Cole Blaq goes navy blue

Tim Gould over on The Brothers Brick featured this before I came across it, but I'm glad to post it here. First, because of the sci-fi builders that see regular plugs on this blog Cole isn't one of them; second, Cole's stuff is certainly good enough to deserve an increased signal radius; and third, because I've thoughts of my own that I get a kick out of seeing published.

Anyway, these are pretty smart near-future designs. Gould mentioned the vivid colors in his post, I'll echo that, as it is my adamant belief that color variety is the spice of LEGO. I can't help but think a trans yellow windshield on the smaller vehicle to match the larger Aliens APC looking thing would be nice, but I'm not knowledgeable of Cole's preferences regarding modding.The wheels are great.


The blue and gold colors on Cole's fan models resembles the liveries of the human faction in the official LEGO "Alien Conquest" line. The subject matter is not different as well, it is as if Cole took the juvenile playset characteristics out of the designs and inserted some worthy aesthetics.


Set reconstruction, a level above "set modding", has been popular lately as the official themes have gotten more niche. 2001's "Alpha Team" line was one of my favorite themes as a young child. After being inspired by the submersible that recently made a limited run via the Couscous Cuusoo program, my interest in tracked ground vehicles (like snowcats!), and remembering the adoration that I harbored for the above set as a third grader,  I might like to do a "cover version" of 6774. To this day springy slat that was used as the catapult is still bent from use. And that skull-spanning grin!


Halfway relevant links:
This Maize-and-Blue "Wolverine". A mecha from Kyle Vrieze's collection of early works residing on MOCpages.com. Even more relevant to those of us, who such as the author dwell in middle Michigan where the MSU / U of M rivalry is a very real and frightening thing.

"I must admit, the Wolverines usually have a better football team, but I think we beat them more often than we really have a right to."


The APC from "Aliens". Created in LEGO by flickr user Larry Lars.

"Doing it right"

Flickr user Drywall has created exceptional LEGO mecha based on the "Gekko" units from the Sony Playstation 3 title, Metal Gear Solid 4. Theses particular in-game designs have inspired LEGO mecha of my own. You can see the Gekkos moving around and mooing in the video below, real fantastic work on the part of the artists behind the game.



 
The animation and sound effects are so great. A real contrast to the boring legged slabs revealed in the Black Ops 2 trailer.



He has also created this equally magnificent realization of a "Think Tank" from Ghost in the Shell. Both of José's models stray from their inspirations; while retaining the concepts imagined by original artists the LEGO builder has tastefully added features of his own.

Geoff Herndon's Gekko. It is scaled to the LEGO minifigure, though I daresay the legs aren't spindly enough.

Tim Gould's GiTS Think Tank.

Antige-V

Quality from Jerac, as to be expected. The angling of the 1 x 1 slopes is good. Retro-future is sometimes gimmicky, but this is great. The patches of color on the body and the offset-antennae greeblie are sci-fun as well. Functionality in mind, the grey railing on the footstep seems redundant, but I guess it looks alright.

I have not yet expressed my enjoyment with his background selection. The concrete is more exciting than texture-less photoshop editing, but it doesn't compete with the models.

And the art sucks, too

I can't say that I'm very much into playing video games these days. They occupied a great deal of my attention back in junior high school, but I have since lost interest and neglect to keep up on them. That said, the "Call of Duty" franchise has gained a strong following over the past three or four years, and me being in high school amongst the target demographic, I am sure to encounter buzz when new titles are announced.



The Call of Duty franchise was once renowned for its realism in presenting the battlefields of WWII. The trailer reveals the upcoming title, Black Ops 2, is to be set in the future, justifying these legged mechs. Which, if I may offer my opinion, are butt ugly. Perhaps the developers are new and inexperienced at creating futuristic universes and technologies, or maybe it is that they're rushing to crank out a new title for every holiday season and don't the time or resources to put together a better art direction.

Here's some guys within the LEGO sphere doing it correctly.
 


Dane and FateHeart, respectively. I like how Dane's look as if it was a tracked vehicle retro-fitted with legs, the greeblies are great. FateHeart's is just a fun time on teeny feet, there's good humor in the crewman with the katana as well.


Mladen Pejic, of course.

