Review: 7316 Excavation Searcher

[def]

Full size image.

Without title.

Earlier this year, my review of the Life On Mars Recon Mech was the least popular review I ever did. I dig the series, and was thoroughly disappointed at it's reception. ( ) Anyway, stubborn bastard that I am, it only made me like the series even more. Months later, I came across a copy of this set in an online auction, and at ¥2,000, I drunkenly bidded on it, to the consternation of missus def. Was it all worth it? You'll have to read to find out.

Set#: 7316

Name: Excavation Searcher

Theme: Space/Life On Mars

Year: 2001

Pieces: 471

Minifigs: 3 Martians: Pollux, Canopus, and Vega

Price: 2,000 yen!

MSP: $50 U.S, £39.99

Peeron

Brickset

Bricklink

The box

The box imagery is quite nice. The silhouette of Mars with a landscape of Mars and the Searcher working in the foreground. Even the digital noise, looking somewhat hologram like, adds to the sci-fi effect. Full points for the box art.

The back shows how to use the modular aspect of it. Dig the website image in the lower right. Yes, that's the year 2000 speaking to us loud and clear. Remember the Internet?

The sets three Martians are named on the side. I like that they want to give them identities.

The booklet

The set comes with a brochure showing some of the other sets available at the time. Other than the rover, I have none of these, and the curiosity is still piqued.

The last two pages of instructions show the unfortunately simple process of making a mech out of the set.

The back shows the majority of the line; Got it, got it, need it, need it, got it, got it, got it, need it.

The Pieces

There are three figures, and though they are 50% battle droid, I don't hate them. Each head has individualized printing, and they have their own color scheme. So, they aren't fantastic, I wish they had separated legs, but they are alright. The heads are very cool. Also, despite the bizarre sounding names, all are named after stars, so they're educational too!

A pile of bricks in exciting colors. This is a key to understanding the series. Though a sci-fi series, it is decidedly anti-flash. No electric colors a la Power Miners for this excavator.

The set comes with a number of printed pieces, as well as some that could be considered pure greeble. Those beige pieces at the bottom look like they were custom made for a pipe organ.

The Build

The set has a number of modular builds. The first is the front cockpit, with glowy radar arm, and giant grabber.

Second is a pair of legs, with hinges between the upper beige and grey. There are lock pieces on the top, and in the facing grey piece.

They fit together in a mutant sort of way; they can't stand upright unless they balance on the giant claw.

The next part has two florescent rocks, that have mineral looking pieces to keep inside.

They go into this docking bay, which has arms that open and close to lock them in.

Attaching this, the set can stand on its own feet, and to be honest, this is a pretty cool looking set on its own. You can visualize it wandering the Martian landscape, picking up rocks.

Next we have the crane arm, which besides having two joints, is also on a swivel, and has a perch for a controller to stand on.

It snaps in, and we have the first have of the set together.

The second piece is a sort of rock-processing center. It has prongs at the front, which can enter the back of the main set, but they don't snap into place, and seem meant for positioning.

The Finished Product

So here it all is. It's just a bit too big to give a clear shot of all of it. It is a nice playset.

The underside of it has this little hoverer, which looks a lot better than the minis including in a lot of Star Wars sets.

I didn't position the prongs down as in the box art. I think this looks just fine.

The front cockpit open up, and the control panel pivots to help position the pilot easier. I like the lights overhead. It's very functional!

The claw is the perfect size to clamp the rocks. Vega transports it to the processor.

He drops it on the ramp.

And Canopus can do whatever it is he does with these mysterious red rocks.

Finally, Pollux can detach from the rest and convert his vehicle into a mech for strolling around.

The Final Verdict

Design: 9/10 This is a really well designed set. It has a lot of details, and is also functional. To add to that, it is modular, which is rare for a set of this time. The only weakness is the color. It's a very appropriate color for an Excavation Searcher, but it's not all that stimulating.

Build: 7/10 It's interesting, but nothing very challenging or shocking.

Playability: 9/10 It has a purpose and a narrative built in, plus, if you have other Life on Mars sets, you can join them together with their combined modularity. Very, very smart!

Minifigures: 7/10 They are not quite proper minifigs, but that's not a big problem. But it's not mind-blowing either. Very nice painting though.

Price: 7/10 I think $50 was too much for this set at that time. A fair price in year-2000-dollars would have been $35. Perhaps the charge was for the unique pieces and colors. I got it for about $20, so I'm absolutely thrilled with the price.

Overall: 9/10 I'm rating this on the design and uniqueness. Space sets are hit and miss in terms of design. Sometimes they are ridiculous in a great, playful way, and sometimes they are simply ridiculous. This is the opposite, an attempt to do something that seems grounded in hard sci-fi.

I really lucked out on this set. The previous owner was, I can only imagine, psychotically nerdy. I bought it used, but the box was in near perfect condition, having been surgically opened. All the original bags were there, opened and resealed with a heat seal (which melts the plastic together). And all the pieces looked like new. So, he'd opened it, then stored it for 10 years, then sold it for half what he paid for it. Unbelievable.

The Life on Mars series was a great experiment that proved to be unsuccessful, hence the action oriented Mars series that came out only a few years later. While it's definitely not a 'must-have' set, it's a great curiosity, a set that seems to combine the Town series with the Space theme, creating somewhat mundane sci-fi sets. I totally understand why it wasn't a super-hit with the kids, but for a nerdy guy like me, its a kind of manna. Now I just need to track down cheap copies of the really big sets.

[robuko]

Thanks for the review def, and the great pictures. 2000 yen is a steal! I think LoM, like UFO and insectoids, is hugely under-rated. Printed parts, rare colours, great minifigs, plug and play mechas, why so unpopular? I like the aliens and I agree that it`s good for kids to have a line that is based on collaborative play like classic space, rather than goodies vs baddies. I wonder what is in the rocks? Would be great to have a martian city theme.

[Fugazi]

Great review, thanks def! Your title image is quite beautiful. These are the sets that brought us all those wonderful sand colours! I almost bought some used LoM sets a while back but in the end didn't. While I like the subdued colours and the non-violent premise, I think that the main problem for me with the theme as a whole were the alien minifigs. I can't feel for them, they just look too much like battle droids, and not like organic beings, despite the best efforts of head printing. That and the unexciting design of the smaller sets. But it's really a shame, because some sets like this one are interesting and innovative for the period. Replace the 'droids' with some of the more elaborate aliens that we have today and it would be a winner.

[def]

Great review, thanks def! Your title image is quite beautiful.

Thanks! I haven't done a review in a few months, so I spent lots of time on that title image

[XimenaPaulina]

Fantastic review def! I'll echo the same sentiments as above, the title pic is just epic! Regarding the set, at first I thought it was rather boring simply because it's a Life on Mars set. But after reading your review, I was quite pleasantly surprised on the playability function of this one. What I like most is the transformation from a functional walker into a mech. This might not be a very popular set, but it's quite ok with me.