Review: 7147 Xplode

[Still Raindrop]

The other day, I noticed how little love Xplode was getting on the forums, so I decided to pick him up and see if this was with good reason or not.

Here is the front of the box:

The pieces

New/recolored pieces of interest

You can see that, contrary to the picture on the box, Xplode's helmet/face does indeed have teeth on the top, as well as on the bottom. Here's a closer look at the helmet/face:

Personally, I think it's a spectacular piece. It brings to mind the evil robots of 1950s B-movies, but the spikes give it a dangerous look--almost like a 1980s punk.

We start out building the torso

Then we add the legs

and the arms

Then, we get to the cool technique that attaches his back armor. I think it's cool, anyway. It would be cooler if his armor attached to his back lower down, but I still like that it doesn't leave an unused ball.

We then attach his head, Skrall style

Ta-da! The finished product

I tried to pose him as he appeared on the box, but that proved difficult. The staff isn't able to go through his hand (I thought they might have used two axles to make it look more staff-like, but it was not so), and his arm armor doesn't cover up the front of his arms.

As you can see, it looks kind of weird from the side

Here he is with Bulk

As you can see, he's not very much taller than the heroes

Bonus picture: I know good always wins, but Xplode's gun actually shoots

There are many features about Xplode that I think could have been done better. I wish they had found a way to make his head look less like a helmet and more like a head (like Meltdown's). Maybe they could have put a trans-neon green piece behind his eyes, and a black piece behind his mouth (or no piece at all). I wish he wasn't so skinny, and I wish his arm armor attached better. There are a lot of things to dislike about this set. But despite these, when I have him in hand or standing posed in front of me, I can't help but think how cool he looks. This guy is definitely badass. His color scheme reminds me of the Torch Throwbot, and he is just as intense. I can imagine him being a witty, crazed villain who only works for thrills. There's just a certain charm about him that, for me, is greater than his faults.

[Makuta Plasmix]

I think you ou can get the arm armor in front if you attach the tri-axle in the front rather than back. But other than that, this is my favroite villan again.

Edited July 26, 2010 by Makuta Plasmix

[prateek]

Nice review. I like his helmet, but I don't see why they had to make his arm armour so far out from his actual arm.

[Bundalings]

The mask looks like it's made of really cheap plastic. How does it feel?

I wanna get this set, if only to make a revamp. So much potential.

[Aethersprite]

VBBN had just won me over with Meltdown, and now this.

Great review. I agree about the face looking too much like a helmet - and I do wish that it's matted. The shiny-ness of it really makes it look cheap. Well, I guess matting it myself isn't hard.

[Aanchir]

Nice review. I agree that X-Plode has a lot of places where he could have been improved. For instance, the arm design would have worked just fine if he had used the shorter double-socket-joints. Better, in fact, since that would let the shoulder armor be more in line with the actual shoulders, and would have made the proportions of the arms more accurate.

Not sure about the dark red in his color scheme-- it doesn't really do any harm, but there's so little of it that it doesn't really accomplish anything, either. There are other areas where the color scheme is awkward-- why the dark bley neck joint when black is both available and better-suited to the color scheme?

And I agree that I like his spiky aesthetic, although I get a feeling that if the staff had used Krika's forelimb pieces rather than his back "feet", it'd match better with his armor.

Overall, I don't foresee myself getting X-Plode, though I'm not even entirely sure if I'll be getting any Hero Factory sets. Perhaps after getting a few I'll be "hooked" and will be more inclined to pick up this spiky fellow. But right now he's not entirely appealing.

[VBBN]

Thaks for that review,

Honestly this is almost my least favorite villan, he only stands before corroder because of his fantastic recolored bits and awesome helmet/mask/face/automated self-serve taco machine.

Design wise he is abit too gangly, and those spikey bits are kinda half-assed.

VBBN had just won me over with Meltdown, and now this.

[cheesey skrall]

Thaks for that review,

Honestly this is almost my least favorite villan, he only stands before corroder because of his fantastic recolored bits and awesome helmet/mask/face/automated self-serve taco machine.

[vexorian]

Hmnn, I actually hope the dark red is a mistake or something. I am not sure about other people but when I see both mata red and dark red in the same figure it often looks awful. It is like each color would make the other look like rubbish, it causes some negative feedback. And it does seem a little random that so few bits are dark red.

[Bfahome]

The arm armor, and pretty much the arms in general, seems to be more complicated than it needs to be. Instead of having the tri-axle holding the spike piece on a standard long double socket, why not just have it attach directly on to one of the new "sideways pinhole" long double socket? I always welcome more tri-axles, but it seems they're making the arms look unnecessarily hollow. Also, not sure I can forgive the use of that lower arm technique again, especially since the figure is the main point of the set and not an enormous vehicle. Also the dark red seems a bit odd but that could probably be fixed easily.

But I do love that new helmet, Thornax recolor, and Krika legbladething recolor. :3

[The Dor]

The arm armor, and pretty much the arms in general, seems to be more complicated than it needs to be. Instead of having the tri-axle holding the spike piece on a standard long double socket, why not just have it attach directly on to one of the new "sideways pinhole" long double socket? I always welcome more tri-axles, but it seems they're making the arms look unnecessarily hollow. Also, not sure I can forgive the use of that lower arm technique again, especially since the figure is the main point of the set and not an enormous vehicle. Also the dark red seems a bit odd but that could probably be fixed easily.

If the armor were attached like that, it would look ridiculous. The connection point for the armor is at the bottom of the piece, while the connection point for the sideways pinhole long double socket is halfway down the piece. So the armor would rise too high and the elbow would look even more awkward than it does as is. I think that using one of these attached to the back of the socket, with the armor then connected to the other connection point would work pretty well to reduce hollowness.

[Still Raindrop]

I'll have to try that; I'll take some pictures when I do