B/A: Koboldon

[Aanchir]

My entry for the Before & After Brain Infection contest. For full disclosure, I built both models with the help of my twin brother Lyichir. Click through any of the images to see them on my Flickr photostream.

In their natural form, Koboldon are tunnel goblins with a diet of metallic ore, which they mine for with their powerful, shovel-like claws. They are reclusive, but generally not aggressive.

But once the evil brains landed on their home planet, many were mutated into grotesque, hulking fiends that burrow beneath cities, reducing buildings and infrastructure to rubble. Can any hero stand up to the might of Koboldon's radioactive power claw?

More pictures:

About the MOC: Lyichir and I came up with the foot design for a much larger model a few months ago, and we decided a bestial foot design like this would be perfect for this contest. The head was designed in an effort to create a brain-infected head that looked as detailed and fearsome as any of the official 2013 villain faceplates, but which had a unique character of its own. Lyichir had the idea to use Transparent Bright Green (the same color as the brain) to highlight areas most heavily affected by the mutation, and I designed the power claw with that in mind.

Comments, questions, and criticism are welcome! Hope you enjoy this MOC!

[WARHEAD]

Oh man, those faces are pure genius. I think we might have the winner here.

[ToaJaller78]

Creative use of the SP armour. Like it.

Oh and:

DAT HAND

[Meiko]

Nice MOC, Aanchir. As I already told you. I like the after one, especially the asymmetry.

Also guys this MOC was photographed in my bedroom. ._.

[Dorek]

Very cool MoC, Aanch. The use of the armor piece as a face is ingenious, and the hand is very cool, and recalls the right set vibes. That's probably my favorite part about this entry, that it's probably got the most Hero Factory vibe out of any other entry. The normal hands also make very good use of the SP cladding, which is something I'd hoped they'd use again beyond the Hero Recon Team. The feet seem a tad bit awkward on the transformation, how stable are they?

If I have anything else that I'd want from this MoC, it's that I'd love for him to have some kind of weapon, but that's hardly notable.

[Aanchir]

Very cool MoC, Aanch. The use of the armor piece as a face is ingenious, and the hand is very cool, and recalls the right set vibes. That's probably my favorite part about this entry, that it's probably got the most Hero Factory vibe out of any other entry. The normal hands also make very good use of the SP cladding, which is something I'd hoped they'd use again beyond the Hero Recon Team. The feet seem a tad bit awkward on the transformation, how stable are they?

If I have anything else that I'd want from this MoC, it's that I'd love for him to have some kind of weapon, but that's hardly notable.

The feet are fairly stable. His toes don't contact the ground enough or have enough friction with the foot for him to stand on his tiptoes with both feet, but with at least one foot flat on the ground and his weight balanced between the two feet he can balance effectively. Sometimes after a lot of handling the ball joints on the ankles pop off the axle, which was not a problem on the original model we used this foot for back before the contest — on that model, the legs had a two-beam structure rather than a single-beam structure, so there was no need to use additional ball joints to connect the leg to the foot. Regardless, this occurrence is rare and easy to fix.

I considered adding a weapon but decided against it in favor of the smaller claw, which then became the defining trait of the pre-transformation version. The smaller claw was another design I borrowed from the earlier MOC I linked above.

I'm glad to see so many people like the face! That was basically what started the MOC. I was looking for good face ideas and discovered how nicely the Savage Planet spiked detail element worked as a faceplate over the brain's eyes. Lyi then came up with the jaw and a way to attach it to the brain so the face held its shape.

[ShiningStar]

I love how you used the armour add-on to create the face! Very cool!

[Rocketbilly]

Magnificent MOC! the pre-mutation state reminds me very much of the original Toa Onua, which is just great. I really love the faces on both of these, I think you've really succeeded with rivaling the other faceplates despite them being brick built. The colours are great too, I'm very fond of black and transparent green colours together, especially this particular shade of trans green.

I also like that this MOC is a collaboration between yourself and your brother. Part of me thinks that using two brains would be more appropriate

[Zachattacx]

DAT HAND.

DAT FACE.

DAT SP HAND DESIGN.

I think we got the winner. Or winners.

[Cahillrebel]

Am I the only one who looked at this and thought it looked like an official set? Anyway, great and I hope it wins. The hand and face is the best parts of the moc. The rest just makes it more amazing.

[Chro]

There are plenty of times where people attempt the MOC-that-looks-like-a-set thing and fail. This time you pulled it off excellently.

[Cirkit]

Tried to comment once, computer froze :/

I like how this looks. Starts off as a simple beast with big, shovel-claws and bulbous lime green eyes, but keeps the teeth and the giant hand as the Brain Slug takes hold.

The transformed version is awesome. Love what was done with the Savage Planet armor for the face. Perfect.

Love how the lime and red made its way down its arm to the fist. Heads for finger-ends.. nice use of the part.

And those feet. Can't see much of the construction, but from what I can tell.. they're neat.

The fact that it's a dual-effort from two brothers makes it all the better.

[LiamM32]

I like this model. It looks pretty good (even though I am not so into the HF armor pieces). I wasn't getting into Hero Factory month at first being a Bionicle fan(boy). Now that I see that the contest is like a Rahi building challenge (one of my favourite areas of Bionicle), I might decide to enter my own creation.

And by the way, I recently uploaded a Bionicle MOC called Toa Leham; http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=84719&hl=

[Lyichir]

I like this model. It looks pretty good (even though I am not so into the HF armor pieces). I wasn't getting into Hero Factory month at first being a Bionicle fan(boy). Now that I see that the contest is like a Rahi building challenge (one of my favourite areas of Bionicle), I might decide to enter my own creation.

And by the way, I recently uploaded a Bionicle MOC called Toa Leham; http://www.eurobrick...topic=84719&hl=

Unfortunately, the entry period is already over. Sorry if you planned to enter!

I like the Hero Factory armor style because it's simpler in appearance than Bionicle armor typically was, so you can easily use any two armor pieces together. Not so with Bionicle, where parts had unique textures. For instance, Kalmah's armor didn't match anything except Kalmah's face, and the Piraka torso had textures unlike any parts from pre-2006. Hero Factory's smoother textures go better with each other and with traditional System elements, and allow you to focus more on the overall shape of the model and less on the motifs of individual parts.

But if you like Rahi-like models, there are plenty in this contest. Don't forget to check out the other entries and vote for the ones you like best!