Think the price of LEGO sets (often 10¢ per element) is sheer extortion? Over the years, many brick-compatible clones have arisen to capture nearby niches. The 1000-employee Ritvik Company of Montréal, Canada, maker of MegaBloks-brand bricks, claims to be the world's second-larger marketer of construction blocks. Their product doesn't use quite the same quality of ABS plastic, and the manufacturing tolerances aren't as precise, but the bricks still clutch adequately. Moreover, the composition of the sets hearkens back to the early days of LEGO, before the days of what LEGO Maniacs derisively call BURPs: big ugly rock pieces. Heavy on the 2x4 bricks, the models have that wonderfully aliased, jaggy texture of yore.
In early 1999, LEGO introduced the "Throwbots," a line of robot-shaped sets featuring spring disk-tossing arms. The claimed vehicular transformations were less than thrilling to long-time Transformers fans, but the new ball- and-socket elements were mildly interesting to LEGO engineers.
This year, Ritvik has introduced a new four-set line, "Transforming BlokBots." They have more useful joints than the Throwbots, capable of incremental 30° hinge and pivot motion. The transformations are even lamer, however; you pop apart the robot at said joints, and reassemble into vaguely vehicle-shaped blobs.
9331 Space grey,purple,black 195pc $13 at Toys'R'Us, $15 at K*B 9332 Swat grey,black 185pc $13 9333 Ice white,blue,grey 185pc $13 9341 Scuba Team black,blue,yellow 430pc $25
9331-Space contains four types of pivot elements. Unlike the stiff black pins in LEGO Technic kits (the longtime mainstay of LEGO-based transformational engineers), these have non-continuous click-movement, like Barbie's knees or Matchbox's 1986 Robotech toys. Unlike the ball-sockets of the LEGO Throwbots, they're not integral to awkwardly-angled limbs. They're nicely stiff, and can support quite a load.
x 6 Socket brick (2x2x2) 360° with 12 discrete clicks x10 Hinge plate (one end 2x3x1) 180° with 7 clicks x 1 Hip brick (2x3x1-2/3) essentially 2 sockets conjoined x 1 Waist turntable (4x4x1-1/3) 360° continuous
The turntable (used at the waist) is stiffer than the equivalent LEGO element, preventing silly spinaround. There are two specialized foot elements; they contain the same 360° mechanism as the socket brick, along a vertical axis, allowing you to twist a robot's toes outward into ballet poses.
The colors of 9331-Space are grey (slightly pearlescent, maybe due to the quality of Ritvik plastic), black and purple. Purple's a very uncommon color in LEGO kits, but it's also found in MegaBlok's 9704-roadster and 9758-monster truck kits.
As with all MegaBloks sets, the mix is heavily towards basic elements -- 1x2, 1x4, 2x2, 2x4 bricks; 1x2, 1x4, 2x4 plates; 30° and 45° roof and chin angles. There are four angled "vent" elements, two tile-surfaced 8x4 wing plates, some nifty stackable fenders and a smoky-grey hinged canopy; plus a mini-figure.
The Blok Bots line also introduces some specialized anatomy elements: A hinged head/cockpit. A hand-and-forearm (left and right versions), which each fit over a 2x4 brick. The aforementioned foot (one size fits all). And a weapon-shaped blob in bilious fluorescent green, with three interchangeable purple grapple-shaped ends.
As with other MegaBloks models, there's a sheet of adhesive decals with robo-techno imagery.
I've only purchased 9331-Space, but the other three Blok Bots look to have a similar number of pivoting elements, along with similar heads and the same feet. 9332-Swat has four tires, with various clear bricks (police-tinted red and blue); he converts to an open-cockpit road vehicle. 9333-Ice has skis; he becomes a sort of oversized snowmobile. 9341-Scuba Team has two separate robots, with flippers and some hydrothruster-shaped cylinders; they become a variety of submarine blobs.
For further info, see www.megabloks.com/html/, the non-Flash subset of Ritvik's site. Throwbots are at www.lego.com/throwbots/. Photos of a Japanese line of three transforming mecha (*these* actually have shapes in both modes) are at www1.sphere.ne.jp/nekotom/toy.html.
DD-01 D-Head black,white,yellow,t-green aircraft DD-02 D-Leon blue,white,yellow,black tank DD-03 D-Ground red,black,white,t-green dog-tank
Then there are the hobbyists:
The following has nothing to do with articulation, robots or transformation, but I've found Todd Lehman's Fibblesnork Random LEGO Set Name Generator to be extremely funny: www.fibblesnork.com/lego/namegen/.