Dave's Lego Exo-Force Rant: 7700-Series General Comments

     This short review covers the first year of the Exo-Force line in
general, its common gimmicks, themes and so forth.  Each set that I buy will
get its own short review.

     Last Updated: 11/21/06 with the 8100-series stuff spun off.

The Story:

     In a sort of techno-feudal setting on Sentai Mountain, humans and robots
live in harmony, but then the robots rebel for some undisclosed reason.  This
splits the mountain, and the humans get the side with the peak.  The robots
are quiet for a time, but have now renewed their assault along the bridges
that connect the two halves (it is not revealed why they don't just start at
the bottom of the mountain...maybe the rift extends for miles in both
directions at ground level).  The strategic holes in this setup are
mindboggling, of course.  So let's just set those aside.
     A group of anime-haired heroes arise to pilot non-sapient mecha to fight
the hordes of robots.  Each side has a few large mecha, the humans also have
some smaller mechs, and the robots have swarms of smaller mechs and
vehicles.  The two largest mechs on each side can combine into even larger
mechs that are unnamed in the paperwork (but probably have names online).
     As of November 12, 2006, there are 23 episodes of the online comic,
which uses flash animation in a very limited fashion.  Different writers are
responsible for different chunks of the story, and it's animated in the
Netherlands, with some language barrier issues causing story glitches.

Design Theory:

     In general, the Mechs are of the "big boots and wide shoulders" variety,
big and clunky rather than sleek.  Most of the Mechs have a melee weapon
right arm and a ranged weapon left arm, although the smallest ones tend to be
pure ranged.  
     Open or semi-open cockpits are the rule.  The larger Mechs tend to have
clear canopies, but the sides are open.  The smaller ones tend to be
completely open.  This does act to reduce the bulk of the torsos somewhat,
which is good since the torsos are pretty bulky as it is.  But it does
trigger Stupidity Alarms...why strap yourself into a big mecha and then not
protect yourself from the firepower of the enemy mecha?
     The larger Mechs take advantage of the ratcheting joints designed for
the Knights Kingdom figures to give them stronger joints than Bionicle ball
and sockets.  They all share a similar spine and leg skeleton, but often
differ on arm jointing and other things.  The similarities, however, mean
that the top of the pilot's head is about 7" (18cm) above the table for all
four large Mecha.

The Gimmicks:

     Well, giant robots are the main gimmick, although not all sets are
purely mecha in that sense.  The $15 price point toys have 2x4 blocks with
LEDs built into them, and flexible clear cables that are used as fiber optics
to channel the red LED light into weapons.  The other toys lack the light
blocks, although the $20 toy has a Technic dart launcher (correction: it also
has a light brick).  The light blocks are installed behind the pilot, so they
get backlit when the button is pushed.  Also, rather than simply have you
push the button built into the light brick, the core of the torso is built to
let you press down on a bar to trigger the light.  The combined modes just
leave the light bricks out in the open, though, since the mecha are too large
for the fiber optic piece to reach from the center torso to the weapons.
     There's a hidden gimmick I don't think I would ever have noticed on my
own, but it was brought up on the AllSpark.  On each of the $15 mechs,
there's a 6-long Technic rod with a cone at the top and a cog buttpiece at
the bottom, that sticks up through the piece that connects the right and left
torso pieces over the cockpit.  I thought it was just an antenna, but did
wonder why it was loose to move up and down.  It's actually a plunger, to
eject the LED brick (which is also why the brick is not snapped onto a
regular plate, but instead rests against smooth plates).  Putting it back IN
takes a bit more doing unless you have small fingers, but it's a cool "eject
core before meltdown" or "defeat the enemy by smacking his core out" feature.
     The human pilots all have rubbery spiky anime hair in various colors, as
well as the two-sided faces Lego's been using for a few years now.  One side
of the face is grimly determined or smiling or some other mild expression.
The other is a KIIIYAH! sort of grimace.
     The robot pilots are almost entirely new molds, save for the claw hands
and the 2-long Technic rod that goes into the backs of their heads to provide
eye color (mostly: 7703 is eyeless).  They have clip-on shoulder and hip
joints, and heads that do not turn.  Their feet are 1x2 connectors, but they
cannot connect sitting down.  They have a single peg on their chests, which I
suppose you could attack a piece to as a weapon.  :) The mooks (Iron Drones)
are bronze, while the Devastator pilots of the bigger stuff have their own
colors, but no individual names.  I think their stock number is supposed to
be their personal name.
     Packaging for the $15 sets includes a flip-up front panel with a one
page comic showing the enclosed figure fighting one or more enemies.  Behind
the panel is a tech-spec sort of image, pointing out various systems.  The
alternate model is shown below the main one here.  The back shows the
combined mode of the enclosed set and its complement, with a mini-catalog
pair of fight scenes below.
     Rather than tampograph patterns on the bricks themselves, Lego breaks
with its usual pattern and supplies a decal sheet with each set.  In general,
this is a good thing, since you can keep the bricks pristine if you want, and
the decal sheets include translations of the various Japanese characters
found on some of the decals.  However, sometimes you need to put a decal onto
a part with a nonzero curvature, and they don't go on well.  The Devastator
robot units have barcode patterns instead of Japanese. 

