Brickthing Posted June 29, 2011 Set name: Raw-Jaw Set Number: 2232 Price: $12.99USD , 12.99 Euro Pieces: 52 Year of release: 2011 Peeron Bricklink Brickset “Watch out heroes! Recon has picked up a huge beast header your way. With the agility and speed of a gorilla and armed with what look like elephant tusks, Raw-Jaw is going to take some stopping, did we mention the corrupted Quaza spike on his back!” The Box Front Raw-Jaw’s box is incredibly colourful compared to the previous waves of villain sets – a bright green rock/leather background now adorns all the summer box sets, on which Raw-Jaw’s red stands out well. Raw-Jaw is given a strategic position that imposes and increases his bulk, but his CG form can’t distract you for long from the beautiful artwork behind him. The background consists of a techno-textured tree branch, faded green vines, mist and three more Raw-Jaws reminiscent of Glatorian box arts. Aided by being the European box version, the box front is very clear and effective, with the bare minimum amount of text. The box has the same dimensions as previous smaller villains – I’m not sure what happened to the shift to smaller box sizes with the Fire villains, because it hasn’t been carried over to these sets. Back The back of the box features Raw-Jaw fighting Bulk 3.0, as part of a short comic explaining why all the Heroes are now animals. I think the comic format makes better use of space than the previous Fire villain boxes, although may seem unnecessary to people familiar with the concept of Hero Factory and confusing to people who aren’t. Regardless, the artwork is very well done, especially the shot of Quatros exploding in an exaggerated version of The Shattering. Oddly, the upgraded Hero is Furno 1.0, unlike other villain comics that show a 2.0 Hero being refitted. Side One side of the box has some more green textures, safe-guards to make the identity as a HERO FACTORY LEGO product always clear, and some fun translated names. My digital translating skills lead me to think that “Mandibula Feroz” relates to Iron Jaw in Italian, while “Troglobibulas” only lead me to “Tragedi Bulat” which I’m fairly sure is incorrect. The other side of the box has all the legal text, but because you all know how to say “Warning! Choking hazard. Small parts.” in 29 languages I thought that I needn’t take a photo of that side. Top The top of the box is quite empty aside from a 1:1 image of Raw-Jaw’s headpiece. The head is actually slightly larger than 1:1, but the perspective of placing the actual piece in front of the image will make it seem to be the right size. Anyway, enough drivel about the box! Let’s tear the thing open and see what’s inside! Contents What's inside The box is well packed with two bags of pieces, instructions and a couple of bigger pieces that didn’t fit in a bag. The instructions use the same image as the front of the box, although there is a cartoon Witch Doctor head that despite being a very nice graphic, isn’t consistent with the style of other box-art/graphics. Instructions Pictured here is a non-random instruction page, selected to show the addition of shell size clarification to building steps. There are no similar sized pieces that you can confuse the red 5 shell with. The background is a non-distracting green with a faint Hero Factory logo watermark. The part inventory is wider than other Hero/Villain inventories, however most pieces don’t come in quantities greater than 2 or 3. The back pages show heroes and villains from other boxes along with an ad for the Hero Factory “Movie” DVD. Also in the back pages there is an ad for the Hero Factory website, including the comic maker that probably would’ve only just been finished by the time these instructions went to print. There is also a teaser for the next installment of Creep Crushers, showing that once again the Heroes will have unique codes in their canisters for use online. Finally, there is a non-teaser ad for the Hero Recon Team program, which is now running steadily. There’s no indication of any updates to the program, but it’s probably far too early to hear about that. Pieces All the pieces have been spilt out of the bag, and you’ll immediately notice a few things about them. There are lots of red pieces (the most in a single set so far, if we don’t count Witch Doctor’s ball joints), and there aren’t many bones – how will Raw-Jaw be made? As you probably already know or can see from the box art, Raw-Jaw is going to be short. Despite that, there are still many nice pieces in this set. There are only a few recoloured pieces, which are the 2 Dark-Grey 5L Bones and Red Ben 10 feet. I can’t see it being the most useful recolour of this wave, but it feels good to have this piece in red…Perhaps it is because of how it fits in perfectly with the HF aesthetic, or maybe I’ve always wanted this piece to customize my Jet Ray figure. There aren’t any new/titan bones in the set, but there is a C-bone and three 3L bones to add to my slowly growing collection – soon I’ll have enough for Doc Oc tentacles! The red pieces that aren’t new in this set are easy to come by through Furno 2.0 and any