I realized I never posted my current Lariska MOC which features a few changes compared to the last version.
Featuring 32 points of meaningful articulation and a full yet versatile custom build on an Inika-scale MOC was a challenge, but of course many of you will have seen my other Bomohku MOCs which use the same base build already.
But Lariksa here was both the first and now is the last of them. And of course I might as well enter her into the duckbricks contest. So I guess I’m gonna be a little more thorough again in explaining my considerations for the design this time around 
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General design decisions for this design were the following:
- Inika scale
- of course a custom head
- as it is stated her mechanical arm does not hinder her in the least, I wanted it to be just as poseable as her other arm
- dark grey for the mechanical arm since it looks both different, but doesn’t have a huge contrast
- claws on the mechanical arm because those seem like a useful thing if you have the choice
- digitigrate legs to make her look more interesting (though anyone who’s ever worked with digitigrate legs knows they are a pain stability-wise. Fortunately, teal sockets tend to not be terribly worn and thus retain enough friction - but it also helps that the MOC is pretty lightweight for a full-custom construction)
- waist articulation (which I don’t normally include in MOCs) to mirror her dexterity - while avoiding “skinny waist syndrome”
- some extra articulation in the feet for the same reason
- overall a sleek, not terribly detailed look to match her “silent, acrobatic hunter” characteriszation (instead, I used my other Bomohku MOCs to explore details that can be added to this base build)
Stability:
Making the MOC capable of these feats were of course a must for Lariska. Praise socket friction!
What I’m most proud of articulation-wise are the feet, though. Through bar connections (with thankfully enough friction), each foot has 4 points of articulation - each toe, the middle foot, and the ankle. This means the MOC can be posed so that she stands on her toes for more dynamic posturing, as also demonstrated in the main picture. Not just that, though, but she can actually also stand only on her toes.
I even have an old picture of this:
Unsupported.
And talking about support, this build was also capable of carrying the WIP of my Spiriah MOC on its shoulders, which was not quite twice the weight of Lariska, from what I remember (I actually checked back then, but don’t remember the numbers, and Spiriah is now in storage and thus out of reach).
Though it was quite the upper limit of what I could made the digitigrate legs carry.
The last big thing to address is probably the head. (The following pictures are in part old pictures, so colours and what else you see of the MOC might be outdated, but the head build - which this is about - stayed the same).
When building a custom head, the first question I ask myself is - what colours? Simple for Lariska, of course: teal and black. (Black because black works with everything and a lot of important parts come in that colour anyways.) Only there’s a certain limit to parts in teal. I built this head in… early 2020, I believe, which I think was before teal kinda was revived by Lego. So really the only thing in teal for decorations I had were droid arms. Since I’m not a fan of hair on Bionicle characters, I thus pretty quickly arrived at horns. A few more Bionicle species could use those. Well, and from there things just kinda developed.
Though, because I, too, saw Lariska as “not-Vortixx” for many years, I thought it might be a nice touch to have the head somewhat inspired by the Vahki head.
I hope this is somewhat visible, though of course my head design is taller.
A nice feature of the horns is also that they allow for a degree of facial expression. You don’t se that too often, so that was a nice side-effect.
And the last thing to address are of course the eyes. Several people have said in teh past that they think they’re too large or together with the horns give this Lariska an (unintentional) insectoid look. I have tried in the past to integrate smaller eyes, but the construction of the head doesn’t really allow it. I’d probably have to start from scratch for that. And since I’m myself perfectly fine with the eyes and on top of that used to them, I decided against a new head design. Especially since - leaving the character it is for out of the consideration - it is one of my better head designs, I feel. Reasonably small, easily customizable (even attaching hair wouldn’t be a problem) and sturdy (never to be underestimated in custom heads). What it doesn’t have is the ability to wear masks. Or, well, I believe with a few minor modifications it can, but it will look awful. As I don’t plan to put a mask on it that doesn’t matter to me, though.
Now, enough text 
, have a few more comparison pictures instead:
With my Nidhiki MOC:
EDIT: I forgot the most important comparison picture with 'Nika Guy. Can’t let that stand, of course.
With my Ancient revamp:
With the team, including my MOC of Spiriah:
And, of course, with the other Bomohku I built:
- Umarak
- The Shaman
- The Desert Raider
- The Guardian
- The Captain
And, of course, the file for building Lariska - I believe I included her in here (minus the daggers, but those should be sufficiently clear): Avohi_Raptor_Stud.io - Google Drive
I think that’s it. Certainly enough text for you, probably
Enjoy and feel fee to give C&C!
