Backstory
Toa Kalmaruhade is an ice toa from a nation that is constantly at war. Each wahi in this nation will fight eachother not for dominance, but to advance their own technolodgy and keep themselves ahead of those who would be a real threat to them. The combatants never kill eachother, but incapacitate their opponent to the point surgery is needed to bring them back into battle. The process makes the surgicaly rebuilt fighter stronger each time they are defeated and rebuilt.
Toa Kalmaruhade has been rebuilt many times and is nearly twice the size of a normal toa, and is one of the ice wahi’s high ranking generals with uplinks to the nation’s communications systems built into his body.
Toa Kalmaruhade’s mask enables him to control electronic devices and to link up with other commanders to organize troop positions. If an opponent has enough technology incorperated into his body, he can use the tool on his arm to take over his electronic components.
In the first three BIONICLE® movies, the turaga have these shawl things. I wanted to make an adaptation of the shawl to indicate Kalmaruhade’s status as an honored fighter. I plugged in transparent single stud peices of different colors into these chains, and used free swiveling connectors to keep them aligned. Each of the eight transparent (and one glow in the dark) peices are supposed to represent a wahi that has reconized his skill in battle.
I wanted to experiment with the design from the set “Maxilos and Spinax”, which is where his piston supported torso design originated from. I think what I wound up with is an improvment on that design, though if there’s one flaw I didnt work out, the arms still move at the shoulder when you twist the upper body around, making posing more difficult. He’s also top heavy, so any slight changes will make this MOC topple over on anything other than a level surface. The pistons attach just behind the shoulders, I used the free swiveling pegs and locked them in place with the parts shown in the top left and top right corners of this next picture. The shoulders are very articulated and support a good bit of wieght, which let me bulk up the arms considerably, and throw in a midak and cordak at the same time. The rubber sockets in the arms preserve his articulation and hold more weight than standard sockets.
To support his weight, I borrowed an idea from another original set, “Gadunka”. His legs can flip out, and move foward and backward. The articulation is not spectacular, but its very good for his size. Ive also found that if I bend his legs at a bit of an angle that the double socket secondary support will automaticaly twist at an angle that lets the legs bend even farther out, or if I manipulate the double socket directly, I can bend the legs foward enough that I can have him on a shelf.
I was running short on pistons just before last brickfair, so in order to have my Biodroid Gamma MOC’s adjustable tread foot deign ready for the event, I took the pistons out of Kalmaruhade’s legs. I had to double up the knees using pass through technic balls to make up for this. With the pistons gone, I also had to double up the ankles. That turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. My existing leg design just happened to have holes in the right place, so I was able to pin this hordika neck to a pair of technic bars to make a new piston-less ankle support
I really think anyone with the parts should try and make their own “deluxe uber toa”, assuming they havent already. Having at least one highly detailed character to make up for the lack of an ultimate collectors edition BIONICLE set (Yes I envy the $300.00 USD star wars sets) is always fun, especialy when its as playable as it is detailed, and you have put a great deal of work into it. If you already have one of your own, why not post it on our forums? I may even post it to our front page for a MOC spotlight.
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