Review: 2192 DrillDozer

[LuxorV]

Set name: DrillDozer

Set Number: 2192

Price: 12.99 $, 12.99 Euro

Pieces: 61

Year of release: 2011

Links: Peeron, Bricklink and Brickset

The Box

Front

Like this year, the medium sized Villains for 2011 come in boxes as opposed to canisters like the Heroes do.

DrillDozer's box art is quite ‘cold’ when compared to that of the new Hero Pods, having flames only in the lower part of the background, where they are supposed to represent heat/explosions caused by the Villain drilling through the city floor. The rest is some sort of un-defined, quite blurry technological environment. The colours are not bad, but I would have preferred something more going on there, like in the Hero Pods’ background. I can only suppose they chose to have it this way so it does not distract the buyer from DrillDozer’s figure itself.

Back

This looks way better. The main shot shows DrillDozer fighting Nex 2.0 inside some oil refinery or power plant, with explosions going on at the Villain’s back. The rightmost part has a picture of the shooting function and introduces us to the new Dark/Gun Metallic Grey shooter pieces we’ll see better later on.

Sides

The sides show some details of the front art and usual LEGO text and warnings.

Size comparison

I’m always amazed by the difference in size between boxed and canister sets. This shot would have you expect DrillDozer to be almost twice the size of a Hero, which unfortunately (or fortunately for our Heroes) is not, but the number of pieces actually is the double.

Contents

Inside

As expected from a boxed set, the parts are enveloped in plastic bags, with the exception of the main body frame and the flexible ridged tubing piece.

Out of 61 parts, only 7 are nor new molds or recolours (the Flexible Ridged Tubing in Red, the two Axle 2 Notched in Red, the Technic Axle Pin without Friction Ridges Lengthwise in Tan, the Axle 5.5 With Stop in Dark Bley, the Axle Connector Smooth in Black, and the Glatorian Head in Trans-Neon Orange.

Recoloured parts

Recoloured parts in this set include the Cone Spiral Jagged/Power Miners Drill in Light Metallic Grey, the Spike Flexible 3.5L in Red, the over mentioned two Thornax Launcher Halves in Dark/Gun Metallic Grey, two 2 x 3 Axle Connector with Tooth in Black, and the Zamor Sphere in a marbled pattern of Red and Bright Orange.

Detailed views of the new marbled Zamor sphere. The leftmost view reminds me of Jupiter, actually.

New parts

Connectors

In addition to a standard HF 2011 main body piece, there are a number of ‘limb’ connectors in both Black (common to all the sets in this line) and Red (limited to Villains’ sets.

As better seen in Evo 2.0’s review, they all sport a set of small holes (three per side with respect to the front/back orientation of the parts) on the ball end. I think this is meant to reduce shock stress upon connection. Indeed, they snap in place more easily and with less effort.

This is one of the best new pieces, in my opinion, since it can be connected to any classic technic part with holes, allowing the use of the new socket-and-ball together with the old ones. I’m sure MOCers will find it very useful.

Head/Mask/Helmet

This is one of the most debated parts from the new line. As some guessed from the preliminary pictures that floated around the net during last months, the helmet piece (let’s call it this way for simplicity) has two masks (or faces) on it (one is DrillDozer’s and the other one is Fire Lord’s). This makes it very long and somewhat awkward in some poses. I for one find it quite interesting, but I’m sure this new part will have its fans and opposers.

The head itself is made of 5 parts (two of the new connectors, two 2 x 3 Axle Connector with Tooth, a Glatorian head piece) onto which the Helmet is attached via a standard axle like the Glatorian masks.

Armour & Co.

The limb armour pieces comes in 4 sizes in this set: small (3 studs long), medium (5 studs long), large (6 studs long) and extra long (8 studs long) ones.

The body armour is a completely new part, and one of my favourite from the whole HF 2011 line. It is much like a Hockey Vest from the late sports sets, only bigger and better. It connects to the main body frame via two sockets under the shoulders.

Feet

These feet are way better than the Heroes’ ones according to me, as the have the axle connection like most BIONICLE ones, making them more useful for MOCs. The sculpturing details are also very nice.

Villain Logo

Much like a street gang, all the Villains in Fire Lord’s band have similar printed pieces. The fire-y pattern is pretty nice, and one could fancy the three lightning-like symbol represents the three lesser Villains under Fire Lord’s command.

Villain Core

If the Hero Core is what makes a Hero, than the Villain Core must be what makes a Villain. They look like corrupted Hero Cores, fused with the original armour and turned into sources of dark energy. The strange thing is they are used as armour parts too…

Weapons

DrillDozer is a real fighter machine, sporting three weapons to bring destruction to the Hero Factory universe.

The first weapon, and the most simple, is a sword like piece attached to what should be his left hand.

Than we have his signature drill right arm. We’ll see it better later on in the Building section. For now we can focalise on some interesting parts used to build it.

The flame part is made of slightly softer plastic (though not as soft as the ridged tubing or the spikes) and it has a very nice marbled (more properly flaming) Red and Bright Orange pattern.

