I always enjoy seeing when LEGO fans do something interesting and unusual with LEGO Friends. In addition, one of my favorite LEGO themes is the now retired LEGO Exo-Force line. So, I was thrilled to see Tyler Sky combine the two themes and create Exo-Friends. Tyler released one new Exo-Friends mech each day for a week, and I was looking forward to every single one of them. Now that all six Exo-Friends models have been revealed, I thought to share them with you as well. 🙂
First of all, take a look at this group-shot of the six Exo-Friends mechs. As you can see, there is a good variety of sizes, styles and colors. Some are based on official LEGO sets, others are purely new creations.
Now let’s meet the Exo-Friends drivers. As you can see, three of them use the original LEGO Exo-Force hairstyles. When LEGO Friends was first released, LEGO fans quickly discovered that the old LEGO Exo-Force hairpieces look really good on the girls, and this combination has been used numerous times to create sci-fi and space style characters. The orange spiky hair is from Syndrome from the LEGO Disney Collectible Minifigures, and the light-gray spiky hair is from the LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 4 Crazy Scientist. Several of the girls wear various armor pieces for protection, however the driver of the largest mech needs no armor, and her hair stays nicely styled, due to the enclosed cockpit. 😀
The first in the line of the Exo-Friends mechs is loosely based on the #8118 LEGO Exo-Force Hybrid Rescue Tank from 2008. Besides updates on the design, the original colors of blue, lime-green and white were changed out to the more “friendly” colors of lavender, pink, and translucent-purple. But make no mistake; this tank has plenty of firepower. Also check out the bunny operating the detachable small plane at the top.
Tyler shares that the second Exo-Friend mech is not based on any particular set, but was his own attempt to capture the out-of-this-world vibe of Japanese anime cartoon vehicles. The azure and white color-scheme and unusual spikes are definitely striking.
The third Exo-Friends mech is based on the alternate build suggestion of the #7712 LEGO Exo-Force Supernova. The yellow was swapped out to lime-green, which gives this vehicle even more of a bug-like appearance, similar to what we have seen in the LEGO Galaxy Squad line in 2013.
The fourth Exo-Friends mech was inspired by the #8106 LEGO Exo-Force Aero Booster. I think Tyler’s version has a more balanced shape (the original had some ridiculously large boosters), and I really like the addition of the rollers on the feet. The color combination is also very nice.
The fifth Exo-Friends mech mixes the LEGO Exo-Force styling with LEGO Bionicle and standard LEGO system elements, creating a massive suit. It also has a darker and more sinister looking color-scheme, unusual for the LEGO Friends collection.
The sixth and final Exo-Friends mech represent Tyler’s take on the next evolution of the theme. Its massive size towers over all the others. It is also more human-like rather than spiky and otherworldly. To help with navigation a bunny copilot is included. To see more of Tyler’s awesome LEGO creations visit his flickr gallery.
While LEGO Friends may never get as out-of-this-world as LEGO Exo-Force, I think there is room for something like a space station in Heartlake City. And Olivia has been tinkering with robots in her lab since the very beginning of the LEGO Friends line, so it is very possible that by the time she is a rebellious teenager she will spike up her hair, dye it some wild color, and make bigger and more powerful robots to terrorize her parents and teachers. There is definitely a fan-base for such combinations, so let’s see if LEGO dares to take the theme in this direction. 🙄
What do you think? How do you like these Exo-Friends creations? Would you like to see LEGO Friends expand into a more futuristic sub-theme? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below! 😉
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I absolutely love these, I love it when people use Friends for other things. And back to the packaging survey isn’t the first picture (on the question of the brown packaging) from Just2Good.
Yeah, I really like Friends upgrades too! 😀
I’m not sure which of the two pictures you are referring to, but both are directly in the survey, so I assume they were taken by LEGO.
http://lego.fluidsurveys.com/media/assets/user/5198/storage/brown%20paper.JPG I believe that that is a thumbnail from Just2Good.
Weird. When I took the survey that image wasn’t there. We will probably never know what is Just2Good’s relationship with LEGO, but he is well known for leaking LEGO images, so maybe LEGO decided that this time they will steal an image from him? Also, that’s not a good picture, as outer packaging (shipping boxes) is not what the survey is about. 🙄
“Also, that’s not a good picture, as outer packaging (shipping boxes) is not what the survey is about. ”
Actually, if you click yes on buying online it will ask you the question about what the quality of the brown boxes is.
Hm… I don’t remember that question, and I did select I shop online. But I may have just forgotten. I can’t go back to the survey as I have already filled it out. So Just2Good’s picture is in that section? Maybe I didn’t see it because for some reason I wasn’t asked that question. 😐
I did some research and yes it is. It is from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JNxIyapQMg
Funny! 😀
Do I spy Emily Jones in the mix?
You mean the girl with the freckles? Yeah, she does look like Emily! Good notice! 😀
Freckles are sweet!
I agree. 😀
Lol! My 8-year old sister would love these! 🙂
See, LEGO? Even girls want mechs! 😀
Pretty sweet… I thought that the grayish hair came from Ursula, first…
And I want more ravey punky reggae hairpieces like that…
Ursula’s hair looks similar from the front, but it is very different at the back. I personally don’t like it. But yeah, the Exo-Force spiky hairs are super nice. I used to have some and regret selling them. After seeing these pictures I added them to my BrickLink Wanted List, so I can pick some up next time I shop. 😀
I thought Ursula’s hair looked pretty good. (I just own the hair, not the minifig.) Rather New Waveish, although perhaps a bit mullety…
I have a few of those Exo-Force hairpieces from bulk sales, maybe I’ll buy some more later… For primary and secondary colors, there doesn’t seem to be any official hairpieces in bright blue, alas, just in cyan (or whatever the official term is, as in the rhird image)…
Yeah, it’s that mullety thing I don’t like about Ursula’s hair.
what the Heck. the New Lego Friends in the mechanic is just odd. Hopefully that the Lego elves franchise will not get into this robot build stuff. My girls love the dragons, Main reason they were lured into the elves line, that and the nature scenery. our little guy loves, the new batman Lego sets.
This is not an official theme in any way… It’s just a couple of fan builds…
Mecha and Elves might not be a natural fit, although objectively, I’d guess the Ninjago theme is just as odd… But for the Elves, I’d guess a more steampunk vibe would fit better… (Or maybe “clockpunk” would be more appropriate…)
Steampunk Elves? What an interesting idea! Would love to see that happen! BTW, thanks for helping out today with answering questions and stuff. I was out of town, so couldn’t get to them until just now, but I see that you have taken care of most of them on recent discussions already. 🙂