Tag Archives: Mecha

We all love a good LEGO Gundam or Macross mecha, but LEGO builders everywhere are also creating excellent models of their own designs. Have a look at them here.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Cardboard’s Counterattack

It’s the day before a convention and you’ve got no costume. What do you do? All that’s in your room is cardboard boxes, filled with this year’s wave of new LEGO sets. Hmmm, if only there was some way to utilise the cardboard to make a costume…

Perhaps you need some inspiration from the Cardboard Gundam! This fun build by Tino Poutiainen is presented in a tan colour scheme that works perfectly for the model. The eyes are represented by Technic hole bricks and provides the model with a gormless expression. Even the floppy shield is great as the bend represents a fold in the cardboard. The application of stickers prevents the build from looking too plain and with an interesting selection used, see if you can recognise what sets the stickers are from. Armed with what appears to be a NERF gun and cardboard tube beam saber on its back, this must truly be the most powerful Gundam.

So, there you have it. How’s your costume looking now? What’s that? You spent all night building those LEGO sets instead? Good choice.

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Initiate happiness protocols or face termination…

Your smile is your most valuable asset. That’s why Bob Droid, by Simon Liu, is going to make sure it stays on your face by eliminating anything that might make you frown. Bob Droid is a prototype Ansui VIP protective drone unit, which no doubt costs a bundle. But it’s worth it to keep away any would-be assassins. By adding a printed emoji tile to a futuristic mech, Simon’s made something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. With a super-articulated frame and a smile as bright as the explosions from his rocket launcher, you’ll never feel happier than you do with Bob Droid at your side.

This build really gets my goat

One of my favorite creatures of folklore is the Chupacabra, an animal known for draining the blood of goats and other livestock. Builder Joss Woodyard has created a post-apocalyptic take on this cryptid with the Gamma Sucker. No doubt livestock is harder to come by in the wasteland, so this nuclear-powered techno-beast drinks the radiation from whatever it can.

The use of color here creates the sense of a mechanical creature that’s coursing with energy and life, despite its dirty and rusted frame. And I love the implied function of the “digestive system.” It’s so easy to imagine the absorbed radiation flowing through the trans-clear/lime hoses, into those processing tanks on the side, and then getting fed into the rear-mounted engine to drive those giant treads, which just push the monster forward in search of more radiation. It’s a vicious cycle, but a guy’s gotta eat.

LEGO can’t really hurt me, right?

Is it a kaiju? A demon? Something from another planet? Whatever the answer, the Protoweapon XV1 – “Nightcrawler” – by Andrew Steele is certainly a threat to us all. With a form that’s an unholy fusion of mech and organic, this spikey beast is coming for us, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Personally, I hope I get done in by the clawed hands and not the yellowing clown grin.

Click here to see the monster up close.

How to train your Robot

We’ve been seeing some fantastic builds from this year’s Biocup recently, and here’s another one by Djokson. The model takes inspiration from comic book artist Ashley Woods and his Pet Metal paintings. The muscular robot has a military aesthetic and looks to have been repurposed by its new master. Kylo Ren’s mask is used backwards to create the helmet of the robot. There’s a great use of circles on this build; mainly in the form of tyre parts which really encourages you to stare into the robot’s glaring eye created by a golden ring piece. The hair piece for the woman is a really old part first featured back in the 70’s. It’s quite easy to imagine this pair trundling through the wastelands, maybe looking for a better pair of legs for the robot. You can see some more great articles about Biocup entries here.

This little light of mine... is locking on target

I’ve been following Goth Bricks 2000 for some time, and the LEGO mechs they create are nothing short of stunning, both in size and in posture. Recently they started to add lights into their mech models, and the effect is fantastic, adding the perfect touch of menace to take these mechanical monsters to the next level. This latest pair look like they could put the hurt on just about any foe.

