LEGO Throwbots! (aka Slizers!)

[@slow_start]

This is now THE definitive Slizers video on Yotuube. So glad to see these brought to light more. I never personally had experience with them, but I've always found "proto-products" like these to be so interesting. And I just saw the shout-out while I was typing this! Much love to you slugger!

[@Xeogin]

It might be if he didn't forget the coolest one... Blaster. Edit: And Flare, Spark, and Millennium

[@Bionickpunk]

@@Xeogin Perhaps thats for a Wave 2 video.

[@jameshumphrey869]

i dont leave the house without at least 1 slizer in my holster

[@the_real_Kurt_Yarish]

"I've always got that thang on me." *sound of plastic rattling as I walk

[@ilya.kudesnik]

I always have a pair of Slizers under my pillow when I sleep to protect myself in case someone breaks in to steal mah LEGO property.

[@shepherd8171]

Just like the founding fathers intended

[@thetombuck]

I feel like putting a belt loop on everything is a very nineties thing

[@ClintonMatos]

I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

[@florpy9162]

I love how each throwbot has an element theme, and then they just gave up and added city as an element.

[@Thinginator]

Also gotta love the elemental power of J U D G E M E N T.

[@ToaKoran]

@@Thinginator The ever-frightening element of shaking your head disapprovingly, a power stronger than any sword.

[@lance2580]

"City? That's not an element." - Jay

[@Bionickpunk]

It would make more sense if they went with environments instead of elements.

[@jameshumphrey869]

i guess rustbelted hell hole could be its own biome in a setting but i cant imagine why you would make a toy themed off of upstate new york cities

[@slumburger1145]

Slugger: "To me, the ocean just represents death" Nick on Planet Ripple: "I felt... a disturbance..."

[@CheeseyStudios]

Informative and hilarious. Loved this! I appreciate you always covering these outlier themes. I've had Turbo as long as I can remember but honestly never knew anything about the thing until now.

[@RRSlugger]

Thanks Cheesey! I've been having a lot of fun diving into these old themes I never really had growing up. 🙂

[@MakeItPerfectlyWrong]

Cheesey + RR Slugger (+ Jett Kuso) crossover when? 👀👀

[@jamess5032]

Granite was always my favorite as a kid. He was the only Throwbot that I carried over to my Bionicle adventures. I treated him like a “beast of burden” that pulled carts and stuff like that for the Matorans.

[@OrdemDoGraveto]

Electro and Flare also made good Rahis hehe

[@xhearthfirex6571]

Granite was my favorite too

[@mathildadeer]

he really does look like a 2001 Rahi

[@starstrike_]

The only set I have from this wave

[@Chokun-Gaming]

I like to think that their names are a combination of the two, having the throwbot name be their true name and the slizer name be the title of any given Slizer, for example Turbo: the City Slizer

[@RRSlugger]

I like this idea! I tried to do something similar when summarizing the "backstory" for each figure; there's not much lore out there for them, and what is there is somewhat conflicting, haha. Guess it wouldn't be a 90's LEGO product if it wasn't though! 😅

[@Spooglecraft]

my memory might be completely off here, but i vaguely recall seeing them advertised like that in a German lego catalogue. or they were just called by their element, like City Slizer. though i also distinctly recall one of them being referred to as Judge, so i think they used a pattern like you proposed.

[@OrdemDoGraveto]

@@Spooglecraft Judge is the name of Jet on some regions. Basically the regions where they were called Slizers had one name and the regions where they were called Throwbots had another. The "story" is completaly different between the two versions as well. In one you had a Planet devided into 7 regions, with a dome in the center, and they searched their own regions for resources. In the other version each came from a different Planet, and there were 4 bad ones and 4 good ones.

[@oneMeVz]

What's funny is they had regions, but the online website allowed you to switch between the two at will. And both regions were distinct in design and differing information. So whether they're Throwbots or Slizers? Yes. Are the Millennials going to be talked about in another video?

[@RRSlugger]

@@oneMeVz Coming soon! 😊

[@satellachannel6423]

The line is the perfect bridge between Technic Competition (turquoise vs purple, with Technic figures) and Bionicle. You can see how the idea of sport teams or champions each with their own elemental area morphed into the heroes of Mata Nui. The early years of Bionicle were still heavily influenced by the idea of extreme sports with diving, climbing, surfing, ski etc And throwing discs of course.

[@Bionickpunk]

I still look at Slizers and Roboriders as part of the world of Bionicle, as robots that existed in Bionicles past, where as Hero Factory represents its future.

[@SpaceManRD]

The 2001 Rahi did feel a lot like orphaned Competition sets (Tarakava in particular), and the Toa felt like a natural evolution of the Throwbots. The Roboriders lineage was sadly a bit of a dead end, at least on the set design side of things-the cylinder packaging at least lived on.

[@satellachannel6423]

@@SpaceManRD Yes! Just add a seat behind the head and voilà!

[@Weewoo12]

Bruh technic cyber slam! I loved those sets, the technic minifigs were cool too

[@HeadmasterAutobot]

This theme (and Aqua Raiders), while not our first exposure to LEGO, was easily the first set to really "catch fire" with my brother and I. We have some fond memories of collecting the original 8 Throwbots across 1999-2000, poring over magazines and catalogs in anticipation of being able to make the impressive(ly janky) combined sets. While we were eager for Granite and Jet, ultimately it was Scuba and Amazon who won us over. It all primed us for Bionicle to come, which felt like a very natural successor.

