Dave's Lego Exo-Force Rantlet

     7708 Uplink

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


CAPSULE

     Uplink: Not as good in robot mode, covers some holes with its stickers,
and the official alternate model looks nice but is flimsy.  Mildly
recommended.  $4.96 at Wal-Mart.

RANT

Main Model: Uplink
Secondary Mode: Link Transporter
Pilot: Ryo
Pilot Hair Color: Purple
Main Mecha Colors: Orange, Gray, Black
Weapons: Not named (missiles, energy shotgun)
Armor: Not listed, presumably Intractium armor, under 4".
Unit Designation: AT.01
Unit Type: Ground
Nickname: Tiger


     Build time was about 15 minutes.

     Ignoring the antenna, it's 4.5" (11cm) tall.  The whip antenna raises
the total height to 7" (18cm).  It's 3.5" (9cm) acros the shoulders.  The
structural bits are light gray, dark warm gray and black, with orange armor
pieces (including shoulderpads made from the helmets of those NHL figures
from 2004-5).  There's no clear pieces, but the rocket tips are red, as are
several hidden pieces.
     Totally exposed cockpit, essentially standing on a platform with a
little control panel (1x2 pegless with a sticker).  The storyline has this
meant as something to let Ryo get out onto the field for emergency repairs,
rather than a front line battle bot.  Oddly, there's no tools included for
Ryo to use in those repairs (Grand Titan has a wrench on the backpack, why
doesn't Ryo have anything?).  The right arm has a big double-barreled shotgun
looking thing about 2.5" (6cm) long, although you can use some of the
leftover pieces to extend the length a little.  Or attach the two barrels
into a single sniper rifle 4.5" (11cm) long.  The left arm ends in two
missiles that are slightly longer than the usual "cone plus fins" thing,
having a goblet piece in the middle.
     The legs are jointed identically to the Sentry's, but the arms are a lot
simpler.  The elbows are bent and immobile, the joints really just give you
good shoulder articulation.
     Ryo's torso, arms and legs are orange, his hands and pelvis are gray.
Normal yellow head with the two face trick.  His chest has armor patterning
and the label AT.01 on it.
     There is no translation on the decal sheet for the unit type Japanese,
but it's the same as Grand Titan's.  There is a translation for his mech's
nickname label, "Tiger".
     Poor Ryo, stuck with the wimpiest of the human-controlled Mechs.  No
wonder he builds a horkin' big tank (unit 7706, available late spring 2006,
I'm unlikely to get it).

     I've decided that the Link Transport is too wobbly, so I made my own
Link Speeder:

     http://www.dvandom.com/images/linkspeeder1.JPG
     http://www.dvandom.com/images/linkspeeder2.JPG
     http://www.dvandom.com/images/linkspeeder3.JPG
     http://www.dvandom.com/images/linkspeeder4.JPG
     http://www.dvandom.com/images/linkspeeder5.JPG

     Dave Van Domelen, notes Ryo's calm face looks kinda bored.