Slugger, I can confidently say that I was not expecting to see the crew of starship enterprise watch a fan-made music video about generation two Throwbots -- but it's what I needed. This is inspirational and it sets an entirely new standard for the effort that should go into video production on UA-cam.
Thank you! The decision to include that bit alone nearly delayed this video, haha. I had to pull some rather late nights to get this one done on time! 😅
So the Slizers were mutated by dilithium from the meteorite. Makes sense, we have seen stranger things happen with dilithium, like destroying every ship in the galaxy that actively used it cause of a subspace screaming crab person....oh Discovery and its shenanigans.
I don't know guys, I have this completely unfounded theory that Slugger may be into Star Trek, really have no proof or substantiation though, just a wild guess in the dark
It's an impressive feat to be honest, there are so many different types of environments on that planet, he even managed to hike underwater and through a perilous volcanic terrain.
I appreciate Throwbots from a historic standpoint. They allowed Lego to test out a bunch of things to see what did, and didn't work with Technic constraction builds. Throwbots walked, so Bionicle could run.
Its so amusing that the Apocalypse-Mania of Y2K was manifested in lego through an asteroid that turned the 'Cool World' of planet Slizer into a radioactive asteroid-pockmarked hellscape that birthed literal Slizer aliens and mutants, relying on the avatar of the Millennium to ride in on a motor cycle mad max style. Or... was it actually a mechanical horseman of the apocalypse, leading the new monstrous Slizers against the original gladiators? Also as someone who collected the original slizers as a Kid, I don't remember ever seeing the disc blind boxes in stores, I think they were a bit of a limited release because I remember reading that I was going to have to order more from Lego, but I never did. I could be misremembering though.
Millenia may be one of the coolest most played with toys I ever got as a kid! I cannot tell you how many times I rebuilt him between giant robot or motorbike. I would even play with him alongside my bionicles.
This video made me strangely excited at the realization that Roboriders parts could totally be used for Throwbots mocs - same face design language and everything! Also I have to say, one of my favorite parts of Throwbots is just the multicolored gears. Technic gears are normally so dull being just grey all the time, but Throwbots blessed the world with a source of colorful gears to brighten up your fun little mechanisms. Purple, red, green, Throwbots had it all.
I was worried that we were coming up on the first ever Slugger-dragged-that-out-too-long bit with that Star Trek shot, but wow it was great! Fantastic video as always. Particularly top tier thumbnail art as well!
This video got a few good laughs out of me. Your delivery of that initial "well, they're _DEAD!_ Buy these new ones!" was fantastic - and that Kraftwerk parody is absolute perfection, lmao! Blaster was my first Throwbot, and the only one I had first-hand. My parents got him for me as a birthday gift, I think, sometime around 2003 or 2004 (well after Throwbots was retired, so I don't know where they found him). I got Spark a while later, along with a bunch of wave 1 Throwbots and some RoboRiders, as hand-me-downs from a friend of the family. Unfortunately, I don't have the cases for any of them, though. Man, watching this video makes me want to dig into my collection and rebuild Blaster. I don't think he's been assembled in over 15 years! EDIT: also, I totally agree about those awesome Technic panels! I was never really a Technic gal, but to this day, when I think of Technic, those panels are always one of the first pieces to come to mind.
Actually getting a good look at these last four, especially that Blaster combiner, Slizers really seems like a hotbed for a techno-horror setting where robots are mercilessly broken and rebuilt into stranger and more vile forms. Very ‘90s. But definitely jamming to “We Are the Throwbots”
Ok just me but millennium's titan form gives off strong Omega Supreme vibes. Makes me question if he was an inspiration for the elongated head shapes of the throwbots?
I think you might be right! I'm pretty sure lego used some 80s toy robot inspiration while designing the theme, looking at the likes of transformers and gundam. Even while developing Bionicle, there were some borrowed design ideas. The voodoo prototype head is modeled after Hammerstein from ABC Warriors
Great Video Slugger but MAN I forgot how eXtreme this theme got. Basically half of the slizers just DIED or got fused together. Which is really grim to think about, really gives me “All tomorrows Vibes”!
I have Blaster from my childhood, and I must voice a warning: I found it easy to accidentally break one of the leg pieces at the ball joint while posing it as a kid.
I really liked Millennium’s awesome tire feet, they were a real game changer. It’s really easy to imagine thrusters or something on the bottom of them. And BLASTER, he was my stand in for Makuta for the longest time.
Thank you! The Kraftwerk parody is something I've been singing to myself for weeks working on these videos, but it wasn't until the lyrics for the verses came to me did I decide to actually record it, haha. 😆
Throwbots are so integral to my own videos. They're the basis for most of my character designs. Great video as usual slug, though I do prefer the og purple slizer to its follow up
I love how you captured the whole vibe of the era instead of just talking about the sets. They really did get pretty wild with their themes towards the turn of the millenium haha
Very glad to have been able to contribute some nonsense to this beautiful video! :P These two videos been absolutely outstanding and I'm so glad to see the by me beloved Slizers get some modern appreciation!
I remember during hero factorys breakout line there were two sets that also had motorcycles. I'm wondering now if Throwbots was the inspiration behind those two sets.
Sometimes it is better to burn out than to slowly glow away. I think these models were great and the throwbots got imo everything they needed in their lineup of Sets. They surely left an impression and have a good place in LEGO History 😊 Great Video again! I have to wonder, is there anything planned for Robo Riders? I would like to see that theme as well, as I never quite understood it as anything more than a bridge theme before bionicle that felt half baked. But a closer look at those motorcycle-guys could perhaps chsnge my perspective...
Good point! Wave 2 leaves me wanting more, but at the same time, look what happened to Bionicle when they refused to call it quits... 😕 I nearly have everything I need to make a Roboriders video happen. 👍 Not sure if it will be the next video or not though - my fingers hurt after building all this Technic stuff recently, haha, I kind of want to go back to System! 😆
I had very little interest in Throwbots prior to this mini-series on your channel. I knew they existed, but generaly didn’t care about them. Thanks to your way of word and your genuine appreciation for these sets I now understand why there is still a niche community that makes MOC’s with them! This is without a doubt your best video to date, however I didn’t think that was possible due to the extreme high quality content of your previous videos. Keep it going Slugger!
