Her reply still works even if it isn’t asking. 
3 Likes
I wasn’t asking you but thanks for the input
1 Like
And I wasn’t agreeing
Checkmate 
Speaking seriously, while Lego transformers could be fun, I’m not a big fan of Arcee’s original design, and I lack adequate pink pieces in Constraction or System to make it remotely viable anyway. So I may try a transforming something at some point, but the chances of it being her are minimal at best.
3 Likes
Remnants
Part 4B: Deneb
(Flare)
Story:^ Hailing from a large island in the middle of the ocean right along the planet’s equator, Deneb’s skillful flying (both under her own power and with aircraft) and calm, peaceful attitude under pressure got her noticed by the Northern City’s fledgeling space program. Working with them for several years, she piloted several successful tests, but the program encountered difficulties outside of her control and was eventually shut down. From there she was left to move on to becoming the test subject of an experimental military program involving neurological implants that would allow her to remotely control combat drones. It was mostly a success, though the mental strain it put her through made her much more irrational and paranoid the more drones she operated at once. The program also introduced her to Rigel and Procyon; though she was leery of Procyon and disagreed with his ideas, her romance with Rigel led to her supporting them both in the civil war against Millennium’s faction, and disappeared under suspicious circumstances as the conflict was drawing to an end.
So here she is, in all her glory; while some revamps I’ve seen have taken her in a more dragon-like direction, I interpreted her as being much more avian in nature. This build is a bit of an odd one to regard now versus when I originally put her together; at the time I was very much feeling the drought of pieces that was coming from all these huge titan builds, and was dissatisfied with how simple some areas (particularly her legs and the ends of her wings) were as a result. Now, though, my opinion has all but completely flipped, liking the elegant simplicity of some of what I’d built while being frustrated by the unnecessary bloat of other areas.
Side and Nyran shots, with and without the enormous wings to get in the way; as you can see, without them she’s actually rather stick-like in proportions, for better or worse. I’m particularly proud of the skirt of Nuva legs (because those are one of the rare pieces I genuinely have trouble figuring out how to make use of in any sort of capacity) and the use of Kalmah’s tentacles to suggest tail-feathers. (Also, I have genuinely no clue where that second orange slizer head came from; I only had one Flare, and I don’t know of any other sets that use it in that color… It’s a bit unnerving to think about, in a way.)
Also, a look at the top. The neck articulation is absolutely fantastic, though it comes at the cost of any resemblance to the gear the original had, but I also like how the Phantoka Kakama looks as an intake for her jetpack and framing the wings. The shoulders kinda suck, though, massively limiting the range of movement on her arms.
The legs, though, I’m very happy with in hindsight. While I do wish I’d have found some way to make the feet more elongated like the original set, in terms of overall build and shape I like how it comes together, using a minimum of pieces yet having a distinct shape to it - and despite the use of Mata Hands for the hips, they’re actually incredibly stable and solid for the most part. If it weren’t for my intention to downsize everything whenever I do the great Re-Revampening, I would honestly be tempted to just port these legs wholesale to the new version of Flare. Ah well.
The wings here actually went through a couple of revisions back in 2012-2013 or somewhere around there; the original versions are best forgotten, but while the folding function of these ones are pretty neat, was it really worth the bulk? I evidently thought so back then, but now I’d have to say no.
And here she is with them fully-spread. It would doubtless look better if they were actually able to support their own weight, but alas…
Like I said, the legs are surprisingly stiff and stable despite their spindly build and theoretically loose hip-joints, but they do have their limits, and the main sections of the wings really push against that. I took about three different versions of this shot because she kept slumping forward slightly; didn’t fall on her face at least, but there was still a lot of frustration to be had.
And this one I blatantly cheated on, holding her wings up just out of frame so they wouldn’t fall down. Hopefully it looks cool, at least…
Her wings can also be oriented to point out back, giving her less of a vulture’s hunch, but it also makes balance a lot trickier to find and maintain.
Comparison with the original. It’s kind of a mixed bag whether the liberties I took with the design really paid off or not, but despite the issues with this build, it’s one of the ones I can still look back on more fondly than many of the others.
Disk shot, of course.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t show off at least one flying pose, so here she is! Not the most accurate to her boxart, but I did what I could.
Mystery birb.
Ultimately, Deneb feels like a bit of a mixed bag. I still love some of the things I did, and have come to love others more than I did originally, but in other ways she still suffers from the ‘bigger is better’ mentality I had then, and I think it’s most apparent in how absurdly her upper wings outdo the rest of her build in both size and weight, making for a very top-heavy look that drowns out all the finer details. At the same time, I did enough right here that I want to carry some of these ideas forward into the eventual re-revamp, though overall I want to take things in a more dramatic direction…
Perhaps something like a sun-eater.
^ (Once again, a disclaimer that this is all outdated stuff now, I’m just including it for the sake of completionism/historical record)
Next Time: You can’t have sun without moon, sky without land, or in this case, orange… without purple.
