Tag Archives: Mech

From Bullet-Spongebob to Bluey 40k, these LEGO mech mashups are are a demented delight

Scrolling through the creations of Thorben (tee_baum_bricks) is like a glimpse into a nerdy LEGO fan’s fever dreams. It’s a place where Saturday morning cartoons and eldritch horror meet over a slice of pizza. This year, Thorben has created a series of mechs and super soldiers based on family-friendly game and cartoon characters. This SpongeBob mech first grabbed my attention (with those sick clawed arms). In Thorben’s world, the absorbent power of sponges aid pirates in their undersea invasion. Poor SpongeBob, trapped inside this infernal machine.

Meanwhile, in the Mushroom Kingdom T.O.A.D.E.T.T.E. in AI-enhanced power armor leads the charge. Thorben credits Brickbot Studio for the power armor frame fundamentals.

See more mash-up mechs after the fold

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Exo-Force Mobile Defense Tank redux brings the nostalgia big guns

Exo-Force, LEGO’s anime-inspired precursor to Ninjago, is turning 20 and nostalgia for the mech-centric theme has never been higher. Andrew Somers is the latest builder to return to Sentai Mountain. Taking a break from his usual grounded military builds, Andrew reimagines the bright orange Mobile Defense Tank, LEGO’s tachikoma-esque with quad treads and heavy armament to take on enemy drones. Andrew reuses the classic printed orange elements while rebuilding the legs with Technic treads and applies his skill with modern weaponry in redoing the tank’s cannons. The accompanying decor and fleeing drones bring the setting to life. It’s a very modern build that stays very true to its classic inspiration.

Andrew also contributed to the Medina Al Musawrah collab earlier this year.

Speed Champions 2042

Sportscars and supercars should always push you to the future. And it looks like the future is right where fall_in_bricks landed. The Lamborghini Lambo V12 Vision Gran Turismo started in a video game before it made its way to LEGO, but it is headed for space with this cyber-formula remake.

The builder also rebuilds the Speed Champions source in robot mode. If the future of racing involves transformers, I want to live in fall_in_bricks’ world.

A year of Mech-ing around with RigWalkerMocs [Interview]

Here at The Brothers Brick, we feature hundreds of builders each year. Many of those builders are familiar faces whose MOCs have been impressing audiences for years, but it can be especially exciting when a new account pops up with a fresh style and an eagerness to experiment and grow. RigWalker Mocs and Mechs is such a builder. Since joining the AFOL community one year ago, “Rig” has shared dozens of mechs, joined his local LUG, participated in collabs and challenges, and displayed at events. Rig’s bold mech designs have earned him many fans, including our guest-interviewer Zakar.ion who sits down with Rig to reflect on his first year of building with the community.

Our interview between these two mech MOC makers follows

Initiate hunny defense systems

When Winnie the Pooh and his friends entered the public domain, some people jumped at the chance to reimagine the property as a low budget horror film. But Psyro TtunTomato has taken it in the other direction with this Pooh Bear mech worthy of a big budget blockbuster.

The intricate curves of this massive robot perfectly blend a high-tech aesthetic with Pooh’s trademark huggable stuffed frame. I just hope Pooh washes his hands before he hops in the pilot seat. Honey residue on the control panel probably doesn’t help much in combat.

Back to the tabletop – more LEGO Lancer mechs join the battle

The indie RPG Lancer was a breakout success on Kickstarter in part because D&D with mechs is a compelling hook, but mostly thanks to the incredible art of Tom Bloom, whose mech designs brilliantly fuse hi-tech and adventure. LEGO builder Dane Erland previously shared a series of MOCs based on Lancer designs, and now he’s back with four more incredible brick adaptations.

First up is the HORUS Balor, a protean mech of loosely contained nanobots called the Hellswarm. With the swarm churning like smokey blue flames, the long whip, and digitigrade legs, it evokes a cybernetic balrog. Dane draws on an excellent mix of trans blue elements for the Hellswarm.

