Hero Factory 2012

[dviddy]

It would likely have helped if they would've put them on shelves in more places and less focussed on store exclusives. Too many exclusives greatly limits availabilty in too many regions where said store does not exist. Locally shelves were always empty of Exo-Force, sold out the day it came in, which was usually only one case of sets.

Anecdotal evidence isn't a good reference for how Exo-force performed. TLG has donated pallets and pallets of the leftover stock to conventions, and apparently they are still one of the few themes with a large presence in the employee store, because even the employees aren't buying them. I know locally, at all of my places, Exo-force stuff piled up and up and up. Especially that jungle wave. (I also don't remember more than one store exclusive, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to Exo-force.)

[Aanchir]

Anecdotal evidence isn't a good reference for how Exo-force performed. TLG has donated pallets and pallets of the leftover stock to conventions, and apparently they are still one of the few themes with a large presence in the employee store, because even the employees aren't buying them. I know locally, at all of my places, Exo-force stuff piled up and up and up. Especially that jungle wave. (I also don't remember more than one store exclusive, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to Exo-force.)

There were a couple store exclusives: 7712 Supernova in the first year and 7714 Golden Guardian and 7721 Combat Crawler X2 in the second year. However, since Brickset doesn't list all of these as "limited release" it's possible that they were only store-exclusives in certain countries.

I think you're exaggerating Exo-Force's failure just a tiny bit, since the first wave was from all appearances quite successful or it wouldn't have been followed up with such a huge second year of sets. But any success the second and third years had probably came from riding the coattails of the first year-- the theme was evidently expected to grow in success in its second year, which it utterly failed to do, instead diminishing in success until 2008 when they decided it was time to drop the line entirely.

I had no problem with any of the years of Exo-Force sets, but I wish the story hadn't been cut short the way it was. BIONICLE at least showed an effort to wrap things up quickly at the last minute, whereas Exo-Force was a "What happens? YOU decide!" conclusion.

Anyway, back on topic. The info on Voltix is interesting to hear although it demonstrates how poor choices were evidently behind the confusing presentation of this idea in the Breakout TV special. If Voltix had released an energy projection of himself, it would have been easier to understand that it was an energy projection and not some type of weird hitchhiking spirit or whatnot.

As for all the heroes besides Stormer being rookies, that's quite baffling and I'm not entirely sure how reliable it is since I had thought it was established in 2010 that Bulk and Stringer were not rookies.

[Lyichir]

In a universe where pretty much everyone is a robot or at least partially robotic, I think it would make perfect sense to just call a robotic or semi-robotic creature a "creature". Just like in real life we call the creatures around us "animals" or "creatures" instead of "organic animals" or "organic creatures", in Hero Factory everyone is simply assumed to be robotic and thus it's only when a character is semi-organic that it's worthy of comment.

Calling XT4 a cyborg doesn't necessarily mean that he's actually part organic-- it could just be some poorly-chosen usage to imply that he's "more robotic than usual", even if that doesn't make as much sense in a world where pretty much everyone's a robot. Of course, there are other possibilities: Wiktionary offers a second definition for "cyborg" to mean "a robot who has an organic past".

That second definition of cyborg would make a lot of sense for XT-4, particularly because it would allow for him to be the more primal, less sentient hunter I like to imagine him as. Perhaps rather than having a highly sophisticated electronic brain like most of the heroes and villains, XT-4 has a less-complex organic brain, maybe belonging originally to some sort of predatory species.

[DraikNova]

Nice to know about that ghost concept from the episode. Can't wait for the next episode actually. Interesting to know more about the status of the heroes. And defining XT4 as a cyborg that way makes me think the makers of XT4 meant to take the brain of a dog but thanks to lack of knowledge about the planet accidentally took the brain of a tiger to implant into their factory robot as a cheap way of saving on computer chips . Strange idea huh?

[vexorian]

I think there should be exactly one more wave. Not zero because we really need a HF 2.0 Von Nebula. Not more than 1 because LEGO need to try different things and avoid to bionicle it.

That's just Exoforce 2.0. I really would prefer if we would just get some purple. Although, you may be onto something. Exo-Hero, anyone?

Exo force was mostly system, what I'd like is something that is mostly HF. The canopy would be three or 4 HF-style bricks that just let a minifig in. After that, all would be the usual bones and shells. If the minifigs are more space marine like and less "troll doll with strange eyes" it could work. The main improvement over exoforce would be that the build system would prevent its shortcomings like gapped design. Minifigures would draw LEGO fans to the constraction world.

And yes, I have too much imagination. It is not healthy.

Edited August 17, 2012 by vexorian

[DraikNova]

That sounds interesting, yet it would probably have a lot of gaps; I made something using a lot of bone pieces recently and it's impossible to close up the holes necessary for a clean looking cockpit.

[vexorian]

Yeah, that's why the cockpit would need to be a new brick.

--

I am getting frustrated about Rocka, Breeze, Evo and Black Phantom being nowhere to be found. All the other guys from beakout wave 1 are everywhere.

