Dave's Lego® Robots Reviews
Last Updated:
4/5/08
8118 Hybrid Rescue Tank review, 8108 Mobile Devastator and 7721 Combat
Crawler x2 info added.
Exo-Force
Humans and robots use vehicles and giant humanoid mecha to fight over who
will be king of Sentai Mountain! Very anime-themed set.
- Line Overview: Sentai Fortress Storyline:
Some comments on the first year of the line as a whole and common elements,
so I don't need to cover them in every review. Also has comments on sets I
either haven't gotten yet, or won't be getting. Updated 11/21/06.
- 7700: Stealth Hunter - review added 12/30/05.
- 7701: Grand Titan - review added 12/30/05.
- 7702: Thunder Fury - review added 12/31/05.
- 7703: Fire Vulture - review added 1/3/06.
- 7704: Sonic Phantom - Not being bought or reviewed.
- 7705: Gate Assault - Not being bought or reviewed.
- 7706: Mobile Defense Tank - Review added. 11/12/06.
- 7707: Striking Venom - Not being bought or reviewed.
- 7708: Uplink - review updated 2/12/06.
- 7709: Sentai Fortress - Not being bought or reviewed.
- 7710: Number not used so far. Seems to have been used on a really old
train set.
- 7711: Sentry - review updated 1/24/06.
- 7712: Supernova - review added 3/31/06. He has an iPod, apparently.
- 7713: Bridge Walker and White Lightning -
Target-exclusive "versus" set. Bought when it went on 50% off clearance,
review added 2/17/07.
- Line Overview: Golden City: The second year
of Exo-Force brings a shift in storyline and new mechs for everyone. File
updated 11/24/07.
- 8100: Cyclone Defender - Review updated 12/28/06.
- 8101: Claw Crusher - Review updated 12/28/06.
- 8102: Blade Titan - Review updated 12/28/06.
- 8103: Sky Guardian - Review updated 12/28/06.
- 8104: Shadow Crawler - Review updated 12/28/06.
- 8105: Iron Condor - Review updated 12/28/06.
- 7714: Golden Guardian - Yes, it's got a 7700 series
number, but it's part of the Golden City storyline. TRU exclusive (also
available on Amazon or lego.com). Review updated 11/7/07.
- 8106: Aero Booster - $30-size mech for Ha-Ya-To. It has
an $8 size body and HUGE boosters on the back with a missile launcher built
with a pistol grip for the person playing with it. Review added 3/19/08.
- 8107: Sentai Golden Tower - Central tower of the Golden
City under attack by a medium flying vehicle (the Sonic Raven), another
pistol-grip missile launcher. Comes with new female pilot Hitomi. $50 set.
Review added 11/12/07.
- 8108: Mobile Devastator - Evil monster truck assault
vehicle thing versus Ryo in a $15-size mech (the Blazing Falcon), $90 set.
Not getting reviewed, sorry. But I did get the code brick from a friend and
put the online info in the link here.
- Line Overview: Deep Jungle - The 2008 line,
continuing the 8100-numbering, but moving the struggle into the jungles with
an assortment of more bestial Robot machines and both sides using little
partner mechs that can turn into weapons. Note, Toys R Us is playing "gouge
the customer" lately and wants $10 and $20 for the small and medium sets.
- 8111: River Dragon - Ha-ya-to's $8-size mech with
hoverfans on the shoulders. Right arm turns into a partner mech. Red and
black. Review updated 12/27/07.
- 8112: Battle Arachnoid8113: Assault Tiger - Yellow, red and black $15-scale
mech piloted by Takeshi and equipped with a HUGE DEFORESTATION BUZZSAW.
Seriously, the sticker says "HEAVY DUTY DEFORESTER". Partner carries
chainsaws. Review updated 12/27/07.
- 8114: Chameleon Hunter - Green and black flier with a
mantis motif and a sword-wielding partner. Hikaru's new ride, it has a big
ol' claw on the right arm. $15 scale. Combines with either the Assault
Tiger or the River Dragon to make bigger mechs (biped for Assault Tiger, quad
for River Dragon). Review tweaked 12/28/07.
- 8115: Dark Panther - Purple and black quadruped mech
piloted by a Devastator and including two Iron Drone jump troopers. $15
scale. Combines with the Storm Lasher to make a big bipedal mech, or with the
Arachnid Stalker for a scorpion unit. Review added 12/27/07.
