The fact that you got a cheese company to sponsor this video is somehow the best part of the whole video. At long last, the prophecy has been fulfilled
Man, I wish LEGO would revisit this theme or at least something like it. Like, I know Ninjago has mechs, but it’s not the same. Everything there has to have a “ninja”, “dragon”, or “spirit animal” theme or aesthetic built into it. Exo Force was just pure battle machine mecha awesomeness.
I'm consistently blown away by how massive Mobile Devastator is, like I honestly don't think this video manages to convey the sheer scale of the thing. It's the only toy that hasn't suffered from child brain size inflation. Every time I rebuild it I'm again blown away by it's size. On an interesting note about your set specifically; given the 2008 Bionicle joints holding the Zamor sphere launchers it looks like yours might be from one of the last ever production runs.
In 2003 I started the journey into my LEGO Dark Ages, which would end in 2017 with... 8106: Aero Booster. That year, I decided to retrieve my childhood LEGO from my parents, and that's how I discovered that they had thrown away most of them. My focus began quickly to list what sets I thought I had as a child, what set remained, and of course to inventory those to see if they were complete. That's when I discovered Bricklink, which not only would allow me to complete / recollect what I had lost... But also what I could have had. The Aero Booster was my first Bricklink purchase, which I got used, complete with box and instructions. I had browsed through ALL the LEGO sets I had missed on, and since I've always liked Mechs I picked the most over the top one I could find. I told myself : "this is the only LEGO I'll buy, after that I'll just complete / recollect what was lost. It's not like LEGO will ever make good mechs, right?" -- famous lines from a LEGO fan about to buy their white whales.
@@CheeseyStudios it just felt like the most Gundam mech LEGO ever produced. I think what drew me to it was... The booster really. The mech itself was nice enough (especially compared to what I was used to as a kid: the Life on Mars Recon Mech), the booster just really brings it to a whole new level visually. Blue, white and red are great mech colours. Also, nothing beats the TECHNIC competition cannon in terms of LEGO fire power, so way it definitely is the best possible choice! Gotta admit I was a bit disappointed in how fragile the builds ended up being, but as an adult fan of LEGO I wasn't going to play too much with it, right? Right? Or was I 😅
9:15 I think those pieces are still rare since the gold katanas in the Ninjago sets exclusively use the ones where the guards are more square shaped as opposed to her circular classic katanas
I remember getting “Fight for the Golden Tower” for Chrismas in 2007. Its been well and truly jumbled up with the other lego parts at my parents house but I still have fond memories of it
As a Lego 2000-2010 guy, I think the Aero Booster box look is as iconic as Tahu, the giant turbines just scream at anyone's face and always made me think: wait, is it really that big?
I combined two Mobile Devastators into one enormous vehicle. It doubles in length and height and has twice as much Iron Drones, flyers, skeleton bubbles, you name it. Combining those wheels together just makes this beast even more intimidating compared to the official set, like this thing would have no problem ramming or running over smaller battle machines or any other obstacle really. Combining two models elevates this vehicle into an even bigger menace for the humans, perhaps the deadliest of them all! I'm really proud of it. While it retains the same structure as the original model, it's still just as sturdy, surprisingly. The only issue is that it makes storing this thing even more difficult, in fact it takes almost as much space as the UCS Razor Crest.
@@CheeseyStudios Yes, however it appears my comments with a full link or a partial link to my pictures get automatically deleted by RUclips so I don't really know how to share them.
Mobile Devastator is the GOAT. It’s one of the few sets from my childhood that is still put together, though it has lost a few pieces from being driven around so much.
A sweet look at this wave. Everything is new for me, but that is probably what makes it even more fun to watch. At least the cheese is well protected in the Golden City :) Thanks for the upload
Definitely getting further into obscurity as Exo-Force goes on. Nothing is quite as iconic as that first wave! There's still plenty of hidden gems though, and I'm looking forward to discussing the final wave. It's got some cool gimmicks.
For those curious, adjusted for inflation the Mobile Devastator would be around $136 in 2024. Still seems like a decent price for something that size. Also I found around 85% of the Crawler set in a used random box recently. I never had any exo force sets so I put them off to the side. Tempted to part the rest of it out and build it, but it looks like it takes up a massive amount of shelf space.
16:28 speaking of parts sharing. Those claws on Falcon are from the 2007 Bionicle Ehlek set. Ehlek's "Protosteel Tri-Talons" were canonically able to rip through most anything, so the Falcon shredding through the Devastators armor would be fitting Also seeing so many copies of Tahu's OG flame sword from 2001 warms my heart
@@CheeseyStudios For sure. I recommend checking out the combo builds of the Barraki. Lots of interesting ideas and most of them are canonical beings in the universe
I'm going to ask if maybe there's a revisiting Castle series planned for the future because seeing this series brings me so much joy and I'd love to see the 2007 fantasy era castle
Oh yeah baby, back again with more Exo Force retrospective. I had a Mobile Devastator, and it was what I thought the most expensive single Lego Set I ever got. It was spectacular to have. I remember also really wanting the Combat Crawler back in the day too. Exo Force had such an influence I’m sure on my creative tastes and interests in aesthetics, they were my second most engaged with theme behind Bionicle.