13 Likes
And just for the record, this timing with recent events wasn’t intentional. ^_^;
3 Likes
Wow, this is a really cool one. It has a very complex build while still being faithful to the original set… Which is quite hard to pull off when you are revamping a small set like Flare into huge Titan like this one.
Though it seems like some improvements could be made with the legs and stability, it’s overall an awesome revamp. Great Job!
1 Like
Thanks!
2 Likes
You took a 20 piece set and turned it into a 200 piece build.
But why?
But seriously, the wings are nice, the legs look great, the arms leave something to be desired, the upper arm is just a plain inika limb, it needs something, even just a bohrok eye to cover the holes.
2 Likes
That’s a very good question that I unfortunately don’t have a good answer to ^_^;
Thanks!
And yeah, the arms are easily the weakest part of the build. I was tempted to try to spruce them up or something before I took pictures, but then figured if I’ve left them this way for this long already, it would be dishonest to try to paper that over when I’m planning to pull these all apart relatively soon anyway.
4 Likes
Remnants
Part 4C: Rigel
(Spark)
Story: ^ Though his ancestry was rooted in the Sea of Energy region, Rigel grew up in the Polar City and considered it home first and foremost, using only dashes of purple to delineate his origins. Joining the military at an early age and quickly moving up the ranks due to his strong combat skills and even greater tactical prowess; despite those strengths, though, possibly his greatest attribute was his loyalty and empathy, going above and beyond the line of duty to keep his fellow soldiers and innocent civilians safe even in the most impossible-seeming scenarios. It was also there that he befriended Procyon, avidly supporting his comrade’s political aspirations, and assisting with combat drill testing for an experimental drone program led to his romance with Deneb, whom he was ready to move heaven and earth for if need be.
However, for all that loyalty was a strength of his, it was also his greatest weakness, blinding him to Procyon’s increasingly unstable mental state and the darker implications his rhetoric began to take on as a result. It wasn’t until well after the civil war with Millennium’s faction began that he started to question what his friend had become, and by that point it was too late. A particularly nasty incident that led to the death of an innocent monk named Heze resulted in a falling-out between Rigel and Procyon, yet even then he remained firmly by his former friend’s side in the hopes of saving him from himself, and so also vanished mysteriously right near the war’s end.
While his counterpart’s build was an odd mix of elegant simplicity and absurd overcomplication, Rigel is a lot more straightforward, for better or for worse; given that he was built well into the Piece Drought, I’d say I did a decent job of pulling off the bulky, heavily-armored look I was going for. On the other hand, though… well, he’s an Inika build. Not the worst one ever, I still have a fair amount of custom-built stuff in his upper arms and legs and even the torso, but it’s still not quite ideal. I also wish I’d have been able to bring more purple into his design, but alas.
Side view, with and without his arm to get in the way.
And Nyran shot! You may notice those odd extra bits hanging off his back…
Which are in fact shoulder-mounted missile-pods, to add on to his already rather absurd level of armament.
Nyran shot without the missile pods in the way, though there’s not much else to show.
Closer view of the weapons. The shield was a fairly simple expansion on the original piece, and has a mirror counterpart with Procyon. I do wish I had black wheel pieces for the cannon, so it wouldn’t stick out as much as it does, but ah well. Yet another reason that a re-revamp of these guys is needed.
A closeup of his torso, with and without the chestplate from Mantax. Like I said, it’s fundamentally an Inika build and not an especially involved one at that, but it still does some stuff that’s unique. Though the bit with the red pins and grey liftarms is basically just there to fill in his chest some. ¯\ _ (ツ) _ /¯
Similarly, there isn’t actually a whole lot to his upper arms once you look under the hood, though they still look pretty thick and bulky from most angles.
Though I do really like how his legs turned out, build-wise. Once again wish I’d gotten a bit more purple in there, but I still tried to break up the black with some grey and gunmetal here and there. I like how the claws come out from under the Inika feet to give the impression of some sort of heavy-duty rough-terrain gripping sole… or something like that, anyway.
Since most of Spark’s torso actually wound up going into Mira, I couldn’t really do a comparison with the original, but here’s the disk shot at least.
In terms of posability, he’s honestly pretty easy to mess with; the shoulders can’t turn inward too much, but otherwise the bulkiness doesn’t really have too much of an impact. The cannon was a bit too heavy for one particular pose, but as long as it remains relatively close to his body there’s little risk of him falling over. All in all, he was a lot easier and faster to handle than Deneb, in this regard.
Though the shield feels a bit more solid with the extra panel piece in back, it’s also a tad on the small side for him now, so trying to block with it looks maybe a little silly… ^_^; Hoping that that’s another issue the re-revampening can fix.
Though it can of course also double as a weapon; with a sight and a pair of lasers, he can snipe targets from a fair distance.
