Review:Rocka XL

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Review:Rocka XL
Review Information
Name	Rocka XL
Set Number	2282
Number of Reviews	1
Side	Heroes
Colors	Gold, Gunmetal, White
Weapons	Multi-Functional Claw, Meteor Blaster
Number of Pieces	186
Availability	Available Summer 2011

Review 1

Review from Brickset by user: Kalhiki

Your opinion on Fire Lord will probably make an impact on your opinion of this set. After all, Rocka XL is pretty much a clone of Fire Lord's build with some modifications.

Box/Instructions

The box is like all of the Savage Planet figures; a very eye catching lime green. This box is also very cool on its own. Rocka is in a neat pose firing his Meteor Blaster (or whatever it's called) and Witch Doctor is standing in the background. But that's not what makes it cool. Rocka is in what appears to be a cave with tons of skulls (2.0 Hero heads) lining the walls and floor. In my opinion, this is pretty dark for Lego (but awesome nonetheless).

The back is the same a WD's box. It has the short comic and the bottom features Rocka fighting WD.

The instructions are nothing new. Building steps as usual. However in the back it has a nice picture of a battle between the Heroes and Villians of this wave (on the Hero Pad, I think it's called the Key Visuals Poster).

Parts

Rocka has a nice selection of parts. He has some long bone pieces, and gold cladding. Also in the gold department is a gold "paw" piece, Hero chast plate, and his helmet.

The helmet is a very nice design. I feel it works better here than on the normal set since it's so big (then again, I don't have the small version, so I wouldn't know). My only complaint on the helmet is the face opening. Due to how it's designed, only the bottom part of the eyes are visible. But it otherwise looks good.

Then he has some spikes such as the infected Quaza spike in silver, and some stinger pieces (or whatever. Same piece as Waspix's stinger). And he has some of the large shells (same piece as Stringer's weapon), which look good in black, and some pieces that were also used as part of Bulk's weapons. Finally he has two of his nametag pieces, and a white hero Head and Core.

Also worth mentioning (even though it's not new or interesting) is that he comes with an old style ball joint. I don't know, I just find it an interesting inclusion.

The build

The build was like Fire Lord's for the most part, however the back and shoulder assembly was rather different due to the spikes. Plus he also has a Hero chest, so it was different making the body. Nothing was really challenging either.

The reason why I rated it a four was because it was a recycled version of Fire Lord. I'd have liked to see something entirely new.

The completed model

The completed model looks great. The idea of an extra large Hero was executed well with the design. Starting from the bottom, he has a very nice usage of the Hero under armor which gives the appearance of bulky ankle guards (I'm a sucker for large ankle guards), and he also has a silver Quaza spike on his heel giving him a nasty looking spur.

Unlike Fire Lord, Rocka has thigh armor which, while simple, is effective. The body is also pretty nice and is obviously that of a hero. I also find it interesting that he uses a paw piece as underarmor to connect the chest to the main body. Then he has all the spikes on his back which may not be very useful in a jungle environment, but still look cool and tribal.

The arms are... eh. They're thin, but They work I guess.

As for complaints, well, the little gold piece on his lower body is wobbly, and there's no way to fix this as far as I can tell. Also, the spikes on his "Freddy Krueger" claw are rather loose and can easily fall off with a slight pull. However, putting small scraps of Kleenex in the holes should tighten it.

Finally, like Fire Lord, he has those dreaded arm supports. Immediatley after completing the build, I tore the supports apart and fashioned a quick fix. I currently don't have pictures, but once I do, I'll put them up on my Brickshelf. In the meantime, be creative.

Summary

Overall, Rocka XL is still an awesome set. The problems are minor in my opinion (aside from the arm supports, but those can be fixed). If you liked Fire Lord, you'll probably like Rocka XL. Even if you hated FL, this set fixes some of the problems the design had (especially by adding a lot of bulk). So, I'd say pick him up if you're interested. If you're creative, I'm sure you'll find a way to fix the arm supports and make this set worth it.

Without fix: 4/5

With Fix: 5/5