A Wheelchair for Mobility-Impaired Bionicle characters

Name of Model: Full Access

Created by: the BCth

Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33279927@N08/sets/72157622131179152/

Details: Looking at the Bionicle universe, it's hard not to notice that LEGO has chosen not to release many civilian characters. It's a world of heroes and villians, Toa, masks and whatever came after the Toa (I lost track of the plot fairly early on, and started deriding it openly after they announced that the planet of Mata Nui is itself a giant Toa that would star in the 2009 line). Wounded Toa are something that LEGO simply hasn't accounted for. Part of this might be expense - the sheer size of some of these Bionicle characters means that properly scaled vehicles and buildings are generally too expensive to build or for the company to sell (to their credit, though, LEGO has created a few Technic-based vehicles that seem to be roughly to-scale). On to this model, now - this is a builder after my own heart, clearly trying to mesh disparate parts from a wide variety of LEGO themes. "Arctic" treads and "X-Pod" lids (two parts largely ignored as "useless") take on a whole new context when used together and combined with Star Wars droid arms and Explorien octagonal elements to form wheels. The studs of log bricks have been connected directly into studless Technic beams (a simple but surprisingly underused technique) to create a comfortable looking back for the chair. Bionicle elements are used both in the chair's structure and as accents. Triangular Technic propellers (sparsely used now but widely available in the '90s) hold the footrest at just the right angle - and of course, the footrest can be retracted using the Bionicle ball joints. Finally, there's the spectacular color scheme - dark blue and yellow. I had no idea that some of these parts were even made in these colors before.