REVIEW 8115 Dark Panther

[Oky]

INITIATE REVIEW SEQUENCE_

Greetings, worthless human! Behold the awesome power of the Dark Panther, one of our latest achievements in combat mech technology! Its agility and sinister paint job will strike fear into the heart of any enemy and shall lead us to victory in our glorious battle against the inferior meatbags! Prepare to learn all about this magnificent piece of machinery!

Set Number: 8115

Name: Dark Panther

Theme: Exo Force

Subtheme: Deep Jungle / Robots

Year: 2008

Pieces: 244

Minifigs: 3

Price: $14.99 USD

BrickLink Brickset Brickshelf Gallery

1. The Box

Like all boxes of the last wave of Exo Force sets of this size, the package of the Dark Panther features parts of clear plastic at the front which allow you to see through to a background image inside the box. This gives the already well-crafted box art some nice depth. The top of the box shows a 1:1 scale picture of the Devastator fig. The right side of the box has "Deep Jungle" and "Weapon becomes Mini-Robot" written in two other languages, while the left side has some safety information.

The back of the box shows how you can detach the mini-robot and the two drones, and the combo model you can build out of the parts from this set and 8117 Storm Lasher. The combo model looks good enough to be its own set, and sadly, I think this was the last time we saw an advertised combo or alternate model.

The contents of the box are comprised of an instructions booklet, a sticker sheet, a card board background, a bag numbered 1, two bags numbered 2.

2. Notable Pieces

Some of the most interesting pieces of this set include dark purple roof slopes and those pointy slope pieces in dark purple and yellow (both of which are exclusive to this set in that color), dark purple grill tiles (which have so far only appeared in one other set), yellow claws (which are also semi-rare in that color), yellow cheese graters (which made their debut in this wave of Exo Force):

3. Instructions

In the first part of the instructions, you assemble the minifigs, in the second, you build the vehicle. Here is a random instructions page:

4. Minifigs

This set includes one Devastator robot and two Iron Drones. It is arguable if these are minifigs or not because they are sort of brick-built and not "normal" minifigs, but since they are officially said to be minifigs, that's what I'm gonna call them. First up, we have the two drones:

Both of them have a small weapon and some kind of back-mounted device with circular saws. I'm not sure what those are for, but I think they are supposed to be small versions of the Storm Lasher, enabling the robots to fly off and scout ahead of the Dark Panther. Here they are in Flight mode:

Next, we have the Devastator and the Mini-Robot, which is basically a large robot spider. The eyes of the spider are on a hinge brick, so they can "look" upward. Unlike the drones, the Devastator has a red Technic axle as eyes which makes him look more menacing.

5. The Complete Set

Here it is, the completed Dark Panther in all its glory! Please not that I did not apply all the stickers. The ones on the upper front legs and the windscreen are missing.

Front view. Looks kind of skinny and unimposing from this angle, but the way the drones are attached at an angle looks good.

Side view. As you can see here, the cockpit is pretty cramped. But then again, these are robots; they don't care about comfort.

Rear view. Unlike most Exo Force sets, this mech doesn't look too bad from this angle. Could have been better though.

Top and bottom view. As you can see in the top view, you have to raise the spider's front legs in order to fit it onto the Panther.

Here it is without the figs and with the cockpit open:

The main cannon can be tilted up 90 degrees.

With the included background, you can display the set nicely, even though the background is a bit narrow.

6. Spare Parts

There are only four spare parts: A claw, a Technic spacer, and two translucent studs. Nothing too exciting.

7. Bonus Pictures

The Dark Panther is quite poseable. The following action shots will demonstrate that. Here it is on the hunt:

Attacking its prey:

And trying out for the robot circus:

8. Final Thoughts

Design: 4.5/5 - Well, it doesn't look much like a panther, what with all the spikes and strange proportions and all, but it definitely looks like a cool, menacing, panther-inspired mech. It looks good from most angles, and even though the color scheme doesn't match any of the other bad guy vehicles, it certainly looks great. It's not loaded with stickers like some other Exo Force sets either, so it'll still look good if you don't apply them. Also, it gets some bonus points for being the first four-legged Exo Force mech.

Build: 4/5 - Mostly good, with some SNOT and not too much Technic. There's some repetition though, especially on the lower legs.

Minifigs: 4/5 - Three minifigs in a $15 set is a good deal. Not great, but good. I like the robots because they are made out of shiny parts which can be useful for MOCs. The robots included are nothing special though. But then again, the fact that they are so generic is what makes this such a good battle pack.

Playability: 4.5/5 As already mentioned, the Panther is very poseable, you can aim the cannon, and all the detaching extras are fun. My only gripe are the unbendable knees.

Parts: 4.5/5 - You get a few nice parts in rare colors, and who doesn't like purple? Most of it is pretty basic stuff, though.

Price: 5/5 - Three minifigs, a brick-built spider, and a medium sized mech for $15 seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Overall: 4.5/5 - While it may not be perfect, it's a pretty neat set for its price. Over two Years after its release, I was still able to acquire this set at MSRP, so if you can do the same, I can definitely recommend getting it!

By the way, have you ever wondered what Devastator does on his day off? He goes to the park to spends quality time with his pet Spiderbot!

Again, you can find hi-res version of all the pics and more in this Brickshelf folder. I hope you enjoyed this review, and remember:

ALL HAIL MECHA ONE! KILL ALL HUMANS!

TASK COMPLETED_

[FinalFeature]

This was the only Deep jungle set i bought since it contained purple elements and 3 robots.

Thanks for the great review Oky Wan Kenobi!

LegoGalactus

[ZO6]

This strikes me as such an oddball set - though I definitely appreciate the crazy design and rare colours.

I haven't seen many of the later Exo Force sets up close, so this was a great opportunity to do so. Thanks for the review!

[RoryoCox]

Nice review.

I find think this set was alright. The little robots are terrible but the design of the set itself is good.

[prateek]

Oh Exo-Force, how I love thee! Great review. I like this set, even though it was one of the worst Exo-Force sets

[vexorian]

Oh Exo-Force, how I love thee! Great review. I like this set, even though it was one of the worst Exo-Force sets

I bought it yesterday out of impulse for casually seeing that it was the last Dark Panther in the store. This is actually the medium sized sets from the robots' faction I like the most out of the few I got (I got the Shadow Crawler and the Iron Condor before it). I dunno, it may as well be for the extravagant amount of content it has. The devastator without blended trans colors is also really an improvement, I got to say. It is amazing that it manages to be a mobile base, being able to deploy three minions and use its laser. And its cockpit design is really the first one that hasn't completely disappointed me. It also looks ready to jump like a panther when needed. It is just so much for just 15.0 USD. Best deal out of an exo force set I found so far.

[charlieboy]

Also, it gets some bonus points for being the first four-legged Exo Force mech.

Didnt Striking Venom get there first in 2006?

Great review though,i have an almost complete Exo-Force collection,its defo one of the best themes for me