Dave's Exo-Force Deep Jungle Rantlet 8114: Chameleon Hunter See http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Lego/ExoforceDJ for general line comments. Update 12/27/07: Just a quick comment, the spinning claw's digits are Mantax claws. CAPSULE It lacks the big "wow" factor of the deforestation blade the Assault Tiger has, but is a well-designed mech nonetheless. Recommended. $19.99 at TRU, $14.96 at Wal-Mart. RANT Unit: Chameleon Hunter Type: Stealth Strike EXO-FORCE Battle Machine Pilot: Hikaru Pilot Hair Color: Blue Main Mecha Colors: Weapons: Flame-blaster cannon, attack claw, shoulder-mounted homing rockets, armor blades. Partner: Slizer Partner Code: SGD Armor: 7 inches Zaylium Sensors: Enhanced sensor package with reflex-boosting neural link-up that allows it to operate in any environmental conditions Power Source: Magnetized Oroniate Unit Designation: L.21 Unit Type: Land Nickname: None. Sticker Code: EXO47RZ8 Bio note: Hikaru is used to soaring high above the ground, so piloting the ground-based Chameleon Hunter has been a real learning process for the EXO-FORCE team's marksman. Though capable of short bursts of flight that resemble mighty leaps, the new battle machine that Sensei Keiken built for him is designed for battle in and among the jungle trees. It's a fast, silent short-range fighter that moves and strikes like a ninja commando, fading instantly from sight and sensors with the help of next-generation camo-phores built into its armor plating, then appearing out of nowhere to attack with its triple-pronged claw and flame blaster. Armed with twin mantis blades, the Chameleon Hunter's agile mini-robot can pierce even the thickest robot battle machine armor to sabotage vital circuitry underneath. Partner Bio (fanfic): Slizer is sedate to the point that sometimes Hikaru wonders if he's gone into sleep cycle. When he does act, it's with economy of motion and deadly precision, as if he's spent all that "downtime" planning exactly what he was going to do, to the last decimal place. His synthetic ruby mantis blades are reinforced with carbon nanofibers, dulling their sheen but making them nearly unbreakable. The shield generators on his shoulders only have a minor protective effect, but dampen his own energy emissions (sound included) to the point of near undetectability unless you're looking directly at him...and by the time you can see him, he's already planned your destruction to the last decimal place.... Build Time: Just like the Assault Tiger, there's one small bag with the pilot and partner stuff. There's three other bags marked 2 for the rest of the mech, plus one loose piece for the core of the cockpit. Bag 1 sort time negligible, build time about 5 minutes. Sort time on the rest of the bags about 7 minutes, build time 20-25 minutes (I kinda lost track near the end). Dimensions: 7.5" (19cm) at the top of the cockpit, 10" (25cm) at the tip of the whip antenna on the right side of the back. The shoulder spines give it a "wingspan" of about 11" (28cm). Colors: The skeletal structure is black and gray (both light and medium). Armor pieces on the torso and limbs are various shades of green. Forest green on the shoulderpads and shinguards, yellow-green accent pieces, and medium kelly green for the rest. There's a few white connection bits here and there, clear colorless "headlights" on the chest, smoky clear cockpit, clear blue IR sensor dish, some clear yellow cone accents and solid red weapon parts (see below). Stickers: Three shades of green, plus white and black. There's also a little silver. The greens don't quite match the plastic greens...the yellow-green and forest green sticker colors are a bit darker than the corresponding plastic colors, and the kelly green a touch brighter. As with Assault Tiger, there's loads of text, and a schematic view of the spy drone. Here's the text by number: 1. L.21 2. Spy Drone, Encrypted Transmission, Pull to Jetison [sic] Recording Box (with a little handle next to it), SGD-Launcher. 3. None 4. BOOST 5. BOOST 6. None 7. Personal Calibrator, Power Vent 8. Anti-Gas System, BOOST - Volatile 9. Japanese translated as Genjyutsu (Illusional Power)...can the robots make hand signs to release the Genjyutsu? 10. Exo-code, DANGER High-Explosive, LAUNCH. Unlike most Exo-code stickers, this goes on a forearm, not on the cockpit. Articulation: Largely the same as the Assault Tiger. Ball joint shoulders and ankles, Knights Kingdom ratchet hips and knees, elbows permanently bent slightly. The left hand claw can spin and the three mutually opposed digits are on ratchet hinges. Weapons: The flamethrower uses a Toa flame sword mostly red with a bit of yellow blended in at the tip. The attack claw has three red hook pieces (the same ones used on the Storm Lasher's mandibles) mutually opposed, and the shaft they're on can spin freely. In fact, it can spin fast enough to make the claws open up against the ratcheting joints. The homing rockets on the shoulders are just gray fin bases with red cones. The armor blades are long spines on the shoulders and kneecaps. The toes are also up-pointed like the Deathscythe Hell's, a common design element for this line. Unnamed are a pair of energy blaster barrels flanking the flamethrower, and an energy blast cone in the middle of the attack claw. Call 'em lasers, I guess. Other Features: Has several of those rubber-tiped spine pieces I first saw on the Storm Lasher, in solid yellow-green. It has the same pelvis section as Assault Tiger, clipped to the bottom of the same weird cross-bowl shaped cockpit core. It also has the same IR dish and whip antenna as the Assault Tiger. Different cockpit design aside from the core, but also pretty much enclosed from top and front. I guess they simply realized how badly they were tempting fate by fighting in those nearly-open cockpits. However, no comfy chair for Hikaru, he just sits on the floor of the core piece. Officially combines with the Assault Tiger into a bigger bipedal mech that Takeshi gets to drive. Hikaru always loses out when the two have their mechs combine. Also combines into a quadmech with River Dragon, which has two cockpits, so Hikaru gets to ride. Pilot Figure: Hikaru with the usual head and light blue hair. His body is white with black gloves and black pelvis. The front of his chest is printed in black and silver, with blue electric-camo sort of patterning on the abdomen. Partner: Slizer (yes, name taken from the European version of Throwbots) is built similarly to the Assault Tiger's partner, with the same "alternate instructions needed" feet. However, he has a chest-face like the River Dragon's partner. He has pretty big discs on his shoulders, and a Racer mini-set fender for the top of his head. The instructions have him hold his weapons as swords, not in a mantis-strike manner, but it's trivial to twist them around. 6cm tall, the limbs and shoulder discs are black, the torso is gray, the leg armor is medium green, the toes and head pieces are yellow-green. His eye is a clear red dot piece, and his swords are red opaque plastic scythe blades (they have clips at the hilt end to snap onto a shaft to become a scythe). Slizer connects to Chameleon Hunter's right forearm pretty much the same way the Assault Tiger's partner attaches, but a bit farther back and with no transformation at all. If you remove the flame jet, the swords become additional claws. Dave Van Domelen, notes that the massive shoulderpads do make display a little tricky on a crowded shelf....