I got Pulse on my birthday back in '01 and went nuts for these guys for a good long while. It warms my heart to see some love given to these silly racers. Shout out to my kindergarten classmate, who asked to borrow my Ghost.. I hope you treated it well.
My siblings and I had a lot of these growing up. I think we were attracted to the array of colors at the time (violet, purple and dark turq, my beloved), as well as the tried and true "character in a can" motif. I'm so glad you focused on this, and I agree so so much with your ranking, it's like I wrote this myself (yes, Pulse all the way)! Would have loved to have seen a similar color variety transfer over into the already colorful and collectible Throwbots, Roboriders and Bionicle
PULSE HYPE!! 😄 I would have loved to see these colours continue on into those themes you mentioned too. Galidor had a great colour palette, but one thing it *didn't* have was Dark Turquoise... I would have loved to see what alien creature they could have made in that colour!
I got a few of these because I always thought it was funny how you could slam the front bumper against something and have the character launch off their seat 😂
I can totally see a story behind this series. Like a hotwheels highway 35, a race across worlds belonging to each racer, with the winner of each gaining something, spread across minigames, elimination rounds, boss fights (I can see the ice theme players being juggernauts or eliminators) with spook being a host or evil big bad guy
You have helped me reflect on this theme in a more realistic realm (there is basically no bricks despite being Lego), but I absolutely love this theme regardless of any criticism. I love the aliens, I love the colors, I love the play feature, and I love my childhood memories of the toys AND their cutscenes in Lego Racers 2. I have tons of plans for spaceships in their color-schemes, though it will probably be months or years before I have time to get to it all.
@@RRSlugger I’ll absolutely share when I have it! I’m a big creative brainstormer, so my list of moc passion projects vastly outpace my actual dedicated hobby time! But in time
The cool thing about these sets is you can still build custom designs onto the chassis, I remember doing that as a kid 😂 you can do quite a bit with two 2x2 stud platforms
I had all of them and loved them dearly. As a stats nerd, me and a friend came up with a turn based system to race them based on their stats alone and set up tournaments. The cars would in each “turn” travel a set number of car lengths forward based on the situation. For the start of the race and exiting curves we used the acceleration stat. For the tracks curves themselves we used traction and for straights we used Power. We also set up ramps on the course and used their stunt stat for approaching and landing after a ramp. I do remember Loopin often loosing because we didn’t have many ramps and that Lightor doing pretty well because the courses ended up having long straights often.
I have Shred and Lightor, I always thought these were weird sets, but I feel like over time I actually gained an appreciation for them more. I like the driver pieces the most though, they're kind of like a pull-back racer set I have as well, except the driver in that still had a normal Minifig head. I feel like they could work well with custom builds.
I loved this little guys, the varied colors were really appealing and a great showcase of how varied the LEGO pallet truly was in that era. I lost Gear way back and I still miss him, I really need to look him up in Bricklink...
Indeed! One of the main reasons I wanted to make this video was to show off the colour palettes of each racer. 😊 I’m currently looking into a Yellow/Violet/Purple MOC of some sort, ala Pulse, but I’m not sure how feasible it will be… I’d say go for that Gear! They are really inexpensive and quite hearty toys, so I think you could trust the quality of a used set.
@@RRSlugger I do recomend looking up Djokson on Flickr, they made a bunch of really cool reimagined versions of the Xalax cars (plus a bike for Gear, can't believe somebody found such a nice use for the sand purple Life on Mars cockpit pieces!).
Another fun bit from my childhood, I saw most of the Xalax racers as having mustaches with pointed ends, but now can view them as gnarled teeth similar to the original comics and toys of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think it's because as a kid, I saw the white outline as a whole structure. If there were black lines for upper and bottom jaws or even individual teeth, I'd sing a different tune now. Since the rest of the figures and cars are intricately detailed, it's surprising this area was cut short.
Loved this! In fact, I'll watch it again! I had two of these, or I actually still have them built at my parents' place. Loved the minus point for having a similar color scheme to Power Miners!
I enjoyed these lil guys, I remember going to an event at a Toys R Us that was a mini xalax racer competition… I can’t for the life of me recall how I did but I recall it being a lot of fun and loving the colors.
Man this is a throw back to my childhood..I remember finally beating the final race and being so happy to finally have that car, it was my favorite looking car in the game, an still is.
Great video!! I never had any of these but I like the design and simplicity although I really wish the connection where the driver piece goes were more "stud" shaped so that it would allow for more easy customization. I'd definitely want to build more "realistic" models for fun on those chassis pieces if I had these. That feature where the bumper pushes the driver piece out is pretty cool.
Thanks Cris! Yes, these builds are pretty tough to customize; even within their own theme, it's hard to come up with anything compelling as the colours and printing conflict with each other pretty dramatically.
Loved these as a kid! The second wave had some real stand-out colors and designs. I still have my Ghost somewhere. I didn't realize he was such a collector's item! Great vid!
Oh, these guys were less than stellar back in the day for me, but they gained a reputation as some race lovers, gas passers and overall just the most chill dudes. They leave a warm place in my heart today and I am happy to say that as of today, I have acquired all of the little guys. If missing a couple slammers.
While I do like these they, in my humble-not so humble opinion pail in comparison to the 2002/03 wave of tiny turbos, I guess which if I remember correctly were the same price gave
@@RRSlugger yeah they were amazing, they had short but still cool builds pull back motors and one of the big sets in 2003 included a full a race track with actual motors to put the bricks from the small sets or one of the four included on top. Thinking about the drivers should also on Xalax cars
Hmmm...maybe I do need to get me some Xalax Racers...I like the points about the functional packaging (Just like Bionicle! And the late Tino turbos sets) They should do it more often. Also, the wordless storytelling is clever. I definitely would like to get some of those weird coloured ones. Love the trivia about dark blue, that is so interesting!
