#get a little lego robot kit

[obseletrix]

GUYS?!?!?!?!!!!!????

[boxturret]

Mata Nui, The Great Spirit

Hello, how do you feel about painting legoes? I think its fun.

Read on to see the terrible, unethical building process.

Many crimes were committed and I will likely be put to death soon.

Recently I completed quite a large project, painting this huge model kit of the Great Spirit Mata Nui. The kit in question is GiiKei's really impressive build, the instructions of which you can purchase here:

I was quite happy to see they cited my 3d model as reference, along with the original ideas submission. Fun fact: I really liked that ideas submission and made an account just to support it, but something about the proportions never sat right with me, and it was one of the things that motivated me to make that 3d model! So its fun to see it get used in the creation of another model :) And now here I am building it. Full circle.

Now, full disclosure, this is made from third party parts, I did test it on bricklink and it would have easily doubled the price, even before shipping from about half a dozen international stores. I kinda just bought this on impulse, it was pretty cheap and on sale and it was a gamble it would come at all really. But a week ago a nondescript bag came and inside it were sixteen hundred parts of honestly pretty good quality.

I think a couple parts used weren't in their parts catalogue so they had to be 3d printed, but even these were pretty acceptable. Actually in a way some parts were better, because this flame piece was pure red, instead of a mix of red and yellow as all branded parts are.

Some bits had a bit of a tight fit, and I drilled out the middle of the pistons, but I would have done that anyway to accommodate the painting. All in all, really good, was only missing one non essential part.

You can debate the ethics of stuff like this, but either I bought the instructions and paid a company in china X for the parts or I bought the instructions and paid a bunch of unrelated people X*2 for the parts, either way the creator gets the same amount. And I can say I wasn't going to build this off bricklinking parts. For various reasons I'm kinda done with bricklink*.

So after quite a few hour's work I had this lovely fellow. I must say, the design is quite good, its well articulated and has a lot of good build techniques. The head is both the strongest and the weakest part really.

I love the eye assembly, its built to allow for lighting, but it also cleverly includes natural light piping, and the kit comes with 4 sets of eyes, trans red and green for lighting and solid green and pink for display. Even has a little wrench to help swap out the parts.

On top of all of this the mouth is even articulated! So much shoved in such a small package. Unfortunately it does come at a cost, as its incredibly unstable. its a lot of 1 stud wide assemblies held together at odd distances with bars. I think the end result looks good, but its so easy for it to fall apart or get misaligned

Which is why, the instant I finished building this I decided to take it apart again and go at it with a tube of glue.

I glued large parts of this model together. I would happily do it again.

I'm not even going to hide behind any sort of "oh it wasn't real legoes so its fine" excuse, I would have 100% done this with "real" parts. Same with the painting really, I'm sick and tired of hiding behind the excuse that its acrylic so it can wash off, yes, technically, but it would take so much effort and the paints would probably stain some of the parts anyway. If something can benefit from paint or glue I'm not going to hold off just because the parts have a certain company's name on them. They're not sacred.

I can just use mineral spirits to undo everything anyway.

From the moment I saw the original ideas submission I knew: I wanted to paint it.

The GSR is a massive robot that's lain on the bottom of the ocean for millennia, and it reflects that with how dirty and rusty it is, its such an important aspect for me. And personally I quite like painting rust. It seems to be something I end up doing quite a lot.

So basically over the next couple of days I glued everything I felt needed glue, separated the model out in to several chunks, and then began painting.

First I primed it.

Then I did a black wash.

Then I started painting on the rust!

And then I realised I'd made a terrible mistake and redid everything.... Basically I kinda overestimated how much the black wash would fill in the nooks and crannies of the parts, so starting with a light primer base coat meant I was spending an inordinate amount of time trying to fill in all those little gaps and it was taking forever. So I made the correct decision of giving everything a coat of black paint first, and THEN moving on to the rust.

And after that everything went super smooth. Its really important to be open to admitting you made a mistake, and even if it will take more time its for the best to just start over.

For the bits of silver I used a similar technique to how I applied extra streaks of rust to my infected masks. It was a very enjoyable process.

After a quick coat of varnish and a day left to sit everything could go back together!

This guy is massive, around 50cm tall.

The back of the legs is by far the most interesting part of the model.

I especially like these movable pistons.

I did attempt to protect the light piping, and was somewhat successful.

The model is really poseable while at the same time feeling quite stable. Every joint in the legs is doubled. One thing I think is lacking is the ability for it to splay the arms completely out. But I can forgive it since, as I learned when rigging the 3d model, the arm pistons...don't really allow it. And the fact that this model actually has working arm pistons is much more of a positive in my mind.

In any case, you can just remove the pin holding the arms in and do it manually.

You may have noticed my old Mata Nui Island 3d print along with all the parts earlier. Well by some weird coincidence, they kinda match up proportion wise, ie the mouth and eye are roughly at the right places to be under the volcano and bay, respectively.

So that was a happy accident, and now I have a good way of showing how big the GSR is compared to the island.

Its big. And this is the logical size, not the insane 40000000000000 foot number thrown about by some. I have a series of posts about the various sizes of things because I find it interesting.

So in summation, I really couldn't be happier with this. The model design was great, I had a fun time painting it, and now I have a GSR model the size of a small child to display somewhere in my room. I've long been thinking of 3d printing my model, but this has really reduced my need for that. Also with recent duck related developments I've been made aware of how woefully inaccurate my model really is, and have to redo it at some point.

I have reached the maximum number of images per post. I might make a gallery post later. Good night. Have a nice weekend.

*come to bricklink and pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege of getting a smashed mask in the mail. And don't you dare expect a full refund. Not a single part in this kit was damaged and it came in a bag! You can see this guy lying in the background of some shots.

[acerby]

Acerby Type D Review

So I got the new Acerby and wanted to share some of my thoughts on her.

For anyone not familiar with these little robots. This is from Bandai’s 30 minute missions line of model kits. They're basically the Gunpla version of Legos. Super easy to build, super customizable, and super compatible with Bandai’s other 30 minute line of kits as well as a lot of High-Grade Gundam kits. A good starting point imo for anyone looking to get into the hobby.

And I love her. Like I might be biased but this kit does everything the normal Acerbys do but better. I love the design of this kit. The orange black and white are a super nice combo that blends really well with the Motorcycle helmet design. The brighter colors and Sleeker armor make her stand out more as a combat-oriented kit compared to her sisters

One of the biggest highlights of this kit for me is its beam sword and scabbard. As much as I love beam/energy weapons in model kits, I love effective weapon storage even more. The scabbard for this kit allows you to store both the hilt and the blade on the figure. No need for a storage box for the beam part if you do not want to display the figure with it. She also comes with a lot more than I thought she would. She comes with a new runner for the Type D armor and foot design, and if you like the older heel design from the other Acerbys she comes with a pair of those. The addition of the classic Acerby rifle and beam knife is a huge plus too.

Like any of the modern 30mm kit, she can pose amazingly, Especially after the upgraded foot design allows it to hold its pose far better than its sisters. She is still a bit top-heavy given the head design but it is far less of an issue compared to the type A-C kits.

And one of the things I think this kit does amazingly is working well with the face plates from the 30 minute sister line. The Acerby were designed with max compatibility in mind for these kits and I think Type D does it the best. The biker helmet of type D looks a lot better with an anime girl face than the others. A 30MS face gives more of a mega man vibe with Type A-C and it's not really my thing. So I think the bike helmet adds a lot more cohesion to the overall look

Well, thank you for joining me on this little review of mine. I am a huge fan of these things and wanted to share the love with other people. If you're looking to get into Model kits and not a big fan of Gundam I would highly recommend any one of these funky little robot girls. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy it. I might do more of these in the future.

[virtualgirladvance]

Hey lan How does one get into gunpla cause I've been kinda curious to give it a go sometime having seen your models

Get yourself an entry grade kit if you want to just have a peek and not need tools or high grade kit and a basic tool set(or your own clippers, tweezers, pen knife and files)

If you like Lego, robots, cutting little things and putting stickers on stuff you'll have a blast.

Tagging the mighty gunpla catzard @athena-gunpla in case I forgot something

[burnwater13]

Grogu standing behind the completed LEGO Robot World roller coaster kit build. Mini-fig Grogu, Mando, and Seb Ta'low are taking the first ride of the coaster as others look on. A Zander mini-fig is in the power suit. Image by Me.

Too Much to Ask…

Grogu was still celebrating and he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. He’d finished building his kit, had used the ‘power suit’ to get himself snacks during the build, and had actually talked his dad into taking him to Enarc where they had a huge park that was filled with all manner of rides, food stalls, markets, and other entertainments. He was kind of surprised that his dad had agreed so readily, but then Grogu wasn’t the sort of person to look a gift bantha in the mouth. Whatever his dad’s reasons for being so agreeable Grogu was just going to take it at face value. Sometimes fun was the answer to the question.

He’d finished dancing around the cabin. When his dad suggested that they get some food in Nevarro City so he didn’t have to put up with ration packs, Grogu danced at that news as well. Then, when the High Magistrate and some other fine citizens of Nevarro complimented him on skills at building (Grogu had shown them vids of his finished projects), Grogu danced some more because he was so pleased. 

