Review: 44005 Bruizer

[VBBN]

Next up is Bruizer, who to many is a disappointment because of him extremely gimmicked arm. While from some angles it looks nice, many think it destroys the set as a whole. Is this set worth the $12.99 price tag or not? Read on to find out.

Set name: Bruizer

Set Number: 44005

Pieces:62

Price: 12.99$ 11,99 €

Year of Release: 2012/2013

Links: Lego.com Brickset

Lego Description:

Smash a path of destruction with BRUIZER!

Attach the orange evil brain to create BRUIZER, a hard-headed villain with a rock-smasher fist, rock shoulder armor and razor spikes!

Packaging

Bruizer's packaging is the same as most current day Hero Factory packaging, coming in a resealable bag. The front shows Bruizer in a very deceiving pose, completely hiding the gimmicked arm.The same is true of the back, which continues to show him at an angle hiding the ugly gimmick. There are arrows to show the motion of it however, and there is also a picture showing off the hero core he comes with and how to apply the code.

Parts

Upon dumping out Bruizer's bag, we see a smaller bag of parts, the orange brain slug, and the instruction manual.

Recolored parts

We have a shell piece in trans neon orange, an orange exo-force robot arm, what I believe to be an unseen color of the larger spike piece, and a dark gray 3.0 "paw" piece.

New pieces

We have the rock-styled armor piece in gray, a personal printed piece which appears to be rocks and magma, and a new technic piece with a ball joint in the center. This is going to be a very awesome piece for MOCing purposes and I am looking forward to it. In addition, if you change his arm as I did, then this piece becomes uselss with the set, so you can add that to your MOCing parts collection.

Brain Slug and Mask

Note: The new head piece is not pictured here, see this review for a full look at it.

Firstly is the brain slug, which as explained in Pyrox's review, is a softer plastic. Now we get it in an orange color, which goes great with the magma-rock theme that bruizer has going for him.The mask itself looks nice, though I'm not a big fan of the mouth he has, it looks dopey and takes away from the ferocity he should have.

The mask on an old Metru head

Once again it goes great with the older Metru styled heads.

The Build

We start off with the back of the torso, but beginning to build the arm function right from the start.

Adding Limbs

We begin to add armor and limbs. Note the lack of a right arm.

Right Arm

Here is where the set starts to go downhill. This is his arm, simply armor stuck onto a static technic frame.

Built Onto Torso

The arm is then added to the assembly we created before. When you pull down on the red balljoint to the left, the arm moves up, and falls when you let go due to gravity.

More Armor added on

The look of the arm is slightly better after some more armor is added on.

Finished Set

Yikes. While it isn't the worst looking set, the arm is an absolute mess. It has only ONE point of motion, and that is the swivel as shown here:

Arm Function

To put it plainly, it's horrendous. It only looks decent from one angly, and that is the angle you are looking at it right now, the side. Due to the lack of articulation, you cannot even get the arm to tilt inward so that it is the side you see when looking at him. it can't even support itself upwards if it wanted to, there is no ability to "block" the function like we has back in the days of the Toa mata and nuva, where you could swap out the gear for a technic piece to hold it in place. As for the rest of the set, it's mediocre. The legs are a standard, boring design, and the arm is a tiny gimp arm compared to his massive gimmick arm. With that said, I do love the look of his upper torso and shoulders, the resulting look is fantastic to say the least. One last thing that I find to be...Weird, is the "weapon" in his left hand. if that is supposed to be a weapon, then that has to be one of the laziest and mos lackluster weapons I have ever seen in the history of Lego Action Figures. I think they were trying to make a dagger, but I'm quite sure that is not going to do much damage.

Size Comparisons

As far as size is concerned, Bruizer is a big guy, and fits the 12.99 price tag quite well.

With Pyrox

Bruizer fits the price tag better in temrs of size for sure when compared to Pyrox. He also has 20% more parts than Pyrox does, though most of that is put into the gimmick arm.

My Personal Changes

EDIT: My original changes to this guy have been modified and improved, please see my new version here

Rating:

Parts:7.5/10 Not a huge amount of interesting things to be seen here, but there are some useful elements such as the new technic bit and the stone pieces.

Price: 7.5/10 62 parts for 12.99 is a little better than Pyrox, but most of it is for the gimmick arm.

Playability: 7/10 For little kids I'm sure the punching fuction will be fun. For the rest of us, maybe no so much.