More functional packaging would be awesome to see in the future - heck, I would settle for alternate builds again! Haha. Thanks for checking out the channel! 😊
I want to provide an Update for our resident Slimy Slug attacking our base: thanks to some "Convincing" from a friend, I found and bought an eBay listing for a majority of the Xalax Line, but it gets better: there is at present a sealed Ice Ramp Racers set on Bricklink, which I believe ships to the US. A set review would be incredible if you could manage the time, but it would indeed be a one off. I've been building displays and clearing space to show off my collection, so it's safe to say my previous comment has in fact come to pass. Thank you in part, Slugger, for helping me make an ill advised financial decision which I will cherish for the rest of my natural life
Thanks for the heads up! Glad you managed to catch so many of these Racers for yourself! Brian is actually going to hook me up with a copy of this set, so hopefully there's a video for us in the future!
At the furthest reaches of my memory, I remember we went to California (we live in Illinois so it's a major trip for us), and while visiting Legoland, I walked into a store in Legoland when I was 4 (I was probably on a goddamn stroller, actually) and seeing a bunch of boxes on a shelf or something with various Xalax Racers. I think I liked Warrior the best, because that's the one I picked, and he has been my most valued Lego possession ever since. He just means absolutely so much to me, especially since that's the only one I had for a long time, and the only one I thought I'd ever have, because I didn't know they were being sold on Ebay. Honestly, depending on whether or not they were being sold in 2003, the year might have even been 2002, which would mean that I was 3. It's one of the first things in my life I can remember. In late 2010, I ordered a lot of the other Xalax Racers on Ebay- Coincidentally, a lot of them came in shortly before our holiday trip to California, so my parents wrapped them up and gave them to me as presents for Hanukkah while we celebrated with our cousins. They had a wonderful little girl a few years younger than me, and when I opened two of my presents, we played together with our Racers- It's one of my most valuable memories, honestly. In case you can't tell, I absolutely love these toys. I have a strange obsession with the design of the wheels- There's something just absolutely euphoric about the way they turn for me. I later got ghost in late 2017, after like, 7 years of constantly trying. Had to pay 40$ for a used one- It's fucking crazy that the price has tripled since then.
What a wonderful story - thank you for sharing! ❤️️ It's easy to malign some of these more off the wall themes online, but at the end of the day, these were toys that meant something to folks like yourself. I'm glad you have such great memories of the Xalax Racers!
I really liked these guys when I was a kid, always wanted the ice ramp set and Ghost. Alas, Rip and Pulse were the only two I ever had. I really appreciate the color comparison in this video, the amount of different colors in these sets was amazing considering how few pieces they had.
Rip and Pulse are a great two to have! I love the colour palettes on display here... honestly, just talking about the colours was my main motivation for making this video. 😅
even though you (understandably) dislike subzero, i honestly was captivated by its color scheme. Low-effort though the choice of parts may be, the light blue and red work well together, especially with white, since both go so well with red, which takes on a nice accent-color role as only the driver and wheels.
I used to have one or two of these sets, back when I was a kid. I completely forgot the name of the theme, so it was nice to figure it out all these years later. I may have to go out and buy one, just for the memories!
As a family, we had pm every single one of these guys except for the Scratch, Ghost, Subzero and the two ice-themed ones (I eventually got the Freeze and Chill set). Hell, some footage of a family Christmas resurfaced on my mom's camera and we got to watch 2 year old me open up Spiky. However, we somehow lost Shred himself, owned by one of my older brothers, and his car pieces were scattered amongst our collections. I eventually found his entire car, but to this day, Shred remains missing after years of searching. Also its insane the Freeze and Chill set is extinct on Bricklink?! I managed to get one for $20 like 8 years ago. The 2nd ice spire is still perfectly intact but I completely took apart the net pit and lost the ramp somehow.
Surprisingly I think the only zalax racers I have are the arctic ones. I didn't know it then, but as a kid, I received a box of random Lego stuff. And seeing it now I know some of that included the arctic set. I remember being confused by the little trap-door like pit part, which eventually got taken apart. But now I know what it was.
As a kid I played alot with a big bin of random lego my grandma bought. There were a few xalax chassis in there, and I always wondered what they were, and if they were even lego at all. So this vid was really enlightening!
This was a delightful video on a theme about which I knew nothing. I love them! I might have to pick them up. Although I disagree with a few of your rankings! Guess I'll have to make my own video at some point.
Thank you! I definitely recommend going out and grabbing the ones you like most - they are (mostly) pretty cheap! Also, it's okay to subjectively disagree with my rankings, but keep in mind the (objective) Slug-O-Meter knows all. 😉
man i had a couple of these to play with when i was so much younger and it was a lot of fun. i never thought id get to know what they were, all i remembered were the symbols i found really cool
I thought these were really terrible but also really enjoyed them at the same time. Played with these things a lot with my siblings. Racing, trying to shoot them under the kitchen table without hitting chair legs, and trying to smack into each other from across the room to launch the drivers. The drivers from the pullback lego racers series out at the same time also fit in these if I recall.
I remember getting Gear and Loopin at a mall that used to be in my neighborhood. I still have the figures but haven't been able to find the cars in a while. I used to think of Gear and Loopin as brothers seeing as they're both purple. I had a lot of lego adventures focusing on those two. Gear was the reckless one and Loopin was the reluctant one.
I am at least glad that some of the part molds from Xalax became staples for a while and are still used today. The molds for their textured front slopes are great for adding detail.
Truly adore Xalax. Not really anything to write home about, but the colors and especially the unique figure make for some fun collectability. I went back for Warrior, Loopin, and Surfer a few years ago - ton of fun for builds, especially piloting for mecha and other builds. Been tempted on a few others, but I'd recommend for anyone interested just grabbing a few and you're set.
I just picked up the full freeze and chill set on eBay just a couple weeks back, and not even for the racers but the white LURPS! Rock Raiders ice biome is calling!
