Giant Tahu Update Blog.
As you know, I have been working hard over several years to build my very own Legoland statue. Initially this was going to be Lewa, but despite Lego’s vast reserves of green and lime bricks (note, not fragile technic ball joints but hardy bricks) there was still a limit to what could be done, a limit that orange and red bricks did not suffer from.
So I realised what should have been obvious all along.
That BIG TAHU needed to exist.
So, early in development, I went for those two cheaper, more accessible colours. I started with rather blocky feet, feet which I still need to work on. But recently I got up to the head, and I absolutely love this thing.
I have built it so that it can be split in half down the middle, allowing access to the two official LEGO light bricks, and potentially some small storage space for secrets (the initial intention was to hide a tiny Mata Nui map in here).
TRIVIA: The idea to sneak a Mata Nui map in here was inspired by one of my many BIONICLE Legoideas projects. My first BIONICLE project in 2019 got 5000 votes in a handful of weeks, but a series of unexplained rejections and issues with other projects has inspired me to look elsewhere when creating in the future. Lego should be about creativity, not conformity.
The light bricks are pressed on by an axle that comes out behind each eye, and these are then held in place by ‘switches’ made of a clever arrangement of brackets and technic bricks, allowing for the quarter brick thickness of axle that sticks out from these unusually proportioned light brick switches.
The halves of the head each has a centre of balance which is close to the nose, meaning that it will topple diagonally outward if it’s just one half. But it won’t be free standing anyway, because as you will see below there is now a solid platform for the head to rest on, if you did not intend to get the full Tahu model (it will be over 10,000 parts, so I get why most people won’t).
So, if you just want Tahu’s iconic Toa Mata head, glowing eyes, and iconic trans dark pink brain stalk, here it is.
TRIVIA: Whilst the original Toa did not have light up eyes, their early prototypes did have glow in the dark eye pieces.
Complete with a little diorama that both holds the head halves up, and depicts epic moments and details from the first year of BIONICLE.
The great telescope
Tahu’s canister washing ashore
A secret Bionicle logo round the back
A Tahu microfig (brick built)
A Jaller microfig (brick built)
So, without further delay, here it is!
This bookend version of GIANT TAHU will be the first model available. To make your lives easier, the instructions for the head and the base (and their respective part lists) will be split up into two packages. That way, if you only want to make the final huge full build, the full bookend alt model, or the head on its own, you will easily find the parts you need.
If you want to support me as I build this ridiculous thing, please consider buying some of my science fiction books. Profits at the moment are going on this project.
Lego are being quite protective over the Bionicle IP at the moment.
What I have here is a transformative thing, a book end that would function whether or not it was about Bionicle. I could just as easily put a terminator head there, or a robot from my own books.