So awhile back, I posted I had collected all original 100 2001 Bionicle masks (aka, the ones from any 2001 set that was commercially available, minus the red Ruru). Of course, that's without the misprints and other sharp rarities such as a 14 karat gold Hau, but those are sadly going to be out of my reach for a good long while.

Once I finished amassing this collection, I asked the million dollar question: How do I display it? Well, make a plaque like everyone else, of course! Wait, I ran out of wall space with my three large bookcases. Huh, okay let's just.. uhh... make a stand? Sure, let's do that. Okay, how? Well, I knew Technic would be a little pricey, so I tried out system plates and stuff.

... That didn't work out so well. What about brick?

... Nope. Okay, back to Technic! What about this?

... We're getting somewhere. But at that pace, I'd need to make about 18 of them just to display my masks. What can we do with that?

... I think we have a winner.

Oh yeah, found a winner. So basically, I prototyped out a single unit, used bulk masks we have in stock at the studio (we have a TON of these, so many that Xccj and I used some of them in the Mata Nui model we built a few years back) and tested the math a little. With some adjustment, and some PAB mayhem, I was able to solidify a design I'd be proud of.

The parts for this unit are already on their way from PAB, and I will able to build it and put the first set of Kanohi (Akamai's group I think, or Gold/Silver/Matoran, haven't decided yet) on it. I also plan to display the pair of Avohkii I own (Gold and Transparent Gold), my Kraahkan (MEK and standard), the Copper Masks, Rahi masks, and one Silver Avohkii to represent my old character Scohu.

So yeah, I hope this (extra long!) blog entry will help to inspire some members in displaying items. Each unit will only measure 7.5 inches wide, be less than 4 inches deep and only go up to about 5 inches in height. This will easily fit on my bookshelf units on top, though I will most likely have to retire a few units to a box from there (or just clean it up x_x). Oh, and if you feel you could use those system prototypes for anything, go for it. I washed my hands of them months ago