The Alien Siege Machine

Post by **trilobyte** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:50 am

I know most of you saw or experienced ePlaya user ChiefDanFox's epic and amazing piece on the playa.... let's see your pics and videos and hear some stories! I've got lots of TASM pics and some video to still go through, but I'll start with these...

The Alien Siege Machine and Airpusher at night...

Do not taunt The Alien Siege Machine...

Alien Siege Machines can be very bitey!

Post by **trilobyte** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:17 am

And one of my favorites, the atom bomb in the belly of the beast! What a great nod to Dr. Strangelove (a film that turned 50 this year) and a fun element.

I think it was later on Thursday night when I was climbing around up inside TASM, and everyone was walking around it gingerly - not because they thought it might explode, but because they were afraid to step on it for fear of falling. I knew it was safe, aside from eyeballing the heavy duty chains and rigging, I knew from Dan's posts that it was intended to be something you could ride on Slim Pickens style. I got a kick out of the looks on peoples' faces when I hopped on - fingers crossed that the pic my gf snapped of that turned out.

Lonesomebri · Post by **Lonesomebri** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 11:05 am

I ran into Chief Dan on the Alien Siege Machine one night and he asked me if i had taken out any hippies with the on-board wooden arsenal. That night, I was gunning for soundcamps.

hippiehunting.JPG

Once I realized I was outnumbered and the hippie swarm kept coming, it was time for more drastic measures.

strangelove.JPG

chuckularone · Post by **chuckularone** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 11:55 am

Gunning down The Man from atop the Alien Siege Machine!!

ASM_GunnerSmaller.jpg

Post by **trilobyte** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 9:30 am

I loved those turrets and sights, and that the structure was so damned climbable. As a testament to its awesomeness, my gf climbed up inside and even further up to go out on top (she really hates heights, and the idea of dodgy stairs and not being able to see where she's descending down into). She did all that at night, too!

Dr. Pyro · Post by **Dr. Pyro** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:55 am

Graidawg and I were supposed to be part of the crew that attacked TASM. We went to the meeting Wednesday afternoon, stayed through the whole thing, then when we got out to participate, about an hour before the show was to begin, we "weren't on the list". Our campmate Olivia AKA Lacivious was on it. So three of us were "uninvited" to be cannon fodder. Too bad, it looked like fun. Poor Graidawg was about ready to pee his pants--or kilt or whatever the hell it was he was wearing--only to be sadly disappointed. I know the entire pyrocrew, from Jack on down, did their very best and the show was a huge success. Well, next year damn it, we want to play with dangerous fireworks!

Joeln · Post by **Joeln** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:58 am

As newb I didn't know what to expect and was a bit skeptical when the fundraising was happening.
After seeing and playing on this I am sold! TASM was a really great piece.

geospyder · Post by **geospyder** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:51 pm

A couple of the bloodier pictures

Madgirl · Post by **Madgirl** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:49 pm

I somehow never managed to make it out there

So thank you all for posting photos!

graidawg · Post by **graidawg** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 2:41 pm

Dr. Pyro wrote:Graidawg and I were supposed to be part of the crew that attacked TASM. We went to the meeting Wednesday afternoon, stayed through the whole thing, then when we got out to participate, about an hour before the show was to begin, we "weren't on the list". Our campmate Olivia AKA Lacivious was on it. So three of us were "uninvited" to be cannon fodder. Too bad, it looked like fun. Poor Graidawg was about ready to pee his pants--or kilt or whatever the hell it was he was wearing--only to be sadly disappointed. I know the entire pyrocrew, from Jack on down, did their very best and the show was a huge success. Well, next year damn it, we want to play with dangerous fireworks!

or i will stamp my feet and throw a tantrum

fresh · Post by **fresh** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 3:09 pm

What a fucking show, watched it all from the perimeter!!!! It was a tad on the lengthy side, I almost had to make the short walk back to camp to refill my drink before I got a wonderful absinthe drink from the Wizard on his bicycle bar! Just curious if anyone else thought that something might have gone awry with the helmet dude. Almost look like he fell over while shooting a shit ton of fireworks off his head!!! What an awesome display and piece of art. Great view from the top!

maladroit · Post by **maladroit** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:26 pm

Someone out there definitely lost it and was shooting fireworks in all directions, including at other "soldiers" at close range.

Lonesomebri · Post by **Lonesomebri** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:37 pm

fresh wrote:... I almost had to make the short walk back to camp to refill my drink before I got a wonderful absinthe drink from the Wizard on his bicycle bar!

Was the bicycle bar built on a surfboard?!? Claimed he brought 7 liters of home made Absinthe from Santa Cruz. I helped steady his bar as he set up and he shared his gift with me. Cheers!!!