Fire Villain, however the Gun-metal pieces are very nice to have multiples in a single set, each type previously available singularly with Nitroblast or Fire Lord. Exo-force arms have made a strong comeback in the 3.0 wave, featuring 8 Metallic-Silver arms for Raw-Jaw’s fingers. I always welcome these useful pieces, and hopefully their reintroduction to action figures may lead to new similar pieces with alternate connection points. Raw-Jaw has a grand total of 4 Technic pieces, showing how fast the 2.0 building system has become independent from BIONICLE/TECHNIC. Even the titan sets are losing their TECHNIC origins, but that’s a story for a different review… The above pieces are probably the main reason people will have their eyes on this set, either for MOCing or for the character – the new hand and shield shells, provided in duplicate. Despite their strange shapes, there are many connection points and lots of space underneath to allow the pieces to attach easily to skeletons – for instance, the hand shells fit on Hero shoulders. The new spike armour pieces are the jungle version of the Fire villain flame pieces. I love the prehistoric spine/plated shell appearance to them. Unless you fancy these in lime, Raw-Jaw is the best set to get these new spike pieces, with 3 included. The other new pieces for Raw-Jaw are an infected quaza-spike, tusks, his head and his printed armour. The spike piece is made out of blended red and black soft plastic, and the red is translucent to a slight degree, meaning that it glows with an evil menace when backlit! When using both connection rods the spike holds well and comes out a lot easier than the flame/spike pieces, but unfortunately this means it has trouble staying fixed using only one connection rod. Thankfully that’s not a problem in most uses, including its use in this set. Raw-Jaw’s tusks surprisingly only have one TECHNIC axle connector, using potential space for more connection points for what appear to be rocket-boosters or exhaust vents. The piece is also used as wings, mandibles and claws, but the single connection point makes this piece still feel very specialized. One of my favourite aspects about the HF this year are the printed armour shells, and Raw-Jaw’s is no exception. The printing in red, white and black has a very high quality and detail, showing a technological brain casing covered with a leathery hide on the edges. It’s nice to see that the detail continues even in the area that will be covered by the headpiece. Raw-Jaw’s headpiece returns to the tradition of unique headpieces, although now with a new double-pin connection point. The detail of the head is slightly simpler than other HF pieces, but it carries a lot of expression – that of an angry mechanical gorilla/elephant hybrid. The underside of the head shows the new style of connections for Villains and Heroes alike, although sadly none of the smaller villain heads fit onto Hero heads (I don’t know about Witch Doctor’s). As much as I’m saddened by the loss of BIONICLE-style helmets, the new solution fits the new system and works very well, as I’ll demonstrate in the next section… Build It doesn’t take long to put Raw-Jaw together, and the new system removes the need for any tricky TECHNIC arrangements – you simply snap together balls and sockets and watch him assemble before your eyes: Let's go! Almost there…Don’t worry Raw-Jaw, I’ve got your back! And he is complete! The build wasn’t long or challenging, but that’s no longer the intent of action figures. It was refreshing to build a less humanoid figure and neat to use the tail bone ball on the torso, which has only been used by Raw-Jaw and Waspix so far. Completed Set Firstly, Raw-Jaw is short, not even higher than a Hero’s shoulder. And he can’t really increase his height by standing on two feet because his head doesn’t articulate that far down. But he looks just as a gorilla-mammoth should do, and carries all the playability and poses of one. Despite the spike being positioned like an RC antenna, it flows well with the body and tusks so doesn’t seem too out of place and distracting. By the way, I have no thumbs. For most gorilla-fist-swatting poses, Raw-Jaw will need to keep one hand on the ground due to his centre-of-mass being quite far forward. However, his hollow hand/arm shells and counter-weight tail make it much easier to keep him balanced on three/two limbs. RAAAAAAW!!!TM One of the more puzzling elements of Raw-Jaw’s design for me is whether he actually has a lower jaw. The tusks swing open in a very impressive arc as he lets rip his name-saking raw, but he then looks as if his mouth is closed as before, with his tusks hanging down to the ground. It would have been nice if a new piece/size 3 armour has used to give him a bottom jaw, but it doesn’t take too long to add those pieces yourselves. Addition: The tusks are meant to be one axle back on the Hordika neck, so while he does have a lower jaw, it's very small and simplified compared to his upper jaw. In the first close-up above, you can see the effect of the head-piece and shell coupling – not only does the shell gives the socket for