8:17 Time to toot my own horn! The two-disk distribution in the 1999 sets was initially entered in Bricklink as being random, however the random disks above 3 pips appear to only have been available through the mail-order system, not in the sets themselves. It was I who began to notice this correlation of disktribution between owning original copies and comparing with other sources online (instructions and other's sets listed on Bricklink, Flicker, Brickshelf, etc.) and put in the change requests to specify which disks came with whom!
Words can’t express how much I appreciated that Kraftwerk cover. I remember finding Spark in a dingy little discount store about 12 years ago and having no idea what this not-Bionicle thing was.
If it wasn't for that very last reference at the end of the song, I would've sworn that the Throwbots song was official music made by Lego! Great stuff as always!
Despite having a bunch of these as a kid I was never really aware that Throwbots had ""lore"" until watching this haha. You can really see how these ideas eventually developed into Bionicle.
r/MutantThrowbots mentioned! It’s been awesome seeing your reactions to the whole Throwbots/Slizers line. And I’m always looking forward to whatever you’ve got coming up next! Bring on the Winter of Slug!
I was really big into the original Throwbots when I was a kid, but never got any of the 2nd series; I went up to my local thrift store yesterday and found a bag of Lego, containing about 75% of the 2nd series, minus all the discs. The next few months of parting out pieces for the other 25% on bricklink is gonna be a journey I'm both excited and terrified to go on. Slugman always bringing back the great old Lego nostalgia with these videos😄
Spark is rare because it features Bionicle purple parts that allow fans to build Voriki, the 7th Toa Mata. It's a complicated story, but basically the Bonkles community went berserk after leaks revealed Voriki as the 7th Toa, only to find out that this set never came to be released, with LEGO denying any ties to it. Turns out I was a fake, using pictures from a fan contest. But Voriki, now having come to life through the spark of communitive creativity refused to die, and the fan base kept him alive all these years.
That makes total sense and actively feeds into my worldview of Bionicle fans being the cause of everything wrong in the world! 😉 /jk To be honest, I know exactly what you're talking about with Voriki - I never made the connection though, thanks!
So slugger, when is the full track releasing? You can’t just make a absolute banger and make the fans attempt to stitch it together. We need a full video version of the throwbot whip.
Another fun video that surpasses the original, just like the models contained within! "We Are The Throwbots" is a jam, I really hope we get to hear it in another video! I don't know when such an opportunity will arise, however!
Wow, that Ummagumma reference was completely unexpected, but wholeheartedly appreciated. Fun fact…totally paid 50 bucks for a European 8-track copy for my ‘78 VW microbus because the US 8-track omitted 3/4 of the live tracks. Edit: totally remember getting Millenium as either a Christmas or birthday gift.
I swear I've rewatched this video maybe 5 times, and somehow this video is still able to make me laugh every time I watch it! Its genuinely impressive just how fantastic this video is in every aspect imaginable!
Okay, I have a lot to say about these ones. 2:15 Their mission: to seek out new life! In... whatever shape it may take... 3:19 Wow I never had Flare! Look at that gear system! That's so practical! This is insane for a throw bot. And it actually looks cool in either configuration, it's almost like a barebones lego transformer! 4:56 Ah jeez, I had Spark, I guess there is some lucky orphans out there who got to play with a very exclusive lego action figure, and it's probably for the best that it ended up in their hands. (If he managed to stay intact, that is) 6:01 Blaster was awesome, now _that's_ a villain, he reminds me of Megatron with his imposing, bullish stature, it makes Judge look like the "we have Blaster at home" version. Thermite looks awesome! This legit could have been a set, it would have naturally surpassed some of the originals, since they were still in the early days of making this kind of stuff. 11:28 All of these Throwbots are cool, but can you get any cooler than the robot who was designed to be the coolest? This guy comes with a motorcycle and he combines with it to _throw_ down with the likes of Blaster. 16:01 Aww it's really sweet to see that ms Heck still remembers Hiker Mike so fondly. 16:18 I still cannot get over how silly Ultra Rex is, with its *W* *I* *D* *E* battle stance. Lovely retrospective! I adore this theme song you created for them.
Wow! This was a poooolished episode! The music, the drama, the presentation, accuracy and pedantry of sets' description, love it! I have to say, I hadn't known about the Throwbots before Big Yellow and you made me aware of their existence. Gotta say, it's a very fascinating subject, this second wave vastly surpasses and expand on the first wave. I suppose you really can see Lego Group polishing the construction figure architecture within their field of possibilities, expanding on previous concepts, introducing new molds, which as a whole eventually led to themes like Bionicle or Exo Force (of course the latter being system, not technic theme, but it still makes use of Galidor joints and it's another step in nailing the articularationable figure). I don't know anything about Bionicle Bionicle yet but your narration to me, personally, makes me see that, yeah, sure Slizers seem like testing polygon for these idea and it led to next super stuff. This This 2nd wave is sooo good
Thank you! I’ve been cooking up these Throwbot videos since the summer. I actually had to remove the “brought to you by the Summer of Slug” bits from the script before recording them! 😂
Ok, Flare was the "Jet/Judge-alike" that I remembered having, and Blaster was the big guy's name. I have no idea where I got "Power" from, unless I mixed him up with the RoboRider of the same color? Whatever the case, thanks for clearing up one of my few surviving childhood memories. Odd. . . . I remember the locking ball joints in Blaster's strong hand being black in my copy, or maybe I just swapped them out with spares from another victim of my childhood ham-fistery because the grey ones were out-of-place and forgot which was right. Funnily enough, I had a thing at the time for eyeballing the box instead of relying on the instructions, so I never built Blaster or Super Millennium right, but little me enjoyed them regardless. Not that it mattered, after a few weeks, everything was destined for the scrap bin, waiting to be used in some monstrosity or other that I'd conjured from their remains like a plastic necromancer.
