Sign in to follow this  
Gatanui

REVIEW: 6282 STRINGER

Recommended Posts

Dun dun dun it´s the first Stringer 2012 text/picture review! :laugh: It´s also my first review on Eurobricks.

Please respond, STRINGER! The villains are on the run from the Hero Factory and must be intercepted! To battle some extra-special villains, we've suited you up with advanced amplified armor, sonic speakers, a powerful sonic blaster and hero cuffs. It's time to track those villains down and cuff them!

Set name: STRINGER

Set Number: 6282

Price: 9.99 (8.99) EUR / 6.99 GBP / 8.99 USD

Pieces: 42

Year of release: Summer 2012

Size: Small

7497473894_d5f8764e73.jpg

Presentation/Box

7502874936_9c1b5223b1.jpg

Stringer comes in the same kind of packaging as the winter wave, although with one notable difference. You can´t see it well on the picture as I already cut the top off but at least I didn´t throw it away so I could include it in the picture. The summer sets all come with a golden colored top instead of the silver top from the winter wave. It succeeds at setting them apart from the winter wave.

7507750512_8ede133dee.jpg

Apart from that, barely anything to remark. The front features Stringer in an impressive pose in front of an impressive yellow lightning bolt-charged background with Voltix. The back features Stringer in another pose, showing off the launcher function and, surprise, actual screenshots from the Breakout game. The parts have been made in Denmark, Hungary, Mexico and the Czech Republic, for those interested.

Building

7507753150_9b8c99ac31.jpg

As usual, the building is nothing challenging, but the launcher offers some building never seen before in a small-sized Hero Factory set, including even some technic pieces. Please forgive my not remembering which extra pieces came with the set, although I can assure you there was at least one.

The building is quick and smooth. For some that may be good, for many others that´s a bad thing, although the launcher is some more fun.

7507762802_4ff1aaa0d3.jpg

Here goes the Stringer/Voltix combiner for you.

Set Design/Pieces

First thing to note is the amazing number of pieces Stringer has. With a total of 42 pieces (omigosh), that´s more than a small-sized Hero has ever had and it´s a huge step up from the 17 pieces Stringer 1.0 had and even the 30 pieces from Stringer 3.0. Having the same price as the former two (in some European countries even a lower price!), that´s quite impressive. Granted, many of these are small technic pieces, but it´s still better than nothing.

Stringer comes with one new mold, two new pieces and three recolored ones, which isn´t too much, but summer waves never tend to have many anyway. No remolded Glatorian heads yet, sorry.

7507758656_f04350ff11.jpg

The new pieces are two new armor pieces that are supposed to look like speakers, and they do succeed at that. Great to see Stringer is back to his sonic theme, but more on that later.

7507766996_79f73fb262.jpg

These are the recolored pieces. The torso armor in trans-dark-blue with a sonic wave pattern looks simply gorgeous and is wonderful to look at. Fortunately, the dark color means the torso beam is barely visible from the front, so that´s a problem less. Speaking of torso beams, I was surprised to see Stringer had a narrow torso this time. Looks like LEGO prefers to go with these on small sets now, with the exception of Surge. The narrow torsos do look better with the new torso armor, too.

Not much to say about the other recolored pieces. A silver launcher top piece and a silver MTIS that's also available in Bulk. This should cheer up a bunch of fans, especially those who wish to put a silver MTIS piece on the Hero´s backs like they have them in the TV episodes.

7507771968_e68639c1f9.jpg

This seems like a good chance to address the hollow back issue once again and we will never stop until LEGO fixes it for the small-sized Heroes. It looks as annoying as ever. 'Nuff said.

A design flaw about Stringer is the lack of transparent blue cladding pieces apart from the large torso armor. I´d have loved to see the other blue pieces in a transparent color as well. Another flaw are the dark grey bone pieces on the thighs. A theory for LEGO using differently colored bone pieces for the limbs since the summer sets last year was to avoid having two different bone pieces with the same size and the same color in a set so kids would´t mix them up when building. However, he uses the same pieces in black on the upper arms, so having them in dark grey on the legs is just silly. Then again, bone pieces in a greater variety of colors cannot harm either, but I´d love to hear about LEGO´s reasoning for this.

Speaking about colors, here comes the obligatory note about the strange change of Stringer´s secondary color. It´s strange, but it looks good. Apart from the grey bone pieces and maybe the gunmetal speaker armor, the color scheme is very consistent and good-looking. The entire launcher being silver is not even a downside, rather the opposite. Silver is a rare color in Hero Factory.

