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Elzy

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Year 15

About Elzy

  • Birthday 09/19/1988

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  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    Calgary
  • Interests
    MOCing, Game Design, Electrical Engineering

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  • Website URL
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=elzaban

Elzy's Achievements

Tohunga

Tohunga (3/293)

  1. Tear those ghastly arms off and bury them in the depths of wherever your store your bricks. Everything the legs have going for them - nice bulk distribution, good flow, aesthetic form - are completely lacking from the arms. The odd forward-facing sockets for them aren't doing you any favours either. Perhaps you could even trade them to a blind person for the pieces to make a second pair of those legs (similar to them at least, can't be identical) and turn that robot into a horse. Possibly a robohorse. You can do something else with the body later. You can also fix the hooves once it's a horse to remove the ugly extraneous spurs on the heels.A lot of purists will give you flak for using rubber bands and what are presumably cut sections of tube, but I fully support their use when done subtly as you've done here. I will give you flak for using that blue pin to hold that eye in - it does nothing for you, and ruins the complementary purple/yellow accent scheme you have going on above the greyscale. I hope you at least tried using grey, black, white or tan before settling on this. Is there anyway you can put a 1x1 round brick in the front of that wheel? I ask because blue must die and you need to fit that yellow in a bit more. It's giving you a bit of a splash on the arms, but you're not taking full advantage of it. Especially because having the only colour scheme-appropriate accent drawing attention to one of those arms is a travesty. Work it into the head and body of this or of robohorse.-Elzy
  2. I'm not a fan of the golden diaper. The Bohrok shield ends up looking like a blatant space filler, which is odd because it also blatantly creates space between the splayed thighs. There's an empty void there, and it really needs to be filled. What could also stand to be filled are the gaps in the feet on the sides of the thighs. I've had some success using a 1x1 brick with a single studded side and then one of those semi-rounded 2x2 panels that they have in some of those Creator sets. Works a treat. Wish you had some small proper gold plates to put over the knees, as the kneecap cutting up from the bottom scheme seems weird.Upper arms are a let down, between the insignia on the HF plate and the huge gap between it and the KK armour. Not sure where your connection is between the two, but consider at least putting a black or Gold Bohrok eye on the lower pin hole to give some gradient between the shapes. The B10 limbs remain as dull as ever, hands are a mild improvement over the last one, I suppose. Pull them away from the ball a bit to give him a more sensible wrist. And perhaps he could have something to hold in one of those mitts, as they're pretty much vestigial otherwise.The rest of the body exists, I guess, though I'm disappointed at the lack of side images. This clearly has some depth play going on and I can't enjoy it at all. As it stands, not a huge fan of bum tubes. It looks like everything else is pretty much the same. His calves are nonexistant, but I guess it's supposed to be a robot, so that doesn't matter as much. I wish the heels were filled in with a ball and not left as empty sockets. Glad to see the back of the head is relatively filled, although I'm not sure what the little spike is there for.On the whole, it's a decent MOC, still needs more polishing on the arms, thighs and hips. I'd say for the most part it's been a step in the right direction though. Interested in seeing what more you can do with it.-Elzy
  3. But he doesn't look like he's missing a limb, it looks like it's just behind the cape. The issue is that it's actually missing a portion of the limb and is, evidently, doing a decent job of underplaying it.
  4. This is a nice example of a MOC that isn't bad from a technical stand point but is really handicapped by colour. The core color scheme of light blue/sage/tan isn't bad, but the way it's applied is. The pink and light green is more of an issue - why are these here, and what are they highlighting? Well they aren't really highlighting anything.The lime in the hips is the most egregious example of this - they're tucked away and semi-hidden, but they're in this bright highlight colour. On the sides of the thighs, you're already using the light blue as an accent, and then there's this misplaced lime sitting there. Most of the pink flowers suffer from the same thing - they're too out of the way to be proper accents, but they're too noticeable to be anything but an eyesore.It's important to be careful when introducing quaternary colours to an already complex scheme. Pink is never going to work here for you unless you either change up the whole scheme, or if it was some sort of internal-only color that you couldn't see without doing a cross-section. The transparent lime is probably your best bet, as it ties into the sage fairly well. And you're going to want to limit where it is - if you use any trans lime outside of the center of the chest there and maybe as a replacement for the flower on the head and the visor in the weapon, you're going to be overdoing it. So get rid of the lime in the legs (replace with light blue or tan or just remove it outright), and ditch all of the flowers.With those out of the way, colour blocking becomes the other issue. Most of your colours are being thrown around randomly on this, leaving you with a MOC