Hero Factory 2012

[Rocketbilly]

How is he not bulky? His head is practically encased in huge pieces of metal armor. Kind of like this (though I know I've made color errors):

I think that suits his type of "bulk" way more than an absurdly-huge chest would.

Funnily enough I was experimenting with those pieces in that fashion just last week. It looks really, really good but if you're like me and like all of the armour that's supposed to be symetrical to mirror eachother exactly, then it's a a pain. It's also a pain to keep in position and to pose, though of course I may have attached them slightly differently - and was using Stringer 3.0's bear helmet - a more streamlined helmet might not get in the way so much. I don't have Bulk's helmet though, so I can't quickly check.

Nice mock up, anyhow.

[vexorian]

XT4 is going to be great sans the bley. He is just built and posed oddly like it tends to happen in these silly toy fairs.

Between Reapa, Black Phantom, Core Hunter and Bulk I am very satisfied with this year's HF.

I'll pass on Nex. The orange-white color scheme should have died with 2.0, really.

Edited February 4, 2012 by vexorian

[Kalhiki]

How is he not bulky? His head is practically encased in huge pieces of metal armor. Kind of like this (though I know I've made color errors):

*snip*

I think that suits his type of "bulk" way more than an absurdly-huge chest would.

The chest just seems too flat in my opinion. The shoulders are a nice addition and, yes, do add bulk to him. But I feel that a larger chest would balance out those hefty shoulder pads. Right now it looks like he has two walls of armor on the sides of his head.

Maybe it's just the pictures, though. I was skeptical about the torso armor pieces when they first came out, but in person they were much better. Maybe this is the same case, and I just need to see it in person.

Time to get building.

Kalhiki

[vexorian]

Bulk is going to have some sort of weapon like the 2.0 shields but with two missiles. I think that once Bulk gets that thing, a bulkier torso will look like overkill.

[Rocketbilly]

The chest just seems too flat in my opinion. The shoulders are a nice addition and, yes, do add bulk to him. But I feel that a larger chest would balance out those hefty shoulder pads. Right now it looks like he has two walls of armor on the sides of his head.

Maybe it's just the pictures, though. I was skeptical about the torso armor pieces when they first came out, but in person they were much better. Maybe this is the same case, and I just need to see it in person.

Time to get building.

Kalhiki

I find that when using those pieces inthat manner, using large upper-arm armour is a good way to balance it out and to detract from the "walls of armour" problem; especially so when that armour pieces you use rise up above the shoulder a little. It gives a sloping effect that looks less extreme and indeed adds bulk.

Anyhow, one thing that's bugging me with some of these heroes is the colourschemes.

I myself really liked the colours used for the 2.0 and 3.0 era - each character having a main colour, and a core/highlight colour as well as one metallic colour with maybe one extra colour in a few instances.

Though I see nothing wrong with, say, the way the colours are layered on Bulk, I still think it would be nice if they were neatened up a bit. I imagine storyline wise the gunmetal/black pieces are special mission specific pieces of armour, like Evo's acid resistant boots or whatever.

I like that idea, but worry that sets will soon end up having jumbled and disjointed colourschemes. Hopefully the set designers will keep the layering less complex.

[Aethersprite]

Can anyone make out whether Core Hunter has the regular 2.0 torso armour or the new 4.0 Hero torso piece below that chest armour?

[Mesonak]

Judging from the preliminary catalog pictures, I assume he has the new torso. You can see (if you look at the catalog) the bottom of the torso, and how it's shape is drastically different than the original torso plate. And that's fantastic, because I've been wanting that piece in black for a while now, ever since I held it for the first time.

[Mr. Gundam]

How is he not bulky? His head is practically encased in huge pieces of metal armor. Kind of like this (though I know I've made color errors):

I think that suits his type of "bulk" way more than an absurdly-huge chest would.

Yeah Aanchir, I was fiddling around with it on LDD myself. And I cold not get the armor on the shoulder. Please post the LXF file or tell us how you did it.

[Aanchir]

Yeah Aanchir, I was fiddling around with it on LDD myself. And I cold not get the armor on the shoulder. Please post the LXF file or tell us how you did it.

Not sure if this is exactly the same setup that the set uses, although I wouldn't be surprised if it is. The torso armor would probably have more "wobble" in the set, allowing the 3M beam parts to attach to the shoulders at a higher angle. There are a number of modifications in this model anyway. After all, I don't know exactly how tall the real set is, but since he's a mid-size set he's probably closer in height to Rocka, Breez, and Furno than how I currently have him built.

I'm kind of surprised how many people are interested in the LXF, but I guess it's understandable. It did require quite a bit of fiddling about to get the parts at a decent angle.

