[MOC] Toa Nuva on Mata Nui

[Exetrius]

Hi!I don't know if this build is enough 'action figure' for this forum, but at least I have seven brick-built Toa to show here, and their weapons. I hope you can appreciate the scenery as bonus! 

 

Back in August I created an entry for the "90th Anniversary: Bionicle Theme Celebrations" contest on Ideas. My build is a tribute to the theme that loved for years: Bionicle. I grew up with Bionicle "Mask of Light: The Movie", and it's still one of the very few films I rewatch sometimes. The world of Mata Nui, the Toa and the Matoran, the different environments and strange architecture, and the soundtrack too, still resonate with me. With this build I wanted to capture the essence of each Toa and display them in their natural environment. The Toa Nuva, being my favourites, formed the basis of my designs, but you'll see hints of Toa Mata and Metru. 

I gave each Toa a unique build, but with some features shared between them. The most challenging part were their masks, because of the limited space and because I really wanted those to represent Toa. I feel like if I'd build these masks in alternative colours, it would still be possible to tell which design belongs to who. The weapons were also fun to make.  I also varied their heights: Pohatu is one of the shortest, while Kopaka and Onua are significantly taller.

As you can see, I used Mixel ball joints, technic pins, hinge plates and bar-clip connections to give these guys a nice range of motion. Unfortunately, no wrist articulation and the feet can't turn side to side. Some of the masks are a bit fragile, and all Toa are prone to fall over because they are top heavy and have relatively small feet. So on the whole, playing with them is certainly possible, but in the end a little frustrating. In the model, I attached the Toa with studs under their feet, and in the case of Takanuva with stud with shaft pieces to the side of his feet sticking into the ground. Makes life easier when moving the build around. 

Look closer into the background and you may notice a carving of the Great Spirit Robot!

 

Thanks for reading! C&C appreciated!
 

Edited September 18, 2022 by Exetrius

[SoupOrFishOil]

no comments?

This is gorgeous work! I really like the way Tahu, Gali, and Pohatu's masks are formed. The blending of classic and modern on all seven figures is neat as well.

[Mandalorianknight]

I commented back on the lego ideas entry back when you had it there, but I'll add here that I like how you built the little trees by Lewa. The figures and environment are great of course, but it's little details like that that I like.

[VBBN]

I love this! Excellent recreation of the Toa in stud form, with plenty of personal touches. Seeing them all set in this scenery adds a lot to the finished display, as well. 

[Exetrius]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:07 AM, SoupOrFishOil said:

no comments?

This is gorgeous work! I really like the way Tahu, Gali, and Pohatu's masks are formed. The blending of classic and modern on all seven figures is neat as well.

Thanks a lot! 

On 9/23/2022 at 2:49 AM, Mandalorianknight said:

I commented back on the lego ideas entry back when you had it there, but I'll add here that I like how you built the little trees by Lewa. The figures and environment are great of course, but it's little details like that that I like.

Thank you!  Nice to hear about the trees, as I had them built more abstract (and colourful) at first, but then changed them to look more natural.  

14 hours ago, VBBN said:

I love this! Excellent recreation of the Toa in stud form, with plenty of personal touches. Seeing them all set in this scenery adds a lot to the finished display, as well. 

Thanks, VBBN! 

[Zepher]

Agreed! The masks are instantly recognizable, which is really impressive given the constraints you listed! Well done.

[Lego David]

Wow, this is awesome! I've seen plenty of brick-built Toa MOCs over the years, but never have I see one where there's also a full-on brick-built background for them! Nice work!

[Murdoch17]

Mask of Light was my favorite film of this era. (It sadly got bumped from the top overall spot by The Polar Express in the following years and the three* LEGO Movies pushed if further down later on.) Anyway great work of representing my fav Bionicle film and the TRUE first Lego movie. Love the posing and scenery, and figures and... basically everything, actually.

Keep up the fantastic work!

 

*I don't talk about The LEGO Ninjago Movie, it doesn't exist!

[Exetrius]

On 9/26/2022 at 4:42 PM, Zepher said:

Agreed! The masks are instantly recognizable, which is really impressive given the constraints you listed! Well done.

Thank you! 

On 9/27/2022 at 8:36 AM, Lego David said:

Wow, this is awesome! I've seen plenty of brick-built Toa MOCs over the years, but never have I see one where there's also a full-on brick-built background for them! Nice work!