Overall, I feel like Rigel works surprisingly well for what he is, and in a way is closer to what I want from revamping the others, with a focus on aesthetic over complexity for complexity’s sake. At the same time, though, I feel like he still has his fair share of issues, and could use a lot more refinement yet; fine-tuned from a standard soldier into a proper war machine…
^ Outdated stuff, yadda yadda, if you’ve read my posts on Millennium and Deneb, you already get the picture.
Next Time: Every beginning has an end, and the end is near. He’s big, he’s bad, he’s yellow, and he’s really freakin’ big no seriously guys-
8 Likes
I feel like the amount in purple in the MOC isn’t enough… You should add more in order to have a better looking color scheme.
Other than that though, the build is really solid, giid job!
1 Like
That shade of purple hasn’t been in production since… 2001? That’s probably all that CGL has.
Not that fond of how that chestplate works; since the bottom is so blocky. Could probably add another armor piece over that and the Slizer foot. There’s a handful of other issues that I’m not sure can be easily fixed, but the one that bugs me the most is the black feet on the shoulders - not only are they much bigger than inika feet, which could work in this instance, but they’re facing forward.
1 Like
Yeah, what Hawkflight said… And this was also built before G2, so I didn’t have the new purple on hand either. (I may have to try to track down a Nui Jaga set or two to supplement things before I attempt the re-revamps)
Yeah, that’s a definite weak spot, aesthetically; doesn’t really match with the roundedness of most of the rest of the build.
I will say that having the feet facing forward was actually an intentional decision on my part, to try to give him a lot of forward bulk instead of having them tacked onto the side of otherwise skinny biceps, but I think it would work a lot better if I was able to balance it with equal amounts of bulk on the backside; which of course I didn’t do here. I will take the inika feet suggestion into consideration, though, so thank you!
1 Like
Remnants
Part 4D: Procyon
(Blaster)
Story: ^ Since the start, Procyon was Millennium’s polar opposite. Afflicted with gigantism, he wound up needing heavy modifications and implants at an early age to support him through his abnormal growth, which left him nearly destitute. After some time living in the streets he was finally able to join the army, where he met Rigel and Deneb. Though his size and strength made him both a dangerously heavy hitter and a powerful defender for his fellow soldiers, it unfortunately left him an easy target, and he was honorably discharged after taking extensive injuries in a patrol gone wrong.
Moving on quickly, he decided to ■■■■■ his attention to politics, where he blamed the Polar City’s inefficient government for his early homelessness, and preached an ideology of unregulated anarchism and strong individualism. This quickly brought him into conflict with Millennium’s goals of cold logical collectivism and streamlining of authority, and the two quickly amassed widespread cults of personality as they offered compelling yet incompatible ideas on how to improve the world. Procyon in turn became more and more obsessed with victory as tensions between the factions grew, and despite his injuries stepped quite smoothly back into the role of soldier when outright civil war began. His mental state began to decline as well, growing unstable and bloodthirsty, and his rhetoric shifting towards an extreme ideal of ‘survival of the fittest,’ but nobody close to him paid it much mind until it was too late. Like Rigel, Deneb, and Millennium, he vanished mysteriously right before the end of the Cataclysmic conflict.
So here he is, the big guy himself. And my goodness is he big. I think he was one of the earliest ones I built, second or third after Archernar, and is probably singlehandedly responsible for half of the piece shortage I’ve been dealing with since then.
Side view, with and without his arm
And of course, the Nyran Shot.
Also, just to give you an idea of how obnoxiously huge he is, here’s a ruler. He’s somewhere in the range of fifteen inches tall, and the average Inika build probably goes no further than the top of his legs. It’s honestly absurd.
One tidbit of note is that I actually wound up getting Blaster twice, once back in 2000 (alongside Millennia) when I was small, and then a second one in 2010 when I ordered all of the others online. So here’s a mostly-complete Blaster (some pieces got donated to one of the other revamps, I believe) for comparison.
His shield is a perfect mirror of Rigel’s, so if you saw that post, you know what’s happening with this one. His sword, meanwhile, is… interesting conceptually, but incredibly flimsy in practice; I lost count of how many times it fell apart while I was taking some of the later photos. An easy fix would of course be to use system bricks with axle-holes for a more stable build, but again, since I never fixed it in the past eight or so years, I’m leaving it this way for now, for the sake of historical accuracy and whatnot.
I’m going to do something a little bit different this time and isolate chunks of his body to talk about. First up is the arms, which are decidedly thin and simple, despite my awkward efforts to add something resembling actual bulk. I also made the biceps significantly longer than the forearms in an attempt to mimic the orientation of the original set’s arms, but in hindsight I don’t think it worked as well as I’d intended. At least I got some use out of those giant rubber band holder pieces, though.
Meanwhile, I actually vividly recall that his feet were where I originally started the build. I wanted to make it resemble the original set’s setup while making them more closely resemble the somewhat frog-like structure of the other Slizers’ feet, thus the large toes beneath a layer of armor. I also made them able to fold down for some reason, though due to the way the rest of the build worked out, I haven’t gotten much use out of this particular bit of articulation.