At the cantina, a three piece band was playing the greatest hits from Old Republic and since Grogu knew them all, he hummed and sang along (sort of - he used Ylani, not Gal Basic because it was much easier for him). His dad hadn’t scolded him even once to sit still, or quiet down, or save his energy. Din Djarin just seemed happy that Grogu was happy. That was pretty nice. Grogu hadn’t realized until right then and there that happiness could be contagious. He was used to crabbiness being contagious, but he supposed it just made sense that some of the finer emotions could be that way as well. 

After they had their meal, they stopped by ‘All and Sundry’ store and Grogu didn’t even mind that his dad was shopping for armor polish. Somehow that happiness he felt over the trip to Enarc cast a light upon other subjects and made them far sweeter. Of course a Mandalorian needed to keep their armor in good repair and looking as professional as possible. It was part of their mystique and no doubt, underlined in the Creed, just like ‘Wear your helmet’ was. When viewed through that lens it was far less annoying to him and that made him happy and he noticed when they finally left the store that his dad was still happy too. That was great! 

When they made their way back to the cabin Grogu was pleasantly tired. He did his night time chores. Cleaned up his work area. Gave his dad a Mandalorian kiss, or bonk on the head (lightly, always lightly), and went to his room to sleep. It had been such a great day, full of accomplishments, kindness, fun, and understanding, he felt he’d lived as good a day as it was possible to live. What a great thought to fall asleep to.

When Nevarro’s star rose above the horizon Grogu was up and ready to take on the day. Sure it was dawn, a time he was rarely up and only involuntarily, but right now, all the good feelings from the prior day were still coloring his perspective and instead of thinking of the sleep he’d missed, he only considered the fun he could have.

He decided to do a little early morning exercise and managed to do his whole routine without tripping, being distracted by the frogs peeping, or being annoyed with his dad for taking so much time in the privy. After such a successful workout Grogu actually wanted to use the fresher and make sure he smelled as good as he felt. Apparently his dad felt the same way because Grogu could smell something emanating from the privy and it was not any smell he normally associated with that room. 

When Din Djarin came out finally, it was clear to Grogu that his dad was wearing some sort of scent. It definitely wasn’t the new armor polish. Even the Mandalorian’s feet smelled nice and that was a chance of pace that made Grogu very happy. He spent a good deal of his time at very close to same level as those feet and the boots they were so often encased in and he could assure anyone who asked that armor polish could not overcome that odor.

“Hey Buddy, good to see you up already. Don’t take too long in the privy. I’m going to make us some breakfast and then we’re going to head out. We don’t want to be late.”

Grogu had shrugged at his dad and stepped into the privy, letting the door close behind him. He wished almost instantly that he’d propped the door open. The smell that lingered on his dad was in full force in the small room. The usually only happened when one or the other of them ate food that didn’t agree with their digestive systems and if Grogu thought about that for a moment, that had never happened to the extent that this much odorant needed to added to the room to cover up for the biology of humans and Grogus. 

But still, Grogu was happy that his dad was happy and they would be going on a fun adventure and it had nothing to do with Imp remnants, bounties, or handling things for the New Republic that they didn’t want to handle for themselves. It was just about fun and enjoying each other’s company and Grogu was really happy about that. 

When he finished his own routine for cleaning himself up, he made sure that the air exhaust system was turned on full power to get rid of the smell of whatever the Mandalorian had bathed himself in. It was making Grogu’s eyes water a bit and he didn’t that would make the trip in the N-1 better. Bad enough that his dad was still likely to smell that way for the whole trip, but then the N-1 had a very sophisticated comfort management system (even though it didn’t have a proper privy) and he doubted that the odor would last the full length of their trip.

When he trotted out to the main room his dad already had breakfast on the table. Wow. That was unusual. Din Djarin must really have wanted to get underway. Had he suddenly realized that parks like the one they were heading to were fun and that even Mandalorian Bounty Hunters were allowed to have fun whenever they wanted? Hmmm. Maybe. 

“Okay, Buddy. Let’s eat up. An old friend of mine is on Enarc. I don’t know how long she’ll be there, but she said she’d stay there as long as she could. I really think you’ll like her.”

What? Din Djarin did all this just to go meet an old friend? Not because he and Grogu needed time to just have fun and do fun things together after all that work on Zoh? Uff. That didn’t seem fair. 

Grogu chirped a question to his dad. He wanted to understand exactly what he was getting himself into with meeting this old friend.

“Can she cook? No. She’s pretty bad at that. She does make a great cup of caf.”

A great cup of caf? Din Djarin wouldn’t even let Grogu drink caf! Grogu felt the fun and happiness and contentment just draining right out of him, like he had a leak in his equilibrium system. Dank Farrik! 

Grogu reached out with one hand and he was holding his mini-fig power suit with the tiny version of Zander in it. He’d need to use it to figure out just what was up with his dad and this ‘old friend’ of his. The least the Mandalorian could have done was have an ‘old friend’ who could cook. Was that too much to ask?

[thetomorrowshow]

Whumptober Day 15 - Childhood Trauma

title: should i then presume?

fandom: hermitcraft smp

~

Cub has always worked quietly. Even as a kid—he’d always been the sort to hide in his room and work for hours, tinkering away at a redstone kit or reading or building with Legos. He found that in that quiet, he could get all sorts of things done.

He’s never liked being loud. It was always his parents that were loud, growing up. When he was loud, he was in trouble.

So he stays quiet. He stays quiet and works on his projects, and he ducks away from praise and just works.

It’s . . . when Scar decides to be his friend, it’s weird.

Cub’s had friends. Here and there in school, people who invited him to sit with them at lunch, robotics club members who told him about their weekends. Not much in the way of friends at college. Then, after joining Hermitcraft, he began to think of the Hermits as friends. Technically, Scar had been his friend before he decided to, just by nature of being a Hermit.

Scar doesn’t leave him when the work for the day is over, though, like most friends. He wants to spend extra time with Cub, he has questions and stories, he invites him places and seems to enjoy hanging out.

Cub can’t figure out why. He doesn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, though.

Nobody has ever sought out his company. He thinks, at first, that Scar must be a loner like him, but when they hang out with other Hermits, Scar’s the life of the party. He gets along with every other Hermit, full of jokes and laughing, loud and attention-attracting.

It makes Cub nervous. He doesn’t say that to Scar, of course—he’d always been jealous of the people who felt comfortable enough to express themselves like that, and he would never want to make Scar feel less so. Just because being loud scares Cub doesn’t mean he needs to demand that everyone else conforms to that.

It still catches him off-guard, of course, but he can get used to it. Doc has sung far too many overly loud drinking songs for him to jump at someone shouting.

Which is good, because Scar shouts all the time. When he’s surprised, or scared, or excited, or trying to talk over someone, or all the moments in between. It takes some getting used to. So when Scar bursts into loud speech, one day, staring at Cub’s simple machine, Cub carefully doesn’t jump.

“Cub, how do you come up with these things?”

Cub’s shoulders shoot up to his ears. Usually when he’s asked that kind of question, it’s with exasperation. It isn’t even anything that unique or odd, all he’s built is a redstone counter, so there’s no reason for Scar to be upset.

��I could never!” Scar continues, and Cub forces himself to relax. It’s just Scar laying the charm on overly thick. “I can’t even think straight when it comes to redstone! But you make it look so easy!”

Oh.

“Well, yeah,” Cub says awkwardly. He isn’t sure how to respond.

Scar turns a smile toward him, excited and bright. “Really, it’s incredible! Cub, we make an excellent partnership.”

Cub shrugs off the compliment, turning away. “Yeah.”

But he doesn’t forget it.

He carries that little compliment with him; he remembers that Scar is generous with compliments. The next time he constructs something of redstone, he makes sure to show Scar, shoulders tense and body bracing for the derision that doesn’t come. Scar compliments him again, even more extravagantly, and Cub almost drowns in the intense feeling of being recognized.

It becomes a pattern. Accidentally. Cub doesn’t even notice that he’s doing it until pretty far along—he’s even started creating with a little bit of anxiety, hoping that this next machine will be up to Scar’s standards.

The praise feels good (because of course, Scar always praises him). But Cub does miss how it used to be—how he used to just make things for himself, and himself only. He misses knowing that there wouldn’t be any response. The feeling of empty satisfaction had sustained him for years, and it was so much easier to deal with than the overly-warm stress he experiences now.

When he was really little, he would try to show his parents his work all the time—only for them to pick it apart and point out all the ways it wasn’t perfect. He’d stopped, eventually. When it became too painful. He’d stopped, and he’d kept it to himself.

The only person to see and judge his work. If something wasn’t exactly the way he wanted it to be, that was fine. He could try again a different day, no harm done. There was no pressure to perform.

Now though, every time he shows Scar something, he can feel his own eyes scanning the project, seeing all its imperfections and the countless ways it could be better.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t work that well,” Cub says, deflecting whatever nice thing Scar had said.

