his hand a wooden shaft, which he used to guide the fish until their shadows fell above where he knew the nets to be. The other would then pull up the net, hauling in a dozen or so silvery delights to take back to the village. It was how they did it every single day. It was tradition. It was tedious. It was like home.
”I’ve been thinking,“ the brother said, leaning the shaft against the ocean floor. It was shallow here.
”That’s never a good sign,” said his sister with a wink, the bobber attached to the net resting in her lap.
The brother ignored her. “What if we went out to the reef? There’re a lot more fish.” He pointed outwards, to the crystalline waves of the ocean.
“We don’t have any nets out there,” protested the sister.
”We can use spears! Or lines! Like they used to!” the brother said.
”Nuh-uh, Kido,” the sister said. “You know Jiina hates finding hooks in his fish. He says the customers pay less.”
”Yeah,” Kido said softly, his gaze drooping. “Yeah, I know…”
He thought of the story Kaidi always told around campfires in Mako Village. Once, when she was swimming a little too close to the reef, she had been caught in a rip current. As she was pulled away, she claimed to have been saved by a Matoran with golden armor.
Kido always thought he’d look good in gold.
”Look,” his sister said, remembering the story herself, "You want some adventure. I get it. I know you think fishing is often boring and pointless, but you don’t have to be a warrior to be a hero. We may not be great soldiers, but we still save lives with something far greater than swords and spears.”
”Like what, Neida?”
”Fish!” she laughed, holding up an especially plump specimen from their most recent catch.
Kido shook his head, but could hardly suppress a smile.
”Great quests aren’t what makes an adventurer, Kido,” Neida said. “Anyone can be a hero. Even a fisherman.”
Kido was too distracted to hear her words. He was thinking of himself, plated in gold and white, a great sword in his hand. It took him a few moments before he noticed the jagged fin rising out of the waves, approaching the vessel. “Takea Shark!” he screamed, swiping at it with the shaft.
The wooden pole splashed uselessly against the water, but it sparked a shrill, “Ah-ah-ah!” from the creature before the fin ducked underneath the water and swam rapidly away. It definitely didn’t sound like a shark…
Neida burst out into laughter, crying, “You really showed that dolphin, Kido!” She took a moment to draw a glowing tear from her eye. “Seems to me like you have enough adventure already!”
As the dolphin dashed for its life, it suddenly was confronted by two glowing eyes in the water belonging to a great fish - an actual Takea Shark. It stealthily swam at the ocean bed, ignoring the frantically retreated dolphin. It stopped close to the shore to peer up, its great eyes surveying the village built on the shore. Seeming pleased with its scan, it sank back below the waves and darted back out to the ocean, its mighty tail brushing the sand at the ocean floor. As the sand is shifted aside, the silver shape of a mask is uncovered.
The rest of the day, Kido dreamt. He dreamt of wielding a great blade, fending off great monsters around all of Moda Nui. First in Mako Village, then in the Fauna Jungle, and finally in Aero City. Once he had saved the entire island from threats, he looked out to the ocean. He boarded a boat - a real, mighty ship, not a tiny dinghy - and set out into the unknown, letting the waves carry him out to where no Matoran in Moda Nui had ever been.
When they pulled back into shore, many of the other boats had already pulled back in.
“Catch anything good?” asked old Hoffa. He held a pail of sardines in one hand, a fishing rod in the other. He just fished for himself, and somehow had fun doing it. Kido would never understand the old Matoran.
“Yeah, we did!” said Neida, waving a massive tuna in front of Hoffa.
The old man’s eyes widened. “A real beaut’!”
Neida and Hoffa proceeded to enjoy a tiring conversation about fishing tips and strategies that Kido could not force himself to listen to. He just sat in the back of the boat, staring out over the open water. What mysteries could be out there, unknown to the world? There were stories about other islands and creatures, but never first-hand accounts. If Kido had a boat of his own and a crew to follow him, there would be nothing keeping him from seizing the horizon in his grasp, and pulling himself into the stars…
But, no, he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t leave Neida behind, could he? And could he even do it?
