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.

Ever wondered what happens to all your junk when you’re not looking?

We all have ‘The Drawer’. You know the one – the place where everything from keyrings and screwdrivers to LEGO bricks and old batteries go to be forgotten about. Well, Maxx Davidson hasn’t forgotten them… Or rather, he hasn’t been allowed to forget them. His odds and sods have assembled themselves into a robot! There’s quite the collection of brick-built bits here, including a bobbin of thread and an air freshener. A bit more out there – but still technically LEGO – is the Bionicle Barraki key ring. Let this be your reminder to clean out your junk drawer!

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Let the bricks do the heavy lifting

Is there a word for second-hand nostalgia? The reason I ask is that, although I never grew up with any of the ‘classic’ LEGO space theme, I’ve always been attracted (hah!) to the magnetic M-Tron theme. Unfortunately the closest I’ve come to owning any of the sets is a pair of Collectible Minifigures from Series 26. But the beauty of LEGO bricks is that you can live vicariously through them! So when I put together a hardsuit and exo-suit (inspired by Devid VII‘s recent construction worker, incidentally), M-Tron seemed a perfect fit. They are the heavy-lifting space faction, after all! All they need now is some magnets…

Run ‘n gun – the best of both worlds

Unparalleled play features and an eye for form make Moko‘s LEGO builds easy to spot but hard to imitate, and the fully transformable battle-ready beauty Vehichle-Bot 03 is no exception. Sand green is not exactly a rare color, but certainly harder to come by than some, with the available part selection used to great effect here. And that’s not to mention a well placed Technic gear differential housing used for the gun barrel. While the aforementioned cannon suggests a battlefield role of raining down on enemies from afar, the chest guard, resembling a truck’s cattle pusher (AKA moose bumper or ‘roo bar, depending on your region) boasts the brawn to mix it up if any bot rolls up close enough to trade some paint.

Speaking of rolling, if you’re curious about the transformation feature head over to the Moko Brick Laboratory Channel to see the full transformation sequence, and many shots of this build in other poses and from alternate angles – one revealing a clever use of LEGO crowbar elements for texture.

Been living under a rock and haven’t been introduced to this builder’s exceptional work? Check out Moko’s transforming police motorbike, including a video featuring Vehicle-Bots 01 and 02, or Vehicle-Bot 03’s apparent spiritual predecessor the FabuSoldier 01.

A Robo-Driller digging up Rock Raiders nostalgia.

Custom builds like NikiFilik’s Robo-Driller, an homage to the short-lived LEGO Rock Raiders theme (1999-2000), are easily recognized by their use of iconic grays, teal, and brown, evoking nostalgia in older LEGO enthusiasts. Based on set 4940 The Granite Grinder, Niki uses updated parts and techniques to enhance the original model with posable arms, a brick-built driver cage, and an overall stance that better resembles a two-legged mech. While beautifully bridging nostalgia and innovation, we’re quite perplexed by the presence of the bright green slug. I don’t remember that part of Rock Raiders….

LEGO Neon Evengalion mech stands ready to defend the Tokyo of the future

Tokyo-3, an alternate history version of the metropolis, is defended from attacking monstrosities called Angels by giant mechs with a single pilot. Marco De Bon enjoys building LEGO scenes including these mechs with sections of the fortified city. We previously featured two other Neon Genesis Evangelion blocks showcasing unit-00 and unit-01. But now unit-02 joins the line-up! The mech is skillfully built to hide any obvious LEGO joints. He straddles a highway that uses transparent blue window panes for force fields. Gold stud-shooters make the perfect rooftop machinery in the foreground.

Why crab-walk when you can take a taxi?

Aside from its charming hilarity, one of the best things about the #TimeforCrab LEGO building challenge is the huge potential for a good pun. And when it comes to brick-built puns, Maxx Davidson has form: see last year’s Bic Viper, for instance, or the Stuffed Crust-acean built for this same challenge. This one is clearly inspired by the black-and-yellow crabs – sorry, cabs – seen primarily in New York. The checkered stripes extending to the legs are a big clue for that. The ‘wheels’ in the four legs serve to drive that home, too. But the best – and cutest – detail is the flat-cap adorning that crabby taxi driver!

It takes a lot of NERV to build LEGO mechs from Neon Genesis Evangelion

Nearly 30 years after its debut, Gainax’s groundbreaking anime Neon Genesis Evangelion continues to captivate an international audience with its radical take on the mech genre. Whereas most mecha convey the bulk of heavy army, the Evangelion units are sinewy bio-machines suggesting a fusion of man and demon. LEGO builder Marco de Bon is no stranger to mechs (as you can see in our archive), and last year he created perfect poseable models of EVA Units 00, 01, and 02. For his latest diorama series, Marco shows a talent for microscale cityscapes to match his mech building prowess. Prototype Unit-00 towers over a district dominated by sandy hues and disc shooter windows. The elevated brick-built highway is particularly effective.

Shinji’a iconic Unit-01 straddles a gorgeous mix of mini high-rises. Landing gear axles make for perfect rooftop satellite arrays, while shooters above the highway capture the sci-fi aesthetic of Tokyo-3.

If Marco’s diorama’s have you humming Cruel Angel Thesis and craving more EVAs and Angels, synchronize with our Evangelion archives.

LEGO Ninjago 71821 Cole’s Titan Dragon Mech – A Truly Tanky Titan [REVIEW]

With every wave, or at least the last few waves, Ninjago mechs are getting better and bigger! And this latest set of summer sets is no exception. Cole’s new mech, the Titan Dragon Mech, stands over 17 inches tall and has some serious anime-inspired design and construction. Unique extra joint elements in the arms and legs allow for a surprising amount of pose-ability in a mech this large. Adult LEGO fans who have become LEGO set designers are bringing much creativity into recent sets in many LEGO themes.

LEGO Ninjago 71821 Cole’s Titan Dragon Mech comes with 1,055 pieces for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99. It’ll be available in the UK starting June 1, while those in the US and Canada will need to wait until the start of August to get their hands on this set.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Check out our full review below!

An eyebrow-raising tachikoma build

Is there a mech concept more versatile in LEGO form than the think tank? So many different variants and possibilities! The latest one to catch our eye is by SPARKART!. It’s got a touch of the Warhammer 40k’s about it, don’t you think? It must be the combination of those big blocky legs and the round dome on top. The leg mechanism looks really interesting as well, incidentally. But whether intentional or not, there’s one thing I can’t unsee. The handlebars above the eye remind me of a single eyebrow, so now all I can think of is a tachikoma wandering around looking mildly surprised at everything…

It shouldn’t be a surprise to see another great robot tank grace our pages, though. Why not have a look at some of the other tachikoma in the TBB archives?

‘M’ is for Marvelous Magnetic Mech

What’s your favourite LEGO space theme? I think mine would have to be M:Tron. The colours! The vehicles! The magnets! Over on Flickr, user legomess ticks off all three with this modern take on the theme. They’ve done a great job of blending classic parts (like the magnet holders and neon-green windscreen) with newer ones. The overall design is neat, too. I like how such a big, bulky walker wanders around on its tiptoes!

Naturally, it wouldn’t be M:Tron without a bit of magnetic play action. The ‘M’ in M:Tron may have stood for ‘magnet’, but in this case it’s equally apt for it to mean ‘massive’, ‘mecha’, or simply ‘magnificent’!

Imagine a bowling ball, but angrier

“Carcinisation”; a very fancy word that means “some animals tend to look more like crabs over time”. This build by Djokson demonstrates what might happen if even our tanks turn into crabs! Djokson has tone a fantastic job of creating a round rolling shape for the tank using unusual parts. The Crab-Tank’s forehead is made from a handful of rubber handles from the short-lived Vidiyo line, the yellow disks on either side of the body come from the old X-Pod line (oh the nostalgia!), and the little warrior in the cockpit is sporting a old technic helmet for protection. I don’t know about you, but I’d feel crabby if I had to square up against that thing!

This LEGO Voltron is ready to defend the universe and look slick doing it

If your Saturdays didn’t used to involve at least some sort of giant robot on TV, did you even have a childhood? This LEGO build by Marco De Bon captures one such icon: the mighty Voltron. With hardly a stud in sight, this Voltron all clean lines and smooth surfaces, perhaps even more so than the official set from a few years back. I was always more of a Transformers kid myself, but you don’t need to be steeped in Voltron lore to appreciate the talent on display here.

Venture into uncharted regions of the universe and see more!