33 replies to this topic

[Fsnorglepuff]

Note: all pictures now are linked to bigger and typically brighter versions.

Well, it's been a while since I've posted a MOC. I've improved upon my Nuva design (seen here), and altered it a bit to make Matoro. The main problems, such as a thin waist, no "hands", etc. are solved (hopefully) and since Roodaka needs painted pieces and everyone else needs their masks to be finished sculpting (and Brutaka and Lariska are in the final stages of development) I thought I might as well share this incarnation of Matoro.

Bulkier waist and hip guard, custom Ignika

With Cordak launcher, big image as requested

Arm and hand detail, opposable thumb (its base rotates, beam flips etc.), picture inks to detail of the hand

Back view, custom trimmed and yellowed eyes

The twin cutters move independently, big image as requested

. . .

. . .

Amazing what an exacto knife, acrylic paint, and clear spraypaint enamel can do

Gallery when public, with many more images. Comments, constructive criticism, and questions are welcomed earnestly.

Edited by Fsnorglepuff, Feb 04 2012 - 11:53 AM.

[The CryoMancer]

Amazing. Simply amazing. I love the leg action, and the hands. The flow is really smooth, and the chest armor is evocative of the Nuva.
A fitting tribute to a fallen hero.

10/10

[Mef Man]

Great work! This is absolutely beautiful. The Kanohi Ignika is also very well done as well.

-Mef Man

[Zarohum]

Wow. Doesn't even look like it's made of pieces. It looks more like a Mahri than the set! And don't get me started on the Ignika. I give this 9001/10.

[Takal]

Simply amazing. Really looks more like a suit of armour than a collection of lego parts. I guess some of that's down to the lighting, which is worthy of praise in itself. Very well done.

Also, the mask looks great. The two could do with a seafloor diorama (sp?) to finish it off.

[Fsnorglepuff]

Thanks all. @Takal, I used to have exactly what you're saying. Sand, flat rocks, coral/seaweed, etc. all for a Bionicle display of the Mahri Matoran I made a while back - would have been awesome for this, but I don't know what happened to it after I moved to PA ...

The lighting is thanks to a light tent, which I simulated before with my Toa Ignika pictures with a home-made one, but this one came with lights and everything - and it helps to have a digital SLR camera and completion of a photography class, with Picasa to do some minor fixes.

[Smitty]

I love it but I thin the chest is too round, don't get me wrong it's good but not really verey manly looking...

[Brickeens]

Could you post larger pictures? The current ones are very small.

[Fsnorglepuff]

Sure Brickeens:

There are some large ones in the gallery (may be a little while until public), but I learned with my first posted MOC that it is best to only post small pictures, otherwise it won't load quickly and viewers will lose interest. This one should suffice for now, though

[Freezer Burn]

Wait... Is this a Matoro Mahri that looks cool and heroic? Wow! Great job on everything I can see. His backpack looks a bit like an air tank, and the entire body is really complex while still looking cohesive and uncluttered. The fingers and claw weapon are both very nicely done. The pictures are really dark as well as small though, so I'm really looking forward to the gallery.

[Nick Silverpen]

Wow. This Matoro simply is amazing. I love the custom arms and waist- can it swivel? The complexity of the arms is pretty neat, and the application of silver with blue showing is pretty cool. The chestplates and sleekness look pretty cool- my only question is the hands. How does he hold onto the cordak blaster? Again, very well done!

[Wind Elemental]

The torso is awesome. That shade of grey fits with the color scheme really well.

Edited by FrozenFlash, Jan 26 2012 - 09:41 PM.

[Lord Oblivion]

I'd suggest making the pictures here link to their large sizes, just to make it easier for those who see the MOC prior to the gallery being public. And maybe some brighter lighting? It's good for a "dramatic" effect for one picture, but it's easier for us to comment on it if the rest were brightened up (just so the little details are visible).

Anyways, this looks pretty cool. The shaping looks good, especially with the torso and upper arms. I'm not a fan of how exposed the knees appear to be (due tot he gap). Maybe a different design would be more appropriate? Also, I'm not 100% sure of the feet, maybe it's just cause they kinda mess with the color layering here.

Anyways, a solid MOC, good job =)

[Ultimate Sybre]

That's much better than that cheap-o set they tossed on the shelves! I love your creativity. The MOC is so humanly and manly. Good job!

