Original fan art celebrating Peter Tieryas' Mecha Samurai Empire

Mechas are cool. Mecha toys are even cooler. But mecha toys based on my own stories has been the coolest.

When I was eight (making it the late 80s), I spent two years in South Korea. I remember how much I used to love going to toy stores and staring longingly at all the various mecha kits. Miniaturized robots fighting titanic battles over the fate of the world was a fun escape, especially with the Cold War still breathing its last gasps and the threat of North Korea ominously real, making every day life intense.

My love of big robots continued throughout the years after I returned back to the States, growing with games like Hideo Kojimas Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders, while anime such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Patlabor, and Escaflowne fired me up even more. That passion influenced me professionally too as I spent my first big gig writing game manuals for LucasArts and building mechas in what was then a new 3D package called Maya on my own time to improve my art abilities. I obsessed over details, how the parts would actually move, and what type of complex rigging systems the robots would need to be animated.

When it came time to writing my new book, Mecha Samurai Empire, I drew on those experiences and tried to craft a more realistic mecha book, integrating my knowledge of animation and visual effects. I made parallels between the huge teams that are required to bring a character to life and the crews driving the massive mechas. Read the rest