As we know the three Karda Nui vehicles were found in this chamber, hidden in the metal domes. Rockoh T3 was meant for Pohatu, Jetrax T6 for Kopaka and Axalara T9 for Lewa. But what do we see in this picture? Light from the six great lightstones is projecting an image of the Toa Mata’s masks onto the vehicle domes. However instead of three, we clearly see six rays of light, presumably shining upon six vehicle domes. Of the two which are actually visible, one has Lewa’s Miru (makes sense), but the other has Tahu’s Hau! Tahu never recieved a vehicle right? We can assume the other domes had other Mata masks projected onto them. This means originally all six Toa were supposed to get a vehicle of their own. Faber’s description of the picture confirms this:
“This 3D concept shows the layout of the core. I did this together with Adam Alaleh from Advance and it holds the ignition spot in the center. The columns around the center bare a striking resemblance to the stone temples that were build on Mata Nui. The Toa would probably have a strange feeling that they had been here before and they would be right. If you look closely there are 6 columns and 6 holes behind them. This is where the 6 original Toa were launched in their canisters when the heart exploded. They flew out of the heart, through the chest and landed in the water where they would later, much later! Return to follow their destiny. The light that hits the columns draws the mask of each of the original Toa on their individual sphere. The sphere holds their Battle vehicles. The vehicles could have been used by the original Toa if disaster had struck in a different way but now luckily they were left behind for later use. Thanks to Adam Alaleh from Advance for the 3D work.”
This is different from how the events played out in the book where the chamber was explicitly described to only have three walkways leading to domes:
“The chamber was laid out like a huge wheel, with the lightstone ring in the center and three spokes leading off it. The Toa landed on those spokes and then moved in different directions to explore. Pohatu reached the wide end of a spoke first. As soon as his armored foot touched a certain plate in the floor, there was a sound of machinery humming. The next instant, Pohatu was looking at a metallic cocoon that had abruptly locked into place beside him, with sound and light coming through cracks in its shell.”
And it is different still from the comic version which had six walkways (spokes) but only three domes:
So it would seem the original intent was for all of the Toa to have a Karda Nui vehicle of their own, not just the three Phantoka. We still haven’t seen vehicles for the Toa Nuva Mistika, but we know they existed.
Is there any information about six vehicle sets being planned at some point?
I had no idea that six vehicles were planned at any point. I’ve always theorized it, but I didn’t know anyone else had ever thought it before. I don’t know if these were ever planned as sets, but I definitely like the idea.
After all, we know that the vehicles were necessary for the Toa to escape the energy storms, so why would there only be three of them?
We don’t know that those three vehicles were intended for those three Toa; it’s not like their names were written on them.
If we assume that there were six vehicles, it’s entirely possible that the Axalara was meant to be Tahu’s vehicle; it’s colour-coded to him, and it kind of makes sense that the leader of the team would have the largest, most powerful vehicle.
Unrelated, but I’d also like to know more about this, as it hints at more of the Great Being’s plans for the Toa Mata. After all, the way that it worked out in the story can’t have been the only outcome that the Great Beings planned for.
The Toa Mata were originally to go to Metru Nui, presumably because that’s where Teridax had used the virus; if the Toa Mata were always intended to go to Karda Nui, why wouldn’t they just come out of their canisters that were literal feet away from the “Ignition Spot”. But what if the thing that put Mata Nui in danger was elsewhere in the universe? Would the Toa Mata have used these vehicles to travel throughout his body (rather than ejecting their Toa Canisters into space)?
Or what if Mata Nui was put to sleep and just stayed floating in space?
I guess we cannot be sure those three were meant specifically for those Toa. Both in the book and this picture (a follow up of the one I posted earlier):
…it is Pohatu who finds Axalara T9. In the comic it is Lewa instead. I thought about color coded vehicles (meaning Axalara could have been for Tahu), but then again, no one can persuade me that a vehicle called “Rockoh” armed with weapons called “Rockslide cannons” was not meant for toa of stone. And keep in mind that one is green, not a shade of brown.
Oh, I see you thought about this too…
That quote from Faber intrigued me as well - the wording is quite vague. I thought about a possibility of those vehicles being put there for use before GSR was activated. If by the time Toa Mata first entered the Codrex to avoid energy storms something gone wrong with Mata Nui’s first awakening, perhaps Toa Mata should have used the vehicles to escape.
But of course that is just one possibility out of many. Faber’s quote makes me believe that the crafts served a purpose which never came and it was a blessing in disguise that they were even still there by the time Nuva came to Codrex. It was the only way for them to escape.
