REVIEW: 6283 VOLTIX

[Gatanui]

And here goes the next HERO Factory summer set review. Get ready because this review is going to be literally shocking!

Calling all heroes! VOLTIX is on the loose from the Hero Factory and is trying to disrupt the power supply at the Tansari VI energy collection array. With a ball shooting volt blaster, dangerous lightning whip, electricity spark elements and a voltage booster switch, he's got the tools to do some real damage. Stop him before it's too late!

Set name: VOLTIX

Set Number: 6283

Price: 12.99 (11.99) EUR / 8.99 GBP / 12.99 USD

Pieces: 61

Year of release: Summer 2012

Size: Medium

Presentation/Box

I hope you forgive me if I skip this part, but enough text and thoughts have been spent on the bags, which, although innovative, are not altoo spectacular either.

Building

There have been many complaints about Hero Factory sets being to easy to build and it seems TLG has decided to come up with a solution to at least partly silence this kind of complaints. “What does that solution look like?”, you ask? Very simple. Take a normal hero or villain, grab a couple of random Technic pieces from a bin, attach them in a halfway plausible way and... voilà: You have not only managed to justify a higher price for the set, but have also increased complexity. Sort of...

Like the other medium-sized sets of this summer wave, Voltix is way more interesting as far as building is concerned than his small-sized pals, which is no wonder taking a look at that mess of tubes, tentacles and whatnot. For customers of LEGO Technic sets, however, the building is plainly disappointing. But let us keep in mind that the set was designed for a young target group of seven- to fourteen-year-olds, after all. Nevertheless, I can’t help but thinking that LEGO is underestimating children’s mental capacity.

Set Design/Pieces

This is where Voltix actually arouses interest. Once built, you are confronted with a cheeringly colorful villain. Some of you may dislike the clash of so many colors: Red, some blue, purple, gunmetal, black, yellow. I, for my part, can live with it, since the colors were not arranged in a totally random way, but instead show up a certain structure: There is a layering of gunmetal and red, the use of purple is only limited to a specific area of the upper body, etc. But I can totally understand if you cannot overcome your sense of harmony and get to like this anarchic mess of colors. Because that’s what Voltix looks like: anarchic.

Before I continue my contemplations about Voltix as a finished set, let us have a look at the elementary units every LEGO set consists of. I am not talking about atoms, I am referring to the pieces. Voltix comes with a total of 61 pieces and thus happens to be the medium-sized set with most pieces of this summer wave, along with Bulk. Out of those, eight are new (if you count the Captain America armor as a new piece) and three recolored ones, totalling eleven absolutely gorgeous new pieces (I included the remolded old hand piece in the photo with the recoloured pieces as it is quite rare, having appeared only with Jawblade so far). The yellow tentacle, for instance, looks beautiful and may come in handy for MOCing. So do the purple pieces. However, the excellent part of this set is without any doubt the electric spark piece, which does not only look beautiful, but it will be most useful for electricity-themed MOCs. I am sure the first Toa of Lightning MOCs featuring this part will show up fairly soon.

Sorry to disappoint all those who were expecting a Glatorian head remold: TLG does not seem to see the need to replace the old Glatorian head for now.

That said, let me point out a couple of things that caught my attention on this set and which I utterly dislike. Number one: The neck is too long. When vertically positioning the neck piece, you get the impression that Voltix has been hanging for several weeks before miraculously reviving. However, you can easily fix this by replacing the skeleton piece used as neck by a shorter one like seen on Core Hunter.

Number two: The lower arms leave much to be desired. All medium-sized summer sets suffer from a short-arm-syndrome and this set is no exception in this respect. On Voltix, this does not turn out to be a dramatic flaw, but I would have preferred two slightly longer lower arms with purple cladding on them. However, I am very disappointed about the fact that Voltix does not have Hero Factory hands, but red ball sockets. Of course, the red tubes coming from his head had to be attached somewhere, but I am sure there are more creative ways of dealing with this problem.

Then, there is the so-called “voltage booster switch”. A great name for a rather unspectacular construct which can be pulled up and down (like a switch!). At least it prevents Voltix from having an empty back.

Playability

Despite all the tubing, Voltix’ movement range is absolutely not limited, giving him maximum poseability in a fight against your heroes. While the “voltage booster switch” is nothing extraordinarily fun to play with it is an additional, although simple, play feature, possibly enjoyable for the younger buyers who will push the switch up whenever they want to grill their heroes with direct current and down when they wish to do so with alternating current.... or something like that. I can also imagine kids having fun with the tentacle-turn-function. Wobbling, conductive yellow tentacles are a terrible weapon, in case you haven’t heard, and who doesn’t want his villain to turn every gameplay into a shocking experience?

Final Thoughts

Pros

• Decent, original look
  
• Purple pieces!
  
