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Plague-Doc-Matteo β Grottle and the Panopticon.
#bionicle #lego #mech #moc #ccbs #manarampmatoran
Published: 2017-03-03 06:42:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 2668; Favourites: 104; Downloads: 0
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Description
Well I guess this is what over a month of building and $114 worth of bricklink orders accomplishes.
This thing was definitely a journey to get from concept to an actual MOC. About the MOC
Panopticon is a concept I've had for quite some time now. Though it initially was going to use the dark green dome parts. Then after I found the orange ones on Bricklink I ordered them and was inspired by the recent Nexo Knights sets I had purchased and was going to make it Nexo Knights themed. The problem here was that this needed to be the counter part to another Mech I am working and, and therefore needed to be "the bad guy Mech." That's when I decied to go black and orange, and the MOC began to take shape.
Grottle is the little green goblin like pilot. I struggled quite a bit with coming up with a pilot for this MOC and it even spawned my previous MOC Vegas I wanted him to be a gangly and obese figure. While he didn't turn out as fat as I wanted him he's still decently unpleasant looking. I wouldn't want to mess with him. Credit to biomaker for the name. Thanks Liam.
Functions
The claws are articulated and can open and close.
The cockpit is connected to a gearbox which when you spin the knob on the back the interior spins, allowing the pilot to be able to see in multiple directions as well as for the Mech to take spinning maneuvers while the pilot remains in a fixed position.
Lastly the bottom of the Mech has a "power core" with flaps that open up revealing it.
Flick Photo Gallery
Bio
The panopticon mech is a weaponize mining vehicle used to dig deep underground to retrieve precious minerals These particular mining Mechs specialize in vertical drilling and being able to climb in and out of deep holes. They feature a powerful central energy drill that performs the majority of removing rock and debris. The limbs can also assist in drilling and allow for gaining multiple footholds within a shaft.
Grottle is an outcast who used to belong to a tribe of Techno Goblins who lived deep underground and mined minerals from the earth for profit. Goblins don't care much for civilization and therefore don't have many rules or regulations, but the one unspoken truth of Goblin society is that you don't steal what others have found. You can kill your brother over a bowl of gruel, you can usurp the king and everyone will cheer your name, but stealing is unforgivable. Before being exiled he stole a mining Mech and proceeded to weaponize it. Normal Octo-miners have little armor and tend to be fairly unreliable. After traveling to the overworld and stealing "Surface Walker" technology he upgraded his Octo Miner with better engine components and advance tracking and sensor computers. Tech goblins aren't particularly smart, but they're quite handy at adapting to new technology or figuring out how things work. Grottle's greed has always made him paranoid therefore he was always looking over his shoulder in case someone discovered he had stole something from them. A knife in the back of a thief wasn't uncommon. This lead Grottle to designing the Panopticon, an uparmored Octo-Mech that could allow him to see in all directions at any given time. Now Grottle uses the Panopticon to terrorize cities across the world and steal even more.
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Comments: 38
Thanks Jeremy.
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It took me a while to let it sink in what are my opinions on this.
Now, I can start by declaring that this is an impressive feat of lego craftsmanship. Although the color scheme is quite stereotypically black fantasy evil thingy, I do like that the brighter limbs give it a bit of an extra flare. The torso is pretty much the highlight of the whole moc, the panelling and detailing is quite spot on, creating a very cohesive look, and the cockpit is clever. There's a good bit of Cerebulon vibe from War of the Monsters. It kinda reminds of Datamon from digimon too.
More on the criticising note; First, I don't understand the 'middle feet'. Why are they different? There's no clear explanation and I find the grey breaking the color scheme, which kinda irritates my eyes while looking at the whole moc.
Β Β Β Second, the armoring the arms have. It's a pretty clean aesthetic, but considering they're tubes like the legs, I would've expected the legs to be armored similarly. Not the same way, but it would've looked nice if there were atleast slight traces of armor on the leg tubes, even if only on the ankles, reaching over the 'shins'. Alternatively the arms could've been left without black armor, so the overall aesthetic would've been simpler, but more classical, like from old school alien movies.
Β Β Β Lastly, I'm assuming that's the drill at the bottom? It looks pretty small and not very useful, so a bit bigger radius and steeper protrusion for it might look better, so long as people still know it's drilling vehicle. Otherwise it stands mostly as a war machine, which I guess is the point, but I think the hints about its origin could be a little more apparent.
