Over the past several months, I’ve been making a bunch of little robot OCs for an original story I may or may not be developing. It started when I got a project pack from Bricks & Minifigs in February(?) 2025, kinda just set it aside for a while, then for reasons I will not get into ripped it open that December. I wanted to find joy in making something. I did. Let’s leave it at that.
The result was the blue robot we’ll talk about in a bit. Since then I’ve made several more and even a couple of human characters–but we’ll talk about those guys another time. For now, let’s look at some plastic robots.
Starting with the good guys…
These robots were originally designed by Dr. John Fischer and Dr. David Nelson, a legendary duo in the field of robotics and engineering, with the stated goal that artificial life can blend in seamlessly with organic life without taking away the things humans want and need to enjoy that life. In short, they aspired to create a perfect world, hence the robots’ numbers.
- Mindaro 6 came first; although he was nonverbal and manifested the personality of an 8-year-old child, he was successful enough that the project continued.
- Alabaster 28 came next, and her personality was somehow even more human; although also nonverbal, she had somehow learned to be a playful brat, willingly employing exact words and/or outright disobeying her masters’ orders just for the fun of it (although she also knew when to behave).
- Vermillion 496 was their most successful test yet; armed with a water cannon, he’s helped out the local fire department and even managed to pick up on their brand of humor.
All was going well until Dr. Fischer discovered Dr. Nelson’s plans for the then-upcoming 8128-series. Dr. Nelson planned to used the one named Cobalt to force the leaders of the world to obey his demands and surrender their authority, wealth, and power over to him and Dr. Fischer. In short, Cobalt 8128 was designed to be a weapon (and to an extent, so were the others), one that Dr. Nelson planned to use to rule the world. Dr. Fischer couldn’t bear to see anything he made be used for such a nefarious purpose, especially things designed with the help of a man he once would’ve trusted with his life, so he committed a great crime: he wiped all evidence of the robots’ existence from their company’s records, stole them, and ran. He blew up the company’s building to mask his escape (thankfully, no one else was inside, so no one else was harmed). Dr. Nelson swore revenge on his former business partner, but he would never again find Dr. Fischer in his lifetime.
Dr. John Fischer went into hiding after that. He lived the rest of his life, undiscovered, using a false name. His robots, including the incomplete Cobalt 8128, would also go undiscovered until they were found by his granddaughter, Sasha Franklin. She immediately took a liking to them and welcomed them into her family…
And now the bad guys…
Peridot 31
Note: I actually have changed Peridot’s construction quite significantly since taking these pictures. I’ve swapped the bar plates in the legs with these old 1x1 tow ball plates, and I’ve used those parts to replace the ratchet joints in his arms. I’m just too lazy to take the pictures again.
Three generations is a long time to hold a grudge, but Dr. David Nelson was never a quitter. His legacy was carried on by his grandson, Claude Nelson, Jr. While he never officially got his doctorate, there’s no denying that he was a prodigy in his own right, creating no less than 5 of these machines (with a 6th officially on the way) all on his own. Much like his grandfather’s work, Nelson’s robots had unmistakably human qualities. Unlike his grandfather’s, this new generation tended to embody humanity’s worst traits.
- Granite 3 is little more than an apathetic worker drone, caring little about the goings-on of the world so long as he can follow his orders.
- Pyrite 7 is an egomaniac, being unable to do much on his own but somehow filled to the brim with delusions of grandeur, demanding anything and everything from everyone and offering nothing in return.
- Peridot 31 is a massive jerk–even before considering that he’s Pyrite’s favorite target–antagonizing, bullying, and attacking others for no real reason except maybe personal amusement.
- Sugilite 127 is a coward, believing that she and her counterparts’ have the potential to be more than the sum of their parts but never brave enough to actually stand up and speak up for herself.
- If you could give evil itself a body, it would be Cadmium 8191.
- A sixth robot, Jasper 131071, is officially in development and is said to represent hubris.
- Rumors of a seventh robot, Obsidian 524287, have been officially denied by Nelson’s company.
Claude intends to carry out his grandfather’s legacy and complete what he never could, the first step of which is reclaiming his grandfather’s robots. With them having pledged loyalty to Miss Franklin, however, they won’t be surrendered easily…
Trivia
- As mentioned in the lore, the good guys’ numbers are the first few perfect numbers. Meanwhile, the bad guys’ numbers are the first few Mersenne primes. I’ll leave the proof as an exercise for the reader, but there is a 1:1 relationship between Mersenne primes and even perfect numbers.
- The good guys stop at Cobalt 8128 because the next perfect number (4,096 x 8,191 = 33,550,336) is just a bit too big to work as part of a name in my opinion.
- In any case, I imagine that Cadmium always curses out Cobalt with a cheesy one-liner like, “You may call yourself perfect, but I am in my prime!”
- All of the robots so far have been built using mostly parts I had on hand (hence some of the weird design choices).
- While a creative box was purchased for some azure parts on Cadmium, I didn’t know what was in the box and wasn’t looking for anything in particular.
- As mentioned before, I did order some pieces for Peridot’s legs, but that was long after I had finalized his design.
- The HF friction extender piece on Cobalt’s cannon has been spray-painted black. I’m considering ordering an imitation brand version of this piece from Ziontyro, but at the moment it is a very low priority of mine.
- Cobalt was the first one I made, followed by Vermillion, Alabaster, Cadmium, Mindaro, Sugilite, Peridot, Pyrite, and Granite.
- As hinted in the lore, I have conceptualized Jasper 131071 and Obsidian 524287.
- Jasper will be a red and grey robot with transparent orange (and maybe blue?) highlights. He is immensely proud of his strength and physique. I bought 71854 Cole’s Mission Mech & Dragon Zane to use as a base to build upon, but I haven’t made any progress yet.
- Obsidian 524287 will be a giant black robot meant to be essentially the final boss. I’m not even going to try designing Obsidian until I complete Jasper.
