Remember when we used to talk about Rock Raiders on this channel? Slugger apparently doesn’t. It’s time for more Throwbots!
Featured briefly in this video is a fantastic animation created by Vrahno – be sure to check out the full video here: https://youtu.be/Dlzk4sRxnjg?si=p3AqgLQStnQchr7T
Pictures of all of R.R. Slugger’s discs: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12jKd980zTMduRBD7fCQQM2rOrGuhysHj?usp=drive_link
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction
0:17 Hiker Mike is Secretly the BEST Throwbot
1:25 Scuba Makes Use of Some Interesting Pieces
2:34 Throwbots are better than the Toa Metru fight me irl
3:17 Throwbot Pod Fins are the new Martian Ears
4:23 9 out of 8 Pips
5:18 Why Does a Main Build have Leftover Pieces?
6:05 Blaster’s Knees
6:48 Bionicle Fans Always Ruin Everything TM
8:16 Unsolicited Disc Pics
8:43 Saying Goodbye To Throwbots
8:56 What’s Next? (Roboriders, obviously)
10:55 Conclusion
Looking for the tunes used in this video? Check them out for free right here: https://rrslugger.bandcamp.com/album/r-r-sluggers-rock-raiders-mix-tape
For quality retro Lego conversation in the best online community I have ever been a part of, you can join the discussion on the Manic Miners Discord: https://discord.gg/na3rQmv
Interested in the history and research that goes into videos just like this one? You can join the discussion in the Lego Research Realm Discord: https://discord.gg/VtD99kYvUj
I created the photography, stop motion animation, and music in this video. Original artwork by Brett Halland. Thanks for watching!
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Hey folks! I had a few loose ends to tie up with Throwbots before putting the theme to bed.
I've been recently working on stuff for 2024, but we should be getting at least one more Slugger video for 2023, so stay tuned for that! 😊
The short mention of the small roboriders sets has me very excited, they were some of the first lego technic sets i had just before bionicle. Looking forward to it!
Slizers look pretty cool, i agree with your take over the metru.
I would watch a toa metru takedown for sure
I'd be interested in seeing a "Toa Metru Teardown". Always interested in people's opinions on bonkle, especially if they differ from my own.
I would like to see you look at the architecture line. Like the early 2010’s sets, through mid 2010s. I know its not the kind of thing you look for in Lego sets, but it’s just a fun line that’s unlike any other
I do want to see you pick at the Toa metru, but what you choose to highlight and praise has been the most interesting of your content.
the toa metru deserve the slander, lmao
I never really got into Bionicle but its funny how you've complained before about how similar the Toa Metru are and yet all I see are differences
unsolicited disk pics >u>
as for tackling the roborider combiner models…
i think tackle them in stages? like a separate video for the 2 set/3 set/4set/ and 5 set + models? that or go the defunctland route and do one super long in depth roborider movie 😎🍿
you're so funny and informative, <3
you know what's weird?
I ONLY saw advertisement for roboriders on the booklets you get from buying lego sets at the time. you know those mini catalogs showing what other things LEGO was selling in that year?
anyways, the robotrider page ONLY and I do stress this enough, it ONLY had the main 6 riders being advertised. i never saw any promotions for the smaller mini rider builds, or their wheel disk packs if they had them i forget, OR the giant big boss roborider. i never knew any of those sets existed until WAY later in life, where i stumbled upon a video about the big roborider set, and it brought me to total confusion!
Oh my god, Millenia had NINE pips? I never realized this, much like you I just assumed, based on the established conventions, instead of actually counting them. I guess it helps make the character feel more "special", like they are the exception, they go "one beyond", they are that cool.
I am a fan of Throwbots as well, it's a very… "of its time" sort of thing, a gimmick that we can look back at fondly like slinkies, pogs and finger skateboards.
Roboriders is pretty cool! I had 3 of them, I think. I think the combiners can be a separate video yeah, to be reasonable to you, maybe you could focus on the 3 most popular ones. How do you determine which ones are the most popular? Make a poll! hahaha
I wanted to write that many other sets also use those same tubes as Scuba, but in different color… But then I had to go and compare, only to realize that most other sets use a 4mm tube standard instead of Scuba's 3mm- and that one doesn't really fit into axle holes.
What an odd moment to realize that I have an exclusive piece.
Do insectoids and Lego soccer
I'm going to just attempt to address your issues with the Metru because I'd rather not see a needless hate bait video from you instead of talking about something you actually like.