His legs are a bit of a mixed bag, for me; while strong aesthetically in some ways, and certainly more solid than the originals, they also wound up being rather stiff and tree-trunk-like. Given the lack of friction pieces in the knees, it’s a minor miracle that he’s able to stand up at all, but as I’ll discuss later, he also suffers greatly in other ways from the loose ball-joints and his overall weight.
And then there’s the main torso, and I have quite the love-hate relationship with this part of the build. His upper body and chest area, I’m honestly quite fond of, evoking the structure of the original set with the yellow diagonal hoses surrounded by black, the gaps filled in with gunmetal armor, and the overall nice-looking structure.
His head also fits quite nicely between the side panels, not something I’d intentionally aimed for, but a nice side-effect of the build nonetheless.
…But then there’s his waist, which just looks kinda like a giant diaper. :/
I left the big gaps around the joints to allow his legs a better range of motion, but I’m not sure if the visual tradeoff is really worth it. Even setting that aside, the structure of this area is just a giant block of technic liftarms bundled awkwardly together, and it doesn’t look good. Not to mention that the build seems to be putting some strain on certain pieces; it’s overall just a huge clunky blob of awful.
His back isn’t much better; despite my best efforts with the top half, and the admittedly cool-looking spine bit down the middle, that doesn’t change how much of a featureless flat plane most of it is.
Plus, the features that are there on the top half don’t amount to much beyond an awkward and loose-fitting cover tacked on over the blank surface. At least it isn’t too obvious from most angles, only really apparent when looked at from straight down.
Obligatory disk shot! Nice thing about having the throwing arms built into the sword like this, is I don’t have to cheat like with all the others!
And in case you hadn’t already guessed, the disks can also store in the middle of his torso like with the original. Theoretically both can fit in there this time, but doing so resulted in the cracked yellow t-joints on the side, so since then I’ve kept it to just the one.
His poseability is… odd. While his torso is actually surprisingly lightweight, (likely due to the mostly-hollow interior construction) he still weights a considerable amount when taken all together, so while he can stand upright on his own without any problems, trying to make nearly any other sort of pose happen is a daunting proposition. Not helping matters are his arms, which flop down to his sides almost without exception, aside from if you angle them outward like shown here. Even then, it’s still not great. I managed to make the following photos happen despite that, but for the vast majority of them, I had to keep an iron grip on his legs while adjusting the camera, and hoping his arms wouldn’t fall back down before I could snap a pic. So if some of these don’t look the greatest, sorry about that.
Sitting. Again, the gaps between his legs and his waist allow them to bend forward by a lot, but I’m still not sure it’s worth the visual awkwardness otherwise.
In theory his sword can spin and fling the disks away, but in practice, it didn’t quite work out as intended. Still, here’s a cool shot.
Tried to recreate the pose from his boxart, but due to the aforementioned issues, it doesn’t quite look like what I was hoping for.
At least this one, though, I was able to get him to hold unsupported.
Procyon, for better or worse, is something of a monument to excess. Imposingly huge, using I don’t even know how many pieces, and despite the problems with his waist, arms, and back, overall he came out looking pretty good even after all these years. Still, like a monument, if he’s not standing perfectly upright then he’s crumbling to the ground, and so I feel he more than anyone else would benefit from either a somewhat smaller size next time, a more stable build, or most likely both. Still, despite his flaws, I feel a lot better about him than I thought I would, so I can only hope that another take will improve further on what I liked from this, while fixing the less ideal elements.
^ Once again, this story stuff is no longer something I’m pleased with; leaving it for historical reference, but feel free to ignore it. I thought I had politics figured out at 15, and I… very much did not. I don’t know why I tried to make Slizers a political thriller, but it definitely wasn’t the right direction to go.
Next Time: The Finale. Everyone together all at once, for one last time before I tear them all apart. It’s been a long time coming, and I can’t wait to finally have it done.
11 Likes
This is probably my favorite of your Slizer MOCs! It’s huge, it’s complex, and still resembles the original set. Great Job!
2 Likes
Thanks! ^_^
1 Like
Alright, I think this will work best if I split it up into parts. First of all, let’s do a quick look back through everyone individually, starting with the flashback-centric half of the cast…
Heze
https://i.imgur.com/Hg3WquY.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VhANAvS.jpg
Easily the weakest build, unfortunately. The concept of trying to give him a more knightly, armored look was interesting in theory, but in practice it just falls flat. The limited pieces I had available to work with are part of the problem, admittedly, but even so, it was kind of a relief to finally lay this mediocre build to rest.
[details=Piece Count: 75]1 Color-Blended
1 Translucent
1 Light Grey
3 Black
2 Dark Grey
10 Light Blue
26 Gunmetal
31 Pins and Axles[/details]
Meridionalis
https://i.imgur.com/RqjY0dz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/r9z541W.jpg
This is one I have mixed feelings on now. While close to the inspiration (the Ultrarex Combo model) in stature, the color scheme is very much wrong, and overwhelmed by silver. Similarly, while I like how I was able to fit weapon storage amidst all the spikes on her back, it makes for an extremely cluttered and messy silhouette. The overall build is decent enough, but the aesthetic decisions made here aren’t quite up to par IMO.
