Baruka: Native Son

[Chro]

This Toa of Fire hails from a primitive and peaceful tribe of Matoran living in the wilderness. His bone-adorned armor and fang-fingered gauntlets may appear sinister, but Baruka is actually a naive and valiant warrior with a pure heart.

This was a very fun build for me, as it was my return to normal "casual" MOCing after a few months of building nothing but contest entries. The customized Kanohi Kakama was created by MrCod of Modalt Masks.

MOCpages _{(more photos and an extended backstory)}

flickr _{(more photos in higher quality and larger sizes)}

Feedback is appreciated.

[Waaja]

FIRST!!!!! *er-hrm* Sorry.

 

I like the overall look of this MOC. His cover pose (and other poses as well) looks awesome too. I like how his Mahri Jaller armour blends with the red shoulder armour and the overall colour scheme stays consistent (unlike some of my MOCs ).

 

I also like the white accents (rubber bands!) and am quite surprised about the ones on his mask; they suit well with the overall colour scheme.

 

Then again, his character doesn't really suit the figure. I can see the 'honourable' fighter from some of the figure's poses, but most of them seem to portray a villainous,scheming character. This may largely be due to the red-black colour-scheme, and his red-black mask. Where did you get it though?

[Chro]

I figured that most people would react like you did in regards to the colors and spikes looking somehow "evil", and decided to mix it up a bit... the concept of armor adorned in bones is in and of itself a little gruesome, yes, but in my opinion it's reasonable for a member of a very primitive, Rahi-hunting tribe.

"Honorable" wouldn't be what I'd consider a defining trait for Ba - he's basically just not a fighter at heart, the claws and spikes on his armor are there for Rahi hunting and decoration respectively - so I suppose that's why that didn't show through so well. I guess when posing a MOC, I don't consider what fits the character so much as what 1. looks cool and 2. fits within my photo setup. If I had been considering that, then Ba would have had barely any action poses, since he lived peacefully for most of the time he had this form (i.e. this MOC - there's another version with a Huna and no bone spikes or claws that I didn't post, because I didn't like how it looked, which was the form he had with his team at first).

The mask is from Modalt Masks. You can find a link to MrCod's Modalt dA account in the OP.

Glad you like the MOC.

Edited May 29, 2014 by ChroXumo

[Ghidora131]

While it may look gruesome to some, I think that he needs the spikes.

It just doesn't look right without them. My only issue is the custom Mask. It seems so... misplaced.

Anyway, excellent work as usual!

Keep up the good work!

[Chro]

Honestly I'm not sure what you mean about the mask seeming "misplaced"... could you elaborate?

Thanks otherwise.