Thursday, May 29, 2014

Mizrah, Bohrok Guardian

Name: Mizrah, Bohrok Guardian

Description: Deep in the depths of Mata Nui, near his very core, lies the Grand Nest of the Bohrok swarm. Wielding twin-blade claws and towering above his enemies, Mizrah, one of many is a sight to behold. He, and the rest of his fellow guardians, have been tasked in the nest's protection against intrusion, and against the unleashing of the greatest threat the world has yet to see...

Comments: This was made back in August 2013. I wanted to make a MOC with a movable Bohrok Head. I mean, you see Bohrok being able to freely move their heads in ads, so why cant they in real life? Mizrah also has some waist articulation, reinforced by two more connections between the upper body and the lower body. Personally, I am quite pleased with the using of the Toa Metru Torso for calves; they do look really nice to me (can't I like my own work?! >.<)

More Pictures:

Action Pose

 Back View

 Showing off his waist articulation

Leg Close-up

MMIIIZZZZZZ-RAAHHHHHHHHHH

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Lava Surfer

Name: Lava Surfer
Description: To allow the Toa Inika  to travel into the fiery depths of Mount Valmai and the Lake of Lava surrounding it, the Matoran of Voya Nui engineered the Lava Surfer.
Specifically designed to fit the Toa Inika, the Lava Surfer is capable  of storing the Toa's weapons while providing side-mounted blasters to fend off any opposition; this provides greater mobility for the rider. Adjustable rocket-boosters allow for greater maneuverability of steering and speed, while the base-design of the Surfer allows for lesser resistance while riding on lava.
Comments: This was made in June 2013Since I like Toa Jaller so much, I decided to make an add-on to him. I intended the Surfer to look kind of bulky (think big over-exaggerated Rocket Booster!), but I have kind of toned it  down after seeing how top-heavy it became.
And yes, it's intended to look unpolished. The Matoran of Voya Nui didn't have much to work with, did they? (Actually I'm not sure haha XD)
More Pictures:
 First version of the Surfer
 First version of the Surfer (with Toa on)
 WEEEEEE *whoosh*
 Side view
 3/4 Back
 Back View
 Retracted
 Base of Surfer
Front of base (for Ramming into things!)

Monday, May 26, 2014

Toa and Beast

Name: Toa Renua and Beast
 
Description: As the young Toa Renua sets out on a soul-searching journey, he meets his first companion, Beast. Beast is of a species close to the Kikanalo, and his bite can be worse than his bark. Together with Toa Renua's Fire-ice bending powers, the duo cross lands, encountering numerous friends and foes.
 
Comment: This was made back in April 2013. I wanted to try my hand out at making a animal-MOC, so Beast was the result of my tinkering about. Beast (obviously the star here, if you haven't noticed) was made with adding more points in articulation in mind. He features a two-point waist articulation, posable jaws, and a dual-balljointed head connection. Due to my lack of pieces. hope you dont mind Beast's *er-hrm* colourful appearance.
 
Toa Renua was an add-on to beast. I wanted to try new colour combinations, and have him wield an axe-like weapon.
 
More pictures:
 

 









 


Thursday, May 15, 2014

Rocka BL

 Name: Rocka BL

Description: With light-weight jet-boots, armour and, most notably, his twin blades, this upgrade of Rocka was made with efficiency of speed and attack in mind. Wrist-mounted blades equate to greater and easier slashing motions; they can also be stored on Rocka's back when not in use.

Comments: Just a small little side project using both Breakout Rocka and Breez again done in April 2013. I made this with sleekness in mind (think Gundam Exia). I initially gave him the orangey-red eyes, intending him to be a slash-happy figure, but I switched it over in the end, and cracked the orange head in the process : /

More Pictures:

 Action Pose

 Back view (blades stored)

Front View (blades stored)

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Behemoth

Name: Behemoth

Description: Contrary to his name, Behemoth isn't the tallest individual you'll meet. He, however, gets his name from his sheer bulk, which also makes him an intimidating foe to go up against. Him carrying a massive shield-sword and re-enforced protodermis shield doesn't help either. As an ancient defender of Voya Nui, Behemoth finally fell after his twin back-mounted drives died out from old age.

