I didn't even know that some of those pieces were that old.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"I didn't even know that some of those pieces were that old."

Seeing as this came out right after the debut of Bionicle, I see only two pieces that I ever recognized as being brand new designs. One is the front wheel and the other is the rear wheel. Everything else in that image looks like stuff that predated Bionicle by long enough that I wasn't paying half a sliver of attention to the Technic theme. Well, except Throwbots, but those were a grave disappointment.

You can tell it's actually from the late 90s because of the teal... at least until lego resurrected the color with a vangeance!

@Maxbricks14 said:
"I didn't even know that some of those pieces were that old."

And this is a re-release of a set from 1998 to boot!

I can't help but love the backgrounds of sets in this era. Where is this? What am I looking at? Can I even drive here?

I got this set's original version a while back.

I always thought it looked good, but the front is admittedly a bit too much smoke and mirrors.

Also, I really don't know how the original owner stored that thing - almost all axle connectors were broken, even those I thought impossible to break, like 1 stud wide lift arms.

Anyways, I really liked the futirustic approach in late 1990s Technic as well as those teal accents.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"I didn't even know that some of those pieces were that old."

Even older, the original is 8417

“I am Magneto, Master of Mag Wheel. Welcome to die!”

Ahhh yes the good old (and not so old) LEGO bikes with the chain outside of the swingarm and without a front mudguard

@PurpleDave said:
"I see only two pieces that I ever recognized as being brand new designs. One is the front wheel and the other is the rear wheel."
Those wheels are pretty rare. The front was only used for this set (well, this and the original). The rear wheel was used for 2 more sets in 1998, and then in white in the first UCS Y-wing in 2004.

I have the 1998 version of this. Still one of my favorite Technic set. I was amazed with the wheels. B model is also an awesome chopper.

@PurpleDave said:
"Seeing as this came out right after the debut of Bionicle"

The original version of this set was released in 1998.

@PurpleDave said:
"Well, except Throwbots, but those were a grave disappointment."

I'll admit that Throwbots weren't near as cool as Bionicle, but they were leagues ahead of RoboRiders. Autonomous intelligent motorcycles? Cool. Autonomous intelligent motorcycles that attack by losing a wheel? Dumb.

Cooooool rider,

I want a whole lot more then the boy next door I want hell on wheels
Just give me a black motorcycle
With a man growin' out of the seat, then move aside
Cause I'm gonna ride, with a cool rider, a

Coooooooool rider

@TheOtherMike said:
"I'll admit that Throwbots weren't near as cool as Bionicle, but they were leagues ahead of RoboRiders. Autonomous intelligent motorcycles? Cool. Autonomous intelligent motorcycles that attack by losing a wheel? Dumb."

Roboriders were a bit conceptually flawed, but that didn't stop me from collecting all of them.

@EtudeTheBadger said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"I'll admit that Throwbots weren't near as cool as Bionicle, but they were leagues ahead of RoboRiders. Autonomous intelligent motorcycles? Cool. Autonomous intelligent motorcycles that attack by losing a wheel? Dumb."

Roboriders were a bit conceptually flawed, but that didn't stop me from collecting all of them."

I only got 8514, but I would like to have 8511, simply because I love Ice-themed sets, and to get spears in trans-blue.

@Phoenixio said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Well, except Throwbots, but those were a grave disappointment."

How dare you?!"

I bought Torch. His head is in his crotch. I dare. One arm is twice as long as the other. I dare. His other three limbs have an awkward bend in them that makes him look like the guy at the bridge in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I dare. The only thing they actually did well was fold up so you could cram them inside the cases where you don't have to look at them anymore. I dare!

@Duq:
Both appeared in 5219, and the rear wheel also came in 8462, 8432/8428, and 5203. Also, four parts, I guess, since the tires weren't molded directly onto the rims.

@TheOtherMike:
I did eventually go on to collect all of both themes, but I never built any of the Roboriders, nor did I build any of the Throwbots that I had not already obtained pre-Bionicle. Anything I got after 2001 was purely used for parts fodder.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Phoenixio said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Well, except Throwbots, but those were a grave disappointment."

How dare you?!"

I bought Torch. His head is in his crotch. I dare. One arm is twice as long as the other. I dare. His other three limbs have an awkward bend in them that makes him look like the guy at the bridge in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I dare. The only thing they actually did well was fold up so you could cram them inside the cases where you don't have to look at them anymore. I dare!"

I understand that Torch may not have been for everybody due to his unique design, but that was a strength of the Throwbots compared to Bionicle: they weren't just recolors of the same design, they all had more uniqueness to them. Plus, it was clear that you could part them and create more unique designs as well.

Yes, Bionicle had cool weapons introduced. But beyond the mask and the weapon, they were all extremely similar. That was my issue with them even many generations in. Boroks were all identical, Rahkshi were all identical, and so on. I think Throwbots made Bionicle happen in a lot of ways, so less daring, more respecting!

@Phoenixio:
Throwbots were much less posable, due to being limited to that one L-shaped limb and the barely functional throwing arm. And Throwbots did have a story, but it was barely fleshed out, inconsistent based on where you lived, and ineffectively communicated to the public. Story is where Bionicle won big, but the large characters (with the exception of the Bohrok) were far more posable, and the range of different limb elements actually made Bionicle much more useful for building original characters. Yes, Bionicle ties directly back to Throwbots, and likely would not have happened otherwise, but a big part of that is learning from all the mistakes they made with Throwbots.