ColdGoldLazarus' Overdesigned MoCs

ebic ^^

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Thatā€™s a pretty epic collection of MOCs!

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Thank you!

It has been neat seeing these fellas develop. I really enjoy the group shots and seeing them come together.

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Thanks! Itā€™s nice to finally have it done; looking back on everything has been an interesting experience XD

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Alright, here we are. Something Iā€™d been waiting to post from the very beginning, planning to do once all sixteen of the Slizers were done, is what was for a long time my favorite, proudest creation. Of course, as with the Slizers, time has made me reconsider my assessment, and itā€™s been since replaced by my Chirox revamp in that position of highest esteem. All the same, itā€™s still an interesting piece, one that I donā€™t love anymore but can still appreciate for what it was. Without further ado, I present:

Hahli Mahri
(Chonk Edition)

https://i.imgur.com/vCWIIxW.jpg
I think it was either 2010 or 2011 when I built this; the same time period as the Slizer revamps, but definitely before I started really suffering from the Piece Drought. (Looking back, I do think it had to have been after my Judge revamp, given how much of a game-changer he was for me at the time.) Iā€™d seen a few other revamps around at the time, and there were a few where I didnā€™t really like their interpretations; thus spurring me to make one of my own and giving me a solid starting direction on certain aspects, if out of opposition more than anything else.

https://i.imgur.com/1ich2Z3.jpg
My loose goals were as such:
-Keep her Lime Green secondary color at all costs. I knew the pieces were sketchy, but I really prefer that color scheme, and it was a bit annoying to see people replacing it with either the white from her Inika incarnation, or even light blue like her '03 Matoran self. I did try to integrate the white in alongside the lime for more of a sense of continuity between the two forms, but unfortunately it doesnā€™t look too great in practice.
-Make her lionfish fins look like actual fins, instead of going for a more angel-like feathered-wing look. Lots of revamps went for the latter, and it annoyed me all the time back then. Still kinda does tbh, but itā€™s not as big a deal. Anyway, in that regard at least I can say I was pretty roundly successful, and Iā€™m especially proud of the use of Takadoxā€™s blades to expand on the original fin pieces.
-Finally, I was seeing a lot of poorly-proportioned MOCs that were giving her a one-unit-wide waist; even aside from doing better than that, I wanted to give her a more bulky, armored build that felt more in line with the Mahriā€™s scuba-diver aesthetic. In that regard I certainly succeeded, a little too muchā€¦ Iā€™ll be honest about it, she wound up turning into a Technic Brick.

https://i.imgur.com/j2MDVac.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2EnjjrL.jpg
Nyran shots, with and without some Glatorian life counters. (Why I added them, Iā€™m not even sure, but theyā€™ve been present since the very beginning, so I figured Iā€™d leave them in here.)

https://i.imgur.com/Rsd4JGg.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/N6oUKZh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7IcmScA.jpg
Hereā€™s a closer look behind that mask at her upper back, with and without the counters. For the rest of these photos, I just left them off.

https://i.imgur.com/lPfHKmf.jpg
Her fins are held in place by a pin topped with some short hosing; while itā€™s a nice way to keep things angled, I unfortunately also discovered that itā€™s been putting a lot of stress on the pieces, and the thin grey liftarm is damaged as a result.

https://i.imgur.com/xbjKGjH.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3FtbMj9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4BRgMKt.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/EPFZI66.jpg
Still, while itā€™s not an ideal method of articulation, the fins can lower to run down her back if needed, and it has an interesting impact on her silhouette.

https://i.imgur.com/v6TzCkC.jpg
One aspect of her torso build I do like, though, is the neck area, a simple and self-contained little build that keeps her head from wobbling about.

https://i.imgur.com/lSgEzJx.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/W3V0e4L.jpg
An isolated look at her weaponry; the protosteel talons I turned into more of a gauntlet than a held weapon, and I made a custom Cordak Blaster arm-mounted to allow for her Inika harpoon to remain.

https://i.imgur.com/oG74HBu.jpg
Said harpoon can also attach to her thigh armor for storage.

https://i.imgur.com/addPVDL.jpg
Her arms arenā€™t much to write home about, but the one sideā€™s lime socket did predictably break, necessitating the addition of an extra piece or two to keep it actually surprisingly stable. I also just noticed the strain being put on the lower piecesā€¦ thereā€™s a part of the build in need of some rethinking.

