Random set of the day: Rahkshi Lerahk
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8589 Rahkshi Lerahk, released during 2003. It's one of 39 Bionicle sets produced that year. It contains 45 pieces, and its retail price was US$9/£5.99.
It's owned by 3,731 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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26 comments on this article
This Random Set of the Day is literally poison...
;)
I'm sure we've already done one of these.
I want to make a joke about his anatomical features, but I'm afraid that if people haven't read the new Tiger set review, they won't get it.
We've covered the Makuta species many times here before, so I'll skip much info on them and get straight to the Rahkshi bits.
Unlike most creatures in the BIONICLE universe, Makuta are not made of flesh and bone. Instead they are made of a swirling sentient gas known as Antidermis. If the Makuta wishes, they may rip a portion of this gas from their form and solidify it into a disgusting slug like creature known as a Kraata.
If a Kraata is exposed to Energized Protodermis it is mutated into a giant lizard-like suit of armor known as a Rahkshi. Another Kraata can then climb inside the Rahkshi to pilot it and use it's staff to unleash devastating power.
There are 42 breeds of Kraata/Rahkshi. As Kraata they are capable of spreading the Makuta's essence to create infected masks, but the only real difference between the breeds is color. As Rahkshi each breed gains access to one of the Makuta species' many powers.
Lerahk is the Rahkshi of poison, capable of infecting and draining the health of any living being. If they put in enough effort, they can even weaken the ground itself. Unlike some Rahkshi, they must actually touch their target with their staff to poison them.
This particular Lerahk is one of the six Rahkshi sent out by Makuta Teridax to stop the arrival of the Toa of Light. Lerahk was one of the first three, sent to Ta-Koro in search of the Mask of Light and it's herald. While there, Lerahk used it's poison to drive Toa Tahu mad (though he was eventually cured) and the three monsters sunk the village into the lava bellow.
The Rahkshi caught up to the herald, Takua, in the slopes of Ko-Wahi. There Toa Kopaka used his ice powers to freeze the three in a lake, and so the second three Rahkshi were unleashed.
Eventually Lerahk was freed and all six Rahkshi traveled to the temple of Kini-Nui to stop the herald. There the six Toa's combined efforts destroyed the Rahkshi. Takua donned the Mask of Light and transformed into Takanuva, Toa of Light. Takanuva tore apart the Rahkshi's remains and used them to build a vehicle known as the Ussanui to travel down to Makuta's lair.
Rahkshi were feared across the Matoran Universe as some of the most powerful creatures in the Brotherhood's army. Nearly 8 feet tall, the monster's diverse powersets daunted even the most powerful foes. Rahkshi were so deadly, in fact, that Teridax refused to make or send any up to the island of Mata Nui UNTIL the Mask of Light was discovered as a last ditch effort to protect himself, as their unchecked rage could've killed all the Matoran villagers he tried so hard to rule.
Last Bionicle set to use classic green. Rahkshi were fun, liked this one
Lehrak was the fourth Rahkshi I got, after Kurahk in July 2003 and Panrahk and Vorahk in May 2003. At that point, I had seen this Rahkshi in action on the pages of the July BIONICLE comic, so I was aware to some degree of how his poisoning powers were utilized. Plus, the staff tips are such a wicked design, looking like a nightmare syringe pitchfork. Another example of how on a roll the LEGO set designers were for BIONICLE.
In retrospect, this was also where the "new sets-new parts" sheen started to wear thin on the Rahkshi. For all of their revolutionary design, they were all clone sets, just like the Bohrok Kal and Bohrok before them. Only the colors, staffs, spines, and Kraata differed between sets. If it wasn't for the late-year "Seventh Stage" purple Kraata promotion, I might have never gotten the last Rahkshi, Turahk.
Lerahk featured prominently in the first BIONICLE movie, Mask of Light. Among the first three of Makuta's "sons" unleashed on Mata Nui to find the Mask of Light, Lerahk attacked Ta-Koro, village of fire, directly battling Tahu Nuva. Gali Nuva's water blast spared Tahu a grisly fate, but a knick from the Poisoner's blade left a small, but noticeable, scar across Tahu's Kanohi Hau Nuva. While Lerahk and his brothers were temporarily defeated by Kopaka Nuva, Tahu struggled with Lerahk's poison slowly seeping through his mask and infecting his very being. Eventually, another confrontation with the second trio of Rahkshi was too much for the already-hotheaded Toa of Fire, and after getting blasted with waves of pure anger from Kurahk, Tahu succumbed to the poison and savagely attacked the other Toa Nuva. Only a timely freezing from Kopaka Nuva spared Tahu from doing something he would've regretted.
