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TheOneVeyronian

[MOC] The Beastfather

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So... I've been hinting at this in my signature for a while and the MOC itself is coming along nicely, so I thought I'd make a topic about it. I'm currently working on a head for it, and I wasn't sure which head to use on an MOC that's going to be almost 50cm tall, and bulky - traditional or built from scratch:

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Hero Factory MOC - Beastfather head ideas WIP by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr

I'll reveal the rest of the Beastfather MOC in due course, but for now, I'd like to seek opinion on which head I should use, so please leave your thoughts either here or on Flickr (though here is probably easier :laugh: ) The one on the left is still a WIP, but it's finished enough to show so you get the idea. I plan to have the rest of the Beast with a black, pearl dark gray, gold, trans-bright green and orange colour scheme, with the dark colours taking dominance, in case that helps.

Edited by VBBN
Title change from WIP to MOC as requested

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I've built big monsters before, and the one on the left seems a bit too large really (at least for a 50 cm tall monster), and would only look good if the MOC is quadrupedal, in contrast to the official Beasts. Also, it seems very cluttered, and the grey looks very strange and inorganic; unless you have enough black bones to replace all of the grey there, I wouldn't recommend using that head. The one on the right, on the other hand, seems slightly too small. Still, it looks remarkably cute, and perhaps, if the proportions of the rest of the MOC are large enough, it might even look rather creepy and sort of scary. Giving the monster several heads might also look good.

Edited by DraikNova

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I've built big monsters before, and the one on the left seems a bit too large really (at least for a 50 cm tall monster), and would only look good if the MOC is quadrupedal, in contrast to the official Beasts. Also, it seems very cluttered, and the grey looks very strange and inorganic; unless you have enough black bones to replace all of the grey there, I wouldn't recommend using that head. The one on the right, on the other hand, seems slightly too small. Still, it looks remarkably cute, and perhaps, if the proportions of the rest of the MOC are large enough, it might even look rather creepy and sort of scary. Giving the monster several heads might also look good.

I see what you're saying, and in fact, the more I look at it, the more I think I should stick with my original plan - the small head (see picture in my sig) and use the other head for a revamped Mighty Steed or something. The big head's just a tablescrap with whatever I could grab, that's why some of the colours might look off :grin:

Oh, and the monster is definitely going to be bipedal with proportions perhaps similar to a Godzilla like creature (with longer arms though). Everything is huge compared to the small beast head :laugh: The monster was also originally going to have 12 (yes, twelve!) heads, but I've ditched all but one now.

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They both look pretty cool!! The one on the left could work brilliantly, but the finished model would have to be a seriously huge investment of parts!!!!

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Somewhat unrelated, but what did you use to remove the printing from the orange head piece?

Magic Eraser. Works wonders on removing printing. But don't worry, it's just a spare I bought from BrickLink in case you thought I had robbed one of my Splitter Beast's heads of it's eyes :wink: Well, I wanted to use the Flyer Beast top head (imo my favourite of the printings of that part), and the lower half only comes in black unprinted, so to make it "pop" a little more, I removed the printing from an orange one. But that's something for the customisation forum :grin:

They both look pretty cool!! The one on the left could work brilliantly, but the finished model would have to be a seriously huge investment of parts!!!!

The MOC already is a big investment - it's tying up all the dark coloured shells I have as it is, and I still had to go order some more from BL! :laugh:

Anyway, I think I've settled on using the smaller head in this case, but don't worry, that bigger head has already found a use in another MOC I'm revamping (guess which one...) I'll get some more WIP pictures up of parts I'm unsure on in the next few days, up to the reveal of the actual MOC in August as it says in the picture in my signature.

Edited by TheOneVeyronian

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Well, I wanted to use the Flyer Beast top head (imo my favourite of the printings of that part), and the lower half only comes in black unprinted

I think you forgot Flyer Beast's yellow lower jaw. Although this is definitely a better combination. I look forward to seeing the rest of this MOC and the one you're planning to use the other head for.

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I think you forgot Flyer Beast's yellow lower jaw. Although this is definitely a better combination. I look forward to seeing the rest of this MOC and the one you're planning to use the other head for.

Oh yeah, I did forget about that one (been using POV-Ray all day so my mind seems set on that), but it wouldn't have made the Beast look so original, so to say, so yes the orange looks miles better already.

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The Beastfather MOC is coming along nicely (I've decided to use the small head from the previous WIP pic, but the big head has been integrated into another MOC). Now here is the WIP tail of the beast. Hopefully this should scream to you "Godzilla-like Beast". As you can see, it's armour plated on the top, but there isn't much at the bottom due to the construction of it. Once again, looking for your thoughts! Do you like it as is, or where could it be improved? I'm especially looking to see if you think there is enough shells on it, the sides and bottom are a bit bare bones really due to it's construction (but this seemed to be the only way to get a chunky yet cohesive tail, I didn't particularly like solutions involving lots of torso bones...) and I can't really fit them on either.

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Hero Factory MOC - Beastfather tail WIP by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr

Once again, feel free to leave your thoughts and tips either here or on Flickr. It's probably not as interesting as the heads, but the tail is also an important part of the MOC! :laugh:

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Yeah, very nice ! But why isn't the last armor oriented like the two next other ones ? It makes a weird transition between the two "sections" of the tail. Good job so far, is the body built ? If so, it would have been nice to see the regular head and your custom head attached to it.