the head to articulate, but it also becomes the eyes of Raw-Jaw. Depending on the angle, Raw-Jaw’s eyes are either the silver of the shell or the empty space between the eye sockets and the silver “eyebrows”. With these new head-pieces the eye colour can be any colour that (any shape) armour pieces come in, although size 5 shells fit best and only printed shells will hide the plastic colour on the back of the head. Transparent green or orange shells don’t work well with Raw-Jaw’s head colour, but hopefully there will be more bright-trans-shells available in the future. Raw-Jaw charges forth with speed, power and an unyielding determination to rescue his stolen clover. The design of his back is very overshadowed by his front, which helps distract from the exposed socket and torso-armour that is unavoidable one brick too high from the body. The tail is limited in articulation if you don’t want the tail socket to lever the back bone ajar. Activate Rahkshi flight mode! Final Thoughts Colour Scheme - 8/10 – There’s nothing horribly wrong about Raw-Jaw’s colour scheme, and it’s a big improvement over the fire villains that were a jumble of fire/metallic colours. It is strange that the fingers and back armour is silver instead of gun-metal, but otherwise all of Raw-Jaw’s colours fit well. However, the simple fact that Raw-Jaw is red and metallic after all three previous villains were red and metallic is disappointing, compared to BIONICLE canister sets that ranged across the spectrum and provided recolours more equally. (I’d also like to see Raw-Jaw in yellow! ) Parts - 8/10 – Raw-Jaw has the middle amount of pieces out of the three villains, and while 8 of them are tiny exo-force arms, there are also four large hand/shield shells. There are no Shadow Matoran clawed feet and very few pieces that aren’t recoloured/new to 2011, so none of Raw-Jaw’s pieces go to pieces that you don’t want. However, many of the red pieces in Raw-Jaw that aren’t new will be pieces that you don’t need if you bought some of the Fire Villains, mainly the red bones and starships/villain cores. Raw-Jaw comes with a wide range of 3.0 parts (spikes, spines, hands, shields, tusks & headpiece), which makes him one of the best sets for getting a taste of the new pieces, but the quantity and recolours of certain pieces in Waspix and Fangz would be more valuable to you collection if you’re buying multiple 3.0 sets rather than just one. Design - 9/10 – It’s been a long time since the villains in a LEGO action figure story were peaceful animals mind controlled by a jealous evil force, and I’m very glad and nostalgic to see it come back again! Although he’s small, Raw-Jaw captures the essence of a gorilla-mammoth perfectly using pieces that mostly weren’t designed exclusively for him. The lower back is rather under-built, but Raw-Jaw draws all the attention to his maw and paws and doesn’t disappoint there. There were even some challenging moments in the building process, such as making the jaw correctly. Articulation - 9/10 – Thanks mainly to his fingers, Raw-Jaw has a massive 26 points of articulation, that allow him to take up any pose that a gorilla should be able to made (even chest thumping!). The only issue is the tail that can slightly disconnect body pieces by articulating. Quality - 10/10 – I’m still immensely pleased that the sockets don’t break anymore, at least for Raw-Jaw. The printed armour is also done very well, with the red and black solidly masking the silver underneath. Overall - 44/50 – Raw-Jaw is a very nice set, and would make an excellent first 3.0 set to aquire. His stature and build does a great job at being powerful and gorilla-like, and the only thing that could detract from that is his size. However, many quadruped predators in real life such as lions, wolves, dwarf elephants or velociraptors are shorter than humans and that doesn’t make them any less intimidating in a one-on-one encounter. But that’s what we have Heroes for, right? High-Res Photo Gallery! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mesonak Posted June 29, 2011 (edited) With Raw-Jaw's namesake, the technic connecters that attach his tusks to the Hordika neck are one-axle hole too low. Move them up one, as dictated in the instructions, and you'll see that the Hordika neck itself acts as Raw-Jaw's lower jaw, and he can open and close his mouth at will. Excellent review as usual, and many thanks for the good quality pictures. Looks like a very good set. Edited June 29, 2011 by Mesonak Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brickthing Posted June 29, 2011 With Raw-Jaw's namesake, the technic connecters that attach his tusks to the Hordika neck are one-axle hole too low. Move them up one, as dictated in the instructions, and you'll see that the Hordika neck itself acts as Raw-Jaw's lower jaw, and he can open and close his mouth at will. So they are...I'm too old for instructions - Maybe it's my bias from the way I built it earlier, but it doesn't help show his jaw when his mouth is wide open. It does look better when his mouth is closed though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aethersprite