They/them - AroaceLego MOCs and photography with a wide range of different characters and environments, every Wednesday (in theory-)
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✨Geonosis !✨
Ah, Geonosis. What a terrible place. But it’s aesthetically pleasing, so I did it anyway. And it was a good excuse to use the movie-accurate minfigs (a commander, a sergeant, and three shinies. I have a lot of other commanders, but I’ll figure what to do with them later).
Since I didn’t have much of these orange bricks, so most of them are sideways, with some modified bricks to keep the clones in place. Also, the bottom of the first spike is an old bionicle part I thought I’d never use, but it did a good job here.
✨ Custom AT-TEs ! ✨
(Not entirely custom, actually, but more like a custom paint job / some tweaks)
These two pieces are part of a larger custom clone battalion, the 284th, that I’ll explain in detail in another post. In the mean time, these are already in use on a larger mix that doesn’t exactly fit in my small studio right now (I’m talking BIG moc)
Individual views :
The stickered plate, stolen from a Ninjago set, was awfully convenient, you may understand why here (not posted yet)
This is the last I’ve been working on for the past few weeks, very, very inspired by the game Carrion (if you haven’t played it yet, you absolutely should !), which is made all the more special because I finally took time to use my lighting kit (seem below). Of course, closeups and commentaries below the cut
Left containment unit closeups :
Right containment unit closeups :
Top closeup :
Alt version (studio lights + in-built lights) :
This is one of the screenshots I’ve been working with (where the monster just breached containment) :
So, as I said previously, this piece is heavily inspired by Carrion. I tried to look up any previously made Lego thing related to the game, but all I could find were a few Reddit posts with (debatably) interesting takes on the monster. So, the good news is that this is most likely the most original piece I’ve made yet.
The original plan was to have only one container, and one monster, with left being the body inside and right being the outside part. However, placing Left in the middle of the transparent pieces made it mostly good on its own, so with some modifications, I made it work alone and expanded the outside part inward, and ended up with two of them.
Left is pretty okay from all angles, but Right is not necessarily as good from the back, and had a supplementary jaw on the side of the container which can’t be seen on the photos.
Getting back to comparing that to the game. I tried to stay close while adding my own little details. The wiring and cable system is from me, but the container is mostly inspired by the game, just like the electric box (middle) and the little informative display (under the electric box) which is…empty, yes.
Some details can’t be seen on the photos (or barely), which are mostly some filler sci-fi stuffs to make the wall less flat and less empty.
What also helped with breach the flatness of the wall is the switch from dark grey to light gray, using the awesome spring projectile launcher piece, which has this very nice shape which make the transition just a bit smoother.
So, let’s talk about whatever I’ve done with the lighting !
I’ve had this old lighting kit (originally designed for a car model) lying around for a long time, and finally got to use it ! It doesn’t look really good without my studio lights because my camera is not made for that (The effect in reality really gives escaping monstrosity a dark vibe which is not well depicted with my photos…). Another thing which is not noticeable with the photos is that the two red dots in the center are actually blinking lights (and somehow, they tend to desynchronise).
The choice of letting some of the wires out is debatable, but I think it adds to the vibe (and some of them would have been a pain to hide anyway). And sadly, the back is but a mess of wires, but I can’t actually do anything about that.
Speaking of the back, the whole thing is one dot large and completely flat, and the ceiling only hold without pillars because of the use of tension linking directly the baseplate and the roof through the use of technic bars; and probably because the ceiling itself is not that heavy. It is, in fact, only constitued of six old road pieces connected together and frames, which give the roof little weight and high sturdiness (and the shape on the side of the piece offers a nice sci-fi effect as a bonus).
The addition of tentacles in the vent (which hides the connection between road plates in the roof) is just another reminder of the game : you can’t be safe anywhere, if air flows~
✨Aroace Door Tag✨
‘Name' looks really terrible, but couldn’t just put my real name here-
In hindsight, Sample might have been better. Anyway, if you want to get something like that yourself and are struggling with the letters, my dms are open — or asks even, if you’re feeling bold-
And of course, studio closeups bellow the cut
With, and without 'name' (M is really a terrible letter because of how wide it is, though now that I’m writing this, I know how I could have done it better. Well, too late.)