Download LXF File

[Aethersprite]

Not sure if this is exactly the same setup that the set uses, although I wouldn't be surprised if it is. The torso armor would probably have more "wobble" in the set, allowing the 3M beam parts to attach to the shoulders at a higher angle. There are a number of modifications in this model anyway. After all, I don't know exactly how tall the real set is, but since he's a mid-size set he's probably closer in height to Rocka, Breez, and Furno than how I currently have him built.

I'm kind of surprised how many people are interested in the LXF, but I guess it's understandable. It did require quite a bit of fiddling about to get the parts at a decent angle.

Download LXF File

Also, it seems that the orange armour on the lower legs are 5-long, and he has a 5-long gunmetal piece on his right forearm.

[Shakar]

Thanks a lot Aanchir! So you built him like Evo and Surge, right? Still, it gives a good idea of how the set is going to be. I'm going to take a look later, as I don't have LDD in the computer I'm using now.

Core Hunter definitely has the 2012 Hero torso in black- take a look at the catalogue shot of him, you can clearly see the "belt" with the two holes that is unique to that piece.

Speaking of that piece detail, I guess they tried to copy that belt-like accessory the Heroes wear in the movies, but I wonder about those two holes- are they ever going to use them?

[Zwen]

Aanchir your version og Bulk is very accurate. Anyway I have made another version of him in the way I see the things, taking visual information from every pic of Bulk I finally could made a more exactly version...

My link

[Darth Nihilus]

Nice digital models, but there is one detail everyone seems to have missed on Bulk....

He's got two sphere launchers.

[Zwen]

What are you talking about? He has one, and a double cannon. He has a free hand for the handcuffs...

[Darth Nihilus]

What are you talking about? He has one, and a double cannon. He has a free hand for the handcuffs...

Damn it. I was looking at the armor on his arm that he's holding up and thought it was a launcher. I don't know why, though he would look better with two in my opinion. Maybe I'll MOD it if I buy the set.

[VBBN]

Whoever poses these things needs to be fired

[Jouster]

Want to see more of the HF sets? Look over here:

[Vinyl Scratch]

dayum look at core hunter.

Do want.

I can see that Voltix doesn't have that much yellow as in the catalogue, looks great.

[vexorian]

If Bulk is like Zwen's digital version (and I have no reason to believe otherwise) it will be the best hero ever. Although he should have two hand pieces.

Stringer in the video looks cool, although I am not convinced about the blue yet. What I love about Voltix is that I won't have to spend in the Joker to get purple. He looks ok and is a great parts pack with all those hoses. Core Hunter, I still need to see more of.

Whoever poses these things needs to be fired

Won't matter if it happens to be the same people that did the amazing NinjaGo display. I guess they just don't care about HF.

Edited February 4, 2012 by vexorian

[Shakar]

So Voltix and Stringer were there, eh? They wasted a picture on Black Phantom when they could've photographed those two. Stringer does really seem to feature tr. blue. on the chest, fun! And I love Voltix so much.

Bulk rocks, however I feel Core Hunter has too much red on him. The leaked pic made him look much more..eh, black-er.

I wish the video quality was 720p or something, but still...can anyone make a screen of Voltix and Stringer together?

Stormer and Speeda Demon were missing instead, unless they didn't film them. They don't seem to care much for HF (and for Monster Fighters, and most other themes), sadly.

Please, tell me these spieletest people can't be the only ones who are going to do a report about about Toy Fair. They don't seem to care much for Lego. Was BZP invited?

Edited February 4, 2012 by Shakar

[Mesonak]

They're usually the only people that cover Lego at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. We're going to have to wait until the 12th/13th for more pictures or video, sadly. Almost a guaranteed.

[King of Nynrah]

So, Voltix is definitely purple?

[Shakar]

That sucks. I forgot how much time we had to wait for in the past years- I guess it's because I'm more excited for this wave than many Bionicle summer waves (and certainly more than HF 1.0 and 3.0). Actually, I think I haven't been so interested about Toyfair since 2007.

@ King of Nynrah: Voltix is Dark Lilac- the same colour found in Evo 2.0 and in every version of the Joker.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Shakar

[King of Nynrah]

That sucks. I forgot how much time we had to wait for in the past years- I guess it's because I'm more excited for this wave than many Bionicle summer waves (and certainly more than HF 1.0 and 3.0).

@ King of Nynrah: Voltix is Dark Lilac- the same colour found in Evo 2.0 and in every version of the Joker.

Ah, okay. I actually prefer that shade of purple over the shade used sparingly in BIONICLE. Should make more BIONICLE parts in that colour, not like they're going to do that now much though.

[Shakar]

The main reason they're using this shade is because the "old purple" found in sets like the Nui Jaga was discounted due to quality issues. I don't have time to check, but dark lilac has actually been around for a while- the first time I saw it, it was on Danju (KK2) back in 2004. So they could've used it for Bionicle, I guess the so called focus groups didn't like it back then.

I actually prefer it, too. It's closer to blue comapred to the old shade, which is great as I'm myself more partial to cold colour rather than the warm ones.