Random set of the day: Muaka & Kane-ra
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8538 Muaka & Kane-ra, released during 2001. It's one of 31 Bionicle sets produced that year. It contains 633 pieces, and its retail price was US$70/£44.99.
It's owned by 1,236 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $280.00, or eBay.
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36 comments on this article
moar bonkles!
I would not want to come across these two...
Perhaps the most obvious “these are only designed to fight each other” Rahi set. To “defeat” them, you need to remove the pins holding the arms on the bodies. To remove the pins, you have to clamp your (character’s) mouth on the masks at the shoulders and pull them forward, an attack that no other 2001 Bionicle character was capable of doing unless you held them at a weird angle and attacked from behind. But these guys had attacks that involved lunging the head forward, clamping the jaws shut, and retracting the head several inches, which was designed _exactly_ to accomplish this. Unlike the Manas, however, they could potentially nom the mask right off a Toa’s head.
Tiger and bull…interesting combination.
This is still my 2001 Holy Grail Bionicle set! Only one I am still missing to round out the first year.
Mine were still built when my parents moved my stuff into storage after my stroke. If and when they ever make it out of said storage, I dread seeing what shape the rubber bands are in. Oh, and it's pronounced "Ka-NAY-rah," not "Kain-rah."
@PurpleDave said:"Unlike the Manas, however, they could potentially nom the mask right off a Toa’s head."
Or just knock it off with blunt force.
Before we get into the lore there's a couple of BIONICLE community projects I've been meaning to highlight and haven't got around to 'cause I'm forgetful.
First off is the Mangai Project. It's an animated series retelling the the intertwining flashback stories of Lhikan, Nidhiki, and the Piraka. I've been looking forward to it for a while and its pilot finally dropped a couple days ago. Granted said pilot has been teasing its animation for a whole year and was obviously in development for a good while before that, so the next episode is probably a long way off, but its cool seeing these characters in a 2D style distinct from Templar's. It honestly reminds me of Genndy Tartakovsky's work. The final scene with the Piraka is even lifted, word-for-word, straight from the books, which is cool!
In more depressing news is BIONICLE Masks of Power. It was a fan game about exploring the island of Mata Nui looking for the Kanohi Masks, with an in depth combat system and excellent visuals. The community was hyped for it for a long time, and a demo was supposed to release this fall. However, despite 8 years of LEGO's legal team telling the devs they were in the clear, last month they suddenly changed their mind and sent a cease and desist, forcing them to cancel the game with no explanation.
It's worth noting this legal drama happened around the same time LEGO announced they were making an in-house game development studio, so the optimist in me hopes this means an official BIONICLE video game is in development. But, realistically speaking, this is just LEGO following in the steps of the fat chicken-nugget man from Smiling Friends, sitting on the IP and doing nothing with it. On the bright side the developers of the fan game have announced they aren't scrapping everything. They're gonna change out the character's names and models into things more legally distinct and use the combat engine they've already finished to create their own story about robots on a tropical island. On the one hand getting some competitors to fill that genre niche is great. On the other hand... I'm already sick of waiting on Rebel Nature, another unfinished and unreleased spiritual successor on the pile isn't great.
So anyway LORE TIME. These guys don't have a lot so they were a good excuse to ramble about something else.
Rahi were the wild animals used to populate the Matoran Universe, with most species being developed by the Makuta. During the Dark Times, many of these Rahi were fitted with Infected Masks by the Makuta and fell under his will, being used as siege weapons against the Matoran. Two particularly large breeds were the Muaka and the Kane-Ra.
The Muaka Tiger (not Makuta, such close names) were a species of large cat. Larger and more yellow than the Shallows Cat, they were the apex predators of Mata Nui's jungles and snowy mountains. One notable encounter involved a Muaka attacking the Matoran Matoro and Takua during a blizzard, only for Toa Kopaka to arrive and best the beast using his Masks of Invisibility and Illusion.
Some notable members of this species include a spiky experiment in Makuta's liar who warned the Toa Metru of danger in the city below, a mutant created by Visorak venom who briefly fought Toa Vakama, and Nektann's armored pet who slept at the foot of his throne.
