Nidhiki and Krekka- Elite Vahki?
Seriously, why DOES Nidhiki look so much like a Vahki??? With how Toa Iruini was supposed to be Toa Nidhiki, it makes me wonder if Nidhiki himself was originally meant to be some form of elite Vahki...
The dude has an EXACT Vahki head, looking more like a Vahki than the Kranua; Characters like Krekka or Roodaka use the same head piece, but not with the translucent mandibles and disk launcher! Nidhiki’s perfectly symmetrical with silver pincers, like the Vorzakh or Nuurakh... And to drive in the insectoid look, Nidhiki even has an alternate mode where he bends over backwards and twists his head around; Just like the Vahki!
Then there’s his flying mode, which doesn’t employ any natural wings or body parts you’d see amongst animals; Nidhiki’s legs fold up and become more compact and he hovers. It’s like the Rahkshi, who themselves are exoskeletons; And this mechanical form of flight makes you think of him as more machine than organic being.
And maybe that’s because Nidhiki was meant to be? IIRC in-universe, ‘Dume’ reassured the Matoran about the presence of Nidhiki and Krekka, claiming they’re just elite Vahki models... And honestly, that explanation makes more sense than the actual one. I wonder if this was a meta nod towards Nidhiki originally going to be some type of elite Vahki captain; But then the writers decided that they needed an antagonist with an actual personality to bounce off our heroes, so this upgraded Vahki was rewritten as an entirely separate being.
By extension, Krekka must’ve also originally been a unique model of Vahki, before he was updated into a living being! And because Nidhiki and Krekka exist as biomechanicals outside of the Vahki, that necessitates an explanation for their existence; Which led to their backstory as Dark Hunters, resulting in fan-favorites such as the Shadowed One or Lariska to flesh out that organization and explain what a ‘Dark Hunter’ even is.
Perhaps the official combiner models for the Vahki allude to these original concepts; In-universe, the Kraahu and Kranua are elite variants of Vahki. The Kraahu has a normal Vahki head and is more insectoid than its standard counterparts, while the Kranua only has the base head piece (but no mandibles) and is large and brutish... Perhaps the writers carried over the concepts of Nidhiki and Krekka as elite Vahki into these combiners, salvaging that idea; A duo of an insect and a brute.
