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thomastapir — USMC Sand Flea Grappler
Published: 2010-01-31 05:49:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 5380; Favourites: 66; Downloads: 554
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Returning to the "Project Ares" era of Mars exploration, approximately 50 years prior to the outbreak of the Flea War on Earth:Some of the oddest machine designs to emerge on the American side during the course of Project Ares were designated "sand flea grapplers" employed by a small contingent of Marine Corps Recon operators sent to Mars to reinforce the Army engineers excavating Overculture ruins. Preceding infiltration of the pyramidal Martian temples, these machines were designed not to fight the savage Guardians, but only to protect engineering teams from the fairly benign but territorial and sometimes aggressive Martian "sand fleas" ([link] ). In design and function they reflect an early conservationist ethic, relying on blunt force and nonlethal weapons to restrain or incapacitate the sand fleas without disrupting the Martian ecosystem or injuring the "native" wildlife--a philosophy that began to change once researchers realized that the sand fleas were not naturally-occurring organisms but were themselves relics of an Overculture seeding project. These were also among the earliest mecha designed by AI evolutionary simulators running algorithms derived from Overculture mathematics, and were thus classified and deployed only in the Martian theatre. Indeed, their faux organic designs antecede the first such machines to see service on Earth by at least 50 years.
More Flea War/Mars War craziness. Still pursuing that elusive organic hybrid of Shirow and Kobayashi that just never quite seems to come together for me...There's nothing for it but to keep trying! Because my mecha of this style are invariably misinterpreted, I will once again clarify that they are NOT organic or biological in nature, but only superficially resemble terrestrial arthropod forms. The underlying mechanical components of these mechs are entirely inorganic, as is the outer "soft-shelled" armor plating. I purposely left the forward "grappling" appendages unrefined and ambiguous as to their jointing and articulation, as I feel these elements actually come closest to approaching the "Koba" vibe I'm going for.
Regarding powered robotic armor, I was thinking a while back about the difference, to me, between "mechs" and "suits." I realized that unconsciously, I think of a "suit" as something "worn" by the operator (that is, controlled by a force-feedback or master/slave control system), and a "mech" as something "driven" or "piloted" in the manner of a tank or airplane. Size isn't really a factor here; I apply this same "mech versus suit" distinction to all robotic machines, from spacesuit- up to aircraft-carrier-sized. It's the method of operation that makes the difference for me. I don't know why, that's just the way I think of it (shrug). So by those dubious arbitrary standards, this machine would be a "suit."
Thanks to my friends Rob, Newt, and Darcie especially for their ongoing enthusiasm for and support of the Flea War premise and its myriad manifestations. It means the world to me!
Complete Flea War retrospective: [link]
Photo reference: [link]
Musical inspiration (0:40-1:40): [link]
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Comments: 52
Thanks man, I'm glad you like it!
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Im sure there are thousands of these spread throughout both MCRDs. lol.
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This actually looks like a close up of a sand flea that you would expect to torment recruits at Parris Island or San Diego MCRDs. lol.
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Ah, my beloved Flea War, how I have forsaken thee...! :sad:
I have to say though, reading these Nihei titles, BLAME! especially, is putting some ion wind back in my solar sails. So you may see some mo' mecha from Tapir Industries in the near future!
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realy cool but uhm... where is the frontside and where is the backside? ^^
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D'OH, I better double-check...That's what I thought, front is to the right!
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Awesome! This is one of my favorite arthro-organic mechas of yours yet! Nice overall shape and flow.
"These were also among the earliest mecha designed by AI evolutionary simulators running algorithms derived from Overculture mathematics, and were thus classified and deployed only in the Martian theatre. Indeed, their faux organic designs antecede the first such machines to see service on Earth by at least 50 years."
I absolutely love this idea. Not only is it cool, but it gives a very strong justification for the weird, faux-organic look of these bots.
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Thank you! I absolutely love the faux-organic-styled "Kow & Koba"-type mechs, but I always struggle with a justification for such heavily bio-oriented mechanical design from any sort of practical engineering perspective. That whole "alien-math-derived-A.I.-evolutionary-simulator" is a decent pseudo-scientific rationale, I think, at least for a "science fantasy" project like this one. I just wish I could better capture that sublime integration of biological and mechanical that Koba achieves in ([link] ), for example...It's a very delicate balancing act, yet he somehow manages it every time!
