REVIEW: 44000 Furno XL

[ZORK64]

Sometimes, I have to wonder how heroic the heroes of the Hero Factory really are. I mean, sure, they fight all the baddies in the universe, but sometimes, their ways seem a bit... extreme.

For example, take a look at Pyrox. This guy is a very small, "minotaur"-like fellow. And what does Hero Factory to stop him? They send Furno XL, a huge guy with fiery weapons, after him!

Anyway, after Rocka and Stromer it's just fair that Furno also finally gets the XL treatment. How does he hold up against his rival and his mentor? Let's find out.

Set name: Furno XL

Set Number: 44000

Price: 19.99 Euro

Pieces: 106

Year of release: Late 2012/Early 2013

Size class: Titan set

The box bag

Unlike the titan sets of the past two waves, Furno XL comes also now in a bag instead of a box. It does make sense from various perspectives, but I must admit that I consider bags a bit impractical to storage parts in them (though I would never say that the LEGO boxes are perfect for that either, but I'm used to do so).

Furno looks already very nice on his bag, showing his neat tools and cape. Because you know, if you have to squish slimy brain slugs, make sure you look awesome while doing so.

The back. If you remember my review from Breez, you know the drill: A teaser on the combiner, an ad for the new game (you get whopping 1000 game points for Furno), the 1:1 picture of the helmet demonstrates the flip-up feature of his visor and the grey section underneath contains all that legal stuff and choking hazards and such.

Since I was totally psyched for the new pieces I forgot to make one of my typical "let's compare the new packaging with the packaging of an older set of similiar size" pictures. But this time I didn't forgot.

While Furno's bag is slightly smaller than Stormer XL's box, it's still quite large. Oddly enough, it doesn't look that big next to the bag of a medium sized set.

Enough about the bag, let's cut it open!

The parts

Man, counting pieces this time was a pain (I like to count them my own, alongside with using the parts list in the instructions).

Anyway, Furno XL contains 106 pieces, including the cape which isn't on this picture (as long as I didn't count wrong). Alongside with a bunch of (trans) red shells he got some silver, some TECHNIC parts and a fair share of black and dark grey. Oh, his head is a brighter green than the one Breez has.

New and interesting parts

The shield wings. As you can see, it got both an inside and an outside, so if the Surge's new form in that trailer will use these as wings, he'll hopefully get a mirrored version of this piece.

The detail on this piece is very nice, I also appreciate the fact that the two halves of the H in the center aren't that obvious as an H if you don't put them together.

Is this piece actually new or is it a piece from the TECHNIC sortiment? Anyway, it's friggin' awesome. Furno uses it for his sword.

This less blurry pic shows that you can put cross axles all the way through the holes on the side, but not in the center (as most of us probably already assumed).

Are these little thingies new or originate them from the Ninjago line (or maybe some other line)? I don't know, but they look nice.

Ah, the new blade. It looks great. I can't wait to get the blue version which Laval wields.

The new transparent flame piece. Furno got 3 of them, and they look gorgeous. Thanks to their somewhat generic form they could also work as lightning or some sort of ice blades, and if the same video that showed Surge is any indication, we'll most likely get transblue versions of these things sooner or later.

Furno's visor is transparent, but it comes with some neat printing to make Furno look even more knightly. That printing is also very vital, because without it...

...Furno's helmet looks just plain simple weird.

I mean, seriously, does he got 3 jaws or what? The relatively small eye holes don't help much either.

It looks less weird from the side though. But still, this helmet looks kinda ugly.

And the connection works the same way as with Breez' helmet.

Furno's cape looks like an oversized minifig cape. The other side fo it shines a bit in the light.

I'd like to mention at this point that Furno's cape achieved something I didn't expect - it made taking pictures of a red set with my cam even more annoying. You know, red plastic looks already kinda weird on my cam, and the dark, light-absorbing cape led my camera to the assumption that there's not enough light around, no matter how many lights I directed at Furno. I tell you, some of the pictures were really a pain to take.

