Henchmen4Hire

*highfive* :D Yarrr! Unfortunately, Frank hasn't had a van since the '90s, but he does use vehicles from time to time, he just doesn't have a steady one (I guess because Marvel realized it was silly that villains didn't recognize his big black van when he parked it in front of their houses!). At the moment, Frank is having supernatural adventures as a Frankenstein monster (dubbed "Franken-Castle"), I don't want to spoil it for you though... you can catch-up with the recent Punisher series by Rick Remender and the "Dark Reign" One-Shot featuring Frank and Dark Wolverine... I loved his work on Fear Agent and Last Days of American Crime, but I'm just not into this new direction he took with Punisher, oh well. At least Punisher MAX is still around! I bought the head for Micro, but now that I look at it more, it looks more like the head of John Watson from Sherlock Holmes, haha. I'll buy the pieces for him (and the hair-piece for Frank) whenever I get some money to spend...

After not buying legos for over a decade, the first thing I bought was the Lunar Limo, and I have to admit some of the pieces felt "cheap". For example, the 2x4 black tiles are almost see-through, the bricks feel lighter too, but at least they still connect firmly and flushly (that's a fun word :) ). Also, one of the yellow cones that go on the rods in front is now permanently stuck because the rod had a ridge I didn't see from a thick mold-line.

*disbelief* YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THE PUNI-?! Har har... The Punisher is a an anti-hero vigilante comic-book character by Marvel Comics. :)

MB makes some very useful pieces. I'm not sure why it is, but anytime I build something with LEGOs, I usually always find some MB bits to improve the design or playability. They compliment each other, improving on each other's weaknesses. Now, finding the useful pieces in the colors I want, instead of the pale milky colors I usually see in MBs, that's a different story, har har. I tend to use MB bits if I can hide them in a wall or under the chassis or something.

If SW figs weren't so unreasonably expensive, I'd love to make a squad like this! Of course, I'd call them Space Marines since I'm a Metroid fan, har.

Right...because that isn't how real-life mechas are built, right? xD If it can stand and can blast the hell out of things, it's a-okay in my book, great job QQS!

Har har, that magic carpet is ridiculous, love it xD

I was going to make all the photos have backdrops like the first image, but... I got lazy, harrr! Thanks!

Awwww! How about you ship it to me, and I'll build the instructions for you, then ship it back to you when I'm done? :D (I was trying to reverse-engineer it today with zero luck! haha)

Hah, that stinks! Try watching some BB episodes online if you can find them.

Hey...how are you talking when there's no air on the moon! :P

That cheerleader is enjoying the shot too much xD

Ha, this made me want to go read Batman: No Man's Land again. Sweet!

Once you go block, you never go back! Yarrr! Hopefully I can find plans for Batman's Tumbler, making my own designs is exhausting, ha. Totally! I liked the Agents sets, they seemed to be LEGO's SHIELD-type of characters. I think I'll try to make a Nick Fury minifig so he can bicker with Frank like grumpy old men. :D I'll post more (and cleaner!) pics when I get Punisher's toupee, haha.

[Note: This is like 95% complete, all I need now is a windscreen and some tiles for headlights/mirrors and finishing touches... also, I need to wash this thing, it's filthy xD] More pics on flickr if you wanna scribble notes all over it and see more features. Also on MOCpages and Brickshelf. http://www.flickr.com/photos/drnightmare/ There were two important goals in mind while designing this van, the more important one was that it had to be tough! That meant it had to be big and look tough, as well as be able to smash through brick walls without flinching. So instead of using little bits to add lots of details (which would just fly off the second it crashed into something), I focused on using standard bricks, to not only make it look a little more blocky and old-school, but also to make sure it wouldn't cost too much by needing to buy a bunch of special bricks. Also, I like sharp angles on my vehicles. :) The wheels are attached very simply, with long technic bars on each side. Ideally I'd use only one LONG technic brick for more sturdiness, but you work with what you got! This also leaves a large space under the van to add surprises... I fell in love with the bricks with studs on the sides, they're perfect for the second goal; to make the van as customizable as possible, inside and out. I used a lot of 1x4's to riddle the inside-walls with studs, so I can place clips and hang gear from wherever I want! I can even slip tools directly into the bricks to save a lot of space, it's very roomy in there. By flipping those 1x4's around, I can place the studs on the outside of the van, to attach missiles, lasers, or whatever ridiculous weapon I can invent. Basically, The Punisher can modify his van to handle any mission. Notice the roof is all studded, anything can be attached up there. Granted, I don't have that much gear equipped on it, that's only because I don't have any gear to put on there! I have to hit Bricklink again. The front bumper is also fully customizable! (and yeah, I know, ALL LEGOs are like that, haha). Those black tiles come off to reveal a 6x2 studded area where anything from a winch to a battering-ram, to a bunch of flamethrowers can be added by SNOT. And yeah, the brackets are MB 2x2 plates connected at a right angle, LEGO doesn't have a counterpart (they have 2x2 connected to a 1x2), the MB is sturdier in this case. Yeah, I've thought of a lot of improvements now that I have the van built instead of just as a picture in LDD, and I welcome any more suggestions! I haven't built anything for years, so I'm not completely up to date on new elements. Man that was a lot of typing, har har. And yeah, I still need to buy the hairpiece for my Punisher fig x_X Also 2 more heads, so I can have a young, middle-aged, and old version of Frank.

Very cool, man! I imagine I went through the same problems you did when building my current project, trying to make it look good and sturdy to play with. This thing is badass! Do you have any building instructions for it? It'd be a shame if this thing was accidentally dismantled and you had to start from scratch, or worse, we'd never get to see anything else like it again!

Whew! Thankfully I don't have to worry about any of that because my work is always super duper awesome! ;D

What size is the drillbit? I kinda wanna add four arms to a minifig's back and 2 more on the sides, heh. And I don't know what's up with people freaking-out over Mega Bloks, how else are you going to get sweet LEGO-type TMNT figs. :)

I only point it out because that's how my custom action figures would look when I started, I would forget to sand the areas I sculpted so sometimes there would be physical fingerprints and would show-up with the dry-brushing on top. Yeah, sorry about the nitpicking, to be honest, no one would even complain about that except for someone like me with mild OCD :D

The head-on shots sold it for me, I like the shape of this thing, awesome!

That's the spirit! :P

There's nothing inherently "bad" about those figs, I'm still not sure why people (AFOLs) hate them so much. They're just different from the minifigs you guys are used to, but then again, a banana is also different from the LEGO minifigs you guys like, does that make them "bad" and "wrong"? haha

Heh, I like those landsharks. Those crash test dummies are hardcore massochists, kinda scary!

Cool, that's neat how the lines between the bricks help create the illusion of panels on ship.

I see kids play with both kind of figures with no problem, it's mostly the adults that are resistant to using those 4+ figures. I hate to take sides, but I don't like them, just too used to the smaller ones I guess. Also, it's a hassle to re-design your vehicles to fit the 4+ figures, heh.