Revisiting Exo-Force: The Golden City

[@J4Cinema]

I blame Exo-force for getting me hooked on giant robots/mecha. I mean it’s a given for everyone, mecha love is basically hardwired into the DNA, but I’m glad this was my way in

[@CheeseyStudios]

I don't think you're alone either! Crazy how LEGO had the power to shape our interests.

[@kevsrithar958]

Exo Force and Bionicle did it for me :D

[@PlazDreamweaver]

​@@kevsrithar958Truly a cultured individual.

[@thex6992]

Same for me, I've been obsessed with lego, especially bionicle since I was like 4 years old and got my first set. I remember specifically waiting for that dark green spider exo force set for like half a year because my parents said they would get me it for my birthday, looking at the pictures almost every day, it just looked too cool. 😂😂😂 Now I know why I fell in love with titanfall back then and now armored core.

[@Bartnuschler]

@@kevsrithar958 I blame this for getting me addicted to ac6 now. I loved to build custom bionicles with weapon loadouts and this translated 100% into Armored Core.

[@lloyddobbler810]

You repeatedly excel at your retrospectives. The way you balance nostalgic influence; youthful, imaginative excitement and balanced critiquing without the slide toward cynicism is what originally drew me to your channel and you continue to impress.

[@CheeseyStudios]

Really appreciate it, thank you! It's always interesting to trying to get the right amount of objectivity with that personal touch that makes these videos unique to Cheesey Studios. Love to hear that you've found I've hit that balance!

[@damonullerick6572]

Gotta say, that skeleton in the back of the walker is, for Lego standards, 'Getting Crap Past The Radar'. The only other theme that did something similar was an Aqua Raiders set that had a skeleton of one the Raiders in the body of the giant squid. (And yes, I know Bionicle was orders of magnitude darker than that, but only in terms of its plot. And I guess the blood on Pridak. YES IT'S BLOOD GREG, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY!).

[@CheeseyStudios]

The skeletons are so shocking, yeah! And then there's yet another poor Aqua Raiders skeleton that shows up in Atlantis xD LEGO was pretty bold in the 2000's!

[@Boltscrap]

@@CheeseyStudios I suppose the skeleton could also be demonstration of the electric shocks the prison ball thing supposedly has. At least I distinctly remember one comic having the pilot devastator threathening to turn on electric shocks when captive exo force member was distracting it.

[@unofficialoscarherrera]

Exo-Force is what sparked my current love of mechs. Claw Crusher and Sky Guardian are my favorite sets from this wave. I am looking forward to you covering the Deep Jungle wave!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Deep Jungle is going to be really fun! Some truly unique mech designs in there, and I love the mini mechs.

[@mikhail2736]

Between Exo-Force and Bionicle, this was the reason I was into Lego as a kid and seeing this retrospective really takes me back. I definitely agree that the first 2 waves aesthetically were better, but I still really enjoyed the golden city arc. Thank you for the trip down memory lane.

[@imstupid880]

Definitely this! They were the big two of my childhood.

[@dr.ramilo84]

To me, the Golden Guardian marks the point lego finally comprehended mechs. It's so much more refined than the later waves, with a elegant gold-and-white design, and few exposed studs. It also seems to gather some inspiration from anime mechs, as the big, bulky leg armor is very remiscient of many of 80-90's mech design, through I can really only think about Zeta Gundam and Dragin's Heaven. Lastly, I LOVE these revisiting videos. The atmosfere you build is amazing, specially with the dim-lighted room, music choices, camera angles and overall profesionalism. Admitedly this also extends to the other videos like the minecraft series or other reviews, but it's so good. Hopefully we get more of this series!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Thank you, that means a lot! I love making these videos, and I'm always looking to do more. I've probably got enough Revisiting videos planned now to last me two years 🤣

[@Jdog1681]

This brings back many memories. This wave and some of the early power miners stuff were my JAM

[@CheeseyStudios]

It was a great time to be a kid - LEGO had so many great themes in the 2000's!

[@ahmes004]

29:55 no way. Exo-Force revolutionized so much for us, and gave us the closest link we get to the Gundam Franchise. The many Lego mech builders all get their generic roots from this theme, and I’m so happy it existed. And of course, thank you for your continued coverage of these themes.

