Onua 2015 Changes (Still late to the party)

So, to start off the bat once again I decided to do another revamp of a 2015 Toa, ignoring the fact so many of these have likely been done to death, while 2016 revamps are what the main focus probably would be currently. Regardless of my once again very oddly review, I want to put it up anyway because I’m actually much more proud of Onua than I am of Pohatu.

To start off, I just recently got my Onua and Kopaka sets in the mail because I actually regained my interest in Bionicle around november’s end, which did not give much time for set purchases before they began vanishing, so I built them after they arrived. I was actually very satisfied with Kopaka, other than the huge shield which I replaced with Rocka’s breakout shield, made his shoulders white instead of gold, put his old shield on his back like the back of a coat or cape, and excluding his lower legs looking off I was perfectly happy with him… Onua on the other hand, I could not look at him and think “This is a good iteration of Onua” at all, and I’ll quickly explain why.

While I was at least content with Pohatu out of the box and just wanted to see if I could do better, I absolutely hated Onua’s out of the box build, which I’m even surprised by since I knew I wouldn’t love his build when buying, though I thought I would at least like his build. I didn’t, nothing about his build interested me, and considering The people I’ve talk to about Onua’s recommendations all loved his build, so I guess I’m just the odd one out here.

-I like the idea of him having wider shoulders to accentuate and emphasize his attribute of strength, though his arms were one… Bushing? I’ll use bushings as incriments of measurement. One bushing too wide while on an awkward and limiting connection.

-While many loved his animalistic feet, I really felt they didn’t belong on Onua, because he has no real tie in to animals, Lewa has more of a connection with them and they would look bad on him in my opinion as well (Both the protector and larger feet).

-And while I won’t include what little of a hunch back he had bothering me since that’s just my nostalgic preference, I cannot ignore what I say as my last point, I absolutely hate his chest piece, I didn’t even bother putting the stickers on the finished product because his chest piece was so ugly in my opinion. I completely hatted how it looked on him.

I loved a lot of pieces Onua came with, though I hated the chest, feet, the hordika necks, while I loved the rest of the parts and disliked large amount of the build, so this is what I did to see if I could make something I could comfortably call “Onua”.

Excluding his limbs since I still wanted them to have the CCBS look to them, I really do feel I filled him out very well in his torso, from the fact I made his back and hunch back top more rounded while forming decently around his gear function, to the custom chest armor so he could have a true hunchback look to him. I also added a couple tiny details such as the sort of pistons in the small caps of his armor’s sides (I probably should have made those grey instead, though I could only find one of the piece in gray I needed), however I’m happy with the overall result.

With the weapons, I also kept the idea of his claws being tools rather than a part of him, (Something I for some reason didn’t do with Pohatu, probably more because I could more easily give him two fingers, and the fact 2001 Pohatu had no real weapons, and his nuva weapons being literal claws, it just looked better on him). I also gave him an alternative weapon to use, and while it’s not chainsaws like his Nuva incarnate, I think dual shovels work with him, I could see him being the type to be so strong that he would dual wield shovels and dig with them very rapidly, something that is normally a two handed tool, it just makes more sense than a stinking hammer. Heck, maybe he can smack the shovels together and form a jackhammer or drill he holds with both hands and pushes with full force on to dig quickly with, I think that makes sense too.

Overall, I am so much more proud of Onua than I am of Pohatu, the only things I will likely change with him in the future would be to add more translucent purple limbs when I get Onua 2016, add a bit of extra armor to the backs of his shins and such, and give him the same elbow connection as Pohatu so he can move his Forearm inward for posing, because I’m a moron and forgot to do that before taking pictures. The one flaw with my changes I couldn’t find a good way around would be the fact that with how I designed the hunchback, his eye stalk always hits that top hunching piece, and his neck is slightly hindered at times. Still, I’m very happy with how he turned out and how filled out he feels, and really wanted to put him up and see what others feel about him.

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Man if this was what we got, I would’ve of bought a lot more Bionicle 2015 sets.

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Oh, wow, that’s actually a huge compliment I wasn’t expecting for just a revamp, thank you. Considering so many of the pieces he came with were left out, such as hand connectors, glatorian necks, Technic bits, he would probably be roughly 4 to 8 pieces more than the set itself if I removed a few pieces that would likely be considered unnecessary by LEGO’s standards, so in a way he could have been possible as a set in a few ways, possibly. I’d like to think so anyway.

