WELCOME TO MESSYWORKS, MY LEGO MECH BLOG WHERE I TALK ABOUT MY MECHA BUILDS AND SHARE MY EXPERIENCES AS A MECH BUILDER. THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG IS TO SHARE MY PASSION AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT LEGO MECH BUILDING, A VERY NICHE THEME AMONG THE ADULT LEGO FAN COMMUNITY, AND HOPEFULLY GIVE VALUABLE INSIGHT TO BOTH ASPIRING AND VETERAN MECH BUILDERS AND MEET SOME NEW LIKE MINDED BUILDERS IN THE PROCESS.
This blog will also do some features on other notable LEGO mech-related builds and builders, offer some parts and set discussion/review, and share other mech related news and happenings from all over the world.
MessyWorks History
I first started LEGO Mech building in my childhood back in the 90s, breaking up my own LEGO sets and creating MOCs even before I knew there were called MOCs. I had a very active mecha imagination growing up and loved the mecha genre a lot as a kid, spending afternoons watching Japanese mecha anime, drawing my own Gundams and other mechs, building plastic model kits, and at some point creating my own LEGO mechs with the limited parts that I had. Like most kids however, I became interested in other things like sports, video games, and high school life and eventually packed up my “toys”.
Fast forward to 2013 and by this time I was working as a freelance graphic designer. Most of my break time would be dedicated to reading up on various blogs that revolved around art, toys, video games, etc. and every now and then, an article on LEGO mechs would catch my attention. I specifically remember reading an article about Soren‘s Mobile Frame Zero LEGO tabletop mech game and having dabbled a bit in Warhammer 40k and LEGO, I got really interested really fast. Next thing I knew, I was going through my old LEGO containers which had less LEGO than I remembered. I then found out about the local Philippine LEGO Fan Group (PhLUG) over at Facebook, signed up, and ordered from a local member in his BrickLink store. The rest was just me slowly building my mechs to where they are now, attending local LUG events and displays, and eventually being more active in the global LEGO mech building scene.
Mech Wars and forever changing my LEGO Mech building
Around late 2013, Mech Wars was born as a PhLUG based event by myself and PhLUG veteran Josiah Samaniego. It was the first real “challenge” I had to make a mech for a specific event. Our team didn’t win but new friendships were born although the event did leave me hungry to improve my own skills as a mech builder and push the limits of my building even further. The following year, we introduced another round of Mech Wars but was more of a friendly build showcase and while that was fun to do, I wanted to take the concept even further and create a fully enclosed Mecha scenario that would serve as really good groundwork to make a whole new line of mechs in.
A year after the 2014 PhLUG Mech Wars, I had rebooted the Mech Wars idea as a whole package, complete with a scenario, rivaling factions, and a source of conflict. I had also built a mech frame that would serve as a basis for all mechs that were part of the Mech Wars universe (called reFrames) and designed a full booklet with everything in it to commemorate the formal launching of my Mech Wars. This changed my mech building forever as I had found a reason to build for, slowly expanding the MW universe, its organizations, meeting new people both locally and internationally, and finding new mech building techniques to further improve my own skills.
The Builder
LEGO Mech builder | Graphic Designer | Food Junkie | Crazy Cat Person | Crossfitter
Luarni Aames Sim or Lu for short. Also known as Messymaru in certain online circles. I’ve always loved mechs, growing up with Gundam and other Mecha toys and series. If I wasn’t playing with plastic kits, I’d be building chunky LEGO mechs with the few parts that I had back in the 90s. It’s only recently that I’ve relearned my love for the toy and coming back to building mechs with them and so far, I’m enjoying every bit of it.
I’m also a professional Graphic Designer for the past few years, leaving my in-house position in 2011 to go full freelance until present day. While growing up, my whole creative identity has always been honed through drawing and designing. Just recently, I also launched a clothing & lifestyle brand called PRM8, aiming to provide premium apparel with the passion for the arts in mind.
I was a track athlete back in my skinny high school days and went on to becoming lazy in University. It was only until I couldn’t fit old pants in 2009 that I decided to go back to being fit and now I’ve been doing Crossfit for almost 2 years (in total). I often have thick callouses, ripped hands, bruises from barbell work, but I love every part of it.
I still enjoy eating, have a fluffy beige persian catto and a noisy but lovable british shorthair, and enjoy an assortment of liquor to balance out the stress of life.