REVIEW: 44006 Breez

[ZORK64]

Ah, christmas... the time for holidays, presents, chocolate and gingerbread, christmas carrols... and since two years, for me the time for the early arrival of the newest Hero Factory Sets!

When I visited my local LEGO Store yesterday, I spotted (much to my own delight) the new wave of everybody's favourite constraction line, this time with the gruesome subtitle Brain Attack. Just so you know, orignally I wanted to get Ogrum (because of his dark green armour), but since pretty much everybody here on Eurobricks was curious about the new head design (thanks to Front's vague hints), I eventually ended up buying Breez, since I liked her design more than Bulk's or Rocka's (feel free to smack me the next time I start complaining that there are too many lime green sets in Hero Factory - after all, it's my own fault when I prefer them over the other sets and thus, end up with more lime green parts).

Anyway, now it's time for the very first Brain Attack review here on Eurobricks!

Set name: Breez

Set Number: 44006

Price: 9.99 Euro

Pieces: 53

Year of release: Late 2012/Early 2013

Size class: Scout set (which means it's a small set)

The bag

TLG continues to pack the HF sets into resealable bags, which is a good thing in my opinion. However, they apparently changed the material. Breez' bag was a bit harder to cut open (I'm used to slice them open on the back to keep the front undamaged), and the bags are also white on the inside, as opposed to the silver from last year's wave.

The front of the box shows Breez standing in some... factory? Laboratory? Anyway, it's not a jungle despite all the green that's going on there.

You can also spot a few brain slugs in the background, and on the very left of the bag you can see the LEGO logo.

The back of the bag shows that pretty much everything in Breez' hands can rotate in some way, and it also teases the combiner model (just like the 2011 sets did). You can also already see here that the new visor piece can flip upward! Oh, there's also some info on the new game and getting 400 game points.

(And yes, the lower part of the bag is covered by the choking hazard warning and other legal text - the background of that section is grey, if you want to know)

Inside the bag

Breez comes with a total of 53 pieces (unless I made a mistake while counting the pieces), which is a surprisingly large number for a Scout-sized set. She mostly got silver parts, alongside with some lime green and a few bits of brown, dark green and even gunmetal.

Now to the new parts!

The new armour

Before I show you the new head, here's a comparison of the new torso armour with it's predecessors from the 2011 and Breakout line. Its lovely designed, though I'm not sure if it works that well with 2.0 chestplate.

In addition to the two connection points in the center (for the hero core, of course), it also allows you to clip 4 other parts to it.

It connects the same way as the other ones, in case you were wondering.

The piece we were all curious about - the new head mold

Here you can see it from the front, with a Glatorian head next to it. The new head omits any form of molded detail, but it got an cross axle connection in the front now.

From the side. Nothing new here, but you can see that the new head is shorter.

The back. As you can clearly see, the socket was redone to fit the standard that had been established in the 2011 sets.

And finally, a top view, which clearly joints the clip-on bar at the back of the new head.

I have mixed feelings about the new head. The stronger socket and the additional connections are great, but it's surely intended for "closed" helmets due to it's lack of a face of it's own.

The Visor

Sleek, simple, beatiful.

There isn't much else I can say about the visor piece.

There's also a cross axle connection on it's top.

But to use the flip-up feature, it clips to the head.

The new helmet

The Brain Attack wave gives the heroes also new helmets, though their designs are based on the older helmets. In fact, when I saw Breez' pic for the first time, I didn't even realized that she got a new helmet.

Breez' new helmet is a bit wider around the chin but slightly narrower at the top. It also omits any asymmetrical details, which I actually like.

It connects in the same way than the older helmets, but...

...you can't use the new helmet with the Glatorian head mold since the helmet is (just like the new head) a bit shorter than the old molds. That means of course that the new head is compatible with the older helmets.

The building Instructions - a few pictures of interest taken out of them.

The cover of the instructions. Looks nice, doesn't it?

The first two pages, which are some sort of story-line comic thing. The brain slugs seem to be sick of swimming in their canisters, so they get space ships to crash land on various planets and then get stomped by Furno XL... or something like that.

