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Hello and welcome once again to a review of the 2014 Hero Factory sets. Today, we will be taking a look at something different, the combo models. Lego has indidcated that the instructions for these combo models will be available on the lego website soon, my guess is closest to the release date. Once again the release dates for these sets is January 1st for the majority of the world, and March 1st for the U.S. I'd also like to once again thank The Lego Company and the Eurobricks Staff for this opportunity to bring these reviews to you today. I was going to stick these at the end of each review, but to save redundancy, I figured I'd throw them all into one topic to share you with you. If you haven't already, check out the reviews of the individual sets: 44015: Evo Walker 44016 Jaw Beast vs. Stormer 44017: Stormer Freeze Machine 44018: Furno Jet Machine 44019: Rocka Stealth Machine 44020: Flyer Beast vs Breez 44021: Splitter Beast v. Furno and Evo 44022: Evo XL Machine The Combos are shown at the end of all of the instruction booklets; Combo 1: 44015: Evo Walker + 44018: Furno Jet Machine Front This combo model utilizes a two-pilot design. Some people speculated there might be a combo model that has a pilot for the mech and then a pilot for the weapons, similar to the Bridge Walker from Exo-Force. Unfortunately, this thing is extremely unstable. It takes a Hero Torso, flips it so that it's actually flat, and then you use the Waspix wing connector to form the hips. Here is a photo to demonstrate what I mean.This creates a massively bulky upper half, once you add on the turbines, the two cockpits with minifigures, and the extremely long arms. As a result, the legs completely give out half of the time. Action pose wise, his arms are also too heavy and commonly fall down. Back The back has exposed balljoints, though there isn't really much witht he leftover parts that could fix that up properly. Action Shot: That's about the best you can do. As long as the arms are, they have virtually no articulation due to the armor placement and he has a tendency to fall forward due to the weak legs. Combo 2: 44017: Stormer Freeze Machine + 44019: Rocka Stealth Machine Front On the other hand, this combination is far superior. It's bulky and looks more proportionate. He also stands up a lot better than the other combo, and still has a unique design. You actually take a hero torso and flip it, giving him very wide hips, which complement the bulk feet and ankles. I'm also glad they used the Stormer XL feet from Freeze machine here, they work very well. This does create one problem. You can't see it here, but in a moment you will. One other thing, they took the Spinning weapond from Freeze machine and added on the claw assembly you can see there. A nice and innovative weapon. Back No, he does not have invisible helps, those are in fact white panels that decided to rebel against my camera. Only thing really notable here is the containment pod on his back. Action Shot: Here you can see the one issue that results from the flipped torso: The shoulders. Or rather, a lack thereof. In order to bring his shoulders out far enough they had to use the shortest bone to extend them out. Once the arms go on, they drag the piece down, making his arms a bit long and awkward to pose. it's not as bad as the Evo Walker+ Jet Machine combo, but it can still be a bit finicky to deal with. overall though, this is the best of the 4 combo models and I recommend taking the time to build this one. Combo 3: 44016 Jaw Beast vs. Stormer + 44020: Flyer Beast vs Breez + 44021: Splitter Beast v. Furno and Evo Front Here we have the one combo model people were wanting, a "hydra" monster, one with multiple heads. It only uses 3 of the 4, the other one being used as part of the tail as you will see. Honestly, this beast is just a mess. The three headed design is cool, but the three heads take up a huge amount of room and look ridiculous on such a small body. (They also clank into eachother more than I would like) The arms are set behind some of those "fin" pieces. His torso is two torsos put together, so the fin issue also happens with his legs. What I mean is, you can't move his legs backward or his arms forward very well , or else you just split the thing into two piles of parts. Also it basically just uses Flyer beasts hands, which means one of them is a standard sized Hero Hand. I do really love the foot however, which combined the two foot sizes and places two of the trans neon orange claw pieces on. Back: The back ends up looking more cluttered than I had thought. The tail is very long and doesn't like t pose very well due to its weight and the large armor piece on it, and as you can see the lower jaw from Jaw beast becomes the end of the tail. You can see what I mean about the limited legs and arms here. Play Feature Like Flyer beast, you can attach a Hero onto it's back via the 2x2 brick with socket. Furno now wields the chain weapon, though the effect doesn't seem to work as well on this figure as furno just looks to be flying through the air. I guess he would be slung around, so props for realism? One thing I'd like to mention, breez is only attached by 2 of the studs on Flyer Beast. Furno uses all 4, and it's actually a bit difficult to get them all attached, as the foot joints are quite tight. Action Shot He poses...okay I guess. I think the main point of interest here is the 3 heads, because you can have them all doing their own things. I don't like the arms much (though at least the big claw finally gets a longer arm), though the tail is quite nice by utilizing all of the trans light blue joints in one chain. Overall an okay build that could be great with modifications, worth building and checking out. Combo 1: 44015: Evo Walker + 44018: Furno Jet Machine + 44017: Stormer Freeze Machine + 44019: Rocka Stealth Machine + 44022: Evo XL Machine When you see the title above, you think, "Wow! This is going to be a really huge and impressive mech!" And you know, I am thankful for the opportunity I've been given. But I have to keep my opinions true and sometimes that means being harsh on something; Because the following "combo" model is the biggest Joke I have ever seen. May I present to you, что ебать. This is official? Not let me first explain the concept here; As you know, Evo XL uses XT4 torsos as his shoulders. As a result, he has two extra ball joints on each side once the model is finished. These 4 extra balljoints connect one arm from each of the other 4 Hero sets. The instructions show you how to "build" the arms, but all you do is pull off the arm from each mech that has the printed piece on it. An example of how ridiculous this is, the furno arm can't even move the way they instruct for it to be connected. With Stormer's arm, you even put in the 1/2 gray pin into the turbine piece. On the Freeze Machine, this connects the ammo belt. On this set, it serves no purpose whatsoever. The only arm I do like is the Evo Walker arm, which creates a fairly nice shoulder mounted cannon. (And conversely, it has another Evo printed plate, so you could leave it on here if you'd like. I guess I should clarify my thoughts here before I seem completely opposed to this. I like the idea. The thought that each mech would contribute an arm to the XL to fight off the 3-headed combiner is a cool idea. I just wish this thing was built better. If you try to do anything dynamic with the legs, this happens; His waist cannot hold up the extra added weight. So there you have it, the 4 combo models for the first wave of sets. I enjoy the designs of the first two mechs, and while I like the concepts of the other two, I think the execution is lackluster. Please help The Lego Company out by sharing your thoughts on these combination models so that I may pass your comments onward. Thanks for reading!

