Random set of the day: Toa Hahli
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8728 Toa Hahli, released in 2006. It's one of 47 Bionicle sets produced that year. It contains 46 pieces, and its retail price was US$9.99/£7.99.
It's owned by 2010 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
Help me come to life! If you like the set I've chosen for you today, please pledge your support for me on LEGO Ideas so I have a chance of becoming an official LEGO set!
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29 comments on this article
When times are dark and all hope seems lost...
Grow an awkward mustache...
@bric_2roc said:
"i have this set he is on my display. LONGLIVEBIONICLE"
that awkward moment when you're told this is actually a female character
@MCLegoboy said:
" @bric_2roc said:
"i have this set he is on my display. LONGLIVEBIONICLE"
that awkward moment when you're told this is actually a female character"
(insert The Price is Right losing horn here)
And now for the Bionicle lore . . .
Ah, the Toa Inika. All 6 are still proudly displayed on a shelf above my bed. I ought to dust them off one day, been awhile. XD
@Slithus_Venom said:
"And now for the Bionicle lore . . ."
But of course...
As we all know from reading the Bible, Toa Hali was originally meant to be in Ravenclaw house, but she was briefly swayed to the dark side of the force when she met Magneto. The Toa Inika would later go on to play a vital role in the 82nd Hunger Games, where Hali helped take down Godzilla by teaming up with Samus Aran.
^LOL, that whole exchange at the beginning gave me a good laugh. Glad the thread started this way!
Hahli was the third Toa Inika I got in 2006, mainly because I was interested in the marbled pieces that made up her limbs and feet. You can sort of tell from the picture, but those limbs are a swirly mixture of dark blue and white which adds some much needed color to what could've been another drab, dark blue Toa of Water. The dark gray iron chest piece and weapon don't help matters, though.
For long-time BIONICLE fans, they will remember Hahli as the happy Ga-Matoran that struck up a very close relationship with Jaller during the Bohrok War. Her enduring pluck was put to the test in the wake of the Bohrok Kal defeat as she trained for and competed in the various Kohlii matches across Mata Nui. Along with her friend and team-mate Macku, Hahli represented Ga-Koro in the great Kohlii match held in Ta-Koro. Against the favorites to win, Hafu and Hewkii from Po-Koro, and the host village team of Takua and Jaller, Hahli and Macku emerged victorious. But the victory was overshadowed by the reveal of the legendary Mask of Light and the attack on Ta-Koro by the Rahkshi, the sons of Makuta.
Hahli was present at the aftermath of the battle between the Toa Nuva and the Rahkshi and the revealation of the Seventh Toa, Takanuva. Grieving the death of Jaller, she however remained resolute and lead the Toa Nuva, Turaga, and Matoran into the tunnels beneath the island in a vain attempt to aid Takanuva against the Makuta. By uniting the inhabitants of Mata Nui when they were needed most, Hahli became the avatar of the virtue Unity, and was placed in a spot representing this virtue alongside Takanuva (Destiny) and a resurrected Jaller (Duty). This lit the way back to Metru Nui, her original home...
With Takua now Takanuva, Hahli was now tapped to be Chronicler of the Matoran. Her tenure was brief, however, as she joined Jaller, Hewkii, Kongu, Nuparu, and Matoro in stealing away from Metru Nui to find out what happened to the Toa Nuva on their quest for the Mask of Life. This is what caused our cute little Kaukau-wearing Hahli to become the hulking Toa Hahli. Wearing a Great Kanohi (i.e. the source of the "mustache") that would allow her track the Mask of Life, Hahli would lead the group to the hidden mask ahead of the Piraka, though it came at the cost of giving her increasingly debilitating headaches the closer she got to the mask.
Hahli went on to seek the Mask of Life beneath the waves as a Toa Mahri, in which she was transformed again, this time by the power of the Mask of Life itself. But that is a story for another RSotD.
@Dash_Justice said:
"As we all know from reading the Bible, Toa Hali was originally meant to be in Ravenclaw house, but she was briefly swayed to the dark side of the force when she met Magneto. The Toa Inika would later go on to play a vital role in the 82nd Hunger Games, where Hali played a vital role in taking down Godzilla by teaming up with Samus Aran."
I think I just died of laughter
Is this 'Bionicle' theme compatible with Znap?
Huwbot be like: Haha bonkle go brrrr
@Lucario_Nuva said:
" @bric_2roc said:
"i have this set he is on my display. LONGLIVEBIONICLE"
He's a she lol"
Too be fair, Bionicle/Hero Factory sets had a robotic aesthetic that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to male or female appearance.
Wow! I just saw this set on way back machine for lego shop at home 2006 and saw this for 9bucks and this came out. Cool even tho I don’t like Bionicle
Does anyone have this weird feeling that she would have made more sense as RSotD around Christmas?
@MCLegoboy:
Toa of Water, so the shape makes much more sense as scuba hoses than a mustache.
@SearchlightRG said:
" @Lucario_Nuva said:
" @bric_2roc said:
"i have this set he is on my display. LONGLIVEBIONICLE"
He's a she lol"
Too be fair, Bionicle/Hero Factory sets had a robotic aesthetic that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to male or female appearance.
"
Roodaka would say otherwise...
Lego designer in 2005: "How do we make this Bionicle set look female?"
*Pauses*
"Ah yes a Dominatrix with a thin waist, a strong bust, high heels and a pony tail will be obvious!!!"
