Takhamavahu

So I'm really going ham on Stud.io lately. The ability to put any piece in any colour, which I think LDD had heavy restrictions on back when I tried it a few years ago. The ability to model and insert your own custom parts, or canon parts missing from the library is also something LDD couldn't do. One such use for this is Lariska, whose "Blue Green" colouration meant you had to either go back to old technic to find teal pieces, or build something blue and green, (which is not the same thing). But now, You can build with the full range of Bionicle parts, and make any of them teal any time you want, which means the Lariska in my head can finally exist. Lariska's first appearance was in 2006, so I only used parts which existed in 2006. In fact, the only 2006 part is the open ball joint from the Toa Inika. Otherwise, she's styled to look like something which could exist in 2005, like most of the Dark Hunters are. This is based on a real MOC i built back then, but I always knew I'd have to just imagine the teal. I also prefer Panrahk staffs for the daggers, instead of Guurahk, but I couldn't find a 3D model of them to import. She's got hordika parts, and toa metru stuff, very 2004/2005. If she resembles Roodaka, That's not entirely a coincidence. That's the other murder lady from 2005 who was around to stick in your head when Lariska had no image. Nidhiki, Krekka, the Shadowed One, Charger, Conjurer, Spinner, Tracker, Vengeance, and Voporak also use the vahki head. It's kind of a Dark Hunter signature. There are a bunch of pieces here that don't appear in Stud.io's library. The hordika legs, the vakhi head, and the nuva shoulder. They're from a package posted to reddit by u/SwampKryakwa. I don't think I'm allowed to link to it here, but it's easy to find. Brickshelf Gallery containing some older drafts, and more pictures inside a spoiler tag, so the post isn't giant:

The drawing in my signature is ten years old. With Bricklink I've finally been able to make them a more vivid reality. The Toa Nuva with their adaptive armour in default form, often described as the shape and build of their original Nuva form in the colours of their 2008 sets, but of course there has never been an official image of that. So here they are in excruciating detail; Part-for part they are a recreation of the 2002 sets but with 2008 style socket joints and Av-Matoran style feet and 2008 standard for technic parts, i.e. red and blue pins, grey axles etc. How the colour schemes of the Phantoka and Mistika sets are interpreted and incorperated into each set are unique from one to the next, but I tried to keep a logic from one to the next. Here's a brickshelf gallery including alternates with the two different types of silver on Bricklink (neither one is exactly the pearl silver from post-2006) And also pictures with their original Toa Tools for everyone except Onua (I haven't been able to find a custom Quake-Breakers anywhere). The custome made Nuva masks, tools, Nuva armour and heads come from a reddit post coutesy of u/Krakwyaka and u/aresnir. More images in the spoiler tag, just so this post isn't huge:

Thanks! I think voting begins after entries close on the 22nd, but that's off the top of my head. I might be wrong about the date. I haven't entered this yet. Unlike the old BZP contests, you're allowed to enter somethng that you've built and shared in the past, so I wanted to share and get feedback, and allso just mull it over myself before finalizing it. Here she is with the custom mask of psychometry by Gavla:

Me too! I always like characters that are consistent with the style of sets, but who aren't possible to build out of existing pieces/colours. Bricklink makes it all possible! My next project will be the Toa Nuva as seen in my signature.

Helryx was mentioned and talked about in 2007, and made her first physical appearance in the story in 2008. In 2010, Greg Farshtey said Helryx "probably" has a build like the Toa Mata, implying that's the standard form for Toa who are constructed and were never matoran. He declined to set this in stone, or say that this was for certain; probably because he didn't want to invalidate anyone's MOC. Here is it paraphrased on Farshtey Feed and here it is copied in posts from 2010. This apparently older source is lost to the sands of time. Nonetheless, my own version of Helryx was pretty well locked in since then, and now that an appearance is about to be canonized some ten years after the fact, I guess I better get mine out there before it's not a matter of opinion any more. I know there are more original designs out there, but this one was more about being logical and straightforward. Fathful to the Mata build, but stylistically consistent with the characters introduced in 2008. - Toa mata build, per the Farshtey Feed post. - Uses the shoulder and hips joints from 2008, the time of her first appearance in story. - The Av-Matoran version of the Toa Mata foot, as has been standard since 2008. - Red, blue, and tan pins as were standard in 2008. the open-ended ball joint, standard since 2006.- Hydraxon's "mask" as a placeholder mask. - No hero factory/CCBS parts or anything from after 2008. Turns out that long pin in her left shoulder is newer than I thought. I dunno how long it takes a brickshelf gallery to become public these days, but here is it. It contains some other versions and minor variations, including an all-2001 version which i think is possible to build in real life. The one your seeing here is called Helryx 9 in the gallery. I don't think I'm going to win the contest or anything, but now that Bricklink makes it possible, and this is my last chance to get the version in my head out there. Are we still not allowed to mention other sites? Because I want to credit u/SwampKryakwa and u/aresnir from somewhere for providing the mata head and eyes, which bricklink doesn't have on its own.

The latter (see here). Spi, did Greg ever decanonize that? Not as far as I know... There was no need to. Just because Hahli and Takanuva thought you just just awaken Mata Nui any time, doesn't mean there's an inconsistency. They thought Mata Nui would just wake up when they beat Makuta, but he didn't. And even in the movie, they never say, "okay, he's awake now!" The real actual canon is that they got back to Metru Nui and said, "So Mata Nui's awake now, right?" and Dume said, "Uh, no. There's still like a whole bunch more stuff you have to do."

Tahu's mouth. Mistika mask was cool, but didn't feel like tahu without the round mouth. The new 2016 Tahu is starting to push how abstract it can be and still look like him, but at least he has it.

The turmoil they caused over what is or isn't canon.

Farshtey Feed February 2010: "• Ancient and The Shadowed One are of the same species. Greg: "Well, you and I are the same species, but probably look very different and may have totally different skills. Every member of a species does not look alike or have exactly the same powers all the time." " http://www.bzpower.com/board/blog/59/entry-79850-farshtey-feed-p261-265/

Avalanche spear for Pouks, not Kualus? It still makes sense, but it's much less obvious.

Just to reiterate what I said in the other topic, Ancient and the Shadowed One are already the same species. The original Greg quote about it was probably in one of the old Official Greg topics which are now lost, but BS01 still lists them as the same species, and has ever since the page was created in 2012. What Greg had said was that not all species have to look exactly the same. Toa are pretty diverse in terms of their builds, and they pare part of a species that is even more so. Even if this weren't so, I still agree with the sentiment, and would vote for all four anyway. Any character with two arms, two legs, a tail (or plausible explaination for the lack of one) and a monstery face with no mask may as well be the same species.

yeah, BS01 only started citing new information as of like two years ago, so anything from before that you have to dig to find. It was back when Greg used to answer questions directly by PM on BZPower that he said they were the same species, so it must be in one of the old "Official Greg Discussion" topics. BS01 updated the info, but wouldn't have cited it.

I'll have to dig to find it but I have absolutely heard Greg say that the Shadowed one and Ancient wre the same species. The person asking was like, "really? they dont look the same." and he said not all species have to look exactly the same, some are very diverse. While I look, enjoy this post of someone saying the same thing back in 2012. it's the second post from the bottom. http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/6349-the-shadowed-ones-and-ancients-homeland/

Anotomically, I'm pretty sure it's a tail, but he's always leaning on it in pictures. I always pictured him walking on it like a cane, especialy after he gets aged in Time Trap. I'd beleive the Shadowed One is the kind of person who would give himself a tail just 'cuse, but Tyrant and Ancient both have tails too, so it'd be simpler if it was Conjurer who lost one, rather than the other way around.

Tyrant and Ancient is a no-brainer. The Shadowed one and Ancient are already the same species, and they're so different that we may as well just call it an exceptionally diverse species and include Conjurer. There are any number of reasons why he might have lost his tail, and like Matoran, there could be plenty of individuals or groups who were rebuilt or mutated or whatever else into different forms. And if the species is diverse enough for them, who else might be the same species? Vegeance, Lurker, Lariska, Jerbraz?

I just re-read the Whenua chapter of Mystery of Metru Nui and yes, Whenua escapes the Rahkshi of Heat vision because it can't see him immediately after shooting at him.

Seems like a minor enough detail to have been mentioned in passing in a novel, but not noted on BS01. Maybe it applied to Hakann, but not necessarily Rahkshi? the real world reason why heatvision is obviously just that Rahkshi was the yellow set in the Stars lineup, and Greg looked back on the kraata chart and saw "oh, heat vision!" In story, Greg said that Teridax just liked them. they were his favourite type of rahkshi. he liked the combination of precision and violence or something. Don't forget, the Rahkshi represented by the Stars set are a larger, bulkier Rahkshi 2.0 that Teridak made after taking over the Universe, and that although heat vision rahkshi were the most common type, in the final battle, there were several other (possibly all) types of Rahkshi present. I'm pretty sure there were both regular and super Rakshi at the battle, but I don't remember if the super ones came in all types, or just heat vision.

G1 is so expansive and long, that getting the opportunity to add to the universe is one of my favourite parts about it. G2 is so new, and so far pretty simplistic. If we were to have these contests they would have to be simple and directed from the story team pretty tighly which the earliest G1 things were. G2 being so young could have stuff like "Design a creature that lives in Okoto", but heavy, deep stuff like Memoirs of the Dead or Original characters would have to wait until either the G2 universe is a little bigger, or the story team needs something in particular.

I like the idea of naming it something Bionicle but 1. Only the shattered Spherus Magna looks like that. Not the whole Solis Magna system. 2. Solis Magna already means "Big Star" in (not very good) Latin and NASA has plenty of those. A bionicle name would be great, but PK 329-02.2 is not a star, and the bionicle object it looks like is not a star. Better to name it Mata Nui or Takanuva or as Spirit suggested, the Bionicle Nebula would be perfect. Something that isn't already a misleading latin word.

maybe even ultimate power or time in the summer and the other next winter.

They didn't have a trans brown, so they used orange for Pohatu's Kaukau. Kopaka's is straight clear and onua's is sort of a dark grey sunglasses colour.

2008-2010 ball joints that always broke, sometimes as early as the first build.

They sure do look like Nuva Symbols, eh?

The Toas' powers were given to them by the Great Beings, who designed each type of Toa individually and then labelled them with an element. It's the same reason Ice and Water are not the same. The Toas' powers aren't forces of nature, they're subjectively designed. So the Great beings must have decided that having control over only Stone and no other earth was equally usefull in their world to having control over all air or all fire or just liquid water. Relating them to natural elements is Matoran mythology, but in reality, their powers are carefully selected and designed by intelegent beings with subjective opinions, tastes and artistic intent.

I remember it coming out in a 2002 comic that the Bohrok were purely mechanical, to which I thought, "Oh, so everyone else isn't then."