MOC: Hologram from Home

[Captain Nemo]

Hologram from Home

The second in my series of Imperialist builds, focusing on the Stormtrooper perspective, 'Hologram from Home' depicts the the typical reaction when one receives a love letter out on the front.

 

 

With this build, I wanted to accomplish two things--making a really cool speeder bike for postal deliveries and convey believable expressions of emotions from minifigures. I was less focused on accuracy...I'm sure in a galaxy far far away, they don't actually deliver mail by speeder bike and that holographic mail is not also enveloped sized. But hey, that's not what this build is about. Like my first build in this series, For the Empire, I wanted to convey the tropes of battlefield deployment depicted across various media, through the lens of the Mimban Stormtrooper. And following the build style of the previous entry, this one too is dark, damp, and all around grey. Although rain does seem to have set in.     

 

 

Building the speeder bike was a fun component of the piece, and was the first thing I built. I was set on making it blend with the Mimban Stormtrooper palette, so I utilized multiple sticker sheets from the Lego Batman Movie: Arkham Asylum set, (a very very small section of that full sticker sheet) which I cut to various sizes, all to dirty up the bike. I use stickers frequently on these Imperialist builds; the wood grains of the trenches are stickers, as are the dirt patterns on the custom Gonk droid. 

 

 

Yes, they are grilling on a Gonk. Again, not going for total accuracy...unless...  

 

 

I love being able to express a wordless story though minifigures. It was a challenge to find and select the perfect minifigure heads to convey the emotions I wanted, but it was worth the effort. Hopefully, you can look at any of these images, or at this piece on a convention table sometime in the future, and instantly understand the full context, story, and those blush-inducing sounds of "oooooOOOHHHH!" that all those Stormtroopers are jeering out. 

 

[DrMuttonchops]

Fantastic build, Nemo! The texture of the grey mud is great and the use of the trans clear bottle nipple pieces for falling raindrops is inspired.  You've crammed in tons of character into the troopers and I LOVE that they're cooking on GNK!  Honestly I would bet they can crank out some heat. The trench wall wood and fabric are excellent touches and look authentic.

The speeder is great, I like your use of the paddle pieces to hold the steering vanes.  I didn't notice that the detailing was stickers until the broadside photo that you talked about it, they blend in very well and give a lot of detail.  The little roller skate hidden in there is a nice touch too! I usually don't care for the splayed-leg speeders but you did it well.

All in all great build man!

[tfcrafter]

Amazing work! I love the speeder bike.

[Ellisss_2]

The ground looks great, fantastic use of those stickers too! 

[deraven]

You've definitely met your objectives here. The speeder is very well done (NPU on the front end, but really the whole thing).  Nice expressions & posing on the minifigs, and the whole scene feels right.  The shelter feels as it should, and the mud/water works really well.  Great build!

[Cylo]

Looks great! I like the speeder!

[Mandalorianknight]

Looks really good, I like the rain effect. 
Also, we need to get that use of the gonk droid as a grill canonized immediately.

[Concept]

I love the expressions, really sells it for me.

[karmajay]

Great story details, thanks!

[Daddy_Stardust]

Absolutely stunning, wonderful work.

Hope real Star Wars gives us a glimpse into the life of "Muds" again, it was literally my favourite part of Solo!

[Moff Muffins]

Oh boy, this has sooo much character, especially the shelter scene. You can basically feel the comradeship. Beautifully done!

[SCLego]

I love the expressions you chose for the figs.  What a great scene.

[LucByard]

This is beautifully built and presented.

[Frike]

I'm very jealous of your collection of Mimban troops!