Personal Set Tweaks

[DoktorFreizeit]

Do any of you have favorite tweaks you've made to your sets? Little re-arrangements you've made to your sets that don't necessarily qualify as revamps or mocs, whose only purpose is to make them "feel" better?

For an example, I submit this "Mermaid-tail" configuration for Gali's fins.


Her instructions put two axles on only one of the fins, and they pin together perfectly to make one fluke

 

she poses very gracefully in this configuration, and it gives her another layer of complexity. What tweaks have you all made to your favorite sets?

[The 1st Shadow]

The most obvious one--giving heartlights to every character I possibly could. Those little round 1x1 studs come in real handy.

 

Besides that, I haven't really done much to my sets. Maybe one or two here and there, but I can't remember what they are.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

always, always, pins on their backs to stash the toa tool, it's small but a must-have change. :u

[Latrodectus]

For Hahli Mahri, replacing the lime green pieces with transparent blue from Matoro Inika. Not only does it look beautiful and match the color of the visor, but it also gets rid of the whole fragile lime green plastic issue. 

[Danska: Shadow Master]

I modified my Phantoka and Mistika somewhat, mostly to make their colour schemes better. Think I replaced most of the silver on the Mistika with their primary colour (dark red, dark blue, black. Was limited by available parts). I also replaced the bley on Lewa with Dark Green and, while I didn't change Pohatu's colours, I did modify him so I could stick one of his propellers on his back. I never liked that in order to fly, he had to put both hands out of action. Leaves him very vulnerable.

 

Oh, I also ordered a whole bunch of black pins and axles to replace the red/blue ones in Takanuva (2008).

[Shaymin36]

I generally don't modify my sets, except one time when I was going on vacation and didn't want to lose Tahu mata's mask, so I replaced the neck axel rod thing with a balljoint, and put an upside down glatorian head on it, then I put Tahus stars' mask on.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Shaymin36

[Kopekemaster]

I know I've done this a bunch at times, but I can't really think of any specific examples at the moment.

[bioniclepluslotr]

Never ever ever. The set MUST be exactly as pictured.

[Pomegranate]

Head placement/attachment. I still have no idea what the proper configuration is for most of the Metru builds but I'm pretty sure the official ones are always too short or two long. Same for the axle placement of the Inika heads. Any set that included the Metru hips ended up getting rearranged for a better height and armor coverage.

[Lyichir]

Do any of you have favorite tweaks you've made to your sets? Little re-arrangements you've made to your sets that don't necessarily qualify as revamps or mocs, whose only purpose is to make them "feel" better?

 

For an example, I submit this "Mermaid-tail" configuration for Gali's fins.

(snip)

 

Her instructions put two axles on only one of the fins, and they pin together perfectly to make one fluke

(snip)

 

she poses very gracefully in this configuration, and it gives her another layer of complexity. What tweaks have you all made to your favorite sets?

I don't know if that qualifies as a "tweak"—despite not being pictured in instructions or other media, the design of the axe/fins seems to strongly suggest that the capability of linking her fins was a deliberate design decision.

 

Anyway, I've rarely done much "tweaking" of my sets. The main example I can think of where I have modified sets' designs was in 2009, when I temporarily modified several older sets to use the new Glatorian hands, as well as giving them Thornax launchers and life counters so that they could be used in the Glatorian action figure game.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Lyichir

[Toa Smoke Monster]

The only set I tweaked was Kalmah. I didn't like how his tentacle pieces attached to his hand, so I got a couple pins and attached the pieces with them on his hand. 

 

But that was only for a few minutes before I returned him back to his un-tweated state. 

[Commander Spencer]

I remember tweaking Mata Nui (the smaller one, not the titan) to have a more movie-accurate shield and sword. I also added a pin in his life counter so he could store his sword on his back.

[Sergei Rahkmaninoff]

Almost always, though nothing off the top of my head... *thinks*

 

Okay, I gave Onua and Gali Mistika melee weapons because I really hated that they had none. I also figured out how to get Strakk's ice spikes to be perpendicular to his upper arms since they got in the way of posing otherwise. That's just a few of many.

[UnderscoreChronix]

I plan on making lots of mods to the 2015 Toa.

Here's a list of most of the changes and fixes I'll be making to each character when the sets are out.

 

Tahu:

*Silver hands and feet replaced with red ones.

*Removed chest printing.