Oh I remember these guys! Always loved them and my favourite was... Pulse! Easily, as most sets back in the day had only the standart LEGO colors, these guys stood out with their unique colours and colour palettes. And Pulse perfects this. I think I disagree with you list in Loopin (which I don't really like, neither the colours nor the printing), Snake (I think he is so cool!) and Surfer (who I actually thought had one of the most interesting designs printwise, that face is hilarious and I love the colour combination)
The colour palettes were so great! Pulse is inspiring me to make a MOC with the same colours, but the part selection is so limited for Violet... 😅 Also, it's a-okay to subjectively disagree on rankings, but the (objective) Slug-O-Meter knows all. 😉
I feel like I had almost all of these but my parents sold all but Loopin and Dust (which is weird because I dont recall them selling any other legos). I might have to get warrior. Great video!
I collected nearly all of these (including the ice ramp set) and absolutely adored them, especially the stats and personalities they gave them all. My favourites were Ghost and Shred (which was the first one I bought). But I always wondered where Spiky's mouth was. Thanks for bringing back a lot of fond memories.
I was obsessed with the xalax racers when i was a kid. Whats funny is i never even got far enough into the game to actually play against them. I would just watch the intro to the game over and over again to see them. I had no idea lego actually made physical versions of them until recently. I really wish we couldve seen more of these guys. One day ill just pay someone to make a cool custom maybe
This is the most insane TH-cam video I have ever seen. You have taken the least popular Lego product of all time and rated the color scheme. Madlad. This could be a parody of yourself. I love it. Keep it up!
Just discovered this vid. God the memories. I actually liked Surfer back in the day. Don't know why but I just liked him. Surpringly had a hard time finding him as a kid.
I fell in love with the Xalax Racers as soon as the original eight were released, and I was blessed to acquire every set when they were still new. When I learned about Subzero as an adult, I promptly got an unopened one from eBay, and displayed all fifteen racers on a bookcase. It was the only Lego line I ever fully collected (I was one short on Alpha Team: Mission Deep Sea, though not for lack of effort). By the way, the reason Subzero seems cobbled together from other sets is because it was a promo for the line; it was given away in small numbers in Europe, and never actually meant to be sold.
I remember playing with these guys when I was young. I had Lighter and Warrior but always wanted ghost. I still have my Warrior (driver only) to this day!
Sufer and Lightor were among my first figures from this series and were playtime mainstays, I feel sad on their behalf. :( Good video though, interesting to hear the bits about color choices in their greater context.
Sorry to have done them both dirty like that - I’ve actually heard from a number of Surfer fans in the comment section, so you’re certainly not alone. 😊
I had Ghost as a kid, one time I slammed it so fast it vanished from existence and I never found it again, despite it being in a bedroom I lived in for another 10 years. This mystery has stuck with me ever since.
Never had any Xalaxians myself, but looking at them in catalogues and Lego Magazines had me headcanon the mohawk ones vs the square ones That seemed like a natural dividing line at the time.
I was more of a Bionicle and Exo-Force lover growing up - along with being more partial to the later sets in the Racers subseries - but these Xalax sets are really growing on me. Beyond wanting to see what a modernized take on this mini-series would look like, I think there’s a lot of value in a LEGO set that is super quick to build and super affordable. Doubly so nowadays since most folks who weren’t already LEGO fans likely won’t have the disposable income to blow on expensive, 100+ piece count sets.
I like these weird guys much much more than the racer sets from the late 2000s, I had a couple as a kid but those sets got silly with the amount of stickers used. I like the folding playsets though, I wish they had made one with more regular studs on it. I think lego could have a fun time if they had taken some of this energy, the unique minifigs of the recent vidyo and stuntz themes and make a sort of wacky races theme with some big and small cars with more fun play features like dynamite launchers and rocket boosters. They could even do different race scenarios like plane races or boat races.
I had one or two of these. They were really dope toys despite having very little. They are just really cool and they should come back in like a blind bag collection
i am so glad you are covering this funky lil' series! i know they get a lot of hate from the community-- mostly for being associated with that experimental era-- but i loved them! as a kid, my inner edgelord was obsessed with getting warrior most of all. sadly, i lived in a small town where lego just didn't sell so not much hit store shelves. in fact, i recall in 2012 or so you could still find adventurers, technic competition, and even time twisters (which my dad got me) somehow! i did get my hands on two copies of pulse, though! in the same futile vein my kid self hoped they'd stock the toa mata (despite them being retired), i kept staring at warrior amongst others sets in those catalogue leaflets hoping i could get my hands on them. fortunately, i grew up and now i have a bit of my own money. a few years ago i bought warrior off amazon sealed for fifteen bucks! later on bricklink i'd piece together chill since i liked their design too. ironic how the xalax i owned and the xalax i desired were in your top three, huh?
@@RRSlugger a lot for my frustration towards pulse came from being the only one i could get my hands on at the time but your vid has made me appreciate him as part of The Big Three™ :D
I found this video while trying to find a toy I *thought* I had as a kid and really liked. Turns out it wasn't a fever dream, I owned the Lego Xalax Warrior. I remember really enjoying that toy, but thought my memory may have been wrong about what the toy did/looked like. Out of nostalgia's sake I kind of want to find one online and buy it just to have as a desk ornament
I never really thought of them as competing with Hot Wheels (another collection of mine, but it's not currently growing... much) as impulse buys, but it makes a lot of sense! Even though Speed Champions is a line I really like, even above these Xalax racers, these feel like these are a way more fun buy than the poly bag Speed Champions sets. I forget which racers I had (and some of them were my brother's) but I know I had Lightor. I hope those slammer things didn't get thrown out. I really liked how they served as a storage case for each car. I think the only car series I have more fond memories of from childhood was the Racers line with the pull-back motors of varying sizes, where the new wheel hub design was implemented (so the pull-back motor could drive the wheels).
