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Technical Rider:


Footprint: 6' long, 6' wide, 17' tall

Weight: 1500 lbs

Set up time: 3 hours

Strike time: 3 hours

Power needs: 15 amp circuit 

Heavy machinery: Yes, 8K Variable Reach Forklift 

Mechan 42

Mechan 42 brought something back from space but we’re not entirely sure what.

Standing nearly 17 feet tall, Mechan 42: Space Explorer is a massive mechanical explorer from somewhere far beyond the stars. With a weathered industrial body, glowing rivets, an illuminated heart chamber, and a rocket-powered backpack, this battle-scarred traveler looks like it has seen some things.

Built by commission for the Portland Winter Light Festival, Mechan 42 is packed with details to discover.

Is it a robot? A machine? An explorer? A survivor?

Nobody knows for sure.

What we do know is that Mechan 42 looks equally at home on a distant alien planet, in the middle of a city, or watching over your city at 3 AM.

17 feet of rusty, glowing, rocket-powered science fiction.

Mechan 42 has arrived.

SPACE EXPLORER​

February 2, 2023

Journal entry number 1013


We don’t know exactly where the Mechans came from.  We just know that they are old, way older than anything recorded in modern history.  Ever since we found them hidden all around the globe, we have had issues with their power sources.  At first we thought the power sources were infinite, but the strange, fractalized crystals that pulse with a multi-colored glow seem to get more and more faint as the years go on.  And add to the fact that they seem to be quite dangerous to humans.  They give off some sort of severe radiation and the slightest exposure to the crystals while not in the protective housing (see the right side of Mechan 42’s body) can cause irreparable damage to anything living on this planet.  We are starting to think that even in the protective housing, trace amounts of radiation leak out.  We are conducing further tests on this.

So we decided to start our search for something that could keep the Mechans powered yet would be safer to be around.  Our relationship with the giant robots has become symbiotic and having to distance ourselves from them, or even worse, destroy them, is NOT an option.  We tried all sorts of Earth-based energy sources - plutonium, uranium, etc -  but these either weren’t compatible with the Mechan mainframe or were no safer than the fractalized crystals.

So we sent the only space worthy Mechan, Mechan 42, out into the universe to search for a solution.  It was 8 months ago today that it left our atmosphere.  It was just one week ago since it came back.  And it did not come back empty handed.  It found something - something that obviously has lots of energy.  Some of my colleagues are nervous about what this power source is, for the universe is filled with countless unknowns.  I, for one, want to explore this new power source and see if it can solve our problem.  We can’t lose the Mechans and I am prepared to try anything.  Tomorrow I am going to remove part of the small glowing star and connect it to the Mechan 9’s mainframe.  If any of the Mechans can handle it, it’s Mechan 9.  

Wish me luck…