Poseability: 5/10 While his legs are fine, the slight restrictions and tendancy for the brain lugs tail to pop out, and the almost static gimmick arm, this guy falls hard in this category.

Overall, Bruizer is an okay set as a standalone.he has a nice theme to him, but the gimmick ruins a major part of the figure. With that said, if you do modifications to him as I did, and you have no issue doing so, then he is one of the best figures released so far in my opinion.

-VBBN

[zero1312]

No offense, but your revamped Bruizer looks quite messy....

[Nike2032]

No offense, but your revamped Bruizer looks quite messy....

Yeah, what zero1312 said. However, the review was really good and it helped me on my decision to whether I should buy Bruzier or not, so thanks!

Edited January 6, 2013 by Nike2032

[VBBN]

No offense, but your revamped Bruizer looks quite messy....

Oh it's nothing to write home about, it's more to show thats the closest I can manage to his original arm without the gimmick. The random other piece on his chest is just me throwing around ideas, nothing final by any means.

[refriedbeans]

This guy was the one winter wave set I was going to get, but now looking at that arm I'll pass. Maybe I'll get that cool black robot what's his name?

[VBBN]

This guy was the one winter wave set I was going to get, but now looking at that arm I'll pass. Maybe I'll get that cool black robot what's his name?

Core Hunter from the Breakout series.

[DraikNova]

That three length piece with a ball joint isn't new, it was featured in the Breakout series last year. Anyway, Bruizer seems like a good parts pack, but not so good as a set.

[Phantoka_Chirox]

I'm pretty stoked that these 'heads' fit into the metru styled heads.

Could you perhaps show how you modified his gimmick arm? I might want to copy your design for my Bruizer :)

[Logan McOwen]

So I did a quick Mockup of Bruizer

Notice anything?

The arm is made of bone elements, instead of a Technic beam, so it's still poseable!

The mechanism may not be 100% accurate, but it's fundamentally the same.

[VBBN]

It works to still give him the same chest armor. The thing that makes mine such crap is that it's the only way to use all of his original armor in the same position(torso on wrist and two rock pieces) which had to be done with my longer limb parts.

I'll post a photo of a revised bruizer design soon, I'm going to sacrifice some armor and see what I can do there.

[CabooseBM]

Man, whatcha got against Bruizer's shank? You better watch what you say or he'll cut you! Seriously though I thought that was kinda clever for a tiny knife-dagger-thing.

Seriously though I really liked this set, sure the gimmick arm was kinda dumb but it was fun for the short time I kept it on him. Refreshing to see some function return to the sets. BAM BAM! Hahaha.

Edited January 7, 2013 by CabooseBM

[Aethersprite]

VBBN's Bruizer isn't messy, it just looks sloppy because of the armour piece he added to Bruizer's chest, bad idea there. Otherwise he looks fine. If you take a look at LegoJang's Bruizer on YouTube, he has a simple yet effective solution of revamping the gimick arm, which I'll do if I get Bruizer. I agree with the review - he has a nice theme, but the execution is horrendous thanks to the gimmick. I'll probably pass on this.

[VBBN]

So I did some major revisions to my original design;

Essentially I completely scrapped the horrid torso design I had before and stuck to his simple torso, but this is the best you can get to his original armor whilst keeping the proportions the same. The left arm you can do whatever you want with, I don't have any spare armor for it and this guy is getting scrapped for parts anyway so i don't really care what it looks like to be honest.

[Sir Walter Maugham]

Great review!

Crikey! That arm really is awful. Really drags down the whole set. Heck, his left arm is almost as bad; too puny looking.

I like the rock theme though. Knowing these new heads/masks can go with the Metru heads is great.

Still waiting on a Hero Factory set to rival any of the Bionicle sets from 2003 on.

[Aanchir]

Personally, I love Bruizer's function. Perhaps it would have been better if it had been attached to Hero Factory beams rather than a Technic beam, but I wouldn't call it ugly from any angle (and a HF-based arm might not have worked as well within his price point) Meanwhile, it gives him a delightful sort of asymmetry, with his right arm and shoulder looking tremendously heavy with a smaller left arm. The irregularity helps make him feel that much more "hewn from the rock". And I like the little dagger-- simple, but just sharp enough and cohesive enough to be convincing as a weapon.

Overall, I feel like your revamp ruins some of this asymmetry with its bulky left shoulder and long left arm. But I do like how you enlarged some of the rocky texture from his right shoulder to give it an even more muscular look.

