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The Rushing Spirit - Tarakava Revamp


joev14

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"The water churned around its vicious looking snout as its long, powerful arms pulled it forward toward Gali faster and faster. The predator wore a dingy-looking, ugly mask over its triangular face, and its gleaming red eyes were ruthless and savage"

— Gali, Tale of the Toa

 

I'm back once again with my 2001 Rahi Revamps! You can check out my Nui-Rama here! But in a surprising turn of events, next up we have the Tarakava, rather than the Nui-Jaga. The reason for this is actually quite simple. Because I chose to switch to purple instead of blue for my Nui-Jaga, I am currently waiting for my yellow barraki eyes to arrive with my next bricklink order. But, I didn't want to make all you folks wait, so I decided to post my Tarakava MOC whilst you were all waiting.

 

My Tarakava MOC is easily the one that differs most from it's original model. As I was working on it, I decided to take a different route, and rather than just throwing on some boring back legs, I thought to myself, "The original model was amphibious, so how can I make it look more aquatic in appearance?" Hence the tail.

 

The tail actually uses a very unique articulation design, with a hose braced against the middle to keep it from tipping, but still giving it enough movement to bend in nearly any direction. Another unique feature is that it has a locking mechanism on it's back (directly below that black tail), that, when moved, can allow the entire torso to twist around backwards, transforming the model into it's aquatic mode. Photos link to larger ones on brickshelf. Thoughts would be appreciated! Please upvote and comment!

 

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Front

 

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Back

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Aquatic

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New and Old Comparison

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Tarakava vs. Gali!

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The Battle Continues!

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Tarakava vs. The Master of Water!

You'll be seeing the Nui-Jaga sometime next week, followed by the Kane-Ra and Manas Revamps. Stay tuned, and please upvote and comment!

Edited by joev14
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Not sure how I feel about the arms, but I love the fact that you gave it flippers! The head looks pretty good--while different, it carries the same sort of style and I think improves the sense of menace. It does look a bit small, though, but for the size it is, it looks like a decent piece of work!

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Definitely looks more aquatic than the original set. I like what you did with the face and the actual flipper. Wish you put the "rockets" on its arms though.


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Wow! That's really well-designed. Definitely more organic and aquatic as opposed to the half-mechanical design of the original. In that respect, it falls in line with the Rahi released in later years and I really dig it. I really like how smooth it comes together - nothing juts out or looks too busy - all of it comes together to create a sleek-looking marine creature. Excellent job!
 

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Not sure how I feel about the arms, but I love the fact that you gave it flippers! The head looks pretty good--while different, it carries the same sort of style and I think improves the sense of menace. It does look a bit small, though, but for the size it is, it looks like a decent piece of work!

 

The model is actually the same size as the original (roughly), though it's more hunched over due to the upper body weight.

 

Definitely looks more aquatic than the original set. I like what you did with the face and the actual flipper. Wish you put the "rockets" on its arms though.

I tried adding something to the arms, it didn't look quite right.  

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Neat Tarakava revamp! I really love the reimagination of this rahi, the shape looks really good, much more sleeker design and that tail of it makes more believable water rahi, while that MNOG animations Tarakava came out from water but how?

If I were you, I would add something like a actual hand or boxing glove type arm to arm area, I feel like it is empty that hand area.

But still, great revamp you have done!:D

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The Tarakava were my first Rahi of 2001, so they'll always have a special place in my heart, and I love how you're going through and revamping the Rahi. The teal one was always my favourite so I wish I could've seen a revamp of that, but I'm guessing a lack of teal kept you from doing that one. I never really understood how the Tarakava were lizards or reptiles, so I like you added a much more animal look to it than the original set did, but still managed to retain the original look of the Tarakava.

 

My only complaint would have to be the arms and hands. The arms do seem kind of bland, and I guess this isn't much of a real complaint, because for what they are they still look okay and serve their purpose, but the Mata-feet for its punchy-hands don't seem to be very... full? The foot has the natural opening to it, so the fist/boxing glove look is kind of lost on it. I can't see much of the connection going on in the hands, so I'm not sure if this is possible, but Pohatu Nuva's feet additions, while potentially breaking the colour scheme due to their silver, could be a way to fill in that gap and give it a more Muhammad Ali feel.

 

All that being said, I really love the way you created the head. Like I said earlier, it makes the whole thing seem a lot more like an animal. Good job, love to see more of those revamps!

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Very nice, and I didn't even know the originals were suppose to be aquatic. I just may see myself buying this guy if it was a real set,

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This is an excellent interpretation of the tarakava! Only complaint would be the use of feet for hands... but you made it look like it belongs in the water, so overall it is superb. 

 

The mata feet as hands seem to be a complaint from a lot of people. I'm gonna try a few different things. Any suggestions?

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Well with a little modification maybe that could be changed.

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This makes the Tarakava feel so much more like a water Rahi. The fluid tail is wonderfully elegant, but thanks to the fins it's not at odds with the blocky and monstrous head and jaws. A great Moc!

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I love radical revamps that have been redesigned to be more realistic while staying true to the original looks.

 

So, naturally, I really, really like the tail idea, which is a very unique interpretation that absolutely makes sense. The whole concept of making the Tarakava more aquatic is fantastic; I think you should have even added a big dorsal fin. But I do have an issue with the arms. As others have said, the "hands" don't really look good for punching, but I think the biggest flaw is the lack of reach; it doesn't look like it can reach past its own nose. It looks to me that you were trying to go for a more realistic arm style than the stiff immovable ones on the original set, but I still think you could have (at least) made some more preying mantis-like arms. Something that allows them to extend farther. The Tarakava's deadliness, after all, is in its swift unexpected punches.

 

Though the beauty of this MOC is in its uniqueness from the set, I also think there were several little details you could have kept. The tubes that come out from the set's eyes would be more smooth than the blue Nuva shoulder armor. And the set's shoulder armor, the big blue piece, I think would have improved the bare upper arms. Both details would also have increased the resemblance to the original Tarakava, without decreasing the originality of your own design.

 

It is an absolutely fantastic MOC, but I think it has even better potential with a few small improvements.

Edited by V-N
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"What we see depends mainly on what we look for" -John Lubbock
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  • 3 weeks later...

I love radical revamps that have been redesigned to be more realistic while staying true to the original looks.

 

So, naturally, I really, really like the tail idea, which is a very unique interpretation that absolutely makes sense. The whole concept of making the Tarakava more aquatic is fantastic; I think you should have even added a big dorsal fin. But I do have an issue with the arms. As others have said, the "hands" don't really look good for punching, but I think the biggest flaw is the lack of reach; it doesn't look like it can reach past its own nose. It looks to me that you were trying to go for a more realistic arm style than the stiff immovable ones on the original set, but I still think you could have (at least) made some more preying mantis-like arms. Something that allows them to extend farther. The Tarakava's deadliness, after all, is in its swift unexpected punches.

 

Though the beauty of this MOC is in its uniqueness from the set, I also think there were several little details you could have kept. The tubes that come out from the set's eyes would be more smooth than the blue Nuva shoulder armor. And the set's shoulder armor, the big blue piece, I think would have improved the bare upper arms. Both details would also have increased the resemblance to the original Tarakava, without decreasing the originality of your own design.

 

It is an absolutely fantastic MOC, but I think it has even better potential with a few small improvements.

 

What would you recommend I add in place of the current hands? I have no issue ordering parts online, but I can't think of anything blue that would really work.

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