As a longtime fan of Bionicle, I wanted to do my part in contributing to the community with some kind of project. An important aspect to me with this project is that I wanted to do something that would have some kind of meaningful purpose or impact, no matter how big or small. As such, I decided to embrace the world of 3D printing, which I truly believe is a huge player in the future of Bionicle MOCs (and we have already seen this making an impact in the new canon contests that have been going on.)
I wanted to do something that would allow me a chance to showcase the dozens of designers who have been pouring years of work into creating new tools, masks, armor etc for us all to use and enjoy. I wanted to show how these parts look in real life, in different colors, and most importantly, how they all come together to form new and interesting design potential for your figures.
With that in mind, I set forth on this project. The idea behind this project is that it will be a mockup of a “Lego set inspired” series of figures, all using a majority printed pieces. This project will encompass four “Years” of sets, each year including two seasons of MOCs. Designers will all be credited along the way. In some cases, I may work with designers on commissions for custom pieces. In other cases, I have worked on my own designs and remixes, all of which will be made available on Thingiverse for you to utilize as you see fit. A story is in development, but expect this to be delayed a bit.
This project will take time. Time to print pieces. Time to clean them up and make them look decent. Time to playtest them and make sure they function correctly. Time to design new pieces. Time to design the actual MOCs - all of which will be keeping a “Set viable” aspect to them. (I love a complicated MOC as the next person, but I want the pieces to shine, and to show how they would look in a standard set style environment. Plus, complicated MOCs would elongate this project longer than I would like. Such kinds of artistic builds are not the goal of this project.) I’m taking this project 1 season at a time. It’s a common issue that people get burned out over long projects, and I will do my best to avoid that. Most likely I will take a break between seasons to pursue other projects, but I believe this is how I will bet manage to keep this going in the long run.
Today, I begin Year 1, Season 1: Journey to the Red City. You can see from the graphic how many MOCs are planned for this particular season. They will be revealed over the course of the next few months, as most of these are currently WIPs. I will be commenting and highlighting the pieces used, where to get them, and technical details such as the filament & printing process, troubleshooting, etc. As mentioned, a story is planned to be developed in some capacity, though given my current life schedule this is delayed until a later point in time.
This season will consist of 6 Matoran (M) sized sets, 6 Canister (C) sized sets, 1 Titan (T) sized set, and 2 Impulse (I) sets. I have already noted in the graphic above which characters will take up these slots.
#WeAreG3
C001 Toa Tahu
I debated at first if I even wanted to include the classic Toa in this project as so many people tend to base their projects off them, off that nostalgia. However, in the end, I decided to create them, for two reasons. First, one of my goals with this project is to show people that you can viably create brand new figures that are almost entirely 3D printed and to really push the limits of the system. This gave me a good, approachable starting point to showcase this idea. Second, because of this love for these characters, there’s a ton of fantastic designs out there that people have created, and I felt it would be an injustice not to showcase some of these parts.
Next, the design. I know that continuing the “Inika” platform will be a point of contention. Everyone has their own idea of what they want Bionicle to be, and everyone will express their projects differently. For my project, I wanted to get into the headspace of LEGO. To think about some of the limitations they may face, and what “could have been” had G1 gone on. With that in mind, I absolutely think the building system in 2006-2009 would continue forth. It was truly a prototype of the eventual CCBS system, where a more standardized building system was created. They reused parts, but it gave us more recolors of these parts. It allowed for more variety in character builds and created a more uniform scale of characters. I kept the general idea of an Inika build in mind. By 2010+, my thought is that Lego would have been ready to once again invest in creating more limbs, armor plates, etc, and this is where I made my selections for new elements with these figures.
Tahu is very much a “basic” character. He features many parts that would be “new” for this wave, and doesn’t do much as far as a unique build or special features goes. It is worth noting that I removed the launcher gimmick that sets would have. From the previous graphic, you can see set I001 is a return to the mask pack idea of the past. I will discuss this more when I reveal the concept, but to be brief I believe it would make sense to return to such a collectible, given the success of blind-bag products now.
As we dive into this first MOC, let me be clear that I do not adhere myself 100% to official, established story facts from either G1 or G2. Does Tahu’s appearance make sense with what we know he should look like? No, most likely not. But if you desire, you can create it in your own way. I wanted to create my own ideas and to not be limited by the past, I felt it was very important for me to enjoy this process.
