PooZy

It would be possible but I don't like the idea.I much prefer the more human interface at the moment where people give opinions rather than numerical values.

Username: PooZyTitle: Secrets and ShadowsEntry link: http://www.bzpower.com/board/index.php?showtopic=1554

Entry to short story contest 8, title twisters.New stars peppered the misty skies. Even through the dense fog the Toa of Death could just make out the Ancestor's Star, a bright blue pinprick of fearsome light. It was unique; it travelled across the sky backwards. Death smiled inwardly, he’d give his life to know what that star meant. It had shown its face for the first time just over twenty years ago when Death comfortably ruled this now forgotten island. For a brief moment he stared into the bleak openness above his head. It was so achingly empty, so dormant. If only he could be there instead of here. If only he could have the rest of his life simply to gaze upon the stars.Stumbling on a gnarled root, Death turned his attention back to the troubled path ahead of him. He winced and contorted his face with pain. The mere effort of walking on a broken leg had become too great for this once powerful Toa. Tall twisted trees protruded from the boggy ground. They reached so high that the Toa couldn't see where they ended and the sky began. Thick walls of moss and primeval plant life clung between the trees, making walking level perilously uneasy. Death was too weak to tackle the swamps this night. Kneeling to the ground, he forced his clenched fist into the loose soil. The trees and plants around him creaked and their deep green colours drained from their leaves. Death smiled as his dry eyes were reinvigorated and wrenched his fist from the ground. "You can't kill death" he thought to himself, "Death feeds on life, and there is nowhere on this island which is void of life". Straining his shoulders, death rolled onto his side and leant himself against a tree. Some bark flaked off and floated away on the wind - it had turned to ash. He relaxed and half closed his eyes. This dangerous swamp was now his refuge; he thought it odd how such a deadly place can offer the hope of safety. Death grasped his leg and massaged it to ease soreness; it had been shot through by an ominous metal bolt. That of course was the least of this Toa’s worries. What really worried him was the shadow. A sullen movement caught the dozing Toa’s attention. Death pushed his palms onto a passing swamp leech. It lashed back and forth violently as it turned to ash.“This is not enough energy…” Death thought aloud. “I need … to sleep.”The Toa’s tired eyes drooped and his head sagged forward as he slipped into a deep slumber.The sky darkened as it matured and the swamps became drowned in a bluish glow from the starlight. A tall shadow swept across the cold earth. Death's eyes darted open and he paddled his legs against the ground, pushing himself upright against the crumbling pillar of ash. "Get away from me!" He yelled, waving his arms around the shadows beside him. "If you come closer I'll kill you! Don't underestimate me, fiend!" Trees swayed side to side. The weak ground shook with a deep deafening shudder at every step as a monster reared and pushed itself through a dead tree to face the toa. The tree collapsed and disintegrated into a cloud of ash which filled the air. In a panicked and pathetic attempt to slay the beast, Death charged at the creature with outstretched fists. A broad stippled blade as tall as a Vortixx crashed through Death's shoulder and shot him back against the earth, pinning him there. As the ash cloud dispersed the monster’s body emerged.It was tall. Very tall. The animal was four-legged and reptilian. The ground either side of its enormous toes swelled to small valleys just from the crushing weight of the animal. Its eyeless head was full of long serrated teeth and its tail was long, thick, and currently pushed halfway into Death’s body. He squinted at it once more, it was a black animal on the underside and white on the top, all away along its massive body were savage red streaks. It was a truly terrifying creature."It's about time I caught up with you".Death stared at the creature blankly. "You speak?!""I learnt." The beast’s voice was metallic and had a sinister twang to every other word, but apart from that it was nothing out of the ordinary. It was not deep or gruff, it was not other worldly. Death could have been speaking to an ordinary Matoran if he was none the wiser."How did you find me?" Death's question tapered off at the end. He clutched his destroyed shoulder and winced with pain. "I smell, I hear."Death furrowed his brow and replied. "It's not just that, I'm no novice at moving silently. Before I die you must tell me."The beast grinned and sank into a sitting position. "You left a trail for me. A radioactive trail through the snow, the soil, the swamps."Death glanced down at his injured leg. Small pieces of metal were embedded deep within the broken skin. "So was it you who shot me all that time ago?"The beast flexed its back in response and two hefty guns flipped