The Paragon α serves as the epitome of the Paragon series and is a culmination of Ascendant Lord technology. The α had its total weight reduced compared to its predecessor for better handling and extra boosters were added all throughout the unit to address mobility issues.
The previous PA-LNCPRGN lance was replaced with the SW-MALACHITE sword with a blade made of concentrated Quorus and the shield was upgraded to the SH-DIAMDXX.
Classification: Melee
Armaments:
(1) SW-MALACHITE
(1) SH-DIAMDXX
Build Notes:
The Alpha would be part of the r3build project that I’ve been doing for the past few months. Basically, this would take existing designs that I liked from the V1 and V2 reFrame builds and upgrade them to the V3 reFrame that would allow a more compact chest cockpit build. Upgrading also means I can improve on both structural and aesthetic aspects per design.
The first Paragon was actually a V2 build based off the Ritter and also had a lance and shield weapon. I figured for the r3build, I’d explore other melee weapon options as I’ve been wanting to use this transparent door piece from the retired Belville line. I originally saw this piece used as a sword from Djokson‘s Instagram account so giving credit where it’s due 😀 I actually ordered a bunch of those doors the moment I saw him use it as such but remember not being able to get the trans speckled medium blue one as it was so expensive.
I also wanted to keep the weight to a more manageable amount this time around for the r3build version. The first Paragon was super heavy for a build of that size, especially the shoulders. Being a V2 build, the cockpit was nested at the back and the extra plating just gave it all sorts of weight issues. By upgrading to the V3 cockpit build would better balance the mech with the center of gravity nesting more between the chest-hip area. I also needed to reduce the plating pieces around the thigh as the old build made those quite unstable.
WIP Process:
As with all my builds, I started with redoing the head design to have the minifig Aaron visor fit better on the front of the head. This process took the longest as there was constant tinkering with how to get the connections measuring just right. The body rebuild immediately followed and at first, I wanted to retain the usage of the two Chima minifig body armor in Dark Pearl Silver from the original Paragon. I also wanted to retain using this dark red rubber stretcher for additional detail and a splash of color.
After a few hours of tinkering though, I didn’t like where the middle of the chest was going and decided to just completely scrap forcibly using the two Chima chest armor pieces and going with a new chest design.
Sometimes you just need to admit that a design doesn’t work and starting from scratch yields better results. Happy with the new chest design, I proceeded with the waist which was mostly copied from the Izlude commission. They are both v3 Ascendant Lord reFrames so I figured they should share some design similarities. The legs in the picture were also stripped down from the original Paragon and test fitted on the head-torso-waist assembly to check how everything was coming together.
Sadly I did not have WIP pictures of the leg and shoulder process as things quickly came together and I got the look I wanted right away. That and both of these were simply stripped down versions from the original build so that made things much faster. One thing I wanted to improve on from the previous shoulders were to position them higher to nest the head better and give the Alpha a more heroic silhouette to it. As for the thighs, these were mostly copied from the Izlude build for the same above reason. The knees and calves were redone from scratch and the interior of the leg was slimmed down for a slimmer leg profile. The feet are exactly the same.
The back waist skirting was preserved from the original as I really liked how the shapes there integrated with one another. As for the boosters, it was just compressed versions of the old boosters and the trickiest part was getting them mounted on the rear weapon mounts of the V3 reFrame.
As for the weapon build, it was mostly just trying to attach the transparent door piece to the hilt and add clips on the handle so it can be securely attached to the right hand. The shield build just had some minor design changes made to it to make it look more solid around the arm mount.
I’d have to say that I was able to achieve most of my build goals for this project as the new Paragon Alpha was successfully upgraded to the V3 version. The weight has also been significantly reduced while still retaining a bulky knight look to the build and the new sword is definitely eye candy.
That’s it for this build and hope you enjoyed this article. I’ll be updating my blog over the next few weeks with all my recent builds (all V3 reFrames, some r3builds, some new designs) so kindly look forward to it 🙂
reFrame Version 3.0 frame (instructions / full kit) now available
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For those interested in LEGO mech building, I also have an eBook from 2015 called Mech Wars 2015 Instructional Primer. It contains some things I wrote about basic mech building, a bit about my Mech Wars universe, and all my early models from 2014-2015. If you’re looking for a resource that could help you start or even improve your mech building skills, you might find this eBook useful. 😀
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