The Sea Squid Aren't Actually Squid

Rahi are biomechanical creatures composed of organic and inorganic Protodermis. The term “Rahi” literally translates to “not us” in the Matoran language although it is more commonly translated to “wildlife.” Rahi are generally considered to have lower intellects than the Sapient Species of the universe, acting primarily on instinct and out of a desire for basic needs such as food and shelter. They have no balance of Light, and thus no sense of morality.

Every fish, whale, squid, spider, bear, bird, bizarre spider-faced building-eating humanoid and literal germ is a Rahi. Every fish the Makuta made is a Rahi. Gadunka, while not expressly stated as a fish, has a much better shot at being a fish than something like the sea spider.

Actually, there’s a lot that’s non-canon about them. Namely, the fact that the only mutation that occurred is size.

The Fenrakk Spawn have six legs, no teeth, a completely different physical makeup… So it would make sense to assume they were properly mutated or transformed by the mask. But no, it’s just the size, meaning one of the two is wrong.

And even with Fenrakk spawn, there’s severe inconsistencies.

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Both of these are listed as Fenrakk spawn and the Fenrakk that bore the name in set form is stated to be a male Fenrakk spawn. So which one is it?

I don’t think we can use the playsets as a basis for much of anything, unfortunately. Which given that the Piraka stronghold would have a giant Vezok face for no reason if we did is probably for the best.

No? The spinneret is located at the rear of the spider. Nothing on the minifig exists there to connect it to the rope piece. It wasn’t there to represent a set of spinnerets because it wasn’t there at all.

If there’s another meaning to what he said, please detail it for me - without the passive aggressive attitude, please.

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Congratulations, you have shown that you are capable of looking up definitions, and you have proven that Gadunka is a Rahi.

It’s a shame that’s not what I said, though.

You’re right: Gadunka is 100% Rahi. He is also 100% not a fish. And he’s not stated to be a fish, so… Why bring him up?

You brought up a quote saying that Gadunka’s only mutation was size. Do you have one for Fenrakk as well?

OK, so
I believe the word “stings” was a typo of strings, mainly because “stings” is not a part of a spider’s anatomy as far as I can determine.

So, yes, they have green strings that they can clip to. This is true

I could be wrong and he meant something else.

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So I think we’re done.

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Sorry, I wasn’t PA on the part where you asked me not to be, I assumed that was what you meant.

To reword: you say that the Gadunka are Rahi that live in the sea. Therefore, they are fish.

However, the definition of fish (based on my results from googling “fish definition”) literally includes “limbless”. By definition, Gadunka isn’t a fish. And unless I missed it, he isn’t called one, either. So there’s no contradiction in Gadunka’s existence, like with the Visorak, Fenrakk, sea squid, etc.

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I prefer not to think of the whole Velika thing as canon

Yes, I’m using MU to refer to the Matoran Universe.

Because, again, the Visorak have enough spider-like qualities that I can buy them as the MU’s equivalent of spiders. The sea squid…like I said in my opening post, it’s clear that Bionicle has a very different definition of “squid” than we do. But what makes it hard for me to swallow is that there are other squid in the MU that are closer to real-world squid. If it wasn’t for them, I might be able to accept the “sea squid” as being the MU’s version of squid.

No, they’re not. They’re the closest thing the MU has.

Sorry to state the obvious, but I don’t have any of the late 2005 catalogs with me to check. So I can’t say for sure whether I’m misremembering.

So…how does that explain how they were able to pull it out of their rear ends in the online animations and Bionicle Heroes game? Then again, the game isn’t canon to the actual story…

And I’m not entirely sure what its function is. Maybe to give an extra foothold for Vezon?

That’s just on the sets. It’s something the designers put there to add some extra playability. If we’re really going to accept the sets as 100% canon, then Jaller Inika only had one sword, and Nuparu didn’t have his Aqua Blaster Blade.

I mean…that’s possible, yes. But I honestly don’t see how anyone familiar with the Great Temple Squid could look at the sea squid (which more resembles a lamprey) and say “Hey, that totally looks like a squid!” Then again, we don’t even know if there ARE lampreys in the MU. :thinking:

Then I guess we’ll have to accept the theory that what we see is a result of Kalmah breeding them to his ideals.

Not that there’s anything wrong with Bionicle coming up with its own set of “rules.” But is it too much to ask for some consistency?

Maybe they’re just different breeds, but the same genetic species. Like, a Labrador and a Pomeranian have almost nothing in common, but they are still part of the species Canis Familiaris.

No, you’re not wrong. I did mean that the Visorak minifigures supposedly had green “stings” at the back to connect to the strings. But, again, I might not be remembering it correctly.

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This is what I get for assuming other people’s meaning.

I get being wrong.

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Well.

Denying one part of canon while in an argument about canon is not a good tactic for proving your side.

