Hello again Mr. Farshtey, I have a question about a mistake made back in 2005.
During the Dark Hunter contest, a DH named Phantom was created but never had an image shown. Years later the creator, Casey, has shown these images, along with the signed book he was sent. Is this the true appearance of Phantom? If so, is there any way to canonize this model?
There is a topic but as far as I could tell, no one has reached out to Greg and asked him other than: Any way to recover Phantom's back story?
but this was before the new info was revealed by Casey
Casey’s entry is most likely not Phantom. This was all but confirmed when he found and shared his essay, which we can compare to Phantom’s BEU entry (Phantom does not have an entry in the DH book).
Essay
This Dark Hunter will hunt anything when ordered to by the Mysterious Shadowed One. The Toa Hordika haven’t seen him yet because lately he has been hunting for Keetongu. Now his new assignment is to hunt down and destroy the Toa Hordika. This Dark Hunter is a lot taller than Nidhiki and Krekka, but there is a reason for that…. After each hunt, he will search the victim’s remains for anything worth taking. He will then, add those components to his body. Despite his appearance, he is not only very strong, but he is also very smart. Not only can he speak Matoran, but also by hunting Rahi and Rahaga, he can speak to Rahi. He doesn’t stalk his prey, but as soon as he sees it, he lets out a blood-curdling scream, and goes on a rampage.
This Dark Hunter has a radar/tracer atop his head. It cannot trace one that is sleeping, and it’s hard to trace one with armor, but it can be done. His glider wings run on concentrated Protodermis that works as fuel. It runs out after about two hundred miles. The spikes on his feet and thighs are used to climb ledges incase he can’t fly up there. All of the tubes along his back are strength-amplifying Protodermis tubes. They make him twice as strong. It only lasts ten minutes. He wields Metru-Nui’s largest sword dubbed “The Punisher”. He bares the Kanoka Disk of Slicing. It’s said to slice through anything. He has the Rhotuka Spinner of Venom, said to poison anyone with incurable venom in seconds! He also has a fiery breath. His large fangs have small compartments of venom much like the kind that the Visorak use.
BEU
A member of the DARK HUNTERS with one of the more bizarre origin stories. He was originally a humble crafter from an island far from METRU NUI where there were no Toa. His people felt the need for a hero, and so he was chosen for a “rebuilding project.” After numerous experiments, including exposure to an ENERGIZED PROTODERMIS variant, Phantom emerged with increased strength, the power of limited flight, dramatically improved eyesight, and the ability to turn invisible. His career as a hero was short-lived. Frightened and ashamed of what they had done, the locals shunned him. Disheartened and without purpose, he was easily recruited into the Dark Hunters. However, his conscience has so far made him of limited use on missions.
There’s pretty much no similarity whatsoever. Some details may seem similar (glider wings/limited flight, strength amplifying tubes/increased strength, radar/improved eyesight), but this is a stretch. Compare to Primal, where we also have the original essay.
Essay
Nuoka is one of the remaining warriors from a race which had its island overrun by the Visorak. His tribe held out against the invaders long enough to come to the attention of the Shadowed One, who recruited all of the warriors he could before betraying the position of the survivors to the Visorak and allowing them to be wiped out.
After turning to the side of the Dark Hunters, Nuoka refused most of the biomechanical tampering with his body which so many Dark Hunters go through to make them more powerful. The only change he accepted was the implanting of a small weapon underneath his body which can be maneuvered like an extra limb, and which fires bursts of paralzying energy. Despite this, he still does the majority of his hunting with the large bladed spear he has carried for decades and considers the implanted weapon a last resort.
Nuoka is a primitive hunter and, though he has been turned to an evil cause, still retains his own fierce sense of justice. His species, being a race of warriors, also has the custom of keeping a trophy from each major hunt. Much to the Shadowed One’s annoyance, this means that Nuoka often refuses to hunt quarry who have nothing which would look good mounted on his wall. Between his odd customs, fierce nature, and strong devotion, the Shadowed One often wonders whether it would be prudent to dispose of Nuoka before he causes more trouble than he’s worth.
BEU
DARK HUNTER who relies on strength and speed to complete his missions, using his paralysis device only in emergencies. Primal belongs to a species largely wiped out by the VISORAK. He has proven to be a difficult operative due to his refusal to accept missions that don’t involve the possibility of getting a trophy from the hunt.
Although quite a few details were left out of Primal’s essay (and his name was changed, but probably due to copyright), what was included is an exact 1:1. This lines up with Greg saying he follows the original essays as close as possible.[1] Phantom, on the other hand, is very different from Casey’s entry. Also, keep in mind that there were 35 DH winners,[2] but only 33 were canonized, meaning two are still unaccounted for, and one of those could be Phantom. It may also be possible that Greg intended to put Casey’s entry as Phantom in the BEU and since the essay and pictures had to be destroyed by six months after the contest,[3] it’s possible he forgot a lot of the original material, but this is just speculation.
I do agree that there’s something weird going on, as he does have the book. My theory is that because of legal issues and him not being able to send in the model, Lego rewrote the backstory and description to be legally distinct enough so they wouldn’t get in trouble later down the line. Combine this with not having the essay on hand, like you said, Greg wrote a similar in appearance but different backstory
It could also be that we just haven’t found the winning Phantom yet. Would be true to his name
Right. My wording was a bit confusing, so let me reiterate.
33 were canonized, including Phantom. Only 32 have images with them, Phantom does not. Along with Casey’s entry, there are still two unknown winning entries. Phantom could be any of these three.
![[2]](https://biosector01.com/w/images/bs01/2/27/Dark_Hunter_Building_Challenge.jpg){kind=link}