Review: 2142 Breez 2.0

[Brickthing]

Set name: Breez 2.0

Set Number: 2142

Price: $7.99USD , 9.99 Euro

Pieces: 29

Year of release: 2011

Peeron

Bricklink

Brickset

The Box

Front

Like the rest of the Heroes, Breez 2.0 uses an orange version of the Hero Pod canister, with graphics that show her nobly standing in front of an inferno of fire and lava. In the background Nitroblast is happily wrecking public property, and Breez seems to have no trouble ignoring him. I realize that Heroes need to be seen in photos on site to keep them looking good in the eyes of citizens, but this particular photo-shoot is counter-intuitive...

Down in the bottom is a graphic showing the unique code in the canister that will unlock online content. Strangely the web address includes LEGO, even though Herofactory.com works and is simpler.

Back

The back of the canister is exactly the same as Stormer's because they make a combiner together, only there is a red Hero Core and Breez half in the canister instead. Try and spot the massive error in the combiner from this image, or read on till the combiner section at the end of the review.

Contents

Pieces

Like the rest of the Heroes, Breez comes with an amazing amount of parts, and all but the 2 recoloured spikes are brand new pieces. Breez has more of less different pieces than other Heroes - only 2 different limb pieces and four of the same lime armour piece. This would be good or bad depending on if you are looking for sets that give you the widest variety of pieces, or sets that give you more of the same piece to work with.

Breez's headgear is supposedly some kind of stealth tech, to let her sneak up on the villains. The gunmetal colour and fins lend the piece towards stealth tech, but I wouldn't have guessed that purpose myself, unlike Furno's scout headgear. It reminds me of a certain Bounty Hunter, and Peppermint tells me the rabbit ears match an anime character.

On the left side of the headgear there is a camera and a microphone, and on the right there is a microphone. I quite like these details, because they're non-obtrusive, so you can ignore the asymmetry they create or appreciate their function for the character. (That said, I personally think these details are pointless on robots with existing audio and visual sensors that could be tapped into...)

The new helmet that is standard for all heroes requires a headgear piece to connect it to the rest of the head. Like the villain heads, it could be considered a flip-mask because it attaches backwards as well, which then looks like a biker/army helmet. Intentional or not, it's a neat extra option for Hero customization.

The unique printed armour piece of Breez has her name and the code 52-890 on it like the other Heroes, boldly using the gunmetal, lime and red colour-scheme. Hopefully we will find out what the code means, as well as the spiky ice graphic on all the Hero printed armour pieces. It looks like half of a Transfomer face.

The new Hero foot, in lime green. The shape of front is similar to the previous Hero foot, only adapted to the new angular style. I'm disappointed that the socket is built into the foot, because it removes a lot of alternative uses, and it means that Breez has none of the nice new socket pieces. However, the lime ankle sockets match the lime wrist sockets, so I suppose it improves the final set.

The new hands. Along with Surge, this set has 2 hand pieces, while the rest only have 1, which is a good reason to get this Hero set if you want to try out the new hands in MOCs. The new hands less robotic and include subtle improvements such as a better thumb and longer middle fingers.

Breez has two of the three new weapon pieces that the Heroes use between them. They strongly remind me of Piraka weapons, at a smaller scale. Both of the weapons have an axle, a pin/axle hole, and two of the new standard rod holes.

Instructions

The instruction cover uses the same image as the front of the canister. There is also a unique web address for Breez, although we will probably have to wait until January to find out what it is.

The next two pages show how to use the code included on the canister lid to unlock online content. It's a nice touch that the arrows and borders are coloured to match Breez.

A random instruction page. The steps are very clear and easy to follow, although they aren't necessary for building Breez - the only parts that need checking are the armour positions, which can be seen from a single picture.

The inventory sheet, which is a lot bigger than previous sets this size. It's been a while since I've seen x4 and x2 for 3 different pieces each in small sets.

