The Librarian

Wow -- hah! I did not expect that to happen! Thanks everyone, well done to @Oky, @jansued and @o0ger, and cheers to @Bob De Quatre for a really fun competition!

MagnePulse Xcelerator - Oky Futuron Astro Warden - soccerkid6 L-S2S Shuttle - o0ger

I really adore the shaping on the wings. You've gotten a great look out of a fairly small number of parts there. Also, those canopies look great in there - I wouldn't have thought to use the inverted version, but that's worked excellently.

Thanks for the kind comments! Since I'm in the UK, we didn't get RoboForce, so I sadly have no real attachment to it! Never say never though, it's a weird enough outlier that I might toy with it someday. No, yes, and sadly no. I did want to cram in something else, a magnetic manipulator arm or cargo storage or something, but couldn't come up with a way to do it that wouldn't compromise the robot storage. The robot is definitely manned - there's no real interior to speak of, but you can hopefully glimpse Major Kartofski in there in some of these pictures and see the cockpit open behind him in the minifig shot. It's not terribly likely that I'll do them for the ship, but I'll think about it for the robot. You know, it struck me when I was planning this that I haven't seen many Spyrius MOCs over the years. It seems such a prime candidate for expanding with big ambitious builds, yet it seems to be vastly under-represented next to Blacktron. I'm really glad the gimmick gives that impression - that's kind of what I was trying hard to capture, something that would fit in with the existing style. Also, I love building studless, but it was nice to play around with making it burly and cheesy rather than totally streamlined and serious! Thanks again everyone - I'm really thrilled you like this one.

Thanks everyone! No, this just uses simple hinge connections to create the angles, with a row of brackets down the sides to attach the cheese slopes. I did mean to show off the base of the ship too, where this is more obvious, but none of the photos came out well. I'll try again this weekend and post some additional shots once the competition is over.

Well, since there seems to be an egregious absence of engagement with my top theme in this classic competition, I suppose it falls to me to fly the flag for those nefarious nogoodniks - the sinister Spyrians! In seriousness, I have a lot of nostalgia for Spyrius and the other mid-90s themes - certainly way more than I do for Classic Space, despite making that my other entry - and if you say that the point of this thing is to contain another vehicle, my mind cannot help going to one of the greatest mysteries of Lego Space: how do they get those robots to where they're needed? I tried to capture the octagonal design of the Saucer Centurion, at a heavier scale. Originally, I was thinking more Star Wars in approach, a big old brick of a barge. But it suddenly hit me that the far more fitting way to do it would be to use those clam-shell dome pieces. Obviously this whole thing is built around the gimmick, with a Slizer gear-box driving the raising of the ramp. The ship is basically a rectangular box at its core, with two sections shaped around 45 degree angle plates fixed to the sides. My first try at the design had the robot swinging down rather than up, for some proper 'drop and run' action, but that provided too unwieldy and perhaps a little out of keeping with the 1994-styling I was going for. A scaled down version of one of my favourite-ever sets was a must. This Recon Robot is, I'd say, not actually that much shorter than the original, but has a more petite wheelbase to make it easier to store. I put Major Kartofski in as the driver rather than The Chief purely because - thanks to using the bubble helmet - it was easier to fit him there than in the ship's cockpit! This was a real joy to build and I hope it stirs a few memories! Now, I suppose I'd better create some Ice Planet bits and pieces for them to steal . . .

I already had an idea for a wedge-shaped spacecraft based around the new trans-yellow canopy before I saw the competition was running, then decided to turn it into a suitable entry. It was quite tricky to remove all disqualified colours from the design but a couple of bricklink orders got me there! It's pretty much exactly 40 studs long - and I wish I had more to play with because I would have preferred to extend the front antennas, but those were the rules. I don't really have a lot to say, beyond that I was quite pleased with how both the ship and hoverbike came out. If I'm honest, it's my other entry that I have more emotional investment in!

Thanks everyone! Here are a few more: Longshot Autobot sentry, built more or less because I wanted to try another approach to a car-former Jazz Classic Autobot and one of my favourites. Jackpot Continuing a habit of building two of the same model, here's a character originally released as a non-transforming Action Master. Also including his Targetmaster partner, Sights. Rumble One of the first-year Decepticons, a minion of Soundwave re-imagined as a heavy trooper. Frenzy Another repaint! Burnout And an evil van to round off this batch. This was a transformation scheme that I ended up refining for some newer models I'll hopefully post soon.