Right? I can’t think of one either! I think that is because CCBS Bionicles are quite large, meaning that the scenery around them would become large as well. I have seen some CCBS terrain though, but no background.

Thanks, David! 

On 9/28/2022 at 1:13 AM, Murdoch17 said:

Mask of Light was my favorite film of this era. (It sadly got bumped from the top overall spot by The Polar Express in the following years and the three* LEGO Movies pushed if further down later on.) Anyway great work of representing my fav Bionicle film and the TRUE first Lego movie. Love the posing and scenery, and figures and... basically everything, actually.

Keep up the fantastic work!

 

*I don't talk about The LEGO Ninjago Movie, it doesn't exist!

Thanks, cheers mate!

(btw, despite being a Ninjago fan I never had the courage to watch the movie 😆🙈)

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

Excellent, thanks for the memories. I started with Pohatu. I got only as far as his 2nd evolution, but I'm thinking of the Phantoku. I've watched 1 movie, the Mask of Light, and I've played an Xbox 360 game, too.

[Exetrius]

22 hours ago, Viper Knight said:

Excellent, thanks for the memories. I started with Pohatu. I got only as far as his 2nd evolution, but I'm thinking of the Phantoku. I've watched 1 movie, the Mask of Light, and I've played an Xbox 360 game, too.

You're welcome!  

[Ravelino]

Decided to pop in to this section of the forum for once and this caught my eye.

I have no special feelings for Bionicle, except maybe for the abundance of parts and colours it brought forth, but this is a well designed MOC Exetrius!

You’ll have to forgive me for not knowing their names, but I particularly like certain aspects of each Toa. For example the pelvis and thighs of the blue and the mouth of the red. The weapons are neat too! The red’s are my favourite but I’m kind of a sword guy so that’s not surprising. I like the gold and the blue’s weapons as well.

[Exetrius]

On 11/16/2022 at 9:03 AM, Ravelino said:

Decided to pop in to this section of the forum for once and this caught my eye.

I have no special feelings for Bionicle, except maybe for the abundance of parts and colours it brought forth, but this is a well designed MOC Exetrius!

You’ll have to forgive me for not knowing their names, but I particularly like certain aspects of each Toa. For example the pelvis and thighs of the blue and the mouth of the red. The weapons are neat too! The red’s are my favourite but I’m kind of a sword guy so that’s not surprising. I like the gold and the blue’s weapons as well.

Hey, thank you! It's a big compliment to that someone who's not looking through nostalgia-coloured glasses sees beauty in this build! I'm glad the pelvises caught your attention, especially the one with the boomerang, I really liked how that one turned out too. :) Fun thing about the red Toa's swords is: those were my least favorite weapons of the bunch, until I added axe part to them. That made all the difference!

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

The encyclopedias are very cheap on ebay currently, and there're bunches of them; I'm going to read up on what's needed.

[Ravelino]

On 11/17/2022 at 10:41 AM, Exetrius said:

Fun thing about the red Toa's swords is: those were my least favorite weapons of the bunch, until I added axe part to them. That made all the difference!

Funny how  one small addition (or reduction) can make all the difference in aesthetics. I can get lost in tiny details as well.

Particularly find it annoying when I've fiddled around with an object/aspect for minutes/hours only to find that the first solution was the best all along. And yet, next build I'll start the same process all over again

So happy I got a bit better in using Studio, saves me a lot of time in large/intricate builds.

[Exetrius]

On 11/18/2022 at 12:27 PM, Ravelino said:

Particularly find it annoying when I've fiddled around with an object/aspect for minutes/hours only to find that the first solution was the best all along. And yet, next build I'll start the same process all over again

Haha, relatable! Usually I then sleep on it, and with a fresh head I think of something else that works better.

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

I'm better now. I see it's a Pohatu NUVA you tried to make, now. I thought it was more of a custom choice of why. Thus them related to MATA NUI. Good show, ol' Boy making the NUVA.

[Exetrius]

7 hours ago, Viper Knight said:

I'm better now. I see it's a Pohatu NUVA you tried to make, now. I thought it was more of a custom choice of why. Thus them related to MATA NUI. Good show, ol' Boy making the NUVA.

Thank you!

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

You're welcome.