Review: LEGO Ideas #007 Exosuit

[ATX Lego Maniac]

Nice!

I the tree a set as well or your creation? It's very cool!

[Faefrost]

As far as colors I had heard somewhere that TLG always uses at least 3 colors in a set. I am not sure if that is true-just remember reading along the lines. But I will definitely be getting this set. I just hope there are enough to go around!

TLG always uses three colors more because that's how color design works. It's not limited to Lego. 2 complimentary colors and an accent. It's all color wheel and color theory stuff. You actually choose what colors to paint your kitchen the same way. When they design a set or a theme it will be based on 3 color color pallets.

Now they will typically always have more than three colors in a set. Largely in order to make the build sane and fun. They have to use color to differentiate between similar small parts or the builder would go nuts. Also Lego instructions get pretty heinous when they are monochrome.

[TheLegoDr]

Thanks for the review. This is the second or third I've read so far. It is an interesting set to say the least. I'm not huge into Space, but I have recently been getting back into Blacktron II and M:Tron, so this is more interesting now than it would have been 6 months ago.

With that said, I also don't love the barrels. I understand and applaud the reasoning behind using it, but too bad there wasn't a solid mold barrel instead of a barrel barrel. As in something that is round without the wooden ridges. But at the same time it works here. I don't love the giant hands anyway, even if an actual mech would look like that. I'd probably want to modify the arms, but keep the rest of the set as is.

The color scheme doesn't bother me so much, although this doesn't feel classic space personally. The green space-people was a good idea since the other colors wouldn't have been interesting. So I can see those selling well.

I thought this set would be bigger than it is, but next to that Ent I can see how tiny it actually is. It makes it even more impressive considering the amount of detail it provides.

[Ardelon]

What I want now is a follow-up video of the two astronauts. The first one ended on quite a cliffhanger!

Nice!

I the tree a set as well or your creation? It's very cool!

Its an Ent from the Orthanc set of Lord of the Rings line.

http://brickset.com/sets/10237-1/Tower-of-Orthanc

[Venkefedo]

What I want now is a follow-up video of the two astronauts. The first one ended on quite a cliffhanger!

Me, too…provided we get to see the pirates they expect to encounter!

[K-Nut]

Nice review! This is one of the few sets that's a must for me. Though it's not as smooth as the original model, the detail and greebling still makes it a great set to display.

[Lego Otaku]

Official GREEN space men!!! :wub:

Green air tank have been around for many years, likely a proto or one off production for the park and I've wanted one classic style in green but the air tank was pricey!

Now if only LEGO would do old grey classic. We did have many source of grey tanks and the castle set had grey helmet in correct style helmet. Too bad LEGO probably won't bring back old color if they ever release grey space men.

[ummester]

The only thing TLG did better is the harness over the pilot - the original design is better in every other aspect.

Why did they have to make a space girl? Classic LEGO space 'men' have always had non-sexualised 'human' faces that could be either or, depending on the preference of the child playing with them.

Edited July 15, 2014 by ummester

[Mencot]

Why did they have to make a space girl? Classic LEGO space 'men' have always had non-sexualised 'human' faces that could be either or, depending on the preference of the child playing with them.

But that is easy to correct right, the classic heads are not so hard to come by. But it would been cool if they would had included or made the heads double sided, with the classic smile on the other side as an notch towards the classic era.

[ummester]

Yea, that is true Mencot. The double sided head is a good idea - classic on one side and modern type on the other.

Perhaps I'm just too old style with it :) . I don't mind the non yellow minifigs having a variety of faces - because they were developed during my dark ages, when LEGO was transitioning to that action figure style.

[Mencot]

On the Lego Ideas blog site there has come interesting and some new and info about The Making of the Exo Suit

[WhiteFang]

On the Lego Ideas blog site there has come interesting and some new and info about The Making of the Exo Suit

Very interesting read. I enjoyed reading and able to gain an in-depth insightful thought to this design process. Thank you for sharing.

[Lord Insanity]

Excellent review, thanks.

