The Hero Factory 3.0 sets are in the wild, at least in Germany. BZPower Forum Mentor Gatanui was able to snag Bulk and Stringer and decided to share his first impressions with you. Read on to take a closer look at this summer's sets.

Bulk 3.0:

Bulk is by far not as bulky as his earlier version, now even being one of the sleekest 3.0 heroes. Furthermore, all of Bulk 3.0 uses the new silver as opposed to the original Bulk, which partly still had the old silver. When comparing both set's main colours, I feel glad LEGO introduced the new silver (gunsilver or herosteel), as it looks far more metallic than the old one. Bulk 3.0 uses the new 'bone' building system which was introduced with the 2.0 sets and thus it not very different from this year's first wave of heroes, except that he introduces recoloured pieces for a new, awesome colour scheme, as well as some completely new molds, namely the individual wolf helmet, the (rubber!) quaza spikes and the pieces they are attached to. Oh, and the badge piece of course, which is really nice to look at with its nice pattern and the refreshing transparent green, blowing away my initial doubts about this piece. Another interesting detail to note is that the lower limb piece of the middle length has been recoloured to dark grey on all sets.

The set has its weak points, though: From the back, he looks just as incomplete as the 2.0 sets (a bit less due to his armor being black), which is quite annoying. I am not sure what to think of the arm-attached spikes either. They easily fall off and are a tad too big in my opinion, making the posing harder for Bulk than for Stringer.

Stringer 3.0:

Stringer has changed since 2010, too. His secondary colour is now keetorange instead of the normal orange, giving Stringer the best colour scheme of all 3.0 sets along with Bulk. Like the latter, Stringer has all the advantages and disadvantages of the new 'bone' building system. I believe, however, that the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages. LEGO will have to come up with a solution for the back though. Stringer has many recoloured pieces, as well as some completely new molds. Take, for instance, the awesome bear-helmet. However, the set's true highlight is the claw replacing his normal left hand. Although the black piece is hollow, you barely notice it from the right angle and it is far better than the weapon arms of the original Heroes. The articulated, keetorange fingers make up for this minor defect, although the fourth 'finger' may look a bit strange and too often that I catch myself trying it out in all possible angles in case one looked better than another, finding out that it hardly makes any difference. Interestingly, Stringer is the first and so far only Hero with the new building system having two arms of different lengths.

All in all, Stringer 3.0 and Bulk 3.0 are two truly great sets and as a matter of fact, my favourite HERO Factory sets at the moment, particularly Stringer. LEGO has done a great job keeping the 3.0 sets mainly innovative and refreshing despite reusing most of the 2.0 pieces.

Big thanks go out to Gatanui for putting this first look together. We'll have full reviews of the new sets in a few weeks courtesy of LEGO. So keep checking back for more news and reviews right here on BZPower.

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