out from its rib cage. Death groaned and writhed under the creature's tail. He planted his palms on either side of the tail's blade and his face grew tight with concentration."Your abilities won't work on me, Toa." The beast casually twisted its tail side to side, forcing Death to cry out. "Why are my skills so diminished? Has your radiation poisoned me?"The beast itched its pistons. "Possibly - but that's unrelated. You have many questions in you Toa, I'm certain of that, but I’m only here for one of them."Death grimaced and shook his head from side to side. "What are you talking about? I am the Toa of Death… the most powerful being on this island! How do my powers not harm you?"The beast heaved its head up to the Toa. "This island which you inhabit is part of a series of islands, all of them the internal workings of a huge galactic vehicle created by ancient beings with unmatched power. You however have no real power at all. Everything you drain of life is made to do so by this vehicle. Your power... it's like a key. Anything that is part of the vehicle can be accessed via your key and their life force transferred to you. I am immune because I am not ...naturally... part of this vehicle."Death laughed out loud, delirious from trauma. "You speak very well for a Rahi, but what you speak is madness. My power is absolute; you're just trying to scare me."The beast snarled and leaned closer to Death, pushing the tail blade further through his shoulder as it did so. "I am no Rahi. I don't even come from your diseased dilapidated island. My home world is green and lush-Death interrupted, enraged at the description of his island. "If it's so much better then why bother coming here just to kill me?"The creature sighed and reclined back onto its hind legs. "Just to kill you? ... Don't flatter yourself so." "Hang on" Death shifted his weight under the blade nailing him to the ground. "You have no eyes, how can you know what 'green' is?"The beast chuckled faintly under its breath. "Eyes are such a futile organ. They interpret, that's what they do. They take in light and they interpret it. What they tell us is a completely different story to what is out there in front of us. The universe doesn't function in a language that our eyes can read. I had eyes, once. What I seek now is pure knowledge. My eyes could never give me that."Death unconsciously scratched the wound on his leg as he thought to himself. "You're a strange creature, aren't you? Your logic is so foreign.""You know…" Said the creature. "I’ve been tracking you long enough to learn quite a few things about you.”“I’m sure.” Death strained his head to face the beast. “You know why I’m here right now?” The beast grinned; it waved the arch of its tail around playfully in the air. “I’ve lived for thousands of years; I thought I knew everything there was to know. There’s something new now – something I can’t quite fathom.” “You want me to help you? What makes you think I can? What makes you think I will?” Death scowled at the beast and kicked out at the ground in an attempt to shake himself loose. “It’s your determination.” Said the beast. “For weeks I’ve hunted you endlessly and this is the first time you’ve stopped to rest… It’s also because I believe you wish to know the same thing as I do.”Death looked up into the sky and stared wistfully at the Ancestor's Star. This creature might be mad, but at least he was knowledgeable. Death might as well satisfy his curiosity before this insane animal grew tired of chatting.“If you’re so wise, answer me this. What is the meaning of the Ancestor’s Star?”The beast smiled deeply, craning its massive head up to the stars and sniffed. Plumes of steamy vapour shot out from the great creature’s nostrils and into the cold night air. "I don't know" It said confidently. "-but if you ever figure it out, call for me."With a defined jêrk the creature whipped its tail blade through Death's shoulder, cutting through his spine. Death screamed through his gritted teeth as he flopped back onto the ground, his body no longer under the control of his mind. His head rolled back to face upwards into the night, the Ancestor's Star in the pinnacle of his vision. "WHY?" Called death. "Why hunt me, why track me for so long just for this?!""That's another question." The beast replied cunningly. "You’re going to have a lot of time to think about it though.”The beast's ebbing footsteps echoed inside Death's mind as it strode into the distance. Death lay crumpled on the freezing soil.“I can heal this! I just need to…”He clamped his eyes shut and feverishly willed to plant his fist onto the ground but no matter how hard he focussed his hand remained completely flaccid. Young green shoots waved back and forth teasingly in the gentle night breeze, just out of reach. His mind rocked with fearful panic, an eternity alone with nothing to do other than to think, he’d go completely insane without something to occupy his mind! Death opened his eyes, the Ancestor’s Star danced in the centre of his vision.“I have a lot of time to think” Death whispered aloud. “A lot of time to think.”

