Set Review: Jaw-Flyer-Splitter Beast Combiner
Friday, December 6th, 2013 at 10:00pm by Jason, BZPower Reporter [Source: Sisen]
What's more terrifying than three beasts invading from below and wreaking havoc on Makuhero city? One beast made up of all three combined! Today BZPower Forum Assistant Sisen looks at the combiner of sets 44016 Jaw Beast vs Stormer, 44020 Flyer Beast vs Breez, and 44021 Splitter Beast vs Furno & Evo. Are you ready to quake in fear? Read and watch on!
There have been confirmed sightings of a ginormous beast roaming the city. The incursion occurred only hours after the previous monster threats. Repeat witnesses claim that the kaiju like creature is even larger and more ferocious than the last infiltrating wave. Official sources are reporting that William Furno has been sent out to handle the rising threat, but Natalie Breez, Preston Stormer, and Evo are on call as well. Will your homes be invaded? Is the city at risk?
You can check out the individual reviews here:
Watch out for these ferocious beasts to invade store shelves in North America March 1st, and around the globe January 1st. If you are interested in creating your own combiner monster be sure to snag your combiner instructions!
Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?
There is a certain lapse in building going back and forth from a computer screen to assemble a set. The set construction itself is not difficult; the real challenge is going from computer to parts. Plus disassembling three built beasts and then putting them all back together again into this three-headed monstrosity takes time. Time aside there is nothing complex to the build itself outside the norm of a titan-sized construction.
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.
Thankfully for a change this combiner does not have too much color clashing going on. A majority of the colors in the sets are used through each model and sit well together. The main thing that stands out is the three separate color heads. While the two heads on the right are actually colored, the jaw on the far left is the item with color. The layout throws the balance of the set somewhat, but it is not a huge issue. Overall the set design is fairly balanced, but it is essentially a beefed up version of the singular iterations.
The claw design and antenna from Flyer Beast are reused in this combo, but it helps even out the design. Personally, some more orange transparent claws on the hands and the feet would have been a nice touch. Although, the trans-orange claws as pauldrons is a pretty neat concept. The two new feet molds are finally combined and utilized is this model. It is pretty crucial the larger foot be used because there is a lot to support on the upper body.
Overall the combo is essentially three heads attached to the body of a regular beast build. The torso could have been a little bit larger to accommodate for the three heads, as such the legs and arms could have been put together a little bit better.
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?
When all of the beasts are brought together, it is an interesting fight for the herofigs to undertake. Four against one does not seem like a fair fight, but if the beast is towering over you and has three heads... The tail is a neat feature to play with since the other beasts all had minuscule tails in comparison. This new concept for monsters invading from below is a cool idea and should sit well with a majority of the targeted audience. From a scientific standpoint I wonder if the three beasts actually do some sort of DNA digivolution fusion dance hybrid merger or maybe one of them just steps in toxic ooze and mutates. The story and comic behind the sets is sure to spike some interest. The comic artwork in the main set instruction manual has me hook, line, and sinker.
Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?
Pros
What's to like?
- Three Heads are better than one?
- TAIL
- THE CLAAAAAW
- Comic art (sure it isn't in the combo instructions, but I feel it needs mentioned again)
Cons
What's not to like?
- Top heavy
- Kinda clunky
- Weird body fin thingmajigs?
- The parts are better than the whole.
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All in all, if you buy all three sets you should definitely build the combiner model to try it out. Personally I will be disassembling it to have three ferocious beasts guard my books.
And so concludes another exciting Hero Factory 2014 review. Big thanks to Sisen for putting together four reviews in a short amount of time - you can join me in thanking him in the Talkback. We're not quite done yet though, so keep checking back on BZPower for more LEGO news and reviews!
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