MOC: Brez II

 Hey! This is not Hero Factory MOC. Definitely not a revamp of Breakout Breez (which is the best Hero set there was). Nope, this is a Klaanon MOC. Breez (second) is one of four three Selakhian (Pridak and Same's species) sisters, known as Breznikova Triplets (Formerly Breznikova Quartet; Kova is plural suffix on Selakhian language). They were Xian bounty hunters until the eldest one died at the hands of Purifier. Now they are part of organization called Nascosto working for Killjoy and the seek avenge on Purifier.

Their real backstory is different. Last summer me and this guy called Jörbäle (whose Klaanon characters this and Killjoy and Purifier) were wandering around the horrible city of Kajaani. We were about to buy ice cream (why not) but found some 2€ Brain Attack Breezes and 5€ Bruizers (terrible set). So we ended up having three Breezes and two Bruizers, and it turned out like this.

Some eleven months later I was just reading Klaanon, no big deal. And suddenly, three bounty hunters named Brez.

Some ten moths later I was reading Klaanon again, no big deal. And suddenly, Dance battle between Breznikova triplets and Vatuka "Bruiser" Brothers hired by Roodaka on Xian nighclub yatch XMS Donovan. Yeaaaah. And it didn't stop there, I tell you.

This is the second oldest of Breznikova. I drew some inspiration from these Matobro's drawings, but took also some heavy liberties concerning colors and the mask especially. I began working with the legs and they turned out well quite quickly; The kneepads were already ordered from Bricklink. I really like the dark red color splashes on the inner thigh. The armoring of the boots looks quite neat too.

I wanted to have an armor coat with long tails to give some "officer quality" to this MOC as this Brez is the oldest one alive. Use of those Technic panels and wing pieces were there from the beginning. Rocket heel shoes with breakout armor created quite heavily armored upper torso, and not using those road armor add-ons was out of question. Piraka flipper on the back is connected via Cordak bullets to create similar pattern than on the chest plate.

The arms are rather simple, basic bone on the upper arm (it doesn't move very freely) and axle with ball joints on the lower part (The best technique with CCBS). My basic hand design, presenting heavy glove, is used hre connected to a shell with T-bar.

The head is custom-build as any Breez heads were too small. I'm happy with it. The white patterns were a bit forced as I didn't have any lime brackets, but I quite like them. The mask looks a bit less flat with them.

Brez's weapons are combination of Brain Attack and Breakout Breezes. The holo shield and sword pieces from the Breakout version are seriously underused but cool parts. The blade weapon has similar construction to Brain Attack version, being bendable and agile yet hard to use. Every one of the Breznikova has that sort of weapon with different blades.

-Eero

MOC: Dain II Ironfoot

 Good mornings. What we have here today is Dain II Ironfoot, Lord of the Iron Hills, King under the Mountain of Erebor and that Billy Connoly dwarf boss who rode the pig. Yes, pig included. Couldn't resist, always liked them pigs.

Dain has been the hardest dwarf to build because the riding stance with the pig. I began with the head, as usual, and helmet, as unusual, as Dain is the only dwarf so far with one. It came out rather nicely, even though my pearl silver collection is limited. I'm especially happy with the gold details around the face slit.

After the head I built the upper torso and the arms, though I had to rebuild it few times as it was too wide. The big dark brown fur cape (I'd like to think it's bear skin, just because) covers most of the armor and upper arms anyway, so it wasn't that hard. I had fortunately quite good array of dark brown plates (1x2 and 2x6 mostly) from last years LUGBULK so it wasn't a problem.

The lower arms had similar grey and pearl gold color scheme than the helmet (which was dark bley at the beginning). The fingers of Dain's leather gloves should actually be dark red, but they have big knuckle armors, so I just simply made them pearl silver; Sole dark red thumb wouldn't have looked that good. The arms have pretty good poseability, the hammer arm having a small ball joint and the harness arm having a t-bar joint. The hammer is similar to Thrain's but has two edges instead. The beard didn't have any surprised, it came out just as planned, if probably bit shorter in the end. Clip-bars made a nice, edgy beard jewellery.

Before finishing the dwarf itself, I built the pig armor. At first I didn't think 1x4 plate hinges could work on the nape plates, but I was wrong; The angled armor looked a lot better than a flat one. The there was the T-piece, what ever it is called, knob or something, some spike-like armor to slice orcs with, and the saddle; Basic stuff. Getting Dain to sit there was harder, as all of my dwarves have been standing still before this. The armor skirt with grey plates,dark red leather and some chain mail took few tries, as it turned out too big at first. The cape saved me again as I didn't have to bother the back of the skirt. The legs are very thing to go between the saddle and the skirt and they have two small ball joints. Dain can stand but looks ridiculous, as the skirt is rather stiff. The pig, however, work fine on it's own, as you can see at the end of this post.