Set name: Evo XL Machine Set number: 44022 Piece Count: 193 Year Released: 2014 Price: $24.99 USD, 24,99 EUR (?) Useful Links: Evo XL is a set that will either be loved or hated. He takes a new step with the current building system, moving toward a more technic inspired build. Let's take a closer look at the set to see how good it really is...or isn't. Before we begin I'd like to once again thank The Lego Company and the Eurobricks Staff who made it possible for me to bring these reviews you today. I'd also like to confirm that the release dates for these sets are January 1st for the majority of the world, and March 1st for the U.S. Packaging Bag Front The (very large) bag shows Evo XL running through the city, shooting the miniature red Kaiju at point black range, and firing some missiles from his shoulder. I won't deny this already seems like a bit of a stretch. Would it have been too much to ask to get a larger villain with this set? The top of the bag shows the more comic-styled art that we have been introduced to this wave, depicting Evo running away from the 4 legged beasts toward the rather towering XL "machine." (unlike previous years of the Heroes where they actually have an increased size, Evo just has a really big machine.) Bag Back The back shows off the action features of the set. The launcher, the spinning torso(more on that later) the flick-fire missiles, the containment pod, and the jumping kaiju. Most of this is shown by arrows, nothing too exciting to see just yet. Opening the bag is the fun part. A word about the contents; This bag is crammed full of parts. 4 bags of parts and two large lose pieces, the instructions, and a sticker sheet. Contents Instructions The front of the instructions offer no difference in appearance from the front of the bag. Random Instruction Image Black parts are outlined in white, which helps with the differentiation between black, pearl dark gray, and dark bluish gray. Due to the simplicity and low number of parts, this has never been an issue with Hero Factory sets, but if we have a 500-1000 piece set, this would be of more concern. Sticker Sheet As with all of the Mechs, Evo XL Machine comes with a sticker sheet. The three on the bottom are for the canopy, the two on top are for the containment pod. As with the other sets (Evo Walker excluded) I have no applied the stickers. I may possibly do this soon to show it off, however you can get a good idea of what they look like here. New parts I'll comment on the minifig parts in their own sections, for the sake of repetition. We have the same printed piece that was featured in the Walker (two in this set), the new canopy piece in a tinted shade, the new seat in green, the container piece in trans bright green, and the Stormer XL feet in pearl dark gray. This set is the only set to utilize the bars on the side of the set as you will see. Having stormers feet in a dark pearl gray is also a lovely change. The foot design is a nice fit for mechs and so far this piece has only been available with Stormer XL, so it's nice to have a new selection in the color range. Not shown is the paw piece in pearl dark gray and the 5-L shells in yellow, which are recolored for this set. Minifigures Front For a more in-depth look at Evo please see Evo Walker's review. We can see here that Evo is the exact same as he is in the other two sets, featuring the same accessories as his Splitter Beast form. Side The side view. Once more I'd like to mention that his articulation is full frontwards and backwards at the hips, shoulder, and a slight turn at the head, though his helmet restricts movement. Back All Evos A look at all 3 Evo minifigures. From left to right: Evo XL, Evo Walker, Splitter Beast. If you only want to keep one built and use the others for parts, you'll get some extra hero cores, datapads, and accessories, which is always a plus. Miniature Kaiju Once again for a detailed look at these guys please see my Evo Walker review. (for redundancy's sake) They are similar in size to the visorak minis of 2005, and can "jump" when you push down on their rears in just the same way. The colored portion is a softer plastic, and the black shell is hard plastic. XL Machine Build Photos So here we get to the part that sets this figure apart from previous XL's: The build. Gone is the oversized HF build and in with something new. A partly technic build. No I don't just mean the introduction of more pins and axles, we finally get a proper gear system once again. None of those play features of the Brain Attack sets, now we get to something that is a cool feature that doesn't hurt the set. This construct will build his lower hips and waist, and allow him to have waist articulation once the upper half is installed. Legs The legs are also a new build, taking on a mech-inspired appearance. (A "chicken leg" bend, thinner proportions, and a more static posing ability.) I must say, the posing is the one issue I have here. I know the ankle articulation was an annoyance to many people, but the entire leg is a mess. The hips can move outward and somewhat forward and back(until you knock the armor off after a certain point), but the knees are very limited, and overall there in't much you can do to pose them dynamically. Added on to Hips Added on to the hips. I really like the look of the build at this point. it's not everyone's cup of tea, but will the upper half complete this set properly? Shoulders and body Firstly, that dog-bone piece is in fact a new technic piece. Thanks to Jim for pointing that one out; I'll have it in the new parts section when I can, but you can get a good view of it here or by checking out his review of the Construction Crew set. We begin to build the upper torso. Using some technic beams, we set up the structure for two XT4 torsos to be placed on. You may be thinking, why does he need that many balljoints? He doesn't, but I'll get to that at the end of this review, as they serve another purpose. Building Further As we connect this to the torso, the shape continues. Arm The...hand arm. I'm not sure what the fascination is with putting this hand piece on an arm lik this manner is, but it's terrible. There is no wrist articulation. As you'll see, there is also limited shoulder articulation. For a menacing mech, having a T-rex arm is somewhat of a disappointment. Also I'm really not a fan of this finger design. One of the fingers is flipped to act as a thumb, and while it looks convincing on Splitter Beast, it looks a bit silly on here and the Freeze Machine. Gun Arm The other arm is...A very sturdy, triangular shaped build. Certainly something new, and it's not all bad, it can bend at the elbow and can move slightly at the wrist. Armored Once the arms are added on we can finish adding on some torso armor and the containment pod. Some various Constructs So here we have the final parts of the build, just some random bits. The cockpit, flick fire missile launcher and ammo belt, a radar-dish construct, and some little lightbar bits that will complement the cockpit. Finished Set So here it is, the largest set of this wave. Overall, it looks aesthetically pleasing. I know some people have complained about the width of the legs. It's no lie they are thin at one point, but it really isn't a major deal. I enjoy the very mechanical look they give him, and overall he looks very much so like a robot mech. Let's take a look at him from some various angles, and then we will uncover the issues I have with the set. Front Side The cockpit does stick out which I think complements the look of the mech, especially when added to the "chicken leg" aesthetic, however it looks almost too small in comparison to the rest of the mech. Perhaps that's all a matter of preference. Back Looks fairly good from the back, and features a nice black gear to activate the torso spinning gimmick. You can more clearly see those exposed extra balljoints that are used on the combo model. Action Shot 1 Well...yeah. There you go. Move his legs much more and he will fall over, and that's about as much as you can do with his arms. Action Shot 2 Being able to turn his body 360 degrees can result in some unique poses. Those are also some very ambitious little kaiju there. Action shot 3 Most posing ability comes from the torso joint. With Evo Walker Here you can see him alongside the smaller Walker, which according to the set bios is destroyed in the story, and then he takes over the XL machine. Overall, is Evo XL machine a masterpiece or a mess-chine? I like the originality and the technic inspired build. However I feel as though the set is run down to to his combination gimmick which creates those off arms, and some odd choices when it comes down to the legs. He looks and feels very mech like, and it's all up to you whether or not you like the aesthetic of the set. The only thing I really have to say is that I can't see myself paying $25 for the set. I don't see enough MOCist potential here myself to really fulfill that price tag, and as a set it feels like you are overpaying. It's a fun set to build, but I might wait for a sale before jumping at this one.

Set name: Stormers Freeze Machine Set number: 44017 Piece Count: 88 Year Released: 2014 Price: $14.99 USD, 14,99 EUR (?) Useful Links: In previous years, we have seen Stormer in amn different forms. The one form that seemed to strike a lot of people as the best was his XL form in Breakout. Now Stormer Pilots the large Freeze Machine. Despite my constant thoughts about this being some tool of mischief that Mr Freeze invented, let's take a look at the set. I have photographed most of this review on a black background, which is not the format I usually photograph in. Before I begin i'd like to once again thank The Lego Company and the Eurobricks Staff who made it possible for me to bring these reviews to you guys. I'd also like to pass on a comment from Lego in regards to the release dates for these sets; For a majority of the world, the sets will hit stores on January 1st, but will not see a U.S. release until March 1st. Packaging Bag Front The front of the bag shows the Freeze machine in a combat situation fighting off the smaller Kaiju. There is some lovely artwork on the top of the bag, though I must say I laughed at the mech's actions here. It looks as though it is about to punch and spike that poor miniature Kaiju into the ground with it's large hand. Bag Back The back shows off some of the features of the set. Most notably is the jumping feature of the miniature Kaiju, and the spinning ice weapon. This is something we saw quite a lot in the Brain Attack series, and it's interesting to see it make a return. Contents Instructions The front of the instructions shows the same image as on the front of the bag. Nothing too revolutionary here. Random Instruction Image Black is outlined in white to help differentiate it from pearl dark gray and dark bluish gray. I noticed some people were wondering about the construction of this weapon, so I have pictured it's construction here. It's a rather good use of that turbine piece. Sticker Sheet As with all of the Mechs, Stormer comes with a sticker sheet. The three on the bottom are for the canopy, the two on top are for the containment pod. As with the other sets (Evo Walker excluded) I have no applied the stickers. I may possibly do this soon to show it off, however you can get a good idea of what they look like here. New parts New as well as recolored parts are shown here. Anyone who knows me knows that I am an absolute addict for trans light blue pieces, and to have that containment pod in that color is a great moment. We also get another of the trans light blue canopies, pearl dark gray Stormer XL feet, the seat, and a recolored "paw" piece. The minifigures feature new pieces as well, but we shall focus on those in the pictures of the minifigs themselves. Minifigures The build of the minifigure uses a skeleton torso as the base, giving him full shoulder, him and head rotation. Front Stormer has a nice helmet, and is one of the only two heroes to feature a flat silver torso armor instead of pearl dark gray.He is also one of the two heroes to feature a datapad on his arm, the other being Evo. Side Back One thing I like about this new torso armor piece is the simplistic little jetpack detailing at the base of it. I'm not sure if that is the intent, but in my own imagination that is the purpose of that molded detail. Miniature Kaiju For a full observation of the miniature Kaiju, please take a look at my review of Evo Walker.They are simple little figures, with a soft colored plastic body and a hard plastic top half. They also feature the same "jumping" feature by pushing on their rear and letting go. Freeze Machine Build Photos The build is slightly less inspiring than the Jet Machine, but still a good effort. We start off with some basic constructs. Crotch Piece More armor is added to the legs and a paw piece is used as the crotch plate. At first I thought this would be a great choice, but when you have a minifigure piloting the Mech, the piece sticks out really far because the figures feet get in the way. Containment Pod Like the Stealth machine, Freeze Machine's containment pod has a hinge system to allow it to lower to the ground whereas Furno's is sideways and the XL machine's most likely kills them from the intense drop they have to endure as they fall out. Arm Here is a look at the arm construction for his left arm. Thankfully he has a proper wrist, unlike the XL machine. You also get a flick-fire missile launcher which can be removed and used as a weapon for the minifigures. Weapon Arm The other arm uses the turbine piece and the sword hilt to create a spinning weapon of sorts. This is also where we get to see that lovely printed piece. As you can see the ice weapon pieces are in fact the same as we saw on Stormer last year. Added on Arms added on. Front After it is all said and done, is the mech really all that great? Well, yes and no. Out of all of the mechs, I think this one is just about second to last on my list of favorites. He looks cool, his color scheme is certainly striking and the lower half is a great new aesthetic for a set. All of the gunmetal and the strange crotch design give it some personality. But at the same time, something just seems off about this guy. The arms...do suffer a bit. They don't have great articulation and the designs for them aren't the best (Here I go again ranting about that paw piece as a hand with those fingers) Side From this side I notice how awkward that hand looks. Just...very unnatural. You can also see the gap created by that crotch piece. (Not from the protrusion in front of the cockpit, I mean near where the minifigs legs are) Back He also suffers a bit from empty leg syndrome on the back. The mech looks fairly cool, but I think the main draw here is on that leg design. Using the stormer XL feet and the design for the crotch piece really adds some great character to this mech. Action Shot 1 Showing off the functionality of the containment pod. Now here are two photos of the mech; Normally I do not comment on my own reviewing itself, I must admit Stormer's review has been a mess from the start. It was the last review i got around to doing, and my natural lighting has producing many different shades of photos. Due to time constraints I have posted what I could do, however the two pictures below are what the entire review will be once I have an opportunity to amend them. Overall, Stormer Freeze machine is not my favorite set of the wave. His design is nice and the set itself isn't majorly flawed, but in comparison to the other figures of the wave, he just feels like he falls somewhat short. His overall design is a bit cluttered in some areas and very hollow in others, and is a difficult set overall to pose. For fans of Stormer this is a good pickup, but I think I would pass on this if you are only looking to get a few figures from the wave. With that said he is still a very unique design, possibly more unique than Stealth Machine, but I'll leave my opinions at that.