WE ARE THE THROWBOTS!! I did NOT expect such a seamless Star Trek interlude in my Thorwbots video watching experience. Screw the Vulcans, the Throwbots are Earth's greatest allies! They saved us from Y2K! I gotta hand it to the second wave, these are all bangers when it comes to Throwbots. I can't deny they're all around objectively cooler than the original 8! That said, I still personally like, say, Electro and Granite more than say, Spark. That said, I'm gonna need to hunt down a Spark sometime, it's still a really cool set! And you know, purple is the best color! Spark and Electro can be besties. = ] One thing I really appreciate about these videos is that they've really reignited my love for these silly little robots, and this era of Constraction overall. I'm glad I haven't sold off my older Constraction pieces now, I plan on digging through them and building me some Throwbot Original Characters!! I'm excited to see a potential Roboriders video, or maybe even going deeper into the past with Competition and its 2001 Rahi-like constructions! Oh, and I loved Blaster tapping his foot during the second musical sequence, that was really cute. Like he's too cool to dance but just can't resist the beat!
Hi Slugger, really a wonderfull voyage into some nostalgica for me. Slicers were one of the last themes i had before my dark Ages. The video was awesome! The Star Trek 6 scenes and the Kraftwerk inspired track... i love it! ❤ Greetings from Germany, your channel is awesome!
As a huge fan of energy Slizer I had to get Spark. I hated its weapon, even if I LIKED the idea. I changed it to be a glider and he became a smaller bro for energy. I never cared these were bad guys. I am really Happy I menaged to get them all like 12 years ago. They were and are amazing toys and proves that with Lego - often smaller sets are way better than big ones.
Their description as "bad" always seemed so arbitrary to me. The second wave bots definitely seem more like bad guys in retrospect, they are often depicted with all of this apocalyptic imagery. I get anti-hero vibes from Millenia, like he is formally part of the bad guy group, but he is a biker, so of course he is the lonesome bad boy who does his own thing, and who also does not combine with Blaster.
I never saw or heard about those Throwbots until now. How interesting. Me and my brother had some of the original ones. Anyway, I always thought the side part of their heads were their teeth. Looking at the masks with the face makes it so strange now. Thanks for the nostalgia trip. Can't wait for the Roboriders
I didn't get into Bionicle until it's 2nd year but I remember seeing these and Robo Riders at 2nd hand stores like KB toys, yard sales, or Kmarts. I got all the robo riders in canisters but never any of them "new". Heck I'm still getting these fellas in lots from time to time. Great video Slugger!
In my headcanon, Spark is either a mutated form of Electro or part of the same species as his, but mutated into a more "humanoid" appearance like most of the other Slizers
I had no idea these throwbots caame in two iterations. I defintiely have fonder memories than you did of the first run, but the motorcycle 8520 was by far my favorite of the bunch too. Love the video!
Throwbots and roboriders are what got me into LEGO Technic. I have never been so steeped in anticipation as I am right now awaiting the inevitable roborider video. I mean, frost is clearly the best, but I'll let the slug do his thing
I wrongly assumed that the thumbnail would be the artistic peak of this video. Amazing as it is, I was ill-prepared for the editing wonders that awaited in the video proper.
An awesome video as always! Fun throughout, another certified Slug Classic. Really like the stop motion stuff too and I apprrciate the effort that those alone take.
Lots of highlights in this video XD That previously cold opening was hilarious, and so was the star trek skit with the absolute JAMMER! downloading that right away! And seeing throwbot built Slugger was so cursed, it reminded me that I have to build a UCS style Slugger some tike in the future. This was perhaps the best follow-up video yet! XD
Another great learning experience! I acquired most of this wave some years back with the first wave of Slizers, just missing parts from Blaster yet had his box, and no Millennium entirely. The combo model was the most curious part of the overview to me, I wouldn't have guessed only *some* of Blaster would be taken apart to build the figure. So nice to watch both Slizer videos back-to-back!
Two minor -nitpicks-notes on Millennium/Millennia: 12:08 The motorbike build does have leftover parts, being exactly 2 of the Technic axle hole connector (element 32039). That's it lol. Additionally, 14:03 the gold disk features the exclusive NINE pips! Really showing off Millennium's impressive power.
You're totally right about both counts! Truth be told, I knew about the two leftover pieces - or I should say, I found out about that *after* I had finished recording the script. It felt a little too pedantic to go back and change it, so I left the small error in. 😅 As for the 9 pips, I *can't believe they did that* - that's like me adding a fourth slot to the Slugometer as a joke... except they did it for real! I completely assumed it was another 8 pip disc because why wouldn't I? Hahaha, guess I should have counted the pips, rather than relying on the "Pipmeter" to be accurate. 🙃
I'll be honest, Finding Spark for a mere 5$ at a school yard sale was what got me into collecting these guys! While we had Torch, Scuba, and Turbo, they were impulse buys from KB toys stock back in the days right before they closed for good, so i spent some time (and a bit of money) to complete the figure collection (i had the exact same reaction you did, discwise). To hear Spark was the rarest in the aftermarket? My luck is Grade "A" Weird! I definitely look forward to more of your videos!
I always imagined the core trio of Wave 2 were remixes of the previous cast, mutated and fused together into new characters. Flare combining Torch and someone else, Spark combining someone else and Electro, that sort of thing. Blaster's face is probably why this became my headcanon for all the other characters in this wave. Maybe Spark's pod should have had its black and purple inverted? Some people would then go and make all black and all purple pods for their custom Throwbots. I remember wanting Robo Riders. I particularly remember wanting to get the ice one in order to use his spears for my Castle minifigures as magic weapons.
Another banger of a video. Brings me back to being a kid and trying to make the combiner model with my own pieces because I was missing 1 of the 3 sets.
Thanks for making this video! I had Amazon, Turbo, Spark, and Millennium as a kid. Millennium was definitely my favorite. I honestly did enjoy them at the time, but yeah....Lego has a come a long way since then. Lots of nostalgia with this one and the previous video. Looking forward to more!
I really love slizers, and I also loved the first video on them. But a whole parody using Krafwerk's We Are The Robots with them?!?! downright AMAZING.
