That is... woah dude, that is impressive. The whole building-a-giant-robot thing is cool in and of itself, but what I really like about it is the wear and tear you added. Having the sorta marbled rust all over is reaaaaally cool. As is the island mask bit too. Dang dude, I got nothing else to say that isn't pure fawning. Nice work.

Thank you very much!

When I first came across this topic, I was in a bit of a rush and didn't read the text. So, I scrolled down to the images, and I saw the System-built island. My first thought was, "Wrong forum. " But then I scrolled a bit farther... And I lost it. When I realized what the island was attached to, I couldn't help but stammer at it in amazement. I've seen some good models of the Great Spirit Robot, but this one tops them all. The head is perfect, and the rusty detailing is just incredible. I can only imagine the work and time that had to go into something like this. The shaping of the feet and all the gears and pistons everywhere are spot-on! And the eyes are just genius. I do have some minor gripes, though. The shaping of the fingers and the position of the thumb seems a little off, but the cool function makes up for it. The wrist area looks sadly barren and gappy. Perhaps there's a way to kinda fill that in? Nevertheless, I'm amazed that a single balljoint is able to support the whole hand, given their size. Lastly, the torso looks a little flat. It was generally depicted as having a thicker chest, and the plates on the front would have more angle to them. But I know how difficult that can be. I tried my own version a long time back, and I'll admit it's tough to get a perfect shape to the chest, without having to sacrifice stability or detail, so I can understand if that was an issue. I do have to ask, though: What kind of joints did you use? Because I can't think of anything that would be strong enough to support the forearms, let alone the entire thing! I'm guessing you doubled up a few connections and just covered it with the details really well. Whatever you did, the result is most impressive! I'd love to see some pictures of the inner workings, if that's possible. Excellent work!

Really - thank you for the high praise.

Yes, one thing that I noticed about prior Great Spirit models was that none addressed the ancient-ness of the robot body. So one of my primary goals from the start was to incorporate those features somehow. It was much more possible with Lego pieces than Technic.

For time: It took me about a month to visualize the finished 'set'-if-you-will, and then a few months longer to gather the pieces. Building Mata Nui was actually the quickest part, though there was some trial and error adjustments during those building sessions.

I can see what you mean about the wrist. I honestly could not think of any other way to build it without sacrificing the poseability of the hands. But yep - I am quite pleased that I was able to make the hand sturdy enough with one balljoint!

Any ideas on how to fill in the wrist area??

I agree about the torso. It was mostly on purpose that I built it that way, because, as you said, stability and detail would have taken a hit if I had added much more depth. As it is now, the torso is the heaviest part of the figure, and that is what makes it tricky to balance above the tapered waist.

For the joints: I had to double-up on ball joints in the elbows and knees. For the shoulders and ankles, I used those snap-and-click socket joints that were common in the exo-Force sets. This was probably the hardest part to get right, because anything less than adequately strong would be too flimsy for posing or even standing the model up.

"...love to see some pictures of the inner workings..."

That is a good idea actually; I will try to take some pictures of how the shoulder/knee joints worked out.

I like the Alternating colours (being submerged for a thousand years would make you rather rusty, after all), the Sheer Scale, and the Intricate accuracy of the build. I don't think I've seen a more accurate depiction of good ol' MN before. Kudos to you! Also, I like the comical scenes near the end. I always like seeing characters who are usually played seriously doing ordinary things.

Thank you. To one and all: please be sure to take a look at the full Gallery!

Whoa.

Honestly this is so hard to comment on because it's really impressive. The size, the overall build, the little details. It's really, really cool.

Pretty much the only critique I could have on this is the head's a bit big, both anatomy and accuracy-wise. But that helps it fit in the "Doo Heads" pic, so it still works in that case I suppose.

Thanks alot. I had a feeling the head was a tad large, but I just went with it despite the accuracy issue.

What do you guys think of the mini Metru Nui? That (as well as the Island) was the chief reason I chose to go with a slightly larger head.

This is...simply glorious...the amount of effort that this would've taken is outstandingly commemorable, the rust effect and the asymmetry achieving it are outstanding...

GIVE THIS MAN A ROUND OF APPLAUSE! Really, this is just incredible!

Ahahaha. Thanks both of you (and for the laugh).

Again, to one and all, thanks for the feedback!