39 replies to this topic

[xccj]

Mata Nui Island Project

Click for larger images

This project is a long time coming. About 1.5 years ago, Swert and I came up with a cool idea; build the original island of Mata Nui out of system elements. This past week, we finally got into the building phase at City Blocks Lego Art Studio in Tacoma, which is run by Dan Parker, a Lego Certified Professional. (Oh, and Swert works there too.) We didn't have a limitless supply of bricks, but we still had more than enough to pull off something this big. Part of my goal for this project was to make the island as accurate as possible, in relation to landscapes seen in the MNOLG and to the various map images we've seen of the island. However, even at this scale, we had to leave lots of stuff out. (And the few structures we did include are probably too big for the scale we were working at, but oh well.) It's not completely accurate, due to the original maps not really showing the separation of the mountain and volcano very well AND the fact that we were limited by our supply of bricks. In the end, it's not exactly accurate, but it's a very decent representation, and I think any Bionicle fan would be able to recognize it. If you want more long, boring dialogue, you can check out my blog, where I droned on about building this for a full week. Or you can scroll down and see picts of more detailed sections of the island. Thanks.

Behind the Scenes

Here are some images showing the interior designs of some pieces of the island. See, although Onu-Koro wasn't specifically built, there's still plenty of room for them to travel beneath the surface.

For a few more images, or just to see all these better organized, check out the Brickshelf Page.

Questions, comments, and heck even constructive criticism is appreciated. And if you want to see a closer image of a particular portion, just let us know, because we can send Swert to go take more photos. Thanks for looking.

[Eljay: Toa of Mangosteen]

Oh my, this is just beautiful.

Swert has been telling me a bit about this, and I followed a little of it's progress on Brickshelf, but seeing it 100% complete is just amazing. I love how detailed you guys went with this, so far as to put in trees for the lower half, and that amazing looking Kini-Nui. Although, what is that other little tan structure? For the life of me I can't figure out what it is.

Very quickly, that Ta-Koro/Wahi is STUNNING. I love how you guys put in a KauKau and Ta-Koro. That's just amazing.

Great job, guys. I am certain that pictures don't do this as much justice as seeing it in real life would. Just curious, but would this be showing up at any events? Possibly a couple of Brickcons?

Again, great job. I thank you for making this wonderful piece, as it is (in my eyes) a great piece of art.

[///dotcom///]

Although, what is that other little tan structure? For the life of me I can't figure out what it is.

I think that may be the telescope from the MNOG? It is pretty vague

In any case, I agree with Elijay's sentiments. This here is a work of art. Although there are some slight discrepancies in detail, the entire final product is an amazing representation of the island of Mata Nui. Ta-Koro and Kini-Nui in particular are simply amazing. Everything is pretty greatly shown as well. I especially love the small details-- the foliage all around Le-Wahi, the Charred Forest (The Charred Forest is so great), the rivers, the telescope (If that is indeed what it is).

Awesome job, both of you.

[Swert]

If you refer to the dome structure in the Po- region, it's actually Onewa's Hut for Po-Koro. That was my idea.

The telescope is in Ta-Wahi, it's dark stone and very small. I don't believe we photographed it.

[Eljay: Toa of Mangosteen]

If you refer to the dome structure in the Po- region, it's actually Onewa's Hut for Po-Koro. That was my idea.

The telescope is in Ta-Wahi, it's dark stone and very small. I don't believe we photographed it.

Nah, I'm talking about this right here.

[Swert]

Ah, that!

It's the Nui-Rama hive :3

[DeeVee]

It's sheer size is crazy impressive, but honestly, the volcano and mountain are too big, and it doesn't look like there's much of anything else to it.

I guess it doesn't really look finished is what I'm trying to say.

[ChocolateFrogs]

This is extremely impressive and quite a feat! You've obviously put a lot of work into it (which I've seen through your blog).

Best part is, it's going to be a long time before someone tries to one-up you. This is just great.

-CF

[Vox The Shadow of Reality]

oh my gosh that is probably the best lego creation I've seen in a while made of bricks. The fact that you got it as accurate as possible is amazing. I've always been interested in the geography side of the bionicle theme and story. and to think of how long it took you guys. I hope you'll do something for metru-nui and voya-nui.
well i give it
15/10 because this is over the top

[TPN]

Oh wow! This is, well it's wonderous! I'm not normaly big on system based stuff but this is truly amazing! I love the detail in Ta-koro and Kini-Nui especially. The scaling is brilliant, but I think the rest of the island looks a bit too flat when next to the Mangai and Mt. Ihu (but I know you had limited parts so that doesn't matter so much). My only complaint in this otherwise mind-blowing creation is that when you look into the Mangai's crater, you can see your behind the scenes framework. I would add another red lava stud sheet to hide that and make it look as if it has a lava lake in it.

