A relatively short-lived (2000) range of LEGO Technic figures, Spiritual Successor of the Slizer and forerunner of BIONICLE. Sandwiched in between these two considerably more popular lines, many people consider RoboRiders to be a failure, although that's not to say it doesn't have something of a fanbase of its own.
The sets were, essentially, Cool Bikes with Elemental Powers that came in six distinct colorations based on those elements. Each figure had a set of varied weapons, but the main gimmick was that their front wheels (officially called Talisman Wheels) could be used as projectiles. Wait, you say, doesn't this render the bikes useless every time they fire at something?
According to the backstory, the RoboRiders are cyborgs with human brains and machine bodies residing in a world known as the Web, which is divided into six regions (LEGO was fond of using this type of setting). A monster virus gets loose on the web, so the RoboRiders set out to detect and eliminate the virus. But as LEGO quickly wrapped up the line, it was never revealed where this mysterious virus came from in the first place.
There were seven kinds of RoboRiders (Swamp, Lava, Frost, Power, Onyx, Dust, and The Boss), and 16 Talisman Wheels
◊ (Axer, Blazooka, Chain-Saw, Driller, Dynamite, Flame, Fuel, Grab, Laser, Ninja, Rope, Scout, Skeleton, Stunner, Toxic and Twin Saw). Four smaller promotional sets (Volcano Climber, Dirt Bike, Ice Explorer, and Swamp Craft) were also released, but they never appeared in the story.
As it's been said, the line wasn't a great success. For one, it mostly did away with the ball-joint system introduced in Slizer, and as you may have guessed, firing wheels don't quite make for long-lasting play sessions. But aside from these, the line introduced the canistersnote and many other, now-common LEGO pieces which Bionicle and other Technic lines made great use of. There were also collectible items, namely the Talisman Wheels.
RoboRiders provided examples of:
- Abnormal Ammo: The Talisman Wheels are the front wheels of the Cool Bike RoboRiders. They are also the projectiles launched by said RoboRiders.
- All There in the Manual: What little storyline there is exists mainly on the toyline's website
, with other bits of story (such as character profiles for the RoboRiders themselves) dropped in magazines and catalogs. - Ambiguous Gender: The Boss's only description abstains from any pronouns. Similarly, the promotional RoboRiders (Volcano Climber, Dirt Bike, Ice Explorer, Swamp Craft) have no descriptions and therefore their genders are unknown.
- Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: In a futuristic cyberspace populated by Cyborg Cool Bikes, half of the RoboRiders still wield archaic melee weapons from LEGO Castle, such as Lava's halberds, Frost's spears, and Swamp's katanas.
- Arm Cannon: Several of the Talisman Wheels depict characters, such as Flame, Laser, and Stunner, with cannons instead of hands.
- BFG: The Blazooka, Laser, and Skeleton Talisman Wheels depict robots with weapons almost as big as themselves.
- Big Bad: The monster virus is the villain of the online story, and it is up to the RoboRiders to track it down and destroy it.
- Blood Knight: The Lava RoboRider is described as loving to battle with volcanoes.
- Built with LEGO: As to be expected with a LEGO line, all RoboRiders are built with LEGO pieces. They use TECHNIC, not the classic bricks, although Lava, Frost, and Swamp use the weapons of conventional minifigures.
- Chainsaw Good: The Chain-Saw and Twin Saw Talisman Wheels depict robots with buzzsaws for weapons.
- Chromosome Casting: While the genders of The Boss and the promotional sets are never specified, the six main RoboRiders are all male and there's no hint of any female characters.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each RoboRider (except the Boss) is depicted with a color scheme matching their respective element. Swamp is green, Lava is red, Frost is white, Onyx is black, Dust is tan, and Power is an industrial yellow and black.
- Combining Mecha: There are a number of official models consisting of two or more RoboRiders combined together. The logical conclusion of this is the Super RoboRider◊, formed from all six main RoboRiders combined together.
- Cool Bike: The main aspect. Every standard RoboRider set, plus Dirt Bike (AKA Power Bike), is a cool and extreme motorbike cyborg.
- Cyberspace: While never explicitly referred to as cyberspace, it is implied that the Web (also referred to as The Internet in a UK catalog) is a virtual reality, and that the monster virus threatening it is actually a Computer Virus.
- Cyborg: Catalogs and magazines consistently describe the RoboRiders as having human brains and machine bodies.
- Darker and Edgier: The LEGO World Club Magazine marketing for the RoboRiders was unexpectedly edgy for a standard LEGO line, even when compared to its predecessor Slizer and its successor BIONICLE. Never Say "Die" is very much averted here to a gratuitous degree. Their◊ bios◊ are ridiculously over-the-top in describing death, poison, and skewering. One article is titled Are you prepared for Dooms Day in Hell?!◊ and has the RoboRiders threatening to kill each other.◊
- Detachment Combat: In one of its forms, The Boss could separate into a bike and a flier.
- Dual Wielding: Onyx has two laser blasters; Lava has dual axes; Frost has two ice spears; and Swamp has dual swords.