The instructions also contain a larger image of the combiner, which is what I used to build it. Hopefully instructions will be released online, although there is no mention of that in the instruction booklet. These combiners are probably more inspiration and refined models, because it doesn't really matter which 2 Heroes you use, given their similar parts.

At the back of the booklet is an advertisement for the Hero Recon team, which is the Design-A-Hero we've heard rumours about. I wish there was more information about it in the booklet, because Spring 2011 isn't that far away now, and these sets will still be quite new then, as this wave of Hero Factory sets is launching later than usual.

Build

Body and Armour

First we start by building the skeleton, and adding the limb armour. Aside from adding the two spikes, the only thing you do is connect ball and sockets. It's more repetitive than building small BIONICLE sets, but there are more pieces to connect and not too many to make it boring. Breez uses the new torso piece that has shoulder ball-joints. There is another version that some of the other Heroes use that doesn't have shoulder ball-joints, which results in shoulders 2 studs closer together. I wonder if there is a more important use to make the other torso piece worth producing, because this torso piece is far more useful.

Chest

The next step is to build Breez's 3 part torso. It's the same as all the other Heroes, but the choice of contrasting colours makes the finished chest armour and core look very nice.

Head

Breez's 3 part head again uses the same effective colour combination. The headpiece fits with the standard head and helmet, but it is difficult to see Breez's eyes clearly, yet alone in a photo. The chin opening on the headpiece matches the shape of the chin on the head, so it reveals all of the chin but not the mouth. Usually a stealth related mask would cover the chin and mouth completely like a balaclava, or leave an opening for the mouth, but not leave an opening for the chin only.

Finished Set

Breez 2.0

Once the head and weapons have been added, Breez 2.0 is finished! Aside from the posability and style that all 6 new Heroes share, Breez has a fantastic colour scheme that is colourful and works well with the black skeleton. Lime and red aren't the best colours for stealth, but the new gunmetal is, and her tools probably make her invisible anyway. Unlike the other Heroes, it's a slight disappointment that Breez uses the new weapon pieces as her weapons, rather than as pieces that make a multi-piece weapon. There also aren't any fire-extinguishing details on Breez's weapons, but the shape of her weapons fit the different shapes of her lower arms, which I think justifies the armour asymmetry. Although the weapons aren't that special, Breez looks very good holding them, in a way that the original Breez could hold them.

Back

All of the Heroes suffer from a hollow back, but due to the dark gunmetal colour of Breez's torso armour, it's easy to glaze your eyes over the problem on Breez, even in the plastic. It would have been good if there was a back armour piece that attached to the shoulder or tailbone balljoints, to cover up the back. It could have had rod connection points on it for attaching spikes or hoses when used on larger Villain sets.

Weapons at the ready...

High Kick!

Bonus: Combiner

I was lucky to receive the two sets that combine together, so I present you with that combiner! I used the image included in Breez's instructions to build it, but I hope proper instructions will be put up online - I used a lot of guesswork for the limb pieces on the arms and ice-spear shooters. If you hadn't noticed already, the combiner image shows Surge's gun piece on the right arm, which isn't included in Stormer or Breez, so I used the buzz-saw piece instead. I'm not sure why that error occurred, especially when that piece is obviously not present in the two sets right next to it.

The combiner uses most of the two sets' pieces, and looks far more impressive than some of BIONICLE's most recent combiners, especially the Stars combiner... Here are the only remaining pieces. The combiner is probably slightly bigger than a villain set, and uses more pieces, which would be expected given that 2 Hero sets cost more than 1 villain set. The build isn't very complicated compared to other sets, but the use of Breez's headgear and helmet as claws, and the use of armour pieces for spear launchers are great details. The combiner's extended legs look good using small armour pieces for knees, although it means that there is no proper knee articulation anymore.

