The LEGO RoboRiders theme was a short-lived, discontinued product line from 2000 to 2001. It was a spin-off of the earlier LEGO Throwbots (or Slizers) line and focused on a conflict between mechanical "riders" and a giant lava monster in a post-apocalyptic world.
Theme Overview and Storyline
The story took place on Planet X, a world devastated by an environmental disaster. The main characters, the RoboRiders, were on a mission to stop a giant, rock-throwing monster, the Swamp Creature, from destroying their world. The story was told primarily through the instruction booklets and the official website.
Each of the six main RoboRiders represented a different terrain or element:
Ogel (Swamp): The main villain.
Dust (Desert)
Frost (Ice)
Onyx (Rock)
Power (City)
Lava (Lava)
Key Discontinued Sets
The sets primarily featured large, buildable action figures made with Bionicle and Technic pieces. A central play feature was the ability to "launch" a disc with the character's unique crest.
Swamp (4507): The largest and main villain figure, the Swamp Creature, which launched discs and had a large, imposing appearance.
Ogel (4506): This was the original Ogel figure, representing the swamp environment before the larger monster.
Frost (4503): The ice-themed rider with a spinning blade feature.
Power (4500): The city-themed rider with a disc launcher.
Lava (4505): The fire/lava-themed rider.
Dust (4501): The desert-themed rider.
Onyx (4504): The rock-themed rider.
Legacy and Related Themes
The RoboRiders theme was one of the early, experimental action figure lines by LEGO. The innovative buildable figures and launching mechanisms were a direct precursor to the highly successful LEGO Bionicle theme, which launched in 2001 and used a more developed version of the same building system. The RoboRiders sets are now collector's items in the secondary market.