jimmybob83

Update! After a very long wait, finally got my latest shipment. Pretty happy with some, some need tweaked. Images up. And shapeways actually didn't even send me one of the masks I ordered, oopsie on them.

We could always have only some of your masks become canon. I can see the Kanohi Tepan: Mask of Psychometry, Kanohi Krodan: Mask of Growth, the Kanohi Zilor: Mask of Rahi Control, and Kanohi Pamatae: Mask of Clairvoyance becoming officially canon!

 

Also, I see on your shapeways.com store that you added a second Kanohi Krodan.  I can't find anything that seems to be changed, however.  What were your edits?

The night I uploaded the Krodan, the website malfunctioned, and so I tried again and the same thing happened - there was a forum topic about it, everything anyone uploaded at that time was frozen in limbo. So I tried again the next day and the third attempt was the one that went up. The other old ones must finally be unfreezing is all, I'll edit it.

 

 

I bought a few and first let me saw that they are phenomenal, truly. I'll definitely be getting others. I did find two down sides to the Olisi, one being that the axle pin is too low the eyes don't reach the eye holes; two is that it is just so huge! I already figured out what to do for a head, it really is the size of it that's throwing it off, but it can be over looked seeing as it is just so sweet! Also the mask of Elemental Energy is a dream. Keep up the great work, I'm really loving these! 

I figured any Karzahni MOC would be big so I made the mask large, yeah. I suppose I could shrink a version down but that would mean a lot of tweaking to make the horns thicker for printing purposes. 

Wow, that's a lot of replies, thanks everyone. 

I just looked at your shapeways.com store!! The updated Blocko #2 Mask, the Kanohi Rapa, and Kanohi Taputu are all on par with your other creations!! Everything in the store is stunning and of the utmost quality!!

 

I'm sorry to hear that you're taking a break, but your definitely deserve it! Take a whole month off for vacation, haha.

 

If and when you do come back, I have a couple of suggestions for masks:

 

1) The Mask of Creation.  There are 3D images of that so you'll have something to work off of, but this way all you'd need to do is change the connection points from the 2015 Bionicles to the 2001-2010 Bionicles with an axle rod at the back. This is a simple fix, but many people will appreciate it!!!

 

2) The Mask of Conjuring.  I understand that it isn't part of your headcanon, but I think its shape is particularly beautiful. The design could've been passed off as an official Lego Mask.

 

3) The Mask of Light And Shadow.  This mask has eluded many true fans of Bionicle over the years and I believe that it would be so cool to see it come to life.

 

Please don't feel like you have to worry about these masks. They were food for thought, but great projects, nonetheless. Enjoy your vacation!!

1) Sorry to disappoint but, I'm one of those old purist curmudgeons, I really don't have much interest in Bionicle 2015. 2) It's a possibility for the future, it wouldn't be very hard, actually. 3) That is actually a really good idea, I hadn't considered that. 

 

 

The Mask of Life: sorry to nitpick, but I've been trying to get my hands on this mask for awhile. Your design is really close, I just feel like the top of the mask (forehead) can be longer and the bottom (where the vents are) could be wider. I know someone on bzpower 3d printed one before (which can be seen below), but didn't make it available to the public unfortunately. 

You're right, of course, but you're also right that it's nitpicky I'll see what I can do but no promises. 

 

 

I would love it if these became canon!

In order for that to happen completely, we'd have to rewrite and delete most of the fanon-canon masks of strange weirdness, I think some people would dig their heels in against that, sadly. 

 

 

can you do my masks? 

I really don't think so, sorry.

 

 

More on topic, a few movie-edition masks would be cool to see!   Jimmybob, you think you might ever try those?

I can't think of any, really, aside from maybe the Noble Hau. Like mentioned above, someone already made an awesome Mask of Shadows, and I just noticed yesterday that the dude who made the movie edition Mask of Light finally put his up for sale, I just bought one in my latest batch. Hey, someone should contact both of them and have them collaborate to make that Mask of Light-and-Shadow. 

The Mask of Elemental Energy is out of Beta, and images of it and the Mask of Life, and the updated Blocko mask are up, along with a rendering of an improved version of the second Blocko mask. 

Hello again, jimmybob83!!

 

 

Once again, you have astounded me with your mask-making talent! You deserve the name Vakama, haha.

 

Anyways, I wanted to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to bring a 3D printable version of the Kanohi Krodan to life! That you're currently working on inventing the Kanohi Pamatae is just as exciting to me!!  While we are on the subject of Blocko masks, I wanted to let you know that I found a fifth one!!  I'd be very overjoyed if this was within your realm of expertise!

 

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1493686

 

Also, I'm just making you aware that once you are done molding masks for certain, I will be purchasing one of each mask from your shapeways.com store.  (For shipping purposes buying them in bulk is easiest for me.)  I can't wait to get started on making the four remaining Toa Hagah as a tribute to your hard work.

Thanks! I'd seen that Blocko set before, actually, but to me it just looked like a bad imitation of an Akaku... Not sure if I'll get to that one. I might be tweaking some of the ones already uploaded but I think that for now, I'll be stopping. There are definitely some more things I'd like to make but I think I need to practice and improve to do the things in my head any justice. 

 

 

I just noticed the Kanohi Pamatae; it looks great!! The detail in this one captures a Toa of Water's personality. The curves on the lower part of the mask look very well done, and the dorsal fin defines Gaaki. Curious question though, are you going to end up rounding off the sides of the Mask of Healing to make it more akin to the Blocko set? You seem to be a sculptor who tries to capture the accuracy in each mask, which I highly respect. 

Check the front post.

 

 

Fingers crossed for an updated Mask of Life

Updated in what way?

 

The new masks look great, to be sure. But some of your older ones, like the Mask of Mechanics, are in sore need of improvement. That particular mask looks like a thick cardboard cutout that got slapped on someone's face, rather than fitting to the general shape of the head. You model for the Mask of Growth seems to suffer the same fate. What I suggest you do, before you make any more new ones, is go back and improve the old models. The Mask of Mechanics, for example, could be shaped more like the Avsa (Vamprah's mask, or more round and shortened like the version worn by Gavla). This would fix the flatness of it, and make it far more appealing.

 

The point Thau Nuva was trying to make is that you've got some of the details down, but you lack in others. Now, it's hard to pick exactly what's wrong, because we can't all see the model in its entirety for ourselves. One thing I've learned to do (with any sort of creative work) is go back through what you've done, and pick out all the stuff you think might be bad about it. if it matches up with the criticisms of others, then maybe its in need of a change.

 

Don't get me wrong, you've got some impressive pieces here, but the only one who can really determine their quality is you. If your buyers are not satisfied, then it's probably time to change.

As for the Mask of Mechanics, like I said before: that's how I interpreted it looking, and I can only model what I see. It's my limitation. I'm the least artistic person on the planet - I don't have the ability to "make it swoopier" unless I can see it and copy it. I toootally cannot "envision the statue within the marble." So if you want to make a series of awesome sketches, I can copy them. But I can't just invent a wooshier version of it. And honestly, when I made it, (I think it was the third one I made,) I didn't have any idea I'd like the process so much and improve and do all the rest of these, I just did it because I thought it would be easy and fun. 

As for the Krodan, I'm copying a piece of plastic that already exists in the real world. I'm very happy with the accuracy of it, http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=6210755 especially, the bottom half that you're talking about. While we're on the subject, just because this issue's been brought up a dozen times, we've all seen the Pakari, yes? And Great Matatu, and Great Komau...? Plenty of masks are lacking in side-lower-face cover. 

And, as far as I know, I haven't had any "buyer" complaints, just vague criticisms from non-buyers. 

I'm glad that the masks are working out, and thanks for sharing the MOC picture! I'll keep working until I run out of options, or hit a brick wall as far as skill is concerned. Case in point: for anyone who was hoping for a Mask of Possibilities... well... I tried, but... it really looks horrid. So that one won't be happening, most likely. That really only leaves the Mask of Clairvoyance (which I'm working on but I'm having trouble with the forehead ridge) and possibly one other mask, then I'm pretty sure I'll be "done." 

 

Maybe you should calm down for a bit and not blow up everytime people critisize your work. Your attitude is really immature. I will not name any of the mask makers, you can find the usernames on your own. As far as the prices go, I know some of the people who created the kanohi available on shapeways and I know for a fact that they dont put any markup on those. Shapeways pricing system simply makes them more expensive based on volume, complexity, and how hard it is to produce the part.

 

If you want to know how they're better quality, look at the shape, topology, and polycount. On your kanohi, such as your Voya Nui Mask of Life, the shape is just generaly off. As far as topology and polycount goes, weird bends and hard edges are visible on your Mask of Healing and Mask of Regeneration the most.

 

Once again, you said you're a new modeller, so please don't rain anger on people who tell you to improve.