Final Thoughts

Colour Scheme - 9/10 - Breez uses contrasting lime and red as armour and core colours, which help her stand out amongst the other Heroes. These two colours contrast with her gunmetal under-armour and weapon colour, which itself blends well with the black skeleton pieces. Although lime and red aren't the best stealth colours, gunmetal is, which makes it believable that the weapons have stealth capabilities.

Parts - 8/10 - The pieces of Breez are very good, with recoloured spikes, new armour and plenty of new limb pieces. But the red spikes are avaliable in the masses in two villain sets, so aren't many special pieces that make Breez worth purchasing over the another Hero.

Design - 8/10 - Breez uses the new ball and socket building system of 2011 Hero Factory sets, which is very good. My only slight qualm with the set is the use of the torso piece with shoulder balljoints, which gives Breez broader shoulders despite being a female Hero. Aside from that I can't see anything wrong with Breez's design, but because she uses single pieces as weapons, there isn't anything in Breez's design that makes her more exciting that other Heroes, who use unique, multi-piece weapons.

Articulation - 10/10 - Breez has all 13 points of articulation that would be expected in a BIONICLE canister set. Until finger, waist or extra neck articulation becomes standard, there's nothing to complain about in Breez 2.0, especially because she is a small set. The original Breez only had 9 points of articulation!

Quality - 10/10 - I can't see any colour issues with the pieces, and the printed armour piece looks great. And the sockets no longer break!

Overall - 45/50 - Breez 2.0 is a fantastic set. Compared to previous sets, you won't be disappointed with Breez (once you get used to the new ball and socket system), as she has a large amount of pieces, all of which are new or recoloured, and the completed set is a great action figure. However, compared to other Heroes, Breez doesn't have anything uniquely special in terms of pieces or build value. Unless lime armour or the stealth headgear especially appeal to you, I'd recommend that you buy one of the other Heroes before Breez, not because Breez is bad, but because the other Heroes are even better.

[Aanchir]

Nice review. The set manages to live up to my expectations. Granted, my expectations weren't any superb ideal or anything, but I still am happy with how the set turned out.

I really like the helmet design. The weapons being used on their own as smaller tools fits with a stealthy, close-combat specialist, even though it makes the set slightly less appealing from a parts perspective.

I've already seen that adding movement to a figure can totally change the image from gender-neutral to decidedly feminine, based solely on the video for Breez 2.0 on the Hero Factory site's products page. I believe one of the catalogs said there'd be a Hero Factory movie next year just as there was one this year, so I'm sure that'll be amazing and will help bring all this year's characters to life. And I haven't even seen this year's movie yet!

[prateek]

I think this is the worst Hero 2.0. Frankly, I'm tired of the colour scheme, and she doesn't really have any special weapons.

They could've also made her more feminine, with at least a different chest plate.

Edited December 13, 2010 by prateek

[vexorian]

I think the combiners are just cool. Though I wonder if they somehow fix the back issue. I currently think I will only buy two Evos from the 2.0 heroes, and make a combiner with them both, since it seems that the combiners don't really need the other hero's specific parts since they are all the same anyway.

... Except that I find green and white to be an odd combination. Breeze could have worked better with Evo or Surge as combiner, I think.

Edited December 13, 2010 by vexorian

[Nightshroud99]

Don't like her; frankly its not apparent that shes a girl, her figure looks really masculine. At least the first one looked feminine.

[Cap'n Kopaka]

I was planning on making Stormer the one Hero 2.0 that I would get next year, but for some reason I think this review won me over. Maybe it's the black/lime/red colorscheme or the headgear (second only to Stormer, IMO), because other than that Breez 2.0 is pretty uninteresting. Nice review though, and thanks a lot for including a reproduction of the combiner! Combined with Stormer the figure looks really cool, with an exception, maybe, of the triple-leg thing. It'd be neat to give a set an animalistic-type hind leg though, something that was quite difficult with the standard Bionicle jointed pieces.

[Bfahome]

I am so upset that this toy version of a fictional robot does not match up with the concept I have of what a human female should look like.