Posted June 29, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the comprehensive review! I love the second last picture, hehe. I love this set, definitely my favourite of the 3.0 line. I have one peeve, though - his tail looks super odd. I agree about the lower jaw - I didn't realize the Hordika neck served as his lower jaw until I saw a video review of it moving up and down. I wish Lego made it more prominent, since it is his namesake. Also, could I request a pic of him standing on 2 feet and looking forward, if that isn't too much to ask for? Thanks! Edited June 29, 2011 by Lockon Stratos Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LuxorV Posted June 29, 2011 Nice review, Brickthing! I have mixed feelings on this set, so I'm not sure if I'll get him. I'll wait for your review of Fangz to make a comparison ...My digital translating skills lead me to think that “Mandibula Feroz” relates to Iron Jaw in Italian ... [Language lecture] Actually, Raw Jaw translates as something like Mandibola Feroce in Italian. What you wrote is Spanish, I belive. Btw, litterally it means Ferocious Jaw, not Iron Jaw (which would be Mandibola di Ferro in Italian and Mandibula de Hierro in Spanish). [/Language lecture] But that’s what we have Heroes for, right? This is my favourite action shot (but you shoud know I'm partial towards wolves ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Front Posted June 29, 2011 Thank you for a great review, with really clear images. I've boosted a Raw Jaw by adding viking horns in each of the exoforce arms, giving him long finger nails. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prateek Posted June 29, 2011 This is great! I really like this one. Unlike most other HFs, this one actually has a back Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bundalings Posted June 29, 2011 I think Raw Jaw will be the first I pick up. He has some design quirks, but I still like him a lot and he's got some great parts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toatyger Posted June 30, 2011 I like this guy a LOT, but his back armor is just begging for a revamp. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brickthing Posted June 30, 2011 Also, could I request a pic of him standing on 2 feet and looking forward, if that isn't too much to ask for? Thanks! His position in the building pictures has him looking just about as far down as he can, so if he were standing any straighter he wouldn't be able to look forwards. It's a shame that he can't, because gorillas can walk standing up, although elephants can't. [Language lecture] Actually, Raw Jaw translates as something like Mandibola Feroce in Italian. What you wrote is Spanish, I belive. Btw, litterally it means Ferocious Jaw, not Iron Jaw (which would be Mandibola di Ferro in Italian and Mandibula de Hierro in Spanish). [/Language lecture] Thanks for the translation and lecture! It seems a shame though that the translation is fairly direct - It would've been neat if the names in other languages were puns as well, even at the cost of being less related to the English name. Thank you for a great review, with really clear images. I've boosted a Raw Jaw by adding viking horns in each of the exoforce arms, giving him long finger nails. Trying out viking horns as well as Atlantis claws and Hero spikes, it's interesting the effect that each have. Because he then needs to knuckle-walk to avoid breaking his claws, he gains a neat sloth vibe, especially with the Atlantis claws (which can now be used in Silver ). I prefer him without it though, because I think it reduces the focus on his tusks. I also wonder if Barraki eyes could help his fingers, if they're ever released in silver. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Front Posted June 30, 2011 .............. I also wonder if Barraki eyes could help his fingers, if they're ever released in silver. Hehe, you wish. I shall tell some of the designers how cool these spherical eyes could be as silver (315) attachments on dark silver (316) shells (armors), or visa versa. Maybe it could make sense in future sets, although you know we tend to like spiky things, not soft round That's the cool thing about the new shells, you can add inexpensive small teeth etc. in the two shaft holes. I think adding Barraki eyes in trans-red will look terrible, although that was my first thought right after I built the set. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aethersprite Posted June 30, 2011 His position in the building pictures has him looking just about as far down as he can, so if he were standing any straighter he wouldn't be able to look forwards. It's a shame that he can't, because gorillas can walk standing up, although elephants can't. Ah, I see. Thanks then! Can't wait to get this guy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted June 30, 2011 My digital translating skills lead me to think that “Mandibula Feroz” relates to Iron Jaw in Italian, while “Troglobibulas” only lead me to “Tragedi Bulat” which I’m fairly sure is incorrect. Sometimes it's easier to translate names by using cognates in a more familiar language than by looking for similar words in a foreign language. In this case, "Troglodíbulas" would be derived from cognates of the English word "Troglodyte", meaning a caveman or monster, and some cognate of the Latin "mandibula", meaning jaw. The word "troglodyte" is often associated with primates-- "Pan troglodytes" is even the species name of the common chimpanzee. InstructionsPictured here is a non-random instruction page, selected to show the addition of shell size clarification to building steps. There are no similar sized pieces that you can confuse the red 5 shell with. The background is a non-distracting green with a faint Hero Factory logo watermark. IMO, more clarification is never a bad thing. You won't believe how many times I've had to rebuild a disassembled System set using parts from my collection and had to consult Bricklink to learn the correct length of a Technic axle that didn't have a 1:1 image or length marked in the instructions. Just because a part is easily identifiable from a set's contents does not mean in the future it will be easily identifiable from parts in other sets! There aren’t any new/titan bones in the set, but there is a C-bone and three 3L bones to add to my slowly growing collection – soon I’ll have enough for Doc Oc tentacles! The red pieces that aren’t new in this set are easy to come by through Furno 2.0 and any Fire Villain, however the Gun-metal pieces are very nice to have multiples in a single set, each type previously available singularly with Nitroblast or Fire Lord. Exo-force arms have made a strong comeback in the 3.0 wave, featuring 8 Metallic-Silver arms for Raw-Jaw’s fingers. I always welcome these useful pieces, and hopefully their reintroduction to action figures may lead to new similar pieces with alternate connection points. Just a minor gripe about nomenclature. If you're using Bricklink's nomenclature, it's Flat Silver. In TLG's nomenclature, it's 315 Silver Metallic (or just Silver Metallic). Any other mixture of terms can cause confusion. The above pieces are probably the main reason people will have their eyes on this set, either for MOCing or for the character – the new hand and shield shells, provided in duplicate. Despite their strange shapes, there are many connection points and lots of space underneath to allow the pieces to attach easily to skeletons – for instance, the hand shells fit on Hero shoulders. That's awesome news about the hand shells! I can't wait until MOCs using these new parts in creative ways start to show up! The new spike armour pieces are the jungle version of the Fire villain flame pieces. I love the prehistoric spine/plated shell appearance to them. Unless you fancy these in lime, Raw-Jaw is the best set to get these new spike pieces, with 3 included. I personally prefer these to the flame pieces, as they make it obvious what they're trying to be. The flame pieces had a texture that made them seem solid and ornamental, but their applications in sets made it clear they were supposed to resemble actual flames. In BIONICLE there was a similar sort of ambiguity in most fo the fire-themed tools, but since the fire characters could generate flames from their tools whether or not they had a physical "blade", this wasn't so bothersome-- you could just imagine it either way. Not so for the fire pieces on the Fire Villains, which seem awkward and pointless as mere ornamentation, but which are too angular to really resemble flames. The fact that they tended to emerge from the outside rather than the inside of the engine pieces made them all the more awkward. Sorry for the off-topic rant, but I just wanted to express one of the reasons I'm so much happier with these spike pieces as details. Another reason to like them is that it looks like they would fit more snugly as armor details on most shell pieces. In this respect, they're a lot more like the "fuel cap" pieces from the Fire Villains or from Stormer 3.0, another piece I liked a great deal more than the flames. Raw-Jaw’s tusks surprisingly only have one TECHNIC axle connector, using potential space for more connection points for what appear to be rocket-boosters or exhaust vents. The piece is also used as wings, mandibles and claws, but the single connection point makes this piece still feel very specialized. Good point. I'm not sure how I feel about this, either. Its unusual geometry limits its use even further beyond the limited connection points. But at the same time it's a lovely part design and it works well in the sets that use it. Since no set has it in any huge quantity I can't picture these ending up being a huge burden to people who have sets containing this piece One of my favourite aspects about the HF this year are the printed armour shells, and Raw-Jaw’s is no exception. The printing in red, white and black has a very high quality and detail, showing a technological brain casing covered with a leathery hide on the edges. It’s nice to see that the detail continues even in the area that will be covered by the headpiece. I like these too. While they don't serve the same identifying function as the