- 8116: Cancelled. This unit was developed, but tested poorly and was
yanked from the schedule. Of course, with Lego there isn't quite as much
"investment" in a new "mold". :)
- 8117: Storm Lasher - VTOL with big fans and an insect
motif, $20 price point, piloted by an Iron Drone. Review updated 12/27/07.
- 8118: Hybrid Rescue Tank - Treads in front, huge single
wheel in back, it has Ryo as a pilot, apparently rescuing Keiken from robot
clutches. The turret can come off and turn into a jet. At $30, it's the
cheapest set to include the Sensei. Review added 4/4/08.
- 7721: Combat Crawler X2 - More of a Golden City toy, but
sold as a Target exclusive during the transition to Deep Jungle. Six-legged
carrier with a regular bipedal battle machine piloted by a Devastator that
can detach and fight independently. Notes added 4/5/08.
- Base/scenery sets sold too poorly in the previous year, so the line has
been cancelled.
- Symbiote Spider-Man Mech - A Mega Bloks toy, but
it fits better here than anywhere else. :) A good $10 set on its own, and
grist for the mill of any Exo-Force custom-builders.
- PlasmaTECH Wave 1 - Another Mega Bloks
toy, these are $5 part-swappable robot action figures (although the bio notes
call them cyborgs). Nifty little mecha. Updated 11/24/07 with notes on the
Mecha Base set.
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This is my own story linking the Throwbots and the RoboRiders. It
deliberately ignores much or all of the "canonical" storyline.
REVIEWS
The BIOlogical chroNICLE, Lego's big thrust into the action figure market.
And lots of other markets.
Year One: Toa versus Rahi
- Toas and Turagas: Reviews of all six Toa (heroes)
and their priestly Turaga sidekicks.
- ToruToa combiners: Toru is Maori for "three". This
review covers the two big three-Toa combiners, plus some nattering on the I
Ching and Maori translations. LATE NOTE: I've been informed that the
official names are on the minidisc. Well, if Lego wanted me to use their
names, they should have made them available somewhere I, as a Mac user, could
get at them. So there. It pisses me off the way that Lego makes it hard to
find out what they call their toys...this isn't the first time, after all.
- Tohunga: The villagers. Only available in a McDonald's promotion, I got
a couple and wasn't all that impressed. They have Throwbot discs and tossing
arms.
- Rahi: The Badguys. Only ever built the $15 set, wasn't impressed.
Bought the $40 set on clearance, but never opened it and ended up giving it
to Toys for Tots.
Year Two: Toa versus Bohrok
- Bohrok: Swarms of evil critters out to destroy Mata Nui
under the control of the malevolent Krana masks. These combine by trios, the
same color groupings as the Toa Kaita. Correction to review: the Mole Krana
is indeed the digging type, not the hidden traitor type.
- Bohrok Combiners: I put together the green/white/blue combiner, it stands
8.5"/22cm tall with good articulation. There's a lot of rod ends sticking
out, as the Bohrok come with no 2-length rods or 4-length rods. The head of
the figure is Lehvak's limbless body (so don't disassemble it entirely before
starting!). Only one mask and a few bits are leftover, and I was able to
cobble together a sort of backpack holding for the mask and bits. I'm
guessing the other combiner is about the same.
- Bohrok Va: Scouts and assistants to the Bohrok, they
combine elements of Turaga and Tohunga. These also combine by threes. Their
Krana are different colors than those with the Bohrok.
- Mask Sets: A better deal than the original Toa mask sets. These
supposedly come with two Toa/Turaga masks and three Krana for $2 (or, like,
$4 or so at Toys R Us). CORRECTION: just two Toa masks, no Turaga masks.
One in metalflake pale gold, one in metalflake silver. And three Krana, of
course.
Lego in a can! Six Technic motorcycles built on the same sort of themes as
the Throwbots.
- RoboRider Reviews: Individual reviews of Swamp, Lava,
Frost, Onyx, Dust and Power.
- Blacklight: Super RoboRider formed from Onyx and
Power. I don't plan to review the other Super RoboRiders.
- Boss RoboRider: Like Millennia before it, Boss wasn't
really promoted in advance, just appearing without fanfare in stores. It
didn't help that what little advertising it got used the lame alternate mode
for pictures.
