Transform and roll out!
Because I clearly don't know when a good idea has gone far enough and when to stop......
My previous creation was much bigger than these, but relatively straightforward to transform as it was essentially just a box that folded open. I got to wondering - what if I tried to build a "proper" vehicle-to-robot transformer (or several)?:
This is Ironhide. He's quite fiendishly complicated (though I didn't really intend him to be) and I'm rather proud of him. It would be much easier with Lego to make something transform by taking it apart into several pieces and then rebuilding it, but I felt that was cheating. There's none of that going on here. Not only does Ironhide transform in one piece, he poses at the head, shoulders, elbows, fingers, waist, hips, knees and feet. He balances solidly on his own feet and he's pretty sturdy too. My favourite bit - the driver's seat in van mode tucks neatly away into Ironhide's back to support his head in robot mode.
Name: Ironhide
Allegiance: Autobot
Alt. mode: Van
Height (robot): 11in/28cm
Length (vehicle): 7in/17.5cm
No. of bricks: 423
Points of articulation: 51
In the cartoon, Ironhide would often switch his hands for square guns that shot liquid nitrogen. I kept that here, by designing his hands to fold up and reveal a socket for plugging various attachments into. Here he is with those square guns, and with a lance and claw:
This is Skywarp, who didn't turn out quite so well unfortunately. Mostly because I was starting to feel the pinch in terms of available bricks by this stage (which is why he ended up black/grey rather than black/grey/purple). He's not as posable as Ironhide, otherwise he'd have ended up far too flimsy and wouldn't have stood upright.
This was a slightly different experiment as, unlike Ironhide, I made Skywarp to transform in almost exactly the same way as the original toy. (Ironhide's transformation I made up completely, as the original toy was rubbish and didn't even look like a proper robot - a hangover from its Diaclone origins). Like the original toy, that means Skywarp ends up with stupidly short little arms. But I still think he turned out okay.
As with Prime's trailer, I made more use of the pirate ship cannons for his missile launchers, which are the only part that needs detaching when he transforms. As with the original, they attach under the wings in fighter plane mode and to his arms in robot mode.
Name: Skywarp
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alt. mode: Fighter plane
Height (robot): 11.75in/30cm
Length (vehicle): 15.75in/40cm
No. of bricks: 345
Points of articulation: 33
Just to finish off (and because the Decepticons always seemed to be unfairly outnumbered), I went to completely the other extreme and built three teeny-tiny Decepticons from only a handful of pieces. This turned out to be quite a fun change of scale from foot-high, mega-complicated models :o)
Name: Drag Strip
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alt. mode: Racing car
Height (robot): 3in/7.5cm
Length (vehicle): 2.75in/7cm
No. of bricks: 36
Points of articulation: 6
Name: Runabout
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alt. mode: Car
Height (robot): 3in/7.5cm
Length (vehicle): 3.5in/9cm
No. of bricks: 70
Points of articulation: 5
Name: Vortex
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alt. mode: Helicopter
Height (robot): 3.25in/8.5cm
Length (vehicle): 3.5in/9cm
No. of bricks: 46
Points of articulation: 7
Here's how everything looks lined up, to give an idea of the relative scale of it all:
I've packed the rest of the (unused) Lego away - far away - now!
My previous creation was much bigger than these, but relatively straightforward to transform as it was essentially just a box that folded open. I got to wondering - what if I tried to build a "proper" vehicle-to-robot transformer (or several)?:
This is Ironhide. He's quite fiendishly complicated (though I didn't really intend him to be) and I'm rather proud of him. It would be much easier with Lego to make something transform by taking it apart into several pieces and then rebuilding it, but I felt that was cheating. There's none of that going on here. Not only does Ironhide transform in one piece, he poses at the head, shoulders, elbows, fingers, waist, hips, knees and feet. He balances solidly on his own feet and he's pretty sturdy too. My favourite bit - the driver's seat in van mode tucks neatly away into Ironhide's back to support his head in robot mode.
Name: Ironhide
Allegiance: Autobot
Alt. mode: Van
Height (robot): 11in/28cm
Length (vehicle): 7in/17.5cm
No. of bricks: 423
Points of articulation: 51
In the cartoon, Ironhide would often switch his hands for square guns that shot liquid nitrogen. I kept that here, by designing his hands to fold up and reveal a socket for plugging various attachments into. Here he is with those square guns, and with a lance and claw:
This is Skywarp, who didn't turn out quite so well unfortunately. Mostly because I was starting to feel the pinch in terms of available bricks by this stage (which is why he ended up black/grey rather than black/grey/purple). He's not as posable as Ironhide, otherwise he'd have ended up far too flimsy and wouldn't have stood upright.
This was a slightly different experiment as, unlike Ironhide, I made Skywarp to transform in almost exactly the same way as the original toy. (Ironhide's transformation I made up completely, as the original toy was rubbish and didn't even look like a proper robot - a hangover from its Diaclone origins). Like the original toy, that means Skywarp ends up with stupidly short little arms. But I still think he turned out okay.
As with Prime's trailer, I made more use of the pirate ship cannons for his missile launchers, which are the only part that needs detaching when he transforms. As with the original, they attach under the wings in fighter plane mode and to his arms in robot mode.
Name: Skywarp
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alt. mode: Fighter plane
Height (robot): 11.75in/30cm
Length (vehicle): 15.75in/40cm
No. of bricks: 345
Points of articulation: 33
Just to finish off (and because the Decepticons always seemed to be unfairly outnumbered), I went to completely the other extreme and built three teeny-tiny Decepticons from only a handful of pieces. This turned out to be quite a fun change of scale from foot-high, mega-complicated models :o)
Name: Drag Strip
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alt. mode: Racing car
Height (robot): 3in/7.5cm
Length (vehicle): 2.75in/7cm
No. of bricks: 36
Points of articulation: 6
Name: Runabout
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alt. mode: Car
Height (robot): 3in/7.5cm
Length (vehicle): 3.5in/9cm
No. of bricks: 70
Points of articulation: 5
Name: Vortex
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alt. mode: Helicopter
Height (robot): 3.25in/8.5cm
Length (vehicle): 3.5in/9cm
No. of bricks: 46
Points of articulation: 7
Here's how everything looks lined up, to give an idea of the relative scale of it all:
I've packed the rest of the (unused) Lego away - far away - now!