Toa Mata, Matoran Form

[evil_jaga_genius]

It's funny, my new iPod doesn't work that well for playing music but it's the best camera I have.

 

Anyhow.  Toa always come from Matoran, and yet we've never seen the Toa Mata in their Matoran forms.  I have decided to remedy that, building the original six with Matoran-esque stature.  Compared to an Inika clone, at least, they're only a little shorter than their 2001 incarnations.  They are, however, much more flexible.

 

Tahu: Front Back

I've used this design for Tahu's legs before, after I accidentally broke one of his limbs. I call it Tahu Jensen, after the Deus Ex protagonist.

 

Pohatu: Front Back

I'm not as impressed with Pohatu, he shares a lot of his design with Lewa.

 

Onua: Front Back

I purposely gave Onua really skinny legs and gigantic feet, yet it seems to fit a 'tunnel rat' kind of build.

 

Kopaka: Front Back

Ehh... those shoulders. They look perfect from some angles and so awkward from others. I'm proud of his snowshoes though.

 

Lewa: Front Back

Pohatu copies Lewa's build, not the other way around, I built Lewa earlier. Though he actually copies another Matoran's build from a long while ago, too. I think my favorite part is his green 'leather jacket'.

 

Gali: Front Back

Gali's actually the first one I built! The goal was to make a Ga-Matoran with a barefoot look. After a while, I switched out the Pakari for Gali's mask and realized the trans-blue didn't look bad with the dark blue. So that's why Gali has a different color scheme, though the rest keep their 2001 colors.

 

Anyhow, hope you like it, comments are welcome!

 

-Jaga

[Master Inika]

Reading the descriptions before looking at the pictures, I had trouble visualizing just what these would look like. I was not disappointed, however. All of them look very much like what the Mata would look like if they ever were Matoran. I think Kopaka is my favorite, not only for the snowshoes, but also the shoulders, which cover up the open pins the rest of them have.

[The Invisible Handman]

Yeah these are pretty good, they incorporate new pieces but still keep the feel of early bionicle. Good job!

[Petewa]

I love this, my only complaint would be how small Onua's arms are, I like my Onuas with gorrila arms, but that's probably just me.

[evil_jaga_genius]

Reading the descriptions before looking at the pictures, I had trouble visualizing just what these would look like. I was not disappointed, however. All of them look very much like what the Mata would look like if they ever were Matoran. I think Kopaka is my favorite, not only for the snowshoes, but also the shoulders, which cover up the open pins the rest of them have.

Gracias!  I wanted to put pictures in the post but they were too big.  I'm glad the shoulders turned out okay.

 

Yeah these are pretty good, they incorporate new pieces but still keep the feel of early bionicle. Good job!

I kinda wish I had more colorful CCBS bones for these kind of builds.  Right now Onua's the only one they work on, being black and grey.

 

I love this, my only complaint would be how small Onua's arms are, I like my Onuas with gorrila arms, but that's probably just me.

Well, they already come past his knees, and that's without the claws...

[Onaku]

Toa always come from Matoran, and yet we've never seen the Toa Mata in their Matoran forms.  

 

Ok, so this may not be relevant to the topic (these mocs are very nice, by the way, I like their builds very much), that sentence is incorrect. The Toa Mata are in fact probably the only Toa in the entirety of Bionicle lore (maybe Helryx too, but idk) that didn't start out as matoran, and as such don't have matoran forms. I don't know if you already knew this, but in case you didn't, which I dare say I assumed from your quote above, I just wanted to clarify it. The Toa Mata were in fact built as Toa by Artakha.

 

But as to not detract too much from the point of this topic, I once again must say that your mocs are excellent at representing the Toa Mata as they might have looked had they started out as matoran. The idea to use the tohunga bodies the way you did is inspired, although the build is accomplished better in some of them (Tahu, in my opinion) than the others.

[Bonkle]

I like the MOCs themselves, especially how you used the 2001 Matoran chests on them.

 

But I can't help but feel that they don't convey what you were going for too well. By using the same masks and mostly the same color schemes, they just feel like shorter versions of the Toa to me.

 

But maybe that's just me, they still look great, though.