This was my entry to the mask making contest the LEGO® Company hosted on Facebook. I’ve been wanting to make a harness that holds my camera for me while recording, and with the contest deadline approaching I thought I’d kill two gukko with one stone.

I started with the heavier frame I built earlier, and had an arm that swung out from the side of the mask to hold the phone. The leverage was too much with the weight of the phone, so I tried an overhead support design. This led to the two antenna-like arms, which also happened to use fewer parts and adjusted for a wider variety of smart devices. I also had mostly large yellow pieces on hand to work with, leftovers from my tanks, so the two kind of made it into an insectoid mask.

I have a battery pack on the back for powering the LEDS on the antenna. I figured they would help light up MOCs while recording. They also light up a room pretty good for power outs. And of course, here it is holding my nexus 4. I was debating calling it the “Mask of Sharing”, which sounded too sappy for my liking. I wound up naming it the Mask Of Building, with the idea that sharing is the goal of the building process.

As for my story to how it fits within the BIONICLE® universe, these masks were provided to each of the workers that helped build the city of the mask makers. They contain a basic knowledge of building that they imbue the worker with, but additionally allowed each worker’s individual experience to be shared with the others subconsciously. This allowed even the newest worker to build with the best, and often without verbal communication, much like the hive insects of Okoto. Most of the masks were destroyed after the city’s completion, due to the feeling of loss some workers felt when they removed the mask.

This is me wearing the mask shortly before heading out to the neighbors’ Halloween party. I didn’t want my face to be visible under it, so I was wearing a morphsuit mask under it. Because the morph mask is tight enough to scrunch and hurt my nose, I wore a smaller masquerade style mask with a nose cover for support. You heard me right, I’m actually wearing three masks at once.

Everyone at the party kept guessing that I was supposed to be a transformer, particularly “Bumblebee”. I personally thought it looked more like a wasp, thankfully someone did actually guess Wasp Man (Though not a wasp specifically). They identified that it was built out of LEGO® elements, so when I finally told them it was just something I put together, they mistook it for wit on my part and burst out laughing.

If I had more time, I might have put decorative insect-like legs on my four tanks (which matches the mask in color) and called myself Bugneto, master of insect control for the sake of the party.