I'm not a very systematical builder. I just do what I feel like doing. For example, these red-and-black-with-trans-dark-pink warrior persons weren't going to be a series. I didn't think, like, "a gang of specialized units with similar aesthetics! Red and black is cool!". Well, I did think that red and black is cool, because it obviously is (I'm having a red period again, last was in late 2016). But I didn't think it was so cool that a series would be the goal (it turned out to be just that cool). I just built legs of RADIANT-EXERT IV (name came along lot later, as they usually do, either when writing the blog, or if I haven't had time to write the blog, when writing the label for an exhibit - this creation has been on two exhibit already, we have rather active LUG culture in Finland right now, and sorry for the brackets, but can't use footnotes on long post like this, even though this might be very hard to read et cetera et cetera.)
So yeah. Build the legs of RADIANT-EXERT IV, and they were different from anything I had ever build, or at least for a while. They were definitely futuristic, with heavy sci-fi theme on them, and that was rather relieving. Most of my creations of similar scale and style had been history or fantasy-themed, and that gives some limits to what material the clothes and armour should be, and the colours tend to be more mundane on historical creations, even though exceptions exist. Of course, mecha is very popular theme in MOCs, and those legs could have been a mecha's legs, but I had never been very much into them; sure, you can find several mecha creations on this blog, and even more from time before I started writing this. But I am a character builder at heart, and capturing life and personality in brick form is my passion (or one of them at least). So it became a woman with bulky armour, protective skirt on sensible legwear and a two wing-like things sticking from behind the ears. No actual sense was on the list of course, and the whole composition was anime- or video game esque, as The Brothers Brick noted.
This isn't the average everyday build because of the motorbike. I wonder if I've ever build motorbike before, except those minifig ones from premade parts. Now I have, and I'm glad I did, because posing a figure with a bike enables all sorts of interesting shots (around 70). Definitely worth it! Designing the bike took lot more time than an average figure (or the figure itself here). I know nothing about motorbikes in general (I have one pedal-driven that works on porridge and student meals). I've never been interested in them, and despite hours of browsing futuristic bikes and concepts of them for inspiration, I still ain't. They're fast and sleek, so not my cup of tea. But they're great for posing figures for camera! Honestly, over seventy! I've spent couple of hours just thinking what sort of apparatus or accessory would offer similar possibilities (I'm getting more interesting in photographing models due to using Pinja's good camera) and all I ended up was a speeder bike of some sort. A lawn mower just doesn't do the trick, and a locomotive would be huge in this scale.
The starting point was those feels. They're from 42050 Drag Racer. I got one as a participation gift on a LUG event in 2016. There was a high variety of sets and members get to pick up one in random order. I was quite late, and SYSTEM sets left were much smaller and more boring, so I picked the Drag up, for it's bright colours and wheels. I've used some parts of it, and the build was quite interesting. I've also wondered using those big big wheels several times earlier, but without any results until this. The same wheels are used in very limited edition UCS Batpod, and that bike from Nolan's excellent Batman films was one source of inspiration. The final design is similarly low, but resembles more of normal bike in some other aspects.
A vehicle like this had to support the weight of the rider, so it had to be sturdy. My models aren't always that stable, though I've gotten bit better recently. Here flimsiness wasn't an option and I had to go TECHNICal. Sadly I had left most of my TECHNIC to my childhood home and I haven't had time to visit there since Christmas, so the bits I had home had to do; Some liftarms, nice array of those light bley pin connectors, and lot of small connectors and pins and axles I used to work with on Bionicle creations. Only the frame was going to be TECHNIC though, as I wanted the bike to have sleek red surfaces. The cement mill halves from drafted Atlantis Neptune sub were going to be involved from the beginning, too, and the first actual bit built here was the back (it was going to be the from at some point) with those halves with the feel on the middle.
I also wanted it to have some functions. These included suspension (not executed), opening hood (works but not presented in these 70+ photos, oops), adjustable back mudguard (very compromised), steering (works as seen on photos, not anything special, but I believe neither is actual motorcycle steering), and complete transformation of the frame as in some of Roborider sets (0:28 here, not executed at all). I also wanted to use "Shock Absorber 10L Damped No Spring" somehow, but didn't managed to. Maybe in some future build.