[@PhobosDDeimos]

I've had almost that exact experience with my best friend back then. We would immerse ourselves in the magazines and the world. It definitely sparked our imagination. I even liked the yellow and black Judge Slizer very much, whereas my friend somehow alway ended up with an ice themed hero in all these sets, either Sliver, Roboriders or Bionicle.

[@NorthstarSystem]

7:16 is so smooth that it doesn't even look animated. its like an invisible hand moving it. this is serious dedication to the stop motion bits you have and just know it isn't going unappreciated.

[@RRSlugger]

Thank you! That was one shot I *knew* I had to animate in order to best convey what I was saying in the script. 🙂

[@russellharrell2747]

The gladiatorial combat at the end was truly something that exists.

[@ToxicAtom]

Gotta say, always loved the goofy look of half-transformed transformers. Also, do hope that's a teaser for a Part 2, because the second wave of Throwbots are a lot cooler imo

[@RRSlugger]

Agreed! I’m looking forward to that video. 😊

[@n00b1n8R]

I built Robotops like 20 years ago and i was in awe of how the leg joints worked so well. Technic stuff like that was always inspirational to me as a kid.

[@skeletonpatch]

I recently got Ski, Scuba and Jet at a garage sale. The figures themselves are complete with their canisters, all that’s missing is their throwing disks (I got some BIONICLE disks to substitute). Having finally gotten to hold them after only seeing pictures all my life was quite the experience. These things just ooze so much raw personality that I kinda wish I’d not been a literal baby when they came out.

[@RRSlugger]

They're super cool! And weird..! 😅

[@BehindBIONICLE]

The name Slizer apparently came from how their planet was 'sliced' up. But yeah, they really are Throwbots.

[@SolomonMagnus819]

4:05 I think a better comparison to Torch would actually be Pohatu rather than Tahu. Matches the design better, if not the color. Oh and that final mashing of the sliders together brought a smile to me. Thank you for that 😄

[@legoben98productions]

It’s really clear that throwbots/slizers was the base of bionicle or even would be considered the beta bionicle. It’s weird with the time gap between the two themes as well

[@excalibrrimcold9354]

I'm from and still live in Newfoundland and I see the ocean as terrifying when swimming in it. The dark colors of the north atlantic preventing you from seeing very far terrifies me of what is in there. Especially when you touch something that you didn't know was there, like kelp.

[@ChaosKampf-w3o]

6:52 love that the throwbot with the nearly Rock Raider palette gets a 3-slug rating haha. Genuinely had some good laughs with this video! Here's hoping you cover their estranged cousins RoboRiders next!

[@RRSlugger]

Thank you! After the Throwbot Wave 2 video, for sure!

[@kopakaskoolkompanion]

I only recently managed to complete my Slizer collection (Flare and Spark were rather elusive, yet I have 5 Skis) and am quite glad to see some more love for this theme I grew up on!

[@squorlple7763]

You can’t sneak that Spider-Man 1 reference @14:55 past me. “What’s your name, kid? Jet? That’s it? That’s the best you got?”

[@RRSlugger]

Hahaha, we debated leaning into it even more, but looks like the message was received! 😉

[@danielgaylor]

Great video! Personally love Slizers, they have such a unique aesthetic that the more refined Bionicle and beyond doesn't have. I will say I personally love Torch. I think he just has a massive personality to him, from his proportions to his face plate he looks like a grouchy old man. Even the massive gear looks like a neck wattle. His color scheme is also unique, going red and black gives him a very molten lava look. Its interesting that no Bionicle fire related sets tried the color scheme. I know the Skrall did but doesn't evoke the molten look like Torch does. Never expected to like Torch as much as I did until I got him in hand. I think my favorite overall however, has to be Ski or Turbo. Ski's whole aesthetic is brilliant, and Turbo's function and colors is top notch. Its honestly really hard to pick. Looking foward to when you cover the 2000s sets!

[@X72Assassin]

For such a generally informative channel, you have a great sense of humor! It really adds a lot of personality. Great video

[@RRSlugger]

Thank you! ❤

[@crisfrey2753]

I was always intrigued by these in the catalogs as a kid, but I only had the Roborider ones. I remember it being hard for me to make MOCs with their parts. Great to see this complete and thorough video about these old Throwbots! RIP their planet though, rofl

[@Mick0Mania]

Same here. I had the yellow Robo Rider. I always wanted to get my hands on the “Slizer head piece”. It got re used a few times, I distinctly remember an orange dragster using one as the cockpit, but I missed my chance.

[@Sandwich1414]

I love how colourful the Slizers are, they always stand out on a shelf! Those small knubby limbs, the small feet that do nothing, the enormous disk flinging arms. And those detailed face plates! Amazing pieces of art. Slizers came out when I was six or so, and I absolutely loved them. It reallt represents the strongest step towards constraction, from Technic Competition, to Roboriders to Bionicle, its like looking at evolution for some kind of creature. Even those early Bionicle 2001 sets feature the whole fighting monsters gimmick from Competition and the discs, my god, they lasted a bit!