My brother and I got a pair of the Aero Booster sets when they were still relatively new in 2008/2009. Those were fun memories. :) It’s also amusing to see that the Aero Booster set ended up being the best of the Wave 4 bunch. (Though I would’ve absolutely grabbed the Blazing Falcon on its own, if LEGO had sold it separately; I felt it was just as memorable as Aero Booster.) Lastly, the part near the end where you talked about the specific design philosophy LEGO had during the mid- to late-2000s really struck a chord with me, and I think it might be the biggest reason most modern LEGO sets don’t really grab me the way these did (and still do); While I appreciate the level of detail modern LEGO sets have, I have to agree that it often feels like that detail is coming at the expense of play and experimentation, which feels disheartening since…well…at the end of the day, most LEGO sets are still plastic toys. And plastic toys are meant to be played with, not set on a shelf (or in a display case) and never touched again. …Needless to say, I really wish LEGO would consider giving their modern sets more ways to play with them. XD All around, a great video. And I am excited to see the final wave get its time in the spotlight.
Ah, the Aero Booster … the coolest Lego set ever made. I found that if you replace the Blazing Falcon's golden fingers and, uh … "codpiece" with silver ones, it massively improves the color blocking! It matches the claws (and the little missile fins)! And ever since I got the Fight for the Golden Tower (by the way with non-cracked stickers, which I'm now retroactively very happy about) Hitomi is at her rightful place, piloting the battle machine that she deserves!
@@CheeseyStudios If you take apart the Cyclone Defender and the Claw Crusher, you’ll also have two silver armor pieces that can go on the arms. I think the air intake pieces look better when they’re only on the legs.
13:30 I've always called this the "bad guy vehicle" because I recall seeing that written in the catalog. Still amuses me to this day. Maybe you can check your catalog for it! 23:30 I think those are meant to raptor style legs. The hip joint is indeed the hip joint, but the knee would be the 90 degree bend that has no joint, and the 'knee' joint is actually the ankle, then the 'ankle' joint would be the toe joint. Either way, a bit weird for sure.
Ohhhh yes. It's very big and very bad! 😂 I'm glad they tried something new for the joints, but it still probably shouldn't have made it to production. Oh well. At least it looks cool!
I've never had any Exo Force sets but I remember staring at them in the catalogues as a kid, and seeing videos on them now I think some of the sets must be among the best that Lego has ever made- to my tastes, at the very least, if not objectively. Thanks for doing such a great overview of them, it's a lot of fun to watch!
I didn't have Combat Crawler X2 but a friend did, and we always saw Ryo's weird little machine as just a like, anti-tank gun emplacement. Not something that flies, but something that's just sitting outside the golden city's gate.
I've been waiting for this one! I never had it, but as soon as I learned/heard about the Mobile Devastator, I was astounded by that absolute behemoth and wanted to learn more. I even tried making a spiritual successor to it for Mars Mission
From what I recall, the vault in the tower is actually meant to be shot out by the Technic launchers. You’re basically meant to aim the craft’s guns at it and shoot it, flinging the vault out so it can be taken.
The battle machine in Aero Booster is named Blue Falcon and the yellow battle machine included in Combat Crawler X2 was dubbed in the books as Iron Condor II. Fight for the Golden Tower's box is similarly reflective golden just as the Golden Guardian's is. Fight for the Golden Tower was the first set to feature golden katanas, followed up by two Indiana Jones sets in 2008, one CMF in 2010, and 3 Ninjago sets in 2011 before they changed to the square-hilt mould, so as-is still pretty exclusive. Managed to score an Aero Booster and Fight for the Golden Tower both for terrific deals, ~50 each a few years back, always gotta keep an eye out for deals!
@@CheeseyStudios Oh, yes, silly me for not clarifying, they were both sealed! It may make collecting Exo-Force incredibly slow due to waiting around for steals like that but for the number of stickers and pieces that otherwise end up missing it's for sure more worth it, to me at least.
As a huge fan of the first and second waves from 2006, this one and next completely let me down 😒I would like an 18+ sets for the 20th anniversary of the series!
Yeah, Exo-Force peaked early on. Golden City always had potential, but it never matched the glory of the early days. Jungle is going to be interesting to cover too. I feel the sets themselves are pretty cool, but never getting a second wave of summer Jungle sets just left us with no closure. To think of what could have been, ah....
I am sorry but no while the first one was certainly the best looking, and ignoring stability the best overall the jungle sets amazing, stable colour blocked with the best of both worlds in terms of articulation, small bots and some of the best value seen in lego
@@CheeseyStudios honestly the jungle wave is one of my favourites, recently built the chameleon hunter and the rubbery parts are so satisfying to me! I look forward to your next exo force video!
Looking at all the pieces lego made for this theme, as well as the minfogures, it’s safe to assume that lego exo-force was a test to see what lego anime themes could look like, at least conceptually.
I read those 2 books when I was young and they had a huge impact on me growing up. Especially for Hayato’s mech, which made me a compete sucker for small mechs with giant backpacks…I miss u Exo-Force. Still debating buying the City Set just for the Stealth Hunter. And of course, thank YOU for giving this theme justice again.
The little blue mech attached to the booster pack still is on my shelf today, albeit with some modifications by 13 year old me. It was such a cool mech, with a lot of rigidity. While I thought the booster engines and backpack was dumb, the little blue mech I made several different arm attachments for, whether it was just adding claws to the fingers, or swapping the hands out for double turrets.
