Nocturn (A Reimagining)

[Voxumo]

So I started this moc over a month ago, in an attempt to create a last-minute entry for BS01's contest, but I eventually gave up on finishing it for the contest. Instead I've spent the last month working on it, a large portion of that time spent being stuck on the legs.
But it's been a long month, but I've finally finished it. I've finally finished my reimagining of Nocturn. I could have been done alot sooner, but all prior versions I just wasn't satisfied with.
 

Unaltered Version
 
This has been such a fun, yet challenging build for myself. I went into this moc with the desire to build something in the classic style of Bionicle, particularly without using CCBS. I managed to do that, minus a single ccbs bone in Nocturn's neck.
 
Now you might be asking yourself why have I removed lime green from Nocturn's color scheme, and that has a somewhat complicated answer. See it always bothered me that Nocturn's tentacle was silver, yet that silver didn't really show up anywhere else aside from his weapons and teeth, yet if we assume the tentacle is a natural part of him, then by all rights silver should have been more prevalent in his color scheme. And so I took that complaint and ran with it.
My headcanon explanation is that the silver on Nocturn is his unarmored, fleshy bits, with the blue sections being parts of his body that have grown carapace with age, creating natural armor. This also explains why his upper-right arm is all silver, as in canon he lost it in a fight with Pridak, which remains true in my reimagining, and his species is able to regrow limbs. As such this is just a limb that he's regrown, that hasn't had time to regrow the carapace, and as such is a bit weaker, hence the smaller weapon. Shrugs
Makes sense in my mind. 
 



You might ask what the heck is going on with Nocturn's head, and that is a valid question that doesn't have a valid answer. I never liked Nocturn's set head, so instead I sought to give him a better head that still kept the "bestial" appearance. I like to think I succeeded in that goal. Also you might notice a bit of red "inside" the mouth in some pics, and that is there just to give some realism. Maybe it's a tongue, or maybe it's the inside? Could be either, as I added it with no real intent other than I thought it looked good.
 
As for Nocturn's choice in weapons? Well I personally view axes as very noble weapons, and more importantly a defensive weapon best suited for protecting. So in my mind, You'd have the Knights who go off to find and fight the "Evil", wielding swords and spears, fast weapons if you will. However you would never leave the homeland undefended, so you have the Knights who remain behind to act as protectors, wielding large, slow weapons, ready to fight off the "Evil" when it strikes the homeland.
Shrugs
Again this is just my view of such things.
 


The theme of BS01's contest originally was to take a character that is normally good or bad and flip it. So that is what I tried to do with Nocturn. While this version of Nocturn was still banished to the Pit for destroying his homeland, his imprisonment saw self-reflection, and a desire to change, to do good. To protect.
Fast forward to Mahri-Nui sinking, and after the Barraki started harassing the Matoran, you saw Nocturn become an ally, a protector of Mahri-Nui, seeing it as a way to redeem himself. 
He's still not the brightest of light bulbs, but he's more of a gentle giant at this point. If canonically he's smart enough to realize he isn't wanted in the Matoran Universe, he's smart enough to change his ways.

Nocturn could have left the Pit due to his amphibious nature, but chose not to, as he recognized that his presence was unwanted anywhere else. - via Biosector01

Quite amazed I was able to pull off this pose.
 
So yeah, not really much more to say on this. It was a fun process, and is perhaps my favorite moc I've built to date. You can find some more angles of the moc in the Flickr album.
Aside from that, have some additional photos of Nocturn I took.

Spooky
 

Edited August 6, 2018 by Voxumo

[Sir Keksalot]

The head change gives him a lot more individuality than the original had, for sure.

[Elephant Knight]

This is brilliant! A great reimagining, looks very different, yet was instantly recognizable! I really like how the lower legs turned out, that has to be my favorite part. I may have to steal that design in the future.

 

EKnight