Finally finished my Dark Hunter Lariska! For maximum lore-compatibility, she’s decked in dark turquoise pieces, has an exposed brainstem piece, a mechanical arm (with dual action feature!), and holds two different kinds of knives on her torso.
Aesthetically I had a very specific idea of where I wanted to go with her: about halfway between ninja assassin and Fallout Assaultron.
Her prosthetic hand features two pin slots: a 3/4 pin to grip the stabbing knives (the ones with the flick missile base, which can also be slotted into her remaining hand), and the exposed 1/2 light grey pin for the throwing knives.
The 1/2 pin holds minifig utensils/weapon pieces, but very loosely, which is an ideal seat for the knife launching mechanism. I haven’t figured out how to post video, so to see how the action feature functions check out the two videos on the Flickr album.
The action feature was built around an official LEGO band (I believe it’s the Red Rubber Belt Medium (Round Cross Section) - Approx. 3 x 3), but I also wanted it to be compatible with more easily replaceable non-LEGO bands. The Wal-Mart brand black ones I have are a little stronger, and allow her to throw knives a little harder.
The signal paddle piece is her elbow, and stops the forearm from over-rotating.
Obviously I had to use the lovely ratcheting Technic Rotation Joint in the prosthetic, both as a secure base for the mechanism and to help differentiate what is basically already a robot (yes I know they’re not 100% robots, leave me alone) from her more primitive, aftermarket addition. To add to that contrast I also gave her fingers on her remaining hand.
I love the greebling on the mata brainstalk, and I don’t think I’ve seen anybody use it in this orientation before. It’s more abstract and inhuman than a standard face would be, and gives off strong killbot energy. Since she apparently refuses to wear a mask - and because masks are (paradoxically) a strong tie to personal identity in the Matoran Universe - I decided to go in the opposite direction and lean into her inhumanity. I see her more as a knife nut (she’s actually listed in the examples, even) that a femme fatale.
I wanted a completely unique build that retained that classic simple Technic/early BIONICLE aesthetic - something that gives off that ‘official set’ look - and while I do cheat a lot using newer Technic pieces, I’m very satisfied with the final look.
I’ve not seen the hand build anywhere else, I think? It holds bar and axle sized items cleanly, but the thumb needs to be readjusted for items thicker than an axle (like your standard molded weapon pieces).
Yeah, those are Tarakava shock absorbers (she’s got a lot of Tarakava in her). I’m… fairly certain that they’re connected legally. Shock absorbers are kind of a weird length.
The turning gear on her upper back doesn’t do anything, but it’s cool, importantly. Like the punk version of a turning gear.
Poised to throw a knife. The tan gear acts as the trigger.
The gaps between her remaining limbs and torso are cushioned with the wheels that came from Technic Race Plane 42117 (a great source of Dark Turquoise pieces). Their orientation is intentional, the sides seem (?) to be asymmetrical.
“Knife to meet you.”
- Lariska, probably
Her legs have a wide range of motion, not all of it stable, but when balanced she can do some pretty decent stride poses. Towballs are surprisingly strong.
This took such a long time to figure out how to do cleanly, but here it is: using this tan gear as the trigger changes the way the rubber band is mounted, pulling it to the sides a bit and preventing the band from slipping into the gap between the liftarms and the grey forearm gear. This was such an issue with these stronger, thinner black rubber bands, and it jammed up the action feature something awful, but with this construction it prevents it from happening basically at all.
Forward running render.
The throwing knives had to be imported from Mecabricks into Stud.IO, and the bandolier had to be exported out to Blender and manually bent before being put back into Stud.IO.
Taking aim render.
Throwing knife render.
Lunging render.
