Set Review: 44006 Breez

[Hapori Tohu]

44006 Breez, one of the smaller heroes from the winter wave. To see how the latest version of the lone female hero stacks up, read on!

Presentation
From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.

Natalie Breez comes in a very green bag. The side is green, the background is mostly green and yellow, she's covered in green, green for everyone! The Hero Factory logo runs top-to-bottom on the left side, with a brain attack logo on the top right. The whole thing is under the shadowy eyes of a creepy brain slug in a very Makuta-ish move.

Nat comes in one of the smaller bags, so don't expect a big bag like last time!

The back of the bag has Nat, and of course, the legal disclaimers. Every day with these disclaimers is the new best day of my life.

Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?

Nat is a smaller set, and therefore pretty straight-forward. This build used to be exciting, but now it's fairly ho-hum. She'll be together pretty soon, with very little of interest to speak of.

Set Design
Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.

Nat doesn't contain a plethora of new parts. There are a few, of course.

 

• The four length cladding in the transparent apple-green
• The new head in apple-green
• The new hero torso armour in the same colour they all come in
• The curved tube with the spike thing (originally from Atlantis sets) in silver
• The new visor in transparent apple green
• And a new iteration of Nat's classic helmet

The new head is great. Though it lacks the Iron Man details, and really any personality at all, the extra connection points more than make up for it. I hope these stick around for years. And come in more colours.

The torso part is interesting, with a turbine design in the center (that oddly gets entirely covered with the hero core), and four minifig rods at an x-cross that exo-force robot arms connect to.

It's a very sleek new piece, though I wish it came in different colours.

I really like Nat's new helmet. It evokes the original whilst also doing something new (but our Toa Nuva couldn't have done this in 2008 for some reason???) Gone is the mic, and instead she has a little mouth indent. I think it looks great. And it looks really sleek in the silver. I wonder how it would look in lime, though.

The visor is cool, and has a minifig-rod shaped clip on the back that connects to a rod on the back of the new head. They really thought this through. It has two slots on the top that stop it up against her helmet when it gets open all the way. This part is neat. I'm looking forward to owning more in more colours.

Nat is a pretty basic hero design. Her back is mostly empty (except for a brown connector that allows her shield to be stored there, which is better than nothing). But I'll be honest, I think she looks very cool. The lime and trans-apple-green armour bits all look great on top of the silver. I've heard several complaints about the brown on her weapon, but it doesn't bother me. Weapons, in a personal view, don't have to match the colour scheme of the rest of the set. They are weapons, not fashion accessories.

Speaking of her weapon, the blades are attached to her hand via pins, so they spin. I've seen this spinning advertised as a play feature, though I tend to think that's a cover-up to make up for the fact that there wasn't another way to attach these specific parts without pins that spin. The shield is cool, and in these photos is attached upside-down. Oops.

If you so desire, her blade staff thing can be pulled apart and made into two blades. I think this looks neat.

There's nothing really new to report here. I like the way the exo-force arms are used to cover the hero core. I like the weapons, the colours, and the way the set is organized. I think she's far more visually appealing than her wave-mates, Rocka and Bulk. There's just something dynamic about this set. Maybe it's the stylistc consistency with all the spikes, from her shield and blades to her helmet. It just works, and works well.

Playability
The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?

Nat has the normal points of articulation, and no launchers. So she can make cool poses, and that's about it, besides the afore-mentioned spinning blades and spinning shield.

Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?

• Great organization
• Cool design consistency
• Great helmet
• Cool colours

• Is lime overplayed?
• Nothing new
• Empty back
• Time for new feet

Pros What's to like?

Cons What's not to like?

Okay those are a little reach-y. I like this set. It's impressed me since the first image surfaced. It's one of the two sets from this wave I wanted the most (and of course, the last one I finally found). Out of the three basic heroes this wave, I think Natalie Breez is heads and shoulders above the dudes.

And that wraps things up for now. I hope you all enjoyed the review. As always, you can leave your questions, comments, and thanks for DeeVee in the Talkback. Keep checking out BZPower for our next review and other LEGO news!

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[Hitoshura]

What a coincidence. I read this right after I read a review of the same set by Fastcar700. Very detailed review, and lots of pics. Good work.

[Kanakalackin]

Here's something odd,

 

On the HF Website, it labels Breez as a HIM, whereas the classic (should I dare say that.) Breez is a HER. Story change LEGO? If so, I would like an explanation. Because every robot toy line has to have a female character to arouse female buyers (i.e. Transformers: Arcee, BIONICLE: Gali, Hahli, etc., HF: Breez.). Is this an indication that a new female character will be introduced?

