Hi!
It’s Arugula, here with my first MOC on the boards. Technically, it’s not my first MOC ever, as back in the day I made quite a few… interesting Toa and the like. This, however, is my first MOC of the post-G2 era. I set myself some lofty goals for this MOC, most of which I achieved (at least to some extent). This whole thing was inspired by a combination of lurking these boards account-less and wondering if I could make use of two pieces in particular. I’ll give some backstory now, then the pictures, and a huge wall of text assessing my goals after.
Kōrero is a Toa of Magnetism who dwells on a yet-undefined island (maybe I’ll get to world-building someday). A thorough historian with ample mental acumen, Kōrero strived to acquire knowledge from his earliest days as a Matoran. This manifested itself most obviously in the library he began to collect, many of which were his own writings of events as they happened. When he became a Toa, he worked with his team for a few months before he decided that he could no longer abide the perceived frivolities of his teammates. Rejecting his team, Kōrero began to become a hermit and hoarded his library even more closely. He began to delve more deeply into ancient legends and rare artifacts, his library slowly expanding into more of a museum. Kōrero worked with a former teammate to devise an airtight transport system to shuttle his collection to the underwater caverns beneath the island on which he lived. Making full use of his Kanohi Kaukau, Kōrero developed tools to help him swim (which does not come naturally to Fa-Matoran) and now travels from cavern to cavern, maintaining his collection and surfacing rarely. Make no mistake, however; Kōrero is no villain, nor is he insane. He simply desires to share his knowledge only with those he deems worthy. He is proud and stubborn, but his mental reserves are peerless. Be it Rahi, Makuta, or Skakdi, if it existed, Kōrero knows something of it. Without further ado, I give you Toa Kōrero, the Reclusive Scholar.
From the back, complete with skewed mask that I just noticed now.
Feet with flippers…
…and without. (most of these parts are so dusty… it’s been like 5 or so years since anybody touched them lol)
While they’re not weapons, these are definitely Kōrero’s preferred handhelds, making them, in a way, his Toa tools.
As I mentioned, I set several goals for myself in this project. I would divide these further into primary and secondary goals. My primary goals were the following:
- Be as creative as possible.
- Find a way to make flippers using the pieces I used (spoilers I did it).
- Make a tallish, well-shaped build.
- Have fun.
- Be satisfied.
Now, summaries of how I feel I did on these points, listed with letters corresponding to the numbers above.
A. I went ham. I tried to use parts just because I thought it would be fun to use them, which led to Bohrok jaws being the primary elements to give shaping to the torso, as well as the feet. In addition, I used System pieces for the back and upper arms. All in all, I used six different kinds of pieces throughout the MOC: G1, G2, Hero Factory, Knight’s Kingdom, System, and Technic (first person to spot the KK pieces wins my undying respect). I will accept that the forearms and forelegs (?) were pretty much complete cop-outs, but at that point he was taking shape and I just wanted to see him done.
B. Yay, I did it. The inspiration for using the foot pieces from Mazeka’s Swamp Strider as flippers came from me wondering if I could make a Toa that utilized the gunmetal Kaukau we happened to have (bless up, 2001 mask packs: you the real MVP). I figured it would be cool to have a non-traditional Toa actually try and make use of a mask that seems so unfitting. Originally, this was supposed to be a Toa of Earth (at one stage it was an imagined Toa Mavrah; one can see the reclusive qualities and the affinity for watery caverns), further defying the stereotypes surrounding swimming. However, I had to splash the white to make ends meet.
C. I’m pretty happy with how Kōrero turned out. I had originally hoped for a more slender, almost feminine build, but it turns out that’s actually super hard to do. He turned out much bulkier than I had hoped, but I decided from when I completed the torso that I was just going to roll with it. As it is, the shaping is fairly well-defined (in my obviously subjective opinion), but there’s obviously room for improvement in the future.
D. Easiest ‘success’ of my life. This was the most fun I’ve had in ages. It was great to dig through our giant Bionicle bin scrounging for parts etc. and the end result is very rewarding. For a first serious attempt at a MOC, I’m very happy with how it turned out.
E. As I said, I’m pretty happy with it. I mentioned earlier the relative lameness of the lower arms and legs in comparison to the rest, but I still feel quite content with what I’ve built and probably won’t make many significant changes.
Now for the secondary goals, which will be much shorter in summary:
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Make a custom torso: check.
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Make custom hands with individual moveable fingers: check (btw hands are insanely difficult).
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Make custom arms and legs: half check.
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Don’t use silver: almost entirely check (rip the fingertips, but it was the only color I had enough of).*
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Execute the themes I want with the MOC: check.
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Take decent looking pictures: guess I’ll hold that L.
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Make a creepy candelabra for Kōrero to wander the caverns with: check.
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Keep the post short and sweet: rip.
*I’m not sure why I was so adamant about not using silver, but it provided an extra layer of challenge. It’s also what introduced white to the MOC, as I knew I wanted the HF shield piece as the chest but couldn’t use the silver one from Stringer 4.0.
Anyways, feedback is greatly appreciated. As I mentioned (If you managed to read all that), I doubt I’ll be making any massive changes to the MOC’s structure (so probably don’t suggest complete palette swaps or something), but there are definitely small improvements that I could make and I’d love to hear some thoughts. He has all the standards point of articulation (although his high-knees only reach about as high as mine), as well as six movable fingers and an “intentionally” lean-able torso.
Well over 1,000 words later, and that’s more than enough from me. Let me know what you think!
- Arugula
P.S. Does anybody know what set the black Technic plate I used for the thigh piece is from? I can’t for the life of me place it.
P.S.S. Is there an option to spoiler tag? This post is massive and I’m feeling a little self-conscious.