Thank you very much for the compliment, I’m glad someone liked what I did with him since I was just overall more displeased than I ever though I would be with his build and aesthetic to the point of nearly hating the set once I had him in hand.

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This is great, although I should probably critique it a bit more.

  • those Turbo Spades are creative, although I question why you didn’t stick with his usual hammer.

  • His chest is definitely well built, however his limbs are a bit thin in my opinion.

  • I question the way you did his claws, just sticking them on like normal would have done the job.

I’ll agree with you Onua was my least favorite out of the 2015 toa.

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Yeah Onua was my favorite g1 toa. So it may just be my nostalgia talking but I really didn’t like his g2 look. This looks way better looking in my opinion.

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Hey look, he’s hunchback again.

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@SwagMeister
Thank you very much for for the critiques and the compliment, firstly before I respond to your critiques, curse you because now the name “turbo spades” is locked in my head, that is honestly a really neat name for them.

-The removal of the hammer, I have a couple of reasons for this actually, the first is the fact that when I see Onua I see him dual wielding something, I just cannot see him holding a singular weapon, he always has to have two weapons to use at the same time, and while I could have just given him dual hammers, my second reason arises where I just can’t see Onua wielding hammers. I feel like something relating to digging or cutting is always the type of weapon he would have, and a hammer does neither of those things. It’s my personal preference really, and I chose to stick with it.

-the thin limbs, I have no retort here, I do agree that his limbs feel a bit spindly mainly because of the default way the limbs are made with CCBS, I’m planning on trying to change up his limbs a bit once I get 2016 Onua and some other sets for parts, though in the meantime he’s going to sort of retain the very thin leg look from the Mata days until I can make them look just a bit bulkier.

-The way he holds his claws, this is another sort of preference I made due to thinking over how I would actually use this tool in real life. If I were to have Onua’s strength and these tools, or just attempt to use these tools at all I would instinctively punch the wall and slide my hand downwards, so I pictured Onua doing the same while holding the claws on the backs of his hands. Granted, it probably would have looked better just to solidify them by using an axel rod to keep the claws always on the back of his hand, though for some reason I made them slide forwards and back, I guess I thought he could also use them to stabilize heavy items he’s carrying like large rocks he needs to get out of the way while digging, though the approach I took doesn’t make much sense with that now that I think about it.

anyway, thank you again for the critiques, thank you for the compliment, and I’m glad you liked it.

@GIF.Man.Ben
Definitely, at first I felt Pohatu would be the weakest of the 6, getting Onua proved me so wrong, as far as my thoughts of him anyway. I can’t deny I love Onua’s mask though, it does fit him wonderfully and at least holds a decent resemblance to the Pakari. I’m glad you liked the revamp, and thank you for the compliment.

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he’s alright, reminds me of a Hunchback of Noterdam version of mr Onya

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Maybe I would have bought him if this was his design. This is pretty cool.

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@JMP
Well, considering Onua originally was a hunch back, and heavily so with the fact that his head was pretty much attached to his chest, while the new version just seemed like he was slouching slightly,with raised shoulders that just looked so off and ugly, I think I did pretty well personally. However, that’s my opinion, and I can respect if you aren’t the most fond of it, though I will always be proud of this torso, I definitely feel like I filled it out well.

@Ninjanicktf
Thank you very much, I’m honored to hear something like that, I’m glad you like what I’ve done with him.

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It… it looks beautiful!

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Thank you, I’m glad you like it, though on a half related, half non-related note, you know what I personally find a bit more beautiful? Seeing the group together like this.

I found a whole tote of old, unused megabloks pieces that I planned to sell a while back, though just now I finished re-purposing them. It’s a bit cramped due to a limit with the tan pieces I had, and I had to push aside Onua so Lewa could be seen (though his ax is kind of hidden) Pretty much it’s cramped slightly when you look at it just from the front, but once Tahu is in my grasp, this set up might not be the most fancy, but I personally think it’s beautiful purely because it’s the gang coming together again… God, after all these years I still love Bionicle almost as much as I did in the first years of it.
…This is off topic, but when you said that it gave me an Idea somehow,and this came from it, so thank you for the compliment, and thank you for somehow giving me inspiration to make a display for them all, even if it just a mess of LEGO knockoff parts.
(I’ll more than likely build a permanent replacement out of LEGO bricks once I have the funds to purchase a huge mass of tan LEGO pieces, though for now this works)

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This is beautiful. Usually I’m not a fan of huncback designs, but you made it work really well. The torso looks really well crafted too.
My only complaint, as already mentioned, would be the skinny limbs.
But all in all great revamp.

