In case you didn't know, Mechwarrior is a series of video games for the computer (PC), that take place in the Battletech universe, where huge walking machines called battlemechs rage interplanetary war on a galactic scale. Each Mechwarrior game throws you headlong into this universe, where you must fend for yourself or be blown into bits. Eject! The 'mech(s) below are based on the Mechwarrior 4 "series" of games. The games in this series were Vengeance (which was awesome), Black Knight (which stunk), Mercenaries (which was awesome), and some Mech Paks (which were overpriced but cool). Some people fault Mechwarrior 4 and claim that the Mechwarrior 3 was better, and then there are people before them who dislike Mechwarrior 3 and claim that Mechwarrior 2 was the best. It seems to stem from when you were born, and the nostalgia resulting from which one was the first you played. Since I was born in Mechwarrior 4 times (the only other one I played was MW2: Mercs a little bit), I prefer it the most. I've yet to meet the person who likes Mechwarrior 1 the best... No matter which is your favorite, however, all agree that, sadly, the Mechwarrior series was pretty much killed by the release of MechAssault, the astoundingly disappointing console series that dumbed-down everything that was great about Mechwarrior and turned it into practically a car-combat shooter. Here's hoping that someone eventually comes out with a Mechwarrior 5 someday...

The Clan Dire Wolf (Daishi)

(posted 9/19/2004)

(Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance screenshot)
In Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance, and in Mercenaries (though to a lesser extent), the Daishi (which the Clanners who built it call the Dire Wolf) is the most powerful 'mech on the field. As the description in Mercenaries says, "No 'mech, not even the Atlas, can outgun the Daishi". It's not the coolest-looking 'mech in the game, but it sure is fun to completely destroy a smaller mech in a single blast!

This is my new and improved Daishi LEGO compared with my old one from 2001. I actually loved the old one when I first built it, so I kept it built for a really long time. But then, after playing Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries and looking at my old models again... I decided to improve it.

I tried to make my new Daishi extremely detailed and accurate, but I decided to change a few things. The design is a mixture of the best parts of the Mechwarrior 4 PC game Daishi and the original Battletech model. The Battletech model had more interesting arms because the gun barrels were visible, instead of the whole arms basically being square slabs with holes in the end. So I replaced the flat arms of the in-game Daishi with these.

The Mechwarrior 4 Daishi's feet were also really wacky, with three toes, one on either side of the foot, that folded up when the 'mech walked. Since they had no support sticking out of the back of the foot, there's almost no way the mech could ever really balance itself well enough to stand up, and certainly not as a LEGO! So I used a foot design similar to the old Battletech model instead.

Here is an interior shot, one of the best points of view. You can see the ammunition loaded up behind the pilot. The round yellow ones are artillery shells. I prefer to load up the omni-ports on my Daishi's arms with LBX cannons, myself (they're like 'mech shotguns, and they stand a great chance of knocking smaller 'mechs off their feet). Above those are the missiles (the cones). You can see where the line moves up to load the missiles into the launcher on the 'mech's shoulder. I thought that was a nice touch, myself.

Here is the Daishi's back. The hatch on the bottom can open, but there isn't anything inside... I couldn't really decide what to put in there. Also notice the vents behind the missile launcher. I always like to imagine smoke coming out of the back of a missile rack, so I like to put vents back there... even if they weren't there in the game.

As you can see here, the arms can rotate, just like in the game, to point at an enemy. This is very useful, since the 'mech cannot rotate its torso very far around, so it can only cover its back if it rotates the torso AND pivots one arm around.

I pity the foo who underestimates the power of my Daishi!

Older Mechs from 2001

These models were made back in 2001 when I was first playing Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance. I was about 14 years old at the time, and I threw most of these together purely for fun in under an hour each. So they're pretty old and crappy, to say the least. Still, here they are, for the sake of nostalgia on my part... and probably laughs on yours.

Visit my Brickshelf Folder to view them:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=5536

Recognition

Well, this is not so much "recognition" as a rip-off, since I received no credit... In May of 2007 I was just randomly surfing the web for pictures of 'mechs from Mechwarrior when I stumbled across this:

For those of you not up on the online Webcomic world, it's a strip from UserFriendly, a webcomic (or "cartoon" as they sometimes call it) that focuses on the nerd community (hardcore nerds that is - Linux users). I used to read it until I got tired of them bashing Microsoft so much. Turns out Illiad (the handle the artist goes by) stole my LEGO Daishi without so much as asking for permission or even giving the slightest mention of credit, and used it in a strip on November 2006. I suppose I'm glad he liked my Daishi, but even a slight mention on the page would have been nice. You can see the comic in its original place (the UserFriendly website) by clicking the strip above, as per his copyright policies. Which is ironic, since he totally ignored my own copyright. Pretty funny, huh?

"So how does it feel to be strapped into a walking nuke reactor at 6 AM? Haha... See the Catapult in front of you? That's my mech. Shoot me even once, and I'll turn around and blow that glorified beer can you call a mech into scrap!" - the trainer from Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries