Valkyrie of the East Wind

 

 Hi ho. This is another bit older model. It was built for my review of 43189 Elsa and the Nokk Storybook Adventures written for New Elementary. It is very much based on the excellent parts in that set. I won't go deep into those parts here - you can read my analysis on the site. However, I had had a urge to build a warrior angel for some time already (and I had made some unfortunate tries that didn't live up to expections but still lived several years in the WIP box). The ice theme of the set then merged with aesthetics of MTG's Kaldheim expansion (released on early spring) with its valkyries; and the pretty printed round tile on the book cover made nice start for a shield. That also defined the heavy use of flat silver and pearl dark grey pieces on the MOC. 

Most of the pieces from the set found their uses quite easily: The energy effect parts, along with the octagonal windshields, made a neat crystal skirt, which looked good on black upper legs. The pony was going to be the crest of the helm from the very beginning, as there is not many options for it on a character! The printed trans-purple octagonal flag could have made a good axe blade, but I stuck it on the chest. 

 

The helmet was one of the biggest challenges. I wanted it to be elegant yet belivable, and it had to leave some room for hair. The angel was going to have wings on the back, so the hair couldn't be too prominent. I ended up with two braids, which are pneumatic hoses with 1x1 liftarms and pin connectors on them, with golden jewellery to bring a pinch of warmth into the colour scheme. I tried various flexible parts for the braids, including ribbed hose, but only weighed down pneumatic hose had enough weight to flow naturally.

This is also the first time I've finished building angel wings. They're quite simple, and surprisingly sturdy, but this techinique won't support much bigger feathers. However, more than anything else the building was limited by my lack of white parts, as I was simultaneously making a 1x1 module and a 2x3 module white modular buildings! The wings are very two-dimensional, but I'm happy with their slight angle and the silhouette they create behind the figure looks good with black background. I suppose I'll explore angel wings more in the future.

She ended up having an axe with Chima Ultrabuilds blade, as that is one of the few actually nice blade pieces around! Most Bionicle weapons (and there are hundreds out there) are silly and knobby things with way too much going on.

Until next time!

 -Eero.