[@CharacterDesignForge]

I haven't made many LEGO videos on my channel, but had to do one on the Throwbots a few years ago- so glad you finally got to the topic as well!

[@CharacterDesignForge]

Just have to say I agree with literally every rating on the slugometer, I'm glad that Ski, Turbo, and Granite got the rating they did.

[@RRSlugger]

Great minds and all! 😉

[@Bionickpunk]

So long as we have balls and sockets, Slizers will live on, and I see them being used constantly, even after the constraction line was absorbed back into brick sets. Also when it comes to the names, I prefer the Slizer name for the entire theme, while using Throwbot set names as those are a bit more creative.

[@sebastianthomsen2225]

and bionicle roboriders and hero factory too! :)

[@Bionickpunk]

@@sebastianthomsen2225 Well Bionicle lives on with the Bohrok eyes at least.

[@sebastianthomsen2225]

@@Bionickpunk YEE! :)

[@lbricks7631]

Its watching videos like these that reminds me why I love your style of videos so much Slugger, the humour, the editing, the colour!

[@RRSlugger]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! ❤

[@CappnRob]

I wish you spent a bit more time talking about how the humanoid bots all different limb arrangements to give them different postures! Like how Scuba has stoppers in his hips to give him a wider stance with the joints facing backwards, but Amazon's joints face downward and his legs protrude forward from it, and Ski's face forward so he has this crouched posture. Anyway, Throwbots were my jam as a kid. I had almost all of them (I think I was missing Amazon and Electro), and they really embody that late 90s/early 00s Edgy Cool in their vibes lol. It's grunge and hightech, and extreme with a capital X. I also like how Granite and Electro were basically bugs, with Granite being a scorpion and Electro being a lightning bug. Really creative stuff! Looking forward to the MILLENIUM BOTS video! Edit: I took a look at the discs, and Jet/Judge has a curious exception to the disc art rules. Most discs feature as follows: The Zone at 2 pips, The Bot throwing a disc at 3, the Pod flying around at 4, the Bot braving a danger of their Zone at 5, facing down a huge monster at 6, and the element power up they need at 7. Jet/Judge however, changes this up for his later half discs: His 5 pip disc is him blasting another bot with his, well, judgment. 6 pips has him holding up a glowing golden disc instead of facing a monster. And he doesn't have a 7 pip disc, indeed he has the only 8 pip disc and instead of an elemental powerup it shows the Slizer World with a beam of light shining down upon the judgment arena on top (perhaps tying into the 6 pip disc). This disc also features a unique golden frame instead of a silver/gray one.

[@RRSlugger]

For sure - it's one of my favorite aspects of Throwbots! I guess I took more of a "show, don't tell" approach as I tried to demonstrate all of their differences visually. Great catch on that bit of trivia about the discs! Apparently Millennium and Jet just both had the same disc?? Wild!

[@OrdemDoGraveto]

The Gold disk with the city is from Millennium...

[@CappnRob]

@@OrdemDoGraveto Milleniums is different isn’t it? I don’t meant the solid gold disc, just the black jet disc with a gold frame print.

[@OrdemDoGraveto]

@@CappnRob Its a Black disk with the Planet. But I got what you meant now. I never paid atention to the fact that its frame is golden while all the others from the wave are silver.

[@CappnRob]

@@OrdemDoGraveto yeah that’s the one I meant haha. Millennium has a golden plastic disc with a similar print and another with Them rising their sick motorcycle around.

[@strataseeker2981]

I went ALL IN on Slizers back in the day, easily bought 200 of the kits over around 2 and a half years. Still have a lot of them and the MOCs I made boxed up in storage. Thanks so much for helping revive some core memories and the nostalgia of it all!

[@RRSlugger]

…200?? Holy Toledo, you did go all in!! 🤯

[@Epsil0nify]

Slizers confounded me as a kid. I owned Bionicles and a couple slizers, and I had figured that the slizers were some sort of Bionicle “rip-off” when in reality it was the opposite if anything lol. But I enjoyed playing with both of them!

[@LuketheDuke424]

Man, Throwbots bring back memories. I remember finding some of these in a bin at my friend's house and thinking that they were knockoffs. Throwbots brings me hope that other weird newer themes will get positive praise in the future. Great video as always!

[@_saital]

I absolutely adored Throwbots when growing up! I think Flare and Millennia were my faves so definitely curious on your thoughts of the next wave.

[@RRSlugger]

Me too! Wave 2 is fantastic. ❤️

[@Bionickpunk]

I much prefer Millennium in his motorbike form, as the Slizer and motorbike builds look complete and better proportioned than the giant Titan build. However, the entire set gives me Takanuva vibes, helped by the gold parts and an accompanied vehicle.

[@brayden141]

2:03 The font used for the name "City" on that promo looks eerily similar to the modern Lego City theme's logo from 2005 to present

[@Sparkedout]

KZbin hasn’t recommended you to me for a while, but i still remember the fun streams and can’t wait to catch up :)

[@RRSlugger]

Thanks! Hitting that subscribe button is another way to stay caught up with the channel, should you wish! 😉

[@Sparkedout]

Did it last night :), I switched KZbin accounts to make my own videos so sadly I wasn't for a while @@RRSlugger

[@RRSlugger]

@@Sparkedout No worries - thanks! Glad to hear that you’re making videos as well! 😊

[@Sparkedout]

@@RRSluggerjust finished a binge, loved all of them, especially the video advice 👍🏽 crazy how similar our processes are despite the completely different video style

[@RRSlugger]

@@Sparkedout Hey, that's awesome! Didn't take you long at all! 😄 I checked out your stuff too! Very professional - you could probably teach me a thing or two about thumbnail design, that's for sure!

