Golden Armor

"Shafts of golden light were erupting from one of the two giant robots. Wherever they touched the sand, a piece of golden armor formed. Takanuva watched as five segments took shape, followed by a sixth in the shape of Tahu’s Mask of Shielding."

- Narration, Journey's End

The Golden Armor were six pieces of gold-colored armor that were created by the Ignika. They were intended to be used by Toa Mata Tahu.

Design
The Golden Armor fragments were originally designed and thought of by the Great Beings. It was their attempt to ensure that the Toa would not be defenseless if a time came where the Matoran would be in danger. However, rather than store the Armor away in the Matoran Universe and risk somebody other than Tahu Mata finding it, they stored their designs inside the Kanohi Ignika.

During Teridax's reign, Tren Krom, in Lewa's body, sent a message to the Ignika, telling it that it would soon be time to create the armor, for Tahu to bear in his original form.

Creation
After the Teridax-controlled Matoran Universe landed on Bara Magna, Toa Tahu exited the robot to find himself in an illusion created by the Ignika. The mask told him that he would need to be what he once was in order to use the Golden Armor. The Ignika then transformed Tahu back into a Toa Mata. While the Toa complained that he needed as much power as he could in order to fight the Rahkshi, Skakdi, and Skrall armies, the Ignika created the six pieces of Armor for Tahu to wear. However, Makuta saw this and sent a burst of energy at Tahu, which blew him aside and scattered the armor.

Search for the Golden Armor
Tahu was able to keep the Golden Kanohi while Takanuva was able to find a piece. The two then set off in search of the other pieces only to be joined by Glatorian Gresh, who also had found a piece of Armor. The three beings then split up. Gresh soon came across a Skrall with a piece of Golden Armor. The two engaged in battle only for Gresh to blast the Skrall with a burst of Air and knock him out. Gresh then took the Golden Armor from him and returned to the others. Meanwhile, Takanuva was ambushed by two Rahkshi of Heat Vision. Noticing that one of them had a piece of Golden Armor, Takanuva created a hologram of himself, which he used to distract the two Rahkshi. They both fired their eye beams at it as the hologram slipped between them, striking each other. Takanuva then looted the Golden Armor piece and also returned to the others. By this point, Tahu had already engaged Nektann in a sword-fight. Nektann tried to goad the Toa into losing control, but the Toa of Fire was the ultimate victor when he melted the Skakdi's Armor, and took his piece of Golden Armor.

Uniting the Armor
As Tahu, Takanuva, and Gresh reunited, Tahu took the six pieces of Armor and fitted them onto himself while an army of Rahkshi advanced on him. Tahu then activated the armor, which absorbed the dark energies of all the Kraata on the battlefield, killing them in the process and stopping the Rahkshi. The powers were then stored in the armor, giving Tahu the abilities of Kraata. The deaths of all his Rahkshi distracted Makuta Teridax, giving Mata Nui the opportunity to kill him.

Powers
The Golden Armor was created by the Great Beings in the event some sort of rampant infection was unleashed in the Matoran Universe. It had the power to absorb and wipe out the infection. In this case, the infection was the Antidermis of the Kraata. Greg Farshtey has confirmed that, when activated, it absorbed their essence and powers and gave them to Tahu. He only possesses these powers while wearing the armor.

Set Information
One part of the Golden Armor was included in each BIONICLE Stars set. The pieces could replace different parts of Tahu's Adaptive Armor, with the exception of the shield.


 * The shield was a golden version of the Magnetism Shield, found with the Rahkshi.
 * The armor was the armor pieces found all over the Stars, found with Gresh, Nektann, and Takanuva.
 * The mask was the Hau made for the Stars, found with Tahu.
 * The sword hilt was a Toa Nuva shoulder armor piece, found with the Skrall.