Kane-Ra bulls were large and aggressive bovine Rahi. They were very territorial and would charge at almost anything, but this also left them vulnerable to crashing into obstacles and burying their horns. One of these beasts notably fought Kopaka and Pohatu shortly after they first met, and escaping from it helped the two bond. The most notable Kane-Ra was Charger, who through unknown means was mutated into a bipedal and sentient form. He gained the ability to speak, redder armor, and joined the Dark Hunters, but retained the extendable neck and aggressive nature of his old form.
Whether Kane-Ra are at all related to Mukau or Fader Bulls is unknown, but Matoran have a legend about a Kane-Ra who guards a maze that some trace back to the Artakha Bull.
This set is
This set is also the only set (aside from Mask blind bags) to come with an Infected Kanohi Mask. The Muaka has two hand-painted Kanohi Hau. Despite all Rahi canonically wearing Infected Masks, the rusted and pitted look was never applied to any of the other 11 original Kanohi or included in any of their sets (likely because of the aforementioned hand-painting.) When these masks DID show up in blind bags, they was far rarer than any other shape/color which when combined with unique patterning made them very sought out pieces. Funny enough, Makuta's 2001 appearance also wore an Infected Hau, as did his counterpart in the Toa Empire alternate universe...
... Okay, if you're splitting hairs: 2001 Makuta wore a Mask of Shadows that was shapeshifted to look like a Hau, while Toa Empire Makuta had his Mask of Shadows stolen and replaced it with an actual Hau. But it looks the same.
@SearchlightRG said:
"Tiger and bull…interesting combination."
When I usually look an animal-based Bonc sets, it's like looking at constellations of stars.
You see Leo and Taurus. All I see is a bunch of plastic spaghetti. ;)
These were always funs sets, and I luved the concept of them in the early years, although I didn't get them in hand until nearly a decade later. While I like their function, I think the Bahrag ended up doing that feature a little bit better.
@TheOtherMike said:
"Mine were still built when my parents moved my stuff into storage after my stroke. If and when they ever make it out of said storage, I dread seeing what shape the rubber bands are in."
2001 black rubber bands? They probably drank from the wrong Grail before they even went into storage.
" @PurpleDave said:"Unlike the Manas, however, they could potentially nom the mask right off a Toa’s head."
Or just knock it off with blunt force."
Yeah, but where's the panache in that?
@GSR_MataNui:
Having obtained several Infected Haus (got two copies of this set, plus pulled I think four from mask packs), I really doubt they were hand painted (or if they were, they definitely used stencils). They weren't pad-printed, for sure, but they had a certain amount of consistency to the pattern. It looks more like it was machine-airbrushed, where the result could be impacted by slight changes in air currents between the nozzle and the mask. Also, just because you mentioned him:
https://www.maskofdestiny.com/0001678
Note that this _is_ a hand-painted version.
@GSR_MataNui Don’t forget the smell.
This set is a big part of why I was glad when they started doing odd-length axles in gray. Twenty-one five-long axles, and two six-long. Made hunting for the six-long ones a pain.
@PurpleDave: If and when they're out of storage, though, I'm still going to activate the mechanism on one, just to see how many pieces the bands end up in.
Here you can see exactly how Bionicle originally diverged from Technic. The toa used the new parts, but the Rahi innovated in creature design using everything at the time's disposal. This style of large function-based set began to be more closely integrated with the balljoint system by 2002 with 8557 Exo-Toa and 8558 Bahrag, which used a special hinge to allow bipedal legs to support the function-shaped model. The Bahrag in particular have a similar feature to this set. By 2004 ball joint holders were developed that could support larger humanoid hips and knees, leading into the theme becoming fully posable figure-focussed by around then.
This set is so cool. Scissor extension-necks with jaws that snap open and shut in the same movement. Legs that have a stalk that can be pulled out, making them much more difficult to function as a 'win condition'
This is the 1998 Technic competition theme perfected.
