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.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Weekends in our house growing up included Saturday morning cartoons, so when I saw this incredible Voltron by d’ Qiu Brick I had a huge pang of nostalgia for the days when cartoons on TV weren’t always about selling cheap spinning trinkets or collectible hatching toys.

It’s difficult to tell from the pictures, but I am pretty sure those lionized limbs transform into the robotic lions I remember growing up in the 80’s. The individual lion heads look amazing, especially the black lion with the face in the jaws. I love the seamless blending of Bionicle and System elements, the star on the belt buckle and the crested shield on his chest.

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Tips for Kids – Transformers: Cool Projects for Your LEGO Bricks [Review]

Joachim Klang and Alex Jones are a duo of builders well known within the LEGO community, and their creations have appeared on The Brothers Brick numerous times. Now they’ve got a new book to share some of their techniques: Tips for Kids – Transformers: Cool Projects for Your LEGO® Bricks. Over the past few months, we’ve already highlighted a few of the builds that the pair created for the book, but now we are able to review the book itself.

Title: Tips for Kids: Transformers: Cool Projects for your Lego Bricks
Publisher: Heel Verlag Gmbh (July 10, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3958434959
ISBN-13: 978-3958434950
RRP: $19.95

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Vivid pink is the fastest colour there is

Mecha are a very popular subject among LEGO builders, but even after all these years, there are still very unique ones that pop up every now and then, most often due to new exotic pieces being released. Such is the case with this sleek racing mecha called the Running Flamingo, built by Bob DeQuatre, utilizing the relatively new balloon building pieces as armour plating.

The build is an interesting balance of elegance and bulk, which the builder weaves into a cohesive whole. All the technical details are so realistic (as far as science fiction goes) that I can almost hear the pistons sliding and gears turning.

Two-foot tall monster-sized LEGO mecha could do some serious damage!

The phrase “go big or go home” fits Benjamin Cheh Ming Hann‘s mech build perfectly. It ain’t worth building if it’s not impressive. His advanced Mecha Soldat JE06 Jebat stands nearly 2 feet tall and weighs over 3 pounds …that’s a BIG mech! Jebat is named after a legendary warrior from Benjamin’s hometown of Malacca, Malaysia, where he grew up. This impressive mech contains over 3,000 parts, and took Benjamin nearly 5 months to build it, revealing his masterful creation at Japan Brickfest.

Mechas come and go, but Mazinger Z stands the test of time

It’s quite amazing to pause and appreciate that Mazinger Z was first introduced to the world almost 45 years ago, and it still stands the test of time, finding relevance to fans even today, and mecha master Kelvin Low brings us a great Mazinger Z. One cool thing to note is that this design is a rebuild of a previous version that employed a central frame from the Hero Factory system, and now Kevin’s overhauled it to a regular brick-based build. What difference does that make? Building with the classic system elements gives a cleaner look that matches the anime, but at the cost of building to a smaller footprint as it becomes heavier with regular bricks.

Not so soft now, am I?

Simon Liu has not only created an awesome mech that reminds me of ED-209 from Robocop in the best way, but it’s piloted by the cutest creature that has ever been strapped to a robot. The Commander Carrots Exosuit is operated by a DUPLO Rabbit plushie. This adorable ball of trouble even comes kitted out with matching red armor.

Looking past the hilarity of it all, this is an extremely solid build with a lot of great detailing. The liberal use of the Technic gear rack gives a lot of nice texture to the legs, and the little cage/cockpit area is simple but effective. Make sure you also check out this shot of the back of the build, which is full of even more detail. This build is a lot bigger than it seems, with plenty of greebles packed in. Oh – the rabbit has a jetpack too!

Super-Duper Duplo Mech

Who’s the King of the Toybox? Well, I think we can answer that now. nobu-tary‘s latest LEGO mechanoid/hardsuit creation is a typically beefy beast, but tricked-out in an atypical colour scheme, accented with the use of Duplo bricks. I like the air of comic menace this thing is lugging around.

Don’t miss the rear view, with the Collectible Minifigure retro-style rocket put to excellent use as a jetpack — a perfect fit for the overall aesthetic.

Whilst I love the model, can we maybe see LEGO mechs adopting a different pose? That whole “chin down, hips forward” stance thing is becoming something of a trope — the cyberpunk equivalent of steampunk’s brown.

Ravage your rivals in this red robotic raptor

I never mistake a build by Moko. His style is unique and colorful, similar to that of anime and Gundam concept art. In his most recent creation, the Raptor, Moko rocks a dark red and gray color scheme, a combination too rarely seen in mecha. I love the swiveling turret with mounted machine gun, and the use of tank treads as the ammo belt.

The Raptor can also collapse into a “parking mode”, making it easier for the drivers to dismount.

Transformer assembly line

You may remember Alex Jones‘ amazing LEGO Transformers that we featured in action recently. Now Alex has teamed up with builder Joachim Klang to create a book called Tips for Kids: Transformers: Cool Projects for your LEGO Bricks. In this preview for the book, which is scheduled for release in July, we see a Medi-bot repairing one of the Autobots with help from Teletraan I, the semi-sentient computer that runs the Autobots’ spaceship and base of operations, the Ark.

Much like his other builds, the attention to detail here is magnificent. A fantastic creation enhanced with creative lighting and a little Photoshop editing around that pink holobrick. All these ingredients help to bring the robots in disguise to life in LEGO form. If you want to see more of these wonderful images, good news: the book will have over 200 pages, and is available for pre-order right now.

It takes a cop from the future to fight a game from the past

In my opinion, the best movie from the 80’s has to be Kung Fury. Which is funny considering it’s actually a crowdfunded Swedish short made in 2015. This completely over-the-top parody pays homage to martial arts and cop action movies of the era. It features a murderous arcade machine, dinosaur-riding barbarian women, an army of incompetent Nazis, and even a cameo by David Hasselhoff. Watch it today! I loved it so much I even recreated a scene from the movie in LEGO…

Click here to go behind the scenes of this time hacking build

The dinosaurs will rule the earth again

Thin, mechanical-looking elements highlighted by translucent orange come together in a fantastically frightening mecha Dilophosaurus built by ckb ckd. The facial features of the mecha dinosaur make especially great use of parts, including Space Batman wings and various minifigure weapons.

Stand by for... Gundamfall?

I love LEGO mecha, and this one by Caleb L does not disappoint. The Aardwolf III main combat system is inspired by the Gundam Model mecha, with its human-like proportions, long and straight legs, and simple color blocking. I like the use of custom stickers to add extra detail and realism.

Caleb has even managed to fit a minifgure inside the chest area. I love it when builders do this – it looks great while adding some functionality to the build.