Hot Take: Takanuva should've gotten the Golden Armor and it would've fixed so many things
Ok so we all know the Golden Armor was a last minute asspull deus ex machina, but considering all the Bionicle team had to go through just to get Lego have a final arc to the series, I'm willing to forgive it being kinda rushed and out of nowhere.
But even with that, the fact that it was Tahu who got it lowkey rubbed me the wrong way. I dislike that he had to be transformed back to a Toa Mata and I dislike that he has this extra, unique destiny because it really isolates him from the rest of his team. They're supposed to be equals, six heroes one destiny!
But Takanuva having an extra special destiny DOES work! He's the extra special 7th Toa! Greg spent nearly the entire second half of Bionicle hinting that Takanuva was going to have a mysterious special destiny, but never actually got around to writing it. Supposedly he was going to have him play a pivotal role in resolving the planned Great Being Civil War arc in the post-ending serials, but those got cancelled. But this would've been a perfectly fine destiny for him to have!
Plus his color scheme was already gold! He changed it to white to hide during Makuta's reign and because they needed a white set for the Stars wave, and you can have him return to gold by retrieving the Golden Armor, visibly reclaiming his identity after having to hide it (which fits with his arc for VERY obvious reasons).
Takanuva getting the Golden Armor also fits SO well thematically with his character arc relating to Makuta. Ever since he became a Toa, the narrative was obsessed with relating him to Makuta and giving him an arc related to moral ambiguity. He temporarily fused with Teridax to become Takutanuva. Christian Faber even said in concept art that the two of them were always meant to fit into each other like a lock and key to ultimately awaken Mata Nui. And of course later he became a Toa of Light and Shadow, again making him like a mix of Toa and Makuta. And the recurring theme in his journey through the multiverse was deconstructing his views on black and white morality.
If Takanuva used the Golden Armor, he would absorb all the Kraata powers from the Rahkshi, which Greg later implied was all 42 powers. Thus, Golden Armor Takanuva would be a finalized incarnation of the fusion of Toa and Makuta, but now fully under his own control.
It's actually crazy how much more thematically resonant the ending would've been with just this small change. All the other rushing makes sense, but this is something they could've done! And I know the Doyalist reason Tahu got it is because Stars was meant to be a nostalgia line-up of sets and Tahu was the poster boy for Bionicle, but honestly Takanuva had arguably a stronger argument for being the main character!
Also, I made a video about this, check it out if you want!
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