My main goal with Tahu was this: I wanted to create a figure that I could drop in to my 2006-2009 shelf that would visually make sense with everyone else. I wanted the bright colors of 2001 to shine in this figure. I basically said “no thank you” to 2008 and the designs/colors used, and took a total 180 to the past. It’s a new Tahu, it’s one that has elements you recognize but also things that are new. At the end of the day, this figure serves the sole purpose of showcasing the pieces that were used in this particular arrangement.
This contains a breakdown of the parts, their creators, where you can get them, the materials used, etc.
Metru Mata Hau by KingSidorak/Rothanak
Gumroad: Metru Mata Hau
Adaptive Nuva Shoulder Armor by Gavla
Thingiverse: Adaptive Nuva Shoulder Armor by Galva - Thingiverse
Adaptive Nuva Chestplate by Gavla
Thingiverse: Adaptive Nuva Chestplate by Galva - Thingiverse
Nuva Leg & Shell Armor by M06Z [Remixed by VBBN to be longer, files will be available on Thinigiverse eventually. Unforunately, I lost the files in a computer changeover, so I’ll need to rebuild them]
Original files: Bionicle Nuva Shell Armour by M06Z - Thingiverse
Bionicle Nuva Lower Limb version 2 by M06Z - Thingiverse
Bionicle sockets/joint connectors:
5L joint by Lmk2332: bionicle metru bone by Lmk2332 - Thingiverse
Single joint and 7L joints remixed by VBBN, will be on thingiverse soon
Fists & feet: model replications by VBBN, utilizing the socket design from Lmk2332, files will be available on Thingiverse soon
Toa Metru Foot by GrimUrsine: Toa Metru Foot Axle Fix by GrimUrsine - Thingiverse
SID_L05 by KingSidorak: SID_L04 & SID_L05
Materials used:
Hatchbox 1.75mm PLA Black
Hatchbox 1.75mm PLA Red
eSun 1.75mm PLA Orange
C006 Toa Kopaka
Kopaka uses a fairly similar build to Tahu for his body overall, the main differences are that incredibly cool Akaku, and figuring out his Toa tools. After giving Tahu the flame sword, I knew that all six Toa were going to have weapons inspired by their original Mata forms. Unfortunately, Kopaka’s old sword would be much too small to include here - luckily, onomatopeyista on Thingiverse created a fantastic update to that sword at a much larger scale. The print came out perfectly and looks right at home here. It’s also got some really unique attachment points, so I look forward to integrating this in future builds. Last, the shield - I tried dozens of different solutions for this, most of them sticking with round Lego disk-style shields as Kopaka has traditionally had, but none of them ever looked right with this figure. I decided upon this protosteel shield by vahki6 mounted to his wrist, which definitely gives me vibes of Infinity War Captain America’s Vibranium shields.
Below you can find the relevant links to all pieces used here.
Akaku by Gavla: The Champions [MASK PACK #4] by Galva - Thingiverse
Adaptive Nuva Shoulder Armor by Gavla: Adaptive Nuva Shoulder Armor by Galva - Thingiverse
Adaptive Nuva Chestplate by Gavla: Adaptive Nuva Chestplate by Galva - Thingiverse
Nuva Leg & Shell Armor by M06Z [Remixed by VBBN to be longer, files will be available on Thinigiverse eventually. Unforunately, I lost the files in a computer changeover, so I’ll need to rebuild them]
Original files: Bionicle Nuva Shell Armour by M06Z - Thingiverse
Bionicle Nuva Lower Limb version 2 by M06Z - Thingiverse
Bionicle sockets/joint connectors:
5L joint by Lmk2332: bionicle metru bone by Lmk2332 - Thingiverse
Single joint and 7L joints remixed by VBBN
Fists: model replications by VBBN, utilizing the socket design from Lmk2332.
Toa Metru Foot by GrimUrsine: Toa Metru Foot Axle Fix by GrimUrsine - Thingiverse
SID_L05 by KingSidorak: SID_L04 & SID_L05
Bionic Sword Toa Kopaka for Toa Nuva by onomatopeyista: Bionic Sword Toa Kopaka for Toa Nuva by onomatopeyista - Thingiverse
Great Protosteel Shield by vahki6: Great Protosteel Shield by vahki6 - Thingiverse
Materials used:
Hatchbox 1.75mm PLA White
FilaCube 1.75mm Light Gray PLA
Hatchbox 1.75mm PLA Black
![[​IMG]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53046760455_707a3ef586_c.jpg "Click this image to show the full-size version.")
