Custom Bionicle (again) !

✨Custom bionicle (again) !✨

Two more from my Ru-Fahi series !

Details and rambling below !

Jaller Ru-Fahi

…Because I couldn’t not include him. Realistically, all Toa Mahri a good to some extent, but this is peak Toa material right here. One of the first I acquired, one of the best looking ones, too. The base body is practically the same as the original, with some twists, but I mostly made him thicker and upgraded his sword, which is better with a guard and a proper handle. Well, that, and the Hannah, obviously. Sure, the original one was cute, but here me out :

Look at it, and behold ! It might be slightly bigger than the original, have only four legs, and need a larger chain (which I found just earlier in a box of misc Hero Factory pieces, and is better than a basic Lego chain), but doesn’t it look very cute and wholesome and dangerous ? Also, I gave it actual joints, because it deserves it, and removed the Kordak blaster because it didn’t need it anymore. I really love making arthropods with bionicle (I have more for later~).

Pohatu Ru-Fahi

Definitely looks awesome. The original is Pohatu Phantoka from the Rockoh T3 set (because I have one and a half of this set). It is the coolest version of Pohatu (because orange>brown, obviously). Lot of modifications on that one, from the custom jet pack to the arms and the legs. The arc pieces for the front arms are more or less of placeholders because I was niece a good piece to make the arms larger, but it turned out alright. The blades are also stolen from the half Rockoh, and the piece underneath, if anyone recognises it, is from Pohatu Nuva, because it’s a neat reference. And the tube is somehow remaining in the Kanohi, despot the fact that there is not any proper connection for it tand hold onto.

Also, can we talk about this leg ? If you ignore how incredibly illegal this whole piece is (ball joint stuck by the light grey part and small black and grey piece not completely connected to the rest), I think that’s the best shape I managed to get so far, and it reflects nicely what I have envisioned (Pohatu being able to run/jump easily because of the shape). And, it had the added advantage of fitting perfectly with the orange piece above when the knee bends.

Last but not least, I also have started a potential candidate for Toa of air, despite a lack of proper Kanohi, even with my extensive collection. My first candidate would have been Lewa Phantoka from the Axalara T9, but this one has a special place in my heart, so won’t be touching it and it will proudly remain in his shelf (along with the untouched Pohatu). So, maybe another of this series soon ! But probably not. And if I miss posting custom bionicle too much, I have a (complete) collection of entirely custom Toa, but I’m afraid they won’t fit in my studio (they’re big, too big).

✨Custom water Toa !✨

Another one ! (Slightly less giant)

Details below the cut !

Front/back views

That one, too, is experimental, albeit in another style. I tried to remain closer to actual Bionicle size this time. Many fun details and technics here, so we’ll go from the feet all the way toward the head.

So, starting with the feet ! I have a complex of normal feet and Visorak legs held by a single connector. They have a wide angular range, but given that the connector connecting the socket to the feet is alone, a foot can also have a 360 rotation angle horizontally (not natural-)

The legs don’t have much special traits, except the upper legs using two socket with axle holes on top and a silver foot as armor on the side.

The body is where things get interesting. The Rahkshi silver shell is held by the silver claw above it at a chest plate, while part of the back is hidden behind a Rahkshi foot. The body is very triangular because it’s framed by these sockets with a silver piece in the middle, which gives it a nice aesthetic. The arms are an equivalent, with some tubes directly in the shoulders to offer a flexible piece which also limits the movements.

Finally, the head is not a head. I’ve made it like that because of the translucent Kanohi, that way it looks brighter, the inconvenient being that the backside of the head is quite literally an empty shell.

Now for the lower part of the arms : no socketed hand because who needs hands when you have a trident (bident ?) ! The main piece obviously comes from a Rahkshi, and the magic is wishing the silver connector. It used to be a lightsaber hilt from the larger Star Wars figs, but it looks good practically everywhere, including here !

Also, here below is a picture of the angle range of the arms (not much, oops).

✨Bouldering wall !✨

I reeeally wanted to make one of these at some point, but never took time. Incidentally, I got commissioned — is it even a commission if it’s for a relative and I’m not paid ? — so there is is !

Closeups and details under the cut, of course !

