A New Iron Fusion Line: the PanthaBots
by BONZO, HSM Editor
Lockwood’s Iron Fusion line is exceptional in design, and really is something quite unique in Home since the Fractal Mech suits. Some eyebrows were raised with the MechJets because of their price, but there can be no doubt that they were popular and very desirable. After all, what’s cooler than robots? Robots that transform into planes, that’s what. And the only thing cooler than robots that transform into planes are robots that transform into animals. For some reason, big cats have been at the apex of coolness when it comes to transforming into something.
Voltron was hugely popular for that very reason, and the collective power the robots joined to create. But other franchises have done the robot transformation into animal form as well; among these are the Transformers and Power Rangers, as well as other obscure anime icons. Robots are generally cooler than an anthropomorphic transformation because they are not just fantasy, but add sci-fi to the mix.
Generally speaking, with mechanical design, you have a shot at developing some sleek sexy lines. Those features are what essentially make or break a car design — or any consumer mechanical design for that matter. We judge a machine first by how it looks, then by how it functions; and the appearance is often the deciding factor when we look to purchase something in the real world at least. Manufacturers know this, and spend millions on getting just the right design.
In Home, where nearly everything is about the visual, this holds true even more. First we judge the appearance, and then how it functions — and one key factor we look for, particularly with mechanical designs, is how sleek and sexy they look.
And who better to bring this than Lockwood? This is one of the developers which is just synonymous with cool and sexy design. You don’t have to look beyond their existing robots to see that, but I point you to their most recent Iron Fusion work with the Geisha and Samurai Bot. The Geisha in particular was an extremely cool design, because it didn’t deviate much from the real traditional Geisha look, was mechanized to adhere to the robotic personification — and is beautiful.
The design lines shape the silhouette, and that is what we immediately perceive and why it is so important to do it right. In character designing you begin with tiny thumbnails to shape the silhouette, because a strong silhouette is an essential foundation from which to build your design. This is a rule followed in fashion design, and I am not surprised Lockwood adheres to it when it comes to their avatar designs as well. And that strong philosophy to design principles keeps Lockwood at the forefront of design and style.
What MechJets brought to the table was not only great design, and a new animation to the avatar outfit by transforming into a jet, but also a custom locomotion in a time when locomotion animation was still being experimented with. Since then we have seen a wide variety of options for locomotion, particularly with the 1.7 update to the Home core client which allowed for animating wearable portable items. Yet very little has been done as far as animating your avatar itself into non-bipedal motion. The most interesting animation experiment done in this regard has been the Konami werebat outfit, which allowed you to crawl your way around on all fours. Lockwood has taken this same quadrupedal motion and introduced it into the mechanical transformation from robotic humanoid to robotic animal. This is perhaps the most interesting element of these outfits, beyond the cool-as-ice design of the robots themselves.
The custom animation of these characters as they run around like big cats is visually appealing, but also not mandatory like the flying motion of the MechJets. You have the power to transform at will, and either walk or run as a biped or a quadruped. You can see some similarities between these designs and the original Iron Fusion Fractal Mechs, and yet they exist independently on their own as an individual line.
From what we have seen of these characters, they include some unique fighting gesture animations with independent weapons, from energy blasts to a staff. For the first couple of weeks, Lockwood intends to introduce a bundle package with a discounted price, which you should definitely take advantage of.
Lockwood has a reputation for bold design, and these mechs certainly exhibit some bold design choices in the lines, but one thing I have been disappointed by is the lack of color. Lockwood has often used bold bright colors, and they have never shied away from using brilliant contrasts — and yet these mechs have all been very neutral, with only a slight hint of hue. The only bold color is in their glowing eyes and the light circle on their chests. At least three of the designs have played with spotting marks, although adding a texture pattern can be tricky as they can detract from the rest of the design. But in this case they have been done very well, representing at least a cheetah or leopard-like yellow design, a neutral de-saturated snow leopard, and a darker panther like pattern.
Despite the lack of saturated color with the typical boldness Lockwood is known for, the darker, near monochromatic tint of the outfits doesn’t detract from the clean and beautiful design of these avatars. Robots are still very cool, and transforming robots even cooler — and while they occupy the obsessions of a specific fan base, anyone can appreciate these avatars because they bring together many genres into a single design. The animal lover, sci-fi fan, the mech geek, the anime nerd, and the Lockwood devotee can all see these avatars from a different perspective and still see them as incredibly cool and a must-have.
November 14th, 2012 by BONZO | 3 comments
BONZO is an editor and artist for HomeStation Magazine.
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I haven’t gotten any of the mechjets so far because they aren’t my thing really, but of all of the ones I have seen, these are some of the coolest. I love the way they dash around as panthers and the like. Home is taking a very interesting turn with all of these new locomotion abilities. Nice read Bonzo.
I’m definitely getting one of these. The Mechjets were pretty cool in my eyes but these were an instant “I WANT” for me.
Beast Wars, anyone?
Meh, I thought the series was adequate but these are far more than just that.
Great article, Mr. Bonxo.
“The custom animation of these characters as they run around like big cats is visually appealing, but also not mandatory like the flying motion of the MechJets. You have the power to transform at will, and either walk or run as a biped or a quadruped.”
this is HORRIBLY worded!
you can only walk as a biped and only run as a quadruped. transformation is indeed mandatory; and no, the quadruped transformation animation does not count since it is undone the very moment you start and then stop moving.
the description of the items REALLY needs to stress that, i certainly would not have bought them if i had known that they function the just about same way as mechjets do >:(