Someone else made one of these so I assumed this is OKHere's some of my art:

It's really hard to tell how it is put together. I know, black pieces are hard to photograph, but I really can't tell how it works. Also, the instructions kind of start off halfway through... I'm fairly sure LDD has most of those pieces, and it has the ability to create instructions... But really, it's pretty hard either way. --

Mind linking me to this 'ldd' thing? :3

Pretty sweet for 'just a quicky-MOC'. Looks very Toa Nuva, the custom body fits the armour well. Can't say the same for the legs, The nuva armour on the shins looks out of place. His kneck also looks oddly long, and I'd say the Red to black ratio could be better, less black, more red... Like the way it retains some philosophy from the original Toa though, with the gears still in place, and only one hand.

yea I wish I could add more red but I was never a fan of those sets, the mask comes from my bro who has become disinterested with bionicle. basically I lack red parts *sad face*Yea the nuva armour does look out of place, I didn't want to use any other silver pieces because after the nuva year they started using pearly silver plastic instead and it looks really horrible

I thought it went all the way up to the end of '05 for that shade of silver? Shame you don't have anymore red...

You're right, that shade of silver was best :{ Anywho I got 'instructions' for the torso Just copy the same for the other side and you're done. You can sort of tell how the middle is made... if you squint.

A life size bionicle? Toa are like 7 feet tall.That said, its Karz'n amazing. It makes me want to make something like this. It looks a bit hollow with all the gaps, so as said above use some plating (or even some weapons/feet) to cover them up.Whats the world record for the largest bionicle based creation?

I think the best big bionicle is this: I honestly don't know who made it but grats to them

I really like it for the most part, and good job. One thing I would change though is the sword. It just seems a bit small and not quite Tahu, if you know what I mean. Maybe a amped original fire sword might look a bit better. other than that, it was good. * out of 10 from me

I completely agree, I'll definitely do this should I come across a suitable piece.

Wow, very classic style.Can you post instructions for the body? --

I'll get around to it sometime

Oh the horror... *shudders*Yeah, those are probably going to need, like, 10 HF titan legs (you know, the double ones).I think I'm going to save that part for last. --

I can only use my own model as reference here, let me tell you how I succeeded in making it stable (bear in mind that my model is probably only the length of the arm you've currently made, but it weighs a lot more because it's fully finished). My model was four legged. Hip: The hip is attached to a Technic crane turn-table. There are three pop-joints immediately attached to the turn table that add a small amount of friction. One extra pop-joint is added on the outside of the turntable by a cog. The cog ratio means that this single pop joint provides more friction than 10 ordinary pop joints, so my advice is gear up!That's just the rotational movement of the hip. The side to side movement is held by two pop-joints and the up and down movement is held by four pop-joints. In total both hips require 20 pop-joints. The first joint in the leg requires two pop-joints and one friction pin. The next joint down requires three pop-joints, and the angle requires 2 pop joints for one plane of movement and another 2 for the other plane of movement. In total that's 38 pop-joints for both legs, not including toes. The front legs are primarily connected by the shoulder by four pop-joints and 2 pop-joints respectively. This gives all but one rather unessential plane of movement. The elbows require two pop-joints and two friction pins each, any less and the model is less stable during play. The wrist only needs one ball joint thankfully. That brings the total to 44 pop-joints and 6 friction pins. The tail is attached at the base by three pop-joints for one plane of movement and two friction pins for the up and down movement. Rotational movement is left out to keep stability. Each section of the tail requires one further pop-joint AND friction pin except for the last section. This brings the total to 50 ball joints and 11 friction pins. The head was a challenge. It attaches to the base of the neck by one ball joint and one friction pin, then the neck attached to the body by another ball joint and two friction pins (these friction pins each require a ball joint to allow for rotational movement). This brings the total to 52 ball joints and 14 friction pins.Edit: forgot waist, that's two extra friction pins Add to this the complexity of including cog functions and you get how difficult it is to make large scale mocs stable. Anywho I think you've probably got the idea that I wouldn't mind helping on the technical side of building this moc if that's alright :3Also I hope I scared you, because it is scary.

I am fully aware. :PHopefully LEGO will add the HF ball joint pieces to the Pick-A-Brick wall... --

Just wait until you get to the legs.

