Hero Factory 2010

[Nightmare]

If you look at the White Background version, you'll clearly see it red

[Aanchir]

Of the mid-size villains, I've got to say my favorite is Corroder. Not totally sure why. I love his tools, face, and build, although I wish his arms were lime. After all, they connect to black parts at both ends.

Xplode totally should have had shorter upper arms. It would have worked just fine with his upper arm armor (perhaps better), and would make the size and style of the lower arms seem much more appropriate.

Not much of a fan of Meltdown. His claws are simply epic, and he has a nice color scheme, but there's a number of faults. For instance, the Kalmah tentacle's organic look is inconsistent with the robotic-looking tubing. Not sure what would be a better alternative, though. Also, his posture makes that chest armor look terrible.

Thunder's feet look awfully small. His arm armor style is also still very questionable-- this pic doesn't make it look any better than ToyFair, and it's certainly not any clearer. The Zamor Launcher could have been attached better by flipping that two-pin-hole piece around and putting a one-pin-hole piece in the gap. I like the tool/armor shell being used on his chest, too.

The Ben 10 thighs aren't so bad on Meltdown, Thunder, and Corroder, actually. They're fairly consistent with the smoother faces and those weird armor/tool shell pieces. On Corroder, they're also consistent with the feet.

Rotor's pretty hotness. I don't mind the eyes, for some reason-- maybe because they make him look more "robotic". Definitely has a war machine look. His gas-spewing thing and his propellor also seem to work fabulously. And of course his various orange pieces are a major draw.

Still don't mind Von Nebula's arms, but I have to agree that those hands are ridiculously oversized. Legs are still fantastic, though.

Furno Bike and Drop Ship are both incredible. I love the use of paneling pieces on Drop Ship, although the Bohrok eyes are a bit out-of-place. Pity Drop Ship's pilot still is still nameless. And his color scheme could use work.

[cheesey skrall]

Anyone else noticed that the furno in the furno bike and single release have a retooled head (Bike and Single release) ?

[Nightmare]

Anyone else noticed that the furno in the furno bike and single release have a retooled head (Bike and Single release) ?

I don't seem to see any difference...

[cheesey skrall]

I don't seem to see any difference...

look at the eyebrows

[Front]

What is the likelihood that there will be two helmets released, that design wise is nearly, but only nearly exactly the same ?

btw. I see Skrall stuff on the pictures :-) No comment to what colours it will have

Edited March 23, 2010 by Front

[Nightmare]

look at the eyebrows

What Front has just said is true. You know, different Angles can make miracles

Edited March 23, 2010 by Nightmare

[cheesey skrall]

Why can I imagen Rotor with G1 starscreams' personality (wants to take over megatron and be leader of the decepticons)

Edited March 26, 2010 by cheesey skrall

[Zarkan]

Late to the party again, but no way am I not commenting on these semi-new pictures, considering that they may have changed my opinion of Hero Factory somewhat. I don’t know if I’ve stated this on Eurobricks, but I have said elsewhere that my big gripe with Bionicle’s replacement is not that it exists (unlike many people on BZP and elsewhere). My problem is that for the most part, the designs of the Hero Factory sets have seemed like a step down from Bionicle.

Having looked at these most recent images several times, however, I can now say that I was wrong to some extent. I still hate the “heroes” with a passion, but for the most part the box sets seem to at least match the quality of Bionicle’s box sets (if not surpass them). Here’s my thoughts:

Meltdown – From the moment I saw him, Meltdown was about the only Hero Factory set that I fell in love with instantly, and that view hasn’t changed. Sure, he may be a bit simplistic compared to most Bionicle canister sets, but that doesn’t detract from his awesome, unique look. More importantly, he is the only set in the entire line that takes advantage of Hero Factory’s seemingly looser story constraints, using an elemental/power association that we would have never seen in Bionicle. I honestly love the idea of a villain who has the power of radioactive waste, and putting actual toxic barrels on Meltdown’s shoulders is a really rad idea. Combine that with an awesome claw design, a sweet face, and some great re-colors (regular yellow fans rejoice!), and you get a really distinctive set.