Gali, Lewa, and Kopaka healed Tahu of Lerahk's poison, but the Rahkshi returned with the other five to challenge the Toa Nuva across the island. Finally, Lerahk and his brothers were defeated by a united Toa Nuva and the arrival of the new Toa of Light, Takanuva, sealed their doom.
I wonder with all those Hs in the name if you were supposed to use a guttural pronunciation. As if you were about to (as the kids used to say during the Beavis and you-know era) hock a loogie.
I remember a Power Miners set used the staff ends for mining bits.
Well, he’s appropriately festive for the season! This is, I believe, the free Rahkshi I was sent to review, which was the first time I got a free Bionicle set to review. Prior to that, I had been buying two copies of most sets so I could build, and review, both the main models and any alternate builds like the Toa Kaita. Even then, I think all I ever got was this Rahkshi and Toa Vakama.
@xccj:
Except it was only used for the socket joints. The feet, head, and carapace on all six of the original Rahkshi were pearl versions of the prime Mata/Nuva colors.
@MeisterDad said:
"I wonder with all those Hs in the name if you were supposed to use a guttural pronunciation. As if you were about to (as the kids used to say during the Beavis and you-know era) hock a loogie."
The "hk" in Rahkshi is hard and gutteral, the "hk" in Lerahk is soft and conclusive.
@GSR_MataNui said:
Rahkshi were feared across the Matoran Universe as some of the most powerful creatures in the Brotherhood's army. Nearly 8 feet tall, the monster's diverse powersets daunted even the most powerful foes. Rahkshi were so deadly, in fact, that Teridax refused to make or send any up to the island of Mata Nui UNTIL the Mask of Light was discovered as a last ditch effort to protect himself, as their unchecked rage could've killed all the Matoran villagers he tried so hard to rule. ]]
Of course, in the end he sent out several thousand Heat-Vision Rahkshi, which were much shorter than Toa and about the size of Matoran ;)
But seriously, let's not forget about that time that Makuta Teridax was literally throwing hordes of Rahkshi at the Shadowed One and he was simply destroying them as they came!
And to quote everyone's favorite edgy Piraka, "I pick my teeth with Rahkshi!"
@Zordboy said:
"I want to make a joke about his anatomical features, but I'm afraid that if people haven't read the new Tiger set review, they won't get it."
At the time of writing, the article has 15,991 views, while this has only 198 views. Make the joke, go ahead! Or is the joke on us, because there isn't really a joke? Though by bringing this up, I bet we'll hear a lecture on Bionicle anuses.
@Norikins said: "Though by bringing this up, I bet we'll hear a lecture on Bionicle anuses."
... not from me, you won't.
*runs*
We should never forget the Rahkshi introduced the revolutionary concept of “knees” into Bionicle XD
@Brickalili said:
"We should never forget the Rahkshi introduced the revolutionary concept of “knees” into Bionicle XD"
And poseable heads.
For me, Lerahk was the third Rahkshi - and one of the only two who I kept when I sold most of my collection. He was my annual Easter gift in 2004 - the trend of which, getting a Bionicle canister set for Easter, had begun the year previous and continued until 2008, after which my interest in Bionicle waned significantly.
While Panrahk will always be the most iconic Rahkshi for me - I had no interest in the Rahkshi at all when they first showed up, I thought they were weird and ugly and un-Bionicle-like; it was only when I was given Panrahk as a surprise birthday present that I realised how I was wrong! - I'm also very aware that the more colourful Rahks like today's are definitely the more visually eye-catching.
Of interesting note: Lerahk's head piece had a unique defect in the plastic in certain versions - a distinct line, almost like a seam, running down from his left eye to the bottom of his head. I remember it came to light a few years after the set's release, when someone on BZPower opened a new set and discovered that theirs not only had a seam there, it had a whole gap, where the mould seemed to not have been filled with quite enough plastic to make the ends meet... this got a lot of other members checking their Lerahks, too, and finding that the lesser version of the defect was, if not universal, then at least somewhat common - my own Lerahk displays it as well, albeit faintly. As far as I'm aware, the issue didn't affect any other colour of Rahkshi head, only the green.