7507775028_e84ab0d8dd.jpg

Let´s get to the interesting part of this set, namely the gun. Many of you have already noticed how it´s supposed to look like a guitar. It´s by no means a perfect guitar and it´s most likely not supposed to, but the resemblance is undeniable. It´s a perfect addition to Stringer´s sonic theme, and that´s awesome. I bet, though, that if Smeag had written this review he´d have started complaining that it doesn´t look like a guitar at all and about what a real guitar should look like. :P I´m not sure kids will even recognize it as a guitar, but it´s not like they´ll care about it either.

7507781564_886f2cd245.jpg

The gun has a number of problems, though. First, I´m not a fan of the way the MTIS is connected. It´s done with a ball joint, which means it can be moved around and it can be hard to keep it in line with the rest of the gun. However, it makes posing easier, and this is where we come to the greatest downside of this set.

Playability

The gun is huge and Stringer´s arms are tiny. This means it´s hard to do a pose with the gun facing front or any good pose at all. No matter how you do it, Stringer will either have to look sideways so he can hold it with both hands or he will have to hold it with one hand in a way that it doesn´t look good. We´ll be fair, though, and remark that the way the gun was built was a reason to include two fists in this set, and that´s definitely good and far from obvious.

7507777974_5dbbf7dfb7.jpg 7507785032_b9c4ac6a3c.jpg 7507788430_ffa79dd5ce.jpg

Still, Stringer manages to pull off some decent poses, just like any Hero Factory set since last year. The Hero Cuffs are somewhat annoying for playing and poses, but once they stand still, they are alright and a great addition to the set. Both the Hero Cuffs and the launcher are what make this set far more fun to play than Hero sets before this year.

Final Thoughts

Pros

  • New and recolored pieces look good
  • Transparent blue!
  • Decent amount of pieces
  • He´s Stringer and he´s cool
  • He has a guitar and he rocks

Cons

  • Hollow back still not solved for small sets
  • Can be hard to pose
  • No remolded Glatorian head

Overall, Stringer comes with all the ups and downsides of previous Heroes, plus some new points for both sides. He´s far from spectacular, but for some reason, Stringer always manages to look good, if not one of the best of his wave. Even when he´s not orange, which is quite remarkable, although for this set, maybe that´s exactly the reason. I mean, who doesn´t love huge transparent pieces, after all? And who doesn´t like guitars? I think a huge torso armor in transparent orange would have looked weird, but in blue it looks beautiful. So there you go.

7507791832_aba4d28ed9.jpg 7507795520_8eb41e1593.jpg

You know, I´ve been hoping to review Stringer for months just to take a picture comparing all three Stringer sets. Like, seriously!

So, overall, should you buy this set? If you´re looking for a small Hero of this wave, Stringer may be the one to choose, although I haven´t got Nex so I can´t judge him. As far as small Heroes of the entire year go, I do own Evo and Surge, but it really depends on preferences. For example, Evo looks more coherent but he's harder to pose. At the same time, Surge may have too much lime green for your taste, but I digress. If you simply love Stringer and guitars, want a silver MTIS or can´t get enough of transparent pieces, then Stringer is your choice.

7507746280_6ef20771cd.jpg

Now please excuse me as I listen to Stringer rocking powered by Voltix.

Thank you very much for your patience! I hope you enjoyed the review. :classic: I´ll have three more reviews up in the coming days. :wink:

-Gata signoff.png

Edited by Gatanui

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you for a grat review :thumbup:

Personally, Stringer is good, but still too small for such an amount of pieces :hmpf_bad: But anyway thank you, Gatanui :classic:

Edited by DarkSurgeXL

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow he looks really good. He might actually last more than a couple of hours before being scrapped for parts :tongue: . Surprisingly in the last picture Voltix looks good *oh2* .

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the very nice written review. And the gorgeous pictures!

At first, I wanted to disagree with you regarding Stringer's poseability, since all of his joints got a wide range of motion (mostly because of the smaller shells), but after trying poses with the guitar gun where he holds it more like a gun rather than a guitar, I understand your criticism - it's kinda hard pose him in a way where he could actually aim with the launcher.

Personally I think he's a great set, but I'm sure I'm saying that because he's blue, and I totally dig blue-coloured sets. :laugh:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What in the world does MTIS stand for? I know which piece you're talking about but where did it get this nickname??

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What in the world does MTIS stand for? I know which piece you're talking about but where did it get this nickname??

