Pakari Rahi

[xccj]

Okay, so I have this new project. Back in 2001, the Toa Kanohi all came in six different colors. I finally completed my collection of the original 36 Toa Mata masks a while back, but what to do with them? Well, I plan to make a MOC for each of the 36 masks. And to give it a theme, I'm going to use the original six masks to recreate the Toa and use the rest to build various Rahi. This is my Thirty-Six Masks Project.I've built all my Rahi now. Sure, some of them could use some tweaking before Convention Season, but I want to post them online now so that I can get feedback and such. There are too many Rahi for one topic, but I don't want to make individual topics for each MOC (especially when some are lackluster). So instead I'm going to group them by the Kanohi mask they use.Today's are the Pakari Rahi

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This batch of Rahi is about half and half again, some hits and some misses. The Pakari is actually an excelent mask to add to Rahi; it works well as a shell, and has a decent shape that can blend in, ext. It was an easy mask to add to the various Rahi.

White Swan

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The Swan is probably the worst of the bunch. I wanted to utilize the white panels and make them into wings, but overall the build doesn't flow as well. (That, and I didn't really come up with a good head design.) This was a filler MOC to be sure.

Man-Bird

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Yes, I went there with the name. This one one of the final MOCs I built, at by this time I had seriously depleted my supply of mata green pieces. But I had a bunch of teal stuff left, so I used that as my primary color source. I do love how the wings turned out, and the balance and mobility for them is pretty decent. The rest of Man-Bird is a little plain, but I wouldn't say it's the worst thing I ever built. Head could still use some work, but at this point, all the MOCs are packed up for transport. Maybe later.

Giant Spider

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This was the very first Rahi I built, and also one of the largest. It's clear that I used a lot of Hero Factory elements on this giant spider, and I think the limb pieces worked excellently for the legs. The body is also built from HF elements, and then the abdomen (in brown) is basically just two Toa Mata torsos connected together... but it works! The head does feel a little off, mostly due to the burnt orange Bohrok teeth. But overall I think it represents a decent spider. My one main disappointment is that the brown Pakari mask in the center of the back is just a little too small and doesn't stand out. In retrospect, I could've used a different, brighter color to make it stand out.

Kapura in an Exo Suit

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I decided to make a bunch of the official Matoran to go along with the Toa and Rahi I was building, so the red Pakari was always destined for Kapura. However, I thought he would look a little bland with a topic to himself... so it was time to build him some armor. Kapura himself is based off my classic Matoran design, only this time I added the smallest HF limb pieces to his arms and legs to give him some better mobility. The armor is clearly based off the Exo Toa, but I designed it to fit around the Kapura model. And Kapura sure fits in there snugly, so I'm happy with that. I ended up double-jointing the legs for extra stability, and while this limits movement, it keeps the Exo Suit on its feet. The arms were pretty basic (and I gave him a claw and blaster, like the Exo Toa) but what I like most is the used of Toa Metru heads for the shoulders. Overall, the Exo Suit is a little clunky, but it's still imposing and I could see it as something built out of a scrap pile like the original Boxer model. And as seen in this pict, Nuparu wasn't completely forgotten. I guess the idea is Nuparu designed it, but since Kapura was representing the red Pakari, he gets to wear it into battle.

Fish Rahi

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I suppose this could be called some sort of Takea or Makuta Fish, but I'm not bothering with official names for it. Still, I love how this design worked out. The body uses a plethora of technic liftarms, which are then nicely hidden by the Rahkshi foot armor. Even the Pakari mask has a better flow with the model compared to some of my other Rahi. And the blue wings from that one Ben 10 set really make it for the tail. (In the official review I wrote, I said I wanted to use those pieces for a fish model, and here we are.) The one issue I have is the lower jaw, while functional, looks a little bare. But I didn't find a decent way to bulk it up without it getting in the way of the rest of the body, so it is as it is.And for grins, here's a bonus Rahi!!

Mahi

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Officially, this is the last Rahi I made. I ended up giving a Matoran from the other five Koros a Rahi steed (Rhino for Hahli, Elephant for Matoro, Kahu for Kongu, Ussal for Onepu, and Exo Suit for Kapura) so I felt that the Po-Matoran were unrepresented. As such, I began to design a Mahi based off the ones seen in the MNOLG. The biggest design portion was the body, which uses traditional Matoran bodies, tan liftarms, and the giant tan shield found in the Thornatus. The Vorox limbs in tan helped too. Overall, I think I pulled off the design okay. This is also the only Rahi that uses a noble mask instead of one of the 36 Great Masks. Perhaps if I had felt really inspired, I would've attempted to use all 36 noble masks on Rahi too, but I was running low on useful pieces, especially in noble mask colors. As such, only the Mahi gets the tan Ruru.Anyway, that's it for now. Comments appreciated. I finally took pictures of the rest of my Rahi, so now I just need to edit and upload the photos. And I'd better get working on that... Bricks Cascade is only a month away, and I'd like to get opinions on these before then. Thanks for looking!

[Kakaru]

Man, you know I would have loved this topic purely for revamping that Exo-suit, but the rest of the rahi are just icing on the cake. I love the fish and spider in particular, they look great and the design flows well without forcing parts to keep a consistent colour scheme. While I feel like the mask could be used more prominently in places, it's certainly an excellent and creative way to utilize your mask collection instead of leaving them out to display (as I've been doing lately while gloating over my collection).I mean, daaang. Now I really need to finish my collection so I can start a similar project. I look forward to your Kakama creations! :3

[Dralcax]

The fish looks like a blue Finneon... and you might want to add some sort of foot to the spider. But otherwise, cool, and the masks are nicely incorperated.

[<Reverb>]

Ooh, these are nice.-White Swan- I agree not so good. The face looks some what like a beak of a swan. The back of the swam howvver looks nice as it looks like the it's wings.The pins and axles visable make me cringe as there are so many. D:-Man Bird- The wings of this are amazing. The design of the wings flow nicely. Over all, an Ok Moc. Not much for me to say.-Giant Spider- I love how you incorperated the HF piecees with Bionicle in this one. The back looks nice and the overall Moc appeals to me. I have also found out Takua is a rahi tamer. xD-Kapura in an Exo-Suit- Oh so nice. This is amazing. The overall set up of the Moc is nice and lover the weapons on it. Kapura looks so snug in that suit. He can destroy ANYTHING. -Fish Rahi- Probably my favorite. It gives me a savage vibe that Takea Sharks don't. It just looks mean and ready to kill. Nice use of those Ben 10 Wings for the fins.-Mahi- The extra. Hm, I like how it looks just like the one in MNLOG.Love 'em these are amazing. ~Gravity

Edited May 30, 2012 by Gravity Caiox

[Obsessionist]

The masks are particularly well incorperated in this batch. I actually think the white swan looks pretty decent, except perhaps the head. The man-bird is pretty awesome, especially with all that teal. The legs are great. The spider isn't the best of the bunch, but it does look pretty good. The head could be more compact, but the body and legs work well. The Exo-Suit is great, looks very much like the set while having a unique and smart design. The arms could flow better, but it's nothing terrible. I really love the fish rahi, especialy the fins. The lower jaw needs to be less square and more blue, though. Perhaps a Guurahk head? The Mahi is pretty much perfect except for the legs, which need bulking up. I love the parts usage in its torso.