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Toa Mata Remakes


xccj

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Okay, so I have this new project. Back in 2001, the Toa Kanohi all came in six different colors. I finally completed my collection of the original 36 Toa Mata masks a while back, but what to do with them? Well, I plan to make a MOC for each of the 36 masks. And to give it a theme, I'm going to use the original six masks to recreate the Toa and use the rest to build various Rahi. This is my Thirty-Six Masks Project.So I need to start with the basics: rebuilt the Toa Mata. That is what this topic is showing off.

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Just a general note: I tried to keep these Toa fairly simple and true to the original sets. While I took care to make the limbs in the right colors, they are all fairly simplistic... because the original Toa Mata had simplistic limbs that lacked armor. Most of the creative designs here were in the bodies.Gali

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The main idea for Gali's body was to use the two blue technic panels to act as her torso armor, and then use pieces behind that to hold everything else together. It took me a couple of tries to tweak the design, but I'm fairly happy with the end product. Also, I did not give her wrist movement, so her hooks are build into her forearms. While this restricts mobility, I felt that adding another socket would make them too long, and besides, the original set didn't have wrists either. (At least she got elbows.)Kopaka

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I really liked how Kopaka's torso turned out; unfortunately the design made him a couple of studs taller than I liked, and I was unable to shrink him down without completely changing it. So, in the end, Kopaka is the tallest Toa remake. For his shield, I liked the shape of his Mata disc better, but his Nuva disc was a better size. So I just put them together for this MOC and called it good.Lewa

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Lewa is my least favorite design, and this is mostly due to my lack of good green technic pieces. (Which is ironic since that is one of my favorite colors.) The green liftarms form the base of the body, and the Rahkshi foot forms most of the forward torso armor. It would be passable for an okay humanoid, but it's a little too bulky for Lewa. I was also planning on giving Lewa limbs similiar to Gali and Kopaka, but that would have meant buying a bunch of liftarms in lime. (I have some, but they were from the years of bad lime plastic, so most of them are broken or cracking.) Instead, I ended up giving Lewa Hero Factory limbs with lime armor, which again makes him a little too bulky. He could use some work, but I've built worst.Onua

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Onua is one of my favorite designs, and also one of the least original. Basically, he's a Hero Factory Modification. The only cool thing is that I connected a 2 clawed foot piece to a hunched Av-Matoran body, which created a perfect base for a hunched over Onua. I've used this design before, but I just updated the limbs with decent HF joints and armor. Onua works best mostly because his primary colors (black and dark grey) are very abundant in Hero Factory. So here he is; simple but effective.Pohatu

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Pohatu turned out to be my favorite new design. He went through a lot of different forms. I wanted him to have a distinct upside down-body style compared to the other Toa, but I had limited brown pieces, so I had to make due with what I had. A few of my earlier designs got sizes and proportions wrong, but this one nailed it, mostly. Pohatu does turn out to be a little too tall compared to what he should be, mostly due to the length of his legs (which I didn't want to switch up.) But I feel that his body has a nice flow to it, and the brown Mata heads certainly help. I also used the hinge elements on his hands, to give his "axle" fingers some movement. He may be a little off when placed with the other Toa, but on his own I think this Pohatu rocks!Tahu

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Tahu is also unoriginal, but not as good of a design. See, another color that's common in Hero Factory is red. So Tahu utilizes lots of those red pieces. His armor is a little nifty compared to standard Hero designs, but it's nothing exceptional. I tried to use orange armor on his legs, but since the orange armor only exists as the smallest types of armor pieces, his limbs aren't as well covered as I would have liked. Plus, in the end Tahu turns out to be quite short compared to the other Toa. I suppose I could actually build a custom body for Tahu... but for now, he's a Hero Modification.That's all for now. I have more Rahi to share, but that involves taking pictures, editing them, uploading them, ext, so it'll take a while. These MOCs and more should be at Bricks Cascade this June. Until then, comments are appreciated. :)Also, 6000th post!:music:

Edited by xccj
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These are awesome! My thoughts on each one:Gali is fine, but the crotch piece is a bit bulky (especially for a female)Kopaka is basically perfect, and the building style is so simple yet something I never really thought of before.Lewa is just plain disgusting. Sorry, but what's with his left hand? And he's bulkier than the others, when he should be the agile one. Onua is one of my favorites, actually. His bulk fits him well, and the hunch is perfect.Pohatu also, his legs are extremely bulky to show that he's the kicking type. Which is the first thing I noticed. And creative use of the brown Mata heads.Tahu is disappointing. He's my favorite Mata, but this version is too thin. Kopaka was equally thin, but Tahu's armor looks too big for his body, which makes him look...goofy.Still, as a group they look really good.

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i must say i have seen some good remakes of the toa mata but these are by far some of the best I've seen. I especially like that you were able to incorporate hero factory pieces without having them dominate the model.the only complaint i have is that tahu and kopaka look a little to skinny and the heads are just slightly a little to tall. But besides those i like the designs and can not wait to see all the other mocs for the other masks. i hope when your all done with them that you will take a group shot of all the mocs for each mask.9/10Oh and i forgot to mention that i really like how you did the claws/hands on onua.

