Toa Mata/Toa Nuva

The Toa Mata were the group of Toa who originally introduced BIONICLE and who first saved the Island of Mata Nui from the Makuta of Metru Nui. These Toa later transformed into the Toa Nuva. It was their destiny to awaken Mata Nui after he was put to sleep by the Makuta.

Members

 * Tahu, Toa of Fire
 * Lewa, Toa of Air
 * Gali, Toa of Water
 * Onua, Toa of Earth
 * Kopaka, Toa of Ice
 * Pohatu, Toa of Stone
 * Takanuva, Toa of Light (while Takanuva wasn't a Toa Nuva in that he wasn't transformed by energized protodermis, he was considered a close ally and friend of the team)

The Beginnings
The Toa Mata were created approximately 100,000 years ago on Artakha in case the Great Spirit ever fell into a coma, and they first walked on the island of Daxia. After a series of adventure in a place known as the Universe Core, they were put into Toa Canisters, where they stayed until they were needed. The Toa Mata were, in fact, active before they came to Mata Nui, for they were able to utilize their elemental powers quickly and had the ability to manifest their mask powers. Hydraxon trained the Toa Mata before he became jailer of the pit. Unlike most Toa, they were never Matoran, and were named for their elemental prefixes.

The Great Shadow
The Toa's canisters dropped into the sea the moment Mata Nui fell asleep. They were intended to drop in the ocean and land on the island now known as Mata Nui, and from there arrive at Metru Nui, but the canisters were faulty and they wound up drifting in the sea for the next thousand years. Takua, an Av-Matoran disguised as a Ta-Matoran, now having moved to Mata Nui, his memory of Metru Nui erased, summoned them by collecting the six Toa stones made and scattered across Mata Nui by the Toa Metru. They arrived on the island in pieces, but quickly put themselves back together. After floating for so long their organic tissue had decayed into nothing. By fusing their mechanical parts together, new tissue was allowed to grow. Unfortunately, due to their millenium in the ocean, they remembered almost nothing of their former lives or their mission.

Quest for the Masks
When the Toa Mata, who were simply called "the Toa" by the Matoran there, arrived on Mata Nui, they made their way to their respective villages. The Turaga sent them to gather six Great Kanohi and Noble Kanohi, without which the six Toa would have no chance of defeating the Makuta who had taken over the island. During their searches, they battled many of the Makuta's infected Rahi. They collected all of their Great Kanohi and Noble Kanohi so they could go to their Toa Suva and recover a Golden Kanohi, which granted the power of all six of the Toa's Great Masks: Akaku, Hau, Miru, Pakari, Kakama, and Kaukau.

They gathered the six pieces of the Makoki stones and entered Makuta's lair through the Kini-Nui. There they combined into two Toa Kaita, Akamai and Wairuha, to defeat the Makuta's strongest guardians, the Manas. After defeating the crab Rahi, the Toa Kaita split apart into the six Toa Mata again. Shortly thereafter, they encountered shadow versions of themselves, which had the same powers and strenghts. After a futile battle, the six Toa absorbed their shadow counterparts into themselves. They continued on into Makuta's lair. The villain confronted them first as a Matoran, but changed into a swirling mass of tentacles and shadow energy. The Toa only won by combining their powers against him.

Bohrok Crisis
When the Toa ascended to the surface, they were met by a stunned Ta-Matoran who said only a single word, over and over again: "Bohrok." The Toa went to Ta-Koro and found the city under attack by strange new creatures (Kohrak, Pahrak, and their respective Bohrok Va). Once the battle was over, Turaga Vakama told them that they had to collect eight different Krana from each type of Bohrok. The Toa split up to search for Krana.

Their search for Krana did not come without setbacks. Toa Lewa fell under the control of the krana for a long period of time. But united the Toa eventually triumphed, with Onua freeing Lewa from the control of the swarm and Pohatu, Onua, and Gali working together to retrieve the Krana from a group of Tahnok. During this time, Tahu and Kopaka discovered where the Bohrok came from: inside the island of Mata Nui itself.

Defeat of the Bahrag
The Toa entered the Bohrok nest, in which they overcame illusions and traps and eventually made it to the lair of the Bahrag queens. There they uncovered mighty suits of armor, called Exo-Toa, by putting their collected krana into niches on the ground. They donned the armor and battled the Bahrag, but could not prevail against them. Tahu reasoned that the Exo-Toa armor was inhibiting their elemental powers, so they took them off and combined their powers into a single beam, trapping the Bahrag in solid Protodermis. The act opened up six columns filled with a strange liquid. The Toa Mata were submerged in them and changed.

Transformation
The strange substance the Toa Mata had been engulfed in was called Energized Protodermis. It would transform beings destined to transform, and kill those not destined. The destiny of the Toa Mata was to change into the Toa Nuva, as Tahu dubbed their new forms. Now they had even greater control over their elements than before, and they could use Kanohi Nuva - Kanohi masks that could let the user share its power with others. The Toa Nuva used the powers of the Miru and Kakama to "fly" out of the Bohrok nest. Once they had safely reached the surface, they began to experiment with their new powers - on each other. The Toa engaged in a massive battle, broken up by Gali Nuva. The Toa Nuva thougt that their newfound powers would give them the ability to defend their villages on their own. They were wrong.

