REVIEW: 6230 Stormer XL

[ZORK64]

After my not so awesome video review of Stringer, I'm back today with a good ol' written review!

Stormer, the beloved leader of the Alpha Team (...that was the name of his team, right?) is on his mission to catch the evil Speeda Demon. To do so, he got the XL treatment, since the best way to catch a crazy devil on a motorcylce is by becoming a giant robot... or so it seems. Well, let's just start the review.

Set name: Stormer XL

Set Number: 6230

Price: 19.99 Euro

Pieces: 89

Year of release: Summer 2012

Size Class: Box

The Box

The front of the box (which got a nice yellow at the upper side) shows the great bulky Stormer, standing in a friggin' cool ice world, ready to shoot any bad guys down with his launcher.

Like many other people, I have to admit that I don't like Stormer's pose on this box. In early prelim pics, he was shot from a different angle, from which his triangle-shaped body looks far more impressive. It's not a bad pose he got there, but the other pose just looked so much better in my opinion.

The back of the box puts him in a nicer pose, showing the shooting launcher, the handcuffs which can attach to any bad guys wrists and that you can detach the winged drones on his shoulders. There are also nice pics of all sets of this wave on the very right of the box (including Stormer XL - Stormerception?).

Overall, I like the design of the box (which is actually the same size as Black Phantom's). The orange and yellow makes it again brighter than the packaging of the first 2012 wave, which makes me actually wonder if LEGO plans to give the winter sets always a darker packaging than the summer sets (the Ordeal of Fire sets also had quite dark boxes, but at least orange canisters, while pretty much all Savage Planet sets were lime green).

But enough about that, let's open it!

The instructions

The cover of the instruction booklet. I think the image comes off a bit better without all that other stuff on there (like that ad for that video game).

The instructions want to make sure that you don't mix the limb pieces up while building the legs. It also later shows you on which shells you have to apply which stickers, but more about the stickers later.

If you happen to own both Stormer and Speeda, you get the opportunity to build this crazy fellow. I don't know why, but the combination of white, silver, gold, purple and lime green actually works, if you ask me.

The parts

Stormer XL comes with (if I didn't make any mistakes while counting) 89 parts. He got a fair share of bones, white shells, a bit blue and also some silver. He also comes with a few new pieces, so you get quite a lot for your money here.

Oh, he also comes with 6 friction joint-things. Yay!

Oh yeah, he comes with stickers instead of printed shells. I'm on the fence about that. While stickers are not as good as actually printed shells, I personally prefer shells without printing on them, so the stickers actually work for me. And yes, that means that my Stormer won't get stickers, but I'll mention were he would get them during the review.

This new little piece is used to attach the outer shell on Stormer's lower legs. I actually didn't expect it to have a hole in the ball section too, but after building him, I noticed that hole is really important.

Let us all hope that TLG puts that piece into Pick-a-Brick, because I gonna need LOTS of these.

The new small connector was a pleasant surprise for me. Stormer uses it for his back section. While I don't have any awesome ideas to use that piece for MOCing yet, it's definitely a nice addition to the growing sortiment of new limb pieces.

The winged drone (which actually requires stickers) is arguably one of the coolest pieces you can attach to a shell so far (well, the only thing which rocks more are probably Stringer's speakers). Stormer got 5 of them in silver.

They look also very nice on regular sized torso armour shells. Just so you know.

The new huge feet looked initially kinda weird. Having them now in front of me, I must say they look pretty cool and are a nice alternative to the "feet" of the older titans. I do, however, wonder why Stormer's feet are silver, and not white.

Here we got Stormer's new HULKing chest armour. It's a very wide piece...

...with two sockets at its wide ends. In case you missed my incredibly lame pun above, it's the same piece which is also used by the Ultrabuild Hulk, but only in white.

Stormer got also yet another recolour of Breez's/Batman's sword, this time in silver with a blue blade. It looks sweet, goes nicely with his colours and he comes with two of them.

Building the hero

The build start with the main torso and adding some stuff to it's back.

Then, we continue with the legs, which get all the friction joints. Building Stormer's feet reminded me of the many Bionicle sets were you also had to connect the foot with one of those wonderfuly versatile ball sockets. Ah, good old days...

(Oh, and can you see that little black TECHNIC piece behind the ankle? It's there to make sure the socket stays in place)

After adding the thigh, the whole leg gets armour cladding (and normally stickers on the thigh and the front of the large shell).

Except for the stickers, you do the same for the right leg (only mirrored, of course) and add a clip for the handcuffs on the thigh.

Here you can see the skeleton of Stormer's back, which also uses the new connector piece. At this point, you can already get a slight feeling for what the final set will look like.

He gets some armour on his back and on his arms (the drones would also get stickers), and after that...

...you build his sword. I think the picture speaks for itself, it's not too complicated.

The launcher is even simpler, which is also why I didn't bother myself with making pictures of it. Put two red axles into fist, attach the lower part, attach the upper part, then attach the fist to his right arm, and the launcher is done. Nothing special here.