“Eh, it isn’t pretty.”

“It could be better, though.”

“I should’ve upped the tick.”

“I should’ve added more hoppers.”

“I’m not a builder, it isn’t good.”

“It isn’t easy enough.”

“It isn’t good enough yet.”

Scar never says anything to these comments, and Cub grows certain that it’s because he silently agrees. He’s just too polite to say anything.

He still shows them to Scar. Every time. Waiting, just waiting for Scar to tell him exactly what he can fix. Begging for criticism without making a noise, wincing at the compliments and dreading the moment that Scar becomes harsh, pointing out every measure of Cub’s inadequacy.

Scar never says anything bad. In fact, he says nicer and nicer things, and Cub feels his heart close off more and more.

He needs to go back to his room. His tiny bedroom in his childhood home, where he could build with Legos on the threadbare carpet and ignore the yelling of his parents downstairs. The time when he could build whatever he wanted and know that it was just for him, and he could destroy it and build something else if he didn’t like it without any expectations.

He wishes Scar would just tell him the truth. If he would do that, then Cub could feel justified in never showing him a thing again. Never showing anyone anything.

It never happens, and then they don’t work together in Season Seven, and Cub goes back to being alone.

Like he wanted.

Right?

But. . . .

Now that he’s finally free of it, there’s a hole in his heart that used to be over-full with Scar’s compliments. It was so warm, too warm and he couldn’t stand it, but now that it isn’t there, he just feels cold.

He’s felt that way his whole life, but it’s different now, because he’s had the warmth and he wants it back, in some odd way. The coldness aches in his chest, the frost burning worse than the warmth ever had, which doesn’t make sense because he knows the cold. He always has.

It would be easier if he could make up his mind about what he wants.

It would be easier if Scar would just let him down.

That doesn’t happen, because Scar doesn’t visit his pyramid base. Nobody really does; Cub implies that he’s busy and that he’d rather not let anyone see what he’s working on, so nobody comes by to visit.

He tinkers away, day after day, creating game after game and design after design, his alone time where he makes imperfections and sets them next to the last one.

He isn’t lonely.

This is how it’s always been.

He just misses having Scar at his side, sometimes. They’d spent two seasons inseparable, so it’s weird to be here by himself with Scar out working on other not-Cub-related projects. Cub doesn’t mind. It makes things easier, because it means that Scar will never have to say anything bad about Cub’s flawed games and redstone mechanisms, about his boring pyramids, about anything, and he can destroy them like he always has.

Until Scar shows up one day.

He wants a tour, because of course he wants a tour, so Cub shows him around his base and then his arcade, dusty and untouched by anyone but the creator.

He alternates between pointing Scar toward his greatest works and his most-flawed. He can’t decide which he wants destroyed the most.

Scar, of course, has nothing bad to say. He spends the tour in awe, his monocle repeatedly falling out by how wide his eyes go. He looks all around himself and whistles and says “Cub, how have you not shown anyone all this? It’s incredible!”

He shows Scar the ugliest parts of his redstone and Scar doesn’t even comment on the mismatched materials. He shows the parts closest to his heart, more vulnerable than tearing out his own soul, and Scar gasps and tells Cub that it’s all wonderful and that he’s a top-notch builder and even takes notes. He takes notes on building, as if he, Scar, needs them, and that might be what pushes tears to Cub’s eyes.

“It’s not perfect,” Cub says almost desperately. “It’s not that good, even.”

Scar waves him off. “Nothing’s perfect, that’s just life! But it’s really impressive—can I try playing the games?”

Cub swallows around the lump in his throat. “Nobody’s played them before,” he warns, clicking on one of the arcade games. “Just me.”

Scar tilts his head, confusion painting his features. “Why? They look fun—is it okay if I play?”

The breath feels like it vanishes from his chest, but Cub nods. “Y-yeah. You can play. They’re just not very good. That’s . . . that’s why nobody’s played them.”

Scar sighs, and Cub cringes away, pretending to focus on the redstone of the game.

“Cub, you know I won’t care.”

“Yeah, but why?” Cub bursts out before he can stop himself. It’s too loud, he’s never raised his voice like that—immediately, he stands up straight, panic flooding his veins. “Sorry, forget it. Just—just, you can play it.”

Scar stares at him. Something flits across his face; what, Cub doesn’t know.

“Do you want a hug?” Scar says softly, uncertainly, and he half-raises his arms.

Scar hugs are an experience. Scar has the odd talent of creating the most comfortable-yet-uncomfortable hug, a combination of pure love and bony arms, cozy warmth and Scar’s chin digging into Cub’s shoulder.

Cub’s never minded, though, and he hasn’t had a hug from anyone in a while, so he acquiesces, leaning into the invitation, into the warmth.

Scar’s breath against Cub’s neck makes him shudder, but his hands are rubbing soothing circles on Cub’s back and—

And one of those tears slips free.

Scar makes a small noise of concern when Cub sniffs, trying to force the tears back into his eyes. “Oh, Cub. It’s okay. What happened?”

Cub doesn’t know how to explain that nothing happened. Nothing happened, but the stress of waiting for someone to notice everything wrong with him and pick it apart under a microscope has started to get to him.

“Just—just be honest,” he says, because it’s all he can stand. “Do you—my things suck.” “Hey, now—”

“Why won’t you tell me that they suck?”

Scar sounds confused. “Because . . . they don’t suck?”

That would have been everything that he wanted to hear in the past, back when Cub believed that Scar might have been telling the truth, but now he’s just tired and too high-strung to keep up the act.

“Be honest,” he chides.

“Do you want me to tell you that they’re bad?”

“Yes,” Cub says, not quite sure why he’s admitting it. “Just say it. I know you’re thinking it, just say it.”

The hum that Scar makes in his throat vibrates unpleasantly against Cub’s shoulder. “I’m not thinking it. Cub, I love the things you do!”

“But they aren’t—” Cub lets out a deep breath, squeezes Scar a little tighter. “I’m not Etho. My redstone is nothing compared to him, or Doc. I can’t build like you and Grian. I keep trying, but I—I can’t. It isn’t good enough.” “It is good enough. You aren’t Etho, or Doc, or Grian. You’re Cub.” Scar punctuates his name with a tap on his back, then continues rubbing circles. “You’re Cub, and that’s why what you do is good. Because you made it. That’s all that matters.”

“No, it isn’t.”

Scar sighs again. “It should be,” he says determinedly. “I don’t know who told you otherwise, but I love what you do because you’re my friend, and you made it, and that makes me happy. Okay?”

It isn’t.

It isn’t okay.

But Cub’s too tired to get into that right now.

Instead, he nods, lets out a breath.

Scar doesn’t let go for a long time, and Cub doesn’t try to pull away.

[uselesstaroth]

FANFIC MASTERLIST

Cuz why not, I got enough of these

Will update with status of ongoing fics

You can send an ask about literally any of these

Steven Universe fanfics

Steven Universe: Darkworld: My single oldest au ever. The gist is "What if the Crystal Gems weren't the first rebellion?". It's dense as hell. Main fic follows Nora of Darkworld, the first naturally formed gem in a really, really long time.

Sonic fanfics

All the Immortal Creatures: A Blazamy fic about Amy staying over at Blaze's dimension thanks to a strange being that's apparently Blaze's uncle called Telos. He senses something strange in Sonic's world but that has nothing to do with the girls.

I Want My Tears Back: An Idol Amy/Rockstar Blaze fic, where an on-the-run Amy completely throws off what Blaze wanted and expected for her future.

Like A Storm: My first OC x Canon fanfic. Sonic, recently done with Starfall Islands, now completely powerless is taking some time off in the Sol Dimension. At the same time, Breeze the Cat takes interest in the brown hedgehog. Why is he powerless? Who's Breeze? Why are there reports of people losing their powers?

Ace Attorney Amy Rose: An Ace Attorney au where Amy is a newbie defense attorney, with Surge and Lanolin as prosecution and Blaze as another defense attorney. Her mentor is Vanilla. There's no fic, only the summary.

You Were There The Whole Time: An Ark Siblings fic where Maria survives by becoming Amy Rose due to a prototype cure, idea by thejazzywaffles

The Death of Doctor Starline: A Starline centric fic of what he does after surviving issue 50 but losing an arm. Majorly inspired by the Sonic Twitter Takeover. A long journey of constant humiliation, and yet somehow a better life.

The End's Last Gambit: A fanfic for Smallpwbbles' End Sonic AU, about The End's last attempt to keep Sonic under control by using Tails' actual feelings against him.

Metallic Invincible Me: A surgamy fic that's also my version of a Metal Surge arc. (Chapter 3 pending)

Team Rascal AU: Post-Final Horizon, Sonic disappears, presumed dead. Surge redeems herself, by herself, and Amy ends up joining the Impostor Duo as essentially vigilantes. (A lot written, little finished and thus posted)

Tomophobia: Fic based on a dream that before he created Surge and Kit, Starline turned Amy Rose into a cyborg, erased her memory of it and thus went unnoticed by anyone.