I loved those pullback motors too! I made a Rock Raiders MOC built around one a while back… can’t recall if it ever appeared in a video though? It *might* be on my Instagram somewhere? 😅
I found it. I think I had all but one of the pull-back motors. I really liked how they had motors in pairs that were basically equivalents with a trade-off. (For example, the small ones had a light gray top one and a dark gray one that was one plate taller. If I'm remembering correctly, the light gray was faster but provided power for a shorter time.) Those motors were the cause of my first experience with Lego making mistakes; two of the sets I got came with the old style wheel that wouldn't attach to the drive axle. One of my parents called Lego and they sent replacement wheels, as well as explained that the new molds were delayed so some of the old wheels made their way into the sets.
I loved collecting these sets when I was younger. I had all the first wave sets and the freeze/chill set. Had a blast building lots of different stuff for the racers to drive through. Shame you didn’t get the same chance. I thought I had 1 single racer from the second wave, but I don’t remember what one it was.
I had a fair chunk of these as a kid, including the plastic ramp set that came with 2 cars. Fortunately/unfortunately the only thing left I can find of that set is the light blue ramp itself. I do still have all of the cars and launchers however.
For some reason as a kid, I pronounced Xalex as "X al-axe", with a brief pause after the first X. They were fun for that they were, and good to enjoy those color combinations....most of the time.
I remember owning Warrior and Shredd. I remember tweaking the launchers and playing with them as spaceships! Probably still have them, but right now the collection is just pieces in a box in my closet. Sad, but no room to break out the old Legos in my Apartment. Or race these if they're still in there, it's all carpet.
Love this video, and love the Xalax racers. I collected many of these including the system set and ghost. Getting to see them come to life in Lego Racers II was a treat. I feel like the physical shape of the drives, front, and back parts would have been good to adress for the videos sake, as there are two variations of each. I always prefered the rounded ones over the ones with the hard angles. I also liked the square headed drivers over the ones with spikes. Warrior is #1 IMO.
Thank you! Yeah, that's definitely a detail I forgot to mention here, you're right. Whoops! 😅 I think the rounded front piece is still in production today, if I'm not mistaken? I believe the other three Xalax car parts are long gone though...
@@RRSlugger I don't recall seeing any of the back parts in any other sets, but I know the front ones I've seen since. Especially on the Drome Racer cars.
Im planning on making a big display of a bunch of vehicles and builds from LEGO Racers 2 and im going to try to find all of the Xalax racers that were featured in the game. I had Lightor growing up but its been lost to time
I had some of these! Ghost was the one I liked the most, but i can't remember if i ever had him. I feel no need to buy any of them now, but I thought they were some of the coolest sets around back then, probably helped that they were cheap enough that I could get one easily.
I think I remember having Gear, Loopin, Lightor, and Warrior. Oddly, I have no memory of the slammers, but I may still have some of the pieces at home.
it nailed it for letting us play hard with our lego cars . and not spend an hour rebuilding the kit car lol i used to make buildings and props for my hot wheels in lego and these were perfect for blending the two playtimes together as hot wheels don’t like rolling on lego studs but these did better
I had all of these! My first was actually Subzero, who I believe was a promotional set (in my case I think through Tesco in the UK), hence the hodgepodge of pieces from other sets.
Honestly Subzero reminds me of a glitch character, with it being a mashup of parts from other complete characters, kinda like the rumored Ermac glitch from the original Mortal Kombat. Funnily enough, there's a character named Sub-Zero in that series.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
This is a fun little toy, but it reminds me more of an Happy Meal or Kinder egg toy than anything Lego-related. Late 90's/early 2000 was an odd time.
The way you use the Lego Creator "aww" sound every once in a while is what really awakens my old childhood from within me.
I got Pulse on my birthday back in '01 and went nuts for these guys for a good long while. It warms my heart to see some love given to these silly racers.
Shout out to my kindergarten classmate, who asked to borrow my Ghost.. I hope you treated it well.
Oh man! 😭 I had a couple of childhood friends who “borrowed” Lego from me too - namely my Xpods and one of my McDonalds Matoran.
My siblings and I had a lot of these growing up. I think we were attracted to the array of colors at the time (violet, purple and dark turq, my beloved), as well as the tried and true "character in a can" motif. I'm so glad you focused on this, and I agree so so much with your ranking, it's like I wrote this myself (yes, Pulse all the way)! Would have loved to have seen a similar color variety transfer over into the already colorful and collectible Throwbots, Roboriders and Bionicle
PULSE HYPE!! 😄
I would have loved to see these colours continue on into those themes you mentioned too. Galidor had a great colour palette, but one thing it *didn't* have was Dark Turquoise... I would have loved to see what alien creature they could have made in that colour!
I got a few of these because I always thought it was funny how you could slam the front bumper against something and have the character launch off their seat 😂
I can totally see a story behind this series. Like a hotwheels highway 35, a race across worlds belonging to each racer, with the winner of each gaining something, spread across minigames, elimination rounds, boss fights (I can see the ice theme players being juggernauts or eliminators) with spook being a host or evil big bad guy
I loved these guys. Used em as minions for the alien villains in play time with my little sister.
You have helped me reflect on this theme in a more realistic realm (there is basically no bricks despite being Lego), but I absolutely love this theme regardless of any criticism. I love the aliens, I love the colors, I love the play feature, and I love my childhood memories of the toys AND their cutscenes in Lego Racers 2.
I have tons of plans for spaceships in their color-schemes, though it will probably be months or years before I have time to get to it all.
When you do, I would love to see what you have in store!
@@RRSlugger I’ll absolutely share when I have it! I’m a big creative brainstormer, so my list of moc passion projects vastly outpace my actual dedicated hobby time! But in time
The cool thing about these sets is you can still build custom designs onto the chassis, I remember doing that as a kid 😂 you can do quite a bit with two 2x2 stud platforms
I had all of them and loved them dearly. As a stats nerd, me and a friend came up with a turn based system to race them based on their stats alone and set up tournaments.
The cars would in each “turn” travel a set number of car lengths forward based on the situation. For the start of the race and exiting curves we used the acceleration stat. For the tracks curves themselves we used traction and for straights we used Power. We also set up ramps on the course and used their stunt stat for approaching and landing after a ramp.
