Hero Factory 2012

[Kalhiki]

Unless they improve Stromer XL, I'm going to try and make a regular sized figure once I get him. The XL really doesn't do much for me. Hopefully he'll have parts so I can downsize him.

Or maybe he'll turn out better than I expect.

Kalhiki

[Aanchir]

Unless they improve Stromer XL, I'm going to try and make a regular sized figure once I get him. The XL really doesn't do much for me. Hopefully he'll have parts so I can downsize him.

Or maybe he'll turn out better than I expect.

Kalhiki

Well, as far as I can tell he's not absurdly tall compared to the medium-sized Hero sets. The small Hero sets are typically 22 modules tall, and the medium-sized ones are 24 modules tall. From what I can tell Stormer XL is around 29-30 modules tall. Still tall, but still just around the height of many 2008-2009 BIONICLE canister sets like Antroz.

Now, you still might want to downsize him, just as I might do even with some of the medium-sized Hero sets. I don't think it should be too hard to do convincingly since frankly his legs, even moreso than the medium-sized Hero legs, are probably out-of-proportion with his body.

[VBBN]

Now, you still might want to downsize him, just as I might do even with some of the medium-sized Hero sets. I don't think it should be too hard to do convincingly since frankly his legs, even moreso than the medium-sized Hero legs, are probably out-of-proportion with his body.

And seeing as the hulk uses that chestpiece at a much smallerpricepoint, creating a smaller hero based with stormers plate isn't too difficult.

And on a side note, pic are off my flickr, recieved that lovely letter from lego;

We have received a Notice of Infringement from LEGO Juris

A/S via the Yahoo! Copyright Team and have removed the

following photo(s) from your photostream:

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If you believe that you were designated by mistake or

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counter-notification as to the mistake or misidentification.

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information on this process:

[Studs Not On Top]

I noticed that the Breakout small figures are $9 USD on Shop@Home. Pretty soon they'll be priced the same as a Phantoka figure.

[Kalhiki]

Well, as far as I can tell he's not absurdly tall compared to the medium-sized Hero sets. The small Hero sets are typically 22 modules tall, and the medium-sized ones are 24 modules tall. From what I can tell Stormer XL is around 29-30 modules tall. Still tall, but still just around the height of many 2008-2009 BIONICLE canister sets like Antroz.

Now, you still might want to downsize him, just as I might do even with some of the medium-sized Hero sets. I don't think it should be too hard to do convincingly since frankly his legs, even moreso than the medium-sized Hero legs, are probably out-of-proportion with his body.

Agreed. It's mainly the legs I want to change. If his top half isn't too heavy, getting rid of the friction connecters would shorten the legs possibly to a better length.

Also, I noticed that due to how Stormer's legs are built, the knee articulation is improved. Meaning, he can cross his legs. I would have prefered this design used on the elbows like some MoCs use, but oh well.

And I'm pretty sure his sword is made of two Batman/Breeze blade pieces.

Kalhiki

[Mesonak]

Hmm, I can't see Mesonak's pictures - did Lego remove them?

Nah, as I said, the gallery's up and running in a sub-folder over here. Decided to re-structure things.

[Aanchir]

And seeing as the hulk uses that chestpiece at a much smallerpricepoint, creating a smaller hero based with stormers plate isn't too difficult.

And on a side note, pic are off my flickr, recieved that lovely letter from lego;

Well, the Hulk is very different because his legs are out of proportion the other way (way shorter than they should be rather than longer). Still, you're right, an intermediate size (more in proportion to the torso) should look decent.

Agreed. It's mainly the legs I want to change. If his top half isn't too heavy, getting rid of the friction connecters would shorten the legs possibly to a better length.

Also, I noticed that due to how Stormer's legs are built, the knee articulation is improved. Meaning, he can cross his legs. I would have prefered this design used on the elbows like some MoCs use, but oh well.

And I'm pretty sure his sword is made of two Batman/Breeze blade pieces.

Kalhiki

Good point about his sword! I hadn't thought about that, but I guess that would work and give you roughly what he wields in the pics we've seen! So that's almost certainly what TLG did. Still, it looks like it works!

[VBBN]

I'm actually kind of curious as to whats under his chest armor, his body looks way more rounded that I originally saw.

And I'll jump on teh agreement train that his sword is batman/breez blades, do they interlock or are there going to be diamon shaped spaces in between? They look to bea ttatched to two (+o+) pieces, but I do not have those parts so i can't judge it

[Nike2032]

The Hero Factory website has some new videos of rocka and black phantom titled "character spot".

Some new scenes including voltix fighting Rocka (in Rocka's character spot)

http://herofactory.lego.com/en-us/default.aspx

Those who said that breez and thornaxx are probably being replaced by stringer and voltix are probably correct. I'm excited about voltix making an appearance, but sad about not seeing aything on breez or thronraxx. I'm starting to think that maybe stringer an voltix could be a limited editon set (like bulk and vapour) since I can't find any other reason to why they are shown so early.

Oh and for some reason, Rocka 4.0 is running with Furno 2.0. Guess this confirms that the other heroes go back to their 2.0 forms after the savage planet arc.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Nike2032

[Vinyl Scratch]

If Stringer and Voltix are special edition sets, then why do they show up in the movie?