Sonic Underground Odyssey: A version of Sonic Underground that happens after Frontiers instead of incorporating it into Sonic's backstory with the adaptations I felt necessary to suit it.

Metal Hero AU: Sonic the Hedgehog has always been a helpful little robot that saves the world from his creator, Dr. Eggman. aka, Metal Sonic is the hero, and called Sonic the Hedgehog.

An Early Shadow: Shadow escapes prison island sooner than he's supposed to, and winds up meeting a really resentful fox in West Side Island. Almost everything is different from that point on.

Lies of Ann: A Shadow Android wakes up, with no memories at all, not even of the name "Shadow", taking the name Ann instead. Ann, with the voice of Rouge the Bat through the speakers, escapes a rundown Eggman base to the surface. Character profiles here.

Silver Prime: When everyone in the future disappears, Silver travels to the past with a Time Stone he found outside of Little Planet and finds himself in the middle of a multi-timeline catastrophe.

Don't Escape: A Metamy fic about Amy being kidnapped by Neo Metal Sonic and being given near total control of its army, and getting caught up on "holding it back" from the inside. Takes place in the first IDW arc. Progresses into Villain!Amy

Mach Speed Lies: A fanfic where the "Sonic" identity is one gigantic lie he has been keeping up for years, to the point he doesn't remember who he is without it. Lots of heartbreak, and no going back to how things used to be.

Upcoming: Super Amy's Night Out

Lego Monkie Kid fanfics

Azure Wings: A fanchild fanfic of the child of Azure Lion, Golden Winged Peng and Yellowtusk the Wise, called Azure Winged Lion, gifted with Truth Powers that haunt them daily and cost them their beloved wings at the hands of their father Azure. It chronicles their relations with the Lady Bone Demon and their road to becoming a Celestial Warrior for the sake of stopping people like their parents. (THIS IS MY BABY)

How I (Didn't) Meet My Mom: My concept of Nuwa and her relationship with MK. As it says, she's not his mom, but something else.

Cult of the Lamb

There are Danganronpa fanfics too.

Cherished Memories: A fic based on the most insane glitch to ever happen to me.

Samurai Jack

Samurai Hali: I love the emoji girl from Season 5 Episode 1, so I made her the protagonist, taking up Jack's mantle after he disappears

[amproductreview]

🧹 eufy C10 Robot Vacuum Review: The Smartest “Set-It-and-Forget-It” Cleaner I’ve Tried

Let’s be honest — most of us want cleaner floors, but no one wants to vacuum daily. I was in that boat too. Then I tried the eufy C10 Robot Vacuum, and honestly? I haven’t looked back.

Between the strong suction, whisper-quiet operation, and the fact that it empties itself, this little bot is a cleaning sidekick I didn’t know I needed. Add in the eufy Expansion Kit, and suddenly my home feels like it’s straight out of a smart home ad.

🔑 What Makes the eufy C10 Different?

Here’s the thing: robot vacuums are nothing new. But the C10? It’s the first one I’ve used that actually feels hands-free. No constant babysitting, no daily emptying, and no chaos when it bumps into stuff.

🧺 Self-Emptying Station

This is huge. It automatically dumps all the dirt into a 3-liter dust bag, which lasts around two months. I basically forgot it even collects dust — that’s how low-maintenance it is.

��️ Ultra-Slim Build (2.85”)

You know those awkward dust bunnies hiding under the couch? This thing slides right under and sucks them up like it’s on a mission. No lifting furniture, no back strain.

💨 4,000Pa of Suction

Let’s just say… my dog sheds like it’s his job. This vacuum handles it with zero complaints — crumbs, fur, hairballs, you name it. Works great on my hardwood and low rugs too.

🧠 CornerRover™ Arm

Okay, this is actually genius. Most robot vacuums can’t clean corners well, but the C10 has a little extendable brush arm that gets right into those edges. It’s like a little mechanical elbow.

🗺️ LiDAR Smart Navigation

It maps my whole house like it’s building a strategy game. No more zig-zag confusion or missed spots. I can literally track it room by room on the app.

🎮 Voice + App Control

I can say, “Hey Alexa, vacuum the kitchen,” and it actually does it. Or, I’ll just hit a button on my phone when I’m at work and come home to clean floors. Magical.

🔇 Quiet Mode (Just 51 dB)

I’ve run this thing during Zoom calls. My dog doesn’t even bark at it. It’s that quiet.

📦 Bonus Win: The eufy Expansion Kit

I didn’t think I’d care about accessories, but wow — this one’s actually useful. The boundary strips let me block off pet food bowls, power cords, or my kid’s Lego corner. They’re super slim, don’t ruin the floor, and give me total control.

“The expansion kit gives me peace of mind — my pet’s water bowl is finally safe!” — Someone who gets it.

💬 What Other People Are Saying

You don’t have to take just my word for it:

“Built like a tank.” Seriously, it’s solid. It doesn’t feel flimsy or like it’s going to fall apart after a year.

“Perfect for tight spots.” One person said it “slides under coffee tables and beds like it’s on a stealth mission” — and they’re not wrong.

“Dust? What dust?” Another reviewer mentioned their allergy symptoms improved after using it. Makes sense, since it grabs the fine stuff most uprights leave behind.

“I can run it during meetings.” It’s not a white noise machine — but it’s close. Very non-intrusive.

🔍 The Good, the Bad, and the Meh

✅ What I Love

Truly hands-off with the self-empty station

Gets under low furniture easily

Actually powerful suction (hello pet hair!)

Smart mapping = no missed spots

Quiet enough for working-from-home folks

❌ What You Should Know

Dust bags = ongoing cost (~every 2 months)

Can still get tangled in cords or small toys

You’ll need to untangle the brush now and then

App interface could use more advanced features

Slight learning curve on setup

🧠 So… Who’s This For?

If you check any of these boxes, the eufy C10 could be your new favorite thing:

✅ You hate vacuuming (but love clean floors)

✅ You’ve got pets shedding 24/7

✅ You live in a small space or have lots of furniture

✅ You work from home and need quiet

✅ You love gadgets that actually work

It’s not for you if you like cleaning manually or you’re extremely picky about complete obstacle avoidance (though to be fair, few robots are perfect here).

⚙️ Performance Summary

In plain English: it works.

Learns your layout and adapts

Cleans corners most bots miss

Runs on schedule with zero input

Feels like hiring a robot maid with zero attitude

⭐ Final Verdict: 4.7 / 5 Stars

I’ve tested a few robot vacuums before, and most were just… okay. The eufy C10 is different. Between the auto-empty dock, great suction, and smart mapping, it genuinely makes my life easier. No fluff, no hype — it does what it promises.

Sure, the dust bags are an extra cost, and you’ll occasionally have to untangle the brush. But those are tiny trade-offs for a cleaner home with less effort.

Bottom line? If you want clean floors without lifting a finger, this vacuum’s got your back.

More Info About This Product

[abronzeagegod]

Untitled YA Project Chapter 3: Step One Hypothesis, Step Two Experiment

First Chapter || More

11:48 AM local time

Chicago, Algonquin State, United States of America

“No way, you’re messing with me,” Mike said to Justin as they sat in their chemistry lab. “There’s no way sound just… doesn’t exist in your house.”

“I’m telling you that’s exactly what happened,” Justin tried to justify his story.

They were lab partners, which worked out for the both of them. Justin was very smart when it came to chemistry, so Mike lucked out because Mike was very bad at math and science. And Mike was the perfect lab partner for Justin, because he didn’t complain when Justin finished things early and then got bored and messed around with the extra stuff and usually made a mess.

“I don’t believe you even for a second. What did your dad say?” Or not say since he couldn’t say anything you would hear.”

Justin gave Mike a flat expression as he held an eye dropper over the beaker he was experimenting with. “He doesn’t really talk much in the mornings any more, not since mom left.”

“Right. Sorry,” Mike hastily said. “So you want me to come over and check it out after school?”

“Don’t you have football practice or something?”

Mike shrugged. “Only in the technical sense.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I do have practice, but only if I show up.”

Justin finished his own handmade mixture that was definitely not on the syllabus and eyed it suspiciously for a few moments. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going to happen but the most that could be said was that the glass was slightly warmer than it was before.

“You don’t want to go today?” Justin asked. “I thought you liked football.”

“I do, but sometimes you just need a break. And your thing sounds way more interesting.”

“I could definitely use the help,” he told Mike, as he stirred the mixture to see if that would change anything. When nothing did, he shrugged and made sure to dispose of it properly.

Thankfully the bell rang, ending the class, and signalling that Mike and Justin could both go to lunch.

“Thank god,” Mike said. “I’m starving!”

“You’re always starving.”

“I’m a growing boy!”

After they put their stuff away and made it to the lunch room, Justin picked up their previously abandoned conversation. “I don’t know what’s going on at my house. And once you realize that you can’t hear anything it’s really creepy.”

“Well you didn’t blow up anything in lab today, so we don’t have detention, that means we’ve got the whole afternoon open.”

“Not for lack of trying,” Justin pouted a little.

