After over half a year I finally found this set for a decent price. Considering I have a huge soft spot for mechs, I figured it would only be a matter of time before I got this set. After all, it's a mech within a mech! And a knight within a knight within a knight!
I got it for 30 euro, which seems fair. The Kings Mech cost that, originally. And it’s the same size. But that’s a discount: it originally costs about 50 euro! So is this set worth its original price? Read on to find out!

Box and instructions

A thing of note is that the box is surprisingly small for the price. It was filled quite well. Unusually, the large mech is about 1:1 the size on the front of the box. There were two booklets: one for the sidebuilds, one for the large mech.

Parts

The set includes a lot of parts, many of which will be of interest for part collectors and MOCers. The set includes three nexo powers. One of which is the exclusive ‘Sword of Merlok shield’, printed on a metallic gold shield. Other pieces of note are the Merlok 2.0 and Monstrox hologram parts, and Clay's trans neon orange and pearl gold sword (24108c03). The set features many trans orange, dark blue, dark azure and pearl gold parts. The selection includes brackets, hinges and a variety of tiles, slopes technic pieces etc. Parts of note are the new dark azure 6x6 hexagonal ‘nexagon’ shield (27255), the dark bluish grey 6x2 double inverted slope with 2x4 cutout (22889), 1x4 double inverted slope with 1x2 cutout (32802) and tile with cut corner (27263). The flat silver tech spider piece (35039). The light bluish grey inverted slope piece (32803) and inverted tile (11203). The new pearl dark gold shield piece (35035). The pearl gold chest armour (27167), shield (22408), tile with cut corner (27263) and round corner (27925). And finally the trans neon orange hexagonal flag (x1435), sloped windscreen (6070 ) and hexagonal windscreen (27262). View https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=72004-1 for an overview.

Minifigures

If you are a minifigure guy, you might or might not like this selection. On the one hand two minifigures aren’t physical figures. These two are important characters represented by printed transparent banners. Merlok 2.0 is printed in gold on a trans neon orange banner. A small dish and clip ensure it will always stand on its own. The colours don’t work that well together, as he tends to only be clearly visible if the gold is reflected. Monstrox –the main villain of the theme- now appears as a hologram too. His hologram is trans bright green and features a similar (recoloured) stand like his good counterpart. His print is black, and thus stands out more. The corrupted techy necromancer design speaks volumes!

On the other hand it includes three ‘real’ minifigures, one of which really is exclusive: year 3 Clay Moorington. He wears a trans orange visor and wears new tech robes, this time with golden armour print. One arm is orange to reflect his newfound magical power, and his hands are pearl gold. Moving on, the set also includes an Infectobyter with chest armour print but without a shoulder armour piece. The helmet is two sided: the back can cover the figures eyes like a VR headset. However, the head is also double sided: one side with a vampire-like face, the other with a mechanical facemask resembling a spider face. Because the helmet exposes the neck, the head works best with the facemask at the back. The mechanical mask can go for a printed extension of the helmet. If you reverse the head the mouth will be visible on the back of the head! The figure also comes with a black halberd with a new trans bright green wing-like piece. A Cyberbyter (infected squirebot) is also included. This figure features new teeth-grinding and grimacing faces. The helmet and old halberd are in pearl dark grey. It also features an uncommon trans bright green pyramid slope on its chest.

The build

The set is built out of various subsections. I will first discuss the small builds and then move on to the main build.

Monstrox hologram projector

On the bad guy side we have a small platform for Monstrox’ hologram. It features four spider-like legs, two stud shooters, a shield, the hologram platform and a hinge below. The platform prevents the legs from going too far up. This, combined with the white hinge below, ensures that the legs stay upright and the platform stays straight. You can hinge the legs down without a problem, so this actually doesn’t hamper poseability too much either! The stud shooters are mounted on the sides and feature the trans bright green ‘wing’ piece also seen on the InfectoByter’s halberd. Oh, and they also feature the new tech spiders. These have a standard trans bright green stud inserted in them, which ensures they are shot just like normal studs. Their eight legs are actually not all on the same height, making it look like they are walking. They add great texture to the platform! The set also includes a third for on the ground… or as a spare. The shield is in pearl dark grey and looks amazing with the metal-looking spikes with moulded wires running between them. As for the hinge on the bottom, more on that later…