The pig caused some problems as I had already built the armor and I had to fit it under it. Well, I always used to build most of the houses and other building from roof to floor so had some experiences... Well, I made the face first, despite having a little reference material; the pig design changed a lot from the concept art on Weta's Chronicles books. The face come out rather expressive. There are some crazy SNOT inside as the whole pig had to be odd studs wide due to the armor, which had one-stud wide base. There were some illegal connections at some point, caused by 1/4 plate offset or something, but I fixed it. Otherwise the shaping was quite fun. I used dark bley and old dark grey pieces mixed carelessly, as the pig definitely isn't very clean fellow. Then there had to be the pigtail, curvy as it should be, and as the animal had some nasty tusks I though it as male.

So, this is Dain and the pig. Now I have a few WIPs left waiting to be finished. Of course there are some, or several, but it somehow feels like starting fresh on new projects. We'll see for that, I'm not promising anything. I'm still having two moths of work on the civilian service, but after that, plenty of time for building (and less money).

-Eero

Let's give these bastards a good hammering!

MOC reboot: Balin

 The story behind this MOC ei rather unfortunate. It was going to be Balin in his battle costume from Battle of the Five Armies to go with Dwalin posted a few weeks ago. I it looked quite good with the studded leather armor and all, but was way too fragile for my standards; The arms kept falling of all the time and there were some mathematical problems. So I got rather irritated by it and quited, but had already reworked a rather nice new Balin head. The old version from 2012 had been seriously outdated with the more recent dwarves on my Hobbitsplosion project, so I decided to give old Balin the new head. It turned out rather challenging, as the torso built two and a half years ago wasn't very sturdy, so I ended up reworking the whole dwarf.

There were a lot problems on the older version. There were too much straight lines, some of the cloak details didn't exist, and somehow it lacked the puffiness of the character. Balin's coat is my favourite piece of clothing in the Hobbit movies; It looks so comfortable (though it wasn't according to the actor Ken Stott; Which is understandable with all the prosthetics, beard, nose, fat suit and all).

The angle of the arms was another thing that looked unnatural, even though it is somehing expected for LEGO bricks. It was hard to get the angle right without making the shoulders too wide or too thin and allow some trimmings to the sleeve. There are also some dark bley details on the overcoat. The gloves are redone. Boot toes are new too (though the studs look a bit out-of-place) but the cheese-slopes-in-trans-black-panel detail is the same than in the original. The inner construction is a lot more solid than on the old MOC. That's it, basically.

I think I'll be able to post Dain II Ironfoot later this week, as reguested by many. Stay tuned for that, the guv's missing only a few parts now; He has a lot. But for then, enjoy Balin. He's a nice guy. My favourite dwarf from the Hobbit.

-Eero

MOC: I Am A Mole

I turned the loo's taps to puke sewage!
I set Volmar's toupee to fire, sank his Corvette to the canal!
That's right: I am the postman of Job!
The prophet of the doctrine of unpositive attidude, yes!

I am the mole, scumbags!

Earthmover! Terminator!

Under your dwellings I shall dig my catacombs!

And I shall not wait for your invitations but I'll invite myself;

For your guest, for your blight, and your home is my castle!

Your kitchen into a Turkish sauna and customer in there!
So I sit on a freezer, ladling water to the stoves! Yes:
I nest in shallow waters!
I nest in shallow waters!

Ch.:

And now I'm having a Polaroid hidden in the ceiling...
A recorder behind a painting...
And harm watch will be harm catch!

And in those days one fellow raved the whole month about mammals...

After a hurricane snatches the furniture I shall eat the chosen bits 
of your lawn and the small feet groove all night...
And when "ring ring" says the phone inside the head
The ambulancemen don't say even that!
Buy this:

Ch.: 

And your mole goes:
And nests in shallow waters!
Rises out from your hot tub...
Now!

MOC: Superintendent Harkel

Here's another important Klaanon character after The Marionette, though this one does only have two Bionicle parts (matoran feet) and two TECHNIC pieces (Hole with a pin and a blue axle-pin). But yes, Superintendent Harkel of the Blue Cloaks Nui-Koro, the greatest village on the Island of Bio-Klaani, after the city grown around the Clan's fortress. Harkel's the cop of the village. Not the chief, no, and he once was suspended because his inquiries about the Mayor Tahae's tax avoidance crimes. Harkel's veteran cop, he has seen crime and knows his city (which is, by the way, already invaded by the Nazorak Empire).

But in reality, Harkel is a police moustache connected into a matoran. The moustache is important. The narrator loves it.

Harkel is a Po-Matoran and a large one. He has a black Faxon, Hahli Mahri's mask, which I built using SYSTEM pieces as Faxon is not available in black and Harkel's version differs from the underwater Mahri version. I'm very happy with the result. Harkel has a bit sad stare, almost beagle-like. He also has a cop helmet.

The main gimmick here - aside the moustache - is the blue cloack, Nui-Koro's Police Department's main symbol. It also has the crab badge, Hahnah crab being the signature animal of the village (in contrast to Bio-Klaani's silver ussal on blue background). I built the cloak very dramatically on one shoulder, covering the left arm. I'm very happy with it - I fortunately gathered some dark blue curved slopes from Bricklink a few months ago.