stickers in many 1.0 villains, this makes sense for these sets since they are species rather than individuals, and wild rather than part of HF civilization. They are also a lot more versatile than the printed parts from either previous wave of villains. I guess Fire Lord's cracked lava texture was pretty cool, but at the same time it didn't seem to fit the mechanical aesthetic of most HF sets and MOCs the same way these do. And the weird lightning logos of the other Fire Villains felt like an awkward halfway point between meaningful character identification and meaningless patterns. At least these patterns know what look they're going for. Raw-Jaw’s headpiece returns to the tradition of unique headpieces, although now with a new double-pin connection point. The detail of the head is slightly simpler than other HF pieces, but it carries a lot of expression – that of an angry mechanical gorilla/elephant hybrid.The underside of the head shows the new style of connections for Villains and Heroes alike, although sadly none of the smaller villain heads fit onto Hero heads (I don’t know about Witch Doctor’s). As much as I’m saddened by the loss of BIONICLE-style helmets, the new solution fits the new system and works very well, as I’ll demonstrate in the next section… I kind of like this new style of head piece and kind of don't. On one hand, I'm glad to be done with Glatorian heads. On the other hand, these helmets can't be used for very diverse head styles, although using this attachment method probably makes them work far better as armor or other details on a Hero Factory MOC than plus-rods did for the Fire Villains. There's also the problem Witch Doctor has, wherein his face looks hollow from all angles. While the skull look is cool, I'd like it if you couldn't just look into one eye socket and see all the way through the other eye socket. BuildIt doesn’t take long to put Raw-Jaw together, and the new system removes the need for any tricky TECHNIC arrangements – you simply snap together balls and sockets and watch him assemble before your eyes: Great build pictures! I love Raw-Jaw's design, although I have to admit that gap in his chest is a bit bothersome. I wonder if one of the fire villains' fuel cap pieces or one of Raw-Jaw's own spike pieces could have helped close up that gap a bit. And he is complete! The build wasn’t long or challenging, but that’s no longer the intent of action figures. It was refreshing to build a less humanoid figure and neat to use the tail bone ball on the torso, which has only been used by Raw-Jaw and Waspix so far. I'm glad he uses that "tail bone", but at the same time I don't like his tail. It feels odd to have such a bulky tail on a set based on an elephant (thin tails) or gorilla (no tails). It's also a bit odd how it's two bones long, with a bulging little shell on the end. One of the more puzzling elements of Raw-Jaw’s design for me is whether he actually has a lower jaw. The tusks swing open in a very impressive arc as he lets rip his name-saking raw, but he then looks as if his mouth is closed as before, with his tusks hanging down to the ground. It would have been nice if a new piece/size 3 armour has used to give him a bottom jaw, but it doesn’t take too long to add those pieces yourselves. Addition: The tusks are meant to be one axle back on the Hordika neck, so while he does have a lower jaw, it's very small and simplified compared to his upper jaw. Could you take some pictures of his correctly-built jaw in a couple positions? That's one of the things I wanted to see a review for, since I can't really judge for myself how it looks in real life or on LDD without the set's head piece at my disposal. Colour Scheme - 8/10 – There’s nothing horribly wrong about Raw-Jaw’s colour scheme, and it’s a big improvement over the fire villains that were a jumble of fire/metallic colours. It is strange that the fingers and back armour is silver instead of gun-metal, but otherwise all of Raw-Jaw’s colours fit well. However, the simple fact that Raw-Jaw is red and metallic after all three previous villains were red and metallic is disappointing, compared to BIONICLE canister sets that ranged across the spectrum and provided recolours more equally. (I’d also like to see Raw-Jaw in yellow! ) This is one thing that bothers me about the summer wave in general, not Raw-Jaw in particular (I think he looks great in red, and having pieces in the same color as ones we had in previous sets just makes my collection of Hero Factory sets a lot more versatile for building). Frankly, we have a lot of warm colors and very few cool colors in the summer wave-- after all, Breez and Surge were not included, so all we have are Nex's green (28 Dark Green), Scorpio's lime (119 Bright Yellowish Green), and Stormer's blue (23 Bright Blue), plus the hero name badges (48 Transparent Green). At the same time, it does feel nice with Bulk no longer being the only metallic-colored Hero, but I'd have really liked it if more of the villain sets had tried to compensate for the lack of cool colors among the Heroes. Parts - 8/10 – Raw-Jaw has the middle amount of pieces