Throwbots Wave 2 were super cool. I had the three main ones and really wanted Millenia, but alas never got that one lol. Because I am an American and never knew of the Slizer/Throwbot lore differences at the time (such as them being divided into good and evil sides), I had my own cooky headcanon for the new guys lol. In Slizer It isn’t just Blaster who is a mutant, Spark is all too likely meant to be a mutation of Electro and Flare obstinately is Granite with Blaster being Judge and Amazon freakishly crushed together - notice the “hero” side of the planet was unscathed so Torch Ski Aqua and Turbo could still fight the new badguys. As a kid I picked up on the mutants being badguys, but because I didn’t have the context of them being mutations of the previous badguys, I assumed they came ON the meteor, and similarly the evil throwbots were also good guys. This leaves Millenia, who is supposed to be the new hero character to fight the mutants in Slizer, but as a kid I figured since all the new ones were badguys then Millenia must be a badguy too! In fact I had Millenia pegged as the leader of the four, with Blaster being the brute muscle and Spark and Flare being the lackeys. The imagination of an 11 year old at work without any other context sure is something lol
2:58 while rebuilding most of my Throwbots and rewatching these reviews for at least a third time, I realized that Flare's faceprint is something of a gas mask, think like Pyro from Team Fortress 2. These LEGO technic prints of the 90s are really something to behold.
I never expected a Slizer Kraftwerk cover music video being watched by Captin Sulu. This is why I go to Slugger first for old Lego product and set reviews
I’m gonna put it out there - Bionicle fans are the reason the purple one is rare. I’d bet anything it’s because we’re all making Onepu toa and Toa of Gravity
In the absence of another theory, it's what makes the most sense to me. I know that Purple parts were very rare for a long time, and this is one of the only purple technic sets... so the logic seems to hold up as far as I can tell.@@RRSlugger
Blaster must have been one of first things i ever bought. I was looking for Jungle, but Slizers were nearly extinct at the time. Blaster seems a very apocalyptic creature. I imagined it to be some kind of irradiated mutant and an unholy mix of two species. It's dual nature is also visible in it's double-arm staff and high-contrast colors that resemble warning stripes.
I distinctly remember Millennium, especially the motorcycle and those giant wheels! Using them as feet really felt genius to me at the time. The story was never memorable, but the characters had a huge impact on me as a kid, I still love the color design of bright color on black, such a great combination, and works amazingly in a Cyberpunk setting! The early combiners were always a mess in color, however. It's always been a problem with construction figures and their single color designs combining together.
To be completely honest, buying into Slizers at the time was the main reason why I never acknowledged RoboRiders or Bionicles to be worthy successors of the Lego action-figure-with-play-feature concept. Especially for the mainline Bionicle figures, they just lacked too many parts with standard stud or technic interfaces to be "Lego" enough. My personal feeling was that there was so much more potential, and that they crashed the whole IP before it even had the possibility of getting off to a start. But... while the 8-year-old me really saw the whole ordeal as a big betrayal, it is of course in hindsight worth noting that doing what they did was essential in keeping the company afloat in the first place.
When I first found this channel I never thought I would witness it descend into YTPs, but here we are…And no complaints from me! Brilliant video as always, great humour and a great look at this theme I knew so little about
Slugger, I can confidently say that I was not expecting to see the crew of starship enterprise watch a fan-made music video about generation two Throwbots -- but it's what I needed. This is inspirational and it sets an entirely new standard for the effort that should go into video production on UA-cam.
The part with the "its planet slizer!" Made me laugh out loud
Gotta do my duty as a Trekkie and say that it's the crew of the starship "Excelsior" who saw the video.
Thank you! The decision to include that bit alone nearly delayed this video, haha. I had to pull some rather late nights to get this one done on time! 😅
So the Slizers were mutated by dilithium from the meteorite. Makes sense, we have seen stranger things happen with dilithium, like destroying every ship in the galaxy that actively used it cause of a subspace screaming crab person....oh Discovery and its shenanigans.
Ohhhh my...
Nearly every time Slugger gives insights into his interests outside of Lego, I find him more and more relatable. Phenomenal Kraftwerk cover
Thank you! ❤️
I don't know guys, I have this completely unfounded theory that Slugger may be into Star Trek, really have no proof or substantiation though, just a wild guess in the dark
Hmm I'm not seeing it...
yeeaaaaahhhh it was a stretch from the start......@@darkroom0716
I loved the part where Hiker Mike showed up and said "it's hiking time" and hiked all over Planet Slizer!
It's an impressive feat to be honest, there are so many different types of environments on that planet, he even managed to hike underwater and through a perilous volcanic terrain.
I think being purple is the main reason price of spark
Like its rare in bionicle so for mocs you got to get these pieces somewhere
Good point! I'm always happy to blame Bionicle fans for everything anyways, so I'd buy it. 😉
Poor guy got poached into extinction
@@RRSluggerget the old technic star wars figures while you still can lol
@@RRSlugger With such an influential theme like Bionicle, I wouldnt want it any other way (fame or infamy).
@@RRSlugger Blame us all you want, it won't bring Galidor back. I will say that you did change my mind about Galidor and throwbots.
I appreciate Throwbots from a historic standpoint. They allowed Lego to test out a bunch of things to see what did, and didn't work with Technic constraction builds. Throwbots walked, so Bionicle could run.
Its so amusing that the Apocalypse-Mania of Y2K was manifested in lego through an asteroid that turned the 'Cool World' of planet Slizer into a radioactive asteroid-pockmarked hellscape that birthed literal Slizer aliens and mutants, relying on the avatar of the Millennium to ride in on a motor cycle mad max style. Or... was it actually a mechanical horseman of the apocalypse, leading the new monstrous Slizers against the original gladiators?
Also as someone who collected the original slizers as a Kid, I don't remember ever seeing the disc blind boxes in stores, I think they were a bit of a limited release because I remember reading that I was going to have to order more from Lego, but I never did. I could be misremembering though.
Fun to think about lore for such an old theme.
🤘WE ARE THE THROWBOTS🤘
I think the Titan Millenium artwork is one of the coolest pictures Lego has ever made.
It's awesome! Stomping on the whole planet!
Millenia may be one of the coolest most played with toys I ever got as a kid! I cannot tell you how many times I rebuilt him between giant robot or motorbike. I would even play with him alongside my bionicles.
