Random set of the day: Electro
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8507 Electro, released during 1999. It's one of 32 Technic sets produced that year. It contains 37 pieces, and its retail price was US$6.
It's owned by 2,311 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $41.30, or eBay.
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35 comments on this article
But he's not green and yellow, I don't get it.
They couldn't have made it look more evil!
@MCLegoboy said:
"But he's not green and yellow, I don't get it."
I came here to say something similar, lol.
dang, that logo looks suspiciously like the one from metroid prime 4...
also electric bug
what in the name of nintendo is going on here
Outside of a Freetstyle bucket, this was my very first Lego set. What a way to start things off and capture the imagination. From the color scheme to the bug-like design and flapping wings, to even the small details like the see-through lens, Electro really stood out strongly to me.
And doomed me to falling for Lego's constraction lines until their end. One hell of a ride, that's for sure. But as a start, Slizers/Throwbots are still some of my favorite sets Lego put out. So much creative design work in such small packages and across a wide variety of sets. And for what was a budget line at that!
I never cared much for Bionicle, but gosh, I fell hard for the Throwbot line. They were just so different and interesting, and I loved the blend of Technic bodies but using system pieces (like the sword for the jungle-themed set, etc).
These were a lot of fun
I had this one. I turned it into a dragon. I mean, there were a _lot_ of other parts involved, but those L-shaped Throwbot limbs, and the smaller purple socket joints would have all been used in its design.
I loved the fact that they designed the Slizer/Throwbot head to be compatible with the visors from Technic figure helmets.
@Worrissey said:
"dang, that logo looks suspiciously like the one from metroid prime 4..."
Lol I can't unsee that now.
I hope that the game actually, really releases this year! (Fun fact, when Prime 4 was first announced, I had not yet played a single Metroid game. I have now played every game in the series multiple times, and many of them 5+ times. And Prime 4 still hasn't released. :-/)
@MCLegoboy said:
"But he's not green and yellow, I don't get it."
I was expecting gold and gray with a few yellow accents. And an LED-illuminated sword, of course.
The set art says Energy Slizer, thus Lloyd's new pet dragon.
The (first) purple/violet Slizer.
Somehow he became my second-favorite, do to some imagery depicitng him as the counterpart to Jungle, to kind of continue the purple/teal color scheme of Competititon.
Always thought he looked like a fly, which was actually a welcome difference to his fellows, compared to the myriads of Bionicle clone series.
He was part of the second faction of Slizers, which formed the dinosaur-like "Super-Slizer". It always took me as odd that Judge was considered BOTH part of one faction and the sole "ruler" of the planet, but ok.
In the UK canon, the "dinosaur" group were the "evil" ones, though scenes from the in-set comic seem to imply the opposite. In the Wave 2 canon all members of that group died (yes...) due to a meteor impact. Judging by his looks, it seems Spark is supposed to be a weird zombie/mutant version of Energy.
His wing-flapping action worked decently well (activated by pulling his head). Also you could "transform" him into his hibernation/flight form by folding him up a bit, so he would fit inside his not pictured "Slizer Ship", which was a 2-part plastic case (purple/black in his case), which could be carried on a belt and allowed storage of his 6 discs (if you could find them all).
Amongst a bunch of exclusive purple/violet pieces, he is also the first set to ever come with a transparent brown part - his visor (which fits a Technic figure helmet too). The tiny 8 teeth gears are known for their color inconsistency, similar to old Bricklink's "Rust" for red PP parts.
Lore excerpt from World Club:
"Energy Slizer lives in a Black Hole filled with atomic energy, anti-matter and dangerous Proton-Monsters. Energy uses Protons to protect himself. He has a throwing arm and turbine wings [as weapons]"
His lore detailed on his discs (from set 8508):
-2 (there's no no. 1 for some reason) shows his symbol/icon/crest as a lighting bolt
-3 shows him showing off his disc throwing abilities (also included with Jungle Slizer)
-4 show him flying in his Slizer Ship, escaping a smaller "Proton Monster"
-5 shows him using some lightning charge ability, attacking another monster
-6 shows him in his major duel against the monster (Gengar is that you?) on the instruction artwork
-7 shows his "energy source" -"Protons" (which look more like Lithium atoms, but whatever)
My brother and I hoped so hard that the second year of Bionicle would be a crossover with the Throwbots as their primitive ancestors who were on Mata Nui for reasons. That's not what we got, but the Bohrok were pretty cool too.
