Kid Icarus Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 At some point I intend to combine master and Uniter Kopaka to get the best out of both the gearbox and the waist gear, but what changes has anyone made to the new sets already? I've already taken the limbs and head off Ikir and made an Ice bird using Melum and some spare parts from Master Kopaka and Protector of Ice. I've also swapped Melum's hands with Master Kopaka's shoulder armor. This gets rid of the "too much gold" issue with Master Kopaka and the "too little gold" issue with Uniter Kopaka. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiffy247 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I am considering buying an extra Tahu and Ikir to make a full blown combination model. Quote A fish wielding vampire. That's Spiffy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toa of Ice - 1987 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 (edited) I don't have any 2016 sets but i removed all of pohatu masters spikes. Used all brown shells as his legs, all metal color shells as arm armor and i also rearranged all trans-green ccbs bones so there is one of that color in each limb. It much better to have his colorscheme like this in a symmetrical arrangement instead of the official one. Edited January 5, 2016 by necross hordika Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naota Takizawa Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 If I do end up buying the toa, I will probably just take parts from the 2015 set forms and replace any unsatisfactory ones. Quote If you like Pingu & want to support a good project, click here. Also, I've rejoined the BZPRPG & I have a new profile for a new game. Click here to see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragnar Lothbrok Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 I've used Uniter Gali's smaller blue plates to finally remove all trans colours from Master Gali. I've only had the Uniters for 2 days and they're already broken up and put away, with bits and pieces going on other figures. But I applaud LEGO for attempting to meld Technic and CCBS. They came very close to making great sets. I do love the new masks though, and tend to tinker with the Master sets so that I can swap the masks if I feel like it. Quote Twitter: @enkindle_this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiddenderek Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 I adjusted the shoulder connection point on lewa so that theres more room for articulation and looks less awkward, instead of pointing towards his back they're pointing outwards now, Also I rotated his forearms so that you can bend them further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyichir Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 (edited) I don't have any of the sets in hand yet, but I've considered swapping the Earth Blue shells from the new Kopaka for the stickered white ones from this year. I also plan on swapping the Trans. Fluor. Green shells from Pohatu with a less vibrant color like Silver Metallic or Sand Yellow (though I'll keep the bones and Bohrok eyes the same). Early on I hoped to give the new Onua the chestplate from this year's sets, but that was mostly just to see how it would look—if I make any more permanent mods to Onua, I'll probably see if his chest can be widened using other parts so I can maintain that luscious printed pattern. If the Vorox armor ever comes out in Warm Gold (maybe in the summer sets?) I'd like to give Kopaka back his gold shoulder pads. And finally, I might try swapping the Skull Villain armor on Tahu for more of the crystal add-ons he features to see if that maintains his silhouette while giving him a little more consistency as far as his textures are concerned. And maybe swap some of the Trans. Fluor. Reddish Orange Bohrok eyes for Red or Dark Azur ones. I dunno. It's hard to really visualize how changes will look until I have the sets in hand, which is part of why I'm still excited to get the new sets even if I'm less satisfied with them overall than the ones from this year. Edited January 5, 2016 by Lyichir Quote Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence Aanchir's and Meiko's brother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 Lyichir, if you swap Melum's hands with Kopaka 2015's shoulder armour, it gives Kopaka '16 more of a '15 flair. I never thought to switch the metru blue arm shells for the leg shells though, that's a great idea. Especially since the stickers resemble the ones on his shield-gun. It's such a shame that he couldn't have gotten a gold chestplate like Tahu and Onua. Once I get an Onua, I'll likely replace the purple skull armor with his shoulder claws from '15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nescent Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Usually I'm pretty anal about not modifying sets, but I did rotate Lewa Uniter's lower-arm bones by 90 degrees. The way the instructions show it provides extremely limited articulation, and they look really thin from the front. I guess the bones could press against the Vorox armor, but not enough to break/bend them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 Having both Kopaka and Tahu now, I have to say the way Kopaka's arms are attached is almost a sin. They're connected so flimsily while Tahu's are not only sturdy, but also allow more shoulder armour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyichir Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Lyichir, if you swap Melum's hands with Kopaka 2015's shoulder armour, it gives Kopaka '16 more of a '15 flair. I never thought to switch the metru blue arm shells for the leg shells though, that's a great idea. Especially since the stickers resemble the ones on his shield-gun. It's such a shame that he couldn't have gotten a gold chestplate like Tahu and Onua. Once I get an Onua, I'll likely replace the purple skull armor with his shoulder claws from '15. Yeah, but I generally like the shape of Kopaka's shoulders—the color is more what bothers me. Last year's Kopaka balanced the gold and silver in his color scheme really well, but this year's version has a lot more silver and a paltry amount of gold. I've seen some people suggest removing the gold altogether