The other main new part is this piece of plating which reminds me of a motor hood from some sort of generator thing. The detailing is very nice, and the Dark/Gun Metallic Grey is a great colour choice for this piece.

The third weapon, the back mounted launcher, will be shown later, as it does not involve new parts per se.

Instructions

Front Cover – We find the same art of the box front, plus a big Warning sign in a white text cell superimposed to the image. Again, in line with the box size, the instruction booklet is almost twice the size of the Heroes’ ones.

Back Cover – The usual ‘Buy some LEGO, take the survey and win more bricks’ add makes its appearance in the 2011 Villains’ sets, too. Some could notice this page is rotated of 90° with respect to the rest of the booklet.

Random page – The instructions are standard fare for a HF Villain set.

Pieces count/overview – The Dark/Gun Metallic Grey is easier to distinguish from the Black on these instructions when compared with the Heroes’ ones. Well done!

Fore last pages – Here we see some interesting bits of info, like the full names of the Heroes; of special interest are the two new ones: Nathan Evo and Julius Nex.

Building

Start

Unlike many other characters, his build starts with armouring the main body, instead of adding the limbs. As said, the Hockey Vest piece attaches via two socket joints under the shoulders, and the Villain Core is held in place by to of the new ‘rod’ connectors typical of the HF 2011 line.

Adding Legs and Feet

We proceed by adding the legs and feet pars and by armouring them. The asymmetrical look of the lower leg armour gives a nice look to the set so far.

Arms and Weapons

The next phase consists in building the arms and their built-in weapons: sword on the let and drill head on the right.

But wait! The right arm is not complete yet. For some reason, the drill head will be connected in the last step…

Head(s)

One of the most strange looking parts of this set is the head. We already saw how it is built. Now that we see it in place, the first thought is ‘Why does he have a giraffe neck?’ The reason is quite simple: being the Helmet piece so long, the neck needs to be extra long too, to allow for a good posing of the whole structure. Indeed, this solution grants a fair amount of mobility to the head.

Is that a tail or two?

We proceed buy building the tail (or third arm), which holds the launcher. But there is a second tail-like structure (in Red) above it. At first, I thought it was meant to connect with the actual tail to give it more strength.

Turns out I was right on the function, but wrong on the positioning. That big drill arm needs more strengthening than the tail does, so here we have the explanation for the ‘second tail’.

In these last two shots, we could get a glimpse of how the second face looks on the back of DrillDozer’s head.

Finished set

Front

By adding the spikes, the tubing and the drill head to the right arm’s weapon we complete the set. I really think this is a guy no robot would want to meet in a dark alley!

Back

The hockey vest piece grants this figure one of the best and most complete backs in the BIONICLE/Hero Factory group. Of course, the second face and the two tails somewhat get in the way, but they sure give DrillDozer an unique and easily recognisable look from all angles.

Posed

Come down here, if you have the guts!

DrillDozer looks very menacing and imposing in a number of poses. The only real weak spot is the neck: being so long it needs extra care in the positioning to look good.

Bonus images

What if I went as Fire Lord for Halloween?

Just a picture to see how DrillDozer looks with Fire Lord’s face front on. I think he seems somewhat sad this way. I surely prefer his actual face: more ruthless and menacing.

Final comments

Overall, DrillDozer is a really cool figure. He includes a number of useful the pieces that are excellent for MOCing. His design is pretty unique (reminds me a bit of the Glatorian 8983 Vorox set, only with the tail sword and launcher swiped) and the colour scheme is very effective for a fire-shooting Villain.

Colours scheme - 10/10 (The dark colours work always well on Villains, the marbled parts are nice additions and the Metallic Greys give off a neat mechanical feel.)

Parts - 9.5/10 (All the new parts look excellent and the joints work very smoothly; the only main discussion I can see will probably be about the head/helmet.)

Design - 10/10 (As said, very imposing and menacing appearance.)

Articulation - 9/10 (The head requires a certain care to get good poses, but all in all everything works pretty well.)

Quality - 10/10 (All the parts are of good quality.)

Overall: 48.5/50 Excellent

More pictures can be found in this Brickshelf gallery (once public).

Special thanks to TLG and the Hero Factory team.

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

[Front]

Great to see 2011 HF has hit the stores. I'll mail the set designer your review.

The head is supposed to be moved down as forward as possible. He is a hunchback character.

How does it feel to snap a shell onto the ball of a bone ? Try do it with one hand, and feel how the square will position the shell in one of the four solutions the square allows.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Front

[Superkalle]

I love to read your posts Front - you can't find anyone that know more about this then you

[Aanchir]

Love the marbled Zamors and red joints.

Just as the dark silver in Evo is 316 Titanium Metallic, the regular silver (light gray metallic) in Drilldozer is 315 Silver Metallic-- a new color that first appeared in summer 2010 sets including Hero Factory and Kingdoms.

Not totally satisfied with the drill arm-- I wish the flamethrower/engine piece acted as a "housing" for it and had a more solid connection. As it is, the joints end up looking thin and flimsy at the point where the drill and engine fail to meet.

