Review: 70707 CLS-89 Eradicator Mech
Posted by Huw,
70707 CLS-89 Eradicator Mech is the second of four Galaxy Squad sets to be released in the second half of 2013.
It weighs in at 440 pieces for £35 / US$40 and consists of a mech, two bugs, a orange Galaxy Squad trooper that BrickLink calls 'Jack Fireblade', and his robotic sidekick.
So, alien bugs and a mech, what's not to like...
Box and contents
As usual, the back of the box shows the movement and play features of the set which, in this case, are significant. More on them later...
The QR code currently leads nowhere. I guess the purpose of it is so you can see the set in action while in the shop. Good luck getting a signal in Toys R Us though...
Three numbered bags, two instruction books and just the one sticker sheet in this set. Bag one builds the bugs, bag two the top of the mech, bag three its legs and arms.
Minifigs
Jack Fireblade and his robotic sidekick, both of whom have appeared in earlier sets. Unfortunately there are no alien minifigs in this set and that is a criticism of the Galaxy Squad series: there are too few bugs -- how is one expected to build a swarm of them?
The robot is excellent, with a new armour piece and wings that clip to it. I believe of the four Galaxy Squad factions (red, green, blue and orange) it's only the orange one that has these pieces.
The bugs
There are two bugs, designed to appear to be from the same genus, but one is winged. Both feature the cool new bulbous pieces used for the gaster. If you don't know already, you'll see what they are good for later :-)
Why though, do they only have four legs? I know they are alien and thus don't necessarily follow the same evolutionary rules as on Earth, but I think they'd look so much better with six legs, for the sake of eight more pieces. They have a tendency to collapse when you touch them so an additional two legs would help prevent this. I made the same observation when I reviewed 70700 Space Swarmer.
The mech
The orange and white mech stands about 20cm tall. It makes a lot of use of the new right-angle brackets to implement SNOT techniques on much of the model.
The hips swivel, the legs are jointed at the hips and ankle, and the arms at the shoulder. That's a good range of movement, but it could be better, and usually is when AFOLs build mechs.
A view of the back. Note the flick-fire missiles on the right arm. The slightly strange looking 2 x 2 round bricks on the backs of the legs are to prevent it topping backwards.
What on earth is the robot doing upside down on the back, I hear you ask? Read on to find out...
The cockpit can be removed and swooshed around.
It has thrusters at the back and a small, what I think is a bomb-bay with a hinged door. More flick-fire missiles grace the wings.
With the cockpit removed the mech looks like this...
The back is hinged, so after it's been turned 90 degrees down...
... and rotated, the robot is now piloting the mech! How clever is that! The back of the box calls this the 'Mech Exosuit' and the cockpit bit 'Galaxy Jet'.
Overall opinion
The transforming nature of the mech is a very clever feature that adds a lot of playability to the set. Also, as I'm sure you know or have worked out, the squaddie can be inserted into the gaster and left to be digested in the bugs juices (or something like that...)
It was an interesting set to build, particularly as I wasn't aware of the transforming feature. On several occasions I wondered what the subassembly was that I was building and how it was going to fit onto the model (sorry if I've now spoiled that surprise for you).
So, two great looking bugs and an interesting mech, what's not to like? Well, a couple of things actually, the bugs really should have six legs and one or two alien minifigs would have been nice. Other than that it's a top set.
Scores, out of 5:
- Parts: 5 -- a very good selection of useful parts. Nothing unique, but a lot in new or rare colours.
- Playability: 5 -- there's a lot of fun to be had with this set.
- Building experience: 4 -- not challenging, but very interesting.
- Value for money: 4 -- I thought it's pretty good value for what's in it and the playability it provides. There's more to 'value for money' than the price per piece...
- Overall: 4.5 -- An extra 4 legs would have made it a 5.
2 likes
26 comments on this article
Thanks for the review! I didn't know about the transforming feature either until now and its made me very tempted to buy this set, if only it had some alien figures manning the bugs. And i think the set would also be better if the bugs were both of the winged variety, but anyway, looks like a great set and certainly not bad in terms of price per piece...
^ I actually prefer the look of the non-winged one.
