Review: 2191 Furno 3.0

[ZORK64]

Since I just bought Furno 3.0 today and there is still no review for him online, I thought I pick the opportunity to write my second review.

So yeah, William Furno! From the young rookie who had to prove himself to the hero with the geeky glasses, now he's heading right into the next mission on the jungle planet Quatros.

Alongside with Stormer he's also the only hero who appeared in every wave so far. However, since I missed the two first Furnos I can't compare them with each other. But anyway, let's start the review!

Set name: Furno 3.0

Set Number: 2191

Price: 9.99 Euro

Pieces: 28 pieces

Year of release: 2011

The canister

The front of the mostly green canister shows Furno with his new bow in a quite impressive (and slightly intimidating) pose. Despite his sleek armour, Furno takes a lot of space of the picture because of his wings. Left to him we se a few CG spikes, on the right a group of Waspix' is heading towards Furno for some aerial combat action.

The back of the canister is pretty much the same as on Bulk, the other 3.0 hero I own so far. Of course that's not a big surprise since they can be combined. Only the colour of the hero core and the picture which demonstrates that Furno fits into his canister are different.

Underneath there is all that text that nobody really reads in various languages.

So now it's time to open the canister.

The pieces

Furno 3.0 features (as I already wrote above in the overview) 28 pieces. Most of his armour pieces were already released in his 2.0 version, like the hands, the feet and his armour shells (I just checked it on the Review here on Eurobricks again). The only new recolours are the grey bone pieces, but those got that colour in all sets of the summer wave.

So in other words, he's quite short when it comes to new pieces.

One thing I though like about Furno is the fact that he doesn't come only with two hands, but also with two of the traditional socket pieces (since those were needed to attach his wings).

The instruction booklet, which features the same nice picture seen on the canister.

A random page from the building instructions. The booklet makes sure that you don't mix the various sizes of shells up by pointing the numbers on them out.

Near the end of the instructions are also some pages showing various other sets, in this case, Nex 3.0 fighting against Fangz. Oh, and the first season is out on DVD now (while the sets are already forgotten).

Am I wrong here or does that ad for the Recon Team shows the 2.0 versions of Surge, Nex and Stormer?

So yeah, now it's time to show the new pieces, right?

First, there are Furno's wings. In some of the villain sets they were used as tusks. I can also imagine them for sabers or similiar weapons. I'm not sure, but I doubt that any pieces can connect with the holes on the inner side of them.

The other new piece (and the only one which is exclusive to this set) is Furno's helmet with his incredible eagle/falcon-design. Good lord, I love that helmet even more than bulk's Wolf helmet. I wish LEGO would release it in more colours than red so I can MOC an entire team of eagle warriors.

Furno's name badge looks really nice with the falcon and his badass beak. The yellow background and the wings above the nametag are also really neat.

Building the hero

Starting with the skeleton...

...than adding the armour...

...the bow, the wings and his head...

...finally the chest plate and Furno is done.

Furno looks really sleek and dynamic (like a real eagle/falcon), the large armour on his lower legs (and the abstinence of armour on his upper legs) helps to transport that aesthatic.

Unlike the other heroes, the new pieces he got weren't use for his weapon/tool but for his wings. But I really like the use of the villain blades as a bow for Furno.

It's also noteworthy that Furno looks really red although he only uses three armour shells along with his torso armour, his helmet, his hands and his feet.

The downside of his bright colour scheme is of course the extremely hollow back. Please TLC, give at least the next wave some piece for ther backs to end that misery.

Playability

Using the same build as the 2.0 heroes (which use basically the design we know since the Toa Inika), Furno is pretty poseable. Only his arms are limited in terms of poses because of his wings, which might clash against his head.

Dashing through the air!

Firing his bow. I first tried to create a pose suggesting that he's ready to fire the bow, but it wasn't really possible to bring his arms in sync for that, so I settled with that pose.

Since his bow is made out of two blade pieces, Furno instantly reminded me of Pit's appereance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, were Pit could also split is bow in two sabers to fight in a Legolas-esque style.

Final thoughts

In terms of design and aesthetics, Furno is definitely a great set, and to me, that makes up for his lack of new pieces (or new recolours). The eagle helmet works great with his wings, and the bow looks also really nice, and except for his hollow back there is nothing that is really bugging me about him, but hey, all of the canister sets are suffering from this, so it's not Furno's fault.

As long as you don't dislike red or birds, Furno 3.0 is worth his money. However, if you want a large amount of red shell pieces, you should also take a look at Raw-Jaw (though I'm only speculating here, since I don't have any of the villians yet).

Bonus content!

Combiner model

In case you got both Furno 3.0 and Bulk 3.0, you can build a combiner model using parts from both sets. The instructions can be found on the official Hero Factory site.

The combiner got a nice colour scheme and the combinaton of the blades and the wings gives him a really cool look.

I also just recently realized that the Combiner also features design traits from both Bulk (blades at the lower arms) and Furno (all the wings), only in a scale fitting to his size.

However, I'd like to point out that it's not really possible to bent the lower part of the legs backwards as shown on the CGI image (from the canisters and the instructions). The armour shells get in the ways of this.

Speaking of his legs, it feels really weird to me to pose the combiner since his legs are made out of three sections instead of two, thus having two knees on each leg.

Last but not least, a picture of the combiner's skeleton. Unlike the actual canister sets, the building instructions starts with building the legs (including armour and stuff) and then continues to build and add the arms.

FALCON...

...PUNCH!!!

Poor Rotor, he became once again victim of my new heroes.

All in all, the combiner is quite cool and proves that TLC put some thoughts into a good way to combine the canisters.

It's also quite easy to create your own combiners given the fact that's... well... Lego.

Edited October 16, 2011 by ZORK64
Indexed and Poll added!

[toatyger]

To be honest, i'm bored of furno, so i'm not getting him. (Unless I find him on clearence!)

[Zwen]

I must say that this is not the best version of Furno. I don't even like him. But this set has a good look. I can't say the same for the colors. I think that is a problem to make the same pieces with the same color, but is the same for Lego. This set is great for action, with the cross bow and the wings.

[ZORK64]

I've got to admit Furno indeed lacks new parts, but since I passed his 2.0 version that didn't bother me that much.

While I usually buy sets for parts, I must admit it was also partly his design that sold him to me.

[Mesonak]

Contrary to some of you, I think this is the best version of Furno. His design is ingenious and fits with the Hawk motif, he has good pieces (though not as many armor pieces as 2.0), and that helmet is ingenious. I enjoy the lack of armor on the upper legs, and think it adds to his character.

Good review; poor Rotor!

[averick]

Great review, love the combination falcon-blade my favorite combiner