At first glance, this mech resembles the baddie Enforcement Droid from Robocop. Take another look, though, because this mech transforms into a cruiser-shaped vehicle mode. Robocop isn’t going to stand a chance if you ask me. Builder Havoc shapes both alternate modes with bulk and strength giving it a weighty armoured feel, especially considering almost the entire model except the canopy is a single color.
There was a time in the 80s when the tale of huge transformable jet-mechas, intertwined with love stories which transcended galaxies, was almost real to some of us. Robotech (for those of us in the western part of the world) or Macross (in its original incarnation from Japan) is a series of science fiction mecha anime that’s rated highly enough to still be in many lists of the top 50 anime series of all time.
As a fan of the series, builder Stick Kim takes us back in time by capturing a particular scene where our hero saves the girl while piloting his mech. This fantastic miniature LEGO version of the VF-1S Valkyrie is piloted by Hikaru Ichijyo (Rick Hunter) and cradled in his palms is Lynn MinMay — a beauty who sings, and is his love interest and a key character throughout the series.
As a fan of the Transformers: Generation 1, these Chibi versions of Grimlock, Optimus Prime and Jazz stand out for not only their detail, but for their ability actually transform into their alternate forms. It took builder Sam Cheng about a week each to construct each one of these amazing builds.
Being on the LEGO scene for only 3 years, Sam visualises each creation in his head and tests it out with various forms and shapes, continuously adapting. Using Technic and Mixel joints gives him a lot of flexibility, as he finds them small enough to hide within the builds.
He admits the hardest part of his builds is actually the transformation feature. For instance, Grimlock’s head is pretty heavy so Sam had to compensate by redesigning the legs (which eventually transform into the tailpiece) to provide support in robot mode. It’s a blend of getting the right looks and engineering.
My favourite parts are the golden rings and silver ingots used as finishing touches to the torso and cheeks respectively – the shiny bits give it that extra feel of being a mechanical robot. Hop over to his Grimlock album on Flickr, you will not be disappointed.
The news that Si-BORED industries has just released an exciting new edition to their drone lineup has been announced by Canadian builder Simon Liu. The Grunzen drone comes with the tagline, “This all-purpose military unit has been built ground-up to exceed all your combat requirements”. These seem to be fantastically poseable LEGO drones, with more joints than a West coast state after cannabis legalisation. I love the joints that Simon has designed, firstly for the knees using a 1×1 plate with clip as the pivot point, and then the shoulder/elbow joints which ingeniously use a droid torso.
For Star Wars fans, the tan helmets would quickly be recognised as belonging to the Star Wars resistance trooper minifigures from Episode 7. These are great helmets and work perfectly with the colouring and style of Simon’s drones.
Like many Destiny players, I have spent many hours grinding out XP slaying Fallen in Old Russia’s Cosmodrome. Without even reading the title of this build from Nick Della Mora, I knew it was specifically The Divide region of the Cosmodrome. That particular group of buildings are recognizable, as many Dregs and Shanks have been sniped from atop them.
But for me, the highlight of the build is the Fallen Walker. It is not only accurate in its aesthetics; it waddles like the one in game, and the head slides out, exposing and illuminating the weak spot. Watch these functions, and an overview of the whole scene, in the following video.
If sci-fi robots are your thing, then Pete Reid is your man. He builds LEGO robots that are so detailed and full of greebles they wouldn’t look out of place in a Boston Dynamics demonstration video. I love his latest creation — the Digital Ombudsman. It’s got a wonderful poise and balance, making great use of lots of different connections and parts you wouldn’t expect. A quick glance reveals pirate hooks, spanners, ingots, ray guns, and handlebars all making their appearance to create the complex mechanical look. On top of all the detail, the robot’s green eye is fantastic.
This was built as part of a feature looking at potential uses for the new bar-and-towball piece over at New Elementary. Check it out here.
LEGO builder Henry Pinto is such a huge fan of the X-Men that he had all 5 seasons of the animated series playing in loop for inspiration while building this gigantic Sentinel, which stands almost a meter (40 in) in height. The scale of this mighty robot is almost unfathomable until you notice the tiny X-Men minifigures around it.
It took Henry roughly around 3 months of working on it for an hour a day and leveraging the weekends for marathon builds. All in all, Henry estimates it took him 200 hours more or less to get it all done. Henry tells us he’s lost count of the number of elements used to build this monstrosity, but estimates 6000-7000 pieces at least, and weighing 7.5kgs (16.5 lbs).
Click to see more of the incredible Sentinel
With The LEGO Batman movie just around the corner, builder Tan Kok Mun unleashes Batman’s most feared weapon, the Bat Mech – complete with a Bat Hangar for poor ‘ol Alfred to service the bot when returning from battle. Kok Mun started his masterpiece late last year and kept tweaking parts until it looked perfect and ready. The model is posable and fully armed, with a futuristic retractable Bat Axe giving it one-of-a-kind weaponry for a unique suit of armour. Hop over to the builder’s Flickr album to see more poses and the full arsenal of details.
Today we take a look at two great LEGO mech builds by exceptional builders. They have some similarities, like darker colours and menacing looks, but each in its own unique style.
We will start with XF56DAL3 Stingray by Moko. I have a soft spot for Moko as a builder, since he was one of the first builders I was exposed to when I discovered the online LEGO community, and he’s still active! As far as the build goes, there is a good balance between clean surfaces and greebling. My favourite details are the mech’s menacingly sharp head, and the hoses made of gold ring pieces from LEGO Lord of the Rings. But what makes this mech a truly amazing model is the posing and photography.
Continuing on, we have this industrial-looking THR-01 Droid by Marco Marozzi. The colour blocking is spot-on and I could easily imagine the mechanical function of each individual detail. While not as complicated and large as Moko’s build, it has no less character or spirit.
Having grown up playing the Halo series, I was initially excited to see some of the series’ classic vehicles appear in plastic brick form. But that excitement was immediately overcome by heartbreak when I noticed a toy construction company other than LEGO picked up the franchise. That hasn’t stopped builders from recreating some great scenes and vehicles in the far superior LEGO medium. Taking a break from the castle theme, I tried to throw down with my own creation:
I initially tried to build the big Covenant anti-aircraft guns from Halo 3 but quickly realized I didn’t’ have enough dark purple (a problem I thought I’d never have). So I went with a smaller version fictional to the Halo universe but still within the Covenant aesthetics we’ve come to know and love.
It’s quite a feat to turn an organic living creature into a LEGO representation, but Mitsuru Nikaido takes it up three notches. He seems to have an exquisite set of skills in taking animals and creatures alike turning them into astounding mech interpretations. He also has a knack for using a minimal color palette to bring out the best contrast.
First up is the menacing (almost frightening!) locust, big enough to single-handedly devour a corn field on its own. At first glance, it’s hard to see the work put into this. I encourage you to zoom’s in and admire the how the builder used different LEGO elements to create the desired effect. Keep an eye out for the banana element in dark bluish grey.
Up next is an elegant red crowned crane, commonly known as a Japanese crane. What really stands out in this build is the simplicity of parts used, including white Technic plates and curves to represent the shape of the crane. My favourite part is how the 3 golden Japanese ninja sword elements are appropriately used to represent the beak of a national icon.
Billions of years from now, plants will have evolved numerous defence mechanisms to ward off hungry herbivores, but none as extreme as this hibiscus by Grant Davis. I love the perfect blending of organic and mechanical elements, which makes the creation look very realistic for a robot flower. The builder says this is practice outside the castle theme in which he usually builds. But with the new LEGO Nexo Knights series, the definition of LEGO castle may officially include robots now, too!
