It's been a long time coming, but I'm happy to announce I finally have a full set of Roboriders, The Boss included. Apparently there were some smaller sets in the line, but I'm not going to concern myself with them. The six bikes and the titan set is all I need. Been picking them up periodically. First from flea markets, and the last few from a second hand lego store. Satisfied to finally have the team (and their packaging!) to go alongside my completed Throwbot collection. I'll see if I can snap a pic later once I have them all displayed. Really wish we could get a Technic theme like Roboriders and Throwbots again... They had such a neat aesthetic.
The lack of Technic construction is my primary reason for disliking the 2015 Bionicle reboot. CCBS is fine but I miss the liftarms and mess of pins, axles, and bushings that made up characters in Gen 1 Bionicle.
I found this on a LEGO leaker’s Instagram story. Is anyone aware of this? Spoiler: Possible Leak? If this leak is true, then it turns out Bionicle can work in LEGO System form after all!
That's actually kinda cool and looks like it could be legit. I'll keep my hopes low just in case, though. Assuming it's true: I'm glad they're going the route of buildable figures and not minifigs. I think part of the appeal of Bionicle was the larger scale figures. And I do hope those are actual masks of some form and not just printed faces. I also wonder if an entire theme is possible or if this is just going to end up being a one-off 90th Anniversary thing. Seeing this just makes me want the whole team lol.
I don't believe it even for a second. I can't exactly point out why but this screams fake to me. Maybe it's the MOC-ish builds, the intentionally almost after effects-ish blur, or the fact that the confidential stamp isn't as translucent over the figure as it should be. I also feel like Lego wouldn't just use printed elements for the faces. There's only one brick-built Tahu on the horizon. I think it's more likely this was taken down by the leaker because it's fake.
Bionicle was in the top 3 in the orignal round of the votes, it deserved atleast a creator set this years of a brick built tahu or something that wasn’t cursed g3 tahu.
Not only top 3, but number 1 of the top 3. I may or may not be bitter that both castle and space get fancy 90th sets instead of one ultimate winner. I swear if a 90th pirate set is discovered...
I'm inflicting my presence on you all again. MILLENNIUM This is going to be the longest and most complicated of these reviews, but I am trying to present the series in some semblance of order - this was not the last figure released in the line. We've looked at the eight originals, then there's this guy, then the three Mutants who came out the following year in 2000. While it's far from unusual for a Lego set to feature "inspirational" alternate builds, Millennium might be the first one that explicitly includes an alternate build as a main feature of the set. Obviously this would become a staple of Creator sets, and Bionicle would do something similar with the "mega-Rahi" builds in 2001, but I'd argue this set in particular is a little different among constraction figures. The entire gimmick of the set is that it can be rebuilt into two completely distinct modes. It's not a throwaway mention on the art or just a bonus inclusion in the manual. It's the whole point. Why? Good question. No one knows. Just about the only thing all the permutations of the Slizer storyline can agree on is that at some point, a big meteor hits the planet and causes all kinds of trouble. Millennium shows up at this point. Did he come with the meteor? Did the meteor wake him up? Good question. Who knows? He has the ability to shift between two forms, a typical Slizer riding a motorcycle, and a proto-"Titan" that would later become very common in Bionicle (this is, in fact, not even as tall as your typical Inika-build figure). This raises all kinds of questions. Why can Millennium do this, but not anyone else? When there are characters like Turbo, who have built-in wheels for transportation, why does a Slizer even need to ride a separate vehicle to get around? Are Torch, Amazon, and the other regular ambulatory guys just too poor to afford sick rides of their own? At least some of these questions can be answered with "he's special", because he clearly is. He's got the golden disk, he's got the golden head. He's huge compared to the others. And he's a hero, too; he shows up to kick Mutant ass. In a bizarre and endearing way, this toy is kind of Lego's contribution to the Y2K crisis and anxieties about the new, well, millennium. He arrives at a time of great change and (feared) apocalypse, and is shining, beautiful... but also mutable, and uncertain. In my book, and this has no basis in the tenuous Slizer canon, whatever a