Who were the first Toa? We know Helryx, we know Orde, but surely the other dozen primary elements of the Matoran Universe had first Toa of their own; so who were they? Today, that question is finally answered. Introducing the Toa Narozen, the universe’s first Toa.
Some of these MOCs will have comments from me related to the figure rather than the character. They will be notated in these little boxes.
Helryx, Toa of Water
Gender: Female
Kanohi: Ako, Great Mask of Psychometry
Pieces: 133
Helryx is the first Toa to grace the Matoran Universe–that is, if you’re willing to forget rumors of a certain failed “Proto-Toa” experiment–and as such needs no introduction.
This model was first created in September 2021 and is based around the winning canon contest model created by TheUnderscoredDouble. I like the silhouette of the model but was never fond of its construction so this is basically a revamp that’s built more to my liking (including arm builds by Tammy Calamity).
Orde, Toa of Psionics
Gender: Male
Kanohi: Azmen, Great Mask of Reconstitution
Pieces: 111
Orde was the second Toa ever created, only being born a few months after Helryx. She would take him as a personal apprentice before founding what would eventually become the Hand of Artakha, and after that the Order of Mata Nui.
This model was first made in January 2022 for the ill-fated canon contest. If this render looks familiar to you, it’s because I’ve posted it here at least twice; once in my Yesterday Crew post and once in my CC Part 1 post.
Beroh, Toa of Fire
Gender: Male
Kanohi: Navara, Great Mask of Rahi Control (modified)
Pieces: 65
Beroh isn’t hotheaded like most of his successors, but he is rather impulsive; being the third Toa in existence doesn’t give one much to go off of, after all. A miscalculation during his creation left his right eye permanently damaged, so he modified his mask with a monocle of sorts.
Note: From here on out, all MOCs will have been created in September 2022.
Tahatai, Toa of Stone
Gender: Male
Kanohi: Weha, Great Mask of Division
Pieces: 84
Tahatai is probably the closest thing to a Bionicle cowboy that I’ve ever made, gunslinging and all. Among the Narozen, he’s never been known for overstaying his welcome. He comes, does his job, and leaves. Even Helryx isn’t quite sure how he always manages to appear and disappear when nobody notices.
Chinelle, Toa of Plantlife
Gender: Female
Kanohi: Mutuku, Great Mask of Emulation
Pieces: 53
Much like Orde before her, Chinelle was created before the traditions of her element were in place. As such, she is one of the very few female Toa of Plantlife in existence (not that her relatively deep voice would easily give her away). According to legend, every plant in the universe can trace its ancestry to her whip.
Samari, Toa of Iron
Gender: Male
Kanohi: Sileni, Great Mask of Sensory Aptitude
Pieces: 101
Little is known of Toa Samari, other than that he survived the events of the Iron Genocide simply by being affiliated with the Order of Mata Nui, which were incredibly reclusive at the time. When he learned of the Genocide, he swore revenge on every being who took part; as he predates the Toa Code, he is absolutely willing to kill others for this purpose.
Samari’s colors are whacky because building a Toa of Iron in any scale is incredibly difficult because the proper colors are not easy to come by. My desire to base everyone around a Mata torso exacerbated this problem, so I was forced to use a custom torso I found on Reddit (will link if found again) in order to make some of these colors work. Still more grey than I’d like, but I think the result is worth it.
Kaiva, Toa of Earth
Gender: Male
Kanohi: Arthron, Great Mask of Sonar
Pieces: 94
Kaiva feels most comfortable getting his hands dirty: creating underground tunnels, erecting structures for his team to use, digging graves, you name it. If the task calls for Kaiva to use his hands, he’s the man for the job. What’s more, with his mask of Sonar, there’s almost nowhere he can’t find a target.
Myrsk, Toa of Lightning
Gender: Female
Kanohi: Iden, Great Mask of Spirit
Pieces: 57
Myrsk is the team’s resident trickster, filling the role Lewa would go on to fill in the Toa Mata or Cyhatu in the Toa Mangai, using her elemental and mask powers to their fullest effects. Her scythe is believed to be the inspiration for the “chain lightning” ability that would be programmed into the Makuta species.
Her eyes have a different glow than the others simply because neither of the color packs I currently have installed have a “trans glow pink” color like most of the other colors have. I really wanted to have at least one Toa with pink eyes so I basically had to settle for vanilla Studio’s glowy pink color.