There's also an ad for that new brain slug transformation app. The people behind the ad are nice enough to not show a picture of the transformation to prevent us all from nightmares.

And finally, here's a picture of the combiner model which also requires Ogrum. It looks really cool if you ask me, and since I'm going to get Ogrum as well, I'll most likely give this combiner also a try.

Building Breez

Similiar to her Breakout version, the build of Brain Attack Breez starts with adding something to her back.

Then you start adding limbs to it, which is followed by completing the legs.

Then, Breez get arms, hands, her head...

...and the visor.

Then you build the armour, which incorporates more parts than any other armour before. The picture above is pretty self-explanatory.

The next step is the shoulder armour, and after that...

...it's time for her bow-spear-thing. I guess that picture shows how the two halves of it are built. Once you assembled them, put them in her right hand and put the sawblade-shield into her left, Breez is built and ready for her mission.

The finished set

While her past three versions were mostly lime green with some red, Breez is this time mostly silver with some green. The sawblade shield and the spearbow give her a gladiator/warrior-like look, which looks pretty cool. I was while building her a bit concerned about her arms (since they look rather short), but once Breez is built, it doesn't look all that bad. The design of her armour reminds me a bit of Evo's Breakout design (possibly because of the bulky shoulder). However, I miss something about her design. I'm not entirely sure what, but something's lacking.

Her colour scheme pretty solid. Silver and green work good together, and the way the three greens (lime, dark green and the transparent green on her knees and head) are patterned look also good.

Being a Scout-sized set, Breez' suffers from the hollow back-syndrome. However, she can store her shield on the back, which also helps to distinguish that.

Oh yeah right, spare parts.

Playability

Breez comes with the same amount of poseability like most other HF sets these days. Since her armour is also rather sleek, it almost never hinders her poseability.

Her weapon, bizarrely enough, is also kinda poseable. As already guessed, the silver pieces of the bow are the same which were also used in various other themes, and the holes in there aren't cross-axled.

That's in my opinion also the only downside of Breez' design. Her weapon looks clearly more like a bow rather than anything else, and attempting to make it look like a spear or something similiar looks rather half-assed, if you ask me.

Another thing I do like though is the flip-up visor. It's a nice little touch.

You can also move the EXO force arms on her armour to create poses were the bad guys might try to rip her hero core off. Ouch!

Final thoughts

I like Breez. I like her a lot. But personally, I prefer her Breakout version (reviewed here) over this one, partly because of the weird designed weapon, partly because the design of Breakout Breez was (aside from a few issues with the colour scheme, but BA Breez does only slightly better in that department) overall just great, and although Brain Attack Breez doesn't look bad, she doesn't impress me as much as her past version (okay, Breakout Breez looked like Samus Aran, that's hard to beat).

But that new version of Breez is still a very good set (I would rank her a close second behind her past incarnation). She comes with a fair share of nice pieces, and most of them are silver, a rather versatile colour.

All in all, I recommend her, but I'm almost sure that Ogrum might be the better green set this time. Well, we'll see in a week, when I have the time to get to the LEGO store again to pick Ogrum up (and most likely Furno XL too).

Edited December 16, 2012 by ZORK64

[Shakar]

Great review!

I'm glad I was right about her using tr. bright green. Not so happy about being right in that she's without back armour. But that was to be excpeted.

My complains about her still stand (brown, weird weapon, etc), but she does look nicer IRL.

Wow that combo model does rock. Notice that he (?) looks more humanoid and uses Breez's helmet, unlike the 2012 models (more beast like designs, used the villains helmets/heads).

[Mesonak]

I dunno, man... I approve of most of the aspects of that head (the design, functionality-wise, is ingenious), and I approve of it not breaking... but the fact that it has no facial details to it at all makes me very sad. Bit less inspired in that regard than prior head pieces.

Good review. Set looks like it's going to surpass my expectations; the color scheme may be a bit hectic, but I think it works except for the dark green on the chest area. I don't even mind the brown or trans-green upper legs anymore. But that dark green is just unnecessary. :P

Also, that combiner looks fantastic.

