Hero Factory 2012

[Aethersprite]

But what's with all the Voltix hate? His colors look fine to me.

Voltix is a huge mish-mash of colours - black, purple, red, and yellow. He doesn't look all that bad to me though, compared to say, Nex.

Still crossing my fingers for a possible gunmetal recolour of the BP head. I'm not too bothered by the reusing of helmets as long as they're in a different colour, to differentiate them better.

[Mesonak]

Wow, I have to say, I love Speeda Demon. Though, it's not what I expected. It's basically a 2.0-styled Furno Bike. And coming from someone that didn't entirely like the Furno Bike, it's a little bit of a letdown. However, the set looks good. The pieces look amazing (if I'm counting right, 20 golden spikes - the same type as in Witch Doctor), one of Stormer XL's crystaline armor piece in purple, as well as one Skrall/Vorox armor piece in purple. Lime BP head, gold Waspix blades in a HF set, etc. Very good variety of pieces.

The color scheme is a bit jarring at first, as I already stated, but I actually have begun to enjoy it. It's unique. And the set looks well-built in general.

The rest of the sets, nothing really new. Core Hunter looks amazingly well done, Nex looks marginally better, Bulk's armor now looks orange instead of trans-orange, sadly. Stringer looks excellent, XT4 looks very unique, Voltix is really the only set that looks lackluster to me. The purple is wonderful, obviously, but the colors (yellow, purple, black, red, and gunmetal) is too cluttered for my tastes. But I still have hope! Haven't given up on Voltix yet.

Stormer XL looks good, but not worth the $25 price tag to me. Just as I figured. Still going to wait on him sa well before making my final decision.

The wave looks nice, I gotta say. Looking forward to Toy Fair even more now!

Edited January 15, 2012 by Mesonak

[Dorek]

I'm not really getting all the Core Hunter love. He seems decent enough, but generic, from what I can tell. The awesome bugeyed helmet seems to be the real unique factor, and even then, nobody could tell that from the previous prelim pics.

[BrotherDog]

So many awesome things/parts about Speeda Demon set. This set and StormerXL are the first titan sets without those clumsey looking doubled legs. Those may be more stable, but look awful.

1 - Lime parts including re-colors? Check! ;;D

2 - Dark Purple?!?! Check! ;;D

3 - Finally introducing Copper parts for Bionicle/HeroFactory? Check! Check! Check! ;;D

4 - A massive reduction on the amount of red parts? Check! Check! Check! Check! ;;D

Edited January 15, 2012 by BrotherDog

[The Alchemyst]

That cycle looks really skeletal. Those angled electricity pieces show up again.Wish there was more purple, I count about 7.

Other than those, the recolored head and possibly the back arm parts [dunno if they've been in lime], everything else already exists as far as I know.

Bulk and Stringer look great [dem subwoofer shoulders]. I'm really digging Bulk's colors and overall design.

Nex looks meh, not sure Stormer will be worth it.

Core Hunter has a bunch of those claws in red, those new armor pieces and a solid design. I wish he had some better/newer parts for his weapon.

XT4 looks like it has nearly no new pieces and Voltix will be a parts pack.

In other news, Rocka is a great set. Great design, some nice parts and a lovely, lovely helmet.

He just looks really good.

[Jetrax99]

I believe the chestplate on Speeda Demon is just a copy of Nitroblast's chest judging from close examination of the part.

Loving the summer sets. Also, I hope Speeda Demon is female.

[MakutaNocturn]

Speeda Demon's bike is just a copy of Furno's one! Lego... Why it looks so miserable? For me: Bulk looks very nice. But I don't think that Stringer's gun is a guitar. Probably a cannon.

BTW:Corehunter mask looks like I wish :D Like megatron! Other villians are awesome also.

BTW2:We will be able to made violet Bohroks! :DDD

[Ceroknight]

Speeda Demon's bike is just a copy of Furno's one! Lego... Why it looks so miserable? For me: Bulk looks very nice. But I don't think that Stringer's gun is a guitar. Probably a cannon.

I disagree. Furno's is based on 1.0 scale while this one is for the 2.0 scale

[Dorek]

Speeda Demon's bike is just a copy of Furno's one! Lego... Why it looks so miserable? For me: Bulk looks very nice. But I don't think that Stringer's gun is a guitar. Probably a cannon.

BTW:Corehunter mask looks like I wish :D Like megatron! Other villians are awesome also.

BTW2:We will be able to made violet Bohroks! :DDD

There's no Bohrok headplate, at least none that I can see. It's the new wing/armor piece on Stormer.

[Studs Not On Top]

Just bought Toxic Reapa and Surge yesterday. It appears that all the hype about TR is true-- he's awesome! His only fault is a lack of back armor, which I'll fix today. Surge, on the other hand, is alright. I really do like his design, but the color scheme takes away from everything good about him. With extra parts from Nex I'll remake him into a Self-MOC.

Definitely try out the Breakout figures, even keep some together for display.

[vexorian]

I love the reuse of BP's mask because they still manage to look like different characters. Identity shouldn't rely 100% on having a different head mold.

Motorcycle? Eh. I would get Speeda Demon if he costs as much as BP/FL, but if not then I'd pass, not a priority.

Bulk is looking great with black replacing white. He is right now the only hero I might actually get this year.

