Mini Human Vehicles

(first posted 11/6/2005)

In the LEGO world, any model that is too small to be to scale with a LEGO minifig is called "microfig scale." However, after the release of the LEGO Star Wars "Minis" sets, "minis" became an official term for them. It can make things rather confusing at times. Anyway, just think of these as Micro Machines compared to Matchbox cars. Do they still sell Micro Machines? Man those things were awesome...

The Longsword Fighter (or Bomber, according to some) was a ship I really wanted to build in regular minifig-scale like my other customs, but it was a bigger project than I expected and I never completed it. So here it is in microfig-scale form, anyway.

These guys can be seen escorting the Autumn in the beginning of the game, and Master Chief later makes his escape in one after destroying Halo. They were supposed to make an appearance in Halo 2 by bombing a Covenant gun emplacement on the surface of Earth, but this whole level was apparently scrapped (for some stupid reason). Now they can only be seen briefly in space, such as when Master Chief is jumping out of Cairo Station while clinging to a goofy amoeba-shaped bomb in another scene that was far cooler in the teaser trailers than in the actual game...

The only LEGO builder I've ever talked to who thinks the Longsword should be dark grey instead of black... is myself. And yet I caved in and made it black.

I find the Longsword's design to be rather boring, actually. It's basically a space version of the B-2 "Spirit" Stealth Bomber.

Here's the rear of the ship, the ONLY STINKING ANGLE that you can find PICTURES of on the INTERNET! It just about drove me crazy.

I'm much more satisfied with this miniature rendition of the Pelican Dropship than I am with my larger vesion.

As always, the wings and engines still rotate! Okay, so it's just one stud holding the wings on and you twist it... but that's good enough for a mini.

I don't think the front end is perfect, but it's okay. Actually, the thing that bothers me the most about this model is the use of bley (bluish grey, or "new grey") which doesn't match the other regular dark grey pieces. And old dark grey is definitely closer to the Pelican's actual color than bley.

There's the troop compartment! Just imagine some little soldiers, each half a stud wide, jumping out of the back, and the model is complete!

I prefer colored booster glow, but they insist on changing the color of the engine fire in each game, soooo...

Carrying the 'Hog.

Carrying the Scorpion. Yes, the Pelican really could carry the Scorpion in the game... even in Halo 1. Of course, it had the convenience of having the turrets on both the Warthog and Scorpion being able to "meld" up into the polygons of the Pelican's underside. This made it much more space-efficient... but quite unrealistic. Tsk, tsk, tsk... Bungie cheated.

The Warthog is not just "mini," it's MINI! you might think I went a bit extreme here, but I did this so that it would fit under the Pelican. Besides, you can still tell what it is, right? I tried making a slightly bigger one, but it actually looked less like the Warthog than this one... A lot of people fuss at me about this one, but personally I really like the cute little guy. He really is almost the same scale as a Micro Machines car! If you don't have some Micro Machines... GET SOME!

The Scorpion Tank. Pretty sweet, huh? Well... kinda.

Those microscopic Grunts and Elites don't stand a chance against the inch-long UNSC attack squad of doom!

UPDATE:

I never got around to finishing an entire set of Covenant minis, so here are a mini Banshee and Ghost I made shortly after completing the human vehicles above...