Edited December 16, 2012 by Mesonak

[Aanchir]

Thanks for the review. I agree, the Breakout version of Breez is better than this one, but this one has potential and uses a lot of cool ideas it its design (the blade/spear and saw blade shield have a lot of stylistic consistency, and her new helmet is amazing). Overall I hope she will inspire dozens of revamps.

My only problem with the spear/blade, other than the weird flexibility, is that those bright yellowish green spikes seem out-of-place.

I also think her armor might look better if the upper and lower leg shells were switched, so the longer shin beams would get more armor coverage. It would also make her armor layout a bit more consistent, with lime shells being used for all the upper limbs.

The brown piece on her back is a pitiful way of attaching the shield to her back; I was hoping for something that offered more coverage and didn't just stick out of the back so awkwardly.

Finally, a silver metallic shoulder sphere would have been a lot nicer than the titanium metallic one, IMO. Shame that piece doesn't exist in that color, though of course Breez already has a fair number of recolored parts.

The new head kind of frustrates me with its lack of a face, but it seems to be moving towards the same "form follows function" ideal that the new building system in general has enshrined in numerous ways. What bothers me a bit more than the lack of a face honestly is its more regular proportions, which I don't think create such a well-defined head shape as the Glatorian head and 2.0 helmet did.

Could you take some pics of how the head looks with various other helmets and masks from HF and BIONICLE? I'm particularly interested in seeing how it looks with front-mounted BIONICLE masks.

[Dorek]

Digging the new head mold, but the rest of Breez seems pretty standard. I'll wait for a different set, myself. Thanks for the review!

[Jetrax99]

Cool! The visor is less obtrusive han I thought, which is a good thing. Also after seeing the turbing molding behind the hero core and watching the Pacific Rim trailer 15 times (and counting), I can't stop thinking about the Gipsy Danger Jaeger from the trailer. Really love her helmet as well. LEGO did a perfect job on updating it w/o sacrificing key design aspects.

I suspect all the heroes will have the same visor mold. and Furno's being the only one w/ printing on it.

[DraikNova]

I think I'm in love with this set. And I love everything about it. The new visor, the new head, the new helmet and the new chestplate. The only downside is that you can't add 2.0 "upper" armor to the new chestplate. Perhaps you can, it's not that clear at what "level" the connection sits from that picture.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Flip-up visor?

Sleek new helmet?

STOREABLE SHIELD?

Sold.

Also I really like that new comic. It sounds like

Von Nebula is developing and sending these Brain Slugs to invade other planets and cause havoc while he constructs Villain Factory.

Overall I really like Brain Attack. Thanks for the review mate!

[Cirkit]

Breez looks a lot better in her new incarnation here than in any of the promotional pictures.

I love the new helmet, the visor is elegant and really nice to look at, but it is a shame about the lack of detail on the head.

The head itself looks great, lots of function. It's a shame the new helmet doesn't work with the old heads, but I'm glad it works the other way round(new heads work with old masks). The clip-rod on the back was a pleasant surprise, thought it would look different somehow.

Breez's appearance, again, looks better than the promo pictures. I like the dark and lime green on the torso, and the trans parts on the legs don't bother me so much. Even the gunmetal shoulder pad, which I thought clashed before with the silver, works now thanks to the dark green. The brown part on the back is different. While the back is still open, there is now a place for Breez to keep her shield. I rather like that, and I can even forgive the lack of back armor for that function.

I'm glad Breez has a narrow torso now too, it's a part I need and it looks more, ahem, 'feminine'. However, I find a tiny part of myself missing the muscular shoulders from her previous incarnations.. Just something about that look makes Breez Breez to me.

The only thing that still bugs me is the brown on the bow, but it's not as big a problem now as it was before.

Also, that combiner looks awesome! Hero or foe, it can work either way! Maybe it's an upgrade for her upgrade, like a power suit?

Let the imagination go crazy with that one.

I have to say, she's a fair bit better than what I was expecting. This makes me even more excited for the others, if and when reviews of them come, of course.