Merlok 2:0’s hologram projector

On the good guy side we have a small platform for M… wait a minute?! Yes, we seem to have a gold-highlighted counterpart to the previous build. But this one doesn’t crawl- it flies! The platform features a jetpack and sword and shield holder that swivels to the back. The shield uses a trans neon orange hexagonal windscreen and has a symmetrical handle to the sword when mounted on the platform. The sword’s handle is now offset one stud from the blade. The inclusion of the sword means Merlok could go and help Clay out himself by impaling some foes on the blade. Or he could just scout ahead and use the sword as a sensor or something. Your call. Alternatively the platform can be stored on the big mech, or on…

Clay’s small mech

Clad in even more gold (this will be a theme throughout the review), clay rocks a brand new mech suit. It is similar to his previous mech suit, but features less broad shoulders, pointier feet and lots of pearl GOLD. It should be noted the breastplate no longer features his insignia and instead uses a standard energy ‘X’ projectile tile. Like all small Nexo Knights mechs it uses the standard hinge connector at the back. This can be used with both Merlok’s hologram projector, with the large mech, or even with Monstrox’ projector! Merlok gives him a slightly oversized jet pack. Monstrox doesn’t and probably only steals control from Clay. Both jut out a bit on the back, but it can easily reamin balanced with them on.

The large mech exo suit

And now, we move on to the real meat of the set. Done are we with small builds, and onward we go to… a big build!
The large mech fits Clay’s small mech, but isn’t incomplete without it. Sure, the sides and stomach are a bit empty, but it’s surprisingly complete on its own. This is mostly thanks to the excellent front armour, shoulder armour and helmet. All of these hinge open separately to allow Clay’s small mech to enter. This is not unlike 8557 Exo-Toa, which was actually sold separately from the user(s). The torso looks very beefy, as does the helmet. The helmet features a trans orange visor that lines up with Clay’s head when he’s inside. A small gap between the visor and breastplate remains however. The spine of the torso is a very, VERY sturdy build featuring plenty of SNOT techniques. The smaller mech attaches using a hinge attachment point. It even manages to look stylish from the side with dark blue and pearl gold stripes that curve around the side of the top in ingenious symmetry. The back features another hinge attachment point for Merlok’s platform, Monstrox’ platform or other mech powerups from the previous year.
Adding the Merlok platform/jetpack/weapon pack is very easy. It still sticks out, but is scaled better to the large mech. Merlok 2.0 actually looks like a banner like on the Black Knight Mech (70326). Adding Monstrox’ hologram platform requires that you mount it backwards, as the shield is in the way. Just let the legs clasp the Mech, turn around the cannons and you’re done! The hologram print is visible on the other side anyway due to the transparent background.

Here’s a secret not many reviewers have mentioned: there is the option to take either one of the holograms and place them inside the cockpit! Their (printed) faces don’t quite reach the visor though, and instead can peer from the gap between the visor and breastplate. But the visor can close with them in it!

The mech also features very short but sturdy legs. These feature 1x6 tiles on the bottom, surprisingly. The legs are in a permanent 90 degree angle at the knees. The upper parts of the legs are not as detailed as the sides, but the small mech's feet can cover them when present.

The arms consist of an upper arm/shoulder and lower arm part. The upper arm sections actually have one stud on top each, courtesy of dark azure brackets. Why this is, I don’t know. The sword is huge (unsurprisingly) and has brick built sides. It protrudes directly from the forearm and can rotate around (like a drill arm would). Clay’s pearl gold and trans neon orange sword can be mounted on it. Interestingly, the ‘underside’ that doesn’t hold the sword actually has studs. The sword is attached using anti-studs, but it’s so well done you don’t really notice! When I was too wild with the sword it fell off every now and then. But nothing major.The shield is actually a 6-barrel stud shooter directly extending from the forearm. It features two trans neon orange flaps that can me moved forward and backwards slightly. On either side it also has clips. Clay’s shield goes on the outer one.