I was born a couple years too late to be able to see themes like exo-force, OG harry potter, adventurers, etc new, but I'm so happy people like you and RR Slugger keep interest in these older themes alive so me and other younger lego fans can learn about them :D Thanks for everything you do, Cheesey! Love these vids
YOU TAKE THAT BACK ABOUT MY COMBAT CRAWLER X2! I LOVE THAT THING UNCONDITIONALLY. Jokes aside I completely understand all the criticism about the set. But it still holds a special place in my heart. I always used it as an artillery piece/heavy tank for my Separatist droids in my star wars battles. Thank you for covering these old Exo Force sets, I've really enjoyed them 👍
amazing video!! keep up the good work! fun fact: lego remade the set stealth hunter in the city set called robot world roller coster. its a pretty cool looking set.
I was not expecting a Big Moo cheese sponsorship of all things... Also I desperately need somebody to recreate that booster-pack frame with modern pieces as like, a revamp moc.
I mean, who would I allow to sponsor Cheesey Studios except for cheese?! I would love to give more Exo-Force remakes a go. The boosters would be such a fun challenge.
"It's amazing what you used to get for 90$" As a kid, my parents used to give me 50 - 100$ to spend on LEGO as annual gifts. Back then, this kind of money would've gotten you a big set like the LEGO Agents truck (which I did get), which had lots of play features, minifigs, and was designed in a way to let your imagination run wild with what scenarios you could pull off with it. Nowadays, sets of comparable size are much more expensive, with much bigger piece counts - all in the pursuit of making the models more detailed and "realistic". As such, little place is left for the imagination, as though LEGO doesn't care about how kids would play with these sets. Nowadays, you walk into a LEGO section of a store, and two thirds of the sets have a black box, some pop-culture model and the price-tag of a new smartphone. I miss these 2000s sets as well. That being said, please keep up your style of presentation! Love these re-visiting videos :)
Glad you enjoy these. ❤️ It's been fascinating (and ultimately disheartening) to watch the LEGO design philosophy change over the years. Makes me glad I grew up when I did.
@@CheeseyStudios Fair and valid, I'd love to come up with a walking mechanism for something like that. I only work digitally nowadays, so its a struggle.
I finally got back into legos with the D&D set, but for years I just would look online going... "OH cool... not for that price." I would love a new Exo-Force. Like can we make affordable mechs. I was in highschool, out of legos, but I bought one of the 20 buck sets because.... IT WAS COOL
@CheeseyStudios I doubt it, but I would love a Kaiju theme, but that is with mirco city. So the mini figures are the Kaiju. Just something cheaper and fun.
Perfect timing for this video as I'm beefing up my BrickLink order with needed parts so going to add some Exo-Force! Excellent review and I can't wait to see the next revisiting! This wave is one I missed but the Aero Booster is honestly the best set of the wave.
Aero Booster is peak. I wish we had gotten to see more of that same energy in the other waves. It just makes me smile. Are you planning on parting together some Exo-Force sets, or collecting some pieces for MOCs?
@@CheeseyStudiosparting together. I found an old box of Lego pieces with some Exo-Force pieces. I also found some Power Miner parts. Just trying to rebuild the sets of my childhood.
If I had encountered these weird anime minifigs in a job lot I would have assumed they were knockoff Lego. It's just so weird seeing Lego dudes with anime hair and eyes!
Aw yeah, I had the pieces of that golden city temple, never managed to use the huge cool stickers much tho, oh and the marble blue grey turbines That first one is giving me big Ninjago Lloyd Flyer vibes lol
i think you have said this before, but i wil say it again. Exo-force embodies the concept of what lego SHOULD be, fun sets, that arent too expensive, and also very playable. all of these sets, (except maybe the double crawler.) are very playable, and really benefits the imagination. a lot of never sets feel more like display pieces, which is fine, for the actual display piece, but even the once that are suppose to be played with, feel like they can be, but if something falls of, its going to take an hour to put it on. Exo-force tended to be flimsy, and or skeletal, but if something fell of, you could either say "battle damage" or put it on like nothing happende. any way great review of the sets. and i did chuckle a little from you being sponsored by a cheese brand.
Exactly! I do feel LEGO's best 'toys' came out of this era. They were reasonably priced and always packed in a ton of fun. It was a great time to grow up, and I remember these sets so fondly because I enjoyed playing with them - not so much because they just looked cool.
@@CheeseyStudios exactly, they where fun to play with. doesnt hurt that they still look cool as all get out, but the sets where toys first, display piece later.
Hey I was thinking that building a player made Minecraft module instead of just a biome or village would be kinda cool. I was thinking like a castle or a players base. Love the vids!
Appreciate it! Hope you enjoyed this one. October's episode (available now as early access 👀) does feature the first section of the player base, just saying!
oh yes the brightest idea. Robots hellbent on exterminating mankind can come up with. Strapping a mech to the front of another, because apparently the guy in the back does not have to worry about seeing what's in front of him, and the other pilot has no other purpose besides being a meatshield.
Ah yes mobile devastator, I’ve actually got both giant stickered side panels stickered excellently, I think they were link .60 a piece which I thought was great weather or not they were stickered well. Plus when parting out 8709 (stupid black tube still don’t have it >:( ) when I bought the one green wheel for that funnily enough the store hade four (yet other 8709 parts and no notable devastator parts) so I bought em all
Ahhh the tube. Don't tell anyone, but I bought a fake one for my Revisiting video. Only one available at the time was $30 from Australia, and now I see there's just literally none on Bricklink xD
@@CheeseyStudios I’ve actually checked amazon, seems like there’s a couple that might work but I’m unsure I’d be curious what you used as I’ve got that set 90% complete otherwise
![Gucci Mane & Sexyy Red - You Don't Love Me [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/j7IBqyFKT4c/mqdefault.jpg)
Visit thebigmoocheese.com/cheeseystudios and use the code Cheesey10 to get 10% off your first order of The Big Moo Cheese!
