Lego Evo Xl Machine Review Hero Factory Invasion From Below

Hello and welcome to my second Invasion from Below review! 

Today I am reviewing -FINALLY- Evo XL Machine. This set is pretty decent as a titan construction action, or constraction, figure, but falls flat on a few points, which I will most certainly go over. This is the largest of the first wave of Hero Factory 2014 sets, with 193 pieces and costing $24.99 here in the U.S.

This set has a more unique build than your standard HF sets, with special leg and limb construction and many useful pieces. For those who are wondering, it has 3 of the small XT4 torsos, 2 pearl dark grey Stormer XL feet, and those grey 3-pin-hole connector pieces with ball joints in bulk. The set comes with Evo and 2 jumper monsters/kaiju, one orange and the latter red. These are called jumpers because they are able to hop a bit if you push down on their backs. While it doesn't work too effectively, it is still fun to send them attacking the machine (and losing, of course). Evo as a minfigure resembles his 2012 appearance the most, and his helmet retains most of th basic details of his helmet while still accurately portraying the character.

This set features several flick-fire missiles, an opening cockpit and capture pod, rotating waist, a ball shooter, and articulate, poseable limbs. This set is mostly aesthetically pleasing, with detailed armor add-ons and stickers to better give details on the cockpit and capture pod. This set has a hand that is able to grab the jumper kaiju and the capture pod can then be used to store them; alternatively, you can fire at them with the missiles and ball shooter if you so wish. The set does fall flat in terms of the wrist; it cannot be moved there. If Lego had allowed articulation there, it would better benefit the model itself. Another problem would be the exposed ball joints above the shoulders. If they could've covered those up, that would be much more aesthetically pleasing. I do realize they are there for the combiner model, but you could easily take off any armor pieces necessary and replace it with the parts needed. Due to the way they did the shoulders, the arms also cannot move too high up and down, which is not good for some poses and kinda brings down the figure a bit.

Overall, this figure is a definite buy. Despite its flaws, they can be fixed if you own components in your Lego collection to replace them, as this is Lego, after all! The best part about it is that it has both a hero and some villains, so right away kids can begin making them clash! That, and also its many play features and how cool it looks will attract both kids and adults.

My overall rating is: 4.5 out of 5.

A worthy addition to Hero Factory and a great toy overall.

Special thanks to Eric from my church for getting this for me!

Please comment to tell me how I am doing and what you think of the set!

Come back soon for Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and the Japanese classic Gojira!