Thunder – Another strong set, though not as good as Meltdown. The face really screams evil, and the non-symmetrical weapon designs are a nice touch. I love his “claw of doom,” and the usage of the Mata-Nui shoulder armor with the Hero-Factory exclusive armor looks great. On the other hand, the color scheme is nothing to get excited about – After the vibrant, colorful sets Bara Magna brought us, grey and silver is even more boring than it was before. But hey, at least we get a new color of Stars feet.

Xplode – How typical that the set with the worst name also has the worst set design. Seriously, whoever designed this “thing” needs to be fired, as do the people higher up who approved of it. He easily takes the spot from Pridak as the worst Bionicle-line set ever, mainly because of those utterly ridiculous armor plates. Who on earth thought that attaching them like that was a good idea, let alone pairing their massive girth with Xplode’s tiny arms? The usage of the Av-Matoran limbs is also shudder-worthy, and the placement of the back armor is nearly as bad as it is on the arms. A few good re-colors and a nice, Piraka-like face can’t save this mess, nor can a box art that doesn’t even try to hide the set’s flaws.

Corroder – Though the new images as a whole have increased my approval of many of the box sets, this is probably the only set in the entire line that I’ve done a complete 180 on. When I first saw the Toy-Fair pictures of Corroder, I was completely unimpressed, but now I’m in love with him. The weapons rock, the design is decent overall, and the face looks even more Piraka-like than Xplode’s face. All of this is partly due to the sweet box-art, which easily has the coolest pose of any of the sets. I approve!

Von-Nebula – And now we are back to the crap-heap with this mess of a titan. While clearer pictures of sets generally make them look better, every new shot we get of this guy only makes him less appealing. Between the bad hand design that looks far worse here than it did on 2007’s Maxilos, the weird placing of the shoulder armor, the even-weirder use of the Bohrok headplates, and more gaps than the Eifel Tower, it’s hard for me to find something good about this design. To top that off, they’ve given him a lame recolor of Hydraxon’s mask – seriously, out of all the villains, the leader is the one that doesn’t get a unique face? I’m sure finding it hard to believe how this disaster got through product testing and evaluation.

Rotor – Two words – no, not Pohatu and steroids, though those may fit – but pure awesomeness. Rotor is easily one of the most unique and inventive Titan sets I have seen in years, and perhaps the only one I may end up buying. Besides the fact that he comes with an awesome selection of re-colors and new parts, he also has the benefit of a strong, innovative design. Both weapon designs are very well thought out, and the use of the Phantoka-jetpack is genius. The propulsion device, as weirdly-named as it is, is a real beauty, and the tubing detail and the face finish off the design nicely. Man, I’m just in love with this guy!

Furno-Bike – Definitely the more ascetically-pleasing of the two vehicles, mainly due to the orange and black color scheme. I’d never thought we’d see the semi-transparent Borhok shields done in a new color – that alone makes this set win. But, the design itself is also well-executed, with some nice lines and cool new tires. The only thing that would have made this better was a more unique driver, but after two years of generic pilots in Bionicle vehicles, I guess I can’t really expect Hero Factory to be any different.

Drop-Ship – A lot more generic than the Furno Bike, but it still has a decent design, and I love that the pilot includes a re-colored helmet. Unlike the reuse of Hydraxon’s face on Von Nebula, this makes perfect sense, and it looks nice to boot. The reuse of the Midak Skyblasters is annoying, however – in fact, Hero Factory’s lack of new launchers ironically is one of the things that most makes it seem like Bionicle with a different name, rather than a truly unique theme. I’ll get more into that below, but for now I’ll end by saying that I hope the set does well. I don’t want to see large technic-based sets totally disappear from the action-figure lines, as they’ve improved so much since 2008.

