RahiSpeak

Win or lose, you have created hands-down the most adorable entry in this contest! It is generally agreed upon that that "drill" was done pretty well but I am most impressed with the feet; I have never seen anyone use armor-shells like that before.

I'll fix any broken links later, at very least by tomorrow. You have no idea how long it took to put those links up before I discovered that I could copy and paste links if I was using the BBCode editor. Thank you for such high praise (oh, and Prowl Nightwolf too).

Hello everyone! This is my entry topic for BBC contest #69, "Everything Old is New Again". This is also the first creation of mine that I have posted to this forum so the pressure or success is extra high! Before I get into sharing my pictures and describing my MoC, I want to thank Takuma Nuva, Prowl Nightwolf, and Nescent for helping me post my pictures. The "link" and "image" buttons still don't work, but the BBCode is going strong. Now with that out of the way, I should probably start with my entry picture for my Nuhvok Kal revamp to keep you all interested. Actually, maybe I should list all of my pictures in one spot for ease of access. Makes sense, yes? -Entry picture -Back -Relaxed (profile) -Relaxed (side) -Offensive stance (front) -Function (part 1) -Function (part 2) -Krana -Top -"Ball" (profile) -"Ball" (top) -"Ball" (side) -Extra pose After I had decided what I wanted to do for the contest, I made up some criteria for what it should end-up like: 1)It had to be as clean and polished of a build as possible; if it looks a little sketchy than I had better fix it. 2)The head had to be able to extend as well as turn. 3)There had to be some sort of unique "gear" function. 4)It must be able to curl up into a ball 5)There must be a substitute for its krana (facilitated from the beginning by a Mask of Skull Spiders). I could discuss how I built my MoC in any number of ways, but I think it best to break it up by body-section. HEAD: The first thing that I began working on was the head. As mentioned above, the Mask of Skull Spiders was always meant to be Nuhvok Kal's krana. In fact, I had decided on doing a bohrok specifically because I wished to use the mask as a krana. That is really how most of my creations start; I have cool-looking piece that I want to use and design the rest of the model around that piece. Building a large enough head that resembles a bohrok's without being able to use the same pieces was pretty daunting at the start; trying to fit one of Onua's digger-claws and a couple eyestalks together really made me wonder what makes a bohrok look like a bohrok. Thankfully, I had thought of using those weird "spike-thingies", if I may call them that, from Bulk 3.0 to change the shape of the head to something more befitting. At the very end (yesterday), I decided to widen the front of the head and to replace the nuva-armor that I was using with teeth instead. I don't have any images about what it used to look like, but I will say that it now looks a world-and-a-half better and significantly more like a bohrok. Vaguely resembles one of the Bohrok Queens too doesn't it? BODY: This was probably the hardest part; it went through two different designs before landing on the third. One of the reasons that the previous versions were scrapped was because of their use of purple. I am very fond of the introduction of purple in BIONICLE and have made it my mission to collect all future sets that include that color. But no matter how hard I tried, the addition of color really destroyed the way Nuhvok Kal felt; and being that most of my CCBS pieces are either black or silver, there was no way of changing to a more colorful bohrok like Tahnok. Nonetheless, I am happy with the way it turned out and that I was able to include a mask in the build. It should be noted that I include pins as attachment points for the limbs when folding into a ball. FUNCTION: You may think that a simple color-change would not warrant a complete overhaul of the torso, and you would be right. Remember how I said that color was only one of the problems? Well, the big one was adding a gear-function. Originally, rotating shields were going to propel my Nuhvok Kal forward using a custom wind-up gearbox. But after many tests (including one built into the body), it became apparent that even if I could find a rubber band strong enough to move my MoC (I couldn't), no normal LEGO pieces could possibly hold up under the tension. After trying another unsuccessful idea, I was struck by brilliance (that's what I'm calling it and I'm stick'n to it). I ended up using the same type of function as found in the Toa but with one small modification: rather than turning a gear on the back of the model, you rotate the torso around the stationary pelvis to make the arms move. So if you push the torso one way or the other the arms will sway accordingly without moving the head or legs. It may not be radically different from what we already have seen, but that's what good building is, isn't it; taking something that already exists and using it in a different way? Anyway, I hope you al like my entry. As you can probably see by how close this is to the deadline, it took me a while and I tried really hard at this. However, I can see that many others have put their best-foot forward as well and that is making me a little nervous, but remember that if you like my Nuhvok Kal then be sure to vote for him. EDIT: The links should be fixed now! EDIT #2: Fixed some miscellaneous typos. I'll fix others when I find them.