[DraikNova]

That's a very good redesign. His right arm still looks much bulkier than his left, while his left looks more impressive now too. Overall, I think he looks a lot more cohesive like that.

[Lyichir]

I completely disagree with your assessment of Bruizer. His right arm is beautiful, and possibly the best action feature we've seen in an action figure set since before gear functions disappeared from Bionicle. Yeah, it doesn't look perfect from all angles, and yeah, it's not poseable outside of its function. But those are small sacrifices to make for such a unique and functional build. You don't need much articulation in your arm when it's big and heavy enough to club people with. The use of the Savage Planet shell to cover up that function is both innovative and attractive in the unique appearance it gives him. As for your criticisms of the rest of his build, I think his simple build only accentuates his distorted, mutated appearance. Finally, you hardly touched on his unique rocky aesthetic or his gorgeous color scheme. I typically expect more from reviews than blanket condemnations.

[Mesonak]

Honestly not even the most beautiful and well executed action feature (and this is neither) can justify a mediocre overall design in my eyes. I thought we were past the days where Lego prioritized gimmicks and functions over making a well designed set; obviously not (moreso with Scarox than this guy, however).

There were many ways they could've done a proper asymmetrical style build without compromising the design at large, and they did not take any of those opportunities. As far as having a function in a HF set, I think they did the best they could as far as implementation into the build system goes, but what it added to Bruizer's design... just wasn't worth it. The technic beam, to me, looks out of place and unfitting for his general aesthetic. If he's supposed to be a guy that's all bulky and carved from the rock, he certainly doesn't look it if viewed from any other way than the side.

I guess some can appreciate the fact that he has this hilariously bulky arm that can't move any way except forward while his right arm looks like a twig...? That's not the kind of asymmetricality that I'd consider good, even for a rock monster. Had the arm been built with normal bones, you would've lost out on the "cool" factor of having a function, but really, would any actual "functionality" in the set be lost? Could you do any less with the set if that arm was built normally? Would it harm his overall asymmetrical appearance? Far from it; you could do far more in terms of posing without harming his look at all (kind of similar to my opinions on Scarox, but at least he still has full arm articulation).

Don't me wrong, Bruizer's still a pretty cool set and such - the foundation is solid, the function, despite my thoughts on it, is probably the best executed a HF-style function could ever be on a medium-sized set. I made a modification of him that altered both his arms and his legs that I'll probably take a picture of soon, but I just wasn't pleased with the central points of his design. If they were going to go full asymmetrical, they shouldn't have stopped at the upper legs; his lower legs being symmetrical and the fact he's got boots don't really help his "rock-monster" appearance too much, but I have no solid ideas on yet on how to alter them for the better, so they remain unchanged on my version.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Mesonak

[Aanchir]

Honestly not even the most beautiful and well executed action feature (and this is neither) can justify a mediocre overall design in my eyes. I thought we were past the days where Lego prioritized gimmicks and functions over making a well designed set; obviously not (moreso with Scarox than this guy, however).

There were many ways they could've done a proper asymmetrical style build without compromising the design at large, and they did not take any of those opportunities. As far as having a function in a HF set, I think they did the best they could as far as implementation into the build system goes, but what it added to Bruizer's design... just wasn't worth it. The technic beam, to me, looks out of place and unfitting for his general aesthetic. If he's supposed to be a guy that's all bulky and carved from the rock, he certainly doesn't look it if viewed from any other way than the side.

I guess some can appreciate the fact that he has this hilariously bulky arm that can't move any way except forward while his right arm looks like a twig...? That's not the kind of asymmetricality that I'd consider good, even for a rock monster. Had the arm been built with normal bones, you would've lost out on the "cool" factor of having a function, but really, would any actual "functionality" in the set be lost? Could you do any less with the set if that arm was built normally? Would it harm his overall asymmetrical appearance? Far from it; you could do far more in terms of posing without harming his look at all (kind of similar to my opinions on Scarox, but at least he still has full arm articulation).

Don't me wrong, Bruizer's still a pretty cool set and such - the foundation is solid, the function, despite my thoughts on it, is probably the best executed a HF-style function could ever be on a medium-sized set. I made a modification of him that altered both his arms and his legs that I'll probably take a picture of soon, but I just wasn't pleased with the central points of his design. If they were going to go full asymmetrical, they shouldn't have stopped at the upper legs; his lower legs being symmetrical and the fact he's got boots don't really help his "rock-monster" appearance too much, but I have no solid ideas on yet on how to alter them for the better, so they remain unchanged on my version.