Sorry about that I do believe I forgot to add a photo to this review, the flames are cleared up via the instructions: I will amend that in shortly. He can flip them to become a weapon of sorts (and most likely to slow him down) And Shakar, All of the minifig helmets line up with minifig eyes.

Set name: Splitter Beast vs. Furno and Evo Set number: 44021 Piece Count: 108 Year Released: 2014 Price: $19.99 USD, 19,99 EUR (?) Useful Links: Splitter beast. The savior of Makuhero city, lighting our darkest hour with a streetlamp. Or something like that. Since we saw pictures of this pop up, he has been one of the main subjects of debate. How exactly does he split? What do the two forms look like? (Admittedly, people have spent more time dissecting Evo XL.) Let's uncover these mysteries and take a closer look at this massive beast. Before we begin, I'd like to once again thank The Lego Company and the Eurobricks Staff who made it possible for me to bring these reviews to you today. I'd also like to make a point about the release dates of these sets: For the majority of the world, the sets will be released on Janurary 1st, but they will not see a U.S. release until March 1st. Packaging Bag Front The very large bag shows Splitter Beast charging forward while the Heroes attempting to trip him with an orange chain. I hope they have stabilizers on their feet, because it's going to be difficult to trip something whose leg strength is most likely superior to the heroes-He would just send them sprawling. Bag Back The back of the bag sparks a bit more interest. When I first received these sets, it was right before any CGI pics came out, and this is the first real chance I had at seeing the two separate beasts. Not much else to talk about here, you can see a lot of different languages of warnings dominate half of the bag. What we really care about though, is the contents. Before I get to that, i'd like to take this moment to show off the art I keep mentioning on the bottom of the bags. This was the only set that i could actually get a successful picture of the bottom. Bag Bottom Here is a look at the art on the bottom of the bags I keep talking about. I could only get a good picture of the art on Splitter Beast. basically all it is, is the art from the top of the bag in a monochrome scheme. Contents Instructions Random Instruction Image Once again, black is outlined in white, which helps to show the difference between the darker colors. Part Inventory Something that really excites me about this set is that it has two of the printed piece (similarly Evo XL also comes with two of it's respective printed piece) Unless the set uses the printed piece in a centered position like Jaw Beast, I hate only having one in a set. Flyer beast is an example of this, with needless asymmetry. Having two of the printed piece here balances the set out and looks fantastic. Something else unique about this set, is that one of the heads is printed on the lower half of the new beast head, where the connection point for the neck is. This gives the beast a bigger lower jaw vs a larger upper jaw. And in this case, you can make a rather silly combo with the two beast head times. (Conversely, you also get a black variant of the upper head to complement the orange lower head. So combining that with one of the 3 black lower jaws from the other beasts means you can make a completely black head. The two new styles of feet can be combined into a larger foot. Perfect for making larger beasts who need some extra support. And for those of you looking to only get a few sets this year, this is a great pickup as you get both styles of feet. Here we have a look at the new minifigure components. The flame sword and chain are recolors, however they are fantastic to have in these colors and I very much look forward to getting more great recolors in the summer wave. Minifigures As we begin to build the minifigures, we once more see the build that consists of the skeleton torso being used as the base. There are connection points on the arms and back of the legs for clips. The torso armor piece is compatible with standard minifig torsos. It has a hole so you can place on a 1x1 stud tile with a printed hero core on it. The minifig heads are a solid color, however the helmets are compatible with printed minifig heads, with eye holes that line up perfectly. Front This is the only set so far that gives you two figures. I quite enjoy this variation of Furno, which offers a nice flame sword whilst the one from jet machine comes with a pistol and a fire extinguisher. Evo is the same as the XL version, with a pistol. Between this, the XL Machine, and the Walker, Evo is already a bit stale. I would have liked to have seen a new hero in place of him here. A bonus weapon is the trip chain. It's simple, but a strange build: The exo force claws are an odd choice of handle, and I think I prefer the black lightsaber handles that were used with Breez in the Flyer Beast set. Smaller Kaiju Build Photos The build of the smaller beast begins with an XT4 torso, and creates very simple legs. The smaller feet work quite well here. The construction of the arms is the same as Jaw beast, but use some interest colorization of medium azure and trans neon orange. The head is constructed, however in order to allow for the two heads to have some clearance on the Splitter form, you have to build this rather long neck, which looks odd on the small beast. Front Small is an understatement. This really is a small Kaiju. Still large in relation to the Herofigs, but his head is larger than his body, and I can imagine this guy dragging his head around because his neck would snap if he held his head up for long. (Since we are on a roll with Pacific Rim comparisons, this guy makes me think of the baby Kaiju. Kept flopping around and thunking his head,I imagine this guy moving in a similar fashion. He also has an oddly "Cute" facial print, with less terrifying eyes than the other beasts. Side From this view, you can see that his back half is a bit on the small side due to that torso piece. His legs are somewhat exposed, but if you used bones to extend his legs you might result with a second version of Jaw Beast. I like this guys strange proportions, they add to his personality. Back Not much to say here, other than it's not his best angle. You can also see how the head is connected, via an axle connected to a socket piece. Action Shot 1 I have no idea how else to pose this guy. It's just awkward to do, with his narrowly build hips and annoying tendancy to want to stay on all fours. Though I do think this guy should have been named jaw beast, his head is the primary focus here. Comparison I keep comparing him to jaw beast, so let's have a quick look at the two of them. Obviously he's not a copy. The only similar thing is the arms. However this gives them both a similar overall look. Larger Kaiju Build Photos With such a small Kaiju, you would hope the larger one will be more content worthy. The build begins with a standard torso, and the longest tail of the 3 main beasts. The legs add the larger feet and make use of the friction sockets. I have to say, these aren't the most useful thing right now. As time goes on and the joints get weaker, the added support might be useful. But what you have here is not a large figure with a lot of weight, it's just a lightweight tall figure with a figure on the back who can't weigh more than the wings on Flyer beast. I guess this is the same logic as used with the Super Hero sets we saw previously, and it does add some extra height. personally, I don't mind some extra friction joints for my collection, you can never go wrong with those. But as a design choice, they don't serve a major structural advantage. Possibly one of the coolest components of the build is the light post. The tower that Flyer Beast uses is cool, but the lamp post is a great design. With that said, it's a bit huge in comparison to the minifigures. Some armor is added to the legs and the arm is attached. The second arm is added and chest armor with the upper chest plate is installed. As I said before, the orange head is the only head to feature the print on the lower jaw piece. Out of all the head prints, this one is my favorite, the the very menacing design. Some spikes are added on to give it personality. This is the only head that takes advantage of the 2 holes on the lower jaw piece, the other 3 heads only use the horn on the upper piece. Front The finished set...Well, basically looks like Splitter beast minus a head. The design isn't anything revolutionary, though the hands add some character to his look, and the color scheme is a striking combination of medium azure, black, and trans neon orange. The head is out of place, being the only orange part in the set, and I would have been interested in seeing it in a trans neon orange. Though this would have caused some strange contrast to the other beast head; Regardless, I still like the overall look here. Side Not much to say here, though this set manages to make use of that long neck; Due to the design of the flipped head, it creates a very "ogre" look or something like that, giving him a natural flowing look. Back Here you can see that the connection point for the two. If you took any of the Kaiju and modded their torsos slightly, you could really make any of them combine with this guy (Except Jaw Beast would need a neck extension) Action Shot 1 He does look quite menacing, and as a stand alone figure is more of a threat than the smaller, rather cute looking counterpart. Action Shot 2 The length of the tail gives you the ability to pull off this pose, which has the added character of the claws and open jaw. Here is also where the big feet and friction hips come in handy, he can pull off some body tilts and balances that would make some other figures fall over. I really love the personality these beasts have, and have been able to pull off some really great stuff with them so far. Splitter Beast Front Once you plop the smaller guy onto the back, you are left with this. It's basically just the bigger kaiju with a second head, and spikey protrusions coming out of his back. The clawed feet on the sides of his torso add some needed bulk-And actually gave me a moment of nostalgia as I though about Irnakk. That's a rather obscure thought, isn't it? Side As I said before, you really could swap the back beast out for another beast. The great thing about the medium azure is that all of the figures have it, so no matter what you put on the back of this guy, that color remains constant. Something about these two just seems to flow. I can imagine these beasts getting into fights with their fellow beasts, but they are perfectly happy to join together when the time is right, and have a special mutual bond. Well, it's my universe and I'll interpret the story in my own way. I just like the character it gives them. Again personality is showing through with these sets. Back The best part about this form is that it armors the back quite well, and I do like the way the arms are folded out to act as little "wing" decor. Action Shot When the big one falls, the little one gets ready to split off and attack. It's a rather cool concept, but I'll be redesigning the smaller one to have wings. I always though at first that was what he would have, but I was mistaken as to his design. Action Shot 2 From this angle, Splitter Beast does look quite large and terrifying. Overall, Splitter beast is a nice set, but not at all what I was expecting. I like the concept of it, however I do not think that the smaller beast is really enough on it's own to warrant the splitting function. The larger kaiju looks hardly different with or without the smaller beast, it's all a matter of that second head really. For $20 I'm not I'd recommend this to everyone, only those who are a big fan of the theme, design, or parts. I do enjoy the larger kaiju, but if I had to buy this set, I think I would wait for it to go on sale before jumping at the chance. The beasts are nothing revolutionary and really the main draw here is the concept of the set itself, not entirely the overall look. Hoever, you do get two minifigures in addition, and to some that may be a great draw point to the figure.

