Toa (2001)

Toa are the heroes of the Bionicle saga. They each have a power over an element, and they wear Kanohi masks of power that provide them with additional powers. Toa are biomechanical in nature: they have both machine and living parts.

Toa each have a specific destiny that they must try to fulfill in their lifetime. Toa, however, are not predestined to fulfill a certain destiny, and they can fail trying to complete their destiny. Most Toa also hold a moral code that upholds justice and keeps one from killing opponents; those who betray such codes are no longer considered "Toa."

Toa traditionally work in teams of six, with each member controlling a different element: the typical team so far consists of Toa of Fire, Water, Air, Ice, Stone, and Earth. However, Toa have been known to work alone or up to as many as hundreds when needed (such as in the Toa/Dark Hunter War. Toa of other elements (such as Light, Sonics, and Magnetism) have been known to exist as well.

Toa are usually transformed from Matoran, but some of the early Toa were created as Toa, skipping the Matoran process. Also, after their destiny is fulfilled, Toa can give up their power for a greater cause, becoming a Turaga.

There were once as many as 3,000 Toa in existence; now, the number has dropped to about 50.

Powers and Equipment
Toa are best known for their elemental powers, allowing them to have tremendous control over the element they represent. This includes creating the element out of nothing, absorbing it into themselves, and manipulating it in almost any shape or form.

Each Toa is also equipped with a Great Kanohi Mask that grants them an additional power. While a Toa can have multiple masks stored away in a Toa Suva (shrine) that they can switch at will for a variety of powers, most Toa only have one mask that they wear constantly.

Toa, when transformed from Matoran, also have a subconscious directory of what their armor style will be. For example, if a Matoran thinks a Toa looks like Tahu Nuva, he will find his armor pattern following that of the Toa Nuva. This explains why Takanuva takes after the Toa Nuva in his armor, and the Toa Metru take after Lhikan. (The Toa Inika, because they believed Toa looked like Toa Nuva, would have had their armor pattern similar, except for their unique transformation.)

Toa are also equipped with personal tools, which are most often swords and other bladed weapons. Since Toa are loathe to use these tools to harm living beings, they are most often used to focus elemental powers. Several tools can be used in alternate modes that help with transportation; for instance, a disk launcher can be used as a jetpack, and blades can be worn as ice skates.

A few Toa, such as the Toa Hagah, wear metallic-colored armor, which often denotes an elite status.

Toa Kaita
Three Toa can merge into a single being called a "Toa Kaita". Toa Kaita have the combined elemental and mask powers of the individual Toa. However, Toa cannot stay merged for very long, because keeping three personalities in sync can be mentally taxing.

So far, only the Toa Mata have been seen to form Toa Kaita, and they retained this ability when they became Toa Nuva. The Toa Metru had the potential to merge into Toa Kaita, but had no idea that they actually could; and as Toa Hordika, they presumably did not have the mental focus that such a fusion required. It is unknown whether the Toa Hagah ever formed Toa Kaita, and it remains to be seen whether the Toa Inika will eventually do so.

According to book and comic writer Greg Farshtey, a six-Toa fusion would be called a "Toa Nui", and its power could rival the Great Spirit Mata Nui himself. However, it's only a theory at this point, as no Toa knows that the Toa Nui could even exist; in fact a Toa Nui may never be formed.

Toa Teams

 * Toa MataTahu, Gali, Lewa, Pohatu, Onua, and Kopaka are the six Toa whose destiny is to awaken the Great Spirit Mata Nui from his endless slumber. They were empowered over ninety thousand years ago, making them among the world's first Toa (however, there are Toa still in existence that are yet older than they).

These six Toa were sent to the island of Mata Nui to confront the Master of Shadows, Makuta. As the only known heroes at the time, they were simply referred to as "the Toa"; fans later created the nicknames "Toa Olda" and "Toa Mata" for this incarnation, and Toa Mata has recently been made the official name[4] (See "Notes" under main article for details on these names).

Arriving on the island of Mata Nui (named after the Great Spirit) with little memory, the local Turaga elders told them of their mission and of the evil Makuta that had enslaved many of the island's Rahi beasts. If Mata Nui was to be awakened, Makuta would need to be stopped first.

The Toa collected the Kanohi Masks of Power scattered around the island and challenged Makuta, but he soon awakened swarms of creatures called Bohrok that threatened to destroy everything on the island. The Toa fought these swarms off and imprisoned their queens, Cahdok and Gahdok. Immediately afterward, they were immersed in energized protodermis, making them Toa Nuva with enhanced powers and equipment.


