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
Presentation/Box
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.
Building
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.
The highly interesting Bulk/Core Hunter combiner. I haven´t tried it yet.
Set Design/Pieces
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Core Hunter review coming soon! :)
-Gata