You have to wait for them to become moderated. Brickshelf and majhost both moderate uploaded files, whereas a site like flickr doesn't have many limitations and has the "filter" settings and you can set photos to being a mature audience sort of thing. You can however deeplink your pictures. If you are in the file where your picture is, click on the picture, then click it again. You should be on a screen where it is just the picture, with a white background behind it. Copy the link of the picture from there and post it here using tags to show the picture off.

Set name: Flyer beast vs Breez Set number: 44020 Piece Count: 91 Year Released: 2014 Price: $14.99 USD, 14,99 EUR (?) Useful Links: Sometimes I think beasts are mistaken. This isn't an evil monster rising from the ground to harm civilization, it's Breez's loyal stallion, that she enjoys riding into the sunset. The weapon he holds is a radio antennae that had been broadcasting the musical works of Miley Cyrus, which has now been silenced. We have to learn to understand these beasts, and how they can be true Heroes themselves. On an alternate viewpoint, he is a horrible abomination who is waiting for the chance to crush Breez in his jaws as he ravages Makuhero city, bringing an end to civilization as we know it. Either way sounds equally as fun to me. Before we begin I'd like to once more thank The Lego Company and the Eurobricks staff who made it possible for me to bring these reviews to you today. I'd also like to once more stress that the release date for these sets is January 1st for the majority of the world, and March 1st for the U.S. Packaging Bag Front The bag is the usual bag we have come to expect with modern day Hero Factory sets. As with all of my reviews today, the packaging is the European variant, hence the lack of set information on the bottom left corner. Flyer beast is shown flying about, though i have no idea how his skeletal wings possibly propel him. I've come to a different conclusion; Breez is actually helping him out, using her immense leg strength and thrusters to pull him up. Look at how happy he looks! D'aw. Bag Back Back shows features of the set, mainly the opening jaw, claw, ability to attach breez, and shows a 1:1 scale of the minifigure. Contents Instructions The instructions just show off the exact same image as we just saw. Random Instruction Image The colorization is easy to distinguish, as with the other sets. Black is outlined in white, to set it apart from dark gray. Also pictured above shows the construction of the grabbing claw. Note the fact it has no lower arm, the claw makes up the majority of the arm. This is not a good thing. New parts The larger feet are quite nice, offering 3 clip points and various connection spots at the heel. Here we have a look at the parts included. The lovely trans orange chain, a black 2x2 brick with socket, the printed component, the "fin," and though it's not new i decided to throw the azure bone into here. I haven't specifically shown this in any my my reviews, but these azure bones are in all of the kaiju sets. For those who want a lot of these, you'll end up picking up a bunch if you get all of these; Though like many others, I need azure armor before I can really enjoy it. Head The head is constructed with two pieces: A lower jaw, and an upper jaw. The lower jaw has two pin connection ports and an axle connection point. The top only has one pin connection point on the "nose" The jaw is connected by a simply hinge system that gives him a ratcheting jaw that can "click" into two different open widths. I also wanted to show off both sides of the head, as you can see one side is printed to show a "scar" on his eye. Minifigures The minifigure's build starts with a skeleton torso, which gives her hip, shoulder, and head articulation. Breez is the other minifigure besides Stormer to include the new torso armor in silver. Front And here we have Breez! I...Really like the overall look of this fig...this...uh..what the megablocks happened to her head? I was never a fan of her Brain Attack head, but if this is supposed to be referencing her standard helmet, they really missed the ball here. It's oddly short at the chin, and due to the round shape of the minifig head, it's completely lost it's angular shaping. The microphone is also a bit strange, and I would rather have not had that added on. While it adds more visual detail to the mouthpiece, it just doesn't look good to me. I'm sure some people will love this, and I understand that the minifig head shape is what caused this, but in comparison to the other helmets it is a bit unfortunate. Side From the side view, we can see a couple things. Firstly, you can once again see that her helmet has almost no angular visuals, and has been dumbed down to an extremely rounded shaping. Secondly, you can see that a gap is created by the new torso armor, however this means it is compatible with standard minifig torsos. The last, and most exciting feature is the thrusters. While Stormer and Evo make use of the wrist clips for the Datapads, Breeze uses the leg clips for the constructs you see above. While many may not like the look of the thrusters, I like that they were included and add personality to the minifigure itself. Back From a back view, you can see the peg that connects her to...Oh, that's right, she dosn't have a mech. Lego, you know you could have given us a Breez set instead of, oh I don't know, two Evo sets, right? Accessories Breez gets a weapon crafted with the orange chain. Unlike the one used in the Splitter beast set by Furno and Evo, this one is used by only her, and uses black lightsaber hilts instead of exo force robot hands. I must say, this one looks a lot better-Oh, and you get an extra black hilt, so you get 3 in total. Not sure how exciting this is for people, but before this set I only had one from the Indiana Jones set. As the owner of a pitch black sigfig who needs black weapons and accessories to complement him, this is a welcome addition to my arsenal. Flyer Beast Build Photos As we begin to build Flyer beast, something interesting is added on; The 2x2 brick with socket onto his back. What is the purpose of this? perhaps we will find out soon. Let's keep going Full Structure. It's not exactly the most inspiring bone structure, and I will tell you right now that the left arm is the absolute worst part of this set. We will take a closer look at that in a minute as well. Weapon An interesting component of the build is the tower of sorts. It's not exactly complicated, but interesting to see being used. Front When complete, flyer beast strikes you immediately with his bright combination of yellow and azure. I actually quite like the colors here, and the black helps to offset the brightness overall. Design wise, there's a few problems. Firstly, he has a normal hand holding onto the tower. A massive beast with clawed feet and a very nasty looking left hand, yet he has a standard hand on the other? I understand they needed to attach that antennae somehow, but come on. Speaking of that massive grabbing hand, the design is okay, but the lack of a lower arm ruins any dynamic posing ability it carries, and makes it look extremely goofy in most poses. The tail is nice, and the wings, while I think "skeletal" is just a way for Lego to give an excuse for these horribly unconvincing wings, actually don't look too bad. I do not want this trend of bony wings to continue however. Side Nothing exciting here, though you can see that the claw arm looks proportional, until you start to move it. I would rather have seen a disproportionate, massive, mutated arm of sorts. Back You'll notice once again that 2x2 brick with socket. The more observant of you likely know where this is going. Something else I'd like to point out here, the yellow bar on his right hand. Is that supposed to be a handle? On a tower? Would have made more sense being black, but alright. Connection Method Now let's have a closer look at that brick. At first I thought they would use this as a means of attaching the tower onto his back so he can fly into space and become a satellite, but I suppose I'm wrong.. From the Back Aha! Breez can stand upon this, allowing her to look as though she is actually flying with her thrusters. After some awkward positioning, you can acheive to put her in the pose on the front of the packaging. Front View With the chain in Flyer Beast's mouth. It's a nice way to display Breez anyway, since she lacks a mech. (hough I don't think Flyer here is too happy about it. Also notice that one of his eyes is printed to look like a scar. ) Complete Set Overall, Flyer Beast vs. Breez is a nice set to grab. Out of the 4 monsters (I could splitter as two), Flyer Beast is my second favorite to Jaw beast, and is somewhat tied with the larger of the two splitter beasts. The main downfalls of the set lie in that lack of a lower arm, and strange hero hand on the right arm. His color scheme looks nice and the wings end up being fairly convincing. Breez is a great minifigure, and I really like how they gave her the thrusters and a means of actually attacking Flyer Beast. Overall worth grabbing, though I do think the standard cost of these sets is getting a bit too high.

