Review - 6216 Jawblade

[LuxorV]

Theme: Hero Factory / Breakout

Set name: Jawblade

Set Number: 6216

Price: 9.99 $, 9.99 Euro

Pieces: 51 pieces (incl. 6 spares)

Year of release: 2012

Links: Peeron, Bricklink and Brickset

The Box

Front

As is well known, the new line of Hero Factory sets introduces a new ‘boxing’ model (with the only exception of Black Phantom, as far as I know). It is more of a hybrid box/bag, actually. The material is though flexible plastic, possibly lined with a tin foil? The end result is the envelope is quite thick and can withstand some handling without fear of damaging the contents.

These new bags (or boxes) are quite hard to photograph, since the shiny metallic surface will reflect any light in unpleasant halos that cover part of the design.

Nonetheless, you can see TLG designers put a lot of effort in these packaging. For instance, the upper part sports a zipper design, indicating this is a re-sealable bag. If you look at the flap, you can see Jawblade’s head/helmet (Heroes’ laps have the HF symbol).

The lager part of the front is covered by an action shot showing our sharky villain swimming in what is probably an ocean world, on the run from Furno. The same Furno can be glimpsed in the upper middle-right part. The lower right corner is occupied by an ad for the on-line game and shows the number of free points (200 in this case) this set’s hidden code will grant you (more on this later).

The LEGO, Hero Factory logos, set number and age range (plus probably more info in the American version) complete the front.

Back

The back shows Jawblade, some action features like his opening jaws and a 1:1 shot of his head.

There is a cut here line on top, together with Jawblade’s name(s) on the upper left corner. The mid portion of the back sport a larger ad for the Hero Factory site and on-line videogames. Finally, TLG usual legal notes complete the lower portion of the back.

Size comparison

As you can see, this villain’s bag is still somewhat bigger than the standard canisters we got used to in recent lines.

Opening

Using an exacto knife (or similar) and some attention, you can cut just one side of the bag, so that you can take the contents out, put them back in and re-seal the bag without extensive damage to its overall appearance.

Contents

Inside

The bag contains one smaller bag of parts (I suppose they are needed to protect the pieces given the more flexible nature of the outer bag), a loose torso bone piece and an instructions’ booklet.

As expected from Jawblade, flat silver is the main colour. The bones are mainly black, with some red pieces. Transparent neon red is used for the head and one shell piece.

New pieces

The new parts, largely anticipated, are the shark helmet and new Hero Core. I’m not sure if the lower jaw piece is new; it certainly is new in my collection.

The Hero Core connects with the usual two pins, and sports a code on its back. This code, used to unlock the free points in the on-line videogame is the only reason why villain sets have Hero Cores in them, it seems.

I really like this helmet. It works very well in capturing the shark look, and still manages to have a deep mechanical feel to it.

Re-coloured parts

The re-coloured parts include the size 6 shell piece in trans neon red, the Bionicle hand trans neon red as well, and the wrist blades support used in Bulk 3.0 in flat silver.

Spare parts

This set includes 6 spare parts; nothing mind-blowing, but all useful pieces.

Instructions

The front of the booklet shows the same image as the front of the bag, minus the ads and some other info.

The first pages are devoted to advertising the on-line game and the way to use the hidden code printed on the back side of the Hero Core to gain free points.

Furno and Jawblade can combine to form an even deadlier shark-like creature armed with a fin mounted cannon.

Random page – every step is accompanied by its pieces’ call out box. Nothing too complicated, but useful to tell one shell piece from the other. The background image, in greenish aqua tones, does not distract the eye, but give a pleasant surface on which the steps are displayed.

The usual parts’ list. Nothing special here.

Building

We start by building Jawblade’s spinal cord. From this point, we keep adding…

… fins, armour, …

… arms and we get to the …

Finished set

I think Jawblade will be my favourite villain from the Breakout line. I just love how he is designed and all the fins and other protruding parts that were included in him.