Closeups :

So ! This was a lot of fun to make, with some really interesting techniques. The first thing is that overhang with an increasing angle at the top. A large part of it is just a big plate connected to the base by hinges, while the second part is connected to the first one, instead of the based, to make sure that when something break, everything break only attach one plate to the base, to provide a thin finition. The holds have nothing particular, except perhaps that some start 'in' the wall while some are on it, which is here to pretend there are micro holds — possibly the worst invention of the story of bouldering/j. The top layer of the wall is finished by 1*1 held horizontally by the outside the plates. Speaking of, the triangular plates holding these 1*1 are not connected to the rest of the outside plates at all. Instead, they’re connected directly to the overhang, which keeps the plate at that approximative angle.

But of course, the most important detail : the minifig hanging with its bare hands ! I knew from the start that I wanted it to be in that type of position, and the choice of purple holds came easily (it’s defining one of the hardest level for the bouldering center we usually go to). Of course, I wasn’t in possession of any purple piece a minifig could grab, because that would have been way to easy. So instead, I used magic science a trick, which you might have seen if you pay close attention to the hands of the fig. The 'trick' in question is that I managed to get my hands on a thin elastic thread, which is around the fig’s wrist in a loop, and then is stuck between the purple stud and the round grey tile — which, by the way, makes for the second worst type of holds in bouldering : rings — and since these pieces are on the second overhang, the rest of the thread is hidden, and not stuck between two plates, unlike what I did in my Carrion MOC, which tends to dealign pieces, which leads to broken MOCs (not the Carrion one because there’s too much tension for it to break), which I don’t want because this is meant to end up as a gift for someone I won’t be able to visit often to make maintenance, so it has to be sturdy (and it is !).

✨Custom stone Toa !✨

Yay ! It’s so big there are shadows on the top of my shelf studio.

Also, we’re already at 4/6 for these, isn’t that crazy ? I think it is.

Details below the cut !

Front/back :

I had some kind of vision with this one. As I started messaging by around with pieces, my brain said 'scorpion'. So mandibles and tail (and that’s about where the scorpion resemblance ends). Of course, I had to keep an element of Pohatu, so his foot is the end of the tail (which is quite wobbly-).

I tried to vary shapes from what I had previously, so I made some big shoulder parts, which look okay and offer some interesting movements, but are pretty weird if you think about it too hard.

The body-legs connection is a bit thin, but it still kind of work with the overall design, so I left it that way (that, and I am running out of brown pieces…)

The weapon are simple sticks with harpoons (?), nothing too complicated, though it was meant to be a single stick originally, it was waaaay to long for the photos. Also, has anyone any idea of which set these harpoons (still '?') come from ? I can’t seem to find it, apparently.

Side shot :

As you may see, I’ve made all the limbs quite thick, because it fitted what I had in mind well, and I messed with a bunch of old pieces for the legs (mostly the sand pieces). There is also have a Bohrok’s body for each foot, because these work surprisingly well, and the middle segment of the leg is backward to give some hypothetical springiness to the legs. Also, Rahkshi feet as armor, that’s always a good recipe.

Head shot ! (Ah, that’s funny.)

Look at how dark that shot is ! If only I had taller shelves…

Anyway, the head is a mix of Rahkshi and Vahki heads, which mix well (there is also a gear underneath. Don’t ask me why. It just exists.)

All of that makes it looks like a V2 Rahkshi (when there is a single stick) which was pretty much on purpose.

On a side note, I’m pretty much done with my big project (which is good, I’m meant to expose it this weekend. Whoops, that’s suddenly very close.)

And, yes, I finally added the #moc, thank you for reminding me every time, I’ll add it from now on :}

✨Custom earth Toa !✨

It’s spiky ! And we’re now at 5/6 !

More below !

Front/back :

He’s spiky ! Some might have already noticed I took for base the old Von Nebula set, because I acquired it recently and it worked well, plus the joints are interesting. Pretty much everything else was change, though I kept the mask, sphere, and spiky plates. These were nice, and even if stone colours are usually black and purple, but blue works well too.

I relocated the sphere directly in the thorax so that it looks like some kind of core. The back is mostly composed of two large car pieces.

The hands are using black pieces to make them larger, which works well with the blue blades (which supposedly come from either Chima or Hero Factory, I can’t remember).

Leg :

Another type of Bohrok piece to act as feet ? Yes. These are the head pieces, and they work well with a classic foot as a back piece. The piston in the leg was there originally, but I covered it with these large technic panels and some other technic pieces.

