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Grasshopper Concept Sketch (Patreon)

Published:
2019-10-23 10:17:16
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

It's been fun working on these old school Inner Sphere mechs that aren't unseen. After pile driving through so many Clan mechs, and the previous focus on unseen, this is fresh air and something the franchise needs.

I'm not a super fan of the Grasshopper, but when I saw it on the redesign list I was excited to be the one doing it. It's a design several people have done a good job of fixing up in fanart, or in MWO, though with some shortcomings at times.

Does my version land closer to the oldschool feel while looking modern? Or did another do better?

Files

Previews only

Comments

Anonymous

Looks good, the head is what makes the mech.

Andrew Dickinson

Good job, by and large. I've always pictured the 'hopper with the arms slightly angled out from the torso though, not quite so vertical.

Anonymous

The Legacy machine! Looking forward to seeing this in plastic

ShimmeringSword
>>28181405

This is just a "T-Pose" design sketch. In 3D/miniature it'll have that, as most of our humanoid mechs do. Flat feet, no perspective, squared up limbs, etc, really speed up the sketch process.

Henning Boessler

Looks good for far...only thing for is the rather small/compressed torso and the rather bulky armour. Might be have to do with the perspective...otherwise it´s pretty cool to have this one reworked.

ShimmeringSword
>>28181855

Definitely intentional on those two points. My guess is the original had that super long torso to match a real grasshopper, but I switched it to long legs for actual movement instead. Sinking the head and chest plate down also contributes. As for general bulkiness, welcome to the whole redesign effort haha. Some areas needed shape contrast, but there's not much to slim here, so it goes outward. It'll be a lanky skinny mech still among its peers.

Patrick D

Thanks for explaining about the t-pose. I have been wondering. The I believe would be a tough mech to redesign. Love the old school version ie 3025.

Joe M Emmert

It would be interesting to see this scaled against other bipeds (maybe WHM, BL-KNT, etc.) to judge the differences in proportion. Alone, it seems a bit less slender than I would expect.

Sororitas Cupid

As a life long lover of the Grasshopper, I love this. Much better than the MWO version which I was kind of meh on. This feels beefier, like a high intensity brawler should.

Anonymous

Overall (as with all of your designs) I love it! At first blush, the head looks pretty goofy - granted it has always looked goofy in every design, so its not unusual. The windows don't exactly make sense to me (in this or the TRO3025) from a "how does this work" perspective, but its only seeing it in the t-pose, seeing a 3d model could change my opinion. The only version of the mech that has something that is (in my opinion) a marked improvement over your version is the MWO ankles/feet. The extra joint/angle of the feet gave it a more gangly appearance, and it made it look unique. I think giving it an extra joint and a more "insectile" foot would distinguish it a little more from the pack, while still keeping the distinctive head.

Robert Schuster

I've honestly always liked the Grasshopper (I think it's one of the original mech minis that really doesn't seem dated at all, even today), but I also think MWO did a great job preserving its iconic look... you sort of split the difference but added your own touches by slimming down the width and bulking up the depth, which also works. I appreciate that you've basically kept the head and underslung arm guns the same—those are the most iconic parts of the mech, IMO. Otherwise, it's a neat, new take on the design that doesn't really sell it to me more than the original, but also doesn't make me wonder what on earth is going on. Great job, I think.

Anonymous

I want a whole company of these, and then I will descend on my enemies with a plague of Grasshoppers.

BFenix

Dig it! I realize this is a sketch but I wonder what sort of pose you'll give it. In most artwork iterations the Grasshopper had this sort of hunched posture (maybe to be less of a target due to its height?) so it'll be interesting to see what you do with it. Also, I can't decide if I like the head split between LRM-5 and cockpit (like the MWO version) or have the launcher sort of attached to the side, either way, great work!

Robert Moore

Very Nice, really looking forward to the Comstar mech redesigns!

James Bixby

not bad. the one thing I would point to is a feature of the grasshopper I always kind of preferred in the alternative art. have the laser barrels on the inside of the forearms instead of under-slung or mounted on the forearms themselves. not enough mechs with hand actuators do that trick.

Paul Mabbott

Not 100% sure I am a fan of the head. Reminds me a LOT of the Hatchetman head minus the tail.

Anonymous

I think my biggest thing is that I want the LRM to be more integrated with the head (could be an angle thing) or moved forward a bit. I feel like it should be almost to the point of blocking line of sight.

Carlos Sempere

The head really works for me; the rounded half-face on a boxy mech was always interesting. I wouldn’t mind if you were bolder with the rest of the design. The torso’s distinctive v-shape feels truncated here, and the legs and shoulders play it really safe.

Swen Decker

Way less goofy than the original, not as aggressive as the CCG, but more modern and "technically clean" (sorry im out of words on this). I guess this will fit nicely in line with the other new mechs.

Jordan G Roberts

Loving the shoulders on it! Very GM from Gundam. ^_^

Andrew McKenna

On this one I would suggest pumping the breaks. I can see the CGL influence, which is amazing but, I am seeing heavy MWO influence. Now this may look a bit different as a mini but we are entering building block territory. A few less armor panels would probably go a long way to clean the look up.

Tyler Erickson

You know what, this is actually a real improvement over the original.

Anonymous

It would be a huge departure from the standard LRM design on the old grasshopper, but I think it would be interesting to see a version with it across the top of the head. 2 tubes above each eye and one in the middle maybe?

Anonymous

The head is much more reminiscent of an actual grasshopper. I dig it. It's a nice fusion of the original artwork and MWO. Nice.

ShimmeringSword
>>28197515

I have to say it often, but I don't reference MWO. I look at MWO to make sure I'm not doing what it does, and yes it's version of the hopper particularly on the back had a lot of small objects added. The resistance packs that it came in is when Alex hit full stride on methods for adding extra details for better or worse. My main reference is actually Bishop haha. If you take scale into account, this rendition is less detailed than many of the other mechs in our redesign set so far.

Raymond White

Really looking forward to painting this one up some day!

Jakob Fredensborg

Super blend between the MWO/HBS one (which still freaks me out everytime I see on emerge) and the original model. The original brings the grasshopper, but the MWO brings the death robot aspect

Aaron Stevens

Feels a tad uninspired to me. Maybe that's just the other designs all being so good, but this one feels a bit more of a generic "building block" design.

Joshua Bressel

It's good.....and I love the Grasshopper, but something seems a bit off in the face, and yeah, I think the torso needs to be a bit longer, Anthony. The Grasshopper has always had a long torso.

William Janak

While I personally think that Missile Launchers should NEVER be on the head its a great design! Its great to see al the wonderful work you been able to get from Catalyst.