I would, but I do like breathing. (I have a milk allergy, if I have milk or dairy I could stop breathing)
The fact that you got a cheese company to sponsor this video is somehow the best part of the whole video. At long last, the prophecy has been fulfilled
Ha! And I wouldn't have it any other way! It's just way too perfect.
@@CheeseyStudiosnext sponsor: wisconsin
I don't know, I thought it was pretty cheesy.
Oh the Aero Booster is pure mecha anime I love that so much
Right?? I love it so much. I wish they had made more crazy mechs like that, whether it was massive jetpacks or just ridiculously oversized weapons
Kinda looks like something you could attach to Lego Optimus Prime to get Jet Optimus from Transformers Armada!
Yeah it reminds me now of the METEOR from Gundam Seed, and god do I love it.
everytime i saw the thumbnail my brain kept screaming "GUNDAM" !! the color schemes doesn't help either x)
It reminds me of AC4A's Vanguard Overbooster, it looks so cool
Man, I wish LEGO would revisit this theme or at least something like it. Like, I know Ninjago has mechs, but it’s not the same. Everything there has to have a “ninja”, “dragon”, or “spirit animal” theme or aesthetic built into it. Exo Force was just pure battle machine mecha awesomeness.
Agreed. There's mechs everywhere in LEGO, but none feel quite like these
I'm consistently blown away by how massive Mobile Devastator is, like I honestly don't think this video manages to convey the sheer scale of the thing. It's the only toy that hasn't suffered from child brain size inflation. Every time I rebuild it I'm again blown away by it's size.
On an interesting note about your set specifically; given the 2008 Bionicle joints holding the Zamor sphere launchers it looks like yours might be from one of the last ever production runs.
It is also completely possible I used the wrong parts 😂
I like how older sets were bigger and meaningful with less parts (and being cheaper per plastic even taking inflation to consider)
In 2003 I started the journey into my LEGO Dark Ages, which would end in 2017 with... 8106: Aero Booster.
That year, I decided to retrieve my childhood LEGO from my parents, and that's how I discovered that they had thrown away most of them. My focus began quickly to list what sets I thought I had as a child, what set remained, and of course to inventory those to see if they were complete. That's when I discovered Bricklink, which not only would allow me to complete / recollect what I had lost... But also what I could have had.
The Aero Booster was my first Bricklink purchase, which I got used, complete with box and instructions. I had browsed through ALL the LEGO sets I had missed on, and since I've always liked Mechs I picked the most over the top one I could find. I told myself : "this is the only LEGO I'll buy, after that I'll just complete / recollect what was lost. It's not like LEGO will ever make good mechs, right?" -- famous lines from a LEGO fan about to buy their white whales.
What a great set to start out with honestly. Do you remember what drew yourself to Aero Booster in particular, or how you even knew about it?
@@CheeseyStudios it just felt like the most Gundam mech LEGO ever produced.
I think what drew me to it was... The booster really. The mech itself was nice enough (especially compared to what I was used to as a kid: the Life on Mars Recon Mech), the booster just really brings it to a whole new level visually. Blue, white and red are great mech colours.
Also, nothing beats the TECHNIC competition cannon in terms of LEGO fire power, so way it definitely is the best possible choice!
Gotta admit I was a bit disappointed in how fragile the builds ended up being, but as an adult fan of LEGO I wasn't going to play too much with it, right? Right? Or was I 😅
9:15 I think those pieces are still rare since the gold katanas in the Ninjago sets exclusively use the ones where the guards are more square shaped as opposed to her circular classic katanas
I can definitely see the similarities!
I remember getting “Fight for the Golden Tower” for Chrismas in 2007. Its been well and truly jumbled up with the other lego parts at my parents house but I still have fond memories of it
It's such a cool set. I really wouldn't mind building an expansion to the city in that style some day.
@@CheeseyStudios id love to see that
As a Lego 2000-2010 guy, I think the Aero Booster box look is as iconic as Tahu, the giant turbines just scream at anyone's face and always made me think: wait, is it really that big?
I combined two Mobile Devastators into one enormous vehicle. It doubles in length and height and has twice as much Iron Drones, flyers, skeleton bubbles, you name it. Combining those wheels together just makes this beast even more intimidating compared to the official set, like this thing would have no problem ramming or running over smaller battle machines or any other obstacle really. Combining two models elevates this vehicle into an even bigger menace for the humans, perhaps the deadliest of them all!
I'm really proud of it. While it retains the same structure as the original model, it's still just as sturdy, surprisingly. The only issue is that it makes storing this thing even more difficult, in fact it takes almost as much space as the UCS Razor Crest.
Dang, that sounds super epic 👀 You got pictures anywhere?
@@CheeseyStudios Yes, however it appears my comments with a full link or a partial link to my pictures get automatically deleted by RUclips so I don't really know how to share them.
@@Legomanarthur Just upload a short to youtube or something, people can just click and visit your account from here.
Mobile Devastator is the GOAT. It’s one of the few sets from my childhood that is still put together, though it has lost a few pieces from being driven around so much.
That's awesome 😂 Where do you store that thing though?!
A sweet look at this wave. Everything is new for me, but that is probably what makes it even more fun to watch. At least the cheese is well protected in the Golden City :)
Thanks for the upload
Definitely getting further into obscurity as Exo-Force goes on. Nothing is quite as iconic as that first wave! There's still plenty of hidden gems though, and I'm looking forward to discussing the final wave. It's got some cool gimmicks.
For those curious, adjusted for inflation the Mobile Devastator would be around $136 in 2024. Still seems like a decent price for something that size.
Also I found around 85% of the Crawler set in a used random box recently. I never had any exo force sets so I put them off to the side. Tempted to part the rest of it out and build it, but it looks like it takes up a massive amount of shelf space.
That's a fun find! That set is quite rare, and even with its faults, it's a fun one to own. Hope you can complete it!
16:28 speaking of parts sharing. Those claws on Falcon are from the 2007 Bionicle Ehlek set. Ehlek's "Protosteel Tri-Talons" were canonically able to rip through most anything, so the Falcon shredding through the Devastators armor would be fitting
Also seeing so many copies of Tahu's OG flame sword from 2001 warms my heart
Just looked up Ehlek and I gotta admit that looks like a really cool set
@@CheeseyStudios For sure. I recommend checking out the combo builds of the Barraki. Lots of interesting ideas and most of them are canonical beings in the universe
I think the circle in the golden tower is supposed to be shot using the missile from the sonic raven, causing the floor to flip up.
That makes a lot of sense - good call!
Aero Booster is basically just the Psycho Zaku from Gundam Thunderbolt
Eh, I’d say they took more inspiration from the METEOR Units from Gundam Seed. Especially since it was airing on Toonami around that time.
I can definitely see the resemblance in both!
I'm going to ask if maybe there's a revisiting Castle series planned for the future because seeing this series brings me so much joy and I'd love to see the 2007 fantasy era castle
Yes! It's a ways out yet, but it will happen. I think I'm only missing one Trolls set. 👀
Oh yeah baby, back again with more Exo Force retrospective.
I had a Mobile Devastator, and it was what I thought the most expensive single Lego Set I ever got. It was spectacular to have. I remember also really wanting the Combat Crawler back in the day too. Exo Force had such an influence I’m sure on my creative tastes and interests in aesthetics, they were my second most engaged with theme behind Bionicle.
Well, rest assured knowing that you definitely had the better set 😂
Nothing better than kicking off the weekend with a new Cheesey video to watch! Thanks man!
Best ad-read I've ever heard. Congrats on the sponsorship.
Ha! Appreciate it!
I really hope that you will also talk about the unreleased 8116 Jungle Thrasher in the next Exoforce video.
Definitely 👌👌👌
@@CheeseyStudios Excellent
Sets that were "bigger and better for it". Nicely said. Something has definitely been lost. Excellent video!
Nice video. Funny cheese exploration.
My brother and I got a pair of the Aero Booster sets when they were still relatively new in 2008/2009.
Those were fun memories. :)
It’s also amusing to see that the Aero Booster set ended up being the best of the Wave 4 bunch. (Though I would’ve absolutely grabbed the Blazing Falcon on its own, if LEGO had sold it separately; I felt it was just as memorable as Aero Booster.)
Lastly, the part near the end where you talked about the specific design philosophy LEGO had during the mid- to late-2000s really struck a chord with me, and I think it might be the biggest reason most modern LEGO sets don’t really grab me the way these did (and still do); While I appreciate the level of detail modern LEGO sets have, I have to agree that it often feels like that detail is coming at the expense of play and experimentation, which feels disheartening since…well…at the end of the day, most LEGO sets are still plastic toys. And plastic toys are meant to be played with, not set on a shelf (or in a display case) and never touched again.
…Needless to say, I really wish LEGO would consider giving their modern sets more ways to play with them. XD
All around, a great video. And I am excited to see the final wave get its time in the spotlight.
1:36 me wearing robot gear when the cockroach I just saw 2 seconds ago wasn't in the same spot
relatable
Ah, the Aero Booster … the coolest Lego set ever made.
I found that if you replace the Blazing Falcon's golden fingers and, uh … "codpiece" with silver ones, it massively improves the color blocking! It matches the claws (and the little missile fins)!
And ever since I got the Fight for the Golden Tower (by the way with non-cracked stickers, which I'm now retroactively very happy about) Hitomi is at her rightful place, piloting the battle machine that she deserves!
I'll definitely have to give that color swap a try! That's a good call
@@CheeseyStudios If you take apart the Cyclone Defender and the Claw Crusher, you’ll also have two silver armor pieces that can go on the arms. I think the air intake pieces look better when they’re only on the legs.
Men! I've been waiting for this video sooo long... And it delivered like crazy. Thanks!
No problem! Love to hear it lived up to the hype
13:30 I've always called this the "bad guy vehicle" because I recall seeing that written in the catalog. Still amuses me to this day. Maybe you can check your catalog for it!
23:30 I think those are meant to raptor style legs. The hip joint is indeed the hip joint, but the knee would be the 90 degree bend that has no joint, and the 'knee' joint is actually the ankle, then the 'ankle' joint would be the toe joint. Either way, a bit weird for sure.
Ohhhh yes. It's very big and very bad! 😂 I'm glad they tried something new for the joints, but it still probably shouldn't have made it to production. Oh well. At least it looks cool!
Such an incredible sponsor, if they delivered to the UK I would absolutely get some!
Remember what I wrote about the Golden Defender being inspired by gundam? This applies to Aerobuster tenthfold.
Amazing video as always!
Appreciate it!
I've never had any Exo Force sets but I remember staring at them in the catalogues as a kid, and seeing videos on them now I think some of the sets must be among the best that Lego has ever made- to my tastes, at the very least, if not objectively. Thanks for doing such a great overview of them, it's a lot of fun to watch!
Really glad you've been enjoying the series! It really is a great theme, and certainly one of the best LEGO lines as far as I'm concerned too.
I didn't have Combat Crawler X2 but a friend did, and we always saw Ryo's weird little machine as just a like, anti-tank gun emplacement. Not something that flies, but something that's just sitting outside the golden city's gate.
Yeah, that’s what I thought too, but apparently the LEGO catalogue from the time described it as a “flyer.”
I definitely prefer thinking of it as simply a cannon. The flying part is so silly 😂
18:23 feetback…. Cause Lego is giving them their feet back
lololol
I've been waiting for this one! I never had it, but as soon as I learned/heard about the Mobile Devastator, I was astounded by that absolute behemoth and wanted to learn more.
I even tried making a spiritual successor to it for Mars Mission
It's truly a sight to behold. I'm continually dumbfounded by its size!
Firts time seeing the katana piece that Hitomi uses. The Ninjago ones have a diferent tsuba. Nice!
Ah, you're right! I guess I didn't even realize they modernized the design. Cool stuff!
From what I recall, the vault in the tower is actually meant to be shot out by the Technic launchers. You’re basically meant to aim the craft’s guns at it and shoot it, flinging the vault out so it can be taken.
That does make sense!
The battle machine in Aero Booster is named Blue Falcon and the yellow battle machine included in Combat Crawler X2 was dubbed in the books as Iron Condor II. Fight for the Golden Tower's box is similarly reflective golden just as the Golden Guardian's is. Fight for the Golden Tower was the first set to feature golden katanas, followed up by two Indiana Jones sets in 2008, one CMF in 2010, and 3 Ninjago sets in 2011 before they changed to the square-hilt mould, so as-is still pretty exclusive. Managed to score an Aero Booster and Fight for the Golden Tower both for terrific deals, ~50 each a few years back, always gotta keep an eye out for deals!
Great deals! Sealed, I take it?
@@CheeseyStudios Oh, yes, silly me for not clarifying, they were both sealed! It may make collecting Exo-Force incredibly slow due to waiting around for steals like that but for the number of stickers and pieces that otherwise end up missing it's for sure more worth it, to me at least.
As a huge fan of the first and second waves from 2006, this one and next completely let me down 😒I would like an 18+ sets for the 20th anniversary of the series!
Yeah, Exo-Force peaked early on. Golden City always had potential, but it never matched the glory of the early days. Jungle is going to be interesting to cover too. I feel the sets themselves are pretty cool, but never getting a second wave of summer Jungle sets just left us with no closure. To think of what could have been, ah....
I am sorry but no while the first one was certainly the best looking, and ignoring stability the best overall the jungle sets amazing, stable colour blocked with the best of both worlds in terms of articulation, small bots and some of the best value seen in lego
YES FINALLY! Been waiting on this vid man, great work once again!
Appreciate it! Super excited for the last one. I really really hope I can get to part 5 before the Christmas season heats up
@@CheeseyStudios honestly the jungle wave is one of my favourites, recently built the chameleon hunter and the rubbery parts are so satisfying to me! I look forward to your next exo force video!
I got the Mobile Devastator for Christmas as a kid. It was the only exo-force sets I've ever had yet it has to be one of the best play sets ever
Right? That thing is so cool. It made for some pretty epic battles back in the day.
The aero booster really looksmlike something straight out of a 2000s gundam show, like the 2 seed shows or 00😂
Totally xD It's ridiculous but glorious
Looking at all the pieces lego made for this theme, as well as the minfogures, it’s safe to assume that lego exo-force was a test to see what lego anime themes could look like, at least conceptually.
100%. It certainly was way ahead of its time!
I read those 2 books when I was young and they had a huge impact on me growing up. Especially for Hayato’s mech, which made me a compete sucker for small mechs with giant backpacks…I miss u Exo-Force. Still debating buying the City Set just for the Stealth Hunter.
And of course, thank YOU for giving this theme justice again.
It's my pleasure ❤️ I love this theme so much too.
21:11 Wooh, still got mine and I LOVE IT!!!
Ayyy nice!
The little blue mech attached to the booster pack still is on my shelf today, albeit with some modifications by 13 year old me. It was such a cool mech, with a lot of rigidity. While I thought the booster engines and backpack was dumb, the little blue mech I made several different arm attachments for, whether it was just adding claws to the fingers, or swapping the hands out for double turrets.
That's so cool that of all the mechs, that's the one that has stood the test of time for you! I love that honestly
I was born a couple years too late to be able to see themes like exo-force, OG harry potter, adventurers, etc new, but I'm so happy people like you and RR Slugger keep interest in these older themes alive so me and other younger lego fans can learn about them :D
Thanks for everything you do, Cheesey! Love these vids
So glad you enjoyed! It's fun to highlight this under-represented era of LEGO. The company was so creative back in the 2000's.
Unlike the first year I never got into this era. But I now own the Golden Guardian and Aero Booster and Inlove them to bits!
Those are the two best Golden City sets! Ha-Ya-To was so spoiled in 2007 lol!
YOU TAKE THAT BACK ABOUT MY COMBAT CRAWLER X2! I LOVE THAT THING UNCONDITIONALLY.
