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Gatanui

REVIEW: 6223 BULK

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And we are approaching the end of this series of Hero Factory summer set reviews. Now it´s Bulk´s turn!

Calling BULK! The villains are fleeing Hero Factory and must be recaptured! We've equipped you with a powerful missile launcher, hero plasma shooter, high-impact shoulder armor, pinpoint laser targeting and hero cuffs. Get the villains in your sights and bring them home – cuffed!

Set name: BULK

Set Number: 6223

Price: 12.99 (11.99) EUR / 8.99 GBP / 12.99 USD

Pieces: 61

Year of release: Summer 2012

Size: Medium

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Presentation/Box

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In terms of presentation, there is not a lot to say, as Bulk’s “Caprisun” bag does not feature significant differences from those of the winter 2012 sets, apart from the golden top. Not having bought any of the larger winter sets, however, I must admit that I was surprised to notice the remarkable size difference between the bags of the smaller and those of the larger sets. I am not just talking about the height, but also about the volume. The larger sets’ bags seem mucher fuller than the small sets’ ones, which is logical taking into consideration the higher amount of pieces, leaving the customer with a good conscience for having spent additional money on a medium-sized set.

Apart from that, I think it is enough if I say that Bulk’s bag design follows the same pattern as all other bags: Neatly posed CGIed Bulk on the front, neatly posed CGIed Bulk on the back, blablabla. The usual stuff.

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Building

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I must admit that I would not have immediately figured out how to assemble Bulk without the instruction booklet. Partly because I have already accustomed to the ridiculously easy and increasingly boring build after the previous generations of heroes, partly because the attachment of the rocket launcher is so awkward that you want to say a word or two to whoever was in charge designing it.

All in all, the building is still too simple for my taste, though, and apart from the rocket launcher, the only thing that varies from the building of previous Heroes is the shoulder armor plating and the attachment of an additional armor layer to the lower legs, apparently present throughout most summer sets.

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The highly interesting Bulk/Core Hunter combiner. I haven´t tried it yet.

Set Design/Pieces

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Remember when I talked about the relatively high number of pieces this set comes with? Bulk consists of 61 pieces and is thus this wave’s best equipped medium-sized set along with Voltix as far as piece count goes. However, out of those pieces, the amount of new pieces is sobering compared to the total piece count. A silver MTIS (which could have been gunmetal but it´s better than nothing!), two new gunmetal armor pieces (the “Captain America” armor not displayed as the photos turned out bad but you can see them in the review of 6283 VOLTIX) and an admittedly pretty gunmetal torso is all Bulk has to offer in terms of new pieces, which is a real pity, particularly taking into consideration that a couple of recolored pieces would have contributed a big deal to improving the set’s overall design. I am talking about the silver and black pieces which should have come in gunmetal instead. Seriouly, was it too expensive to include gunmetal hero feet instead of black ones which appear ten (!) times in the summer sets? I would also have welcomed a gunmetal hand, shoulder plating and helmet, but I guess that’s the price to pay for affordable sets (although I can’t help but questioning the latter). At least the recolored and new pieces are good. The three orange pieces aren´t recolored but rare, having only appeared in Thornraxx so far. Bulk´s helmet in the new silver was only featured in late production batches of the first Bulk set.

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I also mentioned the odd attachment of the rocket launcher earlier. I think the photos I took speak for themselves, so all I will say is: I am not fond of it. Neither am I convinced that using a foot to cover up the empty back should be considered as an ultimate solution, but it is still better than an empty back.

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Oh, and one more thing: Why do all summer sets have short lower arms? I can only speculate about the reasons the designers had to do so (cutting costs, maybe?). I must confess I dislike the left lower arm being short, as it infringes the free movement of the lower arm section, but I can live with it.

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But enough bashing. There is a reason for which I decided to spend my money on Bulk, after all: He looks cool. I really love the extensive use of orange as secondary color in combination with gunmetal as primary color, which suits Bulk far better than silver in my opinion. Plus, I am very fond of the fact that Bulk lives up to his name. It may sound exaggerated, but all other heroes look like if they had been through a one-week starvation when you compare them to Bulk. He is strong. He is heroic. He is Bulk!!!

