ctrl-alt-Tahu

Spine Moc 3/3: Skorrin

The frontier of Bara-Magna is a harsh and unpredictable place, filled with all manner of unsavory creatures that could easily turn a Mahi herd and their shepherd into a three course meal. With Toa and Glatorian being relegated to duties akin to that of a militia around New Atero and other regions, the Agori and Matoran elected to find other hands to serve as protection for settlers in the wastes.

Skorrin was once a hard, ruthless war chief of a band of Skakdi, but the land he fought for is long since gone, and his warriors disbanded, many content in this peaceful new world to continue warring. Skorrin, for his part, tried to put his warrior’s energy elsewhere. And that is how he was given a job helping shepherds in the frontier.

There, in the many years he grew a special bond with one of the Po-Matoran shepherds, and found a new sense of serenity and solitude in the canyons and mountains of Bara-Magna.

Makuta Revamp

This is a creation I’ve been working on for quite some time, ever since the Ziontyro released these glorious custom Kraahkan Kanohi. Almost an entire year in the making!

8593 Makuta has always been a set that was near and dear to my heart, though a figure that was very quickly superseded by larger titan builds. With this revamp, my objective was to restore some of the lost height and articulation, so he can stand tall against the other titans of the BIONICLE line.

The legs in particular draw inspiration from the design of @ibukkey00 while much of the upper body design was created by @fnezj, who gave me many helpful tips during the build process.

Me and some discord friends (namely @origsmocs and @kopakaskoolkompanion) have been doing this MOC challenge with me where we blindly pick three pieces our of our parts bin and try to make something incorporating all of them. It’s been a lot of fun actually. You can see what parts I pulled for these mocs under the cut.

Spine Moc 2/3: Steltan Manticore

Apart from an odd similarity to a certain Skakdi warlord, the Steltan Manticore is mainly regarded as a hostile, cunning, and repulsive Rahi known for stalking the city streets and docks of Stelt at night. Armed from all sides with more venomous spines, fangs, claws, and stingers than gladiator pit filled with Nui-Jaga and Doom Vipers, nearly every person on Stelt knows better than to cross this particular flat-faced cat’s path. These Rahi are agile, nearly silent, and specially equipped to hunt shallow-dwelling Ruki and Takea sharks.

Kurahk tries on a cute top she found at the thrift store. Turahk is always there to provide positive feedback.

MATRIARCH

Short story below:

The Machine offers all

And she wished to be pretty

With every day a new gift

A mask of marble

An elixir of eternal life

New joints

New-

The Machine does not deal in FLESH

It does not understand FLESH

And so it continued to give

And give

Marble beneath skin

Metal beneath bone

Until she began to turn

She asked for it to stop

But the mask cannot come off

It has fused with her

Steel will not bend

Poison will not yield

All she can do is scream

Scream into the gazing void:

“Am I pretty now?”

A distant relative of the common Ussal, the Zakaz Spiny Crab is a species of rahi found on the island which gives it its name.

It is unclear if the many spikes and spines that cover its exoskeleton are an adaptation to its craggy homeland or are a result of deliberate genetic mutation, but they are used by the crab for defensive purposes.

More ominously, the claws of the crab seem to resemble a pair of decapitated Skakdi heads. This is also of dubious origin, and could either be camouflage into a land seeped in death or a threat display.

Spine Moc 1/3: Raihno

This guy was kinda entertaining to build, and I was able to get a good amount of rotation and movement on him. His shoulders can even roll forward and back.

A fierce ambush predator lurks. Matoran who don't learn to swim away from the light might never make it back alive.

The humongous teeth aren't what is feared...

It's the DEADLY LASER NOSTRILS you should be afraid of!!

The Bakan fish

#SPINE06 !

Hello mocists everywhere! It is officially June, and as with last year and my #DH2005 challenge, I will once again be hosting a challenge based on year of G1 twenty years back. That makes this year’s moc challenge based on the groundbreaking year 2006!

This year, instead of requiring mocs to use only parts made before the year of the theme, I am going to free up parts usage to whatever builders like. Instead, the challenge will be only require ONE part.

Piraka Spines!

Obviously that makes builds a little easier to achieve without having to worry about “qualifying”, and I’m hoping more people will be interested in participating. If you DO only use parts made before 2007 feel free to brag about it! Last year a few people were dubious on the theme since they felt unsure of their ability to identify what year specific parts were made, and that’s fair not everyone has an internal catalog of Bionicle and Hero Factory sets and can’t easily discern that without research. I think a lot of us love Skakdi though, so this should be more accessible and fun!

However, your build doesn’t have to BE a Skakdi either! It only has to utilize a Skakdi spine, how you use that part is totally up to you! Is it a trophy worn by a Makuta? The face of some Bara-Magna desert animal? The tail of a Rahi? All up to you! One request I will make with any submissions people would like showcased is some sort of fun lore blurb, those were far and away some of my favorite things to read last year and I can’t wait to see them again this year.

Finally, this year I will be organizing all submissions into a “showcase” post at the beginning of next month, showing off as many submitted mocs as I can in a single post and talking about what I liked about each of them. I want to make it clear this is not a contest, it’s just for fun. This year the tag will be #SPINE06 MOCS.

As with last year, I'll be tapping some users specifically to participate, but if you're reading this don't feel left out, I can't wait to see what you'll make! As usual, I'll be tapping @binkybonkles, @kopakaskoolkompanion, and @origsmocs, who've been super helpful in arranging these moc bashes. I'll also be tapping @arzeron, @nihilpersona, and @biomechanicalfun, all of whom made some AMAZING Dark Hunter mocs last year. Also tapping @toaimahordika and @leftysupremacy, who interacted with the interest post for the June Challenge!

Once again, the tag for this years challenge is:

#SPINE06 MOCS