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Review: #4508 Titan XP


RobExplorien
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LEGO Make & Create Designer Set #4508 Titan XP
Review by RobExplorien
 
It has been quite a while since I last wrote review, or even thought of building up a LEGO set. Since then orange names started to appear in the review list who reviewed the newer LEGO sets, and I felt very discouraged by FlashySnakez's review, knowing that I'll have a hard time trying to improve on any of the aspects he covered. Nonetheless, here is a mighty set from my childhood.

Back when I was that impulsive little being, also known as a 'kid', I had accumulated a fair amount of pocket money to spend on LEGO. So we went to the toy store, knowing that I finally had enough money to buy the bigger sets always displayed on the top shelf. I mean, I had 60 euros in my pocket which made me feel like a rich man, and I still would feel that way if I had it in my wallet now. I was sold when I saw the giant robot; there goes the money, here come the bricks. I was a poor man again? I didn't think that way at all, I only cared about the set I just bought.

 
 
Background information
The Titan XP was a Designer Set released in 2004. You could compare the Creator subtheme of today to Designer Sets from back then, both featuring the instructions for many models in just one set. It was sold at a retail price of $49.99/£34.99 (according to Brickipedia), and I believe I payed €49.99 for it in my local toy store .


 
Box
In front of me I have a giant box filled with the beautiful plastic LEGO bricks which will later on form this huge mech. It measures roughly 40cm/16inches on all sides and is 6.5cm/2.5inches in depth. On the box is a nice depiction of the Titan XP standing in a lightblue void with a stream of transparent LEGO bricks flowing behind his back. Perhaps the background design is a little dull, but atleast it matches with some of the bricks our mech is composed of. In the right corner you can see some of the functions of this robot, like the removeable 'jetpack' and the many joints the model is composed of.
Moving on to the yellow area. In the upper left corner we have the trusted LEGO logo on it's reserved spot. Below the recommended ages which are 9 and up, followed by the set number and subtheme which the set belongs to. In the lower left corner a picture of the manual indicating the instructions for four models and images of 13 ideas (though I've only stumbled upon 12 ideas in the manual). Also, the box is a little pressed due to the set having been stored under other boxes, and there is a ripped price tag in the upper right corner which read €49.99.


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Here we have the sides of the box. Ofcourse the logo isn't missed out anywhere, or else that'd be a sin for the company it seems. The upside shows one of 4 models that come with instructions, with next to it a 1:1 scale sized sloped brick. Appearing on the left and right sides are the two little robots and again, the Titan XP, respectively. The text on the right side repeats the "4 instructions + 13 ideas". The grey sticker was probably put on by the store for cataloging. The downside is home to warning messages in more languages than there are bricks in the actual set, neighbouring the LEGO Company address and barcode.


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Reviewed five sides, one more to go. The back shows us the back of the Titan XP, ironically, hopping blithely in the void of blue. The other models take their place next to him. The ostrich-like mech seems to function as a fighter aircraft as well. Some of the broken seals can be seen below, along with the URL www.LEGO.com. Personally the yellow outlines do not really feel fitted with the lightblue.

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Contents
 I flip the top open and I am greeted by the sight of a large pile of various bricks, a delicacy to the creative mind. There are all sorts of bricks in there: sloped ones, gears, many joints, an antenna, rasters, the list just goes on. I have not even mentioned the great storage purpose this box offers. Sturdy sides and lots of space to rummage in that pile. No pouring all bricks on the table (especially with this amount), I can simply pick any brick from the box just like that, quickly setting up and clearing my building spot. The instructions don't even have to be folded to fit in the box, and the former isn't a little booklet at all. Anyway, the list the contents:

  • 782 pieces
  • Instructions (102 pages)

This set has an incredible amount of bricks for just the price I bought it for. I payed about €0.06 for each brick in this set, which I find very cheap compared to other equal sized comparable sets.


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Instructions
Let's see. I flip the first page and we get a nice table of contents for our models. Like you'd expect it starts with the smaller models, the two little bots, ending with the biggest model. The yellow 1x1 bricks in the corners point out the difficulty level of the build of each model (as described in the text below them). I think they'd better indicated the time you spend on building one of these models (each brick about half an hour), because there literally isn't anything hard about building one of these models with the instructions you receive. The other page gives us a better view of the 'minor' models without the Titan XP occupying half the page.

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By the end of the instructions for the two bots (and for subsequent models) a few pages displaying the aforementioned 'ideas' indicated by the stereotypical light bulb follow. I posted the builds of these ideas some months earlier in >these >topics. The images offer a good and detailed view of the ideas, which really aided building them.


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A fair amount of pages later you arrive at the start of the building instructions for the Titan XP, the model we came for in this set. The build is divided in two parts: legs and torso. The steps are nicely lined up to each other and each step is accompanied by a parts list necessary to complete the corresponding step. I am in favor of this method of instructions, especially for the big models, as they avoid the risk of forgetting to include a part in the model and not to discover you forgot this single piece in step 23 when you had already arrived at step 38.


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The last page, showing the complete inventory list of this set. This really helps out, not only because I prefer this rather than having to look the inventory up the web, but also for aiding me in building the ideas. I can quickly view which bricks I can use for this section or which I have to save up for that other part to build one of the alternate models. Well, on the right page we have the ability to submit our quick review of the set and possibly Win! a LEGO set. It's not really a win if you ask me, but I guess I was one of many unlucky submitters. In the corner are some of the contemporary sets pictured: Harry Potter, a NASA space shuttle (yeah!) and Clickits (meh...).