I do remember Loopin often loosing because we didn’t have many ramps and that Lightor doing pretty well because the courses ended up having long straights often.
That’s so awesome! Turning things into turn based games is definitely something I used to do as a kid too. 😊
I have Shred and Lightor, I always thought these were weird sets, but I feel like over time I actually gained an appreciation for them more. I like the driver pieces the most though, they're kind of like a pull-back racer set I have as well, except the driver in that still had a normal Minifig head. I feel like they could work well with custom builds.
I loved this little guys, the varied colors were really appealing and a great showcase of how varied the LEGO pallet truly was in that era. I lost Gear way back and I still miss him, I really need to look him up in Bricklink...
Indeed! One of the main reasons I wanted to make this video was to show off the colour palettes of each racer. 😊
I’m currently looking into a Yellow/Violet/Purple MOC of some sort, ala Pulse, but I’m not sure how feasible it will be…
I’d say go for that Gear! They are really inexpensive and quite hearty toys, so I think you could trust the quality of a used set.
@@RRSlugger I do recomend looking up Djokson on Flickr, they made a bunch of really cool reimagined versions of the Xalax cars (plus a bike for Gear, can't believe somebody found such a nice use for the sand purple Life on Mars cockpit pieces!).
@@vantablank2650 Ooooo, will do! Thanks for the recommendation! ❤️
Another fun bit from my childhood, I saw most of the Xalax racers as having mustaches with pointed ends, but now can view them as gnarled teeth similar to the original comics and toys of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think it's because as a kid, I saw the white outline as a whole structure. If there were black lines for upper and bottom jaws or even individual teeth, I'd sing a different tune now. Since the rest of the figures and cars are intricately detailed, it's surprising this area was cut short.
Lmao now I see mustaches
Loved this! In fact, I'll watch it again! I had two of these, or I actually still have them built at my parents' place. Loved the minus point for having a similar color scheme to Power Miners!
Hahaha, thank you! Wish I could like this comment twice! 😉
I enjoyed these lil guys, I remember going to an event at a Toys R Us that was a mini xalax racer competition… I can’t for the life of me recall how I did but I recall it being a lot of fun and loving the colors.
Man this is a throw back to my childhood..I remember finally beating the final race and being so happy to finally have that car, it was my favorite looking car in the game, an still is.
Great video!! I never had any of these but I like the design and simplicity although I really wish the connection where the driver piece goes were more "stud" shaped so that it would allow for more easy customization. I'd definitely want to build more "realistic" models for fun on those chassis pieces if I had these. That feature where the bumper pushes the driver piece out is pretty cool.
Thanks Cris! Yes, these builds are pretty tough to customize; even within their own theme, it's hard to come up with anything compelling as the colours and printing conflict with each other pretty dramatically.
Loved these as a kid! The second wave had some real stand-out colors and designs. I still have my Ghost somewhere. I didn't realize he was such a collector's item! Great vid!
Oh, these guys were less than stellar back in the day for me, but they gained a reputation as some race lovers, gas passers and overall just the most chill dudes. They leave a warm place in my heart today and I am happy to say that as of today, I have acquired all of the little guys. If missing a couple slammers.
While I do like these they, in my humble-not so humble opinion pail in comparison to the 2002/03 wave of tiny turbos, I guess which if I remember correctly were the same price gave
I had one of those too! Street Maniac, if I recall? It was a really neat concept.
@@RRSlugger yeah they were amazing, they had short but still cool builds pull back motors and one of the big sets in 2003 included a full a race track with actual motors to put the bricks from the small sets or one of the four included on top. Thinking about the drivers should also on Xalax cars
Hmmm...maybe I do need to get me some Xalax Racers...I like the points about the functional packaging (Just like Bionicle! And the late Tino turbos sets) They should do it more often. Also, the wordless storytelling is clever. I definitely would like to get some of those weird coloured ones. Love the trivia about dark blue, that is so interesting!
More functional packaging would be awesome to see in the future - heck, I would settle for alternate builds again! Haha.
Thanks for checking out the channel! 😊
Trip down memory lane with these! Not the best example of LEGO philosophy but loved them as a kid.
every video u make is sooo well made. top stuff! luv ya
Thank you! Glad you are enjoying them! 😊
I want to provide an Update for our resident Slimy Slug attacking our base: thanks to some "Convincing" from a friend, I found and bought an eBay listing for a majority of the Xalax Line, but it gets better: there is at present a sealed Ice Ramp Racers set on Bricklink, which I believe ships to the US. A set review would be incredible if you could manage the time, but it would indeed be a one off. I've been building displays and clearing space to show off my collection, so it's safe to say my previous comment has in fact come to pass. Thank you in part, Slugger, for helping me make an ill advised financial decision which I will cherish for the rest of my natural life
Thanks for the heads up! Glad you managed to catch so many of these Racers for yourself!
Brian is actually going to hook me up with a copy of this set, so hopefully there's a video for us in the future!
great video! I was always curious about these but never put in the time to look them up and see what they were all about.
Thank you! Hope this video served as a good entry point to the theme!
I've got Pulse new when I was a kid and it's been a personal favorite of mine ever since
I had a couple of these, and while I wasn't a fan I do however really enjoy your analysis video on them. Great channel, surprising production quality.
At the furthest reaches of my memory, I remember we went to California (we live in Illinois so it's a major trip for us), and while visiting Legoland, I walked into a store in Legoland when I was 4 (I was probably on a goddamn stroller, actually) and seeing a bunch of boxes on a shelf or something with various Xalax Racers. I think I liked Warrior the best, because that's the one I picked, and he has been my most valued Lego possession ever since. He just means absolutely so much to me, especially since that's the only one I had for a long time, and the only one I thought I'd ever have, because I didn't know they were being sold on Ebay.
