Scrambler/Strider, Revisited

For some reason the instruction page for Scramblers/Striders does not appear in my top ten visited of all time posts.  Is this because it's easier to build than any of the other designs, or because people don't like it?  Anyway.  I figured maybe this frame deserved another look.

Ijad Scramblers by The Hydromancer.  A squad
of Scramblers bought from MobileFra.me.

Minifig Scale Scrambler by MRaichelson.  There's been some

controversy over minifig scale creations, but this looks great.

Scrambler by A. Yates Industrials.  This one features
A. Yates typically excellent use of color blocking.

Scrambler V2 Company by Ced23Ric.  This squad features

excellent use of stickers, color, and non-typical parts.

Ijad 'Beloved of God' company by Malcolm Craig.  This squad 
features one of the only Suzerain frames I've seen "in the brick".

ST-23 "Castor" - Solar Union Adaptation by LowestFormOfWit.  This

brickblend frame shows just what can be done with clone bricks.

Brandish by Xenovorous.  An interesting combination of a Scrambler and
a Nimrod II by Afny.  I can't believe I haven't blogged this before now.

I-ST-04E Super Strider by Soren Roberts.

Yeah, like I wasn't going to include this.  :-)

I hope this kindles some interest in the Scrambler in
the community.  Go buy some, and some accents.

New Soren Creations

Looks like Soren just got a big shipment of Friends parts.

This is the Moon Fang Tribe by Soren Roberts.  Ijad, I presume?

The I-ST-o4E Super Strider by Soren Roberts.  This looks to be the main ranged combat unit of the squad.

The I-ST-04EH Super Strider Artillery by Soren Roberts.  The artillery unit of the squad.

I-ST-05B Slammer Solidblade by Soren Roberts.  This looks to be the melee specialist of the squad.

I'd love to see the Mobile Frame Zero stats of these babies.

I have no idea who these are for but, they look great.

Building: The Scrambler/Strider

The first thing people generally do for Mobile Frame Zero is build mechs, even before reading the rules :-).  If you're not used to building with Lego putting the small parts together in an attractive and functional manner can be frustrating.  I'll try and help by looking at breakdowns of the official frames, naming some parts, and walking through the assembly process.

The Scrambler, at first, came in one variety, a simple four-legged torso with a couple of upper-body variations.  As you can see below.

Then Soren published the Strider variant and everyone in the MFZ community wigged out.  :-)

Here's the breakdown for the base model that Soren sent me.

This one is really straightforward.

Here's my version.

As you can see I changed the Travis Brick on the "Knees" to a Brick, Modified 1x1 w/Studs on 2 Sides mainly because I have more of them.

I initially thought that this was the least modified of all the frames.  Then I went through the MFZ Flickr group and found more than I expected.  Let's look at them, shall we?

Ijad Strider Precision Gunner by Jed September.  This looks to be the first Scrambler mod by someone other than Soren.

Combo Strider/Cub by ShaunGamer.  ShaunGamer was going to split this into its two sections until Joshua and I convinced him not to do so.

Ijad Strider Partial by Lord Dragon Master.  This one is only partially finished but it has parts lists in the comments.

 Hi-Leg Custom by Carbonbass.  Carbonbass calls this a modification of the Hi-Leg, but I view it more as a strange cross between a Hi-Leg and a Scrambler.  The chunky legs make this really unique.  I think all we need to see now is a Hi-Leg/Chub cross.

Ijad Bladespinner by True Mortality.  Another fantastic build by True Mortality.  It's also the only real Scrambler mod out there.

Ijad Commander by Lord Dragon Master.  LDM has been working at understanding the Strider frame by copying other versions of it.  In this version he really makes it his own.

With this post we finish the official frames for Mobile Frame Zero.  After this we will be moving on to other non-offical frames.

Building: The Hi-Leg

The first thing people generally do for Mobile Frame Zero is build mechs, even before reading the rules :-).  If you're not used to building with Lego putting the small parts together in an attractive and functional manner can be frustrating.  I'll try and help by looking at breakdowns of the official frames, naming some parts, and walking through the assembly process.

The Hi-Leg comes in two flavors, the first I call the Soldier.  It's based on the Regult from Macross.  (Supposedly the OST--- series of mechs from Battle tech is based on the Regult.  They have arms though!)  It has chicken legs; a tiny, bulbous body; and weapons sticking out at odd angles.

Here's the Breakdown Soren sent me.

I think that's pretty straightforward.

The second is what I like to call the Leader.  Based heavily on the Glaug from Macross -- most people know it as the Marauder from Battletech -- it features chicken legs, T.Rex arms, and a heavy gun.

Here's the Breakdown Soren sent me.

The hard part here is seeing the Tile, Modified 1x1 w/Clip sticking down from the Plate, Modified 1x2 w/Handle on Side (Free Ends).  The tile connects to the "torso".  You can see it in the picture of the Soldier above, surrounded by the legs and the upper body.  I will say that I found the connection for the "Gun Pod" to be awkward and it puts a lot of stress on the two studs that hold the pod to the main body.