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Holy fuck...that first image in that link you posted is amazing. So amazing that I dropped the F-bomb, which I only do in moments of passion!
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Wow, Cory, I feel like I'm getting to know you...um...intimately.
Knock yourself out!
[link]
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Not that kind of passion, you facetious perissodactyl!
That website is positively overwhelming.
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That guy's a madman...He did all the art and modelling for that Hyperweapon book ([link] ) when he was like 18 years old! The 2006 retrospective ([link] ) comes with a little tiny reproduction of it, and it's one of my most treasured possessions.
I can't help it, it's just my shameful contrapiry nature!
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Looks great.
Definitely something I can learn from.
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Thanks man, I'm glad you like it!
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At first glance, I was really stumped as to how this guy would hold his own in armored combat, but having read the description I can see how he's perfectly adapted to the role you described. I for one, am never confused by these, mistaking them for semi-organic. Always come across for me as 100% mechanical w/ only organically-styled armor. The design aesthetic takes me right back to the huge walking gun platforms in Applseed book II.
Interesting distinction also between a suit and a mech. I would have guessed this was piloted rather than worn. Showing just the wearer's head occupying most of the canopy bubble (w/ the rest of his/her body enveloped in the suit) would probably clear that up. So then, riding position is leaning forward w/ body encased in most of the upper toro section? Seems like one would need posthuman enhancement to properly handle the controls!
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I think this guy looks deceptively frail because he's so spindly, but that's because he's designed to fight in Mars gravity (~38% terrestrial). Kind of the way the marine isopod upon which he's based can't support itself outside of water, or the way the Space Shuttle's manipulator arm can't lift it's own weight on Earth. I'm glad it comes across as fully mechanical for you...But ahh, I've told you too much about the reasoning behind my mech designs to fool you at this point!
I'm thinking the pilot/operator is in approximately the forward 1/2 to 1/3 of the upper torso, so maybe it's a little bit bigger than you're thinking...Also, I was going to refer you to the discussion under ([link] ) to illuminate my thoughts on how this could be "worn" as a suit despite the plethora of limbs, but then when I reviewed the actual comments, I realized that the explanation I gave much more closely matches my thinking on "mechs" rather than "suits"! So either this thing actually IS a "mech" (and the aforementioned "flea suit" as well), or I need to re-think my own private distinction between the two. Maybe it has more to do with the extent to which the machine's interior, the "cockpit" or "cabin" or internal "shell," is reading and responding to the operator's body movements.
It's all so ontological an' confusin'.
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Like to think that without ever having read a single comment, I'd look at these and 'get it'.
Probably best not to worry too much about wether it's exactly a suit or a mech. [Parmenides knows such quandaries have led to convoluted debate among aficionados in the new mech community]. But agree that the pilot control interface would be a definitive factor in that classification. Given the dissonance between morphology of the vehicle and pilot, I suspect mech is more accurate. Then again, the designation of 'suit' could always figure in the vehicle's official specs. I'm getting dizzy. 
"hypnotic conditioning in the form of dreams about being a giant bug" !? ...that sounds just awesome! Seems like an excellent concept for some Flea War related short fiction!
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Oh, I'm sure you would; you just can't always count on that. And I have this weird self-conscious insecurity that my art and concepts won't be immediately "readable," or will be misinterpreted. Comes down to a basic insecurity about my skills as a "visual communicator," I guess, which is something I'm sure many of us share, especially those of us trying to communicate fairly complex and esoteric ideas through our art and writing (it's not exactly yaoi fanart, after all (and thank God)).
re: pilot control interface as determining factor--the more I think about it, the more I certain I feel that that's the case. Oh man, I remember this crazy dream I had years ago--it wasn't even a true dream, more like a hypnagogic daydream--where I was piloting this absolutely massive "variable fighter"-type craft, I mean picture one of those Zeta Gundam "waveriders," something of that scale but a thousand times cooler--and yet I was operating it like an extension of my body...Taxiing down this runway strip in a massive hangar, and leaning my shoulders to one side, and the entire machine responded by slewing to the side on its landing gear--it was like cornering on a motorcycle or something. THAT, to me, is a "suit" rather than a "mech."
re: hypnotic conditioning--Hah, that was originally ~doodlebot's idea ([link] )!