I think it stands for Multi-Tool-Ice-Shield.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

WOW. Just plain WOW. The amps are better detailed than I thought, he looks awesome and, most importantly, he comes with 42 pieces! Fitting for the most spacey of the summer sets. Also, horrible pun concerning the last picture: Guitar Hero :tongue:! And I don't even play the game.

Edited by DraikNova

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

WOW. Just plain WOW. The amps are better detailed than I thought, he looks awesome and, most importantly, he comes with 42 pieces! Fitting for the most spacey of the summer sets. Also, horrible pun concerning the last picture: Guitar Hero :tongue:! And I don't even play the game.

Aw man, I should have used that one for the review. :laugh:

Thanks for your comments, guys! :classic: I´m glad you all like the review and the set. Hopefully I´ll be able to get the Voltix review done tomorrow!

-Gata signoff.png

Edited by Gatanui

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice review! Stringer is obviously a mixed bag, like any of the smaller Hero sets, but he still shows some stunning design work with his adherence to his original sonic theme and his new yet tastefully-organized color scheme. While some might feel he is lacking in resemblance to his previous incarnations, nobody can possibly claim that this set was not designed knowing what character it was meant to represent, a charge I saw leveled from time to time against certain BIONICLE set designs.

The lack of back armor is startlingly obvious here with the transparent torso shell, but unless TLG can add back armor without cutting down on the set's other contents or bumping the price up even further, I think many Hero Factory fans will gladly do without or create their own.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice review! Stringer is probably my favourite amongst the summer wave. The short arms are a disappointment, but I guess I can live with that. I'm also planning to use the Metru chest armour to fill in his back as back armour to cover it up a little more.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice review! Stringer is probably my favourite amongst the summer wave. The short arms are a disappointment, but I guess I can live with that. I'm also planning to use the Metru chest armour to fill in his back as back armour to cover it up a little more.

If you think his short arms are a disappointment, then will until you see Core Hunter or even Bulk. :sceptic:

-Gata signoff.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice review! Stringer is probably my favourite amongst the summer wave. The short arms are a disappointment, but I guess I can live with that. I'm also planning to use the Metru chest armour to fill in his back as back armour to cover it up a little more.

Personally, I prefer the short arms, especially on the smaller figures (21-22 modules tall). There's no reason the hands should have to dangle far below the character's crotch unless the hero has armor on his lower arms that requires the additional attachment points.

On the taller figures, longer arms are slightly more acceptable, since the torsos of the taller figures are woefully small relative to the overall height anyhow.

Edited by Aanchir

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Personally, I prefer the short arms, especially on the smaller figures (21-22 modules tall). There's no reason the hands should have to dangle far below the character's crotch unless the hero has armor on his lower arms that requires the additional attachment points.

On the taller figures, longer arms are slightly more acceptable, since the torsos of the taller figures are woefully small relative to the overall height anyhow.

Personally, I do prefer shorter arms on small Heroes, but Stringer´s gun is so huge that it´s simply annoying for him. I think it´s perfectly okay for Surge and Evo, though.

-Gata signoff.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you think his short arms are a disappointment, then will until you see Core Hunter or even Bulk. :sceptic:

-Gata signoff.png

I'm not too bothered about Bulk or Core Hunter having short arms, since they're not wielding any handheld weapons. Stringer here has to wield his weapon with one or even two hands, and having short arms is more of a problem for him.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Stringer looks gorgeous. I think I said this already, but I'll be adding back armor to him due to the trans torso shell.

Also should be pretty easy to mod how he holds his gun to make it more like the show. I just like how he held it, even though it detracted from the guitar look of it.

Kalhiki

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great review Gatanui! :thumbup: I always liked Stringer (well, once I got past the orange vs blue issue- I actually think I prefer blue now), but your photos made me like him even more.

I just love how consistent the sonic theme is kept throughout the model (I'd argue he looks much more "elemental" than most Toa, but I digress), and of course the whole figure is very cool looking. My favourite photo is probably this one, he looks like a calm, observant warrior, ready to shoot down the enemy (much like he does

at 0:16). I also love the last pic with Voltix. :laugh:

The sole problems are the lack of armour on the back (nothing a blue foot from PaB can't solve!), that mischievous red pin and the instability of the sonic blaster (Aanchir proposed a nice, alternate design in this photo comments).

Can't wait for Voltix (from the pics, he looks great)! You mentioned you own 4 sets, which are the other 2? I saw Bulk in a Voltix photo, so which is the last one?

Edited by Shakar

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think he mentioned Core Hunter a few posts back as the last set of the bunch.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice review and great pictures. Stringer is best HF set of this year in my opinion and I'm glad about his colour change because blue and black combo looks very good.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.