Hero Factory 2012

[Aanchir]

This is what I see looking at Reapa : Squash.

I've built the frames for reapa, jawblade, and batman, just as exercises in the HF building system. I actually like reapa's build a lot. Mesonak's 'match the legs to the arms' sounds like a fantastic idea to me but I haven't had a chance to try it yet. And to Aanchir, would we not be able to gird reapa's loin outward with one of the shortest socket to ball pieces, since the rest of his armor already juts forward that far?

That is a decent idea, and might work surprisingly well. Although I can't build Reapa's upper body on LDD due to my lack of Waspix, I can see what the lower body would look like using this idea. If done right it would be surprisingly cohesive and could in fact make the transition between his upper and lower body more gradual.

[Front]

Jawblade's helmet is pure win.........

Designer of the helmet (and set) is Matt, and it's his first LEGO element. He put a lot of effort in it, and I finalized the CAD model for him.

And yes, the lower jaw rotates by grabbing the fins

Erland Nielsen

Elements

[Dorek]

Designer of the helmet (and set) is Matt, and it's his first LEGO element. He put a lot of effort in it, and I finalized the CAD model for him.

And yes, the lower jaw rotates by grabbing the fins

Erland Nielsen

Elements

Matt Betekker, right? The guy who appeared in the most recent vid on HF.com? That's a good piece of trivia to have for HS01 (once we start adding 2012 set stuff. Which realistically should be soon...).

And so they do. Excellent. Jawblade is definitely looking to be one of my favorites for the line, then. It looks like his blades are of a deeper orange/red than they have been previously. Any reason for the change?

[Front]

Matt Betekker, right?

Yep.

He is also doing graphics work in PS which is insane. Looks so cool.

[Shakar]

Well, I'm really happy to see all these new pictures, and now I really can't wait to see more of the others, especially Breez (whom, for some reason, I've been lking more and more recently) and Furno and Surge (whom I'm still iffy about).

Anyway, I like Jawblade a lot more now, he looks much better form that angle. I love his helmet and his recoloured Furno blades. Still, him and Reapa remain my least favourite ones out of Black Phantom's gang- that doesn't mean I dislike them, I just like Splitface and Thornraxx a lot more. I still see Reapa more as a parts pack (dat neongreen) than a set to build and play with, but I've been warming up to him, so I will probably buy a duplicate to tweak him a bit and use the other pieces for MOCing.

Rocka and Black Phantom look better than ever, and Evo looks MUCH cooler now. That helmet is just so..badass: look at that visor, it looks like he's starting directly at your soul. Just lengthen his legs a bit, make his left arm slightly bulkier, add some purple and he will look perfect.

-Shakar

Edited November 16, 2011 by Shakar

[CabooseBM]

Well, Reapa needs a little bulking up in the torso, and maybe shorter legs, but that's an easy modification. The same for Jawblade.

Pretty good stuff!

[Studs Not On Top]

I thought I'd have fun with another "rePaint"-- this time it's Surge 4.0 in the colors he should have.

Link

It's a shame that all of the lime parts could have been replaced with pieces from Surge 2.0.

[Shakar]

^^ Not sure if I like that. I agree that the limegreen is quite inappropriate (especially for how it's distributed, and especially in the arms). However, with your modifications he looks really...dull? He has those two silver villain chestplates in the shoulders, and everything else is (save for the head, the gun, the black bones and a few details) bright blue. I really think he needs a secondary colour.

Shakar

EDIT W-wait, when did my title change?! It's cool but..

Edited November 17, 2011 by Shakar

[CabooseBM]

Make the lime green parts silver, like his 1.0 toy.

[Dorek]

I'm okay with lime green as Surge's secondary color, it's just poorly applied. It needs to properly be a secondary color, instead of being apparently equal with his true primary color, blue. The only indication that blue is his primary color is that his helmet is blue.

[BrotherDog]

I'm okay with lime green as Surge's secondary color, it's just poorly applied. It needs to properly be a secondary color, instead of being apparently equal with his true primary color, blue. The only indication that blue is his primary color is that his helmet is blue.

I agree totally, and that's saying allot as Lime is one my favorite HF part colors. The same can be said of all the red in Breez's set. There's just too much of it.

[Shakar]

I know it's quite early to think about this (or maybe not, if last year is anything to go by), but what are your predictions about the Summer 2012 team of Heroes?

Personally, I'm pretty sure Furno is going to stay (there's little we can do about that, I guess..) and Stormer and Nex are going to return. Stringer and Bulk are probably going to return as well.

I'm not sure about Rocka, since we had him for two waves in a row- then again, I don't know how popular he is, and he might as well become a second Furno.

Not counting him we're already at 5 Heroes, which might be enough if they follow the pattern of the Winter 2012 wave.

If they do not follow that..think about it, what did 2011 introduce that 2012 has not (so far)? Exactly, a new character. Just like Summer 2011 gave us Rocka, I think Summer 2012 is going to give us a new Hero! If they do really follow this route, my bet is on lilac: Ultrabuild Joker taught us Lego isn't above making Hero Factory cladding parts in that colour after all, plus it is a pretty popular colour among Lego fans to begin with.

What do you guys think?

[Darth Nihilus]

(snip)

What do you guys think?

You are forgetting, we can't base anything on 2011, as the 2011 first wave introduced 2 new heroes, while the first wave 2012 doesn't introduce any.

[Shakar]

And that's why I'm saying that Summer 2012 is going to introduce a new Hero. It seems weird to see a whole year with totally new bad guys and no new good guys at all, at least to me- mind you, I have no basis for this, it's just some fun speculation that I'm doing. I personally like the whole rotation scheme they use for the Hero teams as it keeps things fresh (the sole anomaly is Furno and, until recently Sotrmer), but IMO it needs at least one new element each year to prevent "stagnation".

