Colony Vessel Akupara 7

[Boyfromvalley]

Had this idea for nearly ten years, and originally it was going to be a Zoid Moc with a story arc written for it. But along with another idea it never got made. So with Lego I figured I'd try again. Because it was originally meant to be a Zoid, it resembles a giant sea turtle with a city or habitation mounted on its back, very much like the World Turtle or Tortoise in various mythologies; hence the name Akupara, which is the name of one such mythological beast.

01 Colony Ship. Akupara 7 by Boyfromvalley, on Flickr

04 Akupara 7 by Boyfromvalley, on Flickr

New colony arrival by Boyfromvalley, on Flickr

Colonies in orbit by Boyfromvalley, on Flickr

02 Akupara 7 by Boyfromvalley, on Flickr

Akupara 7 underside by Boyfromvalley, on Flickr

The idea of it all is the ship transports a structure that contains within it a city or colony settlement to worlds intended for colonization. Once in orbit, the structure detaches from the main ship and descends to the planet below. While not a warship, the vessel possesses 3 TL (Terra-forming Laser) cannons, essential for altering the planets terrain for suitable colonisation.

Terraforming by Boyfromvalley, on Flickr

Originally my first micro colony was intended to fit on its back, but I only had a rough idea in my head of how the actual ship was to look. So when I started building it I realised it was a little too long, plus I realised a few design flaws and how the colony Moc fitted on to the back which I didn't like. I wasn't keen on making any changes, and since I was planning on making another micro colony, one with both lakes and green habitations, I decided to build one without the flaws of the first one..

I said earlier that it was originally conceived as a Zoid Moc, and was first thought up as a sort of flying aircraft carrier like the SHIELD Helicarrier, but shaped like a turtle. I'm bit of a fan of the large Zoid carrier type crafts, like the Whale King and Hover Cargo. And it was one of two types of carrier Zoid ideas I really wanted to make.

But thinking about it, it didn't really spark my interest in building it until out of nowhere, I just suddenly pictured a dome on top, and it went from being a flying aircraft carrier to an orbital colony. I came up with the name Akupara from researching Tortoises/Turtles in mythology, and even wrote up a story arc to go with it.

But I hardly made any progress in any of the two ideas I had, and pretty soon my interest in Zoids faded and I just sold any kits or spare parts I had lying around.

Eventually my childhood interest in Lego was rekindled, and after a while of mostly making Star Wars Mocs, I decided to start building my own Lego ideas. It wasn't till I purchased Benny's Spaceship did I suddenly remember the old Zoid idea, and figured I'd have better luck making it out of Lego.

Its taken a while but I finally completed it, though it does differ a bit from what I originally imagined, and I do notice a few flaws that stick out. But I'm happy how it turned out in the end.

Before the idea was still in my mind and I had gotten back in to Lego, I thought once of writing a short story of it as an entry for the UK SciFi magazine SFX's literacy competition. Heck, I was even going to suggest it as an idea to the web site http://buckyohare.org/ for their web series. But I felt it was too similar to the Mon Calamari plot point from Star Wars.

[Mantisking]

Wow.