[@edmundolastra3279]

That feel when the lone throwbot you got as a kid is the one slugger thinks is the worst amongst it's peers 😢 I joke of course! I'm not huge into collecting lego anymore. But I kinda wanna get granite 'cause its so darn cute looking ❤

[@RRSlugger]

Sorry about that! I can definitely vouch for Granite though - super cool Throwbot!

[@colinroberts2060]

The style of limbs which debuted with the Slizers are actually exclusive in Mata blue and Mata green to "Scuba" (8503) and "Amazon" (8505) respectively. The teal hand sockets are also exclusive to the latter of these. The Slizer feet in Mata green also appear in the Technic "Crane Truck" (8446) from August 1999, but nowhere else. Interestingly, Scuba is the last to have the harpoon in yellow, which debuted in the "Divers" subtheme of "Town" in 1997. Even though "Judge" (8504) is considered many people's least favorite of these, it does have the same wing function as the "Nui Rama" from the 2001 wave of Bionicle.

[@darkroom0716]

Slugometer, my beloved. How I have missedyour absolutely objective system of rating. I had that weird desert walker one and the green car one as a kid. Even as a child, even in the 90s, I was like "what is up with these dudes"

[@the41stscout]

You know it’s gonna be a great time when he pulls out the Slug-O-Meter.

[@TheNickelGhost]

Wow, so happy to see the Throwbots again! When I was a kid, I actually preferred the vague open-ended themes that Lego had before Bionicle took off...the indirect worldbuilding through adverts and things like the art on the Throwbot discs gave off a really mysterious aura to me, which really helped draw me in. I still loved Bionicle like any good '90s/'00s kid, but in retrospect I feel like something was lost in the transition to the direct storytelling that Lego uses now. Great vid as ever Slugger, hoping we'll get to see a Pt. 2 sometime soon!

[@RRSlugger]

We certainly will!

[@DomenicVermillion]

Been trying to piece this memory back together for like 20 years. Thank you !

[@Biomaniac94]

No way! You actually did it! Man, this takes me back to 1999 when I got Fire, City and Judge for Christmas.

[@Eisenwald64]

I always wondered how the Slizer planet can be so segmented as it was portrayed; wouldn't they have mixed together one way or another or do the Throwbots handle that? Also, who lives in the city? That was never explained... Turbo's wheels tended to come off the axles over time, but was fun to play with!

[@Thinginator]

Love Throwbots, never owned one though (they were before my time), Turbo being my favorite because of the teal color scheme and being car-based. However, the real best part of this theme was the box art. LEGO had the coolest airbrushed backdrops on the Throwbots boxes, which was just totally rad and made the things look 10x cooler. I wanna know what artist they paid to make those, because I need more of that kind of art in my life. Best LEGO box art ever. If LEGO represents igniting your imagination with creativity, then that box art was more LEGO than the actual LEGO within, and that's not even dunking on the LEGO within.

[@RRSlugger]

Absolutely! Something that has been totally lost in the modern age of box art renders.

[@Thinginator]

@@RRSlugger Yep, and then on top of all that, the "adult" LEGO sets now don't have box art at all - just a picture of the set on a black background. I get that minimalism is meant to look mature and tasteful, but it can be dreadfully boring much of the time. I miss the days when you didn't want to throw away the box because of how pretty it was.

[@RRSlugger]

@@Thinginator Indeed! I donate all of my boxes for new sets; I don’t really have any attachment to them now - no alt builds, no artwork! 🤷‍♂️

[@benpaterson2237]

Slizers walked so that Bionicle could fly.

[@maxidy1498]

What the slug? 2:03 The city slizer has the same logo as lego city?

[@RRSlugger]

Right? City was a Slizer subtheme this whole time?? 😮

[@maxidy1498]

Then this slizer planet was the prehistoric era of Lego city. The asteroid at the end helps it.

[@EvanFleming-x6y]

There's also the 2004 Lego City Airport set (a rerelease of the 1994 one) which outright used Lego City packaging a year before Lego City came out. Clearly they had been prototyping.

[@Alfwin]

Throwbots! I love these goofy little weirdos! They were a bit before my time, but I got a few of them second-hand as a kid, and I've always liked them. I've got Scuba and Torch, and the purple one and the big yellow one from wave 2. Ski and Turbo are the ones I most want to add to my collection. I definitely agree with your take that Scuba is the best, but personally I'd rate Torch (the Pohatu of Throwbots) a bit higher, just because I find his weird build amusing. I do find it amusing that LEGO not only did the whole "elemental factions engage in resource wars, the planet blows up, and also there's gladiatorial combat" plotline for three consecutive themes, but they managed to trick us into thinking that the third one wasn't just a rehash of that same concept for _eight whole years._ (Also, speaking as a die-hard Bionicle fangirl: yeah, the Toa Metru were pretty garbage sets)

[@Solemgoodbye]

Gotta say Electro was my favorite. I loved the buglike appearance of it. Found it very charming.

