Four years ago, a collab was hosted by TheLegendReborn where the goal was to create the 16 Toa that made up the Brotherhood of Makuta’s very first team of Toa Hagah, the one commanded by Makuta Miserix before his deposition. The result was a book written by him, KDNX, and Nattarthetimedragon. Participating in that collab was one of my favorite memories as a Bionicle fan, and I still refer back to the lore from that book, as well as TheKardasDragon’s numerous board posts, in my own headcanons. As such, unless otherwise stated, consider it fair to assume that the lore from the book and those posts applies here; that way I can focus on talking about the mocs themselves.
Cuurini, Toa of Iron
Originally designed by CurseStation
Cuurini is made from 117 pieces, 5 of which need some special attention like painting, printing, or both (I’ll refer to these as SAPs going forward). The only changes I feel are significant enough to point out are the mask and spear tip being different from the originals, simply because I could not find them. The new spear tip is one that actually came out in metal blue, while the mask is ToaTom’s mask of healing, which has the added benefit of looking slightly more feminine without being in your face about it.
Verbatis, Toa of Sonics
Originally designed by TheKardasDragon
Verbatis is made from 113 pieces, including 11 SAPs. Once again, the spear tip is different, but otherwise this is mostly just an attempt at making this character in a semi-purist style (as with all Hagah, the metallic armor gets a pass); the original uses a number of pieces that simply do not exist and I wanted to make something that could potentially be built in real life.
Kilaoi, Toa of Fire
Originally designed by ToaTrayax90
At 139 pieces, Kilaoi is the 3rd most parts-intensive Toa, but only the mask is a SAP. This one initially seemed way too easy, but only after the entire upper half was done did I discover that Throwbot heads (which the original’s torso is built around) do not come in white; a solution thankfully presented itself in the form of Metru feet. The only other trick is the shield: It’s connected to the arm in two places so the wrist doesn’t sag down, at the cost of no articulation past the left elbow.
Sorin, Toa of Air
Originally designed by SilverShade54
Sorin is made from 99 pieces, 2 of which are SAPs; a smaller number than one might expect given that the original model prominently uses olive green, a color that Lego did not introduce until 2 years after G1 ended. I genuinely thought it would be impossible to keep Sorin olive and considered changing him to sand green, until I realized that 1) HF fists can work in his shoulders and 2) this panel and its twin come in olive green. It took many attempts to make the second realization work, but I got it in the end. The mask is another of ToaTom’s for the same reason as Cuurini’s.
Thewn, Toa of Water
Originally designed by Minirigby
At 76 pieces with just 2 SAPs, Thewn is probably the single least changed of all these movs, simply because there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot I felt I wanted to change. I swapped the Metru feet for Mata feet and gave them some spikes just because I thought they’d look cool, and I added another piece of armor to her shoulders so they wouldn’t look so bare, but that’s really about it for her.
Muru, Toa of Stone
Originally designed by -Ewic- (aka: -hot cheeto-)
Muru, not to be confused with Dybbuk’s Toa Hagah of Stone Buru, is made from 83 pieces, 8-9 of which are SAPs (depending on what color you interpret the spinner being, as it’s not clear in the original book). My main goal with this revamp was to use as few shades of brown as possible; other than the mask (which I was forced to use old brown for), Muru uses exclusively reddish brown or Metru brown. Doing this had the odd quirk of forcing me to use 4th generation hand sockets. I also gave him a piece of copper chest armor so he would look more in line with the other Toa.
Aiyesaac, Toa of Gravity
Originally designed by Tai-Wind
Aiyesaac is the most parts-intensive Toa of the lot, clocking in at 165 pieces, including 4 SAPs. I actually tackled him first because I knew he would be an annoying figure to make even semi-purist, as is the case with literally anything in purple. I used half a gearbox to get the color on the torso, and my solution for the legs led me to more-or-less invert their color scheme from the original. Despite everything, however, it was actually the shield I struggled with the most; I gave up on making it possible to theoretically fire so I focused on making it look the part. In return, the spear arm is tied to a Mata gear function, which I think is pretty cool.
Ashla, Toa of Light
Originally designed by InChandyWeTrust (that’s me!)
Ashla is built from 104 pieces, and I actually did change her white sections a bit to make her at least semi-purist (most notably, the legs are now parts that were molded in white). Despite my best efforts, she still has 19 SAPs, the most of any of the Toa Hagah. Other than her legs, the only significant change to report is her mask, which is no longer shaped like the mask of fear for the same reason as Cuurini’s and Sorin’s new masks. Ashla’s mask is now shaped like a mask of rage, which I realized after the fact is the mask Kardas gave Makuta Dybbuk in his canon. Neat.
