Non-Metru Hagahs - Kualus and Bomonga WIPs

[Zanywoop]

Hey, I wanted to get these out before the rules were posted. I fully expect the Hagah contest to be limited to just Metru builds, and I have no real qualms with that; I didn’t personally have too many ideas for that buildspace so I decided to experiment with a body type similar to the Metru, but with Inika-style flexibility. I think it’d be really cool if the Hagah didn’t all share a bodytype, as I don’t think it’s explicitly stated anywhere in the story. But Visorak years are my big gaping hole, so I could be wrong. I hope you guys find these interesting, and if the rules are only metru builds, I look forwards to seeing some cool ones!

Kualus first; He’s the more complete of the two.

Don’t mind that the Metru build is trash tier, I didn’t have any lying around.

This should give you the concept this model is built around; I’m using Metru (And Metru adjacent) shoulders on smaller joints to emulate the most difficult part of the metru build. These don’t have full range of motion, but I’m very happy with how much I got out of them. I’ll have more pics of Kualus at the bottom, but I’m going to slot in Bomonga before this gets bloated.

Bomonga is conceptually finished, just in a “hunt down parts” phase.

He’s using a different attachment system for the KK shoulders; I’ll put it down in the massdump of photos.

Cursed comparison…

In story, it’s stated that the Hagah weren’t originally paired, rather they were handpicked. Considering the very first Toa was Lesovikk, I think there’s space for different bodytypes amongst members. I’ll concede they gained new armor from Teridax though.

This design doesn’t completely fix the mobility, but I’m very happy with it. I was going to get all four remaining Hagah built but there’s not that much time before Artakha is done. Hopefully I’ve made an interesting enough case for differing bodytypes, but if not I hope you all just enjoy the Mocs! I hope you have a great day.

Below I’ll post the Dearth of extra positions and internals. The designs not too complex in bone structure; It’s metru hips with 2015 Gearbox.

(I’ve got all of two shields and seemingly zero Rhotuka launchers, so I’m fibbing a few.)

BTW, Sorry if this post looks awful. I’m fairly novice at forum work, and have mostly just been drawn in for the contest.

[Takutanuva]

It was stated that they were all metru, sorry. I’d get the quote but I am tired. Perhaps if noone beats me to it by tomorrow I will quote it for you. Nice builds! Big fan of how you used Vezon’s harpoon for the staff

[Bukkey]

I really love coloring, especialy the mask.
may wany people use white mask to him, but you choice black one.
it looks so creative and not strange, just like MataNui’s matorans! Nice moc!

[KanohiReqi]

These are great. Personally I would’ve made their armor gold but this is still cool.

[Axelford]

These are really good takes on “the metru build” I hope you finish them

[Surel-nuva]

There you go:

Official Greg Discussion | Page 251

All metru confirmation.

[Zanywoop]

Eeeey, thanks for the grab. Shame though, I feel it might have made more sense if they didn’t all have the same “idea of what a hero looks like.” Still, it’s good to know there’s an official ruling.

[Surel-nuva]

If you ask me, your mocs are similar enough to fit next to Norik and Iruini, as such match the metru-style rule. Iirc Eljay said that if a moc’s easthetic looks like a metru build, it can enter the contest, even tho no rules are announced yet.

[Cordax]

Changed Catergory to LEGO creations

[HistorianIvan]

I really like these, specifically the color blocking on Bomonga. I’m really a fan of how they still resemble metru builds. Also just a nitpick, Lesovikk was the leader of the first toa team, but he wasn’t the first toa.

[Atobe_Brick]

@KanohiReqi

Personally I would’ve made their armor gold but this is still cool.

Gold would work well on Bomonga, but if Kualus had it, he might look more like a toa of light than a toa of ice, in my opinion

I personally prefer the bomonga, because he looks really clean, and I think the colors are spaced out better. Good job on both, though!

[KanohiReqi]

It didn’t stop Hahli from looking like a toa of lightning and plantlife so I guess it’s okay since none of them knew the existence of av-matoran.

[Dag]

These are interesting builds, but perhaps a little too good. They’re way more complex than Iruini and Norik, which could make them seem out of place when compared to them. I’m not saying the Hagah shouldn’t have complex builds, but make it look like they’re from the same team.
The color balancing is also off. Kualus doesn’t have silver shoulder armor or feet and has a black mask instead of silver. In fact, Kualus’ legs are almost entirely silver, with none on his arms. Plus, he has some sand blue, but I would personally change that out for white, and the same goes for Bomonga’s sand brown. Not only because it isn’t balanced well, but Greg has said their Hagah colors match their Rahaga colors (Chat with Greg Farshtey | Page 261), and Rahagah Kualus and Bomonga did not have sand blue and sand brown respectively.
I would like to see a further breakdown of just the torso, specifically a direct comparison of the proportions to the actual Metru build.
It’s a good start, and you have plenty of time to fix things before the contest starts.

