Γαῖα

It's time of flowers and leaves and sprouts and... No it's actually time for Secret Santa. This goes to Ryan Z. and is a version of 妈妈 which was an entry for Bio-Cup 2022's preliminary round, theme nature. And boy, nature-themed it was - Mother Nature -themed, to be precise. I liked its weirdness, the cool part uses and certain otherwordliness. The creation was based clearly on Botanical sets - Birds of Paradise and Succulents, both cool part packs I don't have. So I had to do with something else. I threw in some Bionicle parts, as this was vaguely Bionicle-themed Secret Santa; also those marbled Karzahni shells are generally beautiful and I like using them! The hair is actually a callback to very old MOC Karmenna from 2012; she was going to have Vladek sword ponytail, but it ended up as, well, sword instead. Here it is finally used as a hair, with the inverted Arthron bangs!

Nonetheless, my version is more system-based than the original. I simply did not have enough nice, smooth TECHNIC/Bionicle parts in appropriate colours; Ryan's model's big lines are defined by the dark green panels of birds of paradise set. I used cockpits and wedges instead and replaced the shoulder armour bust with angled pattern made of 1x1 quarter tiles - the part options in Lavender were limited. I'm happiest with the hip area, featuring the the large flower from Ryan's original but remodelled and stuck into the medium azure belt. The hands are quite close to Ryan's version, but the long, weird arms are here visible as I didn't have the cloth dragon wings for the overcoat; sadly, as it was probably my favourite part on Ryan's MOC. A slightly similar feel is emulated here with the round pauldrons, some of my favourite CCBS pieces.

The face gave me serious challenges. Ryan used the new Optimus Prime faceplate, which came in bright light orange in succulents set; I didn't have it, and neither had I the classic 2x2 top slope with cut-out - used as a face of Karmenna there - in any yellows or oranges. Either of them would have looked better, and the double 1x2 cut-out slopes are bit of a compromise - their flatness isn't that flattering... At least my hair option keeps it more hidden and creates some shadows, while keeping the colour effect true to Ryan's original.

Merry Christmas Ryan Z.!

- Eero.