Here’s my take on a batch of custom Nexo Knights minifigs !
Closeups and thoughts under the cut
So, in no particular order, the closeups, with comments and comparisons with the actual characters from the original Lego theme (also, because of Tumblr’s image limits, I had to badly stitch together my pictures, sorry-)
1) Mace
Pretty cool one, and the only girl in the team in the original cast, who also happen to have troubles because her dad is the king. But eh, none of that here, so she get the cool cloak I assign to any cool red character I can find (yes, you’ll see it again many times in the future). The overall design is pretty nice (mostly this face, the other one on the brick is not as good; the printed armor, which is from season 4, is pretty nice, and does a nice job with the large dark piece (coming from later Hero Factory sets). The weapons are from the Chima theme (and so is the cloak !). The hairs are from the only Tron set, which should have been continued as whole theme but eh-
2) Axel
Stupid and muscular originally. Well, now he’s got a Large Axe (Bionicle) to stand to his name. The helmet is all Nexo, but with some custom brew of mine, and so is the shield. Also, the custom arm was possible because the large chest has a technic pin.
3) Clay(more)
Not room much modifications on the base character (s1). The sword is from a season four version of the character, the shield is homemade with some fun pieces I had lying around. The two arms are modified from the Ultimate set. …which I transformed in guns…Yeah.
4) Aaron
Green ! Always had a cooler weapon. The armor is from the mech set, the chest piece is from s3-4, the Google’s are from the Ultimate set, and the shoulder thingy is from Boba Fett. I kept the original shield with some added pieces, which is made to fly (like with the original al character) but changed the face to give him a more serious expression. The weapon is mostly from the original crossbow, with some nice twists (the beam on the first image is from a ninjago sword).
5) Lance Whatever their name is now
Really a bad character : rich, 'very pretty', egocentric. So, well…I took the armor and made an entire new one. I really like them, but it might be because it took an awful lot of time to figure out the weapon (transparent white piece similar to the green beam mentioned above). Armor-wise, it’s s1 body, with a grey pauldron (Clone Wars) and a light grey kama (…Also Clone Wars). The hairs are a really cool piece from a Ninjago set, and the head…Come from a City ski set. But the orange visor makes it work !
6) Never remembered the name of that one
Original character is a very smart kid with not much development in the show. Well, firstly I made him an adult (legs are from a black widow figure), and then I decided to push the technical side a little. So, full suit with crystal swords, which works ! Most pieces are actually from the theme, except the red dots (Ninjago again), the crystals in the back (Power Mine [really a cool theme !]), and the helmet (City firefighters + Ninjago…again). It was the first one I made, which made me do the others.
I might get them in a diorama at some point, to set them against the very many custom monsters from the same theme (which were already much cooler than the original minifigs). In fact, most of the theme was really cool, the two sad points are that it was discontinued, and the TV show was…Well, it didn’t push much sci-fi nor fantasy, so I had to do the job.
Now, with that post I have finally revealed my three favorites things to do with legos : Dioramas, Big Mechs, and Custom minifigures (plus any Clone Wars related stuff, but it’s probably just as much because of the fandom aspect as it is the Lego aspect). One day perhaps, I’ll get all three of these aspects in one epic scene, but I have no idea of how for now, so maybe later~
✨Quetza and its pilots !✨
Another combat mech ! And I have more in stock~ (See previous work here)
…and of course closeups and lore under the cut :}
Pilot closeups :
Mech closeups :
Lore !
(All the world’s lore can be found in the first of these posts)
So, this mech is quite impressive, notably because it’s one of the only of the arena featuring four arms ! Quite a complex model to handle, but devastating when mastered. Quetza’s been designed by the two sisters who pilot it.
