Back in 2007 I worked on a Philippine feature film called Resiklo, which was about humans fighting off an alien invasion using technology that utilised ‘recycled’ objects; hence, resiklo, the Filipino word for ‘recycle’. Locally, it received its modest share of praise (I’d like to draw to your attention the Visual Effects award it garnered). It also received its due criticism. Some of this criticism explained the Filipino knack for being derivative, and in this case the point was underlined because Transformers came out earlier the same year; for many people it was like comparing fresh apples to rotten apples.

Granted, there’s not much to be said about the actual Resiklo concept designs that were handed with; they looked doodles from my high school years. There wasn’t much effort behind the concept. And that is why, in my eyes, Resiklo failed: the concept of robots being made out of things we see everyday is not a new idea any more than Transformers was in its time, but it was a cool-enough concept worth developing further. But it wasn’t. In the mad rush to deliver the movie no one could afford to relish and nurture the possibilities that a simple idea can beget.

So, three years later, here I am wondering what kind of robots Resiklo would have had if I had it my way. I’m going to try to recycle a bit from Resiklo and trim away all the uninspired production crap that it was burdened with from its inception.

Introducing “Dante MkII”. Originally piloted by the character played by Dingdong Dantes, the original design was drawn as just a three orthographic pencil sketches, and a loosely drawn isometric.  The main ‘recycled’ object for Dantes’ machine was front end of the jeepney which served as the main torso and cockpit.

As a start I’ve drawn an initial to-do list:

• cockpit area looks too modern
• fix the jeepney torso area making it look more like a jeepney
• make the hip rotators look more like something recycled
• get rid of the circular saws or make them more convincing (bigger, maybe?)
• reassess the right arm and the machine guns underneath; should be more raw
• reassess the biceps of both arms and make dissimilar; give them more recycled bits
• centre hip is the star attraction: more details at the back and front, such as parts from engines
• add some mechanics on the feet to account for lowering of the wheels
• detail everything in terms of modelling rivets, screws, and panel lines; cause deformation
• grill stuff like those above the knee need to go! do something else with it
• thighs are off-motif from the recycled theme; change it to something that fits.
• find another replacement for the half-cut barrel on the thighs for the other side.
• redesign shoulders to be more sturdy
• think of overall parts having more shielding or random recycled stuff. think of loose wires, or rope, or water containers, or ammo, fixed on to the robot.
• some hydraulic stuff doesn’t seem to be realistically capable of holding weight; add hydraulic tubes to support pistons.
• back area design is non-existent: think this through
• the torso-hip connection looks too thin: give it more robustness by increasing the circumference of the connection.

Wish me luck.