Bionicle Skull Villain Alternate Builds

[TheOneVeyronian]

Well, seeing as the Skull Villains have already hit the shops where I live, I figured I'd start an alternate builds topic for the skull villains. Well, why not? The Toa and the Protectors already have their respective ones. So feel free to share your modifications (actual or planned) of the Skull Villains (that is, Grinder, Scorpio, Basher, Slicer, Warrior and Lord of Skull Spiders) here, and give feedback to others who have posted their builds.

I'll start off by sharing a modification that I've already made to Skull Scorpio:

70794 Skull Scorpio MOD by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr

Basically I've changed the legs entirely, gave him poseable legs (I would have liked them to be silver, but I didn't have enough of the Kaiju fins in silver to do that. And I'll be changing the grey bones to the new "bone" bones, I need to get some more first though), removed all the trans-neon orange in the model (aside from the brain stalk) and filled out a couple of areas. Oh, and I gave him a pincer mouth since I felt like his head really didn't give off a scorpion-y motif. The mask can indeed still be knocked off by pushing the brain stalk.

So, let me know what you think, and what set revamp you would like to see next from me, and I look forward to seeing what everyone else can come up with

[Leewan]

Hum, there's a bit too much tr. neon green.

I don't know if you'll have enough, but I'd suggest to use only bone bones for the legs, that way you'd have less tr. neon green, but you'd keep cohesive legs.

Here's my Skull Scorpio (pre) revamp, BTW :

Radically different.

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

The legs are certainly the highlight of this revamp, and show great improvement over the original design. However, looking at this figure sans tr. orange shows how much it loses when deprived of such a nice contrasting color. Though I will likely make the tr. orange less prevalent once I get my hands on this figure, much as I did with the gold elements on Onua, I feel that some is necessary beyond just the eye stalk.

Edited June 14, 2015 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[TheOneVeyronian]

Hum, there's a bit too much tr. neon green.

I don't know if you'll have enough, but I'd suggest to use only bone bones for the legs, that way you'd have less tr. neon green, but you'd keep cohesive legs.

Here's my Skull Scorpio (pre) revamp, BTW :

Radically different.

I ultimately want to use bone-bones for the legs (it was my intention), but at the moment I have, erm, none spare, because I skipped a second Warrior in favour of another set at the store I was at I did try to articulate the original setup but the result just looked silly and almost as unposeable as the original.

Nice take on Skull Scorpio by the way, reminds me of some of the LOSS revamps I've seen. Personally I prefer more animalistic animals (says the person whose last MOC was a human panther ), but I like yours very much, gives a very menacing and villainous vibe. Oh, and you reminded me that I wanted to use Beast heads for claws. Sadly, I used all my plain ones with axle holes for feet on another MOC so I guess I forgot! You'll need to show yours with Scorpio's actual mask at some point Leewan

Next one I think I will do is Slicer, I've just built the set and I'll be honest, there's a lot left to be desired for me. That trans-neon orange shell wiill 100% be removed for starters

Edited June 14, 2015 by TheOneVeyronian

[Kalhiki]

I'm curious to see how Slicer and Scorpio would look with their masks switched. Just because a Skull Spider seems better suited for a scorpion.

Also, nice mod. Proper legs is exactly what Scorpio needs.

[Aanchir]

Not a bad-looking mod/revamp, although I miss the Tr. Flu. Reddish-Orange and am not totally digging the changes to the head. The pincers are nice but I feel like the grey parts used to attach them are a bit obtrusive.

[Leewan]

I ultimately want to use bone-bones for the legs (it was my intention), but at the moment I have, erm, none spare, because I skipped a second Warrior in favour of another set at the store I was at

Yeah, but in your first post you only mention the dark bley bones, while I suggest to replace all the bones (dark bley + tr. neon green) by bone bones. Speaking of the legs, do you have a pic of the underside ? I'd like to see how they're attached.

You'll need to show yours with Scorpio's actual mask at some point Leewan

Sure, I'll update him as soon as I get the new parts.

[TheOneVeyronian]

Not a bad-looking mod/revamp, although I miss the Tr. Flu. Reddish-Orange and am not totally digging the changes to the head. The pincers are nice but I feel like the grey parts used to attach them are a bit obtrusive.

Believe it or not, those were the least obtrusive solution I could come up with! Other solutions were really chunky and horrible. If you have a suggestion for a less obtrusive connection, I'd love to hear it

Yeah, but in your first post you only mention the dark bley bones, while I suggest to replace all the bones (dark bley + tr. neon green) by bone bones. Speaking of the legs, do you have a pic of the underside ? I'd like to see how they're attached.

Sure, I'll update him as soon as I get the new parts.

