The most elite, picked from the best the universe had to offer, the Toa Hagah stand tall having weathered the sands of time and the fires of betrayal.
I had a couple of main goals when going in to making these designs:
- Colour balance. No repeated eyestalk colours, even sets of metallic armour colours, and consistency with the colour choices of the existing Hagah.
- Consistent design. I wanted no new points of articulation (much to my own annoyance) and for all of them to have functional gear boxes.
- A balance of unity and diversity. I’ve always really liked the Hagah because they were built on the Metru frame while having more variation in silhouette and build compared to the Metru themselves. To continue in that vein, I wanted unique designs when it came to armour, limbs, or other things affecting the silhouette for each Hagah, without any of them looking out of place.
Since it seems the most convenient for the structure of the contest, I’ll list each of the missing Hagah separately below with their entry pictures and breakdowns, as well as providing some of my reasonings for their designs. There are also a couple of rules that aren’t entirely clear to me (namely the meaning behind “single-ended spear”), so I didn’t want to post too close to the deadline so I had a bit of time to make changes should the need present itself.
- Toa Bomonga -
The ever-patient hunter, Bomonga is built as sturdy as a building–a solid mass of muscle–able to spring into action after days of sitting perfectly still while hunting his quarries. He wears dark grey metallic armour, and his mask is forged in the shape of a Kanohi Iden. For most of the mask choices, I wanted the mask powers to have some kind of throughline, and while the Iden doesn’t really modify the physical form, I ultimately landed on it for its shapes–especially with the rounded shapes on the back of Galva’s Iden resembling the round macaroni pieces used to fill in his sides.
His Seismic spear somewhat resembles Whenua Hordika’s thumpers, since I imagined its secondary power would likely be something vibration-related, given its name. While his spear is pearl dark grey in the entry image to conform with the contest rules, it was originally built with dark bluish grey pieces, and can be done so to not look out of place with the model while not having to paint any pieces.
More angles and breakdowns
Somewhere along the line I ended up with the opinion that Bomonga should have a big belly, and since that has become strong and non-negotiable for me. The Metru torso doesn’t make that easy, but I’m really satisfied with what I was able to do.
Living up to his name, Big-monga clocks in at 129 parts, most of which are used to add his extra bulk. While the technic hand connector and ball joint are usually used here to give an extra point of articulation, in this case his gear function still works, and its just to help fill out his torso. Additionally, the triangular technic connector on the shoulders is a friction connection, just sitting in the pin hole half an stud’s length, but is held on securely and without any strain by the Nuva shoulder armour piece.
This angle shows the most of how his torso was filled out, which I had a much more elegant build for back when I thought the Metru torso might not be a requirement. That said, I’m pretty happy with what I was able to achieve. This also has the main piece (disregarding the shield/spinner) that would theoretically have to be painted to build the model physically, that being the Hordika armour in black.
Finally, maybe its Toa of earth stereotyping, and I’m not totally sure it’s even allowed by the contest rules, but I wanted to bulk out Bomonga’s shield a little bit along with making it a sharp and weapon-like. It’s also in his main hand, unlike the rest of the Hagah, showing that Bomonga is mainly a protector–his bladed, angrier shield making sure his prowess as a hunter is not underestimated despite that fact
I give consent for my mask to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
I give consent for my metallic color choice to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
I give consent for my spear tip to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
- Toa Pouks -
Loud, friendly, and straight-forward, Pouks has become the design I am happiest with. Built for athleticism, he can run circles around the largest of Rahi, his blade-like prosthetic legs giving him shape language that suggest speed and paying some homage to Pohatu and the idea that Toa of stone might more commonly have foot-based eccentricities. Pouks wears silver metallic armour and his mask is forged in the shape of the Kanohi Faxon. I like the shape of the Faxon for him quite a bit, but I also chose it because of its similar mask power–being able to copy a more limited set of abilities from other creatures.
Galva’s Faxon aside, this design is nearly 100% buildable with all but one of his 105 pieces coming in the colours used–the exception being Turaga Whenua’s staff used as the spearhead only coming in black. Despite that, he should be easily buildable and look nice for all the purists out there.
More angles and breakdowns
The haft of the Avalanche Spear is a bit longer on the back end than the rest of the Hagah spears. This is to make posing him on his narrow feet easier, allowing the spear to easily reach and rest on the ground when posed naturally.
