Hero Factory 2012

[DarkSurgeXL]

Wait if Core Hunter is Bane and Bulk is Batman, wouldn't that mean Breez would be Catwoman....nah.

And Stormer would be Gordon?

Still, Core Hunter is my favorite villain of all times (in Hero Factory) I really like his menacing look. And his similarity to Bane is quite ironic.

[Aethersprite]

Picked up Stringer at a local gift shop today. Wow. Did the guitar mod and he looks sweet! Comes close to Rocka as my favourite HF set of the year.

Anyway, while I was at the gift shop, a little girl behind me in the queue was buying Core Hunter while her younger sister had a Friends set! Nice to see even girls have an interest in HF.

[Gatanui]

The 2007 Playsets were not on shelves here? I saw them in a Toys'r'us and Intertoys here (the later probably due to a connection to the Netherlands). But heck, they were really no bestselling item. They sat on the shelves for so long, that all of them were reduced by 50%. That's when I took my chance. :D

---

Now to something completly different.

I finally got all of this years sets, no exception and I come this personal ranking:

Best small set: Toxic Reapa; Stringer right after him, but Reapa is just a bag of nice parts and a overall very well finished figure

Best medium set: Core Hunter; Finally a color scheme that is not jumbled together and good parts

Best box set: Speeda Demon; most expensive, but maybe I'm just a sucker for lime green with purple

LEGO really tried to do better and they did with the villains (besides Voltix). The heroes are okay, but there is something that keeps me from praising them. I like them more than all previous incarnations and they are thus the best heroes so far, but not the best I can imagine.

Maybe I'll post some pictures of my (very simple) MODs on all sets later.

Maybe they were in TRU and LEGO Stores, but not outside those. LEGO Stores did have the 2009 vehicles, too, although no Drop Ship in 2010.

-Gata

[Aethersprite]

They're out in Singapore already? Where did you get them? I want Bulk so bad!!!

You can find them in almost any store anywhere!

EDIT: Stringer be rockin'.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Lockon Stratos

[DraikNova]

I want the new small torso . By the way, I just got Joker so I can mod Voltix! And the reason I'm using more purple is because I want to stick to his colorscheme, where his body and shoulders are purple and his limbs red and gunmetal. Interesting thing about the katana. My BP had a bright, almost-lime green blade. Anyway, if XT4's saw is truly silver, he's worth getting it just for that. Nice Core Hunter MOD. Incidentally, I might use the chain pieces from the heroes to add to XT4's saw. Massive mayhem will probably ensue. Stringer is awesome and I'll be making him a stage so I can use his amp pieces. I love the new site background and the descriptions are great. I like the ice effect on Stormers sword in his product page. XT4's page seems really evil actually, more so than Core Hunter's. Speeda's and Voltix's are awesome. I love the new descriptions of the weapons too. Hotdogs.... I guess we can have sushi if Voltix met the Barraki. And Bulk's description reminded me of the Piraka. 0% fail, 100% awesome. Also, XT4's bios references the web of shadows movie.

Edited August 5, 2012 by DraikNova

[Omicron Squad Leader]

Wow, that's ironic .

I just wish that the helmet did cover his chin, but that ain't happining .Either way that still doesn't change my opinion about him, if anything Core Hunter is my favorite villain of this series(right now)and his appearance does look like Bane...I just realized Core Hunter has a bit Mercenary-esqe to him, while Voltix takes second just because his new pieces and the way some of his armor acts as things,such as his back the way you flip it up and down gives the feeling of a on and off switch and that whiplash feel to him.

Now if only Core Hunter would have a leather jacket .

Sorry, but there is no comparison between Hero Factory and Nolan's fabulous Batman trilogy. Just... no.

[Mesonak]

Forgot to post this when it was uploaded, but the next part in our LP of Breakout's second half is up -

[MakutaNocturn]

Do you think Stringer is a good rocker? I know that's not place for that but it's getting boring because for me, he doesn't looks like a guitarist at all. Nothing beats Rahkshi!

Old times ;3

[DOTM Shockwave]

Do you think Stringer is a good rocker? I know that's not place for that but it's getting boring because for me, he doesn't looks like a guitarist at all. Nothing beats Rahkshi!

Old times ;3

I remember that video... I feel old now.

