EXO-FORCE episode 39 ends with Meca One torturing Sensei KeiKen, scanning his creator's mind for the location of the Golden City Outpost where he was created. Hitomi in is left in command to defend the Golden City and the EXO-FORCE set out to free their leader in their new mechas. In their battle with some new robot mechas in the jungle they deploy their new mini-robots which set about assisting their main mechas by attacking the enemy from all sides. Unfortunately, Meca One has already scanned this secret from his creator and has devised his own mini-robots inside of his Devastator's mechas and this evens the battle and in effect neutralises the human's advantage.
What happens next...?
Well, episode 40 was never published as the online comics (still available on the internet) stopped there when demand for LEGO's EXO-FORCE series declined and didn't pick up. A shame. I have only recently discovered these great models as I researched into LEGO for my own children, when I last played with LEGO there were no mini-figures as there are now. At least not with articulated limbs! Just the same head design usually with a cap, but with a one piece torso attached to a one piece lower body. Not nearly as impressive as the EXO-FORCE mini-figures and certainly nothing as advanced as those 2006 model mechas that were engineered with parts of LEGO Technic.
Where did it all go wrong for what began with a promising venture for LEGO?
Well, we can speculate but the bottom line was the decline in sales. The 2006 models were pretty cool with manga style mini-figures (check out the hair designs on those mini-figures) and the larger mechas use a light brick with a fibre-optic cable that lit up as a power core channeling light to a blaster or flame thrower. The sucess of these models led to an extended range in 2007 that (unfortunately) decided to omit the light brick, and the construction and design of these models lacked the innovation to make up for it. They weren't terrible, but they just didn't sell as well. By the time the 2008 models were due, the number of sets were cut (one was even killed at a late stage just before production so you can see there were more human mechas then corresponding robot mechas). The real shame was that these 2008 designs showed the innovation and imagination that should have emurged a year earlier.
Limbo. I suppose that's what happened to the storyline of the EXO-FORCE and their human/robot conflict. I like the idea of a fan-based ending to give the series some sort of resolution, although being LEGO models (albeit from a line that is discontinued) there is never a real ending as these wonderful toys are always redesigned and modified by their owners for more play.
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Episode 40.
The EXO-FORCE are matched by Meca One's Devastators and their new mechas. Meca One has located the site of the Golden City Outpost and now has access to much of the Golden City's technology thus neutralising most of the human's technological advantage. An attack on the Golden City is underway by Meca One's Devastators and Drones.
Hitomi orders all hands to prepare for the onslaught, they still have a tactical advantage in the city but under seige she doesn't know how long they can hold out. Meca One is after the computer and factory in the Golden Tower, a secret lies within that has not yet been discovered by the humans.
Ryo is told to return to the City to help and see if there is anything in the Golden Tower that can help the humans. He seperates the Hybrid Rescue Tank and races back to the Golden City while the rest of his team take on the new robot mechas.
By the time Ryo reaches the Golden City the robots have broken through. Ryo races to the Golden Tower where Hitomi and her forces barricades him in, Ryo needs to find something or anything to help before the humans are defeated by superior numbers.
Ryo searches the main computer, but this time instead of researching into mecha design he ponders a question that has been niggling in the back of his mind - whatever happened to the original people of the Golden City? Ryo delves into the archives of the Golden City and discovers something called the Golden Gateway, and it's hidden inside the Golden Tower itself. With the barricades breaking down Ryo manages (by luck or accident) to activate it. A powerful wormhole appears in the Golden Tower workshop, Ryo jumps into the damaged Grand Titan lying nearby and the whole workshop is enveloped just as the robots break in. The Golden Tower is offline, and everything inside the workshop has disappeared including Ryo.
Outside in the Golden City many of the robots and their mechas have disappeared and the humans reorganise and defeat the confused, remaining invading forces. EXO-FORCE manage to evade the new robot mechas and find Sensei KeiKen in the Golden City Outpost, the older mechas there prove no match and are dispatched. Meca One has already retreated to his base and is preparing new upgrades to his robot mechas with some of the data he downloaded before the Golden Tower went offline.
Sensei KeiKen and the remaining EXO-FORCE return to the Golden City and assesses the situation in the Golden Tower. There are no more new mechas, everything has disappeared through the wormhole. The only way to survive is to use the existing technology they have and to modify and innovate. It will be difficult without Ryo. The EXO-FORCE team want to go after Ryo, Sensei KeiKen reassures them that a rescue party will be sent once he learns how to control the wormhole.
In the meantime, Ryo awakes in a barren landscape. He uses parts that have come through the wormhole with him (scattered across many kilometres) and he painstakingly rebuilds the Grand Titan from the inside out, but he improves it with what he has learnt since the Golden City was discovered giving it more auxillary power and even more shielding. These last years have been hard, it's been fight after fight for survival and he hasn't afforded himself the luxury of enjoying what he loves most and that is his engineering. The Grand Titan was a truely well thought out piece of engineering, almost unbreakable from the outside and equipt not with strong offensive guns and missiles. It also had the ability to cripple anything electronic with the electro-magnetic pulse generation housed in it's claw, it was a master of power absorbtion too. So many details that were missing in later mechas that used advanced technology from the Golden City. It's hard work, but satisfying as Ryo modifies his mecha using the best of everything from the workshop. He works at a fast pace but he is not rushing himself. Although he is in unknown territory, he knows he needs to be prepared to the best of his ability for what may come.
Ryo remembers robot mechas breaking in before the wormhole activated and doesn't know if he is alone or not. The EMP claw may come in handy as nearly every electronic device that was activate now seems to be burnt out by an EMP initiated by the wormhole, perhaps this is what happened to the robot mechas he saw in the workshop (maybe they should have developed this weapon instead of rely on Golden City technology alone). The workshop spares were powered down so remained undamaged and Ryo uses everything he can find to pump up the power of his mecha. Unfortunately the Grand Titan's power core is low on power so he needs to find a source to recharge it, he's using several auxillary batteries recharged by solar energy to power the Grand Titan now but the main weapons are either offline or low on reserves. There are explosions across the distance, he hears the familiar sound of fire and flame throwers.
A new adventure begins. Rescue. Modified mechas. New civilisations. The old threat. It's up to you, now.
To be continued...
