Rahi - Blog Posts

✨Bionicle crab !✨

It was, originally, meant to be just another arthropod. However, someone reblogged my previous rahi, along with this comment :

Well, guess what ? Yes, absolutely. I’m glad I saw it because it gave me the inspiration for this monstrosity (and it made me laugh more than I would admit, too). Thanks.

I must recognise that if I compare my rahis, there is a clear pipeline. I don’t think it can go much further in this direction.

Anyways, details/closeups/weird illegal technic I just found out, below the cut !

Front (smol Visorak for scale) :

Because it’s really big. It’s also a good excuse to show off my really fancy and glittery Kanohi. No clue where it comes from but it’s beautiful !

I’m really happy with how mean this things looks, overall. It’s most definitely the bad guy for Toas to fight. It has a really good scale to work with my larger customer Toas [here], but it could also act as a really large rahi for my smaller space-based Toas [here]. Why a large crab stealing Kanohis in space, you may ask ? No idea. I’d have to actually think out a lore for that.

I started the conception with the frame (which does make sense, in theory), then the legs, and finally the shell. This was only partially smart, because that meant I did not account for the shell's mass when building the legs. Essentially, this poor thing can't stand on it's own, so I'm using two technic bars underneath to keep it up right (which are hidden in editing, of course).

Top/Hind (shell) :

I think the shell was pretty decent. I tried to use as little pieces as possible to keep it light, but it's still a lot. Among these pieces can be found one Visorak claw and three Mantax feet, which have a nice texture for organic feet. There is also another foot at the front which comes from an Inika set which I can't seem to find. I'm also using some of these large technic panels, which cover a lot of surface without being too much of a pain to set up (still quite a lot, since they're connected to the feet at at an angle, feet which which are also connected to the frame at an odd angle...) Speaking of Mantax, I alsu used the black-pearl shells, because these, too, have a really organic vibe, and it gave a small touch of pearl which was missing on the body.

I tried to keep the back relatively slick, to avoid something similar to an abdomen since it's not a spider. Still I had to extend it a little bit using the rounded cubical cover, to hide some socket joints, but it's okay-ish.

Neath :

Truly a mess, I must admit. As I started with each side separately, I tried to somehow connect them with the large grey technic frame (in the middle). On either sides, I have a whole bunch of axle connectors, both standard and angled, which allow for the thing to appear rounder than it could have been. The two leg sockets peices at the front are used for the eyes, and the pieces abov (barley visible) is a classic Bionicle shoulders piece clipped backward as a base for the pincers arms.

Pincer :

Or mandatory unusual feet usage. These really works well as any kind of claw or armor, in my opinion. The black arm pieces used here (Hordika leg piece) were particularly good for the job as they technic pin holes in there allowed me to add ad additional socket practically at the same level at the original one (even if I would rather have used black technic bars instead of the light grey ones, but i couldn't find any in my supplies... It's likely the Space station's fault.

Legs :

Or equally mandatory foot out of not foot pieces. Here is a cursed homebrew way to make legs : one Bohrok head part (bricklink call these shoulders ?) to display the piston-like element and serve as structure, linked with Toa Metru legs (which slots above nicely. And then comes the magic trick, for the Rahkshi shells (silveragain, because I have many of these) have a small attachment point toward the end, that is meant to hold the back blades in place; but it also perfectly fits right on the small ledge in the middle of the leg piece ! Granted, it's not a very secure connection, but these two pieces don't need anything else but that to hold. I actually loved this one so much, you can notice two additional Rahkshi shells held similarly on the tope of the crab's shell.

In order to connect the legs individually to the frame, I am using Vahki legs for the exterior limbs, and Pihraka arms for the central ones (these arms have the particular property of having the restrictive sockets on either sides, which makes it good to keep the leg's shape.

The middle sections are made using two simple axle-socket pieces connected by old plates, usually found in technic sets predating the Bionicle them.

…And obviously, I had to make another makeshift studio (I actually really like this one). Have a look at all these terribly assembled elements !

✨Bionicle…Rahi ?✨

Yeah, I’m not sure what that one exactly is…But I like it.

I don’t currently have any other Rahi in stock (well, I do have one but it’s terribly ugly), however I do have one in the making, which might be ready for next week. Else, I have a few other things I might get at (including a fancy idea since it’s pride month, which I’m hoping to manage to pull off…). Of course, if you have ideas, I’d gladly hear them !

Aaanyway, rant aside, building details under the cut !

For once, legs are utterly simple, since they’re all made of a single blade piece. Nevertheless, I had to use feet somewhere, so you might notice that the entire spine is made of feet piled on top of each other. They are only connected near the tail by a single socket.

Speaking of the tail, it’s made of a weapon piece of Nuju Metru, but the connector was all twisted so I couldn’t use it as a proper weapon. Well, it gives some movement to the beast, so it’s a great thing still.

Similarly, the tongue/flame (I’m still unsure of which it is meant to be) is a partially broken Tahu sword. It’s not actually held securely, because it’s inserted in the technic pin connector of the dark red shoulder blade I’m using as the face of the beast. On each side of this piece are silver Bohrok eyes as teeth, which themselves are partially covered with limb armor pieces.

The main body is not actually very complex, because I found a quite large red technic piece which looks somewhat like a throne and acts as a great base (if anyone has any idea where this piece comes from, based on this very unclear description, I’d like to know where it comes from); and four small blades placed horizontally to make the body slightly rounder.

You will notice this Rahi can actually more or less fit in my shelf studio, which is quite remarkable, because it means I don’t have to set up a temporary studio all over again. Might have to do it for the next build, though.

Also, I actually started my spreadsheet for bionicle gens ! (It incredibly tedious..)

✨Bionicle Beetle !✨

Ah, another insect ! Check the other one here.

Does it ring a bell ? The head (and some of the brown parts) come directly and with very few modifications from the Jaller & Gukko set. I never managed to get Jaller, so instead, I turned Gukko into this nice, big Rahi.

Now, of course, detail and the other pictures below the cut !

Front, hind, and neath !

I’m absolutely delighted with how it turned out. First of all, I really like the head which has been intact for as long as I can remember, although I know that I’ll never complete the set because I don’t have Jaller’s Kanohi. What I have plenty of, however, are the pearl grey Rahkshi shells, so you can see that I’ve used three of them on top. Then, I have to find pieces with a good enough curvature. So the next piece is from a Toa torso (Hordika) and the next one is used as a wing/pauldron on different sets, which has a perfect shape. On the sides, I’m using practically only pieces from a brown Vahki.

The underside is quite simple, but I wanted to make sure the colours remained coherent with the head, so I kept this bright brown while trying to make it as light as possible (the six legs are already barely letting it stand).

Under the dual Rahkshi shells, I have a bit of space which could let me add a nice feature, although I don’t know what yet. I planned on making actual elytra, but that would have been too complex, so there is currently nothing.

There isn’t much left to add, since for once, I have made simple legs (only because the body was more complicated…), but I nevertheless want to point out how well the small arm pieces I used to connect body and feet are for insect-like shapes, while keeping it quite mechanical. Just the perfect balance.

Also. Would anyone happen to know if there is a spreadsheet referencing all Bionicle (bonkle ‽-) gens with images and additional infos ? I have done a tremendous amount of research because I can’t remember any of the names properly, and having a single spreadsheet would be easier. AND, if not, would anyone be interested in access in such a spreadsheet ? Because if I do end up making one, I would be happy to share !

Have a nice day :}