What did he do on mata nui?
@@davekitzmiller7586 probably throw discs?
Honestly I think he was a villain haha@@davekitzmiller7586
This video made me strangely excited at the realization that Roboriders parts could totally be used for Throwbots mocs - same face design language and everything! Also I have to say, one of my favorite parts of Throwbots is just the multicolored gears. Technic gears are normally so dull being just grey all the time, but Throwbots blessed the world with a source of colorful gears to brighten up your fun little mechanisms. Purple, red, green, Throwbots had it all.
I didn't know I needed a Slizer-themed cover of Kraftwerk's The Robots before this video.
I was worried that we were coming up on the first ever Slugger-dragged-that-out-too-long bit with that Star Trek shot, but wow it was great! Fantastic video as always. Particularly top tier thumbnail art as well!
Haha, the risk of every bit is whether it's worth the journey! 😂
KRAFTWERK Reference!! YES!
Well, R.R. Slugger is a music teacher IRL, so he has to know.
This video got a few good laughs out of me. Your delivery of that initial "well, they're _DEAD!_ Buy these new ones!" was fantastic - and that Kraftwerk parody is absolute perfection, lmao!
Blaster was my first Throwbot, and the only one I had first-hand. My parents got him for me as a birthday gift, I think, sometime around 2003 or 2004 (well after Throwbots was retired, so I don't know where they found him). I got Spark a while later, along with a bunch of wave 1 Throwbots and some RoboRiders, as hand-me-downs from a friend of the family. Unfortunately, I don't have the cases for any of them, though.
Man, watching this video makes me want to dig into my collection and rebuild Blaster. I don't think he's been assembled in over 15 years!
EDIT: also, I totally agree about those awesome Technic panels! I was never really a Technic gal, but to this day, when I think of Technic, those panels are always one of the first pieces to come to mind.
Thanks! Blaster has certainly become one of my favourites - Dynamo too!
Actually getting a good look at these last four, especially that Blaster combiner, Slizers really seems like a hotbed for a techno-horror setting where robots are mercilessly broken and rebuilt into stranger and more vile forms. Very ‘90s.
But definitely jamming to “We Are the Throwbots”
Ok just me but millennium's titan form gives off strong Omega Supreme vibes. Makes me question if he was an inspiration for the elongated head shapes of the throwbots?
I think you might be right! I'm pretty sure lego used some 80s toy robot inspiration while designing the theme, looking at the likes of transformers and gundam. Even while developing Bionicle, there were some borrowed design ideas. The voodoo prototype head is modeled after Hammerstein from ABC Warriors
I always imagined that Blaster's left hand was equipped with an ultra sharp blade
Great Video Slugger but MAN I forgot how eXtreme this theme got. Basically half of the slizers just DIED or got fused together. Which is really grim to think about, really gives me “All tomorrows Vibes”!
I have Blaster from my childhood, and I must voice a warning: I found it easy to accidentally break one of the leg pieces at the ball joint while posing it as a kid.
I really liked Millennium’s awesome tire feet, they were a real game changer. It’s really easy to imagine thrusters or something on the bottom of them. And BLASTER, he was my stand in for Makuta for the longest time.
R. R. Slizer is just taking the channel to the next level! I love it
I expected anything but a Kraftwerk parody, and a Pink Floyd reference. And of course Hiker Mike. One of the best Slugger videos, period.
Thank you! The Kraftwerk parody is something I've been singing to myself for weeks working on these videos, but it wasn't until the lyrics for the verses came to me did I decide to actually record it, haha. 😆
It's cold outside but I feel warm with nosalgia and from laughing so hard. Slugger never disappoints!
Throwbots are so integral to my own videos. They're the basis for most of my character designs. Great video as usual slug, though I do prefer the og purple slizer to its follow up
Totally fair! The only two I had growing up were Spark and Flare, so I definitely have a bias here. 🙂
I love how you captured the whole vibe of the era instead of just talking about the sets. They really did get pretty wild with their themes towards the turn of the millenium haha
Very glad to have been able to contribute some nonsense to this beautiful video! :P
These two videos been absolutely outstanding and I'm so glad to see the by me beloved Slizers get some modern appreciation!
It’s such a great bit - I had to use it! ❤
Finally, a song to rival the Piraka Rap. Their battle will be legendary!
I remember during hero factorys breakout line there were two sets that also had motorcycles. I'm wondering now if Throwbots was the inspiration behind those two sets.
Sometimes it is better to burn out than to slowly glow away.
I think these models were great and the throwbots got imo everything they needed in their lineup of Sets. They surely left an impression and have a good place in LEGO History 😊
Great Video again! I have to wonder, is there anything planned for Robo Riders? I would like to see that theme as well, as I never quite understood it as anything more than a bridge theme before bionicle that felt half baked. But a closer look at those motorcycle-guys could perhaps chsnge my perspective...
Good point! Wave 2 leaves me wanting more, but at the same time, look what happened to Bionicle when they refused to call it quits... 😕
I nearly have everything I need to make a Roboriders video happen. 👍
Not sure if it will be the next video or not though - my fingers hurt after building all this Technic stuff recently, haha, I kind of want to go back to System! 😆
I had very little interest in Throwbots prior to this mini-series on your channel. I knew they existed, but generaly didn’t care about them. Thanks to your way of word and your genuine appreciation for these sets I now understand why there is still a niche community that makes MOC’s with them! This is without a doubt your best video to date, however I didn’t think that was possible due to the extreme high quality content of your previous videos. Keep it going Slugger!
Thank you kindly! ❤
8:17 Time to toot my own horn! The two-disk distribution in the 1999 sets was initially entered in Bricklink as being random, however the random disks above 3 pips appear to only have been available through the mail-order system, not in the sets themselves. It was I who began to notice this correlation of disktribution between owning original copies and comparing with other sources online (instructions and other's sets listed on Bricklink, Flicker, Brickshelf, etc.) and put in the change requests to specify which disks came with whom!
Hey, that’s awesome! Thanks for doing that! ❤
If I ever wanted a Slizer set, Millennium is the one I would go for, and definitely would keep him in his motorbike form.