[@gagefisher4785]

Having grown up watching stuff like Mobile Suit Gundam, Big O, Gurren Lagann, and many others, Exo Force was a dream come true for me as a kid. While the mechs LEGO produces now are a league above what came out a decade and a half ago engineering wise, there's still something so charming about Exo Force, and I believe they hold their own design wise. I'm definitely NOT salivating seeing all those sets lined up on your desk their lol. Thanks for the videos, man. I hope you have a fantastic life as well!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Appreciate it! Yeah, the designers came up with some really unique and iconic designs for these. Even the 'worst' of the sets still have really awesome parts.

[@crossfortune4252]

The Exo-Force sets mean a whole lot to me, especially this wave. The Cyclone Defender was one of my first lego sets ever. Some of the pieces are missing now and my Ryo minifigure got older, but it holds a special place in my heart.

[@CheeseyStudios]

This theme certainly made an impact on a lot of people, myself included! For me, my first was Sentry, and I still love that silly little mech.

[@thatguymork]

This theme got me through some hard times as a kid. Thank you for sharing!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Much appreciated! Really glad you enjoyed the video

[@dtinagliastudios]

Golden Guardian really is such a beautiful set. Still have mine!

[@CheeseyStudios]

That's awesome! Hang on to that one too - it's tricky to find these days. And I feel few (if any) mechs since have looked better.

[@panfrei5932]

for wave 4 don't forget the super rare promotion set "3887 Introducing Hitomi"

[@CheeseyStudios]

Oh wow, had never heard of that one! Really cool

[@panfrei5932]

@@CheeseyStudios lego designer Mark John Stafford once tweeted about it, otherwise you can find almost nothing about the promo, so it is very unknown and rare

[@SuperSecretBricks]

Fantastic retrospective as always! Wave 3 was nice, I really like the vibe the ancient Golden City gives... I'm just waiting for wave 4, as it'll contain my favourite Exo Force set 🙂

[@CheeseyStudios]

Thank you! Wave 4 has some cool ones, and was definitely the wave I had fewest of as a kid. It's been really cool to experience them for the first time. So, I gotta ask - which one is your favorite? :o

[@SuperSecretBricks]

@@CheeseyStudios the Aero Booster. I think this set alone crystalises everything Exo Force represents. I you had to pick only one, that'd definitely be this one!

[@loveLegocastle]

I never had any of the sets, but I love watching your revisiting videos -probably because of the immense detail you go into!

[@CheeseyStudios]

I'm glad I could introduce you to them! Thanks for watching

[@RRSlugger]

You’ve been busy lately, holy moly! The hits keep coming! 😊

[@CheeseyStudios]

Ha, thank you Slugger! Definitely keeping busy here. :)

[@ry7hym]

This wave is the one to which I have the most nostalgia from exo-force. Great content!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Thank you! ❤️

[@donutonahole]

Amazing video series! I loved Exo-Force as a kid and I'm so glad it's still getting some recognition to this very day. I would love to see you cover the final wave of Exo-Force sets, I was always a big fan of mechs being utilized within a jungle setting.

[@CheeseyStudios]

Thank you! Hopefully I'll be able to get to the last two waves before the year is out. It's such a great theme and I've really enjoyed covering it here!

[@scottsbrix]

Exo-Force walked so Ninjago could run

[@tonymoore78]

You’re right. Later waves had some cool moments, but nothing beats the first year of Exo-Force. It had a more grounded, lived-in feel.

[@CheeseyStudios]

100%

[@LekstiI]

You've probably had one of the most spoiled childhoods anyone has ever had and more Lego sets than any kid ever dreamed of. Yet you're still one of the most down-to-earth and genuine KZbinrs I've ever watched!

[@ScampiTheSighted]

Very impressed and surprised with that hostage chamber on the shadow crawler. Taking advantage of human sentimentality by using prisoners as meat shields is exactly the sort of thing a ruthless machine would do. Would NOT have seen that coming from Lego

[@CheeseyStudios]

2000s era LEGO was honestly the company at its most creative - it was really cool to see.