Cool but I hope you realise you've set down a road that will lead you into spending tonnes of money on pieces and breaking all your fingers from popping ball joints. Anyhow I'd like to see this once you've bulked it up ;3 Edit:Also one pointer. I recently made a large bionicle which I can't take photos of cuz it won't fit on my windowsill. It's about 70cm long and weighs a huge amount. On that scale, the pieces of lego have a sort of ...sway.This is to say that they jiggle around, if you try and wobble the model it begins to oscillate and even the slightest movement can send it tumbling down. It took me four weeks of constant mechanical additions and intricate geared-up friction points to make my model stiff and firm for play. YOU have a completely different problem because your lego model when finished will weigh a whole lot more - it's going to be a very difficult path for you.

Cool moc. Colour scheme is good, the head especially is very good. I think the legs need some work, if I block them out with my hand then the moc looks better. Maybe make the legs longer or something - but even without that this is a solid moc.

O.o Not only did you make him have more movement and look cooler, you added a gear function. But he would look better with one of his fire swords.9.5/10

I agree but I kid you not, I couldn't find any fire swords in my collection (which consists of a spilt box on my bedroom floor). My brother was the one who originally had Tahu and he often hid his pieces behind furniture :S

Wow dude! Im loving the torso! Its an excellent idea done right! Just wondering, is it Mata or Nuva?

King of a mixture of both. It's just 'Tahu ... something'. No mistika in there though. Yik.

Pretty sweet for 'just a quicky-MOC'. Looks very Toa Nuva, the custom body fits the armour well. Can't say the same for the legs, The nuva armour on the shins looks out of place. His kneck also looks oddly long, and I'd say the Red to black ratio could be better, less black, more red... Like the way it retains some philosophy from the original Toa though, with the gears still in place, and only one hand.

yea I wish I could add more red but I was never a fan of those sets, the mask comes from my bro who has become disinterested with bionicle. basically I lack red parts *sad face*Yea the nuva armour does look out of place, I didn't want to use any other silver pieces because after the nuva year they started using pearly silver plastic instead and it looks really horrible

What features actually differ it from a water Hydruka? The body is awesome, and I like the whole monotone look, apart from the eyes. If it is a Hydruka, should it have the teeth/claws underneath the Rahkshi head piece?

I assumed the hydruka had the teeth because they were underwater, just like the barraki all had sideways teeth things because they were underwater. That's why this doesn't have them.

this is really beautiful. I'll admit at first this seemed far more aquatic than the Hydruka, but looking at it closer, I'd venture to say it could pass for amphybious. The long spindly legs would be good for quick water navigation, but I can also see them being useful for climbing mountains and rock formations. colour scheme is quite lovely, the build is fantastic...i'm really tempted to dig up my technic/BIONICLE pieces.

Thanks very much :3I was trying to make it look like a insect that fulfilled the role of a rat, that's why the legs are so spindly. In any case I should make threads for my small MOCs more often, this has generated more interest than when I made a thread for my large titan :C

Haaalloooo This is pretty much what it says on the tin. There are no function on this model :}The eyes are blue and I've given it insect legs. I did this because I always considered the Hydruka to be insectoid. Criticism is welcome! Thanks for viewing my thread.

This is just a quicky-MOC. Consider it a revamp. So my idea behind this was to keep the core of the original Tahu the same. It still features the cog function that makes the arm move around. Criticism is welcome but I won't be updating this MOC because as I said it was only a quick make for a bit of fun.

If I were you I would've used just one vahi and then put cogs on him to make him look clockworky - but each to his own.It's a very good model but I feel the arms and head are small

I'd rather have lots of useful pieces than the over-specialised large pieces that you can only ever use for maybe one thing.

Looks good! The only niggle is the masks used on the head which have the weird extendy eye in an odd place - but you can't really avoid things like that I suppose.

Prizes of any form or is this all for fun?

Firstly this is a pretty good toa - gratz. Onto the criticism:The shoulders are way too high, it makes this guy look like a hunch back. You really need to moderator the body so that the arms connect in a different way that negates the need for the 'hordika heads' Secondly the upper arms look very bare. The armour you've attached only really covered the back of the arm - but maybe twisting it around would help this. In any case it's a good model. Nothing wrong with the colour scheme whatsoever. Looks very trim.

It looks rly good, imaginative use of the head btw. I would suggest making the torso longer though, and definitely suggest changing that foot piece on the back. It looks a little out of place.