Grottle is an ok little dude, but I find the feet a bit too big and the use of tires to thicken him off, mostly because the character doesn't really carry any other notable black areas. If anything shaping-wise, I personally would switch the places of the tires on his thighs to emphasize his 'fatness', which I assume is an intended aesthetic. His colors are an interesting experiment, but they don't quite 'pop' for me. I'm not really sure what would be a good compliment for lime green though, nor what to do with the black tires in the mix either.
Overall, neat mech, ok pilot, some nitpicks and weight issues.
8/10
Sentence: War of the Worlds (by Michael Bay)
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To the points you made:
- The middle feet are different because the mount is fixed to the central column of the bottom half. I had to anchor the CCBS octagon and so the front that doesn't have legs and those two are fixed. They can't bend like the others do. Because they're more of a fixed position I made the feet bigger so that it provided more stability at the center of the MOC. This was back when the MOC still actually stood on its own legs. Then I had to switch to the stands and while I could have made all six legs the same, I guess I just didn't think about it. You're right in this case that it's a bit of a break for no real clear reason.
- The armor on the arms was due to practical needs. Without the second string of CCBS anchoring the arms they just flopped down and weren't poseable at all. Poseablility is still limited, but at least this way I can have some control on which way the arms face. Alternatively, the armor is to help keep the tubes straighter, this works entirely against the premise of the tubes used for the legs which need to be bent and be more flexible at all times so that I can pose the Mech.
Stylistically it works because the arms are the part taking the most hits. its the part of the Mech that he's gonna smash into other things the most. One of my friends pointed this out on Facebook, there's six legs, but only two arms. The arms are a bit higher priority. - It is a drill, but not like a physical drill, its a laser drill that opens up and blasts the rock, kinda like the spaceships from Independance day. They open up and nuke anything below them. The idea that I also forgot to mention because I was so tired was that this thing can have short bursts of sustained flight. The legs are boosters with the central drill serving as the main booster. I wanted to convey this in the photo shoot, but this thing was so hard to shoot as it was I dropped it. So what the bottom is is like the energy core/laser drill/rocket booster with flaps.
Β
- I agree about the tires. I kinda just defaulted to them since I didn't know what else to do, and Lime HF armor didn't really look right. he needed skinnier limbs to be able to fit into the chair, but I didn't want to leave them exposed either. That was a case of just not having a better option. As for the feet, they're intentionally big. He's a goblin, goblins sometimes have big knobby feet. I think that was a bit of MTG influence leaking in.
Thanks Jesse for your input.
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Woah, I saw a WIP long ago in your Instagram, but I never expected it to end as this enormous thing.
First of all, I really like Grottle. Very good work in its goofy proportions, color scheme and mask choice. The feet feel a bit, just a bit, too long for me, but it's not like it can be changed with that design. Still I love that design, and the belly as well.
Then the mech. It's amazing, quite unique as the usual Bio-mechs tend to go. I love everything about it, from the claw design to the Nexo-Knight pannels, with the sole exception of the different legs using dishes. Those feel quite a bit out of place in comparation with the rest of the limbs. That's me again of course. Marvelous work on the functions, specially on the spinning cabin. Love that seat and the controls.
I don't know what more I can say. It's unique, you used a lot of parts in very interesting ways (I'm quite jealous of so many HF shoulderpads there, I find those quite useful), has a lot of play-functions, doesn't have gaps on the build, it's consistant both in design and color-scheme... Talking about that, I quite like how the colors of the mech and the pilot contrast.
Overall a wonderful creation, dear. Love this thing
P.S: Are those giant translucent pannels available in dark grey? I really could have some of those for Manufacturer, I'm having a really hard time trying to design her skirt.
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Thanks Lianyu. 
I'm glad you like Grottle. I'm really happy with how he came out to, except having to use tires on his arms and legs. That just felt lazy, but I didn't really have any other options there. The big feet were intentional. I could have made them smaller. But he's a goblin, and goblins tend to have big knobby feet.
Monarth mentioned the difference in the middle legs to. I guess that bothers you guys more than I thought it would. 
Those shoulder pads are one of the parts I was able to bulk order. I have a bunch of them.