Playability

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Bulk is quite fun to play with. Maybe I am just childish, but I really enjoy deploying Bulk‘s shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, popping the rockets out of it and plotting an imaginary trajectory to the villains (or my brother). However, there is one thing that reduces the playability. Can you guess what it is? Exactly, the shoulder plates. Albeit articulated, it is sometimes somewhat difficult to arrange the shoulder armor in a pleasing way. And, much to my annoyance, it is almost impossible to move Bulk’s head without cursing the shoulder plates for restricting the head’s free movement. I am sure Bulk is as annoyed about that as I am.

Final Thoughts

Pros

  • Bulk lives up to his name
  • 61 pieces!!!
  • Orange as secondary color

Cons

  • Lazily designed rocket launcher
  • Gunsilver clashes with gunmetal
  • One, two... four new (recolored) pieces.

As usual, in the end, whether it is recommendable to get Bulk or not depends on your personal preference. If you are looking for a cool-looking Hero with many pieces and do not mind that only few of them are new, then I urge you to get Bulk as fast as ya can, although it may be a wiser to decision to buy Core Hunter instead, which is not only this summer wave‘s best set in my opinion, but comes with a ton of new and useful pieces. If, however, you think that the additional pieces do not compensate the higher price you should probably get yourself a small set, preferrably Stringer, although I don´t have any other small summer sets to judge.

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Core Hunter review coming soon! :)

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Edited by Gatanui

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Great review once again. However, I still haven't changed my mind on him. I'll probably wait and get him for Christmas. He's not my favorite Hero of this wave, but I still can't decide why. Maybe it's what you said in the Cons about the colors clashing. The silver head and shoulders combined with the gunmetal torso just doesn't work for me.

Kalhiki

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Wow, that first photo is, in my opinion, even better than the official CGI image !

Overally great review, but doees he really has so short arm? What did TLG think when they do that to him! On Rocka it was OK but on Bulk? And this rocket launcher thing connection seems pretty cheap. And why is the foot on his back connected via 2 different connectors (I don't know how do you call it) - sizes 2 and 3? But I think that he looks really great. But I'll get all of them ASAP anyway.

It was a great review as I already wrote and I'm looking forward for that Core Hunter review. Btw do you know how they translated Core Hunter to my language? Core eater! *FACEPALM*

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And this rocket launcher thing connection seems pretty cheap. And why is the foot on his back connected via 2 different connectors (I don't know how do you call it) - sizes 2 and 3?

My guess is that it prevents the technic arm holding the rocket launcher from swinging backwards too far due to the weight of the launcher. But it's silly, I agree, and definitely something I'll change when I get him.

Anyway, thanks for the review, Gatanui! Definitely one of my favourite sets of the summer wave. Aside from the rocket launcher connection, I wish he had more silver on him.

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Once again, good work Gatanui! I'm looking forward for more set reviews from you in the future, your pictures are nothing short of gorgeous.

Still not sure what to think about the short gun arm. It's not that bad IMO, since it creates a gun-arm fusion effect. However, Rocka made it work far better since the shortness was compensated by the width of the crossbow.

I knew the rocket launcher attachment sucked since Toy Fair, and you just confirmed it. At least it moves up and down. Still, they could've used a more poseable design, not to mention a more aesthetically pleasing one: between the awkward Technic pieces and the red stuff, it looks plainly ugly.

A good build they could have taken inspiration from, IMO, is Iron Man's gun mount. That is what I modeled the revamped attachment I'm going to use on my Bulk after.

On the figure itself, while I would've wished for more silver (and I'm going to fix that on my set), I admit he looks very cool and he finally manages to truly live to his name. I really like the gold accents, in particular- I would've never thought of putting them, but they're such a great touch actually.

Aside from the rocket launcher issues, the biggest problem has to be those out of place black feet, like Voltix. Seriously, what the hell? The boot look is completely thrown out of the window that way.

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Good review. Personally, I like the connection of Bulk's rocket launcher more now that I see that it can move up and down and doesn't require a lack of back armor (I had originally thought the Technic beam was part of a rigid construction like on Black Phantom). And I hardly think it looks "cheap"... a HF-based connection would probably be more efficient and thus cheaper. However, one thing I don't like is the heavy amount of red on it, which is nowhere else in his color scheme.

The gun also looks OK on that shorter arm, seeming as though it's incorporated into the arm, but you make a good point that flexibility is limited by this design decision.

