The Kanthrix are a species of rahi created by Makuta Vamprah, long after the Brotherhood of Makuta became evil. These rahi were created using viruses, antidermis and protodermis with the sole purpose of hunting and killing matoran. They posess a lethal intelligence and can construct elaborate traps. Even worse, they can mimic the sound of a matoran's voice, calling for help, as a lure.
When Spherus Magna reformed, the kanthrix migrated out of the Mata-Nui robot into the vast, shadowy jungles of Bota Magna, where they only became more dangerous. Foolhardy locals that attacked them learned not to do so by jumping on their backs - as would normally work - as many of them were sliced apart by their wing-blades.
Any beings foolish enough to venture across the forest floor without a guide quickly find themselved upside down or caged, being eaten alive. The kanthrix like to eat a the legs of their prey first so they can listen to their screams for longer.
Female kanthrix are larger than males, but the kanthrix known to locals as Senkhrast is undoubtedly the largest. Many horrifying tales feature her in the climax, and not one of the tales is without a grain of truth in its telling.
Senkhrast is a brood mother, who dominates the forest with the assistance of several dominated females. She builds traps only for her own pleasure, as matoran and agori are usually brought to her, paralysed but alive and aware, by her daughters.
She is not truly in charge of the kanthrix, however. Teridax is, through one of the most vile and virulent creations the makuta ever devised - the Harro.
By overriding Senkhrast's nervous system, the Harro fungus forces her to act according to the will of Teridax. The fact that he is long dead does not seem to chime into the Harro's thoughts. The fungus grants her extreme longevity and makes her even more of a force to be reckoned with.
What's more, those who encounter her or her daughters and survive will slowly be taken over by its spores. Its influence causes other beings to murder their kin, destroy homes - and there is nothing else that can be done than to burn those infected until the Harro's spores are destroyed.
Most prey have somewhat better luck than that.
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The idea behind Senkhrast was to combine the worst that the animal kingdom had to offer. As a biologist, I don't find many creatures scary that many others do, but parasites are universally revolting, and the Cordyceps is just plain scary. I've put a video at the end about them, but watch at your own discretion! The marbled black/white barraki piece was PERFECT for the infection, as the barbs on it were all white and fungal looking already, and the white-black contrast works well, I think.
Looking at Senkhrast herself, brood mothers tend to be creepier than normal. Some inspiration came from The Hatchery by Alex Fojtik. The barbed, black look, iridescent empty blue eyes, and eggs in the abdomen (using a Midak blaster! Was a pain to fit that in there at an angle!) were all inspired by his insectoid queen. The structure of Senkhrast relates more to a mantis, albeit with unsettlingly human features such as a more upright posture, hands, and lower legs mimicing a human skeleton. The face head is centred around this head/skull design used by Chronos in the first round. It certainly was creepy looking.
And here, proof that Senkhrast is below the 35cm dimensions limit of the contest. Just.
And, obligatory shot with other Bio-cup entries. I'm gonna need to use the BIG studio if I want to fit another one in here - and I truly hope I do! Kyle is one tough cookie though. Good luck!
I love the whole moc, head with the blue/white eyes (great idea with the minifig helmets), skinny legs with the skrall armor toes (im assuming that they are toes), long spiny but flowing body. all in all, its GREAT
Yes this is truly impressive and an amazing build, but will it win ? I found your opponent's entry topped the horrifying factor more, while this one is more disturbing if you don't liek insects (ants in particular). But that doesn't mean I don't like this moc, because believe me, I really really do ! The head and leg designs really fit :D For me, It doesn't matter, Whoever wins, you both deserve it anyways. :D Good luck ;)
This is a great entry. Very well done and presented. Sure looks distrubing, mainly because of the black color scheme and that blind eye, that little touch gotta be the icing on this cake. I'm really torn out by having to choose between you and your opponent here, but after long consideration, its not without doubt that I vote for your opponent. Althouhg your entry has a better technic work, I think his is a bit more on the horryfying idea, so yeah, thats it, I guess.
A very interesting entry indeed. The build is exceptional for a rahi without any doubt but its hard for me to discern the head and body structure of the body maybe because of the use of black pieces. Now with regards to which of the two entry is more horrifying, I have to go with "tremor like" rahi of Kyle. I have to vote for your opponent on this.
This. Is. AMAZING! The build is genius, and the color scheme is intriguing (one white eye, one blue eye, and then white parts on the back).
As for scary... eh. I did enjoy the real-life comparison though, neat of ya to put that it...
I always did love planet earth...
Quoting Terilis the Dark Angel
Well, admitedly I should have commented on this earlier. But Psych was on, sooooo... yeah. Anyway, the Midak Egg-blaster is a great idea, love it. And the eyes, minifig helmets, pretty good. Pretty great at that.
Well, admitedly I should have commented on this earlier. But Psych was on, sooooo... yeah. Anyway, the Midak Egg-blaster is a great idea, love it. And the eyes, minifig helmets, pretty good. Pretty great at that.
Wow, you really got the "creepy"-look! This will truly be a nightmare for the Matoran! Even though it has a weird (but cool!) looking head, you still captured the look of the real animal. Great work, and good luck in the contest!
Oh yeah, this is going to be a close (I hope!) round. I'll get mine posted later today. Lovely work Gat, the legs and head are amazing, but the torso is what gets my attention. <3. Lovely, work, good luck with the judges. - Kyle
Quoting Toa Phosphorus
Very nice. you did well with a tough category. The only thing I can think of that is really horrific in nature is a gene spliced monstrosity. Anything not found in nature but made out of pieces of it has to be a truly horrific animal. Great job on the legs. Might have to steal those.
Technically, all rahi are gene spliced. And, I was sort of addressing that when I decided to add human-like traits.
Very nice. you did well with a tough category. The only thing I can think of that is really horrific in nature is a gene spliced monstrosity. Anything not found in nature but made out of pieces of it has to be a truly horrific animal. Great job on the legs. Might have to steal those.
