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Bionicle MOC: Punished Soul Tree V.2

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Description

Best viewed when listening to Mantra on repeat.


About The MOC
As evident by its previous version,Bionicle MOC: Punished Soul Tree by 3rdeye88 this is a concept I've had for a long time, prior to joining Deviantart in fact. The Punished Soul Tree(could also be called Tree Of The Damned) was a concept I came up with back in High School when I fell asleep listening to Tool's Lateralus and the 4th track Mantra was playing at just the right time when I was half awake half asleep. The culmination of that creepy intro track and Alex Grey's artwork for the album led me to envision a forest of these creepy flora dissected by a dingy yellowish brown cobblestone path that lead up a hill visibly ending in the hill's horizon. The whole scene was illuminated by what seemed like the sun at dusk which I attempted to recreate with lighting in the main photograph.
Reading interviews by both Alex Grey and the band's Guitarist, Adam Jones, both have mentioned that they were inspired by anatomical drawings and books, which lead to the creation of the albums CD booklet which very much looks like an anatomical diagram with many esoteric symbols and Alex Grey's own artwork included into it. This is what lead to the bodies of the Punished Soul Trees having no skin, leaving their musculature exposed.
Tool is also very infuential to me as an artist as their music videos and artwork for the albums tend to be very dark gritty and mysterious. This definitely found its way into my subconscious when I dreamt up this creation. The Punished Soul Tree is by far the most vivid creation I've ever envisioned or dreamt that has become a MOC.

In the original vision/dream the bodies had unnaturally large smiles, much like a cartoon character could have but not "Cartoony." At the time I had the sense that these creatures were dangerous, but only if I were to step off the stone path. The unnerving "OOOOOOoo" sound they made(the sound in the song) felt as though they were calling out to me and my have been reaching for me as cursed souls are often depicted trying to grasp and ensnare the living. But some force kept them bound to the trees, as if the trees themselves were living entities imprisoning the souls for what ever crimes they had committed in their previous lives.

Building The MOC
My initial idea for how I'd finally realize the "actual" version of this concept instead of the "kiddy version" was to use a great many axle and axle joint connectors to create an intricate network of axles. After going through my drawer of bionicle parts and realizing I don't utilize them as much as I used to I thought I'd try a different approach. I think it worked out well. While I don't feel 100% satisfied with the look of the overall creation, I believe that is due to the fact that I've had this idea for so long, envisioned it many different ways, the only way I'll ever be truly satisfied will be to use a different medium. As a MOC interpretation I'm quite happy with the outcome.
Fun fact, tying a noose is actually really easy. Fortunately I had some of the green medium thickness string that I got as an alternate in my Vhisorak Battle Ram that I was able to use here to make the noose. It took me only about a day and a half to complete this MOC, one of the advantages to working in one color primarily and not having to worry too much which part went where. Another interesting fact: There are 18 black Ripcord elements on this MOC,using up all of the ones I have in black. I chose to leave the exaggerated smiles off of the MOC interpretation as I liked the look of the inverted Kanohi Ruru instead. I made a conscious decision to leave the chest empty as I thought that represent having no hear or essence seeing as how these are supposed to be the remnants of a person's soul. Lastly, in the dream I believe the bodies' hands weren't bound, but I felt the imagery of the hands being bound was stronger, so I opted for bound hands, signifying that it truly is an imprisoned persecuted being.

Sculpture Styling
This is an important MOC for me as it represents the first step in a path I'd like to pursue further in MOCIng, "sculpture" MOCing as opposed to "constraction" MOCing. The emphasis here was to MOC more as if creating a sculpture than an Action Figure or something for one. This is also why I wanted to use fundamental Bionicle elements and with the exception for the base and elements to transition, everything else is mostly Bionicle or Technic parts. I wanted to experiment using tried-and-true bionicle elements to create a work of art I had envisioned in my head as opposed to using more traditional mediums. This potentially just the first of many projects I'd like to make using MOCing as the medium to produce other concepts for art pieces I've had. Though the project I had in mind next for this kind of MOC would be far more involved and I would like to make use of all kind of lego elements, not just focus on Bionicle exclusively. I hope you enjoy my dark macabre styling because it's only going to get "more fucked up" from here. *laughs*


Bio
I don't have a specific bio in mind for this MOC, though I think one is fairly self explanatory. These are embodiments of souls cursed to suffer a form of mild agony for eternity. In my dream the forest was a place that the living could go to, but seemed to a kind of middle realm between the world of the living and that of the dead. Anyone who ventures from the pathway would probably be ensnared by a tree and doomed to suffer the same fate unless freed by a person strong willed enough to resist or simply doomed to wander in between the trees, lost forever. The path would not reappear to them unless they possessed clairvoyance or strong insight. The forest of the damned is hell to the weak but only an unpleasant place to the strong...
Image size
5747x6723px 6.56 MB
Make
FUJIFILM
Model
Fujifilm A220 A230
Shutter Speed
1/5 second
Aperture
F/2.9
Focal Length
6 mm
ISO Speed
100
Date Taken
Apr 5, 2014, 3:21:17 PM
Sensor Size
6mm
Mature
© 2014 - 2024 Plague-Doc-Matteo
Comments115
UnfrickingTouchable1's avatar
:star::star::star::star: Overall
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Vision
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Originality
:star::star::star::star-half::star-empty: Technique
:star::star::star::star::star: Impact

Not sure if this will end up as a critique or a large comment but I'll give it my best shot.

I really like the dark concept behind this MOC, the fact that the idea came to you from a dream is interesting, the MOC itself has a nice mix of dark colors as well as an interesting build. While it looks like a mass of random parts it has a nice complex build to it. I especially like how you captured the picture of a dead tree so well and while the tortured soul has a simple build to it, it adds a sense of sadness to the MOC. I could only imagine how long it took you to build this and how many attempts there were before the final product was released.

I think my only critique about this MOC is the branches, I feel like they could have been more spaced out and that there were more different branches, such as a different tool of torture like a whip or a knife.

If I were to rate this out of 10 I would say;
Creativity: 9/10
Build of the MOC: 8/10
Concept of the MOC: 10/10

Overall opinion;
I love it, the dark themes, the overall look of the MOC is amazing, I really hope to see more dark themed MOCs from you in the future.

Best wishes
From Ben
~The Untouchable Productions.
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