[@ogelpeace4610]

Appreciate this retrospective of my all time fav theme. The golden city to me is one of the peak waves ever made. Totally driven by nostalgia, but looking back it still holds up in idea and design, and even more so in play value.

[@CheeseyStudios]

I'm glad you like this wave so much! I'm really excited to cover the summer Golden City sets too - there's some real gems in there!

[@ogelpeace4610]

@@CheeseyStudios yes indeed. Can’t wait for that huge mobile devastator set, and the set with Hitomi.

[@BM-yy8db]

Between the old Harry Potter sets and the Exo-Force lines, you're systematically taking me through my childhood, I love it. Please please please please please do a series like this for Lego Agents

[@CheeseyStudios]

Agents is definitely on my to-do list! I think I'm only missing one set from the first wave. :o

[@ryanwright1250]

The names that LEGO gives the weapons sound like they come straight from Warhammer 40,000 and I am HERE FOR IT.

[@CheeseyStudios]

I love that it's someone's job to make all that stuff up xD

[@ianmason4907]

I absolutely love watching these videos. I’ve been getting back into Exo Force over the past year and I’m guessing all the people watching these are who I’m losing the auctions to! :)

[@CheeseyStudios]

Ha, probably! 😅 I do wish these sets were easier to find.

[@ianmason4907]

@@CheeseyStudiosAny timeline on part 4?

[@CheeseyStudios]

@@ianmason4907 Hoping to start work on the video before the end of July, maybe August release 🤞

[@lbricks7631]

I love the elegant, almost graceful use of curves on these mechs.

[@CheeseyStudios]

They do a great job of creating their own distinct style. If the color blocking was better, these could have been nearly perfect

[@TERIDAX941]

Yay another Exo force video! Keep up the good work, I always look forward seeing which theme you'll do next. Sadly Exo force was where I dropped the ball with actually getting the sets, and that was always a large regret on my part. I particularly wanted to pick up the Shadow Crawler, especially because the green devastator was my fav of the robots. Recently though I acquired one on bricklink and I built him a standard walker mech similar to the Thunder Fury, since the green ones always got put into a special vehicle. I actually had the opportunity to have someone tour it at a couple of the Brickfairs this year. :D

[@CheeseyStudios]

That's awesome! Shadow Crawler is really sweet - glad I was able to find the box to that one. Love the colors and the unique design!

[@justiceraminarman]

Your Revisiting LEGO videos are one of my favorite series of LEGO content on KZbin! It's really neat to learn about not only the sets but the rationale behind them or things we don't usually get to see, like the comic books or promotional material. Great stuff!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Thank you! It's always a lot of fun for me too to do these deep dives. I always learn a lot, and find some really cool things - like that rocket launcher, ha!

[@drewvanzee6433]

2 things, 1) you have easily become my favorite lego content creator over the past year, keep up the fantastic work, and 2) your wave recap vids have really made me realize how much exo force i had as a kid.... so far I'm at 100% 💀

[@drewvanzee6433]

even had the duracell promos... parents went all in for me lol

[@Si-eb6jf]

I cannot have enough of your content.

[@chutas]

This was my wave! I got into Lego in the 2010's as a Kid, and got some of these as gifts. I remember thinking the Iron condor had giant bunny ears xD. And seeing that sealed Shadow Crawler box was such an emotion! I still love this theme, and still have some of the pieces I used to play with. Great content as always!

[@affanlego121099]

Thank you very much for this revisiting session!! Lego exo force was my childhood, i remember vividly the first exo force i got was when my family and i was on a trip to australia! not only it was my childhood, it also brought a lot of nostalgia with it. I truly believe this was much ahead of its time, had it been released late 2000s (when transformers and avatar 1 was booming), there would be a lot of fans and popularity. Cannot wait for your video of the 4.0/jungle exo force oness!!!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Gotta love some Exo-Force! I'm really excited to finish out the series too. Lots of cool sets to go yet!

