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Plague-Doc-Matteo — Bionicle MOC: The Ampera Helios
Published: 2014-05-26 07:46:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 4145; Favourites: 106; Downloads: 0
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Description
About the MOCThe Ampera logo belongs to Raps555 which helped influence the name once this MOC was built. It started when I saw Billy Adam's MOC that utilizes the cover of a Toa Mahri Canister on Flickr and thought "Hey I have one of those." Billy's MOC was all the spark I needed. I promptly went to my MOC room's closet got out both of the garbage bags that held the containers for all my Bionicle/HF sets and fortunately for me, I found it in the first bag.
The other major influence into this MOC was "May the 4th" and more specifically, me remember that I absolutely loved the XJ-6 Airspeeder from Star Wars Episode 2:Attack Of the Clones. This speeder was a huge influence on me, I based much of the designs off of this thinking that while it's not the same speeder, its similar.
Keeping the speeder in mind, the other concept I put behind this MOC to give it more defined parameters when building it was that it is what would be considered a "luxury sports coup of the future." This is what lead to trying to give the Helios a rather luxurious interior.
The last element to come into play when shaping this MOC was functionality. Early on I found myself lacking room to implement any real functions, so I decided to omit my usual Heavy inclusion of functions and decided to focus on the aesthetic element instead. However, the seats still are adjustable. Though as cramped as the interior are for Volvexa and Vaan, the adjustable seats aren't much use since they're all the way back. This feature was mostly so I could live with myself. After three vehicle MOCs laden with functions, I couldn't not have any functional features to speak of on another one. Everything after these parameters was all about execution and it came as results of working with the parts.
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Bio
- The Matoran
The two Matoran's Names are Vaan-the Pilot, and Volvexa-the passenger. Vaan is your typical hotshot pilot. He enjoys flying and going fast, as any Le-matoran does. While Volvexa is your typical arm candy girlfriend, she enjoys being treated to a nice night out on the town and riding along while her boyfriend drives fast through the skies. - Setting
In the distant future, long after many wars over resources have been fought amongst the inhabitants of Spherus Magna , civilization everywhere live mostly peaceful prosperous lives, technology is abundant and is the foundation of society. In this society, most civilian own flying craft mass produced by Manufacturers who sell their craft to the civilians. Due to the varied nature of the planets populace, vehicles are made to suit all types, Matoran and Agori , Toa and Glatorian, and even some of the larger members of the populace, though these creatures and subsequent vehicles are much rarer. This particular craft is designed for the smaller creatures of the world, Matora, Turaga and Agori. - The Ampera company.
Ampera is an Automaker that specializes in new innovative technologies for their vehicles. Many of their concepts and designs become industry standards and they are a company at the forefront of of the race to find new more efficient technologies and designs for vehicles and equipment of many types, not just Air craft or vehicles. - The Helios.
The Ampera Helios is a Small-build open cockpit make that emphasizes speed, maneuverability and luxury features. While not Ampera's most expensive or prestigious model, it is one of their signature Models and a best seller. It features ion field propulsion controlling with high capacity inertial dampener capacitor air-suspension, all powered by a sextet zamour core engine.
Luxury features include: surround sound stereo for high quality listening with "N-tune" software included so that your listening experience always sounds right at any speed or altitude, plush leather interior for a comfortable drive, and intuitive controls that makes mastering the skies a breez.
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Comments: 100
The color reminds me of the bounty hunter's car from Star Wars 2....
Nice MOC all the same though. Very creative.
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Well the whole MOC was inspired by the speeder Anakin steels in that same speeder chase. The bad guy's car was yellow and green. So was the speeder Anakin steels but it had brown in it to.
Thanks Gale.
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And altlast someone found a use for it.
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I always wanted to see something using those Toa Mahri canisters! Nive vehicle, especially the details on the cockpit and the front.
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Thanks Diego. I forgot they existed before I saw the other person's MOC. I saw that buggy and I just had to dig mine out. And I've been hankering to build another flying vehicle, and the canister part just lent itself well to that with its shape and grill looking top. The interior was probably the hardest part of this MOC, fitting all that in a truly finite space. its not like most MOCs where if something's too small you just move it a bit, here that was literally impossible. 
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One of my favorites by you! 
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Likewise of the Faraday.
Really? G'awww thanks Chris. I was just making it up on the spot based on what little I knew. Glad you approve of my improvised description.
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Well, you garnered the correct impression of the brand, so I'm pleased!
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Well guess I should work in advertising then. HAHAH
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In the days long past of my seclusion from the internet, I often thought about trying to use this piece. But nothing ever came to mind. But I am glad to see you and Billy using this piece to such an end. I think that you are very good at Vehicles, I might even say it's your strongest point if it weren't for the titans I've seen you build. This comes as no exception, the Helios has incredible shaping and aesthetics, and that's an even greater feat considering it's built around the Mahri canister. Some bits I don't like are actually the hero factory core on the front, as well as the Av-matoran jetpack piece. They interrupt the flow of the aesthetic in my opinion. Overall, I say excellent work, few tweaks on the front, and keep doing what you're doing.
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Thanks again Spenc. I would consider vehicles my strongest point as well. I have for a long time to. I built a lot of spaceships, flying craft and a few land vehicles as a kid and young teenager. I had a big Podracer phase to where I had like five of em and they'd be a good foot and a half two feet long. So its an area I've always been comfortable in and probably have the most foundation for considering all those old MOCs I made as a kid.
