Regarding this quote: If I were to use a piece like, say, Kiina’s trident head, which is a bit longer that other Hagah spearheads, would the preference be that I make the shaft slightly shorter to achieve the same overall length, or keep the same axels and end up with a longer spear overall? I’m currently leaning towards the former, but I wanted to check if there’s an official opinion on this.
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Well, no pressure on them, then. 
Anyway, just putting a sort of general question out there, because I see people talking about the sort of Mocs they will/won’t be voting for but some of the comments make much less context when put next to art.
What sort of artworks would/wouldn’t people vote for? Is anyone determined to only vote for one or the other? I would hope people are going into this with an open mind.
(Also, as I speak Meso appears to be typing up his promised Mega-Reply, so hype for that. )
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In terms of Part 1, I’m personally likely only going for MOCs, but that depends on how many entries there are. As for Part 2, too soon to tell.
Would Part 2 allow for depicting Norik and Iruini alongside the other 4?
I’m pretty sure they’re allowed, but not mandated. Don’t quote me on it though.
Someone should just add Norik and have it be that time when Iruini quit the team. 
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As of right now, I plan to vote on concepts rather than the specifics of the art (and this also goes for MOCs). Stuff like general proportions, colours, and masks; I don’t care as much about the specifics of exactly which shin piece is used, for example. I’d rather vote for a 30 second sketch with my preferred colours and mask than a super detailed piece with colours I don’t like.
At least for the first round; obviously I want the final group shot to be suitably epic, but my first round votes are going to be moreso for concepts that I think can be executed the best in the final round.
I sure hope so, and everything I’ve seen from TTV suggests it would actually be encouraged. Personally, I would mandate their appearance, but I totally get why that isn’t a great option. (I guess that’ll be one of my voting preferences in the final round)
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Alright everybody! After reading up on the hundreds of posts made over the last day (wow you guys work fast) I’m here with a torrent of answers, clarifications, and some rule addendums based on feedback.
You guys have made good points, and we do acknowledge our own oversight in this case: We are updating the banned masks list to include the Olisi, as well as the Mutated versions of the Felnas, Shelek, and Mask of Mutation. To put it in simpler terms, as stated by @Racie02, masks that are in mutated/shapeshifted forms are banned. Additionally, we are also banning the G2 Mask of Creation or masks that resemble it because of the very character-specific iconography.
Additionally, we’re revising our stance on the group art contest being mandated to maintain existing mask designs if they are official Kanohi masks. That was an idea solely because of the unique nature of the Hagah, but after considering it, we feel like keeping it the same way as the prior contests works best. In other words, those who enter the group artwork portion will have the creative liberty to either keep the existing mask, custom or official, OR create their own unique Kanohi design.
Finally, valid concerns about the limited number of official metallic masks have prompted us to change the mandate for that rule. You will allowed to use non-metallic masks, with the understanding that your mask will be recolored in the group art contest to match the shade of metallic armor on your MoC.
I’ll elaborate more on this below if you guys want to hear the rationale.
Correct. For the majority of most fans, you’re right, the distinction likely won’t matter too much, but yes, it will function exactly the same as the prior contests. The initial model serves to design the character (which will either be represented as a MoC or a piece of art, depending on which one wins), and the second contest will be a group depiction of the Toa Hagah drawn in the same artistic style with their final mask choices.
We’re going to go ahead and allow Hydraxon’s helmet, believe it or not. We’ve seen the Greg quote about it not being based on a Kanohi and just being a standalone helmet, but we don’t know whether Hydraxon was ever a known or public figure. As such, the possibility exists that there could be a mask modeled after HIM instead of his helmet being modeled after a Kanohi. Admittedly, it’s just a possibility, but we believe there’s enough room for doubt to not restrict its inclusion.
The initial design will be featured in the trivia section. The character design depicted in the group art will be cropped and included as the main image.
Art does not specifically have to depict LEGO pieces, because that would be somewhat hard to restrict and also be pretty limiting. All we insist is that artists remember they’re designing a character in BIONICLE G1, and that the aesthetic reasonably belong to that universe. Entries that deviate too far or are like… human BIONICLE or anything like that will be disqualified.
The only thing that can be changed in the group art portion is the mask as well as the mandatory inclusion of a Hagah shield (if the initial MoC opted for a custom shield in lieu of a Hagah shield). Everything else, including the design of the model, the depiction of the pieces, the colors, and the color arrangement can’t be meaningfully altered past basic stylization choices.
