Final photo intended as Entry Photo, though any forward-facing photo can be used as an alternate if necessary.
Design Process:
I have been looking forward to the Artakha contest pretty much as soon as the canon contests and roster were announced, beginning development immediately.
Growing up with the character, I always imagined Artakha as being a bright figure with white as a prominent part of his color palette.
Now, if there’s anything I’ve noticed about the TTV community, y’all are big on attention to detail. So, I’d like to carefully explain how this depiction squares with the canon description and falls within the general parameters of the contest, even if the recommended defining palette emphasis is on green. I sincerely hope that this is not a disqualifying palette, and that voters can decide if my creative license matches their conception of the character.
–
“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
–
Key word here being armor: nowhere is Artakha’s outer-skin / epidermis ever described: all that are defined by canon descriptions are his armor color (grey-green), height, aura, mask, and smithing-hammer. His skin-color (or Bionicle-equivalent) are open to interpretation.
His armor matches his canon-description: I opted for a gunmetal-grey interpretation with accents of ancient green crystal. Beneath this armor, his skin is close to 50/50 white and dark green, which if nominated to the Art Phase of the contest, I’d recommend changing to sand-green, as I believe was Greg’s intention. Alas, these colors barely exist in my collection, so dark green became the placeholder. However, dark green accents connect him to his brother Karzahni, who bares similar hues. The green elements appear beneath his shoulder plates, his torso armor, and as crystal components throughout his armor.
Since Greg seems to envision his armor being largely sand-green in color (again, a color that is simply not in large supply piece-wise), I would like to remind community members, admin and voters that any part of this entry can be re-colored with sand-green in the art portion of the contest. In fact, I would encourage this, even if it is the white elements that are changed in this process. This build provides a foundation for artists to interpret and get the exact colors right in the second half of the contest, keeping what they like and modifying the rest to better fit “canon.”
He is tall and imposing. He stands at 12 inches, the same height as the official Brutaka set. His frame is loosely based off of Umbra, as the two were canonically created around the same time by the Great Beings. This is also to keep the build in line with official LEGO set aesthetics.
Above all else, he carries a real presence that I’ve come to love. I am so happy with how he came out. Regardless of the contest, he will always be my Artakha. He even inspired me to start a Bionicle themed instagram, forge_of_artakha, which has become a really rewarding quarantine project.
Credit to KhingK for the Mask of Creation design, which I truly hope ends up becoming the canon mask regardless of MOC winner. I purchased this print from KhingK’s Shapeways store Forge of the Mask Makers.
Happy forging for all the other participants! Looking forward to the awesome competition!
QUALIFYING EDIT: 09/07/2020
Per admin request, slight alterations to color-scheme have been made to fit within contest rules. All Metru green pieces have now been replaced either with sand-green or white pieces to fit within contest color parameters.
I would like to emphasize that the palette of this submission ought be re-interpreted as largely sand-green in the art portion of the competition. This entry is meant to be a physical foundation for artists to get the color palette just right later. The pieces simply don’t exist for a mostly sand-green build. White pieces ought to be regarded as sand-green for artist’s interpretation later.