 

Exactly, shapeways bases their price on volume total, volume of plastic, etc. So since my huuuge titan-sized Olisi cost $15 before markup... how do smaller masks cost $17-$27 before markup...?

Your feedback isn't nearly detailed enough to be constructive. The MoL's shape is "off"... how? In what way? Where? To what degree? The Mask of Healing has "weird bends"... where? What makes you think they're weird? How would you have it differently? How do you feel about the Masks of Sensory Aptitude, or Weight Increase? How do you define a bad "hard edge"? How do you feel about the hard edges of the Kakama?

About polycounts, as has been discussed before, your printed product is limited in detail by accuracy of the printer and polishing. The one several people have pointed to is the Olisi, saying they see the squares on the surface in the 3D preview. But at least to me, those are completely invisible in the actual finished product that I put up pictures of. I can't see any of those things on the one in my hands. So I stand by the fact that the models are just as detailed as they need to be. To me, working with smaller, more numerous polys is much more difficult, so I don't start out with a high-def object for simplicity's sake. 

Thanks for the kind comments.

 

 

Is there any sort of template you build these masks off? They all look fantastic and I'd like to have a crack at making myself a custom mask, but I don't think I could get the pegs right.

No one particular template, but I find it easiest by far to start off with some sort of geometric shape, usually a sphere or "capsule" and then modify from there. As for the connector, I found some measurements online for that. If I remember correctly, (I'm not home atm,) for the wide bit I use 4.85mm and the narrow bit 1.25mm. Like I said before, some come out quite snug, while others of the exact same starting size come out loose, I assume due to polishing. 

 

 

However they lack in quality quite a bit, and while you said you are new to 3D modeling, selling these with 3$ markup is honestly crazy. There are people on shapeways who sell kanohi that are much higher quality for Shapeways default price. Of course it is everyones choice whether or not they buy these, but it gives of a very unprofessional look.

 

I would honestly love to see these people that are selling masks for cheaper on shapeways that you're talking about, because I can't seem ot find them. I'm going to have to disagree with you on your opinion that they lack in quality or look unprofessional as well, because I think these are pretty fantastic. I can't wait to see more work like this!

 

You can simply search "Bionicle" on Shapeways and you get bunch of results. While some of the masks might not be cheaper than this, they're deffinitly not adding their own markup to them, and even if they would, it would make more sense because they're a lot better quality. While you might disagree about the quality all you want, they just aren't good.

 

I don't mind so much that you don't think the masks are the best, but stop lying about pricing. Without naming names, the only other Kanohi I found on Shapeways by searching for "Kanohi" and "Binoicle" are roughly: $11.50, $16, $17, $25, and $27. The average price of my masks is $10.34. (If you take the deluxe-sized Olisi out of that, the average is just $9.39.) As you can tell, if you can count, is that $10.34 is less than $11.50. So... A) They are not overly expensive and B) I guarantee that most of those masks have a higher markup than I do - which is their prerogative. But don't sit there and tell me the $27 mask isn't marked up higher than mine... 

But while we're on the subject, for my personal growth, I'd like a point-by-point breakdown of what specifically is "a lot better quality" on which specific masks, etc.

These are utterly beautiful!! Thank you for putting these up for sale. I have been trying for months now to contact Vaal from Vaal's Forge and Foundry about purchasing a Kanohi Olisi.

 

I love your renditions of the Blocko 'Toa' masks. Is there anyway that you could make renditions of the Kanohi Krodan and Kanohi Pamatae for those of us who can't purchase the elusive Blocko knock-offs? I'd be greatly in debt to you.

It's possible, maybe even probable, but honestly, the Krodan scares me...

 

I actually do have one question, would you be open to selling the actual models ( of course for a higher price obviously ) instead of prints of it ? The reason behind me asking is that there's a 3D printing centre close by, so it would save me quite some money to print it over there instead of using Shapeways and paying extra costs for shipping. 

 

-Iben

I don't think so, sorry, I do like having some ownership.

 

 

By the way, have you received the updated mask of elemental energy yet? 

No, like someone mentioned above, it takes up to two weeks for Shapeways to work through their backlog and ship something out. I'll update when I do.

 

 

Oh. My. God. They look amazing! Especially Karzanhi's mask, I love it and its really an accurate reproduction of the one in the comic. Wish I could make something like this too ^^

How long does it take to desing/print a mask?

 

For designing, it all depends on complexity; a couple days at least, possibly quite a bit more.

