Self-MOC: Araun, Master of Ice

[Logan McOwen]

From the icy peak: Toa Araun, Master of Ice

Bold, liberal and thoughtful, Araun takes his duty with much honour and selflessness. He wields two mighty blizzard-swords, and wears a powerful mask of shielding. Araun does not have a fixed idea of what the relic might be, but believes that whatever it is must be protected at all costs, and kept out of the wrong hands… But could his defensive nature lead him to hoard the relic for his own?

So this is Araun, my self MOC. His story as a MOC is far from mundane.

Originally, I had got a white Kanohi Hau in a mask pack when I was younger. I imagined this mask to belong to another Toa of Ice, who was originally called Aaron - yes, a human name. However, before I got the chance to build "Aaron", a school peer stole the mask. I was distraught.

Flash forward to a year ago, when I was making a wage and had a debit card at my disposal. I suddenly remembered the plight of my white Hau, and what I had in store for it. I hit up Bricklink, and lo and behold, the mask was mine once more.

Enamoured with the prospect of G2, I build the first version of Araun last year using the CCBS.

It felt good to finally have him in the plastic, even if he wasn't as originally planned. I used a

gearbox design pioneered by ToaLeewan (Which I like to call the LW1), and used blades from the second - and last - wave of Chima CHI figures to give his weapons a very ornamental look.

When 2015 rolled around, Araun got a little upgrade. Introducing: Araun V1.5

Bulked up with broader shoulders, Araun's character was really starting to fill out. However, those 5M shells over the knees were only place-holders for the new armour addons that came along with the G2 sets.

As soon as those came out, I could build Araun V2 - the current version.

As you can see, this version's mask is painted white, so as to be in keeping with the current sets. However, he still uses the exact same LW1 gearbox as the first version had hooked up to his shoulders.

To me, Araun feels really finalised, as if he were a set I bought in the store - and I wouldn't have him any other way. But, he wasn't quite the Toa I imagined when I was younger...

This was. While now he's been decked out with period-appropriate sockets and has the Mata head and gears of old, the original "Aaron" that I imagined back in 2003 is finally here with me.

I'll end this with a couple more photos of the current version of Araun. Enjoy!

This is the first version of his G2 mask. I painted another MoF lately, which has a much slicker paintjob than this one.

Here he is from the back.

Here he is in his signature pose.

Araun V1.5 wearing the Kanohi Vahi.

A golden doppleganger of Araun V1 that I built for... No particular reason.

Edited July 17, 2015 by LewiMOC

[YellowCorvette]

What a impressive MOC you have done! Amazing!

I so impressed with the white Tahu mask and the armor.

If TLC make this as a official set,I will definetly buy this one instead of Tahu!

Great job!

[Tanaku2010]

I love how you gave us the history of this MOC. I only had a couple of MOCs I continued to update, myself.

I'd like to ask a couple questions:

1) Where in the world did you get gold hands?

2) What brand/type of paint do you prefer to use?

[One Very Agile Cat]

Have you considered spray-painting the mask as oppsoed to hand-painting? Especially since it's white, I can see you went pretty thick. (kind of have to when putting white over just about any colour) But you could easily get a cna of Krylon fusion for $7 and get a much more even coat.

[Logan McOwen]

Have you considered spray-painting the mask as oppsoed to hand-painting? Especially since it's white, I can see you went pretty thick. (kind of have to when putting white over just about any colour) But you could easily get a cna of Krylon fusion for $7 and get a much more even coat.

I shall keep this in mind. Thanks!