I have been building Lego Transformers for well over twenty years at this point. It's something I keep coming back to over and over, trying to perfect the look and design, the mechanics and the posability. Have to say, I'm fairly happy with my current crop, all of which are aiming for minifigure scale. A lot of them aren't preexisting characters but it would be silly not to start with the most recognisable one of all . . . Optimus Prime Autobot leader, big red truck, all round good guy. Most of this model was an exercise in getting a really tall robot mode out of a fairly compact cab. Comes with trailer that folds out into a repair bay/battle-deck and both ion blaster and energy axe. Wheeljack Autobot engineer, mad scientist and daredevil driver. The second model I built, taking some liberties with the alt-mode to accommodate the robot. Quickstep A skilled Autobot interceptor, based on the Datsun Transformers from 1984, which is to say the Diaclone car robos previously released in Japan. This uses a colour scheme from that pre-TF range. Dazzle Autobot stage magician and diversionary tactician. Another Datsun version, this one based on a Mexican variant of Prowl. Echo Ninja-esque Autobot warrior, who turns from a very lanky robot into a very compact car. Still not entirely sure how I pulled that off! Swelter I decided on an animal-like form for this next one, a hot-headed lizard-like Autobot car in intentionally eye-searing colours. Fathom Another non-humanoid, this Autobot salvager was an experiment in unexpected alt-modes. Hope to come back and streamline this someday. Airshow Probably the Autobot model I'm most proud of, this daring aerial ace was pretty much built to see if I could get a decent robot out of a prop plane. Hardpan My experiments in unusual alt-modes continued with this guy, a put-upon geologist who turns into that most ubiquitous of vehicles, a tractor. Moving on to the Decepticons, I eskewed Megatron in favour of . . . Soundwave Decepticon communictor and all-round powerhouse. No longer a cassette player, now an armoured military comms truck. Meltdown I envisioned this 'con as an evil scientist who'd blown up his original form and rebuilt himself around his detached head. Switchback Very proud of this one - a relentless Decepticon resource scout in the form of a Germanesque steam locomotive. Boomtown A cultured gunsmith and all-round cad disguised as a stretch limo. Jacknife Brutish lorry and bully, based on a prototype of the toy that became Optimus Prime. Miasma High-flying poison expert and the latest in my long string of attempts to get a decent jet transformer to work. Flashpoint Another Seeker, this one an explosively-tempered bombardier.

Thanks for commenting everyone! Cheers - I don't tend to do brick-built creatures very often myself, since I generally focus on mechanical stuff. But I've had the idea for the head design in mind for a while and it all came together quite well. Absolutely no idea, I'm afraid. I don't design ahead of time and I don't keep track of parts, of have any real clue how to tell without dismantling everything! You're not wrong - part of it is a stability thing, but it is mainly just because I couldn't think how to make it look good another way. I think given the way the build works, the piece you highlight would be about the only option.

I'm not generally much of a castle builder, but there's one set that lodged in my imagination for years despite - or more likely because - never owning it myself. 6037-1, Witch's Windship from the Fright Knights line, always looked so cool in the catalogues. I mean, come on - dragon-powered airship? What's not to love? But while I did end up with some FK stuff, that one proved ever-elusive. Fast-forward a couple of decades and I decided to indulge younger me's yearning and build my own version, super-sizing it into the bargain. And here we are: There's a fairly cramped interior, centred on the cauldron piece (what else?) . . . . . . and of course the dragon can stand on its own! A few more pics here. Enjoy!

Following on from my batmobile style experiment, I fell into building a batcave to go with one of them. I decided to try and give the impression of it being hidden in the foundations for Wayne Manor, rather than occupying a entirely separate strata of gothic cavern that sits inexplicably on the Gotham coast. Don't get me wrong, I love giant, elaborate superhero lairs as much as the next person, but for this model I stuck to the essentials: computer, car, equipment. I did intend to build a more elaborate system of passageways behind the facade, even toying with the idea of incorporating a piece of the manor itself. But I kind of ran out of steam with the idea, so this is all there is. Hopefully it is diverting enough as it stands.

I put these together over the past few weeks, mostly to alleviate the boredom of staying indoors all the time! Trying to evoke different styles of Batmobile rather than recreate existing designs. A 'classic' car, trying to evoke the original designs, with a dash of the 1989 take. The 'car of the future' style that ran through the 66 show into the Super Powers cartoon. Mostly an exercise in getting the canopies to work! The militaristic version, patterned after the Tumbler and the dune-buggy from Dawn of Justice. Not especially pleased with how it came out, but hey, steering. A stylised look, more taking after some of the comic interpretations than the film versions. I started with this and the idea of the horns for wheel arches. Enjoy!

Thanks everyone! Ack - keep for getting to acknowledge the GotG influence: the Milano is definitely an influence here! Basically, the ramp is in three pieces, the two lower ones which fold back to back into a single block and then go at right angles to the top piece, which then slides back into the body. Something like: __ __ __ /\__ ||__ -> It's got a tendency to get caught on the deck plates when I slide it back, but mostly it's worked quite well.

Fantastic! I really love how you've incorporated so many facets of ol' Norm's story! The sewing machine is delightful! As is the truly hideous number of pumpkins . . .