On a side note, I hope you’ll show your other master’s revamps.

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That chest <3

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@Omega
Thank you very much, I’m not going to lie when I say I never really expect many compliments or such with what I make, I just like putting up what I make and see if people have anything in mind that could improve it. I’m beyond glad that the people that see this seem to really like what I’ve done with him just out of dislike for the set’s intended construction, and I’m thankful for the compliments I’ve actually gotten for this.

I do plan to work on the Limbs once I get Onua 2016 and see if I can do something about bulking them up a bit more just so they seem a bit more fitting, although I might leave the lower leg with that look of thinning at the ankle to give the effect of his upside down Mata legs he had.

As for my other Masters I haven’t really done much with them aside for Onua and Pohatu, although I have considered seeing if I can do anything to the others, including Tahu once I finally get him (Good god, it’s just like 2001 all over again, I have them all except him) Although as far as Kopaka, Gali, and Lewa, I’m mostly satisfied with them excluding the weapon replacements I did to them for the most part. Another issue is I was able to do what I did with Onua since he is a much more bulky build, so I was able to smooth and fill him out much more easily. I’ll definitely see if I can get any inspiration since my whole reason for changing Pohatu and Onua was the fact I wasn’t exactly the most pleased with Pohatu, and absolutely hated Onua. Anything’s worth a shot once however so I’ll definitely give them a go.

@Poaki
Yeah, Onua’s actual chest piece was so clunky and ugly that after I finished building him, looking at him for a moment, cringing in distaste, and tossed him onto the operation table, I immediately yanked that part right off and tossed it into the “bin of shame”, the dark musky place where all my least favorite pieces go and become forgotten, only ever seeing the light again when another unfortunate soul joins them in purgatory. Like Ben 10 heads, Vahki eyes/heads, LEGO knights helmets/limbs, and those piraka spines and Roborider wheels I can never find a use for. I’m glad you like my replacement however, I’m definitely proud of how it all comes together.

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I do like the the overall figure and the upper body, but that’s about it. His limbs are rather scrawny, I’m not fond of the changes to the shovels or the lack of the hammer, and the head blends into the torso which looks like a massive chunk of black. Nevertheless this is your interpretation of Onua and if it works for you it succeeded.

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Pretty neat! I kinda wish he was a bit bigger though and had a lot more meat to his limbs, and the fact that his weapons prolly would have been better if you just used the set weapons and upgraded those.

Nice work!

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I like him, something about his overall stature really harkens back to his 01 form

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@Triple
Well that is your preference and I can respect that, to each their own. I personally cannot picture Onua using a hammer, it’s neither a digging nor cutting tool, which I’ve come to know him for from the early years, and which ever shovels you mean, the literal shovels or the claws, I’m personally fine with both, though I won’t lie that thew might need to be reworked a bit. I mainly put him up because I was actually able to think “Onua” when looking at him like this.

I won’t lie though, you’re not wrong at all about the limbs being too thin, still working on a good way thicken them up and still have it look like the CCBS aesthetic, and perhaps I might take the stickers he came with and cut them so they fit on the smaller chest piece under his neck, and get those armor pieces on his “pecs” I guess they would be called in purple since I think they exist in that color to break up the black. Anyway, thank you for your thoughts on him.

@RaptorTalon
Well, as I’ve said a few times I just cannot see Onua as the type to use hammers, he always has to dual wield something in my eyes, and it has to involve digging or cutting away mass amounts of rocks and earth which a hammer just seems impractical for that purpose even with his strength. Sure, the hammer might be more for fighting, that’s definitely what LEGO was going for, but it’s not what I personally could see him use, Ironically I could see Pohatu using a hammer more than Onua because even though his strength is in his legs primarily, he’s at least from a village of builders in 01. Still, I kept his claws, he just holds them on the backs of his hands now.

Either way, thank you very much for your thoughts and the compliment.

@Stoax
Thank you, while there’s still definitely room for improvement with him, primarily the limbs which are not my specialty in CCBS nor… Well, at all really, I’ll still definitely see if I can do something with them in time, I am glad you like what I’ve done with him however, I’m definitely pretty satisfied and find it much easier to call this Onua than the set’s intended construction.

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