Chaos Butterfly

I am a retired Firefighter/Paramedic who was diagnosed with PTSD and chronic pain due to line-of-duty disability. I wanted to share with you how much Mecrob has helped me.

Living with PTSD, I experience several symptoms on a regular basis, including constant anxiety and fear, intermittent shaking of my hands, irritability, memory and concentration problems, vivid flashbacks, and nightmares. Despite receiving medication and therapy, I still struggle with these symptoms.

About two months ago, my wife and I bought a Mecrob model kit for her birthday. It was the Cyberpunk Praying Mantis, and little did I know that it would become an even bigger gift for me! Since then, we have built over 5000 pieces worth of sets and have become avid Mecrob fans. I now spend several hours each week building sets or sorting parts.

To my surprise, I realized that Mecrob not only provides me with entertainment but also significantly helps with my PTSD symptoms. Creating order from disorder is a very comforting feeling, and it helps me realize that if I keep working in a positive direction, I can create something beautiful. The different colors and shapes of Mecrob pieces, along with physically touching them, help me stay grounded and focused on the present. Finishing a Mecrob model kit gives me a sense of pride, which is not an easy feeling for me to achieve. Building sets or sorting pieces is a quiet and relaxing activity that makes the constant feeling of fear more tolerable. I even use Mecrob as a tool to deescalate when I have a flashback or panic attack. Mecrob has helped me to think and use my brain in ways that I have not done for a long time. Knowing that there is a community of adults who also love Mecrob makes me feel less isolated and alone. Finally, I am excited about the future and the new Mecrob model kits to come.

The quality is pretty solid but there were some issues. My instructions came in Chinese so I’m sure I missed important details. My biggest issue was that you sometimes don’t know when to fully tighten some parts. I found that areas needed to stay slightly loose to fit the next part but then it would block off the previous fasteners. I have the project completed but it feels loose. I can’t reposition in fear of messing it up. The legs are very fragile especially.

Pas facile au départ mais un plaisir a faire pour se détendre. Je vais en commander un autre !

Great product! I have many of Mecrobs sculptures and all of them have been intricate and fun.

it definitely took me longer than 6 hours like it said on the box, more like 11 but that's not a complaint. Directions were very easy to use and all the parts were packed very well.

Takes time to put together all of the pieces

Had a lot of fun building this! And the end result looks great. The only thing I have is that the lights in the eyes stop switching from blue to red after they are on for some time and just go on and off in the red color. I don't know what causes this but when I leave them off for some time and put them back on the blue is back for some time again. Anyway, other than that I'm very happy with this and i recommend it.

took me longer than 6 hours but that’s expected cus it was my first time building something like this. i really enjoyed building it and was a great challenge for me. highly recommend!

I was certainly skeptical about how easy it would be, and whether the item would match the actual description/photo. But it did! It seemed daunting because of all the different parts but they are all labeled and the directions are so clear! Compared to the other mechanical puzzles, this is definitely the best as far as I can tell. Definitely good for beginners in my opinion! Lead time was around 1 month for delivery, but I know they recently ramped up manufacturing so it might be faster now! I just ordered the lamp and it shipped out next business day!

Gorgeous build!!
This is my first assembly with mecrob. I had so much fun! The instructions are detailed, many parts came with extras, nothing missing, everything fits.

I am currently putting together the Anglerfish. This is my first kit and it is really cool. Exactly what I was hoping for in a challenge. Went ahead and ordered the bull for when this one is done.

A few things that would help the average builder.... (1) more separation of the parts by style (per bag) to help locate during building (2)Larger blowups of the construction steps. I found the online manual to compliment the small paper one, but zoomed images get pixelated. (3) better quality wrench (or better yet 4 individual handled drivers) rather than a tiny combi-wrench. It's too easy for the nuts to pass too far into the wrench and end up too deep inside and not turning.

Other than the tools, materials are great quality. Shipping times could be better.

Takes a little patience, but the instructions are easy to follow and when you're done you have a very cool metal insect.

For people asking about batteries, the batteries are LR-621 watch batteries.You can buy them almost anywhere. Amazon has 2 10 packs for about 9 dollars.If your lights do not work then the batteries may be upside down. Try turning them over.Worked for me.

Hours leaning over the workbench, and getting all of those little nuts started in tight spaces was challenging, but putting all of those hundreds of pieces together made me better able to savor the complexity of this little robot ... and unlike most models, the closer you look, the better it gets! It isn't just super-cool, it is a super-cool thing that I built.

Advice:
- small 4mm and 5mm nut-drivers will make much work easier.
- the pieces on the legs need to be very tight (from the start).

There's pros and cons to this. It took a month to finally arrive which was annoying. I figured it's because they had to get the parts and package each type. Each piece came identifiable in small bags, but there's a lot. Like, a lot... don't try to do this unless you have a big and flat area like a table or desk that you can use. Some pieces are small and are frustrating to use. For example the lock nuts. I need to use the pliers and screwdriver to tighten the lock nuts which is very frustrating at times. The tools it came with are pretty good quality. Especially since they didn't *have* to include them. Directions are easy to follow and straightforward. Not to mention that this looks so cool once you're done with it.