[Jetrax99]

Do you think Stringer is a good rocker? I know that's not place for that but it's getting boring because for me, he doesn't looks like a guitarist at all. Nothing beats Rahkshi!

Old times ;3

Make a rahkshi w/ a sonic blaster, sonic screwdriver, and speakers on its chest and shoulders then talk to me.

[TheRedGuy]

Meh, Core hunter looks nothing like Bane to me. Also, I heard that the new Breakout episodes are already airing in Korea. :I

[Zachattacx]

Meh, Core hunter looks nothing like Bane to me. Also, I heard that the new Breakout episodes are already airing in Korea. :I

Damn you Korea! ,are they on youtube already?Can't blame,you Core Hunter only has a few similarities towards Bane such as the gas mask,the way it has one strap going down to the face and leaves two parts like the bald head from Bane(not the eyes)and his tosro chest.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Zachattacx

[Dorek]

They got the first (first two, if you use LEGO's apparent episode numbering system) Breakout special before the rest of us. Most likely the show will debut on nicktoons sometime before anybody realizes it actually exists.

[JaeYeon eom]

In Korea, new episode is broadcasted in yesterday. But i was can't watch it.

I will bring image soon, from Korean fan.

Edited August 6, 2012 by JaeYeon eom

[Aethersprite]

In Korea, new episode is broadcasted in yesterday. But i was can't watch it.

I will bring image soon, from Korean fan.

Holy crap, I can't wait. Really hoping the rest of the Heroes are featured.

[Aanchir]

I just read the bios and weapon descriptions on the Hero Factory site-- hadn't even thought to check them when it first updated. They're pretty excellent, though it's a shame the apparent character development Bulk seemed to have in Savage Planet is completely ignored. Character development only works if you're consistent about it!

Sadly, if the bios here don't reference it, then I doubt the Hero Factory "Secret Mission" books will. Speaking of which, Amazon.com has a preview of "The Doom Box", the beginning of which is eerily similar to one of the BIONICLE Legends books. This made me feel extremely skeptical of it since the narrative style in general seemed to fit in with BIONICLE better than with Hero Factory, but there seems to be a sneak peek at the second book in the same preview which seems much more appealing and adds real depth to the universe with a flashback at the early days of Alpha 1 Team.

I love the bios for Nex, Stringer, and all the villains. The weapon descriptions are also pretty great.

Meanwhile, I just got back from Brickfair. During the event I went to a LEGO store to get most of this year's HF sets I was missing at a great discount. I've built Stormer XL, who looks pretty incredible "in the brick", and Thornraxx. Still looking forward to building Breez. I'll probably also want to make some Pick-A-Brick orders to help modify these heroes a bit, though I'll need to make fewer than I might have thought, perhaps, since I also got some assorted HF 2.0 parts at a low price from one of the vendors.

[Shakar]

Wow, so Legion of Darkness is actually a flashback story, and..Black Phantom is the main bad guy, not Speeda Demon! Von Ness and BP may meet for the first time here. What if it this somehow ties in the origin of their apparent alliance?

[Dorek]

I don't see it as being inconsistent so much as it's just a plot thread that they deemed inconsequential. He tried actively working to up his intelligence, he failed, we got some laughs out of it. It said before that he had less memory capacity anyway; maybe he decided that being smart wasn't worth the effort and redirected his focus.

Or maybe not and we'll get some good character development in the actual episode. It was just one blurb, after all.

Also the Doom Box preview is nice, even though it's totally a BIONICLE novel complete with BIONICLE names set in the HF universe. I guess we know what happened to that name list that never got used...

Edit: also also fffffffffffffff why is the book inconsistent with the videos...

Edit2: Okay, I'm sold, I'll buy these books. Call it silly, but the writing is still solid and I'm assuming we're going to consider them canon, so it's all stuff I want to know.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Dorek

[Kalhiki]

The Doom Box... eh. I'll probably read it. But Legion of Darkness really got me excited. Seems like the very early years of the Factory. And Splitface and Voltix have been around for a long time. Really am wanting to read it.

Also, cool to hear a new breakout episode is coming out. Can't wait to see more about it.

Kalhiki

[Jouster]

*ahem*

The Doom Box: Hooded figures? Great Beings much? And, is it safe to say that we can mix the BIONICLE Universe and the HF Universe now? The names of those hooded figures are waaaayyyyy too BIONICLE-ish. But, the book seems decent, might get it.