 

 

these are really great, i'll definately grab the elemental energy one, and if that mask of fusion wrapped around the head a little more i'd get that too. for sure i'll be getting the mask of sensory aptitude. i was the person that comissioned the other mask of sensory aptitude on shapeways, but i designed it to be the great mask of sensory aptitude, wheras i believe the one illustrated and therefore the one you made, to be the noble version, as the design is simpler and it is a smaller mask, just like the 2001 turaga.

Your personal cannon is your business, of course, but I don't believe Great and Noble versions typically bear any similarity to each other. The only exception is the Hau, but that was either do to ignorance of the LoMN animators, or just their desire to keep things simple for the audience. (And of course there are the Makuta/Matoran Phantoa mask pairs, but that was a fan-to-Greg-approved-cannon thing, and a particularly illogical and stupid one, IMHO.) As we see from the Toa Metru's/Turaga's masks, the Great and Noble versions can be entirely unrelated. I also wouldn't say noble masks are smaller or simpler, the Noble Matatu and Hau in particular are pretty huge. 

Hey dude FYI the mask you call The Mask of Mechanics is actually the Mask of Fusion.

 

Don't believe me?

 

Here

 

LINK: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/File:Matoran_Mask_of_Fusion.png

 

As a side note there is a mask called the Mask of Biomechanics. So you may have gotten these two mixed up

 

LINK: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/File:Matoran_Mask_of_Biomechanics.png

Hey dude, I'm certain you read the last part of my original post, yes? 

Kind of want to try out that "minifig tool for Rahkshi spine" technique myself if I ever make a Silver Rahkshi. I've heard a silver one appeared in the Metru comics, but the only panel I could find on that was this, which I can't tell the colours on:

Funny story actually; I'd just put this topic up, and I decided I wanted to re-read my Bionicle comics because I hadn't done that in forever. Then I came to this panel, which I'd completely forgotten about, and went "Oh *bleeep*!" I wish I could have reproduced those two spines in detail. Maybe someone with more artistic skill than myself could 3D print those two in the style of the legit Rahkshi spines. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To begin with, just because Iruini and Norik were released with the Metru build doesn't mean you have to stick with it (hence the term "custom build"), not to mention I never said painting parts is "evil". Also MMOs have nothing to do with this, that's an entirely different idea, just because the computer/console game allows stupid amount of coloring doesn't excuse painting every single part with that mentality, with that thinking we could just do set builds and painting them, calling them MOCs, that way we'd degrade to the level of unoriginal character creators who think taking an already existing character and changing it's colors make it "original"

.... What? 1) It's not an "entirely different idea." You want maximum customization in a MMO because you're going to be staring at your character for 1000 hours and you want to be looking at something pretty. These sets are going to be on my shelf for the rest of eternity; why would I do anything less then make them as appealing as possible? You're not making sense... 2) But... I didn't take someone else's thing, paint it, and call it new... I put a lot of thought into picking the pieces I did while consciously staying within the Iruini/Norik guidelines. So again... not really making any sense.

 

 

 

Crazy idea, give Iruini and Norik the same custom build, done, team build still

But then I wouldn't have the official Norik and Iruini on my shelf. They wouldn't be genuine. Why would I ruin the integrity of my collection like that? Seriously, we're speaking different languages here. 

 

 

 

 

I'm also a collector too, so don't be on a high horse about that, it doesn't make you anything special, and yes you are taking an existing thing since it's part of the actual Bionicle lore, which last time I checked you didn't create. I'm baffled that you think painting and gluing parts  is superior to actual imagination and effort of building something.

 

Ok, let's break this down one final time.

1) "Existing thing." When you first said that, you were talking about sets. You were referring to taking a set, painting it blue, then calling it "new." You can't just change what you were referring to in the middle of an argument. 

2) "Imagination." If you'd bothered to read or study my topics in any detail, you'd have noticed that in my Rahkshi topic I talked about the spine design for the light blue one. See, for 10 years I always considered the notion of making the Rahkshi an impossible task, because they never made any different spines. Then one day I was INSPIRED by that spine design. There's nothing you can complain about in that particular design, because there is no cutting or painting involved in it. It's just a number of minifig weapons arranged cleverly in an alternating, interlocking manner. After ten years, realizing I could make my OWN spines, THAT way... It was an enormous inspiration that required a lot of imagination. So again... claiming that putting thought into customization lacks "imagination" doesn't make any sense. 

3) "Effort." Do I really need to explain the effort of Bricklink buying from dozens of shops, comparing pieces, painting, and getting a hold of the Block parts? 

