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Were Throwbot Discs Available Separately in NA?


Illuminatus

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If there are any fans of the Throwbots still around, perhaps someone can tell me how (or if) extra discs were distributed in North America? I've only ever seen a European release of the #8508 set and in hindsight, I've never actually seen a North American eBay listing featuring anything other than the regular discs that came with each set.

Interestingly, the North American posters show all 48 discs (24 per poster) with this peculiar info at the bottom:

"Discs are randomly placed in Throwbot sets. To buy extra Throwbot discs, in the US call: 1-800-453-4625."

Does anyone have any idea what that was all about?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was a US Throwbot fan back in the day! I have no memory of any boxes or polybags on the stores shelves with the initial Throwbot release. The discs I got with each bot were all I got.

Looking at Brickset, there are only images of the extra disc bags and boxes with the Slizer logo, not the Throwbot logo, which was known only as Throwbots in the US. Both products are only being sold by Euro Bricklink sellers, so I'm assuming they were never distributed in the US.

EDIT:
Just looked at my throwbots disc collection and compared it to the inventory on Bricklink for each bot. I don't believe they were randomly packaged as advertised. I owned every throwbot and never purchased extra discs. I've got discs with "element logos" (2 pips disc) and "disc action" (3 pips disc). According to Bricklink, each bot comes with their element disc and one disc from another bot that is their "disc action" disc. Example: Torch (the red bot) comes with his fire element disc (red, 2 pips) and Ski's disc action disc (white, 3 pips).

The only powerful discs I have are Millenia's gold disc (9 pips) and Judge's "Treasure" disc (Throwbot planet, 8 pips). According to Bricklink, Judge's 8 pips disc in included with Millenia. I do not have any disc with pips 4-7 (flying box disc, action disc, enemy disc, treasure disc).

Edited by chuckschwa
info addendum
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That 1800 is just the Lego shop at home number... I'd wager they offered the slizer-branded spare disc packs by mail order.

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believe victims. its actually not that hard, and youd look kind of bad if you were to, say, side with an abuser because theyre your friend

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From what I recall as a kid from the 90s, the Disc pack for the Throwbots was advertised in the Lego Catalogs in the states, but I never saw any of them on store shelves.  (The fun thing about Bionicle was the fact that the collectibles were widely distributed, so I could pick up a Toa and a random mask pack on the same trip.)  I don't know how the Catalog distributions were like in the late 90s; I don't recall a big internet presence for ordering sets, so you'd need to make the orders over the phone.  It's possible that they just used the European release to fulfill those orders instead of recreating the packaging, ext.  (I'd imagine that there was a limited audience for actual catalog phone orders, and don't know if said products would need to meet all the box standards of shelved sets.  I never ordered over the phone; mostly used the catalog to help determine what I'd want to pick up the next time I visited the toy store.)

When I eventually got on BrickLink and ordered the Slizer / Throwbot discs, I was able to get some of the 4-7 pip discs from US sellers, although the selection was sparse and I did have to wait a couple of months before a couple of rare ones popped up in Europe.  I'd assume that there was a modest distribution in the States back in the day, but the audience was probably quite small so there's not a lot on the secondary market twenty years later.  :mellow:

:music: 

Edited by xccj
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Your comment got me thinking if I could find that US catalog, xccj. Would this happen to be it by any chance?

Page 63 mentions "#8508 Extra Discs, Ages 7+, 5 randomly assorted discs, $2.50," but doesn't feature a picture of the box and explicitly states "Not available in any store."

You might just be right that they used the European release to fulfill those orders.

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That catalog certainly looks familiar.  I forgot that they explicitly stated that the disc packs were not available in stores.  (Also forgot how much they pushed the idea that you could attach the carrying case to your belt and take it with you.  I tried that once and it got confiscated at school.  Fun times.)

The Slizer / Throwbots distribution was so weird, it doesn't surprise me that the disc packs from back then are hard to track down.

:music:

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