This, too is unusual, because there’s usually only one pilot — two would require an extreme coordination. But the controls have been modified (you can see the controllers in the hands of the pilot, featuring controls on both sides of the objects, while most controllers only have one). These control the essential of the mech’s basic movements, and require to be very dexterous. The pilot using these is the one considered as the 'true' pilot, contrarily to here sister, who acts as a technic team on her own (hence why only of them wear something cool, and the other plain black clothes). But the so-called technical support is actually completely part of the mech’s piloting, because the holoscreen paired with a lone controller help to automate sword combos and general coordination.
Speaking of the swords, they obviously aren’t made of gold, but a good paint job after each battle can help fix that. This type of weapon caused some problems at the start of Quetza’s career, because without them, the mech was defenceless. This have been fixed with magnetic locks, which hold the swords in place while allowing flexibility.
And next time : …I don’t actually have a name for that one yet, you’ll have to wait-
The swords are also a hassle in real life, because they’re only connected to the hands through a meh illegal technic. You can barely see it on the first image, but they are connected to the back finger using a small claw/tooth, which does the job, but nothing more.
Also, I can’t fathom what set all the plates featuring stickers are coming from, if anyone has a lead, please tell me.
Finally, taking the first picture took me about 15 minutes because there was no angle that could reflect what I actually saw, which was terrible.
Bonus, because you held on until there :
Photo of Quetzal from my former shelf studio, not cropped, and with terrible focus (feel the pain I feel when I realise later that this is a terrible photo~)
✨41st Recon Squad Camp Site ! ✨
Closeups and other stuffs under the cut !
Backside :
Right scene closeup :
Campfire scene closeup :
Tomb scene closeup :
And finally, my personal favourite :
New lights, new camera settings, and a larger space…because this one didn’t fit the other one…Indeed, using shelves as a photo studio is not my brightest idea, but in my defence, it works.
This MOC has entirely been made because of the camouflage cloak I found in the bottom of a box. I don’t know where it’s from, but it looked very cool with that particular trooper, and thus I needed to show it off.
It was also helped because the large amount of olive green plants I received recently (those that are all over the place).
I tried something new, which is that I have not a rectangular base, but rather, three trapezoidal ones linked together to play with the shapes a little. Some parts were a pain to link together, but some tricks can help with that. The crates, for instance, are on top of a hole I couldn’t fill because of the odd shape.
The tombstone was actually the best idea I could get because I’m missing a trooper torso ! I can’t find it, and a pair of legs and a helmet are all I have left, and I might have watched Tales of the Jedi again recently, so that ended up being here.
The tent itself is made thanks to a fun discovery of mine, combining nets and my recent shipment of plants. I put a plant every three holes, in one line, and continue the pattern diagonally. In the back, to hold them in place, I used 1/2 technic bushes, which are quite convenient. And of course, this part is not connected to the poles at all, I case I want to add something in the tent.
Finally, some will notice the main incoherence of the thing : all the smaller wooden poles (tent and fire pit) are not birch-coloured. That’s mainly because finding the good pieces would have been a terrible hassle, and also because the campfire would really look weird in white.
Also, I might have spent an entire night on these trees to find what the colour balance and shape would look the more natural, I hope these are good.
✨Quake and its pilot✨
Another one of my combat mechs ! (See previous here)
Same as last time, closeups and lore under the cut
Mech closeups
Minifig closeup :
So, mech lore !
As I said in the previous post, mech battles happen some times after the third world war. Well, some of the veterans quickly took interest of this new sport, including today’s pilot. As you can see, sequels of the fights are still visible on his body, his hand being the most visible one. Of course, he could have had a normal hand, because it’s an easy thing, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to show what he had partook in, and this glowing hook was the coolest thing he found on the market.
At first, he didn’t really even watched mech fights, but eventually, some of his friends made during the war decided it would be fun to watch it together. And they enjoyed it. Enjoyed it so much, they decided they wanted to participate.
So, they did what any normal group of war veteran did : they looked for a place to scavenge spare parts and assemble a mech of their own, that would be out of the usual roaster of mark III and IV mechs. What they found was what was left of a large dig site, abandoned at some point in the past. Among the scraps, one of them found the large QUAKE panels. Probably the name of the company that used to be here. It would do the job.