that lacks visual consistency. An easy way to do proper color blocking is to take each colour you're going to be using and ask yourself "what's this colour's purpose - what segments of the MOC will be in this colour?"For the light blue, you currently have it torn between accent colour and a skeletal colour, augmenting the blue-grey. As the torso is probably the best instance of colour blocking on this at present, I'd stick with making it skeletal. I'd drop the light blue on the outer thighs and chest plates, and probably swap the light blue sockets on the feet with the blue-grey sockets on the back of the knees. Keep colours together.The tan and sage are used fairly well at the moment. The thighs are probably the worst place for them, as the panels only match colours diagonally, giving it a clashing harlequin appearance. I can understand this being limited by piece availability, but ideally the thighs plating would be a single colour, or divided sage/tan on the top/bottom or on the front/side.The torso and feet are pretty good in this regard, the only other thing I'd really suggest would be replacing the sage limb pieces in the upper arms and shins with blue-grey, in keeping with that colour's role as skeletal structure. I'd ditch the 1x1 tan plates on the arms as well, unless you can find more substantial plating in that colour.Here's a roughly Photoshopped example of what a more cohesive colour scheme and a more coherent colour blocking layout could do for this MOC. The colour here assists the eye in picking out the shapes of the MOC, rather than hindering it as in the present layout. Something to consider for revisiting this or for application in future MOCs.- Elzy
  5. I liked Firefly in The Batman, and this certainly captures him. The collar works nicely here (though it would help if it were pitched down a bit more), and the jetpack is simple, but gives you pretty much pure transyellow without any major gaps.Weakest part of the MOC is definitely the legs. The tires are a major detractor here - they aren't blended in with anything and are just providing clunky bulk. It's worst on the thighs, where the slope of the HF plates is in the opposite directions of the tires (flipping them upside down would fix it). The other issue is just basic proportions - look at the reference image. The segments of the leg should be roughly the same length as the torso. You could make the torso smaller, but it's height and bulk aren't too bad right now. Much easier to add about two studs length to each of the thighs and shins and work some smoother bulk distribution into them. The extra length on the shins would help better taper them down to the ankles as well.Arms suffer from some similar bulk distribution issues, but the basic proportions are fine. HF armor on the upper arms should be flipped upside down to better match the taper in the reference. Forearms seem rather thick - I'm not a fan of how the HF armor is placed up against the Ben 10 limb. A set up like this one of Moko's would give you the bulk you're looking for and still let you use the Waspix panel. Getting rid of the Ben 10 limbs would would also solve the issue of those locked wrists.Head's nice, I don't think stickers are needed, they'd probably seem cheap. The face probably could have used the smaller HF panel instead, as this one comes across as too long when combined with the HF helmet, an ends up stabbing into its chest, rather than simply providing Firefly's sharp chin like the smaller panel would. The yellow wands work, but this really feels like a place for the old yellow harpoon pieces from the Divers series.Anyway, on the whole a nice rendition of Firefly, maybe could use some more poses in the pictures rather than just a rotational view of it. Mimicking the reference image for the entry pic would have been nice. Best of luck, though.- Elzy
  6. Well, this guy certainly screams Manbat. Kudos on finding a character that translates well to Bionicle pieces. The posing in this picture helps a lot, too - I'll be interested in seeing the other images once the gallery's open. Just a few things about it that irk me, though: [*]The nose suffers from having too much contrast, and from being too far inward from the lower jaw. Ideally, that socket piece would be the same color as the ears, although I'm uncertain if they've made those in that gold (BrickLink indicates that they haven't). But certainly they exist in dark tan (from Avak) or Dark Flesh (from Pouks or Velika). As for the issue of the nose being too far back, you can actually fit a 1x2 System plate in the slots on the side of that socket piece - one of those in the appropriate colour would sync up the jaws nicely.[*]The arms seem to have four segments, which the pose does a decent job of hiding. I'm not sure why this is, because from all indications, the segment with the Metru thigh plate on it isn't needed - just connect the Piraka leg to the wing segment with a regular socket. Getting it down to two segments might be a bit harder, but getting it down to three would help.[*]This one's really minor, but his calves look like they could really use some muscles - he's got pretty thick thighs, but then the calves are just thin and single pieced and all-around bleh. This would depend on how much navy blue you have, though, so I can understand if that was the limiting factor.On the whole, though, nice entry, visually very evocative of the character, definitely want to see more of it. Best of luck.- Elzy
  7. Thanks for the responses, folks. They exist in the colors I used them in, it's just that they, for the most part, only exist digitally. If I were "painting" this, I'd go into photoshop or something and copy the colors directly from the DCAU art. And animation really isn't the same as editing the appearance - it's just 12 unedited images that are being shown to you consecutively. And if it was a physical MOC, I still would have put together an animation of her spinning. A bit more delicate than some of my other ones, but doable. It's pretty much the episode where the series grew the beard as far as I'm concerned. Certainly for Freeze at least - completely improved him from the gimmick character he had been.-Elzy