I don't enjoy nitpicking over vocabulary and semantics but, you opened the can of worms, which I am now closing. You have your opinion. We all now know what it is, congratulations. You'll never change my opinion. So, that's the end of it.

Wow! They all looks fantastic and classic! Nice use of the post-2003 pieces, too! I hope they will be canon as we could post on BS01 because they could be worth it.

That would be awesommmmme.

Let's be completely honest. I highly doubt anyone makes MOCs for the sole purpose of permanently displaying them on their shelf, in spite of how long they may stay there. 

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Maybe this is our problem: we're speaking two different languages. I'm not a MOCer who lives for tinkering with Lego. I'm a COLLECTOR who lives to display full and beautiful collections. My Rahkshi and Hagah are going to be on my shelf FOR LIFE. To do anything other than that would be.... unthinkable. What kind of monster are you, dismantling your perfectly pretty and displayable Lego sets??

 

 

I have a VERY strong feeling that jimmybob has no intention of ever dismantling the Rahkshi. When you spend so long planning a project and checking your canon then sourcing and modding all the parts to end up with something you're absolutely happy with, it's not the kind of thing you're likely to take apart again.

What he said.

 

 

If it's to do with "the main objective of LEGO", then would it kill them to stop showing parts in non-existent colours in their media of TV shows, movies, web content and so fourth all the time? There's still no "official" way of properly constructing a lot of the Matoran from 2001 or 2003 (especially if they're Le-Matoran or Onu-Matoran in the latter's case) and to this day they're still doing it with parts shown in The LEGO Movie in non-existent colours. I'd say there's perhaps enough of a good enough reason for modding in that case.

What he said, too. It's ground my gears since 2000 that we couldn't actually make most of the old "Tohunga" Matoran. 

 

 

To begin with, just because Iruini and Norik were released with the Metru build doesn't mean you have to stick with it (hence the term "custom build"), not to mention I never said painting parts is "evil". Also MMOs have nothing to do with this, that's an entirely different idea, just because the computer/console game allows stupid amount of coloring doesn't excuse painting every single part with that mentality, with that thinking we could just do set builds and painting them, calling them MOCs, that way we'd degrade to the level of unoriginal character creators who think taking an already existing character and changing it's colors make it "original"

.... What? 1) It's not an "entirely different idea." You want maximum customization in a MMO because you're going to be staring at your character for 1000 hours and you want to be looking at something pretty. These sets are going to be on my shelf for the rest of eternity; why would I do anything less then make them as appealing as possible? You're not making sense... 2) But... I didn't take someone else's thing, paint it, and call it new... I put a lot of thought into picking the pieces I did while consciously staying within the Iruini/Norik guidelines. So again... not really making any sense.

 

 

Crazy idea, give Iruini and Norik the same custom build, done, team build still

But then I wouldn't have the official Norik and Iruini on my shelf. They wouldn't be genuine. Why would I ruin the integrity of my collection like that? Seriously, we're speaking different languages here. 

 

 

Haha I love the discussion about customized parts... these Toa Hagah are just as good as anything LEGO could have put out and I am thrilled by your choices to use non-LEGO masks. And your paint jobs are virtually flawless, something that takes a fellow MOCist a lot of experience (and failures) in order to appreciate. This makes the Final Fighter masks look like they really belong. I spent a lot of time sculpting masks only to discover that nothing beats molded or 3D printed parts, so I'm off to see if I can get a hold of Gaaki's mask... 

Thanks very much

 

Who exactly gets to decide what gets cannonized, and who does the cannonizing, and how many people have to have a say in it before it's final, exactly? This isn't the good old days where someone would present Greg with some idea that needed a little thought and consideration, and if he thought it fit and made sense, he said "OK." This is a couple dozen people saying "I want this because, reasons," about something extremely inconsequential, and Greg saying "OK whatever." There's no substance behind it. 

To the last two sentences first, just describing things in those two different ways doesn't make that accurate. Some "I want this" things were canonized in the "good old days", and surely some thought is going into the new ones (not always the best thought though.. .Cordak...)... and more importantly, how do you know there's no substance behind them? Generally Greg will have reasons for accepting what he does...

 

To the first questions, Greg's in charge, and it can vary depending on what's called for.

 

Yeah, these recent decisions by Greg are brimming with substance and reason... Which is why he confused the Rode with the Olmak, and nearly contradicted himself on the Naho/Kakama thing. Bionicle hasn't been Greg's focus for years, so I highly doubt he's doing heavy soul-searching when approving these poll results.