Kadishni, Toa of Lightning
Originally designed by Kosmos
Kadishni is made from 154 pieces, the 2nd greatest amount of any Toa. Uniquely among them, she can be made completely purist, no SAPs required. Her torso is mostly repurposed from Makuta Kojol, barring the complicated neck and the wings, neither of which she has need for. I do wish I could give her more of Hahli Inika’s marbled parts, but my computer is awful at rendering that particular combo for some reason (and only that one). I still think she looks great regardless.
The render doesn't show off much of the shield but I want it to be seen because I had to work figuring this one out.
Myrlauf, Toa of Plantlife
Originally designed by Jópie Trópí
Consisting of 87 pieces, with the only SAP being his mask, Myrlauf is probably the one of this lot that most feels like he could’ve been a set Lego would’ve released. The limbs being trans-medium blue meant I seemingly couldn’t use the same trick I’ve used for pretty much every Metru/Hagah build I’ve ever done, so I was a little nervous at first (and I didn’t want to change the colors of the limbs to medium/sand blue), but my day was saved thanks to a couple thin liftarms.
Nalkhi, Toa of Earth
Originally designed by Venoblade Bionicles
Nalkhi consists of 110 parts, 10-13 of which are SAPs (depending on how many copper Hunas you’re willing to track down). The biggest hurdles here were the shoulders and the legs. I have no idea how original’s shoulders were done, assuming it’s even possible (since there is clipping in the render in the book), but my way involves a few Technic connectors and a Mata head. As for the legs, the original uses these large HF pieces, which I thought looked iffy; so I made the lower legs look like boots, and I used some textured armor on the front of the thighs while relegating the HF shell to the back.
Akullore, Toa of Ice
Originally designed by Toa Quiroh
Akullore is made from 76 pieces (tied with Thewn for the 2nd lowest of any Toa), including 4 SAPs. Pretty much all the changes I made were substitutions:
- The mask is different for the same reasons as all the others.
- The prosthetic arm is constructed using exclusively HF parts to really sell that it’s a crudely-made prosthesis.
- The original shield uses Mahri blades–which I actually do like quite a lot and actually kind of prefer–but the Mahri blade is improperly scaled in Studio and I didn’t want to risk making something impossible, so I used these Charger blades instead (which I admit is really pushing it for my standards).
- I have no idea what the original spear tip was, so I changed it to Whenua Hordika’s weapon.
- I changed the feet to these clawed Inika feet simply because I was starting to get tired of Metru feet.
Narama, Toa of Magnetism
Originally designed by Claustritimus
Narama is made from 109 pieces, including 2 SAPs. The mask, fifth verse same as the first (although this time, I greatly prefer the original and wish I could find it again). Everything else, the creator admitted that he doesn’t remember how he designed the original moc, forcing me to basically recreate this character from the ground up. I ultimately pulled from Verbatis’s and Kilaoi’s torsos and was able to attach the Metrutoran chest plate to the torso through a 5L thin liftarm. The rest seems self-explanatory enough.
Vonu, Toa of Plasma
Originally designed by SomeBioFan
Vonu is made from 108 pieces, with only 2 SAPs required. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get his waist-cape (I tried, but there’s no room back there), but the rest of the figure came simply enough, despite the fact that orange is not a fantastic color to work with. As always, the Hordika torso was tricky to work with, but it wasn’t terribly offensive.
Nia, Toa of Psionics
Originally designed by Toa Mateo
Nia has the lowest part count of any Toa, at just 70 (including 3 SAPs). The goals here were simple: change the original shin armor for one of the 37 useful dark gold pieces, and get rid of most of the black so her color scheme is just blue, yellow, and gold. As for the mask, this time I actually do have a reason beyond “I couldn’t find it.” Muru’s mask is in the shape of a Hau Nuva because of a scryer’s visions, but Nia’s had no such justification so I changed it, albeit to another with a scope (it doesn’t feel like Nia without one).
Vodan, Toa of Shadow
Originally designed by Manster (aka: A Man)
Vodan is made from 99 pieces, 2 of which are SAPs (the glowing black parts on the body are meant to be trans-brown, while the glowing spinner would be black). 16 Toa in, I don’t really have a lot to say about Vodan, but he was really fun to put together and I’m glad I saved him for last. If only I could convincingly make him do a Kubrick stare…