[DraikNova]

Essentially like a socket-attached whole cockpit on which one could directly attach a canopy/window and in which there's a seat for a minifig?

Also, it's annoying that there are so many Furno sets everywhere. When I was on vacation and went to Toys-R-Us he was the only hero on one shelf and apart from one SD box the only set on that shelf. There were 30 copies of that set there. And no one picked one up.

Edited August 17, 2012 by DraikNova

[Bfahome]

Anecdotal evidence isn't a good reference for how Exo-force performed. TLG has donated pallets and pallets of the leftover stock to conventions, and apparently they are still one of the few themes with a large presence in the employee store, because even the employees aren't buying them. I know locally, at all of my places, Exo-force stuff piled up and up and up. Especially that jungle wave. (I also don't remember more than one store exclusive, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to Exo-force.)

they should send some to meeeeee

I liked Exo-Force but it didn't gel with BIONICLE that well so I didn't get many sets. Like, three total. But I wanted the fortress and Striking Venom because they looked awesome. It's just that they didn't fit in with my established interest.

Despite Exo-Force's apparent failure, I also think a constraction line that follows the mech concept might be worth LEGO looking into, if they haven't already. It'd keep the "humanoid vehicle" aspect of Exo-Force but have the simpler building style of BIONICLE or Hero Factory. SYSTEM elements are already spreading into Hero Factory, so having a solid cockpit piece (or pieces) that existing canopy parts connect to isn't a big stretch.

And they could have some sort of battle function where either you swing a weapon or shoot a projectile and it makes the cockpit eject. I think that would be really cool. But I probably wouldn't be the target demographic, sooo…

Edited August 17, 2012 by Bfahome

[DraikNova]

Actually, if a mech-based theme is made, I hope it's an equal hybrid of system and HF.

[vexorian]

Anyway, if LEGO are having trouble selling exo-force sets back, were can I sign to try getting some of their surplus? I mean really.

[exxtrooper]

Basically lego needs to make a Neon Genesis Evangelion line.

Delicious pruple

Edited August 18, 2012 by exxtrooper

[Bfahome]

Anyway, if LEGO are having trouble selling exo-force sets back, were can I sign to try getting some of their surplus? I mean really.

Yeah. I was sort of kidding before because I didn't think it would be likely, but if there's a real possibility I'd be all over that.

Also I doubt LEGO would touch NGE with a ten-module pole.

Edited August 18, 2012 by Bfahome

[DraikNova]

I want more purple parts. Especially purple bones. And a purple torso...

[Zachattacx]

I want more purple parts. Especially purple bones. And a purple torso...

Speaking of purple, finally built up the courage and bought Speeda Demon,actually not a bad set at all,but I did revamp him not the bike and like the way he looks.

[gundamsandwich]

Has anyone found speeda demon anywhere in the uk apart from Lego shop at home?

[DraikNova]

I saw SD in the NYC Toys-R-Us during my vacation. And there was only one box there, so it's rare even in the US.

Edited August 19, 2012 by DraikNova

[Dorek]

I saw SD in the NYC Toys-R-Us during my vacation. And there was only one box there, so it's rare even in the US.

That's an old sales trick. If something isn't actually super in-demand, you leave one out as bait, and keep an eye on it. Once it sells, replace it with another from the stock.

[ZORK64]

That's kinda odd. SD is pretty common here in Germany.

As for the "bait" trick: That one doesn't hold true to German stores. They always put in the shelves what they got.

[Zachattacx]

That's odd

Here in Texas, my Target is filled to the top with Speeda Demons and nothing other than Speeda Demons.

Yeah, bait trick is basically supply and demand right?

[Rocketbilly]

I can't find Speeda Demon in the UK either. I thought it was only a probem here as I've seen people from other countries with copies of this fine set. How odd. Maybe they've just not released him yet?

Edited August 19, 2012 by Rocketbilly

[gundamsandwich]

I can't find Speeda Demon in the UK either. I thought it was only a probem here as I've seen people from other countries with copies of this fine set. How odd. Maybe they've just not released him yet?

He is available on shop at home though, maybe toys r us will get him in stock because Argos don't list him in the catalogue and tesco don't have any hero factory at all.

[Kadabra]

In the US we have metric shitloads of Speeda Demon. Of course, it's selling at TRU for 43.00 dollars, but I bout one anyway because I'm impatient like that.

[Rocketbilly]

He is available on shop at home though, maybe toys r us will get him in stock because Argos don't list him in the catalogue and tesco don't have any hero factory at all.

There's always a chance that he'll be an exclusive. I Think he'll be exclusive to Tesco. Sure they've not got any of the Summer wave of HF yet, and only a few of the other themes but I imagine they'll have a proper restock soon and get more of the summer lines in. It might be that the UK just hasn't taken a shipment of this particular set yet. As far as I'm aware, when a set is exclusive to TRU there's some sort of label on the box that shows that. When Tesco have an exclusive, there's usually nothng to indicate that on the box.

[DraikNova]

Today I will check if one of the two stores near me has any of the summer sets.

Edited August 20, 2012 by DraikNova