[MOC] A Theme of Steampunk Sets

[Nuju Metru]

Howdy guys!

This is the topic for a group of creations I've been working on for a while now. My general M.O. for MOCing is that I make creations to be as stable, functional, and reasonably-sized as real LEGO sets. The creations I make in my "themes" are designed to go together well, and be highly playable as a cohesive theme. The theme below is the fourth I've made.

I'm usually a medieval fantasy builder - most recently, I worked on a line of "Lord of the Rings" sets (an idea that I'd started working on before TLG announced their plans to do the same!), and before that was MOCing a series of Dragon-related creations - so my choice to undertake this project was a refreshing break from my norm. I've always loved the imagery and whimsy of the Steampunk genre, and so I decided I'd like to try my hand at it.

The theme below is set in a fantastical world of flying rocks, superlight gases, and - of course! - steam power. A warlike nation seeks to capitalize on a newly-discovered source of power: a strange fluorescent plasma, nicknamed Spark, that with proper treatment can be converted into pure, strong electricity. Sadistic gentlemen work together with twisted scientists at the head of the fledgling empire's efforts to gather the plasma. Meanwhile, the crew of the airship Auriga - a rogue sky frigate - has decided to do what it can to stop what they see as an evil regime dead in its tracks. This small, motley group of idealists may be all that stands in the way of the empire's search for Spark!

So yeah, the fairly basic TLG stock conflict over an energy source. Real creative... Well, if you can overlook that, I hope these creations are to your liking. Be sure to check out the Flickr sets - in them are some videos of these MOCs' functions.

5) The Auriga

Ajax Calloway, stoic captain of the Auriga, takes great pride in the abilities of his airship... and he has every reason to. The Auriga's propellers are powered by a unique Spark engine, making the ship extremely fast and durable. Unfortunately, the large quantity of Spark required to run this engine is extremely appealing to the nefarious gentleman Gordon Ravensdale, instigator of the empire's power-hungry actions. Ravensdale, riding his personal gyrocopter and accompanied by an army Vaporbird plane, will do anything he can to steal the Spark straight from the Auriga's engine, or else blast the airship from the skies! Will the airship's intrepid crew be able to fend off their attackers and stop the Spark from falling into the wrong hands?

Imagined price point: $120 USD

Includes: Humphrey Vole, Mark Davies, Abigail Davies, Ajax Calloway, Gordon Ravensdale, Pilot Soldier

Flickr Gallery

4) Cloud Cliffs Lair

Horatio Graham, the gallant first mate, and Humphrey Vole, the cavalier demolitionist, make an spiffing pair. But are they skilled enough to take down the base at Cloud Cliffs, the nexus of the empire's research into Spark? It seems like quite a daunting task; aside from the high-security prison cell, the swarms of nefarious personnel - including Edmund Mackenzie, the infamous cyborg dandy, and the cruelly apathetic Dr. Thornwood - and the revolving Spark cannon, the Cloud Cliffs lair is also assembling a new weapon: the Spark Boxer robot! Can Graham and Vole sabotage the operation, or will they be taken down by the old one-two?

Imagined price point: $70-80 USD

Includes: Horatio Graham, Humphrey Vole, Edmund Mackenzie, Dr. Thornwood, Soldier

Flickr Gallery

3) The Circinus

Abigail Davies, exasperated navigator of the Auriga, considers her own small dirigible - the Circinus - to be her place to seek peace and quiet among the clouds and floating rocks. Unfortunately for Abigail, the Auriga's resident academic Malcolm Willougby recently invented a rocketeer backpack that lets him accompany her on scounting missions... and her attempts to stop his intellectual tirades usually fall on deaf ears! However, when the Circinus ambles into a trap, Abigail is more than happy to have Malcolm along. Can they escape from the sights of the mounted repeating gun?

