#5: Lava Thrall (Biowave Project)

[Hazash]

#The Biowave Project: The Elemental Thralls

Hostile forces begin to stir on Valda Nui as powerful elemental creatures rise from the dark corners of the island, relentlessly and aggressively defending mysterious crystal obelisks.

#Part 5: Lava Thrall

_Concept art by @Scorpion_Strike and Saronicle

A deadly creature prowls in the depths of Ta-Wahi’s underground lava caverns, siphoning elemental power by consuming huge quantities of lava. With a single strike from its scorching claws comes a guarantee of almost certain death.

Story details will be highlighted in bold.

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##Overview

The Elemental Thralls take inspiration from the most iconic design features of both generations of Bionicle, especially from those of the 2001 Rahi, using unique aesthetics and functions while also providing a more clean and cohesive aesthetic.

Element: Fire
Theme: Salamander
Main Adversary: Kalama
Approximate Parts Count: 690
Functions: Crawling legs, swinging tail, launching fireball tail, snapping jaw
Inspiration: Pewku (crawling function)
Acknowledgements: Preliminary head, tail and claw designs by @Gilahu

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##Build

The Lava Thrall ramps up the parts count even further than previous entries. Because of its huge size, the Lava Thrall is built almost entirely from Technic parts.

Check out the video below to see a time-lapse of the set’s construction:

Lava Thrall - Build Time-Lapse (Biowave Project)

Thumbnail by @Xeros610, intro music by @Cazapar

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##Functions

The Lava Thrall features four functions: a Pewku-style crawling function; a swinging and fireball-shooting tail, and a snapping jaw.

Check out the video below to see the functions in action:

Lava Thrall - Functions (Biowave Project)

Thumbnail by @Xeros610, intro music by @Cazapar

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##Behind the Scenes

Click here for more behind the scenes images, including LDD models of the set.

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#LEGO Ideas

In anticipation of this being the most well-received Thrall, I decided to share it on LEGO Ideas as a potential LEGO set.
If you liked the MOC, please support it here:
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/176012

(The link might not work until the submission is approved, so I’ll make an update once it becomes available).

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##Thrall Archive

Follow the links to view the other Thralls:

05/07 - Storm Thrall
05/10 - Wind Thrall
05/14 - Sand Thrall
05/17 - Frost Thrall
05/21 - Lava Thrall
05/24 - Quake Thrall

##Next Time: The Quake Thrall

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##More Sets

Follow the links to view the Biowave Project’s earlier sets:

• The Toa Valda
• The Matoran Rebuilt
• The Turaga Rebuilt
• The Toa Takha (Original)

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##The Biowave Project - a Bionicle Community Initiative

The Biowave Project is a community initiative bringing talented members of the Bionicle community together to develop sets, art and narrative content for an expanded Generation 1 storyline.

##Announcing the Biowave Monthly MOC Programme

For this coming holiday period, the Biowave Project will be showcasing new sets at least once a month.
Next month will mark the return of the Toa Takha in their newest forms.

##Reclamation - a Bionicle Webcomic Series

The Biowave Project’s very own webcomic series, featuring characters from the project’s many sets, will also be arriving to the Boards this summer.
Keep an eye out for updates coming with the next series of sets.

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###Rate This MOC

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• 5

###Favourite Thrall So Far?

• Storm Thrall
• Wind Thrall
• Sand Thrall
• Frost Thrall
• Lava Thrall

[AdamusTheFirst]

Love how this looks. The Pewku functions works so well here.

[Rons_oc]

i love this Moc, great job with everything!

[Jayfa]

Genius, pewku was my absolute favourite set growing up and this does the function justice and integrates it so seamlessly! It does look a bit derpy from some angles, but the fact you were able to make the function work as well as it does whilst still have it look this good is one heck of an achievement.

[Tobin-Bartram]

holy crap the function is awesome, also dat head does, pretty good detail

[EmestheTemplar]

I like how the white rubber band for the opening mouth looks like teeth.

[Hazash]

Hadn’t thought of that

[Huichelaar]

The crawl-function is absolutely astonishing. The head especially looks reminiscent of the 2001 rahi, specifically the Tarakava. Amazing work!

[Gilahu]

Nicely executed functions again. I probably still prefer Pewku’s crawling function (because with those six insect legs it just looks so good) but at least the Lava Thrall’s function doesn’t seem to come apart every second time you use it .

FUN FACT:

One of the first head designs I came up with for the Lava Thrall was this one:

Kinda got the size wrong, though . Since I liked (and still like) it a lot I eventually used it on my Cliff Drake MOC.

[BioKnight]

I really like the walking feature that was able to be incorporated into the build

[SR388]

geez its like your getting better and better! love your work and the way you put functions in your mocs, I do feel the back of this thrall is a little to straight, but my gosh, the head, legs, feet, functions are just fantastic!

[Altair]

This creature is bonkers! I love it!

[Alex_Twenty_Two]

I find this very creative. Tempted to make a MOV of it. Great work.

[BenV]

It’s so adorable. <3

[Stoax]

Once again you have exceeded my expectations. The decision to make this a salamander was really creative, presenting itself to numerous ideas and routes to go with the design. The direction you did take ends up coming together perfectly. Pewku’s function is something I’ve always wished to see more of in constraction sets and here it is engineering well despite not being an arthropod of sorts. It evokes enough life that I can just imagine it crawling up scalding rocks. That said, the body itself looks a tad blocky compared to the more organically curved limbs and head, though it’s nothing severe. Overall this is probably my favorite of the five shown thus far.

[Hazash]

@Alex_Twenty_Two

Tempted to make a MOV of it. Great work.

Good luck with that. It’s pretty expensive to build

@BenV

It’s so adorable

Unfortunately the head did turn out a bit ‘cute-looking’ but I think the concept art fixes that

The LEGO Ideas page for this set is live now so please go support it if you enjoyed:
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/176012

[DannyBoyy]

I like him, I’d definitely want him as a set, though he’s extremely underwhelming once you analyze it. The function is the bomb.com/cooldude though.

[Kan]

That derpy face though.

It’s the best part.

[Leoxander]

Straight out of the olden days

[Creeper22122]

NIIICE.
That is a great use for the roborider face piece thing.