[@parandomal]

Same. The sleek immediately recognizable dragonflyesque shape, actually posable head and the striking color scheme Lego decided to drop after the first year of Bionicle for some reason definitely make the lil guy my favourite. (Electro may or may not be the only Slizer I own)

[@CarsSimplified]

I didn't have anywhere near as many Throwbots as Bionicle sets, but I definitely would have collected them all given the chance! I had Ski, and I'm pretty sure my brother had Scuba. I might order a few discs that are cheap, but wow, those discs at $50 plus? I don't think I'd even order a disc at $5, even if it completed a collection. I just don't need a collection of discs, complete or otherwise, that badly. The gear functions on these were definitely way slower than Bionicle (at least the early sets I'm familiar with) but I imagine they were intended to lock in a pose rather than be a form of action. The way worm gears can turn but not be turned implies an intent to lock positions so the throwing arm could be aimed, too. Kind of a silly consideration given how easily the leg poses could alter that, though. Great video, fantastic ending!

[@RRSlugger]

For sure! I nearly spat out my drink looking at those disc prices, haha. I guess someone’s buying them! 😅

[@CarsSimplified]

They're building a throne room for the Rock Raiders Chief I assume!

[@Michkolud]

Awww thank you for this episode! It's the most nostalgic Lego series for me. I remember asking you of Slizers at your stream and you did mention you had some of them :D But tbh I wasn't aware of that crazy disc prices lol

[@TVSilex]

We all know and love those core elements like fire, ice and city

[@okieg8960]

1:37 I randomly found this part in my parts bin ( the face printed element ) thought it was some other toy and threw it away. Nice to see what it’s supposed to be from.

[@JACKBRICKBUILDS_]

babe wake up, new slugger vid just dropped

[@powerfistband3865]

Throwbots are absolute soul. I only had 4 as a kid but have recently bought all of them to complete the original 8. I didn't really much care for the later wave of Throwbots. I remember having a Lego magazine that came out around 1999 and it had a poster depicting all the discs you could collect. All the discs had various scenes of the Throwbots, like ones would have them fighting an elemental monster or just exploring their sector etc. Pure imagination fuel. These things were based I also vaguely remember a Throwbots browser game on the Lego website where you would pick a Throwbot and have to battle the rest and it was a kind of a platformer where you would have to time where the disc was thrown and then you would be moved to where it landed. I've tried to collect more discs but they're really expensive now and mostly seem to be sold by sellers in Europe for whatever reason. To help fill out the Throwbots scratch I have I bought the visor pieces that came with some of the Roboriders sets and made some custom Throwbots recently

[@Maniac4Bricks]

A fantastic overview of Slizers wave 1! While I acquired the full wave several years back, I grew up only playing with Scuba, Turbo and Ski. I still have photographic memory of seeing Ski in box on a shelf in ToysRUs next to a screen playing the Orient Expedition video commercial. I agree on pretty much all of the rankings from my firsthand experience, but I never constructed the combiner models. I have the posters around and the Lunchables comic with them interacting with the LEGO Maniac. And a friend of mine has actually worn some of the canisters as belt loops at LEGO conventions! It's pleasant to see this theme given a little more attention almost 25 years after their launch. And thanks for sharing some of the story as well!

[@Crazy-Drokon]

Yes! Finally I have a collection that is bigger than Slugger's! Sure, I have all our technic fellas, but I also collected every single disk, thus filling the void in their capsules and in my heart. For me the disks are a work of art. THE collectible. Every one is not a simple recolor, but an unique depiction of Slizer's lore. Even without catalog, one can see how the world functions with only 5 Judge's disks. And the rest tells us about riches of this world, monsters and hazards, and most importantly about our characters (and about the world's end in the next wave). Something neither roboraiders nor bionicle were able to achieve with their plastic parts. I also adore the sets to this day for gifting me real gears back in my childhood. My parents gifted me Torch and Ski. My collection was made of small affordable sets. I had few technic ones but they were tiny too. Now with this 2 slizers I suddenly had 4 small gears, 2 worm gears and 2 huge 40-tooth gears! I agree, swinging hands in bionicle are better play feature. But does it give a better build opportunity? no. PS - Torch slizer holds a surprise in him and can literally flip the slug-o-meter with a flip! just turn his head 180 degrees, swap hands and legs and viola!

[@RRSlugger]

Haha, interesting! That's a fair point, for sure. The discs *are* the lore in a lot of ways, like you say - I guess I have always preferred the Bionicle masks as collectibles, but I can see where you're coming from Michael. 🙂 Funny thing about that Torch hack - when I bought my Torch second hand, the previous owner had already made that modification! 😆

[@CarsSimplified]

The art on those disks is indeed very nice! Not $50 nice, but if Throwbots were being produced today, I would definitely seek out some packs!

[@EternityKingdomsHeadHoncho]

I have a few Throwbot parts scattered across my various bins and my church (which has a bin full of M*ga bricks) inexplicably has some Throwbo-bits.

[@natasalways]

that final “oh nooo” could totally be a meme 😂 great video as always

[@stevensmileyprod]

I REMEMBER THESE. I had them. I was 5 years old in 1999. It's wild that I remember these as well as I do. But at 5 years old your long term memory kicks in for the first time.

