Titanfall was the first game by Respawn Entertainment LLC, a studio founded by Vince Zampella and Jason West in 2010. Released in 2014, the game was a multiplayer shooter with a unique twist. As the title suggests the player could summon a Titan unto the battlefield and pilot it. The duality of foot-on-the-ground and mech combat made the game stand out from a crowded FPS market and was the foundation for a new franchise.
Being the first title of Respawn Entertainment LLC, Titanfall offers a fresh take on a futuristic world and aesthetic. Since many of the developers had previously worked on the Call of Duty-franchise, it is no wonder that the world of Titanfall has a similarly gritty and realistic tone. But with the outlandish and futuristic technology shown, the game offers a unique sci-fi aesthetic, which is most apparent with the Titans themselves.
In the original game, there are three Titans to choose from: The Ogre, the heaviest chassis, the Atlas, an allrounder, and the Stryder, the lightest and fastest of the three. In my opinion the latter represents the style of Titanfall the best. Because of its skinny legs and arms, many of the mechanical parts are exposed. There are a lot of cables, dishes and antennas sticking out, which gives the impression of a makeshift machine. All those details are particularly interesting to build with LEGO® parts. Adding to that, the simple grey colour scheme (Colour-ID 86) offered a lot of freedom when it came to choosing parts for recreating the Stryder. This allowed for the use of paint rollers (Part-ID 12885) for the shoulders or bucket handles (Part-ID 95344) for additional details, among other things.
IMC Rising
It is difficult to place Stryder in any urban or industrial landscape, because its simple light bluish grey colour (Colour-ID 86) would blend in too much with the background. For the diorama I therefore placed him in the outdoors on a grassland. The scene is not a replication of any particular multiplayer map from the Titanfall-franchise. Instead, it is based on this key art, which was used to promote the third and final DLC for the original Titanfall game, called "IMC Rising".
Here you can see the Stryder being prepared for battle with a forklift lifting the pilot towards the cockpit. In the front, two Spectres are on guard duty, similar to the two soldiers seen in the key art. The added vehicles give the diorama some diversification and offer a good contrast for the Titan, which stands towering above them.
Vehicular Warfare
The forklift is not the only vehicle I added to the scene. The white offroad-vehicle is called Gremlin and can be found on various multiplayer maps in Titanfall. I made sure to give both vehicles the same attention to detail as the Titan itself. Consequently, the forklift spots the "IMC" lettering on the rear mudguards just like its in-game counterpart. This part was custom-printed specifically for this build.
The Gremlin also features many details of its in-game model: From the grilles covering the front and side windows to the bull bar at the front. It is always difficult to fit this many details in a rather tiny mining-scale vehicle, so some creative solutions are often necessary: The two bars over the hood, for example, are made with string, while the turret on top is made with a riot shield (Part-ID 30166pb01). Finally, the folded piece of cloth at the back gives a nice highlight as well as a different texture.
Stryder's previously mentioned monotone colour scheme and blocky design offered an easy entry into LEGO® mech building, to which I could add further over the years cumulating in a dynamic and varied diorama.