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Yeah, very nice ! But why isn't the last armor oriented like the two next other ones ? It makes a weird transition between the two "sections" of the tail. Good job so far, is the body built ? If so, it would have been nice to see the regular head and your custom head attached to it.

I think that armour's oriented that way because it didn't sit quite right the other way round. I'll see if I can turn it around when I revisit it. The MOC is actually mostly built, it's literally just missing some ball joints with axles and some "greeble" spikes to distribute the orange a bit more for a more cohesive colour scheme, both of which should be arriving in the post this week. Oh, and he's also missing his woman partner, the Queen Beast :tongue: I am sure I could behead my reimagined Mighty Steed MOC (now using the head in the original post) to show you the Beastfather with the custom head for you when he's finished, as a little bonus... :grin:

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I think that armour's oriented that way because it didn't sit quite right the other way round. I'll see if I can turn it around when I revisit it.

Maybe this could work ?

Oh, and he's also missing his woman partner, the Queen Beast :tongue:

Will she be 50cm tall too ? If so, with such a monstrous family, you're gonna become the next Archinto. :grin:

I am sure I could behead my reimagined Mighty Steed MOC (now using the head in the original post) to show you the Beastfather with the custom head for you when he's finished, as a little bonus... :grin:

Oh, yeah, thanks, that could be interesting. :sweet:

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Will she be 50cm tall too ? If so, with such a monstrous family, you're gonna become the next Archinto. :grin:

I assume the Queen Beast TheOneVeyronian is referring to is the official set.

Anyway, I dislike how the tail looks at the moment. Besides the awkward-looking armor placement of the last torso shell, the exposed bones on the sides look too unnatural, and the tip of the tail would look better in my opinion if it was just one IfB talon piece. Also, the section in between the tip of the tail and the bulkier part should be longer, preferably longer than the bulky part.

Edited by DraikNova

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Anyway, I dislike how the tail looks at the moment. Besides the awkward-looking armor placement of the last torso shell, the exposed bones on the sides look too unnatural

Any suggestions on how it could be improved then? I actually do want to attach shells to the sides to hide the bones, but I've run out of connections to actually do so in this case. What could I possibly use to hide the bones, since I've run out of ideas? Or should I just use torso bones (the very thing I was trying to avoid) instead for more connection points?

The armour shells have actually been switched around a bit (I found that I had used a 4M bone when I should have used a 3M one, that's why they weren't sitting properly in the photo) so it no longer looks awkward.

EDIT: Please ignore this post, my next post makes this post largely irrelevant now...

Edited by TheOneVeyronian

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The tail would look much better if you turned the last torso shell around and then just raised the rest of it a bit, positioned it so it flows better.

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So, I didn't particularly like my first design with the exposed bones, so I went back and pretty much redesigned it, using a long torso bone this time. It's still partly unfinished, I still need to add some spikes and other superficial detailing to it:

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Hero Factory MOC - Beastfather tail WIP 2 by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr

You'll notice this one probably flows a bit better, and also note the use of Stronius shells - I personally quite like them here, as they give the impression of natural hardened armour (maybe like ankylosaurs had) which is partly what I'm going for. I personally like the twin blades on the tip myself too. So, yes I admit - the torso bone did eventually yield a result that I liked.

You're welcome to say which tail design you prefer, no need to give a reason why :sweet:

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Well, a bit quicker than anticipated actually, The Beastfather is ready! All the description is over on Flickr if you wish to read briefly about it's features and design choices:

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Hero Factory MOC - The Beastfather (1) by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr

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Hero Factory MOC - The Beastfather (2) by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr

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Hero Factory MOC - The Beastfather (3) by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr

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Hero Factory MOC - The Beastfather (4) by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr

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Hero Factory MOC - The Beastfather (5) by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr

You're welcome to leave positive and constructive comments, but since I have to now go through the pain of dismantling this beast ( :cry_sad: ) to get parts back for another project, I can't really apply constructive criticism to the build this time...

p.s. can a Mod change the title from WIP to MOC since it's done now?

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That guy is impressive ! It indeed has a Godzilla feel, but with huge arms.

I have some concerns about the colors, though. I think it would have been nice to replace the tr. neon green parts with orange ones, and maybe add some more tr. bright green. And the head is a bit small. x/

Do you have close-up pictures for the legs and the body ? I'd like to see how this monster is built. :grin:

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I think it looks pretty great. The spikiness is excellent :thumbup:. I just feel that there's one color too many (And now that I see the dark look of the rest of the MOC, I think it might have looked better with a black lower jaw). Also, the tr. neon green makes the more apple-colored green look strange and vice versa.

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Thanks guys!

Yeah, about the shell colours, they should all really be Trans-Bright Green (or even Orange) but it's just one of those colours I don't have enough of and are quite hard to come by cheaply and in vast quantity unfortunately, hence what you see here. And I know some of you seem to be disappointed I went with the small head, but, as I said in a comment on one of my pics on Flickr, it was simply chosen to match the aesthetic of the other Beasts, which the big one I felt didn't really do the shape well enough after all...

Do you have close-up pictures for the legs and the body ? I'd like to see how this monster is built. :grin:

Well, since I'm taking some of the shells off (I may not have to completely disassemble it after all :laugh: ), I'm sure I can show you at least in part how those bits are built. I hope you really like complex masses of bones though :grin:

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