I was not expecting a Kraftwerk reference, but here I am, surprised and amused. Listening to my parents old music has payed off!
Words can’t express how much I appreciated that Kraftwerk cover. I remember finding Spark in a dingy little discount store about 12 years ago and having no idea what this not-Bionicle thing was.
In an alternate universe, tournaments with these are hold till this day in every Lego store...
If it wasn't for that very last reference at the end of the song, I would've sworn that the Throwbots song was official music made by Lego! Great stuff as always!
Despite having a bunch of these as a kid I was never really aware that Throwbots had ""lore"" until watching this haha. You can really see how these ideas eventually developed into Bionicle.
r/MutantThrowbots mentioned!
It’s been awesome seeing your reactions to the whole Throwbots/Slizers line. And I’m always looking forward to whatever you’ve got coming up next! Bring on the Winter of Slug!
I was really big into the original Throwbots when I was a kid, but never got any of the 2nd series; I went up to my local thrift store yesterday and found a bag of Lego, containing about 75% of the 2nd series, minus all the discs. The next few months of parting out pieces for the other 25% on bricklink is gonna be a journey I'm both excited and terrified to go on.
Slugman always bringing back the great old Lego nostalgia with these videos😄
Awesome! Bring those Throwbots back to life! ❤️
Spark is rare because it features Bionicle purple parts that allow fans to build Voriki, the 7th Toa Mata.
It's a complicated story, but basically the Bonkles community went berserk after leaks revealed Voriki as the 7th Toa, only to find out that this set never came to be released, with LEGO denying any ties to it. Turns out I was a fake, using pictures from a fan contest. But Voriki, now having come to life through the spark of communitive creativity refused to die, and the fan base kept him alive all these years.
That makes total sense and actively feeds into my worldview of Bionicle fans being the cause of everything wrong in the world! 😉 /jk
To be honest, I know exactly what you're talking about with Voriki - I never made the connection though, thanks!
@@RRSlugger yeah well, what do you expect from a community who refuses to disband, 7 years after the SECOND death of their theme 😅
@@RRSlugger Oh yeah, without Bionicle fans, modern Lego would have never existed. 😉
Truly their crimes are great.😈
So slugger, when is the full track releasing? You can’t just make a absolute banger and make the fans attempt to stitch it together. We need a full video version of the throwbot whip.
Check the description!
I did not put "Throwbots x The Undiscovered Country" on my bingo card this year, but there you have it. It was hilarious.
😂😉
Another fun video that surpasses the original, just like the models contained within!
"We Are The Throwbots" is a jam, I really hope we get to hear it in another video!
I don't know when such an opportunity will arise, however!
Wow, that Ummagumma reference was completely unexpected, but wholeheartedly appreciated. Fun fact…totally paid 50 bucks for a European 8-track copy for my ‘78 VW microbus because the US 8-track omitted 3/4 of the live tracks.
Edit: totally remember getting Millenium as either a Christmas or birthday gift.
I swear I've rewatched this video maybe 5 times, and somehow this video is still able to make me laugh every time I watch it! Its genuinely impressive just how fantastic this video is in every aspect imaginable!
Thank you so much! ❤️
I'm glad to hear it really clicks with you!
Okay, I have a lot to say about these ones.
2:15 Their mission: to seek out new life! In... whatever shape it may take...
3:19 Wow I never had Flare! Look at that gear system! That's so practical! This is insane for a throw bot. And it actually looks cool in either configuration, it's almost like a barebones lego transformer!
4:56 Ah jeez, I had Spark, I guess there is some lucky orphans out there who got to play with a very exclusive lego action figure, and it's probably for the best that it ended up in their hands. (If he managed to stay intact, that is)
6:01 Blaster was awesome, now _that's_ a villain, he reminds me of Megatron with his imposing, bullish stature, it makes Judge look like the "we have Blaster at home" version.
Thermite looks awesome! This legit could have been a set, it would have naturally surpassed some of the originals, since they were still in the early days of making this kind of stuff.
11:28 All of these Throwbots are cool, but can you get any cooler than the robot who was designed to be the coolest? This guy comes with a motorcycle and he combines with it to _throw_ down with the likes of Blaster.
16:01 Aww it's really sweet to see that ms Heck still remembers Hiker Mike so fondly.
16:18 I still cannot get over how silly Ultra Rex is, with its *W* *I* *D* *E* battle stance.
Lovely retrospective! I adore this theme song you created for them.
Love it! You're totally right about Flare's practicality too - it's like they *finally* made a Throwbot that used the gear system effectively!
@@RRSlugger I'd say the Nui Rama from Bionicle serve as the parallel example of the other Throwbot gearbox finally being used effectively
@@minerman60101Agreed, 100%! 👍
The nostalgia hits keep coming and they dont stop coming. Love all of it.
Wow! This was a poooolished episode! The music, the drama, the presentation, accuracy and pedantry of sets' description, love it! I have to say, I hadn't known about the Throwbots before Big Yellow and you made me aware of their existence. Gotta say, it's a very fascinating subject, this second wave vastly surpasses and expand on the first wave. I suppose you really can see Lego Group polishing the construction figure architecture within their field of possibilities, expanding on previous concepts, introducing new molds, which as a whole eventually led to themes like Bionicle or Exo Force (of course the latter being system, not technic theme, but it still makes use of Galidor joints and it's another step in nailing the articularationable figure). I don't know anything about Bionicle Bionicle yet but your narration to me, personally, makes me see that, yeah, sure Slizers seem like testing polygon for these idea and it led to next super stuff. This This 2nd wave is sooo good
Thank you! I’ve been cooking up these Throwbot videos since the summer. I actually had to remove the “brought to you by the Summer of Slug” bits from the script before recording them! 😂
A Throwbots Kraftwerk cover - you keep managing to surprise me, Slugger! That's amazing.
Kraftwerk parody is without a doubt the best thing for the next eight centuries
Ok, Flare was the "Jet/Judge-alike" that I remembered having, and Blaster was the big guy's name. I have no idea where I got "Power" from, unless I mixed him up with the RoboRider of the same color? Whatever the case, thanks for clearing up one of my few surviving childhood memories.
