New MOC: Wynn’s new look!

As my transition has proceeded, I’ve felt less and less comfortable with my old self-MOC as a representation of myself. This year, I finally got around to building a new and improved one, taking design cues from the previous MOC but with shapes and colors that I prefer for myself. Introducing: the new and improved Toa Wynn!

I wanted something that was clearly an update of the previous MOC, so I started with the same base for the torso, and used similar shapes for the arms/shoulders (just with different scaling). The legs were a bit trickier, as I didn’t like the old shaping at all – so I essentially flipped the legs upside-down, having the Mata feet as the calves instead of the thighs, and the Inika armor as the thighs instead of the calves, and figured out the exact shaping/scaling from there.

The color change is something I decided on far before I actually began working on the MOC. Purple has been my favorite color for a long time, but I hadn’t quite realized that until a few years ago. I went with green on my previous self-MOC in order to use a Kualsi on it (I thought gold would look a bit pretentious), but these days I know much more about the world of painting and casting masks, so I knew a purple Kualsi would be possible. I actually tried commissioning a purple resin cast Kualsi for the new MOC, but unfortunately wasn’t able to make it happen – so I had to paint it myself. It took a few attempts (I’m still very new to using an airbrush, and I was working with a different brand of paint than usual to get the right color), but I’m decently pleased with how it turned out.

I kept the same Toa tool (a bo staff) because I still really like it! I’m a big fan of giving my MOCs various types of polearms, and I always like to build the handles in the same way I did on this MOC – I like the texture of it, it makes it easier for MOCs with articulated fingers to hold, and I think it gives my creations a distinctive identifier that they’re my work.

For anyone curious, this MOC is absolutely still a Toa of Earth, just like the previous one. I’m not “retconning” the previous MOC – just showing the next step in their life (mirroring my own). I’m not too bothered about the specifics of the changes – she rebuilt herself, I suppose – but suffice to say that she looked like the old MOC before, and she looks like this now.