Category: Collaboration

Overview

This year BioniLUG looks back on Bionicle’s grandaddy: revamping the 1999 Slizer theme with our modern building style and pieces. Also known as Throwbots, these MOCS will be inspired by the sets and setting and include new characters too.

Build a Slizer-inspired creation and bring it to a convention or send it on the BZP Convention Circuit to participate! MOCs will be put on display at multiple conventions, and perks will be given to those who participate in the collab, including free sets! (Note: in order to receive the perks, you will have to ensure you sign up for the circuit.)

Theme

What would any of the original Slizer sets look like if they were Toa-sized and utilized the constraction pieces that evolved after their creation for this theme? What would a new Slizer look like in their world, had LEGO kept the theme going? In an era where we rebuild our favorite heroes and villains from Bionicle, let’s take it back a few more years and see what we can do with the Throwbots!

Examples include:

• Visualizing a classic set with the pieces and color pallet we have now.
• Taking the spirit of the original models but building some villains to fight.
• Giving Ski actual skis, and a winter coat.
• Rebuilding Scuba with scuba tanks and formidable harpoon.
• Using one of the significantly more impressive newer flame pieces for Torch’s weapon.
• Designing a custom character that is a disc-throwing robot associated with an element or environment.

A base for your character to stand on and scenery as a backdrop will really bring the whole display together. Using the character art from the original instructions will be a good basis for inspiration, like the angry trees that Amazon is slashing at.

Sizing

• MOCs should be Toa-sized or slightly taller, and will therefore tower over their original set in size.
• A base should compliment the MOC in scenery and color, so as not to drown out the character.
• Both the MOC and base can bend these rules as you see fit, so long as the spirit of the Slizer is there and it will still be visually cohesive with everyone else’s MOCs.

Also, these MOCs will need to be shipped and displayed so, while not required, please take into consideration stability and durability when making your MOCs. It makes it easier on everyone involved!

Overview

Get your swim suit and strap on your scuba gear–this year’s collab has us diving deep and seeing what lurks under the waves of the Bionicle ocean.

Build a deep sea-inspired creation and bring it to a convention or send it on the BZP Convention Circuit to participate! MOCs will be put on display at multiple conventions, and perks will be given to those who participate in the collab, including free sets! (Note: in order to receive the perks, you will have to ensure you sign up for the circuit.)

Theme

Build something Gali or the Barraki would have seen while swimming around. What is lurking off the shores of Metru Nui? What might a Matoran fisherman have accidentally hooked? Humanoid divers and oceanic Rahi are the focus, but we want plenty of Matoran explorers and scenery as well.

Useful examples include:

• Scuba-diving Toa
• Fish, sharks, eels, and other underwater creatures
• Thermal vents
• Coral reefs
• Seaweed
• Ominous caves

Remember, this is the Deep Sea, and while we’re not keeping things strictly scientific, think about what you might find on the ocean floor and build some scenery too. The more we have, the more the ocean will be brought to life!

Sizing

• Divers should be no larger than a Toa Metru.
• Scenery should be attached to plates or easily attachable to plates for stability and ease of setup.
• Swimming fish should have some sort of stand to to help make them ‘float.’

Also, these MOCs will need to be shipped and displayed so, while not required, please take into consideration stability and durability when making your MOCs. It makes it easier on everyone involved!

Overview

Are you a botany buff? Does the Venus flytrap fascinate you? Do you really like Frank Oz’s Little Shop of Horrors? Whatever your answer is, our 2024 theme is the theme for you!

Build something to plant in the Horror Garden and bring it to a convention or send it on the BZP Convention Circuit to participate! MOCs will be put on display at multiple conventions and perks will be given to those who participate in the collab, including free sets and raffle entries! (Note: in order to receive the perks, you will have to ensure you sign up for the circuit.)

Theme

The Horror Garden is pretty self-explanatory: it’s a garden full of scary plants! Flowers with teeth, trees with claws, the possibilities are endless!

Typically, plants consist of roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Use any plant-like features and horror components fuel your creative process and build something terrifyingly beautiful. Useful examples include:

• The world outside your front door
• Carnivorous plants
• Horror movies involving plants
• Spooky gardens
• Aiden.builds’ photostream

Our garden will also need to be populated with structures and tourists! Archways, fences, benches, and pathways will all help the garden appear more robust. Tourists (and victims) should remain on the smaller side, to help give the plants a sense of threatening scale.

Sizing

• Tourists should be no larger than a Voya-Nui Matoran.
• Plant builds should be (at minimum) of comparable mass/density as 10281 Bonsai Tree.
• Fencing should be capable of surrounding the area of a 32×32-stud baseplate.
• Garden furniture and structures should be capable of accommodating a Voya-Nui Matoran.