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I think you do fine as a visual communicator. 
I'd pay good money to have that same dream. Such a bonus whenever my subconscious has the decency to turn on the sci-fi channel. Wish it were more often. ....Isn't it brutal some of the things we dream about? How many times have you seen something in a dream, and actually within the dream thought -hey this great, I can't wait to sketch it up! Only to find upon waking that the visual is harder to capture than smoke in bottle... Brutal. If only I had a recording device. I'd be wealthier. A well paid architect for one. Fuck Frank Gehry! Could capitalize on other imagery too... **struggles not to make a pornography joke*succeeds -but only just** 
I love that sketch page BTW. If/when we collab again, chances are the subject calls that page home. *Cue ominous music* Maybe the basis for a speed painting!
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Oh man, I have dreams like that ALL THE TIME....They're both inspiring and maddening. ([link] ) is probably the best example, and explanation thereof, I've posted online...I'd say a large part of my "creative identity" as an artist comes from trying to capture such images and translate them onto paper, and a VERY large part of my frustration as an artist comes from being unable to do so, at least to the extent I'd ideally like to. And that's not some sort of rip on myself as an artist, it's just the cold hard truth that dreams can be SO vivid and so specific that it can be very, very difficult to capture them and communicate them successfully. Which I guess is where the detailed explanations come in.
William Gibson wrote a beautiful short story about artists who make a living recording their dream imagery for public consumption. He poses the question of how many Leonardos and Mozarts and Shakespeares out there died in obscurity over the millenia because they had no means of externally communicating their dreams prior to the advent of this technology...It's a poignant question, and an intriguing premise.
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Case in point: I had a dream last night (rather early this morning between one kid falling asleep and another waking up) involving some truly stunning mecha. It's as if my brain were mocking me, w/ this particularly stunning parade of war machines, in lieu of this conversation...
Happened as it usually does -I'm on the ground looking up at a blue sky, and some amazing things begin flying overhead. Sometimes they fly by at a distance, but this time they were especially visible. Practically strutting their stuff like models on a runway. Brandishing elaborate angles and intricately formed armor in the clear light of the sky. If such mechanical miracles were posted here on DA, I'd +fav the shit out of 'em and watch the bastard artist who shamed all my creative efforts. In the dream I turn to my wife (an interesting non-witness) and say something like, "Ya see? This is exactly the kind of thing I'll never be able to sketch perfectly after I wake up." Such is the curse of my lucid dreaming.
Interesting that I'm never in the driver's seat -or cockpit, as you described above, but always out of reach -grounded. A powerless voyeur. Not that difficult to interpret really. 
Damn Gibson for beating me to that short story too. he's just the greatest!
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If it makes you feel any better, I am very often an observor in my own dreams as well--and not just in the sense of seeing things at a distance, but often seeing them only as book illustrations! Which in a way is just as cool and maddening, because these are BOOKS I would kill to have, or even to write and illustrate, that would be nearly impossible to capture in the real world, even assuming I could remember every detail. Ben (~whale) and I are always going back and forth on these crazy dreams we have about spec bio books, including an actual recurring one from my own dreams called "Future Life." (Now THAT one--or a pale imitation thereof--may make it into print, if I get my act together!) Possibly of more interest to you, I had this dream once where I was looking at a book of nothing but aquatic mecha done in that crazy "rugged/organic" Koba style. WANT!
The entire Saturn conflict part of the Flea War came from a dream as well...The dream was much more surreal, though, and it required a bit of tweaking to fit it into the Flea War context. In the dream it wasn't taking place in the future, but was rather a secret "space war" taking place between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Vietnam era, reaching its climax in a battle around the moons of Saturn. This segued into some sort of "victory parade" of the spaceborne mecha taking place on the streets of a small American town--this endless parade of insect-styled mecha tanks and powered armor. The mecha were of such a distinct and unique style that I really struggled to describe them to others sufficiently, and could never really draw them the way they looked in my dream. Of course a couple of years later I found that Koba site and almost fainted when I saw the exact aesthetic stylization in model and illo form. --Anyway, my point being that in one sense or another, we're all voyeurs, my friend!