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Construction models 1 & 2
Let's just start at the small models, in fact they are the first you stumble upon in the instructions. The torsos of both are pictured below. A very simple but useful design which let's you add pieces on the front and back as well.

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A little while later when the limbs are built and attached you end up with these foolish hyperactive mech dwarfs. They do not really seem to be a treat, though they can be quite pesky and annoying. Plus, they have a perfect sense for balance.


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More of these models:

The left mech has a giant claw and a ray gun it seems extending out of its right arm. The antenna carrying for who knows what purpose roughly doubles his size. His knee pads and shoulder blades add to his defense and his rotatable feet make him supple at the same time.

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The back offers little more to point out, but you get a better view of the claw from here. Funnily enough his exhaust raster is at his rear.


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The mech with the little feline ears has an in-build shield and a rapid-firing rotary cannon on his other side. He is a little more sturdy than his companion, but less flexible with his joints in general.


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The dominance of the orange hue and rotary cannon make this model my favorite of the two.


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Construction model 3
Next up is the ostrich-like model. You start off with the torso, which is composed of these upside-down sloped bricks, plates and these two blades probably functioning as a shield. The head uses a very simple construction by being just one brick wide (with the exception of the eyes). It can only move up and down, which I find surprising for a set that characterizes itself by the flexibility it grants to the models. From this point on you start working downwards to the feet. The legs, other than making good use of the joints, look a little dull (regarding colour).

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The feet look like they belong to a giant, measuring roughly 16cm/6.5inches long. Lots of plates are stacked here to form it. Similar to the tripod-shape of a bird's foot, this model takes this design to create a necessary stability for it.


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Lastly you have to mount the lasers on his shoulders. The result, a 22cm/9inches tall menacing mech able to crush a dozen minifigures with his foot. Overall a really neat-looking model, I especially fancy the use of the orange (seemingly glowing a bit) parts.


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More of this model:

His back shield can move up and down slightly. I would personally add some bricks to the upper legs to just make it look more finished from behind, like the lower legs are.

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Side view of the model. The feet are roughly the size of the torso and head together.


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View from below, making use of a forced perspective. The mech would walk right over you, ignoring the unimportant passers-by.


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Construction model 4
And now for the model you came for. Construction starts in the middle, the lower torso. In the end the upper body will be connected to the lower body with just a single peg. But first you start building downwards, to the feet. The only annoyance in this is that you have to go through all steps twice, but mirrorred. That's just me whining. All bodyparts are very detailed, making good use of the available colours by creating a line pattern on the lower legs. So now the lower body is finished and you are already over 20cm/8inches up in the air. The torso is contrasted with black and orange, with the lighter blue arms around. The headpiece is rather small compared to the body, but with a giant antenna it comes down (up) to about 40cm/16inches in height. Finally the wingpieces are added and then just place the torso onto his middle.

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And it's finished, what a beauty. Truly one of the best official LEGO set mechs I've ever seen. There is just so much detail in this model (which I will cover in the next photographs). Overall a sturdy model with a rotatable top body and with the legs of pulverized minifigures as his hands.

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More of this model:

Back side of the Titan XP. The blades mounted on the shoulders really finishes this model and make the Titan XP a lot more intimidating.


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Jetpack, battery box, exhaust, whatever it may be, it is detachable. That brings me to something else, you can just easily customize the parts and then reconnect them again.


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The naughty spot, looking under the skirt.There's not much to see there really (pun intended).


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Bird's-eye view. I wouldn't have guessed it right away that it is a huge mech from just this point of view.


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The legs also operate independently from the top. Not that it may be practical in such situations, but it's something.


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Conclusion
The Titan XP is personally one of my favorite sets. It just has so much to offer. It leaves you plenty of bricks for creating custom models or to customize the current models, thus making this set a perfect example of the core meaning of LEGO.
 
Pros:

  • Ergonomically approved box design. You can just leave the bricks in the box and pick them from there, instead of pouring it all over the table to get to them.
  • Well explained instructions, lots of images and ideas.
  • Wonderful piece to price ratio, paying (far) less than 10 cents per brick.
  • Amazing mech designs, I love them. Flexibility and sturdiness combined due to the many joints and adjusted to model size contact surface.
  • The black and orange make for a good contrast on colour.

Cons:

  • Background of box art is a bit dull, could use a more fitting theme. I'm just not very fond of the light blue tints here.
  • Would be nice if some of the ideas had instructions.

Rating



Design: 9 / 10
Quality: 9 / 10
Fun: 9 / 10
Price: 10 / 10
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Ahh, this set. I remember this set, and by remember, I mean I remember never being able to find it in a store, and being too thick to try buying it online.

Suffice to say, I never got one. :cry:

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Wow this review is huge and detailed and awesome! My favorite parts of the Titan XP are the hands, which are made out of minifig legs and look great.

 

From the photos you've made I can't tell if there are any light blue bricks though, everything (apart from the orange of course) looks in different shades of grey.

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Like yourself it seems, as soon as I had the money in pocket during this model's release, it was a clear choice as to which set I should buy. I loved this model so much, thanks for reviewing it. :)

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I have this set... somewhere in the dark recesses of my Lego box.

We found that the Titan XP itself fell apart a fair bit. Did you, or was I just too hyperactive with it? :P

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