[Vox The Shadow of Reality]

wow i'm glad someone made a matoro moc. i think he should be remembered. the bulk you added to him is really nice and adds a sense of regal to him. the way you did the cordak blaster was nice too

[Fsnorglepuff]

@Nick Silverpen: yep, the waist can swivel. The Cordak blaster originally had a bulb on one side, with some exposed axle. I removed the bulb and whittled down the axle's dimensions (as exposed axles for design are thickened for structural support) leaving about a half-stud (1/4 of a two-piece) axle bit that fits into the open axle socket on the bottom of his hand. Since it is still a bit larger than usual, it fits snugly. Then I made the holes for the tubes ...

@Lord Oblivion: yeah, the knees are a bit exposed - I was thinking about adding a kneecap to the design. Unfortunately the feet had to be white to use the Mata foot. I tried to balance it out with other large white sections (back of the legs and top of the thighs) but they do stand out. I may have done them with light bluish grey had not I used the only pair available on Tahu. Got them from Germany, and I don't think there are any more, new or used, on the website that cannot be named (evidently our favorite Lego reseller has a forum). Alternatively I could do as I have done with my Toa Ignika and add some pieces to the front of the foot, but the shape dosn't really work and it requires sanding and gluing ...

@Ranubis: yeah the back is standard on all my Toa with this design. What's great is that here it serves as an air tank thingy, and on the Nuva it serves as a jetpack of sorts.

Well, thanks to all for your great comments, questions, and criticisms, I'll be sure to post bigger, brighter pictures (this afternoon perhaps, eastern time) ...

[Floridian Citrus]

Woah.

This is one of best MoC I've seen in a while. Instead of looking like a collection of Lego peices slapped together, the parts on this sort of flow. The only bad thing that I can see right now is that the legs seem odd. Like they're to short of something or don't have enough ankle.
I like how you kept the original feel of the set, while at the same time making it more complex and detailed.

9.5/10 Awesome.

ps: Is that a yellow heart light I see in the last picture?

[Fsnorglepuff]

@Gravity: Thanks, and yes, that is a yellow heart light. All of my MOCs get a heart light, and it is usually easy like it is here - what was difficult was getting the eyepiece from green to yellow. Alcohol ink, yellow decor pray stain and a yellow sharpie are handy for that.

Edited by Fsnorglepuff, Jan 27 2012 - 01:04 PM.

[GSR]

Very, very cool. The design flows together very nicely, and it looks like you got a good range of motion going with it. The customized Ignika is also a great addition.

[Kakaru]

Wow, excellent work mate.

The photography is amazing. (And I'm glad you decided to use smaller thumbnails first, they loaded quickly and caught my eye right away.) The lighting is just- wah, when they say presentation is everything they weren't kidding. This could have been an awful creation and I still would have been blown away. The fact that your MOC is so cool is just icing on the cake.

The build flows perfectly, the armour is placed where it should be and the exposed areas where connection points are give it a distinctly mechanical look without sacrificing the natural, organic flow.

The feet are so awesome. The reinfirced armour and air tubes look great and give him a tough, sturdy look.

And he's actually holding his cordak blaster and claws. Man oh man, I'm having a hard time finding anything to criticize here. I am curious though, what piece did you use to attach his thumbs? Is it modded? I don't recognize it.

The only complaint I have is about the custom Ignika. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something very off-putting about it. It may be that the mottled effect only serves to give the impression that it was simply an uneven paint job. If you had scarred up only select portions of it, it would give more contrast to the rest of the mask, making it more noticeable. I guess there's nothing for it now, so don't worry about it. : /

I'm saving all these pictures to my desktop to drool over later. I hope you don't mind. Keep up the fantastic work!

Edited by Kakaru, Jan 27 2012 - 01:51 PM.

[Aanchir: Rachira of Time]

Great MOC! No part of it feels flimsy or frail, and his general physique with its more realistic proportions than the original set feels simultaneously humble and heroic, which suits Matoro perfectly. His posability also looks to be excellent. There are definite improvements visible when comparing this model to the Toa Ignika model that preceded it.

The lighting is very dim, making it hard to make out some details of the MOC, but at the same time it fits perfectly with both the dark, deep-sea environment of 2007 and the dark plot developments that affected Matoro during that year.

Your modified Ignika suits the detail and mood of this MOC perfectly, with its tarnished-looking surface. There are a lot of MOCists who frown on modifying pieces, and I certainly wouldn't do so myself out of fear that something would go wrong, but in this MOC all the modifications seem to have paid off!

Excellent work, and I look forward to seeing more MOCs from you in the future!