(I did some googling around to see if I could illustrate what I meant; this was the best photo I could find: https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/62c854c7-bc26-4236-979c-bdd7644dd49c/dcxk2k3-c30171c1-dfac-4470-a38c-65c265e7fd00.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzYyYzg1NGM3LWJjMjYtNDIzNi05NzljLWJkZDc2NDRkZDQ5Y1wvZGN4azJrMy1jMzAxNzFjMS1kZmFjLTQ0NzAtYTM4Yy02NWMyNjVlN2ZkMDAuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.aFKb96pDeoc2LycOCOuzFl2yrVDqVA05juC7-PmWpBA )
I wonder how many color numbers had to be used just for all the Multi-Combination colors of the Kraata...
@ThatBionicleGuy:
That “defect” is just a normal part of the molding process. It simply happens to be more eye-catching when molded in a pearl or metallic color, and especially when you get a short shot.
Think of how a river flows. When you’ve got a 1x1 brick, the plastic injects from the center of the stud on top, and then flows down from that point until it has filled the cavity. Like many rivers, this is a single flow, bounded by the interior mold surface (the river bed) and the exterior mold surface (the sky), but nothing gets in the way from the source (pip) to the mouth (the far end of the mold).
Throw an island into the river, now. Anytime you add a hole to the part, this is effectively what it becomes. The Rahkshki head has two holes for the eyes. A river can’t flow over an island (not under normal circumstances, at least), nor can the plastic being injected flow through the eye hole. When the plastic flow hits they part of the mold that forms the eye hole, it has to split in two, and these two flows have to rejoin on the other side of the eye. Where this happens, you will get a visible line, which is known by several names, the most accurate of which is a “weld line”, because that’s basically what’s happening. Two molten flows are merging back into a solid piece of plastic.
When you weld metal, the metal gets hot enough to liquify momentarily, but ABS goes from solid to chewing gum to burnt chewing gum. If too much heat has been lost by the time the two flows press into each other, you’ll get a cavity that looks like it was completely filled, but the weld line won’t actually have successfully merged toghether. Instead, you’ll have a weak adhesion where the two flows simply pressed each other into matching shapes. If you don’t have enough force pushing the plastic into the mold, you can get a short shot as the two flows never reencounter each other at all. And when things go perfectly, you’ll still see a really visible line where the weld took place because pearl and metallic colors carry a special material suspended in the plastic to catch the light and make it sparkle (I’ve heard metallic paint on cars uses bits of fish scale). If this material is flat, it will usually orient flat against the surfaces of the mold, but a weld line acts much like a mold surface to these flakes. They will reorient to be perpendicular to the mood surface because they are flattening against the opposite flow. This results in a band that appears dark when viewed from a direct angle, as those flakes are reflecting light to either side, while the rest reflect it straight up. Look from a low angle, and the light/dark pattern should shift.
You can find these weld lines all over the place. Look under the arm sockets of a minifig, and you’ll see why swapping arms has sometimes resulted in cracked torsos. Look on a pearl-colored C-3PO minifig, and you should see that distinctive dark band I mentioned. Look on any other Rahkshi head and you should be able to locate weld lines in pretty much the same places as you can on the green ones. If you really want to blow your mind, look at a really long pearl-colored Technic beam, or the individual links on a minifig chain accessory (BTW, before the short chain was introduced, I heard the long chain had the most complicated mold in production because all those links form at the same time, and do not actually touch each other until the part is ejected).
Now, if these problems were only noticed on the green heads, and my free review copy was green, that makes me wonder if this was the first Rahkshi to roll off the packaging line. If the heads were the first color molded, they may have had to tune in the process to get the weld lines to form properly, and the cavity to fill completely, so joy the first batch to be run would be likely to experience these issues. Subsequent runs, including the same color, would have benefited from what they learned early on, and defects would only happen if something went out of adjustment, or part of the machine or mold broke.
@Atuin:
Probably a lot less than you’d think. When the Batman theme hit in 2006, there was an accessory bag that always had the same contents, regardless of what set it appeared in. Since then, similar bags have shown up in SW sets, DC sets, Friends sets, and Marvel sets. In each case, the contents don’t change, and the parts inventory shows the entire contents of the bag as being a single part. The reason is these are grouped together on one mold for each accessory bag. They mold the entire contents in a single shot, after which I believe they are even packaged right as they come off the line, eliminating the need to sort them.
Extra Dots are treated the same way, as were the randomized Vidiyo tiles. These were probably printed in different batches, and then mixed together before heading to the warehouse.