[@Skywarped33]

I kind wish the final mech had a gold and white color scheme, like replace the red with more gold and it would have been perfect for the "golden city" in my opinion 🤔 like a solid gold mech would be awesome

[@CheeseyStudios]

Yeah, that's the one big issue with a lot of these wave 3 and 4 sets - they're pretty messy in their color schemes.

[@LambdaSolo]

You just unlocked such a deep memory of mine. I remember playing a lego game that was building mechs but I had no idea what it was, I thought it was Ninjago for the longest time but this was the basis.

[@CheeseyStudios]

That's great! Exo-Force definitely leaves an impression

[@SilverScarletSpider]

i’m waiting for the video when you put all of the exo force mechas side by side for a direct comparison on how their designs and weapons evolved and got more complex with each yearly release

[@CheeseyStudios]

I'll call it... Revisiting "Revisiting Exo-Force" 🤣

[@Elimacab]

This is the video i've waited the most for !!!

[@CheeseyStudios]

I hope you enjoy it! Really been enjoying making this Exo-Force series.

[@Dezz259]

I feel the same way about the first wave of Exo-Force, the third wave sets feel much more cyberpunk like instead of the industrial vibes of the first and second waves, and even the mechas themselves are more bulky in said first waves. Still, they very much hold a special place in my heart, reason why I still have them on display and can’t simply disassemble them for storage

[@Harraseda]

This was the Wave I remember having. I had the Sky Guardian, and my brother had the Blade Titan, and one of us had the Iron Condor? He still has them all on his shelf in his bedroom even though he hasn't bought or played with Lego in years. We loved the minifigures and used them as custom jedi later. I remember using the code cards later as license plates for a car build.

[@CheeseyStudios]

I love hearing how you reused the pieces and figures - that's so cool!

[@Skywarped33]

✨️childhood memories unlocked✨️

[@PolyGarrett]

exo force was the first theme my older brother and I got after having lego creator sets. We got the Fire Vulture when I was like 5 or 6. After that we tried to a bunch more. my personal favorite was uplink which I still have built to this day. among my friend group when I was young exo force was really popular. everyone had their favorite sets and I remember all of us would draw pictures of them. later on we got the Striking Venom and one of our friends got the Sentai Fortress and we had a huge battle. it was that kind of thing where you would bring your exo force over and have a huge fight. one set that has always stood out to me personally was Mobile Devastator. I remember being blown away with how big it was. exo force is defiantly one of those lego themes that is very close to my heart.

[@CheeseyStudios]

That's super wholesome. Love how many great memories you have with the theme!

[@flaammeeey]

Man i love your videos, your vibe is super chill and entertaining! Love your other vids too! They are all amazing! Keep up the good content! Love ya!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Thank you! So glad you're enjoying ❤️

[@KenTails]

Just found & watched these Exo-force retrospective videos, and man, I love them! Great commentary and presentation (goes for any other videos I've watched of your channel, too. And love, also, the nice, positive vibes and the critique/commentary on sets and Lego landscape as a whole). Perhaps unfortunately (for me, not sure for my parents haha) I was never interest enough in the theme to actually get any of the sets when they were coming out, but I do remember viewing them on the paper catalogues (how I miss the childhood excitement of reading through these! haha) and thought some of them looked kinda cool--well turns out, some of those were pretty darn cool! At least to my... current me! I'm spoiled by the Lego's current design philosophy of dense and durable, highly detailed, and sort of over-building of sets, and I can't say I wanna go back to the 'good ole days' of big parts easily falling off, but even with much smaller parts count, some of those simpler/lighter builds look really good even today. (Love especially the look of the Mecha-One's personal mech from the Fortress set, with the sweet-looking arm/weapons mount thing) Thank you for covering those sets and exposing me to a cool theme I was barely familiar with, and for the nice(ly produced!) videos you make. Cheers!

[@CheeseyStudios]

I'm really glad you've been enjoying these! It's fun giving people a chance to experience these sets. Exo-Force definitely feels like one of those themes that everyone has heard about, but few people realize how deep it goes, and how many sets there actually are! Even I've learned a bunch about the polybags and merch that this theme has to offer.

