So... What do we actually know about the Slizers?

[Logan McOwen]

Okay, so I'm a pretty big fan of the Slizers - They were great, innovative little sets, which were full of character and colour, and they really opened the doors to the world of constraction like nothing else could. But sadly, the little disk-throwing dudes didn't really have much in the way of a backstory. Just what do we know about them and their universe, past their beachball planet and the supposedly mutagenic meteorite? 

[Petewa]

They are masters of hacking things within the GFFA.

 

...Sorry, wrong slizers.

[randomreviewerbros]

Slizers and also Roboriders to me were very interesting, only recently I have gone back and purchased some of the sets, they aren't too bad TBH, I thank Mata Nui that LEGO experimented with their Technic Ball and Socket System with Slizers and Roboriders because BIONICLE is where it is today because of that early experimentation.

I personally don't know too much about the story and you are probably better off doing a quick Google search "lego slizers storyline" would be your primary search which I'm sure you have done, Wikipedia (of all places) actually has a very in depth look at the different tribes and such on there, here's the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slizer/Throwbots

[Naota Takizawa]

Click here for the outdated news on Slizer. 

 

The Wikipedia page & the Brickpedia page are the only things that give us hints of a storyline for Slizers/Throwbots since the official comics only advertised the building & play features of the Slizers. 

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

they threw stuff at each other and somehow messed up enough to blow up their planet.

[Smitty]

The story or lack there of is the reason Throwbots only lasted two waves, and Robo Riders one. Bionicle came out of the gate with a deep and mysterious backstory and an end game for that story. Children like the story as much as the toy that's why after more that 30 years properties like Transformers, My Little Pony, and G.I. Jone still have a fan base. Other toy line like LEGO and Barbie have no story whatsoever and children are left to come up with their own story.

 

When it come to a story to sell a toy you need something deep and rich or nothing at all.

[Lyichir]

The story or lack there of is the reason Throwbots only lasted two waves, and Robo Riders one. Bionicle came out of the gate with a deep and mysterious backstory and an end game for that story. Children like the story as much as the toy that's why after more that 30 years properties like Transformers, My Little Pony, and G.I. Jone still have a fan base. Other toy line like LEGO and Barbie have no story whatsoever and children are left to come up with their own story.

 

When it come to a story to sell a toy you need something deep and rich or nothing at all.

Not really, actually. Slizers/Throwbots only lasted for two waves because Lego didn't EXPECT them to last more than two waves. Lego was skeptical of the idea from the get-go, and did not put much stock in a product that was that different from traditional Lego. In fact, the theme was a hit, and might have been continued if the designs for the successor theme (Roboriders) hadn't already been finalized and put into production by the time Lego was aware of its success. Bionicle's longer-term initial plan and episodic, expandable story was a response to Slizers' success, not to its failure.

 

Brick by Brick discusses Slizers/Throwbots in chapter 6 from pages 159 to 162.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Lyichir

[masterchirox580]

Slizers was kinda cool I guess. I might actually have a set. These days they just kinda look like scrambled together technic parts made to look like an action figure. It was probably good at the time but I don't think kids today would like them. 

[Ta-metru_defender]

If I recall correctly...

 

Beachball planet. Each Slizer had their own region/chunk where they did stuff. They were looking for a Special Thingy to fight the Local Bad Guy (Rock needed Hard Water, I remember that).

 

Every so often they'd hang out with Judge Slizer and have competitions throwing discs and stuff (at targets, instead of Local Bad Guys).

 

Then in wave two something big happened and destroyed a bunch of the planet. There were new Bad Guys. And Millenium Slizer kicked all the butt.

[Logan McOwen]

Interesting stuff...

Also, I found some extra little bits and pieces from some old Lego Mania magazines here.

 

EDIT: Check out this May 1999 issue of the UK Lego Technic magazine!

 

Edited February 12, 2016 by Logan McOwen

[Naota Takizawa]

I must praise you for bringing us these amazing magazine page scans Logan. Now, onto the pages themselves.

 

I can see why the Slizers got renamed in the US, the UK names sound pretty boring in comparison to the American names, although I find judge to be the cooler sounding name compared to jet. There's not much to say about the reviews, they're just cherry picked opinions to make kids buy the toys. Hiker Mike is the only contest winning entry we know about, is anyone ever going to find the other 29 winners?

Edited February 12, 2016 by DJ Khaled

[Logan McOwen]

I think "Good VS Evil" on that DPS is the opposite way around to the illustration, due to that being the order they're usually put in. I mean, in the info to the right, it states that the good Slizers form the Super Slizer, which is on the right-hand side alongside its components, Energy, City, Ice and Sub.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Logan McOwen

[Ta-metru_defender]

Sorry Khaled, but the Slizer names will always be superior to the Throwbots. 

I never knew about the good vs evil plot; that's news to me. Huh.
 