Jokes aside I completely understand all the criticism about the set. But it still holds a special place in my heart. I always used it as an artillery piece/heavy tank for my Separatist droids in my star wars battles. Thank you for covering these old Exo Force sets, I've really enjoyed them 👍
lol! I'm sure if I had grown up with it I'd love it a lot more too. My expectations grew out of control I fear... Oh well. 😂
Oh sweet robots that sponsorship is strangely well themed
23:39 He got reverse joint legs. In armored core they can jump higher and farther than normal ones.
Oh huh, that's super cool
I think I said it about Striking Venom, but Combat Crawler X2 _really_ reminds me of Metal Gear Excelsus
It does make me wonder where they drew a lot of their inspiration from
amazing video!! keep up the good work!
fun fact: lego remade the set stealth hunter in the city set called robot world roller coster. its a pretty cool looking set.
Thank you! I do have a review of that one here if you're interested: ruclips.net/video/92MxBA8tbdY/видео.html
@@CheeseyStudios ohh, defiantly going to watch it!
MAN this wave was awsome especially the aero booster, mobile devastator and combat crawler x2.
The big summer waves area always so much fun with Exo-Force - it really takes the stakes up a level!
I was not expecting a Big Moo cheese sponsorship of all things...
Also I desperately need somebody to recreate that booster-pack frame with modern pieces as like, a revamp moc.
I mean, who would I allow to sponsor Cheesey Studios except for cheese?! I would love to give more Exo-Force remakes a go. The boosters would be such a fun challenge.
"It's amazing what you used to get for 90$"
As a kid, my parents used to give me 50 - 100$ to spend on LEGO as annual gifts. Back then, this kind of money would've gotten you a big set like the LEGO Agents truck (which I did get), which had lots of play features, minifigs, and was designed in a way to let your imagination run wild with what scenarios you could pull off with it.
Nowadays, sets of comparable size are much more expensive, with much bigger piece counts - all in the pursuit of making the models more detailed and "realistic". As such, little place is left for the imagination, as though LEGO doesn't care about how kids would play with these sets.
Nowadays, you walk into a LEGO section of a store, and two thirds of the sets have a black box, some pop-culture model and the price-tag of a new smartphone.
I miss these 2000s sets as well. That being said, please keep up your style of presentation! Love these re-visiting videos :)
Glad you enjoy these. ❤️ It's been fascinating (and ultimately disheartening) to watch the LEGO design philosophy change over the years. Makes me glad I grew up when I did.
The Combat Crawler's poseablility is actually fine if you have the upper legs set at 45%, it makes for a fine digitigrade leg design.
Ah, but I wish the other legs moved 😭
@@CheeseyStudios Fair and valid, I'd love to come up with a walking mechanism for something like that. I only work digitally nowadays, so its a struggle.
I finally got back into legos with the D&D set, but for years I just would look online going... "OH cool... not for that price." I would love a new Exo-Force. Like can we make affordable mechs. I was in highschool, out of legos, but I bought one of the 20 buck sets because.... IT WAS COOL
Ah, so true. I swear all the mechs they do these days are $60+
@CheeseyStudios I doubt it, but I would love a Kaiju theme, but that is with mirco city. So the mini figures are the Kaiju. Just something cheaper and fun.
ooooooooooh I've been waiting so long for this!
IT ALL LEADS TO THIS!
We're almost there! One more to go. Bittersweet for sure....
Been waiting quite a while for this
One more episode to go! I hope I can get it done before the end of the year. We'll see!
a marvelous day to take a closer look
Indeed, indeed!
Perfect timing for this video as I'm beefing up my BrickLink order with needed parts so going to add some Exo-Force! Excellent review and I can't wait to see the next revisiting! This wave is one I missed but the Aero Booster is honestly the best set of the wave.
Aero Booster is peak. I wish we had gotten to see more of that same energy in the other waves. It just makes me smile.
Are you planning on parting together some Exo-Force sets, or collecting some pieces for MOCs?
@@CheeseyStudiosparting together. I found an old box of Lego pieces with some Exo-Force pieces. I also found some Power Miner parts. Just trying to rebuild the sets of my childhood.
If I had encountered these weird anime minifigs in a job lot I would have assumed they were knockoff Lego.
It's just so weird seeing Lego dudes with anime hair and eyes!
Right!? Kinda crazy too that they've never tried anything like it again, even after all these years.
Watching this i realised i have seen tons of the booster robot parts in my collection. Had no idea thats where those parts were from.😅
Oh nice lol! You might have to try and rebuilt it!
Aw yeah, I had the pieces of that golden city temple, never managed to use the huge cool stickers much tho, oh and the marble blue grey turbines
That first one is giving me big Ninjago Lloyd Flyer vibes lol
This theme really did have some crazy elements. The turbines are ridiculous, but they're beautiful pieces. I wish LEGO marbled more stuff!
i think you have said this before, but i wil say it again. Exo-force embodies the concept of what lego SHOULD be, fun sets, that arent too expensive, and also very playable. all of these sets, (except maybe the double crawler.) are very playable, and really benefits the imagination. a lot of never sets feel more like display pieces, which is fine, for the actual display piece, but even the once that are suppose to be played with, feel like they can be, but if something falls of, its going to take an hour to put it on.
Exo-force tended to be flimsy, and or skeletal, but if something fell of, you could either say "battle damage" or put it on like nothing happende.
any way great review of the sets. and i did chuckle a little from you being sponsored by a cheese brand.
Exactly! I do feel LEGO's best 'toys' came out of this era. They were reasonably priced and always packed in a ton of fun. It was a great time to grow up, and I remember these sets so fondly because I enjoyed playing with them - not so much because they just looked cool.