  8. "This is how I'll always remember you - surrounded by Winter, foreveryoung, forever beautiful. Rest well, my love. The monster who took youfrom me will soon learn that revenge is a dish... best served cold."| 1 (HR) | 2 (HR) | 3 (HR) | 4 (HR) | 5 (HR) | 6 (HR) | 7 | 8 | Entry | Gallery |
  9. Sometimes I forget we have enough qualifying virtual pieces now to make this ruling relevant. I'm not sure I've come to grips with it yet. But yes, they would be allowed.Entry Name: Mr. Freeze, Heart of IceEntry Pic URL: HereTopic URL (if applicable): Here
  10. Thanks for the responses, guys. Keep meaning to reply but then I wind up busy working on something else and forget to afterwards.
  11. What's the stance on digital MOCs in these contests? I didn't notice anything regarding them in the rules section, and I've never paid any attention to prior rulings on them.
  12. DV, what happened to you hating this set? I only read this article because I was expecting some sort of tirade on how terrible it is, and that didn't materialize. What I read was a bunch of stuff talking about manelephantgorilla with some downplayed complaints about the head and then a sentence or two addressing the knees and elbows. Disappointing to say the least.
  13. I was really hoping "Lunchables Comic 1" would be a valid title, but then I realized that I had no idea for what a story with that title would entail, so I went with an actual title and wrote an actual entry instead.Member Name: ElzyEntry Name and Link: "Hanging By A Thread", found here.
  14. HANGING BY A THREADA Vignette In Which Chronicler Takua Holds On For Dear Life Things were looking up for the Chronicler - which was good, as he had little energy to do so himself, and looking down wasn't an option. It didn't help that he could still feel the chilled winds of Ko-Wahi raking across the soles of his feet, taunting him. His breath came ragged and erratically, and when it did, icy crystals scraped along his throat, torturing him from the inside. Not that they needed to, as the burning in his muscles was providing pain enough, straining against the unrelenting tug of gravity. 'At least the storm has passed,' he thought to himself as he stared up at the blue sky beyond the stony precipice. With vision blurring from the brightness, his thoughts turned to an altogether different blue expanse, where he had begun his present journey what seemed a lifetime ago. The gentle waves of the ocean lapping the edge of the beaches south of Ga-Koro, the serene stillness of the waters as they stretched to the horizon. Warm sand underfoot, cool breezes off the sea, and vast possibilities before him. Had he known where he would end up, perhaps he would have stayed on that beach, embrace that tranquility, if only for a short while longer. 'No,' he decided, 'even then I would have taken up this mantle. Besides, any peace I could find there would have been fleeting. No sense in fighting my Duty for the sake of false security.' Even before he began his present journey, darkness had been spreading across the island, insinuating itself through the forgotten corners of the wilderness and, slowly, almost imperceptibly, into the homes and hearts of the Tohunga. The Chronicler's travels served only to cement that notion in his mind, as he bore witness to the many ways in which Rahi, Tohunga, even Toa, could be corrupted - a testament to the imperative for action. Now all he bore witness to were empty, blue skies, bitterly chilled winds, and taught hemp rope, straining against a snow-worn cliff edge. Nothing to hear but the high pitched whistle of winds pressed between jagged mountain faces, and his own hoarse breath. Wait. On the edge of hearing, a faint roar, carried from Mata Nui knew where. Up here, an echo could carry for several kio just as well as it could a few bio. Then again, it could just be an illusion, his mind playing tricks on him after so long in the thin, mountain air. A paranoid manifestation of Ko-Wahi's desire to swallow him alive. 'Paranoia.' He had seen much of it during his travels, perhaps nowhere as much as his first destination - the city of Ta-Koro. So distrustful were they that they had even attacked their own Toa Tahu on sight. They had little love for travelers such as he, suspicious perhaps of the corruption he had seen during his journey. Maybe they were victims of that very corruption, seated at the foot of the dark Mangai volcano, at the heart of the island. He hoped that same force hadn't come upon him here in this mountain chasm. How had he even gotten here? The blizzard from the night before had been blinding, but why did he take the risk in the first place? Perhaps he thought fortune on his side, and it may have been. After all, despite his inauspicious step over the cliff's edge, he lashed out and grabbed this tattered rope, perhaps part of a rope bridge that once spanned this gulch. Surely, if fortune did not favor him, he would have plunged to his death on the jagged rocks below. 'Last thing I need on my mind are those rocks,' he quickly thought, trying to turn his mind to more pleasant memories. Fortune and misfortune - ever had the two gone hand in hand during his voyage. How fortunate had his friend Maku been to escape the beleaguered village of Ga-Koro, and how fortunate had she been to meet him there on that tranquil shore. But these had only served to make up for the misfortune of the Tarakava attack, of the people of Ga-Koro finding themselves trapped beneath the waves. But with his help and that of the Toa Gali, their plight had turned around. 