Infrared

When I hovered over the actual thing, most of the slope showed searches in 2006. I guess the numbers are just a bit weird. I think it looks weird because 2007 on the graph corresponds to the beginning of 2007, not the middle. Not the most intuitive. Vertical gridlines would help. Up your game Google.

First off, welcome to BZPower! Overall I think it feels like something that belongs in Le-Wahi, so I think you nailed the theme. I actually like how you used a plus rod for the beak--not only does it match the thinness of a hummingbird beak, but it reminds me of the early Rahi that didn't rely too much on specialized parts. I also like how the head is made of gears for the same reason. Nice use of the leaves and Ehlek spines for feathers too. And good job not only incorporating a gear function but making it so central to the MOC! One thing I may recommend is removing the silver blades from the wings. They seem sort of out of place among the red and green, and they're small enough I think you could remove them without sacrificing too much bulk. Good job and good luck!

Ha, I think we were looking at each others' entries at the same time! This is great vignette. You definitely stayed true to the "kickin' it" part of the theme. It's neat how you did the glasses on Duka--is there any way to connect the lenses at the center? The flexibility in his design is nice too--even though you do use CCBS to do it, I don't think it detracts from the model at all. The Vako really feels like a Rahi that belongs on Mata Nui. The tubing as water coming off it is a subtle but very nice touch. And I'm jealous that you have so many of those triangle connectors. Seriously great work, I hope this makes it far!

Among the Dark Hunters' ranks stand some of the cleverest spies and backstabbers the universe has ever seen. But sometimes The Shadowed One just wants to break stuff. That's when he calls in Rampage. Flickr album Gear function! (gif) My entry to BBC #73. Few things stand out as more quintessentially G1 to me than the models from the 2006 Dark Hunters book. I tried to replicate that unpolished mechanical style here. In fact, as far as I know all the pieces in Rampage except the upper arms were available in 2005 when the Dark Hunter contest took place. I'd love to hear your comments and criticism! Edit 2016-07-17: Gear function instructions!

Another thing is that in general, weak beings can use weak masks, but they can't use strong masks even partially. Take the Rau: the Noble Rau can translate written language, the Great Rau can translate written and spoken language. If Turaga Nokama puts on a Noble Rau, she can translate written language. If she puts on a Great Rau, she can't translate anything: even though she has a "Noble" power level, she can't tap the "Noble" aspect of the Great mask (translating written language), since it is still a Great mask that's too powerful for her. We don't know why specifically Great masks are too powerful for Turaga, but they are. Kanohi are kind of like software I guess. You can try running a new program on an old computer, but it might not work as expected. Maybe it'll run slowly or crash the computer--which is to say, maybe Turaga technically can use Great Masks, but it'll harm or kill them. To prevent this, the developers might stop the program from running on old systems--the Great Beings prevented Turaga from using Great Kanohi, even though Turaga technically do have enough power to use them. Or maybe the program uses new technology that the old computer doesn't support, so the program simply can't run. In which case, Turaga are too weak for Great Kanohi, plain and simple. I think Kanohi Nuva run on the same principle. A Great Kanohi Nuva is a step up from a Great Kanohi. This means ordinary Toa are not powerful enough to access any of the powers in the Kanohi Nuva. Why? We don't know for sure. Regardless, the Toa Mata had to use ordinary Kanohi. When they became Toa Nuva, of course they could use more powerful Kanohi Nuva. tl;dr: As others have stated above, you can't "train up" Kanohi. So why didn't the Toa Mata just wear the powerful Kanohi Nuva from the get go? Kanohi Nuva are so powerful that the Toa Mata couldn't access the Kanohi Nuva's powers at all. Once they became Toa Nuva, they were strong enough to use the masks.

Good stuff. The Rahaga were originally Teridax's guards, so that could explain why they knew about Keetongu in the first place.

Trivia has been pretty central to previous MakutaFests, so Twitch I'd say. BTW do you guys know the dates for this year yet?

You smart. You loyal. I thought it was more of a gold the entire time. I've always figured it's copper, since way back when BZP mailed OBZPCs a Copper Mask of Victory.

Dunno man, still waiting on hoverboards myself.

The shaping and parts usage on this guy is fantastic. I like how you incorporated the wheels on his arms to represent the cloth wrapped around them. I guess maybe the head is a little large, but I'm not sure it could be any smaller without sacrificing detail. Maybe if you added a hood it would help (and just plain look cool ). Seriously, great job and good luck!

There's a Chrome extension called Force Block that came in handy for me. Gonna echo Nescent here, TFA is an awesome addition to the series.

If I recall, at some point during MNOLG's development there were plans for a shadow tribe that served Makuta. Akhmou was a member of it, hence the infected Koli balls. I'm not sure where they would have hung out, but that seems like as good a place as any. Maybe something to ask Faber about.

Less plastic maybe?

I think this guy could give a pretty informed answer.

Well yeah, Lego fans tend to have ABS...

Is champ there?

...a dad. You've become a dad.

Sounds like quite the Undertaking! (Also use this version it's worse better)

Oh so that's why it's called Power Scream...

Yup, it's the Mata Nui Saga. Here's a video of it with the narration:

Hey thanks! Good point about the arms. Originally the forearms were a bit longer, but the design fell apart easily so I scrapped it in favor of the added stability. But maybe I can make them longer by adding those CCBS friction extender things to the elbow joints.... That piece is actually his shield holstered on his back (it's visible from the front here). Apparently it's from a 2005 Star Wars set.

Hey man. Emojis work here? Uh-oh. (Edit: not in comments apparently) Sorry to hear about your friend.

I've found that starting with one leg, then one arm, then the torso, then the other arm and leg is a good strategy. The idea is to hammer out the designs for everything before you get bored so you don't cop out on any part of the MOC. If I start with the torso, I spend a lot of time on it and get lazy on the limbs, but if I get the limbs done first, I don't get lazy on the torso. Then when I've finished the fun part of designing everything, I go back and do the boring part of building the missing limbs--but there isn't much room for getting lazy when all I'm doing is copying what I've already built. Then when it all comes together, tweak things as necessary. In terms of designing limbs, try starting with an interesting piece and then build a shin around it. For example, in my newest MOC I built each shin around a Rahkshi/Vahki body piece. An alternative is taking a normal limb piece and building cool armor on top of it. Then pick out the feet (honestly I use plain Mata feet most of the time) and figure out how to connect the shin to the torso. For the arms, start with the shoulder and then work your way down to the hand.

Thanks for the feedback! I like the color scheme myself, but to each his own. I do think some of the photos make the orange and dark gold a bit more vibrant than they are in real life, but on the other hand the colors might have the same issue even if they're more dull. And good idea with the tan pins--looking back, a lot of the times I used blue pins (like on the shins and forearms) the added friction doesn't do much, so replacing them shouldn't be a problem.

This is a sweet MOC. The filter is nice and greebly, and it's cool that you've managed to fit not one but two Zamor launchers into the design. And that use of the Kraata tub is awesome! If I had to offer a couple (minor) suggestions, the tube from the backpack to the filter seems a bit awkward--maybe try using a silver or black Mahri tube instead? Also, if you use a bright green Zamor sphere (from the Piraka sets) instead of the whiter green one you have currently, it might match the green lights on the backpack better (which BTW are another nice touch!). Do you think a 2015 head would work? It's silver, but it has a more robotic look to it. And if you use a silver Mahri tube to connect the backpack to the filter, a silver head might not look quite so out of place.