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Set Review: 9463 The Werewolf
 Friday, September 14th, 2012 at 7:22pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager[Source: Sisen] Today we have a review of one of this year's new themes - Monster Fighters! Forum Assistant Sisen picked up one of the smaller sets, 9463 The Werewolf and decided to share his thoughts on it with you all. Is this set a howl of a good time or would you be better off barking at the moon? Read on to find out! Presentation
Awoooo! Awoooooo! AWOOOOO! This is not a lupine wavelength haemovariform. What we have here is a Werewolf, The Werewolf, which is one of Dracula's most fearsome monsters. As shown on the box the set includes two-hundred and forty three pieces, and is slated for an age range of seven to fourteen. The box depicts the mighty Werewolf executing a sneak attack on our lone hunter, Major Quinton Steele, from above! While the box gives you a good image of the set as a whole, you get a nice close up of the Werewolf and Moonstone in the lower right corner.
The back of the box gives you a more in depth look at the set. The lonesome Major is stealing the Moonstone from the Werewolf. I'm not sure that's such a good idea with his rifle still holstered in his hotrod. There is also a nice close-up of the tree where the Werewolf shows off his leaping capabilities. It is quite ingenious for a Werewolf to attack from above, when you usually expect it lurking in the bushes. This Werewolf clearly is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill lycanthrope. Building
Major Steele and the Werewolf are held within two bags and utilize one instruction book for directions. The first bag contains Quinton's hotrod, along with the minifigures for the set. The first major bag also contains a separate smaller bag for the little bitty pieces.
The Major features a new torso design although his helmet has been around a while. Minifigs are always a fairly simple and straightforward build, but I was ecstatic to assemble the Werewolf. The lycanthrope found within this set is unique and unlike its counterpart in the Series Four collectibles. While they both share torn clothes, the Werewolf in this set has a full mascot style werewolf head and not a printed face. It is spectacular.
Quinton Steele's hotrod is the next thing that gets assembled. The car has a pretty straight forward building process and design, four wheels, engine, steering wheel, lights, gun holder, etc. When you have the hotrod completely built, you can see it is not that complicated of a build.
A lot of the work for this set goes into building the Werewolf and his marked territory aka the tree. This portion of the build uses the second larger bag of pieces, which also contains a smaller bag for the itty bitty parts.
The tree build starts out simple enough, but as you add more to it things become complex. Each various brick, color, shape form, and element adds to the nature of the design. As you reach the tree top things become a little unstable. It is best not to play with the lever mechanism that catapults the Werewolf until the set is completely assembled. Your tree might go catapulting and crumbling to bits and pieces if you do not... Once the tree is fully assembled it holds together nicely and is as tough as bark.
Once the tree is full assembled the Werewolf can caress and devote all his attention to the precious Moonstone. I wonder which Pokemon he'll use the Moonstone on... oh whoops wrong fandom. Awooo! Precious Moonstone.
Set Design
TAN. Major Quinton Steele's hotrod is TAN. While it doesn't contain a huge amount of tan, it is a suiting color for the vehicle.
Another awesome feature to the Steele Mobile is that it features a SILVER frog on the front of the vehicular engine plate. This is the first set that one of the frogs has been made in silver, and it is quite fitting considering Quinton's foe is a lycanthrope. Major Quinton Steele looks great as well. He has a fitting garb for his hunter status, and it is awesome that the ammo strip is printed across his back as well. The best part about him is his left mechanical eye. It gives off a nice Steampunk vibe.
Overall the tree is designed fairly well. There is a nice decrepit feeling to it, but the architecture of the construction has a lifelike tree look about it. When building the tree it was easy to give into temptation, the lever mechanism needed to be flicked and flipped. Naturally the treetop fell apart upon doing so... The tree's upper structure adds weight and helps connect the flip-flop portion of it that catapults the werewolf so it does not disconnect. Believe you me this tree can send the Werewolf a soaring sky-high through the moonlight. Speaking of fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight - there are glow in the dark pieces in this set! The glow in the dark claws are only featured in this set, but you can find their silver counterpart in 6866 Wolverine's Chopper Showdown.
As mentioned before, the set includes two hundred and forty three pieces. Some of the unique pieces like a SILVER frog and glow in the dark claws have already been mentioned, but there are some more pieces to cover. The tranquilizer gun utilized by Major Steele is dark brown and only comes in one other set (The Crazy Scientist and His Monster) which Quinton appears in as well. There are five of the flat silver grille tiles as featured on the front of Quinton Steele's hotrod. This set also is the first to include 4x3 plant leaves in an OLIVE GREEN color. Personally, the olive green colored leaves help sell the natural look of the tree and are great MOCing pieces for collectors. Major Quinton's hotrod also contains the first tan 4x3 wedge slope without studs on top, as seen on the back of his vehicle.
The set has a wonderful design and contains a lot of unique and interesting pieces to build upon any collection. Playability
Playing with a werewolf is never a fun thing to do. There's fur everywhere, mood swings, and the unfortunate tidbit about being bitten... The Werewolf set captures a fun and safe way to play with a werewolf well! It is a ton of fun playing with the two minifigures and reenacting all kinds of crazy shenanigans.
There is your average run of the mill scenario, Werewolf sees hunter in car and the chase begins. Werewolf chases car, Werewolf jumps on car, and Werewolf gets burnt by SILVER frog adorning the car. However there are some fun possibilities to run through. What if the Werewolf captures Major Quinton and strings him up? What if the Werewolf steals the hotrod?
On second thought... maybe the Werewolf should not drive an automobile and stick to running through forests.
Final Thoughts
Overall this is a monstrously wonderful set. There are a lot of great pieces and colors included, and a great opportunity for playability. While Major Quinton Steele is included in one of the other Monster Fighter sets, he is still a new figure alongside the Werewolf. This set is a must buy for anyone who is a fan of lycanthropy or monsters in general. That wraps up the first of what will be several Monster Hunter reviews. Be sure to thank Sisen in the Talkback as well as ask any questions you may have. Thanks for reading, and keep checking back for more LEGO reviews and news, right here on BZPower!
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