The Grinder

Why did I ever think it was a good idea to put the date in the title of these things?

The Daily Weekly Occasional Whenever I Get Around To It Grinder

Just in time for Halloween: The Battlemech costume!

Found in this Gizmodo article

The LOL in MADCAT

MadCat

It's hard enough to face one of these when playing Battletech, but now my allergies can also suffer!

DeviantART MURO a very cool little drawing application (Java?)
Hat-tip --> John Schutte

I started a Tumblr, but I'm not sure quite what I'll do with it. I don't seem to have any time for more bloggish stuff, but I could divert the cartoons I post on Google Buzz here.

Top 10: Los mejores robots gigantes
This appears to be a childs' playset.
These kids have a very cool Dad.

That is all. Keep those dice rolling.

Actually, no. That's not all. I've got a bunch of good stuff half written and no time to fix/finish to publish here. It's very frustrating.

Transformers 3

Some local news: filming is set to begin in Milwaukee this week on a scene from Transformers 3.

The locations will be the Milwaukee Art Museum (1,2,3), ...

... and the former Tower Automotive site.










The MAM does a bit of transforming itself, and seems particularly appropriate.

image source?

See the Transformers 3 trailers here.

"Mister Eastwood, how about THIS Trebuchet?"

Steven Satak sent me a "taste test" of some of the new art for his TRO:3063 project. Steve figured out early on that I have a sweet-spot for this particular Mech.

The work of kSeth.

And, if I'm not going insane from lack of sleep, Steve has recently given his blog layout a thorough redesign: Nice work! I'll have to ask him where he got that beautiful banner art.
Comments on the recent post indicate I'm not going insane, but I was worried for a second.

Gundam vs. Gundam

Gundam vs. Gundam:




A remote-controlled Gundam battle, filmed at the International Robot Expo.
 Click thru for the video.

[Hat Tip 2 Mr. Q. Wowbagger]

Are there rules for this in Battletech?

Somewhere in that 100-ton, 10-meter tall piece of walking mechanical mayhem you think there might be room to squeeze in a port-a-potty.

But then, given how quickly they get destroyed in battle typical Battletech game, maybe the problem has never come up? Click thru to the Far Left Side for the full-size, high quality image, and look for the neuro-helmet reference.

Robosaurus

Just for fun, I give you ...

Robosaurus.

This isn't a Battlemech. Not quite. It is, however, well over 10 meters tall and masses about 30 tons, so it's on the order size for a light Battlemech ... and it transforms ... and it mounts a flamethrower.






Also of note is a bit of FASA history you can read about.






Robosauruses live at public events such as drag races and monster truck rallies. The typical diet of a Robosaurus consists of old cars and airplanes, flame broiled to a crispy perfection.




The Robosaurus site is an interesting read. In addition to pictures and promotional information, there are considerable details about the construction, engineering, and operation of this machine.



Also worth a visit is www.CanoSOARus.com the home of
Doug Malewicki's patented inventions and other engineering involvements. You might see some other of his famous inventions there too.

Rumours Abound: A new MechWarrior game in the works?

This 9 second video has been making a big splash on the gaming sites:



Lots of people have beaten me to this one, click for the most recent links on this story from Google.

[Kudos to Scrapyard Armory]

[UPDATE 7/8]

IGN seems to have the scoop this morning, and two more 9 second videos.

[UPDATE 7/10]

Rumors confirmed: MechWarrior 5 in in the works. Additionally, MechWarrior 4 is being release for free just to get us all riled up for it. I'm riled!

More Giant Robots, More Joy (Avatar)

From IO9

According to a tipster, this is a closer look at the AMP Powersuit from James Cameron's motion capture film Avatar. This concept art, supposedly by James Clyne, is set to be included in a brochure promoting an Avatar tie-in game for Ubisoft. And it'll appear in Titan's upcoming book on The Art Of Avatar. That's assuming it's real concept art, of course. It hasn't been confirmed by Fox, so take it with a grain of salt.

Actual concept art or not, it's still pretty cool.

Brick Commander

Brick Commander: I'm not completely sure what this is, but it's LEGO, it's Battletech, and it's cool.









On Further inspection, there seems to be a program to download (Brick Commander) that helps you design LEGO creations.






[All Images from the Brick Commander Gallery]







[Hat Tip Naturelich Games]

UPDATE: Another relevant link

Pint-Size Battling Robots at Engadget

Pint-Size Battling Robots at Engadget



Click-thru for several more videos.

Visit Scenic Hakodate

Visit scenic Hakodate, Japan, a city well known for its frequent alien attacks, and witness the rampaging mechanical squid battling the gigantic guardian robot! ... OK, so this is kinda weird, and perhaps a few details are in order:

The invaders here are alien cephalopods from the planet Ikaaru, who seek revenge on the people of Hakodate for eating too much squid. The aliens hijack an enlarged version of Hakodate’s tourism mascot — a mechanical squid named “Ikabo,” which was built by Future University-Hakodate (FUN) in 2007 — and send it on a rampage through the city.

No, it's still weird. Watch the video, then go read the full story behind it at Pink Tentacle. It's good fun.



On second thought, maybe go read about it FIRST, then it might make a little more sense (a very little).

Forestry Mechs, Almost.

If only they had legs.


No trees die, but this thing is kind of cool. Watch it climb the hill.


A toy skidder!

With a name like this ...

With a blog named Giant Battling Robots, how can I resist!

[Found on Stomp Tokyo]
Though I admittedly have little knowledge in the genre of Japanese sci-fi, I do know one thing: when a UFO crashes into the ocean near Tokyo, chances are pretty good that an attack on the city by a giant monster is inherent. Call it intuition.

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How about a MMORPG, Exteel. I haven't played it, by IO9 gave it a nice review. Apparently it's more combat than RPG.





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[And this, from TVtropes]
Who needs an Abrams tank when you can have a 100-foot man-shaped robot with a glowing sword and a fist that fires off like a missile? There's no argument - fighting robots are just infinitely cooler than ordinary vehicles. Whatever their shape, though, they are all known as "mecha". The "mecha", or "giant robot", concept is ubiquitous in Japanese pop culture, and is more than adequately represented in anime. Despite the name, the robots need not actually be "giant" - some are merely human-sized, and some even smaller. They range from the boomers and hardsuits of Bubblegum Crisis, to the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann big enough to use galaxies as shuriken (no, really!).

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Giant Robots Smashing into other Robots.
Needs more smashing!
But maybe they just want to get dome work done.



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Coincidence or Copycat? What is the difference between a Giant Robot and a Big Giant Robot anyway? I suppose there is room enough on the internet for the two of us. ;-)

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[from Mecha Image of the Day - here]
Finally, here is my kind of Giant Battling Robot from the game Battletech.









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So many robots, so little time. Maybe post your favorites here?

Mecha Terminators

Catch this T4 teaser
at
IO9.com.

(Maybe Mecha Moses will save us from the Mecha Terminators?)