Here is my interpretation of Artakha, the legendary creator. I envisioned him as a smith like character; he’s incredibly strong from all his years working the forge.
There were a few other things I kept in mind when building him. First, I wanted the armor to have the runes he is said to have.
“He stood at least 10 feet tall. His armor was gray-green and covered in runes carved at the beginning of time.”
— Reign of Shadows, Chapter 10
To me, the perfect part for this was the Hewkii Inika mask. It has an intricate pattern carved into it, which I think suits Artakha perfectly. Various other Gunmetal Grey parts seemed to echo the aesthetic of those masks. Some examples are the bohrok shields used as well as the backside of a thrornax launcher.
I also wanted to have some design elements in him that called back to the toa mata. For this, I decided to give him pistons on his abdomen just like the original toa had. I imagine that he took inspiration from himself in building them. Additionally I wanted to emphasize that him and Karzahni are brothers by using some of Karzahni’s parts throughout!
“His mask was the most ornate anyone had ever seen – more than just a Kanohi, it was a true work of art. The metallic protodermis from which it was forged was arranged in intricate patterns and designs, each reflecting one of the many cultures that flourished in the universe. The eye slits were angular and pointed, giving him an air of both wisdom and a vague sense of menace.”
— Reign of Shadows, Chapter 1
For the mask, although I understand it will not be the final cannon version, I wanted to have some visual similarities to the G2 mask of creation while making it more in line with the description from back in the day. The general shape of the mask is similar to the G2 version with fewer spikes on the top and with much more slanted eyes then the mask of creation we got. I think this version captures the wisdom and menace Artakha is said to exhibit.
For the hammer, I did not want to go too overboard with the size. But, I figured Artakha probably grabbed the biggest hammer he could find when he went to join the final battle. Maybe it is the same one used to hammer out the protodermis for the core vehicles! I am super happy with how the design of the hammer turned out. The HF helmet add ons help to make for a smooth transition between the handle and hammerheads.
If you’d like to see instructions for this model you can find them following this link. There are over a hundred pictures, so I figured it would be best to have an external album haha. If anyone builds this, I would seriously love for you to send some pictures of it connect on my flickr and insta.
Here are a few more pictures of Artakha:
And my favorite picture of the bunch. (I figured it would not be good for the main shot because parts of him are obscured.)
If you like my interpretation of Artakha I’d appreciate your vote in the contest! Best of luck to all the other entries!