Honestly, depending on whether or not they were being sold in 2003, the year might have even been 2002, which would mean that I was 3. It's one of the first things in my life I can remember. In late 2010, I ordered a lot of the other Xalax Racers on Ebay- Coincidentally, a lot of them came in shortly before our holiday trip to California, so my parents wrapped them up and gave them to me as presents for Hanukkah while we celebrated with our cousins. They had a wonderful little girl a few years younger than me, and when I opened two of my presents, we played together with our Racers- It's one of my most valuable memories, honestly.
In case you can't tell, I absolutely love these toys. I have a strange obsession with the design of the wheels- There's something just absolutely euphoric about the way they turn for me. I later got ghost in late 2017, after like, 7 years of constantly trying. Had to pay 40$ for a used one- It's fucking crazy that the price has tripled since then.
What a wonderful story - thank you for sharing! ❤️️
It's easy to malign some of these more off the wall themes online, but at the end of the day, these were toys that meant something to folks like yourself. I'm glad you have such great memories of the Xalax Racers!
I rate this video three slugs. Another great video from you, keep turing out great content.
Haha, thank you! Will do! ❤️
I really liked these guys when I was a kid, always wanted the ice ramp set and Ghost. Alas, Rip and Pulse were the only two I ever had. I really appreciate the color comparison in this video, the amount of different colors in these sets was amazing considering how few pieces they had.
Rip and Pulse are a great two to have! I love the colour palettes on display here... honestly, just talking about the colours was my main motivation for making this video. 😅
even though you (understandably) dislike subzero, i honestly was captivated by its color scheme. Low-effort though the choice of parts may be, the light blue and red work well together, especially with white, since both go so well with red, which takes on a nice accent-color role as only the driver and wheels.
Glad to finally see someone review this line! I've been a fan of the Xalax for quite a while, but it seemed like I was the only one... Until now!
I'm glad you found the video then! 😊
I used to have one or two of these sets, back when I was a kid. I completely forgot the name of the theme, so it was nice to figure it out all these years later. I may have to go out and buy one, just for the memories!
As a family, we had pm every single one of these guys except for the Scratch, Ghost, Subzero and the two ice-themed ones (I eventually got the Freeze and Chill set). Hell, some footage of a family Christmas resurfaced on my mom's camera and we got to watch 2 year old me open up Spiky.
However, we somehow lost Shred himself, owned by one of my older brothers, and his car pieces were scattered amongst our collections. I eventually found his entire car, but to this day, Shred remains missing after years of searching.
Also its insane the Freeze and Chill set is extinct on Bricklink?! I managed to get one for $20 like 8 years ago. The 2nd ice spire is still perfectly intact but I completely took apart the net pit and lost the ramp somehow.
Surprisingly I think the only zalax racers I have are the arctic ones. I didn't know it then, but as a kid, I received a box of random Lego stuff. And seeing it now I know some of that included the arctic set. I remember being confused by the little trap-door like pit part, which eventually got taken apart. But now I know what it was.
One other thing these introduced is the streamlined 2x2 hood element that has become a staple detail element.
As a kid I played alot with a big bin of random lego my grandma bought. There were a few xalax chassis in there, and I always wondered what they were, and if they were even lego at all. So this vid was really enlightening!
I had these as a kid and i loved them
This was a delightful video on a theme about which I knew nothing.
I love them! I might have to pick them up.
Although I disagree with a few of your rankings! Guess I'll have to make my own video at some point.
Thank you! I definitely recommend going out and grabbing the ones you like most - they are (mostly) pretty cheap!
Also, it's okay to subjectively disagree with my rankings, but keep in mind the (objective) Slug-O-Meter knows all. 😉
@@RRSlugger I will rebel against the Slug-o-Meter if I so please! Objective? Ha!
man i had a couple of these to play with when i was so much younger and it was a lot of fun. i never thought id get to know what they were, all i remembered were the symbols i found really cool
I thought these were really terrible but also really enjoyed them at the same time. Played with these things a lot with my siblings. Racing, trying to shoot them under the kitchen table without hitting chair legs, and trying to smack into each other from across the room to launch the drivers. The drivers from the pullback lego racers series out at the same time also fit in these if I recall.
I remember getting Gear and Loopin at a mall that used to be in my neighborhood. I still have the figures but haven't been able to find the cars in a while. I used to think of Gear and Loopin as brothers seeing as they're both purple. I had a lot of lego adventures focusing on those two. Gear was the reckless one and Loopin was the reluctant one.
Isn’t it amazing the stories we come up with with our toys? 😊
I am at least glad that some of the part molds from Xalax became staples for a while and are still used today. The molds for their textured front slopes are great for adding detail.
Truly adore Xalax. Not really anything to write home about, but the colors and especially the unique figure make for some fun collectability. I went back for Warrior, Loopin, and Surfer a few years ago - ton of fun for builds, especially piloting for mecha and other builds. Been tempted on a few others, but I'd recommend for anyone interested just grabbing a few and you're set.
Absolutely agree - pick out your favourites and you're good to go! The unique colour palettes are the whole draw for me. 😊
They are the best about these sets
I just picked up the full freeze and chill set on eBay just a couple weeks back, and not even for the racers but the white LURPS! Rock Raiders ice biome is calling!
Nice!! Good score! There are some great blue energy crystals in there too!
Oh I remember these guys! Always loved them and my favourite was... Pulse! Easily, as most sets back in the day had only the standart LEGO colors, these guys stood out with their unique colours and colour palettes. And Pulse perfects this.
I think I disagree with you list in Loopin (which I don't really like, neither the colours nor the printing), Snake (I think he is so cool!) and Surfer (who I actually thought had one of the most interesting designs printwise, that face is hilarious and I love the colour combination)
The colour palettes were so great! Pulse is inspiring me to make a MOC with the same colours, but the part selection is so limited for Violet... 😅
Also, it's a-okay to subjectively disagree on rankings, but the (objective) Slug-O-Meter knows all. 😉
@@RRSlugger yeah I think its cool to see which colours others like and dislike. :D
I feel like I had almost all of these but my parents sold all but Loopin and Dust (which is weird because I dont recall them selling any other legos). I might have to get warrior. Great video!
