First, an admission. Because of my insistence on pronouncing all of the letters of the creatures of Mata Nui, along with a predisposition toward a ram or goat, I did not realize until my wife asked me “What is it?” that the MUKAU are cattle and the name is a play on “Moo Cow”.

Now that we know what it is, let’s build it! You will need a #8533 GALI and a #8531 POHATU. If you already put the eyes in GALI and POHATU, you will need an extra blind head. For this layout, I borrowed one from a MANAS, which is unfortunately a dark grey instead of the appropriate grey. If you have already put GALI and POHATU together, you might as well completely tear them apart before starting your MUKAU. Here is the parts list:

Those axles (plus-rods) are one 5, two 4’s, three 3’s, and two 2’s. You may click on any of these pictures for a closer (and yes, rotated) look.

For Step 1, we attach the shoulder gears to the torso and connect them together with another gear (which just sits there until Step 2).

For Step 2, we first add the neck socket with two size 2 axles and a #2 angle connector. The we secure the connecting gear with a size 5 axle (which slides through the center of the #2 angle connector) and add a big gear on top to make the front legs walk.

In Step 3, we add the back and also an axle for the back legs. Some connector pegs on the hips are added for decoration.

In Step 4, we add the legs. Note that the front shoulders are rotated 90 degrees compared to the back hips. This makes the front legs shorter than the back, since the front legs connect lower than the back legs. Connector pegs are added for decoration, two per leg in front and one for each leg in back.

In Step 5, we create the head from a GALI foot, a POHATU foot-extender, two GALI hooks for horns, a size 4 axle, and two balls from POHATU. Put the head onto the body for Step 6, and you have a completed MUKAU model!

Now make six or seven more (or more), because the MUKAU live in herds on the plains of Mata Nui.