He didn’t actually want to cause damage, he just wanted something exciting to happen once in a while. Sometimes there was that impulse thought in his head that told him it would be fun to get into trouble, to break stuff, to yell and get loud, and just be noticed for a minute. But what was really the point? He would just get yelled at, told to stop doing what he was going, and then have to spend entirely too much time staring at the wall in detention.

Mike clapped Justin on the shoulder. “Next time we can blow something up real nice. Just when we don’t have a mystery to investigate at your house.”

Justin laughed, once. “You always know just what to say.”

“Oh! You know what we should do to prepare?”

“What?”

“Learn sign language! Like Ashley and Kit did back in sixth grade so they could talk during class. I wonder if they still remember it,” Mike mused. “I’ll be right back. Hey! Kit! You still know sign language?”

Justin just shook his head as Mike took off. He was always doing a million different things, rushing off to go do whatever struck his fancy next. But he was a loyal friend, even if Justin didn’t understand him all that much sometimes.

Mike was very outgoing and Justin was not. Mike did sports and made friends with everyone, Justin preferred to stay inside and play videogames or build little robots with the various LEGO kits he managed to get his hands on.

Lunch finished with Mike learning some quick sign language from Kit at another table, and Justin packed up his stuff. He waved a quick goodbye to Mike and headed off to the second half of his classes: history, english, and geometry.

He barely paid attention in history. They had just gotten to the start of the Louisiana Purchase and the wars it caused in 1808. He knew it was objectively important stuff, because he lived in one of the states that was made as part of the treaties and truces made after the slow defeat of the United States by the various Native American tribes and their various allies, most notably the bee people, the zlilfians down in the Caribbean. But he was still thinking about his house and the silence that surrounded it.

“Mister Oswada,” his history teacher said after the bell rang and the other students started to filter out of the class, “you seem particularly distracted today. Did you get yourself into trouble once again?”

Justin stopped a few feet away from Mister Collins’ desk.

He was one of the older teachers, probably in his early seventies, and it showed on his face. Amidst the wrinkles stood a few scars across his face that probably predated said wrinkles. His wispy grey hair gave Mister Collins an eccentric look, only enhanced by his bright green eyes. He’d look more at home in a science or math class, but instead he was a simple history teacher. He was also one of the smartest teachers, who knew almost everything asked of him, wawa never surprised by anything any students did or tried, and of every teacher, Mister Collins was one of the few who truly understood technology and whatever new things the kids were into.

Mister Collins patiently waited for an answer, looking at Justin over the rim of his round glasses.

“No, I didn’t. Not today,” Justin responded. “Something happened at home this morning and it’s been on my mind, that’s all.

Mister Collins took off his glasses. “Mister Oswada,” he said slowly. “I understand that things have been difficult and not the best at home for you. But there are people who are willing and able to help if you need it. You just need to ask.”

“Yeah. Cool. Thanks,” Justin said because he wasn’t sure what else to say to that. “I’m gonna go to my next class now.”

The history professor could only nod and let Justin go.

Next was English and he paid even less attention in that class. They were supposed to be analyzing a work by some New Englander about something or other in a time like a century ago, but Justin didn’t really like the first two pages so he didn’t read the rest. There were more pressing thoughts in his head today.

Then it was just a geometry test that he should have done much better on, but he was still extremely distracted. He didn’t really care all that much, he knew he did badly so what was the point of dwelling on it?

The second that the bell rang dismissing class, Justin ran to his locker, threw all of his books in it, and then put on his jacket.

But for all of his rushing to get out of school and back home to study this weird silence, he had to wait for Mike for almost fifteen minutes.

“You ready to go?” Mike asked from behind him, coming from a direction Justin did not expect.

“What did you do to your shoulder?” Justin asked, pointing at Mike’s right shoulder that had an ice pack on it.

“Oh I told my coach that I strained it in gym class this morning, and that I definitely failed that geometry test so I should try to make it up. Can’t play football if I’m injured and failing,” Mike said with a proud smile.

“You’re gonna get yourself into trouble doing that one of these days.”

“Probably. But you’re not one to tell me about getting into trouble. Besides, we’ve got much more interesting things to investigate. I’m really curious about this house and silence thing you’re talking about.

They elected to not take the bus and instead walk the little over a mile to Justin’s house. The entire walk, Mike was on his phone looking up explanations for the quiet that was only around Justin’s house.

“Localized low pressure system,” Mike said as he scrolled through the now fourth page of results on google.

“I don’t think that’s how pressure works.”

“Are you doubting the veracity of freakweatherforums dot blogspot dot com?” Mike asked, his voice filled with fake outrage and hurt. “And I thought we were best friends.”

“We are. And yes, I am doubting the truth of your website.”

“How dare you! Engelbert here has spent minutes making this blog, and you just come in here and tell him that he is wrong? Have you no shame sir?”

Justin rolled his eyes, but couldn’t entirely suppress the chuckle.

“Oh this is a good one! From an alien sighting website! This is claiming that your house has been invaded by a secret eldritch alien life form that has no form or substance but feeds on noise and will grow and expand until it consumes all life on earth rendering it a silent, empty, husk.”

“Jesus,” Justin breathed out. “Well, I apologize to Engelbert. His theories make way more sense.”

Mike laughed as he finally put away his phone. “Well, we’re here.” They stopped on the sidewalk just outside of Justin’s house. “You ready to go inside?”

“I think so. This is so weird,” Justin said as he stared at his house. “It looked so normal.”

Justin had this concerned, sinking feeling that the silence he experienced this morning was gone, that Mike would think him crazy, maybe even stop being his friend because of it.

“This was stupid, let’s go,” Just said, quickly turning away from his house.

“Oh come on, let’s at least go in,” Mike said as he walked the opposite direction, towards the house and away from Justin.

Justin turned around to watch him, and about halfway down the sidewalk to his front door, Mike suddenly stopped. He turned around to look at Justin. He could see Mike’s mouth moving, he could tell that his friend was speaking. And then yelling. Mike’s face was starting to go red from the effort of screaming and being loud, but just heard nothing.

After a few more moments of that, Mike returned to where Justin was standing. “That is freaky. Oh. I don’t like that at all. You were so right. This is weird.”

“Really weird.”

“Now what?”

“Well.” He had thought this far ahead, but now that he was here it seemed so much more real. And a little scary. “I want to go inside and get some stuff. I’ve got some equipment I want to use to try and measure how big this thing is.”

“Like what?”

“I’ve got a little portable radio and I finally rebuilt my RC car I got for Christmas two years ago. I figure we put the radio on the car, turn up the volume, and then move the car around, trying to mark down where the silence… field… thing extends to. Then maybe do some stuff to try and record sound inside of the field and outside to see if we can find any volumes or frequencies that pierce it.”

“That’s all just off the top of your head?” Mike asked with a little smile.

“I mean, I’ve been thinking about this all day.”

“Let’s do it then,” Mike said as she threw his bookbag on the front lawn and followed Justin into the silence and the house.

Moving through his home felt eerie and surreal. It was his home, he knew that. But it lacked something essential. It was like a slightly warped copy of his house. There was something subtly wrong with this place, and he couldn’t put his finger on it. He felt tired and alone and a little cold. The whole place made Justin just want to lay down.

He jumped when he felt something touch his shoulder.

Mike tapped him, and Justin practically jumped out of his skin.

The reaction was only physical, the yelp died before it could be formed. The silence had smothered it.

Then it all clicked back in his head. Justin remembered what they were doing.

Moving quickly now, they grabbed a bunch of equipment from Justin’s haphazard and messy room, and then from the garage.

Back outside they both took a few deep breaths and Mike even spent a minute trying to pop his ears as an attempt to undo the unsettling feeling that settled on them as part of the whole experience.

“That felt so weird and creepy and I don’t care for that at all,” Mike said.

“I know. It feels so… oppressive,” Justin said. “And depressing.”

“Yeah,” agreed Mike. “You still want to measure this thing?”

“I do, but I don’t want to step foot in there for very long.”

“Yeah, me either.”

For the next two hours, Justin and Mike measured the field of silence around the house. They marked the borders with chalk on the sidewalk or by planting sticks upright in the lawn. They even took several audio recordings inside the field and across the field.

They found out that there is no sound inside of the field nor anything that can be heard through the field. Nothing penetrates it one way or the other.

“I really don’t like this,” Justin muttered. “But it is fascinating.”

Mike was laying on the cold sidewalk, claiming he was trying to cool his fried brain. Suddenly he stood up. “You know, I give up. I’m posting this on the internet. Someone out there must know what’s happening. Let’s do the RC car and the radio thing again.”

Justin shrugged, he didn’t see how that was going to help, but he turned up the radio once more, stuck it to the back of the RC car and started driving it in circles in and out of the silence field.

“Hey, I’m at my man Justin’s house, and check out this freaky nonsense happening. There’s no sound around here. I’m losing my mind,” Mike narrated. “What’s happening?”

He filmed the little car running around, music blasting loudly, and then suddenly getting cut off as it passed the small stick fence. Even the whine of the little motor powering the RC car wheels gets cut off.

“Someone please tell me what is happening!” Mike pleaded on the video as he finally cut it off. He posted it online and waited for someone to give him an easily explainable answer.