[@the23rdradiotower41]

13:40 “Powerful” is the last word I think of, damselfly comes to mind. Gosh I love this theme.

[@WcHDICE]

Turbo was my favorite set cuz you can attached 2 Cyber Slam launcher to make it look cooler

[@FloppyFred]

Darn entertaining video! It really kept me entertained and brought back a lot of memories. On a side note, i believe I remember that the "Bohrok" were my favorite toys form this whole "Bionicle" Series, but at the same time, they were also my last toys. I can't remember the sets that came after them at all, which could be due to my overall lost interest in toys at that time. Nevertheless, i still find LEGO interesting after all these years.

[@RRSlugger]

Thank you! ❤️

[@theoneitself]

Yo *AMABA jugar* con estos Legos. Solo me faltaban dos: el Juez y el de tierra. Casi me pongo a llorar por la nostalgia, eran de mis favoritos.

[@DannyBlocher]

I had all of these as a kid except Jet. My kid got into them last year and we ordered Jet to complete the collection, definitely was disappointed by it. Still fun for my 5 year old though, he loves them all! Ski was always my favorite.

[@alexbarrett3832]

Awesome. Rock Slizer was always my favourite, I really liked the pick axes. I never got into bionicle, but Slizers came right in the middle of my childhood, so I've got a lot of nostalgia for them!

[@Ringtail]

From what I know most Lego sets in the 80s and 90s had two totally different english names in Europe and North America, but it seems people don't really know or care and just accept the American name as default (leading to stuff like people being confused when the Blacktron GWP remake used its European name). I'm not sure why Throwzerbots is the exception where both regions' names are always listed for the sets, maybe because the theme itself also had different overall names so it's harder to ignore.

[@dcbandit]

Throwbots are always gonna be beta or alpha Bionicle to me, but I'm still very, VERY nostalgic for these things. My favorite is Turbo, and I think I used to own all of them. Those discs were carried over to the Matorans and their own play feature from the McDonald's variants, and so on. You can immediately see how these guys are just the precursor to Bionicle in everyway, and it even cycled all the way around, with Lewa the Toa of Air becoming a Toa of Jungle in the reboot, matching the Jungle Throwbot. It was a fun distraction, and I really enjoyed the bright colors matched with the black, like Electro and Turbo being a great example. Too bad their colors are practically unheard of in Bionicle outside of the Matoran toys. Great video!

[@vaimantobe3034]

This is one of your best videos yet IMHO. I laughed out loud multiple times. As an owner of all the sets and disks, this was also super relatable. I had the exact same reaction!

[@RRSlugger]

Thank you! I’m really proud of this one!

[@Raidmasterprod]

Ah, yes, Slizers/Throwbots I remember those things before Bionicle. That's how old I am.

[@ukaszbiaas183]

You just can't handle the Judge T-posing.

[@RRSlugger]

It's true!

[@TanConnector]

Great video, the Throwbots (or Slizers) are one of my favourite Lego themes and does not get the love it deserves.

[@UsuarioUsual7]

As a big slizers fan this video is pure joy, I recomend you to see a user in a white and orange platform called tommy2000, he is doing some banger mocs and combo builds with the oficial sets

[@UsuarioUsual7]

I cant said the name of the platfrom because the coment elimitate (idk)

[@excalibrrimcold9354]

Granite could be custom painted or different colored pieces could replace the pieces so granite could match the rock raiders colors.

[@peterdibble]

As a kid I thought these were so cool... I forgot how simple the models were, haha. I only had two of them but would've loved to have the whole collection. It was a real wave of nostalgia to see those old product photos again.

[@Patch2112]

Oh my god I love the Nausicäa reference

[@RRSlugger]

I had the pleasure of seeing it in a local theatre! Such an amazing film!

[@GearsAndBricks]

I have collected many of these weird parts from bulk buys. Thanks to R. R. Slizer, I finally understand how to piece them together. It might be time for me to use them in a MOC. 🙂

[@Whomobile]

I remember collecting these when they came out, the disck throwing arms broke pretty easily from what I remember

[@chuckschwa]

Great video Slugger! Throwbots hold a special place in my lego hobby because they were the first series I set out to collect all of back in the day. I laughed so hard when you used Ski's crystal disk as an example of the absurd prices on the collecting aspect, that was THE last disk I acquired and it eluded me for the better part of a year! The colors were absolutely the prime selling point for me, and i couldn't agree more that Scuba and Turbo were also my favorites for the same reasons. I also appreciated the critical honesty on Amazon. I could never pin down if he was my favorite or a runner up to the other two. I think the box art, or green being my favorite color, might have given him the edge on another day. Hope to see a followup on the second wave someday! (Lmao at your reaction at the end there)

[@RRSlugger]

Haha, that dang crystal disc probably eludes a great many people, if I had to guess! 😆 Yes - we’ll definitely be looking at Wave 2 next! 😊

[@brickjawns]

Wow that unlocked memories from old Lego catalogues from my childhood. Also, give the ocean a shot! It's not too bad, just bring a harpoon, full body wetsuit, water shoes, emergency oxygen tank, door (to float on), water proof solar powered satellite phone, emergency rations, flare gun, snorkel and shark repellent and you'll be fine!

