Name: Diakur
Region: None
Mask: Ulitara, Mask of Amnesia
Status: Dead
[details=Story]
Makuta Diakur had a grand fascination with weapons. Having a large collection of weaponry, Diakur could talk about his prized possessions longer than Teridax could talk about every Makuta in the Brotherhood.
(, ) He often stole weapons from others, such as his signature Vortixx axe that he carries everywhere. He has prototypes and "limited edition"s, legends and āmisprintsā.
However, he never got into the business of making weapons, finding much more interest on completed weapons rather than all of the necessary work needed to simply create a prototype. So instead, he took an occupation in Destralās armory as a weapon mender. He cleaned, sharpened, and repaired unsatisfactory weapons, giving him time to examine them with great attention to detail. Once or twice he may have added something extra to make it what he viewed as āperfectā.
When Teridax proposed his plan, Diakurās dreams had no end. If the Makuta did come to power, it would be through war, meaning more weapons without their owners, and more weapons bent out of shape. Perhaps he could fix Teridaxās staff, or Gorastās mace, orā¦ Diakur jumped at the idea, and supported Teridax during his revolt.
Thousands of years passed, and Diakur began to grow impatient. Diakur and his warriors seemed to be causing trouble, but not enough trouble to need weaponry aid. Diakur decided to restore a weapon a now-dead Makuta had left centuries ago. It was a special weapon, requiring a power source. Diakur decided to give it a little something extra, and tried to upgrade the signature. Unforunately by doing this, Diakur had set off a blast, which hit some explosives Diakur had foolishly left nearby. The explosion killed Diakur, and destroyed an entire section of the fortress. The Makuta searched the mound of rubble left behind, finding long-missing weapons Diakurhad hoarded. The remains of Diakur were disintegrated completely, though his half-charred mask was thrown away.[/details]
Iād use those black pieces you used for the lower legs on the back of the upper legs, like what the Star wars sets do a lot, and then attach some armour to that.
Yeah, unfortunately Iām pretty sure I donāt have anymore of those pieces, Iāll have to check. Thanks for the suggestion, though, I forgot about those!
Seems pretty good so far - actually good enough to get accepted. But weāre trying to get as close to perfection as possible here, right?
You could try adding some armor on the back of the legs (upper and lower) and the lower arms seem a bit skinny. For some reaon that light grey L5 liftarm on the back to which the hoses attach really sticks out to me. Light grey on the lower arms and lower legs I find ok for some reason, though.
Torso could need some more substance - from the front it presently looks rather generic.
Fingers might be a little large, but Iād say they basically work - the thunmb is a little weird, though, since it sticks out so much and isnāt articulated. You could maybe use a L3 bar instead of the axle to fix that, but maybe a whole new - and smaller - hand design might also be an option.
And last but not least of what I can currently think of - those hoses stick out weirdly on the top. You could try incorporating them better - theyāre flexible after all.
Alright, @Gilahu, what do you think? Anything I did that should be taken back? Something you think could be made better? I think I got everything on your list.
Iād say remove that purple and gunmetal again - I liked the previous colour scheme better, this is just too much. Too much red on teh back, too. Also remove those weird outsticking gears from the lower legs - covering of them on the back works well, though.
The bulky armor on teh front of the upper legs looks weird in my opinion, as does the use of those ankle guard pieces on their back. Th simple look from before worked better here, in my opinion. If have any of those exo-force robot hands you could maybe use those to add small details to the front of teh old design.
I also liked the old upper arms better - elongating them also doesnāt work well in my opinion. Hoses donāt look too good there either.
The ribcage piece undeniably helps wth making the torso look broader, but itās purpleā¦
Iād also still suggest going for smaller hands with wrist articulation. Also those hands being not symmetrical kinda buggs me - theyāre too similar to each other for this to work.
As to the hoses in general - try to incorporate them as tightly as possible, that usually works best for me.
Iād love to keep the skeleton torso, but I only have it in purple and in green, and I feel green would be worse. As for the pipes, Iām not sure how to put them so that they are tight. Experimentation will be needed. I can understand the bulky armor, Iāll see what I can do. Exp-Force robot handsā¦ like that piece used for Star Wars assassin droid necks that I used on the mask? I have a lot of them in gray. For the hands, I want them to look like he had claw extensions or something, like those paper claws people make. If I were change it to be symmetrical, Iād probably have to borrow pieces from the mask. Iāll be sad to see the purple go, itās my favorite color. Iāll see what I can do.
Okay, @Gilahu, I did a lot that you asked of me. Overall, Iād say he looks nearly done. What do you think? Is his Brotherhood-worthy? Also, howās his story so far? Iām gonna have to iron some things out, but you know.
Hmā¦ I fear the hands arenāt getting better - actually the first version looked best so far. Having the socket on the arm and the ball on the hand hardly ever works well. Also the construction of the lower arm looked way better before. Maybe simply go for Hyrdaxon hands? I use them a lot, and I mean they work and you can make them appear bigger by adding big claw pieces.
