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! 😉
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