Sorry to state what isn’t obvious, but I didn’t know that. I actually have a lot of 2005 magazines, but even if I didn’t, I could just look it up online. Bricklink and Brickset have decent databases with almost every set present, and you can find the visorak minifgs on Bricklink easily.

You… literally answered your own question. The designers did whatever they wanted. Also in that game, Bohrok could fly, Nidhiki and Sidorak existed, and the Piraka had access to a number of Rahkshi, so yes. It’s not canon.

Basically. But it exists on what that universe considers a “Spider”.

Also in the same universe, a race of tiny sea men, lanky spider-faced individuals who eat buildings, and sentient clouds of gas that manipulate politics and make animals. The argument that “the sea squid isn’t a squid because it doesn’t look like one” seems more and more ridiculous when the entire rest of the universe exists.

It’s canon.

Kane-Ra are bovine in appearance, with sharp, curving horns and a broad snout. They possess a tread-like appendage in place of hind legs. They are capable of extending their necks a great distance and use this ability to great effect as a defense mechanism.

Let me provide an example.

This is a fleshy creature with tentacles, is very fast in the water, and has a mouth lined with a circular ring of teeth. Its texture is reminiscent of a squid and its behavior in regards to eating and breeding are extremely similar. Ergo, it is - albeit a very strange variety of - a squid.

Now try and convince your local Matoran chronicler that it’s actually a type of animal he’s never seen before by telling it how it doesn’t have the shape of a squid while Visorak spiders, Fenrakk spiders, and Sea spiders are all spiders.

Not counting all the other MU species of humanoid individuals, invisible beings, dragons, or talking, walking, thinking, humanoid “animals” that understand speech and comprehend logical concepts as well as any actual person - isolating the comparison to just the spiders - this is ridiculous.

You mean you’ll have to. I’m perfectly content and doubly so after this discussion.

Really, “Sea Lamprey” doesn’t roll off the tongue nearly as well for set marketing.

One has four legs and two have six legs.
One has a tail and giant chompers and the others don’t.
One’s face is a giant glowing sphere.

Types of dogs are due to visible adaptation and specific breeding, but none of them grew two extra legs. There is no way all three are the same thing and I don’t think even Greg can rectify that.
unless he tries pulling the ‘all variants of the same species’ thing like he did with the shadowed one although now he has extra limbs to contend with

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The front.

Also not green.


And… I think that’s all that can be said. There’s nothing left to discuss, really. Until you address the entire rest of the universe existing, there’s nowhere else to go. You think it’s not a squid because it doesn’t look like one despite the rest of the universe not working by that logic, and I think it gets a pass due to the universe it’s in.

And that’s about it.

what was the point of this topic again
it is clearly going nowhere

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My statement wasn’t meant to be 100% serious, hence why I crossed it out like so

Yeah. I’m not one of those people who hoards magazines and newspapers and things like that. Plus, I was, like, five, so of course my parents would make me throw out stuff I didn’t need anymore.

That sounds more like a Sarlacc, or the Kraken from Pirates Of The Caribbean…which, incidentally, had a LOT more in common with an actual squid. :thinking:

But some of them don’t have discernible tails.

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I’m not sure if I’m being accused of hoarding or being accused of being spoiled

It’s also all irrelevant. But if you look at the actual piece, it does have a ring of teeth to take circular bites out of opponents.

Dogs don’t exactly walk on their tails.

Anyway,

I now know we’re done.

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Then I guess they’re cookiecutter sharks

Thank you so much, Ghid. Now I won’t be able to sleep for a week.

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If we want to discuss blatant inconsistencies surrounding Rahi in the canon, let’s talk about why Keetongu and Krahka are considered Rahi when there’s very little, if anything, separating them from being another variety of the many freaks and/or weirdos that populate the Matoran Universe.

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Already done:

I wouldn’t take that as a given.

I’ve always found it a bit weird when Bionicle characters are referred to with “human-specific” terms like ‘person’, ‘man’, or ‘woman’. The story was usually pretty good at using more general terms like ‘being’, ‘male’, and ‘female’, but there were a few times where some of the former words were used, and they all stick out as sounding wrong.

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And the justification for why Keetongu and Krahka are Rahi in that thread ties up the discussion here as well: the Matoran are wrong, sometimes.

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Jellyfish aren’t fish, and they have nothing in common with fish, save for the fact that they breathe underwater. It is kind of irritating.

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Jellyfish, cuttlefish, starfish, and shellfish are named that way because the word “fish” used to refer to all sea animals. :wink:

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Gadunka

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Have you guys ever read that book, Island Of The Blue Dolphins? It’s about a Pacific Island girl who has to survive on an island, and at one point, she sees an octopus and refers to it as a “devilfish.”

I dunno. Atobe Brick’s comment just made me think of that.

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the “sea squids” look like lamprays

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I think the short answer is, for marketing, squid was a better name than octopus or slug or something else for this “projectile”.

But as someone who enjoys marine biology, I understand the confusion.

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