[details=Piece Count: 230]4 Metru Red
4 Metru Blue
6 Glow-In-The-Dark
1 Translucent
7 White
8 Dark Grey
14 Light Grey
30 Black
81 Silver
75 Pins and Axles[/details]
Menkar
https://i.imgur.com/qSO40cN.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YnB6hgW.jpg
While certainly not one of my favorites, I am actually fairly happy with how he came out, all things considered. The torso build is unfortunately rather hollow, and the hunchback I gave him wound up sticking out too far back and a bit too high, but on the whole I am satisfied with the execution of the aesthetic I was going for. While the color scheme isn’t entirely faithful to the original Hiker Mike, I feel like it makes him unique among the lineup, similar to but distinct from Granite in a way I was aiming for.
[details=Piece Count: 206]7 Light Grey
5 Bright Tan
9 Dark Tan
5 Silver
19 Black
17 Brown
70 Dark Grey
74 Pins and Axles[/details]
Terrabellum
https://i.imgur.com/mVTPxeC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/heX9k3L.jpg
Another one I’m reasonably satisfied with, though still far from perfect. While the torso is unfortunately a bit of a technic brick, it’s at least a rather compact one, and mirrors the oddly stiff stature of the original Robotops combo model. Making the disk-like head into a shield is also a move I’m happy with and may carry forward into a theoretical next version, though a re-revamp of this is less likely to happen than the proper sets. Ironically, Robotops’ color scheme wound up going to Meridionalis, leaving Terrabellum here with a bland but succinct black/grey/silver look.
[details=Piece Count: 169]5 Dark Grey
11 Light Grey
39 Silver
47 Black
67 Pins and Axles[/details]
Millennium
https://i.imgur.com/BIzk1H3.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/EWTbVwG.jpg
Since I already talked about this in a recent post, I won’t linger too much - As I said, I feel like the bland color scheme and poor usage of the scale didn’t do him any favors, and while he’s better than the likes of Heze or even Meridionalis, I can definitely do better than this as well.
[details=Piece Count: 116]1 Dark Gold
5 Silver
14 Light Grey
20 Black
34 Dark Grey
42 Pins and Axles[/details]
Deneb
https://i.imgur.com/fiNLcAK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/g6eEvQY.jpg
Despite the awkwardness of the wings dragging things down, she has one of the overall stronger designs, with a fairly enjoyable and interesting (though still notably flawed) build. The re-revamp I have in mind will likely look very similar to this version in many ways, but hopefully still have some notable improvements.
[details=Piece Count: 274]1 Metru Blue
2 Silver
8 Light Grey
8 Dark Grey
56 Orange
87 Black
112 Pins and Axles[/details]
Rigel
https://i.imgur.com/RELnt9c.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/qB0iWxo.jpg
Another one I’m actually pretty happy with - there are some strange proportions resulting from my usage of the inika torso, and the build isn’t much to write home about, but in terms of aesthetics I feel he pulls off the heavily armored soldier look a lot better than Heze did, with a more consistent use of textures and bulk in (almost) all the right places.
[details=Piece Count: 196]2 Gunmetal
2 Dark Grey
1 Silver
4 White
1 Dual-Molded
10 Light Grey
8 Purple
80 Black
88 Pins & Axles[/details]
Procyon
https://i.imgur.com/L2tLQ66.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6YcQWUD.jpg
An absolute unit; look at the size of this lad. The piece count was decidedly excessive, but for better or worse it was an interesting build to disassemble again. There are definitely aspects of this design I want to reuse for the re-revamp, but without quite this ridiculous amount of sheer girth.
[details=Piece Count: 777]1 White
25 Light Grey
18 Silver
13 Gunmetal
30 Yellow
95 Grey
237 Black
358 Pins & Axles[/details]
Next Time: The main eight, the real stars of the show. After that, group pictures!
6 Likes
Okay, here’s the second part, this time going back over the revamps of the main eight sets from the 1999 wave:
Lesath
https://i.imgur.com/n20t2wB.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uutOXtm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BWk2JbZ.jpg
This is a build I have a lot of mixed feelings on. On one hand, this was definitely one that suffered from the piece drought I was dealing with later on in this series, and with the tank on his back it makes for a top-heavy and difficult to pose MOC. On the other hand, I do kinda like how his lankier build fits with the acrobatic angle I was going with to justify the original’s awkward head placement. On the other-other hand, that lankiness is kind of the polar opposite of the original set’s very stocky, bottom-heavy build, so it’s not the most faithful of interpretations. Still, one thing I do honestly like is the idea of the matching arms and legs allowing for him to flip over like this; while I think I may go for a different overall silhouette next time, I do think I’ll stick with this concept to some extent.