Oh I apologize! Pungao sounds much better! And i am glad you are going off the original source, rather then whipping up random arse names. No wonder I liked the other names. Maori is a beautiful tongue, isn't it?

 

Not to pester you any further, but do you think a new design for the Pehkui would be okay? If you want, I could probably help you in designing it.

You know, I consider myself to be fairly smart, but you just made me feel like a complete idiot for overlooking the Pehkui in my Fanon Kanohi list there. Actually when I was deciding on the other shapes, this was the next one in line in my head, it's from the 2015 concept art. 

May I ask how you got the names for your head canon kanohi? Pungoo sounds a bit weird... When naming things, I usually go for a two-part  combination of Maori, Mongolian, and/or Greek, but always remembering the sound structure of Maori. Like, Sensory Aptitude, I used tino (Maori for perfect), and medrekhüi (Mongolian for senses), and combined it would make Tikhui (teek-WHO-ee). Why doesn't one just translate straight from Maori, you ask? Well, what's the fun in that (not to mention kanohi should have short names) 

It's Pungao, actually. Yeah that font didn't translate well, going from Powerpoint to a jpg, but there are a lot of o's and a's in my names. And I did just like you said, I used a Maori translator on the words like "energy" and "premonition," etc, and tweaked them by ear.

 

 

I have one last question, how close are the colours in Shapeways to the actual Bionicle colours ? Or is it something you haven't tested yet ?

 

 

I plan on choosing black for the color, so that I can use it on a bigger variety of MOC's, and would like to know if the color matches the official sets. 

The only colors I've ordered in have been white, green, and "metallic" as seen above so I can't really comment. But Shapeways should have sample images of their various colors if you look hard enough thru the site.

 

 

Haha, I believe there was a slight misunderstanding here, I wasn't talking about the Ignika mask, but the Kanohi worn by the Inika

Oh good gravy, that'd be tough. Maybe someday

 

 

I'm interested in purchasing an Olisi, and would like to know a few things beforehand, such as whether the plus-rod connection is about as snug as an official LEGO-produced Kanohi.

See first post: "Note: The axle-connectors are adequate, but imperfect. I used the exact same dimensions for all of my masks, but some of them ended up fitting quite snugly, while others are pretty loose/wobbly. It probably has something to do with the polishing processes and the difference between different colored plastics. But with a little modeling putty or hot-glue they stay in place fine. "

Thanks for the further encouragement, seven masks sold so far. Very happy to be expanding people's collections. 

If you ever run out of inspiration, a nice idea might be making "normal" versions of the Inika Kanohi !

 

-Iben

I was tired of reading, so I spent most of today working on the VNOLG-Ignika, but progress is slowww... It would be so much easier if the guy who 3D-printed one before would, you know, make it for sale...

 

 

Even if you think it does, I'm sure people would still be willing to buy it (Me, namely  ). You should give it a shot. I've got a Nikila MOC that just doesn't look right with any other mask, and I'd be happy to give you credit if you were to make me one. I'll pay for it, of course. 

Maybe someday. At the moment, my skill level is limited to making an underlying shape and then adding/subtracting things. The Mask of Possibilities doesn't really have one underlying shape, what with all of the protrusions and indentations at odd angles... Maybe it will be my ultimate achievement someday.

 

 

EDIT:  Love the improvement on the Blocko Mask- The stretching to cover the head was a well-needed improvement.  Good job!  Now I can't tell if I want that or the Mask of Sensory Aptitude!

I tried stretching the previous model on and off for several hours... gave it up as a lost cause and started from scratch.

I don't think any of the socket pieces are painted are they? It's mostly the extremities that are custom, the arms, legs and necks are the only ball-joints there are and they're all dark b-grey I think...

There are a great many painted sockets. Purple (I could never match the Lego purple,) gold, aquamarine, lavender, and pink sockets are all painted. I had the same concerns about them flaking but they've all held up so far - although I'm not exactly re-positioning them all the time.

Who exactly gets to decide what gets cannonized, and who does the cannonizing, and how many people have to have a say in it before it's final, exactly? This isn't the good old days where someone would present Greg with some idea that needed a little thought and consideration, and if he thought it fit and made sense, he said "OK." This is a couple dozen people saying "I want this because, reasons," about something extremely inconsequential, and Greg saying "OK whatever." There's no substance behind it. 

Thanks for the comments and support.

This...is...awesome.

 

EDIT: Can you make me a mask of Possibilities?

