Built for the Spare Part community’s challenge Shopping Spree. We were given a list of sets, prices, and an imaginary $100 budget to spend in order to build something out of the combination. But regardless of how much you spent within that $100, you were always guaranteed a GWP 2006 Good Guy.
For my build, I purchased 4 Takadox sets, 2 Chirox sets, 1 Cendox, 1 Defilak, and of course the GWP Good Guy for a total of $85. I’ll explain my reasoning in the designer’s notes below, but be sure to check out the other builds in this challenge. I’ll try to update the links as more are posted.
One of the many dangerous mutated Rahi skulking around the ocean floor, the Pit Mantis Shrimp is often looking for a fight. Especially with any rivals that can put up a good boxing match like the Tarakava or Keras. Though usually seen alone, some Matoran report seeing what looks like an organized tournament between these Rahi for, seemingly, who is the best fighter. Why this is done or what victory means is unknown.
Turnaround:
Designer’s Notes:
As I’ve said on Bio-Cup builds, I have trouble with vague prompts. If it’s too open ended, I don’t have a real direction to anchor myself. And in this challenge, while it is more solid, it was just open enough that I needed to give myself additional limitations.
I could have simplified it to just picking two or three sets to build more basic combo model and call it a day. But good combo models are still hard if you don’t have a direction for what to make with the limited pieces. And with the limited time frame (14 days), and more importantly my very limited building time, I couldn’t afford to just pick a few fun parts packs and explore. So what more could I limit myself? Well, I could limit to what childhood me had.
Enter, Takadox. Between me and my brother, we had four Takadox sets. Why so many you ask? My Dad found a bunch of them on sale and bought multiples. He gave me and my brother one each as a building race challenge and the winner got the third Takadox. I won since I was way more familiar with building Bionicle sets than my brother (he beat me in every System building race though). That, and if my memory is correct, I already had a Takadox so I had familiarity with the build as well. But between being duplicates and limited shelf space, we only needed one Takadox so the other three went into the spare parts bin.
That seemed like a perfect route to go. Start with three Takadox sets and go from there. Plus, with two Vahki waists, Takadox was the most cost effective for more complex builds. Regardless of what theme of Lego constraction you’re dealing with, all Technic parts are a most precious resource in builds. Moreso than the limbs, armor, or masks, especially in combo models. And with all those Vahki waists, why not fit as many as one can on the Technic beam? Might as well make a big shrimp or lobster monster - a nightmare Takadox.
I ended up wanting more legs, so the fourth Takadox was brought in. I tried to keep the build to just using Takadox for everything, but it became apparent that I would need some other sets. Chirox I was already eyeing for a potential Gapping Dragon-style creature (brief experiments showed it wouldn’t work) and he had 2007 armor parts. Only used one at first before I made the head, in which I wanted to use the eye stalks and needed another one. Cendox was nabbed for some precious Technic connectors and more 2007 armor pieces, with our Mahri Nui Matoran being snagged for additional Technic parts. Wanted to eliminate some gaps and he was a cheap resource for some small Technic beams. The Good Guy usage was also for some Technic axles, though more so out of laziness since I didn’t feel like swapping out the black axles already in the eye stalks. An earlier version did some some more of his parts, but all except for those axles got removed by the final build.
But yeah, that’s about it process wise. I did consider doing two Cendox V1’s, maybe add a Rotor for some parts, to do a Bara Magna creature. Something that walks on the blades and could fold up to skirt along the desert sands on its tread body. But that would require better planning and more building time than I could spare for this challenge. Something to try out later.
What if False Eye?:
A couple of builds made use of the Tridax Pod as eyes and I considered doing the same. It’s a fun piece to use as an eye, but didn’t really work for this build. Maybe there’s a version of this creature in the Pit that has this mutation - an extra large false eye to draw in creatures thinking it’s smaller or less dangerous, only for its upper section to smack them.
Closeups:
Dark Mode and other Extras:
Believe it or not, but the black background isn’t my favorite one to use. It has definitely dominated in use for photos due to predominately black and/or white MOCs work better with a dark background. But aside from that, the primary reason for it is due to my association with darker colors with Hero Factory and white void backgrounds for Bionicle MOCs. And I’ve done a lot more CCBS builds in the last several years than Bionicle, so sometimes I’m just too lazy to change the sheet.
But black had some drawbacks on this boy, so back to classic white void it is.
I still do love my headshots, even if the meta for that has long been dead.
Also can never decide when vertical or horizontal shots are better.
As always, any comments or criticism are welcomed.
