Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published November 4, 2021.

We’ve been featuring some mecha/robot building here at BrickNerd for Mechtober, but given the immense popularity of the theme in the AFOL community, we’ve barely scratched the surface of this particular topic. This is why we are always happy to chat with mech builders and discover more about mechs and building them.

Today we chat with Lu Sim, better known as Messymaru. Lu’s builds have been featured in various LEGO media throughout the years and slots for his classes at the Japan Brick Festival always get filled up so quickly. Since BrickNerd has featured several of his models in the past (see his Aras, Aztech Deity, and Titoy’s Magical Chair) we figured it’s about time we sat down with him for a closer look at the builder behind the builds.

Inez: Hi Lu! Thanks for talking with us! Can you tell us about yourself and your LEGO journey?

Lu: Hi, I’m Lu Sim / Messymaru and I’m a Philippine-based LEGO mecha builder. Growing up, I was heavily into the Mecha genre, building, collecting, and watching a lot of Gundam, Macross, old-school anime like Voltes V, Evangelion, etc. This also included playing a ton of mecha video games back in the 90s such as the Front Mission series, Armored Core, Virtual-On to name a few.

I restarted my LEGO hobby back in 2013 after years of being in the dark ages and have continued building LEGO mecha ever since. I’m most known for my reFrame series of designs. The current v3 design allows for a LEGO minifig pilot inside the chest while having a fully articulated mech. These are around 19-21 cm in height (or 15 bricks high).

**AL-VZ01-XX Vzir' Regalia by Lu Sim.** Built for Simon Liu's MECHTOBER 2020, week 1. Part of the R3build project from 2017 where Lu updated his older reFrame V1 and V2 models into the V3 with minifig cockpit.

Inez: Mecha seems to be an extremely popular theme in LEGO building. How would you describe it to a new AFOL?

Lu: It really is, especially with countries that had high media exposure to Japanese cartoons in the 90s as a lot of those featured mecha in them.

To put it simply, the mecha genre is all about giant humanoid robots fighting either other giant robots or big evil monsters/creatures (kaiju). They differ from western robots mostly with how the first few popular mecha designs are humanoid and have human-like movements. Western robots in the 90s were more like tanks with legs. It’s important to note that there are some notable media that don’t fall into either generalization (some early Japanese mecha designs weren’'t purely humanoid and some early western robot designs were humanoid).

I need to point out though that the genre Mecha is often used to classify Japanese media (print or animated) for content that centers on anything mechanical (mostly robots). Mech in comparison is a more general term for piloted robots but not necessarily Japanese in nature. Robots is the wider umbrella term for mechs.

**GN-02Z Hyouga by Lu Sim.** Lu’s personal redesign of Zane's Titan from set 71738. This is not an alternate build but uses some parts from the set. This design uses a new reFrame version for the body interior but still uses the V3 arms and legs internal structure.

Inez: I didn’t even realize there were distinctions! Why did you start building LEGO Mechs?

Lu: Earlier in my childhood, I discovered the family LEGO stash which my older siblings stopped playing with and quickly grew to love the toy. As far as I can remember, I always liked making my own mecha designs, either illustrating them or building them from my small LEGO collection. I was also very lucky to receive from my Dad the Spyrius Robo-Guardian (set 6949) which I eventually used to build my most articulated mech during my childhood.

Fast forward to my return to LEGO in 2013, I knew right away it was mechs that I wanted to do since I was heavily ogling MFZ designs while at work around 2011-2012. My first few purchases were mostly parts for MFZs and my earlier 2013 builds were slightly larger than the MFZ size. I realized the scale, while enjoyable since you could easily build mech squads, wasn’t really for me since I wanted to make more uniquely designed fully articulated mecha designs. This was when I discovered OG builders Izzo, Soren, and Zizy over at Flickr and quickly made me want to build something similar in scale and detail.

Our LUG, Phlug, actually had mech challenges back in the day that fellow SciFi builder Jsam (Josiah Samaniego) and I helmed, which was dubbed Mech Wars. This series of challenges eventually led to me making the reFrame system as a way to standardize the challenge entries and have some sort of uniformity across the different builders.

Inez: Can you tell us about your build process?

Lu: My builds almost always start with me deciding on a concept. This is usually what the build will be based on and can either be a vague or clear idea what the build is, its overall purpose, or a mix of both. From there I figure out key design features of the concept and/or get more specific with the design's purpose. This helps me have a clearer design direction for the build and sometimes even visualize the final design even before starting the build. This step also lets me pick out overall shape direction (curved or more straight lines), color palette and blocking, weight classification (light, medium, or heavy), weapon and accessory options, and other design features or gimmicks I may add to the build.

Part of my concept planning stage is to do proper research, either reading more about the core idea/concept, searching existing different artist interpretations, and/or looking for real-life examples. I rarely sketch out a build prior to building but if it’s a special build or a unique concept then I do a quick drawing or jot down notes to help flesh out the concept.

I invest a lot of time into the pre-build preparation and planning of my mechs. This approach is deeply rooted in my years practicing graphic design and is essentially the same way I made digital art. I never do digital builds for any of my builds simply because it's easier for me to work with tangible pieces. I usually use digital building programs as a post-build step to backup certain builds.

As for the actual building, I almost always start with the head design since this can make or break a build in my opinion. I then work my way down to the chest cockpit and waist, creating the core of the mech. Next is either the arms or legs, depending on what I feel the concept prioritizes more then lastly, I work on the weapons and accessories. For reference, the time I spend on a head design is almost the same time as the body build duration or often even longer. The arms and legs combined take as long as the body and the weapons/accessories take the shortest.

Kriegsfront CAT by Lu Sim. It's based on a CAT machine converted to a big mecha. Built as closely as possible to an early low-poly render of a mecha model from the game Kriegsfront Tactics.

Inez: Are you building anything now?

Lu: I’m actually in the process of making a reFrame sized version of the 80010 Demon Bull King from the Monkie Kid theme. I just finished doing a sample design of my new reFrame V4 heavy frame so I now want to test it further by making another heavy mech and the Demon Bull King was a perfect chance to do that.

After that build, I have a few other mechs lined up, including two commission pieces and a special mecha project that holds a special place in my personal life.

Lu’s reinterpretation of the Demon Bull King 80010 set from the Monkie Kid theme. The idea was to test the redesign on his new heavy V4 reFrame mech skeleton system.

Inez: What is your favorite build?

Lu: I’d have to say it’s my Zenithal build. It’s such a chunky build that has a heavy Front Mission vibe to it and is one of my best designs.

Lu’s Zenithal, highly inspired by the Zenith Wanzer from the Front Mission series. Lu combined elements from various Zenith models (FM1, FM3, Left Alive's Zenith) to make this version.

Inez: Mech building sounds like a pretty involved process. What was your most difficult build? What made it so difficult?

Lu: If we’re talking about just mechs then it’s the Spessar, a build that was mostly in Transparent orange/neon-orange. The color limitation was just really challenging as a lot of pieces I used for design weren’t available in transparent orange/neon-orange. I’m really proud of that one given the parts usage limitations.

Inez: What are your tips for a beginner Mech builder?

Lu: Build in a style that you like and don’t feel pressured to build what others are doing. Each mech builder is unique. Learn from others’ mech builds. Research as needed and as often as you can. Properly credit your inspirations.

Inez: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us, Lu! Looking forward to more of your builds in the future!

To see more of Lu’s works, you can follow him on social media: Flickr, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. He’s also got more info, WIP details, and other LEGO mechs over at his blog: messymaru.com.

Have you tried building LEGO robots yourself? Tell us about it in the comments below!

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