We’re gonna go with no; for simplicity’s sake and to maintain coherence with how the rest of the Hagah are oriented, we feel it’s much simpler to require standard shield connection. The only allowance is for shields to be mounted on their backs for the purpose of allowing things like two-handed spears or things like that.
Sure! All of that is fine. On the subject of mandating a spear length, we’re not going to concern ourselves with specific measurements of the axles. People that make “substantially longer or shorter” spears run the risk of violating our basic size comparison guideline and will get disqualified. We feel like those guidelines give people enough range to get creative and not be incredibly constrained, while still giving some soft guidelines. We will use our discretion if people try to wildly exaggerate the spears.
Yes, they do have to include a shield of some sort. We feel like it’s important to properly represent the Hagah as they’re supposed to be depicted; a spear and shield are critical to their designs. We’re allowing the potential for custom shield builds solely because of the scarcity of the shield pieces; otherwise, we would mandate the specific shield be used.
Nope, single color only.
Great point! Your post is what convinced us to open things up and allow non-metallic masks to be included, with the understanding that the final group art contest will recolor the mask to match the metallic shade used on the MoC.
As stated earlier, upon further reflection and you guys making very good points, we will be adding the Shelek, Felnas, Olisi, and MoM to the ban-list and borrowing @Racie02’s wording for the blanket ban on mutated/shapeshifted masks.
In regards to the other matter… we’re gonna run it past Greg and see what he says. There’s a lot of complexities here regarding the potential for people to enter unmutated versions of the Felnas and Shelek, and we think that’s an interesting idea to explore, so we’re curious to see what he has to say on that. We’ll update later when we have a definitive answer.
Unfortunately, yeah. We want metallic color distribution with the existing Hagah, so yes, the feet would need to be metallic as well.
So first of all, I want to say I appreciate the sentiment here a lot and I generally agree that I wish the process was more straightforward from the start. Our initial intention was to not have this whole mask-changing debacle, and it was mandated because of the compromise with BS01.
HOWEVER!
We feel like there are some solid benefits that have come as a result of the process which make us not want to deviate from it.
First of all, I want to correct @ToaKebaka; the “standard canon contest practice” has been to allow the artist to make mask modifications at their discretion. It’s why the Helryx art wasn’t mandated to have a Pakari, and why some pieces of art used KhingK’s Mask of Creation while some created a new mask entirely. We have never employed a process where the mask would translate 1:1 from concept design to final design, even though that was our initial idea. If I’ve misunderstood you, I’m sorry, but I just wanted to clarify that bit.
As to the benefits, we’ve grown to like how the second portion of the contest allows artists to give their own creative interpretations and contribute to the collaborative design process, whereas the initial stage is more about giving a creative baseline and an overall design to work off of. The system has worked pretty well so far and allows both sides to meaningfully contribute to the design of the character. Admittedly, this one is slightly different due to the free-for-all nature, but we want to preserve the spirit of the usual routine by allowing artists to contribute to the mask design. Of course, if an artist chooses to keep the mask from the design portion, that’s totally within their right, and if people like it enough to vote for it then that’s totally fine. Heck, Artakha almost had KhingK’s Mask of Creation win the art portion as well, so it could totally happen if people do want to vote for that same design! Ultimately, we see merit in leaving it to the voters in that regard.
Good question! Hero Factory helmets and G2 masks are totally fine! Greg gave the A-okay for those before this whole canon contest process started, and there’s definitely some good mask options to be found in those groupings if you want to go hunting for them. The only exception would be helmets that are obviously… well, helmets, such as Hero Factory 2.0 and 3.0 heads. Additionally, Glatorian helmets are going to be banned simply because many of them clearly function as helmets with the face visible which would not work as the design of a mask; the only ones that would even potentially work are Gresh, Tarduk, Raanu, and Strakk. Additionally, the entire concept creates a potential conflict in terms of designs between Spherus Magna and the Matoran Universe. The designs already exist in the world, and there isn’t anything substantive to suggest those designs would come over to the MU.
To your second point, yes, those sections do all have to be metallic. We want to keep parity with the existing Toa Hagah in terms of their color distribution. However, after further consideration, we do agree regarding the mask, so your suggestion is going to be how we implement that: Use whatever color mask you want in your model, but it will be recolored to your chosen metallic shade in the final group art.
So here’s the thing: as it is right now, your MoC unfortunately wouldn’t be allowed, but not necessarily because of the extra torsos. In theory, we’re fine with it, but we’re concerned about people taking it too far and trying to meme it up by using stuff like… idk, Inika Torsos are shoulders or something like that. Obviously, we can disqualify entries that take it too far, so we’re not as concerned about that.
The reasons your MoC would be disqualified basically amount to color blocking. The “golden core” doesn’t work as much because it isn’t how the actual Hagah have their color distribution. The golden armor needs to be facing on the outside; both the torso and shoulders.
In this case, if you recolored the Metru torsos (OR found a way to get the gold armor to face the OUTSIDE instead of the inside), chest armor, and feet to be gold, your MoC would be okay. As it stands, the inside-facing gold Metru armor used on the shoulders and torso doesn’t really fit the criteria. I’d recommend tweaking the design a bit to see if you can get it to meet those criteria and then show it off again, because what you have is pretty cool, but we’re concerned about its viability.
Yeah, ultimately that would be a matter of discretion. We’re capable of recognizing when people are trying to blatantly bend the rules and will disqualify accordingly.
I’d be curious to gauge feedback on peoples’ opinions of unmutated designs of the Felnas and Shelek, though, and where they fit into all of this. How big of a difference in their design would be too big? What’s the baseline?
Yup. We’re allowing creative freedom (within reason) for the spear tip, as I’ve already seen a bunch of cool ideas for how to personalize that. The main thing we want to keep relatively in parity is how long the spears are, but we’re not gonna impose exact stud limitations. Just use common sense and don’t make something gargantuan or tiny or it’s gonna get axed.
I hate to say it, but yeah, unfortunately. The feet would need to be metallic and the shin guards would need to go, but otherwise, it’s fine.
Nah, we feel like it’s simpler, in this case, to keep the shields in basic configurations. Must be in-hand or on the back, nothing else (though that sounds like a cool idea!)
As for the second question, not really. It’s a lot harder to mandate that with art by the very nature of the medium, as we’re not restricting designs to completely adhere to existing LEGO parts. All we ask for art is that it looks like it belongs in the BIONICLE G1 world and aesthetic.
This is a good point, and it definitely merited some reflection. Ultimately, we’re going to keep that rule in place, and here’s why: we ultimately feel that if you’re entering as a MoC, you should be limited by the constraints of what can exist in real life or replicated in Studio (which has preset color palettes and parts selections). There’s a tangible, grounded sense of realism there that persists even if paint is used, as paint shades can be replicated and matched. There’s ultimately too big of a level of variance in hue, shading, coloration, etc. with digital manipulation for me to view it as worth including; if you want to go that route, you’d be better off entering an art piece.
Personally, I agree. We thought a lot about mandating it but decided not to in the end; their inclusion is heavily encouraged, and I’m definitely more likely to vote for an entry that depicts the full set, but that’s ultimately up to the discretion of the artist.
I’m sure I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff or messed up somewhere, so apologies in advance. It’s like 5 AM and I’m drop dead tired, lol. I’m happy to clarify later on. Thanks for the feedback as always everybody, you’re all awesome
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This… this sounds like an awful rule, why would you do this?
But what if I mount the shield like this or like this? will that be allowed both attachments are feautured with the 2 hagah sets:
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They’re both ‘in hand’ so I really don’t think anyone is going to be bothered about the exact angles.
@Mesonak If you are contacting Greg soon, would it be possible to ask him to reconsider the ‘Hagah masks definitely don’t look like their power’s normal shape’ rule? It seems like an unnecessary further restriction that came about from fan pestering (I realise the irony in this request!)
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I did not see anything regarding the Vision Mask (from VNOG) in the post. It’s in a weird semi-canon area and it could be a fun design to depict as an unknown, canon, in-universe mask, but I wouldn’t want to get disqualified for it if it’s not allowed. (If G2 masks are allowed I see no reason why it wouldn’t be, though).
Same applies for mask of Elemental Energy and unnamed masks from the comics, although some of the wording implies both of those are fine.
Finally, what qualifies as “in the hand” when it comes to the shield? Like, if it’s planted in the ground but the character still has their hand… kinda like, on top of it, would that count?
(That sounds absurdly specific and nitpicky, I know, but it’s not hypothetical; I was literally considering doing just that.)
…May I ask why? I was actually hoping that exactly what Meso said would be the case, there. I’d have been worried if it was anything else.
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Isn’t the whole point of restrictions at the first stage to unify the designs with two existing Toa? Then it’d be logical to maximise it by mandating a group shot of all six instead of having two characters in one style and four - in another that could be quite different.
Personally I feel that will hinder reproduceability and I don’t think I’m alone in wanting to have buildable canon Hagah figures. So to me I would love for artwork entries to be kept within the LEGO piece restriction
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Look at the Helryx contest, for example.
We got a non-canon MoC.
