We all know Zaria’s story. The only Toa to violate the Toa Code without turning into a villain, Zaria was a Toa of Iron who was forced to kill the Makuta who was hunting the Fe-Toa systematically. A star of the Yesterday Quest, and subject to an upcoming TTV Canon Contest, Zaria is one of the more open ended characters to design.
This started as a bigger project to revamp the Uniter G2 sets. I completed it, didn’t like it, took them apart for various other things. But I was really happy with Pohatu’s base design, and decided to use it for a version of Zaria. I’m still on the fence but I think I want to submit it for the canon contest.
I love the way the Knight’s Kingdom armor sits, even if I don’t love the color. I’m debating on buying silver armor or painting these ones the same flat grey as the mask. Which is very much a placeholder mask for the contest, I am not married to it at all. Just like the way it looks on this model. Another reason why I wanted to attempt a Zaria MOC was bc I think other people have designed fantastic versions of Orde, and I don’t particularly care for Chiara’s written details.
I know the revelation that Zaria’s tool was a simple staff was… controversial, but I found this to be incredibly appropriate for the character. A Toa of Iron, wielding… a staff. But what’s to stop that from being an iron staff? Something he can mold instantly in the middle of battle to fit his needs for whatever will give him the advantage? Hence, the next few pictures. These are non-canon examples of the potential of such a tool.
Zaria, along with the rest of the Yesterday Quest cast, was never someone I particularly cared about as I didn’t read the story until last year. But the more I thought about him, the more he intrigued me. I love characters that challenge the morality of the status quo thru their own actions and journies. He’s not like Nidhiki, who’s pragmatism turned into straight up villainy, or Tuyet who was just insane. He’s a good person forced to do a horrible thing and has carried the guilt of that for the rest of his life. Which is another reason I love that he carries a simple staff, which makes any further lethal actions more difficult than anything else he might wield. Ostracized and cast out for an action that not only saved his life but the few remaining members of the Fe-Matoran/Toa, Zaria’s a character that presents a delicious moral quandry that, hopefully, one day will find peace.
I love the build; the forearm build in particular speaks to me, and I agree that the Knights Kingdom armor fits splendidly on him.
I also really like your interpretation for why he carries a staff: beyond the utility of a Toa of Iron having a long stick of metal on hand to reshape as the situation demands, he carries a simple rod of metal to demonstrate his unwillingness to kill in combat once more. It’s a striking contrast to Orde and Chiara who wield weapons more clearly designed to injure, and it’s the plain reverse of Tuyet’s sword which is designed to inflict greater suffering on an opponent. Great interpretation.
Unlike every other Toa in these contests, whose colours are just regulated based on what we know about their Element (which leaves some room for the possibility of unique colours), Zaria’s armour colour has been specifically confirmed.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying that you definitely need to change it or anything, just that it might be something to be wary of. Asking about it in the general contest topic should get you a definitive answer.
So per a rather specific quote from Greg as well as other evidence Zaria’s armor needs to look a certain color scheme, I have decided to update the model. Fear not, these are spare Knight’s armor not the metallic blue, saving those for an “alt look.” I’ve also replaced the upper torso armor with smaller CCBS pieces in the gunmetal grey.
There is already enough pedantic debate concerning the parameters of each individual contest. The current topic of a certain someone’s sword as well as simply that topic in general has led me to simply keep myself within the reasonable framework that will likely be laid out for Zaria. And it’s fine, honestly I like this update a lot, I love the grey paint on the armor and think it ties it together a little tighter than before.
