“Clad in armor forged from precious metals, and wielding both Toa Tools and Rhotuka Launchers, they were the elite.”
— Turaga Vakama, Origin of the Rahaga
Group Photo
Edit: I have learned that the group photo cannot act as the entry photo for each individual member and would have to be cropped, so here are my individual entry photos-
.
.
Toa Bomonga
.
.
Toa Gaaki
.
.
Toa Pouks
.
.
Toa Kualus
.
.
.
.
Design Philosophy:
My intention in designing the Toa Hagah was do demonstrate parity as greatly as I could to reiterate their aura as a unified team, while still giving each member their own individuality to call back to their respective origins from different Toa Teams.
.
With Toa Hagah Norik and Iruni’s armor and status as special LEGO 25th anniversary sets, I’ve always viewed the Toa Hagah as enigmatic of “Bionicle’s Greatest Hits”. I’ve thus applied this “best of” principle in designing and choosing the Toa Hagah’s armor and weapons.
.
.
.
I designed the Toa Hagah so that each member has a different bone for the leg to signify and symbolize each member originating from a different Toa Team and homeland in the Matoran universe before being individually selected by the Brotherhood of Makuta to form the Toa Hagah team we have come to know now.
.
.
I particularly avoided utilizing an Inika leg as the knee portion prevents a straight bend at 180°. The Piraka arm, while interesting in design, would result in an awkward connection to the foot and thus disrupt the parity in design with the other members of the Toa Hagah
.
.
Regarding their armor, I designed it specifically so that no member of the Toa Hagah has a matching full set of armor, whether it be by color or shape. For example, Toa Bomonga has the same chest armor as Toa Norik due to that they the respective roles of deputy and leader. Despite the same chest armor, Toa Bomonga utilizes Knights Kingdom shoulder armor to better differentiate and idividualize him. The same reasoning applies to the rest of the members of the Toa Hagah
.
Regarding armor color, I decided to stick to gold and silver so that the Hagah shields (which are quite rare) would not require painting. Automatically, I decided that Toa Gaaki and Toa Kualus could not have gold armor, so as to not confuse them for a Toa of Psionics and a Toa of Light respectively. With this stipulation requiring Toa Gaaki and Toa Kualus to have silver armor, that leaves Toa Bomonga and Toa Pouks to have gold armor, which I must say suits them well and gives Toa color-schemes that have not been presented before.
.
.
Speaking of armor, the chest armor acts a representation of the Matoran species. The Metrutoran Chest Piece of course represents Matoran. The Gahlok-Kal Shield Chest Piece represents Bohrok, which we now know originate from select Av-Matoran pre-destined to transform into such Bohrok. Now only needing a chest piece to represent Toa, I chose the Inika Shoulder Armor which of course debuted with the Toa Inika.
I specifically chose the Inika Shoulder Piece as chest armor as not only does it suit Gaaki and Pouks quite well, but I am also a firm believer that armor such as Nuva Chests should stay exclusive to the Toa Nuva. The Toa Nuva are such unique characters within the Matoran Universe due to their exposure to Energized Protodermis, and thus I feel their armor should stay exclusive to them. Norik already breaks this rule with the shoulder armor, but so as to not break the parity, Pouks has the Nuva Shoulder Armor as well. I am such a staunch believer in exclusivity of the Nuva Chest Armor to the Toa Nuva that I plan to not utilize it in Axonn whenever I get around to revamping the set. I have a similar thought process when it comes to Hordika Chest Armor, which was also utilized in the Mahritoran and thus further disrupt the pattern/parity of the Toa Hagah.
The Spear Tips play into the “greatest hits” concept by selecting from weapons of BIONICLE 2002-2008, the era in the Matoran Universe prior to the story’s migration to Bara Magna.