- Mini-Robo Riders: Not available in the U.S., I
got these little guys on Brickbay.com. Click HERE for a picture of the assembled toys. Swamp
Craft isn't quite done according to instructions, I modified it a bit.
Three Throwbots merge to form the Super Throwbot Fusion. The core is
Blaster, practically a Super Throwbot in his own right. Flare and Spark
complete the set. Each is sold separately.
- Blaster: The leader of the Fusion team, and in my
mind, the leader of the entire invading force.
- Click HERE for a review of Spark and Flare.
- Fusion: The Super-Throwbot!
Known as the Millennium Slizer outside the U.S., it was renamed simply
Millennia of the Throwbots when released here. Millennia is a standard size
Throwbot with a big motorcycle, and you can build a 7" tall Throwbot by
combining parts. Click HERE for a review.
TEAM BLUE
This isn't the official designation, but I felt I needed something to call
the four-groups. Team Blue is composed of Ski, Scuba, Torch and Turbo, and
they make up the humanoid Super Throwbot.
- Team Blue Individual Reviews: A file covering
Ski, Scuba, Torch and Turbo as individual toys, plus commenting on things
like packaging, design philosophy, etc. Has some later notes added because I
didn't have full information when I wrote the initial review. Update: see
ExoBots for a cooler configuration for Turbo.
- Humanoid Super Throwbot Review: Comments on the
combined form of Team Blue. UPDATE: According to the Lego Club
magazine, this is called RoboTops.
TEAM BLACK
Team Black is composed of Amazon, Jet, Electro and Granite, who merge to form
the Dragon Super Throwbot. According to the Lego® homepage, Granite's alt
mode is...a fake rock. BWAHAHAHA! UPDATE 10/11: Adrian Schneider points out
that Electro's transformed mode could be interpreted as a lightning bolt,
being that it's a sort of zigzag.
- Team Black Individual Reviews: Reviews of the four
Team Black toys, plus a few more comments on the line based on information
gathered later on.
- Dragon Super Throwbot Review: Sadly, a much less
cool toy than the Team Blue Super Throwbot. UPDATE: According to the Lego Club magazine, this is called UltraRex.
Throwbots and the I
Ching
A short piece comparing the Throwbots to various Trigrams and Hexagrams of
the I Ching, or Book of Changes from Taoism.
I've gotten a German Lego® catalog from Raksha, and it lists
the European names for the Slizers (which is what Throwbots are called
everywhere but North America). It also gives some backstory: in another
Solar System is a planet divided into seven wedge-shaped "continents," each
with radically different environments. At the north pole of this world is a
capital city and/or judgment arena. Here's the eight Slizers:
- Jungle (Amazon) - Jungle Slizer, lives in the overgrown slice of the
planet.
- Rock (Granite) - Rock Slizer, lives in the barren rocky slice.
- Energy (Electro) - Energy Slizer, lives in the slice under constant storm
cover.
- City (Turbo) - City Slizer, lives in a slice dominated by supercomputers.
- Ice (Ski) - Ice Slizer, his slice is all snowy alps.
- Sub (Scuba) - Deep Sea Slizer, protects an all-ocean slice.
- Fire (Torch) - Fire Slizer, lives in a magma-covered slice.
- Judge (Jet) - Master Slizer, lives in the polar cap and fairly judges the
disputes of the other Slizers.
ULTRA THROWBOTS
Mike Wampole has taken two each of the Throwbots and created larger, mutated
"Ultra Throwbots" with increased poseability and general fun factor. Now has
instructions for building your own, presuming you have two copies of a given
Throwbot.
ExoBots
Just a little something I'm fiddling with, no images available. Descriptions
of ways to have one Throwbot use parts from another to augment itself. Will
grow with time, probably. Updated 2/9/99.
UPDATE: This isn't strictly an ExoBot, but it falls in the basic theme. If
you get the Technic Hydro Racer (set 8246), it's almost trivial to attach
Jet's feet to the front end of it after removing the Hydro Racer's roll
bars. This turns Jet into a seaplane sort of mode, and the colors even
match.
Legal Disclaimer Stuff: Lego®, Throwbots(TM) and all names
and distinctive likenesses are the property of Lego®, reproduced for
purposes of review. This page is not officially affiliated with Lego® in
any way.