Dave's Lego Exo-Force Rantlet

     8103 Sky Guardian

     See http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Lego/Exoforce81 for general line
comments.  

     Updated 12/28/06 with Codebrick info.

CAPSULE
     
     While it has most of the flaws that the Blade Titan does, they're not as
bad (joints a little stiffer, a bit more use gotten out of the torso flap
joints).  The weapon gimmick is only so-so, but it scores points for finally
solving my main beef with Zamor sphere launchers.  Recommended.  $15 price
point. 

RANT

     The 8100 series sets lack the techspec panels found in the 7700 series,
so I'm making my own names up for weapons for now, and making up my own armor
types and thicknesses.  This info is available online, I'll note it in
parentheses after my versions.  There are no official alternate models.

Unit: Sky Guardian
Pilot: Hikaru
Pilot Hair Color: Blue
Main Mecha Colors: Blue, White, Black, Gray, Yellow
Weapons: Lightning Blade, Thunder Sphere launcher (Energy sword; particle
     beam rifle; missile launcher)
Armor: Petronium, 5" thickness (5" zaylium armor)
(Sensors: Enhanced sensor package with radar, acoustic, sonar, thermo,
     seismic, infrared, telescopic, and motion sensors able to detect
     movement as small as one-ten-thousandth of an inch.)
(Power Source: Magnetized oroniate)
Unit Designation: A.10
Unit Type: Air
Nickname: Speed of Sound (wing and leg decals)

     Code Bio: One of three battle machines found in the Golden Tower shortly
after the discovery of the Golden City.  Sky Guardian is used by Hikaru in
place of the damaged Silent Strike.  Capable of moving at a much faster speed
than Silent Strike or Stealth Hunter, its only drawback is the energy drain
caused by its high velocity.  When the Sky Guardian is moving at top speed,
it is incapable of using any of its weapons.  The pilot must slow down in
order to shift energy to the weapons systems.

     Build Time: About 35 minutes, 7 of which was sorting pieces.  It helped
that a lot of the build was the same as or very similar to 8102.

     Dimensions: Not counting the fins, 8" (20cm) tall.  With the back fins
raised straight up, it reaches nearly 12" (30cm) tall.

     Colors: The armor is a mix of white and dark blue (003399).  The
structural parts are white, black and gray (666666).  As with the Blade
Titan, yellow is the accent color, found on weapons and vents.  The
Supernova-like fins (two connected to the back one to each upper arm) are
dark blue.  The Zamor launcher is a dark gunmetal gray, and the big spatula
sword is clear colorless plastic in the center and yellow around the edges, a
nice example of dual-color molding (all plastic soft in this case).  The
forearms, interestingly, are pelvis/spine pieces ISTR are from the original
Toas. 

     Stickers: The Japanese "Speed of Sound" characters appear on two
different stickers.  One of the wings actually says "Sky Guardian", which I
think is the first time one has had its English name on the actual toy.
Other stickers say A.10, "Supersonic", "Danger" and "Caution".  The cockpit
sticker has a heads-up display.  Except for the HUD, the stickers are dark
blue with white lettering, plus a gold symbol on the right shin sticker.
     The skinny stickers on the fins are a royal pain to apply.

     Articulation: Like 8102, the shoulders and elbows are ball joints, with
the odd shoulder connection that restricts motion in ways I dislike.
However, the spines of the pieces used for forearms let you "puppeteer" the
arms nicely.  The legs are Knights Kingdom joints as with 8102, with the feet
being slightly larger.  The left hand has the fingers seen on the Supernova
(three fingers and a thumb), but the sword plugs into a socket in the palm
and the hand can't actually close all the way around it.  The fins are all
positionable, and the right and left torso pieces are on joints that let them
point down a click to look sleeker (as opposed to just sitting there straight
out on the Blade Titan).  [Later note: the joints serve a purpose on Blade
Titan after all.]

     Weapons: No official names in the comic, so I dub his main weapons the
Lightning Sword and Thunder Sphere launcher.  The Lightning Sword is your
basic "daiklave" sort of spatula sword with a bit of a back-hook on the tip,
4.5" (11cm) long.  The Thunder Sphere launcher is a Zamor launcher from the
Piraka/Toa Inika line, but with a long-barrelled rifle slung over the top
that keeps the Zamor sphere from falling out.  FINALLY someone put a lid on
the thing!  Granted, there's nowhere to store the spare Zamor sphere, so I
stuck it between the barrels of the Blade Titan's gun for now.  A bit big for
that, though.  :)  There's also a small missile (clear orange cone atop a
finned barrel) on each forearm, and a four-cone missile rack over the
cockpit.  
     There was a leftover Technic connector among the tiny leftover bits,
sticking that into the back of the left shoulder gives you a peg onto which
the Lightning Sword can be set to "sheath" it on the back.

     Other Features: Same basic torso core and legs as 8802.  Has turbines
(non-spinning) on the torso sides, and flexible tubes from the hips to the
jet thrusters on the outer shins.  Nifty.

     Pilot Figure: Hikaru has the same face and hair as before, but now has a
dark blue body and black hands.  His chest printing is gold and black with a
bit of blue, and has his wing symbol, but no A.10.

     Dave Van Domelen, now for another dry spell of unknown length before
more new ones show up.