Kalima-Kai, aka Moth Waifu Rahi

Hello everyone from Tai’s desk corner again, and I really need to invest in a proper setup to take pictures of my MOCs, with proper lighting and all, just so I don’t have to rely on daylight. You’ll see what I mean.

Anyway, if any of you remember this lazy jerk of a Makuta, I mentioned in his thread that he created a Rahi named Kalima-Kai to watch over his island for him. Today I’ve finally decided to show her off!

Fun fact about this build, I actually got started on her years ago, with the whole idea that I wanted to make a “moth girl” MOC. I built the custom head with the antennae, got the Ben 10 limbs and claws for her arms, the shells for her shins, and the Lhikan shields for her wings… and then never finished her due to losing the hyperfixation on Bionicle for a few. But now that it’s back, I’d be remiss not to finish her (not to mention a waste of money on those Lhikan shields cause those are steep on Bricklink).

She does suffer a bit from balance issues, mostly because her feet are too tiny to support her whole weight, but it’s a sacrifice I have to make for the aesthetic, and it doesn’t actually impede her poseability much. I did fear that she was a ‘flickr statue’ as some say, but a lot of that really just comes down to a few problem areas that I’ll get to.


Her “bonking stick” is actually one of those problem areas, being pretty heavy on its own and, since all her hands are Ben 10 claws, there’s not really a good way for her to hold it so I had to get creative with a rubber band. Even then, the Ben 10 claws’ sockets have less friction than regular ones do, so the staff just tends to do what it wants unless she has it against the ground. And it’s really long.

Story wise this is a “Staff of Grand Illusion” which Godot outfitted his creation with, to help her in her duties of protecting the island. I know she looks like she’s wearing a Komau, but that’s just her face; the Nui-Rama’s eyes aren’t actually Rurus either and such :stuck_out_tongue: So she’s given the power to create illusions akin to a Mahiki.

And yes, the Thornax fruit up there actually holds pretty solidly. I can wiggle it and it won’t fall out. I had a Zamor sphere in there before, and that held even better, but I don’t have a gold one and I wanted to have gold up there, so Thornax it is.

Turnarounds time! If I had to gauge how I did on the whole “moth girl” thing, I’d give myself a 9/10 honestly. Four arms, silvery wings, antennae, and a feminine enough appearance without getting too far into the realm of sexualized? Would call that a success in my book. The color scheme is primarily tan and reddish brown (tan because I needed the Komau to make the head assembly work, reddish brown because look at that piece availability), with Carapar shells acting as “clothing” of sorts.

I’ve mentioned the staff and the feet as problem areas, but the last one is actually the head, or more specifically the neck; the head is a custom system assembly that allows me to have antennae poke out through the holes on the Komau, and to attach it to the rest of the body I used two of the round plates with an axle hole through them, stacked on top of each other. The issue is that for some odd reason, the connection between the plates isn’t stable, and the head tends to come off if I’m not careful while posing it. The axle doesn’t help, in fact I’d say it makes the issue worse. But, like the feet, it’s a sacrifice I have to make for the aesthetic.

The wings are rather simple, if expensive, but they offer a great range of poseability due to their double jointed attachment method. In-story they also act as another weapon for Kalima-Kai aside from her staff, since they’re not only bladed, but also release toxic dust particles that cause fatigue in her targets.

Here’s a closer look at the head; it’s difficult to see in the photo, especially due to my awful lighting, but there’s actually pseudo-light-piping in there, courtesy of a glitter trans clear radar dish piece. It kind of pokes out at the top holes too so you can imagine she has 4 eyes if it’ll help sell the moth girl image even more. Also that protrusion consisting of the super short CCBS bones is meant to represent a braid (in terms of the whole “moth waifu” image anyway, similar to how the Carapar bits are clothes) but in-universe it’s probably some kind of head-tail. I dunno :woman_shrugging:

Height comparisons inside

Oh boy, this is where the bad lighting really bites me. But it’s not really necessary to showcase height differences as long as things are visible at all, LMAO. Anyway, here’s Kalima-Kai next to a Mahritoran build. Mahritoran are my favorite Matoran build, so all of my Matoran are built like that. As you can see she’s about two and a half Mahritoran tall. I don’t usually put Matoran in size comparisons, but I felt like it was fitting here since Kalima-Kai was created to protect Matoran (just received unclear instructions on the point)

Speaking of which, here she is next to her creator! Yeah he’s even taller than her. Makuta be big, and he’s the biggest thing I’ve ever built even then.

Lastly, with an Inika-sized Toa. Even ignoring the antennae, she’s about a head taller, which puts her well into “titan height” in my book.

Lastly, a bit of a demonstration of poseability. Despite how unbalanced I said she is earlier, she can actually balance pretty well (without the stick) if you have enough basic knowledge of physics to pose her that way. On those grounds I’d say she’s outside the realm of what can reasonably be considered a ‘flickr statue’. Wouldn’t you agree?

So that’s Kalima-Kai! Feel free to leave any comments or concerns below, or maybe some tips on how to improve my photo setup. I genuinely don’t know how I’d achieve something akin to natural lighting with a desk lamp I don’t even have, so any advice is appreciated :stuck_out_tongue:

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I like the color scheme!

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err…
i guess it’s an interesting idea…?
i like the build. not sure what makes it a moth though, aside from the wings and brownish colour scheme.

Antennae? Six limbs? It’s meant to be an anthro moth. I guess that wasn’t obvious enough.

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It actually does look like an anthro moth, I like the idea a lot but does it have to be a waifu? lol

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Technically no, but I figured “moth waifu” would get more hits than “anthro moth” or “moth lady” :stuck_out_tongue:

Pretty neat. Good use of the Ben 10 hands and the Carapar pieces, though his head-shell on the back is… mildly odd. I guess I just wasn’t expecting it. I quite like the four arms, though. But I’m not really feeling the “girl” in “moth girl”… at the same time I don’t disbelieve that it’s female. Good work overall!

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