While I like the large amount of titanium metallic on this set, and think there's plenty of silver, I do think his feet (and the foot on his back) might have looked better in silver metallic or titanium metallic. The black doesn't flow too well IMO.

I ought to make a minor correction: the US price you list for him is actually the price for the smaller hero sets. Bulk and all the medium-sized sets will actually cost USD 12.99 when they are released on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. No idea about the price in GBP, though. The same is true of Voltix, but I didn't pay attention to that part of your Voltix review so I'm not sure if you got it right there.

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Finally, a decent shot of the Mino.. no, Cent.. I'm just going to call it a "Horse-Man-Bot", and hope nobody gets angry. :tongue:

And, a great review of Bulk! I agree with the color scheme, much more appealing than the silver before, though the inclusion of it in the head, shoulders, and hand are most welcome. I can't figure out why that part on the shoulder-rocket is red, when black or grey could have easily been used(The only other red of any kind is in the head, and there isn't enough of it to balance it all out).. That part's not my cup of tea.

However, with the parts included in the set, like those yummy 5-long cladding parts in orange, the Captain-America armor, and that torso (drools), and his coolness-factor, Bulk might be worth picking up for me.

I thoroughly look forward to the review of Core Hunter.. I hope this guy's worth the wait.

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Set name: BULK

Set Number: 6223

Price: 13.99 (12.99) EUR / 8.99 GBP / 9.99 USD

Pieces: 61

Year of release: Summer 2012

Size: Medium

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Oh, how I wish it were only ten bucks.... :grin:

And, by the way, thanks for another great review! I'm definitely going to switch to the socket of the foot for a better attachment point.

EDIT: Darnit, Ninja'd be Aanchir. But, yes, it was that way in the Voltix review too.

Edited by TheDesuComplex

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Thanks for all your comments! I´m glad you all like the review. :classic: Thanks for making me aware of the wrong price, it´s been fixed here on on the Voltix review. Actually, it was wrong for Europe as well. :P

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Thanks for the review!

I must admit I have still a few problems figuring everything on Bulk's back out, since it's all black there, but I know myself how hard it to make decent pictures of one-coloured areas.

As for Bulk, I do like him, but I'm still on the fence about which other HF sets I want.

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I ought to make a minor correction: the US price you list for him is actually the price for the smaller hero sets. Bulk and all the medium-sized sets will actually cost USD 12.99 when they are released on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. No idea about the price in GBP, though. The same is true of Voltix, but I didn't pay attention to that part of your Voltix review so I'm not sure if you got it right there.

They are available on TRU.com and Amazon.

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Thanks for the review!

I must admit I have still a few problems figuring everything on Bulk's back out, since it's all black there, but I know myself how hard it to make decent pictures of one-coloured areas.

As for Bulk, I do like him, but I'm still on the fence about which other HF sets I want.

I thought it was well visible on the photos I took. There is really not much to see, the back is just a black hero foot connected to the torso skeleton through a black 2L pin and, oddly enough, a blue 3L pin.

How big is he compared to the previous two Bulks?

I may upload a photo to my Flickr photostream comparing him to the other Bulks later.

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Edited by Gatanui

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Well, I'm liking him better. And I liked him better than Core Hunter from the beginning, so that's saying something. And that chestplate, that will work well in a MOC with some Ninjago shurikens.

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Great review! With all the good themes coming out this year, I've had to bypass Hero Factory (besides Furno and Black Phantom) but I'm making a point to get this one. I'm yet to be disappointed by Bulk. :wub:

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I thought it was well visible on the photos I took. There is really not much to see, the back is just a black hero foot connected to the torso skeleton through a black 2L pin and, oddly enough, a blue 3L pin.

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Well, the thing I could'nt figure out was the connection of the rocket launcher. But yeah, the blue 3L pin is really weird.

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Well, the thing I could'nt figure out was the connection of the rocket launcher. But yeah, the blue 3L pin is really weird.

It does have a purpose. It's some sort of barrier when pushing down the liftarm that holds the rocket launcher so you can't push it down too far. Although the question is what 'too far' is supposed to be.

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I'm still not a huge fan of Bulk myself; the build seems uninspired, and the colors seem jumbled, unlike Voltix's, which actually work well together, in my opinion. Still, good job on the review, Gata! :sweet:

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Thanks for the great review!

I think I'm going to buy Bulk,but I'm not sure about it...

Thanks!

Edited by lemmyfan396

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