Welcome, gathered friends! Today we discuss again about another character: Vakama. Oh, Vakama. What will we do about this Turaga of Fire?
Vakama started out as a Matoran mask-maker, and then became a Toa. A troubled character, he had a hard time being the leader of the Toa Metru, but eventually, through the efforts of him and his friends, Vakama and the Toa Metru rescued the Matoran from the hand of the Makuta.
Vakama and the rest of the Toa Metru gave up their powers in order to open the Matoran Spheres the Matoran where trapped in. As such, they became Turaga, fulfilling their destiny. Vakama is regarded as one of the most iconic characters in BIONICLE, and is my brother’s favorite character.
So let’s discuss about this Toa of Fire! Was he your favorite? Does he bother you? You have questions? Discuss them here!
I would argue his character arc as a Hordika was very fitting. When they became Toa he was forced into Leadership, something he was horribly uncomfortable with. As a matoran he was a craftsman, he made masks and more than likely was used to being given directions on what masks needed making. After becoming a Toa he was full of self doubt and the Visorak attack only made things worse. The venom messed with his head. Combine self doubt with violent animalistic tendencies, and it’s easy to see why Vakama did what he did.
I never minded Vakama, but I never loved him either. I was just kinda…indifferent to him. I mean, I preferred him over Tahu, who just annoyed me because of his recklessness.
I never felt that his Hordika side was out of place. I mean, you do have
but like Silver said, he was insecure and unsure as a Toa.
So yeah that’s my thoughts on Vakama.
(you should do whenua or nuju next do it do it do it)
Vakama was my very first Toa set and is one of my favorite (if not most) characters. I found him a little relatable actually (although it’s only now that I find why). I didn’t mind the Hordika bit as much, for all reasons everyone else has given.
While I agree, Greg didn’t like Vakama’s betrayal in the hordika arc either.
I felt like it was too corny, like they went too dark, too quickly. He was all like
“Come on everybody, let us save the matoran!”
(overtly heroic cheesiness included)
then next he was all “I doubt you will recognize me”
i mean come on!
And they tried to keep it a “suprirse” by keeping it secret til the movie… which means the entire comic series takes place with no acknollegement of this ever happening.
This just have quite the shock factor, but it was too much of a stretch to see Vakama acting this way.
To put it in perspective, it was less of a stretch (and even less corny) to see the transition of all-powerful, composed, elegant Darth Vader and whiney bratty Anakin from the prequels… and that’s including this
Loved him, he was fantastic. He kinda lost it when he became a Turaga, but his character arc in the Adventures series was amazing. Amazing doesn’t cut it actually, it’s some of the best character development in a long running series I’ve ever seen, which is really saying something. There was a ton of depth put into his development throughout the series, and even though his Hordika evilness was poorly done it wasn’t totally out of the blue.
For example, after they defeated Makuta he became extremely focused and cared about nothing but the Matoran. In #6 “Maze of Shadows” he pisses Onewa off enough to the point Nuju had to get between him and Vakama to keep them from fighting for real. He was willing to risk Nokama’s life just to get to Metru Nui, which was something he would’ve never even imagined doing in Adventures #1. Threw a fireball and got in Onewa’s face for being hesitatat to put his power into a Toa Stone. His turn was rushed, but you can’t deny the seeds weren’t planted.
One of my personal favorite Vakama moments was in Adventures #7: Web of the Visorak when Vakama finds out Whenua didn’t tell the team about Visorak.
“You’re an archivist!” Vakama exploded. “You are supposed to be able to identify the Rahi we run up against! Otherwise, what good are you?”
Then little outburst is followed by some great back and forth between Vakama and Onewa, who defends Whenua. The Metru had a fantastic dynamic, which Vakama added to in a very unique way. He started acting almost dictatorlike when it came to leading the Metru, I would’ve really liked to see more of what he could’ve become. I think Onewa and the others would’ve broken off eventually and Vakama would’ve been left alone. But luckily he learned some humility and everyone loved him again.
Vakama is my second favorite BIONICLE character, after Matoro. I loved how he was so wise and compassionate, but how he also had a past that he learned from and used as a motivation for personal growth.
In fact, there are a lot of similarities between Vakama and Zuko, my favorite ATLA character. Both have had security issues and were forced into uncomfortable positions that they didn’t really want, but were extremely suited for, and both eventually became kick-a@* old men.
Plus, they both have fire powers, the best elemental powers.