[details=Piece Count: 171]10 Dark Grey
8 Light Grey
9 Silver
38 Black
44 Red
62 Pins and Axles[/details]
Dubhe
https://i.imgur.com/3TTJa5p.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8mfjGBj.jpg
This is one of the builds I was really proud of back in the day, and I’m honestly glad to say I feel it still holds up really well. While it is admittedly built mainly around a Mata Torso, it’s hard to tell from most angles, and unlike Menkar there’s a lot less hollow space involved despite that decision. (And despite their structural oddities, the angled assemblies on the sides don’t put any stress on the pieces, either!) Don’t get me wrong, there is certainly plenty of room for improvement like many of the others; I’d want to make her proportions sliiightly less lumpy, and the color scheme could certainly use more consolidation and consistency. Still, for the most part I feel like the overall aesthetic direction is solid, and there are many specific details that I want to carry forward into the re-revamp.
[details=Piece Count: 225]1 White
1 Silver
2 Translucent
2 Yellow
8 Keetorange
20 Light Grey
19 Black
35 Dark Grey
4 Light Blue
16 Metru Blue
20 Mata Blue
97 Pins and Axles[/details]
Antares
https://i.imgur.com/9w0UPEt.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/hfzcGj8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PGK3Uwu.jpg
On the flipside, unfortunately, there are some that just plain don’t hold up well at all. Sure, I like the idea of what I was trying to do here, making Turbo less limited by making him able to convert from a car to a more standard figure. Unfortunately, that’s about the extent of the nice things I can say about this one, with the execution being incredibly shoddy on every possible level, and putting a ton of strain on the pieces. (I think he has to hold the record for most broken pieces I found while disassembling him, including one that his waist was connected to the upper torso by.) He feels awkward, the proportions are a mess, the car mode looks silly at best, and just in general I was not a happy camper while fiddling with this for the photos. I don’t want to be too harsh on my past self, after all I didn’t exactly have a lot of teal to work with, but even so… I’m definitely going back to the drawing board with him, to redesign from the ground up.
[details=Piece Count: 198]2 Red
11 Silver
12 Light Grey
13 Dark Grey
5 Yellow
22 Teal
54 Black
79 Pins and Axles[/details]
Meissa
https://i.imgur.com/kprXcEi.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vA43YMu.jpg
Meissa is another one I have kinda mixed feelings on. Build-wise she’s pretty decent, involved and interesting without overdoing it too much, but her torso does definitely have some awkward spots where I was just putting pieces together for the sake of filling up space. I don’t hate it, but I don’t quite love it either. In terms of aesthetics and concept I really like her, but feel like the execution leaves something to be desired; the tall and spindly look seems really fitting for her, but there are some spots (upper legs and lower arms in particular) where I think I went too far, and she just looks uncomfortably anorexic as a result. Like Scuba, I want to keep the silhouette I have going here, but fix up the awkward spots so she doesn’t feel quite so unnatural.
[details=Piece Count: 315]2 Dark Grey
2 Translucent
1 Mata Blue
5 Light Blue
7 Light Grey
18 Silver
50 White
88 Black
142 Pins and Axles[/details]
Kaus
https://i.imgur.com/3Eqmq1l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/iwDBZQZ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ofyT5U7.jpg
This is honestly kind of a funny build, but also one I want to take some cues from for my re-revamps. It’s amusing to me, because his forearms basically match the main torso in terms of complexity, it’s a testament both to how convoluted and odd the arms are, and how simple and straightforward the body is. And yet, despite the lack of pieces, despite not being all that densely-packed, it’s a build I’m pretty happy with? The emphasis is definitely on looks over anything else, and while I’d certainly want to iron out some awkward elements (his shoulders in particular don’t feel right) and try to make for a more dynamic and angular approach next time, on the whole this is a pretty good showing of the sort of simple-but-elegant design mentality I want to shoot for with the re-revamps. And yeah, I do want to stick with this concept for him specifically, though with an aim to declutter things and make him feel less like a walking junkyard.
[details=Piece Count: 150]2 Silver
1 Translucent
15 Light Grey
8 Black
13 Tan
55 Dark Grey
56 Pins and Axles[/details]
Mira
https://i.imgur.com/2DgONNF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/d0EgLRL.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QiCdUv4.jpg
Honestly, this is another one I’m still pretty pleased with, and I’d even say it’s one of my top five favorites. While there’s certainly some issues of clutter and texture, and the color distribution (particularly of purple, not sure how so much of it got concentrated in the thighs) leaves a lot to be desired, she’s got not only a solid concept, but a halfway-decent execution too. Torso is a little bit brickish but the small frame helps keep that under control, and her general proportions are some of the best of any of them, with only her forearms being a problem, weirdly bulky in relation to the rest of her. The wings are another element of slight weakness, not so much for their build but their weight; something that can hold itself up better is definitely a big goal for next time. I really can’t find too much here to criticize though, and while I certainly have some changes in mind already, on the whole I think this is one of the MOCs from this era I can look back on mainly with pride and satisfaction.