On your complaint that the Metru are clone sets. First of all I know you say that in comparison to other Toa because the Metru are Toa after all, but the problem is that you use this as a con against them when it is a subjective preference that would otherwise mean figures like the Bohrok and Rahkshi are bad figures. Most kids, and I mean like 95% of kids who ever purchased Bionicle, do not care about things like this. Just because the Toa Mata and Toa Nuva had a little more build variety, does not make the Toa Metru bad in comparison. The design of the Toa Metru was compelling enough that it could and did manage to carry itself while being clone sets, the weapons and masks were all different enough with enough character to make up for that too. If things being a clone of each other was a problem, then not only lego minifigures themselves would be an issue considering they're mostly all completely identical in build design despite people collecting hundreds of them while paying more for them than the Toa Metru costed at retail, but also non lego products like TNMT, Power Rangers, Star Wars clones/stormtroopers/droids, etc. Now you might say "well those figures aren't figures you build, building variety is important", Bonicle canister figures literally take about 3 minutes to put together, and most kids got one a week while going with their parents to the store, and at the end of the day, they are action figures, they just happen to be ones you build, and if they look cool, then it doesn't matter if they're similar in construction. It's not like these are entire lego city sets that take an hour to build and have been recolored 8 times. And also incase you focus on the fact that most of the "clones" in things like Star Wars are meant for army building, I'd like to point out that I also mentioned TNMT and Power Rangers, which are almost completely identical while being different people and forming very similar teams to what the toa are. The Power Rangers are quite possibly the closest things possible to the Toa Metru, and look at how long that franchise has been around and how many toys they've sold, so as I'm trying to say, it's just a subjective preference and not an actual issue as it's a proven successful concept for toys and a franchise. A lot of people prefer having a more unified design for a team as it makes them all look stronger together, rather than a random hodgepog of different designs, which is also a cool concept in it's own right, but neither is inherently bad or proven to not be good for toy designs, especially within lego.
On your problems with the colors. Another subjective preference, the colors of the Metru fit the tone of the story lego was going for with this arc, the Toa Metru were part of the 2000s trend of things starting to get darker, being a little more edgy, which undeniably had a lot of appeal and did resonate with people at the time despite how people might like to think. The Metru arc had the Vahki as the corrupt police, and Metru Nui itself was being ran by a puppet ruler who was secretly Makuta, like it's clear what they were going for with this story, and having the muted colors with grey undertones help fit that gritty realism. The Toa Mata and Toa Nuva were part of a high fantasy, lord of the rings esque narrative, this was a different take to freshen up the series, and people liked it, you just didn't happen to be one of them. Someone could just as easily argue that the bright colors of the Toa mata and Toa Nuva made them feel too toy like and unrealistic, and yes they're quite literally toys, but more serious colors and designs can help with getting an older age group interested in them too. To also compare them to other toylines, I mean just look at lego Star Wars, people will keep buying grey ships for the rest of eternity with no signs of that slowing down. At the end of the day it just depends on what you personality like aesthetically, it's just not a valid criticism to use the colors as a knock against them when it both fits the tone of the story and also is proven across many other toylines that people enjoy muted colors. Bionicle would eventually introduce more color variety again, so at the end of the day you can customize them to have almost any color you want, and going through this muted pallet was another stepping stone to get to where they got by the end of the line, I don't see how you can view having more variety to work with as a bad thing, especially for a system where having more pieces to work with only adds to what you can do with the medium, so complaining about new colors is always a silly complaint for lego, those old colors still exist, and now new colors exist. More variety to work with for mocs, everyone wins in that situation. Also I should add, you complain about the use of grey, you'd really hate this little known theme called Rock Raiders if you're not a fan of grey. Rock Raiders was going for a gritty, realistic tone, just like the Metru. The Toa Mata and Throwbots actually follow a much more similar color design philosophy to Power Miners which you had lots of great things to say about a few weeks ago with them looking like nerf guns.
On the designs themselves. Once again this is subjective, someone could say the Toa Mata/Nuva were too short, stocky, stumpy, etc. The increase in height on the Metru made them feel like you were getting a lot more with your purchase, along with the more realistic proportions making them feel like actual characters that could exist, which again, also fit the more grounded and realistic tone of the story they were going for with Metru Nui. You've shown some awkward photos like here with Nuju, but you can literally do that with any Bionicle if you put no effort into giving them a dynamic pose, while the thin waist isn't ideal, it's almost a complete non issue for a majority of people, they're robotic creatures, not people, it gives them almost a skeletal look, and who doesn't think skeletons look cool? With the gear function, I don't see a problem with having multiple arms both be connected to it when most of them have two weapons, you bring up how they have trouble going over the head but this literally isn't an issue if you actually just… pose their arms to not do that? It's easy to show something not working correctly when you set it up to fail, but also most kids do not care about that anyway nor is enough of an issue to ruin enjoyment of them when most of the time you're not even going to be using it, especially as an adult collector. You have also mention you don't like how hard it is to pose the arms, I don't want to make it out as if this is you not being good at posing but all you have to do is look at what other collectors have done with them to see the dynamic poses you can do with them. It is a shame there is no easy way to lock the gear function but this can be fixed by changing or adding a couple pieces if you want, but someone could say the fact that you would even want to lock the gear function is a reason the series shouldn't have had it in the first place, which is why they started moving away from it in later waves. I've only ever seen collectors complain about the loss of the gear function when to me as a kid and I think most other kids, really didn't care, they just wanted cool figures to pose and play with, and that's one of the reasons the Metru were so popular because they both were cool, and the addition of knees does way more for poseability than any other point of articulation on a figure. So in short, the modernized designs of the metru was great for appealing to the people who wanted something more realistic feeling, you just didn't happen to be one of those people.
