Ah, yes, I vaguely remember these strange technic/bionicle hybrids, albeit from the mid-2000s when they weren't new anymore.

I sort of remember when these were new, but I didn't pay serious attention to anything Technic until the second year of Bionicle. Mostly out of curiosity, I ended up picking up the whole set of Roboriders back when I first discovered BrickLink in 2014 because they were so cheap at the time, generally $5-10 even with the canisters. And the canister lids are integral to building the combiner models.

Power? That’s a kinda nondescript name.

Power was one of my favorite RoboRiders. I didn't have many of these guys, but I had him--I loved how you could lower one arm like a kickstand and keep the other folded over the rear wheel.

^ They were all one-word names. Frost, Onyx, Dust, etc... all roughly aligned with some sort of element (fire, water, stone, electricity, etc). These were immediately preceding Bionicle. They quickly learned from this series and introduced Bionicle who were much the same only robots. And with one more critical piece--a big media tie-in including a story.

We finally got a RoboRider!

These were the halfway point, released after the Slizer/Throwbots (that I absolutely adored), but before the eventual juggernaut that was Bionicle (which I didn't care for at all). I kinda liked the RoboRiders just for sheer novelty value. A planet full of sentient battling motorcycles? Okay ... but I liked them. Power is about the only one I didn't get, because I bought the Frost, Lava, Dust and Swamp themed ones and thought they were really cool.

In the grand scheme of the Technic theme, this era was quite different, unique, and bizarre. However I was a kid during that time so I have a big soft spot for Roboriders and Throwbots. I actually really liked how Bionicle was still a Technic subtheme (and might argue that's the best way to do it). Other Technic sets around this time like the Star Wars sets had so much character to them that you just don't find today.

All the Roboriders had a function, but it seemed a little unfair that Power had the articulated ball joint arms to himself. I had two of him. I think the series as a whole was well executed for what it was, though some were better than others. Lava’s design was a little thin, but the axes were cool. Dust, Frost and Power were all beefier. Roboriders were slightly more complex than Throwbots/Slizer, but Throwbots had more universal appeal to me being plain ‘ol robots. Both were worthwhile to me, but then came Bionicle, which was even better.

After getting the mini version we get the full size incarnation of Power! First Roborider I got, followed by Onyx so I could build their combiner model

Unlimited power!

https://media.giphy.com/media/hokMyu1PAKfJK/giphy.gif

I collected all the RoboRiders cans as well as "The Boss" when they were new and there were TV commercials for them. I loved them. Still have all of them built up.

And then I went on to collect all the Toa Mata, Toa Nuva, Bohrok, Matoran, Toa Metru, the Titan combiner sets... didn't manage to collect everything BIONICLE (missed the Turaga, Bohrok Va, most Rahi...) but I like to think I came pretty close in terms of the Mata Nui and Metru Nui arcs anyway.

So yeah, this and Slizer/Throwbots were a heck of a precursor to BIONICLE.

Bad set.

Swamp was my favourite of the Roboriders. I wasn't that interested in them at the time - though I was just starting to love the Slizers when these guys came out, so they had my attention more - but I did get Dust for my birthday that year, and continued to pick most of the rest of them up second-hand over the course of the following years... perhaps more because they were Bionicle's predecessor than for any other reason.

Personally, Power here was kind of *meh* to me; but that might be because he was the last one I got (apart from Frost who I never found, and Boss whose existence was nothing more than a rumour to me at that point), so the novelty had worn off by then.

I didn't realise though, until looking at the picture now, how many specialised pieces were made for these guys that were never used again. Particularly the main 'body' part and the wheel launcher, but also the wheels themselves... I don't know how many different varieties there were, but they all had different central designs, seemingly at random. Lego was kind of out of control back then xD

Still, I look back on these guys with fondness ^^

This is around the era of the buildable figures that I liked the most. It was essentially an extension of the Technic theme, and spawned some of the pieces I find most useful to this day.

You've got the touch! You've got the power!
This is a prehistorical Bionicle set.