Review: 44016 Jaw Beast vs Stormer

[VBBN]

Set name: Jaw Beast vs. Stormer

Set number: 44016

Piece Count:

Year Released: 2014

Price: $9.99 USD, 9,99 EUR (?)

Useful Links:

Jaw Beast vs Stormer. Up to this point, Jaw Beast has been one of the most underrated sets, the main attraction to purchasing him has remained to be the trans light blue bones. There was a bit of speculation if they were actually transparent or not, but thankfully they are indeed. What of the rest of the set? Is it worth picking up for more than just the pieces?

Before we begin I'd like to once again thank The Lego Company and the Eurobricks Staff who made it possible for me to bring these reviews you today. I'd also like to confirm that the release dates for these sets are January 1st for the majority of the world, and March 1st for the U.S.

Packaging

Bag Front

As expected, Jaw Beast is contained in the resealable package. He is seemingly being launched into the air, with a large building collapsing behind him. As TTV joked, Stormer looks as though he is helping Jaw beast out by picking his teeth.

Bag Back

As usual, the back shows off the features...Well, feature of the set. His opening jaw is the only thing to really describe as an action feature here, so you just get a nice look at the set, free of the arrows everywhere.

Contents

Instructions

Once again we see this image, though a bit cut off at the legs.

Random Instruction Image

Black is outlined with white to help distinguish it from dark gray and pearl dark gray. Nothing too complicated in the instructions, everything is laid out well and easy to follow.

New parts

Here we have the smaller feet for the beasts. I must say at first I didn't like these as they are quite small and Jaw Beast sometimes loses his balance. However when you combine them with the larger beast feet (as shown in my Splitter Beast review), the end result is really nice looking.

The new fin pieces. It is a nice new piece that should offer some good MOC potential, and I'd like to see it in some other colors.

His printed piece. Thankfully this is used on his torso, so having only one doesn't create an annoying asymmetrical look.

The piece a lot of people are likely to get this set for, the trans light blue bones. So far I have had no issues with them breaking or not being strong enough.

Also new is his head, which you will see in detail in the following completed set pictures.

Minifigures

Build

The build begins with a skeleton torso and the limbs, which gives the figures hip, shoulder, and neck swivels. There are clips for accessories on the wrists and back of the ankles.

Front

This variant of Stormer includes a datapad and a pearl dark gray spear. I do like the minifig version of Stormer, I think he has one of the best helmets out of the figures. Stormer also has the torso armor in silver, along with Breez.

Side

Here you can see the peg on his back, which allows the minifigures to plug into the cockpits of the mechs.

Back

The torso armor detailing is kept throughout, and you can see that there are clips on the back of his legs to attach accessories onto.

Jaw Beast

Build Photos

His build is nothing complicated, and you can see that the trans light blue bones are going to shorten his limbs considerably.

We add on more armor as well as some purple spikes. The set uses 6 and gives you one extra; This is in fact a recolored piece, though I don't think it necessarily requires a separate picture.

Front

When the set is complete, it actually doesn't look too bad. The color scheme works very well-Normally I don't like azure, but teal, purple, and black is my favorite color scheme, so to see it used here is quite lovely. The trans limbs are cool, but because they are so small they really don't add too much to the figure.

Side

It's a fairly solid build all the way around, with the armor around the torso doing an adequate job bulking him up. The neck connection is rather sore here, you can see that due to the azure used to connect the head sticks out and doesn't blend too well.

Back

From the back you can see he uses a black hero hero torso armor, and you can also see the second shortest bone in dark bluish gray on his tail.

Action Shot 1

It's not the easiest thing to do, but you can get the pick into his mouth like on the box art. To do this you actually have to pop his top jaw off, and push the base of the spear into one of the connection points on the bottom jaw(you can see it showing at the bottom here)

Action Shot 2

Many people have said that jaw beast is meant to stay on all fours, so here is how that looks. I think this looks just as good as being bipedal, whereas the smaller beast from Splitter beast needs to be on all fours.

Complete Set

Overall, Jaw Beast isn't a bad set to pick up. Out of all the beasts, I think he is the best in terms of color scheme, and introduces some nice parts. The build is nothing challenging, but it results in a figure that is not too clunky or awkward, and is proportioned well. Stormer is one of the better minifigs of the line, and in terms of parts many people will want this. Purple, azure, trans light blue bones, a fair selection of useful bits. That said, the set is a bit pricey for $10 if you want it only as a parts pack.

[Brickus]

Thanks for the review, these sets look great.

[Aethersprite]

What a pleasant surprise! Thanks for the review. I love the colour scheme on this guy as well, I look forward to picking him up.

[Mesonak]

Great review; this one surprised me because, as it stood previously, Jaw Beast was my least favorite out of all the villains. However, after reading this, he may just be my favorite.

Something about him just appeals to me... I can't really place my finger on what it is exactly, but it just seems like a cool set. I do, however, wish that he was a bit more like he is depicted as in the instruction booklet's huge battle scene, what with the long tail and whatnot. I may mod that upon getting the set, we shall see.

I've gotta say, however, as cool as the transparent bones are, I can't help but feel they're a bit out of place considering none of the others have them.

[Shakar]

Ah. So the printed piece is 4M, I thought it was a 3M one for some reason- much better this way, as its torso is better covered (I'm calling the Beasts "it" unless they're revealed tob be sapient).

And I can finally see how the Beast heads are built. So each of the two variants has a + hole- simple and works perfectly.

Overall, the figure looks good. I'll probably mod it a bit, but as a "scout" size Villain, JB does its job very well. Much, much better than Scarox and Aquagon, though still not quite as good as gems like Thornraxx.

Thanks for the reviews! I'll leave a post in the other threads too.