In all seriousness though the only female Bionicle ssts that look female are Roodaka for the above mentioned exaggerated design, and Gali 2015 which took a more subtle "Hartman Hips" approach. Its still tricky to keep it subtle without making it overtly sexy, even Lego itself has shown that pitfall.
@bananaworld said:
"
Is this 'Bionicle' theme compatible with Znap?"
No, Bionicle and Znap have pretty much nothing to do with each other. By the time Bionicle came out, Znap had already been completely retired.
But both Bionicle and Znap use a lot of Technic pin connections, so there's that.
This series has my favorite weapons.
Never quite understood why, out of the six Toa they had to choose from, they gave the one girl the mask that looks like a moustache. We're not even in the underwater setting yet, she doesn't need scuba tubes!
@MCLegoboy said:
" @bric_2roc said:
"i have this set he is on my display. LONGLIVEBIONICLE"
that awkward moment when you're told this is actually a female character"
With a moustache?
As cool as the Inika line, the best of the bunch is Toa Nuparu imho.
@Dash_Justice said:
" @Slithus_Venom said:
"And now for the Bionicle lore . . ."
But of course...
As we all know from reading the Bible, Toa Hali was originally meant to be in Ravenclaw house, but she was briefly swayed to the dark side of the force when she met Magneto. The Toa Inika would later go on to play a vital role in the 82nd Hunger Games, where Hali helped take down Godzilla by teaming up with Samus Aran."
False. She took part in the 83rd Hunger Games. Don’t worry, it’s an honest mistake. I barely kept track after the third Quarter Quell!
Dunno which one is worse: bionicle or galidor...
@HUN_Sector said:
"Dunno which one is worse: bionicle or galidor..."
Bionicle: Revolutionizes how LEGO does their original themes forever, saves the LEGO company from going bankrupt, has a successful run for an entire decade and leaves behind a very large and passionate fanbase.
Galidor: A gigantic failure that cost LEGO a tone of money, only got one single wave with several cancelled sets, and it is now mostly remembered just as a joke. It does have a small cult following, but that's about it.
I am pretty sure the answer is obvious based off those points.
@LegoDavid
Remember: NEVER feed the trolls ;-)
@bananaworld:
Yes, absolutely. The first year included five Rahi sets, which were mostly built with Technic beams, which we recently learned can be fed through the purple Znap connectors.
@LegoDavid:
In Galidor’s favor, you can mention it without people crawling out of the woodwork to whinge, “Er Mer Gerd, I wish the company had gone bankrupt, been picked up by Mattel for a song, and spent the last 20 years producing styrene bricks with zero clutch!” Bionicle clearly falls short in that regard...
@bric_2roc said:
"is bionicle compatible with glalidor???????"
Actually... yes. The Exo-Toa, Cadohk and Gahdok, and Makuta to my knowledge all used Galidor ratchet joints in their legs.
@bananaworld said:
"
Is this 'Bionicle' theme compatible with Znap?"
In addition to PurpleDave's answer above, the 5.5l Technic Axel with Stop, which Huw called attention to as the only part that came from Znap to still be in use today, was part of the gear system in the chest of each of 2004's Toa Metru, so you could *technically* say that Bionicle did make use of a single part directly from Znap's legacy as well!
-
On the set itself: I'll be honest, I never thought of Hahli's facial tubes as a moustache until I started hearing jokes about it online. I suppose part of the problem is that the Elda mask is one of the more human-looking in design anyway (RELATIVELY speaking!), so it's a more awkward addition than, say, if a clearly mechanical-looking mask had such a design feature instead.
That said, I liked Hahli out of the Inika. Moustache aside, she had what I thought was one of the better-looking masks of the wave, and her marbled pieces were certainly a very distinctive highlight. Plus, flashing neon weapon, while obviously a gimmick, and one that wasn't unique to her at that, was still cool to me tbh; especially the green (as here) and blue ones... for some reason, the red ones of Nuparu and Hewkii just weren't as bright and clear as the other colours, at least on the sets I had. And, again, the Inika's range of full and unlimited thirteen points of articulation was still something new and exciting to me when I got Hahli, even with having four of her teammates already ^^
I didn't envy her that mask's power, though. Apparently, in-story, it was a mask with the power to locate specific things that the wearer was looking for - and it did so by *giving her an intense headache* that got worse the closer she got to the object in question. Not fun!
@bric_2roc said:
"is bionicle compatible with glalidor???????"
Thinking about it, now I want to see a Toa Gali/Galidor mashup. Gali-Dor!
No offense to the Bionicle fans but I have never been able see what you do in these sets. I suspect my dislike of action figures in general combined with the skeletal look (which is why I am not into Technic) is at fault for my inability to appreciate Bionicle. Well I am glad you all kept Lego alive even though this is the sort of thing that pushed me into my Dark Age.
@pumaman said:
"No offense to the Bionicle fans but I have never been able see what you do in these sets. I suspect my dislike of action figures in general combined with the skeletal look (which is why I am not into Technic) is at fault for my inability to appreciate Bionicle. Well I am glad you all kept Lego alive even though this is the sort of thing that pushed me into my Dark Age."
Think of it as a “build your own action figure” kind of system. You’ve got the limbs and joints along with a whole host of other parts to make characters and the like with it. Give a kid the means to create, a world with enough flexibility for their creation, and have that story continue to be interesting year after year, and you’ve for yourself something we could keep coming back to again and again!
(at least until the parts started breaking in 07, which is when we quit buying it)
Hahli here is actually my favorite character, so happy to see her get some time in the spotlight!