[Jinklemeister]

Excellent work! I love how there are masks all throughout it! I spotted four, how many are there total?

[Toa Onarax]

Oh wow! This is, well it's wonderous! I'm not normaly big on system based stuff but this is truly amazing! I love the detail in Ta-koro and Kini-Nui especially. The scaling is brilliant, but I think the rest of the island looks a bit too flat when next to the Mangai and Mt. Ihu (but I know you had limited parts so that doesn't matter so much). My only complaint in this otherwise mind-blowing creation is that when you look into the Mangai's crater, you can see your behind the scenes framework. I would add another red lava stud sheet to hide that and make it look as if it has a lava lake in it.

I believe xccj stated that the Volcano was left hollow because they plan to put lights in it.

[Toa Genris]

Holy Heavens this is amazing! I love the way you incorporated masks into the design on the hills and lava. This is just phenomenal. 10/10 from me!

[bonesiii]

It's awesome!

It feels weird to be doing constructive criticism of something like this; it's not like I could do better lol. But so this post won't be spam: there's a somewhat unbalance of detail between the over-large Mangai, Ta-Wahi, and Ihu compared to Lewa-Wahi and Po-Wahi especially, and to some extent the other three. The jungle of Le-Wahi especially feels too flat IMO. And both mountains seem really big. I also view Ihu as just the tallest in a chain that spreads north for a ways, and higher ground to the west for Ko-Wahi, all of that connected more to Mangai than shown here. But then it's obvious from Mangai's caldera that sizes are exaggerated on purpose, so okay.

Anyways, the star of that MOC is obviously the volcano and Ta-Koro. Awesome. That red Kaukau especially. Most of the other masks here feel out of place but that one is perfect, and that whole part just oozes cool. Well hot but yeah. Although I would have liked to see the lava tube aspect of that lava river represented better. But the whole thing as a representation or fanficified version is pretty awesome regardless. And man that must have been a lot of work!

[Dralcax]

Grass? In a volcano? Madness!

First, the proportions look a bit wonky. If this was Mata Nui's face, he would need some serious corrective plastic surgery. Next, the transition between Ihu's base and the part that comes off is a bit too square. Try to make it a bit more irregular and like a real mountain. The volcano isn't peaked enough, with a huge crater. I'd suggest for a smaller crater, even if it means it looks like a shield volcano. Also, why are the jungle trees so far apart? Lewa would have some serious trouble vine swinging. Last but not least, where are the Three Brothers Bridge and the Bohrok nest?

Edited by Chaos Dralcax, Mar 22 2012 - 05:17 PM.

[xccj]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Some notes:

1: The volcano crater is hollow because we are planning to put something inside it. At the very least, there will be some trans red / orange elements to make it look like it's filled with lava. At most, we'll have a radical light display on the inside. But that part is still WIP I suppose.

2: The proportions are off. Yes, and what bugs me even more is that I can't go up there and make any corrections to it anymore, and lots of what I would do would require a complete rehaul of the mountains. One issue is that we started on the volcano and mountain first, and as such made them a little too large. (Not to mention pyramidal.) Another issue is that we just didn't have enough bricks, which is why the desert is mostly made out of plates. Maybe we can tweak these at some point in time, maybe not.

3: Mt. Ihu's shape. This was a judgement call on my part; in the original island pict it looks like a bunch of white ridges sloping off the volcano. In other media (MNOLG) it's clearly a tall peak on it's own. Yes, I could've managed the ridges better (and I did attempt them... kind of) but this was an area where different media forms contradicted each other... and so I chose one option that thus violated others.

4: The volcano's size. Yes, it's too big. The jungle should reach up another full baseplate, but we made the volcano just too big. A redesign would require us to scrap not only the volcano but at least 7 baseplates along the perimeter too. It's not impossible to fix, but it won't happen any time soon.

5: The flower elements in the jungle aren't supposed to represent individual trees. At our scale, that would be rather impossible, and as it is I used up all of those flower elements on the island anyway. The point was to give some depth to the jungle part of the island, and make it look like more than just a flat section of bricks. I would like to add more flower elements if we had them, but for the most part the effect was pulled off.

6: The Three Brother's Bridge? I guess we do technically have an arch on the mountain that could be a bridge, but it wasn't a significant landscape feature that we were looking for. As for the Bohrok nests... those are underground.

Thanks again for the comments!

[Dralcax]

As for the Bohrok nests... those are underground.

But there is an opening in Ko-Wahi that's surrounded by huge boulders, remember?

[Liopleurodon]

This is amazing... I saw this on Brickshelf some time ago, and thought it was really cool. I like the way the red Gali mask is used for the lava.

Is this current map completely finished? I wonder how it would look with trees (in the Le-Koro region). (Or maybe that's going overboard. )

Anyways, great work!

Edited by Liopleurodon, Mar 22 2012 - 09:08 PM.

[Electric Turahk]

Well, I was pretty speechless at first, because honestly I was surprised you two managed to accomplish this. Despite its shortcomings, I know you put a lot of time and effort into this, so I would very much like to congratulate the both of you on a job well done.

But now I've regained my speech and want to say a few things.

I won't dwell on it (and I'm glad you admit that this could be a lot better) - but yes, Ihu and Mangai are too big. If the rest of the island had been scaled to this it wouldn't have been as noticable.

I think if you stacked the grass parts for foliage, it would have been more convincing. What you have still adds a lot of depth, and I like the distinction made at Le-Koro, but this also would have helped it seem not so inferior to the mountains.

I think I found Kini-Nui, and I'm glad it's included haha.

I also believ I spotted Po-Koro. Not bad. Some more ridges in Po-Wahi to break up the landscape might've helped some, though. You could've also thrown in the quarry that way.

Even an indication to Onu-Koro's presence would've been nice, but this being the weakest section makes sense. Hard to do when it's under the island you're building, after all.

The only thing I'm left wondering about is Ga-Koro. Mostly where it is. Or why there isn't a Kaukau to mark the waterfall above it. You incorporated masks all over the place (and yeah, it doesn't flow, but I felt they were nice little touches), so why not here?

Anyways, it's still a great piece in my opinion. I especially like Mangai. I hope you do manage to get the lights working in there and can't wait to see that. Heck, I'd love to get to see this in person at all. If only it wasn't on the other side of the country.

Once again, good job, Swert and xccj. Your Mata Nui is a fantastic tribute.

~|ET|~

[Sparkytron]

I never thought it was possible to build it but you two proved me wrong. Amazing work both of you and all that in a week, I'm very impressed

[Awesomeness]

Okay, just want to say, looking at this thing TOTALLY reminds me of minecraft. Just sayin. But yeah, the model looks great! I like the volcano and the creative use of the masks in the river of lava, though the volcano's top seems way to, even, almost. Real volcanos should be jagged and rough, not smooth and on one level. But other than that, great job!

[Akano Toa of Electricity]

Wow. This is really incredible. Kudos for taking on such a huge project and completing it. Fantastic job.

I think most of the criticisms I can come up with have already been mentioned, so I won't repeat them.

My favorite part of this model is the minor details that you included to make this as true to the original as you could get. Again, kudos.

[CHTrilogy]

It's - it's absolutely amazing! I'm astonished! The way the island can be built to such scale, it's fantastic! The only problem I have with it is the somewhat stretched height.

[Cederak]

This is an unbelievable piece of work. The sheer scope of what you've done here is incredible, really nailing the details of the island's landmarks and land forms. I can definitely appreciate the amount of work that went into all of this, and it paid off with what you've presented here. Whether you plan to make additions or leave it as is, this is marvelous.

-Ced

[rahkshi guurahk]

how many masks are there in there? I counted 4, just wanted to make sure they were:white , white , green and red oh well, can't find emote for it so: kaukau

[Thunder on the Mountain]

I'm very, very impressed. The size of the whole thing is remarkable, and things like Ta-Koro and the villages in general are what really makes it for me.

As far as criticism, I'm not even going to bring up proportions, 'cause everyone else has already. But if you had of put some sort of representation for the Kaukau above Ga-Koro, with the waterfall and the cliffside, that would have been pretty great. Just an idea though, it's in no way a detraction from the model itself.

It's a bit of an understatement I know, but well done!

[Obsessionist]

Wow. This is amazing. Like Thunder said, the drawbacks have already been pointed out, but yes, the probortions and such are not perfect. I feel like the only way to improve it and make it worth the effort would be to make it huge, yes, but treat it less like a sculpture and more like a gigantic microscale creation. Which would be expensive and near-impossible and insanely time-consuming, especially considering how much work went into this in itself.

Anyway, I'm in awe. The details you decided to keep are all amazing. For some reason I love the charred forest.

[J46 Nui]

I love this. But if I had to critisize it, the Mangai Volcano just does not look right. The sides are a bit too steep and the mouth is a bit too wide. Any other complaints I have about it are just nitpicks, and over all it looks amazing. I love that you put mini villages on the island. I am having a lot of fun finding all of the small details you put into this.

