Special Force Zforce Police 02 - Oxford Review

[crossmr]

Set name: Special Force Zforce 02 ZF-1000-2

Price: 7800W ($6.51 USD)

Pieces: Maybe 100

size: Fully extended 14 cm tall, 15cm long, 12cm wide

Construction time: about 20-25 minutes

Ran across this today when I was looking for a gift for a friend's daughter. Was looking military but then I noticed this. This is one in a series of 9 models which are grouped in 3s.

There are three themes in this series. Police, Guardian and Clone. This is Police set number 2.

The way it works is that each set is a giant fighting robot, but if you get all 3 you can make an even bigger giant fighting robot from all 3 sets.

That's pretty cool.

This time I thought to take pictures as I went.

Box

The box has a unique shape. Reminds me slightly of a milk container. Not sure what the thought is behind it but it's interesting.

The box shows off the forms and the other models available in the series.

Instruction book

The book is unique in these sets because it includes 2 instructions. The man set and the "Union" instructions as well. So when you have all 3 sets you can use any instruction book to put it all together.

Pieces

There are a few unique pieces here, and a <insert that tiresome argument> propeller. The joints look interesting, and there were some weird joiners included in the foot parts. I'm not sure what their purpose is. You can see them in the picture. They're U shaped. They held those pieces together in pairs, but I can't see why that was necessary. Maybe for sorting purposes, but those U shapes might be usable in some custom sets. They will go into any piece which has a hole in it (usually one of the nubs in an oxford brick has a hole in it, but not always) so you might be able to use it for something unique. Other than that, not much left over, a couple flats, and another nice blue translucent piece. I like the color of those. There are a couple of unique looking yellow discs used for their lights. Stickers are decent for this. Not bad color matching. I didn't use them all. Some computers. The white police sticker looks good.

Construction

Construction happens in 3 phases. Legs, body and a joiner piece, which is one step. Total is 14 steps. It didn't take overly long. It wasn't really complicated either. Union robot is 27 steps. Everything went together well. When you first attach the joiner piece to the legs you wonder "how is this possibly going to stay together? it feels very flimsy" but after you snap on the upper body it feels very solid.

Completed model

It has 2 forms a robot form and a "hovercraft" form. Both forms are okay, in robot form you have to be careful you don't stand him too far forward or the torso won't stay up. He should take a typical giant fighting robot stance with his legs point back just a little.

It feels like a solid model. Good playability. 2 forms, moving arms and legs, and future possibility of transforming into an even bigger giant fighting robot. Could have done with a cockpit cover.

Conclusion

minifigure 8/10 - Decent looking police officer, with pilot style combat helmet, but no accessories at all. What happens if he gets knocked out of the robot? I guess he could grab one of those U shaped things and go after someone

Parts 8/10 - Some unique parts, only one <insert that tiresome argument> piece. Quality is great.

Playability 7/10 - Lots going on, but having to be conscious of his flopping problem when positioning feels a bit off. I think playability has the potential to increase with the large one. I might revisit this at a later date

Design 8/10 - Not bad. I think the arms could have a little more something going on. A cockpit would be useful.

Price 10/10 - It's Oxford. For $6.50 its a good deal of unique parts and quality workmanship.

Total 41/50 - Not a bad set. Not as awe inspiring as the great tank I just got. But a solid set with lots of potential I think.

Note on buying Oxford sets: I've seen some people mentioning and it has been mentioned to me that people might want to acquire Oxford sets. I've done some digging, and as I mentioned on the tank post it looks like that guy on Ebay is basically doubling the price of every aspect of the transaction. Model, shipping, handling, etc. I've been thinking about setting something up since there is obviously a need there and it looks like I could probably provide models at about 50% of his price (just going on the 3 I've checked so far)

Anyone interested in this? I'm not sure if I'm allowed to discuss this here, if not, mods I've got no problem with you snipping this last paragraph.

Edited July 10, 2010 by crossmr

[SirWacky]

I have to say that the design isn't too bad for a clone brand.

Thanks for the review!

[crossmr]

I have to say that the design isn't too bad for a clone brand.

Thanks for the review!

So far I've been pretty impressed with Oxford's design and quality. I don't know what I was doing for the last 2 years ignoring them while I've been here ;)

At a price point far below Lego here in Korea they're pumping out some pretty decent sets and ideas. It's one thing to bootleg Lego, it's another to create your own product lines. The joints on this would serve as a great basis for a custom giant robot. It's a shame they weren't designed to just plug together (like say Voltron style) but still including instructions for a fourth set is pretty unique.

[Peppermint_M]

Awesome Mecha set! Too bad that the only way it gets to Europe is through Sluban, 100% Oxford bootlegger...

[prateek]

Nice. It doesn't look too bad, and the design is cool. Only if it had a canopy...

[crossmr]

Nice. It doesn't look too bad, and the design is cool. Only if it had a canopy...

The other 2 police models looked like they have canopies from the small pictures. I'll see if I can find them. The store had #3 when I was there, but no #1. I'll have to poke around and see if I can find both of them so I can do up the big set to check it out.