He looked back at the ocean. Kido could feel its call, its pull. It was so alluring, blazing with a vivid wildfire as the star rested over its foaming waves. He dipped his hand into the water. Right now, in this moment, his hand was sharing the ocean with every dolphin, Takea Shark, adventurer, pirate, and Golden Matoran in these seas. He was so close to finding adventure, he just needed to leap out and claim it.
“Kido!” Neida called, snapping him out of the daydream. “Let’s go!”
The two walked to Jiina’s diner, exchanging greetings with Hetiru and Kaidi, Jirita and Bayola. Neida did the talking for Kido.
“Well, well, ya really pulled it off,” Jiina said with a sneer, examining the catch. “We’re gonna have a great breakfast rush tomorrow!”
Jiina fisted over a dozen coins and sent the siblings home. Kido and Neida returned to their little hut of palm wood and leaf, exhausted from the events of the day. They shared a small dinner of seaweed stalks and kokonut milk, and each retired to their bunks.
Kido’s actual dreams weren’t anything like his imagined stories of heroism. Instead, he was out in the dinghy again, but this time alone. Clouds drowned out the star, enveloping the ocean with darkness. Lightning and hail began to rain down upon the sea. Waves tossed up and down, but Kido stood firmly in his boat, looking up at the great storm. He watched as the clouds rippled out to reveal a pair of flaming red eyes, and he heard a voice all around him, like the thunder;
“Kidoma…”
Kido woke up in a sweat, falling from his bed and onto his face.
”Finally,” sighed Neida, relieved. “I was about to pour this bucket of seaweed on your head.”
Starlight pierced through the light curtains. It must have been late morning, already. Despite the sudden awakening, Kido had still slept in.
”There was a bad storm last night,” Neida said. “Really bad. Kaidi lost her roof, and Henhi’s boat got totally smashed. The whole village is getting together to repair everything.”
Kido streamed out of bed, passing his breakfast of grasses and nuts on his way to the doorway.
”Where are you going?” Neida wondered.
”Out,” is all Kido said.
Neida frowned. “Kido, our people need our help.”
”They don’t need mine,” Kido grunted before leaving his disappointed sister alone in the hut.
Minutes later, Kido was alone on the beach. He kicked at sand as he walked, causing little explosions of dust. Every so often, he’d find a shell, which he’d pick up and throw out to sea. The image from his dream played out again and again in his mind.
I dream about a storm, and then wake up to find out that a storm actually happened. That was probably just a coincidence. Storms were pretty common. Even still, why didn’t he wake up to the lightning and thunder? Sure, he slept in a lot, but he never took himself for a heavy sleeper.
I should go back, he thought. I need to apologize to Neida. I probably freaked her out. Just then, his foot clanged against something. Another shell. He reached down to pick it up and fling it into the water, but something stopped him. The shell was unbelievably shiny, and its design - it wasn’t a shell at all. It was gloriously beautiful, and beautifully glorious… It was like nothing Kido had ever seen before, but somehow, holding it, he felt a familiarity to it. It was a mask, brilliantly silver, covered in intricate runes. Kido stood, admiring it, and as he did, he heard:
“Kidoma…ToaKidoma…”
Part 2 - "THE MASK"
Saane was the Elder of Mako Village. He had been for the past thirty years or so, and frankly, he was a little tired of it. He was always expected to act a certain way in public, to be the source of wisdom and guidance to his (quite needy) village, and whenever a difficult decision needed to be made, it was up to him to make it. And they weren’t even interesting decisions, either. The amount of times Elder Saane had to pick which precise shade of blue to repaint the town center that year was shocking, especially since his old eyes weren’t able to even register a difference. But, this was his job, and the town looked up to him, so he would make the best of it while he could.
At starset, he would sit outside his hut and wave to the workers as they retired into their homes for the day. He knew each one by name, and always asked them how their days were, and if he could do anything to help. There wasn’t much he could do to help them, but the gesture was appreciated by the townsfolk, so he kept doing it.
Tonight, it took extra long for everyone to make it back inside - they had only just finished patching up poor young Kaidi’s roof - so when he finally stepped inside his door, the only illumination his hut had was that of the small fire he was boiling his stew over. He reached over for the ladle, stroking his woven scarf (Laani had sewn it for him, it was rather nice), and lifted the utensil to get a sip of it. Just as the steam began to fog up his cobalt plating, he sensed a dark shape behind him.
Saane whipped around, his ladle’s amount of soup thrust through the air and landing in the face of a tall and mysterious stranger.
“Aah!” the intruder yelped.
“Who are you?” Saane asked gruffly. “What do you want with me?” He began to reach for his staff propped up against his cot, a sturdy thin shape wrapped in taught blue silk and orange cord. He held the staff at the figure’s shape.
The intruder must have been twice as tall as Saane, though the old Matoran’s posture didn’t help the comparison. Their form was athletic, but in no ways bulky. They were lean and supple, thin but not quite lanky. They were dressed in bright aquamarine plating - no, it was more like armor… Inscribed into it were strange symbols and runes that almost reminded Saane of… And then the figure pulled his hands away from their face, and Saane saw it.
It was impossible to mistake it for a normal mask. It was beautifully crafted of a wondrous material, gleaming in even the dimmest of light. It was stunning to behold its ancient work, yet it was without scratch or tarnish. It seemed not to have been painted, but to have been made that brilliant ocean blue which matched the armor. On the figure, it almost didn’t even look like a mask, but as a face which they had always worn.
“Unbelievable…” Saane said, dumbfounded.
The being coughed and sputtered. “Elder Saane, please, I need your help-” His voice was louder and richer than Saane was used to it being, but he could immediately recognize its hurried tone.
“My, my, Kido…” the Elder said, smiling. “I did not expect this from you.”
“I didn’t expect this from me either!” the transformed Kido panicked. “It was an accident, I promise! I just found this mask on the beach, and then suddenly I was really tall, and-” He froze for a moment. “No, I missed a part.” He fell to a squat, mask buried in his hands. “There was this… This voice…”
The Elder rubbed the smooth metal of his chin. “A voice, you say?”
“Yeah.”
“What did this voice tell you?”
“Nothing,” Kido said. “It didn’t tell me anything, it just said something, a name.” He raised his head enough to expose the glowing amber eyes from behind his head. “‘Kidoma,’ it said. ‘Toa Kidoma.’ I don’t know, some nonsense or-”
Saane placed the end of his staff on the silver shoulder of the terrified young man. The light of his own eyes quivered with unexpected tears. “I don’t know what is harder to believe… That the Toa have finally returned, or that… That you have been chosen as one of them!”
“Me… chosen as… a Toa?” Kido gasped, his mouth agape behind the mask.
“You have found a Kanohi mask, my boy,” Saane began to say, not in his usual loud and pronounced voice when he was narrating a story, but in a much more hushed, awed voice. “It has chosen you as its bearer. What I am about to tell you is a tale I have kept secret for many, many years, as the Elder before me did, and as the Elder before him did as well. It is one which I have never told another living being in the entirety of my time knowing it. Are you prepared to hear it?”
Kido sat on the floor, legs kicked out, holding himself up with his arms. He would likely be here for a while. “Yeah, sure, I guess,” he said.
Saane leaned upon his staff and began to speak softly, “Long ago, back when before we came here to Moda Nui, before the trees were given shadows, the Toa existed. They were-”
“Six elemental warriors chosen by a mysterious great entity to defend the innocent and fight back the darkness?” Kido guessed.
An excited and curious look crossed Saane’s face. “How did you know that? Did the Kanohi tell you just now?”
“No,” Kido said plainly, blinking. “You did. During one of your stories. You were all hyped up on kokonut milk you talked about them, we thought you had gone crazy for a second.”
Saane’s eagerness melted into disappointment. “Oh. Must have slipped.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Kido said. "I don’t know the rest, though! Can you skip to the part where I get changed back?"
Saane’s disappointment twisted into bewilderment. “Change back?”
Kido looked around the room quizzically. “Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“No, no, no!” Saane cried. “This mask appeared for a reason! If the Toa have returned, then Moda Nui must have some need of you!”
“Moda Nui needs a fisherman?” Kido asked.
“A fisherman? No! We need a Toa!”
“What for? Everything’s fine. There hasn’t been so much as a lost shell cat in the last fifteen years! What would we need a Toa for?”
