Tag Archives: Robotech

Through the power of protoculture, LEGO and Robotech combine

While most adult fans might prefer to keep their LEGO collection separate from other toys, for plenty of kids, LEGO elements are part of a shared toybox where GI Joe and fashion dolls can play with brick-built accessories. SPARKART! keeps that spirit alive with a sleek LEGO Flash Clapper hover cycle at action figure scale. SPARKART! perfectly captures the vehicle’s on-screen look, which is like a cross between a Harley-Davidson and a vacuum cleaner. The studs-free design helps the action figure rider feel right at home.

Flash Clapper Hover Bike

For those curious, the action figure in question is either Dana Sterling from the second season of Robotech or Jeanne Françaix from Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, depending on how you came upon the series. Robotech cobbled together 3 disparate series into one continuity, like if The Croods, How To Train Your Dragon, and Boss Baby were reframed as one multigenerational story. It was the 80s. It was awesome.

I’m not sure what this robot is, but I have never known a world without it

Lysander Chau has taken my breath away with this digital rendition of a Macross VF1J Max. I confess to not knowing a ton about the source material this robot hails from, but that doesn’t stop it from being an icon of my childhood. A confusing web of 1980s imports and copyright law put this robot (and others like him) everywhere back in the day – from the The Transformers toy line to knock-offs in Radio Shack and everywhere in-between.

LEGO Macross VF1J Max

Here’s what I do know: This piloted mech can transform from cool looking space-age robot into a modern-style fighter jet, and it can even form a sort of weird minotaur-like GERWALK mode. And Lysander has captured all that functionality and included all the various armor and jump jet add-ons that give the jet mode its distinctive look. And, really, when it looks this cool, does anything else matter?

Untitled