• Seriously, who doesn't love those electricity pieces?
  

Cons

• Great variety of colors may not appeal to everybody
  
• Short-arm syndrome
  
• Reused helmet
  

All in all, Voltix is a decent villain set, with pros and cons mostly outbalanced. Still, I would recommend you to buy Core Hunter instead, unless you are looking for fancy pieces to expand your collection with or a second summer villain to fight against your Heroes.

And now that Bulk finally figured out how to unplug this villain, let us close this review of one of the most current Hero Factory villains.

That was a rather lame pun, now wasn't it?

-Gata

Edited July 11, 2012 by Gatanui

[vexorian]

Good review.

I think build complexity is just fine lately. Sure it is not LEGO technic, but then again, those who want LEGO technic complexity could just buy LEGO technic.

I think Hero factory as a whole poses different challenges than build complexity. Kids' mental abilities may not be super-challenged, but in order to make something with a simple build look good, you do need to be creative and stuff.

This set is basically the best piece pack ever. You get tubes in all colors imaginable, a yellow tentacle which I would say has never appeared before and those gorgeous new armors including purple. The set itself is rather messy... but that is good because I will not have a reason to keep it built together so I will be able to use its bricks in something better.

Seriously, who doesn't love those electricity pieces?

Did you call? I dislike any pice that mixes a transparent thing with a non-transparent bit in the same mold. This would have been far more awesome and useful if the sparks were a separate piece from the handle. Edited July 9, 2012 by vexorian

[Kalhiki]

Want. So. Bad.

I love lightning-based characters, and the jumbled colors just seem to appeal to me. Sadly, I don't think I noticed the short arms before, so that's disappointing to discover.

Hopefully I'll be going to TRU by the end of the week. Maybe I'll find him.

Kalhiki

[Ceroknight]

Thanks for the review!

My least favourite from the new line mostly because of its odd colour scheme..

However, the electric pieces look very nice

[ZORK64]

Once again, a very nice review Gatanui.

To be honest, I'd buy Voltix just for those electricity thingies. Although the amount of tubes and other crazy stuff isn't bad either. I even can live with his lack of HF fists, since I'm a big fan of the old "hand" piece due to it's versatility (I'm also pleased to see that piece in red).

Still on the fence if I want to buy another set of this wave anytime soon. After all, I still want something from the LotR line...

Edited July 9, 2012 by ZORK64

[DraikNova]

And now that Bulk finally figured out how to unplug this villain, let us close this review of one of the most current Hero Factory villains.

That was a rather lame pun, now wasn't it?

-Gata

Yes, yes it was. And I must say I like multicolored sets, they allow for great revamps and are, as seen here, often utterly spectacular. Only downside for me is that he has short arms. And even that could be useful, as I'm running out of those parts, because I use them a lot for adding armor to my revamps. And this set comes with three of those parts!

[MakutaDreadscythe]

So...much...WIN! I love this guy, more than Core Hunter even (haters gonna hate) due to his...odd charm. He looks like a mess, but he stands out so much and yet is so simple that it's hard to dislike him. That, and he's a boss in the HF series (like a boss!).

[Zachattacx]

Want. So. Bad.

I love lightning-based characters, and the jumbled colors just seem to appeal to me. Sadly, I don't think I noticed the short arms before, so that's disappointing to discover.

Hopefully I'll be going to TRU by the end of the week. Maybe I'll find him.

Kalhiki

Great review Gatanui, I really love the use of the tubes to make the red and blue cords, it just fits with him, also I really seem to like the slight resemblance to Whiplash from Iron Man 2.

Oh and by the way, if your'e going to TRU by the end of it might be a good time, if i'm not mistaken TRU gets the shipments on Thursday, so may the odds be in your favor, I to will go by the end of the week and hopefully Core Hunter will be there.

Edited July 9, 2012 by Zachattacx

[Cirkit]

The lower arms leave much to be desired. On Voltix, this does not turn out to be a dramatic flaw, but I would have preferred two slightly longer lower arms with purple cladding on them. I am very disappointed about the fact that Voltix does not have Hero Factory hands, but red ball sockets. the red tubes coming from his head had to be attached somewhere, but I am sure there are more creative ways of dealing with this problem.

-Gata

That last line made me think. Surely, the red ball sockets couldn't be attached to the balls of two slightly longer lower arms, then have HF hands in black or lilac instead? The wires would still connect at a point and that tentacle could be placed in the non-launcher hand? Just a thought I had.

The review is excellent, covers this 'electrifying' new set very well. His color scheme doesn't make sense, yet it all goes together so well(that yellow tentacle.. maybe not so much). That switch function is intriguing to say the least, I think I would have way too much fun messing around with it and posing Sparky here.

This would have been far more awesome and useful if the sparks were a separate piece from the handle.