If you're curios about the new head or the new armour, check my review of Breez out.

A few pics from the instructions

The cover, which clearly shows that Furno is a pyromaniac and kills the space slugs by setting the laboratory on fire. Once again, I must question the ideals and the motive of the so-called Hero Factory.

Also, Furno apparently uses the remains of the slaughtered Pyrox to become even more fiery. How barbaric!

Silly jokes aside, Furno's and Pyrox' combiner looks more like a beefed up Furno XL than a combination of the two. But that's not a bad thing, mind you.

(Unless you want to consider the sudden urge to get Pyrox as well just for this combiner a bad thing - then of course, it's a bad thing)

The build

Just like every other set I've built in this wave so far, Furno's build starts with putting some stuff on his torso...

...but being a larger set means also he gets more stuff put on. And that's not even all yet, but for now, we start building...

...the legs! Furno's legs are built in the exact same way as Stormer XL' legs, except for a few minor differences, like using regular hero feet instead of those large ones that were exclusive to Stormer.

One thing I find really weird about Furno's built is his shin armour. You could already tell from the bag and the front of the building instructions that he get the two 2.0 armours there, which aren't attached yet. Instead, the shin armour is one of the last parts you attach to Furno. Why so is beyond me.

After attaching the legs to the torso, we get some TECHNIC building.

It's not much, but it brings some variation into Furno's build.

The TECHNIC thingy becomes Furno's back.

At this point, Furno gets the cape, which is - strangely enough - attached underneath his shoulders.

Then he gets arms...

...which get also some armour.

Before he gets his weaponry, the building continues with his torso armour...

...his head...

...and the red shells on his torso.

Then we start with the hilt of the sword. You can already see on this picture that Furno doesn't hold his weapon at the very tip - a small, but great improvement.

It continues with the blade, one of the flame pieces and those spike things. After adding a trans-red shell to the hilt...

...it wanders to Furno's left arm.

Then it's time to build the shield, which is a bit simpler than the sword.

Take the two "wings", the flame pieces, a bit of TECHNIC, and it's done.

After adding the shield to his right arm, he finally gets shin armour and thus, Furno XL is ready to hunt some slugs.

The finished set

Thanks to the cape, the silver armour, the printing on the visor and the design of his weaponry, Furno XL looks very knightly (which is fitting, since his enemy Pyrox looks demon-like).

Since Furno uses a different design for his torso, he's much sleeker than Stormer XL, but they still share a few similiarites, like the legs and the position of his shoulders.

A picture from his back. As earlier mentioned, it's weird that his cape is attached underneath his shoulders.

His torso underneath the cape lacks back armour, but he doesn't look too hollow here due to his TECHNIC backpack.

Playability

Just as Stormer before him, Furno benefits greatly from the friction joints in his legs. However, he is slightly harder to pose since his feet are a bit sleeker.

If you remember my review of Stormer XL, you'll know that one of my few complaints with Stormer were his somewhat short arms. Furno remedies that problem... to some extent. His arms are slightly longer than Stormer's, but his shoulders seem a bit too far at his back and the red shells on his torso armour tend to get into the way when you try to aim his arms straight forward. It's not terrible though, mostly because his impressive sword and his mighty shield helpt to distinguish that issue, and it also depends on how you pose Furno's arms.

Size comparison with Breez. I excluded Ogrum from that picture because he's slightly shorter than Breez, and I took my other titans already months ago apart.

Final thoughts

Furno XL uses Stormer XL' design and tweaks it for great effect, which results in a very fantastic titan. While I'm personally more a friend of Stormer's ice-theme, Furno is with no doubt the best of the three XL heroes yet. He comes with many cool (or should I say "hot"?) parts, a very good looking colour scheme and a great design (he's a knight, after all).

In short, no matter what kind of villians are terrorizing your area, Furno XL is more a than a worthy opponent for all evil out there.