That seems to have worked, but for some reason I cannot copy and paste the URL and have to type the whole thing out. Works anyway and that's good enough for me. Thanks!

I am trying to post pictures in my entry topic for BBC #69 but there almost seems to be a sort of bug with it. I clicked the image-button and as is supposed to a box appeared where I was supposed to paste the image URL. However, neither the OK-button nor the cancel-button do anything. In fact, the close(x)-button does not work either. I have tried two very good computers and neither have frozen-up when trying to complete the task; the buttons are just completely unresponsive; no animation even. The same goes for posting a link too. So what am I doing wrong? My images are well under 750 KB each; what could be the problem? Please respond quickly, I want to start my entry topic as soon as possible for the contest.

I believe it was actually Kojol. Protodites; specifically, Zaktan. Group of beings able to change color by bending light around their bodies.

That would be a good idea, except that Ekimu is included in a set battling a villain that we can safely assume is real and in a location that we know is real. If Ekimu were not awake, he would not be depicted as battling a tangible villain in a tangible location. Yes, Ekimu is referred to as "Mask Maker". That's a title that makes sense, because he has been referred to as such from the get-go. "Skull Grinder" hardly gives any indication of the character being Makuta, and as I mentioned, the point of the descriptive titles this year is to make characters' roles MORE obvious, not less so. The color schemes of things in the animations are, occasionally, subtly different from the sets. But your point about color scheme relied primarily on the "red and black" colors that are commonly associated with Makuta. And Skull Grinder isn't even close—unlike the Protector of Fire, his Trans. Fluor. Reddish Orange are the ONLY parts that could pass for red, and otherwise he's overwhelmingly silver like the other Skull Villains—not even mistakable for black. On top of that, keep in mind that we've seen Makuta in two different masks so far—you'd think that when he DOES appear he'd be wearing one of those two masks, yet Skull Grinder doesn't wear either—in fact, he has the same exact face as Skull Warrior, who in turn appears as just one member of a vast army of Skull Warriors on his own boxart. Makuta IS in fact awakening. We know that for certain, because that's been the main thrust of several story summaries. But just because he's awakening doesn't prove that he'll be appearing as a set, much less that he ALREADY appears in a set under a non-indicative name. If Makuta is anything like he was in G1, he'd be perfectly content working from the shadows. As for Ekimu, I think we can assume that he is in fact awakened directly by the actions of the Toa—that would make perfect sense as a step the Toa would take as part of their quest to save Okoto. So ould Skull Grinder turn out to be Makuta? I won't say it's impossible. But given what we've seen so far we've seen little indication that that's the case, and there are a fair number of reasons to assume that it isn't. "Skull Grinder" may not be an indicative name for Makuta now it may be later. As you said, the titles are supposed to make the characters' roles more obvious. Obviously, why Makuta would be called "Skull Grinder" is not readily apparent, but after his current position has been established in-story that title may help to solidify his place. On colors, Skull Grinder may have been changed to gunmetal instead of black after the animations. Being that the Mask of Ultimate Power is black and shadowy, Makuta would also be depicted as black and shadowy. In the sets however, others of the Skull Army were gunmetal. Skull Grinder would look out of place if he were black and might even look a little odd. Considering that many of the parts we have seen are prototypes, it is not totally unforseeable that black-to-gunmetal could have been a "last minute" change. And remember what I said earlier: Why would I assume that Makuta would be wearing the Mask of Control or the Mask of Ultimate Power? I think it was pretty obvious that he was not wearing either mask after Ekimu whacked the Mask of Ultimate Power of of his face. So of course his face looks like that of the Skull Warrior, he's had a rough time. Besides, I've mentioned in another topic that "nothing says 'bad-guy' quite like a skull". If Makuta is going to play the role of major bad-guy like he did in Gen1 (or one step below the Mask of Ultimate Power), he certainly looks the part.