- Dub Name Change: Three of the Kabaya sets have different names in Japanese and English: Lava Buggy/Vulcano Climber, Power Bike/Dirt Bike, and Frost Flyer/Ice Explorer. The only exception is Swamp Craft.
- Elemental Embodiment: Carried over from Slizer. The elemental regions all had their specialized hazards, in the form of elemental monsters. The online game suggests that these are different forms of the monster virus.
- Swamp Environment: evil water-bubbles
- Onyx Environment: rock-monsters and falling boulders
- Frost Environment: Spikes of Doom and ice monsters
- Lava Environment: fire monsters and raining lava
- Dust Environment: sand storms and sand-pits (imagine a Sarlacc, but with grasping hands)
- Power Environment: acid rain, fumes, as well as evil cranes with evil wrecking balls
- Elemental Nation: Each of the six environments matches the element of its respective RoboRider. For example, the Lava Environment is a Lethal Lava Land, while the Dust Environment is a Shifting Sand Land.
- Energy Weapon: The Laser Talisman Wheel depicts a robot with two laser weapons.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: The descriptions of each environment emphasize just how much deadly stuff there is (acid rain, toxic fumes, sudden avalanches, skewering icicles, quicksand, ash-filled skies, etc.), thus explaining why each RoboRider needs to be specifically equipped in order to survive here.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The Frost Environment's description invokes this trope, noting that it is filled with sharp Ice Crystals that would skewer anyone to death unless they were as well-equipped as the Frost RoboRider.
- Katanas Are Just Better: One might question why a cyborg motorbike would need to use katanas, but the Swamp RoboRider is clearly operating on Rule of Cool as he cuts through swamp creatures in his way.
- Lethal Lava Land: The Lava Environment is a volcanic region of molten lava and skies that are blackened from ash.
- Meaningful Name: Each RoboRider's name ties into their element and environment. Swamp is equipped for the swamp, Onyx is best suited to rocky terrain, etc. The Boss is open to interpretation, but as the next generation of stronger, faster, and smarter RoboRiders, it is believed to be The Leader.
- Merchandise-Driven: As with any LEGO theme, the toys drive the story. In this case, RoboRiders only having a single main wave of sets likely accounted for the lack of story development compared to Slizer or BIONICLE, which both had more toys and therefore more story.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Some of the Talisman Wheels (Blazooka, Chain-Saw, Axer, Skeleton, Toxic) have menacing names... although, as a subversion, they're all used by the good guys.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: While actually being a ninja or a robot isn't necessary for this trope, the Talisman Wheel called Ninja deserves special mention since it's a ninja, a robot, a wheel, and a projectile.
- Non-Standard Character Design: While the titular RoboRiders are all Cool Bikes, the promotional sets are more varied: Volcano Climber and Swamp Craft are four-wheeled buggies, and Ice Explorer is a helicopter.
- Only Six Faces: The four promotional sets reuse the faces of their larger RoboRider counterparts. It's noticeable when said faces are printed with the RoboRider's respective names, leading to Volcano Climber, Dirt Bike, and Ice Explorer having "Lava", "Power", and "Frost" on their faces (Swamp Craft having "Swamp" is less noticeable).
- The Paralyzer: The Stunner Talisman Wheel's function is most likely to stun its target.
- Polluted Wasteland: The Power Environment is described in the UK catalog as having acid rain and poisonous fumes, suggesting that this industrial cityscape is full of pollution.
- Secret Final Campaign: The online game has six levels, one for each of the main RoboRiders and unlocked by its respective code. According to the game's description, unlocking all six levels will reveal a secret seventh level; however, it is currently unknown what this level featured, since it does not appear to be archived by the LEGO Media Project."To defeat the virus completely, you will need all six RoboRiders. After you enter all six codes, you will be allowed to play a special, seventh game!"
- SkeleBot 9000: The artwork for the Skeleton Talisman Wheel shows a robot whose right half resembles a human skeleton.
- Spell My Name With An S: The Kabaya set 1290 Lava Buggy's English name is written as "Vulcano Climber", while its international counterpart set 8003 is correctly spelled Volcano Climber.
- Spell My Name with a "The": The Boss is notable for being the only RoboRider with "The" in its name.
- Swamps Are Evil: While the Swamp RoboRider itself is heroic, the Swamp Environment is described as an inhospitable world of radiation, acid rain, and toxic gases where nothing but savage swamp monsters can survive. The Dust Environment is also described as a swamp filled with greedy monsters, and anyone who falls in is a goner.
- This Is a Drill: The Driller Talisman Wheel depicts a robot with a pneumatic drill. It's presumably weaponized when the RoboRider launches this wheel as a projectile.
- Transforming Mecha: The Boss could either turn into a large three-wheeled motorcycle, or a bike with a detachable flying component.
- Two-Faced: The Skeleton Talisman Wheel shows a robot with a skull-like right half of its face. The trope is exaggerated since, in this case, Skeleton's entire body is split in two.
