After my recent poll on what everyone would like to se next from me, I took a little time to start digging into some Rahi concepts. Instead of having threads for each Rahi, I’m going to use this one thread for all concepts and discussion. Keep and eye out for [EDITS] to see newer artworks and ideas.
For the first round I stuck with pretty basic sketches of well known Rahi. What do you think of this style, like it or no? What other Rahi would you like to see? Comment below!
These are beautiful. I’d be elated to see these in an actual set. I only have a few criticisms:
-The Tarakava doesn’t seem to have a tail. I just find that odd for a lizard.
-The Kane-Ra’s wheel feels a bit out of place in relation to the other Rahi, which all have legs.
-The OG Gehekula was supposed to be a frog. This one feels more like a turtle with tusks. Not that that isn’t cool or reasonable for G3, it’s just a deviation from the original Rahi that comes off as odd when the rest are so faithful to the originals.
-The Frost Beetle is actually perfection; I just find it odd that all the others have these fancy made-up names from G1 and then this guy’s just “frost beetle.” Just a minor gripe, nothing really significant. Also, it kinda looks like he’s got 7 limbs, but maybe oen’s just hidden from view?
I’d say these are good enough to warrant their own podcast episode. Can’t wait to see what else you produce.
But srsly, I love these. That Kane-Ra with its wheel rear looks especially nice, and I like that the Tarakava looks fairly reptilian. I could totally see the minifig Toa taming and riding some these dudes.
The only thing that I think there should be more of is mechanical components; for most of these it could be accomplished with stickers, but things like pistons, gears(?), etc. would help keep the creatures looking bio-mechanical and Bionicle-centric.
On that note, I especially like the Kane-Ra with the huge tire in place of hind legs. Very unique, just like the original one and its concept.
Honestly I have to complain these are way too small, which makes them less intimidating than I’d like, but also makes them look really derpy, especially that tarakava, it just looks awful,
also, getting rid of the tracks for all but one of the rahi makes the kane ra look completely unrelated to the others.
So yeah, not satisfied with these personally.
I’m more impressed by that than anything, to be honest it’s mostly the muaka tarakava and Kane ra I take issue with, I think having both bigger-than-toa-but-smaller-than-other-rahi sized rahi as well as massive beasts would work out the best, so rahi like the nui rama and frost beetle (and ussal crabs) would be at the scale you’ve drawn them, whereas the others are much larger.
I hope I didn’t come across too harsh, I seem to have a knack for that, your concept art has been really well done, and I don’t want to come across as that jerk who complains about everything.
Very unique, just like the original one and its concept.