Set name: Rocka Stealth Machine Set number: 44019 Piece Count: 89 Year Released: 2014 Price: $14.99 USD, 14,99 EUR (?) Useful Links: Rocka. After the summer wave of Brain Attack was released, some people wished they would never hear that name again. The Hero in shining armor stole the spot for the first Xl hero, the first hero with a vehicle, and was the last new hero we were introduced to. This year, Rocka takes a step back and allows Evo to dominate the place for most appearances thus far. So how does Rocka fair this time around? I enjoyed Rocka in 3.0, but other than that I haven't been a huge fan of his sets. This time around however, I think he is quite a nice set. Before we begin I'd like to once again thank The Lego Company and the Eurobricks Staff who made it possible for me to bring these reviews to you today. I'd also like to stress the point that the release date for these sets is Janurary 1st for ROW (rest of world) and March 1st for the U.S. Packaging Bag Front Rocka's bag art is quite brutal, showing the Stealth Machine grabbing onto the miniature Kaiju and firing at point black range. Looks like the Heroes aren't screwing around this time. I also really love the art at the top of the bag for this one, showing a view from almost inside the Stealth machines cockpit with the claw ready to grab the oncoming crawlers. Bag Back As always the back of the bag shows the features of the set, including the miniature kaiju's jumping feature, the containment pod, opening cockpit, moveable claws, and launching sphere. I'm still confused why the entire cockpit popping into the mech is shown as a "feature." Unless it was really difficult to show off the opening canopy feature when it was connected to the mech? No idea. Contents Instructions Once more we get to see Rocka attacking the spider, and Freeze machine tanking through an explosion in the background. Random Instruction Image I've never had an issue when it comes to differentiating parts in an HF set due to their low parts count, however it is nice to see the effort put into show the colorization of dark bluish gray vs pearl dark gray, and black is set apart by a white outline. Sticker sheet Here we have the sheet of stickers included with the set, which decal the canopy and the containment pod. For personal purposes I have not chosen to apply them to the set, however you can get a general idea for the purpose of them. New Parts New/recolored/interesting bits start off with a trans bright green claw, the unique printed piece, and the seat in lime green. The canopy in dark trans clear and the containment pod halves in trans bright green. Would have liked to have had a trans bright green included instead . Minifigures Build The minifigures begin with a refreshing new design from their previous year's counterparts, utilizing the minifig skeleton torso, thus giving them head, arm, and leg articulation. As many have said, they lack wrist articulation, as their arm piece is static. We add on the torso armor, which is compatible with a standard Lego minifig torso. The head is also a solid color; If it were tansparent like a lot of people wanted, it would be difficult to see the color because there are no slots for light to pass through to illuminate it. Front Rocka seems to draw some inspiration from his Brain Attack form, which unfortunately means he once again loses that telescopic eye that his Breakout form had. I wasn't sure of it's intent, but I did enjoy that design more. Side You'll notice the one problem with using this torso, which is the gap created by the torso armor. Also of note here is clip attachment points on the legs and wrists. Back A peg is here to attach his back to the mechs. Accessories Accessory wise, Rocka includes a hammer, wrench, and a pistol. Nothing revolutionary to see here. Miniature Kaiju And here we have the miniature kaiju/spider/visorak whatever thing. I like that they threw these guys into the mix, and it's a cool homage to 2005. They are pretty basic, no articulation or anything. The colored piece is a soft rubber, whereas the black shell on top is hard plastic. This gives them a nice color scheme, however the pieces by themselves are quite strange bits. I look forward to seeing how these are incorporated into MOCs. Stealth Machine Build Photos When compared to the Jet Machine, Stealth Machine takes a step backward creativity wise for his torso. The only point of interest here is the way his shoulders are attached, which gives MOCists a great source of the shortest bone. We add on more armor, and-Wait, isn't this a mech for Rocka? Where is his bling-bling armor? I suppose "stealth" translates to black armor, but in a gray city and fighting enemies who "rose from below" (dark places) I don't think this will be very effective. And as usual, the good start is completely ruined by unnecessary asymmetrical armor placement is random colors. Left arm looks good, but the random gold plate on the right is an eyesore, and I don't understand why Lego has kept up this compulsion to print pieces in colors that do not complement the set. it's the only silver part in the entire set, and would look far superior molded in black, or at least pearl dark gray. With that said, the gold appearing from the shoulder panels is pretty nice looking and effectively gives a hint of his true color but not going overboard. Here's an interesting bit I wasn't expecting, to create the...lasers on the side of the mech. If you dislike the look of these bars on the mech itself, then scraping this is sure to bring some useful pieces. We add on the small construct and the containment pod. The trans bright green once again defeats the purpose of "stealth" if that is what they were going for here, but I've come to accept it as being Rocka's thing. Evo on the other hand, not so much. Finished Mech When it's finished, it actually looks quite nice. It brings about the "heavy" mech sort of feel, which I find a bit unfitting for Rocka as I have always associated him with being a thinner built character. Front Like Furno, an armor shell is placed to give Rocka a spot to stick his feet. it works quite well, and helps to give a sense of completion to the main body. The gold panel on his arm looks somewhat less out of place when Rocka is sitting behind the controls, but I still find it a bit silly. Side As with all of the mechs, the containment pod just sticks out and looks somewhat odd. From the pictures I saw, Rocka seemed to look the best with this container, but in real life it's just annoying. I do like the part itself and plan on using it for MOCs, but as a feature of the set I'm not impressed. Back If there is anything positive to say about the pod, it's that it looks good from the back. Also the armor plate put on the help cover the back is much appreciated. Capture Pod The capture pod indeed "locks" when you close it, but it's not a hassel to open back up. Strangely you have to store the spiders sideways in here, and can't really fit more than 2. Action Shot 1 He does pose quite well when balance is concerned. The shoulder pads can be somewhat fiddly to rearrange every time you move the arms. Action Shot 2 Now here is the issue I have with these mechs. When it comes to posing, you are severely limited on what you can do, because the cockpit will always be facing one way. Turning the minifigures heads, when possible, is hard to notice and doesn't give the same effect as turning a larger set's head does. A dynamic pose like this looks goofy, as Rocka is just staring straight ahead into the horizon. Complete Set Overall, Rocka and Stealth Machine is probably my second favorite mech, just following Furno's jet machine. It has a nice looking design and is not hindered by any awkward connections. I like the color scheme, though I wish we could have omitted the gold completely, or at least have excluded it from the arm, instead replacing it with a layering on the legs(similar to the shoulder pads.). It's weapons are also nice, though the only reason I really have to put this behind Jet machine as my favorite mech is due to the torso. it's effective and gets the job done, but doesn't go to extremely unique lengths like Jet Machine does. A good pick up if you want to get the best of the Mechs this wave, and if you are only getting a few sets I'd make sure this one is in your list to get.

