✨Boba Fett Prototype ! ✨

✨Cargo starship ! ✨

A 'little' part of a larger idea I’m developing~

Right under the cut, closeups and some explanations !

Tiny container carrier :

It’s small, it’s adorable, and I still haven’t figured to how the container will be properly held, so the entire system underneath is improvised and will be subject to changes, hopefully.

Cargo closeups :

Lot more to say about this ! Firstly, that the support I gave it is very unstable, but that should be fixed later.

I was playing around with the idea of a small ship with six rows of container in an hexagon, and ended using a combination of 3-branched crossed around a technic axe to do that. Then, one thing following an other, I needed up with two sections connected by one of these large rings like you see in some movies for gravitational purposes. The entirety of this piece, at the exception of the very beginning of it, it held by a single long technic axe. Obviously, large transparent-blue rods to make reactor trails and truncated cones as the reactor bases. The ring is held by rods, too, with an upside down tread — getting them to have a proper circular shape was a complicated journey.

The colourful containers were another fun thing to do : firstly, getting all the right pieces and make the pattern not too regular. And to pretend they’re all connected by nothing, they’re only partially connected, and 'held' by an electromagnetic field figured by the transparent blue pieces on each side of the container rows, which would then be picked by the small container carrier above.

And now, the most important thing : the reason of why I absolutely needed to make this cargo, instead of anything else. It’s quite simple, actually. I needed to get the scale of these containers. Because. Because I had this idea to make a large, large trading spare station with a ring around a large axis, which would be the perfect excuse to make an awful lot of small spaceships. And for that, I needed something for scale, and since it’s a trading station, a container was my best bet. So I have a plan, which I’ll elaborate on probably next week, along a batch of my small ships.

✨Christmas tree !✨

…Yes, it’s a very tall picture…So tall, in fact, that you can actually see the top of my shelf studio. I made this last year, and I think it’s about the time to showcase it, along with this year’s project, which I’ll post next week !

Fun fact : the top of the tree isn’t connected at all to the rest, it’s only held in place without any stud. I also couldn’t find a neat star for the top of the tree, so I opted for another shiny pointy thing instead-

✨Another edited photo, yay !✨

This is an entire version of the blog’s banner, too !

Technic details under the cut !

So ! Looking through my archives, I found images for the process I described in my previous similar post, including my made up studio (and very messy desk…) :

As you can see, it’s not quite a professional set up..

To be more precise, this is three led bands hooked to a power bank, on top of which my phone is meant to be sitting to take two photos in a row. Obviously, there is also a desk lamp illuminating the scene, so here is a picture without it :

So, the way this is organised is that I have my black screen in the background which reflects the lights a little, but not the actual minifigs; the characters are held by transparent pieces connected to ball joints, so that I can have a steady but adjustable display. Light-wise, the two prominent led bands are colour-coded with the character’s color (kinda) to get them in opposition; the junction between the two is covered by some black bricks to create a darker area to offer more contrast; ans on top of the stage is help a (theoretically) white led with lesser intensity to make sure the scene stays lighted up properly, even if the light sources are from underneath. The red pieces I have used as frames are really good to hold these light bands, because I can have varied angles and heights plus a very solid structure, which is all I want.

Finally, to get the floating render, I take a first shot with the characters, then a second one at the same place without the characters :

And then, with a bit of editing magic and other simple image manipulations, you get the result I have at the top of the post ! I’d recommend trying it for yourself, because it can be a lot of fun !

Ah, I knew a special occasion would present itself that would be worthy of this cat !

Get booped

Get booped back ! Ah !

Oh, and have an actual (Lego) cat while I’m at it !

✨Santa’s sleigh !✨

I showed last week the Christmas tree I made last year, now is time for what I did for 2023 !

Closeups and commentaries beneath the cut !

Sleigh closeups :

Reindeers closeups :

Santa :

SO. Had a lot of fun with that one. The sleigh doesn’t have much exciting parts, except the blades, which are actual blades (Ninjago sabers, to be precise). The back is filled with presents from top to bottom, so they can be rearranged to give a different look each time it’s put together.

The part connecting the sledge to the reindeers probably could use the help of an iron wire to keep its shape (a neath technique I’ve used for a flower in another one of my builds to make the bendable pieces stronger), and the threads between the reindeers is a very cheap finition, but in my defence, I was on a time limit.

Reindeer-wise, I’ve hesitated whether to give them all a red nose, but they didn’t look nearly as cute without. And the antlers, I must admit, are very unsteady, because they’re illegally connected, but this was the best way to keep a small overall shape.

Finally, the Santa minifig was probably, and surprisingly, one of the hardest parts of this MOC, because the parts I stole borrowed to other minifigs were spread in multiple places, and I didn’t have one of the official Santa minifigs. So most of the piece come from different Star Wars advent calendars (mostly Darth Vader and C-3PO).

✨The Kraken !✨

I’ve been messing around with water technics recently, and this was born. It certainly could be improved, but I like it like that.

There’s not much to mention about the build itself; except maybe the tentacles, which are only made out of the 1x1 round bricks, and nothing inside : they bend quite well and remain relatively sturdy when doing so.

As for the water technic I mentioned, the goal is to cover everything with tiles of one of two colours; and make a gradient underneath (see below). I also added some dark red into the mix to try and replicate the body of the thing underwater, with mitigated results.

✨Custom water Toa !✨

Another one ! (Slightly less giant)

Details below the cut !

Front/back views

That one, too, is experimental, albeit in another style. I tried to remain closer to actual Bionicle size this time. Many fun details and technics here, so we’ll go from the feet all the way toward the head.