 

Lewa: 

*Replace the yellow with trans-light green.

*Removed chest printing.

*Adjust/rearrange neck area so his head can actually move upward properly. He cannot wind-fly if this isn't fixed.

*Replaced yellow gears with black or grey ones.

 

Gali:

*Replace some of the gunmetal grey with Mata blue, e.g. her chestplate, lower leg armor etc..

*Removed chest printing.

*Replaced yellow gears with black or grey ones.

 

Kopaka:

*All gold pieces replaced with grey or silver ones. 

*Make hands white rather than trans-blue.

*Removed chest printing.

*Replaced silver brain attack chestplate with white breakout chestplate.

*Replaced yellow gears with black or grey ones.

 

Onua:

*All gold pieces replaced with grey or silver ones.

*Chest stickers not applied.

*Replaced yellow gears with black or grey ones.

 

Pohatu:

*All green pieces replaced with grey ones.

*Arm armor rearranged, now with dark orange on upper arms and silver on lower arms.

*Removed weird white bone spikes from right arm.

*Added custom foot additions. I've already built these, and I really like them personally. I'll post instructions soon so others can build them. 

*Removed chest printing. 

*Replaced Brain Attack chestplate with 2.0 chestplate to make him look sliiiightly bulkier. 

*Replaced yellow gears with black or grey ones.

*Moved armor add-ons on upper legs to lower legs to make him look more faithful to the original.

 

Protector of Ice:

*Added elbows.

 

Protector of Fire:

*Added elbows.

*Replaced all green parts with grey ones.

*replaced silver piece on left arm with dark orange one so arms match. 

 

Protector of Stone: 

*Replaced all green parts with grey ones.

*replaced silver piece on left arm with dark orange one so arms match. 

 

Protector of Water:

No changes.

 

Protector of Earth:

No changes.

 

Protector of Ai- JUNGLE:

*Replaced yellow bones with lime green ones.

 

LoSS:

Ehh... I don't know. If I get him I might try to make the legs movable. 

Edited December 23, 2014 by Toa Chronix

[Takhamavahu]

I always flipped the forearms of the Toak Inika and others of that design so that he armoured side was on the top.

[dotcom]

Bits here and there.

 

Most sets with a backwards Piraka torso (so terrible) I usually tried to fix so that it was facing the right way. I think I never managed to do it for Kalmah and Gali, but at least Hahli and Tahu got the treatment.

 

I changed Nuparu Mahri's orange eyes with lime ones so it matched the bricks on his back, and also just so it looked better.

 

Like Takhamavahu, I always had leg pieces used as arms with the design on the front (only obvious exception being Inika legs) 

 

Flipped the Zesk torso so it faced the right way. 

 

In general, I switched out red and blue technic bits for more appropriate ones. 

 

Also did quite a bit of tweaking with my 2009 sets. Fixed all of them so they could store their weapons in their backs, and gave them all Thornax launchers built like Gresh's, only with a Bohrok eye on top. They looked pretty neat. 

 

I also wanted to give all the Agori life counters, but I never got any extras. And I remember I wanted to get some extra shields for Ackar and Strakk, but again, never did get them. Same with trying to get Mata Nui a sword, and to give Fero and Malum hands...

[believe victims]

One tweak I will definitely try to do with the 2015 sets, now that I know there's a Chima set with the red small beast feet, is replace the Protector of Fire's black feet with red feet. If that looks better, then it honestly confuses me as to why they gave him black feet to begin with when they're already making them in red.

[Bfahome]

Many of my sets in the later years received some kind of modification.

 

Glatorian Mata Nui got his forearms and feet replaced by the ones from Telluris, keetorange Kalmah armor for his lower back (also from Telluris), upper arms shortened slightly (using two single sockets) and thighs lengthened, and Thornax launcher replaced with a Makuta Phantoka wing sword.

 

Gali Mistika got some Vezon-style armor for her torso so she's not as concave, and a Visorak foot on her back to give that some structure too.  I also put Hordika chest armor on the top and bottom of her Ghost Blaster as a sort of shield, replacing the target.

 

A lot of other sets got a lot of other minor modifications too.

[bioniclepluslotr]

One tweak I will definitely try to do with the 2015 sets, now that I know there's a Chima set with the red small beast feet, is replace the Protector of Fire's black feet with red feet. If that looks better, then it honestly confuses me as to why they gave him black feet to begin with when they're already making them in red.