After the sword, he get's his head (which is on the small limb piece), helmet and the lower torso armour.

Then, he gets the large white torso armour (which would also get two stickers, as seen on the box), his Hero Core, the blue shells with the last two drones, and you got...

Stormer XL - Ready for his mission!

Forgotten is the awkward picture on the box once you got Stormer XL together. He is big, he is bulky, but he's still quite sleek and dynamic.

From the front, he looks very nice. I have only two minor complaints about his design here. First, his feet kinda stand out because they are silver, but it's not that bad. And second, his arms seem a bit short. I'd appreciate if his lower arms would have been a stud longer, but maybe it's just because of his very wide upper torso.

His back is nicely covered with a regular armour shell. The instructions tell you to attach a clip for the handcuffs there, but it's not mentioned again at the end of the instructions (or anywhere else, for that matter). Anyway, I think the cuffs are annoying at his thighs anyway, so I store them on his back.

Playability

In addition to his launcher and the handcuffs, Stormer XL is poseable. No, seriously, despite his size, he actually can do lots of poses, for example, stuff like...

...this. Try this with Fire Lord, Rocka XL or Black Phantom. I dare you.

Stormer XL benefits greatly from the friction joints in his legs, which are able to carry the weight of his body without any additional limb constructions, so he got an wider range of motion with his legs than previous titans. In fact, he got even more poseability in his legs than even the smaller sets, since he also rotates at the knee joint.

His arms are also quite stable, partly because of the design of his back, partly because they're so short, I suppose.

Here's a size comparison with Rocka XL, Black Phantom and the new Stringer set. Stormer is a bit shorter than Rocka and BP, but he beats them in terms of poseability by far. He also still manages to look really impressive next to the regular sized sets.

(I must admit, however, that I orginally liked the proportions of Rocka XL a tiny bit more - but now, it's more a draw between the two).

Final thoughts

Stormer XL marks a huge step forward in the design of the titan sets. While his arms do look kinda short, he's overall a fantastic set, and if you want a large hero to face off against the most evil villains your imagination can create, he's the right hero for the job. As long as you don't prefer lime and purple (read: Speeda Demon) over white and blue, Stormer XL is worth the money.

Edited June 29, 2012 by ZORK64

[turtleman2020]

Thanks for the review, I'll definetly buy him now. All the new pieces have some real mocing potential and now HF mocs can finally have armor on the back of their limbs . Do the bones in the torso shift?

[Saberwing40k]

I dunno about the proportions, but I like this set. He's big, yet poseable, and stable. However, the torso looks far to wide, and I really prefer Rocka XL's "regular proportions, but bigger" over this guy's "HULK OUT!!!" physique. Also, Rocka XL has a much better design, in my opinion. This dude just looks a bit to simple in comparsion.

But overall, it's a great set, and the review was excellent.

Edited June 25, 2012 by Saberwing40k

[Masta' Blasta']

Great set, but I'm hoping they don't try to replicate the design like they have Fire Lord's, I'd much prefer something new like this in every wave.

[vexorian]

This is why I like text reviews a lot more than video ones. Thank you.

[DOTM Shockwave]

Nice review, the only thing about Stormer XL I don't like are that his shoulders sit too low for my liking. I hope the mod idea I have can fix that issue.

[zero1312]

Nice review. I do have one complaint about him, that only one arm has three of these winged drones. The other arm has only two on them. I know Speeda Demon destroys one in the animation, but one drone missing in the actual set kinda stands out in a negative way.

Edited June 25, 2012 by zero1312

[vexorian]

I really dislike those black bones standing from his arm pits to waist. I know that it is for structural reasons, but still. I think that coming up with a mod that fixes the structural problem with better aesthetics is going to be a loong project.

[Vinyl Scratch]

I still can't really like this set, there's something about it that... I can't really like, but I can't describe WHAT.

Either way, this is a well-written review lad.

[Nightshroud99]

Wow Stormer really let himself go...

I don't like this set, he looks fat.

[CabooseBM]

Good review of a great set! I'm glad to see LEGO's attempt to branch away from the FL build was successful, if a little flawed. Can't wait to see him on shelves over here in the states!

I don't like this set, he looks fat.

I wonder if you've ever actually seen a fat person before. Fat people don't have V-shaped torsos.

[Aanchir]

Thanks for this review! I really like Stormer XL. His proportions are pretty great compared to the long-legged proportions of sets like Black Phantom, and his design is very creative in a number of ways. I agree with DOTM Shockwave that the shoulders sit a bit too low for my liking... if his shoulders were a bit higher, his arms could be made a bit longer without looking like they dangle unrealistically, which would also improve his proportions. Ideally, he'd be made somehow so that his shoulder joints could be lifted up and down, but that might require a more complex torso build.