The Mask of Possibilities is way too intricate for me right now. Besides, it looks a lot more like a Transformer face than it does a Kanohi, to me...

The other models, while you got all the detail in, just seem... flat and boxy. They have an obvious diagonal plane on the front with all the details, then the sides are just extruded back. I think they would look better and fit better if you rounded them out a bit more.

 

 The Mask of Biomechanics would probably look a lot better if you brushed the sides more backwards, so it envelops the face more. 

 

Round things are hard. Like I said, I'm pretty much stumbling though without any real skill, and I do know the limitations of the models, thanks.

The masks are pretty cool, but you really need to increase the polycount on these. I've noticed that the masks you uploaded to Shapeways have a rather low amount of polygons, wich leaves visible hard edges on the print. This is most noticeable on the Olisi. I don't know wich modeling software you're using, but if you're using Blender you can do this by applying a Subdivision Surface modifier to your model.

 

And you really need to be more thoughtful and diplomatic in what you say. Try, "Have you considered increasing the polygon count, it might make you end result look better." Even though the statement is false, because combined with the limited detail capabilities of a 3D printer and the polishing process, the end results are smooth enough. What you see in shapeways high-def previews is not what you get. 

Was just looking at this on Brickshelf! Amazing set of custom Rahkshi. I love the use of the minifigure tools for spines, very innovative. And the repaints are ridiculously beautiful! I'd buy a pink or purple or orange Rahkshi any day of the week!

 

-NotS

Perhaps I'll list the paints I used sometime for anyone who wants to recreate them. Although they weren't that hard to find, though. 

I'll give A for effort, Bomonga and Gaaki's masks look interesting, but overall I wouldn't really call it fully custom(yes I know they have customized looks,not custom builds making the word 'unique look for each' fit better), first off, they are just Toa Metru builds with some parts changed or different armor slapped on, second, painting pieces to make it fit is always a cheap way to build MOCs, it only shows that instead of thinking of an actual solution to the problem you just go around it to make it fit, Kualus' Breez mask just doesn't work in my opinion 

Wow, we really love our semantics here on BZP, don't we?

Firstly, of COURSE they're just Toa Metru builds. They're Toa HAGAH.

Munty's been pretty much entirely civil, but I find the above post kind of rude. "Cheap way to build MOCs"? In my mind, you are missing the point entirely. Like, you're in another time zone entirely. Have you ever played an MMO? You ever notice in EVERY MMO in existence, there's a dying system for your armor? That's because everyone likes different things in different colors. Any MMO that doesn't have a good dying system is always criticized harshly for it. People don't want to "work within" the confines of pre-selected options when it comes to visual aspects of their model, people like variety! Nobody has ever thought, while looking at their MMO character: "Gee, I wish I could make those shoulder pads silver... but oh well, I respect the designers limitations forced upon me." No, we think, "Gee, I wish I could make those shoulder pads silver... and I will!" 

In my aesthetic personal opinion, Gaaki's current shoulder armor (for example,) was the best fit, as far as shape is concerned. I looked through all the available pieces, ordered a lot, tried on several, and thought they blended best. But they weren't the right color. Sooo I overcame the obstacle. If I did what you advocate, and used only pieces that Lego made silver, I'd be stuck with a shape that I liked less. 

Just tell me in what version of reality is it better to make a model of any kind that has less-visually-appealing pieces just for the sake of staying with Lego authenticity? I don't comprehend it. Trying to put myself into that limited shortsighted mindset makes my brain ooze out of my ears. 

Note: It's perfectly reasonable to not like a MOC because you don't like the look of it, or the pieces used. I'm just taking issue with the "painting is evil" mentality. 

 

 

Honestly? I had no idea the Hagah had canonical masks, not to mention unique ones! 

And a lot of people apparently didn't know about the 42 Rahkshi being a thing, either. I guess I rank pretty high in Bionicle knowledge.  

If I got the two other Blocko masks I probably would swap them out, yes, assuming they look as good in real life as they do in the two or three grainy images that exist of them.

 My biggest gripe with your team is probably thr feet. Norik and Iruini have metru feet but the rest of your team have different ones which seems odd when there is already so much room for variation.

The teams from the Inika onward had non-uniform feet, so I can't see how it's all that odd, exactly. Being already locked into the Metru body design, which as we all know isn't very adaptable or innovative, I wanted to branch out anywhere I could.

