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Set Review: Glowkies Mixels: 41533 Globert, 41534 Vampos, 41535 Boogly
 Sunday, January 18th, 2015 at 1:43am by Jason, BZPower ReporterThe fourth wave of Mixels isn't due out until February, but BZPower Reporter Xccj has managed to claim a few to do a quick review of. The three Glowkies Mixels, 41533 Globert, 41534 Vampos, and 41535 Boogly, feature some nocturnal creature designs and glow in the dark eyes. Are these creatures worth venturing out in the dark to find, or should they be left in the shadows? Read on or watch the video review to see for yourself! Presentation
The Glowkies come in the same standard Mixel plastic bags. They're a little hard to open without the help of a blade, but I guess that gives them a decent shelf life. The bags show off the three Glowkies on the front: Globert, Vampos, and Boogly, and then there's the cartoon version of them in the upper right corner, where it also show they're Series 4 Mixels. The bottom right corner also claims that they have glow in the dark parts, which is a big plus. There's also a clear section that allows you to see into the bag and glimpse some of the pieces you'll get. The back features a list of all nine Mixels in the fourth series, including the new Infernites and Orbitons. Plus, there's the three Glowkies Mixels, and a model of the Max character they can turn into. Inside the bag, you get the instruction booklet and another bag of parts. Unfortunately, while the instruction booklet has another list of all the Series 4 Mixels and an advertisement for the cartoon, it doesn't offer any sneak peeks into Mixels Series 5 or 6. I guess we'll just have to wait. Building
The build is short but enjoyable. The Glowkies again use a lot of brackets to make SNOT (studs not on top) designs, as well as clips and ball joints to create the limbs and jaw functions. It's nothing too complex, but fun all the same. Hopefully they'll give you some ideas to use in your own models! Set DesignNow that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.
First is 41533: Globert. Globert is not so much a head with attached wings and legs, but a giant eye with attached wings and legs. He's about the tallest and widest of the Glowkies, but also comes with the fewest pieces, numbering only 45 with a few extra cheese slopes. The main draw for him, piece-wise, are the dark blue wing pieces, which are new in this color, and the glow in the dark 4x4 dish, as well as the 2x2 round tile with the iris printing on it. He comes with some dark blue plates, bricks, and slopes as well, in addition to some light aqua cheese slopes. Globert does have a bit of a jaw underneath his eyeball. It's built around a hinge, but it has a fairly limited range of motion, so he can't opened his mouth too wide. His legs use the small ball joint system, but unfortunately the sockets are used as the hips, which prevents forward and backwards movement of the leg, and they can only really rotate or splay out to the side. This issue has plagued many a Mixels, and if affects all the Glowkies. It would've been nicer if they'd switched it around so the ball joint was on the hip and the socket was part of the leg, but oh well. The wings, on the other hand, allow for a good range of motion, and let Globert soar through the night air. He definitely has some bat-like attributes.
Next we have 41534: Vampos. Vampos is even more bat-like, but in a slightly awkward way. He has the most pieces out of the Glowkies with 59, plus a few extras cheese slopes. He comes with some nice dark blue pieces, including cheese slopes and 2x2 curved slopes, and plenty of black brackets. The most interesting pieces are his two bat wings, first seen with the Chima Bat characters last year, the modified plate with two bars on either end, which is a new element for 2015, and his glow in the dark 1x1 round eye tiles. Plus, he has some pieces to put together a Nixel (including those weak space arms) and more light aqua cheese slopes. Vampos is trying hard to be a vicious vampire bat, but is failing in an adorable way. His fangs are way too big and his wings way too small, and they certainly give him a peculiar look. His body is nicely rounded using the curved slopes, and his head is connected via a ball joint, which allows for excellent mobility. His legs suffer the same sockets-as-hips issue, while his wings are merely attached via clips. I don't know if this is the same for everybody, but I found the wing attachment to the clip piece to be very loose, so it's always falling apart. Still, although he's probably the weakest character of the Glowkies, Vampos still manages to pull off his look.
Included with Vampos is the Glowkie's Nixel. For once, the Nixel design is new, since the same three Nixel designs were used in each wave of the Mixels last year, and it got repetitive. This Nixel uses the brick-with-bars as feet and those space arms as, well, arms. The problem is that those arm pieces always seem to have weak connections, so my Nixel has fallen apart a few times already. Still, when he is holding together, he has a good look. I know there are only so many ways to build a decent character of this size, but I'm glad the designers provided us with a new style of Nixel.
Finally, we have 41535: Boogly. Boogly takes the motif of a beetle or bug as he crawls around in the dark. Boogly has 52 pieces, including some nice dark blue curved slopes, black brackets, and light aqua cheese slopes. The most interesting piece is probably the black spider leg; while this piece appeared quite a bit last year, it was only in one set in black. Also unique to Boogly is the minifig head with the eyeball printing that happens to be glow in the dark. Boogly has a build that is quite unlike most of the Mixels seen before him. His body it built more around the inverted boat slope, giving him a long body. The leg connections are fairly unique too, with clips on the front and ball joints on the back, even though he still uses the brackets as his hips. He does have a mobile jaw that allows him to roar into the night, and the spider legs are attached to his head like antennae, which is a nice design. While Globert and Vampos seem to keep to the air, Boogly does an excellent job as the grounded Glowkies. Playability
The Glowkies have some lovely character designs, and definitely have a fitting theme of creepy crawlies that you'll find at night. Globert and Vampos are clearly inspired by bats, while Boogly comes across as a neat bug. Besides some nice designs, they also differ from most of the previous Mixels, so it's good to have some decent variety. Still, if the Glowkies had just one thing going for them, it would be their glow in the dark capabilities! Each of them has a glow in the dark eye (or eyes, in Vampos' case) that look great when you dim the light. Although the packaging is slightly misleading as it makes you think the light aqua cheese slopes should also glow. While there have been glow in the dark cheese slopes, they are not included here, and it would've been nice to see some more glowing pieces on the Glowkies.
The Glowkies Max is a substantial combo build, the instructions for which are already available from LEGO. There are still a bunch of left over pieces, but he uses all the important ones, like the wings and spikes. He has a ginormous mouth, which you can easily fit the Nixel in and have him munch on it. The wide wings are a little bit less impressive, but it gives him a fancy look even if a bit messy. What I do like are the feelers extending from his jaw; perhaps they are arms, but I prefer to think of them as mandibles to grasp onto unsuspecting prey. He does have legs with very wide feet, and although he has the sockets on the hips too, at least they offer him decent stability. This is a beast that will haunt your dreams at night. And if you don't like him, then you can use the pieces from the Glowkies Mixels and design a Max character of your own! Final Thoughts
The Glowkies offer some nice variety to the Mixel cast, and top it off with good designs, useful pieces in black and dark blue, with a few glow in the dark eyes as highlights. If these guys tickle your fancy, keep an eye out for them on store shelves, where they're expected to show up in February 2015. Thanks again for reading and / or watching another BZPower set review. Stay tuned to BZPower for more LEGO and Bionicle news, as well as more set reviews, like the rest of the Mixels!
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