I’ve always wanted to own a few of these guys. I grew up on Racers 2 and always had a strong fondness for these silly little aliens!
Most of them are very inexpensive these days, so now is as good a time as any! 😊
These look very interesting. I’m a big fan of Lego and I’m surprised I haven’t heard of this series. I love your videos!
I collected nearly all of these (including the ice ramp set) and absolutely adored them, especially the stats and personalities they gave them all. My favourites were Ghost and Shred (which was the first one I bought). But I always wondered where Spiky's mouth was. Thanks for bringing back a lot of fond memories.
Thank you! I just picked up the Ice Ramp Racers set myself! Hope to give it a look one of these days. 😊
I vaguely recall owning one of these in the early 00's, most likely purchased from KB Toys. Thank you for sharing this history with us.
I was obsessed with the xalax racers when i was a kid. Whats funny is i never even got far enough into the game to actually play against them. I would just watch the intro to the game over and over again to see them. I had no idea lego actually made physical versions of them until recently. I really wish we couldve seen more of these guys. One day ill just pay someone to make a cool custom maybe
Just look at their little faces ❤ The underbite and goggles combo on Duster makes him especially charming to me.
I remember I had exactly one of these in our family lego bin and it always stood out to me as a strange piece
Jeez this just unlocked a childhood memory. I remember owning Loopin
3:17 I really like that truck model, takes me right back to 2005-2006 Creator when I was first getting into Lego
I believe the set is actually from that era! 😊
6:47 Yes, you do.
Hey I finally had a set from one of these, freeze and chill. the slammers matching the sets makes so much more sense
This is the most insane TH-cam video I have ever seen. You have taken the least popular Lego product of all time and rated the color scheme. Madlad. This could be a parody of yourself. I love it. Keep it up!
Just discovered this vid. God the memories. I actually liked Surfer back in the day. Don't know why but I just liked him. Surpringly had a hard time finding him as a kid.
I fell in love with the Xalax Racers as soon as the original eight were released, and I was blessed to acquire every set when they were still new. When I learned about Subzero as an adult, I promptly got an unopened one from eBay, and displayed all fifteen racers on a bookcase. It was the only Lego line I ever fully collected (I was one short on Alpha Team: Mission Deep Sea, though not for lack of effort). By the way, the reason Subzero seems cobbled together from other sets is because it was a promo for the line; it was given away in small numbers in Europe, and never actually meant to be sold.
These were perfect for kid birthday party favors. That’s probably about it though because once you play with it once, that’s about all there is to it.
I remember playing with these guys when I was young. I had Lighter and Warrior but always wanted ghost. I still have my Warrior (driver only) to this day!
8:55 love this one! Reminds me of
Poppy seed cake
Great video, as always
in this set i only have the "RIP" and until recently I didn't even know where this little red guy came from
I remember having some pieces and chassis in my Lego bin and wondering what they were.
Glad I finally know.
Sufer and Lightor were among my first figures from this series and were playtime mainstays, I feel sad on their behalf. :(
Good video though, interesting to hear the bits about color choices in their greater context.
Sorry to have done them both dirty like that - I’ve actually heard from a number of Surfer fans in the comment section, so you’re certainly not alone. 😊
I had Ghost as a kid, one time I slammed it so fast it vanished from existence and I never found it again, despite it being in a bedroom I lived in for another 10 years.
This mystery has stuck with me ever since.
Vanished…! Like a ghost! 😮
Now I need to look more into these weird Lego eras
Never had any Xalaxians myself, but looking at them in catalogues and Lego Magazines had me headcanon the mohawk ones vs the square ones
That seemed like a natural dividing line at the time.
Totally! I should have commented on the moulds being different in the video - whoops 😅
I was more of a Bionicle and Exo-Force lover growing up - along with being more partial to the later sets in the Racers subseries - but these Xalax sets are really growing on me.
Beyond wanting to see what a modernized take on this mini-series would look like, I think there’s a lot of value in a LEGO set that is super quick to build and super affordable. Doubly so nowadays since most folks who weren’t already LEGO fans likely won’t have the disposable income to blow on expensive, 100+ piece count sets.
I like these weird guys much much more than the racer sets from the late 2000s, I had a couple as a kid but those sets got silly with the amount of stickers used. I like the folding playsets though, I wish they had made one with more regular studs on it.
I think lego could have a fun time if they had taken some of this energy, the unique minifigs of the recent vidyo and stuntz themes and make a sort of wacky races theme with some big and small cars with more fun play features like dynamite launchers and rocket boosters. They could even do different race scenarios like plane races or boat races.
I miss these from my childhood! And yep, Pulse is the best designed but I'm rather partial to green so I like Snake as well!
I had one or two of these. They were really dope toys despite having very little. They are just really cool and they should come back in like a blind bag collection
i am so glad you are covering this funky lil' series!
i know they get a lot of hate from the community-- mostly for being associated with that experimental era-- but i loved them!
as a kid, my inner edgelord was obsessed with getting warrior most of all. sadly, i lived in a small town where lego just didn't sell so not much hit store shelves. in fact, i recall in 2012 or so you could still find adventurers, technic competition, and even time twisters (which my dad got me) somehow!
i did get my hands on two copies of pulse, though! in the same futile vein my kid self hoped they'd stock the toa mata (despite them being retired), i kept staring at warrior amongst others sets in those catalogue leaflets hoping i could get my hands on them.
fortunately, i grew up and now i have a bit of my own money. a few years ago i bought warrior off amazon sealed for fifteen bucks!
later on bricklink i'd piece together chill since i liked their design too.
ironic how the xalax i owned and the xalax i desired were in your top three, huh?