Comments: This was my first go at making a titan-like character. I've incorporated the leg design of HF 2.0 titans for the calves, while using the old Bionicle titan design for the leg re-enforcements. For the shoulders, I decided to try out  adapting the builds of Gunpla; I used an extra piece for more mobility and extra shoulder girth (the twin drive were also Gundam-inspired!)

One gripe about this MOC was that due to the bulkiness of the feet, their ball sockets tend to get a little loose, if I can remember (this was made in 2012!!)... I also kind of gave up on making a sword for this guy, hence the awkward sword (sorry?).

More pictures:



 Close-up of leg

 Shoulder build: the red Metru arm is the shoulder connection

 Back view

Height Comparison

Alternative (initial weapon): Rhotuka Blaster


Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Rocka FX

Name: Rocka FX

Description: The final, most powerful form of Rocka. Armed with the best Hero Factory can offer, Energy-negating Holo-shield, Hero-core powered blaster, shoulder-mounted tracking missles and Blade wings for extreme maneuverability in the air, Rocka is ready to defend the Hero Factory against its foes, or go down with it.

Comments: Again done back in July 2012. This was only made with pieces coming from Breakout Rocka and Breakout Breez. Except that stand of course (you knew that was a stand right?) I was inspired by Gunpla Action Bases, so I made one out from old parts... And I made his little 'assistant' with the parts left over from the two sets XD

More Pictures:


 Rocka FX's 'little assistant'!


Review- (Decool) Toa Mata Nui Knockoff

Taken from original post on 07/02/2014 at BZPower Forums. Enjoy!
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So I did say I wanted to do this quite a while back, so here it is.

Decool is a China (I assume?) brand that produces knockoff Lego Sets. They have been at it for quite a number of years (no idea how long), but they have recently exploded and skyrocketed in prominence in my region (SEA, and yes, China). 

Recently (ok half a year ago |:X), I've gotten hold of a set from Shenzhen China, and it's none other than Toa Mata Nui himself. I was quite eleated when I got it, seeing how I've never seen the set in real life before (no idea why, but I've never seen it sold before here in SEA...) Here's a review of the set:

EDIT: WHOO! Thanks to Aanchir, images have been reloaded and are visible on forum! :D Thanks, Aanchir! :)

PACKAGE

The box itself is rather big (though I reckon smaller than the original) and quite prominent. Mata Nui stands in his usual pose as also seen on the original package.

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IMG_0032 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
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IMG_0034 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

Here's the front of the box, as well as a size comparison with a (legititmate!) Rocka.

I don't have the rest of the box with me, as I had to accommodate luggage space, but the back does not advertise the other legends, and it has a plastic handle on the top for you to carry the box around. Toa Mata Nui retains his name, but now comes under the brand "Star Soldier", and carries the description: "The strongest and most active hero of the elite team. His power is more than enough to defeat any bad guy." Cheesy, but at least the English is grammatically correct and makes sense.

CONTENTS

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IMG_0037 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
Opening the box up, here's what you get: a instruction manual, Bag 1 for the body, Bags 2 for the legs, Bag 3 for the hands, and the sword comes in a separate bag.

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

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IMG_0038 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

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IMG_0040 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
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IMG_0041 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
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IMG_0039 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
The manual is printed on glossy paper, and gives off the smell of a new magazine (sorry I smell stuff, that just how I am, lol). Cover shows off the exact same thing as the box front, and the back is an advertisement for "Hero 2 Star Soldier".

Yes, none other than Hero Factory 2.0

Instructions printed inside are clear and easy to follow, and is on par with Lego standards (actually I guess it was ripped out from Lego), except there's no arena backdrop as what we got in the original. It's quite interesting to note that although Decool did rip the instructions off Lego, it did take the effort to edit it when it came to original pieces. We'll come to that later.

BUILDING

Overall, building this set was quite fun, as I haven't built a Bionicle/ HF set in over a year. I do have qualms with the build however, and a kind of sloppiness on the designer's part showed through; but that isn't Decool's fault, it's Lego's.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY LOOSE AXLE ENDS STICKING OUT ALL OVER THE PLACE?!

*Ahem* Sorry.