[Hitoshura]

Here's something odd, On the HF Website, it labels Breez as a HIM, whereas the classic (should I dare say that.) Breez is a HER. Story change LEGO? If so, I would like an explanation. Because every robot toy line has to have a female character to arouse female buyers (i.e. Transformers: Arcee, BIONICLE: Gali, Hahli, etc., HF: Breez.). Is this an indication that a new female character will be introduced?

Breez is a girl, and that was most likely just a typo. We see a lot of typos in life. And I'm sorry, but that's not enough proof that there will be an upcoming female character. It's possible, but we are not sure.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

This is one of the coolest HF sets I've seen in a while. Her weapons and body design both great IMO. Thanks for the review DeeVee!

[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

I've never been a fan of the Hero Factor sets, but wow, the front of this thing looks fantastic. I dare say I may even be wanting to purchase it. Shame about the back, though storing the shield and splitting the bow-thing looks pretty darn cool as well.

 

Probably my favorite Hero Factory set so far. Hopefully it looks just as good in person.

[FrozenFlash]

Thanks for the review. This incarnation of Breez has to be the best out of all of her previous forms. The set doesn't look too good on the bag but the actual set looks awesome.

[Creep Of The Deep]

Great review Deevee.

 

Yeah I'll totally get Breez first when Brain Attack releases here.

[Fastcar800]

What a coincidence. I read this right after I read a review of the same set by Fastcar700. Very detailed review, and lots of pics. Good work.

XD

 

Anyway, very nice review! Quite detailed. I always enjoy reading these!

[Obsessionist]

It is definitely a nice-looking set. I'd prefer other ones for the parts, though.

[Aanchir]

Good review. The new Breez set is great; I look forward to getting her when I actually find her in a store (or when I decide to throw in the towel and order her online). Her helmet design is perhaps even more feminine than the previous version, which was already nice and feminine in design compared to the average mask/helmet, and her build isn't bad either. She doesn't amaze me as much as the Breakout version, but she's still quite impressive.On a side note, you missed one of her new parts: the Silver Metallic (in Bricklink terms, Flat Silver) blades on her weapon. Those previously only appeared in Titanium Metallic (post-2010 Pearl Dark Gray/"gunmetal") and Bright Red (classic red). Also, her torso shell does come in at least one other color: Titanium Metallic, in Rocka.On a side note, I agree it's time for new feet. Not that the current one bothers me a great deal, but it is several stages short of an ideal foot piece. What I'd really like to see is a foot piece that, like this one, has only a one-module protruding heel, but with the toe potentially one module shorter and the ball cup placed one module lower on the foot. This would not only be more proportionate for several MOCs, but could be used with a friction joint without making a lot of poses look terribly unrealistic. Furno XL and Stormer XL are decent sets, but their feet bother me and I've quite deliberately left friction joints off the feet of my own "XL" models, such as Kit Martello, even if they could use the extra ankle support.

[AuRon the champion]

I'll be sure to comment on this much later, but I'd like to report that none of the links on the homepage, outside of the "talkback" button works. Instead, I get an error message saying "You are not allowed to view this content".

 

Just a heads up...

[Black Six]

I'll be sure to comment on this much later, but I'd like to report that none of the links on the homepage, outside of the "talkback" button works. Instead, I get an error message saying "You are not allowed to view this content". Just a heads up...

That's why at the end of the news story it says:

NOTE: Due to some issues we're currently having with the story page, you can view the full review in the Talkback Thread. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

[Voltex]

I just recently bought this set myself, and have been really enjoying it - this incarnation of Breez is easily one of my favourite Hero Factory sets. It does a lot right.

Plus I love love love the new helmet.

 

-ibrow

[Kopaka068]

It is quite a good set. I have it, and I quite enjoy it.

[AuRon the champion]

Oh.

 

Imaderp.

 

Anyway, on the set...

 

I like it. For once, it actually looks kinda feminine without lego having to add... Youknowwhats to really give that look. Personally, I'm more intent to buy her more than any of the other sets (outside of the villains, and Furno XL), due to the frame size, that trans applegreen color, and the helmet 'n head.

 

Those heads, with those connections points... It's everything I wish the Glatorian had, but never got. I swear, I'm in love with that head piece. It's really nice.

 

Now, to only quit drooling over it, and find a good use for it in a MOC...

[TheFMAlchemist63]

I'll be sure to comment on this much later, but I'd like to report that none of the links on the homepage, outside of the "talkback" button works. Instead, I get an error message saying "You are not allowed to view this content".

 

Just a heads up...