[@gonzalitorg5124]

I allways thought that the Throwbots planet, was a failed experiment by the Great beings, to create a mechanical ecosystem. They learned from that mistake and eventualy created the Bionicle universe.

[@RRSlugger]

Haha, I like it!

[@JanitorJoey]

This was even more fun than the Xalax video and I never even owned a Throwbot! The ending really got me too - well done, Slug

[@RRSlugger]

Thank you! I had a lot of fun with this one. 😊

[@CabooseSP]

Another great overview of a line I have immense fondness for! Throwbots are a delightful reminder of an era of LEGO that featured prominently in my childhood, preparing me for Bionicle to take over my life for ten years. I find all of them charming in their own way, but I gotta admit, you made me realize how weird and awkward Judge is as a figure. That said, I think I mostly disagree with your rankings myself! I love the weird and wilder designs a lot more than the conventional humanoid Throwbots! Granite and Electro are by far my favorites, with Turbo and the (To be covered? Hopefully? = P ) Flare coming up after them. Though I could hardly say I dislike any given Throwbot!! One thing I kind of appreciate, even as a trade-off is that because there's Throwbots without bespoke printed visors I feel like there's more room for Original The Character Throwbots! I've really become charmed by the like, 1998-2003 era of Constraction, and I think I'd like to play in that space a bit more, MOCwise! Given that, I definitely feel you on the Metru Toyline being kind of overrated and lame in comparison. The Metru and Hordika were a low point in my interest in Bionicle, I just did NOT care about Vakama's overwrought origin story. X ] I also want to say I really appreciate how you promote other video creators in the community! It's a great attitude and only serves to strengthen the community of LEGO video retrospectives and such!! Anyways, great video, it's always good to hear from you. And hi Gigawatt!!! = ]

[@RRSlugger]

Thank you! For sure, I’m working on the Wave 2 video as we speak! Flare is one of my favourites. ❤️

[@Avid_Listener]

I absolutely adored the one with the giant tires as feet, that you could rebuild into a small slizer with a motorcycle when I was a kid. One of my favorite toys haha

[@RRSlugger]

We'll be seeing him in the next one!

[@jeffreyhawkins1027]

Fun video, but it was the "OH NOOOOO!" That got me.

[@kacketnaopacke]

13:33 my energy/electro slizer came with the mask of the other purple one. I think it's called spark slizer

[@alexgeorge501]

Great review of this proto-bionicle series! can't wait to see your take on "robo-riders" in the next video!

[@mystic-malevolence]

Oh. _Oh._ _The discs were pogs all along._

[@Zeldrake]

One thing I was slightly surprised you didn't mention, perhaps due to time constraints: *Why* some throwbots have good throwing arms and some don't. It's the same pieces, innit? While the Throwbot arm is a symmetrical piece, working at whatever angle it's at, the throwbot arm connection is *not.* You can see this on full display on Electro and Granite. The socket 'points' outwards - which means no matter which position you try and put it in to aim 'forward,' the spring energy will result in moving the entire arm in its socket along the direction of fire, because it's not locked. Contrast this to a more standard upright Throwbot, whose arm can be locked out at 90 deg for a perfect throw. What the other Throwbots need for a better play feature is to put the arm connection *sideways,* with its socket pointing backwards. This means that you could lock the arm to either side - left or right - and get a good solid throw off. _Unfortunately,_ the piece doesn't have an axle connection there, so if you put it where it does have an axle connection - on the sides - it looks off-center and immediately terrible. So the set designers had to orient it the other way - which means the asymmetry of the socket comes into play - and is why it plays so terribly as it does. Turbo gets a special mention because if you turn its arm socket around (so the piece points backward), this allows a significantly better 'throw' because you are now able to lock the arm out horizontally without it kicking forward. However, this does lose you the 'arm grabby' aesthetic that a front-pointing socket allows. You also passed over the gear functionality, but it's worth noting the size of gear. Because *physics,* a throwbot with a large gear (eg: Ski) will rotate slower than one with a small gear (eg: Scuba). I get that they were trying to add variety here (sorry Toa Nuva), but the usage of the worm gear - already very slow - completely gimps it when a larger gear is used. I suspect this might have subconsciously influenced some of your decisions: all the ones with small gears you generally rated a bit higher, likely because this genuinely does affect their playability (you spend way less time winding the teeny tiny gear)

[@ricechex1083]

The slightly more acerbic tone in this video really helps the comedy land, definitely a fan of the more sarcastic slugger

[@RRSlugger]

Thanks! I was a little worried I was digging into them a little hard in this video, but it’s been received well so far, haha. 😊

[@loreescape47]

Oh boy, the nostalgia hits hardest with this video for some reason. Those pods always reminded me of Star Trek's shuttlecraft, which was definitely a point in their favor back in the day. Each of us kids had our favorite/self assigned "element" with to get with Throwbots, Roboriders, and Bionicle, and mine was ice, so Ski was the one Throwbot I had. It always annoyed me that the design managed to utilize the one side of the pole that looked most like the bottom of a ski pole as a connector, hiding it completely from view. (!) A moment of silence please for all the Throwbot disks lost behind couches and down air vents...

[@RRSlugger]

Totally! If only they could have flipped that ski pole around somehow!

