Review – LEGO Hero Factory Surge 2.0

Manufacturer: LEGO * Year: 2011 * Ages: 6+

I could only resist the LEGO Hero Factory toy line* for so long before I just had to buy one of the action figures. Last month, after another round of staring at the toys in Target, I finally grabbed Surge 2.0* and now it’s time to share my thoughts. This review is kinda short, but there’s not a lot to say about the toy other than:

Cool, but not so cool that I need a lot of these LEGO Hero Factory action figures.

Durable

LEGO toys in general are pretty tough, capable of withstanding some rough play from kids of all ages (including adults), so it’s not at all surprising that the Hero Factory action figures are high-quality toys that feel like they’re ready for drops from heights, crashes in vehicles, and just about any other normal play wear you would expect a kid to put one of these through. I’m not gonna go throwing my own Surge 2.0 down the stairs, and I don’t think he could survive a good chewing by the dogs, but after so many designer and resin toys — and brittle joints on most mass-market action figures — it’s nice to play with a toy that feels like it was made to be handled. And handled a lot.

Easy Assembly

The included instruction booklet feels pretty long, but each step is quite simple and it only takes a few moments to transform the pile of parts — shown above — into the finished action figure. And if I could do it in a few moments then I’m pretty sure any reasonably bright kid can have this guy ready for action almost as soon as the package is open. And like most LEGO toys the first one is the toughest; assembling a second, third, or even more LEGO Hero Factory* action figures will be easier than that first toy in the series. I’ve got no complaints at all with the instructions or difficulty of assembly.

A Semi-Articulated Action Figure

The first spot where Surge 2.0* lets me down a little is in the articulation . . . and my biggest complaints are with his gun and not his joints. Surge 2.0 uses ball joints at the shoulders, hips, elbows, knees, wrists, ankles, and neck and while he doesn’t have a full-range of movement at each joint he’s got enough to be poseable and fun.

Unfortunately, the rifle is designed to be held two-handed and it’s pretty much locked into one position after you finish assembling the toy as shown in the instructions. To give the toy a bit more playability do not insert the pin in the left hand (shown in Step 7 in the instructions). The pin is tough to remove once it is in place and leaving it out gives you a lot more options when it comes to posing Surge 2.0 and his rifle. But this is a minor complaint since I’m gonna display the toy, but if I was playing with him as an action figure I would totally wanna know to skip this one piece when building the toy.

But Otherwise He’s Great

Seriously, that one flaw with the weapon is my only real problem with Surge 2.0*. If I was seven or eight I could see myself wanting this entire line — building the figure was fun and the ability to merge figures into larger forms is a great extra feature — but as a collectible toy there’s not enough going on for me to want more than a handful of the toys.

But just because I, as a collector, doesn’t want a lot of these does not mean that it’s not a great toy for kids. I have to say that any kid who loves the LEGO Bionicle series* will love this Hero Factory line, and I wish these had been around in the eighties when I was a kid. It’s a cool toy, and that’s all a toy really needs to be in order to be good.

Philip Reed would totally buy these toys for a kid if he had any kids that he needed to shop for. He’ll just have to settle for buying the occasional Hero Factory action figure for himself.