Aanchir Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 HeroFactory.LEGO.com has been updated once more, this time with Witch Doctor's building instructions. My goodness, what a messy build. I suppose we'll have to wait for a review to tell if the end result looks as messy as the intermediate building steps, but I'm not optimistic. He's definitely a great parts pack, as evidenced by the already celebrated 39 red ball joints, but also his numerous other joint pieces-- four of 90616, ten of 90622, eight of 90613, two of 90605, and twenty-eight of 93571 (the new y-joint piece). Still not totally impressed with the final model, however. You can tell there was a lot of work put into it, but the end result is a blocky construction that hardly looks as sleek or refined as other Hero Factory sets and characters. Quote
SpiderSpaceman Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 HeroFactory.LEGO.com has been updated once more, this time with Witch Doctor's building instructions. My goodness, what a messy build. I suppose we'll have to wait for a review to tell if the end result looks as messy as the intermediate building steps, but I'm not optimistic. He's definitely a great parts pack, as evidenced by the already celebrated 39 red ball joints, but also his numerous other joint pieces-- four of 90616, ten of 90622, eight of 90613, two of 90605, and twenty-eight of 93571 (the new y-joint piece). Still not totally impressed with the final model, however. You can tell there was a lot of work put into it, but the end result is a blocky construction that hardly looks as sleek or refined as other Hero Factory sets and characters. shhhh this is the kind of build I've been waiting for for 10 years built it on LDD and it was a blast. not sure the knees can bend in far enough though... Quote
TheRedGuy Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 HeroFactory.LEGO.com has been updated once more, this time with Witch Doctor's building instructions. My goodness, what a messy build. I suppose we'll have to wait for a review to tell if the end result looks as messy as the intermediate building steps, but I'm not optimistic. He's definitely a great parts pack, as evidenced by the already celebrated 39 red ball joints, but also his numerous other joint pieces-- four of 90616, ten of 90622, eight of 90613, two of 90605, and twenty-eight of 93571 (the new y-joint piece). Still not totally impressed with the final model, however. You can tell there was a lot of work put into it, but the end result is a blocky construction that hardly looks as sleek or refined as other Hero Factory sets and characters. Umm.. Yeah. A few days ago. By the way, if you wanted the instructions so bad I could've just scanned it. Anyways, aren't titans supposed to be messy? @Vexorian: Um... 2.0 sets are there now? Quote
Aanchir Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 (edited) Umm.. Yeah. A few days ago. By the way, if you wanted the instructions so bad I could've just scanned it. Anyways, aren't titans supposed to be messy? @Vexorian: Um... 2.0 sets are there now? Really? Huh. When the products page first got updated, Witch Doctor's instructions weren't included, and I hadn't been checking back regularly since then. I figured there'd have been more talk about it if they had already debuted, but I guess it wasn't very big news anyway. As for Witch Doctor's build, I disagree that titan builds are supposed to be messy. If you look at some of the best-designed BIONICLE titan sets like Brutaka or the 2008 Takanuva, they are sculpted strategically to be impressive from all angles. Even ones with atypical postures or anatomy, like Kardas or Nocturn, still manage to maintain a unified aesthetic that doesn't separate them from smaller sets that rely more on specialized details rather than the overall shape of their build. Witch Doctor, on the other hand, has a much sloppier-looking design. I've started building him on LDD to see if he somehow succeeds at making his Technic-intensive build work for him, but I've gotten to step 25 (where you start building the arms) and am not impressed so far. His legs are pretty hideous from side view, and his torso looks awful from side view or from behind. Didn't like the hollow look of the hero sets' torsos? Witch Doctor's torso is even worse, since rather than having form-fitting armor that seals up the body from most angles, his armor struggles to even cover the front of his torso frame, and doesn't even come close to sealing up his sides or back. His poseability is limited by his hip and ankle joint design, and his feet are on the whole inferior in design to Fire Lord's (which at least were relatively foot-shaped and to scale with the rest of the model). There is hardly even an attempt to cover up the nasty, blocky exposed Technic that