So, starting with the feet ! I have a complex of normal feet and Visorak legs held by a single connector. They have a wide angular range, but given that the connector connecting the socket to the feet is alone, a foot can also have a 360 rotation angle horizontally (not natural-)

The legs don’t have much special traits, except the upper legs using two socket with axle holes on top and a silver foot as armor on the side.

The body is where things get interesting. The Rahkshi silver shell is held by the silver claw above it at a chest plate, while part of the back is hidden behind a Rahkshi foot. The body is very triangular because it’s framed by these sockets with a silver piece in the middle, which gives it a nice aesthetic. The arms are an equivalent, with some tubes directly in the shoulders to offer a flexible piece which also limits the movements.

Finally, the head is not a head. I’ve made it like that because of the translucent Kanohi, that way it looks brighter, the inconvenient being that the backside of the head is quite literally an empty shell.

Now for the lower part of the arms : no socketed hand because who needs hands when you have a trident (bident ?) ! The main piece obviously comes from a Rahkshi, and the magic is wishing the silver connector. It used to be a lightsaber hilt from the larger Star Wars figs, but it looks good practically everywhere, including here !

Also, here below is a picture of the angle range of the arms (not much, oops).

✨Mimic !✨

You opened the wrong chest this time !

This little build is a perfect decoration and was quite fun to build.

✨Bionicle Beetle !✨

Ah, another insect ! Check the other one here.

Does it ring a bell ? The head (and some of the brown parts) come directly and with very few modifications from the Jaller & Gukko set. I never managed to get Jaller, so instead, I turned Gukko into this nice, big Rahi.

Now, of course, detail and the other pictures below the cut !

Front, hind, and neath !

I’m absolutely delighted with how it turned out. First of all, I really like the head which has been intact for as long as I can remember, although I know that I’ll never complete the set because I don’t have Jaller’s Kanohi. What I have plenty of, however, are the pearl grey Rahkshi shells, so you can see that I’ve used three of them on top. Then, I have to find pieces with a good enough curvature. So the next piece is from a Toa torso (Hordika) and the next one is used as a wing/pauldron on different sets, which has a perfect shape. On the sides, I’m using practically only pieces from a brown Vahki.

The underside is quite simple, but I wanted to make sure the colours remained coherent with the head, so I kept this bright brown while trying to make it as light as possible (the six legs are already barely letting it stand).

Under the dual Rahkshi shells, I have a bit of space which could let me add a nice feature, although I don’t know what yet. I planned on making actual elytra, but that would have been too complex, so there is currently nothing.

There isn’t much left to add, since for once, I have made simple legs (only because the body was more complicated…), but I nevertheless want to point out how well the small arm pieces I used to connect body and feet are for insect-like shapes, while keeping it quite mechanical. Just the perfect balance.

Also. Would anyone happen to know if there is a spreadsheet referencing all Bionicle (bonkle ‽-) gens with images and additional infos ? I have done a tremendous amount of research because I can’t remember any of the names properly, and having a single spreadsheet would be easier. AND, if not, would anyone be interested in access in such a spreadsheet ? Because if I do end up making one, I would be happy to share !

Have a nice day :}

✨Neon and its pilot !✨

Combat mech again ! Wew ! (See other works here)

Closeups and lore under the cut !

Mech :

Pilot :

Lore ! (Check the previous posts of this series if you want to find out more)

So, if Artefact was a first-gen, this mech, called Neon (for obvious reasons), is from the last gen of mass-product combat mechs. It isn’t really meant to get to high level competition, simply for amateurs wanting to give the sport a try. Yet, this pilot made it further than most. Just like their mech, they are one of the youngest in this tournament, but both mech and pilots already have claimed multiple battles.

Indeed, if one pays close attention, it’s easy to notice that some of the claws were replaced, and scratches can be founded in multiple places. The base mech has also been modified a bit, mostly with the addition of electric arc creators (at the top of the mech).

What’s more surprising is how powerful this 'beginner' mech is. Because it’s meant for amateurs, it is extremely sturdy, to make things interesting (because breaking down after only one hit would make a lot of people abandon immediately, which isn’t the point).

Last but not least, the large and broken metal beam carried Neon is a piece which belonged to the first mech which was defeated in a qualification match. The mech was so wrecked only beams were lefts.

Building notes ? Building notes.

The feet were a pain to make, and may fall apart at any moment. But it is necessary to get this shape without being very bulky. All of the joints on that one are small ball and sockets joints, appart from the waist one, which is a turntable. Pragmatically, the three 'replaced' claws are actually just me missing blue pieces. Moreover, the broken beam I had no idea how to use. I acquired it twisted, and it would hardly be used anywhere, and this mech didn’t really have any aggressive stance, so this did the trick.

The sticker plate in the middle is of Nexo Knight origine, and so are probably all the 'shield' pentagonal pieces (which are really good, I might be in love with these). It was also originally all solid blue and grey, but as I added the figure, I realised it needed a bit more energy, so I added the amber and neon pink pieces to give some sparkly accents, which somehow worked in the end

Finally, the (blurry) pilot : most of the pieces come from my random character mix, except the torso (minus the arms) which come from a funky Ninjago character sold in a polybag, and the helmet, which comes from Power Miners (hopefully I’ll have enough time to make a diorama for that theme one day~)

Also, I’m not sure what happened with these pictures, they’re more blurry than usual, yet they all were taken in a batch with previous pictures. I’m hoping the next one isn’t gonna be as blurry, or I’ll have to look into things further. I only have one more builds of these, but another idea is there, so maybe it won’t end with the next one. Who knows, really ?