But this isn't to say that wheels haven't gone out of fashion in the future, as Jas Nagra's recent future-military models prove:


Two years ago I featured a couple of vertical tanks of his design, so he's not all about wheels and tracks. I can really admire Nagra's control regarding excessive detail. No surface is made more complicated than it needs to be, the result is something very clean and functional. As the cluttered Black Ops artwork shows, restraint isn't always exhibited in science fiction artwork.

"Red Stripe Shuttle"

 This shuttle by Colin is a great example of how advanced building techniques aren't at all necessary for a sleek model. The fuselage seems to be mostly studs up, making simple but smart use of slopes. Jassim's work comes to mind. The windows sell it as a flashy civilian craft, a fun break from the drab future-military subthemes that a lot of builders stick to. There's some aged commentary authored by the .space old guard expressing caution when using wheels as engines, but I don't think Colin's model here suffers from it. The more I study it the less comfortable I am with the lack of white surface behind the red stripe, but it's a minor gripe.
 
 He also has a collection of nicely scaled AFVs, all in the standard green color. Very "LEGO", if you will.


If you admire Colin's military models, you ought to pay Brickshelf user Nyu's gallery a visit.

Christoph Monnaie Feature

Christoph on flickr. His latest is this sprawling moon base. The brick-built spheres might look dated technique-wise what with those new Star Wars miniplanets, perhaps in a round-about way utilizing square pieces to make round shapes has become its own ironic form NPU.

Here is a series of starfighters he has assembled. Kind of like, what if Peter Reid did bubble canopies?



 I can imagine they can be difficult to integrate. Christoph seems pretty apt at it, though.

 
The hose around the cockpit on this one does a good job of covering up gaps and making for a cohesive shape.




As fun as the starfighters are, this wheeled ground transport is my favorite.

Power Tool Red

By Shannon Ocean By Angus MacLane, previously mentioned in my World War Robot post. By Bruce Lowell.

Lego World War Robot

I've been a fan of Ashley Wood's artwork for some time now, and have been fortunate enough to receive one of 3A's toys as a gift.


"Ashley Wood's Bertie robot with coloring from Tintin's rocket in 'Explorers To the Moon'."

There is a lot of good things happening on Angus MacLane's recreation of a "Bertie"-series robot from the WWR universe. The colors are fun and the equipment packs are a great touch, though I cannot say I'm sold on the finger technique. A Bertie toy as produced by 3A:




This is another depiction of Bertie by MacLane, of the Cube Dude fad.



Lastly, I have made a Bertie and Square more or less to minifigure scale. In Wood's illustrations the robots were never drawn to a consistent scale, and minifigure scale will forever be that odd, undefined practice, so take it.

3A Toys' production blog
Ashley Wood's blog

March of the Think Tanks

For the duration of the previous month, and some time before, the build challenge over at the Mecha Hub flickr group has been generating LEGO interpretations of the "Think Tank" concept as seen in the Ghost in the Shell franchise. Here are some highlights:



This smart model is of Curtis Collins' design. I appreciate how the 1 x 1 "cheese" slopes line up with the corners on the beveled corners of the 4 x 4 x 2/3 and 4 x 6 x 2/3 panels.

Peer Kreuger's is motorized, with both walking and rolling functions:





Kyle Vrieze has assembled this scene. The building are not only furnished with tasteful detail but descending mecha. The large mulitped in the center can be seen here.



Brownridge revisits some Maschinen Krieger imagery for a unique inter-universe crossover.



I love, love the repetition of the four hole texture in both the under-wedge piece (used here as leg armor) and in the turntable top. Smartness from Ted Andes.

These fellas of Andrew Lee's are cute.



This one doesn't qualify as a "Think Tank" as the body doesn't have the arachnid like body proportions, but nevertheless it is a cool build. The legs are great with the Technic figure flippers (32008).

Not to be missed is Ley Ward's citrus themed -koma. Also, in a blog post concerning multiped LEGO mecha, it seems appropriate to give Mladen a mention.

Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack

The mecha community's been abuzz with a kickstarter project, of all things: the Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack Rulebook. Spearheaded by Joshua A.C. Newman, lots of LEGO stuff by Soren, and game design by the folks at lumpley (one of those blogs that I always want to read but can't seem to get interested in). A $10 backing gets you in an a very cool project and a PDF of the rules, once released. I hope this will fuel a surge of micromecha, especially if they're as nice as this: