“The Nui Walkers, as the residents of Miraka Nui came to call them, resulted from a diplomatic relationship with Toa from across the great sea. Originally developed as mobile assault platforms, the knowledge of their construction was a gift. They were quickly constructed and put to use for cargo and transport in undeveloped regions of Miraka Nui, although without the weapons systems. The residents hoped they would never need them for war.“

I built this as a combination 21st anniversary MOC for Mask Of Destiny and for the BrickUniverse Raleigh event taking place on July 9th and 10th. I’ve been wanting to make a series of giant walking platforms for years, right after Brick Magic’s Joe Meno joked that I was trying to take all his tables for my MOC display. The idea was that I could put MOCs under and on top of these platforms, expanding my table space in the process.

With the events coming up, I was unsure if I could pull this off with the parts on hand. I had a considerable amount of leftovers from my Uberonicle, but building the legs and underlying support structure would be tricky. I was originally thinking to build as many as 10 platforms, each holding a 32×32 baseplate. Each platform would be linked together with a walkway, much like a passenger train, to create something like a giant centipede. That would have required a minimum of 10 pairs of legs, which I also wanted to have articulation. I estimated that I did not have the parts for that. I settled on the idea of building up-to 3 walker segments, each holding 3 baseplates and having 4 legs. This meant I would use all but one baseplate I had on hand, and only need 12 legs instead of 20.

On July 1st, I started work, and only hit one hiccup. I Realized I did not have enough gears to make knee joints for three walkers. I quickly found a workaround, which was to make the legs telescope out instead of bend at a knee. The platform would theoretically “walk” by alternating which legs were telescoped. It also meant one less point of articulation to worry about, and one less joint to worry about buckling. By July 6th, I had three segments built, and they measure just over 9 feet long when linked. I actually had no place to photograph them properly in my home, and had to wait until they were set up at BrickUniverse.

The MOC is far from complete though. It exceeded my immediate goal, although I hope to upgrade them with sturdier legs, armor, and other details once I have a chance to order the right parts. It would also be nice to have guardrails all around, and maybe some cannons mounted along the side. I originally envisioned it as a large military vehicle, with command stations, racks for weapons, tools, and ammo. The The gravity-fit baseplates allow for some interchangeability later. I can easily swap out the 32×32 baseplates with biome themed plates, or drop in a mudular city set for some minifugure scale construction.

It’s currently about 1am here, so this will have to be all for now. I need to get up in 4 hours to prepare for the public display.