The Cobra Posted October 24, 2009 "They looked out from the Fortress on the hill - There came a single warrior Returning from the kill" (Gary Moore- Thunder rising) 7702: Thunder fury Year: 2006 Theme: Exo-Force Subtheme: Robots Pieces: 197 (including 4 extra pieces) Price: 15 USD / 15 EUR / ?? UKP Building time: less than 20 minutes (not including sticker placing) MISB on review: Yes More info: Brickset - Peeron Official description: Furious robot thunder! The most frightening of robots and the most powerful opponent of EXO-FORCE, Thunder Fury's titanium power saw and automatic laser cannon make it a major threat to the safety of the humans of Sentai Mountain! - Includes Devastator robot pilot minifigure! - Includes special light brick and energy tubing to make the Thunder Fury "power up!" - Thunder Fury stands over 7.5 inches (19cm) high! - Rebuild into the Fire Fury or combine with #7703 Fire Vulture to build a giant Battle Machine. See www.EXO-FORCE.com for building instructions and more building inspiration photos. Box front: A bit of 3D, see the relief printing of the TF shape. Box inside: some comics featuring Thunder fury Vs. Grand titan. Box inside: Mecha highlights and an alternate model. Box rear: Combo model of the two "stand-alone" Robot mechas and theme overview. Box content: 4 bags, sticker sheet, instructions booklet. Stickers: quite a few, they even have numbers for an easier placing. Not so random instructions page: Those slopes (steps 6 and 7) look as if they were different colors. They both actually are black. And cones that appear to be solid red are actually Trans red. Inventory: It takes two pages to list all the pieces. Click for larger images. Pieces: This model is based on black, gray (light and dark) and dark red, plus a bit of trans red pieces. Minifig and unusual pieces: Devastator (whose body is partly gray and partly trans red) wants to show us some pieces. Brick 3x3 without corner: not a popular piece but it first surfaced in 2001 and still is used. Technic Transmission Driving Ring Extension: from class of 1999, in its most popular color. Wedge 4 x 4 Corner: not really popular, only used from 2004 to 2007 so far; Minifig Accessory Speargun: Hey, Robots like spearfishing too! Electric Light & Sound Brick 2 x 4 with Red LED: main feature of the early Exo-Force large sized mechas, it ended up being a 2006 exclusive. (Pics courtesy of Peeron) Building: Let's start: Plates under the light brick, tiles with clip to hold the fiber optics cable and... Building: ...Technic pins for Technic beams! Those sockets will host the legs. Building: A rear view. The hinge top is not there to hinge, but to stop the moving cockpit. Building: These two mirror imaged parts are the breast and shoulders of the TF. This is how they look on the inside... Building: ...and here is the oustide. Sockets will host the arms. Building: The core of the Thunder fury is nearly already complete. The pin in the axle joiner is there to help pressing the light brick. This works way better without Devastator's standing. Building: Left and right leg look exactly the same. Feet are connected to anckles via a "Technic Pin Long with Friction"; this was a bad choice and I'll later tell you why. Building: Short upper arms, a laser gun on the right and a (yep, Bionicle) sword on the left. Building: Here's Devastator's "open cockpit"; binoculars turned into small cannons, just like in some Batman sets. Building: The trunk, the arms and the legs. Thunder Fury is nearly complete, but mechas have (lots of) stickers too! Thunder Fury: Front view of the model with them all stickers. Thunder Fury: Side view. Man Mecha, watch your back! Thunder Fury in action: Battle posed, ready to attack. Thunder Fury in action: A view from the rear. Thunder Fury in action: Facing the Grand Titan. Thunder Fury in action: Are human forces about to collapse? Review: An headless body, like most every (if not all) Exo-Forxe mechas. An open cockpit, beacuse robots are tougher than humans. A LED lit cannon and a saw-edged sword. Joints everywhere, to make this mecha's articulations as close as possible to the human body. Lots of stickers to help you decide whether you want to buy this set for what it is or not buy it beacuse you can't use stickered pieces for your MOCs. And spearguns, the "piece used in a total different way from what it is", like frogs used as coat hooks in the modular Fire station. I believe these spearguns should either work as antennas or hooks; they surely look like "the piece that shouldn't be there in real life beacuse it would be the first to be swept away". There are two main flaws with the Thunder Fury. 1) feet. "Ankles" are built like all other articulations, but there is just a 3-long Technic pin (ankle to foot) which grants posability and instability at the same time. 2) activating the lightning system. You have to press the cockpit, and you have to be touchy or you will destroy most of the TF before it comes close to a Human machine. And both flaws seem to be common amongst the first Exo-Force wave (or is it just that my hands are too big compared to a kid's?). Another flaw is the wrong color reference in some (many) instructions steps. Looking at the inventory pages or separate pieces by color will solve the problem in short time. Such an heavy body on such small legs might look like another flaw, but Lego designers are not newbies; I think there is no collapsing risk even for those who leave the model staing tall without posing it, and they will be a small minority. A one-click backwards rotation of the higher leg articulation will just bring most help these people need. Rating: Color scheme: 5/5. Lego colors of evil (dark red and black) strike again, after Vladek and his army and before Fantasy era skeletons' shields. Minifigs and accessories: 4/5. It's not that this set is short on minifigs (all of these mechas had the pilot only and no one else, some -like TF- with no accessories at all), it's just that most robots look the quite the same. At least this version of Devastator has the 2-tone body. Pieces: 4/5. This set is not what you're looking for to use in your MOC (unless you're into Mecha building), but all pieces make sense in the set as it is. Playability: 4/5. The TF comes with lots of joints and the lightning brick, so that should grant some fun. Design: 3/5. It doesn't look as good as some other E-F sets; flaws are not really different from other 2006 mechas. Overall rating: 4/5. Great look, minor flaws, might not be a great stand-alone but a must in any Exo-Force collection. The final words: If you missed this one, try surfing the net, you can still get one for less than RRP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
