Toa Harkama, protector of Tahtorak's Steppe

This is a collab MOC, from the same team that brought you Toa Metru and Toa Mata collabs. We didn't find any inspiring Toa teams, so we made our own: total OCs, classic elements, classic masks. I'm a winter person so I chose ice - after Nokama and Tahu water and fire were checked already. 

My main aim was to explore the cultural side of things, something I've always enjoyed in 2001 Bionicle and MNOG especially. This would be a character suited for cold, desolate environments, working alone but carrying elements of his social context. Some of these would be practical items useful in his duty as a Toa warrior, such as the rope, lantern and spear. Others would be simply things mentally imporant to him, like the tassel of the lantern, ornament of the hat and the brooch fastening the cloak. Furthermore, these accessories enabled me to add a touch of warm hues to contrast with the cold overall colour scheme. The hat is somewhat between the warm and the cold - I think it captures the essence of northern winter nights quite well. 3x3 dish was not available in medium lavender to match the barrel, but I think that was ultimately a happy accident, as the combination of colours in quite neat.

Another happy accident was the chest armour. I did not purposefully design is as a face of a polar fox; I just used macaroni curved slopes to make a flowing transition to the hockey masks. But as white 1x1 inverted clips were not available, I had to use black ones, and the formed the eyes; and the heart stone became the nose. Later on, I filled the back of the torso, but the chest stayed as it was. 

The lower arms were good on the first try, but the upper arms took some twiddling; the larger ski piece is a good Bionicle part, and the side handlebar version of the smooth shoulder armour is generally lovely. The legs were probably the most difficult part, and they went through several iterations. This has a somewhat questionable double knee joint system, but to be honest, the lower joint is quite close to the natural placement of a knee. Overall, I'm happy that I managed to add some old dark grey to compliment the mask - Ko-Matoran use this colour, after all. The electric circuit prints fit the general Bionicle aesthetics, too. The calves give this quite athletic air, which was fitting; the feet are my attempt to make system-greebly-bionicley-things, something I'm not quite good at. I like their silhouette, though. 

 -Eero.