out of the three villains, and while 8 of them are tiny exo-force arms, there are also four large hand/shield shells. There are no Shadow Matoran clawed feet and very few pieces that aren’t recoloured/new to 2011, so none of Raw-Jaw’s pieces go to pieces that you don’t want. However, many of the red pieces in Raw-Jaw that aren’t new will be pieces that you don’t need if you bought some of the Fire Villains, mainly the red bones and starships/villain cores. Raw-Jaw comes with a wide range of 3.0 parts (spikes, spines, hands, shields, tusks & headpiece), which makes him one of the best sets for getting a taste of the new pieces, but the quantity and recolours of certain pieces in Waspix and Fangz would be more valuable to you collection if you’re buying multiple 3.0 sets rather than just one. I'm really happy with Raw-Jaw's parts selection, part of the reason I'm keen on getting him first out of the "villain" sets for the summer wave. Frankly, Waspix doesn't have too many useful colors for Hero Factory building. The yellow torso (24 Bright Yellow) is a good addition to Evo's yellow parts, but the wing shells (44 Transparent Yellow) don't match up with any other parts from the second or third waves of Hero Factory. I hope to maybe use them in a Blacktron MOC, though. Fangz's colors are useful, but rather boring. And you bring up a good point about the Shadow Matoran feet. If TLG is going to switch to a new, superior ball cup style, I'd rather if they stopped reusing the older ones. Waspix's feet could easily have used other pieces, such as the foot pieces used in Gorast and Bitil which lack an integrated ball cup, or the Ben 10 foot pieces (although with their sideways-mounted ball cups these may have limited posability). Articulation - 9/10 – Thanks mainly to his fingers, Raw-Jaw has a massive 26 points of articulation, that allow him to take up any pose that a gorilla should be able to made (even chest thumping!). The only issue is the tail that can slightly disconnect body pieces by articulating. One thing I like about Raw-Jaw's articulation is the lack of elbows with a fixed angle. While I don't think this would be a necessity for all sets, frankly it really helps increase the range of poses here, and I consider the elbows of Rocka XL and Witch Doctor shamefully restrictive in design compared to Fire Lord, whose elbows helped compensate for his dreadful shoulder posability. Great review overall! I've been looking forward to a review of Raw-Jaw, and this just makes me more enthusiastic to get him! I'm still looking forward to the BZPower review, since Darth Vader's a great photographer and I'm imagining he might take some photos from different (and possibly less appealing) angles than the ones you chose. But still, your photos and review were very informative and made this set a lot easier to visualize. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bfahome Posted June 30, 2011 Hehe, you wish. I shall tell some of the designers how cool these spherical eyes could be as silver (315) attachments on dark silver (316) shells (armors), or visa versa. Maybe it could make sense in future sets, although you know we tend to like spiky things, not soft round That's the cool thing about the new shells, you can add inexpensive small teeth etc. in the two shaft holes. I think adding Barraki eyes in trans-red will look terrible, although that was my first thought right after I built the set. It's been done before, so it could probably be done again. It would look great on a larger hero set, especially one that had a large gun or something that it held. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted June 30, 2011 It's been done before, so it could probably be done again. It would look great on a larger hero set, especially one that had a large gun or something that it held. I think the problem with using transparent red Barraki eyes on Raw-Jaw's fingers is that it'll look like he has colored nail polish or something. Those globe pieces would indeed look good in 315 Silver Metallic. Just to clarify, are those always polycarbonate? I know they appear in White in this year's Skull Truck set from the Ninjago theme, but I know even certain non-transparent parts (such as cheese wedges) are often polycarbonate rather than ABS for structural reasons. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bfahome Posted July 1, 2011 I think the problem with using transparent red Barraki eyes on Raw-Jaw's fingers is that it'll look like he has colored nail polish or something. Those globe pieces would indeed look good in 315 Silver Metallic. Yeah I know, trans would look weird, I was talking about the possibility in general since Front mentioned the preference for spikes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zarkan Posted July 4, 2011 Another great review, Brickthing. Raw Jaw is easily the most unique creature design in this wave, and despite what some people have said, I think he looks executed really well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wghost Posted July 18, 2011 Just out of curiosity: any idea how would it work replacing Raw-Jaw's dark