That's quite an interesting and unusual mech. With the cockpit attached, it looks like it's in GERWALK mode.
I've been about 50/50 on this set since it doesn't include any alien Minifigs. The transforming feature is nice...but I'm not sure if it's nice enough to push me into buying it, heh. Nice pictures, informative review. Thanks Huw.
@ Huw, hmmm looking at it again, i think you're right :)
@ Huw, Will you be reviewing all the new Galaxy squad Sets? BTW great review!
@ UtarEmpire, Huw, and brix
I've been 50/50 about this set as well. An alien or two would definitely make $39.99 (£35) more appealing. :P
Is it just me that thinks that the sets looks so much better build than my initial impression from watching the frontpage? Quite strange... usually it's the opposite way... I mean, that it looked like more on the frontpage. And..btw, the bugs colour-scheme is amazing!
@icey - I must agree, the short and stubby arms as they appear in the set image put me off slightly, but the set looks and sounds just about perfect from your review Huw. Many thanks for producing these.
Yep, another fantastic review Huw!
I didn't like how the bugs only had four legs either, but luckily it's not that hard to obtain the right parts for extra legs through BrickLink. Together, the eight parts cost about 40p before postage.
But I did find that the cocoons on the bug's backs made them a little unbalanced and kept falling backwards
But, as you said, what's not to like?
Can't wait to see what you say about other sets, maybe Hive Crawler?
I like the mech but its a shame about there being no aliens. On anther note, nice review Huw.
Any chance of you reviewing some of the new Super Heroes sets?
^ I'm not buying Super Heroes sets this year, but here's my review: they are rubbish, except for the minifigs :)
I lov that robot mech, it's really cool.
Too bad it's orange, they look the worst out of all the colors.
My kids figured out why they have 4 legs. If you rotate the grey lower legs horizontally they form a neat circle which turns the 'bugs' into nice swooshable ships. Not very bug-like, but I personally actually liked the construction that way on the 70700 Space Swarmer. If they had 6 legs this would not be possible so neatly (although you could make different configurations for it I guess).
@ Huw 18:38
Sheesh Huw that's seems a little harsh :P
@ LegoSpy, I'm afraid Huw is right.
This is a really cool set. The mech and the bugs are both nice, and the orange robot sidekick the best Galaxy Squad minifig.
Not a big fan of this one. The attached model looks odd and doesn't make a lot of sense (the robot on the back hanging down like that), and the separate models don't look particularly good either. Buy the Vermin Vaporizer instead, I say. That one looks awesome put together or separated.
A robot piloting a bigger robot! I never would've thought of that! :O
It's true... the SUPER HERO theme this year is a little short on "magic". With the slight exception of the Tumber Chase (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=76001-1)
I tend to purchase any Mecha model, period, no matter the theme; this one looks GREAT; and has far more bits & bobs than most mecha models. Dig the 'bot, too. Excellent; thanks for the review and for bringing it to my attention; LEGO.com wish-listed.
Huw, this hasn't been well established but ALL of the Galaxy Squad "good guy" vehicles that are large enough for 2 figures split into 2 sections, which is hinted at in the GS logo. I agree this is another fantastic mech, along with the Green one from the first wave. As for SH, I actually liked the 2 bigger Man of Steel sets and there's great parts in the Spidey sets, then again, I'm from Forest Hills, Queens, NYC, just like Spiderman (hence The Ramones cover of the theme song, as they too are from The Hills)
Huw, thanks for the beautiful GS reviews! I only slightly considered purchasing GS sets beforehand, but now I might have to pick up one of these. There is so much beauty in the parts (which I am seeing used for MOCs so much these days), plus the set designs and figs themselves leave little to be desired.
Keep being amazing!
Wow, an amazing set and a great review! I love the transformation thing! I would have liked some alien minifigs as well though. But it's still definitely on the list!
Great idea, never thought of adding extra legs to the Space Swarmer. Do you have a pic of it or one of these with extra legs? The mech looks awesome but it is a shame that there are not an alien minifig in this set. In the series (polybags too) you get 13 squaddies(6 unique) 8 robot sidekicks(4 unique) and only 10 bugs(4 unique). I am crossing my fingers for a Galaxy Squad battle pack.