Pavo, Toa of Plasma
Gender: Male
Kanohi: Travix, Great Mask of Molecular Disruption
Pieces: 95
Little can be said for Pavo as he is the first of the Narozen to pass away and records were not the greatest in the earliest days of the universe. The circumstances for his passing away remain a mystery to most, with rumors circulating within the OOMN that he was killed by Tobduk because he knew the location of Artakha or by Skakdi Dark Hunters when he refused to cooperate.
Yeah, that backstory is a cop-out, but I’ve honestly got nothing for Pavo as a character. I’m really glad I got to use those orange Bohrok parts and Hordika necks tho.
Zekaven, Toa of Gravity
Gender: Male
Kanohi: Kadin, Great Mask of Flight
Pieces: 121
Zekaven is a powerful warrior and an invaluable asset to the Toa Narozen, but be warned when crossing him: his notorious temper makes Orde look like the nicest Ga-Matoran around. He specifically chose the mask of flight such that he can never be countered by his own powers.
I am not shy about the fact that I do not like Gravity as an element, but once I rationalized how it could be used, I figured a Toa of Gravity would probably be the closest thing Bionicle could have to a Force-wielder, so I suppose it was only a matter of time until I made a Bionicle Jedi. Also, while everyone in this collection is purist apart from their masks, I’m super happy I was able to pull it off with Zekaven.
Chorost, Toa of Sonics
Gender: Female
Kanohi: Vardia, Great Mask of Adaptation
Pieces: 90
Chorost had the unfortunate honor of being the first Toa of Sonics in the universe, which means some of the kinks in Toa’s creations hadn’t all been ironed out. For Chorost specifically, this means that, while others of her element would have more sensitive hearing than most, she has fallen completely deaf. She doesn’t let that stop her, however; she can pick up sound in the form of vibrations through her tuning forks and she pairs especially well with Kaiva and his mask of sonar.
Khovan, Toa of Ice
Gender: Female
Kanohi: Volitak, Great Mask of Stealth
Pieces: 108
While most of her element are perfectly fine loners, Khovan lacks the self-confidence that finds most of her peers and generally considers herself an outcast (an issue that is exacerbated by all subsequent Matoran of Ice being male); this is reflected in her choices for both weapon and mask. Nevertheless, she has challenged herself to make friends with some of her team and finds herself especially close to Chinelle and Chorost.
Nawados, Toa of Air
Gender: Male
Kanohi: Dest, Great Mask of Weather Control
Pieces: 82
Nawados is nothing if not inventive. In conjunction with his mask power, he is able to achieve feats that are normally impossible for a normal Toa of Air, such as becoming a cyclone for a short time. He looks at his successors and wonders why no one else has thought of this.
The mask model is an Avohkii variant as seen in Kardas’s parts pack. As an Avohkii makes no sense in this circumstance, I appropriated the mask to another power. I was torn between the Kraata powers Weather Control or Chameleon before settling on the former.
Gauss, Toa of Magnetism
Gender: Male
Kanohi: Hamara, Great Mask of Possibilities
Pieces: 85
Gauss was a bit of an oddball among the Narozen, with not even his element’s colors being fully decided upon at the time of his birth. He was a formidable warrior and a great tactician, but a terrible secret-keeper who made many enemies. OOMN officially blames his death on the Makuta, who were carrying out the Iron Genocide at the time.
Whatever I said about not liking Gravity as an element, I feel doubly so about Magnetism–I even forgot it was an element until I was looking through the list on BS01 to see what I still had left to do for this project–I even dislike the closest thing to an official color scheme the element has. Magnetism should not be an element, it should be a power of iron. Anyway, I don’t really like this MOC.
These fourteen Toa would go on to oversee the construction of their universe from the inside and populate their world with Matoran to live and work freely, Turaga to guide them, and eventually more Toa to protect them. The astute among you might notice there are two elements missing: Light and Shadow.
Originally, there were no plans for Toa of either element–indeed, Matoran of Shadow do not even occur naturally–yet the Toa Narozen have been alerted to a supposed Toa of Light who identifies herself as Ashla, who seems to enjoy eluding them and OOMN, and rumors of a secret Brotherhood of Makuta project that resulted in a Toa of Shadow named Vodan. Only time will tell if these two can be found and whether they will prove to be friends or foes…