Odd. . . . I remember the locking ball joints in Blaster's strong hand being black in my copy, or maybe I just swapped them out with spares from another victim of my childhood ham-fistery because the grey ones were out-of-place and forgot which was right.
Funnily enough, I had a thing at the time for eyeballing the box instead of relying on the instructions, so I never built Blaster or Super Millennium right, but little me enjoyed them regardless. Not that it mattered, after a few weeks, everything was destined for the scrap bin, waiting to be used in some monstrosity or other that I'd conjured from their remains like a plastic necromancer.
WE ARE THE THROWBOTS!!
I did NOT expect such a seamless Star Trek interlude in my Thorwbots video watching experience. Screw the Vulcans, the Throwbots are Earth's greatest allies! They saved us from Y2K!
I gotta hand it to the second wave, these are all bangers when it comes to Throwbots. I can't deny they're all around objectively cooler than the original 8! That said, I still personally like, say, Electro and Granite more than say, Spark. That said, I'm gonna need to hunt down a Spark sometime, it's still a really cool set! And you know, purple is the best color! Spark and Electro can be besties. = ]
One thing I really appreciate about these videos is that they've really reignited my love for these silly little robots, and this era of Constraction overall. I'm glad I haven't sold off my older Constraction pieces now, I plan on digging through them and building me some Throwbot Original Characters!! I'm excited to see a potential Roboriders video, or maybe even going deeper into the past with Competition and its 2001 Rahi-like constructions!
Oh, and I loved Blaster tapping his foot during the second musical sequence, that was really cute. Like he's too cool to dance but just can't resist the beat!
I loved reading your comment - thank you! ❤
And you totally picked up on what I was going for with Blaster there! 😊
amazing video, as usual. the ‘we are the robots’ song adaptation was impressive and quite a surprise
Haha, thank you! ❤️
Hi Slugger, really a wonderfull voyage into some nostalgica for me. Slicers were one of the last themes i had before my dark Ages. The video was awesome! The Star Trek 6 scenes and the Kraftwerk inspired track... i love it! ❤
Greetings from Germany, your channel is awesome!
Thank you! Sounds like the Star Trek and Kraftwerk references were appreciated! ❤
As a huge fan of energy Slizer I had to get Spark. I hated its weapon, even if I LIKED the idea. I changed it to be a glider and he became a smaller bro for energy.
I never cared these were bad guys. I am really Happy I menaged to get them all like 12 years ago. They were and are amazing toys and proves that with Lego - often smaller sets are way better than big ones.
Their description as "bad" always seemed so arbitrary to me. The second wave bots definitely seem more like bad guys in retrospect, they are often depicted with all of this apocalyptic imagery.
I get anti-hero vibes from Millenia, like he is formally part of the bad guy group, but he is a biker, so of course he is the lonesome bad boy who does his own thing, and who also does not combine with Blaster.
I never saw or heard about those Throwbots until now. How interesting. Me and my brother had some of the original ones. Anyway, I always thought the side part of their heads were their teeth. Looking at the masks with the face makes it so strange now. Thanks for the nostalgia trip. Can't wait for the Roboriders
Whoa I had never heard of these other ones. //edit: LMAO This video is fantastic ahhhhhhhhhh, I love the theme song
I didn't get into Bionicle until it's 2nd year but I remember seeing these and Robo Riders at 2nd hand stores like KB toys, yard sales, or Kmarts. I got all the robo riders in canisters but never any of them "new". Heck I'm still getting these fellas in lots from time to time. Great video Slugger!
In my headcanon, Spark is either a mutated form of Electro or part of the same species as his, but mutated into a more "humanoid" appearance like most of the other Slizers
I had no idea these throwbots caame in two iterations. I defintiely have fonder memories than you did of the first run, but the motorcycle 8520 was by far my favorite of the bunch too. Love the video!
Throwbots and roboriders are what got me into LEGO Technic.
I have never been so steeped in anticipation as I am right now awaiting the inevitable roborider video.
I mean, frost is clearly the best, but I'll let the slug do his thing
Oh, absolutely 3 slugs for Frost! Hands down. 😊
I wrongly assumed that the thumbnail would be the artistic peak of this video. Amazing as it is, I was ill-prepared for the editing wonders that awaited in the video proper.
Thank you! ❤️
An awesome video as always! Fun throughout, another certified Slug Classic. Really like the stop motion stuff too and I apprrciate the effort that those alone take.
Lots of highlights in this video XD
That previously cold opening was hilarious, and so was the star trek skit with the absolute JAMMER!
downloading that right away!
And seeing throwbot built Slugger was so cursed, it reminded me that I have to build a UCS style Slugger some tike in the future.
This was perhaps the best follow-up video yet! XD
Haha, thank you! ❤️
one forgets about slugger's musical talent at their own risk
Hearing spark is rare brings joy to my heart as i still have him
Another great learning experience! I acquired most of this wave some years back with the first wave of Slizers, just missing parts from Blaster yet had his box, and no Millennium entirely. The combo model was the most curious part of the overview to me, I wouldn't have guessed only *some* of Blaster would be taken apart to build the figure.
So nice to watch both Slizer videos back-to-back!
Thanks for all the great comments Joey! ❤️
We love you slugger!
Two minor -nitpicks-notes on Millennium/Millennia: 12:08 The motorbike build does have leftover parts, being exactly 2 of the Technic axle hole connector (element 32039). That's it lol. Additionally, 14:03 the gold disk features the exclusive NINE pips! Really showing off Millennium's impressive power.