[Naota Takizawa]

The story for both versions is weird, in the UK storyline, the slizers are contestants in a competition trying to prove their worth to Judge, who rules the planet. In the US story arc, there was no such thing as pizza planet & all the slizers were separated. In the next year however, both versions would do their worst to tell the same story of a meteor mutating the evil throwbots/slizers & Millenium making his first & last appearance.

 

It's a shame Roboriders had to take over Slizers, I actually wanted to see how the story could continue if Roboriders didn't exist.

[masterchirox580]

From the looks of things it seems like it was handled like regular technic sets. I must admit it would have been interesting to see the slizers go on into a second year. Although I'm not sure if it could have sustained itself that long with a lack of story. 

[Banana Gunz]

I believe there was something about an arena and a Judge slizer. Kinda brings up a cool Glatorian aspect. In fact, 2009 could have been a fun sequel to Slizers lol (but probably not).

 

It's one of those fun and wacky things that had a basic story line that could've been really interesting had it been fleshed out more and more character centric, but I guess we should be glad because where it failed Bionicle succeeded and probably as a result. Lego learns from the past... most of the time.

[Jeffery Mewtamer]

While on the subject of Slizers, anyone know of any modern sets from which the following pieces can be sourced?:

The two styles of Slizer torso

The slizer throwing arm

The shoulder joint and hip/ankle joint.

The slizer leg

The slizer head piece.

That piece that was used for Ski's skies, Judge's Wings, etc.

 

Amazon is about the only online retailer in the intersection of "Sells Lego" and "Accessible enough for me to use with my screen reader", but paying collector prices in the Marketplace is more expensive than I can justify for purchasing spare parts, and while I recently purchased a set of the original 8 for Nostalgia's sake, some of the MOCs I want to build would require more than doubling my Slizer collection if I don't find alternative sources for some pieces.

 

Also, help building Turbo would be appreciated. The other 7 I could build from memory, but Turbo's construction is a bit more complicated.

 

More to the existing threads of discussion, I generally prefer the American names but prefer Slizer to Throwbot and like to combine the names as if the European ones are suffixed titles(i.e. Torch the Flame Slizer). Also, while I remember the original Super Throwbots being described as good and evil in a brochure or catalog, Jet/Judge being part of the evil combination never set right with me, leading to a head canon of Jet, as the Judge being a neutral party and the creation of Ultra Rex coming about from the Evil Slizers forcing Judge to fuse with them.

Edited February 14, 2016 by Jeffery Mewtamer

[Taria Pakari]

Those combiners look so goofy.

 

I love them.

[randomreviewerbros]

Those combiners look so goofy.

 

I love them.

Those combiners remind me of the Toa Kaita combiners, which makes them more loveable!

[Naota Takizawa]

Does anyone know if there are magazine pages or even comics that mention their real names? I'm pretty sure the Mega Slizer was named Ultrarex while the Super Slizer was called Robotops. The combiners are not elegant, but still look pretty good.

[Ta-metru_defender]

While on the subject of Slizers, anyone know of any modern sets from which the following pieces can be sourced?:

The two styles of Slizer torso

The slizer throwing arm

The shoulder joint and hip/ankle joint.

The slizer leg

The slizer head piece.

That piece that was used for Ski's skies, Judge's Wings, etc.

Working some bricklink magic aaaaaand:

First Torso (not seen since 2001's Nui-Rama)

Second Torso (last seen: 2002)

Throwing Arm (only seen in Slizers)

The shoulder (last seen: Bahrag)

The limb (last seen 2010)

The head (last seen 2002)

The Wing/Ski (last seen 2010)

 

Dang. I deserve a trophy for this sorta dedication.

 

 

 

[Jeffery Mewtamer]

^Thanks for the info. Finding Lego-related sites that present their information in a way I can access has proven difficult. A shame many of the parts only barely outlived the Slizers themselves and I imagine even 2010 sets are already prohibitively expensive for part sourcing.

 

I definitely saw the names Robotops and Ultrarex in print once upon a time, but I can't remember if it was in a brochure that came with the individual sets or if it was in a Lego catalog. Do remember the blurb on Ultrarex calling it evil, which might be the source for his components being the "Evil" Throwbots. On a related note, I don't think Dynamo ever got a mention outside the instruction booklets.

Edited February 15, 2016 by Jeffery Mewtamer

[Bonkle]

It's a shame there's so much confusion and missing stuff on the story. But at the same time, I think it sorta adds to the whole uniqueness of the story.

 

On the name debate: All I know is that I used to think Slizer was pronounced (in the first half) like in slither. So the City Slizer was always a city slicker for me.

[Naota Takizawa]

I always thought the name was pronounced with an "I" sound since the name for the Slizers came from the word "slice."

[Ta-metru_defender]

Slai-zers.

 

Now that that's settled, how do we pronounce throwbots?

[Naota Takizawa]

Throwbots is easy to pronounce, I don't think you need a guide for it.

[Petewa]

Throwbots is easy to pronounce, I don't think you need a guide for it.

Only as easy as Football.

(From now on, I pronounce "Throwbots" as "Thrau-boots")

[Naota Takizawa]

Please don't butcher any more names.