Leewan

Chima is supposed to have a three years run, which means 2015 will be its last year. Unless, like ninjago, the theme gets so successful Lego decides to keep it going, but I don't think so. We'll probably have a final wave in January, just like ninjago's last wave in January 2013 (before they decide to keep the theme going in 2014), which will give room to Bionicle to shine. Greg F said that if Bionicle were indeed to come back, it would be mainly aimed to 8-11 years kids.

Don't worry, they are.

Yeah, it looks like a mini catapult, that's an interesting part. The set is rather good, I just don't like the front of the jet. I really like Sinestro's design.

It's also used in the current City Arctic wave. I'm curious about the new guns. The overall set seems nice, even if I don't really like the rounded front.

Maybe this could work ? Will she be 50cm tall too ? If so, with such a monstrous family, you're gonna become the next Archinto. Oh, yeah, thanks, that could be interesting.

Yeah, very nice ! But why isn't the last armor oriented like the two next other ones ? It makes a weird transition between the two "sections" of the tail. Good job so far, is the body built ? If so, it would have been nice to see the regular head and your custom head attached to it.

And it's much more blurry than the fakes we've seen lately. What's the point of making a fake picture if no one can clearly see who's on the box art ?

Thanks ! BTW, I found an early hand design (it was made in February) : It is supposed to be attached on a Y-joint (it would have worked like the Metru / Inika / Piraka feet, but you would attach a hand instead of a foot), but I never bothered finish it, it wasn't a very good idea, IMO (I hope Front isn't working on something similar ). And now I know that my ball-cup design works, so I'll be able to design a proper hand, and your sketch, TheOneVeyronian, gave me some ideas.

Do they actually ship or is it just a pre-order ?

Which is a good idea, IMO, and a good way to differentiate from Bionicle. The best part about this is that a kid who discovers Hero Factory in 2014 won't need to know what happened the previous years, and don't need it to enjoy his toy. It's not that easy with Bionicle. I wasn't aware of the whole storyline when I was a kid, and when I saw in 2005 that the Toa Hordika were "Half Beast - Half Toa", I was confused, because I had no idea it was possible to mutate a Toa. And the next year, I learned that Jaller&co had been transformed into Toa by the Red Star. Wait, which Red Star ? And don't Matoran need a Toa Stone to become a Toa ? So... I like the choice they made. BTW, it can be used as a way to run HF and Bionicle at the same time : a deeper and longer storyline for Bionicle, and the same annual and individual story arcs for HF.

Thanks guys. Now let's hope it will inspire Lego.

Good news, the ball-cup works marvelously (which means I'll be able to work on a proper articulated hand design, like TheOneVeyronian suggested ). I ordered some parts last week, and they arrived this morning. Here are some (not that good) pictures : So, there are a pivot / ball joint 5M bone in white strong and flexible plastic, red strong and flexible polished plastic, and black detail, and the pivot / ball-cup 4M bone in white strong and flexible. Unfortunately, the red bone is too loose, because the polishing process removes a tiny layer of material, but which is sufficient to decrease friction (I didn't take this in account when I ordered, stupid me ! ). The polished plastic, though, looks better than the regular plastic, and it's way less rough, since it's polished (yay, captain obvious to the rescue !). The white one is better, but still not perfect, I think I'll slightly increase the ball diameter so I will limit / remove this friction problem. Same for the black bone, it holds quite well, but it's not as good as official parts. You'll notice some white marks on the part, I think it's because of the support material. I'll try to clean it, but this material has the advantage to be "sticky", which increase the friction. This material is the closest I can get to an official Lego part via 3D printing, I think. Though, it seems more rigid than ABS, and thus more prone to breaking. It's perfect for those who prefer visual aspect over functionality, I think. But as I said before, the ball-cup is perfect. It's a bit harder to attach than a real Lego part, but it holds perfectly, I'm really happy with it. I think once the ball joints diameter will be increased (which I will do right now ), they will be perfect. Here's a picture (yes, white on white sucks, I'll try to find a darker background) of all my 3D printed parts (the white/ yellowish ones were printed at my school, they're made of ABS (hurrah), but the different layers of plastic give a strange feel to the part (I don't know how to explain it, but basically, they slightly feel like this)) : I had some more parts, each design was printed twice, but some broke because the printer didn't fill the cross section, they only made the contour, which means they were hollow, and thus very fragile, so some of them are missing. You can notice the upper torso part Aanchir originally designed (which I recreated, with a 9M-wide version). There are more pictures in my Brickshelf folder, but it's not public yet.

Right, but there aren't as many fat torsos as muscular torsos. In fact, I can only think of Homer Simpson and the Sumo Wrestler from the CMF S3. But it's still nice to have some to "counterbalance" all those six packs.

Have the people who complain about female minifigs / torsos ever looked at a male torso (59 more examples here) ? Oh gosh ! A muscular man ! So sexist ! So wrong ! This is getting ridiculous...

Like this ?

Hum... Yeah, you have a point there. But if they make the themes different enough so HF can be clearly recognized as HF, and Bionicle as Bionicle, it should work. Just like the last Castle theme and LotR. They were both medieval / castle themes, but had many differences. Another example could be any space theme which co-existed with Star Wars.

Why HF can't remain figure-based ? Because kids could believe that HF characters are Bonkles, and vice versa ? HF co-existed with Super Heroes and Chima, and I don't think any kid mistook a theme for another.

Oh, so it definitely confirms the fake. Thanks, I'm reassured now.

If anyone can get them (that's what you're suggesting, right ?), then how could they be exclusive ?

Have you seen this ? Chro, do you know if this picture legit or not ? I'd say it's a fake, the last set with a Piraka foot was Von Nebula, and it was four years ago, I think it's safe to say we'll never see this mold again. And it's not the only one "old part", there seems to be a Thornax fruit, which is no longer produced too, and Mata Nui's shield part. And that name... Gnuklear... I'd definitely say it's fake, but if anyone is able to confirm, I'd be glad. EDIT : And the set number indicates that there would be at least 30 sets, which seems to be a tad much for just one wave.

Very nice ! If it were a set, I'd buy it. :D I really like the overall shape, and the wheels are excellent. I just think the MOC would be better without dark grey (remember, Batman ony works in black ), and I'm not too convinced by these, I'd rather replace them with curved slopes.

They don't need a proper announcement, they could just show a promotional / teaser / hint pic, like a Hau, or the BIONICLE logo. Anything that would confirm its comeback would be more than enough. And they indeed revealed Hobbit, Star Wars, Superheroes and Mixels sets last year. So if we really get BIONICLE sets next year, the SDCC would be a perfect opportunity to announce it.

I like the color scheme, and the structure is original, but the MOC alone is a bit strange, even though it works very well when it's attached on the top of Evo's Machine XL. If you want to improve the legs, you could maybe use small Beasts feet (like Jaw Beast's ones), because I think orange feet seem a bit too big for the mech. Also, I'm not really convinced by GL's weapons as plasma guns. They seem kinda off, and their integration is a bit weird. I found a way to make their assembly a bit "cleaner" (at least IMO ^^), what do you think ?

I agree, I really like how the thighs are done. The MOD is really impressive, especially the big one. Do you have pics of the internal structure ?

Yes, the Comic Con would be a perfect opportunity to announce BIONICLE's comeback. Even if it's just a logo, or a promotional image, as long as it's an official confirmation from Lego. But I wouldn't count too much on it.