“Look, Kido, I understand. This is a big step-up in responsibility for you, and you don’t know if you’re ready to handle all the perils out there…”
Kido shot to his feet - an action which he did not very easily accomplish, as his new height was still unfamiliar to him. “Wait, perils? What do you mean?”
Saane frowned. "Well, you didn’t let me finish the story. Surely you understand that being a Toa won’t be without its challenges. In the past, the Toa fought great threats to their worlds. Evil kings, warlords, mind-controlled monsters, four-legged spiders - twice, actually - And yet, trial after trial, they pulled through. Whoever the enemy, whatever the odds, they fought, and they won." He lowered his staff and looked at it tenderly. “I once knew a young Matoran who wanted nothing more than to be out in the world. Exploring. Helping people.” His eyes darted back to the confused Kido. “Being a hero. You made a wish on a red star, Kido. It came true. You have that chance now.”
For a long moment, Kido thought. “That was just a dream, Saane. The dream of a fisherman who was bored of catching fish. It was just something to fantasize about, nothing more. I can’t be a Toa. I wouldn’t even make it past tryouts. I just want to know how to go back to my normal, lovable Matoran self.”
Saane sighed. “Have you tried taking the mask off?”
“Not really,” Kido admitted. He lifted his hands to the piece, and removed it with ease. A flash of blue, and Kido returned to his natural form. The mask’s color faded back to its original silver. “Oh.”
“So,” groaned Saane, “you walk on the beach, find a strange mask that calls you a ‘Toa,’ put the strange mask on - and then wait all the way until nightfall when I’m alone so that you can ask me how to take it off without… taking it off first?”
“I technically don’t even really remember putting the mask on, but I -” Kido said. “Yeah. I’m sorry for wasting your time, Elder. If there’s truly going to be a Toa in Moda Nui, it won’t be me.” He picked himself up and looked at the Kanohi mask in his hand. He thought about leaving it for a moment, but then decided to take it with him. He’d put it back on the beach, where he found it, and then the person who was supposed to find it there, would. And he could move on with his life, pretending this day never happened.
He solemnly stalked out the door, stepping off of the porch and onto the sand. The sounds of the waves were so constant to him that he hardly even noticed them anymore.
“Anyone can wear that mask, Kido!” Saane said.
“But not everyone should,” replied the fisherman. He just hoped they hadn’t woken anyone up.
Saane grunted, and then returned to his soup. This is going to make an excellent story one day, he told himself.
Part 3 - "THE THIEF"
Kido tried counting the steps as he left the village. How many was it again? The star had already set, the whole beach was dark now. The palms of trees looked like strange monster hands, creeping at the night sky, grasping for something. Kido shivered, and kept moving.
1,052, 1,053, 1,054… Kido paused to look behind him. The short wooden huts looked so small from here… Well, small er, more like it. Here’s good, he thought to himself. I probably found the mask around here. He took one quick glance around. Well, a few more steps wouldn’t hurt…
The Great White Shores, though their name may suggest otherwise, were certainly not that great. Only a few dozen or so meters of sand between the big blue ocean and the palm jungles that surrounded Moda Nui’s western border. Not much to write Aero City about. But it was here that a group of Matoran decided to build Mako Village, so it was here that Kido came to be. He had walked these not-so-great shores for every year of his life.
Kido set the mask down on a sand pile, half-covering it like it had been when he had found it washed up. He admired his handiwork, at the expense of looking into the Kanohi’s admirable shape and its eyes - eye holes.
“I’m sorry,” he said to it. It should have felt weird talking to this mask, but this was the least weird moment he had had since picking it up. “You’re better off without me, anyways. You’ll find some great warrior and give him whatever destiny you have in store. You’ll be happy together. And it’d really be rather selfish of me to take that from this other Matoran. Me, a fisherman! You’re not mine. You were never meant to be.”
The mask stared back.
“Don’t look at me like that!” Kido shouted at it. “It’s better this way. For both of us.”
Toa Kidoma… a voice in his ear whispered.
Frustrated, Kido turned on his heel, almost colliding with a looming shadow behind him.