...and maybe he's even a worthy opponent for some heroes?

(I usually don't make pictures featuring something non-LEGO, but I couldn't resist to make this one)

Edited December 28, 2012 by ZORK64

[Jetrax99]

Excellent review Zork! Can't wait for Ogrum. Surprisingly enough, I actually like Furno's helmet. It shows once again the LEGO is doing a great job giving the helmets an updated look while keeping a classic feel to them.

[Zachattacx]

Great review,the comical jokes about fire and murdering the brains and Pyrox were hillarious,overall this set is pretty good and the whole back thing doesn't hurt this set IMO thanks to the cape,though the legs look horrible when compared to the rest of the body.

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Whew...man...what a manly figure.

Joking aside, this guy's actually kinda cool. His helmet is butt-ugly without the visor, but at least it resembles Bill's helmet more than...well, Tahu.

That sword and shield combo's pretty snazzy too.

[Vinyl Scratch]

!

Is that the Figma Skyward Sword Link figure?

But either way Furno XL looks really great, but I have to agree the helmet is ugh so UGLY. But there's not really much you can do about it. But thanks for the great review Zork!

[DOTM Shockwave]

Before reading your review, I wasn't sure if I wanted to get Furno XL or not, but now, thanks to your review, I'm going to buy him whenever I get the chance to.

As with every set I get, he'll be getting some mods done to him (mainly the shoulders, back, and foot regions)

[DraikNova]

Great review! Considering the inside-outside difference of the shield, this review has me worried too that Surge will end up with assymetrical wings.

About the set itself, it looks very nice and I´ll definitely pick it up.

[Shakar]

Great review! Yup, I'm even more sure his head is tr. neon green now. Seems like they're following the 4 colours the Glatorian head came in after all, which makes sense really.

The torso build is simple but fairly clever, I think. His back is butt-ugly, but oh well.

Man, that helmet is indeed ugly without the visor. The eyes should have been bigger.. the resemblance to his classic helmet is even more obvious IRL, however, and that is great.

The cape is attached is an unique way that makes its reuse on other figures kind of challenging, but surely I'll find a way out..

The shield halves are beautiful, nothing more to say on them.

9/10. I'd definitely replace the mace halves with some alternate shoulder armour and I feel the titanium metallic on his body should be silver instead, but he's confirmed as a must buy for me.

And nice job on all those jokes about HF's morality, I laughed IRL.

[Jetrax99]

Great review! Considering the inside-outside difference of the shield, this review has me worried too that Surge will end up with assymetrical wings.

About the set itself, it looks very nice and I´ll definitely pick it up.

Well, his wings are assymetrical in the trailer, so it's accurate.

[ZORK64]

!

Is that the Figma Skyward Sword Link figure?

But either way Furno XL looks really great, but I have to agree the helmet is ugh so UGLY. But there's not really much you can do about it. But thanks for the great review Zork!

Yes, that's figma Link. And he's one of the best figures in my collection, and after noticing that Furno is actually left-handed, I just knew I had to put the two into a picture.

Before anyone is asking: I do know that Link is right-handed in Skyward Sword, but I posed mine as a lefty mostly because I'm left-handed as well (and there aren't many video game heros around who are lefties).

(btw, I already expected a few posts about Link in this review)

As for Furno's oddly-shaped helmet: It looks actually very cool if you put the visor on it, and maybe I'm so harsh because I missed every set that contained Furno's original helmet, so I wasn't able to compare the two pieces.

I'm also glad to read that you all enjoyed the jokes I made during that review. Except for the opening, I came up with most of them while writing the review.

Well, his wings are assymetrical in the trailer, so it's accurate.

Aww, too bad.

[Aethersprite]

Thanks for the review ZORK94! I really appreciate the pics you took showing the TECHNIC construction on Furno's back. He looks to be my favourite set this wave, especially since I love the sword/shield combo. Looks like he might need some mods to fill in his crotch and I'm not a fan of the exposed pins on his back, but the cape hides both problems well. Looking forward to getting this guy!

