What is the point in climbing into a cramped and odorous mech if you can’t swing a big spiked club like you were swatting flies? No point at all, according to Faber Mandragore. This mech suit for an Orc warboss packs a lot of punch in a compact frame. One of my favorite parts used in this stompy, spiky mech is the metal beard from, well, Metalbeard.
Japanese mecha builder Moko has been charming the world with his LEGO creations for more than a decade, but this latest character takes a darker turn. Moko’s “Hell Warrior” is an evil cyborg that uses mostly black Bionicle and Hero Factory (or “Constraction”) pieces, accentuated by an undead, half-hidden face built from several Krana masks. The overall effect is truly diabolical.
日本語を読める方はどうぞモコさんのブログを読んでください。
1984’s BattleTech brought the mech designs of Japanese anime crashing into Western table-top gaming. Two years later, MechWarrior expanded the universe into a wider role-playing game. These two games were responsible for introducing a whole generation to the glorious concept of giant mechanical walkers shooting at one another. Kale Frost has put together a cracking LEGO version of the Timber Wolf mech — the series’ signature design. The details are spot-on with the upper body slewing to the left on spindly legs whilst missiles burst into the air from the shoulder-mounted pods. All systems nominal.
A coffee delivery service is a great business idea. Especially if the mugs of boiling liquid come rushing towards you on servo-powered legs. Hmmm. Hang on. Perhaps that’s actually a rubbish business idea? Regardless, Markus Rollbühler‘s madcap vision of the Coffee Of The Future makes for a cracking LEGO creation. The legs and cup-holding limbs are gloriously detailed, packed full of functional-looking greebly bits, and the little splash of bright blue adds a lovely touch of colour amongst the light grey and silver. Brilliantly bonkers stuff.
Of all the possible uses for a LEGO tire, I think my favorite is masterfully demonstrated by Marco Marozzi, who uses them to flesh out his many mech creations. One example is this heavily armed mechanoid soldier, the tire forming the seal around his neck. As he looks to be examining the back of his hand thoughtfully, I have to wonder if either a butterfly has landed there, or he’s thinking about how hard the blood will be to wash out. This solder features a number of cleverly re-purposed minifig and vehicle accessories, like the snowshoe on the shoulder, and this tread for the feet. The use of several older dark gray elements that are off-color really gives the model a well-weathered look.
I have never played Overwatch, but I have purchased several of the LEGO sets based off the game just because they look cool. A little while back, though, I did a quick browse of the different characters to familiarize myself with the ones appearing in brick form. Apparently, there are different roles in the game, one of which is Tank. (This might be obvious to everyone but me, but I have never been a gamer.) Djokson has built a tank, not from the game itself, but inspired by it. Called the Siegebreaker, the mech looks more than capable of doing a lot of breaking, with big scoops up front, a big gun on the back, and additional armaments on the arms. Siegebreaker reminds me quite a bit of Bastion, but cooler.
The visual highlight is the large spring in the middle, giving it the appearance of rugged durability. I love the yellow color scheme; it makes it look almost like a cross between an excavator and Bumblebee from Transformers. The fact that Djokson used Constraction gun elements as part of the base makes it even cooler. Curious about what the sentry mode of the tank looks like? It has one, of course.
Steam-driven military walkers are a staple of the LEGO Steampunk building genre, and this one, by Carter Witz, is a great addition to the corps — a spindly tripod affair with touches of dark red in amongst the grey greebles. The functional-looking joints on the legs support a nicely detailed body packed with texture (and armaments).
I particularly liked the evocation of a classic Prussian-esque “pickelhaube” spiked helmet. This is one of those LEGO creations where the presentation adds immensely to the overall effect. The base is simple but well done, and the addition of the figures advancing beneath their mechanical companion gives an impression of scale the central model alone might lack. And dropping in that wolf is a masterstroke — immediately creating a sense of mystery, danger, and otherworldliness. Steampunk needs more wolves.
Standing 23cm tall, this mighty mecha figure from Marco De Bon is modeled on the Gunmen mechs from anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. The figure is well put-together with a smattering of detail bringing some texture to the smart colour blocking. A little custom stickering work brings the mech’s shoulder pauldrons to life, but the large scale face hidden within the torso design is the standout feature.
The model is surprisingly poseable for such a large creation. Here it is, armed with a killer drill attachment…
Ah, the joys of the great outdoors! Nothing like getting out on the road at the weekend with your caravan in-tow. Or, you could take a leaf out of Markus Rollbühler‘s book and take your caravan off-road and into previously inaccessible territory with this insane van-bearing walker setup! This bonkers LEGO creation is wonderful — packed full of nice little building touches. Check out the whips as pneumatic cables, the smart little camping chair, and the shaping on the caravan itself. And there’s a great balance of colour going on in the composition too, with the dark green legs providing a lovely contrast to the pale blue caravan.
So I have been building again. This one was quite a stress-free build, inspired by my other recent dragon, Dragon Unit LL-32167. I was struck by a moment of inspiration about a month ago and realized that I have a yellow 24-toothed gear that would work perfectly in the dragon’s neck. The thought process continued with the idea that if I build a dragon using no light gray and (almost) no blue, I could keep the previous one assembled for a longer time. This means that everyone visiting my tiny local LEGO shows/conventions may have a chance at seeing the two mecha dragons side-by-side. I name this awesome construction worker mecha dragon Workhorse.
Click here to read more about my latest build and a comparison with my earlier similar build
What do you do if your robot walker develops a waddle? Make it a feature rather than a bug, of course! At least, that’s what I like to think happened in the backstory for Moko‘s latest LEGO creation. This Mecha-Duck is a delight, nicely-built with some cool mechanical details, but also invested with a brilliant sense of fun and character. I’m pleased to see that, like its inspiration, the walker is also amphibious — there’s a little red propeller sitting at the rear, allowing for effective transportation on water too.
At first glance of this strangely serene scene by Thorsten Bonsch, it seems this pair of poorly armed passersby facing off against an insectlike robot have bitten off more than they can chew. While it is not clear whether the robot wants to help them disarm peacefully, or separate them from their arms literally, one thing is clear… There is more to this model than meets the eye; It was inspired by Tales from the Loop, a series of illustrations and short stories by Swedish artist Simon Stalenhag.
Thorsten captures the delicate but strong appearance of the multi-segmented limbs, as well as the large industrial elements of the robot’s body depicted in the inspirational source material.