https://i.imgur.com/NC9I3uv.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sUqVVXv.jpg
The hose from her Cordak blaster does have a spot in the shoulder to plug into, but thereā€™s also the option to have it lay across the top, to mirror the permanent hose on the other side.

https://i.imgur.com/SReYtR6.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Mh6jXaI.jpg
Returning to the torso, hereā€™s a closer look at the chest, and at her side with the arm out of the way. The whole thing is extremely thick in all directions, but also still rather messy, unfortunately. I do like how I was able to squeeze a heartlight into her chest, even if the direction is a tad unconventional. Similarly, I like the tubes Iā€™d set up to feed down into extra little fins on her back, they look like they could be some sort of additional propulsion system to build up momentum underwater, perhaps?

https://i.imgur.com/gRPBTDr.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kAp33BR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/9oBKfqe.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NEYGekQ.jpg
Her legs also warrant some mention. While the way I set up the friction pump unfortunately limits the articulation side-to-side, thereā€™s still a fairly strong range of movement along the axis, and more importantly itā€™s able to support the weight of the torso brick.

https://i.imgur.com/8PmgCkr.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/GbsI9oO.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/48FIgiu.jpg
The feet were my attempt to upscale the webbed Inika foot design, though how closely they match is debatable. Either way, though, the heel spurs (which I mostly leave out for stability) can fold underneath the foot for a flatter-looking stance, bringing it just slightly closer to the originals.

https://i.imgur.com/SCKhCi5.jpg
Bringing everything back together, hereā€™s a size comparison with my Nuparu. (who was previously seen alongside my modular Kopaka design) While Hahli isnā€™t the biggest thing Iā€™ve ever built, (three guesses as to who that is, you only need to scroll up a few posts :wink: ) sheā€™s still pretty hefty.

https://i.imgur.com/UumblCF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/9hS7D0G.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ziICMtC.jpg
At the end of the day, this is another MOC where I have to remember to look at it keeping in mind that I built it just shy of a full decade ago. The proportions are awkward (partially from being built around an Inika torso, though itā€™s so buried I didnā€™t even bother mentioning it until now) and overly stumpy, there are a lot of areas where pieces have been strained and broken, her articulation is weak in a lot of areas, and the color scheme, while relatively consistent, still feels messy with the white and lime clashing hard. All in all, she suffers from a severe case of Titan-itis, one of the most unfortunate examples of my past ā€˜bigger is betterā€™ mentality toward building.

But at the same time, compared against what Iā€™d been doing before, she is a massive leap forward. The way I angled the fin assemblies using a liftarm is a fairly avant-garde technique both for the time and even compared to a lot of my present-day MOCs, and despite being fundamentally an Inika build, she manages to avoid the unnatural flatness typically associated with them. I was emulating 2005-2006 Titan sets for the leg design, and while the feet have room for improvement, I still like how closely I was able to emulate the shaping of a smaller singular piece with them. Even if sheā€™s since been supplanted by Chirox, for several years I considered her my best build, and I think that wasnā€™t entirely without basis.

I think like the Slizers, this is something I want to try giving another shot soon. I donā€™t know what the re-revamp may wind up looking like, but I do have some ideas of what I want to do already. In the meantime itā€™s interesting to look back, and as with the Slizers, finally put this to rest.


Next Time: Well, there wonā€™t be a next time, at least for this topic anyway. I have some custom combo models and stuff to show off soon, but those will be going in new topics; this will be the last MoC post for this thread. So if you made it this far, thank you, and I hope you liked all of these! :D

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1 Blue
1 Gunmetal
9 White
44 Light Grey
18 Dark Grey
3 Dual-Molded
6 Translucent (2 Brown, 2 Orange, 1 Purple-Blue, 1 Light Blue)
17 Lime Green
25 Metru Blue
51 Silver
109 Black
209 Pins & Axles

Total: 493

Also, the piece count for Hahli, since I just pulled her apart. A lot more than I was expecting, not as big as Blasterā€™s swollen numbers, but more than the ~200some that the other Slizers were averaging at.

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It was great to watch and enjoy this topic to the end

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