On the upper legs Iād say put the CCBS armor on the front again - it just looked better that way and I can live with the back being unarmored, I guess. Have you tried using System pieces to add something on the back?
Red Mahri cable on teh back also sticks out a bit - have you tried really fiddling it through any gaps you can find on the torso to make it look better integrated?
Story:
Iām kinda busy at the moment - Iāll tell you what I think of it later.
Yay! There arenāt as many problems as Purple Man!
Switching the socket and the ball should be easy. But knowing me Iāll probably try to come up with some genius fix that is the opposite of genius and looks awful.
About the Hydaxon fingersā¦ I only have two extra exo-force arms, both of which are used on the mask. So Iād have to make custom fingers from system, which from my experiences with Venukia the Mad Doctor would not be easy to pose and would fall off a lot.
Soā¦ Like Venukia? Shouldnāt be too hard, I do have a leg piece with another pinhole, but itās light gray, and heāll be taller.
As for the red Mahri cableā¦ thatāll be hard to fix, but I will find a way.
By the way, thank you so much for helping me through this stage by stage, I donāt know how much you helped the other projects (Probably not as much as this one), but I just wanted to let you know that Iām grateful for your help.
Basically the only thing you need on the back of the upper legs is something that makes them look not too bare. So you could maybe try adding System pieces with their knobs to connect them to the pinholes.
Light grey CCBS bones probably wouldnāt work too well due to the colour.
Depends on if Iām asked for help or not
I would advise you take a little more time before posting updates, though. From experiecne I can say that sometimes it works best to build something and look at it again a day later to fix issues by yourself. Always ask yourself these questions before posting anything: Do I really like this? What could be improved and how? Only when the answers are āYesā and āCurrently nothingā is a MOC ready to be posted.
By toying around with parts and finding solutions you learn a lot of useful MOCing techniques and by critically looking at your own MOC you learn to improve.
In the end it matters most that you like the MOC, not me. All that matters for me in the end is if I can see that some serious work and consideration was put into building the MOC.
Iām happy to help whenever I can, but I think you should try working with your own ideas a bit more before you ask for specific opinions of how else to improve.
I mean, I consider myself fairly quick at building a whole new MOC - but that still usually takes one to two weeks minimum.
Aaand I see youāve just updated him againā¦
light grey upper legs arenāt as bad as I thought, but you need bigger CCBS armor for the longer pieces
wrists look bad - simply go for the very first lower arm design and put a balljoint at its end and you have a streight arm with wrist articulation
cable could still be better integrated, but itās an improvement
chains are a nice inclusion
ā¦ Hm, you know what? I think you should return everything except the lower legs and the torso to its original shape. Then you get wrist articulation in there. Then you try filling in the torso a bit more if you can. And then you wait a few days and think about what else can be improved and do that.
Ok, story:
Not particularly fond of it, honestly. Itās just kinda weird. As far as canon lore goes thereās admittedly nothing wrong with it so far, but
This all just doesnāt make much sense to me.
a) Friendship and trust arenāt exactly things Makuta are known for
b) No one saw it coming that Teridax was up to seizing control of the Brotherhood - the Convocation was a big surprise to most, Iād say
c) Befriending Gorast is just a thing that would not happen
d) Same
Thanks for the advice, I have a bit of a problem just wanting to get things done (mainly because I want to build Uxar and Skull Basher back). However, a day is a bit of a stretch for me. I donāt know if I can wait that long! Already Iāve reformatted the pipe. The problem is, the only sturdy ball joint piecse I have left are Hordika and Glatorian necks! Any suggestions? The whole resetting thing to the first draft will be interesting. Iām still really wanting to at least cover up the pinholeā¦ After uploading this fourth draft I noticed the wrists, so I can totally see your advice there. Filling in the torso will beā¦ interesting. And waiting a few days! Umā¦ Too much for me!
Yeah, the whole story thing was one of those ideas where it sounds awesome in your head, and then you realize itās not good once you write it. Thanks for the help about the Makuta and the revoltā¦ I didnāt have time to fix it afterwards, so I will sometime soon.
So, do you mean the ones with the axle hole that travels through the entire thing? Or the one that stops halfway? Because I do have the ones that stop halfway, they are just so loose I dislike using them.
Using Glatorian necks/ Hordika necks instead works, too, but itās a little tougher to make them look good. Length 2 flat liftarms work well for connecting them to the elbow, but itās tough to add good looking armor in my experience.
, 
Already Iāve reformatted the pipe. The problem is, the only sturdy ball joint piecse I have left are Hordika and Glatorian necks! Any suggestions? The whole resetting thing to the first draft will be interesting. Iām still really wanting to at least cover up the pinholeā¦ After uploading this fourth draft I noticed the wrists, so I can totally see your advice there. Filling in the torso will beā¦ interesting. And waiting a few days! Umā¦ Too much for me!