That is funny how that all worked out! Pulse, Warrior, and Chill were destined to be together! 😊
@@RRSlugger a lot for my frustration towards pulse came from being the only one i could get my hands on at the time but your vid has made me appreciate him as part of The Big Three™ :D
I found this video while trying to find a toy I *thought* I had as a kid and really liked. Turns out it wasn't a fever dream, I owned the Lego Xalax Warrior. I remember really enjoying that toy, but thought my memory may have been wrong about what the toy did/looked like. Out of nostalgia's sake I kind of want to find one online and buy it just to have as a desk ornament
I had the Freeze and Chill set when I was a little child, while I lost them, unfortunately.
I like how awesome these Xalax set were
I never really thought of them as competing with Hot Wheels (another collection of mine, but it's not currently growing... much) as impulse buys, but it makes a lot of sense! Even though Speed Champions is a line I really like, even above these Xalax racers, these feel like these are a way more fun buy than the poly bag Speed Champions sets. I forget which racers I had (and some of them were my brother's) but I know I had Lightor. I hope those slammer things didn't get thrown out. I really liked how they served as a storage case for each car.
I think the only car series I have more fond memories of from childhood was the Racers line with the pull-back motors of varying sizes, where the new wheel hub design was implemented (so the pull-back motor could drive the wheels).
I loved those pullback motors too! I made a Rock Raiders MOC built around one a while back… can’t recall if it ever appeared in a video though? It *might* be on my Instagram somewhere? 😅
I found it. I think I had all but one of the pull-back motors. I really liked how they had motors in pairs that were basically equivalents with a trade-off. (For example, the small ones had a light gray top one and a dark gray one that was one plate taller. If I'm remembering correctly, the light gray was faster but provided power for a shorter time.)
Those motors were the cause of my first experience with Lego making mistakes; two of the sets I got came with the old style wheel that wouldn't attach to the drive axle. One of my parents called Lego and they sent replacement wheels, as well as explained that the new molds were delayed so some of the old wheels made their way into the sets.
@@CarsSimplified Whoa, that’s crazy!! I never would have guessed that could happen, but I suppose it makes sense. 🤯
I’m glad you started with Gear I had him !
6:40 And now, with that, I really want to see your Power Miners retrospective!
I loved collecting these sets when I was younger. I had all the first wave sets and the freeze/chill set. Had a blast building lots of different stuff for the racers to drive through. Shame you didn’t get the same chance. I thought I had 1 single racer from the second wave, but I don’t remember what one it was.
I had a fair chunk of these as a kid, including the plastic ramp set that came with 2 cars. Fortunately/unfortunately the only thing left I can find of that set is the light blue ramp itself. I do still have all of the cars and launchers however.
love these guys, I used to build mecha bodies for Lightor XD
For some reason as a kid, I pronounced Xalex as "X al-axe", with a brief pause after the first X. They were fun for that they were, and good to enjoy those color combinations....most of the time.
My brother and I were clueless on how to pronounce it as kids, hahaha. 😅
@@RRSlugger your way in the video makes sense, like Xylophone or Xalem.
your path to power track is so good
Thank you so much! ❤️
Ha, I actually have Ghost. Unfortunately I don't think I'd be able to find the slam thing/box
I remember owning Warrior and Shredd. I remember tweaking the launchers and playing with them as spaceships! Probably still have them, but right now the collection is just pieces in a box in my closet. Sad, but no room to break out the old Legos in my Apartment. Or race these if they're still in there, it's all carpet.
Love this video, and love the Xalax racers. I collected many of these including the system set and ghost. Getting to see them come to life in Lego Racers II was a treat. I feel like the physical shape of the drives, front, and back parts would have been good to adress for the videos sake, as there are two variations of each. I always prefered the rounded ones over the ones with the hard angles. I also liked the square headed drivers over the ones with spikes. Warrior is #1 IMO.
Thank you! Yeah, that's definitely a detail I forgot to mention here, you're right. Whoops! 😅
I think the rounded front piece is still in production today, if I'm not mistaken? I believe the other three Xalax car parts are long gone though...
@@RRSlugger I don't recall seeing any of the back parts in any other sets, but I know the front ones I've seen since. Especially on the Drome Racer cars.
Im planning on making a big display of a bunch of vehicles and builds from LEGO Racers 2 and im going to try to find all of the Xalax racers that were featured in the game.
I had Lightor growing up but its been lost to time
I had the one set with Freeze and Chill. Only Xalax racers I ever had, I think they were a Christmas gift.
I had gear, and I *think* my brother had loopin. Good times. We got them as stocking stuffers, iirc.
Scratch, Lightor and Surfer- I have them. My son- Shredd and Spiky. We are looking forward for more of them.
I had some of these! Ghost was the one I liked the most, but i can't remember if i ever had him. I feel no need to buy any of them now, but I thought they were some of the coolest sets around back then, probably helped that they were cheap enough that I could get one easily.
I think I remember having Gear, Loopin, Lightor, and Warrior. Oddly, I have no memory of the slammers, but I may still have some of the pieces at home.
I personally loved Warrior so much, till I looses the part behind my desk and Mom got it lost into the vacuum cleaner :O
it nailed it for letting us play hard with our lego cars . and not spend an hour rebuilding the kit car lol i used to make buildings and props for my hot wheels in lego and these were perfect for blending the two playtimes together as hot wheels don’t like rolling on lego studs but these did better
I love your gentle deadpan; Never change :D
And I love your passion! Same to you! ❤️
I do have ghost. So happy I kept him safe when I left my childhood :D
I had all of these! My first was actually Subzero, who I believe was a promotional set (in my case I think through Tesco in the UK), hence the hodgepodge of pieces from other sets.
I've got one of the car pieces in my lego bin and always wondered where it came from, now I know
Honestly Subzero reminds me of a glitch character, with it being a mashup of parts from other complete characters, kinda like the rumored Ermac glitch from the original Mortal Kombat. Funnily enough, there's a character named Sub-Zero in that series.
Having owned Loopin for a little while, I can say that these are very fun to handle and the play feature works well. I miss when lego took risks