[Zanywoop]

Thank you so much for the kind words and interest! Gonna try to respond to y’all. Also, thank you @Cordax for fixing the tags, I am a forum rookie making rookie mistakes. Apologies for my long-winded responses in advance. If you want to see the breakdowns @Dag requested I’ll put them at the bottom.

• @Takutanuva + @Sorel-nuva, I hadn’t seen that quote before and I’m glad you guys could pull it up so fast. I sort of hope the reasoning is that they their Hagah forms are a form change a la Mata to Nuva or Inika to Metru; Otherwise it seems a bit limiting that six (that we know of) unrelated Toa all had the same idea of Hero. Hopefully Eljay and the board likes these designs in relation to Metru bodies, but if not I totally get it.

• @Bukkey Yeah I wish I could claim that was intentional, but as these are WiPs it was definitely more of a convenience thing. Someone else posted about color blocking further down so I’ll talk about it later. You’re right though, the Mata Nui Matoran Mask coloration is, now that I think about it, fairly underused.

• @KanohiReqi + @Atobe_Brick You can chalk that up to poor planning. Kualus existed in a previous form as a white/silver MoC, and I figured Half and Half of the Hagah could be Gold and Silver. However… If I was thinking, I would have made Bomonga Gold, because that means I have to make Any shade of gold look good with Metru brown is gonna be hell. I also didn’t have too much Metru Gold, it was in use on another MoC (which may die for the Hagah’s sins at this point), I blew way too much money on Bricklink in Artakha’s round and I haven’t bought any new paint in a long time, so yeah, Gold probably would’ve looked good but I just wanted to get the proof of concepts out.

• @Axelford I hope I finish them too… I can see the parts I need on the MoC shelf and it’s a matter of hoping I have more copies in my terribly organized parts library.

• @HistorianIvan Ya know, we literally just did the Helryx comp… Honestly amazed I slipped like that. It’s a fair nitpick.

• @Dag Completely fair criticism. If you just want to see that chest Breakdown it will be at the bottom, I hope it helps. Getting deeper into Bomonga is finnicky. Some of the color balancing issues you’re seeing is fair; I built these three, maybe four weeks ago, meant to fix them up and then ended up rushing to get the forum up before official rules were posted because I saw that the Artakha art contest was up. I can fix the forward plating on Kualus’ legs and swap the foot color; The shoulders I wanted to at least show the working prototype for Metru Compatibility and I need to buy new sliver paint, what I have is too runny. The Mask on Kualus is a placeholder, I’m going with masks worn by the Non-toa sets to mirror the masks from the first two Hagah. Maybe the Maxilos mask on Kualus? I’m currently undecided. Either way I need to get a better silver. As for the Sand Blue and Brown… No excuses there, I just really thought they’d look good on the moc. They probably be switched out but I may not in the end. I respect that it’s not necessarily accurate but I like it. I’m also totally fine with losing votes for it, I feel people should vote for what they think fits best, and everything else is just Cool MoC Hour.

Onto the Build issue. I think the “Too complex” argument is totally valid. It’s the aesthetic I generally build in, and I wanted to make a solid case for my body design so that maybe if other people liked it we could have a less homogeneous design process. I think we’re going to get some great Metru builds, but it’s not the style I personally like to build in. As I said above, if that means it doesn’t get votes, that’s absolutely fine. I think they’ll look cool and decently similar to Metru builds when all’s said and done, but on the best of days I make models basically only to show to my like one friend who cares about Bionicle and then I put my models on the shelf. I’d love to win and contribute to a universe I care about, but I’m not very competitive as a person. On the point of standing out against Metru builds, I think putting forth a Metru-esque build would only work if other people were also doing non Metrus. I assume we’re voting on each separately, and having 5 metrus and one non would be janky. And again, please vote for Metrus if you feel they accurately portray the characters. Thank you for the thoughtful critique:)

Here are the Chest/Shoulder breakdowns. The gears on the back are for show, unfortunately, they lack internal gears or action functions. Form over Function. If these are too small I’ll come back and blow them up.

Edit; A mockup of the Hagah Colorblocking on Kualus, sans mask

[N01InParticular]

@Zanywoop

sans mask

Badabupbah

HA HA funny Sans joke

[Pylonmadness]

This is pretty cool. I’d love to see more non standard builds for the hagah. It’ll be pretty boring if people are restricted to a metru torso. I’d rather not see the same build for 2-3 weeks straight

[HeadsintheLethe]

Woah, I really, really like these builds.