Bionicle MOC: Ryakk

Update(April 10,2014)
This update is mainly to update the Deviation with a bigger collage featuring more photos. But a few updates were done to Ryakk himself. They include

• New Axe.
  Ryakk's weapon has been the bane of my existence with this MOC. As seen in an earlier photo of him, he had a "drill axe" that had the same mechanism that Keetongu and Roodaka used in their play features incorporated into its design. This axe was always too floppy and was always noticeably bending all the time. Even in the photo it can be seen.
  Ryakk's first weapons can be seen in the old group photo. They were originally dual wielded axes which I quite liked, but at the time most of my other MOCs had dual wielded weapons I thought Ryakk would look more foreboding if he had a single weapon he wielded with both hands and I wanted to even out the amount of members of the team with single weapons. Now the inverse has happened, the only MOC with a dual wield weapon in this troupe of evildoers is Remaku.
  The new axe is now sturdier, lighter, and overall simpler while still harkening back to the original single wield Drill Axe.
  
  
• Sturdier Neck.
  Ryakk's neck was always kind of floppy and would flop around when being posed or handled in the slightest. This has been fixed with the addition of an actuator(that's what I call them) added onto his neck assembly and anchored to the middle of his back.
  
  
• New Knee caps
  This isn't a major change, but I replaced the Knights Kingdom shoulder armor parts that served as his knee caps to the spikier variant of the armor from the same series. I thought since Ryakk is fairly spiky it was more fitting.
  
  
• Streamlined his hands
  They had a bulky assembly of socket pieces on them that I guess I thought looked good at the time. I think my mind set was that they were some kind of knuckle dusters or some kind of armor for his fists. Considering they're useful parts and didn't serve any higher purpose than two 1X2(++) thin lift arms would I made the design more efficient. 

A Special Occasion
Ryakk is one of my oldest MOCs. This year will mark him being a a decade old! That's right, 10 years ago is when the Kikanalo who's head and hands I modified became my first ever colossus sized MOC. Sadly I don't have any of these early photos of when Ryakk went through his growth spurts because it was before I had a computer and subsequently, a digital camera to take pictures of MOCs with. The earliest photo I have is the one I have of any of my MOCs, the "old group photo" from the summer of 2006(just before I went to Comic Con). The best I can do is describe what I can recall.
As I said, Ryakk started out as a Kikanalo with a modified head and hands. From here it was a gradual process of making things larger. In hindsight it really did feel like natural growth. If one are got larger soon after the other corresponding sections would grow with it. One of the "oldest" sections of Ryakk that are still much the same today are his legs. One of the last sections to be improved was his upper torso. One of the most interesting factors about Ryakk(at least to me anyways) is the fact that over the years, I always took special care not to use any lego element newer than 2006. This means that regardless of what version you look at of Ryakk, he will have always been possible to build that version circa 2006.

About the MOC
Ryakk was my first Colossus and what I would say was my first real accomplishment as a MOCer. If you look at my other two Colossi Mototaur and Mechus, you'll see some of the same techniques used on all three of them. Aesthetically, I'm very satisfied with Ryakk, and wouldn't change much at this point. Maybe just recolor some parts here and there. Functionality wise, I'd like to improve the shoulder system, and make the hips just a little stronger to make him more poseable.
Every time I sit down and work on him I remember just how long its been since some of those parts came off. He's pretty old for a MOC at 10 years old.
My inspiration for Ryakk is a mix of sig from the Jak series of video games, Kratos from God Of War with a little Predator mixed in for good measure. Up to a point, Ryakk has stayed mostly the same for many years now. Once he reached the size he is now any major update was more about improving structure or design. Many aspects like his legs and core structure have remained the same since as far back as 2006.

Links
Deviantart Gallery Folder
Newer group picture
old group pic


Bio summary
Ryakk was a Dark hunter for most of his life, being born into the faction and raised around them on the island of Odina. Taught, "you either fight, and win, or you die," he had a Spartan-like upbringing. Ryakk is part of a sub species that grows abnormally large. He soon dwarfed his brother, Ootei, as well as the other young dark hunters. Growing up as a very brazen individual, his size inflated his ego, making him think he could handle any mission or opponent, which lead him to getting out smarted and tricked a lot. Realizing it takes more than muscle to win a fight. He stopped taking missions from the Dark Hunters Guild, and schooled himself on being a tactician as well as learning sciences to create or manipulate weapons. After many years of this he then returned to the guild, and took on missions. With every success he rose up through the ranks and became a general, controlling several companies of other Dark Hunters and Skakdi.
Ryakk over time grew tired of his position and feeling like there was no rising above it. He attempted to assassinate The Shadowed One. He was defeated when most of the other Dark Hunters Banded together to defend The Shadowed One. Ryakk and his brother Ootei were exiled from the Dark Hunters Guild. Looking to capitalize on this, the Makuta Remaku allied himself with them, and they formed the Insurgence Of Darkness. Ryakk and Remaku have more of a partnership, though Ryakk is considered second in command. However, Remaku knows not to cross Ryakk, for it could be a power struggle he might lose.
Ryakk prefers taking on missions still and engaging in combat while Remaku takes on the leadership roles and responsibilities. Ryakk typically takes missions where large battles are fought and many enemies need to be defeated. When a single target or toa team needs dealing with, the other members usually take them on, unless the target is a particularly powerful one.
Ryakk's fighting style relies more on close quarters combat than anything else. He carries a few energized protodermis grenades for tactical use, but he mostly relies on his martial arts and his various melee weapons in combat.