Set name: Furno Jet Machine Set number: 44018 Piece Count: 79 Year Released: 2014 Price: $14.99 USD, 14,99 EUR (?) Useful Links: Jet machine is an interesting set. At first, people had compared him to the Breakout version of furno, primarily due to the turbines on his back. As we have come to realize this is not the case; Furno jet Machine has an extremely inspiring torso build, and has actually become my favorite of the mechs for this wave. Before we begin I'd like to once again thank The Lego Company and the Eurobricks Staff who made it possible for me to bring these reviews to you today. I'd also like to stress that the release dates for these sets is January 1st for the majority of the world, and March 1st for the U.S. Packaging Bag Front Furno here is shown in a standard flying pose, attacking a miniature kaiju/crawler/spider/visorak/thing who is somehow elevated to a high altitude. One could say this is a result of the "jumping" feature, though in real life that motion is...not so graceful. Please note that this, like all of my other set reviews today, is the European packaging, and as a result there is substantially less facts on the bag in terms of price, age range, etc. Bag Back The back of the bag mainly just shows off the two basic features of the set, being the jumping kaiju and the containment pod. It also makes mention that the turbines can turn. That's an action feature now? If it gets to the point where bending knees is an action feature then I believe the term Action Figure may be being taken too literally. Contents Instructions Oh hooray, the exact same image as on the bag! All things aside there isn't much to say here, though I really do like the pictures this time around, with the lovely city in the background. Random Instruction Image Okay this actually wasn't very random, as I wanted to show just how they demonstrate these connections for the figure. At first I didn't see that you had to add a second set of joints on (note the part inventories for each step: I though the second step was just how to fold it) So after a minute or two of mass confusion I slapped myself and realized what I was missing. Oh boy. VBBN needs some sleep Sticker Sheet Here we have the sheet of stickers included with the set, which decal the canopy and the containment pod. For personal purposes I have not chosen to apply them to the set, however you can get a general idea for the purpose of them. New parts Containment pod in a trans neon orange, orange sea, the printed piece, and the new canopy in a tinted clear. Also the minifigure components, which we shall get to individually. Minifigures Build I was really excited for this figure; Furno. Sure, he used to be a bit of a poster character that people got tired of seeing, but at this point I'd also like to knock Rocka or Evo out of the game in lieu of new characters. Ignoring his useless XL form we had last year, he has usually had some pretty cool incarnations. Despite popular opinion I really liked his 3.0 form, and his Breakout form was one of the best. Now we have him as a minifig. As you can see, the build begins with a black skeleton torso and the limbs, giving them a hinge at the hips and shoulders. Moving forward, we see the minifigure head, which is neither translucent nor printed, added on. A word about the armor; It is compatible with regular minifig torsos, and the helmet is as well. (The eye holes on all of the helmets line up with minifigure head prints) Front Furno might actually take the cake as my top minifig of the first wave. Something about his helmet just seems really cool, and this form of Furno shows off that more matured look I have been hoping to see in his characterization. Now he does have sort of a sad face going on there, but it's not so noticeable in hand. Side From a side view, you can see the one issue with these builds: That skeleton torso. Because the armor is compatible with standard minifig torsos, it creates a huge gap when used with the skelly torso. You can also see the bars on his wrists and back of his legs for clips to attach on to. Back Accessories One thing I enjoy about this Furno is that his accessories in this set are different than the ones with his Splitter Beast variant, so he has a nice selection to choose from. In this set, he is given the standard space pistol that Rocka, Stormer, and Evo have, as well as a fire extinguisher. That's a rather odd choice of accessory, as it implies that Furno's mech catches fire quite often. Or perhaps it is to put out the burning corpses he leaves behind? Maybe he just really like covering himself in fire extinguisher foam, who knows. Miniature Kaiju And here we have the miniature kaiju/spider/visorak whatever thing. I like that they threw these guys into the mix, and it's a cool homage to 2005. They are pretty basic, no articulation or anything. The colored piece is a soft rubber, whereas the black shell on top is hard plastic. This gives them a nice color scheme, however the pieces by themselves are quite strange bits. I look forward to seeing how these are incorporated into MOCs. Jet Machine Build Photos We start the build off with some simple connections. The 3x3 cross beam is really common place in these sets, usually used as a means of giving extra ports onto the skeleton to attach the containment pod. And here we have more limbs added on. All jokes about the set aside, this is a really great design. It's sturdy, innovative, and creates a shape like nothing we have seen in Hero Factory before. This shot is just to show how it is built. The following photo.... Shows the parts bent into shape. I have to say, after building this mech, Stormer and Rocka's mechs felt like letdowns, as they do not have the same innovation as shown here. (Evo walker by comparison is a new and fresh build, and Evo XL...well he gets points for originality) That creativity is immediately shot down once we reach the legs. Nothing new to see here, move on. As we add on some more armor, including the shoulder constructs, a crotch piece, and the containment pod, things begin to take shape. Exo force hands are used to hold on the weapons to the thighs, which doesn't look too bad (at least we have storage for them) Though if you really wanted to you could also store them in the containment pod. It is like a backpack after all. Now we add in the cockpit which begins to shape up the from of the Mech. Something I'd like to mention, is the armor that gets added to the sides. Due to the construction of this torso, they are angled and on balljoints, and create a very nice shape to the main body. While evo uses a similar aesthetic method, the armor pieces are flat and static on that set, which results in a less than stellar result in comparison to this. Finished Here we have the completed mech. I have to say, out of all 4 mechs (Walker excluded) this one has to be my favorite. It has the most original design, a decent overall look, a more unified color scheme than some of the previous incarnations of furno, and let's be thankful he didn't stick a cape on his mech. At first glance, I hated these arms, In hand however they really aren't too bad, thanks to the blades which offer some nice pose-ability I'm also intrigued by the placement of his shoulders, as due to the construction of the torso, the balljoints are pointed backward. In the instructions, you actually are given a back view of the set while being instructed as to how to place the arms on. . Front So, does the set pose well? Absolutely. The legs are a standard design, and without a head to give a sense of direction, posing these mechs is a challenge. However Furno looks good standing tall and proud-really good Side The gaps on the cockpit are least noticeable on this set thanks to the armor and shaping. Capture Pod The pod is sideways, which is actually the only one that points in the direction for the jumper to properly "fall" out. Action Shot 1 His posing is unique, but also something I love. Action Shot 2 Complete Set Overall, Furno Jet Machine is one of the best mechs of this wave. His torso design is new, creative, and results in a fantastic look. The legs are not entirely exciting, but they are effective. At first I didn't like the arms, but they have grown on me. This is a mech afterall, it doesn't have to follow humanoid proportions; They aren't outrageously short or anything. Furno himself is also a nice minifigure, and overall this set is one of the Mechs that you should make sure to grab out of this wave.

Reviews of all 8 sets will be released over the course of the day. I have some finishing touches I need to add to them however due to statistical report reasons I'll need to make sure they are all out by the end of the day. As always any questions or picture requests, do ask away.