[@littleaudity]

sorry for getting the rocket on the roof but it made for good content

[@Smommasboy]

I've always loved the EXO force series, and these reviews are so satisfying to watch. I did not know about the lore behind the skeleton on the walker, that's metal as hell!

[@CheeseyStudios]

It's such a great theme! I feel it's been largely forgotten with Ninjago more or less replacing it these days. Really glad you're enjoying this series on it!

[@mason_mwm4890]

the little foam rocket makes such a satisfying noise

[@CheeseyStudios]

I know, right? So good 🤣

[@thorakvideos2495]

Can't wait for the jungle wave! Those were some awesome sets!!!

[@CheeseyStudios]

The mini robots are so cool!

[@thorakvideos2495]

@@CheeseyStudios YES! :)

[@adaline704]

I rebuilt my blade titan a few months ago and its still one of my favorite sets of all time. the cockpit is incredibly fragile but the mech itself was always super posable. The only other exoforce set i had was the cyclone defender I didnt take very good care of that one though maybe i will piece it back together at some point.

[@CheeseyStudios]

That blade shield is just the coolest!

[@bricksfordom]

Very fun video, can't wait to see how wave 4 looks like

[@CheeseyStudios]

Thank you! Wave 4 is gonna be fun - it has some of the largest Exo-Force sets!

[@ApolloIVtv1]

Weirdly enough Exo-force was what got me into Lego system sets finally. Before I was only really into technic with Bionicle but these guys at the time were sorta the first mix-up of them, plus anything involving giant robots were cool. I only got two from this wave but I still remember them fondly.

[@CheeseyStudios]

A few other people had mentioned this being their "bridge" theme into system sets too. That's pretty cool! There are a lot of similarities for sure, and Exo-Force always made great use of Bionicle weaponry!

[@Tomaroni]

I love your vids

[@CheeseyStudios]

Thank you

[@PlazDreamweaver]

Exo-Force and Bionicle both defined my childhood. I enjoyed many of Lego's original themes back in the day, but Exo-Force, and especially Bionicle, were leagues above them all imo.

[@CheeseyStudios]

It's that story! They poured a lot of extra love into those two themes and it shows. Made them quite special

[@Skywarped33]

I dressed as Ha-ya-to for Halloween one year when I was like 13 ✨️🧍

[@CheeseyStudios]

Yoooo that's legendary

[@jacobh1833]

Can confirm the Exoforce game were great! It was fantastically addictive to a kid who only experienced the gameboy mario games.

[@CheeseyStudios]

I wonder if it's preserved somewhere still

[@kekchanbiggestfan]

I had several of the polybags. It’s hard to overstate how popular the Donald Duck comics are here in Scandinavia. In the mid 2000s, the weekly readership here in Norway was a quarter of the entire population! Virtually every kid were reading them. The comics came with a small toy and it wasn’t uncommon that they were LEGO polybags. I remember there were a lot of contests where LEGO was usually among the prizes. The publisher is based in Denmark so I can see how it happened. If you want to check out the comics, I highly recommend “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”. It’s a series of stories published in the Donald comic books in the 90s and is considered a masterpiece. Even though it technically follows Scrooge, it’s still the peak of Donald comics.

[@CheeseyStudios]

That's too funny! I bet my wife would love those. I'll have to look into it!

[@imstupid880]

The battery tie-in isn't unheard of; that's how we got Turaga Lhikan!

[@BlueToad6456]

The shadow crawler lore is insane lmao, that's just brutal

[@CheeseyStudios]

ikr? Crazy for an ACTUAL TOY lol. Ah, I love 2000's LEGO...

[@titanic_monarch796]

The Blade Titan had a very famicom-esque colour scheme which I like a lot, and the golden mech has shades of this too! also nice gundam vibes

[@CheeseyStudios]

Indeed. It makes me wonder where the designers found all their inspiration!

[@prismstar438]

I remember having the Sky Guardian back in the day, and it was one of the first Lego sets I remember building on my own. Hopefully I can track down another one for a decent price today!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Best of luck! I wish these weren't so hard to find. I also wish Bricklink would come back online lol...