Bonus images

Smile for the cameras

The pointy ‘nose and the stream lined body clearly speak of an aquatic hunter.

I don’t know what you think, but I wouldn’t like to meet anything that has a jaw like this on my next trip to the seaside!

Am I big enough for you?

There’s been some discussion about Jawblade’s length. As you can see, he is effectively 30 centimetres (11.82 inches) long, when tail and blades are extended!

Final comments

Overall, Jawblade is a fantastic figure. He’s bigger than I expected, and he looks way better in person than what the first images made us believe. The new and re-coloured pieces are a good addition to anyone’s collection and are excellent MOCing pieces. His design is unique and the colour scheme is excellent, dark and menacing as befitted to such a creature as him.

Design & Colour scheme – 10/10 (Very well proportioned and efficient. Gunmetal & flat silver well together, and the give a good mechanical feel to the overall design. The red touches add to the peril aura that surrounds this shark-bot No complaints whatsoever.)

Parts – 10/10 (Great variety of useful parts, a reasonable amount of new pieces, and a really cool new helmet!.)

Playability – 10/10 (The movements are smooth, and the opening jaws feature is a very nice touch.)

Build – 8/10 (Nothing too complex, but some efficient solutions are used.)

Price – 10/10 (I believe it’s a good compromise between number of pieces, their size and the number of new parts in this set.)

Overall: 9.6/10 Excellent

As always, questions, comments, and pic requests welcome!

[Vinyl Scratch]

I'm still a bit iffy on Jawblade.

But DUDE those bags, and that combiner <3

Thanks lad for the review.

[Aanchir]

As expected from Jawblade, gunmetal is the main colour, complemented by some pearl silver. The bones are mainly black, with some red pieces. Transparent neon red is used for the head and one shell piece.

I don't see any gunmetal in any of the pictures in this review. The current gunmetal color, 316 Titanium Metallic, is way darker than 315 Silver Metallic (Flat Silver) or even the older gunmetal color (148 Metallic Dark Grey). You should be able to recognize the current gunmetal color, as it appears extensively in the Batman set you also reviewed.

Additionally, there's another part in a new color which you failed to acknowledge. The Y-joints in the new style are new in Bright Red.

Anyway, this review was very enlightening! I feel Jawblade is a very creative set design. It's amazing how a model with the default torso can be given such a unique anatomy! He also has lots of great pieces.

I'm not sure how I like his magma blades, though. They don't feel as energy-packed as the ones used for Fire Lord and Furno, even though I appreciate that they matched them to Jawblade's color scheme rather than just using a mis-matched transparent bright orange.

[LuxorV]

I don't see any gunmetal in any of the pictures in this review. The current gunmetal color, 316 Titanium Metallic, is way darker than 315 Silver Metallic (Flat Silver) or even the older gunmetal color (148 Metallic Dark Grey). You should be able to recognize the current gunmetal color, as it appears extensively in the Batman set you also reviewed.

You're right! I had a draft for this based on another model, and missed to fix it in the final version.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Additionally, there's another part in a new color which you failed to acknowledge. The Y-joints in the new style are new in Bright Red.

Might be it's named bright red, but it does not look very different form standard red to me...

[Mesonak]

It's not that the color itself is new, but that that piece (with the remolded sockets) has never appeared in the color "red" before. :)

Great review, have to say. Very in depth, with good quality photography. Seeing the set reviewed in this manner actually made my opinions on Jawblade change a great deal; I'll consider picking him up at some point.

[toatyger]

That combiner model is making me drool! Best one i have ever seen!

[Lyichir]

Might be it's named bright red, but it does not look very different form standard red to me...

Bright Red is the official name for standard red.

I just realized why Jawblade is a shark with fists. Apart from it being TOTALLY AWESOME, he had to have arms and fists so that the Heroes can use their Hero Cuffs on him.

[ZORK64]

Nice review! It's really interesting to see Jawblade in plastic, he looks way less bulky than I thought he would.