I also gave Harkel some police accessories. He has a stick, a badge (compass), and a "Wanted" poster of a mayor's mook. Alright, the mook looks quite a bit like a minifig, and those are not really bionicle letters, but anywhy... The handcuffs are too small for Bionicle figs so let's say it's pocket watch's chain.

In addition, here's a photos of two another Klaanon creations, built by friend "Snobie" using my parts - Blue Cloak's secretary Suflerly (Or Sulfrey?) and Gahlok Va (Some sort of a librarian gnome; Definitely not a half-bohrok).

-Eero

MOC: The Marionette

 To cease all of your suffering
A faceless doll of dread
The pale hand of the Crimson Man
Will drown your corpse in red

-Tarip the Rust-eyed/Gurvana

 The Marionette, the pale swordsman, is one and probably - just probably - the deadliest of The Puppets, six creepy servants - or, as they say, children - of Avde.

The White Hand of the Crimson Man is an important Klaanon... well, not character, but something. He - IT - has been around since 2010 or 2011, when it fought Ämkoo, who was still on Clan's side, cut his right arm off (it (the hand, not the Marionette) was later eaten by the tapir) and stole his sword Aeon and stole a shard of Nimda from Snowie (he didn't cut Snowie's arm of, because the big sissy was unable to fight back). Later on, he fought Matoro the Blacksnow (and Captain Notfun), cut Matoro's right hand off (he was able to fight back but didn't stand a chance) and nearly killed him anyway. The Marionette has never been beaten in a sword fight. Bullets swerve it. Missiled sweve it, if you pardon the stupid joke (which no one is going to understand anyway...).

And its mouth is on its left hand.

Yeah. A disturbing sort of fellow. The Ventriloquist was the first of the puppets I built. There as six in total; Four of them we have seen, or read about, properly.

  Mario was on a WIP stage for few months. The arms, upper torso and head came together quite easily, though the lower arms changed from regular ball joints into the smaller ones and more SYSTEM-oriented. HF torso armor was going to be used from the beginning, and the HF shells worked wonderfully to create the completely flat surfaces without any mechanical of biomechanical details. The inner upper leg is probably my favourite bit technically, with the t-bar-connected boat studs covering the one side of the Y-joint.

The legs turned out pretty thin. The Marionette denies most of the laws of physics (well, they are a bit different in the Klaanon universe anyway, though not as ridiculous as in the Bionicle canon) and walks on a water, it doesn't need legs strong enough to carry it. The knee joints are a bit loose, which gives the posing some real puppet quality. The feet could have had a bit better shaping, but 2x4 will do.

The sword is exactly the same to Ämkoo's sword Genesis; They are a pair. After losing Aeon to The Marionette, Ämkoo stole Genesis from his old master Atya's grave. I though it was natural to build them identical.


-Eero

MOC: Dwalin - Battle of the Five Armies

 Despite building Dwalin in his Battle of the Five Armies gear I'm not doing another series of the dwarves in their Erebor gear. Definitely not. I might (and will, and have already...) make some more spin-off-dwarf-stuff including stuff like Dain Ironfoot, but yeah, here's Dwalin, the bruiser, the muscle, Thorin's best buddy. The head is exactly the same than on the current travel gear version, but I copied it so these can be displayed simultaneously.

I do not know the exact reason for building Erebor gear version of Dwalin. Of course he is a cool character and has small yet important role on the last film, but I think I ended up building him because of the pieces available. I got 100 of those short chains for 9€ from Bricklink bulk store via member of our LUG during an exhibit at Imatra on February. I also got some olive green car hood slopes from LUG support bags and traded a few from my LUG members and then just began working on Dwalin, beginning with the upper torso and the shoulders (the amount of the chain enormous; 54 at the end)  and finishing with the boots and the axe, as usually.

The torso came out very nicely. It has tons of SNOT, and the shoulder connection is not very ideal (Two half-pins and half of an axle) but the finished model is quite sturdy. Dwalin has more depth than your average dwarf, which is ideal as he's the muscle of the group. The torso is solid and heavy, being full of brackets and SNOT bricks and layers of plates. Olive green cheese (thanks god it's cheap) and the car hood slopes ice the cake. Dwalin's mantle has a very pleasing colors, olive green and browns.

The arms were a bit problematic, but arm bands saves the shape of the lower arm; Another solution using 2x2 round tiles with holes and travis bricks, very cool pieces both of them. I came up with those when at work. Minifig legs work as elbow joints, just like on Ridcully and Bilbo. They are sturdy joint pieces and available in pleasingly wide array of colors.

The axe was very interesting. It is not so visible in the movies where the colors are not that bright, but according to Weta's Chronicles books the axe's blades are green stone native to New Zealand, so I ended up making it dark green. In addition to that, the shape is quite strange, having bars on 45 degree angles rather than 90 degrees. I fiddles with it a long time and finally found a solution using travis bricks, bars with clips and, as the seed parts, magnifying glasses; Clips attach nicely to their edges. The result is quite cool, if you don't mind me saying.

-Eero