A few seconds after the video got post Mike got the first comment.

“Fake lol”

“Helpful,” Mike said out loud to the comment.

But then suddenly he got a notification that the video was removed.

“What the hell?” Mike said. “They took down my video for some reason!”

Before Justin could ask what was happening his own phone started ringing. He was getting a call from an unlisted number.

my kofi where i post everything

[heavymetalrobotics]

ARC Scrapbots Event Report Part 1

It's time to get started on our event report from ARC Scrapbots Challenge! This was a very unique event unlike anything else in robot combat so this report is going to be a little different than usual. In this part I'll explain the event format a little bit and go through the first stage, and then in subsequent parts I will go through each of the fights in detail.

In most robot combat events, competitors arrive with their custom made fighting machines that they've spent hundreds or thousands of hours designing, building, testing, and engineering to be at peak performance in the fighting arena. Scrapbots Challenge is quite literally the opposite. Every single robot that competes must be built at the event, in 3 hours (roughly). Competitors are provided with a common, basic electronics kit consisting of motors, electronic speed controllers, and a battery. They are then tasked with constructing their robot using nothing more than what can be found in a large pile of household junk. The format is based on the old TV show Scrapheap Challenge (called Junkyard Wars in the US). That was once one of my absolute favorite shows, and I have long talked about wanting to try a similar thing in combat robotics. When the opportunity came up for me to participate in ARC's version I jumped at it immediately. Silly combat robots are my favorite kind and here was an event consisting entirely of silly robots!

The event took place at a makerspace, so there were plenty of tools freely available for use to build our robots with. Upon arriving, each competitor was instructed to add their own household junk to the pile on the table, and then given a small numbered token. The pile was quite small when I arrived but had nearly doubled in size by the time the event began. All manner of random objects could be found in the pile: disposable cutlery, plastic food containers, VHS boxes, old cell phones, computer speakers, broken children's toys, bits of rubber, old 3D prints, lego pieces, aluminium drink cans, and much, much more. Anyone could pick what they wanted from the pile, so there was no guarantee that something I could see early on would still be there when it came time for me to pick the scrap for my robot.

The numbered tokens were an important part of balancing the difficulty curve of the event. People who were new to combat robotics were drawn into groups 1 & 2, while those with experience were placed in groups 3 & 4. When it was finally time to begin, the groups were each called one at a time in numerical order and given 3 minutes to pick 5 items from the pile to use for their robot. This ensured that the less experienced competitors had the best selection of pieces to choose from, and more time to work on their robots while the later groups were still picking through the pile. I ended up in group 3.

Rather than waste precious time sitting around while the first two groups were picking their parts, I had a look over the electronics kit and began to lay them out so I could begin planning my robot. After all, there was no sense in picking out pieces that would be too small to hold everything. In addition to the electronics, there were also 3 different sizes of 3D printed hubs to make it simpler to attach things to the motors. I had one of the "spinner" kits (the other kind was a "lifter" kit) which meant I would need to also plan for a spinning weapon for my robot.

When my group was called to the scrap pile, I had a difficult time finding suitable parts. Many of the good pieces had already been taken by groups one and two, and I quickly ran out of time before finding what I wanted. Once every group had their chance to pick through the pile for their initial parts, it was opened up for anyone to go in and get more pieces whenever they wanted. I ended up spending a LOT of time going back and forth looking for more parts, something I definitely need to improve on the next time I try an event like this again.

What I ended up picking the first time around were two bottle caps with holes in their centers, a clear plastic bowl, a giant googly eye, and a sheet of thin green plastic that was very flexible, similar to the material that file folders are made from. I was hoping to use the bottle caps as wheels, the plastic sheet as a base plate, and the bowl as a shell for the robot. But everything else the robot needed I had no idea for and had to figure out as I went.

I didn't have much of a chance to take photos during the building process because of the limited amount of time available. Pictured above is what I constructed for the base of my robot. I cut a square out of the green plastic as a base plate, then cut small rectangular recesses in the sides to mount the drive motors in. I spent probably far too long cutting up an aluminium drink can (from an energy drink I think) to fold into motor mounts. While I knew I could simply hot glue the motors into place, I was anxious about the risk of the glue getting into the exposed gears and locking them up for good. Further, glue doesn't help much to resist torque, so I wanted a direct mechanical connection to take that load. I ended up folding the aluminium into a roughly omega shape (Ω) so I could fold the "wings" under the base plate and glue them in place. Some creative slots cut in the aluminium also meant I could slide them into the recesses in the base plate, further adding to the mechanical strength of the connection. This was honestly my favorite part of the whole build. It's been a VERY long time since I have tried to work with joinery techniques, and also quite a while since my brain has gotten a good creative workout like this.

Knowing that traction would be a problem with bare metal wheels, I found a small strip of foam rubber, cut it up, and glued it to the outside of the bottle caps as a wheel tread. I then used the smallest of the 3d printed hubs provided (which I cut down further) to mount the bottle caps to the drive motors. Several times the glue holding the hubs to the caps came loose, probably because of how smooth the metal was, so I ended up scratching up the inside of the caps to add texture for the glue to adhere to better.

By this point I had decided to build a robot type called a Shell Spinner. So to mount the weapon motor vertically, and keep it stable so it wouldn't come loose, I hot glued a Lego Technic piece down the center of the base plate and press fit two wooden dowels into it. Then I duct taped and hot glued the weapon motor between them. Keeping this as close to vertical as possible at all times was super important because the clearances between the chassis and spinning shell would be quite small.

(Forgive the post event photo, I didn't get a good picture of the finished chassis at the event.)

For the rest of the chassis, I found a metal bracket that just happened to be the exact shape of one side of my robot, so that got duct taped as the front wall. Not able to find any other scrap that was particularly suitable I dug out some foam board from the pile, cut it up, and used it for the back and sides of the chassis. At this point I was running out of time. I think I only had 45 minutes left when I started working on the chassis walls, and I didn't even get around to the shell yet! To cover over everything I picked out a plastic lattice that had once been part of a model kit and had all the pieces removed from it. I thought that it would be pretty cool and unique to have a sort of "cage" over the top of the robot rather than a solid opaque lid so that the electronics could be seen through it.

With the chassis mostly finished it was time to work on the spinning shell weapon. At first I thought about securing the "teeth" to the sides of the bowl by running them through it, but the first attempt at puncturing it resulted in the bowl cracking. Not having enough time to sort out alternate solutions, I simply hot glued the pieces directly to the outside surface. This was very tricky as I needed to hold everything at an angle to a curved surface while the glue set and cured. Somehow I managed to get them attached the way I wanted, with one piece supporting the other so they wouldn't just break off the first time they hit anything. I ended up using the handles of disposable razors because they were orange. At the time I was thinking about theming the robot based on one of my old designs from video games (which was orange) but ultimately I decided against it, and by this point it was too late to change things.

You may be wondering why I used the handles of razors instead of the sharp blades themselves for the weapon teeth. The answer is simple. If I included anything as sharp as an actual razor blade I would also need to make a safety cover for them so that nobody would get injured while handling the robot outside the arena. Time was rapidly running out (I think I had maybe 10 minutes left at this point) so that wasn't an option.

With the remaining few minutes I glued the cut-off parts of the wheel hubs from earlier to the bottom of the robot to keep it from tilting forward and back too much. Then it was decoration time! Shell spinners are not a particularly appealing shape (they are round almost by definition) so I felt I needed to do something to make it look nicer. A few small googly eyes around the top of the shell and a plastic egg in the center did the trick. I had initially thought about the big googly eye going on top but it was larger around than the shell and blocked the view of the chassis inside. I'm pretty sure one of the other builders at my table ended up using it in the end. Lastly, I happened to find blue, pink, and white straws in the pile, so those got glued to both sides of the shell to add some more color while it spins around.

I don't have any photos of this next part so have one of the makerspace as it was set up for Scrapbots.

Not long after I finished the decorations, time was called. At this point it was mid-day, and the event had a 1 hour break for lunch. However, we were all permitted to spend our lunch break however we saw fit. Those who had finished their robots went out to get food, while many kept working through the extra hour to get their robots finished. I was one of those who kept working.

First up was testing to be sure the controls worked properly and the shell would actually spin. To my surprise, I had mistakenly calibrated the fail-safe in the radio system incorrectly. I had assumed that a single direction spinner would use the throttle stick on the transmitter from zero percent at the bottom to 100 percent at the top. However, the electronic speed controllers provided were bi-directional which meant that they treated the middle point as zero, and the bottom as -100 percent throttle (full speed reverse). So when I tested the fail-safe by shutting off the transmitter, the weapon turned on at full speed in reverse. Oops. I eventually solved this by moving the weapon control from channel 3 to channel 4 on the radio, which meant that it was controlled by moving the throttle stick from side to side. This not only was already set to fail-safe correctly, but it made it easy for me to control the weapon. I could simply let go of the stick and the spring would push it back to the center zero position to shut the weapon off.

