Review: 5002941 Bionicle Hero pack
Posted by Huw,
The current gift with purchase (GWP) in Europe and elsewhere at the moment is a small Bionicle polybag, 5002941 Bionicle Hero Pack.
It contains a dark blue skull spider, a trans neon orange mask, a sticker sheet, a small comic book and an A3 size poster of a map on one side and masks on the other.
The main interest for collectors of course, is the spider and mask. I'm not fully up to speed with the Bionicle storyline so I am indebted to aanchir for the following information:
The orange mask is the Mask of Fire, Tahu's mask. It enhances Tahu's elemental powers. But I don't know if this one's unique color has any significance in the story or if it's just a flashy collectible item like the Transparent Fluorescent Green Mask of Levitation that was released at LEGOLAND parks in 2001.
The skull spiders are the enemies that the Toa are trying to defeat in the current story arc. They serve the Lord of Skull Spiders and try to steal masks, but what they intend to do with those masks is still a mystery. The color determines their special traits — blue ones like this one are super resilient and can survive almost any attack (source).
And all Skull Spiders have the ability to latch to a character's face to control their mind — so, from a play perspective, a skull spider lets you pit two Toa or Protector figures against each other by having a mind-controlled character trying to steal the free character's mask and the free character trying to remove the skull spider and free their enslaved ally. It's a clever way to make up for the current wave having 12 hero sets and only one dedicated villain set (the Lord of Skull Spiders), since this way you can turn any Toa or Protector from an ally to an enemy just by switching their mask for a Skull Spider.
The sticker sheet is holographic and I'm sure it'll be relished by small boys who will rejoice in sticking them in places their parents don't want them to.
It is of course, a must-have collectable for Bionicle fans. It's free with every order from shop.LEGO.com until 14 February in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and in the USA and Canada next month, I believe.
You can place your order via these links: UK ! Germany | France.
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23 comments on this article
huw how come there are two old sets in the new in the database.
They have new images, or rather replacements for incorrect ones.
ok thanks huw.
by the way nice poly.
Free with a yea-dollar Bionicle purchase, or any purchase? The Mask looks nice, but I think an exclusive Skull Spider would have been in order...
orange mask is actually rock, or desert, i'm not sure
Nice little pack. I was scornful of this when I first saw it, but as I have ordered Gali and the Protector of Water, just to try BIONICLE, I may get this if I like them.
@ Sprinkle-Otter: You would have thought so, yes. A purple Skull Spider that can spit into two? That would be SOMETHING.
@Robana88: No, this is Tahu's Mask. Have a look at the other BIONICLE sets. You'll find this is just in a different color.
I have this GWP and it's rather nice, although it is a shame we didn't get a red skull spider in it as depicted in the comics.
@ Mutant-Orc: You never know what might come in the Summer Sets. Maybe Red, Purple and Brown Skull Spiders? Hmm...
Do we know yet if these are coming to North America? I really don't want to have to buy a Bionicle set from a different region on Shop.com, or buy on the secondary market and pay international shipping either way, just to get this little pack.
If someone's got or gets one and doesn't want it. I'm an American Bionicle MOCer that wants at least two of these(one to keep sealed, one to open).
@ 3rd-Eye88: Yep, these will be hitting USA and Canada in March. Not long for you guys over there to wait. :-)
I actually bought one for €0.01 and received a second for free. I'd already placed an order earlier in the day but after completing the purchase I saw the poly listed for sale at a cent and I couldn't resist checking if I could buy it.
@NBJ2002
"You never know what might come in the Summer Sets. Maybe Red, Purple and Brown Skull Spiders? Hmm..."
Sadly it appears we know what is in the Summer sets, our only hope for the other coloured Spiders is if we get more promotional gifts.
"You would have thought so, yes. A purple Skull Spider that can spit into two? That would be SOMETHING."
That would have been intriguing, personally I hope we have a mask that can split in two when it comes to the Gen 2 Mask Of Time. Would have liked a trans-clear Skull Spider...
Finally a freebie I really don't care for and so can resist buying Lego! (only to blow it next month probably ;-p)
Is there a way to see how the mask looks on Tahu?
Wow, this is blah... I kinda like the stickers, but the skull spider's nothing special (I want a maroon one so bad...) and the trans-orange Hau doesn't match the gold blended masks in the summer villains.
Random theory time: The skull warriors start taking power from the gold masks, but they start to melt into their element. Tahu's is completely elemental-ized, but before the others are, Gali saves them all. It would explain a total lack of trans-blue Kaukau in the summer assortment. Ah, the irony... the one character with a transparent mask in G1 doesn't get one now...
@NBJ2002 is that for sure we're getting them in march?
Hmm rather curious that the sticker sheet uses the old village/Toa order from early 2001 as Lewa-Kopaka-Gali-Tahu-Onua-Pohatu which never followed any set numbers or else but is somewhat consistent with the "Toa Kaita" combiner thing way back then...
Nice polybag! But just to be clear: this is not "free" and therefore not a "gift". You have to pay for it. That's true in Europe and will be true in North America and everywhere it becomes available.
I was waiting to see what would be the free gift Lego would offer for this month and was so disappointed, sorry but I think this is the ugliest "Freebie". I also need to place another order with Lego and would rather wait to next month to place it rather than get another one of these.
Not my kind of thing at all!
Still - wouldn't do if we were all the same.
I have no interest in Bionicle...but, I would like some bricks in that reddish-orange.
With all nuances we have in blue and green, it is sad we have so few diffrent kind of "red".
@3rdeye88: Yep, it's on the March LEGO Store calendar! https://www.flickr.com/photos/tormentalous/16234801040
I think this is a very cool polybag set. In many cases I'd prefer something with a full buildable creature (larger than a skull spider) or figure, of course, but I can't say no to an exclusive mask recolor like this. It's also nice to have a way to get skull spiders without paying $10 or more for a full figure, since in the story the Skull Spiders attack in swarms and it's currently hard to army build them. Would have been nice if the Skull Spider were in a new color, though.
The other contents like the stickers, booklet, and poster look cool, although currently I have more posters than I know what to do with. I love posters but hate deciding which ones to put up!
@ Scarilian: I have not seen the Summer sets, so they were guesses, but I understand what you are saying. :-)
And yes, the Purple SS does sound interesting, eh? :-o