This set was not only so cool, it was also perhaps the most iconic Rahi of 2001.
I could only wish Technic will ever be this creative and out of the box ever again. Where's the technic creature builds today!?
Which was done since at least since 1995 with the 8485 Technic Control Center dinosaur build by the way.
Gotta be honest. These look totally crap to me.
I mean, sure, I am no Bionicle fan to begin with, but these don't even look very Bionicle to me. They look like two unfinished Technic mechanisms, the purpose of which isn't even clear from the looks of them.
Bionicle did have some very cool looking characters and builds, but these two just look weird and uninspired imho.
While the manas are often seen as a bit of a Holy Grail of the Rahi sets I think these ones are my favourite. While a bit empty at the back (would it really have killed Lego to make them quadrupeds?) the effort put into both the concertina necks and the snapping jaws is really cool, easily became the Rahi action I like the most over the more simplified smacking actions of the lower budget ones
@PurpleDave said:
"Perhaps the most obvious “these are only designed to fight each other” Rahi set. To “defeat” them, you need to remove the pins holding the arms on the bodies. To remove the pins, you have to clamp your (character’s) mouth on the masks at the shoulders and pull them forward, an attack that no other 2001 Bionicle character was capable of doing unless you held them at a weird angle and attacked from behind. But these guys had attacks that involved lunging the head forward, clamping the jaws shut, and retracting the head several inches, which was designed _exactly_ to accomplish this. Unlike the Manas, however, they could potentially nom the mask right off a Toa’s head."
Really liked the fact this was possible. But on the other hand, Muaka was sort of the "mascot" of the 2001 Rahi line, so it would be a shame, if he couldn't do that :D
Alongside the Manas and the Bahrag, this was also one of the most complex Bionicle sets for a long time. And also one of the few to come with any type of prints (at least until the Bohrok Kal).
@TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave: If and when they're out of storage, though, I'm still going to activate the mechanism on one, just to see how many pieces the bands end up in."
The answer to that question is “yes”. In fact, this many years later, they very likely will have broken completely in at least one spot.
@AustinPowers:
The Rahi sets were kind of like Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots in that they came in matched pairs where the attack and the vulnerability were tailored to work with each other. Nui-Rama attacked from the side, Nui-Jaga from above, Tarakava hit straight forward, these guys had a grappling/pulling attack, and the Manas would club each other close to the ground. Buy any one set and you had a pair of evenly matched battling beasts whose attacks frequently had amplified strength due to the way the trigger mechanisms worked.
What, no love for the alt/combo-build, which IIRC was supposed to be a giant rat? I can never remember its name so I think of it as Su-Matra.
Anyway, this was a pretty big set and I'd like to point out that the online inflation calculator I use has $70 in 2001 money equalling $127.13 today.
I want these so badly! I started collecting in late 2002 when these were just about off shelves.
@Lance_McCormick said:
"What, no love for the alt/combo-build, which IIRC was supposed to be a giant rat? I can never remember its name so I think of it as Su-Matra.
Anyway, this was a pretty big set and I'd like to point out that the online inflation calculator I use has $70 in 2001 money equalling $127.13 today.
"
Kuma Nui. ('Great rat')
Basically when you have one of these but with a body underneath, two tracks instead of one, the arms are spalyed out and with claws, and with a giant tail made of ribbed hoses. Oh, and the neck extends further.
It's quite cool too.
And now we have all 2001 rahi sets appearing as the random set of the day
Rahi remain some of Lego's most creative and brilliant sets they've ever released, and I'll stand by that. Effective playability that provides great functions in each set but also the "battle-in-a-box" mentality by pitting each creature against the other (while still being compatible against other Bionicle sets), flashy color schemes that are highlighted by their secondary colors, some really clever engineering, and the overall designs that toe that line of abstract and defined.
I love them dearly and I love Muaka and Kane-ra the most of the line. As luck would have it, I just came into a second pair of them just this past week.
