BIONICLE: Onua VS Lewa

Hello everyone!

I knew even when I first posted this project that it would need more work in the future, I admittedly may have rushed my initial submission out of excitement. originally my only real plans were to give lewa a brainstalk and improve the mask prints (my attempts at stylized shading on the miru were ultimately a failure, and the lineart was far too thin), but over time I realized there was a lot more that needed work. The mask builds were awkward, the arm builds were janky, the use of the marvel mech cockpit failed to impress, etc.

I had already developed an updated version of my system mata build for another project which I have yet to reveal. Armed with that and the simple but genius head design used in the Tahu and Takua GWP, I set out to give this project the glow up I felt it sorely needed.

Lewa now features the iconic mata shoulder sockets, more detailed fingers, and a nicer axe inspired by some of the mech sets released this January. I also incorperated the hollow look of the mata feet by flipping the foot around and using an inverted slope rather than a standard one. The ninjago EVO cockpit may not evoke the shaping of the mata torso quite as much, but it flows into the rest of the torso much better, making the build look far more complete. The curved slope of the new mask may not be perfect for the miru but I think it gives a much smoother shape that feels more like an actual 3D mask than a flat tile with a face scrawled on it. Lewa also has a proper brainstalk now. In trans bright green, rather than trans neon green, which is sadly set to retire at the end of this year.

(Forgive the rendering glitches on old onua's legs, the ones on the thighs are because I forgot to re-import the printed nexo tiles before making this render, and the ones on the knees have just always been there, I have no idea why.)

Onua's mask build has been entirely redone, pulling mainly from the GWP, but adding a few 1x1 tooth plates on the side of the mask in an attempt to give the mask a bit more of a diamond shape and evoke those little y shaped indents on the side of the pakari. Ashwin Visser, graphic designer for the Bionicle GWP, had kindly provided an onua version of his pakari mask print. I didn't use their design directly but it was used as a reference when drawing my own. (partially because the image we got was too small, partially because I would feel bad just stealing it and slapping it on.) In the vein of prints, I also decided to ditch the pinhole prints that were on the thighs in the original model, mainly because I felt that the existing number of prints for the masks was probably already an unrealistic amount.

The shoulder design was actually a bit difficult. The design I had used for lewa was developed with the slimmer shouldered mata in mind, and I wasn't sure how to adapt it for the other 3 toa that used the more traditional wider configuration. I originally considered an entirely new shoulder design, but all of my attempts were either too big or too complex, so I settled for a modified version of the slim design.

I also decided to only give Onua the arm function one one side this time. The mechanism is admittedly a bit flimsy as is and adding 2 of them just overcomplicated things, on top of making the shoulders awkwardly stick out as can be seen in my original Onua.

I tried to refine the color schemes a bit while still being realistic to what pieces LEGO would likely include in a produced set (hence why the brackets in Lewa's torso are lime green, because he also uses those same ones in his limbs.) I'm sure some will be happy to know that the updated builds contain no light grey mixel joints whatsoever. It's all dark grey.

As of now this project has a little under 2 months left to reach the next supporter milestone. This is part of what motivated me to update the builds as I felt that certain rough elements of the original submission were hurting the performance of the project. I admit I've had the occasional self entitled thoughts wondering why my project wasn't getting the same recognition that other Bionicle projects running concurrently were/are receiving. With hindsight though I think it's easier to see that my original builds really just weren't that great, despite my initial excitement over what I had been able to achieve with them. It's my hope that the updated builds will be able to turn a few more heads.

I'm hesitant to say exactly what I have in mind for what to do with the project if it doesn't make it. Maybe I'll leave it up to a poll somewhere?

With all of that said, I'd like to give thanks to Nick Vas and Niek van Slagmaat for their work on the GWP, for inspiring some of the updates for this project and just generally making an awesome Bionicle tribute set, the various people online who have shared my project, and, of course, those who have supported it.