[@rezracer6986]

I still find it funny that the only sets I got during the first three waves were all Ryu’s mechs/vehicles (except the poly bags). I remember using the green armor for a Spartan way back in the day and now I want to track down a Cyclone Defender all over again

[@tanecotterell-east2978]

Youre gonna do a wave 4 right? I just binged the first 3 Exo-waves, i NEED my fourth!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Yeah! I'll be getting through all the sets eventually. Just been a really busy summer so far

[@watsedhaene]

8:07 There were 2 bionicle sets with that kind of color molding, being Krika and Pridak. Although I think they used a more transparent white in this set.

[@thejerminator877]

Krika used the same Milky White, though it was molded with a different shade of red. Blade Titan uses Milky White and Dark Red; Krika uses Milky White and Red; and Pridak uses White and Red.

[@chutas]

In recently revamped my Cyclone Defender, and having it back in hands (with changed pieces tho) felt very special

[@CheeseyStudios]

That sounds cool! Markus Rollbuehler did a really cool Uplink mod if I remember correctly, and I remember seeing a really cool Fire Vulture too, but I can't remember who did it.

[@collincouwenb3708]

been recollecting them now for awhile im 7 sets short and the polybags varients aswell great video

[@CheeseyStudios]

That's awesome! Best of luck with the collection

[@panfrei5932]

12:50 The disc launcher works better when you put your finger on the opening at the top In addition, Blade Titan can bounce the discs back with the rotation of his shield like in the commercial if you are skillfull enough

[@DonnaxNL]

I remember looking pictures of the sets online to get the codes to enter on the website haha Also interesting to note that the sets (partially) changed from the 'Galidor/Knights Kingdom' ratchet joins to the Bionicle ball joins.

[@CheeseyStudios]

I think it was a step in the right direction! The ratcheted joints gave the legs strength, but you got that extra smooth motion with the arms which was new and really fun to play with.

[@jaczylijaaleniepowiemkto3243]

I really hope you go back to alternate builds and combo models once you review all of the regular Exo Force sets 🙏

[@CheeseyStudios]

I hope I can too! That could be really fun.

[@xendordawnburst9969]

8:07 Don't forget Pridak, the white Barraki!

[@TheMrbigtires]

I remember begging my parents for the Golden Guardian because it was a Toys R Us exclusive and because it had literally only come up in a catalog days before Christmas. We stopped at a Toys R Us going to a Christmas party and my parents played it off as picking up something for my cousins. Lo and behold I open up the Guardian Christmas Morning. Maybe I'll put him back together some day.

[@CheeseyStudios]

Ha! Best kind of prank 🤣

[@StormX6]

I really loved Exo Force. I grew up loving anime like Gundam or Robotech, so it amazed me that Lego made their own mech Anime theme

[@CheeseyStudios]

It really was ahead of its time! So cool though

[@HellHound_]

You mentioning the weird EU collabs brought back some memories and not even related to Lego. Basically there was a Hot Wheels X Duracell collab that gave you your usual hot wheels cars with Duracell decals on them. The decals were alright but the idea of my dad getting a toy for me every time he bought batteries was amazing

[@CheeseyStudios]

It is kind of a fun collaboration. You figure so many toys needed batteries back in the day so they were really popular with kids already! Since the battery scene was likely more competitive, including a toy was a great way to stand out.

[@_nam_nat_]

After watching your videos on exo force, vikings, and knight kingdom, its pretty clear lego was cooking in the early/mid 2000s damn

[@CheeseyStudios]

I wholeheartedly believe it was a second golden age for the company. It's certainly LEGO at their most creative!

[@nichsster]

Lego needs more things like this

[@M0torsagmannen]

Shadow Crawler is my favourite. love the style and weird 3 legged platform

[@CheeseyStudios]

It really stands out, and I appreciate it for that!

[@N8-PT]

I recall in the comics, Hayato was captured by a shadow crawler and was about to be electrocuted to death by the jail pod before being rescued. Pretty dark material

[@CheeseyStudios]

The comics and books get pretty crazy from time to time

[@stormredwood2613]

Iron Condor was the only ExoForce set I owned, and I've been waiting for it to show up since the ExoForce Revisiting episodes started XD

[@CheeseyStudios]

Ayyyy, today was your lucky day!

