Giant Primordial Quagsire

 This is my entry for Summer Joust 2026's category Medieval Pokemon. I've taken part in this contest three times before, and this years categories are great. I have another WIP in good shape already, and might make a third, maybe even fourth entry, too. Bio-Cup being (probably?) later this year helps, too.

 So, Pokemon. I was a Pokemon kid as a kid. I played TCG even in sanctioned tournaments, and managed to get most of the gold symbols in Emerald's Battle Frontier. I'm somewhat familar of the fourth generation, but generally, my Pokemon experience consists of generations 1-3, with Emerald being my definitive (and the only actually owned) game. I don't think there are any better Pokemon games than that, so it's not an issue. It's quite surprising that I haven't posted any Pokemon Lego models before. I've built some as a kid, but that was before this blog and likely before Brickshelf, too (2007). 

Naturally, when thinking of this category, I evaluated my favourite Pokemons and their suitability for the task in hand. Big friendly Quagsire ultimately won. The second possibility was a Regirock breaking loose form its Desert Ruins (I had to look that up), conforting some sort of band of minifigure warriors. I really like the legendary golems of Gen 3 - maybe I'll build them later on! Quagsire, though, is my ultimate favourite pokemon and it was about time to make something in gratitude for this magnificent creature. 

I made it very big, of course, but otherwise kept the design pretty much the same. There isn't many official pictures of a swimming Quagsire, so I had some freedom on this. The main attraction here is the sense of motio, enhanced by the fishlines and the sweeping aquatic plants. Thus, Quagsire's face is facing forward, like commonly with Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders - the real-life equivalents of Quagsire. I gave the creature a large, gaping maw to show its lolling pink tongue - I'm very happy with that! This was the defining part of the model.

The colour caused some issues. I had lot of curved slopes in medium azure, bought for very cheap on Bricklink years ago. However, I had barely any wedges! What I had, though, were those 4x3 curved wedge things with the irritating 1x2 cut-out on top that no piece matches very well with. I had got a bag of them form my at-the-time neighbour Jani about two years ago. They really saved the day here. If a model ever needs gently curving medium azure pieces, it's Giant Primordial Quagsire!

Of course, I had to medievalize the creature. I wanted to have a harmless scene with some sort of excite- and movement. The real-world giant salamanders live in the East Asia, so I chose it as the setting; of course, it also fits Pokemon's Japanese origins. I had recently reviewed Ancient Moon-Gazing Inn for New Elementary, and it had great minifigure parts for this. The canopy of the boat felt fitting for the atmosphere. Ultimately, the fishing action defined the relationship between Quagsire and the people, while the fishlines helped to make the model dynamic. Of course, adding an another Pokemon, or 3x Magikarp, further integrated the themes of Pokemon and Medieval together.

The river surface goes in the middle of this model. I could not express it with bricks wihtout making the model messy, but I tried to define it by using a two-colour background. I hope it is clear enough. It is cheerful, at least.

-Eero. 

Tawa

 This is Tawa, another Klaanon character straigh after Killjoy. This is a bit older model, though, mostly built somewhere between February and March, but finished in May after getting my PaB order with good yellow bits - mostly old pieces I had some of but not enough; boat studs and 1x2 round plates.

Tawa is a Toa Hagah and the founder of Bio-Klaani organization. She's a Toa of electricity (or thunder). I'll link the previous versions as a list as there are so many of them:

• 2010
• 2011 
• 2012
• 2013 
• 2014 
• 2014 (2)

The spear remains as a homage to the earlier version,. The shins aside they are the only thing that remains. The 2011 version was basically a mod of 2010; the 2012 version was completely new and gradually evolved into 2014-2 that was the first one that actually felt like the character - having the brick-built mask with visor instead of the too stern and legendary Hau. I was very happy with the 2014-2, which explains why it took 11 years to began with a new one. This is foremost inspired by all the new yellow pieces we've got since them. The structure is still mostly Technic/Bionicle, a conscious design decision, but obviously the new enablers are largely System. Obviously, we don't get new Bionicle pieces any more, and the classic purple inventory has been stuck in the 2001. I love this purple, though, so I did what I could with my old parts - mostly the same ones than in the old versions.

I kept the look of the feet, but updated the structure into more Technic-y to change the ball sockets purple. This is, I think, more about development of skill than of new parts. The knees use my usual pin-hole-to-stud joint, not very easy to get that "over" the ball joint of the rakshi leg, but looks pretty good while allowing enough friction (and mobility) for one-leg-poses (see below). Actually, freedom of movement was one of the key aims here. Tawa is supposed to be agile and I wanted to manifest that in the model. The 2014-2 had been very static.

The upper legs are competely new, with a structure that combines the 1990s Technic with more modern macaroni tubes and a collection of curved slopes. The curved Technic pieces on the crotch allow fore movement. The hips were an issue. That is where humans have soft tissue, usually covered by soft cloth of trousers or skirt. But soft things are famously difficult in Lego. What I did is a flexible armor plating of three yellow claw piece on both sides. While they normally block the movement of the upper leg (in sitting position, for example) the lowermost claw can be turned to the side, allowing a 90 degree angle of the leg:

I had many alternative versions of this, and while the finished design is that flux while "playing", it looks better than an obvious gap in there. I tried that, too.

The torso, too, is a mix of old and new stuff. The breastplate is an improvement over the older version. As it is system-heavy, I wanted to contrast it with puple Techic. The destroyer droid foot was an obvious choice, familiar from the previous versions. The sides made of angled connectors is a tech I nicked from Japanese builders years ago (TAN I think), and while not perfectly shaped, it's pretty good in the limited purple selection, while calling nicely back to the origins of Bionicle. The structure of the torso is Technic, with axles running through it all like a spine.

The arms are quite usual contemporary style with heavy System emphasis and a ball joint on the shoulder. Nothing much interesting in them. The mask is, of course, very imporant, and this is clearly a rehabilitation of the previous 2014-2; and it uses many parts introduced after 2014. It's really happy how the macaroni slopes for the sides of the foreheas, and how the stud notches of the curved slope wedge and wedge plates form a grille pattern that reminds a bit of Hau's "lungs". The visor is a essential part of Tawa's design.

Finally, there was the question of cloth parts. Tawa has a skirt, or a cape, or usually both. There wasn't capes in right colours, and I didn't want to have anything heavy brick-built to make the posing impossible - this was going to be a poseable model, if you remember. In the previous versions, Tawa's skirt used the the same puprle colour in various flaps - but those flaps, again, killed the movement. In some of the original art, Tawa's skirt had more lavender hue. Eventually, I figured out that the medium lavender/trans-purple Elves dragon wings worked pretty well. Their major drawback is the flatness - they're essentially two-dimensional - but I managed to counter the effect a bit by angling them; and the marbled pattern gives an impression of shadows and curves that do not, in fact, appear in the two-dimensional plane. Plus the marbled translucent effect captured something of Tawa's electric personality, and I liked that. Connecting the wings elegantly enough took some effort, but looks decent in most angles.

-Eero.