 

I'm glad I'm not the only that this is happening to, and now I feel bad for emailing the guy about this because I just saw that note about them having issues with that.

[Space: Ocean of Awe]

Breez is, in my opinion, the best hero (and it would be awesome if we could have a Breez XL). Though I was kind of disappointed with this Breez, probably because all the others I expected to suck, whereas this time I was very much expecting her to be awesome (not that she wasn't...she just didn't push way beyond my expectations as she did the other times). The head, helmet, apple green armour, and chest armour were brilliant though. My main and biggest complaint was the fact that her weapon is not rigid.

 

=)

[AdaptingChaos]

Nice review! I was thinking about getting this set, but I feel with every Hero Factory set I buy, its the exact same thing with just armor switched around with 5 new pieces... IMO of course

Edited February 28, 2013 by AdaptingChaos

[Aanchir]

Nice review! I was thinking about getting this set, but I feel with every Hero Factory set I buy, its the exact same thing with just armor switched around with 5 new pieces... IMO of course

Couldn't you say the same thing about most BIONICLE sets with Inika builds, or even moreso with Av-Matoran/Agori/Stars builds? Really, a set's uniqueness has as much to do with how it uses pieces as with what pieces it uses. The Breakout series had tons of good examples. Each hero set had a highly unique design and personality, even if the build and many of the parts were recycled from elsewhere. Even in BIONICLE, some of my favorite figure designs were those that just reused already-released parts in unique configurations, like Malum (the only molds unique to him were his flame claws and helmet, the others were either molds created for previous sets or molds shared with other Glatorian).In the case of Breez here, she's not totally cohesive in design, but her armor is laid out fairly well, with decent skeleton proportions. Of course, one weakness of this wave compared to the Breakout wave is that all of the villains are fairly humanoid, unlike the Breakout wave where all of the smaller villain sets had brilliantly unique builds and/or proportions. But in the very least the summer wave is bringing us the amazingly-designed Dragon Bolt to mix things up a bit.

[AdaptingChaos]

Nice review! I was thinking about getting this set, but I feel with every Hero Factory set I buy, its the exact same thing with just armor switched around with 5 new pieces... IMO of course

Couldn't you say the same thing about most BIONICLE sets with Inika builds, or even moreso with Av-Matoran/Agori/Stars builds? Really, a set's uniqueness has as much to do with how it uses pieces as with what pieces it uses. The Breakout series had tons of good examples. Each hero set had a highly unique design and personality, even if the build and many of the parts were recycled from elsewhere. Even in BIONICLE, some of my favorite figure designs were those that just reused already-released parts in unique configurations, like Malum (the only molds unique to him were his flame claws and helmet, the others were either molds created for previous sets or molds shared with other Glatorian).In the case of Breez here, she's not totally cohesive in design, but her armor is laid out fairly well, with decent skeleton proportions. Of course, one weakness of this wave compared to the Breakout wave is that all of the villains are fairly humanoid, unlike the Breakout wave where all of the smaller villain sets had brilliantly unique builds and/or proportions. But in the very least the summer wave is bringing us the amazingly-designed Dragon Bolt to mix things up a bit.

I completely agree with you 100%

However, while LEGO was working on Bionicle sets (for around 10 years) they reused many canister and titan set designs. They were also recycling pieces from previous sets, just in different colors, like you stated. Hero Factory to me, is no different.They have been doing that for around 10 years with Bionicle, don't you think LEGO should've learned their lesson? When 2.0 released it was a great step and improvement from 1.0. When 3.0 released it was basically 2.0 just with some re-colors. In Breakout, I was very satisfied because, like you said, they had unique builds, but to me it was pretty much Hero Factory 2.0 still, but with some height and new colored pieces added to a couple of sets. I just got every single Hero in that wave because all of them were coming out in one form. Brain Attack to me is just Breakout IMO (Hero-wise), although I do have to admit I might get Dragon Bolt and some new villain sets because they have an interesting, un-humanoid build. I'm just saying that LEGO shouldn't be doing the same mistakes they did with Bionicle to Hero Factory. This is why I feel that Hero Factory sets are basically just the same.