I knew you meant all the bones, I was thinking of swapping the trans-neon green bones at first as those are the ones immediately visible. And you're right: there probably is too much neon green in there. I did have to dismember a display copy of PoS so I think I should give him his trans bones back at the very least

Sure, pic of the underside is coming, I'll update this post when I upload it. It actually doesn't vary an awful lot from the original set, believe it or not, so it's a very easy modification to implement.

EDIT: Here you go. Enjoy!

Edited June 14, 2015 by TheOneVeyronian

[TheDesuComplex]

I guess it's time for me to write up my planned modifications!

All of them:

-Remove the Trans Neon Red-Orange

-Give them all black Piraka feet

-Undecided on whether to keep the new armor parts

-Skull Spider masks to make them faceless possessed mooks

Skull Warrior:

-Dark Blue Skull Spider mask

-Energized forearms, shins, and hands (Trans Light Blue bones and shells)

-A pair of blue axes using this part in Trans Dark Blue

Skull Scorpio

-Spring Yellowish Green Skull Spider mask

-More Trans Neon Yellow-Green

-Articulated tail OR articulated legs

Skull Slicer

-Spring Yellowish Green Skull Spider mask

-Energized forearms and shins (Trans Bright Green bones and shells)

-All four arms have these swords in Trans Bright Green

Skull Basher

-Dark Blue Skull Spider mask

-Straighter horns

-Energized upper arms and thighs (Trans Purple bones and Purple shells)

-These axe parts (so they can clap together better)

Skull Grinder

-Gold Skull Spider mask

-Energized upper arms and thighs (Red bones and Trans Neon Red-Orange shells)

-Bubble armor on the shoulders

-Saw blade as back armor

-Another saw blade as a handheld weapon with a blood-red cleaver.

[One Very Agile Cat]

My plans are so far to basically just make each set "complete." If I do get Scorpio, he'll probably be entirely revamped into an actual Scorpion-looking thing. Slicer would get Warrior's staff tip so he can have four swords and just be better all around, while Warrior itself will probably be relieved of the trans-orange. can't see myelf doing to much to basher and Grinder, honestly. I think they look great. Probably just minor cosmetic touch-ups, like maybe some 3x shells on the exposed balls on Grinder's chest.

[Leewan]

Here you go. Enjoy!

Balljoints, that's what I thought. It's the simplest solution. Do they slide from their axles when you pose Scorpio ?

[TheOneVeyronian]

Balljoints, that's what I thought. It's the simplest solution. Do they slide from their axles when you pose Scorpio ?

They don't actually, they pretty much stay where they are on mine. I think the relatively low friction between balljoint on the body and ball cup on the leg helps, there's enough there to keep the model from sagging, but not so much you yank the balljoint out while trying to pose a leg.

Now, I did say I was going to post Slicer next, he's pretty much done except for the fact I cannot decide the best place for his chain hook weapon (which I want to keep), given that I've put a sword in the hand that used to hold it. Any ideas? I was thinking about having it attached to the head (I've already attached Skull Spider legs to the mask to reinforce the "resurrected by Skull Spider" look, so giving it a tail-like attachment wouldn't be out of the question), but I fear it would look silly.

[GK733]

They don't actually, they pretty much stay where they are on mine. I think the relatively low friction between balljoint on the body and ball cup on the leg helps, there's enough there to keep the model from sagging, but not so much you yank the balljoint out while trying to pose a leg.

Now, I did say I was going to post Slicer next, he's pretty much done except for the fact I cannot decide the best place for his chain hook weapon (which I want to keep), given that I've put a sword in the hand that used to hold it. Any ideas? I was thinking about having it attached to the head (I've already attached Skull Spider legs to the mask to reinforce the "resurrected by Skull Spider" look, so giving it a tail-like attachment wouldn't be out of the question), but I fear it would look silly.

Just wrap the claws around the head, cruel but it gives the idea he's been hanged. Edited June 15, 2015 by GK733

[TheOneVeyronian]

Time for Skull Slicer!

For this, I gave him an extra sword, turned the chain weapon into a sort of energised handcuff (maybe implying he was a prisoner before death and resurrection in my headcanon?), added claws, got rid of the random trans-orange shell and added legs to the Skull Spider mask to reinforce the idea that the corpse was reanimated by a Skull Spider. I also changed the gears to a symmetrical setup, where as the lower arms swing up, the upper ones swing down and vice versa.

Also, as a bonus, here's a picture teasing my next-to-be-posted mod. I just really like how this photo of it came out

[Logan McOwen]

These are just teasing me so badly. I need some bone bones.

[Aanchir]

Hmm, your Slicer modifications are simple, but I still greatly prefer the sets with the Tr. Flu. Reddish Orange accents. The color schemes feel a lot less dynamic and "evil" to me without them. I'm glad you seem to have kept them for Warrior, at least. I can't say whether I prefer the old or new gear setup until I actually have the set and can try its function out for myself.