'I wish I could get a bit of that help now.' The ache came back into focus, burning his arms and lungs, freezing his feet and face. Second, minutes, perhaps hours passed before the worst of the pain subsided and he could think again. Now he thought of pain, but not his own - the pain of the people of Po-Koro, struck ill by virulent plague. Their village had seemed a ghost town when he entered, save for the wracking coughs of the afflicted. Even their Toa Pohatu was stricken with blindness, but with the Chronicler’s help, he had been able to put an end to the corrupt source of the villagers’ infection. There was no malicious entity behind the Chronicler’s present pain, however. No great beast that exhaled this frozen air, that tricked him over a deadly precipice towards its waiting jaws. This was simply the apathetic cruelty of nature, the other side of the widget that bore the bountiful splendor of natural harmony. The only blame he could place here was on himself – that was reason enough to endure it. It wasn’t the first time he had witnessed the vagaries of nature. The miners of Onu-Koro placed no blame for the lava flow which had blocked their work – an outstretched hand seeking to bring community with the people of Le-Koro. They simply persevered, and even without his help in diverting the flow, they would have persevered still. It may have taken longer, but they would have found a way around their obstacles. ‘I suppose I should do the same,’ his conscience chided. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold on, and with the burning in his arms, climbing wasn’t an option. His neck creaked stiffly as he diverted his gaze to the side, looking for some foothold – anything that might provide a way out of this predicament. He scanned the cliff face to his right for any protrusions, when the urge struck him. Look down. He wished that he hadn’t. The surface of the cliff slipped away below him, leaving nothing but open air and sharp, snow-covered stones far below. The slowly drifting silhouette of a cloud cast its afterimage on his retinas, and he closed his eyes in disbelief. It hadn’t been that long ago when he had flown through the open air with Kongu on the back of his Kahu bird, but that was an entirely different experience. He forced himself back through the memories of that flight, soaring over the treetops of Le-Wahi, trying to free the villagers of Le-Koro from the Nui-Rama. Slowly, visions of the clouds below him were replaced with those of leafy canopies, terror ebbing away to be replaced with thrill. Calm came to the Chronicler again, until he recalled the crash landing in the hive. Cold sweat ran down the inside of his mask, as he recalled the hive floor rushing up to greet them, but now the jagged canyon floor came up in his mind’s eye to swallow them. By the Great Spirits, he wished Toa Lewa were here to pluck him from his perch and put him back on solid firmament. But after receiving the Golden Kanohi, the once-tainted Toa was needed elsewhere, and certainly wouldn’t visit this part of the island just to save a foolish Chronicler. ‘Come on, Takua,’ he urged himself, ‘keep looking. You’ve only got yourself to blame, but you’ve also got yourself to save.’ Slowly, he opened his eyes, his gaze glued to the surface of the cliff. With his breath coming in even shallower rasps, he turned his attention to his left. The winds in this ravine had long ago worn the mountain’s face smooth, as featureless as the snows that had enveloped him the night before. But even then, much had been there that had been unseen – the frozen Kopeke, who the Chronicler had tended to, for instance. ‘As well as this blasted pit,’ he added to himself, eyes darting about in search of any hint of a foothold. And there was one, half a bio to his side. It might not be much, but it would be a start. The only obstacle was getting to it. ‘Guess I’ve got to swing.’ The Chronicler pitched his body to the right, gently, to avoid tearing his sole lifeline. Back to the left he swung, slowly gaining momentum. Soon he had become a precarious pendulum, straining to gain precious height. It would all be worth it, though, as he could almost reach that foothold and the hope that it brought. ‘Just a little more,’ he pleaded, stretching his leg to catch the stubby protrusion. Arms crying out with pain, he let out a yell and grasped the tiny platform with his toes, for just an instant, before he heard the sharp report of snapping rope. He looked up to see the frayed rope splitting against the edge of the cliff, dropping him into freefall. His voyage flashed again before his eyes, and it surprised him to find that he feared more for the loss of the Chronicle than of his own life. He braced himself for impact as the smooth cliff slipped away from him. For just an instant. His hands nearly slipped from the rope as it jerked to a halt, pulling his gaze back to the cliff’s edge and the sky beyond. A pair of white hands firmly grasped the rope’s end, slowly lifting it back on to the plateau. As the Chronicler rounded the edge, the faded blue of his rescuer’s Kanohi came into view, locking eyes with him as he crawled up onto the solid ground. “Thanks for the save,” he whispered to the Ko-Koronan, before a wave of relief and exhaustion took hold of him. The last thing he felt was the stranger lifting him up and carrying him towards safety, before sliding into the undisturbed darkness of sleep. The End
  15. Voted for the Hyena over the Snake in the end. The rest had some combination of a lack of HF aesthetic and lack of technical proficiency, though I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see a Trunx victory. Best of luck to everyone who made it to this point.
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