Oh, and a couple of other thoughts on the line:

- What currently worries me the most with these sets is prices. Those online-retailer listings that popped up a bit ago were enough to give me a good scare, and I fear that they and other factors (Ben Ten, Stars prices) indicate that we will be seeing a massive rate increase. Considering how most lego prices have gone up this year, I wouldn’t be surprised, but Bionicle’s prices have already risen so much from the line’s outset that a further increase would likely hurt Hero-Factory’s chances of succeeding. At the very least, it will mean that I won’t spend a penny on the new line, though I may change my mind once they are on clearance. Then again, I have heard signs that Ben 10 is doing well despite the overcharges, so maybe I’m jumping to conclusions.

- As I said above, the reuse of the Thornax launchers, Zamor spheres, and Midak Skyblasters really annoys me. Since 2004, Bionicle has had at least one new launcher each year, and sometimes more than one. Since Hero Factory is a brand new line, you’d think they’d be even more obliged to give it a unique launcher, but for some reason they’ve decided to use old ones instead. And this could have a far greater affect on the success of the line than higher prices will, as it will no doubt undermine TLC’s attempt to make Hero Factory look fresh in the eyes of kids.

- Finally, a word about the story. While the character descriptions released with these images are as generic as the ones that went with the heroes, I don’t want to totally give up hope of the storyline being at least decent. If it at least reaches the level of Exo-Force’s first year, I’ll be happy, as I was one of the few who enjoyed it before it got rushed in 2007. And that means I want to see something that resembles an ongoing storyline, whether it be online comics, movies, or something else. Even better, why not use more than one form of media – Bionicle, after all, has always had a huge mixture of storyline drivers, and if Hero Factory wants to live up to it’s legacy, it should as well.

[squidman85]

Von Nebul's head reminds me this alien from the "Fifhth Element"

[The Crazy One]

Von Nebul's head reminds me this alien from the "Fifhth Element"

I know right? That's exactly what I thought when I saw him.

[EspEth12]

I thought that it was the name "william blaze" in the canister set. But most people are saying that it's furno, or am I wrong. I thought furno was with the bike and blaze the canister

Edited March 30, 2010 by EspEth12

[Aanchir]

I thought that it was the name "william blaze" in the canister set. But most people are saying that it's furno, or am I wrong. I thought furno was with the bike and blaze the canister

No, they're the same character. We've seen both names used for both sets. The name "William Blaze" is probably preliminary, since our more recent and more official stuff says Furno.

[Bfahome]

Aw man I hope it stays as Blaze. ;_;

[Brickthing]

Isn't it just a case of the character William Blaze who rides the Furno Bike? Where's the confusion?

[cheesey skrall]

Isn't it just a case of the character William Blaze who rides the Furno Bike? Where's the confusion?

i dont think so. a pic here shows that Will Blaze is now Will Furno. The box doesnt have the prelim watermark on it, so i guess theyre the final designs.

[Phantoka_Chirox]

When was the Glatorian Legends out last summer?

[Aanchir]

When was the Glatorian Legends out last summer?

I don't remember. The official release date was August (like most summer sets), but I think sets started showing up in either June or July. So we can probably expect the same for this theme.

[Front]

When was the Glatorian Legends out last summer?

I showed of some Stronius pictures the 31st of May, maybe a week after people started to get the sets.

Edited April 11, 2010 by Front

[80 Dollar]

What is this?

[Bfahome]

What is this?

It's come up before, and I believe it has the HF trailer that was on BZPower a while ago.

[Brickthing]

It's come up before, and I believe it has the HF trailer that was on BZPower a while ago.

According to the BS01er who went (I can't remember his name ), the video on the disc was a lower quality anyway. It may also have contained the promotional blurbs for each product.

[toatali]

BZP have new HF descriptions up. Check them out!

[VBBN]

What does everyone plan on getting first in terms of Hero Factory? I plan on getting Meltdown and all the white figures first

[Bfahome]

I definitely want Meltdown, especially if he has the two-color trans-tubes. Rotor's awesome, too.

Don't really plan on getting any others, but I may change my mind when I see some reviews.