Mech behemoth towers over all

From the classic mecha anime, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Moko’s model of the Rick Dias comes loaded with weaponry. This red giant supports a long bazooka and also has a pair of beam pistols attached to its massive backpack. A variety of slope pieces have been used throughout the design, the most prominent being the slope 2 x 2 x 3 part. The unusual circular section in the chest has been created by using round corner 4 x 4 x 2 pieces.

The model packs a punch with its articulated hands and can pull off some impressive poses even with a hulking frame.

By building in this scale the model has enough detail to make it near identical to its anime counterpart. This is one for Gundam and mecha fans alike while also demonstrating an impressive show of Lego engineering.

This flea is too hot to handle

When you think of fleas, you might think of those tiny insects that bite your pets and feed off of their blood. And occasionally star in a tiny circus. Well, not anymore. There is a new fleet of fleas causing a riot across the internet, and these fleas are fearsome! Take this Riotflea 29, codenamed Scorch, by Anthony Wilson, please take it, and take it far away. As the name implies, this bot is flaming hot, from the bright orange color scheme to the numerous flammable fuel tanks on its back. The series of angled pipes around the mid-section is a great detail, and the pipes are used again to wrap around the upper legs. The four eyes flanking the face give the bot a particularly alien look.

Feeling itchy? Check for Riot Fleas!

A bit ago a group of friends coordinated in posting a slew of Riot Fleas onto the interwebs. What’s a Riot Flea? You know, we’re still not sure. Maybe they’re like regular fleas but more…you know…riotous. This one by LEGO builder Johann Dakitsch is particularly good with its red armor and tools for hands. Unlike the other Riot Fleas, Johann tells us this one is good for assessment, maintenance and the occasional intruder disposal. This still doesn’t help in ascertaining exactly what a Riot Flea is but we like it anyway. Check out the other time we were impressed albeit flummoxed by Riot Fleas and be sure to check out the rest of them in the builder’s links.

The rare and majestic shoebill mech

I’ve been fascinated by the shoebill lately. I mean, that’s not unusual, I’ve always had a love for animals both odd and familiar but there has been an uptick in my shoebill YouTube searches lately. They’re such weird and majestic creatures who seem to know things beyond our understanding. Do you agree? I guess you just need to see the same YouTube videos I’ve been watching to know what I mean. So with that said, you can imagine my delight to see that Mitsuru Nikaido has built a lovely LEGO shoebill mech. Of course he has! With his distinct style and love for animals, he has consistently been among my favorite builders. Here’s why.

A peacekeeping mech that makes us smile

Usually when we show you a mech we go on to talk about the guns and other armament the mech has. But today we have a LEGO creation by Abraham Calderon called S.M.I.L.E. which stands for Strategic Machine Intelligence Loaded Exosuit. While well-built mechs can often make us smile it is a rare occasion when a mech smiles back. But here we are. Abraham tells us this is an AI assisted piloted mech designed for peacekeeping operations. Being former military myself I know that “peacekeeping operations” can sometimes be a euphemism for “lots of guns”. Funny how that works out! Still, I like to presume that this is a cuddly, fun-loving mech who just wants to hang out and maybe have some pizza. If you care to hang out for awhile, check out some of these other awesome mechs we’ve featured lately.

Getting a leg up on the enemy

LEGO builder Marius Herrmann has been on a quest to design what he calls “Fashion Robots,” that is, cool LEGO mechs and robots that employ some of LEGO’s most unusual elements, the cloth apparel items that show up from time to time in official sets, most prominently the Scala and Belville themes from the 90s and early 2000s. We’ve covered quite a few of these excellent Fashion Robots already, and this one marks Marius’ ninth with a cool dark tan color scheme. It employs Scala pants as the coverings for its four legs, but it’s actually the rest of the design that has me interested.

The silver ingots make great durable armor cladding on the legs, while the molded-in speakers from the boomboxes are perfect grilled covers for a missile launcher. A variety of dark tan curved slopes and arches make an interesting body, while the mech is topped with a three-barrel Gatling that’s strapped together with stretched rubber tires and a set of Tauntaun reins.