Here's a look at the Soldier I assembled.



If you look closely you'll see I did away with the Dish 2x2 Inverted in the torso and connected the Clip Tile directly to the Travis Brick that connects the legs.

Here's a look at the leader I assembled.

I changed the mount for the gun to a Jumper Plate and a Plate, Modified 1x2 w/Clip Horizontal on End instead of the brick mount that Soren uses.

There are a few variations of both Hi-Leg designs out there, but it hasn't taken off yet like the Chub.

Hi-Leg by Shaun Gamer.  This features some minor parts changes but a very nice use of color.

Legs by TrueMortality.  A heavily modified Soldier design with an interesting posture.  I'm still not sure what part he used to attach the legs.  :-)

WTF-04C HiLeg 'Lancer" by jed_september.  Featuring some slight parts swapping but a great use of color.

WTF-04G HiLeg 'Loyalist' by jed_september.  This has to be one of my favorite mods of the Hi-Leg.  The "Duckbill" cockpit design is just brilliant.

Building: The Conscript & The Commisar

The first thing people generally do for Mobile Frame Zero is build mechs, even before reading the rules :-).  If you're not used to building with Lego putting the small parts together in an attractive and functional manner can be frustrating.  I'll try and help by looking at breakdowns of the official frames, naming some parts, and walking through the assembly process.

The Conscript and the Commisar are basically the same frame.  You could call the Commisar the younger, but bigger, brother of the Conscript.  Why is it that younger brothers are always bigger?  Heh.  Moving on...

Here's the breakdown of the Commisar that Soren Sent me.

The hard part for me to decipher was the back pack.  The torso of the mech is two 1x1 Plate, Modified w/Clip Light (Thick Ring).  Two more of these are attached to the top one with the clips facing backwards.  This shifts the orientation into the vertical axis and the backpack builds both up and down from this point.  It looks like the central brick of the backpack is a 1x2 Technic Brick w/Holes mounted on top of a "Jumper" Plate.  The Jumper Plate is mounted on the clips.

Does everyone understand that?

I'm in the middle of building my own Commisar and I already have a Conscript assembled.  Unfortunately I don't have any single pictures of either.  Hopefully I can remedy that in the next couple of days.

So far there hasn't been a lot of modding done with this frame.

MLF-002 Prometheus by FoxhoundSe7en.  This shows a Commisar with additional weapons.

However, there is one person that's been doing a great deal of work with this frame.  He is DrWatsman / Dr.Watsman.



Top Left: Rag Tag Team by Dr.Watsman.

Bottom Left: Cute Team by DrWatsman.

Bottom Right: Wasps by DrWatsman.

These three pictures show a portion of what he's done with the Conscript frame.  Spend some time perusing his Flickr stream, you won't regret it.

Building: The Chub

The first thing people generally do for Mobile Frame Zero is build mechs, even before reading the rules :-).  If you're not used to building with Lego putting the small parts together in an attractive and functional manner can be frustrating.  I'll try and help by looking at breakdowns of the official frames, naming some parts, and walking through the assembly process.

Here's the breakdown of the Chub that Soren sent me.

The thing that confused me the most was how the arms attached to the body.  The Bar 1L w/Clip Mechanical Claw which attaches to the Tap 1x1 inside the torso is a little hard to see in the photos of the assembled mech.  It drove me nuts for the longest time. Before I received the assembly instructions I even came up with an alternate attachment device using Minifig Utensil Handlebars.

Here's a look at the base model that I assembled.

Can everyone see how that goes together?

Here's a few variations on the theme.

UMFL 4th (Syrene) Brigade, Recon Commandos by Jed September.  As always this shows good use of color, main and accents, and additional parts to change the look from the base model.  If you take a close look at the head, you can see it's attached a little differently than the standard model.

Blue Squad by Viro-M.  An excellent variation on the head along with a unified color scheme.

Red Unit "Kingfisher" by Ironsniper.  And here we can see where Viro-M got the inspiration for the heads on his mechs.

Salvage Chub by Ross Varn.  This shows good use of putting together a mech with the parts that you have on hand.

ST07W-WACKY by SchoonPine.  This shows how adding parts to a basic Chub frame can change the look of the frame.

Commander Foss' Custom ST-10 by Joshua A.C. Newman.  Here we see one of the first Chub mods by one of the creators of Mobile Frame Zero.  It uses additional parts and a unified color scheme to set it apart from the base model.

Legionnaire Koenig's ST-07 by Joshua A.C. Newman.  Another Chub mod by J.  Not that heavily modified, just a variant chest piece and an altered head.  An extra weapon and a unified color scheme help to make it different.

Hopefully this gives everyone a good look at how the Chub frame is assembled and some ideas on how to modify it to make your frames more unique.