Across the island of Mata Nui, Ussal crabs are known as helpful and highly utilitarian creatures. Incredibly strong and dependable, they are used to haul goods and passengers, especially in the mines of Onu-Wahi and other labor-heavy regions. But their value goes far beyond strength—they form deep bonds with their Matoran riders, sensing their relationships with others and intuitively understanding friend from foe.

One such Ussal crab is Pewku, the loyal and playful companion of Takua, a Ta-Matoran. More than just a mount, Pewku is Takua’s best friend—often acting as his much larger shadow, faithfully following him on countless adventures throughout their time together.

Ussal crabs, despite their gentle nature, are also fierce and brave when called upon. Many serve in the Ussalry, the military branch of the Onu-Matoran, and have stood side by side with their riders in numerous island conflicts.

Dear until the end, Ussal crabs are more than just beasts of burden—they are loyal partners, courageous protectors, and the best friends any Matoran could hope for.

My version of Pewku is inspired by the marbled elements that come from the Barraki set Carapar (Set #8918). The set has three different elements in this particular shade of a darker pearl gold marbled to black; a head/mask, chest armor, and knee or shoulder pads. This infusion gives different swirled patterns and hues of browns, and metallic tans along throughout. Not only does that give each of the elements slightly different infusions and patterns, but it matches with creatures throughout nature. The three different elements then became the challenge of this build - How can I create a wall rounded crab with onyl using these three, now hard to find, LEGO elements?

I began experimenting with how the elements could lay on top of each other to try and create larger and smoother profiles. Founding that the Technic beam shape coming off the bottom of the chest can be hidden underneath another piece of chest armor or beneath the arching up top of the mask, this became the center mass running down Pewku's back. To either side I wanted to use the knee/shoulder armor, but needed them to sit in a sleek and rounded profile seeing as the Ussal crabs are predominantly round creatures. For this I played with creating a series of systems for the elements to lay partially over top of one another like shingles. Not only did it cover up the more unsightly side of the knee/shoulder armor I thought, but it also created that larger rounded profile I was looking for! One problem persisted with this design choice; the elements would just rotate away with the axle I chose to use inside of a pin hole. I explored utilizing a bar inside of an axle connection, but did not like the profile or other changes that resulted in. Once the larger shell of the body was created, I came back and decided to wrap two hoses off of each side around the shells. No only did it give more black to the color scheme, but worked well with the black teeth I inserted into many of the bar holes of the marbled elements.

The addition of a plant stem with various swirls in its shape (Part ID: 28870) in pearl gold added a fun level of whimsy to the front of the design I found. Similar to antenna or larger whiskers of a crab, as well as helping to fill in and establish the mouth profile of this MOC.

Pewku has ended up being one of my favorite builds, as I have always been inspired by the various crab MOCs I see at LEGO conventions.