you can really taste the dougram

While taking pictures of the Mechaton guys below, I did this experiment with a slightly larger scale guy. Normally, I work at a slightly larger scale than this, but I wanted to see if I could condense some and make a plausible Minifig-scale mecha a la Gasaraki or VOTOMS. The shape of the body was also inspired by the Spartan from Macross.

This machine, an Armored Frame (or “Pittman”) is ideally part of a three-person team: the pilot inside the thing, a Human Operations Officer, and a Mechanical Operations Officer. The HOO is responsible for monitoring the well-being of the pilot. The engineer is responsible for feeding the pilot information and watching telemetrics on the suit itself. It stands about 3.5m tall. At the point in history where it’s being used, machines like this have replaced tanks, which can’t get down city streets and are too slow and vulnerable to fire from above. Though larger than a single infantryman, it can nonetheless fit down alleys and into larger buildings, climb onto rooftops (since it weighs little more than a motorcycle, thanks to advanced composite materials), and hide between trees.

These are scattered about the world, having been sold by private corporations to anyone willing to pay, so they’re the rocket-propelled grenade of the late 21st century. They’ve given great military might to individuals who then persue their own nationalist, idealistic, and capitalistic goals with this mighty weapon.

In these pictures, it’s outfitted with a 20mm machine gun. The “hands” are a standard fitting, and many corporations produce weapons that readily fit them.

Can you imagine the saddle sores?

Check out how the shoulder fits into the socket. Oh, yeah.

doop dee doo.

Walking.

Robobung!

The back.

I'm using hinges to get angles a lot these days.

The torso.

With the new measuring rules in Mechaton, it’s totally possible to play with guys this size. The buildings would get expensive, though. But Vincent, I think it could be totally fun.

 

6 thoughts on “you can really taste the dougram”

  1. And here i was getting all psyched for Chromehounds (next gen. Armored Core [by the same team] for xbox360 [i know … hisss!]).

    This looks way cooler. I mean, if i had kids, i wouldn’t damage them with exposure to an xbox. But Mechaton would be great.

  2. (Whoa, weird comment barf. Let me know if you have strangeness, too!)

    The Armored Core guys have been straining out the requirement for an actual player in their games since AC: Nexus. In the PSP version, you don’t even pilot the mecha. It’s more like Pokémon. Feh.

    But Mechaton. Give me creative people hopping up and down around a table anytime.

  3. Cooler. Than. Words. MAN, I’ve so got to get off my duffer and break out the Lego box. I keep telling myself “When the kids get older.” What the heck are we waiting for?!?

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