“You always did know how to make me feel better, Norik.”
Once again I’ve found myself taken with the idea of the Other Toa. In much the same way that Zaria wormed his way into my mind and heart, so has Varian. One of the outstanding personalities of the outer canon, Varian and Norik would often team up in duo missions. Varian was a Toa of Psionics who, with her Kanohi Calix, was better suited for stealth and recon missions. However she pressured their coordinator Onu-Toa to pair them up in combat missions constantly.
This Pre-Hagah Norik is maybe one of my favorite MOC’s in a while. He maintains nearly identically his canon set appearance with some minor flexibility modifications and additions. His shield is courtesy of Iron Foam Armory, who’s designer I do not remember at this time. I intentionally made his shield and spear different from his canon appearance because the story “No One Gets Left Behind” describes his weapons as a spear and shield, however we know the Hagah received their ceremonial weapons along with their new metallic armor.
I know his Pekhui was likely the original form, however I do associate the Noble Kiril as Norik’s “face.” My headcanon is that when he joined the Hagah his old team just gave him the silver one lol idk.
Varian is heavily inspired by Bukkey’s design, which I’ll probably vote for in the canon contest, along with a version designed by BobTheDoctor27. The mask is the Inorganic Calix by Galva(shoutout) which I found fit Varian’s personality better than KhingK’s design(which is also awesome), which I have previously used for Jaller Metru.
Varian is described as having “azure” armor, and I know that is an actual color and many people like it and use it/will use it for their canon entries. Personally I like the contrast between the dark blue and pearl gold. The shield is something I’ve played with for a while, and I’m still not 100% sure it’s the final design but I like it for now. I pictured her arm blades as something similar to Kars’ weapon from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and I knew that any of the visorak pincers would fit that design so I just went with what was the cheapest. So yes, lol, her arms are a Jojo’s reference. Her forearm’s are a little bulky but I can chalk that up to 1) bonk design not being exaaaactly human and 2) they can store the blades? idk sure.
Mask was just freshly painted lol I just couldn’t wait to take pictures.
“VARIAN!”
“You called?”
On the topic of Varian, Norik, and what they represent in the canon, their story is a deeply tragic one. And aside from their chemistry in the Shadow-Nui story as well as the choice Varian makes at the end, I find I put them in the same category as Hewkii and Macku. This is, imo, such a lost opportunity to explore love in the story-telling. Like I geeeeet itttttt, these were stories written to sell plastic toys at the end of the day. But luckily, the stories and characters are still solidly in the hands of the community, and we can design and create and headcanon to our hearts’ content.