The BrikWars Forums

The old thread was getting crowded, and the sets featured therein (with one or two minor exceptions) are all from last year's release schedule. So I figure it's time for the 2008 lineup to get its own review thread!

I'm starting with two of the sets from the Speed Racer movie license.

Set 8158 - Speed Racer and Snake Oiler



Set 8159 - Racer X and Taejo Togokhan



I'm going to make blanket statements for all four models across both sets, since the basic assembly for each car is similar (although there is plenty of variety from one car to the next).

Construction Quality
These cars are very well-designed for build integrity as well as form. As a test I just dropped one of the cars from a height of about three feet onto a carpeted floor. The minifig was ejected from his driver's seat and one other piece came off from the impact. Haven't tested on harder surfaces yet, but I'm betting that there won't be a whole lot of "shatter" if/when I try that one out.

Anyone looking forward to the new Agents line can view these cars as an example of how those spy cars will be built; the overall structure is basically the same, just with a different style.

BrikWars Compatibility
At first glance you may think that race cars aren't very BrikWarsian. I challenge you, then, to go check out the most recent trailers/previews for the upcoming movie. These cars jump, flip, fire machine guns and rockets, and carry various other weapons with the intent of taking other drivers out of the race. I'd describe my favorite scene thus far, but anti-spoiler hounds may object, so I'll simply say that it involves a driver getting punched in the face... in mid-air... in the middle of a race.

Yeah, it's totally BrikWars.

Minifig Count/Quality
Each car comes with its corresponding driver, for a total of two minifigs per set. Each driver looks about how you'd expect them to look after being shrunk down to minifig scale.

And yes, they're "peach", because it's a licensed property. Deal with it.

Unique Pieces
The most unique pieces from the cars themselves are the windshields and the wheels on Racer X's car and Speed's Mach 5. Also, all the cars except Racer X's have actual "seats", and not just studded squares.

And yes, there are stickers. Quite a few of them. No one's making you use them if you don't want to.

Piece Count
Speed and Snake: 242
Racer X and Taejo: 237

Value
At 20 bucks each, these are fairly decent sets. They provide minifig scale vehicles from a modern era that isn't boring old City. The cars each seat two: a driver and a passenger. ...Oh who am I kidding? A driver and a gunner. And while there aren't weapons built into the cars themselves as is, it shouldn't be too hard to "convert" these race cars into lethal killing machines.

I would review the Indiana Jones Motorcycle Chase and the Race for the Stolen Treasure, but it would just be me constantly praising them for their design and perfect application in my Brikwars Piltogg Army. The facet of these sets that do need to be mentioned are the silver 1x1 pips, which off the top of my head I can think of 1.7 million uses for in a Brikwars game.

Such as?

Thyclaine wrote:Such as?

-Thermal Detonators
-Hood Ornaments
-Ball Bearings for fragmentation explosives ala "Password: Swordfish"
-Silver Coins for bribes
-Plutonium ingots for who knows how many terrorist applications
-Chrome Exhaust pipes for an inner-city themed battle
-Flowmetal for liquid-metal androids

Need I continue?

Nah.

whos idea was it to make a movie about speed racer,....wtf?

Pvt Expendable wrote:whos idea was it to make a movie about speed racer,....wtf?

I again direct you to go look at a trailer or two for the movie. My initial reaction was the same as your own... until I watched the trailers.

Pvt Expendable wrote:whos idea was it to make a movie about speed racer,....wtf?

speed racer, compared to modern animoo, was a sucker.

speed racer, back when it came out, was a god amongst insects.

speed racer, compared to modern animoo, was a sucker.

speed racer, back when it came out, was a god amongst insects.

Modern Animoo????..... is that some kinda japanese cow? Was a sucker... for what bad script,.....can't make sense of badder i am a dumbass head swelling

Speed racer came out the same time as?..... the flintstones,...? that was better than speed racer,.... Astroboy,.... way better than speed racer,...

I aint saying you WRONG! im just saying you gonna have to clarify boy!

race for the stolen treasure:
Jeep:


Truck:


Covered part:


Quality:
Exellent. The cars are very tough, and can handle being dropped.

Brikwarsi-ness:

Obviously exellent. The jeep has a turrent and the a drivers seat, and the truck has the driver's seat, a seat for a passenger (who can hold a rifle) and room in the back fo around 6 more troops or some equpiptment(I'm thinking a cannon).[/u]

I've actually modified my trucks to have two 2" guns on the back, in an Anti-Aircraft configuration. I'll post a pic someday.

Seems to me the Mars Mission sets have a few possibilities. Imagine a battle where you start out with all of your non-infantry units "inactive" (unable to move or fire) and have to collect Energy Crystals to activate them.
If a minifig gets hit with a weapon and the Damage roll and Armor value are exactly equal, he could lose his helmet and have to stay in a pressurized area for the rest of the game.
The pneumatic system also has interesting possibilities... different sides could compete for control of transport-sled stops, or an infiltration team could damage the pipes to cut power to an enemy air-propelled gun turret.

Just snagged the Jungle Duel set based on a scene from the new Indy movie, and this thing is totally BrikWarsian.

Not much to comment on in Construction Quality, since it's mostly a bunch of small assemblies (tent, table, bench, etc.), but I will say this: it has a weapon rack. One that doesn't require grabbing the blade of the weapon in order to pick up.

That alone skyrockets the BrikWars Compatibility factor. Five swords, two daggers, and a whip round out the armaments... along with a mug, a lantern, a frying pan, and even a couple pieces of "food", if you're imaginative enough for improvised weapons.

Three minifigs, all licensed characters. (Yes, that means peach. Get used to it; the more licensing deals Lego makes, the more of this color you're gonna see.)

The majority of pieces could be considered "unique", although they could still serve plenty of other purposes. The only piece I can think of that would be "single-use-only" would have to be the tent "canvas". A total of 90 pieces, barring extra bits, and altogether very useful in a BrikWars setting as a forward outpost or control point.

And did I mention the giant ants? I'm sure someone could come up with a use for those.

What is the set number?

It's 7624.