@@CheeseyStudios exactly, they where fun to play with. doesnt hurt that they still look cool as all get out, but the sets where toys first, display piece later.
More Exo-Force coverage is always nice, also always liked Hitomi's mech - too bad it was never sold separately.
Indeed. Blazing Falcon has a lot of personality!
Ah, exoforce. Only ever got 2 of them but the sets were so great.
What sets did you end up getting?
@@CheeseyStudios Blade Titan and Sky Guardian as a kid. Glad to have them still.
I can’t believe how reasonably priced things were then, then again things have dramatically changed A LOT since then. Wow! 🤯
Yeah, it's crazy! Modern mechs are at least $50 these days. There's a lot of part bloat, but modern mechs are definitely built stronger too.
I wish Lego would go back and revamp some of their older series. I would love to see what a modern take of various would entail, especially Exoforce.
Right? It would be crazy what they could do with modern parts
I can't shake off the feeling that Hitomi's design was, at least in part, inspired by Kikunosuke Abashiri's redesign in Mazinger Angels Z.
Definitely not impossible!
Hey I was thinking that building a player made Minecraft module instead of just a biome or village would be kinda cool. I was thinking like a castle or a players base. Love the vids!
Appreciate it! Hope you enjoyed this one. October's episode (available now as early access 👀) does feature the first section of the player base, just saying!
@@CheeseyStudios Oh cool! I hope I can get money to see it soon!
I do love the combat crawler X2, the leg design reminds me of Battletech/Mechwarrior. I still have the parts for the Areo Booster in storage.
Might be worth rebuilding it, honestly - it's such a fun set. Though it does take up way too much space lol!
There's no way he got sponsored by an ACTUAL cheese company 😂
Taking a non-cheese sponsor would be CRINGE
😎😎😎
Yess finally! Man, I love this theme.
It's an all-timer! Hopefully I can get to part 5 before the year is out. We'll see!
The robots in this wave love using Tahu's fire sword
They sure do xD It's all over the place!
I know I had an Exoforce set as a kid but can’t for the life of me remember which. I just remember the wild hair on the mini figure 😂
OMG! I think it’s the Cyclone Defender! Thank you Cheesy!
Oh hey, glad I mentioned that one!
21:01.. Guess im going to start collecting Exo-Force now..
Do itttttt
At Last, I've waited so long for this
Don't worry - me too! 🤣
These sets are so huge, and yet even they can't handle the power of The Big Moo!
It's just too cheesy!!!
Just imagine what LEGO could do to update these sets with today's parts?
Right?! Ah, I gotta do some more modern Exo-Force MOCs...
That cheese actually looks really good
It would pair BEAUTIFULLY with a can of baked beans, just saying xD
Mobile Devastator looks like a crossover between Mad Max & Terminator Judgement Day/ Animé but obviously in LEGO form. 😆
So true lolol
lets go I thought it wouldn't happen
Oh yeeeee
oh yes the brightest idea. Robots hellbent on exterminating mankind can come up with. Strapping a mech to the front of another, because apparently the guy in the back does not have to worry about seeing what's in front of him, and the other pilot has no other purpose besides being a meatshield.
Their brains are MASSIVE
Ahh i remember having a few of these sets
It was a good theme. Glad you got to experience it a bit, too!
Hitomi deserves her own mech!!!
Indeed! I really wish she had come with the Blazing Falcon too.
OMG I HAD RACE TO THE GOLDEN CITY WHEN I WAS A KID
Kid me is jealous! It's such a cool set.
HECK YEAH ANOTHER CHEESE SPONSER!
Get hypeedddd
You should revisit the LEGO Movie line, as the movie is 10 Years old this year!
10 years already!? Time flies...
Love ❤️ exo force inown two original exo force and love ❤️ your channel awesome video might pick up more if of these sets
Thank you
Ooh I Ben waitin along time fo dis
Hope it lives up to the hype! I've loved making this series. Only one more Exo-Force video to go :O
the eyes on these minifigs are ridiculous
Indeed 🤣
The booster literally looks like a MOC, I'd say in terms of looks it holds up.
Honestly, yeah. There's just some really smart parts usage going on
Actual cheese sponsor before GTA 6
real
Ah yes mobile devastator, I’ve actually got both giant stickered side panels stickered excellently, I think they were link .60 a piece which I thought was great weather or not they were stickered well. Plus when parting out 8709 (stupid black tube still don’t have it >:( ) when I bought the one green wheel for that funnily enough the store hade four (yet other 8709 parts and no notable devastator parts) so I bought em all
Ahhh the tube. Don't tell anyone, but I bought a fake one for my Revisiting video. Only one available at the time was $30 from Australia, and now I see there's just literally none on Bricklink xD
@@CheeseyStudios I’ve actually checked amazon, seems like there’s a couple that might work but I’m unsure I’d be curious what you used as I’ve got that set 90% complete otherwise
EXOFORCE VIDEO SPOTTED
I HAVE NEVER CLICKED FASTER
I loved the Aero booster for so long, but I was never able to get it
Ahh, I hope you can one day. It's a beauty!
Someone sold me a aero booster new one in box for $40 couple years ago, one of the best days of my life 😂
Huge W
My uncle has an exoforce mech....One day you'll get your own G😭
Oof 😭
Amazing
Thank you!
Amazing video! Please tell me you’re going to make more Exo force videos?
Yes! I've got the Deep Jungle video coming yet for sure. Not sure when, but I've got all the sets ready to go!