[Aanchir]

 

Nice review! I was thinking about getting this set, but I feel with every Hero Factory set I buy, its the exact same thing with just armor switched around with 5 new pieces... IMO of course

Couldn't you say the same thing about most BIONICLE sets with Inika builds, or even moreso with Av-Matoran/Agori/Stars builds? Really, a set's uniqueness has as much to do with how it uses pieces as with what pieces it uses. The Breakout series had tons of good examples. Each hero set had a highly unique design and personality, even if the build and many of the parts were recycled from elsewhere. Even in BIONICLE, some of my favorite figure designs were those that just reused already-released parts in unique configurations, like Malum (the only molds unique to him were his flame claws and helmet, the others were either molds created for previous sets or molds shared with other Glatorian).In the case of Breez here, she's not totally cohesive in design, but her armor is laid out fairly well, with decent skeleton proportions. Of course, one weakness of this wave compared to the Breakout wave is that all of the villains are fairly humanoid, unlike the Breakout wave where all of the smaller villain sets had brilliantly unique builds and/or proportions. But in the very least the summer wave is bringing us the amazingly-designed Dragon Bolt to mix things up a bit.

 

I completely agree with you 100% However, while LEGO was working on Bionicle sets (for around 10 years) they reused many canister and titan set designs. They were also recycling pieces from previous sets, just in different colors, like you stated. Hero Factory to me, is no different.They have been doing that for around 10 years with Bionicle, don't you think LEGO should've learned their lesson? When 2.0 released it was a great step and improvement from 1.0. When 3.0 released it was basically 2.0 just with some re-colors. In Breakout, I was very satisfied because, like you said, they had unique builds, but to me it was pretty much Hero Factory 2.0 still, but with some height and new colored pieces added to a couple of sets. I just got every single Hero in that wave because all of them were coming out in one form. Brain Attack to me is just Breakout IMO (Hero-wise), although I do have to admit I might get Dragon Bolt and some new villain sets because they have an interesting, un-humanoid build. I'm just saying that LEGO shouldn't be doing the same mistakes they did with Bionicle to Hero Factory. This is why I feel that Hero Factory sets are basically just the same.

 

Personally I don't think that reusing parts and builds in BIONICLE could be considered a mistake. Consider the Toa Hagah, who were very well-loved sets but who were (build-wise) just slightly modified Toa Metru clones with only two new parts and four recolored parts between them!Furthermore, like the Inika torso (which I was a big fan of), the point of most of the Hero Factory basic skeleton parts is to be versatile so they can be reused for lots of unique characters. And I think it'd be a waste to introduce tons of new skeleton and shell parts just for variety's sake when the current skeleton and shell parts have such potential. BIONICLE introduced new torso parts regularly, for instance, but a consequence of this was that each had a somewhat specialized look and would begin to feel a bit dated. Once you have a Toa Metru torso, a Toa Mata torso is more or less obsolete when it comes to regular-size figure building. From my perspective, the ability to reuse a build or a piece for several years is usually an indication that said build or piece was designed with real staying power.Even moving away from structural parts, the Breakout Hero Core is a good example of this. The previous two Hero Core designs were designed in such a way that they would not fit seamlessly on any parts but those chest pieces for which they were designed. The Breakout Hero Core, on the other hand, eliminates some of this specialization and in turn becomes much more versatile.Now, if a new Hero Factory build were to be introduced, the thing I'd want most in a new build would be waist articulation. It's one of the biggest limitations of the current Hero Factory torso beams, and while with clever Technic building it can be achieved to some degree, it'd be nice to have a torso designed for waist articulation for the first time. Of course, a design with waist articulation would ideally require the upper and lower torso to be armored separately, but I think this would be a great improvement to the system as well, since by mixing and matching different upper and lower torso armor you would have that much more freedom for new character designs. Such a design could continue to be used for years to come if it were designed effectively.Still, waist articulation in a Hero Factory figure would also come at a cost. Currently, the 9x9 and 9x7 torso beams have the ball joint positioned halfway between the shoulders and hips. This would be about where the hinge of a single-jointed waist would have to go, meaning that a figure with waist articulation would not likely be compatible with previous torso shells without some degree of customization. Nevertheless, I think that is a direction I would like to see Hero Factory figures move in the future-- though IMO there's no hurry, since the current skeleton design still has plenty of life in it. Edited March 2, 2013 by Aanchir: Rachira of Time

[Gears The Toa]

I only have Bulk and Rocka, but will pick Breez up soon, along with some brain attack bad guys(I want to see how the brain sucker slug thingies can be used)

[AdaptingChaos]

 

Nice review! I was thinking about getting this set, but I feel with every Hero Factory set I buy, its the exact same thing with just armor switched around with 5 new pieces... IMO of course

Couldn't you say the same thing about most BIONICLE sets with Inika builds, or even moreso with Av-Matoran/Agori/Stars builds? Really, a set's uniqueness has as much to do with how it uses pieces as with what pieces it uses. The Breakout series had tons of good examples. Each hero set had a highly unique design and personality, even if the build and many of the parts were recycled from elsewhere. Even in BIONICLE, some of my favorite figure designs were those that just reused already-released parts in unique configurations, like Malum (the only molds unique to him were his flame claws and helmet, the others were either molds created for previous sets or molds shared with other Glatorian).In the case of Breez here, she's not totally cohesive in design, but her armor is laid out fairly well, with decent skeleton proportions. Of course, one weakness of this wave compared to the Breakout wave is that all of the villains are fairly humanoid, unlike the Breakout wave where all of the smaller villain sets had brilliantly unique builds and/or proportions. But in the very least the summer wave is bringing us the amazingly-designed Dragon Bolt to mix things up a bit.