Edited November 18, 2011 by Shakar

[Darth Nihilus]

And that's why I'm saying that Summer 2012 is going to introduce a new Hero. It seems weird to see a whole year with totally new bad guys and no new good guys at all, at least to me- mind you, I have no basis for this, it's just some fun speculation that I'm doing. I personally like the whole rotation scheme they use for the Hero teams as it keeps things fresh (the sole anomaly is Furno and, until recently Sotrmer), but IMO it needs at least one new element each year to prevent "stagnation".

I agree, but the only way I can see it happening is if the Summer wave has Stormer, Nex, Bulk, Stringer, and the new guy. That would get rid of the 'usual suspect', Furno. Not to say I wouldn't love a Lilac hero, though.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Darth Nihilus

[Omicron Squad Leader]

I know it's quite early to think about this (or maybe not, if last year is anything to go by), but what are your predictions about the Summer 2012 team of Heroes?

Personally, I'm pretty sure Furno is going to stay (there's little we can do about that, I guess..) and Stormer and Nex are going to return. Stringer and Bulk are probably going to return as well.

I'm not sure about Rocka, since we had him for two waves in a row- then again, I don't know how popular he is, and he might as well become a second Furno.

Not counting him we're already at 5 Heroes, which might be enough if they follow the pattern of the Winter 2012 wave.

If they do not follow that..think about it, what did 2011 introduce that 2012 has not (so far)? Exactly, a new character. Just like Summer 2011 gave us Rocka, I think Summer 2012 is going to give us a new Hero! If they do really follow this route, my bet is on lilac: Ultrabuild Joker taught us Lego isn't above making Hero Factory cladding parts in that colour after all, plus it is a pretty popular colour among Lego fans to begin with.

What do you guys think?

Winter 2011 introduced two new Heroes, winter 2012 introduces none. I think this is a sign that summer 2012 will be different to summer 2011.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Omicron Squad Leader

[Brickthing]

Winter 2011 introduced two new Heroes, winter 2012 introduces none. I think this is a sign that summer 2012 will be different to summer 2011.

I think the main reason that there aren't any new Heroes in the winter wave is because there are only 5 Heroes instead of 6. Rocka and Furno are probably guaranteed to appear for now because they're the designated favourites, while the other three spaces are used for characters that missed the Savage planet wave.

The new Hero/Villain format will most likely be carried into the Summer wave, and then there will be 4 Heroes (Stringer, Bulk, Nex & Stormer) who have missed a wave, making them likely to appear, leaving 1 spot open for Rocka, Furno or a new character. I'm hoping for Rocka to appear instead of Furno, but either way I think it's unlikely they'll leave them both out for yet another new rookie. (So much for my Purple hero wishes, but thanks to the Superheroes I can laugh my sorrows away... )

[Dorek]

Rocka I think was mostly included because he only had one release prior to this; I'm not sure if he's really a "favorite", I haven't seen any overwhelming support for him like I have for Furno.

The only thing I'm thinking is that Summer, thus far, tends to have more sets overall than Winter, so I don't know how they're going to work that. Probably the ones we missed, plus Furno, maybe a newbie. I still maintain we need more vehicles. We haven't seen any tech in a while, and since they're discontinuing the canisters for the time being, we need a new mode of transport.

[Darth Nihilus]

Rocka I think was mostly included because he only had one release prior to this; I'm not sure if he's really a "favorite", I haven't seen any overwhelming support for him like I have for Furno.

The only thing I'm thinking is that Summer, thus far, tends to have more sets overall than Winter, so I don't know how they're going to work that. Probably the ones we missed, plus Furno, maybe a newbie. I still maintain we need more vehicles. We haven't seen any tech in a while, and since they're discontinuing the canisters for the time being, we need a new mode of transport.

Agreed, both points. I really would like to see some Mistika-esque vehicles, as those were some of the best Bionicle brought. Though, if TLG's stance on HF is anything to go by, it will probably be a Rocka Car.

[Omicron Squad Leader]

I think the main reason that there aren't any new Heroes in the winter wave is because there are only 5 Heroes instead of 6.

Yeah, in the summer I think there will still be 5 "normal-sized" Heroes, but a titan-sized one too. (Probably not using the "XL" suffix.)

Edited November 19, 2011 by Omicron Squad Leader

[Phantoka Kopaka Nuva]

There's also the fact that there's a second action figure line next year (Superheroes). That's probably why they cut down on HF sets.

[Omicron Squad Leader]

I was checking the 2012 listings on Amazon.fr and noticed that they've been updated with images of the packaging for all 10 sets!

Furno

Breez

Jawblade

Splitface

Thornraxx

Surge

We've already seen Evo, Rocka, Toxic Reapa and Black Phantom's, so I haven't included them.

[Jouster]

I was checking the 2012 listings on Amazon.fr and noticed that they've been updated with images of the packaging for all 10 sets!

Furno

Breez

Jawblade

Splitface

Thornraxx

Surge

We've already seen Evo, Rocka, Toxic Reapa and Black Phantom's, so I haven't included them.

This is kind of old news for me...Seen these a few days ago (I was too lazy to post them here).

Anyway, I can't wait to get 'em.

[Aethersprite]

I'm more interested in newer pictures of the sets than the packaging, but thanks anyway!

[Omicron Squad Leader]

I'm more interested in newer pictures of the sets than the packaging, but thanks anyway!

Even though that's not going to happen until they're released as we've already got all of the official high-res pictures.