Playability

I already hit on the connectability of the set’s various parts. You can have Merlok and Clay’s mech attach to the large mech. You can remove either of them and go on and scout ahead. You can combine them. You can add Merlok 2.0 to the inside of the mech. You can add Monstrox’ hologram platform to the large or the smaller mech. You can even place Monstrox’ hologram inside the large mech. Combined with the shootable tech infection spiders you can have many play scenarios with this set alone. You can have Monstrox possess the large mech and have Clay and Merlok go up against him with the smaller mech! This is how you add a small side-build villain to a set! The tech infection theme is actually embodied in this very design. The simple inclusion of that hinge on the bottom of Monstrox’ hologram platform makes it a vital part of the set! And apparently neither Lego nor some of the bigger reviewers I’ve seen realize this!
On a lesser note, you can remove the large mech’s sword and shield and place the smaller mech’s sword or shield. This can pave the way for dual sword wielding!

Integrating the small mech into the large mech isn’t too difficult. You have to fine-tune the legs and arms, but that doesn’t take too long. You can have the small feet cover the large mech’s upper legs. The small mech hands can be pointed toward the breast armour to blend in. Getting clay out is easy enough. You just have to open the helmet and then open two chest armour panels. Also, I managed to fit Clay’s original battle suit (70362) in it, so it also works with the other suits.

Besides the set’s outstanding modularity, the set is also a mech. No wait, two mechs. So is it poseable? For the small mech there are no surpises in this department if you are familiar with last year’s battlesuit sets. Just your standard waist, hip, foot, shoulder and wrist articulation. Standard for these small mechs anyway… The large mech is more limited. Its arms feature a forward rotating and sideways rotating motion. Meaning the large mech can splay its arms to the sides and still rotate them 360 degrees forward. But not sideways. Not even the elbow articulation can do anything about this, as this only goes forward (and backward, eww!). When the small mech is in place, its legs can impair posing slightly. But the short stature of the main mech’s legs wouldn’t allow much posing anyway. If it really bothers you, you can fold the small mech’s legs towards the back of the large mech instead.

Overall

So, how does this set stack up? I must say, as a mech this set is a true rarity and has rarely been done at all. Other sets have flirted with a mech-within-a-mech concept in the past. 7721 Combat Crawler X2 and 8106 Aero Booster are the only previous system ones that have a mech within a mech, but not like this set. If you consider constraction figures mechs, 8556 Boxor, 8557 Exo-Toa and 8621 Turaga Dume and Nivawk come closer to ‘a mech within a mech’. Out of these sets, only 8557 Exo-Toa functions as a supplementary exo-suit to another fully capable mech suit (not a booster or transport vehicle/creature). So, how does it stack up against this old set? They are actually quite similar. The only difference is that the Exo-Toa has no gap between the chest armour and (retractable) head and covers the figure more (the arms can stay inside the chest armour). However, Clay’s mech has a better foot/leg transition.

So for less nerdy people, how does it stack up against other brick-built mechs? It’s about the same size as the 70327 The King’s Mech. But it’s a lot bulkier. Even without the smaller mech inside it, it’s still very deep, wide and tall in the torso and shoulders (although it’ll be emptier). The sword arm sticks out like it should. It’s like a dwarf, really. Considering its size, the poseability is decent for today’s standards and it’s very, very sturdy. The colour scheme is a bit much due to the excessive gold and trans neon orange (shoulder pads, mostly). But for the most part it looks great for a Nexo Knights set.

But where the set really shines is the playability. I’m an adult so I won’t feel inclined to play with it for hours. But I tinkered with it for hours. It’s really modular! The components work really well together, and with other compatible sets. And the similarities between the Tech Wizards allows for plenty of play scenarios that make use of the components. The 'tech infection' works really well for this set, as you can use one mech on the side of good and the other on the side of evil by using the Monstrox hologram and tech infection spiders (bugs?). And it ‘out-hulkbusters’ the Hulk Buster sets in its look and suit-within a suit style!

Value for money

So, is it worth the money? Personally I still wouldn’t have paid 50 euro for it. But I kind of understand the pricing. The large mech is about 30 euro. The smaller one 10 euro. The two platforms about another 10 euro. But it just doesn’t feel like it’s worth it. That’s because you would expect a bundle package to be cheaper. And because it’s the sum of slightly higher prices than you’d want to pay. And because it’s really parts dense. Also, 70326 The Black Knight Mech was similarly priced and was about two heads taller (although lankier). I think 40 euro would have been just right. Of course, I implore you to consider for yourself what you want from the set before considering its worth. Do you want one large mech? A large and a small mech? Do you want the figures? Parts? A toy? Hopefully my review shed some light on these points to help you with your decision. Have a nice day!