Disturbingly frail meant that her armor and mask were worn down from countless battles, Not that her arms were too flimsy to stay attached. It’s also worth noting that “Disturbingly frail” may be described her personality as well, remember, this is the same woman who not only had everyone with the knowledge of Artakha’s location murdered but also the same woman who ignores the toa code as she predates it.
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Not sure if this counts as a dead post, but good point there. I’m going through a bit of a MOCist’s block at the moment but I’ve tried to make a quick fix to this issue, either it will work or it will still look weird.
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I know this is probably considered a dead thread at this point, but if you don’t mind my asking, where did you get those backgrounds? I’ve been looking for some good MNOG backgrounds for a while now and I haven’t been able to find anything nearly as good as those.
Gorgeous MOCs, by the way.
If I remember correctly I got these from BZP from way back when the MNOG character kit was a thing. Unfortunately I don’t remember exactly where I got them from or if it’s even still up, but what I can do is compile a list of all the backgrounds I’ve got and link you to them.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AodcoUDvzhiw7XDpE6CO-JthHSAl?e=FhgeXG
Honestly, I can’t believe it’s been 6 whole months since I posted this.
Now that you bring this thread up, I could probably do with re-rendering them to be on-par with my more recent renders, and the mocs themselves could probably use a few minor changes as well.
I would buy all of these in a heartbeat and display them!
Oh and as for the Toa Mahri and Takanuva, I imagine the Toa of Light would be overjoyed to be working with his best friend again.
Also, I picture Takanuva saying something like this to the Toa Spherus:
“Remember when we all first met? Who knew we’d all become Toa? Guess that’s how Destiny works!”
All the Toa Spherus would fondly recall how they were recruited into the Chronicler’s Company and Kapura would still say: “I am practicing.” Even after all these years!
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Thank you so much, these are exactly what I was looking for.
If you do re-render/tweak these MOCs, I think I speak for us all when I say we’d love to see them.
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UPDATE: I’ve decided to go ahead with tweaking and re-rendering the mocs. I’ll be starting with the Toa Mahri, since I saw @Tributron’s Skull Blaster moc which inspired me to give Kongu a similar function (you may have seen my progress on Kongu if you’ve been browsing this section recently). So without further ado, here they are.
I haven’t changed much with the others, except I’ve redone Hewkii’s torso a bit and given Nuparu some new weapons. I’ve also updated the files I linked in a previous post, so be sure to check those out.
As a bonus, I’ve done another render of them in their original Matoran colours, with the exception of Takanuva, who I gave the old gold to match his 2003 appearance.
I’ll add more updates with the Nuva and Spherus when they’re done, and also the Hagah after the contests.
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UPDATE #2: The Galvapack just got updated with some new parts, including some unmutated Barraki heads (I’ll give 3 guesses as to what my next project will be), and some alternate Metru masks that look closer to their noble counterparts. As such, I’ve given the Toa Spherus some new masks to make them more closely resemble their Matoran forms , and I updated Taipu’s as well just so he wouldn’t be the odd one out (though I’m not sure about this in hindsight), and changed Kopeke’s mask to white so that it would look nicer next to the others.
However, I’d still like some feedback before I do some proper renders, so I’ve decided to put up a poll to see what everyone would think about the new masks.
What should I do with the masks?
- Use new masks for all 6
- Use new masks but keep Taipu’s
- Keep old masks
0 voters
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Hmm. The new Metru masks are well-designed , I suppose, though I honestly don’t like any of them. They all look…angry. My opinions on the masks themselves aside, I would still advise sticking with your original mask picks. The old, familiar masks help to make the characters recognizable as the Matoran we know; even though they’re in different shapes than the masks we’re used to seeing them in, they’re still well-established as those same masks, whereas these new ones, despite looking more like the old Noble masks, still look like brand new masks. If you’re alright with following the old Bionicle trend of characters looking markedly different from their past selves then you should stick with these new masks if you prefer them, but if you’re going for character recognition, I’d definitely advise sticking with the originals.
Though, either way you go, maybe you could use one of Galva’s Ruru and one original Ruru, so Hafu and Kapura aren’t wearing the exact same mask.
As for Taipu, I’d say to stick with the original Pakari for him too, if only to differentiate him from your Onua. Galva’s Pakari is all well and good, but using it here either makes it look like Taipu is wearing a Pakari Nuva, or Onua is wearing a standard Pakari.
That’s my two cents on things anyway. Hope it’s helpful!
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It seems the majority of people who voted would prefer the new masks, but you do raise some good points. Though to be fair, I do prefer Kopeke and Tamaru’s new masks. It wouldn’t make sense for Kopeke to get a scope out of nowhere, and the old Rau just doesn’t look nice when rendered. I think what I’ll do is stick with the old masks for Hafu and Taipu and give Kopeke, Tamaru and Kapura the new masks. It’s just Macku I’m unsure about, but I’ll probably stick with the old mask for her and go half-and-half.
Well, I disagree about the Rau, but that’s likely just bias from having built a Toa Tamaru MOC or two over the years using that mask. I get your point though, stud.io and translucent masks/armour pieces tend not to get along.
Regardless, it’s your MOC (YOC?), and whatever you say goes. I know I really don’t need to say that, but I’ve got this annoying little voice in my head telling me I’m being intrusive. I don’t want to come across like I feel entitled to a say in your work. I just think these designs are incredible and want to talk about them 
I know there are a few scopeless Matatu designs on Shapeways, but I guess none in stud.io yet. Shame.
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There’s nothing wrong with giving your opinion on something. In fact, the whole reason I post my stuff here is so that I can get feedback and make my mocs even better. The Toa Spherus in particular didn’t look nearly as good when I first posted them here due to Taipu’s weak torso design and three having the exact same build. Of course, I’m still the one who makes the decisions regarding my mocs, but it’s because of the feedback I get that I’m able to make better decisions with them.
Anyway, I’ve got the next batch of renders for the Toa Spherus ready, so enjoy.
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Nice to see my colors on renders other people do
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not-gali’s pose is intimidating in the not-cool way
help
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I like the 50/50 mixture of new and old masks, if that was an option in the poll I would have taken it. Ghid is right, Maku’s pose is awkward and doesn’t seem dynamic. Would you consider making her shoulders narrower? I think it would improve her a lot.
Have to disagree on the shoulder thing. Macku already has the narrowest shoulders / overall build of the bunch, slimming her down more wouldn’t do her any favours.
The issue is that the pose itself is awkward. Set her at more of an angle or change how she’s holding her spear and she’d be fine.
If any changes were to be made to her build, it should actually be to make her more bulky. Considering that she is A) a Toa of Water that spends all her time swimming, and as such would be very strong, and B) an accomplished athlete, Macku would be very physically fit, probably the physically strongest team member after Hafu and Taipu. I’d actually suggest slimming down Kapura for the same reason. He’d have killer legs from all the practicing, but while he was a member of the Guard, he didn’t do much fighting, so his upper body strength would be comparatively lower. Maybe swap his and Macku’s pauldrons?
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Why not use Galva’s Champion Pakari for Taipu?
Simply because the part didn’t exist at the time. I’ve already changed some parts and re-posed Macku so I’m gonna do another render at some point. I’ll have a look at using the champion Pakari for Taipu when I do.
For anyone who’s wondering, here’s the new Macku pose.
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Beefy gal, very nice. The pauldrons in particular are an excellent variation on your old design, preserving the same shape AND the watery aesthetic while adding some extra breadth.
And the new pose is significantly less awkward. Well done.
Good, but, THE BLUE PIN AXLES?!