Manas - BBCC 73

[Distorted]

 
Remake of the 2001 set. Features light-up eyes, moving arms, full forward/backward/turning motion and remote control via Power Functions.

Check out the gallery and watch it in action on Flickr!
 

Edited June 20, 2016 by Disty says hi

[Huichelaar]

It looks just like the original manas, but improved! It's wonderful how you can tell it's manas and still see how much more improved it is. Especially great is how you managed to replicate their rectangular body by using pieces to form a custom version. It even still functions the same way as the original!

 

Outstanding job.

Edited June 20, 2016 by Huichelaar

[Zippo]

Now THAT is awesome. I love how you managed to keep the function as well. 10/10.

[The Invisible Handman]

And we have a potential winner, congratz. It flawlessly integrates newer Bionicle pieces and system parts together. I'd call it perfect but it feels wrong for a crab to not have pincers. Then again I guess that's make the arms more fragile I guess.

[Endless Sea (Alaki Nuva)]

My god.  It's even more beautiful than I imagined.  Take my upvote!  Please!

[Ghidora131]

And we have a potential winner, congratz.

Why on earth did I even enter this contest, I'm doomed

 

Most incredible, good Disty. You're bound to win the contest.

[degnish]

Oh my god man. Long time no see. So happy to know you're still building! And blowing your old mocs I used to know and love out of the water! You've upped your game so hard! I have so many good memories of the manas and this does such a good job of encapsulating all the things i loved about them. I'm so impressed by the way you've compensated for the clunky boxiness of this set and turned it into an aesthetic strength. You've always been so good at integrating system elements with old school technic and bionicle in a way thats so uniquely "distorted" and it really seems to shine here! The gears sticking out of the back! The LEDs. The little greebles in the body! Man, you've always been one of my personal favorite bionicle MOCists, and I'm glad to know you won't be leaving those ranks any time soon! Never stop building, you've got a gift!

 

Edited some typos ;D

 

WAIT, I'm editing this comment again because I somehow overlooked the function and now I am crying. This is just too good.

Edited July 7, 2016 by degnish

[evil_jaga_genius]

Out of curiosity, how did you make the eyes light up?

[Distorted]

Thanks everyone for the kind words!

 

I'd call it perfect but it feels wrong for a crab to not have pincers. Then again I guess that's make the arms more fragile I guess.

Pincers would have been sweet. I was hoping to add them, but I couldn't figure out how to attach them in a way that wasn't going to be fragile and/or ugly with the parts I had. I might add them after the contest is over.  

 

Out of curiosity, how did you make the eyes light up?

I've got a set of Power Functions lights attached to the battey box - they sit in the holes in the Pohatu chestplate underneath the trans red studs.

 

It looks just like the original manas, but improved! It's wonderful how you can tell it's manas and still see how much more improved it is. Especially great is how you managed to replicate their rectangular body by using pieces to form a custom version. It even still functions the same way as the original!

 

Outstanding job.

Thanks. I definitely wanted it to look like a modern version of the original rather than an all-new interpretation. Sadly it doesn't have the disable function, but that's not much use when you only have the one Manas, right?

 

Oh my god man. Long time no see. So happy to know you're still building! And blowing your old mocs I used to know and love out of the water! You've upped your game so hard! I have so many good memories of the manas and this does such a good job of encapsulating all the things i loved about them. I'm so impressed by the way you've compensated for the clunky boxiness of this set and turned it into an aesthetic strength. You've always been so good at integrating system elements with old school technic and bionicle in a way thats so uniquely "distorted" and it really seems to shine here! The gears sticking out of the back! The LEDs. The little greebles in the body! Man, you've always been one of my personal favorite bionicle MOCists, and I'm glad to know you won't be leaving those ranks any time soon! Never stop building, you've got a gift!

 

Edited some typos ;D

 

WAIT, I'm editing this comment again because I somehow overlooked the function and now I am crying. This is just too good.

Definitely feel the same as you about the original set - I think I got them as a birthday present one year as a kid and they were so much fun. Building the Mana-Ko was awesome too. Thanks for the nice review, bud. Now it's about time you got back in the MOCing game!

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Weirdly, it's the mandibles that stick out the most to me. After the real crabs I've handled, I rather appreciate the effort that went into making a decent imitation of their mouthparts, and could definitely see the two biggish limbs (with the orange Onua masks) shoveling food towards the face as the smaller mandibles tear it apart and tuck it in.

[Distorted]

Weirdly, it's the mandibles that stick out the most to me. After the real crabs I've handled, I rather appreciate the effort that went into making a decent imitation of their mouthparts, and could definitely see the two biggish limbs (with the orange Onua masks) shoveling food towards the face as the smaller mandibles tear it apart and tuck it in.

The smaller mandibles were honestly added as an afterthought - I was hoping to place a gear wheel there to match with the original set, but they ended up staying. As for the white Barraki mandibles, I wanted something that matched the white Gali hooks of the original but was a more modern piece and also resembled a set of mandibles more closely (as I'm assuming that's what the designers of the original set were aiming for with the hooks). Thanks for the feedback! =)