When I first saw the original prototype I was underwhlemed. It looked fragile and the pilot sticking up out of the thing just looked "wrong". My thinking was basically well if it comes with a white spaceman and is only in the $20ish range I might get one. When I heard the expected price point of $35 I pretty much figured I was going to skip this. Then came the final release pictures. The rollcage on the production model solves the biggest issue I had with the prototype and it comes with 2 green classic style figures. I went from being indifferent toward the set to it is now a must have. For what is basically a space forklift, this will fit in as a service unit for my monorail nicely. I might even find a use for multiples.

I find the "controversy" around the barrel part in the arms sort of amusing. I find that part to be superior to the original wheel hub. The deep grooves in the wheel hub just made the arms look really fragile. The barrel texture pattern is generic enought that, in grey, it looks like bars, pipes, or grating to me. It's not like the barrel is brown, now that would have been silly.

[Venkefedo]

For what is basically a space forklift, this will fit in as a service unit for my monorail nicely. I might even find a use for multiples.

I demand pics of an Exo-Suit carrying new lengths of track to expand or repair your monorail!

[VintageLegoEra]

If i buy this, i will only for its box and manual...what a super look and finish!

[Sir Walter Maugham]

On the Lego Ideas blog site there has come interesting and some new and info about The Making of the Exo Suit

Very interesting! It's always so cool to hear the details from Lego's side.

[TheUtilityBelt]

Nice review! Any idea when its coming out in the US?

[Aanchir]

Nice review! Any idea when its coming out in the US?

This blog post says it will be available from LEGO stores and shop.LEGO.com on August 1. I imagine that will be the case worldwide, with the exception of a possible early release in the LEGO store in the UK where Peter Reid is going to be doing an event of some sort.

Edited July 18, 2014 by Aanchir

[Joris Blok]

I'll take 4 Sorry Mr. wallet.

[Nimrod]

<edited>

Edited December 9, 2020 by Nimrod

[clonebricksNL]

This blog post says it will be available from LEGO stores and shop.LEGO.com on August 1. I imagine that will be the case worldwide, with the exception of a possible early release in the LEGO store in the UK where Peter Reid is going to be doing an event of some sort.

Where in the Uk would this event be i'm willing to drive for it

[Aanchir]

Where in the Uk would this event be i'm willing to drive for it

All the details can be found here!

[ummester]

On the Lego Ideas blog site there has come interesting and some new and info about The Making of the Exo Suit

I really enjoyed that read - thanks for posting.

Is it just me or does anyone else think that things like illegal connections and old part usage should be ok for ideas sets? I get that all official TLG sets aimed at the target demographic have to be constructed according to safety, brick stress and ease of separation rules - but shouldn't there be some avenue for more inventive and less 'official' building techniques to make their way into packed sets, such as ideas?

Edited July 22, 2014 by ummester

[DPrime]

I really enjoyed that read - thanks for posting.

Is it just me or does anyone else think that things like illegal connections and old part usage should be ok for ideas sets? I get that all official TLG sets aimed at the target demographic have to be constructed according to safety, brick stress and ease of separation rules - but shouldn't there be some avenue for more inventive and less 'official' building techniques to make their way into packed sets, such as ideas?

I think so.

Hoo boy, getting excited for those green astronauts! Personally, I like to think of them as "rangers" - a designation that would include deep space recovery/salvage. :)

[Faefrost]

I really enjoyed that read - thanks for posting.

Is it just me or does anyone else think that things like illegal connections and old part usage should be ok for ideas sets? I get that all official TLG sets aimed at the target demographic have to be constructed according to safety, brick stress and ease of separation rules - but shouldn't there be some avenue for more inventive and less 'official' building techniques to make their way into packed sets, such as ideas?

They do a little bit. Build a Star Wars UCS set and it is obvious that the set is not made to stand up to play the way the system ones are. But that is a world of difference from the truly flimsy static model that the Exo Suit was. The model has to be able to survive some mild handling and swooshing. Besides how pissed would most of us been if the ExoSuit had no poseability? Just that one static pose from the original pictures? I'm thinking that would have pissed us all off far more than the changes that happened.