Slizer is, Millennium is an avatar, an evocation. How does this work when they're robots? Good question. No one knows. The man himself is pretty basic in his small form, which is forgivable as most of the parts and effort in this build go towards the bike. His limbs are set up for an optimal riding position which does give him a more hunched, diminutive look like Torch, which is about in line with what we'd expect for heroes in this story. The only new part here are the panels pulling duty as wings, which are a nice touch and again give me that primordial, angelic vibe. The gold head and face print are just the right amount of "special" without overdoing it, and frankly I think the totally bland black and gray works perfectly with that. It would have been very easy to go over the top with a gaudy color scheme or just end up repeating one of the previous characters. This very basic, understated look gives the sense that he doesn't really care for his appearance, his body is just set up for efficiency to work best with his ride. The bike itself is very conspicuous in how utterly inconspicuous it is. It has a few nice sticker details, but honestly, if you took away the two disks that slot in on the rear thanks to some clever parts usage, I'd totally believe that this was just a regular Technic bike set released in 1999. There is absolutely nothing alien or strange about this design. It does not look like what a "Slizer motorcycle" should look like. It's just... Millennium riding on a bike. Part of me wonders if this was just a regular set that was developed and then couldn't fit in anywhere else, so it was given a basic Slizer rider and then the alternate build was devised. I do like it, though. It's an efficient build with a bit of working suspension, some decent steering. I've never been a Technic guy outside of constraction so I can't really say how it stacks up to your typical bike set. But it does its job, and looks wonderfully absurd in a display with the rest of the Slizers, which is about all I can ask for. The riding juuuuuust about works. His ankles peg into the little bars on either side and his arms can hold the handlebars, but this does limit how much steering you can do. I've definitely gotten him into a better seated position before, but it's not easy and I wasn't really feeling like finagling it when I took the pictures. Still, it was clearly made for him. Again, I think the gray body for Millennium was a nice choice, it helps the red of the bike and his gold head stand out and feel more unique. (The box art for this form shows him in Turbo's City region - I'd love to think Millennium touched down and did your typical "hmm, I shall take on the form of the local primitives" maneuver and created the vehicle/typical Slizer combo mode based on the malicious cars and trucks that litter the area.) The bike mode leave behind only a pair of small Technic parts; the "Titan" mode, in contrast, leaves behind a fair handful of the larger beam pieces and a few others. Immediately, the most wonderful thing about this mode is the gigantic wheel feet. It would have been very easy for the designers to leave these pieces aside, but I'm so happy that instead the entire figure is built around these massive stomping boots he has. It's a really iconic look - "Slizer on a bike" is all well and good among a lineup of the regular figures, but this build is on another level entirely. He's got so much presence (for a Slizer) and such a unique design. Both his smaller form's wings and the bike's panels coming together to form the legs is really fantastic, as is the admittedly janky way the legs even work at all. That's certainly a slight against this mode - a very awkward build. I'd argue your typical Slizer is more limited than anything else, limited by size and poseability. Millennium's Titan form is actively unwieldy, and it definitely feels like this came second to the bike mode, which is fairly flawless. Still, he isn't bad for the first ever Titan figure, and aside from the wheels I do like some of the other design choices. The extended torso with feet repurposed as pectoral armor (and a still-function ab crunch gear feature), and the motorcycle forks repurposed as little wings as a kind of continuity with the little form are inspired choices. Colors are, again, very nice. I do like that we've only added a little splash of red, and otherwise maintain the drab look of the small guy that really draws attention to the golden head. It's a very primal, ancient looking figure. Poseability is pretty limited. The way the legs are set up makes maneuvering them very awkward. The head only tilts from side to side. And while, like with Judge, I appreciate the two throwing arms for that "final boss" feel, it severely limits the characterful looks you can get out of this guy. I really