[DraikNova]

Darn, I was hoping for symmetrical wings on Surge.

[Jetrax99]

Darn, I was hoping for symmetrical wings on Surge.

Well, blame LEGO for not making molds for the wings to be double sided.

Edited December 23, 2012 by Jetrax99

[Ceroknight]

Thank you for the review! Looks like a cool set and I'm one of the odd people who likes the helmet without the visor haha

The back is weird as people mentioned but I love the fire pieces!

[Kronos]

What's the part # from the instructions for this?

Edited February 9, 2013 by Kronos

[stupidlol]

How's the review for Ogrum going? So excited to see the combiner!!

[bacem]

wow! great review. now i'm falling in love even more with Furno XL!!

[dviddy]

Classic red exo-force arms!

[Jetrax99]

Just did a build in LDD using this design and figured out a solution for back armor. On the bottom of the cross axles the hold the shoulders and cape on, put a single ball joint (the one used on the chests of the Toa Mata) and pop on a size 5 armor piece. Anything larger won't fit, and anything smaller is, well......a bit too small.

[Rocketbilly]

Thanks for the great review!

I thought the figure looked a bit too busy and cluttered when I first saw the first images of this set months ago, but your review shows him in a diiferent light - I actually really like how the shield looks now, before I thought it looked pretty random (I was expecting it to have some sort of spinning function, actually). I still don't like the sword much but due to that lovely "hilt" piece I can see myself having fun modding mine to be more to my tastes so I'm fine with that. The only thing I don't really like is the lower leg armour and the colour scheme in general could perhaps do with refining a little, I suppose but they're rather easy to fix...

[DraikNova]

Well, blame LEGO for not making molds for the wings to be double sided.

I do blame LEGO.

Edited December 23, 2012 by DraikNova

[Aanchir]

Well, blame LEGO for not making molds for the wings to be double sided.

To be fair, making parts double-sided can take some doing, since it means it has to be very flat in most places. Solid chunks of plastic don't work very well when it comes to injection-molding. I do believe it could have been better-handled (Brutaka's sword and Furno's 1.0 weapon, while not 100% symmetrical, handle their asymmetry nicely), but as for it not being totally symmetrical I'm not too bothered by it.

Classic red exo-force arms!

Well, they're the remolded kind with thicker supports, but since they're a new color for that piece and thus not required to match ones already in people's collections I doubt it makes a difference to anyone.

Great review. I really like Furno's new helmet (the forehead looks weird, but the face is very nice IMO). Furno as a whole cuts an imposing figure, and has some great weapons to boot-- certainly more refined-looking than Stormer XL's sword, which while creative didn't really perform its function as well as it probably should have.

It kind of frustrated me that the review kept calling the transparent shells trans-red, since typically that's the term used to refer to the trailing end of his flame pieces, not that shell color (which is called either Trans-Neon Orange in Bricklink taxonomy or Transparent Fluorescent Reddish-Orange in TLG's terms).

I agree the way his shoulders are built over top of the cape is weird, but I'm assuming it's an easy fix if you've got some Technic half-module bushings.

[Logan McOwen]

THAT HELMET

WHAT DID THEY DO TO HIM

[ZORK64]

What's the part # from the instructions for this?

It's 6022718.

How's the review for Ogrum going? So excited to see the combiner!!

Uh, I'm afraid it will be a bit delayed. I haven't started on the combiner yet (still need to get the instructions), and because of christmas preparations I hadn't the time yet to write the review either.

Maybe I'll write the review today and add the pics for the combiner whenever I built it.

[Devorath]

It's 6022718.

Uh, I'm afraid it will be a bit delayed. I haven't started on the combiner yet (still need to get the instructions), and because of christmas preparations I hadn't the time yet to write the review either.

Maybe I'll write the review today and add the pics for the combiner whenever I built it.

Yes, do!