Set Review: 44007 Ogrum
Saturday, January 12th, 2013 at 10:30am by Andrew, BZPower News Manager [Source: DeeVee]
Today brings yet another 2013 set review. Our always-elucidating Blog Leader DeeVee has acquired 44007 Ogrum and, like any good staff member, has decided to share his thoughts on it with you all. If you want to see if this mind-controlled monster should be added to your collection, read on!
Presentation
From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.
This year's Hero Factory sets once again come in the zip-lock bags that you must first cut open. The Hero Factory logo reads from top-to-bottom on the left side of the bag, a move that makes the bags strikingly different from other Hero Factory sets of the past. The bags are the same size as last year's, so the bold green and perpendicular text help the new sets stand out amongst the old whenst the two intermingle.
Across the top is an ominous brain slug, and taking up the center of the package is Ogrum, his flail, well, flailing around dangerously. I'm worried he's going to hit himself, to be honest.
The back of the package has an advertisement for Ogrum's combiner with Breez, which looks okay, and if I could find a Breez in stores anywhere, I'd probably build it just to see how it looks.
Across the bottom are, of course, the legal disclaimers. I am so glad to have found them again! They brighten my day and invigorate my life.
Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?
Ogrum's a pretty easy build, like most Hero Factory sets. The differences between him and say, Core Hunter are mostly cosmetic, with the minifig Piraka spines used here and there to add flair, and his flail, adding a large spiked chunk of plastic. Ogrum is the only villain without even a simple gimmick (Pyrox has spinning flames on his weapon before anyone mentions that), so this build is probably one of the most straightforward.
Set Design
Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.
Ogrum doesn't exactly contain the most intense amount of new moulds. One thing, though, that he does do well?
A green in Hero Factory that isn't a translucent colour or lime! I know he contains only three Metru Green HF cladding parts, but hey, that's three more than I had before! Ogrum has the size three shells in Metru Green, as well as the original 2.0 HF torso piece in this suddenly-sparse colour.
(What kind of voodoo has TLG done to make me miss some of the previously crazily overused Metru colours??)
Other parts of interest are the Savage Planet paw in the current brown du jour, as well as Piraka feet in the same shade. Rounding out the nice recolours are some four size cladding in transluscent "apple green" (is this the new fan term for this colour? I hear it everywhere and I'm going to stick with it).
Gatanui covered the new head pretty well, but here's a photo anyway. I like it better than the Glatorian head if just because it has more connection points and sticks out less. The lack of eyes and facial features could be seen as disappointing, I suppose, but come on, we all pulled the personality for these sets from their masks and helmets anyway. The same face they all had underneath won't be missed by me.
The front connection and the back rod connection will be very handy, I think.
Ogrum of course, has a face, so a Glatorian head would be pretty redundant.
Ogrum's face connects to the head via two-length red pin, much like latter-day Kanohi sometimes did. I have been asked if this face attaches effectively to the Metru heads, but I don't have any handy to check. The axle is located pretty close to the eyes, so I'm going to cautiously hazard a "no."
His face is moulded into a pretty common "ogre" face ("Ogre-um", see what TLG did there?), with broad brows and a toothy mouth, which is, oddly enough, moulded open even though the green plastic makes this look silly. His jowls end in system rod connections, where the two hooked tooth/claw/horn/spike pieces attach. When I opened the set, the first thing Rob (Janus) and his wife Becca (Hahli Husky), who happened to be with us, mentioned was that it reminded them vaguely of samurai armour masks.
Overall, it's a pretty effective face, and it does the ogre theme well.
The last important part of Ogrum is the brain slug.
So, these things are massive, like they are one cray cray long piece of rubber-like plastic. They remind me a lot of Piraka spines, to be honest. In some ways that's good, in others, not so much.
They attach via a hard-piece of red plastic with an axle moulded into it that the rest of the brain slug has been poured around. This red plastic is used for the small horns on the back of the slug, and also for the eyes, which, coincidentally, are also used as the eyes of each villain. The bright red works well in giving Ogrum a vivid and contrasty look. The slugs have three small legs on each side of the main brain-textured body, with a long tail that ends in a system rod shaped connection. This plugs into the back of the set and holds the tail still.
The slugs look way creepier than the Kraata ever did, and I'm certain the connections between the two will be made even more frequently now that the sets are becoming common. The way the slug fills in the empty places behind Ogrum's face part and the new head are pretty genius, though if you want to roleplay a pre-corrupted Ogrum, that leaves a pretty empty head, which looks pretty odd.
Ogrum is actually pretty good-looking. The metallic parts are used effectively on his chest and shoulders to evoke armour, and the plant motif mixes well with the ogre motif. The colours are organized quite well, with the transluscent apple green used on the upper extremities, and the brown used for the hands and feet. At first glance he may look a little messy, but I think he might be one of the most well-thought-out colour schemes in quite awhile.
I wish, however, that his legs contained more bulk to better befit an ogre infused with plant power stuff. The three sized cladding used on his lower legs are disappointingly small, especially when contrasted with his wide chest and shoulders.
Ogrum's hands are my other problem. The paw parts make effective large, almost club-like hands, but connected as they are, Ogrum lacks an entire segment of his arm. He has shoulders and wrists, with no elbows, or shoulders and elbows with no wrists (whichever you prefer). This makes many poses more difficult, to be sure. Also, the one hand has fingers with vines growing from them, and an empty ball joint underneath, whereas the other hand has a socket underneath to hold his flail. It's not the worst thing ever, but I do wish either both hands had sockets or that TLG had done something different with the flail hand. Asymmetrical arms wouldn't have been terrible.
The other big thing we must talk about is the brain slug. I mentioned that they remind me of Piraka spines for more than just looks. Like the Piraka spines, you're going to find the brain slugs make posing Ogrum's head a chore. The rubbery plastic used for the slug is still too stiff for free movement, so however you move the head, it's going to want to move back. That and the length of the slug's tail is such that there's not as much slack between the connections. It's rough, and it makes the set that much harder to show off. The rod connection on the end of the tail is brilliant, but it also likes to pop loose. It looks great and covers the vacant back of the set, but it's just one of those things.
Playability
The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?
Ogrum has close to standard articulation, with the aforementioned lack of an arm joint, and the restrictions found in the head movement due to brain slug. Being corrupted by a giant slug from space has severe disadvantages, I suppose.
He's capable of some cool poses, but the articulation limits also mean some of his poses are kind of awkward. The giant flail that just hangs there doesn't help. It's cool to get a weapon like this again, but I wish I could do something with it when posing besides just have it... hang.
No launchers or gimmicks to be found on Ogrum, so that's about it for the little plant ogre.
Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?
Pros
What's to like?
- A green in HF that isn't lime!
- New head is cool
- Cool face
- Great colouring
- Good homage to an ogre
- Looks pretty good in the end
Cons
What's not to like?
- Not a lot of new parts
- Limited articulation
- Thin legs
- Is not Breez, Toys 'R' Us. WHERE IS MY BREEZ?
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Anyway, in the end, I like Ogrum. He has his shortcomings to be sure, but out of the current villains (and I have them all), I think he's the tops. I'd vote for him versus his compatriots fo sho.
Thank you all for reading - I hope you enjoyed the review. Of course, you should thank DeeVee for putting it together in the Talkback, along with any questions you might have. There's still lots more 2013 sets to review, and we already have a bunch in the pipeline. So keep checking back, right here on BZPower!
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