charlieboy Posted October 24, 2009 Great review,not one of my favourite ef mechs but defo not the worst! Ive almost got every ef set now,just need to find two more then the collection is complete! Does anybody else still collect them? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
user Posted October 24, 2009 Good reviw! This review made made me remember how awesome exo-force was too bad they ruined it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
charlieboy Posted October 24, 2009 Good reviw! This review made made me remember how awesome exo-force was too bad they ruined it. How so? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Milan Posted October 25, 2009 Never really liked Exo-Force, but I always like to see one. And this one is not bad at all. This is nice review, detailed and tidy! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squidman85 Posted October 25, 2009 The set is very good,as the review. A lot of good pieces and nice design(it was bought by me ). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fumoffu Posted October 25, 2009 Nice review. In my book it is a shame that Exo-force is no more. I preferred the earlier sets (like this one) to some of the latter ones. Don't know why but I just prefer the looks of the earlier sets. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
user Posted October 25, 2009 How so? Sorry I meant "To bad they discontinued it. " Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Front Posted October 26, 2009 Great review of one of my favorite Exo-Force sets of this size. I still got the four original sets in boxes, lol I'm the worst Exo-nerd around, got 5 of this particular set reviewed here. Robots and mechs, bring it on. The only one I don't have is 7712, Supernova I rate this one above average. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zzz Posted October 26, 2009 Very good review - thanks a lot for reviving some Exo Force here. Sometimes I am afraid it will soon be forgotten, like the Aqua Raiders, like Agents and so on. I have to admit though, that I only bought some of the humans' machines, cause I prefer minifigs way over these strange robots and I liked their mechs more. I didn't find it difficult to play with, cause I always played Space-themes in the past with a "phantom menace" - just patroling or fighting against nature. @Front: http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?itemID=61695 it is cheap for such a great set, get it while you can! Shipping from germany should be 15 or so to denmark. Thanks again for the review, makes me remember this nice line! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Cobra Posted October 27, 2009 Thank you for all your words (yet I'd love to forget Agents ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Cam Posted October 27, 2009 I remember Exo-Force. I remember not buying any Exo-Force But that has nothing to do with a great review. You covered all the angles, great review! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dunjohn Posted October 27, 2009 Didn't have this one. Exo-Force is my "main" Lego line, it's what got me back into Lego, but only towards what has turned out to be the later stages of the line, so I'm missing most of the sets. Uhrrr... NEVER show an Exo-Force mech from the side or the rear, the designers really didn't give anything other than the front any attention, as your pics show. That's Exo-Force's main downfall. Still good, though. Good review, cheers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJ Force Posted November 10, 2009 Great review,not one of my favourite ef mechs but defo not the worst! Ive almost got every ef set now,just need to find two more then the collection is complete!Does anybody else still collect them? As a matter of fact, I do! :) EF is still my main focus on Lego themes and I still think it´s such a shame it was ruined discontinued after an excellent start with wave 1, a not so good wave 2 and an excellent again wave 3. However, I have all the sets now. Every single one, some mutliples for parts, alternate or combi builds and some for MOCs. Even all the promos. If any of you is still into EF, take a peek at my signature. I paused my Project Sentai Mountain story after an obvious lack of interest, but with enough feedback I might start again. Aaaaand, back to Topic: Nice review! Makes me want to get the boxes out and start building again :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KDog Posted November 11, 2009 EXO-Force was cool, but the spectacular revival of Lego's classic themes have given me more than enough to focus on! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ciano Posted November 14, 2009 Exo-Force was an awesome theme. I loved the idea of giant robot anime LEGO. It was like a million good things, all in one idea. But the second two years of it sucked. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gizhou Posted December 4, 2009 Great detailed review! Exo-Force was the theme that got me back into collecting Lego after many many years. I managed to collect all the sets over the 3 year run (except for the promo ones in poly bags) Great review of one of my favorite Exo-Force sets of this size. I still got the four original sets in boxes, lol I'm the worst Exo-nerd around, got 5 of this particular set reviewed here.Robots and mechs, bring it on. The only one I don't have is 7712, Supernova I rate this one above average. Hi Front! I've seen from other threads that you worked on Bionicle and I'm curious if you were involved in Exo-Force? The 4 flagship mechs from the first year were awesome, and what was especially outstanding were the alternate models featured on the back of the boxes. It's a shame newer themes/sets have given up on displaying "inspiration" alternate builds on the boxes apart from multi-set combo models. Hopefully you can find the Supernova on an online auction site as it truly was one of the best sets in the series. I personally bought a few copies of that one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prateek Posted December 7, 2009 Best line of that year IMO. Great review. I missed out on this line, but I did help my cousin build his Grand Titan, which was really fun, and the light feature was amazing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Forresto Posted December 7, 2009 Oh I miss this theme . It had a greaat plot and some really cool pieces like the golden katana! It's too bad the sets and the plot at the end just slowed down because it had potentiol . Thanks for reviewing this set, it brings up good memories. Very good review. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CommanderFox Posted December 9, 2009 (edited) Nice review The Cobra. Exo-Force was a nice theme, only con was that in every set there was so many stickers! This was a nice set, it has some really cool parts in it. Nice review! CommanderFox Edited December 9, 2009 by CommanderFox Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