Special Editions sets almost never showed up in any movies, be it BIONICLE or Hero Factory.

Plus, if they were Special Edition they would have been packed together.

LEGO just doesn't want to show Thornraxx and Breez yet, otherwise why would they show up in the Product Page and the Bios page?

[Nike2032]

If Stringer and Voltix are special edition sets, then why do they show up in the movie?

Special Editions sets almost never showed up in any movies, be it BIONICLE or Hero Factory.

Plus, if they were Special Edition they would have been packed together.

LEGO just doesn't want to show Thornraxx and Breez yet, otherwise why would they show up in the Product Page and the Bios page?

Fair point, but if they're not, then I don't have a clue why TLC had shown more of voltix and springer than breez and thornraxx considering that if they couldn't show the latter earlier, then they could have just cut them out and leave it as that. To be honest, I guess I'm kind of bias for the limited editon thing since I can't wait for the summer sets

Edited January 10, 2012 by Nike2032

[dviddy]

I'm more and more certain that TLG decided to switch Breez/Thornraxx and Stringer/Voltix at what would have been "last minute" for the company that does the movies/television shows. So while marketing still managed to have the proper sets on the bios and whatnot, it was too late for the movie, so the movie gets the wave as it was originally planned. Breez and Thornraxx still being absent from store shelves is still an oddity in that scenario, though. It really doesn't look too good that the female character is the one that TLG is fumbling the ball with right now.

[davidr]

It`s awesome! Here in Europe are some sets sooner than in America, it`s really unbelievable.

Breez and Thornrnaxx are really great, especially Thornraxx, I have all breakout sets already, so I know what I`m talking about .

Really strange, that they`re showing summer sets instead of winter, but it doesn`t upset me. Btw Voltixs back as shown in Rocka charackter spot :

He`s fixed! Less yellow, more purple, that`s what we want! He will be great set, I think.

Hope I didn`t mess up english too much XD.

[Brickthing]

I'm more and more certain that TLG decided to switch Breez/Thornraxx and Stringer/Voltix at what would have been "last minute" for the company that does the movies/television shows. So while marketing still managed to have the proper sets on the bios and whatnot, it was too late for the movie, so the movie gets the wave as it was originally planned. Breez and Thornraxx still being absent from store shelves is still an oddity in that scenario, though. It really doesn't look too good that the female character is the one that TLG is fumbling the ball with right now.

Well at least they're bringing Breez forwards, not backwards. Good intentions, poor execution?

Really strange, that they`re showing summer sets instead of winter, but it doesn`t upset me. Btw Voltixs back as shown in Rocka charackter spot :

He`s fixed! Less yellow, more purple, that`s what we want! He will be great set, I think.

Hope I didn`t mess up english too much XD.

I'm trying to think if there could be a marketing reason to feature a summer set early, to act as a teaser/bridge for the summer wave, but I think the Breez/Thornraxx and Stringer/Voltix swap is the most likely reason. It would be awesome if Tinseltown made an additional short chronicling Breez' mission with Thornraxx, ala Metus' Revenge.

I wouldn't rely on the TV show depictions for set information. The characters are probably based on earlier versions/prototypes of the final sets, and take a couple artistic liberties, which almost always includes subduing the colours of sets to make them look more worn.

[Dorek]

Not to mention adding back armor (except now that actually exists, but still, legs).

Anyway, the switch is a possible reason. Maybe they had always intended to put the Stringer/Voltix pairing in from the beginning, as a teaser/bridge, and just had to cut Breez and Thornraxx along the way. Who knows?

[Shakar]

More shots of Voltix, yay. He's one of the summer sets I'm looking forward the most, so it’s a great thing for me. I'm not sure if his legs will have back armour, they always do that in the HF movies.

But I guess that his back armour on the torso area is pretty much confirmed (and most likely that applies for Core Hunter and Bulk too, them being fellow 12.99 Euro sets), provided that Lego put into Summer sets have the same attention to details that Winter sets have. Also, it seems that the foot is used to connect Voltix's tubes to the back, like in Splitface and Rocka.

Speaking of back armour: new Stormer shot!

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/shadow/Randomness/stormerback.png

Also, after so many troubles I finally got my small Christmas haul on Monday. Surge looks better than I thought, but like I was planning I made him as tall as a 12,99 Euro set and I like him a lot better that way (I’ll get to post pics tomorrow). I love the new torso armour, although I admit it isn’t as versatile as the 2011 armour.

The Zamor gun is quite probably the best action figure launcher weapon Lego has ever done: it is sleek and simple like a Thornax launcher, but actually looks like a gun/cannon like the Midak Skyblaster. And it comes in so many colours, and it is customizable!

Breez is excellent. My only qualms were some aspects of the colour layering and her wide shoulders. I fixed those, but even if I didn’t I would still say she is a great set. The new shield piece is absolutely gorgeous. The new katana pieces are very nice, I’m really eager to get my hands in the black/green and black/silver ones as well.