Set name: Jaw Beast vs. Stormer Set number: 44016 Piece Count: Year Released: 2014 Price: $9.99 USD, 9,99 EUR (?) Useful Links: Jaw Beast vs Stormer. Up to this point, Jaw Beast has been one of the most underrated sets, the main attraction to purchasing him has remained to be the trans light blue bones. There was a bit of speculation if they were actually transparent or not, but thankfully they are indeed. What of the rest of the set? Is it worth picking up for more than just the pieces? Before we begin I'd like to once again thank The Lego Company and the Eurobricks Staff who made it possible for me to bring these reviews you today. I'd also like to confirm that the release dates for these sets are January 1st for the majority of the world, and March 1st for the U.S. Packaging Bag Front As expected, Jaw Beast is contained in the resealable package. He is seemingly being launched into the air, with a large building collapsing behind him. As TTV joked, Stormer looks as though he is helping Jaw beast out by picking his teeth. Bag Back As usual, the back shows off the features...Well, feature of the set. His opening jaw is the only thing to really describe as an action feature here, so you just get a nice look at the set, free of the arrows everywhere. Contents Instructions Once again we see this image, though a bit cut off at the legs. Random Instruction Image Black is outlined with white to help distinguish it from dark gray and pearl dark gray. Nothing too complicated in the instructions, everything is laid out well and easy to follow. New parts Here we have the smaller feet for the beasts. I must say at first I didn't like these as they are quite small and Jaw Beast sometimes loses his balance. However when you combine them with the larger beast feet (as shown in my Splitter Beast review), the end result is really nice looking. The new fin pieces. It is a nice new piece that should offer some good MOC potential, and I'd like to see it in some other colors. His printed piece. Thankfully this is used on his torso, so having only one doesn't create an annoying asymmetrical look. The piece a lot of people are likely to get this set for, the trans light blue bones. So far I have had no issues with them breaking or not being strong enough. Also new is his head, which you will see in detail in the following completed set pictures. Minifigures Build The build begins with a skeleton torso and the limbs, which gives the figures hip, shoulder, and neck swivels. There are clips for accessories on the wrists and back of the ankles. Front This variant of Stormer includes a datapad and a pearl dark gray spear. I do like the minifig version of Stormer, I think he has one of the best helmets out of the figures. Stormer also has the torso armor in silver, along with Breez. Side Here you can see the peg on his back, which allows the minifigures to plug into the cockpits of the mechs. Back The torso armor detailing is kept throughout, and you can see that there are clips on the back of his legs to attach accessories onto. Jaw Beast Build Photos His build is nothing complicated, and you can see that the trans light blue bones are going to shorten his limbs considerably. We add on more armor as well as some purple spikes. The set uses 6 and gives you one extra; This is in fact a recolored piece, though I don't think it necessarily requires a separate picture. Front When the set is complete, it actually doesn't look too bad. The color scheme works very well-Normally I don't like azure, but teal, purple, and black is my favorite color scheme, so to see it used here is quite lovely. The trans limbs are cool, but because they are so small they really don't add too much to the figure. Side It's a fairly solid build all the way around, with the armor around the torso doing an adequate job bulking him up. The neck connection is rather sore here, you can see that due to the azure used to connect the head sticks out and doesn't blend too well. Back From the back you can see he uses a black hero hero torso armor, and you can also see the second shortest bone in dark bluish gray on his tail. Action Shot 1 It's not the easiest thing to do, but you can get the pick into his mouth like on the box art. To do this you actually have to pop his top jaw off, and push the base of the spear into one of the connection points on the bottom jaw(you can see it showing at the bottom here) Action Shot 2 Many people have said that jaw beast is meant to stay on all fours, so here is how that looks. I think this looks just as good as being bipedal, whereas the smaller beast from Splitter beast needs to be on all fours. Complete Set Overall, Jaw Beast isn't a bad set to pick up. Out of all the beasts, I think he is the best in terms of color scheme, and introduces some nice parts. The build is nothing challenging, but it results in a figure that is not too clunky or awkward, and is proportioned well. Stormer is one of the better minifigs of the line, and in terms of parts many people will want this. Purple, azure, trans light blue bones, a fair selection of useful bits. That said, the set is a bit pricey for $10 if you want it only as a parts pack.

Set name: Evo Walker Set number: 44015 Piece Count: 51 Year Released: 2014 Price: $9.99 USD, 9,99 EUR (?) Useful Links: Hello everyone and welcome to my review of the set Evo Walker, one of the two smallest sets of the Invasion From Below line. Before I begin I'd like to give my thanks to the Lego Company and the Eurobricks staff who made it possible for me to bring these reviews to you. One thing that Lego has asked me to relay to you all is a note about the release dates for these sets. For those hoping to pick these up for Christmas, that may not be entirely possible; The sets will be released on January 1st for the majority of the world, and the United States will not see a release until March 1st. Moving on, let's focus on the set at hand. Evo Walker is one of the more overlooked sets of this wave. Evo himself is featured in three sets, one of which is the large Evo XL set. Is this set an underrated little gem, or is it an easy pass? Let's find out. Bag Front For the third year in a row we see the return of the resealable bags. Though many people miss the day of the canisters, I myself am a fan of these much more space efficient choices. However I created an incision in the bag instead of ripping the entire top off, to preserve that really great artwork on the top. On of the main points of interests with these packages this year is the graphically designed artwork on the top and bottom of the bags, and inside the instruction manual. It really looks great, and adds personality to this wave of sets. That aside, let's have a look at the rest of the packaging. As you can see, the set itself is featured in a relatively standard pose, though i'm a little concerned at Evo's logic here- when you are getting attacked by the enemy, it's generally a wise idea to close your canopy... Also, since this was sent from Denmark, this is the European packaging, hence the lack of a part count on the front. Bag Back The back of the bag shows off some features of the set, including the jumping spider function similar to the mini Visorak of 2005, the launching sphere, and...a removable cockpit? I'm not entirely sure why they are advertising this as a feature, it's not necessary to remove it to place Evo inside of it. Also shown is a 1:1 scale of Evo with some of his accessories which we will take a look at later. There are a lot of different languages to be seen here, which I do believe is yet another result of being the European packaging. The bottom of the bags this year actually feature something special of their own; A nicely toned down version of the image from the top of the bag that I previously mentioned. It puts the image into a mostly black and gray silhouette, which really adds some life and professionalism to the packaging. Unfortunately, it's a bit difficult to see, and at the moment is proving impossible to photograph on the smaller sets. Contents Instructions As you would hopefully expect, Evo Walker comes with an instruction booklet. The image on the front is no different than what we saw previously. Random Instruction Image The colorization of said instructions is spot on, not causing too much grief on the eyes to distinguish dark metallic gray and black. With a set with this low quantity of parts however, the issue wouldn't persist much even if it did. Sticker Sheet Yes, Evo comes with a sticker sheet. These are white prints with a clear backing, so I placed a black piece of cardboard behind the sheet here so you can make out the details of what you get. Being clear backed stickers, they are major fingerprint magnets and my "EVO" sticker looks a bit dirty on the canopy piece. I know a lot of people will be disappointed by this, but personally i don't mind it. They are only used for the canopy, which does increase the versatility of the part. If you wanted to re-use this part in a MOC, it would be a little awkward to have the words "EVO" on it. The rest of the parts in the set are very lovely printed pieces. New/Interesting parts Canopy The canopy is designed to work with the chairs that are also included, featuring a 2-wide bar for attaching clips onto. The shape is nice, however as you will see it does not enclose the pilot well, even on sets like Furno where there are parts meant to act as covers for the sides. The bottom of the canopy sits right above the minifig's feet, resting on it's ankles, and some sets rely on an armor piece to cover or support their feet. In other cases such as Evo XL, the feet just dangle there. Printed Armor Any printed piece that doesn't have the Hero's name on it is a win for me. In this case we have an industrial looking plate with a bit of battle damage. Seat Instead of receiving a new chest piece for the Heroes this year, we have gotten this, a large chair that clips on via a socket on the back. The chair itself is convincing, and has quite a fair amount of clip on points. The handles at the base of the chair are for a set of Exo Force hands to clip onto and become controls. As you'll see later in the review, the angle of the clips is perfect with the angle of the figures hands, allowing the minifigures to properly grasp the controls. The hold at the center of the chair is where the minifigure connects to the chair, via the peg on their back armor. Evo Minifigure Build The build of the minifigure, while not difficult, is a refreshing change from the boring builds of the 2006/07 figures and the use of a skeleton torso brings them closer to being proper minifigs. One thing you'll notice that will disappoint a few people is that the minifig head is solid red, not a trans red. While certainly a trans red head would be nice, it is highly impractical on this figure, as there are no hols in the helmet to allow light to pass through. By using a solid red, you can more clearly see his eyes without having to properly angle light. Front Side Back: I shall let the pictures do a majority of the talking here. A couple notes you may wonder about; Firstly, he has clip connection points on his wrists (demonstrated by the datapad) and on the back of his ankles. The ones on his ankles are at an angle. Secondly, he has full front and back motion in the arms and legs, and his head can turn...slightly. The other heroes all seem to be more successful at turning their heads, in this case Evo's helmet is slightly too large at the base. Size Comparison Ignoring my completely thrown together Bionicle minifig, you can see that Evo is taller than the Bionicle fig and dwarfs the poor space girl. I like this however, it adds a bit of realism if you were to have these in your city (Robots are sure to be bigger and more intimidating.) Armor on a Regular Minifig Miniature Kaiju Enemies Miniature Kaiju Build: The build is simple, however I'm pleased there is a build at all, as opposed to the single piece mini Visorak. The small black shell is a hard plastic, and the legs section is a soft plastic similar to the Brain Attack brains. I'm a little annoyed at the usage of a tan 3/4 pin instead of a dark bluish gray as it would blend it in more, but that's nothing existing parts cannot fix. Miniature Kaiju Complete I myself have not yet been told what the names of these things are, so for now they are miniature Kaiju. However miniature isn't the best term, because when you consider the minifig scale of these sets, one of these is fairly large. Having armies of these would be quite a terrifying force to face, and i'm looking forward to seeing how the story incorporates them. One thing I and a few other people mentioned in the HF 2014 topic was the coloring of these spiders. Orange, red, and green, similar to the first wave of brains we received in 2013. Does this mean we can expect the same trend to continue in the latter half of 2014? Shades of blue, possibly purple or medium azure, or glow in the dark? Glow in the dark is referencing the brain we got with Dragon Bolt, but it's also be a nice little homage to their precursors.... Comparison with Mini Visorak Ah, a comparison I've been eager to look at since we first saw the pictures of these guys. One really cool little feature is that, just like their Visorak predecessors, the miniature Kaiju can "leap" when you push down on their rears. The Visorak pulled it off a bit more fluently, but the miniature Kaiju have stronger legs which propel them really high into the air- And surprisingly, they have a high tendency to land on their feet! Taking a more in depth look at these two together, you can see something interesting, the legs are very similar in molding. They are slightly larger and more substantial, and the coloring is a bit more inspiring. Evo Walker Evo Walker Build Bone Structure Being the one set that does not including a torso piece of any sort, the Walker's build is unique and intriguing to build albeit simplistic. Here we have the bone structure, with quite a few double socket joints being used (two of the longer variety and one of the short) Cockpit The top of the seat has two clips that hold on to the canopy. You can see the socket here which allows the seat to connect to the rest of the figure, and the EF hands placed on as controls. Seat Attached When attached to the rest of the Walker build so far, you can see one problem already starting to arise; The color scheme. Turret Construction What is a wave of hero factory without a sphere shooter in some way or another? Thankfully they have kept the nice upper half, and I can never complain about having trans bright green launcher halves. Finished Walker And so here we have the finished build. It doesn't take long, and it's fairly obvious what you do next at each step, but the end result doesn't look too terrible. But let's get Evo inside there before we critique this set as a whole. With Evo When I look at this, I don't think "walker." The legs can barely move due to the armor and the choice of bones they used, in order to properly move the front two you have to keep rotating the front double socket, and due to the cockpit's attachment point, the rear leg cannot be moved or else you start to move the entire cockpit back until he is staring at the sun. One other thing I have a big problem with here, that orange seat. Why? Was it really necessary to case it in orange?? I know a lot of fans don't like Evo being associated with trans bright green so much, but I would take that any day over this giant, random orange piece. The trans light blue canopy is also a bit needless, but due to the lack of colors available for this canopy, I'm okay with having this for future re-use. Back Turret Articulation Due to it's construction, the turret itself is highly articulated, and can look tot he sides, down, and you can even bend it all the way to look back. The only reason it cannot go up is because of the armor piece on top, which hits the canopy and restricts movement. Controls As I mentioned earlier, the minifigures hands can fit perfectly onto the controls in these seats, which is a nice bonus. Complete Set Overall thoughts: As a $10 set, Evo Walker is one you really have to have in hand to appreciate. While the color scheme is questionable and the overall small size of the set creating a thin structure, we have to see it for what it is. It's a very nontraditional build, breaking away from the bipedal and more animal-like or flying forms that we have gotten used to. It's a fresh take on the building system, and can be interpreted many ways. Sure, it's not really the first thing I think of when I hear the words "walker," but it could be seen as a city defense turret, or a deployable weapon that a drop ship can launch into battle. For $10, you get a minifigure and 3 of the miniature Kaiju, which is a great testing set for people curious about those components of this wave. Personally I plan on buying some more of these once the waves become publicly available, and removing the stickers from the canopies so I can have a series of city defense turrets. If you want a set specific to Evo, however, I would pass on this and jump for Evo XL instead. While costlier, the set itself is a far superior representation of a vehicle for Evo.