The main takeaway from all of this for you though should be understanding what subjective preferences are and that things don't need to adhere to an established design philosophy just because that's how things happened to be at the start, and what the Metru offered undeniably had appeal, and followed many proven successful design methods in many other toylines. Clone sets are not an issue for a team of characters, colors are not an issue for the aesthetic and tone they were going for, and the design was made to follow that tone and what few "flaws" it did have are not things that kids actually cared about such as the gear function or thin waist, since, like I said, people could just as easily view the short, almost cartoony looks of the Toa Mata to be as much of an issue for them as you do with the looks of the Metru. The last thing I want to add in regards to the mid 2000s Bionicle waves is that, the Metru/Hordika, and the Inika/Mahri, those are different sets of characters than the Mata/Nuva, doesn't it make sense that different characters should look different? It'd be pretty boring if every Toa of fire looked exactly like Tahu. You brought up that G2 Kopaka looked more like og Kopaka than something like Matoro, well that's literally because one is Kopaka and one is Matoro. Anyway, to end all of this, the Toa Mahri are the best Toa wave, have a nice day.
The RR Slugger Christmas special is going to be wild.
chad slugger
As someone who does not like bionicle, yes I would like to see that video please
As someone who grew up in online bionicle communities like BZPower, I remember how desireable the purple elements from silzer were. I think it wasn't so much to directly replicate Voriki, but more to make your own custom mocs either based off of it or just with similar schemes. Teal and purple parts were almost like a status symbol, or at least that's how my child brain remembers it :p
I'd like to hear your opinions on the toa metru. Would gladly watch that video.
Great series! Slizers and Roboriders were my jam. I also have two different pod molds among my collection, shame we can't tell when exactly these were changed.
Millenium's extra pieces when in bike mode are specifically to allow for the hiker mike antenna
Aw i loved roboroders!!! Never knew about the boss though, may have been too expensive when I was a child!
I look forward to seeing a video about them
Much love my slimy friend ❤legos will always be my childhood and many others. I also appreciate the stopmotion additions in your videos, very well done 🙂
I loved the vibe of this video lol.
hey man i would like if you covered sets 4090-95, as the blue one was my first ever lego set i can recall besides brick bins. i think they where really cool and interesting
also i would like to hear your hot takes about the toa metru
Yeeess Slug,.unleash your wrath upon Metru Nui. I enjoy my boys but i understand why they arent as good as others
Great to help out with the roboriders. You're welcome!
Shadowy Santa is more terrifying than he should be. Looking forward to it, and also RoboRiders!
this minifigure in 4 minute looks like gigi d'agostino
Love this kind of unscripted video!
Make a video of just the sets in their main builds and then another video of the combined builds
I'm looking forwards to RoboRiders, I have a bit of a soft spot for them! Slizers were kind of a mess IMO but the RoboRiders are kind of cool. Since I'm going for a full collection of Constraction stuff (sets, combos, collectables, and merch), those RoboRider combiners have been a dark cloud looming over the horizon. Hit me up if you need the instructions for the combiners, they're surprisingly hard to find but I believe I have them all.
Happy holidays slugger 👍🏽
6:48 Could it be for some sort of alt transformer style mode, maybe a scuffed tank or something?
pfft, call yourself a fan. Nine pips mean it's a Great Disk, duh! Someone didn't watch Throwbots 2: Legends of Slizer City…
Please talk about the Toa Metru. I agree that they just don't feel like a step up from the 2001 – 2003 builds
We need the Robo Riders video! 🎉
10:52 I am so glad I could help
2:00 I own every throw bot other than millennium. So I can confirm. This is the only one with a system connection underneath the head.
I spent 20 minutes after watching this video. Thinking about the way you analyze lego sets. And I would be excited to hear what You think about the Toal Metru from your own sluggish orifice.
As a Bionicle fan, I do lament the homogenisation of the canister sets after the Toa Mata. The Bohrok were already pretty lazy with them all sharing the exact same build and gear function. The Toa Nuva brought it back a bit, but I feel they were just retaining unique build choices rather than expanding on them. The Toa Metru were the last canister sets I bought the full set of back in the day and only picked up 1 of the Vahki, Toa Hordika and Visorak before losing interest in the line entirely.
So yeah, would love to see a video from you on the subject as I too would take a Slizer over a Toa Metru any day.
I would REALLY wanna see you bash the metru build :' ) not only because i feel it's the second to last boring bionicle build (inika being the worst imo) but also because people seem to raise it to the skies for some reason and it would be fun to see someone elses thoughts on it that isn't just gushing over it.
Two vids seems reasonable for RR! looking forward to them 🙂