On the quality of the build, I do have some issues. As with knockoffs, parts can come across tight and sometimes loose. The former is seen 90% of the time, especially with the cross pins. A hard surface comes in handy when trying to force in tight pins. So far, only about five loose pieces come into mind, but most are covered up and pose no major problem to the figure. And the nubs.

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IMG_0061 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
I've only snipped off those that pose a hindrance to the build or are enough of an eyesore for me to not want to see them. They might be everywhere, but unless you are really nick-picky, they don't pose much of a problem either.

The sockets will come across as sturdy and smooth in articulation and are almost on par with Lego's, but the piston rods seem a little soft to the point they bend slightly when I'm trying to pose the legs. A little bit of patience would help in posing this big guy. I did come across a ball with quite a huge hole though:

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IMG_0050 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

The finger pieces work fine, though one was a little loose. I swapped it with another extra piece and that did the job. Shield pincers, though, were horribly loose, and there aren't anything else to hold it tighter. This makes the shield pincers all too ready to open and close.

Body
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IMG_0043 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
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IMG_0044 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

Legs
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IMG_0052 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

Hands and Weapons
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IMG_0056 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
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IMG_0055 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
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IMG_0060 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

I'm not going to go through  the building experience of each part in detail, cause, they're about the same as the original.

HEIGHT COMPARISON
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IMG_0062 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

CHANGES FROM ORIGNAL

Despite being a knock/rip-off, it's heartening to see Decool change some elements of the set. Some of these changes work to the improvement of the set, while others not so much.

Good:
1) The most obvious modification of all is to the sword blade. It now comes with a HF logo (seriously?! Why?!) and it lights up. Yeah, it does. This functions similarly to any Inika Blade, and it glows a cool blue. Despite being there, the HF logo does not ruin the cohesiveness of the set as it's quite subtly moulded onto the blade. Depending on you, the light-up feature may be a pro or a con. It's a pro for me: who doesn't like additional features?



2) The shoulders (Hordika limbs) have been moulded in black and not grey, as was the original. This, in my opinion, helps the set, as they fit in better with the colour scheme than their grey counterparts.

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IMG_0066 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

3)Those yellow things on the pistons have been modified, such that there isn't any hole in their middle as the original had. Personally, I never did liked those holes...

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IMG_0065 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr


Bad:

1) This one urked me when I was building the body:
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IMG_0046 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

WHY OH WHY DECOOL DID YOU CHANGE THIS PIECE TO ANOTHER ONE?! 

It was supposed to be the flat foot piece, not the curved one. Thankfully, this did not hinder the set much as the surrounding pieces helped sandwich it securely into place. But still, it got me quite irritated when I was building it.

2) The thornax band has been changed from black to grey  its actually silver, i just realised. On one hand, it does make it look rather strange, but on the other, it does fit with the huge chunk of grey/ silver which is the shield/ shooter.

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IMG_0064 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
Besides the colour difference, the thornax is slightly less bouncy but still does the job in firing.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

First impression: This guy is HUGE. He makes Tuma look like a canister set, haha. Being a knockoff, the quality, build-wise, piece-wise and playability-wise, is satisfactory.  Beat that, he's incredible. From afar, this giant can almost come across as a legitimate Lego set. Adding on the light-up feature does add on to the epicness of the set. Would I recommend this set to anybody? Well, if you aren't too picky about quality, or about copyright issues, then yes, this guy can pose as a (much!) cheaper and worthy alternative; I've only gotten this guy for around RMB 130+ (USD 21.44+) Decool sure has come a long way in ripping-off (*cough*), and I can safely say they have been improving since I bought a set from them 6/7 years ago. 

Let's end this off with a fight!



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IMG_0070 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

TMN: ARRR!!! I'm the strongest there is in the Decool Universe!

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IMG_0072 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
Tuma: What's this? A rip-off? I'll defeat him in no time to make up for my loss to the real TMN!!!

TMN: You dare challenge me?!

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IMG_0073 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
*Epic swordfight ensues*

TMN: Enough! Time to end this!

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IMG_0074 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr

TMN: I'VE GOT THE POWERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuma: ?! What sorcery is this?!

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IMG_0078 by skipperhulajinks, on Flickr
TMN: 1 Tuma: 0

Hope you guys enjoyed this review!   It took me quite a while to type it out D: