Danger Level: Many [an islander] has made the mistake of thinking that because Muaka or Kane-Ra was far away, there was no danger. Their ability to extend their necks means you can never be sure where an attack will come from. Often, Muaka hides in the jungle and will suddenly shoot his head forward to grab something on the path, while his body stays concealed.

Like all Rahi, Muaka and Kane-Ra are controlled by the infected masks they wear. If the masks are removed, they will cease fighting and can sometimes even be tamed.

Muaka, the great jungle cats of Mata Nui, prefer to hunt in pairs, but are always careful to avoid their arch rivals Kane-Ra. Muaka rely on surprise to catch their prey. With a telescopic neck they can attack from a greater distance than many of their unlucky victims suspect.

Muaka can be strong and loyal and in the time before time it was said that the great Toa would ride these and other Rahi. Now locked in the shadow of Makuta by their infected masks, Muaka and the other Rahi live only knowing their hunger for masks.

A massive tiger-like creature that removes anything that doesn't belong in its environment; they're often found in pairs.

emilynotes

The tiger is unique among the bionicle creatures, and in fact among bionicle models in general, for being the only prototype from the very first batch of concept models to make it to production. A concept comic shows a giant shark and pterodactyl with similar telescopic neck designs; it is unknown if they were also prototypes or if they were just drawings inspired by the tiger itself.

Possibly due to its antiquity, the specific animal this design is supposed to represent seems less straightforward than many creatures. It is consistently called a tiger/big cat in official material. However, it shares its design with the giant rat and wolf rat. A slightly modified version is dubbed a "bull". Considering this creature's rodentesque features, it could be argued it was made to be a rat and, like the bull, was rebranded.

As you can see from the official bios, the tiger was intended as a jungle-based creature. Despite this, its most prominent appearance in MNOG cemented it as a mountain creature in fans' imagination. Wolfrats also appear in the mountains in the PC game. I've opted to include the tiger in the mountain section for these reasons. Plus, there are so few mountain creatures in general.

The tiger was the only Bionicle set to actually come packaged with infected masks to wear. These were an expensive (hand-painted!) last-minute production decision. Some 2001 art instead shows the creature wearing black masks of Night Vision, the original choice.

This big kitty (or rat) is one of the six creatures sold at retail in 2001 and deemed 'Rahi'.

official art

prototype

emilygallery