Now only if Lego would put some creativity into Technic again. These and Competition sets were arguably the most unique sets they've put out, and it's a shame most people don't seem to appreciate what they bring to the table.
https://www.maskofdestiny.com/news/squeek
Kuma Nui article/pics, for those who are interested.
One of the most impressive 2001 Rahi sets! Back when these came out I opted for the more expensive, motorized Manas instead of these, but several years later I managed to pick this up at a convention. The function of these (which extends the neck and then snaps the jaw shut) is extremely impressive.
We need Technic sets like this again. Too many vehicles in that theme. Just something built around a cool function.
My absolute favourite Bionicle set. Sure, there are some that I have more personal attachment to - seeing as I didn't get these two until Christmas 2006, when I found them used on eBay and requested my parents buy them for my main present that year, they don't have the same nostalgic grasp on me as do some of the characters I'd had since 2001 or 2003 - but all those others that I'm attached to is more because of character than set complexity.
These two, though? They're magnificent. In 2006 I was only after them because that was the year I started trying to go full completionist and found them relatively cheap, but the moment I got hands on them myself I just fell in love. They have one of the most fun Technic mechanisms I've ever seen in a set, lunging their heads forward, while their jaws stretch wide open and then CHOMP shut when the neck reaches full extension. When you see them in person, the facial shaping on them makes so much more sense than it does in pictures. And they're just all around VERY COOL.
Granted, it's an odd world where bulls and tigers look almost the same except for different noses, ears / horns, and toes, but...!
I suppose, yeah, the fact that most of the focus went into the neck mechanism and the head does make them feel like there's not a lot to the animals past their shoulders, which is a little unfortunate. According to story media, the treads-instead-of-back-legs isn't canon: most notably, the Rahi Nui - a fusion of all the 2001 Rahi minus the Manas - is described as having the hind legs of a Muaka... features of the creature's anatomy that are notable in the set only by their absence! But for play, that absolutely wasn't a problem; you'd hold the Rahi around its middle and squeeze it for the action function to work, and I can see how elaborate hind legs could have got in the way of holding them like that.
Also, as noted, the rubber bands were terrible; by 2006, you can imagine the state they were in when I got my copy for the first time...! I've replaced all of them with the little white rubber belts that were used in some of the subsequent Bionicle Titan sets, though, and they now work perfectly.
Kama Nui, right. (I still like Su-Matra better.)
And it’s great. I think I prefer the combo/alt builds of the first year Rahi— IIRC they had the same mechanism/gimmick, so (species changes aside) they’re functionally bigger versions ofthe individual guys.
Looking back, I’m curious about the market research that suggested the two-pack idea for the boxed/bigger sets (and why that didn’t last long), but it is a natural extension of Technic Competition Cyber-sets.
@GSR_MataNui said:
"Some notable members of this species include a spiky experiment in Makuta's liar who warned the Toa Metru of danger in the city below, a mutant created by Visorak venom who briefly fought Toa Vakama, and Nektann's armored pet who slept at the foot of his throne."
I can understand why Bionicle's writers would use the names of existing creatures, but it's weird for me to think of the 2001 rahi interacting with the Metru or Inika-era characters. Apparently a bunch of them were in the Bionicle Heroes game, though.
I can appreciate that these are complex and creative builds with well-executed features, but I have to say they just don't look good to me either. Maybe you need to have them in hand for them to click, I know I got some parts of the Tarakava from a friend but I was never able to put it together.
@PurpleDave said:
"
@GSR_MataNui:
Having obtained several Infected Haus (got two copies of this set, plus pulled I think four from mask packs), I really doubt they were hand painted (or if they were, they definitely used stencils). They weren't pad-printed, for sure, but they had a certain amount of consistency to the pattern. It looks more like it was machine-airbrushed, where the result could be impacted by slight changes in air currents between the nozzle and the mask. Also, just because you mentioned him:
https://www.maskofdestiny.com/0001678
Note that this _is_ a hand-painted version."
