Bionicle parts for mechs

[Entity001]

What is your opinion on using Bionicle parts, especially joints, in mechs and other creations?
I use them frequently, as I find that they provide a great range of articulation that is hard to achieve otherwise, but if the mech is too top heavy they won't be able to support the weight and still maintain articulation.
So do you think that integration of Bionicle parts is useful or is it a lazy technique used by people who don't know how to build joints properly?

[Keldoclock]

Parts is parts, if they look cool and work, use them. Some people even cut up their legos to make specific parts, and I don't have a problem with that either- plus the "unholy" and "bionikal filth" are great for those paragraph-long attempts at role-play that have to precede every brikwar.

[morganm]

I try to use Bionicrap sparingly. There are some interesting bits; some that look totally sweet and others that are very functional. The ball joints are very functional and easy to use but quite bulky. You have to commit a full 2x2 brick + the extra width of the ball + the 2x2 joint that clips onto the ball and use that on both sides. The 'hips' end up being more than 2x6 studs wide. An alternative is the preformed hips that have both sides of the ball join already joined together then you just clip on each joint to the ball. Even those are at least 2x4 studs wide.

There are other techniques out there to make very versatile joints that are much more low profile. Like using pneumatic T pins with 1x1 blocks with stud on the side (not headlamps) and clips. I've been trying to work with this technique and I really like it... just haven't had time to finish anything using it =P Actually just tore apart a half finished mech this weekend because it had been laying around unfinished for months.

Here's one I did using a lot of Binoicrap... I like it but I admit I used these parts because it was easy =) This is an example of the preformed hips I mentioned earlier. There's a rear shot showing exactly what I mean.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=440125

It's not that I don't like most of the Bionicle parts themselves.... it's that the Bionicles are really ugly and completely irrelevant to everything I do with Lego. Just like the Ben10 crap.... that stuff is so fugly and pointless I'd never buy it. Only reason we have Bionicrap is because my son will ask for "Legos" for birthday or Quanza and uninformed, but well intended, people will buy him Bionicrap.

[Bragallot]

I like to keep my Bajoeunikals as monsters / elementals. The heads defo would make a good figurehead for a sinister boat / undead contraption.

[IVhorseman]

I modified one of the little Space Police sets with a small personal fighter into a heavy bomber that transforms into a walker, and I used entirely Bionicle pieces for the legs. It's all the same color so it doesn't clash, and the articulation lets them fold up nicely into the engines during flight.

There's nothing wrong with Bionicle pieces, but building a mech entirely out of them won't look very much different than any other mech entirely made from bionicle bits.

Oh, and the heads and masks make AWESOME engine parts/grilles/catapult scoops.

[Whiteagle]

Morganm, I don't know what mechs you are building, but I don't think you could fit a minifig in anything with hips thinner then four studs acrossed...
Besides:

This baby's legs are ALL Bionicle, I only added the brick to the lower parts to bulk it up and keep people from yelling at me.
They also work great for Giant Lazar Toting Insect Monster legs as well!

[mgb519]

Only reason we have Bionicrap is because my son will ask for "Legos" for birthday or Quanza and uniformed, but well intended, people will buy him Bionicrap.

You mean he gets legos from the military? Or was that a typo?

[OneEye589]

I use Bionicle pieces, but I only have Bionicle from the first wave, before it all got out of hand. Most of the pieces are just pins in the set, but some of the claws and feet are useful.

[Silverdream]

Only reason we have Bionicrap is because my son will ask for "Legos" for birthday or Quanza and uniformed, but well intended, people will buy him Bionicrap.

You mean he gets legos from the military? Or was that a typo?

Black people ftw.

[morganm]

Morganm, I don't know what mechs you are building, but I don't think you could fit a minifig in anything with hips thinner then four studs acrossed...

I'm not saying it's bad or wrong to use Bionicle ball-joints. Four studs is the minimum I've seen for these ball-joints. If you use the 2x2 brik with ball + the reciever that clips onto it you end up at 2x6 wide (wider I would argue because I think those balls stick out wider than one extra stud). Which is fine if that's what you are going for.

What I was saying is that there are other techniques out there that give you just as much pose-ability yet don't have to be big, bulky, Bionicle ball-joints. Below are some examples where the hips are only 3 studs wide and just less bulky looking because they aren't 2x4 studs and large ball-joints.

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/toksi ... 0_2339.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/toksi ... 0_2315.jpg

Again I'm not saying "don't use Bionicle joints" I'm just saying if you do you gotta be committed to making it pretty wide. Which is fine but also very common because it's very easy to do. Just search for 'mech' on Brickshelf.... most of them reuse a couple of the same techniques. I guess that's why the other technique above really caught my eye. It's very different than 90% of the mechs out there yet still gives you the ability for very dynamic movement and articulation in the legs and arms.

The mech you posted is very cool looking; I love it. Like I said in my first post.... I don't mind Bionicle parts themselves.... it's the whole Bionicle I don't like.

[morganm]

Only reason we have Bionicrap is because my son will ask for "Legos" for birthday or Quanza and uniformed, but well intended, people will buy him Bionicrap.

You mean he gets legos from the military? Or was that a typo?

Hah; yeah.. it was supposed to be "uninformed" not uniformed =P

[Whiteagle]

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/toksi ... 0_2339.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/toksi ... 0_2315.jpg

Again I'm not saying "don't use Bionicle joints" I'm just saying if you do you gotta be committed to making it pretty wide. Which is fine but also very common because it's very easy to do. Just search for 'mech' on Brickshelf.... most of them reuse a couple of the same techniques. I guess that's why the other technique above really caught my eye. It's very different than 90% of the mechs out there yet still gives you the ability for very dynamic movement and articulation in the legs and arms.

The mech you posted is very cool looking; I love it. Like I said in my first post.... I don't mind Bionicle parts themselves.... it's the whole Bionicle I don't like.

Oh wow... I honestly wouldn't trust a pneumatic T-pin joint for the hip of something that large...

Still, regardless of which joints you use, it's how you integrate them into your creation that counts.
What people probably most dislike about ball joints is how they're almost always naked instead of built into something.

As for Bionicle, it was actually pretty cool in my opinion...

...Hero Factory, not so much...

[morganm]

I was skeptical on the strength of those joints as well. It's a lot tougher than you'd think. Easily holds the weight with out clipping or falling apart.

Yeah I'm just not a fan of any of those lines really... Bionicrap... Hero Fems... Ben10... etc

[Ben-Jammin]

@ Whiteagle, I just realized that second mech would (with some modding) make a perfect mini version of the giant mobile-fortress thingies from Appleseed.

[Gungnir]

This baby's legs are ALL Bionicle, I only added the brick to the lower parts to bulk it up and keep people from yelling at me.

Flick-fire missiles.
Wat.