OK, so morphs are out of the question... but I haven't got the faintest idea how to turn this thing into a character and rig the doors to open and close/gear to go up and down.

Shuy, I've used magnets a few times.... won't a magnet cause the shape (in this case one of the doors for example) to bend?

Here's the link to my freebies:   https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/?uid=493127

My cousin Jack can speak to beans. That's right.... Jack and the beans talk