[@skyler2762]

an exo force revamp needs to happen

[@CheeseyStudios]

That would be pretty sweet! I bet it would do really well today.

[@Dinowrestler]

I still love exo force. Even in my Dark ages I picked up a few sets to make my own mechs.

[@HerCeleryPancakes]

Such an awesome wave of sets. As someone who kinda skipped over exoforce it’s super cool to see these amazing lego mechs that unfortunately are better than todays ninjago mechs. I so what to pick up one of these because their super great and something i wish i had experienced

[@CheeseyStudios]

I wish the Golden Guardian wasn't so expensive, because it's certainly the one I'd recommend from this wave!

[@Entertaininglylame]

I love this theme, and after recently diving into the world of gundam I’m looking to do a moc meshing the two together in some way.

[@CheeseyStudios]

That sounds epic!

[@anastraykiwi]

Great video as always!

[@samuelpierce2.088]

The Golden City sets were the ones that really caught the attention of me and my brother’s younger selves. A shame our family members were only able to afford two sets, cuz I’m pretty sure we would’ve bought all of them if we could. XD (We got two of the Aero Booster sets, which I’m sure you’ll cover in the next video.) I do agree with Cheezey here when it comes to the lack of alternate builds, though. Makes the sets feel a lot more…one-note, for a lack of a better term. And it kinda misses what makes LEGO mechs (and LEGO in general) so special in the first place.

[@CheeseyStudios]

Aero Booster is such a fun one - can't wait to cover it! Love it in all its ridiculousness

[@minerman60101]

I take partial credit for you having to memorize the term "Zamor Sphere Launcher", bwahaha. When I got my Mars Mission Claw Tank from the aftermarket, I thought the seller had shorted me on disc shooter discs, but no, Lego only gave it seven of eleven(?) discs so that they'd be less likely to fall out, and as seen in 12:50 they didn't fire well until it got down to around seven discs left. Speaking of transparent yellow, over a decade later we still do not have a transparent yellow crystal to match the yellow lava monster...

[@spacesuitian9745]

What's interesting to me is the weapon names. Someone at Lego clearly plays Battletech. An example is a particle beam rifle, which sounds a lot like the description of a Battlemasters main gun. A rifle of sorts thats considered a PPC (particle projector cannon). Hell, in battletech, PPCs shoot big balls of energy. Hence, the sphere launcher.

[@CheeseyStudios]

I always wonder who writes the descriptions. That has to be a fun job!

[@kopakaskoolkompanion]

I do have to agree in a preference of looks with 2006 vs 2007 overall, but of course the builds are far superior from the Golden City. Golden Guardian and Blazing Falcon are the epitome of battle machines to me, and the Blue Falcon and Cyclone Defender one-up Sentry and Uplink designs as well for me. Those 4 are what most inspired my own attempts at building battle machines of my own with what few System, Bionicle, and Knights Kingdom parts I had as a youth. And as you said, those boxes. The Golden Guardian box absolutely astounded me when I got my hands on it a few years ago, and still is so stunning with its golden shine. I do have Claw Crusher's box as well, which did not have that same shine (thus presumably is also the case with Cyclone Defender). Very disappointed that wave 4 didn't carry over that fancy feature either.

[@MozzarellaRules]

I agree that Wave 1 looked better and also better captured the "feel" of those sets being actual battle machines, what with them being bulkier (it's especially notable with the Robot sets as they have a lot more heavy weapons and look like they were purposefully made for heavy combat, including huge bazookas, flamethrowers, cockpit-mounted miniguns etc.). Wave 3 has a more ancient-tech and lightweight vibe to it which isn't bad at all, but tastes are tastes. They *did* introduce us to balljoints-on-blocks which are great, and the Iron Condor's amazing swiveling torso mechanism is something I still use today because it's so cheap yet effective (it's 4 bricks and it's only 4 studs in height, which means you can integrate it in a humongous amount of small-to-medium MOCs without compromising stability).

[@CheeseyStudios]

In terms of playability, yeah, these ones were a big step up! The ball joints worked really well for arms, and I wish the swiveling torso had been standard - it allowed for so many cool poses.

