Earlier this year arguably LEGO’s most iconic theme – Bionicle – was brought back as a Gift With Purchase (GWP) free set that was given away if purchasers at LEGO stores bought qualifying products.

The GWP has gone a long way towards revitalising Bionicle under a new aesthetic, dubbed by the community as simply “GWP” or Generation 3, “G3”. 

With this new design language using System pieces and with a more cartoonish look, the community has been pumping out recreations of other Bionicle sets. The one that really caught my eye was made by user Ransom Fern who made a brilliant rendition of the Exo-Toa.

For the more casual Bionicle fans or those who have simply forgotten, the original Exo-Toa (set number 8557), is basically a mech or power armour that the original Toa used at one point in the story of the series. 

Ransom Fern not only made a new version of the Exo-Toa, but also made it functional with the Toa Tahu in the GWP, allowing the latter to ride inside of or wear the former. The Exo-Toa can also be a standalone display piece, for those who didn’t manage to snag the GWP. 

Ransom Fern made this feat even more impressive as the Exo-Toa is an alt build of a regular set you can buy at most stores. Alt builds are new builds made, usually, with just the pieces from one set, offering something completely different from what LEGO intended. 

The donor for the Exo-Toa from Ransom Fern is 76245: Ghost Rider Mech & Bike, a relatively affordable Marvel product that wasn’t too notable until now. 

Instructions for Ransom Fern’s Exo-Toa are completely free for everyone on Rebrickable, a site with a focus on alt builds. We also recommend watching the accompanying video too. 

All of this is a preamble to explain my project, the Boxor promised in the headline. After publication of the Exo-Toa, several commenters expressed interest in the Boxor, originally set 8556, that shares much with the Exo-Toa including the fact that it is also a mech / power armour, shares many of the same pieces as the original Exo-Toa, much of the same colour scheme, and is generally seen as a companion product.

On top of this, a new Boxor would fit nicely, as the GWP set comes with two characters: the Toa Tahu and the Matoran Takua. While Tahu gets the Exo-Toa, Takua gets a Boxor. Again this is a functionality from the original sets as the Exo-Toa worked with the original Toa, and the Boxor worked with the original Matoran. 

And this was my inspiration – to make a Boxor, also using the pieces from the Ghost Rider set as the donor, and also offering the instructions for free for everyone to have forever on Rebrickable.

And after a lot of work here is the result in a quick gallery, with the instructions also available as a regular PDF at the bottom of the page.

On top of being a nice display piece, there are some features you can look forward to with this incarnation of the Boxor:

• Made completely using the pieces from 76245: Ghost Rider Mech & Bike. You don’t need anything else, not even any pieces from the GWP. 
• Takua can ride comfortably in the Boxor, with a dedicated seat / harness in the front, just like the original set. 
• There is storage for Takua’s accessories (the backpack and disk) within the body of the Boxor. Click here to see a short video of this.
• Punching action! Flick the two arms of the Boxor forward to mimic the Technic punching mechanism of the original Boxor. Again click here for a video.
• A sizable build measuring in at 15 X 15 X 12 centimetres (length X width X height), or 5.9 X 5.9 X 4.7 inches.
• Use the leftover pieces from the Ghost Rider set to add extra flame detail to your Tahu GWP display base. Experiment with this, but see what mine looks like for inspiration.

Overall I am quite happy with how this turned out even though it took longer to complete than I would have liked, with the GWP long since sold out around the world. 

Thankfully I think the Boxor is still a great standalone build that can be enjoyed with the GWP Takua. Dedicated individuals may even want to build a GWP-style Nuparu, the original creator of the Boxor in the Bionicle story and the Matoran who was included in the box of the original Boxor as its pilot. 

Please share your creations, alterations or even Nuparu builds in the comments and photo section of the Rebrickable page for this project. I’d love to see them! 

If you enjoyed this please see another alt build from me in the form of this Batman Tumbler, and a modification of the Optimus Prime set that removes partsforming.