and just giving him the silver and trans-dark blue crystal details from Gali, but I'd rather add more gold to help better justify its inclusion in his color scheme. I'm hoping we see the Vorox armor in gold in one of the summer sets—maybe a new version of Ekimu or Makuta could use it. The main reason I want to swap the shells on Kopaka's arms is that like on Pohatu, the color choice really does a number on their "flow". I'm super-excited to be getting Earth Blue shells, since it's pretty much a new color for CCBS apart from the Skull Spiders, but their use on Kopaka makes his arms look almost like they come from a whole different figure. I'm hoping that by using the stickered shells from this year's Kopaka on top of the Trans. Light Blue arm bones, I can create a better transition between the white of the torso and shoulders and the Trans. Light Blue hands. Usually I'm pretty anal about not modifying sets, but I did rotate Lewa Uniter's lower-arm bones by 90 degrees. The way the instructions show it provides extremely limited articulation, and they look really thin from the front. I guess the bones could press against the Vorox armor, but not enough to break/bend them. Yeah, that reminds me, that's another mod I'm considering. Also, potentially swapping the Y-joints and Hordika necks in the shoulders, since based on a mock-up I've done prior to getting the sets it seems like that'd improve the posability in the shoulders. Quote Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence Aanchir's and Meiko's brother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32one Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Has anyone tried using the 2016 SW torso bone in place of the 2016 toa torso? It should make the hip section look more filled in and the legs should look longer. I'm not sure how you would implement the head connection, but it doesn't seem too hard. Maybe you could even use the SW gearbox design on the toa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxorak the Azure Noob Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 The Uniters are more-or-less the same as they were straight out of the box. However, I took the original Master armor and created armor racks for each Toa. That way, instead of trying to mesh the Master and Uniter designs together, I could just switch between the two sets relatively easily. They still have the Uniter gimmick in both forms, too. I slightly rebuilt four of the creatures so that the tails were actually, you know, tails instead of levers for the gear functions. Also to differentiate Melum from Terak. Umarak now has hands, extra shots for his bow, and armor pieces to fill in his legs. I also redesigned his bow to have an antlered look. Quote Statements (Mouseover to view): <1> <2> <3> <4> <5> <6> <7><8> <9> My MOCs:Characters- Makuta Dys Makuta Kamazotz Lord Vladek The Helmsmith Protector OCs Skull Whaler Skull Warden Creatures- Verdelisk Lord of Skull Spiders BBC Contest #69: Kahu Oko Taku Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korkoa Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I removed one of the two CCBS spacers from each of Gali's legs, and put them on her arms. Those proportions bothered me... But now her legs seem too short for her torso, so I'll have to get a few more of those pieces and see what I can do. Quote "Quis custodiet ipsos custodies? Your grace." "I know that one. 'Who watches the Watchmen?' Me, Mr. Pessimal." "Ah, but who watches you, your grace?" "I do that too. All the time." If anyone would be interested in co-hosting a Discworld-themed RPG for OTC, please PM me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sydorack Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I separated pohatu's staff into a separate sword in his left hand and a flail in his right. Pretty simply but looks just as good and makes for easier posing, plus the flail makes more sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The 1st Shadow Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I recently bought Onua and Pohatu. Haven't found anything to tweak with Onua just yet, but I did a bit on Pohatu. First off, his weapon. Like sydorak said, I just seprated his weapon, so that he now has a long-handled sword, and a flail. Two weapons for better fighting mobility. Secondly, I took off his dark tan shells from his legs and replaced them with some extra dark orange shells. Looks much better. I did notice one thing with Onua, though. If you switch the '15 mask with the '16 mask, they look a bit better. The problem with '15 Onua was that his head looked to small and narrow for his massive torso. The Uniter mask is thicker and broader, and fits in with his look so much better. Uniter Onua looks okay with the '15 mask, but it feels like it's missing something. Quote ~Your friendly, neighborhood Shadow ~Credit for Avatar and Banner goes to NickonAquaMagna~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Speaking of mask-swapping, I noticed Kopaka '15 doesn't look bad with either of Kopaka '16's masks. Most older masks, like Tahu '15's, feel a little awkward on the toa '16s though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiffy247 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I am going to getal of the sets first. Then take a long look at the designs, figure out the necessary pieces, and do a BIG bunch of Bricklink orders. I know my first change will be how Lewa's shoulders connect. Quote A fish wielding vampire. That's Spiffy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 I've gotten a few more sets so I've been starting to make a few more minor changes. I've decided to embrace the yellow in Lewa more by changing his back gear into one of the yellow ones and by adding some yellow bohrok eyes (courtesy of Speeda Demon's bike.) I also added a purple Vorox (I believe they're called) armour to Onua's left arm (the purple one) since his arms aren't the same anyways. Lastly, since I have a habit of throwing the extra spare parts on the sets, I put two orange spikes on Gali's right arm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyichir Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Having finally gotten my first 2016 Bionicle set (Kopaka and Melum), I've tried some of the changes I thought