I also find the use of non-bionicle parts very jarring and frankly damaging to the overall aesthetic of the team. This is probably partly down to my inner purist (but that guy loved your rahkshi!) and partly down to the fact that you've taken such a different rout to how I imagine my team (one day) which is obviously down to bias.

 

It's not juat the non-bionicle parts that I find odd but also the places you've used one part for another function. A foot for chest armour for example and the metru weapons for shoulders seem strange to me. It works on larger titan sets and MoCs but my brain can't handle seeing it on canister sets.

 

Toa Matoro Mahri had a toa-foot on his chest and one of the red Glatorian had feet for shoulders so, again, I don't see the strangeness. To me, the BEST thing about Lego is using pieces in unexpected ways. No disrespect to any Toa-MOCers intended, but, I see all these hyper-detailed models with custom built torsos and limbs, and they're cool and all, but they don't get my blood pumping the same way as when I see something and think "Huh, I would never have thought to use that piece that way."

I don't find it condusive to being part of a team either when they're all so different!

 

But like you said earlier... Iruini and Norik had different chests, shoulders, shins, spears, and masks. So I gave them different chests, shoulders, shins, spears, and masks. And feet. And I'll again draw parallels to the Mahri and Ignika/Phantoka: pretty much no similarity between Toa, yet they were teams.

 

That's another thing that bugs me about these, I just don't see any need to resort to so much painting. There was no choice with the Rahkshi (and something I'm working on has the same limitations) but for the Hagah I think you could have easily used pre-existing parts in the correct colours.

 

I also have to strenuously disagree there. Count up the pieces released in Iruini-gold some time, it's depressingly low. Plenty of Brutaka-gold! But not this variety. Come to think of it, are there ANY other masks in that particular gold? I don't think the original 2001/2002 gold masks are quite the same...

 

Apologies for the critical post, I think you've done a great job realising your vision. It's simply very different from my own and uses a lot of shortcuts in the way of painting and foreign parts that I generally don't like. It just doesn't feel like Bionicle to me anymore. Rather it's more like seeing a System based creation with loads of Mega Bloks in it. It can still be a great MoC but not as good as a purely system one imo!

 

I know it's all opinion but, I'm completely opposite. I'm curious what Kanohi you'd use in your Hagah set. I get the feeling you'd re-use already-released Kanohi, since you don't like my unofficial ones. But if you did that, you'd have to do the lame excuse, "I know he wears the mask of growth, BUT, he just molded it into the shape of a mask of strength, because... reasons..." and I don't like that at all. And the other great thing, imo, about using the Blocko parts, and about using parts in unexpected ways, is that it sets them apart from the crowd. A Hagah set (or any Toa, really,) made of completely predictable parts doesn't even come close to sticking in my mind when I see it. It's in one ear, out the other. You call it a shortcut... I'll call it unique and distinctive flare. 

And I know a LOT of people are "purists," but again, I've never seen the logic in it. If Lego released the piece in that color, then it's cool, but if I paint it that color instead, it's evil? I don't get it. To me, as long as it's purdy, it's coo'. For example, if you look at my Bionicle collection on Brickshelf, what you don't see is what's dominating the other 50% of that room: my Star Wars collection. Do you know how many 100's of awesome figures Hasbro could make if they wanted, but never have? With the advent of 3d printing, and with it getting better and better, let's say someone comes out with a very very nice action figure of a person that Hasbro never made. Am I going to refuse to put it on my shelf because it's "unofficial" and therefore "unclean"? No, I'd love to have it. In fact I have an unofficial Transformers Quintesson about 4 feet from me. So again, I know it's personal opinion, but I've just never understood the "purist" viewpoint.  
 

Thanks for the replies.

I considered using the other knock-off armor pieces, Shadow, but I didn't want these to be clones of the knockoffs. I didn't originally intend to use the Blue Toa's chest piece but I felt it represented a slim female Toa better than my other options. I quite like the Star feet, about ten times better than most of the later-year Toa feet. And I'd argue that Pouks' mask only ranks in at about a 3 on the "Bucket-helmet-ness" scale, whereas Matau Metru's mask scores at least an 8. 

I also put a lot of thought into who would be gold and who would be silver. In my head, having the dark gold on top of the fleshy brown just didn't mix well, so Pouks got silver, leaving Kualus with gold. 

I actually didn't consider people's foreknowledge about Hero Factory as a factor that would influence their feelings about those two masks. Probably because I never got into Hero Factory. Kinda took one look at it and went "Nope." So in my head, those masks don't belong to anybody else. Apologies again for never tracking down the two other knockoff masks. *sad face*