[details=Piece Count: 228]4 Silver
10 Dark Grey
17 Light Grey
23 White
1 Translucent
8 Purple
83 Black
82 Pins and Axles[/details]
Nashira
https://i.imgur.com/pzP5zhm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FVA67pd.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/s36M5D0.jpg
Nashira is a bit of a mixed bag, but at the same time I’m a bit more forgiving of her faults than I am with some of the others. The color scheme is definitely the most obvious flaw, with far too many light grey structural pieces showing through, but even aside from that I feel like the decision to use brown and dark green wasn’t a wise one in hindsight, perhaps grounding the original’s rather exotic aesthetic a bit too much. The build is also rather bricky, sharing Meissa’s issues of trying too hard to fill up space without as much mind paid to texturing or elegance in aesthetics, but despite that I still am rather happy with her overall silhouette. The samurai-like armor is definitely something to try to bring forward, but it’s the under-the-hood stuff and some specific creative decisions that will need a drastic reworking to suit my current standards. (And as a sidenote, those spring pieces on the thighs were definitely a bad idea; the pressure they put on the assembly has pretty much ruined most of those green sockets, sadly. Definitely not something to do a repeat of…)
[details=Piece Count: 278]5 Metru Green
1 Dual-Molded
10 Brown
17 Light Grey
14 Dark Grey
14 Mata Green
15 Teal
81 Black
121 Pins and Axles[/details]
Archenar
https://i.imgur.com/8SXRKEk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/SkVAfbr.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/SPIYEhf.jpg
And finally, we come to the one who started it all. Though the version here was itself a redesign of a previous attempt, either way you look at it he was the first of these I built, and the impetus to start building the others. It’s kind of bittersweet to pull him apart after all this time, but also oddly freeing, and his re-revamp is the one I quite possibly look forward to the most.
All that sappiness aside, though, what do I actually think of him? In a word… flawed. While his texture is fairly consistent, it’s unfortunately consistently messy, and my feeble attempts at shaping don’t really show through as clearly as I was hoping. His overall build is an unfortunate mix of hollow and bricky, with weird open spaces in his torso surrounded by technic beams stacked together in some pretty ridiculous configurations. His forearms are kinda ugly with the open balljoints and messy structure, some useless gears thrown on for no good reason, and his lower legs and feet are honestly kind of atrocious. His upper legs at least are good, and I still love the wing assembly, but on the whole his age and my inexperience really show, with a bad, bad case of Titan-itis making for an overall really strange and unnecessarily bulky MOC. He may not quite have Blaster’s level of weird girth, and this is definitely better than my original attempt, (Which had the opposite problem of being overly flat and wide) but still, it’s not one of my better builds, and makes some of the others look more graceful than they actually are just by comparison.
…At the same time, though, I still kind of love it; it was a big step forward for me from the kind of MOCing I was doing beforehand. It sure doesn’t live up to my current standards, but for what it was, I do still appreciate it. I can only hope that the re-revamp will be an equally big step forward, and help me realize new skills and approaches to building in the same way this one did for me back in 2011.
[details=Piece Count: 305]2 Dual-Molded
9 Dark Grey
26 Light Grey
7 Keetorange
20 Yellow
105 Black
136 Pins and Axles[/details]
Next Time: Group Photos! Then after that, an extra little surprise (unrelated to Slizers) and then this topic will finally close for good. (Though of course, I will still be posting new MOCs!)
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Alright, it’s time for group photos. After looking over each of them individually, how do they look side-by-side? (The answer is “really cluttered,” unfortunately, but alas.) Starting again with the flashback group, we’ll go first by factions, then by meta grouping. I’ll be giving story blurbs for these, but again, all of this is looong outdated, and I’d want to go in a different sort of direction with stuff now.