The bigger issue though, was that the weapon didn't actually spin! The clearances between the chassis corners and the inside of the shell were too small, and at some points in the rotation they would rub against each other. Essentially the chassis was acting as a brake. I spent most of my lunch hour cutting and grinding away at the corners of the chassis to try to free up the weapon. In the end I made it work, but there was still some slight rubbing which would occasionally stall the weapon out during fights.

Finally, before fights were to begin, we had to weigh our robots. Normally ARC runs robots in the 150 gram weight class, but for Scrapbots the weight limit is increased to 250 grams. Part of the reason I chose to make a shell spinner is because of how challenging it can be to keep those designs within the allowed weight. The shells are usually really heavy, and so the chassis needs to be small and compact to account for that. Well, it turns out I did too good of a job on that front. My finished robot only weighed 157 grams! Without the decorations it would be completely legal to run in the normal 150g antweight class. Next time I try a competition like this I plan to make a larger robot that uses the full weight limit.

That brings us to the end of the building portion of Scrapbots! Up next will be the fight reports from each time my little robot was put into the arena. Everyone got 3 fights to qualify for a knockout bracket, so there was plenty of robot fighting action to be had. Tune in then!

[canidkid]

urmm i dont know if rqs are open or not, but do you think you could do reagan age regressor headcanons too...? i know its less obvious a headcanon than brett, but if youre willing to id be grateful 🙏

They're open!!

Tbh regressor Reagan makes so much sense I can't believe there isn't more for her >:[[ /lh

...

REGRESSOR REAGAN RIDLEY HEADCANONS!! 🖍️🧪🧃

with some CG Brett!

Pretty easily identifiable age range of 3-7

She never loses that desire to keep making and creating - so she has a lot of toys pertaining to that! Depending on where she's landed in her headspace, she'll tinker with Jr. Robotics kits, Legos, blocks or just simple science experiments.

Seriously can't be left unsupervised for long around anything that could be taken apart. Ballpoint pens, CD players, cardboard boxes. She wants to know how things work and she doesn't care if she'll be upset later because she's covered in lava lamp fluid and glitter!!!

Sensory avoidant. Reagan becomes more sensitive to outside stimuli in headspace, so failsafe plans need to be installed. Noise canceling headphones, sunglasses, change of clothes, etc. Especially certain kinds of physical touch are big no-nos. Unexpected hugs, for example.

Super specific about clothing. Tags out, seams non-offensive, the same thing in several colors, etc.

Regression is a way to get her childhood back! She tries to plan when, how, what she'll be doing and with who. All in an effort to keep the experience as positive as possible. 

Usually this does include Brett! He's a really fun CG - and easily adapts to Reagan's needs. She's able to put a lot of trust in him and knows he'd never abuse this. He's just a big safety blanket, which is exactly what this little kid needs sometimes. 

Museum trips!! So many museum trips!! They take a lot of planning in advance. Snack bag, the correct outfit, and headphones are a must! Public places can easily become too much for her when small - be it through sensory overload or anxiety over being a kid in public. 

When they do get everything just right..Reagan loves interactive exhibits. Pressing buttons, standing on platforms or picking things up to inspect are always a great time! 

Heavily relies on structure. It's not that she'll forget, it's that she wants to know what's next at all times. If there's no daily planner up somewhere, she'll get antsy until there is.

When by herself, Reagan tends to steer away from anything that might delve too much into her actual childhood. She prefers watching newer shows, playing with newer toys - or plain and simple  just turning the whole thing into nap time.

Comfort items!! She has them, she loves them. One of her favorites is a pocket-sized black cat plushie! It goes everywhere with her. Big or small, doesn't matter. The cat is safely tucked away somewhere nearby. 

I see both her and Brett as flips. So,, bunch of fun stuff ensues. They're either small together and engage in absolute chaos, or are able to take care of one another in kiddo mode!!

She's more of a timid type, especially around people she doesn't entirely trust. Largely nonverbal in public - as well as quite often in her circle. Brett is about the only person who knows the full scope of her regression.

I also potentially have more to say here so I'm absolutely open to taking more specific follow-up headcanons or moodboard requests!!!

[buzzybeeagere]

literally any agere thing with Equius, whatever you want to do I just love my boy Equius and want to see him relax and be baby

Agere!Equius headcanons:

His favorite thing to do is cuddle up with Nepeta and watch MLP!

He gets insecure sometimes when he's regressed about not having a "little" body type, but Nepeta gives him lots of reassurance that he's still very adorable! He also likes to wear baggy clothes/onesies to make himself feel smaller

He doesn't get as worked up and sweaty when he's regressed, but he still lets Nepeta give him bubble baths after long days of active fun

Instead of working on regular robots he plays with Lego Robotics kits (they're safer and easier to work with)

[demonicxrocker]

current inbox status: requests are closed, sorry. dm or send me an off-anon ask if you're interested in commissions, though.

current number of request(s) in inbox: 9

last updated: feb 27, 2025

hey hey— the name's mod corey. they/them pronouns, very aroace, and local edit maker

main blog is @coreysriffin. im also mod blaze in the @pr0ject-chaos group editing acc as well

top and bottom graphics are made by me— headers are linked here and here

please stop asking me why i don't like spam-liking or spam-reblogs, i swear to god. /srs

[more info is under the cut :thumbs up grinning emoji lol:]

🔥 || content

icons

pride icons

reply icons

gif icons

matching icons

playlists

care kits/clothing kits (is that what they're called?)

stimboards

moodboards

wallpapers (very selective bc it's been a bit)

layouts

name sets

pronoun sets (selective xp)

color picked pride flags

transparents (will be posted onto my transparents account and reblogged here)

probably more things im not thinking about atm tbh lol

🎸 || sources

(favorites are in bold)

canadian cartoons (grojband, looped, yin yang yo, camp lakebottom are the ones that pop up in my head first, but im down for editing almost all of them)

sonic (somewhat selective since im not that heavily into the franchise)

pokemon + pokemon media (ie the starters series by movieunleashers, etc)

any generation of my little pony, littlest pet shop, strawberry shortcake, care bears

any show that aired on qubo in it's lifetime (ie. pecola, sitting ducks, babar, sandra the fairytale detective, sally bollywood, etc etc)

disney animated shows (amphibia, gravity falls, wander over yander, the owl house, etc) (semi-selective)

SOME nickelodeon animated shows/nicktoons (making fiends, danny phantom, fairly oddparents, my life as a teenage robot, etc etc)

rise of the tmnt (friends/mutuals can request other tmnt series)

cookie run (ovenbreak + other games, mainly. will do kingdom but it's VERY fucking selective)

super phantom cat games, spoon pets / neko atsume, postknight 1 + 2, etc (mobile games, basically)

super cat bros / super cat tales games

browser games like heart star, double panda, and etc. their mobile game counterparts are allowed too

cartoon network shows (adventure time, regular show, over the garden wall, etc etc) (semi-selective)

lego shows (ninjago, monkie kid, nexo knights, etc etc) (selective)

sanrio (aggrestuko included)

little witch academia. and also any of the monster collecting animes (digimon, bakugan, yugioh, yokai watch, etc)

minecraft, minecraft story mode, and mcyt in general (hermitcraft, last life series, empires, etc etc.)

dude, that's my ghost!

webshows (group 5, dick figures, happy tree friends, bravest warriors, jumpcut!, and etc) (semi-selective)

webcomics (ie. sparklecare, ghost eyes, it hurts, serendipity, deathsitter, etc etc) (semi-selective)

🧨 || unfamiliar sources but will still edit for

pretty much anything, to be honest. just make sure i haven't said outright that i won't do it. ocs also fall into this category most of the time

💢 || sources i absolutely WILL NOT edit for

any horror media (creepypastas, horror games, horror series, horror args.. you get the idea)

anime in general lol

irl people in general (this also includes youtubers + vtubers)

total drama series, 6teen, and clone high

anything too problematic (if you have to ask yourself if it is or not, then that means it probably counts)

anything else, just ask me atp. a lot of things have changed over the years— and also i can't be asked to add all of em

⛓️ | blacklist / general things i will not edit for

weirdcore, traumacore, "sanriocore" (*actual* sanriocore is fine, im talking about the kind that's essentially just traumacore but with sanrio characters whatnot)

fetish-y type shit (i am NOT explaining this one.)

laney + corney (grojband character n grojband ship)

ectofeature

lloyd, harumi, or garmadon (ninjago characters)

lloyd x anyone ships

extreme body horror / gore

agere, babycore, angelcore— stuff like that (not against it by any means but it's just not my personal thing tbh)

[burnwater13]

Grogu, with Kuiil looking over his shoulder, shows off the power suit from his new building kit. Various mini-figs observe. LEGO Robot World, Kit # 60421. Image by me.

Size Restrictions

Grogu didn’t understand why his dad was so worried about going back to Biggs BigsBees Balance Garden and Entertainments. Just because Seb gave him a really cool new building set didn’t mean that Grogu wanted to drag his dad back to that facility. Sure it was fun and there had been a lot to see and do and eat. But he was older now and flying around like a hive of bees swarming a person trying to steal their honey was for youngsters. He wanted to go to Droid-O-Rama on Cantonica. Now they had some really cool rides.