Hey. I think I had/have this guy! Man, Throw Bots and Robo Riders had such cool box art.
And boy do I miss old purple...
Man the “bad guy” Slizers (if you’re following that canon) got way cooler designs than the “good guy” Slizers. Beetley looking Electro here, the scorpion-themed Rock, the half-jet Judge. Best the good guys got was a car and putting one guy upside down
@Zordboy said:
"I never cared much for Bionicle, but gosh, I fell hard for the Throwbot line. They were just so different and interesting, and I loved the blend of Technic bodies but using system pieces (like the sword for the jungle-themed set, etc). "
I was of the "that's not real Lego!" crowd when it came to Bionicle, but I eventually got an appreciation for it. My favorite of the pre-Bionicle sets are the Robo-Riders. That combination of motorcycles and elemental powers... something just so compelling about it. Really need to pick the rest of them up some time.
@Brickalili said:
"Man the “bad guy” Slizers (if you’re following that canon) got way cooler designs than the “good guy” Slizers. Beetley looking Electro here, the scorpion-themed Rock, the half-jet Judge. Best the good guys got was a car and putting one guy upside down"
I think the opposite is true all the way as mostly the "good" slizers had the full faceplate with intricate prints and cooler elemental affinities (you can't beat established powerhouses like fire, ice, and water). The unique color schemes (instead of the more boring black + something) were spread evenly between the two factions, though.
Interestingly enough, this is the only Slizer set where part of the box art is reused as a disc design (the level 6 one).
Electro/Energy is a fun one. If you move the head back and forward the wings flap due to small gears and a slizer part that's a gear rack with ball joint at the end. The ball joint gives it head movement too!
The color scheme is well done too. Purple (the old kind) and black is quite striking.
It's not my favourite because I prefer humanoid Slizers, but man does it work well as a unique and creative variation. They look great as a group because of this variety.
Oh and the disks! The imagery on them are quite great and invoke a sense of wonder, painting a much larger world but leaving a lot to the imagination. I've since collected them all :D
@whiteghost said:
" @Brickalili said:
"Man the “bad guy” Slizers (if you’re following that canon) got way cooler designs than the “good guy” Slizers. Beetley looking Electro here, the scorpion-themed Rock, the half-jet Judge. Best the good guys got was a car and putting one guy upside down"
I think the opposite is true all the way as mostly the "good" slizers had the full faceplate with intricate prints and cooler elemental affinities (you can't beat established powerhouses like fire, ice, and water). The unique color schemes (instead of the more boring black + something) were spread evenly between the two factions, though."
Actually those were split quite evenly amongst them:
Dinosaur/evil: 2 - Judge/Jet + Jungle/Amazon
Titan/good: 2 - Fire/Torch + Sub/Scuba
Is Fire/Torch leader of the other team?
Also, whenever Slizers/Throwbots comes up:
Who at TLG was so idiotic to make the disc packs a Shop at Home exclusive in the US???
Those things were regularly sold out in our region in Feb-March 1999...
@whiteghost said:
" @Brickalili said:
"Man the “bad guy” Slizers (if you’re following that canon) got way cooler designs than the “good guy” Slizers. Beetley looking Electro here, the scorpion-themed Rock, the half-jet Judge. Best the good guys got was a car and putting one guy upside down"
I think the opposite is true all the way as mostly the "good" slizers had the full faceplate with intricate prints and cooler elemental affinities (you can't beat established powerhouses like fire, ice, and water). The unique color schemes (instead of the more boring black + something) were spread evenly between the two factions, though.
Interestingly enough, this is the only Slizer set where part of the box art is reused as a disc design (the level 6 one)."
The faceplates are actually a pretty even split, with both teams having two guys with decorative faceplates (Fire/Torch and Sub/Scuba for the good guys, Judge/Jet and Jungle/Amazon for the bad guys), one guy having a blank faceplate (City/Turbo and Energy/Electro) and one guy having a visor (Ice/Ski and Rock/Granite).