I'm glad you like it. 
No unfortunately. They only come in translucent colors. www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/c⦠The neon green and yellow ones go for a lot of money, but the rest are fairly cheap.
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It's not a matter of laziness but effectiviness. If it works and works well, why go for a more complex option?
I know, I know, I just feel them just a tiny bit/i> long for my absolute liking.
Considering the distribution of mass I don't think it would work, but maybe adding friction joints in the inside of the tubes and making the six legs identical to the middle ones? Or using 2-bone width limbs inside the tubes, but I don't think those fit. Never had that part so, just an idea. It's not like the stands bother me anyways.
Tsk. Having those in black or dark-grey could have been really useful. What a shame. Dx Thanks anyways, dear!
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I guess. I would have liked something different though.
Sorry I guess. I like his feet they're big clunky gobbo feets. He picks them a lot, its gross.
Only one string of CCBS will fit in there and they did have stiffiners. Every joint had one, it still wasn't enough. There just wasn't going to be any way I could get it to work. And like you said the stand isn't that intrusive, so this outcome worked out better, and saved me on parts.
Right? Would be nice. It kinda sucks that lego doesn't really make very large parts like that anymore. That's the biggest complaint I have about lego. All these big massive boxes they make for their sets and they're usually half empty, they have the space to put large parts into them, yet they don't make them. I want a 20x20 Radar dish I want big giant tiresΒ I want windscreens for technic cars. WTF lego?
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Agh. Supposed so, you would have tried to put two rows if possible already. But it didn't hurt to ask. xD
I rarely use big parts so my MOCs aren't that big but I have to admit that there haven't been any big part in years. I never had one, but I miss for example those enormous enviroment-based plates from before 2000, like the ones from Classic Space or Aquanauts. Or those canopy ones for example, I don't have many uses for them but they're quite cool.
Right? For the Bionicle-like sets the packages are nicely sized, but for most of System the boxes are just too big. Specially in the bigger ones. I'm storing all of my Ninjago parts in the box of the Destiny's Bounty, and there is still space!
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Seriously! They do that because a big box means its more noticeable, it means more advertisement. It also doesn't cost that much for the extra bits of cardboard.
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There's so many 1x1 pyramids!
Anyways, I love all functions you put into this and the orange color scheme!
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Right? That's about $21 worth of them to be exact. I ordered 300 of them. I don't think I used all 300 but its close.
Thanks.
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i dont like the two different shades of transorange Β
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Well that was unavoidable.
I don't like dipshits leaving retarded comments on everybody's MOCs, yet here you are.
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but yet you posted it for the otherΒ epic Lego MOCers to critiqueΒ and give their opinion on what they like and what they do not like about the MOC I just said what I don't like about it, nothing wrong with the build or colour pallet just the different shades of the colour that's all. Here I'll add a positive on to brighten your spirits up.
Like the use of the Mars Mission air tubes for the legs and the choice for the Black-TronΒ dark trans orange for the cockpit.
I do like the Black-Tron theme it is a nice rendition from the good old space theme days/ years.
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I knew he was going to say that, lol.
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who me the jackass or the very talented Mana-Ramp
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well atleast there wont be any Legends of Mythron MOCs anymore
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How does that statement have anything to do with the current conversation. I am pretty sure that whatever that means, it holds no relevance.
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no more arguments from me
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i wont be doing any TLOM MOCs but i will be doing random MOCs MOVs and Revamps
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Okay, what about it? I never asked about such a topic, nor did I bring it up.
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im just saying what i'll be doing
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Its big. Kinda heavy to. This is definitely the biggest thing I've built in a long while.
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No doubt about that! Well done!
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I only didn't leave an actual critique, because I cannot find anything that needed it.
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Fair enough.
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That's alright, it happens sometimes.
Btw, I have been doing so good at Titanfall2 that several people have reported me for cheating, lol. [They were total scrubs. There are some people that are on my level and they are tough, but this whole set of people sucked ass.
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That's cool. I don't really play video games anymore, and if I do I go for single player games. I'm antisocial even in the digital realm.
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Lol, I turn into a a commanding war tactitian if it is a more strategy based game. (In any game with guilds I manage to stumble across guild leaders and impress them to the point they let me make most of the tactical war commands. Lol.
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