No offense, but I think the issues bring up are just personal taste. I personally love the inclusion of the HF cores as the "Helios" badges. Just wish I could get a custom Ampera logo on the yellow HF shell there. That would be nice. And I like the Av-Matoran Jet pack to, looks like a blower on a hot rod.
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None taken. It's like vehicles in real life, cars appeal to other people.
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is that rilly the car from one of the star wars movies. or is it just inspierd by it.
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Its just inspired by it.
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k then tell me witch movie it is from.
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Episode 2, Attack of the clones.
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yhea the movie was horible by d way check out the honest tralers on it.
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I did. 
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your right. thay all arnt that grate. but the nistalgic value of the original trilagy. note gove me your thouts about the honest traiers about it.
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WOOOWWW. Makes me want to find one of my Mahri packages and start building!
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So many people have said that to me, both here, and on flickr and Facebook.
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Challenge accepted.
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Urgh, can't find it. I'll settle for a Nuva canister lid instead.
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Nuva canister lids don't actually grip axle holes. They sit in there loose. I tried when I dug my cans out. Same for Mata to.
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I am going to try, darn it!
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TRY!!! YOU CAN DO IT!
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They'll be up soon!
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How soon is soon? Its already been a day. SHOW ME YOUR CANISTER MAWK GAWDDAMNIT! I WANNNNNAAAAA SEEEEE!
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Well, I already have a couple MOCs I made before it that I have yet to share so...
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WELL THEN HURRY UP!
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Is it the flying Husi?
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Colorful , and a very innovative and cool design Dave! Well done my friend!
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Thanks Greg.
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It shows in the quality and functionality of this MOC , like I said before well done my friend.
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It is only the truth but you are welcome!
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I am reminded of how good a tool Flickr is for these types of intricate builds. It looks like you were really exercising your system skills in this one, and the mixing is done very seamlessly. Stylistically the car is very futuristic 50's, coming off a bit like something out of Futurama. My issue with the car is it's use of the trans-yellowish green, as I think it looks terrible next to Keetorange (I don't like Aiden's MOC Cere for this same reason), on the other hand LEGO made this useless color so plentiful, so it makes it's way into alot of MOCs. I even like the drivers, and I always like to see your smaller humanoid builds. Vaan could probably use more continuity in his chest, but he's cool and even makes use of that beautiful Piraka green color. Volvexa is interesting as creating female shapes at such a scale is obviously difficult, and she even makes use of some cool techniques. However I think the heels were unnecessary, and I think sprucing up the mask with some extra details would've been super cool. For example you could've added pigtails or something like that by attaching them to the metru head. However at this point I'm complaining about something that was probably an afterthought. All in all I like the whole build alot, and in particular you've done a great job in integrating Bionicle and System. Really nice job
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Thanks Liam. I've been waiting for your comment on this MOC specifically out of everyone's because you knew something like this was coming long before anyone else did. I told you I was going to work on a flying craft for Matoran at some point. The rumblings were there and seeing Billy Adam's Mahri buggy was the final spark that lit the fumes and a flying car bonfire ingnited.
I'm so relieved and also impressed you caught the futuristic 50's thing without me even really saying anything. That is EXACTLY what I was going for, a "retro futuristic" feeling. It all started with the Mahri canister piece. The sides there naturally lend themselves to being door spaces, so that helps dictate a front and back when speaking horizontally, and that makes that front/top look very much like a grille and I got a real 50's retro sci-fi vibe from it. It was rather difficult building around that, and building on the deck that holds on the windshield without covering it up. A few designs I had would have and I wanted it to be a focal point on the MOC. That also meant I had to "seal" it up behind it so there was something engine-y looking behind the grille. So it ends up looking kinda like an old fashioned radiator.
I know what you mean. I originally wanted the trans color to be darl Tr-blue. But sadly it comes down to this part. www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.… the domes on the back. I found the part that holds them on, rememberd I had the dome in Tr-Neon Green, and found two of both parts, I also knew I could motif the trans green with zamour spheres, so that's what lead to that. If the dome part came in Tr-dark-blue I probably would switch it to blue. Any shade of green other than tr-neon is too finicky to get in Zamours so tr-dark green wouldn't be an option either, though I'm not sure if I have them in dark Green. It really comes down to the compatibility of those two parts as they're the only tr-neon-green parts on the MOC and that color is the only one you could get consistently.
Thanks again Liam. I tried to make them as interesting as I could but bottom line, they've got to fit. And is the issue I wanted to bring up with you when you commented. I built the Helios then built the pilots and made sure they could fit every step of the way. I literally had a confined space I couldn't expand upon to work with here. And I gotta be a little critical with you here, if I can do it with a truly confined build and still make decently interesting figs, you can to. Saying you can't give your pilots more room so you're not bending their legs backwards or taking them off is a bullshit excuse Liam. I got two Matoran, adjustable seats a steering console and a dashboard in my interior and I still had just a little bit of "trunk space" all inside a Mahri canister cover. To that I say "buuuull shiit!" my friend.
I don't wanna end such a nice comment with telling you you're full of shit so in all earnestness, thank you liam. This comment meant a lot to me. I did this partly because of you and seeing your flying vehicle MOCs like the dropship and the Buffalo. They really helped kindle the urge to do another flying vehicle.
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