Bionicle Axe

Part History and Availability

Bionicle Axe was first available in LEGO Technic set 8535, Bionicle Toa Lewa, which released in January of 2001 in Europe and mid-year 2001 in the United States. Exclusively available as part of the Lewa, the LEGO Technic piece was assigned part number 32559 and an internal name of Voodoo Axe. The Lewa set was available in two revisions; the aforementioned LEGO Technic set 8535, later internally cataloged as 8535-1 to differentiate it from LEGO Technic set 8535-2, which was the same set (i.e. Bionicle Toa Lewa), but also came with a Toa Mata Mini Promo CD.

The first revision of set 8535 (i.e. 8535-1, sans Mini CD), would be made available in several combination products throughout 2001 and 2002, including set 65024 The Complete Toa Collection, which included all 6 Bionicle Toa sets, K8533 Find the Power Kit, which included all 6 Bionicle Toa sets and 3 Bionicle Turaga sets, and 65130 Toa 3-Pack 2, which included sets 8535 (Toa Lewa), 8533 (Toa Gali), and 8536 (Toa Kopaka).

In the summer of 2002, LEGO Technic set 8567, Bionicle Toa Lewa Nuva was released. As the Bionicle series was narratively driven, and in the Bionicle storyline the Toa Nuva were upgraded, permanent transformations of the original Toa, so it was that the Bionicle Toa Nuva set effectively acted as upgraded replacements of their respective Bionicle Toa sets – in brief, 8567 was a replacement of set 8535. Since part 32559 was never made available as part of any other LEGO set, 8535 and piece 32559 were effectively sunset at the same time.

As of December 2023, 16 of the 22 unique pieces of set 8535’s inventory are available for purchase through lego.com’s replacement parts website; the Bionicle axe is not one of those 16 pieces.

Part Variations

As mentioned above, Bionicle axe has internal LEGO part number 32559. This number is known as its Design Number and is specific to the piece. However, LEGO also tracks parts by Element Number, which is specific to the piece and its color – for the Bionicle axe in the green color as available in set 8535, apparently at least two Element Numbers were in use; 4156576 and 4143547.

At some point, part 32559 was also available in a Pearl Light Gray color, and was assigned Element Number 4175942. This was never included in any commercially available set.

Bionicle History

In the Bionicle storyline, the Bionicle axe was known as the Air Axe and was the Toa Tool of the Toa Lewa who, appropriately enough, was known as the Toa of Air. Like the other Toa with their tools, Lewa was effectively reliant on the axe to use his elemental power because it helped him to channel his own residual power and access the environmental power of the wind.

The axe, ended up being an incredibly convenient tool for Lewa, because the village of Air, Le-Koro, was located in the forest region of Le-Wahi, and he was able to use the axe to cut through the dense vegetatation and thick foliage of the trees while on his quests to save the island of Mata Nui from various adversaries.

During one such quest, Lewa combined with two other Toa, Gali and Kopaka, to form Toa Kaita Wairuha, which simultaneously wielded the Air Axe, Ice Sword, and Ice Shield, and had access to the elemental powers of Air, Ice, and Water.

Another time, Lewa, alongside all the other Toa, fell into a pool of protodermis and was transformed into a Toa Nuva. At the same time, his Air Axe was apparently transformed into a pair of Air Katana.

Bonkler NFT Trait

The Bionicle axe is one of the Hand traits of the Bonkler NFT collection, available as part of Bonklers 16, 76, and 122.

The Bionicle axe is based on a green part 32559 (either Element number 4156576 or 4143547); however it was originally meant to be the Pearl Light Gray color part (Element Number 4175942). The LEGO company specifically made the Pearl Light Gray version of the axe as an exclusive trait for the Bonkler NFT collection, over 20 years ahead of the Bonkler NFT collection going live, and was planning on making special LEGO Technic Bonkler sets including the piece. However, Sprite got confused by all the explanations of part numbers and the fact some pieces have two different numbers and two of the same piece can have different names just because the color is different, and even more confused when it turned out that two of the same piece and same color might still have a different number, so ended up using the wrong one (probably). Whatever happened with the part numbers and names, it is the case that the Bionicle axe actually used in the Bonkler NFT collection ended up being green, and the Pearl Gray axe intended for use in the Bonkler NFT collection went unused.

Bonkler Lore

As discussed earlier, the general understanding of the creation of the Toa Nuva and the transformation of their Toa Tools was thought to be due to the fact they fell into a pool of energized protodermis that facilitated such a transformation. This is essentially the case for all the Toa but one – when Toa Lewa fell into the protodermis along with his axe, his axe was not transformed but rather stolen from him. There was actually a Bonkler waiting at the bottom of the protodermis pool that took advantage of the opportunity to switch Lewa’s green axe with the Pearl Gray axe. This would have solved two problems at the same time – the green axe that Sprite originally wanted to use would be brought back so as to be included in the Bonkler NFT collection, and the unused Pearl Gray axe would get to be released in an official Bionicle set. However, when the Toa fell into the protodermis pool, one of them landed on the Pearl Gray axe and broke it into two pieces. Serendipidously, the two pieces ended up being transformed by the protodermis into two identical Air Katana, which the Bonkler gave to Lewa, at which point it grabbed the original green axe and left the pool before it could be transformed by the protodermis, or before anyone would notice it.

Apocrypha

However, that Bonkler spent a long time waiting at the bottom of the protodermis pool that it itself went through a transformation not dissimilar to the transformation of each of the Toa into Toa Nuva. Like their tools became absorbed the protodermis and acquired a lustrous chrome sheen after being in the pool for only a few minutes, because the Bonkler spent hours in the pool, all of its traits absorbed the protodermis and acquired a lustrous chrome sheen. However, when its mission was over, it was now in a pickle – while the rest of its body was chrome colored, it was holding a green Bionicle axe. Becuase it was so close to being a unicolor Bonkler, Sprite traded its green Bionicle axe for a knife, which, while not exactly chrome, was at least close enough. This Bonkler, #64, was henceforth known as the Monochrome Bonkler, and this also explains why while the rest of the Bonkler truly is Monochrome, being imbibed with the same protodermis, the knife is slightly off.