And technically the good guys have the more “black+something” colour schemes, with both Fire and City being predominantly black but with fixtures of red and teal respectively. The bad guys just have Energy here as predominantly black, Judge is mostly yellow
@Brickalili said:
" @whiteghost said:
" @Brickalili said:
"Man the “bad guy” Slizers (if you’re following that canon) got way cooler designs than the “good guy” Slizers. Beetley looking Electro here, the scorpion-themed Rock, the half-jet Judge. Best the good guys got was a car and putting one guy upside down"
I think the opposite is true all the way as mostly the "good" slizers had the full faceplate with intricate prints and cooler elemental affinities (you can't beat established powerhouses like fire, ice, and water). The unique color schemes (instead of the more boring black + something) were spread evenly between the two factions, though.
Interestingly enough, this is the only Slizer set where part of the box art is reused as a disc design (the level 6 one)."
The faceplates are actually a pretty even split, with both teams having two guys with decorative faceplates (Fire/Torch and Sub/Scuba for the good guys, Judge/Jet and Jungle/Amazon for the bad guys), one guy having a blank faceplate (City/Turbo and Energy/Electro) and one guy having a visor (Ice/Ski and Rock/Granite).
And technically the good guys have the more “black+something” colour schemes, with both Fire and City being predominantly black but with fixtures of red and teal respectively. The bad guys just have Energy here as predominantly black, Judge is mostly yellow"
I'd still argue Judge counts as black too, especially in regards to his spaceship and discs.
So both teams are really equal on that regard.
What set them apart was their torso pieces - "good" primarily had the gear box type thing (also seen in at least one regular technic set that year and some roboriders), while "evil" used the rack gear box, only used for those 3 Slizers and the Nui-Rama, giving them more animal like appearances (the instructions for Judge make him look like a weird chicken...).
Some current Technic sets might barely be Technic, but this sure takes the cake.....
Ah, black and purple-the Onepu color scheme.
You know, I half wonder if Cole from Ninjago would have had more popular sets back in the day if he’d been able to have purple as an accent color instead of it going to the bad guys. Bet Kai wouldn’t have hijacked his Stone Mech in that timeline.
@Robot99 said:
" @Worrissey said:
"dang, that logo looks suspiciously like the one from metroid prime 4..."
Lol I can't unsee that now.
I hope that the game actually, really releases this year! (Fun fact, when Prime 4 was first announced, I had not yet played a single Metroid game. I have now played every game in the series multiple times, and many of them 5+ times. And Prime 4 still hasn't released. :-/)"
Metroid Dread actually had been in development even longer, first being planned in 2006. Only having a final game released in 2021.
This is actually the line where most iconic 2001 Bionicle pieces debuted. The "non magnet" Toa Mata hand and Toa Mata arms are visible in this one. Some other slizers also used the "magnet hands" as shoulders.
Energy here was one of the last Slizers I got and possibly the last one I built; and so even though I like him, doesn't really have the same nostalgic attachment to me as e.g. Rock, Fire and Judge. I suppose he also didn't feel super original to me compared to the others, since he had the same wing flapping action as Judge and a similar four-legged stance to Rock, so didn't feel like he was doing a lot new compared to them.
Still. I was no less enthusiastic to make the score of all four of the classic wave Slizers who I didn't have at that point - still with their original boxes no less, even though they'd clearly been opened and played with - in one of the local charity shops in 2006! It was one off those moments that you never expect to happen, so to have Ice, Sub, City and Energy drop into my lap all at once (and for cheap, no less) was an absolutely amazing find and honestly I can still hardly believe it almost two decades later...!
Of course, even if I found Energy less interesting than his fellows, where he really shines is that colour scheme. I had a few purple pieces by then - mostly from the highlights on Gasgano's podracer in 7171 and 8548's Nui-Jaga (plus a spare or two of those purple masks that I'd got from the Legoland Windsor pick-a-brick wall back when that concept was new) - but this guy in particular made that colour feel like a big deal... even though he, too, only has ten purple pieces in total so not a huge amount.
Still have all the classic-wave Silzers chilling on one of the shelves of my TV cabinet, and I'm very happy to have them around. They captured my imagination alongside Bionicle when it came on the scene (for a while, I played the ones I had back then as minions of Makuta, since I didn't get any villain sets until Tahnok in 2002 so it gave my Toa someone to fight), and I'm still greatly fond of all of them.