Looks great CopMike! I myself am actually hoping for prize 2, first two figures are calling my name (In fact I've been a bit oblivious to the figures of the LW line, if I don't win or at least don't win that prize pool I may have to consult bricklink for these guys.)

You have to resize them. Some cameras can automatically resize the photos, or you could use mspaint, photoshop, or any online photo resizing program. Standard dimensions are are 800x600 or 640x480 pixels.

Prices were raised this year as far as I know, those are US accurate

What's the Euro conversion rate for prices on these sets? Small->10$ Medium->15$ Splitter->20$ Evo XL->25$

Just because a minifig's arms could match up with the handles doesn't mean they can still fit in the seat. Don't forget these are using custom legs and arms made specifically for the purpose of fitting in these cockpits.

Don't forget that Lego likes to make combo models canon sometimes. And I have no clue what you see as being "wheels"

Problem is buying in bulk. For the things I'm doing I need these in mass quantities; 78 cents for one of those claws? That's almost 50% the cost of a frost beast (Well, my local Meijer which is where I get my sets from usually has Frost beast for $10) for the 4 of those. Now you throw in the cost of shipping some stores have (My shipping charge runs from 2.50-5.00 on my store, and compared to some stores that's cheap as many use it for a means of profit) and the difficulties arise. And that's only one lot, then you get into what, 98 cents a piece? And some stores with a minimum buy, further boosting up my cost? There are only 4 lots of the claw pieces on BL currently, totaling 21 pieces. For my purposes I'm looking to obtain around 50, but I'm holding off in hopes that the part appears in another set to drive costs down. And that's the other problem; We only have 4 of these in jaw beast, which will cause an equal issue. Not many sellers with a huge lot of them up for sale. bring a constant Bricklink shopper and seller, the trends I have noticed do not necessarily reflect usefulness to System cross compatibility. In particular I have made the most off of printed pieces, gold parts(after having 4 rocka XLs you really have a lot leftover 0.o) And some other parts. Someone even paid around $2 for a raw jaw head. In the case of trans bones, it's a cool part that a lot of people are excited about, and obtaining a lot of them is a costly measure. We won't know until they start hitting the stores, but I'm just throwing my assumptions out there. Sometimes you just gotta decide if buying a bunch of clearance sets is better or buying the individual parts.

Sad day for VBBN when he realizes how expensive those trans bones will be on bricklink in bulk...trans light blue claws from Frost beast are already skyrocketing as it is.

Taaron that wouldn't have worked well; The mini ball joints on the old skeleton torso had no friction, the only way you could keep an arm up was if you propped it up with a weapon to hold onto.

Perhaps I worded that incorrectly. It's not the fact he has orange that disappoints me, I actually quite like white orange and trans blue together, it's that there isn't enough. Solid orange seat and a small orange arrow on his printed plate, and Trans orange as two little bits on his shoulders. It isn't spread out enough IMO and if a color doesn't fully compliment the set is rather not see it. I can see if they wanted it to be an accent color, but the seat is a fairly large piece and throws off the accent purpose of it. All a matter of opinion, but still. Besides that gives way to my same argument about the glass; I'd like to have seen more colors for the seats. Not sure what summer will bring, but as it stands orange and lime can only take you so far

Speaking of the cockpits, that might just be my biggest complaint. Obviously to accommodate these sets they need the seat; but the colors of the seats are, so far, orange or lime, and on sets like Evo walker and stormer, they are throwing off the balance. Also I wish we had more colors of cockpits. We have 3 trans black and 2 Trans light blue. Although I'm not a fan of Evo being yellow and trans green, I would have liked to see a trans green window for that set.

The police sets are rather uninspiring, though I like the positioning of the screens in the mobile command. The Airport firetruck and tow truck are quite nice however, and the race car looks like it will be a nice little set to pick up as well.

Let's just be thankful it's not this skeleton body! Floppy arms ahoy!