[DraikNova]

<p><span style="color:#4b0082;">This guy is probably my second-favorite from the wave, just after Splitter Beast. The build isn't too interesting, but the color scheme is perfect, also making it useful for a parts pack, so I might just be getting two of this guy.%

[Aanchir]

Beautiful set and great review. As plain as Jaw Beast's design is, his proportions and color scheme still give him a whole lot of personality.

[vexorian]

Another weak Kaiju. The guy looks so plain. The only good point are the parts. New feet and cool transparent bricks. Although because the transparent bricks are light blue, I am not going to rush to buy this guy.

[Infernum]

Wow! Love that color scheme! Nice parts pack. Love all the new molds in this set! I also love the spike on the head. Definitely picking this one up!

[Csacsa234]

Have to love the colour scheme on this one, however I don't think that foot piece fits the monster, if TLG had put claws on all four limbs it would've looked better and more menaceing.

[UberlegoTV]

Great review i cant wait to get my hands on some of these!

[SonofTheShire]

Ooh. This is the first time I've seen Jaw Beast.

I've never been into Hero Factory, but I definitely want to pick up one of these new sets, and this might just be the one.

And maybe the little Exo walker. 'Cause of the mini-monsters.

Thanks for the reviews!

Edited December 4, 2013 by SonofTheShire

[Cirkit]

Trans light blue and purple on a Hero vs Beast set? Me like.

I like Stormer's little trans light blue data-pad, and I like that it's a simple set.. but still full of possibilities.

Maybe Jaw Beast will eat Stormer, maybe Stormer will jam the beast's jaws open; maybe he'll pick out that tiny kaiju part that's been bugging Jaws so much from between it's teeth, and the two will become the best of friends. Who knows?

And I'm growing to love those new spike parts. They're exactly what I need to finish certain MOCs, and those feet.. I wanted a foot like that, and it has come. Clips for claws, and even without it still looks like a foot. Thank you so much, designers!

This may be one I have to pick up.. when it comes out. In March. -_-

[zero1312]

Nice review!! I just love this little bugger. The colours blend together so well.

Did put the 4M piece the wrong way around intentionally?

[VBBN]

Nice review!! I just love this little bugger. The colours blend together so well.

Did put the 4M piece the wrong way around intentionally?

A keen eye, I did indeed. It just looked strange to me by the way it was indicated in the instructions and I flipped it during construction. His chest is very bare and this gives a very minimal extra bit of coverage. Nothing astounding but it's a start.

VBBN

[ZORK64]

So, I finally got the time to start reading the new reviews...

While I'm right now far more interested into the Legends Beast from Chima and their new joints, I'm still sure I'll at least pick up the beasts. Jaw Beast appeals to me thanks to his colours, those neat fins and his price.

Also, Minifig Stormer is awesome.

[maginn_ster27]

I just ordered this set along with the Evo Walker from Amazon as my local Toy Store didn't stock these until the 18th of January.

This is one of my favorite as its very simple but so different because if you combined it with a mech you could go so many ways, One of the best sets out of them all.

[Shakar]

I'll get this next week. I prefer starting from the cheaper one this time, and I'm not buying the Walker.

One thing that bothers me about all the Beasts (I'm posting this here because this review shows it best) is how much the ball socket sticks out of the head. I thought they stopped making these silly mistakes with HF.

[Infernum]

One thing that bothers me about all the Beasts (I'm posting this here because this review shows it best) is how much the ball socket sticks out of the head. I thought they stopped making these silly mistakes with HF.

Aw man, I hadn't noticed that until bad. Oh well, I can probably mod it.

[Cirvihi]

I'm not entirely fond of the result either. But fortunately, that's what we have this piece for.

And am I the only person who thinks that they mixed up the two halves of Jaw Beast's head? I'd like to think that the bigger part would have been placed at the bottom like on Splitter Beast because, seeing as the creature is named "Jaw Beast", it would need to live up to its namesake with a larger mandible.

[Front]

I guess this must be the first time we see the 2011 generation ball joint beams in translucent plastic.

.....edit:..

I just realise, half a minute after writing this, that the revised "old hand" piece (y-joint) has been out in brigth orange translucent plastic, like in Jawblade http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=6216-1 and Toxic Reapa http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=6201-1

:-)

Edited January 5, 2014 by Front

[ShadowWolfHount]

Jaw Beast to me is a vary good set, i love that we are going to have new parts and recolor plus people who know me knows i am going to love those Purple Spikes (and we are going to get 7, so i mainly going to get a lot of this guy), the feets are really good like that you can give it toes and it can be use a lot for animal MOCs, it is awesome to have small Trans-Light Blue Bones and to look like it can be use as a waterfall.

The build look great but i have to agree that the neck sticking out is really bad but if the Jaw was one piece it will be good for the set but not that good for MOCing. The torso is good, like the new printed piece. The minifig is good, like that they used the Skeleton body in block so it can fit with Hero Factory Skeletal Systems but i really do not like the legs they are not that good at all, the helmet look great like to see that in different set in different colors, i do love the armor and i like to see it in black.

Anyways i may (aka i am because of the purple) going to get it, it's a really good set and great for parts.

Edited January 8, 2014 by ShadowWolfHount

[Logan McOwen]

This will definitely be one to buy. Not only is he a nice little model, but he's also a great parts pack (a la Voltix) :D

[Mephek]

>Jaw Beast vs Stormer. Up to this point, Jaw Beast has been one of the most underrated sets,

Underrated? Try most anticipated. Most purple sets do well and most people are looking forward to this one for that reason.

[ShadowWolfHount]

Underrated? Try most anticipated. Most purple sets do well and most people are looking forward to this one for that reason.

I agree plus you know that because i told you i'm one of them on skype just not that long ago. The set is really good and have a lot of amazing parts plus no one vote for Below average and poor.