I give consent for my mask to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
I give consent for my metallic color choice to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
I give consent for my spear tip to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
- Toa Gaaki -
Competitive and eager to prove her mastery over the capture of aquatic Rahi, Gaaki boasts a powerful build and specialized tools. Since its the bulk of what we know about her, I decided to focus down on her prowess as an aquatic hunter for her design, with broad, strong shoulders and large fin-like feet to help her swim. She wears gold metallic armour and her mask is forged in the shape of the Mask of Sensory Aptitude. I like this mask shape for her because it both loosely ties into the theme of the mask power and matches her design well–with the fin-like protrusions and goggle-like eyeholes.
Continuing with the aquatic Rahi hunter theme, I wanted to make the Tidal Spear look like a harpoon, and I think the somewhat underslung Zadakh staff succeeds in capturing that vibe. When it comes to colours and piece availability, Gaaki’s design is a bit less purist friendly. While the bulk of her 91 pieces come in the colours used, and all of her armour pieces come in pearl gold, its basically impossible to get her kit to match using physical pieces without painting some mixture of the armour, shield, and spearhead. Should it be your desire, though, she is much more elegantly buildable in silver.
More angles and breakdowns
The Mask of Sensory Aptitude model used here was made by Galva.
In truth, I’m pretty sure its generally better for swimmers to have long torsos and shorter legs, but I really wanted to use the shortest possible torso with longer legs, and I think it fit best with Gaaki.
As with Bomonga, the triangular technic connector is only set into the pinhole on the shoulder with friction, but the Nuva shoulder armour keeps it snug and secure without any stress on any of the pieces.
I give consent for my mask to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
I give consent for my metallic color choice to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (Yes)
I give consent for my spear tip to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
- Toa Kualus -
Steel-willed master of the skies, the no-nonsense Toa Kualus has perfected his skills and specially designed his kit to assist him in the capture and taming of airborne Rahi. He wears metallic dark grey armour and his mask is forged in the shape of the Kanohi Rau. I like the throughline of the mask powers between translation and Rahi control (especially with Kualus having spoken the language of the flyers), plus Galva’s Rau has those grill or ridge like designs that match with the lines on his shoulder and thigh armour.
The Sub-Zero Spear, while not as narrow or aerodynamic as many of the other Hagah spears, I designed it to look somewhat like a catchpole–Kualus being able to grab hold of and control Rahi he was working with. Additionally, as an accent to Kualus himself, I built a young Gukko bird for him–its design based off of the 2003 set and Agil’s build from 2016. When it comes to building Kualus with physical pieces, he has more unavoidable painted elements, those being the chest armour, thigh armour, spear tips, and shield.
More angles and breakdowns
The ball joints both fill some of the gaps otherwise present with the choice of armour as well as allowing the young Gukko to perch on his shoulder if they’re rotated to expose the axle connection. Additionally, Kualus is built with a total of 72 pieces.
I give consent for my mask to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
I give consent for my metallic color choice to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
I give consent for my spear tip to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: (No)
As mandated, here is a height comparison of my four builds–all of which are neither shorter than Whenua Metru nor taller than their brother Iruini. Gaaki is nearly as tall as Iruini if neither of them are masked, but with their masks on Iruini remains only slightly–but clearly–taller.
It has been a blast working off of basically non-existent character traits and descriptions to come up with interesting builds, silhouettes, and physical characterizations for these Toa. I hope you like some of the designs I’ve come up with, and it’s been lovely to see other creative designs be built along such seemingly strict guidelines. Below is a group shot of all six Hagah together so you can get an idea of how they look directly alongside Norik and Iruini, and all of the needed resources a la parts and stud.io files. Cheers!
The parts pack that provided a large number of official Bionicle elements for Stud.io can be found here: Reddit - Dive into anything
The Galva pack, which contains all of the custom masks used, can be found here: Reddit - Dive into anything
The emissive materials used for the main entry photos were created by Tyfighter77 over on the Stud.io Discord server, and can be downloaded here: File on MEGA
Also, not really a custom part used but credit where credit is due: the Hagah pedestals are based off of the old advert, but Vakhi6’s 3d model was specifically used as reference for my illustration.
And finally, here is a link to the folder containing all of the original Stud.io files for my Hagah: Hagah Stud.io files - Google Drive
