Matoro (of Mata Nui)

First of all - the breathtaking edit of the main picture is done by loafbuilds. Thanks, Ari!

This my Matoro, for 2003/Mask of Light collab with the other bonkle folk. I picked up an easy (and relatively unpopular I guess) character. I think I finished this sometime in April when we decided to post on the following week. Yeah, right...

Looking back this now, I seem to have taken a bit too humorous direction in this and it definitely isn't the best model in the collab. But on the other hand, this is sort of fitting. Contemplating Bionicle, I've ended up thinking that 2003 was a pretty bad year. I've never liked Mask of Light. Matoro, fortunately for him, is not in it. Takanuva has never appealed to me, and the rest of titans... are not that good. Rahkshis are clones, and frankly, not as good as Bohrok or even Bohrok-Kal. And the Matorans... Well, I think they never made very good Matoran line-up. McTorans have good character design, but I have to say that they are not that good toys with their very limited movement. These kolhii (kohlii in Finnish, btw) matorans were mutated larger versions of the originals: huge hunchbacks, dull gear function, and friction pin leg joints that didn't carry the weight. Super long arms, too, which plagued the later Bionicle years. At least the combiner looked decent.

So, my Matoro, with his bulky arms and weird hammer-fork, my Matoro is both fic fic and parody of the original set. I wanted to build Akaku to give this some character of its own; and it's a bit unelegant maybe, and has a fussy sort of moustache, but I enjoy the fact that the telescopic lenses are on the "wrong" side, to tell him apart from Kopaka; the lenses use Succulent Knightmeat, AKA the fun little bits you get when you force KK2 torsos apart with screwdrives and hammer with your friends in a little cottage in the middle of winter wonderland.

-Eero.