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How would a reboot of RoboRiders look?


Logan McOwen

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For those who aren't aware, the RoboRiders was one of two predecessor lines to Bionicle, and was launched in 1999 as a successor to the previous (and my personal favourite) Bionicle precursor, Slizers (otherwise known as "Throwbots" in the USA).

According to Brickipedia...

 

Somewhere in cyberspace, there lived an un-named, advanced species, on a world divided into six regions: Dust, Ice, Lava, Stone, Power, and Swamp. A mysterious enemy arrived on their world and unleashed a virus, which spread across their world.
Story

To counter the virus, the species created wheel-shaped armour for themselves, and six motorcycle-like machines, called RoboRiders, to travel in. The RoboRiders could fire elemental blasts by launching their rider. Eventually, the RoboRiders vanquished the virus and saved their world.


In regards to build, the RoboRiders were Technic-based, using a range of specialist pieces to form some semblance of a universal system, with two main kinds chassis and a universal front axle assembly. But these days, Technic has largely done away with highly specialist parts, with only a handful of designs breaking that rule. As for action figure franchises, the CCBS has certainly taken the reigns, and likely won't be letting go ever again.

So, if RoboRiders were to return (and I'm not implying that it will), how do you think it would be done? Or rather, how would you like it to be done?

I personally imagine that, if RoboRiders were to be brought back, it would be done so as a way to introduce younger builders to Technic - rather like LEGO Juniors is used to introduce younger kids to System parts. I could see rather simplistic builds pegged together with pins and axles, with slightly more complex areas utilising gears or other mechanisms, so as to introduce such concepts in a fun and non-stressful environment.

But thinking wishfully, it'd be cool to see CCBS based Roboriders. I'm not quite sure how that'd be done, but it'd be quite interesting to see. Maybe toys akin to Transformers, that can convert from bike to humanoid robot and back again?

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Interesting question. I can see this being made from juniorized technic sets like you said, but if they were akin to transformers, lego wouldn't make them profitable since Hasbro would sue them for copying their idea and kids might think the toys are knockoffs. Maybe there could be CCBS based pilots of the motorcycles? Slizers & Roboriders failed because the Throwbots were unusually built, had emotionless visors and suffered a lack of draw to their story and having humanoid characters would make them more like able and appealing.

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I'm really having a hard time imagining pushing them in a direction other than a pretty literal reboot of the same. Making them humanoid/transformers seems too close to a knockoff, and CCBS pilots seems like it deviates a bit too much from what made them "them" (creature almost-merged with vehicle).

 

I could picture something akin to Bohrok, however: Vehicles with a small, organic pilot "piece". Collectible pilots that offer various traits in combo with different vehicles, etc.

 

Doesn't really jive with the CCBS trend, but I'm sure there are opportunities to use it for mounting armor, adding weapons/limbs, etc.

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Ah yes, I have fond memories of Roboriders...

 

To be honest, I'm having a really hard time picturing what they would look like today. In some ways, it's much like that CCBS Bohrok challenge many people have tried. They were full of specialized pieces that led to cool designs and functions, and to try to mimic that without those parts would be difficult. For example, the wheel launching mechanism depended on four specialized pieces, the Roborider wheel, the Roborider side-panels (which many MOCists have found a use for as fantastic shaping pieces), and the Roborider wheel holder. While it would be cool to see that function implemented again (preferably working even better), I see no way to do it without using those specific parts.

 

CCBS Roboriders would be cool too, though Roboriders themselves were very Technic-heavy and some didn't even have limbs that could be replaced with CCBS. I suppose, if done right, the shaping can be achieved with a Transformer-esque design. I can see how some of the others are mentioning that feels contrived or too much like a knock-off, but to be honest, I think it would drive more kids to buy them. Through its many years of production, Lego has released very few transforming sets, and most of them require drastic reconstruction to achieve. If they could pull off a transforming line of sets, I think the demand could be pretty high. And they wouldn't be the first to make transforming toys beyond Transformers either.

 

 

...but beyond the impracticality of it all, I don't think I'd mind seeing them brought up to current standards. I think specialized pieces would still need to be used, but because of that, they could be a great "Technic Juniors" line. Just look at how easy the old ones were to build. Maybe thirty to forty pieces, some interesting functions, and plenty of playability. The only real difficulty would be in minimizing those specialized parts and using some new ones.

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Frost actually used a Slizer/Throwbot body instead of either of the established "RoboRider" bodies, which, to me, is an impressive amount of variety for what seems to be a simple line.

 

I think if they were to be brought back, it wouldn't be in the same category as they were.  It probably wouldn't be a story-based line, because it originally failed due to the fact that they weren't very relatable as characters.  If anything it would probably be a "Racer" sub-theme of TECHNIC, focused more on competition than story.  Now that Chima and NinjaGo have popularized ripcords as a means for launching vehicles, I'd imagine something like that being integrated into the back wheel.  I'm not sure how the front wheel firing function would or could work in this case, but perhaps that could be replaced with the "driver eject" function of the past smaller racers, where hitting an obstacle would propel the driver (or core module, or whatever) out of the vehicle.  It'd be interesting to see if there could be varied specs of racers, such as some that are slower but eject further, or some that are faster but don't eject as far.  That could be built into whatever game mechanics the design team come up with to make the sets appealing.

 

I just want them to come back somehow, really.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I did once have an idea of slizers or robo-riders being introduced to bionicle as antagonists who mistake the toa for enemies in an act of over-zealous-jingoistic defence of their home world, which was the true moon of Spherus Magna. But other than that not much.

 

You could do the slizers as some sort of racing based story, but I don't think that would do much to help them sell.

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Similar to what Jaxus mentioned, I was playing with the idea of possibly bridging the gap between Roboriders, Throwbots/Slizers, Bionicle, and even Hero Factory and bringing them all together for one gigantic mash-up. Bionicle and HF more or less had the same roles as they do now, and I was leaning towards Throwbots/Slizers being a sort of ancient precurser race to the MU inhabitants, but I was thinking of approaching the Roboriders line from more of a Tron or an IGPX standpoint and redesigning them so that they "transformed" (shifted may actually be a more appropriate word, actually) into a "bipedal" robot mode (torso/"legs" end with the axel keeping the rear wheel in place and the launcher is attached to the vehicle's "head") similar to the 2004 Vahki sets when attacking, as the whole "pop a wheelie until your front tire comes back" concept made them seem like they were severely lacking in stability/maneueverability while in motion immediately after firing.

Throw in a gear function to raise the head up and down, a 2003 Matoran swivel torso somewhere towards the center so it can make turns by leaning the front half to either side, and some older G1 Bionicle pieces to establish some sort of melee capabilities, and I could definitely see something like that being released (or in this case, rereleased) under the Technic line.

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RPG History:

The Asylum, Bionifight Infinite, Year 60,000, Matoran und Panzer, HF RPG 2.0, Wasteland, Corpus Rahkshi, Skyrise

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Just look at any CCBS motorcycle. That's probably what they would look like (just add eyes). 

Erm, most motorcycles are made of Technic, regardless of whatever CCBS figures may also be included. 

 

Still, I think putting some Mixel eyes on a Technic cycle might need some illegal connections to work. Probably more likely to have a CCBS head piece in there somewhere. 

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Just look at any CCBS motorcycle. That's probably what they would look like (just add eyes). 

Erm, most motorcycles are made of Technic, regardless of whatever CCBS figures may also be included. 

 

Still, I think putting some Mixel eyes on a Technic cycle might need some illegal connections to work. Probably more likely to have a CCBS head piece in there somewhere. 

 

You can always use those googly eyes you glue on. 

It's time to move on.

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Just look at any CCBS motorcycle. That's probably what they would look like (just add eyes). 

Erm, most motorcycles are made of Technic, regardless of whatever CCBS figures may also be included. 

 

Still, I think putting some Mixel eyes on a Technic cycle might need some illegal connections to work. Probably more likely to have a CCBS head piece in there somewhere. 

 

You can always use those googly eyes you glue on. 

 

I thought we were talking about an official Lego reboot of Roboriders. 

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I'm really impressed with the level of discourse on RoboRiders here... I didn't even remember the short backstory that Lego gave them from way back when. :P I think I never actually got any of them, as opposed to the Throwbots, which I did.

 

Iruini Nuva mentioned something that I think would be very important for a RoboRiders reboot, and that is collectibles.  The collectible aspect was definitely something that attracted me to both Throwbots and Bionicle.  The Throwbot disks had nothing on Kanohi, but they were definitely really cool at the time, even without too much of a story behind them.  If they brought RoboRiders back and I were going to buy any, I would hope for some kind of collectible headpieces or visors or something.  The problem is that we're having a hard time thinking of what the collectible could be.  I know it's not much beyond the Throwbot disks, but maybe they could have a wheel or wheels with various elemental logos or illustrations on them?

 

I think the other main thing I would like to see would be the inclusion of some kind of antagonist(s) in set form.  For a smaller, tentative line like the original was, it made sense to just stick to the heroes, but with Lego's budget these days I'm sure they could include some bad guys for them to race or something. :P

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The original Boss Roborider was actually speculated to have been the villain of the series, though it was never confirmed whether that was true or if he was just the leader of the others (I like to think it's the former because team leaders didn't start getting the "Titan" treatment until Hero Factory popped up, but he could just as easily be both or something.). As for Throwbots/Slizers, the European storyline (which the one in North America attempts to bleed into later on, so I personally count that one as "canon") suggests that they had established protocols for combat, similar to the Glatorian System over in Bionicle, and that around half of them were actually "villains."

So, in short, whether those two lines had bad guys or not all depends on how you look at it.

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Epics: 

Hero Factory: Contagion

RPG Characters:

BZPRPG Characters

RPG History:

The Asylum, Bionifight Infinite, Year 60,000, Matoran und Panzer, HF RPG 2.0, Wasteland, Corpus Rahkshi, Skyrise

GM Résumé:

Matoran und Panzer (Formerly Appointed Co-GM), Corpus Rahkshi (Former Substitute Co-GM)

 

 

Feel free to shoot a PM my way if you're waiting for me to respond to something and I've been taking a while to do so.

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Interesting! It's surprising how much I didn't know when I was younger. :P I guess the relatively open-ended approach they took to storyline fit the tentativeness of the lines themselves, at least in the U.S.  We were free to build them and decide the story for ourselves. :)

 

I guess a more established backstory is something I'd like to see in a reboot, too. It would need a way of distinguishing itself from Bionicle, but I think Lego could probably handle that.

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