Toa Norik and Toa Bomonga’s spear tips are those of Toa Gali Nuva and Toa Kopaka Nuva respectively (2002).Because Toa Norik does not have Toa Tahu Nuva’s Magma Sword, I designed it so that Toa Bomonga does not have Toa Onua Nuva’s Quake Breakers. I also eliminated Toa Tahu Nuva’s Magma Sword and Toa Gali Nuva’s Aqua Axe to avoid conflicting with Toa Norik’s spear. Toa Kopaka Nuva’s Ice Blade ultimately was the best choice for Bomonga’s Seismic Spear.
Additionally the Chronicler’s Staff in Toa Iruni’s Cyclone Spear and the Earthshock Drill in Toa Kualus Sub-Zero Spear both debuted in 2004 in the Toa Lhikan & Kikanalo and Toa Whenua sets respectively. (The Chronicler’s staff had previously been packaged with BIONICLE: The Game, but was formally sold to the public in a BIONICLE Set until 2004.) These spear tips also both made an appearance with the Voyatoran in 2006 (Garan and Velika).
Lastly, the Twin Propeller in Toa Gaaki’s Tidal Spear and the Poisonous Fang in Toa Pouk’s Avalanche Spear both debuted in 2008 in Phantoka Toa Pohatu Nuva and Makuta Krika / Jetrax T6 respectively.
.
.
Regarding eye color, I designed it so that each member of the Toa Hagah has a different eye color than the Toa of the corresponding member on the Toa Metru (and my Toa Mahri Revamp if you’re at all familiar with them), save for Toa Norik and Toa Vakama who have the same eye color (I would have to retcon Toa Norik’s eye color so that all their eye colors are different, but I feel it’s fine that Toa Norik and Toa Vakama have the same eye colors as they’re both leaders of their respective teams.
.
Toa Norik- Light Green vs Toa Vakama- Light Green
Toa Bomonga- Light Blue vs Toa Whenua- Dark Green
Toa Gaaki- Dark Green vs Toa Nokama- Bright Orange
Toa Iruini- Bright Orange vs Toa Matau- Dark Red
Toa Kualus- Dark Blue vs Toa Nuju- Light Blue
Toa Pouks- Dark Red vs Toa Onewa- Dark Blue
.
.
Toa Bomonga and Toa Kualus use the same newer/smooth Metru connector for purposes of parity, but you can substitute the older white Metru connector variant that came with Pridak in 2007.
.
.
So there you have it you have some of the “best of” and “greatest hits” of BIONICLE with the Spear Tips: 2002-2004-2006-2008
.
.
.
.
Select Scenes from the BIONICLE G1 Story
.
.
The Gang Beats Up a Guy (Dark Mirror, Chapter 6, Colorized, 2008.)
.
.
The Gang Loots a Dead Guy’s Corpse (Dark Mirror, Chapter 6, Colorized, 2008.)
.
.
When some Boomers need to destroy the Colosseum and the Zoomers don’t take kindly to it (Dwellers in Darkness, Chapter 3, 2008.)
.
.
“And I suppose you haven’t heard of the beasts of Mount Ihu, or the flame serpents of the Tren Krom Break , or even,” he dropped his voice for effect, “even the Kolhii creature of Ga-Wahi.” (Dark Mirror, Chapter 5, Colorized, 2008.)
.
.
The Toa Hagah Standing at the front lines with their felllow Toa against Velika at the pivotal battle of the Great Being Civil War. (The Powers That Be, Penultimate Chapter, 2023)
.
.
Toa Tahu (Mata) Variant picture if you prefer he not be transformed back into a Toa Nuva.
.
.
.
.
Additional Photos
Toa Gaaki
Gaaki
Gaaki’s Kanohi makes her slightly taller, but without it she’s the same height as Iruni
.
.
.
.
Paint?
Paint?
Paint?
These are all the parts that need to be painted for my Toa Hagah. I have kept the amount of painting to a minimum of 10 parts. You can minimize the amount to 8 parts if you choose not paint Toa Bomonga and Toa Gaaki’s Rhotuka and choose to keep them to Gold and Silver respectively (Doing so at least would not ruin the parity of each Toa Hagah having a different colored main Rhotuka).