I still disagree about Skull Grinder being Makuta. Firstly, because he isn't named in a way that would suggest that (and given that the new set names generally seem to aim for clarity over subterfuge, I imagine Makuta's first appearance would be made more evident in the name of the set that contains him). Secondly, because Skull Grinder would have just as much reason to be at the Mask Forge if he were SERVING Makuta as he would if he WERE Makuta (after all, if Makuta is active and operating out of the Mask Forge, it'd make sense for him to have his minions gather the masks he seeks there). Thirdly, because Skull Grinder doesn't resemble either of Makuta's depictions in the animations. Fourthly, because his color scheme is irrelevant—he's hardly "crimson-black", just the same "transparent/silver/gunmetal of ALL the other Skull Villains (in fact, he hardly has any black on him at all). Fifthly (geez, this is a lot of reasons), Makuta not appearing in the first year makes perfect sense—it sets the stage for a more dramatic appearance in a future year without having to one-up his current appearance, it resembles the classic story where Makuta wasn't faced directly until later in the series (we hardly saw him in the first year, not really, and regardless he didn't appear in sets until the third), and it avoids giving the impression that Makuta is defeated in this year's final showdown (unlike the previous story, which implied Makuta's death or defeat repeatedly until we came to expect his return by default). Remember how Ekimu is referred to in the set he is included in; he is called "Mask Maker"; Ekimu is named after what he does, Makuta may be named in a similar fashion. Perhaps Makuta has turned Ekimu smashing his face with a hammer into something sick and twisted (his face did look a little awkward after that). Something I just noticed last night, Makuta's Mask of Control has horns on it. Normally, one would assume that was just the shape of the mask, but lo, Skull Grinder has horns too! As for the color, the animations are not 100% accurate to the set; see for yourself. The Protector of Fire is depicted as having grey hands, yellow-to-red mask, and upper-arms/thighs/elbows/knees. The Protector of Fire as seen in the set has trans-orange hands, red-to-yellow mask, and single-segment limbs (here, the armor covers the whole limb; in the animations, it covers only half). There are innacuracies in other set depictions as well but the point is that the color-scheme does not have to be exact, just close; the colors on Skull Grinder are close enough to be Makuta. Ekimu and Makuta were put into their "eternal slumber" at the same time and the same place. When the Protectors found Ekimu, they buried him (presumablely in the city). While Makuta was not liked as much as Ekimu, it would be reasonable to say that he was buried in a similar fashion (also presumabely in the city). Whatever woke Ekimu could have awoken Makuta as well. Why does Makuta look ugly and Ekimu not? It could be any number of reasons: face-smash, corrupted by Mask of Ultimate Power, fell into a crevice; the list is endless (but probably corrupted by the Mask of Ultimate Power).

