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Tesseract

Premier Outstanding BZP Citizens
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Premier Outstanding BZP Citizens Year 21

About Tesseract

  • Birthday 02/13/1991

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Edmonds, Washington, USA

Tesseract's Achievements

Tohunga

Tohunga (6/293)

  1. I love the feet and torso here. Clearly I need to play with CCBS more. The torso in particular just flows like... well, a torso should flow. The feet remind me of the old 2001 Toa feet, but not as empty. Very nice! I do have to say the gaps in the knees and sides of the calves bug me a bit, but from the angle of the picture they're not too noticeable. Those kinds of gaps seem to be CCBS's biggest weakness, though. I really wish you had more shots, if only so I could see more of the claw; it looks vicious, but I haven't the slightest clue what the back of it is. I'd also like to see more of that head; as I look closer, it feels like it'd be rather exciting. The upper arms are precariously balanced between too slim and just right... Adding normal CCBS armor pieces would've likely made them feel too bulky. I think the tires do just enough to make it work. The whole build feels... agile, I think that's the word I want to use. The only part that detracts from that is the lower legs, I think. Everything else seems more sleek. All in all another excellent build from DeeVee. Really has personality, more than just a humanoid figure in armor. Love it! ~Tesser
  2. I see your five months between MOC posts and raise you to five years. When I see those legs, "swashbuckling" is an apt term; they really make me think of the poofy pants you see on a lot of pirate costumes. I think you made a good point about the "character in body armor" route we tend to go towards; I actually initially viewed the build that way and it felt a bit off, but untying that mental link between CCBS and metal armor actually makes it work well, even down to the torso and arms. The cape suits that rather well. That said, the cape really feels odd - probably because of how it's lit and then photoshopped onto this background; I think the fabric just doesn't carry over the way the plastic does, as some of the light still passes through it. Not much you could do about that, really, other than have it on a lighter background... but that might wash out the white pieces too much. Hm. Seriously, though, those feet seem like they're a pair of boots. I'm not sure I quite follow what was going on with the feather/wing piece, but the goggles are hilariously awesome. I've been out of the building world for a while, so I gotta ask - those wrists, how well do they hold position on their own? I wasn't aware those ball joints actually had a proper socket (granted 98% of everything I ever build was Technic, with a dash of CCBS now). I'm still trying to find a hand design I'm content with. Nice work, DeeVee! ~Tesser
  3. Congratulations to everyone who made it to the final poll, especially Gamma-Ray and Sparkytron! This was a great contest and there were many great entries. I'm just glad I didn't have to make a decision on the final poll. ;P I also want to take this moment to thank everyone who voted for the Rahkshi; it's awesome being back in the Bionicle world and building again, let alone making it to the final round of a BBCC with my first builds in years. Here's to the return of Bionicle! ~Tesser
  4. How appropriate. Couldn't ask for a better number than 6. *chuckle!* All of these are great builds! I'd point out favorites, but I can't really do that now for obvious reasons. Best of luck to everyone! ~Tesser
  5. I have to say I really like the look of this build - and there's some great layering of CCBS armor going on. From the front it looks excellent; the gold isn't haphazard, either, it really feels like "extra" armor. The Hau is the perfect choice, as the new masks go, since it was always symbolic of Mata Nui back in the day. I have to admit I always try avoiding building in the metallic colors, mostly because I felt like Generation 1 of Bionicle had way, way too much silver after the Toa Nuva and Bohrok Kal introduced it to the line. But here, there's a good blend and it pairs nicely with the yellow-gold. I have to say, though, CCBS really doesn't do any favors to the backside (of creations like this or the sets, honestly) - all the exposed pins and technic holes really detract from it. Granted, they're not visible from the front, but they're still there. Honestly I'm impressed that it came out so well when you limited yourself just to the newer sets - I wouldn't have guessed there was enough metallic armor in the lot to build a titan this big. Certain poses really make that thumb configuration look great - but I do wish the connecting piece came in black. The light gray is a bit jarring, but there's only so much one can do with limited colors... The other nitpick I guess I could point out is the way the shoulder has to rotate to get that epic pose from the entry image. While the picture itself is perfection, I can't help but feel like from another angle that left shoulder (his left) would look unnatural. I really like the feet - they remind me of 2001 Toa's feet somehow, slightly like Pohatu's in particular with the way the silver comes out front. The gauntlets are a neat trick, too; I really need to start trying to use CCBS armor with mid-axle ball joints like that. CCBS just seems made for that kind of connection. Great work, and good luck in the contest! -Tesser