The Main Groups
https://i.imgur.com/c83nLmA.jpg
The Neutral Parties in the Sehran Civil War/Sehran Cataclysm; though they weren’t aligned with either Procyon or Millennium’s sides, it would be a mistake to think of them as passive; under the cover of open warfare, the three of them spearheaded a plan to try to stop the two leaders before they could destroy the planet altogether, and evacuate the thousands of innocents caught between the warring factions. Both goals were met with partial success, luring the leaders into a trap and removing them from the war altogether, but by then it was far too late to stop the conflict’s overall momentum. And while the evacuation went off without a hitch, they unknowingly overlooked eight children hiding in the deepest parts of the city…
https://i.imgur.com/CeoJWjX.jpg
Millennium was widely seen a solitary figure, leading his side in a remote and consistent manner, showing no favoritism to any of his supporters. Still, behind the scenes he wasn’t completely isolated, and his strength wasn’t entirely his own. Though his uncle, Heze, disagreed with his ideals and urged him to view the world in a more empathetic light, the two of them remained close regardless. Millennium sought his uncle’s council on many matters, and it was the monk’s advice towards peace that held back the brewing Civil War for several years… Until his accidental death at the hands of Rigel set his nephew on a path of all-consuming fury and vengeance that threatened to destroy all of Sehra, that no logic could stand against…
https://i.imgur.com/ZF0bhBw.jpg
Procyon and his companions were a force to be reckoned with even before the Civil War, but once it began in earnest they became simultaneously more deadly and more conflicted. Rigel’s guilt over Heze’s death and the broad consequences it created weighed heavily, while Deneb was made increasingly aware of Procyon’s growing madness. Loyalty to him and to one-another kept both by his side, but the longer the conflict dragged on, the more they wished to get away. Also caught in the trap meant for their leader, it’s only on someday reawakening that they may get a second chance to make the right decision…
https://i.imgur.com/udObJ9r.jpg
So, here’s the four non-set based guys. They still do have soooome basis in the original Slizers content, supposedly revamps of the Combo Models, but aside from Menkar as Hiker Mike, it all feels like an extreme stretch at best. As MOCs on their own merits… Eh, not as bad, but they’re still definitely some of the weakest from the whole lineup. And unfortunately, their colors are mostly pretty bland, with Menkar again being the one exception to an otherwise drab sea of silver. They’re consistent at least, but also not much to look at even in a group.
https://i.imgur.com/L9R7V3p.jpg
These four, based off of the 2000 Wave’s “Mutant” Slizers, fare better; though black is still by far the most dominant color, there’s a lot more personality to be found in each of them, and while I’ve picked apart the differing build approaches already, they honestly look pretty decent when put all together like this, moreso than I was honestly expecting. If only I could have had more purple with Rigel to balance better against the other two, but still.
https://i.imgur.com/YVOeDV5.jpg
After years spent living among the ruins of the city, the eight survivors overlooked by the evacuation effort spent aimless years living among the city’s abandoned buildings, living comfortably off of abandoned supplies and untouched technology, but lacking a higher goal or purpose. All the same, when Archenar began searching, planning, scouring the ruins and refusing to explain what he was looking for, some of the others couldn’t help but feel suspicious. Alarmed by his erratic behavior and fearful of what consequences his actions may bring, four of them formed an alliance to determine what he was up to and stop it if necessary. For better or worse, soon enough he may be the least of their worries…
The four revamps of the “Good Guy” Slizers are an interesting bunch, honestly. While Lesath certainly sticks out from the others’ more muted cool colors, they all make a pretty nice group; only Antares’ ungainly design detracts in any way, and honestly not as much as I was expecting after how much I tore into him earlier. On the whole they certainly aren’t the greatest showcase, but they hold up far better than the ‘combo model’ group.
https://i.imgur.com/8rfAaQI.jpg
While Meissa and company reacted to Archenar’s actions with valid suspicion, for better or worse the remaining three members of their group opted to give him the benefit of the doubt, intrigued by the possibility of finally having a purpose to work towards, and willing to help him even without knowing exactly what his aims could be. Unfortunately he takes their support for granted, refusing to divulge his plans even to them, and rewarding the trust they’ve placed in him with cryptic directions and ungrateful demands. Even their patience is wearing thin, and the closer he gets to his goals, the more his selfishness grates down, and the more they too question if this is all worth it in the end…
This may just be my personal bias speaking, but despite their many issues, I do feel like these four turned out pretty well, and look really good when set up all together. Archenar is probably the weakest of the bunch, but Nashira and Mira help kinda accentuate his good aspects,(?) and Kaus rounds off the group quite nicely. I don’t really have a lot to say here, I just like how this looks.
Putting It All Together
(These photos not sponsored by UHaul)
So that’s the factions and the main collections, but we can go grander with this. I had to find a wider space than just my desk for these, to show off how everyone looks in a big cluster. Unfortunately the result is some visual overload, but it was still cool to see:
https://i.imgur.com/kuYNCDZ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Qn7QtO1.jpg
The flashback squad in their entirety; it’s a bit on the drab side for better or worse, but it’s a thing.
https://i.imgur.com/iLLACNC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/SLHJVtU.jpg
The present-day cast are a bit of a livelier bunch, though not as much as you’d think given the sets they’re based off. Alas, it’s still neat.
https://i.imgur.com/W9DK2V4.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/hlksxki.jpg
Unfortunately, their moment of solidarity didn’t last, and battle lines were drawn…
https://i.imgur.com/c5kAb9y.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xUn1A8W.jpg
Here’s all twelve of the direct revamps all together, and wow is it really starting to look cluttered… At least there’s plenty of color to be had, now.
https://i.imgur.com/hwyCREQ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QDlqnNo.jpg
And finally, the grand finale. Everyone all together, for one last time. I’ve already said everything I had to say, so I just hope you enjoyed this look at everything!
Next Time: One last look at the past, a MOC I’ve been waiting since the start of this topic to show off. Flawed in its own way, but until recently was one of my proudest creations.
14 Likes