You're totally right about both counts! Truth be told, I knew about the two leftover pieces - or I should say, I found out about that *after* I had finished recording the script. It felt a little too pedantic to go back and change it, so I left the small error in. 😅
As for the 9 pips, I *can't believe they did that* - that's like me adding a fourth slot to the Slugometer as a joke... except they did it for real! I completely assumed it was another 8 pip disc because why wouldn't I? Hahaha, guess I should have counted the pips, rather than relying on the "Pipmeter" to be accurate. 🙃
If Energy became Spark, and Judge+Jungle became Blaster, Flare has to be Rock. Millenium is just a new guy, probably carried by the meteor itself
I'll be honest, Finding Spark for a mere 5$ at a school yard sale was what got me into collecting these guys! While we had Torch, Scuba, and Turbo, they were impulse buys from KB toys stock back in the days right before they closed for good, so i spent some time (and a bit of money) to complete the figure collection (i had the exact same reaction you did, discwise). To hear Spark was the rarest in the aftermarket? My luck is Grade "A" Weird! I definitely look forward to more of your videos!
dude, love the Kraftwerk homage
I always imagined the core trio of Wave 2 were remixes of the previous cast, mutated and fused together into new characters. Flare combining Torch and someone else, Spark combining someone else and Electro, that sort of thing. Blaster's face is probably why this became my headcanon for all the other characters in this wave.
Maybe Spark's pod should have had its black and purple inverted? Some people would then go and make all black and all purple pods for their custom Throwbots.
I remember wanting Robo Riders. I particularly remember wanting to get the ice one in order to use his spears for my Castle minifigures as magic weapons.
5 seconds in and I already know this is going to be another Slugger Classic 😂
I hope the we get to hear We are the throwbots in it's original german: Wir sind die slizers.
Another banger of a video. Brings me back to being a kid and trying to make the combiner model with my own pieces because I was missing 1 of the 3 sets.
Thanks for making this video! I had Amazon, Turbo, Spark, and Millennium as a kid. Millennium was definitely my favorite. I honestly did enjoy them at the time, but yeah....Lego has a come a long way since then. Lots of nostalgia with this one and the previous video. Looking forward to more!
Thanks Paul! 😊
Flare, my boy! I love these. Can't wait for the RoboRiders!
Just the video I asked for. Thankyou Slugger!
Glad you liked it! ❤️
I was not expecting a Kraftwerk and Lego crossover this morning but I'm glad it happened
I really love slizers, and I also loved the first video on them.
But a whole parody using Krafwerk's We Are The Robots with them?!?!
downright AMAZING.
Haha, thank you! ❤️
Throwbots Wave 2 were super cool. I had the three main ones and really wanted Millenia, but alas never got that one lol. Because I am an American and never knew of the Slizer/Throwbot lore differences at the time (such as them being divided into good and evil sides), I had my own cooky headcanon for the new guys lol. In Slizer It isn’t just Blaster who is a mutant, Spark is all too likely meant to be a mutation of Electro and Flare obstinately is Granite with Blaster being Judge and Amazon freakishly crushed together - notice the “hero” side of the planet was unscathed so Torch Ski Aqua and Turbo could still fight the new badguys. As a kid I picked up on the mutants being badguys, but because I didn’t have the context of them being mutations of the previous badguys, I assumed they came ON the meteor, and similarly the evil throwbots were also good guys. This leaves Millenia, who is supposed to be the new hero character to fight the mutants in Slizer, but as a kid I figured since all the new ones were badguys then Millenia must be a badguy too! In fact I had Millenia pegged as the leader of the four, with Blaster being the brute muscle and Spark and Flare being the lackeys. The imagination of an 11 year old at work without any other context sure is something lol
2:58 while rebuilding most of my Throwbots and rewatching these reviews for at least a third time, I realized that Flare's faceprint is something of a gas mask, think like Pyro from Team Fortress 2. These LEGO technic prints of the 90s are really something to behold.
I love the graphic design of the Throwbot faces! 😊
I never expected a Slizer Kraftwerk cover music video being watched by Captin Sulu. This is why I go to Slugger first for old Lego product and set reviews
I’m gonna put it out there - Bionicle fans are the reason the purple one is rare. I’d bet anything it’s because we’re all making Onepu toa and Toa of Gravity
I’d buy it!
In the absence of another theory, it's what makes the most sense to me. I know that Purple parts were very rare for a long time, and this is one of the only purple technic sets... so the logic seems to hold up as far as I can tell.@@RRSlugger
This is a masterpiece
You put a lot of krafty Werk (get it?) in this video Slugger! I dare to say this is one of your best retrospective series!
Haha, thank you! ❤️
Milleniums use of the black wing pieces always reminded me of a cape flowing in the wind
That explains it. I knew I had another flying guy, but it wasn't in the last video... I was very confused.
Blaster must have been one of first things i ever bought. I was looking for Jungle, but Slizers were nearly extinct at the time.
Blaster seems a very apocalyptic creature. I imagined it to be some kind of irradiated mutant and an unholy mix of two species. It's dual nature is also visible in it's double-arm staff and high-contrast colors that resemble warning stripes.
It’s always a good day when slugger uploare
3:40 these panels and variations in size pretty much DEFINED the aesthetic of technic sets in the early to mid 2000s
These reviews have really made me want to get some Throwbots for myself. Great video overall Slugger, that song is a real earworm :P
I distinctly remember Millennium, especially the motorcycle and those giant wheels! Using them as feet really felt genius to me at the time. The story was never memorable, but the characters had a huge impact on me as a kid, I still love the color design of bright color on black, such a great combination, and works amazingly in a Cyberpunk setting!
The early combiners were always a mess in color, however. It's always been a problem with construction figures and their single color designs combining together.
kraftwerk reference caught me off guard lmao that’s amazing
To be completely honest, buying into Slizers at the time was the main reason why I never acknowledged RoboRiders or Bionicles to be worthy successors of the Lego action-figure-with-play-feature concept. Especially for the mainline Bionicle figures, they just lacked too many parts with standard stud or technic interfaces to be "Lego" enough. My personal feeling was that there was so much more potential, and that they crashed the whole IP before it even had the possibility of getting off to a start. But... while the 8-year-old me really saw the whole ordeal as a big betrayal, it is of course in hindsight worth noting that doing what they did was essential in keeping the company afloat in the first place.
Omg. You went hard with the Kraftwerk. Amazing vid slugggggggerrrr
When I first found this channel I never thought I would witness it descend into YTPs, but here we are…And no complaints from me! Brilliant video as always, great humour and a great look at this theme I knew so little about
Throwbots song is about to be my 2024 Spotify Rewind “Most listened to song”😂🙌