Let's see, that Gibson story is called...(running to bookcase)..."The Winter Market." It's in the collection Burning Chrome (which I frankly think represents the best of Gibson's work; I just feel his writing style is better suited to short stories), but I've also seen it anthologized elsewhere.
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I would so pay to see a neural-image-recording of that space mecha parade! Pretty sure I own Burning Chrome. Not sure why i don't remember that short... but then can't remember a damn thing from last week either. Thanks for digging that up, Tom!
Hope you do pursue an physical replication (however unequal) of "Future Life". Would this be a solo act, or open to other contributors like Ben?
Cutting it short cuz I have work up to the ears on my ass!
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re: Hope you do pursue an physical replication (however unequal) of "Future Life". Would this be a solo act, or open to other contributors like Ben?
This would definitely be open to other contributors! Ben was actually the one who made me realize that the very specific design aspects of it that I'd initially thought of as an insurmountable challange (that is, emulating the format and layout of those Usborne-style kids' science books) would atually be the easiest part, given the availability of programs like Illustrator.
Sorry about the delayed response on this one, it got buried under the avalanche in my inbox!
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So it's a mech, looks pretty organic though. How many pilots? And what year?
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One pilot/operator, and probably around 2030-2040.
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Thank you very much, it's quite a compliment coming from someone as talented as yourself!
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That is one crazy looking machine or maybe more along the lines of bio-mechanical...
Anyways I totally agree that basing a machine on arthropods is great due to their almost mechanical structure.
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i love this interpretation of using arachnid segments and or insectoid anatomy to create your mecha. i use spiders/ hornet/wasp/ beetle/ ant/ grasshopper a lot for when i need inspiration and references to create a finished identity. your visual is excellent in achieving this!!
RAD!!
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Thanks very much, I'm really happy you like this!
To me arthropods are one of THE best templates for jointed, exoskeletal machines. This whole universe, the "Flea War," is kind of an attempt to reverse-engineer that aesthetic decision into a practical necessity (what better way to fight giant bugs than with giant bug mecha?), similar to the rationale for Macross's humanoid "Battroids" and "Destroids."
Thank you again, your support means a great deal to me!
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keep it up, your work is inspirational!!
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Thanks, bro! I do my best for the cause.
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A big insecty thing! I can also see some Cloverfield in it, and it reminds me of the ginormous policebots that run amok in Appleseed (so, Shirow influence noted
It could make a great gladiatorial robot - those arms can flip an enemy onto its back and have it crying uncle pretty fast.
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re: gladiatorial robot--that seems like a very appropriate association to me, consistent with their MO in subduing the sand fleas!
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They flip them onto their backs and crack them open!
Now I remember what these look like - like crustaceans. Stomatopods, caprellids, and similar shrimps come to mind.
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The sand fleas--or the Marines?
Exactly!
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Both of them, whenever possible!
Looking at this a year from then, I can also totally see Phyrexian overtones in it. That is one nasty mech.
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I actually thought this was a fight scene depicting two seperate entities. I couldn't understand why a wild creature had a bumper sticker on its side.
All that aside I agree with Whale, the cross-hatching really helps bring it to life.
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Dude, I see wild creatures with bumper stickers all the time!
[link]
Thanks!
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Woah, Tom, this piece is absolutely brilliant, in a jump off the page at you kind of way! I love the hatching combined with fine shading & the simple cloud in the background ... the sand ground is absolutely sublime too!
I kind of chuckle a little at seeing 'MARINES' slapped on the side ... it works really well though, contrasting the human element with the AI design. Gives you a sense that the humans never quite have a full grip on what they've gotten themselves into.
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Your comment makes me really happy, because that's definitely part of what I'm going for here--that technology is at this point outpacing the underlying social structures it was meant to support, a condition that just isn't indefinitely sustainable. The humans are "in over their heads," but too committed (and stubborn) to back out now; and their paradigms won't evolve in the brief time they've got left to figure things out. Kind of an allegory for what happened with nuclear weapons and environmental depletion over the course of the 20th century.
Thanks for your feedback on the technical elements as well, I'm happy it works for you!
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I hate when my inner Hippie suddenly just says "Intense!", but that's what came to mind, so you'll have to deal with it. Gods, I'm amazed at how you craft these creatures.
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"INTENSE" is about the best reaction I can hope for!
Thanks, man!
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