@Eightcoins8 said:
"This is actually the line where most iconic 2001 Bionicle pieces debuted. The "non magnet" Toa Mata hand and Toa Mata arms are visible in this one. Some other slizers also used the "magnet hands" as shoulders."
I wouldn’t say “most”. Yes, the L-shaped limb, Tahu’s hand, and the basic socket joint did appear here first, but there were two other limbs, the two-part Toa head, the Toa foot, the Voodoo ball, and the first twelve Kanohi masks that debuted in Bionicle sets, and the Mata torso that first showed up in the Technic Stormtrooper.
@Eightcoins8 said:
" @Robot99 said:
" @Worrissey said:
"dang, that logo looks suspiciously like the one from metroid prime 4..."
Lol I can't unsee that now.
I hope that the game actually, really releases this year! (Fun fact, when Prime 4 was first announced, I had not yet played a single Metroid game. I have now played every game in the series multiple times, and many of them 5+ times. And Prime 4 still hasn't released. :-/)"
Metroid Dread actually had been in development even longer, first being planned in 2006. Only having a final game released in 2021."
must be a rough life being a Metriod fan, constantly stuck development hell
but I really feel bad for Star Fox and F-Zero fans though
@Eightcoins8 said:
"Metroid Dread actually had been in development even longer, first being planned in 2006. Only having a final game released in 2021."
The thing about Metroid Dread is that it wasn't actually announced until four months before it released; everything until that point was leaks and rumors. It was also canceled more than once with no immediate plans to try again. Metroid Prime 4 was announced in 2017, and has been followed by 8 years of Nintendo saying "guys we swear it still exists".
@Atuin said:
" @Brickalili said:
" @whiteghost said:
" @Brickalili said:
"Man the “bad guy” Slizers (if you’re following that canon) got way cooler designs than the “good guy” Slizers. Beetley looking Electro here, the scorpion-themed Rock, the half-jet Judge. Best the good guys got was a car and putting one guy upside down"
I think the opposite is true all the way as mostly the "good" slizers had the full faceplate with intricate prints and cooler elemental affinities (you can't beat established powerhouses like fire, ice, and water). The unique color schemes (instead of the more boring black + something) were spread evenly between the two factions, though.
Interestingly enough, this is the only Slizer set where part of the box art is reused as a disc design (the level 6 one)."
The faceplates are actually a pretty even split, with both teams having two guys with decorative faceplates (Fire/Torch and Sub/Scuba for the good guys, Judge/Jet and Jungle/Amazon for the bad guys), one guy having a blank faceplate (City/Turbo and Energy/Electro) and one guy having a visor (Ice/Ski and Rock/Granite).
And technically the good guys have the more “black+something” colour schemes, with both Fire and City being predominantly black but with fixtures of red and teal respectively. The bad guys just have Energy here as predominantly black, Judge is mostly yellow"
I'd still argue Judge counts as black too, especially in regards to his spaceship and discs.
So both teams are really equal on that regard.
What set them apart was their torso pieces - "good" primarily had the gear box type thing (also seen in at least one regular technic set that year and some roboriders), while "evil" used the rack gear box, only used for those 3 Slizers and the Nui-Rama, giving them more animal like appearances (the instructions for Judge make him look like a weird chicken...)."
Certainly has black, but I’d say Judge is yellow and black rather than black and yellow, if that’s a distinction that makes sense. It’s not the primary colour on him the way it is for Fire, City and Energy.
Now you’ve mentioned it I kind of wish they’d given Jungle the gear box body too, maybe make him more tigerish like his face, get a man v animal theme going
@Andrusi said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"But he's not green and yellow, I don't get it."
I was expecting gold and gray with a few yellow accents. And an LED-illuminated sword, of course."
And Gold Plastic Syndrome. I mean, TFWiki uses the other (other) Electro as the top-of-the-article page for it! https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Gold_Plastic_Syndrome
@Andrusi said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"But he's not green and yellow, I don't get it."
I was expecting gold and gray with a few yellow accents. And an LED-illuminated sword, of course."
And a slammin' '90s rap song.
It's Voriki!