Hello Fellow Compatriots to yet another build! This time we will be taking a look at Toa Rangi, the first air spirit. When making this figure I wanted to combine different themes in terms of part composition, back before I even knew who this character was going to be. While fully embracing sand blue for highlights. Though I can only imagine how cool it would have been if the Mata Head came in sand blue too.
Story wise; hailing from the Trem Krom peninsula after their creation. Rangi served as the emissary of Trem Krom during their integration of the GSR. They were tasked to protect and care for the many creatures made by his master before Gorast’s Reign over the region. With their twin air staffs, they are capable of firing gusts of madness. The breath of Trem Krom. Upon exposure, the victim becomes disoriented as they experience distorted hallucinations of their own memories blending with the present.
After Gorast took over the region, Rangi was eventually pushed out despite his best efforts in uniting the beasts against her. Fleeing, he sought exile in what will soon be called Ta-Koro up on Mata Nui. With the help of a Onu Matoran from his own region they made a home there. After countless years of what felt like peace, strangers started appearing on the island. Unsure of their intentions, Rangi fled through one of the escape tunnels. While the Onu Matoran insisted in staying behind. Sealing away the entrance, and hiding the key to enter.
Toa Rangi is a rather unique Toa, combining aspects from the Nuva, Metru, Ignika, and Masters. The neck is also styled like your Tributron MOC, which is an interesting choice, as it adds system to the mix. Starting at the bottom, you have some Stars feet. Simple. Then, you have some Metru shins with some CCBS added. Unfortunately, the CCBS shells add an unnatural protrusion, but I believe you are well aware of it and don’t mind it. This is the “First Air Spirit,” so maybe this is some detail that signifies an undeveloped and 1.0 kind of nature for the character. Moving up, you got some Metru-style 5L thighs with Ignika armor. Simple but good. Then, there are Metru hips, which prevent hip articulation. On top of that, there is a slimmed-down Masters gearbox that is armored with an Ignika shoulder pad. The lack of friction in the gearbox, plus the lack of hip articulation, are unfortunate cons, but given the very simple nature of the build, they are understandable. Connected to the torso, you got a basic Nuva arm. A little too thin and flat, but maybe it is more added slimness for the lore you got going on, too. Finally, the head. There is a system mixel joint attached to a Mata head, and then a Hau Nuva. If the mixel joint isn’t worn down, that neck might break constantly due to the friction of the joint. However, I don’t know if this is the same neck design as your Tributron MOC, so I can’t say anything for sure. Overall, pretty simple and cool-looking MOC. I like the slim approach! Good work!
The color scheme is definitely unique, and the Mata/Nuva arms combined with the custom torso give them an interesting silhouette. The CCBS armor breaks the texture a little, but that’s not too big of a deal. Great work!
Not sure about those lime parts. I like those three colors in a vacuum, but you don’t have enough lime to really make it feel natural. Overall, I think the oddities in the construction are pretty good, they make it stand out more, but the colors could use some fine tuning. More lime sprinkled in other places or remove it to consolidate.
I am glad you like the build! The process of building this moc mostly stemmed from wanting to make a fun simple Toa as a refresher from the other kinds of builds I traditionally do. But the more I played around with my part bins, I started off with three colors you don’t typically see together. That being White, Lime, and Sand Blue.
Yes, the shaping is abnormal when it comes to the legs. Since not too much thought was put into this build until I tried to create a story for this character. For the moc came before the story-beats, which typically is the other way around when I make a moc in most cases.
I would love to add friction to the gearbox, that is one thing I might do if I ever go back and make a hyper articulated version of Toa Rangi. As making this moc was a lot of fun. As for that neck though, Tributron’s neck is double jointed. Meaning it is extremely delicate compared to Rangi. That being said though, the only reason the mixel joint is present is to allow for cohesive shaping while also retaining my favorite Bionicle head mold, that being the Mata Head.
Yeah I had a lot of fun combining the different themes together for this character. I really liked the Nuva growing up, and being able to revisit that with a breath of fresh air in terms of better articulation and slim body to imitate the Inika as well. Honestly might just build a whole team based on this frame design.
Oh I could easily blend the colors better if I wanted to for another build/character. That might honestly be fun making a more integrated blend, be sure to stay tuned and thank you for your constructive criticism
See you all next time.