“And you’re a traitor. You turned your back on your ideals, your friends, your city, all to save your own worthless hide. Why would you ever think I would trust you, Nidhiki?”
Nidhiki has always been a favorite character of mine, so when I heard he was one of the few chosen to get a canon contest I knew I had to make an entry for him. Quick heads up, I have a TON of links and references to back up my choices.
Firstly, I chose a Metru body because of 3 reasons:
1). Lariska mistakens Nidhiki for being a Toa of Metru Nui.
“I guess they don’t teach dodging in Toa training,” the female Dark Hunter said. “No wonder your city is falling.”
Lariska has had to have at least seen more than one Toa in her time as a DH but still mistakens Nidhiki for a Metru Nui Toa.
2). The Shadowed One describes Nidhiki after his mutation in this quote (which will be incredibly IMPORTANT later):
Nidhiki’s head and arms had changed their shape. Most grotesque of all, his lower body now resembled that of a huge, four-legged insect.
Nidhiki’s torso is never mentioned in his description, which is odd considering he mentions every other part of him.
3). Toa Lhikan, despite not seeing Nidhiki for years is able to tell it’s Nidhiki, even in his mutated state. Greg has commented on this saying:
“If your best friend puts on a Halloween costume, are you clueless it’s him? Besides, Nidhiki right away calls Lhikan “brother,” implying he was an ex-Toa, and Lhikan certainly would have heard rumors about what happened to Nidhiki. He had been active as a Dark Hunter for some time before that.”
Number 12: Official Greg Discussion | Page 167
While I agree with Greg, I also think the above points lead to Lhikan also recognizing parts of his armor. This leads to the color scheme. Greg has gone on record twice stating Nidhiki’s color is Green:
“3) No, he’s just green. He’s a Toa of Air. Toa Iruini is green and silver.” Official Greg Discussion | Page 99
*"2. Several places, I’ve seen you say that Norik is Gold/Red and Iruini Silver/Green, when Norik is actually Silver/Red and Iruini Gold/Green. Was that just by mistake, or is that how they’re supposed look like?
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No, just my mistake. I don’t have the sets and so am going based on my own faulty memory.
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You also said Nidhiki was all-green, and not Silver/Green. Wouldn’t the latter be more logical, seeing as Lhikan is Gold/Red?
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Nope. Because Nidhiki didn’t come from the same place Lhikan did, so no reason he would need to be dual-colored like Lhikan. After all, neither Matau nor Lewa is dual-colored, so why would any other Toa of Air be?"* Official Greg Discussion | Page 100
This matches up with what we know in “Birth of a Dark Hunter”:
“His emerald armor was scarred and pitted from countless battles.”
“One whistled past his mask while the other sliced his right shoulder armor as it flew by…Nidhiki glanced from the new gash in his emerald armor to his foe.” Birth of a Dark Hunter - BIONICLEsector01
Along with this we all know of his green Volitak: Official Greg Discussion | Page 139
However the contest allows for both mono and dual green, or a Nidhiki with different shades of green. I chose Mono Dark Green, as not only does it work with the lore of Le-Matoran during the Metru era, being Dark Green, but also makes more sense that he could hide without his mask power with colors that blend in into the dark.
Now Nidhiki has black on him because black and green is a new color scheme, it matches Lhikan and makes them look like a team and it also ties into the Under Armor theory.
The silver chest however isn’t green so why is it there? Well remember that description above of Spider-Nidhiki? His chest is never shown to have mutated, meaning he must be wearing that chest plate in Toa form as well. I also included the silver spikes as not only a reference to all of the bug Rahi that use them, but also because the meld into his shoulders in Spider-Nidhiku form. Additionally, the silver pieces also work to draw attention to him, making his habit of running through DH territory with his mask turned off all the more dangerous and exhilarating.
Nidhiki’s spider eye color according to the set is Trans Yellow, wjile other media shows Trans Red. I chose Orange for his Toa form as it looks to be the eye color of non Metru Toa of Air. This is also show by the fact that these other Toa also don’t use Chutespeak.
The Visorak parts on his leg are a callback to Krakua, as while I believe Krakua and Nidhiki never met nor share the same body type, he would still have a mix of Metru and ancient armor. The arm Visorak feet are meant to be part of his arms as bracers covering his elbows.
The Rahkshi head is meant to represent the broken shoulder armor. Since a gash is a long, deep cut I thought the head fit perfectly. It also serves as a visual signifier of his personality, snake or eel like.
I designed Nidhiki’s Scythe to be a weapon fitting of his personality. Two blades, so he can fake you out with the first and hit you with the second. It can also be spun to create vacuums or gusts of wind. Along with this a two bladed weapon is often considered a weapon only for the highly skilled, as it has as much of a chance of hitting its wielder as it does its target. This not only shows Nidhiki’s skill and competence as a Toa who’s fought 1000s of foes, but also works as Nidhiki gets a rush from putting himself in dangerous situations.
The scythe was also designed so when he becomes Spider-Nidhiki, it merges into his arms and back, giving him his silver torso and claw hands.
And now vanity shots:
Nidhiki mid mutation:
Krekka catching Nidhiki burying the prototype Zamor Launchers:
Size Comparison:
Breakdown:
Stud.IO (Updated File)
Nidhiki Canon Contest
All parts were found in either Stud.IO or the Biopack.
Credit to @KhingK for the Mask of Stealth, used as a placeholder until I have a Volitak.
Any and all criticism is welcome
Also stay tuned for more vanity shots and even IRL shots of Nidhiki
UPDATE v1.5
I didn’t think I was gonna put out anything before the new year, but I figured I should show my solution.
Some people aren’t the biggest fan of the shoulder mod used for better articulation since it stresses the parts, so I wanted to show a concept for what Nidhiki would look like with the set shoulder connection:
Regular:
Green:
I think that this is a pretty good solution to the problem, as it keeps the shoulder spikes and mimics the original technic bush used, while being unique.
That’s all for now, but IRL pics should be out by the end of January.
. I do agree a Dual Scythe isn’t the most practical but a two-faced and crooked weapon felt right at home with Nidhiki.