Imagined price point: $35-40 USD

Includes: Malcolm Willoughby, Abigail Davies, Soldiers (2x)

Flickr Gallery

2) Airfield Assault

Horatio Graham, gallant first mate of the Auriga, is on a mission sure to reaffirm any impressions about his character; only someone as infamously brazen and dashing as he would consider assaulting an army airfield armed with only his wits and his weighty broadsword! Can he stop the stealthy hot-air balloon from rising before it can drop Spark bombs on innocents, or will the barbed wire and armed soldiers (trifling obstacles, Graham claims) put a stop to him?

Imagined price point: $25-30 USD

Includes: Horatio Graham, Officer, Soldier

Flickr Gallery

1) The Steam Minotaur

Rupert Calverton, the Auriga's satirical engineer, has a problem: he has been stranded landside with a dome of Spark, and he is being approached by an imperial Soldier intent on taking it by force! Luckily, Rupert Calverton also has a solution: his not-yet-patented, remote-operated "Steam Minotaur." Will the Steam Minotaur's spinning gun and spiked mace be enough to defeat the Heavy Soldier? Of course it will... but you decide!

Imagined price point: $10-12 USD

Includes: Rupert Calverton, Heavy Soldier

Flickr Gallery

Thanks for viewing! All comments and critiques are welcome.

Edited October 2, 2013 by Nuju Metru

[Captain Settle]

Wow, you are the master of new themes... I'm not even that interested in steam punk, but I still can't wait to see more of this theme.

[Bob De Quatre]

Looks very good.

The light blue part on the shoulder seems a bit off, and maybe you should give the minautor somes bull's horns

[Nuju Metru]

First post updated with set #2, Airfield Assault!

Looks very good.

The light blue part on the shoulder seems a bit off, and maybe you should give the minautor somes bull's horns

The light blue is the "faction color" for the crew of the Auriga, so it's included on the mech to designate its faction. Red, conversely (as can be seen in the next set) is the color of the bad guys. Since it's hard to make completely distinctive color schemes for competing steampunk forces - a certain pallette is required to create the right tone in the MOC; colors like gold, browns, tans, and etc. are difficult to avoid - I decided that small, bright spots would have to serve to distinguish the two sides. On such a small creation as this, I see how the light blue could look out-of-place; it's mostly there for the benefit of matching with larger things yet to come.

As for bull horns, I thought that tusks looked cooler; it's only vaguely minotaur-shaped, mostly in the "hoof" region, but I preferred "Steam Minotaur" to "Steam Mace-wielding-bipedal-thing." Thanks for the feedback!

[-obelix-]

Both sets look very nice! Special props to the way you packed a nice damage potential on such a small mech.

[hench]

Another great theme, Nuju Metru. Balloon is awesome, it reminds me on the Adventurers theme.

[mpoh98]

Wow those are really cool and unique, well done!

[Nuju Metru]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! The first post has been updated with set #3: The Circinus. Go take a look!

[Nuju Metru]

The next set, "Cloud Cliffs Lair" has just been added to the first post! Only one set remains to be posted.

[kermit]

Brilliant and I have no critique of these sets as they are truly amazing. The multi barrel gun and the air ship are my favs.

[DraikNova]

The Cloud Cliffs Lair and the Steam Minotaur are by far the best. The flick-fire cannon is very creative.

[totohs]

A very cool sets and what a brave red accents nicely put there! Can't wait to see more of your creations!

[Nuju Metru]

Thanks everyone!

The final set - "The Auriga" - has been added to the first post!

[CMP]

All pretty awesome, as per your usual quality of building. Reasonably priced and sized, and more than well designed. I'd snap these up in a minute.

I especially love all the little details of the Auriga.

[Bob De Quatre]

I really like thoses sets. The theme is great and the builds are awesome.

What do you plan to do whith these? Cuusoo? Sell or distribute instructions?

One question: do you include transparent stands for all those floating rocks?

[Nom Carver]

These would make awesome sets.

[DraikNova]

Okay. The Auriga is simply genius. Undiluted MOCcing genius. Lots of greebles and quite a few NPU's, such as the Hahli wings.

