Golden Tower Review

[Starwars4J]

Since this has no mecha in it, I'm putting the review in this forum. Anyway let's get at it.

Fight for the Golden Tower

Set Number 8107

571 Pieces

Price: 49.99USD

I found this little beauty when I paid a visit to my local TRU...who had all the sets in! Let's start with the box

Front:

Back:

The bags are numbered, and it worked nicely for this build

Here's the "DSS", however it's not quite so "D"...I'm sorry *yoda*, but this thing is BEAUTIFUL :'-)

They're like chrome or something...I never apply stickers on EF sets, but still...nice to have around?

Now let's take a look at the girl...

Torso:

Angry face:

Her hair seems to be made...differently. It's still some sort of rubber, but it's a much, much harder rubber. It still doesn't stay on her head any better unfortunately...

And of course, I can't forget the centerpiece of the whole set...the four GOLDEN KATANAS

These little things are awesome

And now the fighter...thing

Oh wait! It's not a fighter. IT'S A GUN. What a lousy design...not only does it LOOK bad, but it's in the shape of a GUN. Not only very unaerodynamic, but what happened to your non-violence policy, Lego? A gun that actually shoots? Hypocrites :-|

You can actually make the turbines rotate for a decent amount of time thanks to the torque given by the large gears

And of course, when you pull on the "trigger" the gun will fire. If you press on the right side the right gun will fire, and vice versa.

This thing is getting dismantled SOON, so if you want any more pictures to be taken, ask soon

And now the TOWER

This thing I *wub* This is such an awesome little building which I thought I'd be taking apart right after the review...I'm actually leaving this up!

Let me show you why

The front of the first floor

Here is the stand for two of the katanas. Normally there'd be stickers on the front round tile and on the glass panes. The front can rotate down via the geared mechanism to reveal a pair of missiles...however there's no real launcher mechanism, so this is kind of disappointing and it felt thrown-in

Inside of the first floor

Also, you see a black disk. If it is hit with a projectile (presumed to be one from the flying GUN) it will cause the whole section of the floor to lift up, throwing a small safe with the code in it. This clearly has to be the master code ;-)

The floor is held by a pair of friction pins and held in place by a single jumper plate

The inside of the second floor

Very plain...just a single computer (when the decal is applied...seriously, why couldn't they just use one of the many printed computer tiles? Lazy...

The second floor (front - blow up)

The second floor actually really impressed me...but clearly not on the outside. The front of the second floor is an 8x8 grill plate, held in place with some SNOT techniques...and it's surprisingly sturdy! Finally they're catching on to what space builders have been doing for 5 years :-D

The roof

The roof has a single projectile cannon that is capable of firing back at the FLYING GUN. Clearly in this situation the humans are at a disadvantage...on WAIT, no they're not, because the robots need a human arm to fly the thing |-/

For some reason...the floor of the roof can be removed...or at least a large part of it

Not really sure if there's any rhyme or reason to this. There's a small 1x2 white railing brick that can be used to lift it, so my first guess would be as a means to get to the roof, however the second floor doesn't have this, besides the lack of a ladder or stairs to actually get THROUGH the opening.

The whole temple is separated into three floors, the second floor can be lifted off the first, as it's just sitting on some plates

Also, those odd decorations are held on via this mechanism

Overall:

Price: 7/10 (I'd expect this to be about 10USD cheaper...)

Parts: 7/10 (way too many pieces wasted on that stupid flying GUN :-X )

Figs: 4/10 (that price and only one fig? And a single devastator? Pathetic...this wouldn't even be acceptable in a license set, this is supposed to be cheaper!)

Playability: 8/10 (the tower that is...and I'm sure young kids will love swooshing the flying GUN around...though those missiles can easily go off accidentally)

Overall: 26/40

Overall I actually liked this set, it's only the second Exo-Force set that I'm going to keep together and actually liked (the first being the Supernova, which I found to have a decent construction...and loved the wrist mechanism). I love, love that temple, and the only thing I think I'd mod would be to remove the large projectile cannon and remove the "target" and safe, possibly moving the computer terminal downstairs and moving the storage of the golden katanas to the second floor.

It's a great little set that was mainly ruined by the flying GUN. I'd definitely recommend it, even to a non-exo-force fan

[Piranha]

Great review...........Wait this time its not *yoda*

I really like the gold katanas,they would go great with my Mandalore the Ultimate fig I'm making :'-)

Not really a fan of Exo-force but those swords are tempting me X-D

Thankz

Piranha

[iamded]

Yay! Thanks for the review Starwars4J. I think they're sticking to the handle design for air-crafts, as they had that for the Sonic Phantom too.

[Asuka]

Thanks for that very good review! Yeah, that ugly flyer is |-/ , but the tower

is really nice with useful parts. A neat alternation to the overflooding vehicle sets.... *y*

[Norro]

Thanks for the review! I had wanted this for parts but $50 seems a little steep... I was expecting $40... a liltte optimistic X-D

God Bless,

Nathan

[Brainbox]

Oh wait! It's not a fighter. IT'S A GUN.

And of course, when you pull on the "trigger" the gun will fire. If you press on the right side the right gun will fire, and vice versa.

(presumed to be one from the flying GUN)

The roof has a single projectile cannon that is capable of firing back at the FLYING GUN.

Clearly in this situation the humans are at a disadvantage...on WAIT, no they're not, because the robots need a human arm to fly the thing |-/

Parts: 7/10 (way too many pieces wasted on that stupid flying GUN :-X )

It's a great little set that was mainly ruined by the flying GUN.

I think, maybe, it's a flying gun... ;-)

Seriously though, thanks for the review. I probably won't get this, despite the wonderful Hitomi, and the interesting plethore of gold pieces. Especially the gold katanas.

[Shakar]

Thank you for the review. The GUN looks ugly, I'd much prefer it to be replaced with one more or two floors added to that awesome tower. Hitomi is *wub* , I want her and some of those gold katanas. I may get this set, but with Bionicle and Castle there's so much stuff I'll have to buy this summer...

Shakar

[KimT]

Nice review. This looks like a good set. As for the no gun policy thingy - that went away several years ago. The shooting fighter is a smaller version of the sonic phantom. - And that's how it's supposed to be. Actually I think it heightens the playability of the set several points.

MORE GUNS

LESSER DISC LAUNCHERS

EXO FORCE ROCKS AND MARS MISSION SUX X-D

KimT

[zouave]

I'm not an exo-force fan but this set is awesome.When I say that I mean the tower itself. X-D This would've gone great with the ninja theme. |-/

[Wout]

Nice review,

I don't like the exo-force very much but I like the figs and Robots.

Maybe they gonna make battlepacks.

[zero1312]

I'm not an exo-force fan but this set is awesome.When I say that I mean the tower itself. X-D This would've gone great with the ninja theme. |-/

Yeah, remove the futuristic elements and you have a decent japanese dojo (or what those buildings are called). :-)

[Kahgarak]

I love the Sonic Raven,although i might recreate it with my own pieces to remove the shooting mechanism,and make it more greebly.

[Iron Moose]

I've been informed that the Golden Tower will end up more limited than the Aero Booster or Mobile Devastator: the price point will not continue into the next wave of sets. If you're on the fence, I'd not pass it up the first time it goes on sale.

[Asuka]

I've been informed that the Golden Tower will end up more limited than the Aero Booster or Mobile Devastator: the price point will not continue into the next wave of sets. If you're on the fence, I'd not pass it up the first time it goes on sale.

Thank you very much for that information, I always thought I could wait for a sale

with this one.... *y*