Regarding his jaw... I think it's a piece from Bionicle. Bitil and Gorast were using it as feet, if I recall correct.

[Ceroknight]

I think this is the worse set you reviewed so far LuxorV

The set seems to look like it hasn't been finished

Great review though!

[Rocketbilly]

Your review has really made me warm to this set. I like the colour scheme and the recolored pieces are very nice. The way his jaw opens is great. If I get this figure, I may end up converting him to a quadruped,just to see how it goes.

[Nightshroud99]

I had no idea these were coming out so soon.

However, I still am not a fan of Jawblade, even though I love sharks I just don't think he works.

[Studs Not On Top]

Thanks for the review. Jawblade looks pretty cool, I just wish his body was thicker.

I'm glad LEGO put a lot of work into their combiners. Now they could be a major selling point of the sets.

[Flobnomdob]

Good review but what confuses me is how on earth would a robot/ creature FUNCTION with such a strange anatomy?

I like sharks but this set is some type of insult to evolution by natural selection, I'm afraid.

[Front]

This is how I like to pose the set, balancing on three points.

[zero1312]

Nice review.....

I was so looking forward for this set, but I saw THIS :

Is this common or am I one unlucky bastard?

Edited December 22, 2011 by zero1312

[Lance]

This ones a little bit of a miss for me. May get it if I get all the others, or if its on sale.

Its just too simple in my opinion. But still, i'll probably have a change of heart in a few months.

[vexorian]

What's wrong with those pics? (zero1312's)

The re-coloured parts include the size 5 shell piece in trans neon red, the Bionicle hand trans neon red as well, and the wrist blades support used in Bulk 3.0 in flat silver.

A correction, the 5 shell piece in trans neon red/orange already appeared in Jetbug.

Edited December 23, 2011 by vexorian

[Aethersprite]

What's wrong with those pics? (zero1312's)

It seems the red from the blades "leaked" onto the silver handles.

A correction, the 5 shell piece in trans neon red/orange already appeared in Jetbug.

Another correction - it's actually a 6-long shell piece. Never noticed it in the review until you brought it up.

[zero1312]

It seems the red from the blades "leaked" onto the silver handles.

Correct.

Fortunately, I had some Revell Aluminum Silver paint left.

[wghost]

In the BZPower review of Jawblade the same 'misprint' can be seen.

Anyway, thanks for the review, creative set here. I'm not fond of the arms as they take away from it 'sharkness', but nice new head-mould and the use of blades as fins is clever. I think I would replace the front arms with the blade-fins to have a more sharkie-look, but it could turn out bland - never tried it in LDD.

Edited December 31, 2011 by wghost

[Aanchir]

The same color blending effect is visible on the blades in the Fire Lord set. I think the difference there is just that the transparent bright orange is a more "high-energy" color. It's easy to imagine that the flames are heating those "vent" areas to a glowing orange. With the red this effect doesn't seem to work quite as well.

[Bonehead74]

This guy would be a lot better if he had a laser on his head.

http://rlv.zcache.com/sharks_with_frickin_laser_beams_attached_postcard-p239174773458964175trdg_400.jpg

Edited January 2, 2012 by Bonehead74

[ZORK64]

The same color blending effect is visible on the blades in the Fire Lord set. I think the difference there is just that the transparent bright orange is a more "high-energy" color. It's easy to imagine that the flames are heating those "vent" areas to a glowing orange. With the red this effect doesn't seem to work quite as well.

While I never got the first Furno, the fire blades of my Fire Lord lack the colour blending and look totally fine.

[Cirkit]

This guy would be a lot better if he had a laser on his head.

http://rlv.zcache.com/sharks_with_frickin_laser_beams_attached_postcard-p239174773458964175trdg_400.jpg

This just wins things. I don't know what kind of things, it just does.

That would have been a cool idea though. A laser or some kind of launcher on or under him.. the Furnoblade combiner does that with the tail, we always have that option, but still.. (sigh).

-Cirkit