the construction of his legs and arms depend on. It hurts to be unable to find many redeeming factors in Witch Doctor's design, since from its creativity you can easily tell that lots of work was put into it by the designers. However, regrettably, it feels like all that effort was wasted on trying to make the set as creative as possible and not on streamlining it so it actually looks good. From experience trying to design BIONICLE MOCs over the years, I know that it takes hard work to make a design smoother while also making it use fewer pieces. Unfortunately, I don't see this in Witch Doctor. The set seems to value quantity over quality in many ways, using its overwhelming size and creative building techniques to distract viewers from the fact that these techniques really do more harm than good for the set's appearance. He's brilliantly creative, but I'd much rather if TLG spent their time trying to work out the many flaws in simpler, Fire Lord-style titan sets before trying to tackle something of this scale and level of complexity. Edited June 20, 2011 by Aanchir Quote
dviddy Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 Witch Doctor's hips actually contain a full-range of movement. His ankles, not so much. And you're right about the torso, it's empty and tiny and it looks awful. He's overall both better and worse than I'd hoped. Quote
Aanchir Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 Witch Doctor's hips actually contain a full-range of movement. His ankles, not so much. And you're right about the torso, it's empty and tiny and it looks awful. He's overall both better and worse than I'd hoped. The problem I have with his hips is that his legs can't twist at all. They can move forward, backward, or to the side. But no matter which way you move them, his knees will always be pointing straight forward, which is slightly limiting. As complex as his hip articulation is, this is only to compensate for his size. On a smaller set with less weight to hold up, you could make legs just as poseable without using a single ball joint. Quote
vexorian Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 Umm.. Yeah. A few days ago. By the way, if you wanted the instructions so bad I could've just scanned it. Anyways, aren't titans supposed to be messy? Rotor should take great offense to that. Quote
wghost Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) I bring the discussion here as I think it fits into this topic, but the quotes are from another thread. I know for sure I'll be getting Raw-Jaw... Umm, did you change your mind or your previous statement referred to another set? (I could understand that, I'm lost in the fancy fantasy set names too.):) Just out of curiosity, because you said you didn't like it, and it would be informative to read different opinions about a set. ...and there are oh-so-many things I dislike about Witch Doctor's design. Compared to some of the better BIONICLE titan designs (Brutaka's a personal favorite) or even to Fire Lord, Witch Doctor is a blocky mess. Fire Lord basically showed us the foundation of a good, strong Hero Factory "titan" set, albeit underdeveloped. Rocka XL seems to develop that design further, enhancing it to remove some of the awkwardness Fire Lord suffered from. But as far as I'm concerned, Witch Doctor took the design considerations in completely the wrong direction, creating a model that's heavily dependent on Technic and not remotely streamlined. I'm not sure if the Technic-like system and elements are essentially wrong on Witch Doc judging from my viewpoint. I have to admit, I'm viewing Hero Factory as a clear successor of Bionicle rather than a new theme, so for me the technic parts are welcome because of the connection to the previous toyline. Of course I have to wait for HQ real-life images of the set to form a relevant opinion on it, but as far as I can tell now, I have no problem with the technic elements and the blockiness aesthetically/design-wise. (I can't say anything about movements and such, so I believe you guys about it.) Edited June 21, 2011 by wghost Quote
Bfahome Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 [DV quote] Umm, did you change your mind or your previous statement referred to another set? (I could understand that, I'm lost in the fancy fantasy set names too.):) Just out of curiosity, because you said you didn't like it, and it would be informative to read different opinions about a set. BZP often gets new sets directly from LEGO for the purpose of bribing us writing reviews. Staff members who sign up to be "Official Reviewers" get these sets and review them. I'm guessing most or all of the "I know for sure I'll be getting…" sets he listed are from LEGO. Quote
dviddy Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 I'm guessing most or all of the "I know for sure I'll be getting…" sets he listed are from LEGO. ;) Quote