gunmetal grey pieces (chest-shoulders) and silver Hero torso (back) with yellow ones from Waspix and Evo 2.0? (I was always a fan of more elemental-looking, colorful sets.) Opinions, LDD screenshots and possible real-life images would be appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brickthing Posted July 18, 2011 Just out of curiosity: any idea how would it work replacing Raw-Jaw's dark gunmetal grey pieces (chest-shoulders) and silver Hero torso (back) with yellow ones from Waspix and Evo 2.0? (I was always a fan of more elemental-looking, colorful sets.) Opinions, LDD screenshots and possible real-life images would be appreciated. I don't have the yellow pieces to make that, but here is a poorly Photoshopped representation: I'm not sold on the Red, Yellow and Black colour scheme for a set, which might be best left for on flags. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wghost Posted July 20, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the photo, it really helps me to imagine Raw-Jaw with the yellow parts. However, after reading your comment I can't really think of something other than a flag. XD So, for now I'm not sure, maybe I keep its color scheme, who knows. But I really appreciate your help, thanks again. Edited July 20, 2011 by wghost Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MoralWarfare Posted July 30, 2011 Figured I'd would just add this here. Picked up a couple Raw Jaw's to see if I could improve anything. Think I did relatively well. Cleaned up the colorscheme by replacing the silver backplate with a gunmetal one. Closed up most of the gaps in the back, and added a functional lower jaw. The revised head did result in some lost mobility, thats as far down as he can look now. Thankfully he looks better in a hunched position anyway! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted August 6, 2011 Finally opened Raw-Jaw last night. He's every bit as awesome as I expected. Posability is a little awkward, but he can easily be put in all of the typical gorillaphant poses I can think of (hunched on all fours, beating chest wildly, etc.)-- some of the awkwardness just comes from the fact that he's not a humanoid build and thus certain poses are prohibited. I just used all of his pieces to make an alternate build, a minotaur-like humanoid with massive horns. He really gives me a good sampling of the new parts, so I've been able to test out many alternate uses of them. His hands, as I've seen mentioned in reviews, make great shoulder armor, and I used them as such in my alternate build. They can also be used as chest armor on the narrower-shouldered torso for a somewhat feminine look, even though it's hard to find an armor solution for the rest of the torso when you do this. The alternate paw pieces he uses on his wrist are less versatile, partly because of fewer attachment points and partly because of wider, less closely-fitting geometry. It'd be a great part for a tail on a lobster-like MOC. I remember I used to make lobsters with BIONICLE parts all the time, but I haven't tried with Hero Factory parts yet. His face piece is cool, but somewhat awkward. It does allow you to see into one eye hole and straight out the other, although not as badly as Witch Doctor's. The fact that it doesn't fit on a Hero head really doesn't make much of a difference in the long run because it's far too large for that anyway. What does disappoint me is that it doesn't work well on the shoulders, since the large canines impede posability. The Ben 10 feet are hard to use as anything but feet-- they don't even fit well on the center ball joints of most arm pieces. But aesthetically, they work well for this set, and their versatile color helps make up for a rather limited-use design. Overall I'm very impressed with this set and am glad it was one of my first 3.0 Hero Factory sets. My little brother has built Waspix, Witch Doctor, and Rocka XL as well, but so far Raw-Jaw impresses me most out of these sets for his unconventional yet simple design. In some ways, he could use improvement, but he gets many points for originality and has an excellent selection of parts to boot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MoralWarfare Posted August 7, 2011 For anyone that was interested. (Like there was anyone interested. Haha) This is the modified torso skeleton I used for my Raw Jaw And an exploded shot of the head Nothing complex at all! But really helps the set shine, I think. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpiderSpaceman Posted August 8, 2011 For anyone that was interested. (Like there was anyone interested. Haha) I for one was very interested. Thanks Mister Genius! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vindicare Posted August 8, 2011 I think Raw Jaw will be the first I pick up. He has some design quirks, but I still like him a lot and he's got some great parts. I think he may be my first as well. He just looks pretty cool. I'd almost hate to buy him though, because I may want to dive further into this theme, I really can't afford another theme Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