The Instructions:

     Instructions show only the main model, you are told to go online for
alternate models and combined modes.  They do show a parts list, which is
helpful given that you can no longer count on Lego sets always having all the
parts.  :/  (Seriously, a lot of the newer sets are missing one or two small
pieces, I've been finding.)  A notable point is that several of the sets use
half of a hinge piece to act as a blocker for a moving piece, so the
instructions help in being sure you're not missing the other half.  For what
it's worth, from the sets I've reviewed so far, only 7701 was missing a
piece. 
     The cover of the larger instruction sets replicates the front of the box
almost exactly, with just some of the corner copy changed.  The instructions
are typical Lego and generally good, although a few of the parts made out of
several black pieces were hard to make out.  The final steps are decal
application, and they spread it out over two pages to avoid being too
crowded.  The final page of the booklet is an ad for the Lego Club and a link
to a survey system (as of the last week of December 2005, the Exo-Force toys
were not available to be surveyed on).  The $5 set instructions are similar,
just not the same page proportions as the box.
     Every set has at least one alternate model shown, with instructions
online.  The $15 mecha sets also can be combined and built into a larger
mech, instructions also online.  This is a complete rebuild, not "take apart
at a few points and put them all together".  On January 5, the site went
fully live with these instructions, although they don't seem to have
everything fully working yet.  As of January 24, some of the alternate models
have complete instructions or at least pseudo-instructions, but some still
rely on a small number of "in progress" photos that are not very helpful
(i.e. the Laser Sentry).  As of November 12, the alternate models are pretty
well covered, and the "inspirations" are pretty well delineated, if not in as
many steps as proper instructions.

Line Summary:

     If I don't have the name of an alternate mode, it's because it's not in
the catalog and I don't own the actual toy yet.  All prices are approximate,
and in U.S. dollars.