There is also an interesting mechanism to stop the legs from doing too odd moves on top, which can have some interesting applications. Here, I’m wondering about removing them to gain a larger range of movements though.

Head :

Kept the original mask and teeth, but with a cable and a spider’s claw to elongate it.

This picture also allows for a clear view of how much dust has accumulated. Don’t judge me, these are on a top shelf which isn’t the easiest to clean…

Also, my project is now finished (officially) ! I went to a small exhibition with it this weekend actually, and…a recruiter from a much larger exhibition found it good enough to offer me a place next month (I’ll post it here once the bionicle series is done) ! I also brought some of my pride flags, which seemed to be doing their effect, so I’ll bring more next time. So overall, yay !

✨Space ships (and hangars, too !) !✨

(Or, last post for the space station)

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Under the cut are closeups of (practically) all ships and hangar from the station !

Before anything, the third post is somehow completely gone, even if I do have proofs that I did do it. Well, it was already posted late, and I don’t have the courage to do it again — and it’s not like people would care much anyway, so how this station is holding up will remain a mystery~

Anyway, closeups.

Hangars (groupes by similarities)

This first batch here contains the 'empty' hangars. Left is meant to be a closing/opening hangar, which I usually keep in the back because it's not the most interesting one; while the right one is the bare hangar. There are two of these across the ring, in which I sometimes pluck a ship, though it's hard to keep them in place because of the station's inclination.

Next is a batch of random boxes and other scifi-y grates and boxes. To keep the boxes in place, I use modified 1*1 bricks (because the floor is is made of horizontal pieces, aligned with the outer tiles). Minor variation are present in the middle hangar, where a third of the floor is composed of 1*2 modified bricks to add a tiny bit of texturing. While these might a tad repetitive displayed like above, they actually are separated by three other different hangars, so the repetition is barely visible.

A bit similar to the previous ones, these have (in my opinion) more interesting details. Left is two racks of large barrels, supposedly fuel. Middle had another barrel (made with flowers pieces) and a yellow cable, which was surprisingly hard to add because it pushed the back plate (which holds a lot of the hangar together). The last one is a stack of long crates, and an observation deck (I'm guessing the original sticker comes from a small star destroyer).

Last batch, and probably the best of all, the containers (scaling from not too crowded to very crowded). These are the same size as the big ship's. There are very few attachment points to the ground, as most of them are held by other containers above or bellow, although the middle hangar had two modified 1*4 bricks in the floor. The original plan was to get them all aligned, but it looked terrible, so I went for this more haphazard placement, which works better.

Ships

These first two are the smallest of my little fleet. The top one is two 2*1 plates held by black 1*1 mod plates. It's small, it's smooth, and it works quite well with the station. I'm probably gonna make other of these in different colours someday.

The next is one of the first I made, using some shiny pieces. The two chromatic studs on the reactors are differently shades of chroma silver on purpose because this is meant to be a much older ship (compared to other most of the other, smoother ships).

This is a much larger one. More of a military design, I mostly played with angles on that one (and added big reactors for fun purposes). The transparent light blue used here is the same as the fuel barrels of the station, and are the most used on the ships I have. Lore would say it's because it's the most common fuel used in the universe; pragmatism would say it's because it's the most common transparent colour in my boxes.

More blue reactors ! The top one is my one of my favorite. Only 7 pieces, including an old aquaraiders piece which I had to use as a ship the moment I found it. It's simply ship-shapes ! Given the colours, you could imagine it's an old model (not as old as the small one). The bottom one is a very thin one, with a Y piece which can allow for many cool shapes (like this one) !

Weird alien ships ! The first one is curvy~~ It's a nice concept which is quite common, but I really like the idea, and thus made one. Notice the green reactor this time, because alien fuel. Next one is more organic (or at least trying to), using mostly car pieces (and an orange reactor, wew !). It's also quite compact, with a single mod 1*1 brick as the core. The final one is by far my favorite (and not only because it has a purple trail). While hard to because of my lighting, the three main parts of the ship are separated by clear studs. I originally made it without the in-between studs, but then it fell the the floor, broke, and separated, and it looked much more futuristic. Consider this a very advanced ship of a peaceful species, or something like that.