of earlier. First, I tried swapping the Earth Blue shells on his arms for the stickered white ones from last year's sets. It did kind of help his color scheme, but I wasn't happy with how it made his arm and shield kind of blend together (probably one of the major reasons why he did use a contrasting color there). On the other hand, I also swapped Melum's short arms and legs for Trans. Light Blue 5M bones with white 3M shells, and I have to say I did like that change—Melum just looks more bear-like with a bit more bulk, and it kind of makes me wish the set HAD been a $30 set so that Melum could be slightly bigger than the other creatures, instead of slightly smaller. The other change I would've made (making Kopaka's shoulders gold) is of course one I can't do with existing parts, but I still do think it would've been a good change. Quote Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence Aanchir's and Meiko's brother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 If you're worried about the sticker blending in, try Gali '15s leg armour. It's a darker silver, but silver nonetheless. Another popular swap is to take Gali '16s crystals for more sliver instead of Kopaka '16s gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyichir Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 If you're worried about the sticker blending in, try Gali '15s leg armour. It's a darker silver, but silver nonetheless. Another popular swap is to take Gali '16s crystals for more sliver instead of Kopaka '16s gold. If I want to swap Kopaka's arm armor for silver, I can just use the Silver Metallic armor used on 2015 Onua's lower torso. That way it'd match his other silver armor. Two metallic colors can work well together, but three is a tougher prospect. I've seen the swap for Gali's crystal armor, and it doesn't look terrible... but I really liked the gold in the 2015 set and feel like removing it entirely from his 2016 set would be a major bummer. Maybe I'll see what it looks like in the brick once I have Gali... Quote Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence Aanchir's and Meiko's brother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 I agree, I'd like more gold in Kopaka's build as well. They should've included gold vorox armour from the get-go to keep him closer to his '15 color scheme. They managed to give enough told to Tahu. The reason I didn't mention Onua's lower torso is because he only comes with one instead of the two needed for both arms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyichir Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 I agree, I'd like more gold in Kopaka's build as well. They should've included gold vorox armour from the get-go to keep him closer to his '15 color scheme. They managed to give enough told to Tahu. The reason I didn't mention Onua's lower torso is because he only comes with one instead of the two needed for both arms. Yeah, but I already have extra, and if that wasn't enough I picked up an extra Onua on clearance the other day. Quote Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence Aanchir's and Meiko's brother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted January 18, 2016 Author Share Posted January 18, 2016 (edited) I was tempted, but the only set I have two of so far is Kopaka '15. And only under the excuse that I might want the combiner and the original built at the same time. Target's in my town had a massive clearance and wouldn't put anything new out until it was gone. They didn't put of the 2016 sets until just 2 days ago. I think Onua was down to like, $15 but I didn't want to spend money on older sets until all the new ones were in my hands. But by having two Kopaka '15s, I have enough gold shoulder pads to replace both Melum's and Terak's hands. Actually, if I had purple or black armour cover pieces I could make a Onua-coloured version of Kopaka '15 with the drill and everything... Edited January 18, 2016 by Kid Icarus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryceDuyvewaardt Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 I ended up modding Kopaka within his plastics budget to have a sled/riot shield. It's fairly heavy to balance but I believe it can really add to the play value of the set.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkONfWp9W68 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyichir Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 I ended up modding Kopaka within his plastics budget to have a sled/riot shield. It's fairly heavy to balance but I believe it can really add to the play value of the set. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkONfWp9W68 Very interesting! I don't think I've ever seen anyone create a MOD with the express intention of keeping the overall weight the same. That said, there are other contributing factors to the price of a set other than the raw material budget (some parts are more expensive based on needing more complex molds), but I don't see too many prohibitively expensive parts in this MOD that would be likely to push Kopaka's price over the limit. That said, I'm not fond of all the mods here—not only has Kopaka lost a lot of his bulk, but the more complex shield seems to have come at the expense of his lovely sword, and while I'm not totally a fan of the Piece of Unification being used as leg armor in general, I much prefer it on the lower legs like Kopaka used it in the set, rather than on the upper legs like Tahu. Some of the building techniques, like those on the sword, shield, and even the shoulders feel a bit less refined than the actual set, no doubt due to having to make sacrifices to maintain the set's original weight while more than doubling the size of the shield. Ultimately this just makes me wish even more that Kopaka and Melum had shot for a $30 price point like Mask Maker vs. Skull Grinder, rather than the $25 price point they ended up at. Both Kopaka and Melum himself wouldn't look bad with a bit of extra bulk, and trying to add that while maintaining the same overall weight is easier said than done. Quote Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence Aanchir's and Meiko's brother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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