[Lego] Mokarr's head

A literal piece of LEGO^® history, from an unreleased Galidor set.

Well then. This is significant and something special.

Long story short: in 2002, LEGO^® released a theme called Galidor with officially 20 announced sets. Set #8322, named "Mokarr" (occasionally misspelled as "Makarr") was unreleased, despite being advertised on various media as an upcoming product. The set itself is a motorbike with a shark motif, a complementary vehicle for other Galidor figures, similar to the TDN Module.

Initially, little to no additional information could be found about this set. It was shrouded in mystery, with a bunch of "supposedly there are" and "apparently there is", but as time went on, additional information became more concrete: Mokarr is real, and so are other unreleased Galidor sets.

Look at that printed gum and teeth! The details on this thing are awesome.

Despite being unreleased and never mass produced, LEGO^® did produce a very small number of Mokarr's and other (unreleased) Galidor products that were part of (supposedly) future releases. Basically, they had the injection molds and the pad printer ready, used it to produce parts for their own archives, and it seems that some of these parts ended up on the aftermarket. From the perspective of an engineer, the term "prototype" for these parts is misleading.

In contrast, the top of the head is smooth and has some nice depth to it. It looks like a squid?

In 2018, supposedly a complete Mokarr was sold on Bricklink, to the frustration of many (including myself). A few months ago I found the original seller by pure coincidence, and he confirmed that he sold another Mokarr earlier this year (yes, he had another one) to someone in the UK. To confirm that he wasn't pulling my leg, he sent me a picture album of the other Mokarr, which is different from the one sold in 2018 - this "2020 Mokarr" contains one piece in a different color, and it is exclusive to Mokarr. Suffice to say, the conversation was very informative.

Seeing as I missed out on a Mokarr twice, I felt gutted ("you snooze, you lose"). There aren't many out there in the wild. That may have been my last shot at ever finding one that's for sale. I've been in pursuit of this thing for over a decade. I could literally become a LEGO^® Product Designer, and that still doesn't mean I can have one. I can't really put it into words how important this set is to me, despite it ultimately being a silly plastic toy from long ago.

However, there is a silver lining in all of this.

The windscreen element is only used once per set, but heck: I have two of them.

The seller still had a couple of Mokarr parts for sale. Yes, it technically speaking is only three of eighteen parts, but at this point, I might as well take whatever I can get my hands on. It's that, or nothing - an easy decision to make.

So, while it may not be the full model, it's a step in the right direction. To be honest, I still find it very hard to believe I actually have something, given that Galidor ended 18 years ago. While it will always remain highly unlikely that I'll ever find the other Mokarr pieces or complete models for sale... the hunt, my pursuit of Mokarr, continues.

Edit on the 27th of June, 2021: Part 2.