Well, personally, I think his arm looks good from plenty of angles-- not just the side. Then again I'm not the sort of person who has ever been unable to tolerate hollow spaces on a build, whether in BIONICLE or Hero Factory.

Meanwhile, I think you are incorrect that building his arm out of traditional beams would have prevented him from having that function. I'm fairly sure the function and a more posable arm could be reconciled-- however, it would probably push up the price point (he's already cutting some corners as it is to allow for the bulky arm in the first place), and furthermore hitting anything with his function would make the arm bend, so repeated strikes might not look as convincing. From a MOCist's perspective, though, it shouldn't be any difficulty-- just remove the liftarm and attach a ball joint element, then attach the arm beams to the ball joint. I seem to recall that this was a popular way of reconciling posability and gear functions in the BIONICLE fan community.

I don't really see how his arm would look much less hollow if built with Hero Factory beams, though. There might be slightly fewer gaps (for instance, around the elbow), but those gaps really don't strike me as especially problematic. Overall, it's a bit of a tradeoff-- you can either have the appearance of sturdiness from HF beams, or actual sturdiness the Technic beam offers. Or, I suppose if you want to get really devious, you could use some friction joints to get the best of both worlds-- again, probably not something that could have been managed at this set's price point, but not impossible for MOCists to achieve.

[robuko]

This guy was the one winter wave set I was going to get, but now looking at that arm I'll pass. Maybe I'll get that cool black robot what's his name?

I feel this way too after the review. I was excited to get the new rock parts, but this overall design is unappealing so maybe I'll BL them.

Thanks for the reviews on all these new figures VBBN.

Edited January 11, 2013 by robuko

[VBBN]

I completely disagree with your assessment of Bruizer. His right arm is beautiful, and possibly the best action feature we've seen in an action figure set since before gear functions disappeared from Bionicle. Yeah, it doesn't look perfect from all angles, and yeah, it's not poseable outside of its function. But those are small sacrifices to make for such a unique and functional build. You don't need much articulation in your arm when it's big and heavy enough to club people with. The use of the Savage Planet shell to cover up that function is both innovative and attractive in the unique appearance it gives him. As for your criticisms of the rest of his build, I think his simple build only accentuates his distorted, mutated appearance. Finally, you hardly touched on his unique rocky aesthetic or his gorgeous color scheme. I typically expect more from reviews than blanket condemnations.

Actually, those are massive sacrifices to make. You do need articulation when all you do with your figures is pose them on display, I don't play around with them and have him bash other heroes in the head. So for my case, a gimmicked arm that has those sacrifices is an huge hindrance and not at all acceptable. And If I do say this in the kindest way possible, I think saying what he looks like is one of the most needless things that i skipped in my wording of this review. There are pictures, anyone can see what he looks like and decide if they enjoy the appearance of the set. I look at the set form a design standpoint structurally, his color and aesthetics would have been knocked against had I not liked the look. I pick and chose what details I find nessecary to put into reviews, and in this case I chose to leave those out. My primary focus of this review is the final set's structure, I think it's widely known what theme he has, but not widely known as to how this figure is built, poses, and looks on camera, and that is the purpose I served. If you have additional thoughts then by all means make your own review to share your thoughts or simply comment them.

Overall, I feel like your revamp ruins some of this asymmetry with its bulky left shoulder and long left arm. But I do like how you enlarged some of the rocky texture from his right shoulder to give it an even more muscular look.

That is due to my predispositon of a hatred toward tiny arms. I understand where you are coming from, but I'd rather he go armless than have a short little arm that is suited for a Tyrannosaurus. Still have a lot of work to do on that arm in particular, but I personally cannot stand the assymetry he had before.

Thanks for the reviews on all these new figures VBBN.

Not a problem

[Mesonak]

Well, personally, I think his arm looks good from plenty of angles-- not just the side. Then again I'm not the sort of person who has ever been unable to tolerate hollow spaces on a build, whether in BIONICLE or Hero Factory.

Meanwhile, I think you are incorrect that building his arm out of traditional beams would have prevented him from having that function. I'm fairly sure the function and a more posable arm could be reconciled-- however, it would probably push up the price point (he's already cutting some corners as it is to allow for the bulky arm in the first place), and furthermore hitting anything with his function would make the arm bend, so repeated strikes might not look as convincing. From a MOCist's perspective, though, it shouldn't be any difficulty-- just remove the liftarm and attach a ball joint element, then attach the arm beams to the ball joint. I seem to recall that this was a popular way of reconciling posability and gear functions in the BIONICLE fan community.