  6. Wow. This new MultiQuote business is very convenient! I tried a few different masks, and I kept coming back to the Miru Nuva; not only did it allow me to use the same piece on two separate builds, unifying them a little more, it also just fit the body shape rather well. I'll give you a little tip, though; classic masks that had that little mouthpiece (as opposed to the later axle) will happily attach to the old single-sided ball joint (the one found on the original 2001 Toa's chests). That's what I did here. It's not the most solid of connections, and not one I like using, but it is aesthetically pleasing. I'm still slightly bugged about those color gaps, but my other option was using the off-color Bright Green and Burnt Orange versions of those pieces, and that felt even more off; at least the silver is muted enough to look like the blue-gray underneath. That's something I forgot to mention; all of these Rahkshi are using purely blue-gray pieces, as that's the new gray, as opposed to the gray of old that the 2003 sets were the last to use. Certainly, they're not as CCBS-based when it comes to armor, but I tried to mimic the skeletal structure of CCBS as much as possible. It's not perfectly CCBS, but it was the best balance I could come up with. I intentionally kept Kurahk slightly less CCBS (but still moreso than Lurahk and Panrahk) to try and make them all feel more unified. Here's hoping that we see some more consistency from Lego regarding colors in this generation of Bionicle to make this kind of thing more feasible in the future; I'd happily revisit a few of these down the road if it became possible (especially Panrahk and Lerahk). I could have switched out those gauntlet pieces on Kerahk to be more CCBS, but I ultimately decided to leave them as they were because it just felt more fitting. The original Rahkshi were certainly lanky, but I always felt they had unusually broad shoulders, so I tried to diversify them while keeping certain notes more familiar like that. You'll notice Guurahk in particular is more slender, and Turahk is probably the most "balanced" with the broad shoulders but more slender frame; I essentially was trying to blend in some elements of the movie's versions of the Rahkshi. The digitigrade legs are an asthetic that I went with simply to make them feel less humanoid. I've always felt that it suits monsters rather well. Just a personal preference there, really, and I can see why some people might not like it. I know, right? Though if I remember correctly, he chose them specifically for their opposition to the various Matoran principles (disintigration vs creation, etc). So I guess it could be chalked up to that? Thanks! I'm glad you noticed the Bohrok shields; they were something that I happened to do with Kerahk when I first rebuilt him, and for some reason I really liked it so it stuck with me. The Hordika shoulders were an attempt to reference the old wide-shouldered nature of the sets, and it worked well, but wasn't really an option for the others (aside from Vorahk, but the variety of CCBS black armor was too tempting to ignore). Thank you! I really felt like there were certain things that defined "Rahkshi" in my eyes; the head, the spine, the feet, and the staff (probably because those were the colored elements of the original sets). I'm glad you appreciate the balancing act of Technic and CCBS! As for holding together, I always try to make very solid builds. The more-CCBS Rahkshi hold together especially well, though I have noticed that Lehrak's ankles don't always hold their position very well (I think it may be the age of the Green ball joints - there's something to certain colors and aging, probably why we have Bright Green now, and I know that's why Lego changed the old Purple out for the violet color we see now). Other than that, the only part that I'd say doesn't always hold on tightly is the Miru Nuva chestpieces; since they didn't have axles to connect by, they're naturally stunted when it comes to staying in place if they're bumped the right way. Granted, that's what the original masks were designed to do in the first place, so it's to be expected really. I have to say that Turahk is by far my favorite, as he holds up the best and has the most uniform construction - and I can't get over how elegantly the Kakama sits inside his chest. It really doesn't move around, held in place by the CCBS armor, but it rounds out that armor in just the perfect way. Thanks for your posts, everyone! -Tesser
