Borox the Brute Skakdi

Borox (Bor-ox), a Skakdi of acid. First off, as an artists note I want to say that despite the creepiness of Skakdi, Borox seems beautiful...

Borox was invented during the early stages of my Mata Nui Investigators role play. His story started back in the day when the MN-I RP still consisted of five people. 

His history is simple, he was brought to the island of Mata Nui on a slave ship run by the Makuta, who in this alternate dimension were using Skakdi as slaves. They were able to buy them by the boat load due the fact warlords of Zakas were willing to sell prisoners of civil war in exchange for illegal weaponry and other goods Makuta were able to provide.

When the ship was docking at a secret port in Po-Wahi, Borox and four other Skakdi made a secret plan of escape. One of them used his heat vision to weaken the chains on their legs, and Borox used his skill of squirting acid from his claws to melt the shackles. When they were unloaded from the ship and the time was right, the five of them made a break for the forest line nearby, and were hunted by the Makuta.

Borox was able to hide better due to his dark armor and the fact it was a rainy evening, but what saved him is his alliance with Toa Ion, a darkened Toa of air who was also being chased by the angered Makuta. 

The two became friends, though their differences made them awkward in company. Ion discovered that Borox was different from other Skakdi he had met, and displayed less violence, having more feelings and sensitivities. 

His desire was to live and let live, being a relaxed and rather peace loving Skakdi unlike his war brothers, as he calls them. He's not proud of his past, having done things to keep good face with his kind which he didn't entirely agree with. His occasional violent mood swings that he does his best to keep under control gave him the title Borox the Brute, a title he doesn't wear with pride.

Ion brought him to the regions of Ga where some friends were dwelling, and Borox started to like Mata Nui, wanting to live his life out with other people, and possibly protect Matoran from the Makuta just as Toa do. But due to his species, he knew most would be cautious of letting him dwell among them due to his kinds violent history.

Borox does manage to settle in just enough, and makes a helmet to hide his face so as not to scare villagers as he works. He becomes a black smith in Ta, having been a black smith on Zakaz before he was captured. His specialty is to make acid etched armor and specialty colors for metal using special chemical compounds combined with his natural acid that he's able to secret from his claws, and also from glands in his mouth. 

It's a common trait for him to lick his index claw to tip it with a very small amount of acid from his mouth glands which he then uses to etch very intricate details into metal.

Not long after being on the island, a desperately lonely Toa of water named Aqua falls in love with Borox, and he gives her a special arm band with his warrior symbol on it as a gift, a Skakdi tradition in this world which indicates a female belongs to him. Aqua requested for him to make the armband for her, wanting to be his.

Other facts about Borox: His favorite weapon is an axe, and he loves to pick up fallen trees which he then tosses around for exercise. He's extremely strong, able to carry two Toa under each arm with ease. Occasionally Borox has been called razor tooth, another nick name relating to his sharp teeth which he's used to bite through many things, most of which were prison restraints, but also enemies of war at times.

 

Borox is the very first full detail, full body Skakdi I've ever drawn, and is the only Skakdi character I've invented so far. You can see above that I drew basic details in a blue outline first, then worked on the main outline over top of that (right).

Here are the sketch pages as I went through the design process for Borox. again, I drew out sections of his form from different angles to get a good concept developed of what he should look like. 

It was a challenge figuring out how organic he should be and how some of his armor would stay on, but after awhile I figured out the basics of it all. 

Designing his head was a bit trickier since his face is where all the personality takes place. I experimented in drawing different expressions he may use, which helped me decide his face was good for his character.

The main body sketch on the left page above is what I used as a guide while making the main drawing. 

During the early days of the RP, I made a chibi representation of Borox in an online chibi maker. This helped me establish a few ideas of what he'd be like in actual Skakdi form.