Random set of the day: Sonic Phantom
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 7704 Sonic Phantom, released during 2006. It's one of 19 Exo-Force sets produced that year. It contains 215 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$20/£14.99.
It's owned by 2,313 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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25 comments on this article
Does it emit the sound of Ghostly Wails as it flies on by?
Ooooh, got some Blacktron vibes coming from this guy. It does resemble one version of Blacktron 3 I made once.
I actually really like the look of this. Looks like something you'd find out of an anime Space Opera.
I love that this set has a handle with a trigger to shoot the missile, makes it very swooshable
Soooo...a 'banshee' then, gotcha':)
"Sonic Phantom" sounds like a heavy metal / punk-rock band name.
...Or something tragically wrong has happened to a certain sneaker-wearing blue hedgehog.
I think I may have bought this set, because I kinda remember being disappointed in how not-there it is on the bottom. The artwork is fairly deceptive, using motion blur and energy effects to obscure its shape.
The design of that turbine piece on the front always killed me. The blades in the inner ring are oriented the opposite of the way the blades in the outer ring are. I mean yes, if it were a full-size craft, they'd be spinning in opposite directions, but that wasn't doable here, it being all one piece.
I remember being excited to get this one because it was my first set with a spring loaded missile.
This was one of my favorite Exo Force sets. I never got the chance to own it, but my younger cousin did. He was too little at the time to build it alone, so I helped him through the steps, and that ended up being a much better memory than if I had simply owned and built it myself.
This thing must run around at the speed of sound, has places to go and follows their rainbow.
This was in my first ever bulk bin buy. It was mostly City (my kids’ interest at the time) but had some Hero Factory, Star Wars, LOTR and this guy. Some of the stickers were missing on it, so by trying to find them it also introduced me to Bricklink. I ended up completing the set and it was so satisfying I have been buying bulk lots ever since.
@TheOtherMike:
I remember someone telling me he’d long wanted to make a LEGO wind tunnel, and was excited about those turbines because the vast majority of LEGO propellers have pin holes and can’t be motorized…and then I pointed out the counterrotating design.
@Murdoch17 said:
""Sonic Phantom" sounds like a heavy metal / punk-rock band name."
Wanna start one? We'll make Legocore a real genre at last.
Seems like a set they could have put Hitomi in; y’know, give the robot someone to menace.
I liked the Mechs more but why not... Go Sonic Phantom!
Such a fun set but definitely the least Exo-Forcey of the first wave. Pretty big toy for 200 pieces.
@PurpleDave said:
"I think I may have bought this set, because I kinda remember being disappointed in how not-there it is on the bottom. The artwork is fairly deceptive, using motion blur and energy effects to obscure its shape."
Yeah it’s got those big turbines at the front but quickly becomes skinnier towards the cockpit; that handle is one part “holding it in play” to one part “stop it falling over.” Personally I quite liked that design, gave it a kind of space chariot look almost like the podracers from Phantom Menace
Briefly owned this one from a collection purchase. I bought it to purchase it, and so I did. I remember it being hollow and taking up quite some space by virtue of its flat shape. But complete it looked very nice and creatively shaped.
It comes with an uncommon trans-neon green bodied Devestator (silver robot), which only ever appeared in this and the similarly weird Shadow Crawler tripod spider mech from 2007. I recall that in the story those were special forces pilots, as the Sonic Phantom was a powerful machine made with rare resources that limited it to four being in existence at a time.
I love the 2006 robot aesthetic for how industrial and jagged they made those sets look, which greatly contrasts with the smooth, colorful designs of the human mechs. Robots also used more muted colors like dark tan/blue/red/green or had lime paired with black. In the instructions you even had a grey background for robot models whereas the humans have deep blue ones, as if the robots pollute the air by existing.
IMHO the 2006 waves were the best in terms of design, although the 2007 mechs were more poseable due to the use of brick converters for constraction balljoints.
Exo-Force was a weird theme. I didn't particularly like it at the time but it sure was nicer to look at original themes than what Lego puts into their catalogs today.
I have this one. PurpleDave is right. It was a little disappointing in the flesh. At least it was solid, though. I think if I’d been a kid I would’ve really liked it.
And those turbine pieces ended up being harder to use in a MOC than I thought.
@Binnekamp:
I was incredibly disappointed to find out the silver ones all had torsos that were blended with a translucent color, so mostly focused on sets where the copper Iron Drones were the sole form of minifig.
Of all the themes I'd love for Lego to bring back, Exo-Force is near the top. I never really got into it when it was running, but in nowadays I find it right up my alley.
Sadly, it's probably too similar to Ninjago to warrant a revival...
"Now THIS is podracing!"
@PurpleDave said:
" @Binnekamp:
I was incredibly disappointed to find out the silver ones all had torsos that were blended with a translucent color, so mostly focused on sets where the copper Iron Drones were the sole form of minifig."
Good thing that not all of the silver ones have a secondary color. You can look it up on Bricklink or on this site, but some sets came with an all-silver one. The cheapest ones (that admittedly came out all the way at the end of the theme in 2008 and 2007) were the 8112 Arachnoid Stalker and the 8101 Claw Crusher.
The translucent colors were there for the original 2006 mechs that would have the light up brick right behind the figure. The translucency would increase the effect well!