Dave's Lego Exo-Force Rantlet

     7703 Fire Vulture

     See http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Lego/Exoforce77 for general line
comments.

CAPSULE

     A lot of differences from the other three of this size, and some very
clever bits.  Recommended.  $15 price point.

RANT

Main Model: Fire Vulture
Secondary Mode: Hover Hawk
Pilot: Devastator 7703
Pilot Color: Silver and clear blue
Main Mecha Colors: Blue, Gray
Weapons: LR Flamethrower, Electro Claw
Armor: Tenatium, 4" thickness
Unit Designation: 7703
Unit Type: Air
Nickname: None

     Build time was only about 50 minutes, but with eyrie.org down that
night, I had a lot less distractions.  :)

     8.5" (22cm) tall at the antenna, 9.5" (24cm) tall at the top of the
hoverfan on its back.  The skeletal structure is black, gray and a sort of
taupe, the armor is black, dark blue and light slate blue.  The hoverfan is
blended black and gray plastic, and the clear color is red (only a couple
pieces, though).  The bar on the back for activating the LED brick is bright
yellow-green, oddly.  
     The construction of the torso is qualitatively different from that of
the other three big mechs.  Some of this is due to the armature used to
support the hoverfan piece (which I think is a new piece, and is used
extensively on 7704), but the backpack section is also put together a lot
differently.  
     The cockpit is the most open one of the four, with barely any protection
for the pilot, and no weaponry built into the cockpit piece (which is
removable, like Thunder Fury's).  The shouldertop weapons are fairly simple,
both being minifig gun types with bits of clear red plastic on the tips.  The
left arm has a dual claw that uses the hook pieces from Gali, the original
Toa of Water.  The right arm ends in a really clever flamethrower, complete
with hoses, tank, and a pilot light made from a minifig fireman's hose nozzle
(there's a spare in the set, giving the pilot a pistol).  The LED optic fiber
terminates in a laser sight for the weapon (3 of the 4 big mechs simply use
the LED for a laser sight).
     The Knights Kingdom joint pieces are medium gray with taupe moving
bits.  They form the hips, knees, ankles and shoulders, as with 7700.  The
elbows are rod hinges with swivels on the upper arm.  The claw has a smooth
hinge wrist.  The instructions have the right elbow connected in a way I find
awkward, but it's not like it's hard to put it however you want.
     The Devastator Robot has a clear blue torso piece with silver paint over
most of it, but when the LED is lit, it shines through red anyway.  Unlike
other sets, there is no rod put into its head for eyes, so the light from the
LED brick just shines through the head too.
     The hoverfan mentioned earlier is 3" (8cm) in diameter, and is on a
Technic rod joint.  Facing forward, it looks kinda like a samurai armor
decoration, and is kept from spinning freely by touching its own support.
Pointed upwards, it spins freely and makes this a sort of helicopter mech.
     The chest decals are the robot skull as on 7702, and a stylized techno
FV for Fire Vulture.  The instructions are mislabeled in a few places,
swapping decals 5 and 8, as well as 17 and 18.  The diagram is correct,
however.  

     At this time, I have no plans to build the Hover Hawk or the combined
mode, aka the Raging Storm.  

     Dave Van Domelen, now waiting to see if Uplink is his Brickmaster club
set, or if he simply joined too late to get anything from Exo-Force.