[@floodedmoat]

I know it's sort of unrelated to the video topic, but have you ever heard of Brian Ellis? He was one of the designers for Bionicle back in 2007 and has a KZbin channel detailing the work he did for Lego. One of the most interesting things he brought up was how he and his Lego team designed sets: the theme was given a general direction for that season's lineup, and each designer individually designed one of the sets. Can't say for certain how many other themes are like this, but basically, it proved a sentiment you've had in past videos where you felt some sets didn't feel like they were designed by the same people; maybe they weren't! Can't say for certain if that's the case with the rock raiders sets, or these slizers for that matter, but I hypothesize these slizers were designed by 7 different people. He also revealed how story elements were added retroactively to the sets, as he really didn't even know the character traits of the figures he designed.

[@RRSlugger]

Sorry for the late reply - that's super insightful! I was definitely aware of multiple designers working on Rock Raiders sets, but it totally makes sense that the set designers for Bionicle wouldn't really have a say in character traits and whatnot; it truly was a group effort!

[@Mick0Mania]

It is fascinating to how see so many ideas and pieces from this line got repurposed and redesigned for Bionicle. The discs, arm and feet pieces evolved into the Mactoran, the head and torso pieces got streamlined into the toa foot and torso pieces respectively. I sincerely agree with your take on the third Wave of Bionicle. In fact, I wish they didn't streamline so many of the pieces that made up the Toa. Pohatu's upside down torso was basically the only one where they significantly altered the build, but even then, if the torso was made up of more pieces it would have allowed for so much more unique body designs. Looks like the unique "creature building" aspect was shouldered exclusively by the rahi, who unfortunately quickly got out-phased. A blend between the original Toa and the Slizers would be the perfect mix to please my nostalgic wishes.

[@Lordodragonss]

I was nine and SLizers were the biggest thing. Every boy had one and we made disc throwing competitions. I really wish Lego would bring back these. Even in same form. They were cheap, fun and had tons of potential.

[@PhobosDDeimos]

The disks themselves tell the most lore, I think. They each follow the same structure: 1. Logo 2. A day in the life (with a small foe with eyes nearby) 3. Their vehicle 4. Them throwing disks 5. Their great advesary 6. Their essence Probably got the order mixed up a bit, but those disks told more story than the magazines and comic strips. I found them really interesting as a kid.

[@Bionickpunk]

The Wave 2 ones show: 1. An asteroid coming near the planet 2. Meteor impacting the planet 3. Sparks emerging from the crash site 4. Flare emerging from the crash site 5. Blaster emerging from the crash site with Sparks and Flare next to him 6. Milennium Slizer coming in his motorcycle

[@caustickrana_5629]

My one bias against throwbots is the use of minifig scale tools in constraction. The scale mismatch is distracting so I gravitate towards the ones that forego them

[@RRSlugger]

Totally! I may lament the use of Constraction elements in System sets, but the inverse is also no good.

[@catfish552]

"Judge is the worst Throwbot" Whoof, another stunning Slugger hot take 😆

[@RRSlugger]

Haha, I didn’t think *anyone* would come to bat for him, but I’ve been shocked by the support!

[@asphaltmemories4597]

Huge nostalgia for this line, I had a number of these sets from back in the day. I know it’s looked fondly on as just a hollow bionicle proof of concept but I still loved em. Thanks always for the great retrospectives.

[@rhettlauffenburger2976]

God I loved my throwbots as a kid. They were probably the last Lego theme I collected religiously before the dark times...before high school

[@Gameprojordan]

I remember seeing these in lego magazines as a kid, the colors really stuck out to me, and of course the weird shaped parts

[@minerman60101]

You know gear ratios? How meshing an 8-tooth gear with a 16-tooth gear gives a ratio of 1:2, meaning you need to revolve the 8-tooth gear twice for the 16-tooth gear to revolve once? Worm gears count as having one tooth in this scheme. They are meshed with 40 tooth gears in the throwbots. Pain ensues. The main draw of the Metru Nui Toa is the dual weapon functionality, and being at a great balance between posability and gear function. Essentially, they sacrifice some aesthetics and the mask battles for other play features. The Toa Hagah that came out the next year would perfect the build style and Toa Iruini remains my favorite Toa sized set. I came into Bionicle in 2007 so I had zero mask dislodging nostalgia clouding my judgement of those sets...

[@RRSlugger]

I know nothing about gear ratios, but your description makes sense! Pain indeed! I’ve got to argue back against the whole “mask nostalgia” argument though; nostalgia arguments are almost always baseless and predicated on assumptions, and this is no different. When Bionicles were introduced, they were all about two features - mask play features and gear play features. As the toys continued to exist, they began to stray away from this and, in my opinion, ceased being what Bionicles were all about (until G2 brought it back). It’s not nostalgia - it’s a preference, and we’re all allowed to have them! I’m not trying to single you out or anything though; I hear this argument all the time and it’s become something of a pet peeve of mine. Might be worth a video debunking it in the future… 🤔

[@minerman60101]

@@RRSlugger I was being a little facetious with the nostalgia comment, but seeing as it provoked an interesting response from you, I am retroactively justified! Bwahahaha

[@RRSlugger]

@@minerman60101 Haha, you got me! 🙂 It is definitely something that could be fleshed out into a video at some point. Who knows if that will happen or not!