The back of the biked evolved more easily. It got those wings, as minifig wings in the boots is motif found on every build of this series. Dark red windshield pieces form simple mudguard without any visual noise. The middle part used to have some greebling, but it was removed to fit the rider's bulky knee armour. I wanted to use a printed dark tan Star Wars constraction figure shoulder armour as a leather saddle, but they ended up in the figure's shoulders instead. A bicycle-like saddle would have been too high. The final design has only sort of padded bench and a little pommel support to held the rider on place; It's the bit with strange dark red piece on end. The hood is on front of it, and it's pleasant how well the dark red "tongue" piece fits on it. They're nice parts, excellent strange shape. You'll see three lime green ones in a future creation. Under it lies the joint of the steering that connects the fork to the main frame. Here I had to be sure that any additional detail bits do not fall of when the fork turns, and that the rider's legs don't get in the way.The fork was rather tricky overall. At a point the wheel was only connected on one side, as apparently in some motorcycles. It was abandoned later on. There were also different hubcap alternatives, but the 6x6 dished were the most elegant ones. With the colour blocking I ended up in two differently shaded red areas sort of circling each other. The regular red one has a dangerous-looking fin on it, as felt fitting for the general aesthetics of the theme. They guard the exhaust pipes that stick from under the hood. There's also little black area with some mundane greeble. The handlebars are quite weird, somewhat resembling ones of long-forked chopper, but completely separate from each other. The whip handles were there from the beginning, but the little screens on them were a later addition. They're a nice call-out to RADIANT-EXERT which skirt is stickered from the same sticker sheet.
The rider, the actual RESIST-BOISTEROUS IV, was built simultaneously with the bike. The legs are quite similar than the other creations of the series, but a bit stripped-down to fit the sides of the bike. There were a lot more armoured versions, but their knee joints didn't bend enough and they ended up in another creation; so there's fifth one coming up, and idea of the sixth is, so called, in the air. These legs also include a little golden sticker detail, as a personification of the armour; she's a renegade-ish, as the name suggest. The hip area had to be bit different too. Other models of the series have a skirt, but here it would have got on the way. A skirt is a good way to cover the hip joint area, which tends to be gappy. Here the side of the upper leg continues over the joint to prevent gap and it works pretty well, although stresses the piece a bit. The odd shaped pieces that I usually use as common everyday shoes make surprisingly natural shape of the lower torso side (don't know good terms for it, let's say "around kidneys"), a little thing I'm happy with.RESIST-BOISTEROUS has a leather jacket, and i't not even suitably black or red, it's dark tan! I tried it in red and black but god I was fed up with those same colours all over again, so I went with dark tan. Good choice, I think. Made it possible to use those printed shoulder pauldrons - the pattern gives it worn, convincing look, and the print colour hints to the original colour scheme. And the mundane dark tan balances the heavy contrasts on the rest of the build. The armour is restrained overall to a small, elaborate chest armour, recycling patterns from HAVOC-DISSECTION IV's arms, and temperate wrist guards. The elbow joint is light too, but has lot of mobility. The joint is less stiff than usual boat stud and TECHNIC one, which makes adjusting to handlebars easier.
The hair is quite short for change. They colour is still quite natural and mundane, or at least close to it. The macaroni tube pieces are just cool, and it was only matter of time I'd use them on a hair. There's a little streak of red for rebelling and even the headphones are dark bley, otherwise the headset is in line with the rest of the series. The harpoon pieces had fitting sharpness for cruising around.That's it for the build, this time. But this series (which badly needs a name, but I'll come up with something) will continue, an unit of strategic nature waits to be photographed and one with a hoplitic theme waits to be built. There might even be a group shots later on. But until them, enjoy this vast collection of photos. They are mostly in original order, which means that (except for the shots withing the text) the boring one are on the beginning; I was just learning how to shot characters with bikes. Now I'd like to do something similar again.