The Bohrok-Kal
By imprisoning the Bahrag, the Toa Nuva had released the Bohrok-Kal. Six Bohrok had been modified with better powers and better Krana, called Krana-Kal. These six were hidden and given a special mission in case the Bahrag were imprisoned: to free the Queens.

As they searched for a means to free the Bahrag, the weakness of the Toa Nuva quickly became apparent: Nuva Symbols had appeared in the villages when the Toa transformed, and when the Bohrok-Kal stole the Symbols the Toa Nuva lost their elemental powers. In addition, the Toa had lost all the Great Kanohi Masks that they had gathered, and now had to collect scattered Kanohi Nuva masks to replace them.

The Toa Nuva rallied together against the Bohrok-Kal, but despite their best efforts they could barely slow the Kal down. The Kal eventually discovered the location of the Queens' prison, only to find the Exo-Toa acting on their own to guard the prisoners. The Bohrok-Kal reduced the Exo-Toa to scrap, but were still delayed long enough for the Toa Nuva to catch up to them. As the Kal proceeded to use the Nuva Symbols to unlock the Queens' cage, Tahu attempted to use the Vahi, Mask of Time (which he got from Turaga Vakama earlier) to slow them to a near-standstill, which would give the Toa time to strike. But being so close to completing their mission, the Kal were completely invulnerable from outside attack. Instead, Gali gambled that the Nuva Symbols could receive power as well as give it, the Toa fed their energy through the Symbols. The gamble worked, as the powered-up symbols supercharged the Bohrok-Kal's own powers beyond what they could control, destroying them. The Toa Nuva were able to reclaim their Symbols and with them, their elemental powers; they then returned to their villages and hid their symbols in places where they could not be stolen again.

Mask of Light
The next few weeks were peaceful ones, but it wasn't to last. Takua, the Matoran that had gathered the Toa Stones, discovered a powerful Kanohi Mask called the Avohkii, Mask of Light. While he and his friend Jaller went off in search of the mask's wearer, the Takua\Takanuva, the Toa Nuva had their hands full fighting the "Sons of Makuta," the Rahkshi, whom Makuta had sent to intercept the searchers. In the first fight with the Rahkshi, Tahu was poisoned, and later was blasted by Kurahk, the Anger-Rahkshi, causing him to increasingly lose his temper. By the time the Rahkshi got to Onu-Koro, Tahu had given in to mindless rage; only the combined powers of Gali, Lewa, and Kopaka could purge the poison and calm him down. While the Rahkshi searched for the Mask of Light, they also destroyed all of Ta-Koro and some of Onu-Koro.

The Toa Nuva then regrouped and made their last stand against the Rahkshi at the Kini-Nui Temple, disabling five of the Rahkshi; but the sixth, Turahk, was able to get through and kill Jaller (who took the blast for Takua). Seeing his friend's sacrifice, Takua accepted his destiny as Takanuva, the Toa of Light; and he destroyed the Rahkshi, ending the battle.

The next day, Takanuva went to face Makuta, insisting that the Toa Nuva stay behind with the Matoran. When Takanuva summoned the Matoran and Turaga to Makuta's lair, the Toa Nuva went with them and witnessed Takanuva and Makuta fuse into the being known as Takutanuva, who resurrected Jaller and reopened the path to Metru Nui that had been closed for a thousand years. However, reviving Jaller had weakened him--the door crushed him, but Takanuva was revived mysteriously and Makuta was presumed dead by the Toa Nuva. In the weeks afterward, while the Matoran were preparing to travel to Metru Nui, the Toa Nuva and Takanuva (along with Hahli, the new Chronicler) listened to the Turaga's tales of Metru Nui, the Great Cataclysm, and the Great Rescue. This was also the first time that they learned of other Toa, among them the previous incarnations of the Turaga: the Toa Metru.

Ignition
Once on Metru Nui, Turaga Dume delivered the grave news that Mata Nui was not only asleep, but dying. He told the Toa Nuva of the Ignika, Mask of Life that could potentially save him, and sent them to the island of Voya Nui, where it was supposed to be hidden. Unfortunately, rogue Dark Hunters calling themselves "Piraka" were also in search of the mask. When the Toa Nuva arrived, the two groups quickly got in a fight, which the Toa ultimately lost, although it was a close battle. The Piraka's leader, Zaktan, had ordered their weapons and masks taken and their unconscious bodies thrown into the volcano. However, upon being abandoned like so much trash by the Piraka when the volcano erupted, they woke up in time to grab their tools and pull themselves out of the path of the eruption - only to be attacked by the island's few remaining free Matoran, who were fooled into believing the Piraka were Toa and didn't want to risk being tricked twice.

But the Order of Mata Nui's agent on Voya Nui, Axonn, told the Ta-Matoran Balta that the Nuva really were Toa and so Balta halted the fight. Once the fighting stopped and the Matoran accepted the fact that the Nuva really were Toa, the two groups teamed up to infiltrate the Piraka's stronghold and take back their masks. They did so and were about to fight the Piraka again, but Zaktan's ally Brutaka intervened and defeated all twelve heros in one hit. While the Matoran eventually escaped, the Toa Nuva were imprisoned and their masks taken as trophies...