Grogu hadn’t realized that this kit was the newest ride that had been built at Droid-O-Rama. But then he used his datapad to check some details on the kit and discovered that it had been created to celebrate the newest addition to the park. He had no idea how Seb had managed to come across the kit. As far as Grogu could tell most folks would only ever see one in a vid because they had sold out immediately. Of course Seb was a Jedi once and maybe that had something to do with his ability to come by such a rare kit?

Grogu didn’t really care, one way or the other. He was happy to start working on the kit and was happy to see the first few things he was making were more little figures and some sort of mech. He expected it was probably a tool they used to inspect the finished ride. It wasn’t easy to just get a speeder bike or even a maintenance hover lift to get everywhere you had to go in order to inspect couplings, transitions, and the amount of debris the ride accumulated. 

Yup. That’s right. Rides accumulated debris. Hats, candy, drink containers, bags of all sorts, and, if his dad had been on the ride, the last meal someone had eaten. It was dangerous to let that stuff build up. For one thing, people wanted their stuff back, usually. Din Djarin didn’t want the stuff he left behind on a ride back, but then Grogu wouldn’t have wanted it either. But a hat? Sure. If he had a hat that was just perfect in size, style, and fit, he’d want it back. No one had ever made that hat as far as Grogu could tell but if he ever found one he’d want to retrieve it from a ride, no matter where it got lost.

But those few things were easy to build and didn’t really send his story telling senses into high gear. He needed the droid. Yup. This kit had a droid and he really hoped it had a power supply for it because he really wanted a little droid of his own. R5 was great, but to Grogu’s annoyance the astro-mech knew which side of its circuits the oil bath was accessed from and didn’t help him as much as the pit droids or R2-D2 had. R5 always had to check with the Mandalorian first and that meant that the answer was ‘no’. It was just that simple. 

With his own droid, Grogu could make sure that orders for ration packs prohibited the kind that involved a lot of veggies, meats made from veggies, and desserts that contained veggies. He’d also make sure that the Mandalorian didn’t get up before dawn. R5 was afraid of that part of the night that came just before dawn. Something about shadows and low power levels. Whatever it was afraid of, it woke Din Djarin up out of a sound sleep and that caused the Mandalorian to declare it time to do some exercises. It was as bad as being at Luke’s Jedi Sleep Away Camp. Uff. 

Well, Grogu couldn’t just day dream about what would be great in having his own little droid. He needed to get to work on building it. So with a grin on his face and the certainty that only good things could come of this build Grogu focused on the project in front of him and started to build the small droid. Of course, that made him wonder why some things were called ‘droids’ and others were called ‘mechs’. He’d never really considered it before, but now he wanted to know. 

When he had a break in the build, he needed a snack and to use the privy, Grogu decided that he should ask R5. The astro-mech shouldn’t need Din Djarin’s permission to tell him that sort of thing and Grogu figured that it was better than just trying to look the information up on his datapad. After he took care of necessities, he trotted out to the N-1’s landing pad. The Mandalorian had put a shed out there to keep all the tools and parts he needed to keep the classic starship operational. It was Grogu’s opinion that the shed was almost as big as the cabin, but he didn’t tell his dad that. He didn’t want the Mandalorian to feel bad for playing favorites. 

R5 was there, but he was connected to a charger. Womp rats! So much for getting first hand information. He’d just have to go back to the cabin and look things up and hope it made sense to him. 

He hadn’t gotten two meters when he heard the mechanical voice of the Marshal, IG-11M.

“Youngling Grogu, were you looking for Mandalorian Bounty Hunter, Din Djarin?”

Grogu shook his head. He hadn’t even realized that his dad wasn’t there, he was so focused on speaking with R5.

“Very good. He asked me to remain here until he returned. He went to see a man about a ship. Is there some way I may of service to you?”

IG-11M spoke and he stepped over to Grogu. The droid’s long legs were able to cover the distance between them in just one step. Grogu wished that he had long legs like that. Then he wouldn’t have to trot everywhere. 

“Mechs not droids?”

Grogu asked, knowing that IG-11M didn’t mind his horrible accent in Gal Basic. 

“If I understand your question correctly you wish to know the difference between mechs and droids?”

Grogu nodded his head.

“There has been some disagreement between the various makes and models of manufactured systems that are currently referred to as ‘mechs’ and ‘droids’ as to which came first and what the naming conventions should be to address that disagreement. Mechs for example suggest that their true first name was ‘mechanical assistant’. That term connotes any sort of mechanical device that is capable of assisting in any type of activity. According to their theory, ‘droids’ are a subset of mechs that appear more like humanoids, than not. Droids do not agree with that perspective because it suggests that being bi-pedal in design is the most critical feature of the category as opposed to the activities and actions that a droid is able to independently undertake. As I understand things, the two groups are at an impasse and suffer with the current naming with some ill-humor.  I have found that it doesn’t create significant impact in my work to simply allow people to call me ‘Marshal’ and not correct them. May I ask why you are considering this point as neither a mech, nor a droid?”

Grogu sighed and then instructed the Marshal to follow him back to the cabin. He showed his friend the building kit.

“I see. This is neither a mech nor a droid. It is a power suit. It is designed to allow another being to operate it. I suppose that being could be a mech or a droid or even a life form such as yourself, with some modifications to the design. I hope that satisfies your need for information.”

Grogu nodded his head. It did. Satisfy his need to be disappointed just when he planned to use that little droid to a lot of things for him. 

“As I recall, before my new circuit card was installed, you were able to use my framework in much the same manner. I’ve checked the data sets and you seemed quite adept at manipulating the controls. You could make similar controls for this unit, but operate it remotely due to its size restrictions.”

Finally a time when size restrictions didn’t keep him from doing what he wanted! Yippee!

[pr0ject-chaos]

hey hey— the name's mod blaze. i go by they/them and he/him pronouns

my personal edit blog is @demonicxrocker. personal *main* blog is @coreys-riffin

headers for this post belong from here and here, btw

🔥 || content!

icons

pride icons

stimboards

moodboards

playlists

reply icons

matching icons

layouts

wallpapers (fairly selective)

transparents

care kits/clothing kits/recipe kits

probably more things i can't think of atm ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

🔥 || sources!

sonic (fairly selective, mostly because im not that into it atm)

pokemon + pokemon media too (i.e. starters series by movieunleashers)

undertale/deltarune (selective)

any generation of my little pony, strawberry shortcake, care bears, littlest pet shop, etc

canadian cartoons (main ones are grojband and looped, but i can do a lot more)

disney animated shows (gravity falls, amphibia, the owl house, the ghost and molly mcgee, etc) (semi-selective)

nickelodeon animated shows/nicktoons (danny phantom, my life as a teenage robot, making fiends, etc)

danganronpa (VERY selective)

lego animation (ninjago, monkie kid, nexo knights, etc)

sanrio stuff

dude, that's my ghost! (show)

minecraft and most myct things (hermitcraft, the life series, afterlife, yhs/ts, origins smp, empires, etc. will NOT do dsmp stuff, sorry.)

🔥 || unfamiliar sources but will still edit for!

pretty much anything as long as i say that i don't edit that source in general. ocs also fall into this category, i guess

🔥 || sources i absolutely WILL NOT edit for!

any horror game (fnaf, poppy playtime, etc etc)

boyfriends webtoon

madness combat

genshin impact

total drama series and 6teen

any animated disney movie

dsmp

anime in general

pokemon creepypastas + creepypasta in general

hazbin hotel / helluva boss

again, probably more things that i can't remember, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

🔥 || blacklist!

weirdcore / "sanriocore" / traumacore

extreme body horror + gore

any horror in general, tbh

corney ship (grojband)

any lloyd x ninja ships

ectofeature (dtmg ship)

again.. more things i probably can't remember </3

thanks for reading through all of this, ik it's super long— i hope to get requests soon !!

[meili-sheep]

Yelan: Ayato, what the hell are you wearing?

Ayato: (giggles like a child) I’m a Ghostbuster! See, this is my uniform and I got you one too!

Yelan: We’re staying the night at Diluc’s house-

Ayato: Which is why I bought them!

Diluc: I would be on your side, Yelan, but I did go all-out for the Lord of the Rings marathon. It was fun too.

Yelan: I regret introducing you two to quality cinema.

[The caption: God help me if they find out about anime.]

Jokes on Yelan. Diluc already watches anime. Probably because of Kaeya to be honest but my man obviously has watched Death Note and Code Geass.

I can also see him as a little kid who really loved Gundam. With the dramatic plots the big robots and such.

And part of that I kind of can see Diluc as one of those people who likes putting together model kids. He likes the lego factor of it, he likes the painting and that he can just focus on it.

So you know with all this we get a neurodivergent Diluc with a special interest in birds and gundam.

Yelan and Ayato accidentally see his "work room" once and it looks like walls lined with finished models kits. And you know he has some super rare ones.

And Diluc is just like "oh yeah. I didn't think you guys would be interested in this. Please don't touch anything."

Ayato really thinks it is just cool. and Yelan's mind is boggling at the weeb money being displayed.