Thornraxx is beyond marvelous. Not only does he look beyond awesome (DAT COLOUR SCHEME), he’s also pretty big for a 9 Euro set (one more reason for me to buy at least one more copy of this guy). He blows away every single insectoid figure Lego has ever done- how I wish the Mistika Makuta and Waspix looked this good! I have absolutely nothing to complain about him, and he ranks very highly among my favourite HF sets. Buy him, NOW!

Rocka is great. His new helmet is quite badass and I love all the tr. bright green. His bandolier is a bit disappointing; I wish it was more flexible. Still, he looks awesome in hand and he definitely ranks among my top 2012 sets.

One more thing: to my great surprise, Italian shops are already selling HF sets among the other 2012 stuff. -which is weird, since (like Bionicle before that) the 2011 HF Winter wave debuted in early March. Hopefully they’ll do the same thing for winter 2013 and far beyond, but I doubt they’re going to stop selling summer stuff in SEPTEMBER. :/

[nex]

Sweet! Thank you, Mesonak, for the awesome new HQ images in your folder.

(especially this one)

[Darking]

http://www.majhost.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3278983

Yeah... So Voltix uses Black Phantom's helmet? Depressing.

But, look at his arms. It looks like we're getting a new, interesting bone piece with some Technics conection points.

[Shakar]

Wow, those hi res pictures are excellent, thanks Mesonak!

I noticed Stormer seems to have a quite a lot of armour printing- I don't mind that, actually. I really wish we saw more of Nex and Bulk- the thought of them having white torsos is haunting me.

[Darking]

No need to worry about that. Seeing how every hero has his chest plate printed, it would be absurd for them to not have a decal. Also, Bulk's chest armour is probably silver, not white.

[Mesonak]

Hah, don't thank me, thank the Lego Club

I completely forgot to even notify you guys about the new pictures. How... interesting of me. I got them from here, a high definition (and slightly modified) Rocka vs. Black Phantom video.

[Shakar]

I agree about Bulk, but Nex? I'm very worried about him- unlike the blurry torso on Bulk his one seems pretty clearly white, just like Stringer's is blue. Yes, they will most likely feature printing, as far Stormer is concerned I was ainly pointing out the printing on his legs and arms.

Edit- is this new?

Edited January 11, 2012 by Shakar

[Mesonak]

Bulk's will be silver, but whether Nex's chestplate will be white? It likely will be, sadly enough. Seems like all the $8.99 hero sets have more of their secondary color than their primary color. Evo had a great deal of gunmetal compared to yellow, Surge had a great deal of lime compared to blue, it's looking like Stringer, while not necessarily having more, persay, will have a great deal of blue, and Nex will likely have quite a few white pieces intermixed with his orange. Too many, IMO. I liked Nex 2.0's color scheme, with orange being the primary and a litle bit of white and green intermixed, but this is just going overboard.

Not that I'm complaining about getting a white armor piece, but I just wish i wasn't on Nex.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Mesonak

[Shakar]

@ Mesonak Agreed. Nex was one of my favourite 2.0 Heroes (I'm not too fond of Nex 3.0, and the 3.0 Heroes in general), and his colour scheme was one of the main reasons- orange, white, gunmetal and green was a very new and creative colour scheme (like this year's Thornraxx), and it was distributed very well. Breakout Nex's colour seems so poorly organized, and that's mainly due to that white torso plate.

Good observation about the 8.99 Euro Heroes, but at least Surge's and Evo's torso plates match the colour of their helmet- if you don't agree with the colour distribution, you just have to change around some cladding on the limbs. On Stringer and Nex this is much harder.

[Aanchir]

I kind of wish the coloring of the new printed torsos was consistently the primary color as well, but I don't think Nex's will necessarily look bad. Then again, I didn't think Surge's color scheme looked bad (it was organized very well IMO), nor Breez's and Furno's, and a lot of people found any colors in those color schemes that weren't the primary color to be overused on those sets.

A couple side notes related to torsos: First, in that gallery we can see clearly that Voltix's apparently Medium Lilac torso does not have printing, unlike the torsos of Splitface and the various Heroes. If that turns out to be finalized rather than preliminary, I know a lot of people will be happy, as so far the only color we were expecting to get a blank new-style torso in was red (in the upcoming Iron Man set). Plus, there are so few purple parts that people will naturally want them to be as versatile as possible.

Also, I'm kinda unsure how I like Stormer using the old-style torso with the Hulk chest piece rather than the new-style torso with it. It makes him feel very inconsistent in design to me. But perhaps the new-style torso wouldn't have looked good on him. I guess if Nex's torso turns out to be white, then it will be easy to experiment with it and Stormer's massive chest piece to see if it could have worked.

It's still difficult to tell if Stringer's secondary color is Earth Blue or Bright Blue from the lineup. I'm not sure what to think myself. Normally I prefer when Hero Factory uses more vibrant colors, so Bright Blue would be my preference in many cases. But since Stringer's main color has always been black, which doesn't tend to be vibrant anyway, I'm not sure whether Earth Blue might look nicer.

One thing I'm definitely grateful about regarding the TV episodes in particular is that they've finally got the characters so that they have five fingers on each hand. For previous episodes they had been consistently using the four-fingered hands.