Overall, though, this set demonstrates that TLG no longer has to depend on an extremely complex build to create a sturdy, poseable large-scale figure, and so I hope to see some real diversity of sets at this price range in the future. XT4's new torso beam could be used on the back of a large-scale figure to create more of a Y-shaped torso rather than this somewhat unusual triangle-shaped torso. Different armor possibilities could be explored. The possibilities of the new building system just continue to expand, and I am happy to see TLG taking advantage of that.

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Wow...I have to say seeing him in different poses has definitely raised my already high esteem of this figure. Wonderful review! This will most definitely be the first figure I get!

[ZORK64]

Thanks for all the nice words!

Now let me respond to a few things...

Do the bones in the torso shift?

Well' date=' you can move his shoulder joint forward and backwards, but it looks kinda weird since his shoulders hang so low. If his shoulders were higher, it would look quite natural (unless you bend the shoulder too far backwards...), so let's hope we see something similiar in a future titan.

This is why I like text reviews a lot more than video ones. Thank you.

I had actually also more fun while writing this review than I had while recording my video review for Stringer. Plus, I really like the edit button.

I really dislike those black bones standing from his arm pits to waist. I know that it is for structural reasons, but still. I think that coming up with a mod that fixes the structural problem with better aesthetics is going to be a loong project.

Actually I think if you take two smaller bones and form something like a upside down "L" with them, it should be still stable enough while looking better. If I happen to try this myself, I'll post pictures of my expirement here.

I agree with DOTM Shockwave that the shoulders sit a bit too low for my liking... if his shoulders were a bit higher' date=' his arms could be made a bit longer without looking like they dangle unrealistically, which would also improve his proportions. Ideally, he'd be made somehow so that his shoulder joints could be lifted up and down, but that might require a more complex torso build.[/quote']

That sounds interesting. Since I'm going to revamp Stormer anyway, I'll try to keep that in mind while doing so.

[Nightshroud99]

I wonder if you've ever actually seen a fat person before. Fat people don't have V-shaped torsos.

Funny.

[Cirkit]

I have to say this:

..you wouldn't want to see Stormer when he's angry.

I like Stormer, I really do- much better looking than the Hulk is, colors and all. I feel while the feet do look a little bit off for this big hero, they are very stable and will work great with MoCing big creations(or perhaps serve as armor plating for a future vehicle? That would be awesome), and some of the black limbs stand out a bit much in some areas.

That new piece to connect the lower leg armor looks very useful, as does that new double-cup piece in the 'armpits'. This guy's one to get I think. Just keep the coffee mugs away from him and we'll all be fine

If you didn't get the reference, that's o-kay!

[ZORK64]

I disassembled Stormer today for the sake of a revamp, but before that, I tried a little mod on the back:

The shoulder joint was still fairly stable, and it was also pushed a bit upward, which also looks way better. It does also increases the poseability of his shoulder joint. Sure, you can still see the lower bone from the front, but it's closer to his torso now.

[zero1312]

Now add an armor shell to the black bone to make it look complete.

That's what I would do, at least.

[ZORK64]

Well, the revamped Stormer I built uses a different (and simpler) build, so I didn't add any armour to it. But yeah, I thought the same.

[Lightning Dragon]

Seems cool I don't buy much Lego action figures.

[@l3x]

I've never bought multiples of a Lego set before, but I may buy two of these (for the parts of course). This is hands-down the best Hero Factory parts pack yet for my purposes, with all those friction joints, new double-sockets, and those neat 3m beams with the center ball. Helps that it doesn't look like a bad set on its own either

[DraikNova]

Yup, this is the first year I might buy duplicates of a set.

[Aethersprite]

I disassembled Stormer today for the sake of a revamp, but before that, I tried a little mod on the back:

The shoulder joint was still fairly stable, and it was also pushed a bit upward, which also looks way better. It does also increases the poseability of his shoulder joint. Sure, you can still see the lower bone from the front, but it's closer to his torso now.

How stable is that? Could I request a picture from the front? I'm limited on pieces, but if that simple mod makes him look a ton better then I might actually get this guy.

[ZORK64]

How stable is that? Could I request a picture from the front? I'm limited on pieces, but if that simple mod makes him look a ton better then I might actually get this guy.

Since I took Stormer XL apart (as previously stated, my revamp uses a different and simpler build) I can't provide you with any more pictures of the revamp. But I can assure it makes his body a bit sleeker (though I got the feeling that Stormer looks far better in real than he does on pictures anyway).

The connection itself is still very stable, if I remember it properly. However, it's theoretically possible to pull the shoulder support outward, which would of course look very silly (but given the angle, it wouldn't happen from itself). It's also possible to move the shoulder joint far backward if you want to.

Given that Stormer's build is in general cleaner than that of most other titans, he's also a bit easier to mod IMHO, so I'd suggest you give him a try.

[friedchikenfairy]

For some strange reason, Stormer looks more hulking than the Hulk! Seriously, even if I'm not an action figure person, I love how beefy he is Stormers definitely hulkier than Hulk