Legion of Darkness: Flashback story? Von Ness meeting Black Phantom for the first time, possibly forming their alliance? megabluck yeah. Must get this one.

And, I can't wait to see the new Breakout episode(s).

[Shakar]

Yeah, I kinda got the "Bionicle feel" in those previews, too.

Anyway, I got Stringer and Voltix on the mail today. They're pretty much as I excepted them to be (awesome), the only thing I was really surprised about was Stringer's zamor sphere colour. I thought they'd reuse the opaque blue spheres from the days of the Toa Inika, but it's actually solid blue..and I guess it's the same for Stormer. Now that I think of it, Vapour had solid blue spheres too, so I should have excpted it I guess.

[Aanchir]

Yeah, I kinda got the "Bionicle feel" in those previews, too.

Anyway, I got Stringer and Voltix on the mail today. They're pretty much as I excepted them to be (awesome), the only thing I was really surprised about was Stringer's zamor sphere colour. I thought they'd reuse the opaque blue spheres from the days of the Toa Inika, but it's actually solid blue..and I guess it's the same for Stormer. Now that I think of it, Vapour had solid blue spheres too, so I should have excpted it I guess.

Yep, Stormer XL has the solid Bright Blue spheres rather than the translucent kind. I discovered this when I built him during Brickfair last weekend. I was surprised, since it was my first set with the solid blye spheres-- both the Ice Dragon Attack and Lightning Dragon Battle from the previous year's Ninjago series used the translucent ones. And I became more than a little distraught when I carelessly lost it (to be fair, I was carrying him around frantically looking for parts which I had thought stolen, which in fact my younger brother had taken without my permission and put safely on one of his own MOCs). But my distress was allayed when said younger brother told me I could borrow one from his Bulk & Vapour set, which I hadn't realized contained the spheres.

I did know that solid blue spheres existed, of course. Together with solid Bright Red and Bright Yellow spheres, they were introduced in the LEGO Mindstorms series many years ago. But I hadn't expected them to make their way to Hero Factory so soon.

On a side note, I almost almost almost grabbed a Medium Lilac (dark purple) Zamor sphere from the bag of prototype parts being offered to BZPower members at Brickfair. But I decided against it since unlike the unique molds or blended parts being offered in the same bag, this was a solid-colored part that I could just as easily mimic with any other color of Zamor sphere and some carefully-matched paint. Instead I grabbed a prototype transparent Bohrok faceplate (the early variant with the lens in the forehead), so that together with my twin brother my family would have two of these unambiguously rare parts.

Personally, I'm not sure if I prefer solid-colored or translucent Zamor spheres overall. The solid-colored ones are a lot better at matching other similarly-colored parts, since even when not blended the translucent ones tend to look slightly different in color due to the much thicker plastic. They also have that nice swirly texture. But the transparent ones still often feel more "energetic" than any non-blended solid-colored spheres, which look more like bounce balls or paintballs than powerful energy blasts.

[Zarkan]

Also the Doom Box preview is nice, even though it's totally a BIONICLE novel complete with BIONICLE names set in the HF universe. I guess we know what happened to that name list that never got used...

Well, I think that's the final nail in Bionicle's coffin. Shame: I would have liked to see at least a couple more serials to wrap up as many post-Journey's End plot threads as possible. I'm sure it would have been rushed - but hey, the entirety of 2010 was rushed, and I thought Greg F. managed to wring quite a nice final novel out of it. And man, it kills me that we'll never know what he had in mind regarding the Red Star and the multiple resurections in the Mask of Light film. I'm sure the usual suspects would have hated it, but you can't please everyone.

Anyway, these new Hero Factory books look like they're up to the standards of the Bionicle Adventures/Legends books, so I might have been interested, if if wasn't for the fact that I have little interest in buying books based off a toyline of which I have absolutely no investment in, financial or otherwise.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Zarkan

[Phantoka_Chirox]

Not to disturb the discussion but, where the hell is the preview?! I can't find it in the page that was linked ;_;

[Dorek]

It might be country restricted (although I think I'm being redirected to Amazon UK, as I am in England, so I don't see why it's a problem), but above the book there should be a "Look Inside" logo.