Flip-up visor?

Sleek new helmet?

STOREABLE SHIELD?

Sold.

That sums up my thought's rather nicely.

[Brickus]

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. Could you please tell me where it is, the set says it is made?

Thanks.

[Jetrax99]

Those two "extra" spikes go on the other side of her weapon.

[DraikNova]

Am I the only one who likes her helmet? I think it has it's own charm. And it actually has more detail than the old one, as it now has a proper mouth. For me it's a good thing too that the new head will probably only be used with closed helmets. "Open" ones always seem a little off to me.

Oh, and I can say that I'll be making only one MOD on the combiner; I'll remove those bulky pads on the legs.

Edited December 17, 2012 by DraikNova

[Jetrax99]

Am I the only one who likes her helmet? I think it has it's own charm. And it actually has more detail than the old one, as it now has a proper mouth. For me it's a good thing too that the new head will probably only be used with closed helmets. "Open" ones always seem a little off to me.

Oh, and I can say that I'll be making only one MOD on the combiner; I'll remove those bulky pads on the legs.

No. I love it as well.

[Cirkit]

Am I the only one who likes her helmet?

I love the new helmet

I don't know why you'd want to take the pads off the combiner. I think, personally, they add bulk to an area of the body that otherwise doesn't have much bulk to start with.

I'm thinking if I were to build the combiner, I would move the pads to the upper legs, and turn the cladding they're attached to so they are 'sideways' on the bone. More bulk near the torso, leaving lean looking, Breezy legs.

[ZORK64]

Thanks for all the replies. It's always nice to see that the reviews are worth the effort.

Could you take some pics of how the head looks with various other helmets and masks from HF and BIONICLE? I'm particularly interested in seeing how it looks with front-mounted BIONICLE masks.

Sure I will. I will also try if the new head is small enough for Stars Tahu's kanohi.

The only downside is that you can't add 2.0 "upper" armor to the new chestplate. Perhaps you can, it's not that clear at what "level" the connection sits from that picture.

I just tried the 2.0 armour plate on the new armour, and it actually works far better than I thought. Keep in mind that the chin of the new head would get in the way (just like with the Glatorian heads) though.

Those two "extra" spikes go on the other side of her weapon.

Not according to the building instructions, I just checked again. But it does looks nice, yeah.

[Ceroknight]

Thank you for the review!

If I get any of the new heroes, I might just not apply the visor, I don't find it appealing..

The rest seems alight though

[Captain BeerBeard]

Did anyone else notice the time on the phone in the app advertisement? It's 4:20.

[Jetrax99]

Did anyone else notice the time on the phone in the app advertisement? It's 4:20.

Yeah. So?

[Captain Turtle]

Nice Review,Espeicially the humor.It Shows that your actually human.(And that it's easy to make me laugh)

[xxlrocka]

Yeah. So?

That means at 4:20, something magical will happen!

[DraikNova]

I just tried the 2.0 armour plate on the new armour, and it actually works far better than I thought. Keep in mind that the chin of the new head would get in the way (just like with the Glatorian heads) though.

That´s good to know.

[Cahillrebel]

I am glad they made Breez look like a girl. Not to fond of Breakout Breez. Something I find weird though is that most of heroes, besides Furno, get long legs and shorter arms. Shouldn't the legs and arms both be shorter? Like have Furno 2.0's leg length and have Surge 2.0's arm length(They are the only ones I could think of to help compare the legs and arms). They could then make the arms and legs longer for bigger heroes. It just seems out of proportion to me.

[ZORK64]

Breakout Breez looked quite feminite, if you ask me. Mostly because of her feet (and yet another foot on her back, which gave her a nice, sleek body).

[Cahillrebel]

I think what made it non feminine to me were those giant shoulder armor pieces. The rest was fine. I am just saying they made her slimmer this time around.

[Devorath]

To me this set represents the whole wave. Good, but Breakout was better. Breez's face seems very... placid. Cool, calm in control, AND for the first time, I think it looks feminine. Can't wait until February!