The following article was written by DragonMaster2050, with only a few minor edits, mostly dealing with trademark usage and HTML coding. -PD
This was my entry for the official LEGO® RAHI Building Contest. It didn’t end up winning the grand prize of appearing in comic 21; but it did win one of 50 first prizes out of over 4000 entries, and was selected to appear in a summer 2005 RAHI guide from Scholastic. I didn’t name it because I knew all official BIONICLE® names have to be cleared by The LEGO Company’s legal department, and it’d probably be changed. I just call it the GA-METRU aquatic lizard. I stupidly forgot to save my description, but it was something along the lines of:
This aquatic lizard, thought to nest in outlying islands, is often seen hunting RUKI in the bays of GA-METRU or napping on the beaches of PO-METRU. Although usually shy, when startled it relies on it’s sharp teeth, fearsome claws, and temporarily deafening roar.
Okay, so I cheated a little on the head; it uses 2 pieces which aren’t really BIONICLE. I have tried rebuilding it using only pieces found in BIONICLE sets, but the jaw slides back and forth without the crosshole in the Technic Rotor 2 Blade with 2 Studs . The AVOHKII was the inspiration for the model. While playing around with a few pieces, I found the tines of the AVOHKII fit pretty well together with an ONUA claw to make crocodile teeth.
The body was probably the most fun to build. The gears inside along with the RAHKSHI shoulder-pieces allow the legs to move like a lizard runs. The back left and front right legs move forward while the back right and front left move back, and vice versa. The VORAHK back-plate was my mom’s idea; it really gives the look of strong back muscles. I only wish it were a bit wider. There’s nothing too fancy about the legs. In my opinion, those RAHKSHI hips look much better as the side of the leg instead of the front.
I think this tail is the best part of the MOC. The challenge was to build a tapering yet flexible tail out of BIONICLE pieces. It’s built around a Noaoke style tentacle * with ball joint sockets and variable length axles. It’s actually very posable; it can bend both horizontally and vertically in almost a complete circle.
Well, I hope you like my lizard and are inspired to build your own rahi,
DragonMaster2050
* This is officially called the MURASAKI Tail.
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