[TheOneVeyronian]

Hmm, your Slicer modifications are simple, but I still greatly prefer the sets with the Tr. Flu. Reddish Orange accents. The color schemes feel a lot less dynamic and "evil" to me without them. I'm glad you seem to have kept them for Warrior, at least. I can't say whether I prefer the old or new gear setup until I actually have the set and can try its function out for myself.

The official way the gears are set up on Slicer make three arms move in the same direction, which, while clever, I didn't really like the arms moving that way. So I changed the small gears for medium gears, and added small gears to the centre to provide the friction.

Skull Slicer still has some trans-neon orange, I just removed it from the arm as it looked very out of place there on it's own, and I just didn't feel that it looked good on top of trans-bright green. Come to think of it, these are used to occupy the sticking out ball joints on Slicer, in hindsight I could have made those trans-neon orange... why did I not think of that earlier? Me omitting the trans-neon orange in the first place is probably because I'm not a big fan having more than one trans colour in a figure.

Oh, and Warrior and Basher keeps trans-neon orange (they actually use more!). Speaking of Warrior, probably my favourite £13 set, I may as well post it now. The picture probably explains everything, though maybe I should have removed one of the leg shells first:

Next up: Grinder. Probably the set I made the simplest mods to, but you'll see where some of Scorpio's legs went

Edited June 15, 2015 by TheOneVeyronian

[dviddy]

I have to say, I'm weirdly surprised to be as in agreement with Scott as I am. I didn't expect the trans-orange to be as important to the look of these as it is. The missing orange feels weirdly off on these, even though they are, for the most part, simple and clean changes I can get down with. Looking forward to my review copies arriving soon.

[NNOPMOC]

Okay . . . so, where in the UK are you picking these up from? Which shops? I have a TRU, Smyths and Lego Store all within 30 minutes drive from home or work. Point me in a direction, please. :-)

[TheOneVeyronian]

Okay . . . so, where in the UK are you picking these up from? Which shops? I have a TRU, Smyths and Lego Store all within 30 minutes drive from home or work. Point me in a direction, please. :-)

Try the LEGO Store. If your nearest is Watford, you're definitely in luck as that's where I got them

Anyway, appears there's no love for Warrior! Suppose I should show what I did to Grinder then:

Not much to this one really, just filled in a few gaps here and there, added 2 more small gears to the arm holding the staff because there was way too little friction in the official setup and the arm kept sagging. Oh, and I swapped the leg bones around since I am obsessed with making fictional undead biomeechanical robots anatomically correct You'll notice that I took a leaf out of CHI Sir Fangar's book and gave him big spikes at the back. It's not much, but it really makes him feel more imposing.

Ekimu in the background is not modified, he's just there because, well, he's Ekimu

Basher will be uploaded tomorrow, he's the one I modded the heaviest.

[Lord-Vorahk]

I think I prefer the looks without the trans flour. orange parts on the first two, but it looks good on Warrior.

[TheOneVeyronian]

In case you didn't see my response to your question about Grinder's back spikes on Flickr Leewan: here's how Grinder's back spikes are attached

Now for my final MOD: Skull Basher!

This one probably received the most modifications, including replacing the set standard hands with a custom solution to add bulk (because I see Basher as a big bruiser type of warrior), added claws to his feet, improved the stability of the gearbox (the original set was quite floppy, believe it or not it can be stabilised with just one Technic 1/2 pin through the antenna), and for a bit of an artistic touch, added trans-purple chains onto the horns.

And as a bonus: here's all my Skull posse together, including LOSS and my custom Skull Protector:

[BricksToBones]

Try the LEGO Store. If your nearest is Watford, you're definitely in luck as that's where I got them

Anyway, appears there's no love for Warrior! Suppose I should show what I did to Grinder then:

Not much to this one really, just filled in a few gaps here and there, added 2 more small gears to the arm holding the staff because there was way too little friction in the official setup and the arm kept sagging. Oh, and I swapped the leg bones around since I am obsessed with making fictional undead biomeechanical robots anatomically correct You'll notice that I took a leaf out of CHI Sir Fangar's book and gave him big spikes at the back. It's not much, but it really makes him feel more imposing.

Ekimu in the background is not modified, he's just there because, well, he's Ekimu

Basher will be uploaded tomorrow, he's the one I modded the heaviest.

Even though that it's a minor mod, it still looks pretty cool without a doubt! Also, how did you get those bone things at the back?

[Lyichir]

Even though that it's a minor mod, it still looks pretty cool without a doubt! Also, how did you get those bone things at the back?

Those would be Skull Scorpio's legs, which he didn't use on Skull Scorpio himself.

[One Very Agile Cat]

Basher and Grinder look excellent!