.
I in particular chose parts that were not too rare and thus would not be too blasphemous in painting.
.
This is all the paint you will need: Rustoleum Flat Black, Krylon Matte Ink Blue, Rustoleum Metallic Finish Aluminum, and Artist’s Loft Metallic Bronze. Again you do not need the Black and Blue paints if you do not plan on painting Rhotuka. All of these paints can be found at your local Michael’s Craft Store. Rustoleum and Krylon products are also available at Home Depot, Walmart, Target, and Lowes. The Krylon Matte Ink Blue is a little bit more limited it seems in what stores in can be found, but if for sure is available at Michael’s and Lowe’s.
.
.
Metallic Sharpies are a decent option as well for flat silver and old gold if you don’t want to go the paint route. Word of Warning: they will not work on resin, I tried. In addition, they do chip with play, so you’ll have to do touch ups in the future. Finer details will require the fine tip marker variants. You can find these almost anywhere like Staples or Amazon. But you probably already have these if you were a fan of old BioTube back in the day (shout out your favorite creator from back then, mine was Scotttjt (Toa Hydros))
.
.
.
.
Consent Section
I give consent for my mask to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses?:
In order to pay tribute to our community’s hard-working 3-D Modelers, talented artists, and I the creator of these models, these are my guidelines regarding the Kanohi:
Bomonga and Gaaki: I consent for the Kanohi to be added to and expanded upon in design. You may widen or slim, add side panels, add a mouth portion, add horns like those of the G2 Mask of Control, etc.
Regardless, Galva’s designs must be the base for your designs. You will work from these designs and add/subtract as you please within reason.
.
.
Creator’s preference: I actually think Gaaki’s Mask of Clairvoyance is quite perfect already. For Bomonga’s Mask of Growth, I do request that the gaps on the side of the Kanohi be filled so that the head and brainstalk are not visible from the side.
.
.
Pouks and Kualus: I give consent for my mask to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses, but the new artist-created Kanohi must be a completely new, unknown Kanohi (for example, Galva’s designs for the Hagah as we must assume they are in the shape of other Kanohi of unknown powers.). No Kanohi/Mask/helmets already appearing in a LEGO set may be utilized (e.g Hau, Miru, Huna, Knights Kingdom Helmets, Hero Factory Helmets, etc.). To reiterate, I only consent to completely, new Kanohi designs not based on existing Kanohi.
.
.
This way, The Toa Hagah’s Kanohi will be split evenly three ways: LEGO-Designed (Toa Norik and Toa Iruini), Pre-Existing 3D-Modeled by Galva (Toa Bomonga and Toa Gaaki), and Art Portion Winner (Toa Kualus and Toa Pouks). Potentially Kualus may have the Kanohi he has here.
.
.
.
.
I give consent for my metallic color choice to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses?:
Bomonga: No, the black and dark gold is too iconic and we haven’t had a Toa of Earth with this color scheme.
Reasoning- Gunmetal would give him the color scheme of a Toa of Magnetism and would require the majority of the armor to be painted. Silver would ruin the balance of the team and has appeared already with Toa Mahri Nuparu and Mistika Toa Onua Nuva.
Gaaki, Kualus, and Pouks: I consent for either (Pouks and Kualus) or (Gaaki and Kualus) armor to be changed to Gunmetal. If you are to change the armor color to Gunmetal, it must be for both members of the selected group.
.
.
.
.
I give consent for my spear tip to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses?:
Yes I consent for my spear tip to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses. I would prefer you not as I feel I’ve put a lot of thought into my selections, but ultimately I won’t stand in your way.
.
.
I do NOT consent for their eye colors to be changed.
(When building your own versions if you don’t have all 6 original Metru eye colors, I would suggest making Toa Gaaki and Toa Kualas’ eye color light green, and make Toa Bomonga and Toa Pouks’ eye color light orange.)
.
.
.
.
Bonus
.
.
.
.
