How/can a toa regain power?

[Krelikan]

How exactly does a toast elemental power work?
Can a toa ever permanently run out of elemental power or can they just absorb their element to get it back? And if they have to absorb there element to regain power than do toa of gravity have other means to get their power back? Can toa naturally regenerate elemental energy over time? Or do they have a pool of elemental energy and once they use it all they’re out for good?

[ProfSrlojohn]

From BS01’s Toa page

“To use their elemental powers, Toa draw on a reserve of power that constantly recharges”

Le link!

Toa (Generation 1)

[Racie02]

Also, to answer a few more of the questions, I’ll borrow a quote from another topic.

@HIMEROSY

Firstly, Toa use a special kind of energy called Elemental Energy (not sure if the term itself is canon but Greg has used it so I will too). This lets them create and manipulate their element. Toa can also absorb their own element for power, but Greg has said (I’ll find the quotes later) that absorbing one’s element is unstable, and actually requires Elemental Energy to do, so they can’t just endlessly recycle it. When Vakama Metru absorbed loads of heat energy [Web of the Visorak, chapter 1], he had to release that shortly after, because he couldn’t simply turn that heat back into Elemental Energy, and his body just couldn’t contain that non-Elemental Energy within his body for long. Elemental Energy just recharges itself over time. This is why the Toa Metru didn’t use their Elemental Powers in Legends of Metru Nui, since they were drained from fighting the Morbuzahk and were still recharging. It seems like fully recovering takes something in the realm of a few days.

There are also masks that can restore one’s elemental energy, Masks of Elemental Energy. (Their appearance in Bionicle the Game is non-canon, but they’ve been mentioned in other media)

Mask of Elemental Energy

[fishers64]

There are two types of Toa Energy. The first type is Elemental Energy. If the Toa runs out of it, they just have to wait for it to recharge, unless they have access to the Nui Stone or the Mask of Elemental Energy, as previously stated. Absorbing one’s element doesn’t recharge Elemental Energy - it’s just used for more powerful attacks.

The second type of Energy is Toa Energy, which if dissipated fully the Toa becomes a Turaga.

So, to answer your questions:

1. No, the Toa cannot ever permanently run out of elemental power, unless they run out of Toa Energy and become a Turaga. Absorbing the element will not give them Elemental Energy.

2. No, the Toa do not have to absorb their element to regain power.

3. Yes, the Toa naturally regenerate Elemental Energy over time.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: Sources: Bionicle Adventures Series #3 and #4 (which is when the Toa Metru run out of Elemental Energy) and Adventures #7 (the beginning of that book is when Toa Vakama absorbs his element). See also this page on BS01, which covers a lot of what you were asking about: Toa (Generation 1) - BIONICLEsector01

For the Nui Stone, see here: Nui Stone - BIONICLEsector01