     7700: Stealth Hunter.  White human-piloted Mech, combines with 7701.
Alternate model is a jet, the Stealth Wasp.  $15.
     7701: Grand Titan.  Red human-piloted Mech, combines with 7700.
Alternate model is a squat robot, the Titan Tracker.  $15.
     7702: Thunder Fury.  Black and red robot-piloted Mech, combines with
7703.  Alternate model is an AT-ST-looking Mech, the Fire Fury.  $15.
     7703: Fire Vulture.  Black and blue robot-piloted Mech, combines with
7702.  Alternate model is a skycraft, the Hover Hawk.  $15.
     7704: Sonic Phantom.  Black and gray ducted fan vehicle with launching
Technic missile, robot-piloted (higher rank pilot).  Alternate mode is the
Sonic Speeder, a large motorcycle.  $20.  Will not be buying this.
     7705: Gate Assault.  This is a playset, with a gate scenery, two $5-size
mechs (Sentry II and the Gate Defender, each with 5" of the relevant armor
type.  The Gate Defender is maybe halfway between the $5 size and the $15
size), and a four-wheeled attack vehicle (the R-1 Robot Rammer, with 15" of
tenatium armor reinforced at the front for ramming) run by the robots.  Comes
with three Iron Drone robots, the humans Ha-ya-to and a generic mook who uses
Ryo's body but a different head and hair.  The color quote online for
Ha-ya-to suggests the mook is named Genki (an inside source indicates that
this is a slip, Genki as a character got deleted, and the mook is just an
unnamed techie/soldier, although Lego's Shop-at-Home catalog calls him Ryo).
Rebuilds into two alternate models: the Barricade Bulldozer and a jet called
Swift.  $30.  Will not be buying this unless I someday find it on deeeeep
clearance.
     7706: Mobile Defense Tank, with Ryo and his generic buddy.  Ryo gets an
upgrade from Uplink with this walker tank four treads on "hips" that let it
drop down for speed or rise up to fire over obstacles.  Massive weaponry
loadout, including a six-barreled version of the railgun on the Link
Transport.  Has one LED brick, plus a disc shooter.  $29.99 set.
     7707: Striking Venom, with multiple Devastator robot pilots.  This is a
four-legged spidery mech with backhoe scoops as feet and Iron Drone pilots
actually attached by their heads to the legs.  There's at least one LED
brick, possibly more.  A huge set, $50 price point.
     7708: Uplink.  Little orange human-piloted Mech.  Alternate model is the
Link Transporter, a hoverbike with railgun.  $5.
     7709: Sentai Fortress.  A massive base with two $15-size mechs and two
smaller than $5 size mechs, plus minifigs galore and several LED bricks.  One
of the mechs is essentially a power-up version of 7700.  This is your basic
"do you have an entire table to spare?" set, priced at around $100 and hard
to find in stores, but not impossible (especially at TRU).
     7710: The only number not filled in yet as of November 2006.  Turns out
that this number was used in 1980 for a train set.
     7711: Sentry.  Little tan robot-piloted Mech.  Alternate model is an
armless weapons platform, the Laser Sentry.  $5
     7712: Supernova.  Toys R Us/Amazon exclusive, $19.99 at Amazon.com.
Big, yellow, with lots of fins and stuff, and carrying a war fork.  Looks to
have more joints and pieces, and is piloted by Takeshi.  Formerly listed as
7712, but Amazon has it as 7714.  Turns out they're wrong, it really is
7712.  It comes in the same shape box as the Sonic Phantom, and has 287
pieces.  Early pictures made it look orange instead of yellow.
     7713: Bridge Walker and White Lightning.  Target exclusive.  This is a
big set, almost 700 pieces.  The Bridge Walker is a big (32cm tall)
digitigrade walker mech piloted by the gold leader of the robots and two
silver robots.  White Lightning is roughly at the $15 scale, but a little
stripped down and given a disc shooter.  Looks like Ha-Ya-To pilots it, and
it has blow-away armor reminiscent of the old cyber duel sets, you shoot a
Sonic Phantom style missile from Bridge Walker at White Lightning.  Alternate
models are both jets, the Raven Attacker (evil) and Fire Eagle (good).  $50
price point.

     This trio of toys is part of a mini-set line revealed in late February
2006.  They make me think of the Shell station exclusives, but hopefully
they'll be available in regular stores (there's also a bunch of non-Exo-Force
mini sets).  None seem to have names, all are very small mechs like the one
Hayato pilots in 7709.  I expect a $2-3 price point.  Still not available as
of November 21, 2006.  And it's starting to look like they never WILL be
available in the U.S.  They were apparently only available as promos outside
the U.S., and are now reselling for 400% markup or more.
     5965: Devastator pilot 7702 with platform shoes and two big guns. 
     5966: Hikaru on a white flying mini-mech.  It's hard to say if he's just
holding the wings in his hands, or if there's support struts connected to the
boots (I think there are struts, though).
     5967: Takeshi in a red mini-mech.  Like 5966, I think there's some sort
of struts supporting the arms, but they may just be handheld.  MicroTitan,
heh. 


     Dave Van Domelen, done with 7700-series unless he finds something on
really deep clearance.