 * Toa Nuva: As Toa Nuva, they fought both the elite Bohrok called Bohrok-Kal and the "Sons of Makuta", the Rahkshi. In the weeks of peace after Makuta's apparent death in a battle with Takanuva, the Toa of Light, the Toa Nuva have been listening to the Turaga's tales of the Great Cataclysm and the Great Rescue that took place a thousand years ago.

The Toa Nuva have now travelled to the island of Voya Nui in search of a powerful Mask of Life that could save Mata Nui from death. However, they ran afoul of Piraka that were also looking for the mask and were captured. Once they were rescued by the local Matoran, they recognized that this mission rightfully belonged to the Toa Inika and gave them their blessing to go forward. However, the Toa Nuva are not going to immediately return to Metru Nui, but instead are going on a mysterious journey.


 * Toa Metru: Vakama, Nokama, Matau, Onewa, Whenua, and Nuju were once Matoran a thousand years ago in the city of Metru Nui. The city's lone protector, Toa Lhikan, gave Toa Stones to the six Matoran and sent them to the Great Temple, where they were transformed into Toa Metru. Their first task was to stop the Morbuzakh plant creature that was slowly taking over the city; but they then discovered that Makuta was scheming to put the Great Spirit Mata Nui to sleep and take his place as the Matorans' object of reverence. Though they were able to imprison Makuta, they could not stop Mata Nui from falling asleep and had to escape the crumbling city, leaving behind nearly all the comatose Matoran.


 * Toa Hordika: these new forms had no mask powers, limited access to elemental powers, and a feral rage that threatened to consume the Toa. With help from strange creatures called Rahaga, the Toa fought to free the Matoran from the Visorak; and they looked for the mythical Keetongu, who could possibly cure them of their mutation.

Once the Visorak were defeated and the Toa were cured, they relocated all the Matoran to the island of Mata Nui. There, they gave up their Toa power to wake the Matoran from their slumber, becoming Turaga.


 * Toa Inika: Jaller, Hahli, Kongu, Hewkii, Nuparu, and Matoro are a new team of Toa, whose purpose is to save the life of the Great Spirit Mata Nui.

After finding out that Mata Nui is in danger of dying and that the Toa Nuva have been sent to save him, Jaller refused to wait helplessly. He gathered a small squad of Matoran to go and aid the Nuva in their quest to find the Ignika Mask of Life. Upon arriving on Voya Nui in canisters meant for Toa, the canisters are struck by lightning from the Red Star and the Matoran are transformed into Toa Inika with special lightning-enhanced powers and other alterations, such as living masks.

The Toa Inika quickly joined the island's few free Matoran and raced to claim the Mask of Life before a group of thugs calling themselves Piraka did. After a series of battles with them, the Toa Inika triumphed, but the Kanohi Ignika flew away and disappeared beneath the waves of Voya Nui bay. The Inika are now trying to follow it, taking a passage that leads undersea...


 * Toa Mahri: The new Toa Inika.Not much is know about them.What is known is that they are the toa Inika transformed and they will fight the Barraki.


 * Toa Hagah: Norik, Gaaki, Iruini, Pouks, Bomonga, and Kualus were an elite team of Toa called the Toa Hagah. The Toa Hagah once served the Brotherhood of Makuta as bodyguards, when it was an organization dedicated to the protection of the Matoran.