Click to check out more of Dane’s LEGO takes on Lancer’s mechs

Bringing the magnificent mechs of Lancer to the tabletop in LEGO [Feature]

Lancer is a tabletop RPG about piloting mechs that focuses on human-scale stories in a distant future. Builder Dane Erland has given the distinctive mechs the LEGO treatment with a mix of scales and factions to capture the deep lore of the gaming sourcebook. First up is the IPS-Northstar “Tortuga.” Dane does a fine job capturing the hyper-dense armor of the source, with excellent color blocking to break up the dark grey tiles. The Technic pin shotgun shells on the ground are a nice touch.

The IPS-N “Blackbeard” is a Berserker-type melee unit. I love the contrast of the spindly limbs and a massive two-handed sword. Dane has an innovative solution for the nimble fingers, using minfigure hand to add an extra joint. Battle Droid heads look great on the mech’s feet.

Read on for more amazing mech models from the Lancer world

A sturdy little LEGO drone that packs a punch

While many LEGO builders are busy making rovers in February in honor of Febrover (the month-long tribute to space rovers of all kinds), Devid VII is cranking out a fleet of mechanized drones. LEGO blocks lend themselves to bulky mechs, but there is something about the clean lines of both the legs and the rocket launchers that make this drone feel like it is made of steel rather than plastic. The lanky arms holding a pair of machine guns add an unusual look to this mech.

Touch this poison dart mech and you’ll be sorry!

When we last checked in with Zane Houston, the builder bowled us over with a colossal Dr. Robotnik mech. Maybe the Zane spent too much time in the head of Sonic’s nemesis, as now he’s sticking cute animals inside military-grade machines, just like Eggman. On closer inspection, it’s the tiny poison dart frogs who are calling the shots here. The mech shares the bright colors of toxic tropical amphibians, mixing teal, black, and bright light orange. Those triangular missile pods pack a serious punch, but it’s hard to take this mech seriously with those tiny forearms holding a minifig revolver and the pilot frog looking like a clown nose. Uh oh… I seem to have upset the frogs and now they’ve sent out a pair of chibi tanks to get revenge.

Zane’s mechs never cease to inspire with their dynamic design and top-notch presentation. This Nintendo Switch mech remains an all-time favorite build.

Exo-Force theme gets a serious upgrade in this mighty mech

One of the LEGO themes that came out during my dark age (the period between childhood and adulthood when some fans stopped buying LEGO sets) was Exo-Force, a theme with a human and a robot faction and their battling mechs and vehicles. The designs were a perfect blend of anime and cyberpunk. This mech by Ryuhei Kawai is a fantastic reboot of the theme with plenty of modern mech construction techniques. The larger angled upper legs with the thin black calves give the mech a sporty look, while the machine gun with ammo belt feeding it from the shoulder and the large chainsaw-looking blade on the right hand show that this mech means business.

Allow me to break the ice

Inspired to make a mech to pair with the recent Ice Planet collectible minifigure, Theo Bonner understood the assignment. Classic colors – blue, white, and black. Windscreen in trans neon orange. And of course, chainsaw, CHAINSAW, CHAINSAW! Theo expands the color range to allow for silver crampons on the mech’s feet. I like the projectile used as a heftier antenna to match the mech’s bulk. But the standout feature here is that chainsaw, perfect for tunnelating, making mech-scale igloos, or traveling back in time to save the Titanic from the iceberg. (This isn’t Theo’s first chainsaw mech rodeo.)

When he’s not making sick chainsaws, Theo is a designer at The LEGO Group where he recently collaborated on LEGO Icons Botanical Collection 10369 Plum Blossom and LEGO Icons Botanical Collection 10368 Chrysanthemum. Perhaps his mechs helped with the pruning?

This LEGO Keetongu is seriously crushing it

The LEGO Bionicle theme has been the inspiration for many great custom creations over the years, like this beefy build by Eero Okkonen which, while spectacular by itself, was built with another purpose in mind… to use as many of the new elements from the LEGO 43247 Young Simba the Lion King set in bright yellow/orange as possible. With so much brightness it may be hard to know where to look first, but my eye was drawn to the large macaroni curves used for the eyebrow of this Cyclops mech.