[krystalKING]

I can't resist commenting! The design on these is genius, I'd buy the Auriga in a heartbeat! Overall, I've really loved the idea of airships, and you managaed to put it into bricks!

[Nuju Metru]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

I really like thoses sets. The theme is great and the builds are awesome.

What do you plan to do whith these? Cuusoo? Sell or distribute instructions?

One question: do you include transparent stands for all those floating rocks?

I might put these on Cuusoo; if I did, though, I'd have to pick just one, since they only make single-project ideas. As for instructions, I don't have any, and I'm afraid that, were I to take my stuff apart to make some, I might not know how to put it all back together again!

Yes, the floating rocks include built-in trans-clear stands. I decided to edit them out in the pictures, but they're there, and I consider them part of the "sets."

[WaysofSorting]

Great job - this is an awesome theme. I think I like the #2 set the best - Airfield Assault - if only because it gives us a glimpse of the way the Soldiers live and I guess, by extension, the rest of the "Warlike Nation." I would love to see a "SteamPort" city or something...the hostile, militant territory for Auriga to dare pass through. Who knows, maybe some fans out there relate with the Soldiers more than the pirates...Where does spark come from? Maybe some floating ships harvest it? This would be a good "soldier" faction thing to see - wherever they get Spark when they aren't gunning for the Auriga.

Anyhow, great build and design for a whole product line. I would totally buy these -

[LEGO Family]

Awesomeness all over these sets .... They are very well created and they all looks awesome. I would buy a few of them for sure !! :D

[Nuju Metru]

Great job - this is an awesome theme. I think I like the #2 set the best - Airfield Assault - if only because it gives us a glimpse of the way the Soldiers live and I guess, by extension, the rest of the "Warlike Nation." I would love to see a "SteamPort" city or something...the hostile, militant territory for Auriga to dare pass through. Who knows, maybe some fans out there relate with the Soldiers more than the pirates...Where does spark come from? Maybe some floating ships harvest it? This would be a good "soldier" faction thing to see - wherever they get Spark when they aren't gunning for the Auriga.

Anyhow, great build and design for a whole product line. I would totally buy these -

A Steam City would be a pretty cool set, as would a "Spark field..." I can definitely imagine those, and they look pretty big! The bad guys are pretty ambiguous, I suppose, and you're right that it might be nice to see what else they do. Thanks for the feedback!

[GregoryBrick]

This is a really great project. I too try to build sets which are playable and reasonably-sized. I think if you wanted to make it even more like an actual theme, you'd have to reduce your element count - not the number of bricks, but the number of different bricks in each set. There would also be a lot of elements appearing across sets - Monster Fighters really showcased this, IMO. Because of the detail, I can't tell if you've done that either. Again, well done.

(You've also prompted me to start a thead I've been meaning to do in the general forum.)

[Nuju Metru]

This is a really great project. I too try to build sets which are playable and reasonably-sized. I think if you wanted to make it even more like an actual theme, you'd have to reduce your element count - not the number of bricks, but the number of different bricks in each set. There would also be a lot of elements appearing across sets - Monster Fighters really showcased this, IMO. Because of the detail, I can't tell if you've done that either. Again, well done.

(You've also prompted me to start a thead I've been meaning to do in the general forum.)

Interestingly, nobody has ever brought that point up with my creations! Well, I can tell you that I do pay attention to reducing my element diversity in these sets - most times, basic connector/building bricks are all the same across a set (i.e. 1x1 studs are all gold in a set, or 1x2 plates are all dark tan) - and in fact, unless necessary to change it to a different color out of aesthetic reasons, I try to employ only one color of elements within the framework of a set. There's still a large variety of parts used in a set, of course, but the color simplification cuts down on that.

As for elements appearing across sets, I'd like to imagine that these sets have a pretty similar "parts vocabulary;" many types of pieces are employed as inter-set motifs, like barrels, olive green leaves, 4-bar handles, etc. But maybe this was all more prominent in my head, too! Thanks for the feedback.

[toms_hart]

Awesome steampunk sets. Love each of those set, my fave would be the steamship set. Excellent job!