Toa Photok patrols the rocky deserts to the south of the Ashe Isles, climbing the sheer cliffs and crossing the scorching deserts. With his range of climbing gear, there’s nothing Photok can’t climb.
He patrols for wild Rahi, villagers in need of rescue and ancient artifacts yet to be uncovered. Although he spends most of his time away from The Forge, he will always come when duty calls.
I normally am not a fan of digital mocs, and while this one does share a lot of the flaws I think many digital mocs have, it has a whole lot of strengths too! The colors overall are sick, and that coat-vest is super cool, and just feels like it fits a toa of stone! I’ve always loved Photok, so it’s cool to seem him represented this way. I do feel like either the the thighs and lower legs could be beefed up more, or the shoulders could be significantly slimmed down, because as of now it kinda looks like he’s been skipping leg day.
I’m a little confused as to why a Toa of Stone has a jacket with a fur collar if he’s patrolling the arid deserts. It’s definitely a vibe for sure, but it seems like it would be a better fit for a character in cold environments.
@BlueBioWolf24 They’re a custom part, I don’t think they’re available online, I got them from someone in discord but I forget who @TheMOCingbird Yeah I was a bit worried about the legs in comparison to the arms, I might revisit that at a later date. Out of interest what do you think the flaws of digital mocs are? I know it’s not as perfect as building IRL but I’m curious to hear your take.
@Ghid It’s more meant to be a cross between ripped denim and a sporty outdoors rain jacket. There is a vehicle I’m working on which addresses this, it comes stocked with water, climbing equipment and air conditioning
I chalked it up to him climbing mountains, which I would imagine can get kinda cold.
I’ve honestly considered making a whole discussion topic about this, but more or less I feel like (aside from renders just not looking as nice visually) digital builds tend to just be a lot more boring. This is impart due to poses and stuff just being a lot more rigid, but I think in another big element is the lack of restrictions. I know that if I had access to any parts I wanted when building, my builds would be a whole lot more boring. Part of the build process is working with what’s in front of you. sometimes that means you don’t have any feet in the right color. Hm, maybe this character has four spider leg blades instead? Maybe it’s time to throw yellow in as a secondary color? Maybe I do find one of those feet in the right color, but only one of them…maybe this guy has a peg leg, maybe he lost that leg in an important duel, ect, ect. I think the physical restriction of the pieces in front of you pushes the builder to have to approach the entire process in a more creative way. Some of my favorite designs came about because I had to work around a lack of pieces, or because I randomly came across an interesting piece that I would have never thought to include when looking for another. In general, I just feel like I see far less NPUs on digital mocs, with the lack of restrictions leading to a lack of creative evolution (I also think that same idea of ‘restrictions’ applies to custom digital molds as well, but that’s a lot more subjective). I’m not saying all digital mocs are bad (I think this one is evidence to the contrary), but I do think there are some drawbacks, and would like to see more folks working with what they have, even if they don’t have a lot. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
I’d second Ghid’s suggestion - make a topic about it! I may not be as vehement in my opinions but I do indeed have some thoughts on digital MOCs.
All that said, I quite like this guy. If we had all the colors I think he would be just as cool in real life and from what it looks like he’d be able to pose well. If I’m seeing and envisioning the lower legs correctly, I think that’s a technique that would look amazing for extra detailing on the Inika legs.
@TheMOCingbird Yup that’s thew idea I had, deserts are hot but mountains can get freezing at night.
On the topic of digital building, there’s pros and cons and they all balance in my mind, it’s a skill to pose in digital well and I hope that I’ve done that well here. I disagree on the aspect of only part limitation being good for creativity because I’ve found the opposite also holds true, that being given an infinite amount of parts, what you do with that matters more. Some people could spam parts and make crazy builds, but detail and interesting design is a skill. It’s like having a blank canvas and all the paint you want, the tools are here but what are you gonna do?