[@subterror2274]

9:38 that's the set I grew up with. To this day I love it to bits, though the years have not been kind to it, the sword, both tubes and one of the shoulder fins are broken, the figuring missing and the ball shooter was mangled. I hope to maybe try order replacement parts for it one day, but Lego is so expensive. And if memory serves, apart from Sky Guardian, I don't think I ever saw another Exo-Force Lego set in my country ever since either

[@CheeseyStudios]

I do wish these sets were easier to find these days. Getting some of my missing pieces for all the sets was quite challenging!

[@aggelosaggelos5696]

the golden mecha legs have that distinct zeong leg look,most similar to marasai

[@brycevo]

They all look so cool

[@CheeseyStudios]

Exo-Force was just the best

[@battlebirdbricks8892]

Great video! Loving these theme reviews. Thank you for all the hard work you put into this channel!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Appreciate it!

[@thunderspark1536]

Honestly I was pretty disappointed that they had the arm and leg joints being stuck still, but using the smaller ratchet joints with the same colors makes it look the same with extra posability. Sadly, (wholly personal I know) I really dislike the more beastial forms the robots kept going down, to the point where the final wave's robot sets just don't do it for me. But luckily the human ones stayed SUPER cool, and the only mods I make to them are to enclose the cockpit more to keep the pilots nice and cozy :)! I cannot wait for the final waves to see what you think, I for one LOVE the forest ones they made for the final year. Super cool!

[@CheeseyStudios]

Robots definitely peaked in the first two waves in my opinion too. Really loved the sharp, industrial aesthetic.

[@thunderspark1536]

@@CheeseyStudiosIndeed. I feel that the second year's old-fashioned aesthetic COULD work a lot better in the modern day with improved building techniques, but at the time it just felt out of place. Third year pulled it around, but not in time to save the theme.

[@perfectparadox7389]

I love how people are using the term gallidor joints now after all these years!!

[@CheeseyStudios]

I have been enlightened!

[@omni_shark]

I went to a small Lego convention near where I live and saw the of the smaller sets from the first wave I believe it was the one that used the helmets from the Lego sports theme as shoulder pads , a day later I saw the video on the first wave and regretted not buying it

[@CheeseyStudios]

The sets are pretty hard to find these days. I saw like one Exo-Force set at Brickworld this past summer. Best to pick them up when you see them, ha!

[@aaronskuse2207]

I remember seeing these in Lego magazines and wanting them badly, but I grew up poor and couldn’t afford any of them, so I got creative and built 2 of my own from various spare parts that were party based on MechAssault, on original Xbox.

[@CheeseyStudios]

That's the beauty of LEGO!

[@azarishiba2559]

I can't believe there were 5 waves of Exo-Force and I didn't get one single set! T.T Really when I saw this mechs in some stores in my country, I thought they were just awesome. I think each wave has its charm, and the last mech just look fantastic. When I have finished moving, I will have more space to display my LEGO, sets and MOC's, possibly new ideas. I will try to build some crazy mechs :3

[@CheeseyStudios]

I feel like every builder has to do a mech at some point! They're just so important to LEGO these days.

[@TheRandomYoYo]

"Ancient tech far beyond what we currently have" Their machines dead-ass use flat plating for armor components. Peeps legit thought "Hey if we want more armour we just go thickk".

[@nuetaisa4232]

Lego: "And these ones have special compartments for human shields!"

[@henrypaleveda7760]

I would say that the Golden guardian is my favorite battel machine (if not Rio's tank), but the 2006 wave is my favorite. I do think that lego would profit from simply doing a rerun of exo force. with all of the new mechs being made and so many new parts, they could easily accomplish the same sort of aesthetic as the original 2006 exoforce achieved. Also it's about time they make more mechs with knees.

[@joshbarber3797]

been waiting for this one WOOT

[@CheeseyStudios]

Enjoy :D

[@mot2296]

The Golden Guardien is my favorit Lego Set ever. I would love to have an Army of those but boy are those pricy these days

[@CheeseyStudios]

I do wish they were easier to find. It's such an incredible set!