[Extreme Sadness.]

I was doubting this set after reading the BZP review, but I don't mind it afterreading this review, she'll probably be my fourth 2.0 set. Great review, as well, the pictures were very nice, and seeing the combiner was fun.

-ES

[The Crazy One]

I'm getting her when I buy my first batch of HF sets. Just out of interest, have you tried replacing her spine piece with Stormers? I wonder if the less broad shoulders would make her look more feminine.

[Darkness Falls]

Perhaps we could see a picture of Breez with her original helmet, to facilitate a more feminine look?

[Brickthing]

I'm getting her when I buy my first batch of HF sets. Just out of interest, have you tried replacing her spine piece with Stormers? I wonder if the less broad shoulders would make her look more feminine.

I tried that, and in my opinion it improves her a lot.

Perhaps we could see a picture of Breez with her original helmet, to facilitate a more feminine look?

Sorry, I don't have the original Breez.

[The Crazy One]

I tried that, and in my opinion it improves her a lot.

Cool. I dont get why they didnt do it in the first place.

[prateek]

I tried that, and in my opinion it improves her a lot.

Picture?

I agree with The crazy one. If Lego has the parts needed at their disposal, why not use them?

Edited December 14, 2010 by prateek

[The Crazy One]

Picture?

Pretty please? :D

[Phantoka_Chirox]

Colour Scheme - 9/10 - Breez uses contrasting lime and red as armour and core colours, which help her stand out amongst the other Heroes. These two colours contrast with her gunmetal under-armour and weapon colour, which itself blends well with the black skeleton pieces. Although lime and red aren't the best stealth colours, gunmetal is, which makes it believable that the weapons have stealth capabilities.

Mmmm watermelons. Excellent review! Not too fond of the head design though, but I completely agree on the fantastic color scheme

[Brickthing]

Sorry for taking a while to get these photos - she was tied up in a LEGO show I was exhibiting at over last weekend.

[Aanchir]

Sorry for taking a while to get these photos - she was tied up in a LEGO show I was exhibiting at over last weekend.

Based on those two pictures, I actually prefer the wider shoulders. They make her body feel less compressed, and that helps it to feel less bulky. But it might look different from different angles.

Great job getting the arms in the same position from both angles. If I didn't know better I'd think the second image was just the first image with the head repositioned and the arms shopped to be closer together.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Aanchir

[Jouster]

Sorry for taking a while to get these photos - she was tied up in a LEGO show I was exhibiting at over last weekend.

Based on these two pictures, I have to say that she looks alot better without the wide shoulders. Stormer's body piece makes her look alot more feminine, but still doesn't make her look like she is a girl.

[shadowreaperx]

[snip] I find green and white to be an odd combination. Breeze could have worked better with Evo or Surge as combiner, I think.

You might, but i don't, growing up in Michigan tells me green and white look awesome together :

Though I get that on this it IS a little goofy.

I like the review and your cute little spare part robot, Brickthing!

In the armor section's first picture, though, the gunmetal looks like a dark brown, possibly so? Or do you think it's just lighting?

Edited February 2, 2011 by shadowreaperx

[Brickthing]

You might, but i don't, growing up in Michigan tells me green and white look awesome together :

Though I get that on this it IS a little goofy.

I like the review and your cute little spare part robot, Brickthing!

In the armor section's first picture, though, the gunmetal looks like a dark brown, possibly so? Or do you think it's just lighting?

It must be bad lighting, although it doesn't look dark brown on my screen. It's the same colour as used in the Kingdom sets, which is a less green and slightly darker version of the gunmetal used in Bionicle sets.

[Aanchir]

It must be bad lighting, although it doesn't look dark brown on my screen. It's the same colour as used in the Kingdom sets, which is a less green and slightly darker version of the gunmetal used in Bionicle sets.

...Which for LDD users is 316 Titanium Metallic, if anyone's interested. Always best to learn these things as soon as they arise.