Edited by Shadow Reaper

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Gali looks pretty good. She's not really that feminine, but then again, neither was the original set. Not really digging the hook-hands, and the groin is about a stud farther out than I'd like. The legs also look pretty flat and skinny ...Kopaka's torso must contain an injection of win, though the outward bulkiness of the Mata foot isn't that delightful. The neck's about a stud too high, and the silver on the rest of the limbs contrasts a bit, though I can see how you were attempting to emulate the light gray on the original set. (Like Gali, he's got anorexia on his legs ...)Lewa is probably my leas favorite. The entire torso looks awkward, mainly due to the angled Technic parts coming out of his back and the sunken shoulders. You may also want to consider adding something lime-colored on the chest (possibly an '08 hand joint - even broken ones work) via a o+ pin on the topmost pinhole of the Rahkshi foot. I have to ask, though - why in the name of all things warm and fuzzy does he have a Technic beam on his free hand? It looks pretty vestigial ...Onua is very well done. The color layering, hands, hunch, bulk ... everything is simple, but elegant - and it works. I have no qualms.Pohatu is probably my second-favorite of the six. The lower torso is quite innovative, and I love the texture the Mata faces give down there. The bare brown Technic axle across the upper torso bothers me - while i know that it's necessary, it still looks bare. A minor issue would be the gaps between the 2-stud half-length double-+ Technic part on either side of the shoulders. Put a 2-stud-long axle between them or replace them with half-length buffers.Tahu is rather mediocre. I like the inclusion of HF2.0 parts, but that leads to some issues. The lower leg armor is way too small, his neck juts out a little too far, and the flame part on his torso looks like some bizarre excuse for a necktie. Other than those things, there's nothing really that bad about him, but if you update and modify these MOCs at all, I strongly urge you to rebuild Tahu in the custom fashion of the rest of his rebuilt team.

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Gali is great but the arms look a little stiff.Kopaka looks good but is lacking some white.lewa looks very good, but as you said he could have some more lime in the body.Onua looks great! You really caught his look!Pohatu seems to use the least modern pieces and he looks great.Tahu seems a bit jumbled as far as his color sceme.

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I think I like Onua the most, although I am fond of stocky body types. Loving those flexi-fingers Pohatu/Tahu have. :biggrin: I don't understand the purpose of that green bar connecting Lewa's two fingers? It just looks out of place.Overall brilliant, simplistic designs, that I think any Bionicle fan would have had tons of fun playing with had these come out in place of the actual Toa Mata designs in 01. :P

Edited by Kumata
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*shuns HF pieces on lewa, tahu, and onua* Otherwise, This is awesome!I really think that pohatu is the cream of the crop.gali and kopaka have the same style, and lewa, onua, and tahu have the same style, but pohatu is different, making him stand out. the torso looks suprisingly like the the original set torso, and the brown toa heads are a good use of hip pieces.

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Very cool stuff! Onua and Pohatu are definitely my faves, love all the places you've used Mata heads for hips and shoulders. Tahu is the opnly one that strikes me as being a bit meh... I think you've done such a great job with being inventive for the other Toas that it would be a shame not to do the same for the leader! Looking forward to the other 30 models you're going to have to make though, going to be very cool!


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*shuns HF pieces on lewa, tahu, and onua*Otherwise, This is awesome!I really think that pohatu is the cream of the crop.gali and kopaka have the same style, and lewa, onua, and tahu have the same style, but pohatu is different, making him stand out. the torso looks suprisingly like the the original set torso, and the brown toa heads are a good use of hip pieces.

Hey Bulik i feel your pain about hero factory pieces but xccj was able to pull it off and make a good combination of hero-factory and bionicle pieces without it looking like a horrible amalgamation of the 2. I will say i'm not a huge fan of hero factory but i have enough of a open mind to appreciate moc people make with hero factory and also willing to try hero factory pieces when i'm building a moc. Although you won't see me building moc for hero factory but all my mocs are about bionicle. Edited by Shadow Reaper

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They're all great MOCs, and clearly recognisable as the original Toa. However the only one I feel is really evocative of the original, and an epic remake, is Pohatu. The hands put me in mind of BIONICLE the game, and the old Mata heads in the hips is just inspired. Hats off for the Pohatu MOC.

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They're all great MOCs, and clearly recognisable as the original Toa. However the only one I feel is really evocative of the original, and an epic remake, is Pohatu. The hands put me in mind of BIONICLE the game, and the old Mata heads in the hips is just inspired. Hats off for the Pohatu MOC.

This was pretty much my exact thoughts. Pohatu is amazing. Does he still have his kicking function?
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They're all great MOCs, and clearly recognisable as the original Toa. However the only one I feel is really evocative of the original, and an epic remake, is Pohatu. The hands put me in mind of BIONICLE the game, and the old Mata heads in the hips is just inspired. Hats off for the Pohatu MOC.

This was pretty much my exact thoughts. Pohatu is amazing. Does he still have his kicking function?
I'd Guess not, based on how the legs are connected to the heads/hips.Anyway, Wonderful mocs, but Lewa looks a little too hunchbacked and Gali has a body that looks a tad bit big. Onua and Pohatu(definitely) are the best-Bane

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