[Kalhiki]

Now that I look at him, Speeda isn't all that bad. I guess it just was unexpected. Still probably won't get him though. He's easily my least favorite villain, and I'm also trying to cut back on purchases.

Oh yeah, and judging by the backgrounds, the Villain-Hero match ups are

Bulk-Core Hunter

Nex-XT4

Stringer-Voltix

Stormer-Speeda

If it wasn't already obvious.

Also, Stringer's gun looks like it could function as a guitar (and that would be cool), but I'm wondering what I could do to give him a gun arm reminiscent of his 1.0 design.

Kalhiki

[VBBN]

Look good. Just a few things of note.

Stormer's feet are... odd. I'd like to see them at a different angle but I don't see the piece used in anything else.

It's just two normal hero feet put together. The shape of the hero feet looks a bit odd, but they look odd in all of the photos

3 - Finally introducing Copper parts for Bionicle/HeroFactory? Check! Check! Check! ;;D

Uhm

That would be gold my friend

ALL of those parts in gold are available in ninjago sets

[Front]

The new electricity piece is so lovely in colours, that some had "tears in the eyes" when we received prototypes in big boxes. It kind of look like the piece has four colours.

Erland, Part Design

Edited January 15, 2012 by Front

[Dynamante]

Does anyone have a clear picture of Core hunter? I would like to see the details of the helmet.

[Nightcruise]

Don't think anybody has one yet, though I would like to be wrong on that.

[Zarkan]

Honestly, most of the set designs look lame, especially compared to the January wave, but... I have to say, I'm proud of TLC finally bringing the magic of purple back to their constraction figure lines. If only this had happened before Bionicle ended - then I might have actually bought a set or two.

[ZORK64]

Once again, just when I thought "Eh, I can check Eurobricks another day." there are already new pics of the next wave's sets. XD

First of all, thanks for the new pics!

My thoughts so far:

I really like the heroes of the summer wave (well, except for Nex, he doesn't look too appealing to me so far). Stormer is a sure buy, and I guess I'll get Bulk and Stringer as well.

From the villain side, Core Hunter is my favourite of the bunch. XT4 features a few nice design ideas, but no interesting pieces. Voltix got the potential for a excellent parts pack, especially because of the multi-coloured craziness that's going on there.

I have very mixed feelings about Speeda Demon. Design-wise, he looks totally awesome, and seeing the BP head in lime is also very cool. But his overall colour scheme puts me off. The bike and Speeda alone for each other look good, but together (plus all those golden bits) they don't work so well. Plus he's yet another lime green set, and on top of that, a large one. However, depending on his price, I'll might pick him up once he wents on sales.

EDIT: What I almost forgot to say about Core Hunter, Stringer and Bulk...

Black and silver 2.0 shields!

Edited January 16, 2012 by ZORK64

[Darth Nihilus]

Speeda Demon. Okay, I can live with that name. But that is epic! I love the motorcycle, much better than the Furno Bike. Also, Nex is looking pretty sweet with that mask. I <3 Breakout!

[MakutaNocturn]

There's no Bohrok headplate, at least none that I can see. It's the new wing/armor piece on Stormer.

There is violet Bohrok head on the motorcycle.

EDIT: Sorry :P It looks so similar. It's Stormer's shield!

Edited January 15, 2012 by MakutaNocturn

[Bundalings]

The new electricity piece is so lovely in colours, that some had "tears in the eyes" when we received prototypes in big boxes. It kind of look like the piece has four colours.

Erland, Part Design

Interesting. I see it in only two sets and they seem to be the same color. I'd ask if it were coming out in other series/lines later, but you wouldn't be able to answer. XP

-

On Stormer's ankles, what is that piece the new "sturdifying" socket as introduced in the Superheroes connects to? I don't recognize it.

[Bfahome]

On Stormer's ankles, what is that piece the new "sturdifying" socket as introduced in the Superheroes connects to? I don't recognize it.

Looks like a single socket piece.

And his feet don't look like they're two hero feet, they look like a new piece. It's difficult to tell, but I can't see where the sockets would be and the proportions look different.

[Aanchir]

Looks like a single socket piece.

And his feet don't look like they're two hero feet, they look like a new piece. It's difficult to tell, but I can't see where the sockets would be and the proportions look different.

I agree. Here you can see that in the show they're quite visibly different. Granted, the show isn't always exactly like the sets (watching Savage Planet earlier to get screenshots, I observed that Rocka's claw piece is based on a preliminary version rather than on the final part, and of course there are stylistic differences like giving all weapons visible handholds), but in this case I see no reason the feet would look that different from Hero feet if they weren't different at all in the set.

[Shakar]

On the issue of BP's head being reused- you can pretend that him, Voltix and Demon are from the same species (they're Skakdi).

[Kalhiki]

The new electricity piece is so lovely in colours, that some had "tears in the eyes" when we received prototypes in big boxes. It kind of look like the piece has four colours.

Erland, Part Design

Jesus Christ, I can't wait to see this piece if it's that amazing.

So the piece has four colors. Like, all kinda blended together. That's gonna look pretty cool.

I can almost guarantee Stormer's feet will be a new mold. Not two Hero feet together. They seem different than the regular Hero feet. Flatter, more square. And the heel's different.

Kalhiki