 * Other
 * 1) Takanuva is the legendary Toa of Light. Once an irresponsible Matoran named Takua, he found the Avohkii Mask of Light and was sent with his best friend Jaller to find the legendary Toa of Light that it belonged to. Takua eventually realized his destiny and put on the mask himself, becoming the Toa of Light they were looking for and renaming himself "Takanuva". He then fought Makuta in a battle that seemingly led to Makuta's death. Takanuva wields the Staff of Light, and his Avohkii Mask of Light can bring understanding and peace to others. He now serves as the sole protector of the city of Metru Nui.
 * 2) Lhikan was the last remaining Toa on Metru Nui before the coming of the Toa Metru. He was part of a team of eleven Toa that travelled to Metru Nui with the mission to destroy the Kanohi Dragon. He was a Toa of Fire and wore a specially-shaped Hau Mask of Shielding which was more streamlined; his tools were a pair of Fire Greatswords that could combine to form a gliderboard or shield. He became a Turaga in order to give the Toa Metru their powers, and was eventually killed by Makuta. Jaller wore Lhikan's old Hau until recently; and Turaga Vakama invented tales of "Lhii the lava surfer" to honor Lhikan's memory without revealing the existence of Metru Nui.
 * 3) Nidhiki was a member of Toa Lhikan's team, until he was exiled for trying to betray the Toa during the war with the Dark Hunters. He joined the Dark Hunters after his banishment, and was doomed never to leave when Roodaka mutated him into an insectoid monster. He was a Toa of Air with a Mask of Stealth, which gave him a combination of camouflage and silent movement; he also wielded a scythe. Ironically, he was scared of and disgusted by insects.
 * 4) Krakua is a future Toa of Sonics who will be the lone defender of a mysterious island fortress. Using his Kanohi Suletu, Mask of Telepathy, he stays ahead of his enemies by reading their thoughts. Krakua has the power of Sonics, or sound, and can use his sword to unleash shockwaves that can shatter mountains.[6] Krakua was able to communicate from his time in the future to Toa Vakama in the past during the latter's retrieval of the Vahi Mask of Time: warning Vakama that in order to save the future, he must be willing to destroy it; and that one day a group of heroes (the Toa Inika)[7] will be sent into danger and Vakama will not be able to do anything to help them. Krakua's present-day status is unknown: he has likely not yet been empowered as a Toa, and may not even have been "born" yet; if he is alive as a Matoran in the present day, he lives somewhere other than Voya Nui or Mahri Nui,[8] and he must not live on Metru Nui either (as there are no sonic Matoran living in that city).
 * 5) Jovan was a Toa of Magnetism and the leader of the only team of Toa that has reached the Ignika Mask of Life (prior to the Toa Inika), and they used it to heal the Great Spirit - though not all of the Toa survived the resulting incident.[9] Jovan later became the Turaga of the Matoran living near Mount Valmai (where the mask was hidden), and was killed in the Great Cataclysm when it turned the region into the island of Voya Nui. Jovan's mask was a Kadin Mask of Flight, and he also wielded an early model of Zamor Launcher and a magnetic bolt launcher.
 * 6) Turaga Dume was once a Toa of Fire, but nothing more is known about him or his team. (Though it can be presumed that Dume wore a Kiril Mask of Regeneration as a Toa, as he now wears a Noble-level Kiril.)
 * 7)  The Bahrag twins were Toa in Matoran mythology.
 * 8) Other toa now presumed dead
 * 9) Lariska had killed a Toa of Gravity, as she had practiced with levitation disks and he wasn't prepared to fight someone with experience in zero-gravity combat.
 * 10) Zaktan once killed a Toa of Plasma. The exact cause of death is unknown, but all that was left of him was half a mask, some armor shards, and a puddle of something that Avak wasn't sure he wanted to identify.
 * 11) Avak and Hakann discussed a Toa of Sonics that "objected" on their last mission; Hakann commented "Sort of a Toa of Silence now, isn't he? Dead silence." (This Toa is known to not be Krakua.)
 * 12) As of Hakann and Vezok's recruitment seven thousand years ago, the Shadowed One had a Toa trapped in stasis in his throne room.

False toa
Shadow Toa When the Toa Mata went to face Makuta in his lair, they were surprised to find that one set of his guardians was - themselves. Makuta had taken each Toa's inner darkness and given it physical form. These Shadow Toa had all the powers of the originals and were physically identical to them, save that their colors had been darkened until they were almost black. Each Toa faced off against their shadow counterpart, but the battles were too equally matched; the Toa Mata could only win by fighting as a team and switching opponents. According to the Bionicle Encyclopedia, the Toa defeated the Shadow Toa when they acknowledged that the darkness was a part of them and reabsorbed the shadows into their bodies.

"Prophesied" Toa Metru When Lhikan was choosing the new Toa Metru, Makuta was looking to manipulate the choices to his advantage. Mata Nui was fully aware of this, and to make sure his choices would become Toa, he and his Order created false prophecies that said the six Matoran who found the Great Kanoka Disks would become the Toa Metru: Nuhrii, Vhisola, Orkahm, Ahkmou, Tehutti, and Ehrye. Makuta was convinced by the prophecies, and influenced Lhikan to choose six other Matoran who were much more stubborn and hard-headed: Vakama, Nokama, Matau, Onewa, Whenua, and Nuju - the ones that Mata Nui had wanted to be Toa all along.

Roodaka would later use these prophecies to demoralize the Toa, making them believe that their election as Toa had been a mistake.

While searching for the Kanohi Vahi, the Great Mask of Time, Vakama had almost become convinced that the Vahi had affected the past so that Lhikan actually had chosen Nuhrii, Vhisola, etc. to be the Toa Metru. In truth, it was just an elaborate illusion created by Makuta. In the illusion, the Toa Metru were encouraging and enforcing stricter laws, even banning experiments with energized protodermis in order to keep other Matoran from becoming Toa.

Piraka When arriving on Voya Nui, the Piraka claimed to be Toa in order to gain the help of the native Matoran. However, despite playing the part of heroes, they could not hide their sadistic and cruel natures. They dropped this act once they enslaved the Matoran using their antidermis virus.