We got an artwork that changed that design.
And @Bukkey recently made a very cool MoC that more accurately resembles that version.
People have been MoCing Miramax Teridax’s for ages. And Nikila is a thing. I don’t see why it would need to be specifically any different for the Hagah.
I think the theory behind this is that when someone inevitably is like “Oh, I finished my art for the Hagah but couldn’t enter in time because I hadn’t finished drawing Norik,” things would get awkward.
That said, I am (only slightly) concerned that colour can’t be modified in the final artwork. What if we end up with three of them in gold and one of them in bright blue? With all the eye on consistency (especially with colour blocking) this seems like it could mess that up quite badly. It could also end up being a non-issue, though.
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I get it, but I missed the part where that’s my problem. Too bad for those people. The time limits should be adequate, I’m ready to wait two or three months if that’s how long it needs to be.
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It didn’t come from fan pestering though? It was just a singular question like any other, and Greg gave his straight answer (granted, there was a follow-up clarification, but that’s not pestering either). Additionally, it makes total sense from an in-universe perspective, as opposed to the opposite, as I explained here:
In regards to this, it gets very murky in what counts as “one metallic color.” I made this chart to compare Bricklink’s listings vs. LEGO’s colors:
I think it’d be wierd to go by either of these measures, given that a fair number of these colors are really close together; for instance, the two colors that Bricklink pairs under Pearl Dark Gray, and the vast majority of the silver colors. On the other hand, the copper colors are very distinct in reality.
Was there any response in regards to the Vahki lower torso debacle?
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But didn’t Greg specify that it’s his actual face, not just a helmet?
And, unless Greg directly addressed the contradiction, this one takes precedence.
Backwards-torso-Inika-armour technique.
This seems like an oddly specific rule. I can understand mandating handheld shields over forearm-mounted shields, but mandating the exact “storage” method seems kind of pointless; in addition to the thigh-mount possibility, there’s also the possibility of action shots, such as the one described above.
As long as the shield doesn’t obstruct key parts of the design, I don’t see why its exact location has to be restricted; I can’t even imagine how this freedom could possibly be abused.
While I can see where you’re coming from, I don’t see how this could be implemented without adding a whole bunch of review time to every single entry.
I agree with this; there was an interesting point raised a while back about how the questions that led to the “masks are wrong-shaped” statement were somewhat leading. I understand that we don’t want to be pestering Greg about every little detail, but if you’re asking anyways…
This one’s definitely okay; it appeared in No One Gets Left Behind.
Because most of these rules are centred around visually matching these Hagah with Norik and Iruini. It would be kind of pointless to have all of these restrictions to ensure build cohesion with the existing sets, only for an Art piece to require WholesomeGadunka levels of greebling and painting to actually build.
Also, @Mesonak, I have a question about entry parameters: could one do a kind of hybrid Art-MOC entry?
For example, say that I’ve been workshopping a MOC for a while now, but I’m concerned that I may not be able to obtain the necessary parts and paint them in time for the contest; could I enter a very rough sketch showing the intended colours alongside a random-coloured MOC showing how it would be built?
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No, he said it’s a helmet. Same quote as the one saying it was not mask-related.
The link I provided says otherwise.
In 2007, Greg stated that the pieces was Hydraxon’s actual face.
The quote saying it’s a helmet not based on a Kanohi was in 2010.
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And that mocs art wasn’t heavily based on doubles winning entry or on actual LEGO parts?
Again has its shape based on prototypes
Had Inika, miramax Roodaka and Toa Metru as source material.
All of these share one thing in common they are based on real LEGO things though I believe Nikila is the extreme of this because she is a mix of so many styles which makes her accurate recreateability very limiting. As for the other two they have really solid physical counter parts from which you can see the inspiration. I know you wont agree but I don’t want another Nikila case and thus I’m not gonna vote for any art entries that does a Nikila and strays to far from the LEGO parts. For me Bionicle has always been the toys over canon so I rather take a moc that I can build and play with that adheres to the canon over most anything
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Okay yeah.
But at atleast 3 other instances he has maintained that it is a helmet:
If it matters enough (which I don’t think it does), then perhaps this should also be brought to his attention…? I think it’s more likely Greg had not established the specifics yet at the time of the first quote; as Greg has said prior, he reserves the right to change his mind on things.
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I think there definitely has to be an option for the base forms to be recognized for what they are (plus also maybe base forms of the Mahri [and maybe even Inika] masks). I’m not going to pretend I can give objective rules on what’s “close enough”, but the obvious ones have to have their powers included with the mask.
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