Rendering of a spaceship that can transform into a combat mech. There are two dialogue boxes present. The mech's pilot requests 'Please tell the kids to stop painting stuff on the ship!', referring to the pastel-coloured livery spray painted over the blank grey parts of the mech's hull. The response from the ground crew says 'What makes you think that it was only the children?'.

Defiant Verse

The Defiant Verse is a first-generation Exogear, originally developed by the Ucion Resistance during the first Ucion war for independence.

Check it out on Sketchfab!

Transforming mecha

I don’t remember when it was, but one day I saw a picture of the Vic Viper from Zone of the Enders and I immediately fell in love. I love both giant mecha and cool spaceships, and here was a design that dared to ask the question “¿Por qué no los dos?”. Ever since then, I have been searching for a design of my own that perfects this sublime idea of a transforming mecha. This is the most complete of these explorations.

What I like about the Defiant Verse is that it makes no excuses for what it is. No matter what form it is in, you can tell that it is designed to be able to switch to the other: as a fighter is it stubby and unaerodynamic, whilst as a mecha it has the hunched posture of a heavy machine. I much prefer this visible intentionality to a “perfect” transformation like you would get in Transformers.

Hints at a story?

The render shows dialogue between a pilot and ground crew. The mech is also adorned with a custom paint job that makes the intentions of its creators clear to their enemies. I wonder how much you can decipher from just what is on the textures?

This is all stuff from an earlier version of a story that I would like to make into a game some day. I will keep the details close to my chest just in case I actually manage to get round to that project.