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.

One-armed frog mech on the march

Take a look at this unusual LEGO mech by Chris Perron. The colour scheme may be fairly standard for a creation inspired by the Maschinen Krieger universe, but the rest of it is beautifully odd. The frog-like legs have great functional-looking greebles, and the splayed toes of the feet are chunky enough to look like they’d keep this bad boy balanced. The central pincer arm is well put-together, the twisted piping to the rear adds a bio-mechanical touch, and the mech’s “face” manages to be both cute and eerie. Best of all, Chris has built an excellent base — lovely shaping, nice colour choices, and a fabulous depth of detail. This is a cracking LEGO model, wonderfully presented.

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Make your own MaK – fresh off the sprue

Surely even the most die-hard LEGO builder has also dabbled in model kits? Who hasn’t spent time pruning the parts off a sprue and reaching for the glue? Builder Andreas Lenander takes some inspiration from Peter Reid’s Turtle Robot kit and gives us the opportunity to put together a little hardsuit inspired by the Maschinen Krieger universe. This creations is totally appropriate for MaK, as the theme originally came about as a collaboration by “kitbashers” — modellers who would customise plastic kits into near-future creations.

Four guns, two legs, one purpouse

Autumn is quite the time for LEGO community projects; having blasted through SHIPtember with some massive spaceships yet to be covered, we are moving into Ma.Ktoberfest at full speed. If you are not up to date, Ma.Ktoberfest is an annual October building challenge when builders create mecha, hardsuits and even spacecraft inspired by the Ma.K (Maschinen Krieger) universe. One of the first to pick up arms (or bricks?) is Marco Marozzi with this beautiful curvy bipedal mech.

The mech just oozes with Maschinen Krieger aesthetic. From domes and curved surfaces to hoses, guns and intense technical details. It stands out even without considering the source material, with an exotic colour scheme and unique shaping. Marco really shows how to make a creation within some restrictions, without letting them define the build.

Elegant guardian robot

This super-sleek LEGO robot figure looks like it could have stepped straight out of some Destiny concept art. Red mixes up regular System bricks, Technic connectors, and “Constraction-figure” pieces to great effect. The tan and dark grey colour scheme is nice and simple, and allows that splash of red in the robot’s face to really stand out. I love the shaping of the shoulders and that round boss on the chest, they give this creation an individual style.

GKR: Heavy Hitters smashes into the LEGO world

GKR: Heavy Hitters is an upcoming board game by Weta Studios, the folks who develop physical props for big movies like Ghost in the Shell and Power Rangers. As is the LEGO way, talented builders are already reproducing the eponymous Giant Killer Robots. This model recreates the “Thunderhappy Pharmaceuticals” mech. It’s a fantastic lookalike, especially at this scale. The only real part that’s missing is all the decals, but then perhaps builder Grantmasters is a purist like me?

Voltron’s Black Lion gets a build all to itself

We’ll be getting an official LEGO Voltron set soon thanks to LEGO Ideas, but the designs of the individual lions may not be quite as detailed as you’d like — presumably to save on part-count and/or to allow them to fuse together. The creator of the original Ideas submission, Leandro Tayag offers this fantastically-detailed Black Lion in mitigation.

The shaping around the chest and head are my favourite parts of this near-perfect creation. There’s a lot of little details that deserve attention too, though. The claws, for example, are made with only two pieces, but still manage to look just perfect.

A one-two punch of pure mecha

Sometimes LEGO mecha designs are based on existing concept art, but occasionally they feel like their inspiration came from a particular piece or a certain idea for a shape. These two mechs by Khairul Nizam seem to fall into the latter category. The dome-shaped heads and stout limbs are key elements in the design, with the body widening towards the top to emphasise the curve of the cockpit cover.

The mecha are nearly identical in the design of their structural frame, but despite their similarity, each has interesting parts that make them unique. This gives them each an individual character, but also a sense of belonging in the same universe.

I, for one, welcome our robotic lemur overlords

We have a complicated relationship with lemurs here at Brothers Brick. On one hand, they’re cute, cuddly, and good at fishing LEGO bricks from down the back of the couch. But on the other hand, they’re messy, nibble on our server power cables, and smell a bit. Maybe we should look to replace our lemur with one of Mitsuru Nikaido‘s mechanical versions?

This is a great model — natural curves and shaping, with lots of cool functional-looking robotic greeble stuff going on under the smooth plating. Nice use of a hot air balloon plate piece as the lemur’s back — a lovely sinuous curve. And that tail — magic.

Beware the might of my labelled sword: Brandenburger Tor!

Slicing and dicing with a sword bearing the name Brandenburger Tor, this mech by
zi zy looks ready to fight (and win) against anything that crosses its path. I like the character that the builder has managed to incorporate into this build. Its stout appendages, flat head that’s barely there, and aggressive stance give the mech a threatening appearance.

I particularly appreciate the use of a single lime part (a round stud) as the “eyes” of the mech, as it completes the appearance of the mech with a small drop of color.

Bwahaha. Soon I will rule this world

Your mileage may vary when it comes to LEGO’s Bionicle-style “constraction” figures. However, even the most militant “bricks-or-nothing” builders should recognise excellent construction skills, regardless of where some of the parts come from. Kelvin Low has simply smashed it with this stunning large-scale Skull Knight figure.

Kelvin has made smart choices with the large armour pieces — couple those with some beautiful greebling details between the plates, and a stylish splash of colour in the cape’s trim, and you’ve got a great piece of work. I love the sense of heft and power in this model. You get the impression the Skull Knight would stomp you into dust as soon as look at you…

Companion droid is a man’s best friend

Today we bring you not just one, but two companion droids built by GolPlaysWithLego. I like to think that a man’s best friend is WLY on the left, although the look on his owner’s face suggests he is not altogether happy with the ride. The shaping of both droids is very cool with the new curved mudguards ideal to frame the ‘face’ areas. SPD is definitely giving out arachnoid vibes with those spindly legs and seems to be the ‘protector’, being both armed and unmanned.

I love WLY’s legs — ingenious use of helmets, plus a rather unusual part, namely the small armour plates from the Baze Malbus SW “constraction” figure. And did you spot the 1980’s phone speaker printed tile as the droid’s mouthpiece?

These two Bionicles are not identical

This is one of my creations that has been waiting for a few months to be uploaded, for many irrelevant reasons. I think this one takes a bit of insight to be appreciated fully. While my build (on the left) is a servicable mechanical build on its own, its true strengths can only be appreciated if compared to the original LEGO Bionicle 8532 Onua set on the right, as this is a piece-by-piece LEGO System recreation of the classic first generation Toa Onua set. My version is completely unstable and unplayable, but visually comes close enough to the official version that it passes my personal quality standard.

This was a somewhat quick build, but I was so inspired by the idea that it completely took over my life for a few days. It strikes me that Bionicle (or as the cool kids call it these days, “bonkle”) is quite similar to classic space in a way – while classic space is the most popular nostalgic theme for many older LEGO fans, Bionicle is the go-to nostalgia trip for ones growing up in the early 2000s, which makes it surprising how rare reproductions are. There are few even in the actual Bionicle building genre, but besides my build, I have only seen one other example of systemized Toa, but even that was just the builder taking his own spin on the concept.

Now, I have indeed built Toa Onua (because this one is the easiest to build due to wide selection of parts in both of his primary colours, black and very dark grey), and I see myself being able to build Toa Kopaka, but for any other ones my selection of parts just can not do. So here is a challenge to any builder brave enough and equipped for it: I would love to see more of the first generation Bionicle characters (or later ones?) made out of system parts!