 

I completely agree with you 100% However, while LEGO was working on Bionicle sets (for around 10 years) they reused many canister and titan set designs. They were also recycling pieces from previous sets, just in different colors, like you stated. Hero Factory to me, is no different.They have been doing that for around 10 years with Bionicle, don't you think LEGO should've learned their lesson? When 2.0 released it was a great step and improvement from 1.0. When 3.0 released it was basically 2.0 just with some re-colors. In Breakout, I was very satisfied because, like you said, they had unique builds, but to me it was pretty much Hero Factory 2.0 still, but with some height and new colored pieces added to a couple of sets. I just got every single Hero in that wave because all of them were coming out in one form. Brain Attack to me is just Breakout IMO (Hero-wise), although I do have to admit I might get Dragon Bolt and some new villain sets because they have an interesting, un-humanoid build. I'm just saying that LEGO shouldn't be doing the same mistakes they did with Bionicle to Hero Factory. This is why I feel that Hero Factory sets are basically just the same.

 

Personally I don't think that reusing parts and builds in BIONICLE could be considered a mistake. Consider the Toa Hagah, who were very well-loved sets but who were (build-wise) just slightly modified Toa Metru clones with only two new parts and four recolored parts between them!Furthermore, like the Inika torso (which I was a big fan of), the point of most of the Hero Factory basic skeleton parts is to be versatile so they can be reused for lots of unique characters. And I think it'd be a waste to introduce tons of new skeleton and shell parts just for variety's sake when the current skeleton and shell parts have such potential. BIONICLE introduced new torso parts regularly, for instance, but a consequence of this was that each had a somewhat specialized look and would begin to feel a bit dated. Once you have a Toa Metru torso, a Toa Mata torso is more or less obsolete when it comes to regular-size figure building. From my perspective, the ability to reuse a build or a piece for several years is usually an indication that said build or piece was designed with real staying power.Even moving away from structural parts, the Breakout Hero Core is a good example of this. The previous two Hero Core designs were designed in such a way that they would not fit seamlessly on any parts but those chest pieces for which they were designed. The Breakout Hero Core, on the other hand, eliminates some of this specialization and in turn becomes much more versatile.Now, if a new Hero Factory build were to be introduced, the thing I'd want most in a new build would be waist articulation. It's one of the biggest limitations of the current Hero Factory torso beams, and while with clever Technic building it can be achieved to some degree, it'd be nice to have a torso designed for waist articulation for the first time. Of course, a design with waist articulation would ideally require the upper and lower torso to be armored separately, but I think this would be a great improvement to the system as well, since by mixing and matching different upper and lower torso armor you would have that much more freedom for new character designs. Such a design could continue to be used for years to come if it were designed effectively.Still, waist articulation in a Hero Factory figure would also come at a cost. Currently, the 9x9 and 9x7 torso beams have the ball joint positioned halfway between the shoulders and hips. This would be about where the hinge of a single-jointed waist would have to go, meaning that a figure with waist articulation would not likely be compatible with previous torso shells without some degree of customization. Nevertheless, I think that is a direction I would like to see Hero Factory figures move in the future-- though IMO there's no hurry, since the current skeleton design still has plenty of life in it.

Yes I agree, I do want some sort of new waist articulation in Hero Factory sets. But to me the Hero Factory skeletons have to go, or at least make some other way of connecting armor pieces on their sets. I personally feel with every Hero Factory set I get is the same, just adding about 5 new pecies. As for the Toa Hagah, I liked them too even though they were modified Toa Metru, also did like the Inika torso very much and I know that many BZPower reviews state a con, to be a reused Inika torso build on canister sets 2007-2009. I personally always liked the sets I got 2007-2009, 2008 being my favorite!

Lego should've known that many people didn't like repetitive builds shown in Bionicle, yet they continue to do it today with Hero Factory. I love Bionicle very much and have sets from 2002-2010; I like Hero Factory a lot too, its just the builds to me are a bit annoying considering their repetitive and simple. I liked Bionicle builds because they were a bit more complex (although repetitive).