[Mrlegoninja]

I haven't bought a HF set yet, but if I had a choice I would get this one.

Thanks for the review!

[Vraptor140]

I wouldn't say he's perfect but is still a nice canister sized set. But I worry about how the drill arm poses with the extra part, and it's a bit sad that we don´t get any actual hands (he could have one to hold the sword).

And the foot piece is not new, it's a Bionicle Stars piece.

[MightySlickPancake]

Great review, But I still dont like the set . At the begining of the review it was promising but I just think the finished set looks silly. Although its not all bad as the new parts look quite nice.

Thanks, CB

[LuxorV]

Thanks everybody for the comments. I agree this guy is not perfect, but it's a nice set, quite unique and with lots interesting parts. Keep in mind this uses a new building system, and it's just one of the first experiments with it

But I worry about how the drill arm poses with the extra part, and it's a bit sad that we don´t get any actual hands (he could have one to hold the sword).

The drill arm is quite posable even if it has the 'second tail' attached; it gives stength but does not hinder the movements much.

And the foot piece is not new, it's a Bionicle Stars piece.

Thanks for pointing it out. I totally skipped that sub-line, so I missed to recognise it!

[indyman09]

Great review. This is actually one of those bad guys you really get scared off

[Masked Builder]

Nice work! The new boxes look amazing. Can't wait to see them for myself!

[Phantoka_Chirox]

Great to see 2011 HF has hit the stores. I'll mail the set designer your review.

The head is supposed to be moved down as forward as possible. He is a hunchback character.

How does it feel to snap a shell onto the ball of a bone ? Try do it with one hand, and feel how the square will position the shell in one of the four solutions the square allows.

Hit the stores? wut?

[vexorian]

How does it feel to snap a shell onto the ball of a bone ? Try do it with one hand, and feel how the square will position the shell in one of the four solutions the square allows.

Shouldn't the new system sets (which I think use the new ball socket) use the bowling ball joint as well? Or do they use it already but it wasn't point out in the reviews? If not, is it planned to add the bowling ball holes to the system pieces in the future?

Edited December 1, 2010 by vexorian

[Front]

Shouldn't the new system sets (which I think use the new ball socket) use the bowling ball joint as well? Or do they use it already but it wasn't point out in the reviews? If not, is it planned to add the bowling ball holes to the system pieces in the future?

The system set we saw with the new ball cups Cursed Cobra in Brickset, uses, yes what we call a ball cup. In the new 2011 version. Ball cups go back to the start of Bionicle, but has seen slight variations during the years.

The new connection type you see on the underside of the shells, are what we call a ball snap. So the new system has (1) balls with a cross axle, (2) balls between two supports for enhanced rotation, (3) balls with squares (used to position ball snaps), (4) ball cups with rounded rear edge that can rotate between (2), (5) ball cups with square edge, like new hand, feet etc. (6) ball snap.

[squidman85]

Wow,those new pieces are awesome.Mostly,torso and his head.

[prateek]

This guy's head is huge, but other than that, this is an awesome figure. The new Zamors are nicely coloured, and the new ball joints look really nice

[SpiderSpaceman]

(3) balls with squares (used to position ball snaps)

ah see it took me until now to realize that. well that's cool. I thought all that armor was gonna be askew all the time. silly me

[vexorian]

The system set we saw with the new ball cups Cursed Cobra in Brickset, uses, yes what we call a ball cup. In the new 2011 version. Ball cups go back to the start of Bionicle, but has seen slight variations during the years.

The new connection type you see on the underside of the shells, are what we call a ball snap. So the new system has (1) balls with a cross axle, (2) balls between two supports for enhanced rotation, (3) balls with squares (used to position ball snaps), (4) ball cups with rounded rear edge that can rotate between (2), (5) ball cups with square edge, like new hand, feet etc. (6) ball snap.

Well, I am talking about the new balls themselves. Specifically about the three holes they have for which I'll refer to as bowling balls because that's what they look like in pics. I've been wondering if these holes are in the 2011 system sets or if they will be used in them one day.

Edited December 2, 2010 by vexorian

[ZORK64]

Great review!

Due to his interesting parts, DrillDozer is my favourite Villian for now.

[Front]

Well, I am talking about the new balls themselves. Specifically about the three holes they have for which I'll refer to these balls as bowling balls because that's what they look like in pics. I've been wondering if these holes are in the 2011 system sets or if they will be used in them one day.

Sorry, I misunderstood your post.

No, the SYSTEM bricks (2x2 with one ball and 2x2 with 2 balls) have not been updated. I don't think there are any plans to add holes to them.

I might later explain a bit about why there are holes in the balls on the new parts used in HF 2011.

[4 Diamonds]

Aweome! This means that I might have to get DrilDozer. Marbled zamors, new flames, recoloured pieces... Wonderful!

[Target Head]

Thanks for the review! Drilldozer is my favorite of the fire villains, ans if I get any axtra money, I think I'll buy him if I can find him!

But anyway I agree about him looking very menacing, maybe the most of the four fire villains!

Great review!