It took some time for Quake to get into large-scale tournaments, because it usually fell apart quickly. With some experience, the team managed to get it in a usable state, and when it didn’t break down, the mech was doing some heavy damages. Don’t trust the electric panel on its back, it’s entirely coal-fuelled (coal which was provided by the dig site) and Quake is probably one of the only mechs powered by a thermal engine, but it gives it a powerful advantage : as long as it’s fuelled, it can deliver extremely powerful blows with its large arms, as well as it can withstand powerful attacks (that’s what the shoulder plates are for). With this mining equipment, Quake, after it began to be known, made itself quite of a name in the arena.
That’s it for this one, the next competitor, named Quetza, will be introduced next week :}
Also, I’m trying an old camera of mine to take pictures, because the lighting is better, although it’s less flexible than my phone’s. I’m still trying to get a good feeling as to what I’m preferring.
Random interesting thing to notice about the build itself : All articulations have different kinds of joints : bionicle ball-joints for the arms, technic pin for the hips, small ball joints to connect the legs and the body, old technic joints for the knees, and simple handle joints for the feet. It was accidental, but I think it fits well with the history of the mech.
✨Combat mech and pilot ! ✨
Closeups and lore under the cut !
Side and back closeups :
Minfig closeup :
So, lore I said.
Welcome on Earth, in a nearish future. WW3 happened, but after that, everything is going absolutely fine ! Lot of tasks are automated, no one had to work anymore, and thus, humanity worldwide become a society of entertainment. Films, videos, games, you name it. But of course, games are not 'real' enough, so some streaming platforms organised life-sized fighting games with giant machines. That couldn’t go wrong, right ? Right, in fact, a world-wide tournament was made, with always much complete arenas, and billions of watchers.
So, about this mech — and its pilot, too. This one is part of the original cast of the mech battles, a beautiful Mark One. All of them were the same, originally, with only colours to distinguish them.
Its pilot, skilled as he was, won the first season. Survived the second. And the third. And so, eventually, this one became the last one of the Mark Ones. And it won again, awarding enough of a prize for the pilot to upgrade it. It was also renamed Relic by the crowd.
Fully reworked, for the next season, Relic has been updated with a plasma beam and a heavy rotator cannon, fuelled by a large tank located on its back — if any other competitors ever attain this place.
With this upgrade, the commands, too, have been updated, with controllers now having holo-projections, and a much faster update rate. One has to imagine that these mechs were originally controlled in large rooms (similar to Jaeger command centers), but have been rendered light enough to be added to a living room, for amateurs. The pilot, however, did not change his original headset and suit, which is full of old equipments and souvenirs.
That’s it for this one, expect one of Relic’s competitors next week : Quake !
✨ Small lego diorama of some ARFs of the 91st ! ✨
This is of course from the Clone Wars — expect much more of these in the upcoming weeks, it’s one of my favourite themes :}
(Closeups, commentaries and complaints under the cut)
These trees are pretty experimental, I usually use classic leaves rather than plain plates, but these were interesting, and were a pretty fun challenge (I like making trees a lot, so there are usually some in most of my dioramas). This is supposedly based on Kashyyk, but most of the trees there are waaay too big for me; however I found some nice pieces for the roots (the large ones in the middle, which are not really visible, are using Lego Elves’ dragon horns; and there are also some old palm trees trunks, which are really awesome pieces to use.)
This is probably gonna be the only one for the 91st though, because I don’t have much more of these. The only other possibility of that would be Neyo’s execution of o66 (not fun~).
Also, the night effect on the closeups is due purely to one of my led lighting dying in my hands, which wasn’t exactly practical.
✨(Tiny) Agender pride flag✨
Want your flag to be made in Lego ? Simply ask (instructions can be provided if you ask nicely :} )
(See previous work here)
✨Aroace pride flag✨
Since I’m mostly doing these as room decoration for me, I’m slowly running out of idea, but I’m open to taking requests (potentially with instruction, if anyone is interested, simply ask me) :}
(See previous work here)
Following in my pride flag series :
✨Ace pride flag✨
(Previous work here !)