Jules Verne predicted this about 150 years ago.

Either that or the designers were inspired by his story.

can go either way :)

"Mecha Robotic Elephant goes on killing Rampage, film at 11".

Just attach some frickin lazers!! That is some insane merde right there.

now lets put a cannon on it and really have some fun.

That's just too cool.

Royal Deluxe is just cool. Apparently they are planning some huge thing for Liverpool in September

I just got through re-watching LoTR: RoTK

Oliphant!!

If it didn't need that balancing pod in the front so that the elephant actually did walk, it would be very cool, otherwise it is still just a Disneyland trick...
M

The tractor sticking out of his ass kinda spoils it for me.

AT-AT walker version 0.1

is there a giant pooper scooper to accompany this?

They did a spectacular four day show in London in 2006. It started when a Jules Verne style spaceship "crashed" in to town, out of which came a huge marionette girl. More details and photos at [en.wikipedia.org]'s_Elephant

Did you see the size of that Carbon Footprint? Al Whore is going to be pissed.

Yeah this would've been cooler if it was actually walking by itself. It's just a huge tricycle with wheels that move the elephant. The legs probably provide support but they don't propel it foreward.

Whoops, the link in my previous post didn't parse right because of the apostrophe. Need to add the "'s_Elephant"...

ride the shoopuf?

It is very impressive… until you realise it is actually on wheels, the legs do nothing at all, and it still moves slower than human walking pace…

oh well.

"Lurching" is not a synonym for "crawling".

Still, they look really good.

@BigDaddyM: I guess you could do something waaaay more impressive than that couldn't you

Combine that with [gizmodo.com]
and you've got something.

and what sort of gas mileage does this thing get?

Something straight out from my nightmares.

ZE SQUID!!!! ZE SQUID!!!!

If they have a mechanized ostrich, then all of my World of Warcraft dreams will come true.

you mean these frogs didn't make a mech frog?...haha, sorry...too easy.

That would make one heck of a seafood dinner if it were real.

replace elephant shell with at-at.. so cool

Not exactly how I imagined the first AT-AT coming to be, but I'm willing to accept it as such.

Epic. Truly a work of art.

they look hella badass but... call me back when they move faster than 2mph

oh! it's my hometown on gizmodo!

Do the aquotic ones really swim?

All shall perish under my elephant mech filled wrath!

Look Frodo! Elefants!

I wanna see the squid go underwater.

This would be an awesome getaway car if it went faster than a human can walk. You could say "So long suckers!" as you ride off into the sunset on a speedy elephant or squid while holding sacks of money with dollar signs on them.

"Les Machines de l'ile de Nantes are gigantic mechanical animal vehicles currently on display in the French city of Nantes"

> Actually it's not just "currently" on display : the "Machines de l'Île" will stay in Nantes permanently. Currently, the only Machine that's 100% functionnal is the Elephant. The other ones are being built in what used to be Nantes' Shipyards. The squid and fishes here on the photos are parts of what will be a merry-go-round with 3 levels.

> More photos available on my Flickr set about "Les Machins d... (most of them from the day when the Machines were officially opened, with the first run of the Elephant)
> More details on the official site (in French)

@Spaceboy: well actually Jules Verne was born in Nantes, the city where the Machines are located. There indeed is an inspiration, by purpose.