Lego Build 113 — Champion
There have been a few posts in the past that some would consider controversial, but this week I may be a bit bolder in that regard. This is because some of my creative process involves seeking influences from many works and then meld them together into something new. Of course that with this series of builds, along with others based on several IPs, the main goal is to get as close to the official art as possible. But sometimes either I’m not really a fan of it or in the meanwhile I’ve contemplated other approaches. This brings us to this version of the classic Champion.
In lore the Champion was build by the same company that had developed the Locust BattleMech. The intention was to craft a heavy ‘Mech with great agility. This came at the expense of firepower and armor, almost like the idea of essentially creating a larger Locust brought us the flawed Cicada.
However, the Champion was not without its advantages. It was still an heavy ‘Mech and in small-scale, positional conflicts its qualities shone through. The grind of the Succession Wars destroyed most of the surviving units, though, with the model essentially vanishing from the Inner Sphere, save for ComStar or mercenary commands.
Now, this version of the model has some artistic liberties thrown in, as the sharped-eyed of you can see. Well, there are some reasons for that.
Many of the original designs of BattleTech were drawn from an old mecha anime, Fang of the Sun Dougram. I’ve talked about that show a few times in this blog, one of the best ever of its kind. Although many mecha designs therein were “burrowed” for BattleTech, others weren’t. The show’s plot is an almost perfect BattleTech-type story, certainly one of the main inspirations, and thus I tried to imagine what of the official BattleMechs the unused designs could represent.
Many people have made their own takes on the Bushman, the smallest of the Mechs in the show. I myself see it as a 30-ton Valkyrie. Having had the opportunity to have some models printed for me, this is exactly how I use them. Given that no other machine in the show could represent a light BattleMech I also think that this allows us to fill that important niche.
The Mackerel could work as a Crusader, although I’m still a bit on the fence for that one. Finally there’s the Nicholiev, which I saw a good stand-in for the Champion. Thus, when I made this model I took some cues from the Dougram machine. To me it is at the same time an homage to one of the best animes ever made, but also a take on what could have been if all of its designs had been used for the original BattleMechs.
Beyond allowing my imagination to run, such exercises also allow me to come with aditional projects. Beyond the MechWarrior 4 scenario for MechWarrior Destiny I would also like to make a scenario based on Dougram and because of this I would place the Champion along the available Mechs. I would also like to know what do you think of these projects and how interested you are on them. I set up my Ko-fi page partially to assess interest in such things, beyond the Lego models.
You can find more RPG work from me across the Internet. I also developed an horror RPG that should be a blast for you and your friends in this spooky season — it is really simple to learn, has great artwork and is free!
Now go out there play games and enjoy your lives!