Maybe it was a genetic inheritance and he couldn't help it?

[DoktorFreizeit]

 Any set that included the Metru hips ended up getting rearranged for a better height and armor coverage.

 

That's one I've done many many times. I always built Whenua as the shortest, and Matau and Nuju as the tallest. The others were as instructed.

 

I plan on making lots of mods to the 2015 Toa.

Here's a list of most of the changes and fixes I'll be making to each character when the sets are out.

 

Lewa: 

*Replace the yellow with trans-light green.

*Removed chest printing.

*Adjust/rearrange neck area so his head can actually move upward properly. He cannot wind-fly if this isn't fixed.

*Replaced yellow gears with black or grey ones.

 

Kopaka:

*All gold pieces replaced with grey or silver ones. 

*Make hands white rather than trans-blue.

*Removed chest printing.

*Replaced silver brain attack chestplate with white breakout chestplate.

*Replaced yellow gears with black or grey ones.

 

 

I've tried modifying Lewa in the way you described, and it just doesn't work that well :/

If you use the pieces included (the new 2m pin with 1m axle), his collar ends up occluding his arms and prevents them from swinging. If you use 2m pins w/ bush, it only slightly reduces the occlusion and leaves the torso really gappy and unpleasant. Plus, lowering his gearbox gives him a weird "stinger"

 

I'd really like to replace Kopaka's chest piece, though, but as far as removing the printing goes I'm not sure. It looks really cool in person, and removing it would make him seem really bland. The gold is also a lot less ugly in person.

[Pomegranate]

I just remembered that I am definitely gonna take out any and all hideous yellow and sticking-out parts from the Toa and Protectors' action features because ick they're so unnecessary 

[Nescent]

I can't bring myself to "tweak" any sets...I want to keep them the way the designers intended! Even if it means having gross red pins at the top of Gali's trident.

[Fry]

Nope

[Jobber]

I can't bring myself to "tweak" any sets...I want to keep them the way the designers intended! Even if it means having gross red pins at the top of Gali's trident.

You have officially earned my respect. Long live the collectors! 

[The 1st Shadow]

Ah, I just remembered another modification:

 

For Tahu and Gali Mistika, I gave them both Nuva chest armor to make their torsos actually look like a part of their body rather than a piece of paper, based on a drawing done by (I think it was InnerRayg).

 

This in addition to my heartlight modification I mentioned earlier. I can't think of many others.

[bioniclepluslotr]

I think the only thing that charitably counts for me is swapping Thok's leg armor to match the pictures, because it was probably an error in the instructions.

Edited December 27, 2014 by bioniclepluslotr

[Aanchir]

I've contemplated replacing the black 6M beams on the new Gali's upper legs with dark stone grey 5M beams and high-friction ball cups. It doesn't alter the proportions, but it does result in a slightly tighter joint and more consistent color layering for the arms and legs. I've tried it out a couple times, but currently I have the set built as it is in the instructions, because it doesn't necessarily need the extra friction.

 

I can't think of a lot of "tweaks" that I did to older BIONICLE sets, though I did tweak many of my Hero Factory sets from the Breakout series by adding foot pieces to the smaller heroes like Evo and Surge as back armor (just like the mid-size heroes like Furno and Breez had), swapping the 9x9 torso beam on my Stormer XL with a 9x7 torso beam so his shoulder joints wouldn't sag quite so much, making Breez's shoulders narrower and her legs and arms slightly shorter, etc. They were good set designs to start with, and had lots of personality, but I liked them even more after making those sorts of changes to their armor and proportions.

 

CCBS sets are especially well-suited to this kind of tweaking because it's easy to make changes without fundamentally altering the set's aesthetic language, whereas in classic BIONICLE, you didn't always have the option of altering a set's proportions without radically changing its motifs and textures. Just as an example, Kiina's long, gangly arms and legs always bothered me, but there was no way to fix that without dramatically altering their design. Vahki or Toa Metru lower leg beams would have an entirely different texture than the Rahkshi legs she used, and 5M double ball cups would not allow her armor to be attached to the side like the 7M double ball cups she used for her upper arms and legs.

 

I do not think there are any of the new BIONICLE sets that I will NEED to tweak in this way, because in general I'm fairly satisfied with all the designs I've seen. But I might still end up testing some ideas out, like possible ways to add more armor to Pohatu without losing that lean, athletic look.

