Day: October 14, 2021

Building a Lego model of a Super Nintendo console, with sliding buttons and a spring-loaded eject button, is pretty impressive. Building a Lego SNES, two corded controllers, and a game cartridge, each of which is capable of being transformed into a robot with no reassembly? That takes a Lego Master.

We’ve been covering the work of one such a Lego Master for over a decade now. Julius von Brunk, also known as Baron von Brunk, has been turning game consoles into Transformers using Lego bricks for years. We featured his Nintendo 64 robot in 2013. A year later he came back with a colorful transforming Game Boy Advance. Now witness his greatest creation yet.

At first glance, it’s nothing more than a very well-built Super Nintendo model, complete with Polybius game cartridge and a pair of controllers, one for Super NES, and one for Super Famicom.

A closer look shows off more detail. The purple buttons on the console actually slide in little tracks. The eject button doesn’t pop out the cartridge, but it can be pushed down just like the real thing.

The game controllers actually plug into the console using little recreated ports designed by von Brunk.

The cartridge, which fits into a slot in the console, can be pulled out and played with. Note the “Super Famitron” logo on the label.

It’s a very cool build. Then it gets much, much cooler. Each of the four components, the console, both controllers, and cartridge, are built so they can quickly shift from interactive entertainment products into combat-ready robots. There’s no pulling off parts and reattaching them, or rebuilding Lego elements. Using a combination of normal Lego bits, some Technic pieces, and a couple of ape heads from the animalistic Lego Chima line, Baron von Brunk has created the ultimate Lego SNES Transformer team.

Meet Super Famitron and his minions, Polybius, Simian Kong, and Primal Kong. Super Famitron is a robot so big and bulky he has a little trouble standing. His minions, inspired by beloved Decepticon Soundwave and his cassettes, are adorable smaller bots, ready to do their boss’ bidding.

Due to the nature of the Super Nintendo, Super Famitron is a bit monochromatic, but the details von Brunk has worked into the robot form are outstanding. The shoulder-mounted cannons, the articulated fingers—I especially love the way his chest opens up to reveal his giant robot head.

Want to know how Baron von Brunk designed and built Super Famitron and friends? The good Baron has posted a lengthy video on his YouTube channel, detailing the challenges of creating this robot team and how he overcame each one, like avoiding having the eject button on the robot form’s crotch, which would have been hilariously cringe.

Want to see more of Baron von Brunk’s Lego creations, including more shots of Super Famitron? Check out his Flickr, which is still a thing apparently, or his Instagram, which is the newer, cooler version of Flickr. And if you’re very lucky, you might even stumble upon instructions on how to build your own transforming controllers and cartridges.