Nektann, the Skakdi warlord, holds the ignoble distinction of being the only character sold as a toy whose powers are not revealed in any medium. In fact, he wasn’t even sold under his name. This all comes from the hurried release of the Stars line and the cancellation of Bionicle, but come on. Even the Gaardus combo model got a more developed story role.
I always thought the wild and varied Skakdi powers were neat and I’m surprised by the number of Nektann MOCs that don’t bother to speculate about them. I thought coming up with powers that would intimidate even other Skakdi was a lot of fun, and I got to try out powers that would have been cool in Bionicle, but never found their way in.
My rationale was, what if Skakdi powers, but somehow even more OP? I did not consider how he might have used them in his fight with Tahu or why he chose not to, since honestly, I can’t explain it, except that it doesn’t seem to have been on the minds of the story team.
These are my favorites:
Vision
- Tractor Vision: (Maybe there’s a better name for this) Allows Nektann to suspend an object that he looks at in the air and move it around freely. This was my earliest idea for Nektann’s vision power that I came up with years ago and I still love the idea of Nektann grabbing an opponent just by looking at him and swinging him around and slamming him into walls just by thrashing his head around.
- Precognitive Vision: Allows Nektann to see several seconds to a minute into the future to anticipate events just before they happen and react to them. While deliberately trying to make Nektann overpowered, the ability to screw with time was one idea that kept popping up and I think this is a good way to use that.
- Homing Vision: Basically, destructive eyebeams, similar to laser vision or heat vision, but with the distinction of being able to change direction to hit any target. (Directly inspired by Darkseid’s Omega Beams from DC)
Additional Power
- Antimatter Generation: Allows Nektann to create antimatter that will annihilate any matter it touches. Basically, this power boils down to the ability to make really, really big explosions, and if that’s not bad enough for Nektann, I don’t know what is.
- Power Negation: The ability to deactivate one of an opponent’s powers as long as they are in range. A lot of skakdi, like Avak, Reidak, and Vezok, have very adaptable powers that can work differently depending on the situation. While trying to think of something equally adaptable, I realized that this inversion would be incredibly effective against other Skakdi, explaining how Nektann rose to the top.
- Space Manipulation: The ability to stretch and dilate space, allowing Nektann to cross distances in the blink of an eye or make the distance an opponent must traverse impossibly long. (Again, I was drawn to simple but overpowered abilities, and while I decided against most time-based powers – too close to the Vahi – space-based abilities are tragically untapped)
- Shapeshifting: In story, Nektann is somewhat larger than other Skakdi. This doesn’t come across at all in his toy, so I was interested in a way to address this. In this idea, Nektann has the ability to change his size and shape at will, and possibly gain new abilities by doing so. To make this power more interesting, I was inspired by the other Skakdi leader, Zaktan, to add some body horror. The more Nektann uses this power to get stronger, the more monstrous and bestial his body will become.
I’m still deciding which are my favorites and what would make the best combo. If you have some ideas of your own, go ahead and post them, or if you’ve read someone else’s idea that you liked, consider sharing it.