would have appreciated a regular arm here; it wouldn't even have to be any longer or more complicated for his larger size. The dual throwing arms just feel limp and awkward here, and not in a good way. I really like the overall look of Millennium, but he's really best off half-hidden at the back of a display, just kind of looming over the rest and not doing anything. Closeup of the leg build, cool stuff for what they had to work with. I really like the inclusion of the circular system plate just as a bit of extra detailing. Faceplate sets him apart from the others we've dealt with so far; this is the first symmetrical print. It's also considerably simpler than the others, less gritty and worn. Millennium is clearly a different breed, more elegant, more evolved. I have to say, in a bit of a hypocritical move after spending so much time praising the quirks of the line, I hate the minotaur horns. Part of it is definitely because they are hard to read in the set's art and I never noticed them until building the set when I first got it in hand, so my vision of the character has always been without them. I don't know. They just feel a little too out of place and goofy to me. They are too low-set on the sides of the head to look like horns. I typically pull them off and replace the 4L axle with a 2L one that leaves no trace. Disks! In a break with what we've seen so far, there are no supplemental disks to collect for this character - what you see is what you get. The one on the left is reused directly from Judge's highest level supplemental disk, the one that shows the Slizer's power source. Did Judge want Millennium's presumed incredible powers? The author leaves it to the reader to sort out the implications. The other is Millennium's vanity plate disk, which we will see a few more of in the coming sets. It's basically a recreation of the box art, complete with the City sector background. I do think it would have been funny if the disk in the image had the pattern on it, too. Get recursive. This one has nine pips, the highest of any Slizer disk. I guess a pure manifestation of his power or something. Don't have the box for this one. Yes, it came in a regular cardboard box, not a canister with a cardboard sleeve like the others up until now. The box showed the motorcycle mode, instructions give the Titan mode. If you had any doubts he was one of the good guys, he's utterly smashing Judge's house... but then, all the Slizers compete there. Hmm. Also, is he actually huge, then? And just shrinks down for the bike mode? Good question, but, yeah, you get it. Also check the sea serpent in the corner, nice that this set fleshed out the world with another previously unseen creature despite not really belonging to any region. I'm sure other sets from around the time do it, but this is the first time I'd seen a sticker sheet set into one of the pages of the book. Overall, I do like Millennium, but more for his mystique and all of the questions he brings to the table than the figure itself. He's a cool display piece in either mode, but some of the choices made in service to the design hamper play. He's one of the very last ones I'd pick up to fiddle with, and while the two modes are a very interesting concept, taking him apart and putting him together again is a chore, especially with these older ball and socket parts you need to be mindful of. I appreciate him for his role as the earliest Titan, and if you're one of the people really into the big, complex, Technic-oriented constraction sets then he's a nice novelty piece to look at their roots. Relative to your average Slizer, he is very complex and feels "premium" in the same way a Tarakava does to a Toa Mata. If you're willing to look past how awkward he is because he got there first, he's not bad. I got mine for $12 and I wouldn't go much higher if you wanted one. Big for a Slizer isn't very big at all. Next time, we're rolling the clocks over to 00...
Honestly, I'd love to see some absurdly high-quality MOCs of the Slizers with modern technic parts. They have such a crazy build aesthetic that relies on simple parts usage that I love to imagine what more complex takes would be like. Also I totally forgot to mention that I got the Creator set back when with Pog Tahu. He sits in a little light-up clear display case as the true work of art he is.
Will this expand into the rest of the series so if one wanted to they could play through the whole story even to the fight between Mara nui and makuta
That would be ridiculous to expect even if it was a AAA developer that were doing it. I would imagine if anyone were to adapt ten years of story into videogame format each year would be its own separate project for anyone crazy enough to attempt it. For the time being it seems these fan projects are only focused on the 2001 story.
