A few days ago, I saw a funny piece of fanart on Twitter of Nuparu Inika. That piece of fanart inspired me to make my own version of Nuparu, which quickly inspired me to make the rest of the team as well. I say Mahri, but these mocs take inspiration from both their Inika and Mahri forms (with even some of the Matoran traits sprinkled in there a bit).
Jaller, the Captain of the Guard
Gender: Male
Species: Toa of Fire
Kanohi: Arthron, Great Mask of Sonar
Pieces: 112
Honestly, i have surprisingly little to say about this moc. Other than the transparent colors and the Inika swords–which he has two because Jaller Inika actually wielded two in the story despite the set only having one–this is more-or-less a straight revamp of the Mahri set minus the crab. Not to say that I dislike the moc, it’s just relatively simple.
Hahli, the Former Chronicler
Gender: Female
Species: Toa of Water
Kanohi: Faxon, Great Mask of Kindred
Pieces: 136
Hahli was fun to design. Figuring out how to balance the gunmetal grey from her Inika form and lime from her Mahri form was a nice challenge and I’m super satisfied with the result. The foot design is one I’ve used a fair bit before and subbing the Hordika feet for Kalmah feet make for excellent flippers, perfect for the master of the sea.
Kongu, the Commander of the Gukko Force
Gender: Male
Species: Toa of Air
Kanohi: Miru, Great Mask of Levitation
Pieces: 121
Kongu is actually the one I struggled with the most. I simply had no idea what I wanted to do with him. I opted for the stature and weapons of the Mahri variant while using the silver and blue accents from the Inika version. Also I don’t care for either of his canon masks, so I opted for a Miru variant because he used to wear one as a Matoran. My least favorite from this collection, but I still like him.
Nuparu, the Bane of the Swarms
Gender: Male
Species: Toa of Earth
Kanohi: Kadin, Great Mask of Flight
Pieces: 138
This is the one that started it all. Because it was inspired by the fanart linked above, I tried bringing that design closer to what we saw in canon from either of Nuparu’s two sets. It didn’t work quite well as an interpretation other than giving him the gun his girlfriend made for him, but I still like it. I’m particularly a fan of the simplified version of the aqua blaster blade, which (like Jaller Inika’s second sword) he wielded in the story on account of a prototype.
Hewkii, the Champion of Po-Koro
Gender: Male
Species: Toa of Earth
Kanohi: Sanok, Great Mask of Accuracy
Pieces: 96
In the words of TTV’s own Ven, “barring the change in his color scheme, Hewkii was doing so well in 2006,” so I took it upon myself to make Hewkii brown again; a task much easier said than done, given how limited light brown’s inventory was, but I’m quite pleased with the result. I quite like how I was able to translate the original Mahri set’s weird cannon arm attachment into a Zamor launcher that reminds me a lot of Samus’s cannon. I regret to say that the torso assembly is questionable (it doesn’t trigger collision in Studio, yet some of the interactions look incredibly tight; some testing is required on my end), but this moc is easily one of my favorites, if only to look at.
Matoro, the Savior of Mata Nui
Gender: Male
Species: Toa of Ice
Kanohi: Tryna, Great Mask of Reanimation
Pieces: 119
Like Jaller, Matoro is more-or-less a straight revamp of the Mahri set, having even fewer of the Inika traits. Even so, as the last one I made, I think Matoro is one of the most cohesive of the group. I greatly simplified his tools, shrinking down his shredder claws and putting them on both hands and changing his (rather awkward to wield) Cordak blaster for a competition cannon. If I was only going to build one irl, this is probably the one I’d go for.