Nike2032 Posted June 23, 2011 Posted June 23, 2011 (edited) Looks like the the US are gonna get the 3.0 sets pretty soon: Really good CGi on witchdoctor Edit: just found out that these videos are on lego.com and that the news achrive has updated. Edited June 23, 2011 by Nike2032 Quote
Ceroknight Posted June 23, 2011 Posted June 23, 2011 Looks like the the US are gonna get the 3.0 sets pretty soon: Really good CGi on witchdoctor Edit: just found out that these videos are on lego.com and that the news achrive has updated. So..Rocka XL vs scorpio and norma Rocka vs Witch Doctor? Totally made sense Quote
Nike2032 Posted June 23, 2011 Posted June 23, 2011 So..Rocka XL vs scorpio and norma Rocka vs Witch Doctor? Totally made sense Yeah, it would have made more sense if it was the other way round. But as long as I am able to see the new sets in CGI animation, I'm happy Quote
Gundam Rising Posted June 23, 2011 Posted June 23, 2011 In the Rocka vs. Witch Doctor commericial, there's this funny moment where at the end, Witch Doctor is right behind the Lego logo and the logo hits him very hard. Quote
ZORK64 Posted June 23, 2011 Posted June 23, 2011 Am I the only one who noticed that Stringer is missing from both spots? Quote
Refy L.S. Posted June 23, 2011 Posted June 23, 2011 So..Rocka XL vs scorpio and norma Rocka vs Witch Doctor? Totally made sense I think they did t=it this way as a marketing tactic, so when people got the cheaper set (the one more likely to be purchased) they can get the most expensive one to go with it. Quote
Jagersmann Posted June 23, 2011 Posted June 23, 2011 Mmm... So, an evil force takes control of wild creatures in a planet with lots of plant life, and "heroes" are send there to defeat the bad one. At least the sets are cool. Witch Doctor is... Is the man. Rocka is the heroe, I mean, he is the one who faces a bad guy like Witch Doctor, that is courage, also Nex and Bulk do their job, but Rocka is the right one to be the main character. I think that Scorpio is too fast for its weigh and size. Of you see scorpions in the real life, they are fast only when they have to kill. Anyway it's only a commercial, why don't have to analyze everythinh right? Off-topic: I'm updating my heroes and villains... Quote
Aethersprite Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 By the way, something just hit me: Don't you all find this similar to Bionicle's first wave? Bad guy controls creatures, heroes sent to defeat them. Quote
Bfahome Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 By the way, something just hit me: Don't you all find this similar to Bionicle's first wave? Bad guy controls creatures, heroes sent to defeat them. It's been mentioned before. Quite a while ago, really. Quote
Jagersmann Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 That's what I said. I think that this year the story is going to get deeper, or that's what we all are waiting for. We need to know... Why the Witch Doctor is really evil, more about life in Quatros, even Rocka's lastname... Quote
Blaver Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 http://herofactory.lego.com/en-us/Story/Default.aspx Whoa, Witch Doctor wasn't evil before? He sure got big fast... Quote
TheRedGuy Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 (edited) That's what I said. I think that this year the story is going to get deeper, or that's what we all are waiting for. We need to know... Why the Witch Doctor is really evil, more about life in Quatros, even Rocka's lastname... Not really, looks like Rocka's full name is just.... Rocka. And yay for better storyline! By the way, where the heck did the "Rocka is a female" and "Rocka's last name is Daniel" Rumors come from? http://herofactory.lego.com/en-us/Story/Default.aspx Whoa, Witch Doctor wasn't evil before? He sure got big fast... Umm... Duh. All the big bads in HF seems to have been "Not evil" before. And yes, that's a large amount of growth for a few secs. Edited June 24, 2011 by TheRedGuy Quote
Bundalings Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 ... Skrall is a she? By that I mean we were just hoping not ALL the characters in this wave were male, and Rocka is the only one that could have possibly been female. Quote
TheRedGuy Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 (edited) ... Skrall is a she? By that I mean we were just hoping not ALL the characters in this wave were male, and Rocka is the only one that could have possibly been female. Skrall is a s.... I started collecting action figures way too late.. I noticed that on BZPower it said there is going to be a one hour special in 2012. Maybe HF is going to end soon after all. Edited June 24, 2011 by TheRedGuy Quote
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