Random set of the day: Fikou
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 1441 Fikou, released during 2003. It's one of 39 Bionicle sets produced that year. It contains 13 pieces.
It's owned by 555 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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34 comments on this article
Fikou too!
Certifiably the cutest Bionicle of them all!
Fikou my beloved.
We NEED Lore! What brave deeds did this spider do? Or was it a villain? We MUST KNOW!!!
Here’s the lore for this one: the mystical Lego factory had a few spare Bionicle pieces they needed to get rid of.
Just one day early for 810nicle day!
Still, it is very much appreciated.
Fikou Huwbot. Fikou.
The six Fikou fingers of fate.
@Quinnly said:
"Fikou Huwbot. Fikou."
Don't insult @Huwbot that way, he has feelings too! (Do you really want him to go SkyNet on us and our Lego collections?!?)
Rahi were the animals and creatures that inhabited the Matoran Universe. Created by the Makuta, they came in all shapes and sizes and helped the artificial lands feel more natural and lived in.
Among these many beasts was the humble Fikou Spider (or Spider Crab, or Tree Spider.) Despite their small size, adorable eyes, and cute chirping, the Fikou are not a critter to be trusted. Even the smallest Fikou's bite carries a deadly venom that can fell prey in seconds, and their thick webbing is near impenetrable. Unfortunately for the people of the MU, Matoran are certainly on their menu.
Fikou had established populations in the skyscrapers of Le-Metru and the treetops of Le-Wahi. Here their thick webbing created problems for passing aircraft and birds, making them a nuisance to the Le-Matoran who lived there.
The Onu-Matoran had a degree of respect for Fikou. Deep bellow the Onu-Metru Archives lay an expanse of unmapped and forgotten tunnels that were named "The Fikou Web" in honor of the spider's convoluted traps.
Man subspecies of Fikou existed. Most of these were simply different colors of the spider, such as blue or green. Two more notable ones exist. First were the Fikou of Voya Nui, who had a flame-yellowish-orange carapace, red claws, and a red stinger, making them more scorpion like. Second was the Fikou Nui (or Great Tree Spider in Matoran) a massive grey Fikou with spindly legs that hunted in the tunnels of Onu-Wahi.
The Fikou is notable for its wide amount of releases. A black version was available as a "combiner" of sets 8531 and 8532 (that only used 13/79 pieces and included an extra part). An orange version was available both as a standalone set, 1441, and as one of the twelve alternate models of set 10023. Even still, these two orange version used slightly different shades of grey for their undercarriage. By combining parts from your collection and set 8525 or 8530 you could create new colors of Fikou, though the limited colors for their leg parts often make these awkward.
@sjr60 said:
"Fikou too!"
Oh, Fikoff!
@GSR_MataNui
I was just about to ask if this was some sort of Bionicle doggie? All the Bionicle questions I ever have (and many more that I never will) are answered by the God of Lore.
Time for that sweet BIONICLE lore!
On the island of Mata Nui, the myths and legends told by the Turaga depicted the Fikou tree spiders as cunning masters of lies and deception who would trick unsuspecting Matoran away from safety and lure them into their webs. In turn, when a Matoran sees something that surprises him (i.e. "I can't believe that what I just saw was real!"), he will cry out, "Where's the Fikou?", as if looking for the Fikou's web that would indicate that it was all a trick. Since Mata Nui was the only island with extensive mythology (which, unfortunately, turned out to be a bunch of lies made up by the Turaga), this phrase was not known to Matoran of other regions such as Voya Nui, leading to a humorous moment in the 2006 storyline when Piruk was confused by Toa Kongu's use of the idiom, especially since Kongu abbreviated the phrase as "WTF?"
Oh, wait... no, I made most of that up.
@StyleCounselor said:
" @sjr60 said:
"Fikou too!"
Oh, Fikoff!
@GSR_MataNui
I was just about to ask if this was some sort of Bionicle doggie? All the Bionicle questions I ever have (and many more that I never will) are answered by the God of Lore."
The BIONICLE equivalent of a pet dog would be the Ussal... who are also the equivalent of a horse. https://biosector01.com/wiki/Ussal
The BIONICLE equivalent of a police/combat dog would be the Energy Hound, though they aren't kept by Matoran as often. https://biosector01.com/wiki/Energy_Hound
Ah... The elusive one... Only Set I'm missing from the 2001/2002 Line (except from 'some' masks).
Well at least I have the creature Set (i think you could build both the fikou and the rhino (Vaki?) At the Same time If you replaced a 2m axle for a 3m. Or was it Hoi Turtle and rhino?)
A pity there are so few matching pakari/claw Combos Out there - a bunch of them in varying colors would Sure Look cool...
I really liked how inventive they went with showing the versatility of those G1 Bionicle parts.
