wow! I finally finished this up enough to upload.
I wanted to include at least a basic animation before posting, which is something I hadn't done before. This is actually my 2nd attempt on this model (the first is still saved in my sketchfab uploads if you want to peek).

ive been working on this model on and off for like, months now. it's been pretty ambitious for me in terms of learning 3D with Blender but it's been a good exercise and i'm actually pretty proud of the results, but I know it's not perfect! If anyone has tips on things I couldve done better with this then i'd be happy to hear.