While the Piraka and Toa Inika were later busy searching for the Mask of Life and Brutaka was fighting his ex-partner Axonn, the Matoran rebels entered the stronghold and searched for the Toa Nuva. They found them chained to the wall and enslaved by the Piraka's antidermis virus, forced to drain out their elemental power even to the point of death. The Matoran freed the Nuva from both chains and enslavement and helped them to their masks, telling them of the Toa Inika that had arrived after they did; and the Nuva were surprised to learn these new heroes were old friends from Mata Nui.

After meeting Axonn and his associate Botar, the Toa Nuva met the Toa Inika, who had reached the Mask of Life only for it to fly away and dive underneath the ocean. The Inika were worried that they would be sent back to Metru Nui while the Nuva continued the mission, but the Nuva recognized that destiny had chosen the Inika for the task of saving the Great Spirit's life; and Tahu told the Inika that the Nuva would be waiting in Metru Nui for their safe return. However, after the Inika left, he admitted to Axonn that he lied; the Nuva were departing on a new mission that the Inika could not be a part of.

Botar, another member of the Order, had told them that there was a scroll in the Great Temple on Metru Nui that gave a list of tasks to be completed before the Great Spirit could be awakened, put there by the Great Beings near the beginning of the universe.

World Tour
Though the Toa Nuva still doubted Axonn and Botar's motives, they entered Metru Nui's Great Temple, sneaking in so that they would not start an endless debate with the Turaga. They found the scroll that the Order members had mentioned and were perplexed at how it was written on paper. Their doubts also increased when they saw the list of tasks they were expected to do. Nonetheless, they got to work; beginning with the closest task: freeing the Bahrag and allowing the Bohrok - the swarms that had tried to destroy their home - to run free once more.

Soon after, the Toa Nuva made their way to the Dark Hunter base of Odina. Their goal there was to recover an ancient artifact, the Staff of Artakha. However, it was not there. Apparently it was on Xia, and the Toa Nuva later traveled there. There they found out that the staff was taken by Icarax who was headed to Karzahni. Possibly in connection to the staff, there was word that the legendary ruler Artakha had invited the Toa into his realm, though the Toa decided to start with other tasks with Tahu and Kopaka going down south and to an island chain far to the south of the universe to quell a series of active volcanoes. Onua and Pohatu had to retrive an artifact known as the Heart of the Visorak, Lewa vanished, and Gali was back at Mata Nui where she made a discovery about the Red Star: there was something alive in it. She found out using the telescope and the combined powers of her Kahoni Akaku. After this the Toa Nuva were all transported to Daxia by Botar to witness the Staff of Artakha heal the Bionicle world. It was revealed that the previous tasks on the tour were trivial. They had one more task to do. It was the hardest task, and also the most dangerous.

Powers and Tools
The Toa Nuva (as Toa Mata) used to have the standard level Kanohi, tools, and powers most other Toa possessed.

As Toa Nuva, all of these traits were improved: their elemental powers became stronger, their tools gained new forms that offered an alternate mode for transport, and they even gained strong yet lightweight armor made of protodermis. Their masks also became enhanced Kanohi Nuva that not only had stronger powers, but could share those powers with others nearby. However, these new powers had some drawbacks. For one, their elemental powers were tied to new objects called Nuva Symbols, and if the Symbols were in the hands of enemies then the powers would be lost to the Toa. The Toa's collections of Great Kanohi had also disappeared, and the Toa had to scour the island again to find the Kanohi Nuva to replace them.

Equipment
These were the tools and Kanohi the Toa Mata carried:
 * Tahu carried a Fire Sword and wore a Hau.
 * Gali had Water Hooks and wore a Kaukau.
 * Lewa carried an Axe and wore a Miru.
 * Pohatu carried Feet Additions and wore a Kakama.
 * Onua had Claws and wore a Pakari.
 * Kopaka carried an Ice Sword and Ice Shield and wore an Akaku.

After their transformation into Toa Nuva their masks became stronger and recived the ability to share their powers with other beings around them. They also recived new toa tools which could be also used for transport. These were the weapons the Toa Nuve recived:
 * Tahu recived two Magma Swords which could also be used as a lavaboard.
 * Gali recived two Aqua Axes which could also be used as fins for faster swimming.
 * Lewa recived two Air Katanas which could be used as wings.
 * Pohatu recived two Climber Claws and stronger Feet Additions. The Climber Claws could be put together to make a Kodan Ball.
 * Onua recived two Quake Breakers. They could also be used as all-terrain treads.
 * Kopaka recived two Ice Swords and a bigger Ice Shield. The Ice Swords could also be used as skis.

Sets
The Toa have been released three times as sets. They were the hero sets in 2001 and 2002 as both Toa Mata and Toa Nuva, respectively. and now in 2008 as the toa/phantoka, when the time comes for them to finally fulfill their destiny as the Toa Nuva.