@chrisaw:
Doubtful. This exact same design was in see the same year in 10023, so the orange parts used in both would have needed to be produced concurrently. At that point, you just increase the production run. More likely someone realized this was one of the smallest Bionicle models, and could actually be repackaged as a polybag.
I didn't have this one, but I did have 10023, which could build this model. I always like the use of the socket joint piece on the front to suggest mandibles.
The Fikou was technically the first Rahi I ever built, as instructions were present for a black one in an edition of the Mania Magazine in 2001. Although the magazine suggested using Onua and Pohatu to source pieces for the Fikou spider, I had to utilize a spare ball part from either Tahu or Kopaka, because the actual Pohatu set came with only two ball elements, not the three depicted in prototype renders. Additionally, since all my Toa heads had eye stalks already attached, I used probably Turaga Whenua's foot instead of a gray Toa head.
The Fikou inspired a love within me for the small Rahi, so I was overjoyed to see further instructions distributed for the Mukau (a combination of Pohatu and Gali) in another Lego MANIA Magazine. It was great to also see more of the Rahi from the Mata Nui Online Game find their way into an official set, the BIONICLE Master Builder Set from 2002. However, I was aware of the upcoming Exo-Toa first, and my hard-earned dollars put that as a purchasing priority, not to mention the sets that followed like Boxor and the Toa Nuva. I never got 10023 as a result, a notable gap in BIONICLE 2002 collection.
Weirdly cute, yet still kind of horrifying.
I pieced this together out of spare parts one day, so technically I own it.
It's not very Blacktron. The all black version is much more Blacktron.
The Pakari for the abdomen was among my first encounters of NPU in LEGO, period.
Can't we all just act civilized for one second and not say the first thing that pops into your mind when you read the description?
No we can't.
Fikou too.
To all those you are making more risqué comments, shut the Fikou up!
This was always my favorite Rahi. It was the only one that looked like a real model of a real animal instead of just a bunch of Toa parts randomly thrown together. Strangely enough, it’s the Rahi that is, indisputably, a bunch of Toa parts randomly thrown together.
A set that's so small yet so charming. And it's nothing but the parts from the first year of Bionicle and some technic!
You can even pose the head because it's on a balljoint!
I kind of miss the one I bought back in 2007. At the time it was so special to gind something from that long ago, especially because so much developed each year with the theme!
Not even kidding when I say this is one of my favourite sets. It has a lot of significance for me personally.
I think I may still have a sealed copy somewhere that a friend, knowing how much this set meant to me, recently gave me as a birthday present.
Simply magnificent.
Never had the spare orange sockets needed to build this version, but I did assemble the black version when I got spares of the appropriate Toa parts from various used lots. The orange version definitely looks cuter to me, though... although I could just be biased because orange is my favourite colour.
Seeing the comments about building various colours of these, I now kinda want to make a lime / green one. The colours often worked together in Bionicle, so even though the claws aren't available in green, and the mask isn't in lime, I feel like the end result as a blend of the two would still look good.
On a different note, anyone else remember Toa Hewkii being able to use the force tear these little guys apart whenever they appeared in the Bionicle Heroes video game, and collecting their parts? Always seemed cruel to me...
This was an individual set? I thought it was only ever part of that little Rahi multibuild one?
@iwybs:
I was going to point out a tiny scorpion, but now I’m thinking that was something I came up with based on a modified Fikou frame. I also made some scarab-like beetles using Bohrok face shields as their elytra, which I know was an original design (I use sections of paperclip to hold curves in 3mm flex tube, like I used for their antennae). There was a lightning bug that used a Roborider head for the elytra that’s somewhat realistic, and the original, pre-MoL Ussal crabs were a cool design (though they probably could have used something to represent the carapace).
@ThatBionicleGuy:
That sounds remarkably like the Cruciatus demonstration from HP4.
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"On a different note, anyone else remember Toa Hewkii being able to use the force tear these little guys apart whenever they appeared in the Bionicle Heroes video game, and collecting their parts? Always seemed cruel to me..."
Haven't played that game, but as far as I remember, Takua did something very similar in the Game Boy Advance game Tales of the Tohunga...
WHY OH WHY was this picked on the ONE DAY I did not check Brickset in the morning? Why was today the day I decided to be early at the LEGOLAND gates, no, why did I even have to be on vacation this week? I should have been preparing weeks, months in advance of this legendary moment! My brothers, I have failed you. My big, black eyeballs are filled with immense regret for not representing you at the top of this comment section with a silly joke or facepalm-worthy pun. I shall stay away from the cursed place that is LEGOLAND for a day to ponder this failure and punish myself for this wrongdoing.
And possibly go to LEGO House instead but we’ll see
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
@mr_Fikou well, you're here on your big day!
This RSOTD made me remember that I used to own one before that I hadn't written down in my lists of sets I used to own but since sold. Thank you Huwbot!
@mr_Fikou:
Well, at least you did catch it before it was over. Several times I’ve seen a Bionicle fan skip a day only to post about it the next day.