I initially thought that was how those parts were going to be. A lightsaber-width rod, very short, attached to the yellow electric piece, and would fit into a hole in the 'handle'. I am a bit disappointed that wasn't the way it was done, but Voltix still looks interesting(best word I could use)to me.

:)

[Kalhiki]

Oh and by the way, if your'e going to TRU by the end of it might be a good time, if i'm not mistaken TRU gets the shipments on Thursday, so may the odds be in your favor, I to will go by the end of the week and hopefully Core Hunter will be there.

Yep. the TRU stores around me get shipments Tuesdays and Thursdays. I went once only a few days after they showed up on the site, but no luck. Probably too soon. That's why I'll wait until the weekend probably before I go again.

Man I want these sets so bad. I'm loving Voltix more and more as I look at him. The messy-ness of his top half just looks fun what with all the tubes and lightning pieces.

Kalhiki

[turtleman2020]

Wow he looks good

[Zachattacx]

Yep. the TRU stores around me get shipments Tuesdays and Thursdays. I went once only a few days after they showed up on the site, but no luck. Probably too soon. That's why I'll wait until the weekend probably before I go again.

Man I want these sets so bad. I'm loving Voltix more and more as I look at him. The messy-ness of his top half just looks fun what with all the tubes and lightning pieces.

Kalhiki

I'll keep you updated, because I'm going to TRU tomorrow to check.

[DraikNova]

I honestly don't see how the "handle" piece of the new lightning piece could alternately be used if it was separate from the lightning bolt.

[Shakar]

Another great review Gatanui! I'm happy people are giving Voltix a second chance. Personally, I always liked him. His sole problems, IMO, are the lower arms (too short+lack of hands) and the black feet (which should be titanium metallic, that goes for the third one on his back too).

Can you tell me which bone is used for his lower legs? The one with one hole (Stormer 2.0), or the one with 2 holes (this year's mid size sets)? He'd look better with the longer bones (as in, taller and more imposing), but with the shorter ones he would become an even better parts pack.

Actually, is the belly bottom look he, Bulk and Core Hunter sport (thanks to the new armour piece) even possible with the Stormer 2.0 lower legs? I've been thinking about this for a while.

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Another great review Gatanui! I'm happy people are giving Voltix a second chance. Personally, I always liked him. His sole problems, IMO, are the lower arms (too short+lack of hands) and the black feet (which should be titanium metallic, that goes for the third one on his back too).

Can you tell me which bone is used for his lower legs? The one with one hole (Stormer 2.0), or the one with 2 holes (this year's mid size sets)? He'd look better with the longer bones (as in, taller and more imposing), but with the shorter ones he would become an even better parts pack.

Actually, is the belly bottom look he, Bulk and Core Hunter sport (thanks to the new armour piece) even possible with the Stormer 2.0 lower legs? I've been thinking about this for a while.

I believe they use the longer (2 pins) bone due to the way the new armour piece envelopes the...errmmm...armour.

[TheDesuComplex]

Thanks for this review Gatanui. I adore Voltix now. They just nailed the electricity motif so well, and that 'booster switch' only seals the deal.

And yes, only the two-holed bones work with the armor arrangement they have. I tried a one-holed and the foot would often collide with the bottom of the configuration.

[Gatanui]

He does indeed have two-holed legs

Glad you all liked the review. Bulk should be up later today.

-Gata

[Shakar]

He does indeed have two-holed legs

Glad you all liked the review. Bulk should be up later today.

-Gata

Figured as much. Otherwise the space between the foot and the shell holes woild be too small for the shin armour to connect...I guess?

Ooh Bulk, can't wait.

[acidophilus]

Cool review.

I bought a Voltix off amazon yesterday. I plan on doing a lot of modding to this guy, I'm thinking more purple, and gunmetal, but reduce the number of colors overall.

[LegoWalrus]

At first I found myself hating Voltix, but now, I have come to like him and his vast array of colors! Great review, Gatanui!

[coolkwins]

Want. So. Bad.

I love lightning-based characters, and the jumbled colors just seem to appeal to me. Sadly, I don't think I noticed the short arms before, so that's disappointing to discover.

Hopefully I'll be going to TRU by the end of the week. Maybe I'll find him.

Kalhiki

I know right.

I got the set and I feel like it's my kinda breakout villain.

LOVE IT

[Logan McOwen]

Voltix, AKA Dr.Partspack. He's a great character, but his set as a model sucks major doody. However, for parts, he's an excellent booster pack :D

[Csacsa234]

Hm I really like the look of him, also the rainbowy coloring works well for me, he is one of my favourite HF figures, although his neck is too long and it makes him look very stupid. So I replaced that part with this:

(Also Core hunter uses this as a lower arm piece and it makes it rather short so a change with him, makes Voltix's neck a more natural length, and CH a longer forearm)

Edited January 18, 2014 by Csacsa234