Hello fellow compatriots to yet another MOC! This time I have made a boneheads version of the Nui Jaga. Granted, before I go any further I would like to state that during the time when making Nui Jaga revamps was a craze in the community. I realized that I wasn’t the first to make Nui Jaga with a walking mechanism, that credit goes to @Avaru from the TTV Message Boards. If you want to check them out you can find their work here: Nui-Jaga Revamp
The Boneheads ver. Nui Jaga was designed to see if there could have been a way for Lego to make a better scorpion in the year of 2001. When Lego was designing the Nui Jaga they wanted to ensure that the profile of the model didn’t have too many variations from the silhouette of a real scorpion. Due to this, putting a handle in the back of the scorpion was out of the question for them. To allow something durable and reliable at the cost of aesthetic, they opted for the stinger tail trigger/handle to pultrude from the underside of the model. Yet here I am today showing what I would have done to fix this dilemma. The Boneheads ver. Nui Jaga comprises of multiple functions that go beyond the stinger tail. It has working pincers, a natural walk-cycle despite it having 6 legs instead of 8 (I’m sorry), and most importantly a stinger tail that can actually aim. Due to how the walk-cycle works, the Nui Jaga can tilt its body to aim for its target just like a real scorpion would. And the stinger itself flicks upwards on top of that! Not only can you pit this against another Nui Jaga (both Boneheads ver. and 2001) to knock the masks off. But you can knock the masks off of Matoran, Turaga, and Toa alike!
During the video I made I also made a terrifying discovery that the stinger tail is strong enough to not only knock the masks off of Toa Mata/Nuva. It can straight up decapitate them. No joke! Video:
I understand that praising your own creation might be cringe for some folk but MATA NUI. The Nui Jaga were known for their raw power and you can truly feel it with this model! Though as a disclaimer Lego would also not make this for that reason. The stinger is so strong that it might bring harm to children’s hands if they were hit by it. The stinger doesn’t tap, it straight up strikes harder that a Tarakava set and Midak blaster combined. So please do not aim it at your eyes or face.
Other than the small concern of people getting bruised by this thing, I am proud to have this in my collection. Now I just need to make a purple one now haha. I hope you all enjoyed and I will see you all in the next one! Hopefully I do not make something more destructive than this.
This is a fantastic revamp, and as usual your ability to incorporate some kind of function that doesn’t compromise the overall aesthetics of the moc is top notch.
It’s Bionicle, don’t worry
Four-legged spiders and cows with treads; you’re fine
The amount of punch this thing has is impressive. I also greatly appreciate the way the stinger tip curls outwards when it extends. That aesthetic touch is very nice.
I am glad that you like the fluidity of the stinger tail, it was part of the reason why I was bummed that I couldn’t add 8 legs without it jamming at this scale. But very true, the rahi in bionicle tend to go for the more weird route when it comes to anatomy.
The functionality of this one is outstanding! I also like the subtle way in which you kept the Pakari on its arms, but also made them more pincer-like in design. Bravo, dude!
The functionality of this is excellent - the legs are so old-school, and the handle is there a the tail is so much better. It’s closest to perfect that I’ve seen.
But the looks do suffer from it a bit - wheels are rather obvious, too little light blue, original head is in my heart forever. It is a personal preference thing though.
Also, poseability is, eh, actually is not there at all. Like, no ball joints. Once again - it is needed for functions to work well, but I feel that at least claws coud be poseable.
But the fucntions are just brilliant.
Hence is why the articulation is minimal. However if you want me to make a hyper articulated scorpion with all these functions I can. Yet in doing so at this scale of a model might either make or break the stability of the moc. I feel part of the moc’s strength comes in its shaping and aesthetic for fully embracing the 2001 look in its build. Having made articulated scorpions in the past, there isn’t many options to posing with this body type other than a striking pose, neutral/prowling, and holding prey.
I tried to make the same head the original set had though, but due to the size of the main body, I couldn’t compress the build any further. I love the original head yet having it jut far out instead of flowing with the body isn’t my vibe. Funny story about the head, I was thinking about turning the wheels into looking like fangs. Having the wheels tucked close to the head and with the proper shaping it would be fairly convincing. Yet once again, I needed the clearance so that the walking mechanism could run smoothly. Everything in this build is tight. Meaning I might actually have to upscale the build slightly just to add more articulation. Though that is just a theory from looking at it on hand.
I am glad you like the build though! be sure to let me know if you really want something more articulated. Just remember what I said though
Thank you for a detailed answer!
Yeah, I definetly see now that you were going specifically for the 2001 aesthetic. I just kinda personnaly not that big of a fan of Bionicle’s “Golden Age”.
After reading and looking at it again actually, is the MOC in fact smaller than original Nui Jaga? Could you do a comparision? Maybe enlarging it is a good idea indeed, it might not mess up the scale all that much, but might help with adding some details/articulation and reinforcing the build.
I mean, I do not “want” it, sounds weird, but I kinda think now that it might turn out even greater, if enlarged a bit.
So, you’ll probably have my praises, if you continue working on it, but it is ultimately up to you, I don’t want to force my opinion or something.
On a side note, it is forbidden by these Boards’ rules to post several consecutive replies, “to doublepost”, which you just did, so to answer several people at once you should use “@user’s name”. Helps to keep it clean.
Well that ain’t very superstar of those rule makers. But anyways, @Lesnichiy , I think it is slightly smaller than the original. But I never owned the original Nui Jaga so I do not know, but I did provide measurements in my youtube video which is linked in the creation blog post where I am discussing the moc fully. They are both in inches and cm. So that you can find out for yourself if it is in-fact smaller. But I will try to make a revamp of this little guy. Hopefully I will be able to still aim at small tohunga for the scorpion to slaughter which I am sure I will. And do not worry about the whole forcing thing, I am used to it. If you want it, you get it. Or just would like to have it, so long as you are chill about it.