I don't really see how his arm would look much less hollow if built with Hero Factory beams, though. There might be slightly fewer gaps (for instance, around the elbow), but those gaps really don't strike me as especially problematic. Overall, it's a bit of a tradeoff-- you can either have the appearance of sturdiness from HF beams, or actual sturdiness the Technic beam offers. Or, I suppose if you want to get really devious, you could use some friction joints to get the best of both worlds-- again, probably not something that could have been managed at this set's price point, but not impossible for MOCists to achieve.

Oh yeah definitely; if I made a claim that the arm being posable was impossible to achieve if you intended to fix the function, I apologize, because that's grossly incorrect - I know because I did it myself. You simply replace the technic bean at the end of the axle with a ball joint, which you can then attach HF limbs to. The point I was really trying to get across was that the function did not contribute enough to his design to make up for that semi-awkward arm attachment and the jumbled mess in the back (which I didn't even address in my post).

How I "fixed" Bruizer's arm connection was that I attached a size 5 grey technic beam to the top of his back torso going sideways, which a Glatorian neck is attached to. Bruizer's arm, which consists of two upper arm/leg bones and ending in the really small "extender" bone piece (not the friction joint, but the other one of comparable size that ends in a ball joint). To address your other point, you're definitely right that it doesn't really improve the look of the arm in any truly meaningful way, but my method does make the arm able to be posed in ways that make the arm look better. Very hard to explain properly; I'll probably take a picture sometime soon.

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Honestly not even the most beautiful and well executed action feature (and this is neither) can justify a mediocre overall design in my eyes. I thought we were past the days where Lego prioritized gimmicks and functions over making a well designed set; obviously not (moreso with Scarox than this guy, however).

There were many ways they could've done a proper asymmetrical style build without compromising the design at large, and they did not take any of those opportunities. As far as having a function in a HF set, I think they did the best they could as far as implementation into the build system goes, but what it added to Bruizer's design... just wasn't worth it. The technic beam, to me, looks out of place and unfitting for his general aesthetic. If he's supposed to be a guy that's all bulky and carved from the rock, he certainly doesn't look it if viewed from any other way than the side.

I guess some can appreciate the fact that he has this hilariously bulky arm that can't move any way except forward while his right arm looks like a twig...? That's not the kind of asymmetricality that I'd consider good, even for a rock monster. Had the arm been built with normal bones, you would've lost out on the "cool" factor of having a function, but really, would any actual "functionality" in the set be lost? Could you do any less with the set if that arm was built normally? Would it harm his overall asymmetrical appearance? Far from it; you could do far more in terms of posing without harming his look at all (kind of similar to my opinions on Scarox, but at least he still has full arm articulation).

Don't me wrong, Bruizer's still a pretty cool set and such - the foundation is solid, the function, despite my thoughts on it, is probably the best executed a HF-style function could ever be on a medium-sized set. I made a modification of him that altered both his arms and his legs that I'll probably take a picture of soon, but I just wasn't pleased with the central points of his design. If they were going to go full asymmetrical, they shouldn't have stopped at the upper legs; his lower legs being symmetrical and the fact he's got boots don't really help his "rock-monster" appearance too much, but I have no solid ideas on yet on how to alter them for the better, so they remain unchanged on my version.

I'd have to agree. I want to like Bruizer and no doubt I will get him, but he is one of those that needs serious modifications. Perhaps use of the gunmetal Inika feet (the ones with spikes on the end like on Hewkii) would remedy his usage of shoes, though for his lower legs I'm not sure what to use.

[The Crazy One]

Oh, what a shame about the right arm. Stupid gimmick (admittedly, not as awful as Scarox), that does nothing but distract from what was actually quite an interesting design.

[Aanchir]

Oh, what a shame about the right arm. Stupid gimmick (admittedly, not as awful as Scarox), that does nothing but distract from what was actually quite an interesting design.

I disagree. IMO, it's a quite fun gimmick that doesn't really harm his looks much at all. In exchange for a few gaps you get an arm with a quite sturdy, intuitive function. My main criticism of the function is the Technic construction on his back. It's a little more obtrusive than BIONICLE gear functions, since those were typically stowed securely within the build instead of simply affixec to the back. Of course, the brain slug's tail helps keep the Technic construction from being too distracting, and it helps that it's mostly in colors like dark stone grey and bright red which are already parts of his color scheme.