[MOC] Chocobo (Final Fantasy WIP)

[Srbandrews]

Hi folks,

I've been struggling to decide on the most appropriate forum to post this in, but eventually plumped for Sci-Fi.

I've mostly only made trains so this is a bit of a departure for me. It's the first time I've tried to build something organic, I think, and I hope it doesn't look too much like a robot. Anyway, this is my design for a chocobo from the Final Fantasy series. There are other designs out there which are better in most ways, but I wanted something that was a little smaller and more in scale with a minifig. This is the result so far:

I've built a prototype out of whatever I could cobble together and it seems to work quite nicely. It doesn't have much difficulty balancing and it can do some moderately dynamic poses:

So, the next step is ordering the parts, but I thought I'd see whether I could get any useful feedback before I spent real money - Like I said this is a bit of a departure to me so I may have missed something obvious.

Any comments welcome.

[welfycat]

I really like it! I think it does a great job of being identifiable as a Chocobo.

I am not a designer by any means, so feel free to ignore these thoughts (I don't even know if they are feasible at all). Chocobos seem to have a longer face on top then on the bottom, so like with many birds their chin is essentially their beak, before the shape of the face recedes rapidly back to the neck. Either slightly elongating the top of the face or making the neck longer might create the same shape? The only other thought I had while viewing this would be potentially rounding the tails at the end (perhaps with the pieces that look like claws).

I'd love to see your finished project when you have the pieces ordered! Good luck!

[Srbandrews]

Aha, yes, thanks. I've been wondering why it didn't look quite right there and I think you nailed it. I'll have to have a good think about that because that cheese slope does add to the sort of sturdiness of the head. I'll have a play around and see what I can do.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Now, that is quite unusual!

Brick on!

[Robin Creations]

Nice job! I like how the feathers and legs turned out

[Srbandrews]

Thanks all, and thanks again for the tip welfycat, I think this new head is a bit of an improvement:

What do you reckon?

[welfycat]

Yes, I like it a lot! The face shape really works very well! Awesome work!

[vofallbook]

well,I like it a lot! The face shape really works very well! Awesome work! thanks

Edited March 21, 2015 by vofallbook

[Srbandrews]

And here it is for real:

Edited March 21, 2015 by Srbandrews

[Fuppylodders]

I love this!

I was searching images for a chocobo because I wanted to do one as Im trying to make all the main characters from FF7 out of lego, and came across this lego version. I saw it as a really good minifig version, and thought I'd try some of my own 'twist' on it. I hope you don't mind me posting it here, but I do want to give you full credit as I can't honestly say how mine would have turned out if I had not seen yours, but I do know that Im 100% happy with what has turned out :)

Seeing yours again, I forgot to add the rear claw on each foot but, that can be sorted!

The orange 'plume' on his head is unfortunately unavailable in yellow, but would have literally been perfect for his tufty bits of hair if it was. As it is, the single plume version does come in yellow, and that is currently on order...

modified version of EB member srbandrews chocobo by Sam, on Flickr

I also made a baby one based on this image: http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/4/48/Chocobo_Digging_and_Gardening1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20060710144402

It uses the same plume for the one I have on order.

Baby chocobo! by Sam, on Flickr

Edited July 16, 2015 by Fuppylodders