On Makuta, he was really the subject of my theory and for good reason. First, we know that Ekimu is awake so it is reasonable to say Makuta could be awake. Also, what else would you call a giant, crimson-black mask-maker who just so happens to be where Makuta used to make masks? The odds of Skull Grinder being Makuta are much greater than just being a generic bad-guy. After all, everyone has commented on how Gen2 is currently sort of a test-run; would they leave a main character out completely, such as Makuta, in the first year? Even in Gen1 got to see him within the first year! And for the masks, what makes you think that Makuta scattered them all over the place? Last time I checked, the box-art on all of the summer sets depicts the Skull minions inside the city. Obviously, getting the masks from the Toa is nothing difficult to contemplate either; you said so youself: "And seeing as the Toa went to a jungle temple...". Well, actually, we know that it is a city (not a temple) because of the iOS game, online videos, and because we can see the Toa reaching for their masks in the lower-right of the summer packaging, but nomatter; the Toa are in the same place as Makuta. Why would Makuta stop his work with the masks halfway? That is probably all he needs to extract their power; and seeing that a bunch of Toa are trying to get those back, "all he needs" is probably the best option for time's sake.

My theory is this: Matter is mostly made of empty space. Atoms are surrounded by clouds of electrons which repel each other and in between is your empty space. So I think the masks would manipulate that space, making it bigger or smaller and as a result the size of the wearer would change. I'm not sure if the wearer would die from changing shape, or how the masks would actually work but that could be what happens. (BTW, thanks for the answers on gravity.) I may not have a theory on this, but I can tell you right now that that cannot work. Movies like "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" make it seem plausible that all one needs to do to make something grow or shrink is change the amount of empty space within each of the atoms. The physics, however, is pretty clear that this can't happen. Electrons are held where they are by electro-magnetic forces and quantum mechanics. To move them apart or push them together you would have to change physics; if you changed physics then it would sort of cease to be "real-life physics in BIONICLE".

Believe it or not, I believe I have figured out what some of the story for this August is going to be. So, first revelation of mine: Skull Grinder is actually Makuta. Sounds totally implausible right? Well there is in fact solid evidence for this. Take the first online animation for example; notice what happens as Makuta puts on the Mask of Ultimate Power. Immediately, Makuta grows much higher than a Protector and changes color to black and red. Now that description would fit Skull Grinder but that's just a little too general to jump to such a conclusion ain't it? Fortunately there is more to it than that. As others have mentioned before, from one set to another, the box-art on the August sets moves closer and closer to... Where? Ah, to the forge where Makuta and Ekimu used to make masks. How do I know that it is the same forge? A few weeks ago there was an article about a BIONICLE booklet that appeared in a LEGO Club magazine; you can still find the article in the lower-half of third page in News Discussion. Why do I bring this up? Look at the very back page to see: there obviously is a black floating mask but look behind it; there are streams of elemental-energy flowing into the anvil/cauldron in the middle. Where else do we see this? Oh yeah! In the first BIONICLE short! It is undeniabely the same forge, but what is Makuta doing there? Que those mysterious two-colored masks: Masks of power are gold, but their imbued elemental-energies are not. When I think of Makuta returning to his old mask-forge, I don't imagine he is thinking about making some plain ol' second-rate masks. In fact, last time I checked, Makuta was pretty bent on having his Mask of Ultimate Power. Stands to reason, if Makuta cannot find his mask, he can make it; after all, he did it before. But Makuta needs raw elemental power to do this, so where can he get a satisfiable amount? Some masks of power crafted by Ekimu might work. After attaining these masks, Makuta needs to extract their power. Since these elemental forces are within the masks, all Makuta must do is scrape away their gold coating; hence the masks being two-colored. Mask of Creation in there? Bonus! Now Makuta will be a better mask-maker than Ekimu. As for the Skull Army, I will not make any predictions other than the Mask of Control has something to do with it. I also am not making any predictions as to why Ekimu and Makuta are now awake nor where the Mask of Creation was; for that I just have no way of knowing. Actually, calling it now, I think the original Mask of Ultimate Power is a living entity and will be involved at some point and in some way as such. So what do you all think? Maybe? Plausible? Definitely? (or... not?) EDIT: Whoops! I changed my theory since I named the topic; meant to change that name. I'll ask to have it changed later. EDIT #2: The name has been changed; all is good now!

Actually, I myself have been trying to make a BIONICLE movie. I have not touched it in a while because all I have are some practice exercises (still learning 3D-animation, mind you). Is it possible for a group of fans to make a feature-length animated BIONICLE movie? Sure, no one would question that. There are, of course, some necessary ingredients to make it work. For one, you need a number of people who have some experience in animation. This actually is not as hard to acheive as one might think. If you could find one person with a lot of experience and several other people who are simply enthusiatic then that one could post YouTube videos or links to the right sites for the enthusiastic ones to learn from. Yes, many would not stick to it, but odds are that if you start with enough then at least a few will pull through. A good animation software is Blender. It's free, open-source, moderately well-known, and with the introduction of Cycles, it's just as good as ones you have to pay money for. Now while such a thing would be a community project, there still needs to be a solid vision from the beginning even though it would be subject to change. In addition, there would have to be some well-defined means of communication and distribution of labor. Otherwise, without a frame-work to reference to, all would be dysfunctional chaos. Everyone not only needs to follow a pre-defined protocol, but also must be on the same page for standards and vision. Take it from me, it is hard to support something that is not in your vision. My advice: aim high; don't listen to people who say, "Lower your expectations so you don't become disappointed". High goals are the only way to succeed in anything. According to the poll, "What Year Do You Think Most Deserved a Movie?", the most popular answer was 2006. Being that was the beginning of a trilogy that was completely skipped over for the movie-series and also among the most exciting times in BIONICLE history, that would be the most logical and probably most fun year to start with. As a side note, this just so happens to be the year that I was working on so I do have somewhat of a concept, but nothing else. Really, the most likely origin for a new movie is from people who are on this site; it won't come from elsewhere. Someone here would have to take the initiative to start this project and do the above mentioned things to make it happen. If it were to be started in a couple of months I would say that 2020 would be a reasonable release date. Sure, many people would have left by that time, but others could be rotated in their place; that's the beauty of community projects.

Gorast. The makuta who developed the virus that made Mata Nui go comatose.

Try femto-photography. It has something to do with the scattering of a pulse of light that eventually returns to the camera. I do not remember exactly how it works but I do remember that it is capable of the same things as X-rays. However, instead of going through the obstacle, it goes around, no matter how complex the trail. Look it up if you want to learn more (I don't feel like it this moment). By the way, congrats!

Gali? The only relations to Gali are blue armor and same mask; what shallow connections to say this MOC looks like Gali! Really though, this is a brilliant imagining of what Helryx is supposed to be. I may not have read many descriptions of Helryx, but the one thing that I always remembered was that her armor was strange and did not resemble the armor of "modern" Toa. Now the armor on the torso certainly acheives that! When I picture Helryx, that is what I will think of. As for the arms, I appreciate that you tried to make use of a piece that is the center of universal dislike (Hero Factory feet) in an original way. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work all to well (hence the universal dislike). Perhaps attatching wrist-blades would have worked better? Many have mentioned that the feet you used are huge, and they would be right, but I suppose that just contributes to the titanous feel. The problem is that the legs are too lanky for the foot-size. So for one, I would get rid of those extenders at the knees and decrease the length of the thigh. It would also help if you widened the lower portion of the leg, but from what I gather you were trying to only use pieces from specific sets? There is nothing that I truly dislike about your build except for the shield. Try this: rather than placing Onua's diggers perpendicular to each other -- and as consequence on two different planes -- designate one as the top of the shield and the other as the bottom. Arrange the remaining two to overlap the top of the shield and angle them outward slightly in a fleur-de-leis like pattern. To put them on the same plane you would need these two diggers to cave in towards the back of the shield. I would tell you how to do this but I am unsure of your piece-restrictions and am sure you could figure it out anyway. Those fans on the back have got to be one of my favorite features. I think that was a great detail that few would have thought of. Now I won't pretend that I know all from just from a couple pictures, but I see no reason why you could not include a gear-function. There seems to be plenty of room to put the gears on the two sides where you put connector-bars instead. Place the final gear on the back and all works out just peachy. Still, maybe I don't see the size restrictions? Overrall, it's a cool MOC. Not fantastic, but pretty good. I mean, it is a Toa and there can only be so much variation in the build of a Toa. You did indeed create a good variation of the torso and intersperssed some nice details, but there were a few points where it was lacking.

