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Review: Xalax-racers


RobExplorien
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LEGO Racers #4568, #4574, #4576, #4577 Xalax-racers
Review by RobExplorien

At last, back at the pioneering LEGO Racers sets. The Xalax-racers (also known as the Crash 'em Racers) were released along with the introduction of the Racers theme, thus being released in 2001. They were sold for $2,99 each (according to Brickipedia). Fair price? You decide after this review.

 

Highlighting in this review are the following sets of this subtheme:

#4568 (Loopin), #4574 (Rip), #4576 (Duster) and #4577 (Snake).

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All Xalax-racers (as far as I know of) were sold with this iconic 'box'. They feature each racer's logo (which is a sticker) and the LEGO logo on the front. You open them by simply folding 'em out. It acts as a sort of storage for the racer itself, and making it easy for transport. You also put a sticker on the inside on the box, which shows the racer's qualities (acceleration, power, traction and stunt respectively). The more yellow dots, the better. Since all racers are made from the same material and they only differ in printings and colour, they do not really have individual qualities. They merely serve as an extra feature to the set. Below an image of Rip with his box.

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If you still like to know each racer's qualities, here's a list of them.

Rip (darkblue):

  • Acceleration: 4/5
  • Power: 2/5
  • Traction: 4/5
  • Stunt: 1/5

Duster (beige):

  • Acceleration: 3/5
  • Power: 4/5
  • Traction: 1/5
  • Stunt: 3/5

Snake (brightgreen):

  • Acceleration: 3/5
  • Power: 1/5
  • Traction: 4/5
  • Stunt: 3/3

Loopin (blue/green):

  • Acceleration: 3/5
  • Power: 1/5
  • Traction: 2/5
  • Stunt: 5/5 (how predictable)

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Each racer consists of 4 parts: Xalax-minifigure (Rama), front brick, rear brick and chassis. The colours and printings of these vehicles are as said before different for each racer.

The chassis has a 'coloured' bumper and a 'gray' bumper. When the racer bumps into a wall with the gray bumper (or into another racer), he will fly off his seat. This little feature is what I most remembered from these sets. This feature is not present in the game LEGO Racers 2, even though the vehicle is practically the same.

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Along with buying this set, you'd also get a poster. All fifteen racers are pictured on the poster, where you can see them in action. I don't know exactly which of the Xalax-racers featured in the game LEGO Racers 2, but I'm sure that Warrior (uppermost right) was one of them. The two uppermost racers in the picture can be seen bumping into eachother and flying off their seat (the gray bumper feature).

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The back of the poster shows a how to build and how to use the 'box' as a slammer. Use two rubber bands and attach them to the 'box' as shown on the poster, and then you've made yourself a slammer. That way you can give the vehicle a boost to make daring stunts or to cut off other racers.

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What took my interest on this poster was the lower right corner. The "Coming soon: LEGO Racers 2" quote was pretty funny to see, and from this I take it that the Xalax-racers were released before the LEGO Racers 2 game, possibly as a promotional stunt for the game. There was also a special edition Xalax-racer: Ghost.

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Down here you can see how it would look if you turn the 'box' into a slammer. Pictured is Duster. You can see where you have to attach the rubber bands, and by slamming on the logo, you would give the vehicle a boost.

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Having this set examined and tested, I come to the following conclusion:

  • The 'box' looks very detailed and features the racer's logo on the front. It can be turned into a slammer to give your Rama a boost.
  • The poster added in this set shows you all the Xalax-racers to collect, and features the simple instructions for building the vehicle. It also shows you other neat stuff, like games to play with the racers and stunts that you can do with them.
  • The Ramas are not an actual minifigure, but rather one solid brick with their hand and feet around their steering wheel. The vehicle itself has nice printings in wacky colours.

To just play with one small Xalax-racer is actually fun. You can perform stunts with the help of the slammer, and crash your Rama into walls to make them fly off their seets. Ofcourse adding more racers could be more fun, but that's what you decide.

 

Rating
Design: 9
Quality: 8
Fun: 7
Price: 9

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The Xalax sets made up quite a big part of my LEGO childhood. I really loved that Racers was finally getting a theme (and I hoped that a later wave would feature the LR1 bosses), and I loved the simplicity of the designs and interchangeability. I sucked at building my own LEGO models back then, so these were a breath of fresh air. Of course, my hopes for the bosses made me disappointed when the next Racers theme was revealed to be Drome Racers...

 

To date, the only two I don't own are Shredd and Ghost, the latter of which I never saw in the shops, and remains remarkably elusive online.

 

All Xalax-racers (as far as I know of) were sold with this iconic 'box'.

 

Funny you should say that - there was one promotional Racer who didn't come with a garage (what I used to call them) - Subzero.

 

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As you can see, he used Lightor's figure and Chill's body parts (one of my personal favourites, I remember getting the stunt set for Christmas), but has a unique chassis. He was, to my knowledge, only available in certain supermarkets - I bought mine off of a friend two years ago or so.

 

Great review, I love these little guys!

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All Xalax-racers (as far as I know of) were sold with this iconic 'box'.

 

Funny you should say that - there was one promotional Racer who didn't come with a garage (what I used to call them) - Subzero.

 

1239-1.gif?0

 

As you can see, he used Lightor's figure and Chill's body parts (one of my personal favourites, I remember getting the stunt set for Christmas), but has a unique chassis. He was, to my knowledge, only available in certain supermarkets - I bought mine off of a friend two years ago or so.

 

Great review, I love these little guys!

 

Yes, I did some research before writing this review, and saw that this one was a promotional back then (UK only). Glad you liked the review.

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Me and my brother loved these things when were younger, so much I don't even know where they went. Probably in the backyard somewhere.

Can't say I would have much use of the rip, but would love to have one of these again. :P

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I don't know exactly which of the Xalax-racers featured in the game LEGO Racers 2, but I'm sure that Warrior (uppermost right) was one of them.

  They were Warrior, Snake, Lightor, Ghost, Duster, Freeze and Chill.
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I wouldn't mind having a couple of these. Unfortunately they are one of the lines that was released shortly before I got into LEGO so I never had any.

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