So, I've been building tiny robots for a little less than a year now, and I've been avoiding posting anything here. Part of this is because I know I have a tenancy to adore whatever project I'm working on right up until I start the next one, part of it is that I never wanted to pick something as being "the Masterpiece," only to think of something better the next month. I feel like I've built up enough of a portfolio that I won't feel bad picking a winner. It was kind of down between my
Ettin or
Ifrit. And if the rest of this looks tl;dr then the Ettin is my masterpiece, because it was planned where the Ifrit was kinda a happy accident. Go give them lots of favs or upvotes or whatever.
Going through my collection got me thinking though, just about what I've build and how I got into this stuff, and I was struck by how great and welcoming this community is. There is an intense focus on sharing and craft where other communities would stoop to turf wars and accusing each other of biting styles, and without that sharing I don't know if I would even have figured out how to do half this stuff. I had gotten my start just straight up copying Neoaez's "Assaultmate" pattern, and I learned a ton of stuff just kind of staring at things Dukayn had built. Like many people here, I churned out a number of Soren's classic chubs. In fact,
some of my
favorite pieces are just other people's stuff with some changes to make them suit my taste. (Not to mention that phase I went through after I saw
this.)
Every time I worked someone else's design I learned something useful, and I sincerely believe everyone has some thing they can contribute the the collective knowledge of the community regardless of their skill level or the depth of their brick bucket. Like I said, everything I build is predicated on little bits and pieces I've learned from others along the way, so instead of ferreting out something that was 100% pure 'me' from my collection, I made something of a love letter to the community to stand in for my masterpiece.

The arms are picked up from Zerovirus, but with those ladders I like to use, the legs are pretty much straight from that Eduty build I linked earlier, with some jagged sculpting rather than smooth (and heels), and the torso has a lot of architecture cribbed from A. Yates' "Gremlin," but turned on its side (not to mention the chrome dagger equip is all him). Toss in some little restyling and a neat part use for the eye lens, and it all cobbles together into something new, and I like to think it strongly reflects what I've been building toward in my own personal style.
Maybe it's not the best thing I've made, or will make, but I think it is the right thing to put here.
And thank you.