Actually, I think the answer refers more to gadgets than smarts or shadows. Perhaps Hydraxon? Thok (as I can remember from the beginning of "Island of Doom"). Mindless, mechanical being currently floating in orbit around Spherus Magna.

Exo-Toa. Greg Farshtey's favorite matoran.

Bare? It seems that whenever I visit S&T, the whole page is filled with theories about what will happen in 2015. Most of the first-page topics are either about Skull Spiders, Gen1/Gen2 connections (I'd say at least five), or just general Gen2-story theories.

Hi there! You can find lots of free blender tutorials at Blender Cookie! http://cgcookie.com/blender Some of the videos are for citizen members only, and you have to pay for a citizen membership, but there are lots of free ones there too! Yeah, I know that; I have used CGCookie.com a lot. There is some useful stuff on there that they have for free but unfortunately there is no guide as to where to start, continue, or finish. So I might find a nice video on shaders but it refers to so much that is beyond me that learning can become something overwhelmingly cumbersome. I still wish to learn, (motivation: make the BIONICLE movies that never came to be) but the going is drudgingly slow and I still have other things to do. More on topic, aren't alien invaders trying to wipe out all life a little... cliche? Actually, aliens seem to be a bit over-used too. I could think of many other things you could do for this, or maybe you had some idea to make it unique?

Eh, don't worry about the Ignika breaking up the color-scheme. One of the things about Gen2 is the abundance of color. If you did not have that brightly-colored mask then Mata Nui would not have enough color to be true to the Gen2 build. I think that the sunken chest looks a little odd, but that has nothing to do with the build; just readjust it a little bit. All in all, it looks like Mata Nui, which is good. The gear-function was definitely a good idea because that is sort of central to Gen2. Perhaps however you might try to secure the two halves of your custom gearbox together better; they look like the weight of the arms is pulling it apart and I can imagine that alters the function's effectiveness.

I would like it to go through phases. Start in the mystical phase then build into the epic phase as the conflict reaches its climax, then sustain that for a little while. After that, settle back into the mystical and even somewhat mysterious phase as the Toa ponder the repercusions of "defeating" evil. Out of nowhere they make a discovery that rapidly brings it back into epic. Essentially, I would like the mystical phase to be for the expansion of the world and developement of story while the epic phase is for nearing the seeming end of the conflict. Because these things often go hand in hand, they would probably be interspersed throughout the year while maintaining a prevailing mood. This mood would change from year to year.

I was looking for "Vahi". Jaller. "The Bully".

I only know a little bit of Blender (hard to learn with just some free online tutorials) so I do not think that I would be able to fulfill any of these roles. All the same, perhaps you would like to elaborate on what you are trying to do; just a rough summary and such. What is the genre (action or comedy)? What do you think the rating would be (PG or PG-13) and for what? Do these episodes potray a continous story or are they seperate and simply exist in the same universe? What is the story? How complete is your concept? You know, just mention stuff like that. Actually, looking back through the positions I believe that I am qualified for co-author, but whether I would do it or not depends on the direction you want your story to take. I can say that my mind in the creative sense does often think along the lines of Sci-Fi/Fantasy, but perhaps or perhaps not in the way you are looking for. Again, I cannot make any such judgements yet myself because you have not given enough information about your project.

Hewkii. (Good one) Supposedly the first BIONICLE mask ever designed by LEGO.

Karzahni. Robots designed to "pursue, capture, and destroy".