Also, these MOCs will need to be shipped and displayed so, while not required, please take into consideration stability and durability when making your MOCs. It makes it easier on everyone involved!

Overview: Who isn’t a sucker for high fantasy? Elegant elves trained over centuries in fine bows and nimble blades. Dwarven craftsmen and warriors clad in heavy armor and heavier weaponry. Dragons, orcs, undead, the whole shebang. Maybe throw in a monster or two; Beholder, Gelatinous cube, Displacer Beast.

Build something in the high fantasy genre and bring it to a convention or send it on the BZP Convention Circuit to participate! MOCs will be put on display at multiple conventions and perks will be given to those who participate in the collab, including  free sets and raffle entries! (Note: in order to receive the perks, you will have to ensure you sign up for the circuit.)

What is a High Fantasy: High fantasy is set in an alternative, fictional (“secondary”) world, rather than the “real” or “primary” world. This secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy is characterized by being set on Earth, the primary or real world, or a rational and familiar fictional world with the inclusion of magical elements. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fantasy)

Some notable examples include:

• Terry Brooks’ Shannara
• Terry Goodkind’s The Sword of Truth
• Robert Jordan’s and Brandon Sanderson’s The Wheel of Time
• Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea
• C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia
• George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)
• Terry Pratchett’s Discworld
• R. A. Salvatore’s Forgotten Realms and The DemonWars Saga
• J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

Additional Requirements: All MOCs should be scaled to the Toa Metru (7 to 8”) – humans and elves should be about that size, dwarves and halflings should be a bit shorter, and monsters and enemies bigger or smaller as appropriate.

Other Considerations: This is high fantasy, and while there can be some overlap with other genres such as Gothic fiction, dark fantasy, and steampunk, try to stick with the classic high fantasy heroes and villains.

You can certainly build a MOC based on your favorite high fantasy media, like Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, or you can make it more generic. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s high fantasy!

Scenery: Heroes and monsters are pretty awesome on their own, but they look even better when they have a fantasy world to live in! We’re looking for people to make buildings and other scenery to spread around the display to give it some scale. The good thing is, since they’re not the main focal point, they don’t have to be super-detailed or even look finished. Some things we’d like to see:

• Buildings scaled roughly to 10 bricks per floor – they don’t need to have windows or even four sides, but they should be free-standing. Think castles, towers, thatched-roof inns, that sort of thing.
• Other objects like trees, siege machines, barricades, and the like are more than welcome too!

Also, these MOCs will need to be shipped and displayed so, while not required, please take into consideration stability and durability when making your MOCs. It makes it easier on everyone involved!

Overview: Build either a Mecha or a Kaiju and send it on the BZP Convention Circuit to participate! MOCs will be put on display fighting at multiple conventions and perks will be given to those who participate in the collab including  free sets and raffle entries! (Note: in order to receive the perks, you will have to ensure you sign up for the circuit.)

What is a Mecha/Kaiju: Mecha are giant piloted robots popularized in anime (like Gundam) and movies (like Pacific Rim). Kaiju are giant monsters popularized in movies (like Godzilla and Pacific Rim) and television (like Kamen Rider or Power Rangers). Build your coolest mechs and beasts so they can fight it out across North America!

Additional Requirements: All MOCs should be scaled to the Hero Factory Invasion From Below (HF IFB) series minifigs. Those minifigs’ dimensions are approx. 7x4x2 studs (tall x wide x deep) as shown in picture below:

MOCs are not required to have a figure, but it would be cool for some of them to be piloted by the HF figs! To keep MOCs in this scale and to scale with one another, please follow the below height rubric:

Other Considerations: As more of a general guideline, Mecha should be more angular and mechanical while Kaiju should be more organic in nature. Kaiju are giant monsters, after all, so they should have some sort of claws/fangs/spikes. Mecha should have more mechanical detailing and armoring as well as weaponry. They have to fight the Kaiju somehow, but how they can fight is up to you.

Scenery: Mecha and Kaiju are pretty awesome on their own, but they look even better when they’re laying waste to a city! In addition to building awesome robots and monsters, we’re looking for people to make buildings and other scenery to spread around the display to give it some scale. The good thing is, since they’re not the main focal point and they’re there to be destroyed, they don’t have to be super-detailed or even look finished. Some things we’d like to see:

• Buildings scaled roughly to 10 bricks per floor – they don’t need to have windows or even four sides, but they should be free-standing
• The preferred color scheme is light-grey to allow the mecha and kaiju to stand out from the scenery, but you can use your discretion
• Other minifig-scaled objects like vehicles for the mecha and kaiju to stomp on

Also, these MOCs will need to be shipped and displayed so, while not required, please take into consideration stability and durability when making your MOCs. It makes it easier on everyone involved!