For the Krana and Kraata, since the shapes were all randomly packed in every set, they may have had a single mold with one cavity per shape. Run the full set of colors, set each batch off to the side until you’re done, and then mix them together before sending them off to the warehouse. From this point on, each wave would be treated as a single SKU, which would really simplify things (especially for the Rahkshi).
For Kanohi, it was a bit more complicated. Some were exclusive to regular sets like the Rahi, others were exclusive to the mask packs, and others showed up in both. One even had to be molded in black for the mask pack, plus painted over black for both the mask pack and a Rahi set, which meant it had to be split up three ways, two of which ended up being mixed back together. Plus they randomly gave you one Toa mask and one Turaga mask in each pack, so those had to be treated as two SKUs
YESS Love this set : )
Rahkshi, the best source of coloured sockets, in the regular, brighter colours. Each Rahkshi has ten sockets each, plus a trans neon orange one for the head.
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
"On the forth day of Christmas, Huwbot gave to us...
Poisonous green Rahkshi,
Not Jack Stone’s Bike,
Emmet’s Tiny Car,
And a weird car-shaped motor thing."
You do realize that the 12 days of Christmas take place after Christmas, right?
@ArmoredBricks said:
"
Of course, in the end he sent out several thousand Heat-Vision Rahkshi, which were much shorter than Toa and about the size of Matoran ;)
"
The short size of the Stars sets is non-canon and was only used to make the toys affordable. Rahkshi Stars is still about the same size as Tahu Stars, which puts it in the 6-8 ft range.
I honestly can't believe I wasted my time researching this, butt being curious about a certain anatomical feature, I was able to find... evidence? Most of the little I know about Bionicle have come from explanations on these random set articles, but "luckily" I found valid search results. Even though no one would expect given what we have learned about MU biology such an orifice would exist, the character Kapura in the Mata-Nui online game farts flames. Thus, someone asked the question once on BZpower: http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/12744-how-can-kapura-fart-if-he-doesnt-have-a-butt/
In another related thread (which is also only one page long): http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/14330-can-skakdi-poop/
Greg Farshtey was quoted as having given this answer in a Q&A:
"2) When an MU inhabitant "eats" say, a fruit or a rahi the old fashioned way or with their hands, is the organism's mass directly converted into energy?
2) No. There will be something left behind if he eats, say, a fish - essentially, a withered husk."
And since the skakdi chew their food "the old fashioned way" and Farshtey seemed to confirm "something was left behind" in both cases, thus this thread's titular question was asked.
Finally, for the most outlandish and likely non-canon thing I found, in the unreleased Legends of Mata Nui game (which is different from the Mata Nui Online game, which had the aforementioned farting) some secret animations were included, where Ouna, Tahu, and Pohatu did vulgar things, including farting: https://gallantmonex.tumblr.com/post/173863257718/fun-fact-in-the-cancelled-2001-bionicle
So, yeah, I can't believe one day I would post Bionicle "lore" on a random set, let alone on THIS topic. But I guess I couldn't pass up the opportunity for this joke...
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @ElephantKnight said:
" @NotProfessorWhymzi said:
"On the forth day of Christmas, Huwbot gave to us...
Poisonous green Rahkshi,
Not Jack Stone’s Bike,
Emmet’s Tiny Car,
And a weird car-shaped motor thing."
You do realize that the 12 days of Christmas take place after Christmas, right?"
I did not. I’m gonna keep doing it, though, as i’ve already committed to doing at least 12 days."
@ElephantKnight : Ah man, you had to go and ruin his joy.
@NotProfessorWhymzi : Keep on keeping up! And I encourage you to do another 12 for the proper days of Christmas starting on the 25th!
@ElephantKnight:
Nobody really sings the song after Christmas, even though that’s when it takes place. Instead, we celebrate the post-Christmas stretch by throwing out our Christmas trees. There’s also disagreement over whether the 12 Days of Christmas start on the 25th (12/25-1/5), or after the 25th (12/26-1/6). This is further complicated by an old tradition in many cultures where the day ends at sundown, not at midnight.
That said, December 1-12 does seem a weird time to do this, and I expect the start of the Advent season is what prompted it. But Advent lasts 24 days, so doing this pre-Christmas would have made more sense if it ran 13-24, or 14-25.
@xccj said:
"Last Bionicle set to use classic green. Rahkshi were fun, liked this one "
That is crazy to realize, and even then its only used in the sockets since the head, feet and back are all pearl green.