BoyScoutGirl · Post by **BoyScoutGirl** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 10:12 pm

Some really, really good photos of the ASM fireworks battle and burn: http://duncan.co/burning-man-2014/

fresh · Post by **fresh** » Sun Sep 14, 2014 4:41 pm

Lonesomebri wrote:
fresh wrote:... I almost had to make the short walk back to camp to refill my drink before I got a wonderful absinthe drink from the Wizard on his bicycle bar!
Was the bicycle bar built on a surfboard?!? Claimed he brought 7 liters of home made Absinthe from Santa Cruz. I helped steady his bar as he set up and he shared his gift with me. Cheers!!!

YES Bri!! Totally the same dude!! His girl saw me staring at my empty cup and they kindly filled me up!! Quite tasty too!

Post by **trilobyte** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:12 am

Despite not having shot a lot of video at this year's burn, I got a fair amount of TASM footage. After finally getting a chance to review it all, I'm at a rough cut stage of putting it all together and hope to have it all finished soon.

I noticed the guy/girl who 'went rogue' with the fireworks, too. They just seemed to lose it and were spraying them everywhere for a little while. The rest of the show was a really epic ballet of fire and fireworks, ruined only by the art car near us with its terrible music and DJ Talksalot.

Lonesomebri · Post by **Lonesomebri** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 12:41 am

More photos

BattleA.JPG

Battle2A.JPG

Geekette70 · Post by **Geekette70** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 10:55 pm

No photos, but I did manage to take home an epic bruise from the ASM. We took an extended tour of the playa Tuesday night on an art car who stopped there for about 15 minutes for our climbing pleasure. Being more than a little toasted, I didn't realize you could climb up using the hand/foot holds so instead tried to get a running jump on the treads with the assistance of some nice folks who must have gotten a good laugh. I'm vertically challenged and managed to bust the same knee three times on the the assent. I'm happy to report that finally made it on the third attempt.

I felt really stupid the next day when we went back by and I realized I could have climbed up much more easily if I'd just looked around.

Good times, great memories. Sorry to hear that I missed the fireworks.

omegared · Post by **omegared** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 1:34 am

Madgirl wrote:I somehow never managed to make it out there So thank you all for posting photos!

I also never saw it. I saw it burn, which was very well done, but never got to play on it.

EspressoDude · Post by **EspressoDude** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 8:49 pm

Crazy dude with helmet is PyroBoy, a show he has done many times

burner von braun · Post by **burner von braun** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:45 pm

Nice work Chief Dan Fox and all of the talented crew!

Roy333 · Post by **Roy333** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 6:29 am

I arrived at Burning Man this year as a virgin. (go ahead, hate me all you want, but there really are people who haven’t been to Burning Man before) I was riding my bicycle one night and noticed this large area being cordoned off. It didn’t take me long to realize they were going to burn something. Being early I stood at the edge of the perimeter holding my bike. As people began arriving, this cute volunteer asked me to move my bike back so others could get closer to see the burn. I complied, and moved it back with another group of bicycles, only about 10 feet behind me. I had to lie it down because the wind kept blowing it over. For the first time I decided to not lock it, as I was right there, and could watch it.
I moved forward, enjoyed the Alien Siege Machine battle and burn. It was a long program. After it was over I went to get my bike and, well you know how this story is going to end.
The way I finally knew for sure I hadn’t just misplaced the bike was I found my basket the thieves had generously taken off and left about 50 feet away. In it was my water bottle, a towel, and of course my bicycle lock.

So the Siege machine for me was good and bad. Good that I got to enjoy the entire burn before I found out that not All burners live by the principles, and bad that it was long walk back to camp and my attitude had been changed.
So in the long run, you will be pleased to know I am a BM Virgin No more, so now you can like me. I will be back, but I will have a more realistic approach knowing that bad people are bad, no matter what façade they are trying to hide behind.
Oh, one more regret. Seeing the pictures later I regret not getting a closer look at that Alien Siege Machine during the day.

Post by **trilobyte** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 3:44 pm

I was finally able to cobble the footage I shot of TASM into something... check it out

[media]

EspressoDude · Post by **EspressoDude** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:40 pm

Great composition of clips and story line. Looks like you were slightly to our right and behind us during the burn

Post by **trilobyte** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:54 pm

Thanks - if you were standing at the machine and looking at where the 7:30 avenue hit the Esplanade, that's where I was. Probably 20 or so feet back from the perimeter, we got there nice and early but stayed back with our trikes and didn't want to block the view of those seated/standing ahead of us. In retrospect, I really wish I had planned something in advance and gotten better coverage of the project throughout the week. That, and I wish I hadn't been so busy with my own projects/teardown/mooping and could have helped out with some of that work at the end (as it was we were a bit shorthanded and stretched thin in the end, too).

The Alien Siege Machine

The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine

Re: The Alien Siege Machine