In a moment of pure instinct and adrenaline, Kido leaped back, looking down as a curved blade narrowly missed him. He landed back in the sand, taking in his attacker.
The foe was a tall and slender figure, with lengthy arms and a hunched posture. Whatever he was, it wasn’t a Matoran. His spiked armor, extreme height, and clicking metallic mandibles gave that away. One of his eyes glowed a gruesome yellow. The other didn’t glow at all.
“Who are you?” Kido asked, stunned.
The attacker cackled. “Doesn’t matter!” he said in a croaking voice, like the creaking of the wooden planks every time Kido tried to sneak out of the hut at night to stargaze. Neida always caught him. The foe pointed one of the twin scimitars in his hand at the Matoran. “Unless you’ve got treasure. Have you got any treasure?”
“No,” denied Kido. “I catch fish for a living!” His eyes flicked to the silver mask in the sand.
“My,” the fiend said, eyeing the artifact. “That’s some fish!”
Kido plucked it from the ground and fit the Kanohi under his arm. Okay, maybe I’m not supposed to have you, but he definitely isn’t either!
“Hey! Give it here!” said the foe. He threw a sword into the ground and flung a wave of sand at Kido’s face, blinding his eyes for a second. He shot into the air, flailing his blades downwards, and grazing the blue color of the Matoran’s plating.
Kido ducked under another blade, and jumped over another. The attacks were ruthless and quick, but they had a simplicity to them. There was a pattern, and patterns could be predicted. Seeing an opening as the fiend missed an overhand slash, Kido thrust his hand out in a strike of his own, hitting the face of the attacker with the Kanohi.
The foe went reeling back, distancing himself from the Matoran for a second.
“Not bad!” the creature growled, spinning the scimitars in his fingers. “You’re a brave kid!” He lunged forwards again, and Kido had to hold the mask up to deflect the strike. The swords clanged without effect against its fierce silver, prompting a satisfying ring.
For a moment, Kido began to fear that he had damaged the Kanohi mask. He flipped it around and studied it - Huh. Not so much as a scuff in its brilliant shine.
“Ha! You took your eye off of your opponent!” the foe said, thrusting the hilt of the blade over the back of Kido’s metal skull.
Kido sank into the sand, his head throbbing in sudden pain. He spat out bits of dust from his mouth, but his vision was much harder to fix. The world leaned left and right as he struggled to keep consciousness.
“Another win for the Scarlet Sails!” cheered the being as he bent over to pick up the mask.
No… Kido groaned in his mind. Don’t let him… Don’t let him win… He couldn’t move, he could barely see. That twinkle, right there, was that the Kanohi? Could he even grab it in time? Come on, arm! Reach for it! Reach it!
His hand touched something metal. Was it…? Yes, it was! He threw his arm back, clutching onto the mask tightly, and he gently, tiredly placed the Kanohi mask on his face.
For a moment, nothing occurred. Kido remained in his Matoran form, and the mask remained its neutral silver. Then, light began to stream from the adornment, a bright gray and blue light that waved and pulled and twisted around Kido’s body. He felt it elongating and growing, reshaping the stout Matoran into the tall, lean athletic shape Saane had labeled a “Toa.”
“W-w-what?!” the opponent said, dropping the blades.
Kido, now transformed, looked down at the pirate, the mask now an aquamarine. “Don’t even think about coming back here,” he boomed, his voice as strong and flowing as a tidal wave.
He ran at the foe, now equal in height, and grabbed him by the chest. Glowing water rippled up his arm, pooling around his hand where he grasped his foe. As he hoisted the villain up, preparing to throw him, he felt a surge of strength coursing through his entire being, like nothing he had ever felt before. It was powerful, but only when pointed in the right direction. Only when the flow was followed. Kido used this strength to power his arm as he swung, and the pirate was sent soaring back into the waves with astonishing speed. When Kido looked back down at his hands, the water had dried.
Kido removed the mask, reverting to his familiar form, and took another long look at the mask.
“Anyone can wear that mask,” Elder Saane had said. Kido had ignored the comment then, but what he just did… He couldn’t even understand it. Whatever had just happened, it was far, far bigger than a fisherman.