Edited December 24, 2014 by Aanchir

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

Since i now have new kopaka i'll say it here, his shield looks better with both pieces facing the same way, and i'm thinking of attaching it to his hand differently so he can stop breaking his wrist to hold it.

[AdaptingChaos]

I just modified the Protector of Fire and Ice by adding elbows and editing their leg proportions to match the extent of their now slightly modified arms. I also got the Protector of Water and managed to add more armor on the arms and made the turbines attach to her back instead of her arms. 

[bioniclepluslotr]

I just modified the Protector of Fire and Ice by adding elbows and editing their leg proportions to match the extent of their now slightly modified arms. I also got the Protector of Water and managed to add more armor on the arms and made the turbines attach to her back instead of her arms. 

*gasp* isn't that like giving a bone graft to someone with phocomelia?

[Sumiki]

Replacing visible red and blue pins on my favorite sets were the only major changes that I ever made—that is, in the time that the sets were together before I scrapped them for parts.

[AdaptingChaos]

 

I just modified the Protector of Fire and Ice by adding elbows and editing their leg proportions to match the extent of their now slightly modified arms. I also got the Protector of Water and managed to add more armor on the arms and made the turbines attach to her back instead of her arms. 

*gasp* isn't that like giving a bone graft to someone with phocomelia?

 

LOL wut?

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

I've changed some Tohunga/2001 Matoran to have different arms with better poseability, and I have replaced 2009's Mata Nui's Thornax launcher with a sword (so sad that sword never came out as an actual piece). 

 

-NotS

[EPCOT Explorer]

Too many to list for the original run... most of them were Toa Tool related and how they hooked onto their backs. 

 

Similarly, for 2015, I've made Tahu's longswords into a staff, like he had in the first Toa Nuva promo:  

[Ford]

I remember giving the canister-sized Mata Nui longer legs and using the Vahki-style limbs for the forearms. The tweaks just made the character look better, as well as create the feel that he is an extremely important character.

[Makuta Miras]

Putting sets' weapons in their right hands was always something I did. But then when one had a sword and a gun, I could never decide in which hand to put them.

That's about it, really. Usually I don't tweak sets- instead I completely dismantle them and use the parts for something else. The only other two that I can think of are flipping Rockoh Pohatu's torso round so that the chestplate's on the right side, and occasionally changing Kopaka and Lewa Mata's shoulders so that they're in the same position as the other Mata's. 

[LegoSWfan]

Nearly every set I have has had some form of mod, usually to "beef" them up, double thigh pads on legs (front and back), padding up the torso. I have to say, Lego hasn't made a more adaptable body frame than the inika torso!

[Toa of Ice - 1987]

Gave kopaka nuva (2002) a spare limb arm to hold his shield with instead of that horrid 2001 weapon holding arm he originally came with. The official build meant that the shield could only be posed in awkward positions.

For one of my more extensive modifications i completely redesigned Kopaka Phantoka (2008) including

• better wing poseability
• gave him glatorian gelu's white inika armor
• replaced every piraka limb on him with rahkshi limbs
• added a few color corrections

The only things i've always needed though are 2 lego lightsaber blades in blue for kopaka's combat knife and mask.

[AdaptingChaos]

Gave kopaka nuva (2002) a spare limb arm to hold his shield with instead of that horrid 2001 weapon holding arm he originally came with. The official build meant that the shield could only be posed in awkward positions.

For one of my more extensive modifications i completely redesigned Kopaka Phantoka (2008) including

• better wing poseability
• gave him glatorian gelu's white inika armor
• replaced every piraka limb on him with rahkshi limbs
• added a few color corrections

The only things i've always needed though are 2 lego lightsaber blades in blue for kopaka's combat knife and mask.

I remember that was the first thing I did to my Kopaka, change his red lightsaber parts for a blue on his mask and knife. I also Added a bit of more color to the Phantoka and Mistika, but only slightly. 

[bioniclepluslotr]

 

 

I just modified the Protector of Fire and Ice by adding elbows and editing their leg proportions to match the extent of their now slightly modified arms. I also got the Protector of Water and managed to add more armor on the arms and made the turbines attach to her back instead of her arms. 

*gasp* isn't that like giving a bone graft to someone with phocomelia?

 

LOL wut?

 

Ethics, man, ethics.