Marchikoma 2025 – celebrating the latest and greatest LEGO “think tank” mechs [Feature]
March is becoming a packed month in the LEGO building community – Marchitecture, Imperial March, and our old favorite Marchikoma when builders make “think tanks” inspired by the mecha of the classic anime Ghost in the Shell. A think tank is a sentient mech characterized by 4 (or sometimes more) legs with feet or rollers, a pair of manipulator arms, and sensor “eyes,” that skitters about like a high-tech militarized spider or crab. Each year builders find ways to add a fresh spin to the iconic design. Let’s bring on the Marchikoma mecha of 2025!
We start with this Blue Planet Attacker by LEGO set designer Wes Talbott. Inspiration came from Wes playing with the latest smooth nougat parts in his collection, which paired with red-orange evoked the classic Life on Mars LEGO theme. Bright yellowish green and dark azure highlights make for a distinct color scheme. But it’s those manipulator arms and big eyes that ooze personality. Wes paired the mech with a patch of incredible space terrain where the military mech makes peaceful first contact.
Fellow LEGO designer Chris Perron also skates in with this beautiful Ice Planet mech, the Snow Scuttler. Chris took inspiration from the CMF Ice Planet fig for the design specifics, like the curves and sensor eye. Aside from the iconic trans neon orange elements from the classic theme, Chris incorporates X-Pod lid and Fabuland windows to create maximum curves with minimal seams.
WyndGekko impressed us with her Febrovery monocycle, and she’s back with another winner – the Anchorkoma. Featuring a pair of anchors on each leg, this mech looks quite nimble for such a heavy stepper. I love the use of phones on the legs.
This shocking mech from Alvaro Gunawan is called the Denshikoma, which I think is a reference to an electron. The ring motiv is very on trend, and with the hex plating give very strong cyberpunk vibes. I’m not sure how those square manipulator hands interface with the world, but they certainly look very high-tech.
The always whimsical and inspired Pascal offers up a Ghost Crab in the shell with this Kanikoma. An autonomous worker unit, this little guy is just here to help! I’m a big fan of the color blocking, especially how the back pattern is mirrored in the face.
Rigwalker Mechs and Mocs created several impressive koma mecha this month. First up is the Mendralith Quadricon, a massive reconstruction mech. The builder pairs classic construction colors with some incredible greebling, especially on the manipulator arms.
Rigwalker also built the intimidating Argus Mad Dog Quadricon. Armed with a fearsome frag cannon and rocket salvo, it deals out the destruction for the Mendralith to repair. In contrast to the weaponry, the mech is partially obscured by adaptive camouflage that takes the form of a blanket of flowers. Seeing those piercing eyes peering out from the pink foliage is quite haunting.
zakar.ion was inspired by the Mad Dog’s adaptive camo and riffed on the theme on this Moss Meddler. The mech trades speed for thick armor and powerful lumbering legs that make it ideal for swamps and other rough terrain. The build features stellar greebling and excellent sticker use. The array of “eyes” is extra intimidating under the bushy camo.
Entertainingly Lame joins the adaptive camo trend with the Thistle’s Prick. I love the lore on this one. An early model think tank, laws at the time forbid AI from firing weapons, so the autonomous mech is paired with a human gunner housed in the back.
Finally, we close out Marchikoma with a bang, courtesy of Casti 616 and the DOOFkoma. Inspired, of course, by Mad Max; Fury Road, the DOOFkoma brings the metal and fire inspiring other koma with sick guitar licks that they might skitter eternal, shiny and chrome.
That closes out Marchikoma 2025. See you next year, think tanks!
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