[Dralcax]

That is simply incredible. I have no clue how you made that hand, but it is amazing. I love the torso and the hands. The legs, belt, and shoulders are also good. Oh, whatever, I like the whole thing. But can we get a close up of the custom eyes and the thumb on it's own?

[DeeVee]

Your pictures are way way way too dark. They may work for dramatic artistic lighting, but they do not help with the intent of "showing the MOC off". I can't see any details, which is also because your photos are too small. Like, way way way too small. The BBC guidelines state that photos shouldn't be bigger than 600px or so, but there is no reason to make them half of that. I can't see anything in these photos except to say that while it looks nice, it also looks like the MOC is impossible without cutting a whole slew of pieces, and as such, I'm not really a fan.

[Fsnorglepuff]

@Kakaru: Wow, thanks! I waited until I had the appropriate equipment to take pictures of any of MOCs, once I knew it was on its way. Yes, the thumb pieces are modified. The base is a cut and sanded and polished part of a 1 x 8 x 2 bar and the inserted piece is a cut and sanded lance base:

The base is that cylindrical bar insert, with some bar still attached. The perpendicular bars on the lance is cut off and the longer part is trimmed. In regard to the Ignika, you're right. I was going for a distorted texture throughout, but I am planning (with some motivation now) to do yet another Ignika (this will be the third one) that is selectively damaged, and more golden. I've been thinking I will make a mold and do it with milliput though, so it will take a while (and after I finish all my other masks).

@Drelcax: sure, I've already made the picture but Brickshelf is, while working, not working well enough to allow me to upload new pictures. Once it does, I'll be posting it.

@DeeVee: I've put several big pictures on, one lower down on the page and a couple on the original post. You're right, many pieces are cut, sanded, glued etc. and many people do oppose ... with my bigger MOCs I do it much less because of the versatility the scale allows, but for smaller MOCs, particularly mid-sized ones, I found originality and/or flow to require modifications. Otherwise I'm left with generic limbs, too-big Toa, and incongruous armor.

To everyone, thank you very much. Now in regard to all the picture comments: I do not understand why some perceive them to be too dark or too small. On my computer, they seem very big and adequately light. Keep in mind that nearly all internet browsers have a zoom function. Mine is on 100%, and my laptop screen is on the lowest brightness setting. I am also two feet away from it ... so it is rather perplexing to read that the pictures are not big or bright enough.

Regardless, I would like to know how to link the pictures to bigger ones (once Bricklink is fully functional again). It might be a little late for Matoro, but it would be enormously advantageous for all my future MOCs. Thanks!

[DeeVee]

To everyone, thank you very much. Now in regard to all the picture comments: I do not understand why some perceive them to be too dark or too small. On my computer, they seem very big and adequately light. Keep in mind that nearly all internet browsers have a zoom function. Mine is on 100%, and my laptop screen is on the lowest brightness setting. I am also two feet away from it ... so it is rather perplexing to read that the pictures are not big or bright enough.

Regardless, I would like to know how to link the pictures to bigger ones (once Brickshelf is fully functional again). It might be a little late for Matoro, but it would be enormously advantageous for all my future MOCs. Thanks!

They are too dark because it is near impossible to see the entire MOC and all the details. I have my laptop set to full brightness. I use this laptop to edit photos professionally. Your photos are too dark. And photos that are 300px are never big enough. That is just drastically undersized for an entire MOC to be shown off in.

This is closer to what a properly exposed MOC photo should look like:



It's not perfect, because I had to lighten it in Photoshop, as opposed to taking a brighter photo, which would fix a lot of the oddities in this version. But it gets the point across.

See how all the details in the parts are maintained? You want that. The other pictures were moody, and atmospheric, and good for an artistic portrait. But not for a MOC critique. The differences between this and your photos is stark. When shooting to show off a MOC, you want to approach your photos more like a product shot. You want the product to be as good as it can look, with all parts visible, with all the details visible, because you want people to want to look at it, to want to play with it, to want to know how you did it.

As for how to link to bigger photos, it's rather easy. What I usually do is upload the larger size photos to Brickshelf. Usually for BZP mine are around 600px. I often have even larger ones on Flickr. But Brickshelf will automatically create thumbnails for you. On the page with all your photos, grab the photo location information for the photo you want to use. So for an example, we will right-click the photo we want, choose the "copy image location" on the thumbnail:

www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Fsnorglepuff/Matoro/thumb/matoro1.jpg_thumb.jpg

So now we have this photo:



Next, we paste that photo into the text box here on BZP. Then, we go back to Brickshelf, click that photo twice, until it is the only thing displayed, and we're at the raw image location:

www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Fsnorglepuff/Matoro/matoro1.jpg

Copy that URL.