  7. "Must I release those who should never see the light of day?" The Rahkshi "What are you, creature? Why does the sight of you chill my soul as nothing else has since... Makuta!" Rahkshi of Fear "Fear will keep them from their Destiny." Rahkshi of Anger "Anger amongst them will destroy their precious Unity..." Rahkshi of Hunger "Hunger will consume their Duty..." Rahkshi of Disintegration "Their Duty will be broken." Rahkshi of Poison "Their Unity can be poisoned..." Rahkshi of Fragmentation "Their Destiny, I must shatter." -------------------------------------------------- Click the images below to view their respective albums! Wow. Five years since the end of Generation 1. Ha! And we can call it that now - Generation 1! I still can't get over that. I grew up with Bionicle, and I'm very glad to see it returning. I haven't built in ages, but I have to say, it feels good to be back in the habit. It's funny, actually - back when I first heard that Bionicle was coming back, it just so happened to align with when I managed to get my old Lego (98% Bionicle) collection back. The first thing I decided to do? Build Rahkshi remakes. I only completed Kurahk, given I had limited space; but once this contest came around, I had more space and quickly jumped on Bricklink to order a number of Constraction parts I've missed in the years since Bionicle ended. Kurahk got an upgrade to CCBS after I completed Turahk and Guurahk. I also grabbed Tahu and Pohatu (2015) this week, and you can see I used a few of Pohatu's silver parts for Lerahk and Panrahk. I never realized how Lego abandoned classic green until now - but boy, it made building Lerahk tricky. I decided to use the old Toa feet for his (and Panrahk's) build since the end of the foot is somewhat similar to the shape made by typical CCBS armor. I only just figured out you could snap them onto CCBS limbs yesterday, and it really was the final piece of the puzzle in getting these guys built; just a little fine-tuning after that, and here we are. Also, can I take this moment to rant about how terribly indecisive Lego has been for the element of Stone since 2001? 2001-2003 saw the dominance of classic Brown (seen above) and Tan as a secondary color, with Burnt Orange as a tertiary color. It was a great set of colors and reflected Stone well. But then 2004 came along, and suddenly brown was caramel? But by 2006, it was Gunmetal with a secondary color of Yellow-Orange. What even was that? And to follow that up in 2007 with Black and Yellow-Orange - when Black had been decidedly about Earth since 2001 - and then change it again in 2008 to be Orange, which clearly made more sense as Fire's secondary color. And then 2009, suddenly Tan was the color of choice, with tiny bits of Caramel highlights? I get that brown isn't a popular color, but goodness. And here we are in 2015 - and Pohatu is decidedly Burnt Orange. Needless to say, this was particularly frustrating when building Panrahk, but hey, I came up with something! My favorites are certainly Turahk and Kurahk, though their builds were certainly aided by the prevalence of pieces in their respective colors (granted Vorahk and Guurahk were pretty straightforward, as well). I tried to reflect unique builds with each Rahkshi, as the cookie-cutter style of the original sets was not only impossible with the color palette and contest requirements, but also something I always found a little boring. I tried to reflect unique personalities in each build; hopefully that shines through in the final product. Anyway, enough with my rambling. It's great to be building again, and I'm glad to be back on BZP! -Tesser
  8. *shuffling around bins of old Bionicle parts*

  9. This is a triumph, I'm making a note here, HUGE SUCCESS--

  10. Happy birthday!

  11. Goodness. BZP lives. I was beginning to think it might not come around, then it suddenly appeared again. mIrAcLeS.

  12. OMGwut Tesseract's Still Alive?!1 I'm doing science and I'm still alive~... =P I will be pulling you along for the rest of Co-op here soon, I imagine. Not sure exactly when, but expect to be pounced. 8D ... now I only want you gone~ ~Tesser
  13. *blink* I created an account over on MSPA? I don't think... *checks*

    SCANDALOUS! Someone made an account with my name before I got around to it. Ah well. If you keep an eye out, you'll find me as tangentialTesseract over there, as I just stole that name for use. That's also what I pop around Pesterchum2.0 as.

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