[Wrinkledlion X]

Wow, this is outstanding!

I agree with ET that a Kaukau would be a great addition to Ga-Koro... Perhaps a gold one would work. Those gold Kanohi were never too vibrant, so it could probably pass for stone. Shouldn't Ta-Koro be inside a volcanic cave, however?

[The CryoMancer]

THe masks in the MOC correspond to the locations of the Great Kanohi from the books? However, this is one of the greates lego creations ever. Ever. Ever. My favorite part, though, is the Ta-Koro Lava plain. As someone who lived in Hawaii for a few years, it is an incredibly accurate represntation of a island lava plain. I would add some white blocks where the lava meets the water, though. Such interactions are rarely peace full.

9/10

Peace out.

Edited by The CryoMancer, Apr 18 2012 - 03:44 AM.

[Papa Vinc]

::slow clap::

Here's the thing: I don't think anyone's ever considered doing something like this with system-bricks before. Outstanding.

See, kids? BIONICLE's not just about the characters. That's called thinking-outside-the-canister.

~TN726

[Swert]

THe masks in the MOC correspond to the locations of the Great Kanohi from the books? However, this is one of the greates lego creations ever. Ever. Ever. My favorite part, though, is the Ta-Koro Lava plain. As someone who lived in Hawaii for a few years, it is an incredibly accurate represntation of a island lava plain. I would add some white blocks where the lava meets the water, though. Such interactions are rarely peace full.

9/10

Peace out.

The masks were just decoration added on to look better. We had not entirely intended on it representing anything like that.

::slow clap::

Here's the thing: I don't think anyone's ever considered doing something like this with system-bricks before. Outstanding.

See, kids? BIONICLE's not just about the characters. That's called thinking-outside-the-canister.

~TN726

Cajun once built Voya Nui if I recall. However, nothing on this level of both scale and detail.

Also ZOMG VINC <3

[Ultimate Sybre]

You and Swert made history! Very refined and detailed!

One funny thing you could do is make a monster that attacks the island!

[Spinjitzu Master]

*rubs eyes*

....

*rubs eyes again*

...Am I really seeing this? Such a beautiful work of art...I am not worthy of gazing upon this masterpiece!

And yet I will gaze.

It is amazing...Ta-Koro is flawless in its design. A perfect example of how to build a structure with few pieces. I am also stunned by the accuracy of shape and proportion. Mount Ihu is also a sight to behold.
A truly wonderful job.
How many bricks did this take?

[Hakann-The Bully]

WHOA this is awesome O_O

To add to it, maybe make the colours "flow" into different landscapes more? Like, if possible intermediate colours would make it more natural looking

Oh, and loving the random Kanohi here and there XDD

[Rama~Swarm]

Wow.

I remember July of 2001; playing the MNOLG, browsing xtian's bionicle corner and dreaming of a Mata-Nui made out of bricks. It sounded amazing, but my brick collection was far too small to even make a dent in a project of this size. "Oh well, it probably wouldn't be as cool as it is in my head anyway" I reasoned

Well I sit here today and I see just how wrong I was. This is amazing. I didn't think anything could make me love it any more...

It's the Nui-Rama hive :3

...Until I read this.

The only thing I can think of as an improvement would be adding a little variety to the colors in some places. For example, mixing in some other greens to add a little more depth to Le-wahi and mixing in some other browns to add a little detail to Po-Wahi. As it stands right now these areas are little bland compared with Mangai and Mt Ihu.

[Swert]

DUCE!!! : O

As for colors, yeah I can see what you mean. We can probably add more darker greens and brighter greens on the convention display, that's no problem.

We're also planning to add some rock formations and such to Po-Wahi to simulate more features, but that's been a minor thing while I go back to the normal job.

I'm glad to see some nostaglia returned to a very nostalgic model. Wonder who else will crawl out of the woodwork to post?

[JohannDakitsch]

Now this is incredible! Can't wait to see it finished! Its fun how people, when talking about Bionicle MOcs, always think about charactes only, and forget about the places. I do hope this opens for a whole wave of Bionicle-based landscapes

[Zeal]

Guys, this is.... this is amazing. Such elaborate construction, accurate down to the tiniest detail. I have absolutely no reason to not like this.

15 out of a possible 10

[Dwanny]

Wow. I'm trying to find an imperfection, but i'm not finding any.
Pure awesome.

dood...this post is pretty generic, yo. int he future please add some legit content k -MC SMEAG

Edited by McSmeag, May 27 2012 - 08:00 PM.