Then, we highlight the picture here in the BZP text box. Hit the link button, paste the link in, and badda-bing badda-boom, the photo is now a thumbnail link to a larger photo.

Edited by DeeVee, Jan 30 2012 - 02:02 PM.

[Fsnorglepuff]

Thank you very much DeeVee! I took a look back and now I see where you all meant by details. To me they were pretty insignificant, but if one wants to know how it's put together nothing can be in shadow like here. Thanks for the advice!

[TahnokVa123]

So amazing...
The Ignika is awesome and the yellow eyes...

[Radiaka]

Wow this is so cool! Can't see the finer details but it looks solid and the colors are layered well. Also the Ignika is stunning. The modifications make me so jealous XD Seriously, it's astonishing you were able to make such modifications. A great piece of Bionicle art, dude!

Also, bigger pictures soon please! Brickshelf is back up if you didn't know ...

[Dragonfly the Luminescent]

Wow. Doesn't even look like it's made of pieces. It looks more like a Mahri than the set! And don't get me started on the Ignika. I give this 9001/10.

Ditto with Zarohum ... I love it.
Don't change any aspect of it or I will kill you.
Now I have an excuse to MOC something. I'm going to use this for inspriration, and I will certainly give credit to you, should I ever post it.

The only thing I ask is that you post pictures of the interior of the torso or post building instructions. I know those can be difficult, so it's fine if you don't.

... Now to figure out what kind of character I'm going to build ...

Edited by Dragonfly the Luminescent, Feb 03 2012 - 07:02 PM.

[Fsnorglepuff]

@Dragonfly: as this is a modification of my Nuva Project form, I'll be posting instructions (or giving links to a gallery) for the torso etc. The torso requires very little modification of pieces; just removal of excess axle and the diagonal struts of the Mahri chest plate, plus some super gluing if you want it to hold for a long time (Nuva plates and waist). So, because all my Nuva will have similarly constructed torsos and limbs, I think I will do instructions then, as I am still assembling Kopaka.

As to the application of the design, I find the thigh to work well with nearly anything, from titan arms to Piraka legs. The construct allows for a variety of properly layered color combinations. The torso can be perceived as feminine more than masculine, so it works well with female Toa (using different colors would make it less Nuva-like). The arms are extraordinarily difficult to make, especially the hands, don't work with anything but MOCs of that size (Matoro's, and the regular ones yet to be posted). I suggest swapping Inika for Piraka armor, using fun new color schemes, etc. The reliance on Technic allows turquoise, purple, orange, yellow - nearly anything as a secondary color.

Anywhoo, I'll be getting to giving instructions on the torso as soon as my schedule allows. Personally I think the limbs are more applicable to other MOCs, but maybe the torso could be part of a larger MOC (dragon paw part?) ...

[flameman]

this MOC is simply amazing, i really love the design, especially the arms, that hands are really creative, love those fingers, the whole body and limbs also flows really well, and you really made a good use of those tubes, although i don't think it's neccessary to connect those tubes from his back to his cordak, meh not a big problem, and those claws are nice, still looks original

I only see one problem here: you need to spread more white around, in this MOC you made it looks like matoro's main color is silver

overall, this is a very awesome MOC, and you also make that costum ignika awesome, great job dude

[Fsnorglepuff]

@flameman: Thanks. I tried to keep the MOC true to some aspects of the original set, seen below.

As you can see, he has a pair of tubes going to his back. They are black, for whatever reason, so I changed that. But as for the weapons, I wanted to improve on what the set had. In regard to Matoro's main color, I always see the mask as the indicator of "primary color". Or at least, the exterior armor. Unfortunately when you posted the bigger, brighter pictures were not up, so you couldn't see that the majority of Technic pieces are white. So yes, his primary color is silver, but his secondary and tertiary colors are blue and white. And there is quite a bit of white, but layered properly under silver and next to blue. I found one of the set's problems to be the improper layering of silver ... but I need not go on.

Thanks to all else who posted, keep it coming!

[AdaptingChaos]

Oh my! This is an awesome moc! Have you made any of the other Toa Mahri?! BTW love the torso and chest design as well as the hands! If I had the pecies, I would try to make these. Good job!

[Hahli Husky]

Oh noes revival! Topic closed.