Every website I've been to talking about these masks, and every guide book I've read covering that era of the theme, has claimed they were hand-painted. Given LEGO is, you know, a corporation I don't doubt it was a cheap and easy hand-painting for marketing purposes, but the fact that every single source is reporting the same thing and have kept that information up for a good twenty years tells me that if it *is* a rumor the source of it is buried deep.
@RogueWhistler said:
"
I can appreciate that these are complex and creative builds with well-executed features, but I have to say they just don't look good to me either. Maybe you need to have them in hand for them to click, I know I got some parts of the Tarakava from a friend but I was never able to put it together."
I love these sets, but yeah, the animal designations are kind of arbitrary because they’re Technic beasts designed around an action feature. The worst in that regard IMO are 8549 Tarkava, which are supposed to be lizards, but they have boxing arms and a treaded unileg. They’re fun toys, but not great as a display piece. (I think the photographers had trouble with getting good angles, too, You want to show off the gimmick, but viewers need to see something coherent/cohesive.)
@GSR_MataNui:
BZP used to claim that there were only three different variants of the Poisoned Hau Nuva, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the fact that I had pointed out that there were four different mold cavity ID numbers, and that subtle differences were consistently notable within the “common variant”, so just realize that we didn’t always have 100% reliable information back then. When one site claimed something, it might get quoted across several other sources, in spite of having no proof to back it up.
McFarlane Toys had a line of horror action figures around the same time, and some of the deco was dry-brushed onto them. You could look at a sampling and see that they were absolutely hand-painted because the brush strokes were completely different from one to the next. The Infected Hau may have had inconsistent application (some were heavier and others lighter), but the spray pattern didn’t seem to change between all the different copies I acquired. So, either a machine was painting them, or they were using stencils to guide the pattern, but I’d need to see concrete proof before I’d accept that those were all painted freehand.
@Lance_McCormick Elementary, my dear Whenua.
Ah, I had this set once! Found it well below MRSP at Winners (Canada's TJ Maxx/Marshals subsidiary) deep into 2002, and it was the best. Alas, but when my Bionicle Dark Age came, I sold them one apiece to my brothers, who have had the gall to not give them back to me.
I get it though. Now that I'm back on the Bionicle train, I wouldn't do it either.
@Lance_McCormick said:
"What, no love for the alt/combo-build, which IIRC was supposed to be a giant rat? I can never remember its name so I think of it as Su-Matra."
@SearchlightRG said:" @Lance_McCormick Elementary, my dear Whenua."
Glad I wasn't the only one who got the reference.
Oh, this... THIS... this is beautiful!
8538 is one of my all-time favorite BIONICLE sets. I remember seeing it in the 2001 Shop at Home catalogs and just being in total awe of how cool it looked. Yeah, they only superficially resemble the animals they're supposed to be (a tiger and a bull), but it was perfectly clear that they were ferocious machine beasts. They commanded the same power, terror, and majesty as a giant robotic T. rex... a solid year before BIONICLE would follow up with their spiritual successor, 8558, which bore even stronger resemblance to a robotic T. rex!
I would even go so far as to say that Muaka & Kane-Ra was the first "white whale" LEGO set that I successfully hunted. I never got the set in 2001, nor in 2002, and by 2003 it was already gone from most store shelves. But in late 2004, I saw these two Rahi appear in a photo comic on BZPower ("The Chronicles of Vladek"), and it reignited the flames of desire to own this set. Despite the set being officially retired, I ended up finding it available from some online toy shop and was able to purchase it. It was everything I had hoped it would be.
The jaw mechanism is so fascinating, far more intricate than any of the other Rahi functions. Not only do Muaka and Kane-Ra stretch out their necks and open their jaws, but at the apex of the stretch, their jaws snap shut and stay closed as the neck retracts. It's surprisingly effective. Not even Cahdok and Gahdok were able to replicate that aspect; their jaws open as they lunge, but they don't close their mouths (until they reset their position), making them "all bark, no bite".
Sadly, these days, my Muaka & Kane-Ra are a little worse for wear. This set uses the old-style rubber bands, and mine have long since dried out and disintegrated, leaving these two Rahi slack-jawed. I should look into purchasing replacements at some point...