Hero Factory 2012

[King of Nynrah]

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.

Ah, I have Danju and I also have Evo 2.0, though it never occured to me somehow that the purple in them was the same shade. I hope they use more of this colour on constraction sets in the future, glad to see they're doing so with Voltix.

[Shakar]

I'm pretty sure it's the same colour the guy your in av uses, if you want a quick reference. Voltix may have some nice parts (included the great new shin guards on the shoulder), but the real star is Ultrabuild Joker- 2 3M shells, 2 6M shells and 2 shoulder armour pieces (the same ones used in Evo 2.0, Surge 2.0 and Breez 2.0). I hope the colour gets used even more in the future- I think a new Hero in 2013 seems like a nice occasion to use it again.

To avoid going OT, Core Hunter's cannon's top half section looks like to be silver. While, colour-scheme-wise, it totally should be gunmetal instead (and that's one thing I would change about him, along the excessive red), I hope it actually is silver.

If it weren't the case, the silver top half cannon would end up being included only on Stringer (while the lower half, at least, is included in Black Phantom too), it'd end up being too rare and that would be make me sad since I really want an extra one to use for something.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Shakar

[Omicron Squad Leader]

I think we can all manage waiting just over a week; we've already gotten high quality pictures/videos featuring the majority of the sets, and hey, it's not exactly the best Hero Factory line to date is it? The worst using the new building system, at least in my opinion.

[Mesonak]

I'd call Ordeal of Fire the worst, which is understandable, considering they were just getting used to using it. I only find fault with four sets in this wave: Bulk, Stormer XL, XT4, and Nex. Bulk due to his color arrangement (which is, actually, growing on me more and more), Stormer XL not because of the actual set, but because of the piece count for $25 (if he turns out to be $20 I'll have no problems), XT4 due to his spindly limbs, and we haven't even got a really good out of box picture of him yet, and Nex due to his color arrangement, even though I'm liking it more and more by the day.

All of the other sets are great IMO.

[Shakar]

I think we can all manage waiting just over a week; we've already gotten high quality pictures/videos featuring the majority of the sets, and hey, it's not exactly the best Hero Factory line to date is it? The worst using the new building system, at least in my opinion.

Personally 3.0 was my least favourite, I just wasn't too hot on the animal-based Heroes. The villains were much more interesting, but I really didn't like Waspix and I never got Scorpio (something I'm thinking of rectify, at the very least for the many good parts he inlcudes). I loved Ordeal of Fire due to the simple, clean and highly customizeable Heroes, and I loved the Fire Villains with the exception of Parts Pack Fire Lord (whom I bought anyway).

I'm 70% thorugh the Winter Breakout wave, and I can safely say it's my favourite constraction line since 2007 Bionicle. I'm still not sure if Summer Breakout is going to be as good as it is, but at least I can say I like it much, much more than 1.0 and 3.0.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Shakar

[Aanchir]

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?

I don't know. They very well might eventually, at least for attaching tubing or something.

The thing about the "belt" is something I noticed as well, which is why I was disappointed to see that in the episode they wear the belt over that armor detail. >.<

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?

I'm fairly certain BZP will be at the New York ToyFair, as always.

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.

The name of the shade is actually Medium Lilac, which is irritating because it's out-of-sync with most LEGO color names. In most cases, "Medium" refers to the shade between Light and Bright. But Medium Lilac, on LDD at least, is almost exactly as Bright Lilac, and far darker than Lilac (basic colors like reds or violets usually don't have a version without any shade-related qualifier in the official names, but more complex colors like nougats and lilacs are usually an exception). A similar problem exists with the more recent color Medium Nougat (Bricklink's Medium Dark Flesh), but in that case there doesn't exist a Bright Nougat to muddy the issue further.

Here's an illustration of the "Lilac" colors (not counting offshoots like "Bright Reddish Lilac"). Of these colors, Medium Lilac is the only one still on the palette.

Apologies for tl;dr. I know most people besides LDD users won't care too much about the confusing official names when they can just call it something like Dark Purple and be instantly understood.

Anyway, that video certainly makes Bulk, Voltix, and Stringer look good. Core Hunter is still hard to see and thus hard to judge. Nex looks decent and they cut to the Ninjago display before you can get a good look at XT-4, the most unusual build of the new villains and thus the one who's been quite hard to judge.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Aanchir

[Shakar]

I don't know. They very well might eventually, at least for attaching tubing or something.

The thing about the "belt" is something I noticed as well, which is why I was disappointed to see that in the episode they wear the belt over that armor detail. >.<

Nice idea, I actually tried to do something similar with Rocka's ammo belt since it has the same attachments as a Mahri tube. Still, you'd think that they would make use of every connection point in a piece during the year where said piece makes its debut.

Weird thing about the animated episodes, indeed.

I'm fairly certain BZP will be at the New York ToyFair, as always.

Good to know. I always liked BZP's Toy Fair coverages.

The name of the shade is actually Medium Lilac, which is irritating because it's out-of-sync with most LEGO color names. In most cases, "Medium" refers to the shade between Light and Bright. But Medium Lilac, on LDD at least, is almost exactly as Bright Lilac, and far darker than Lilac (basic colors like reds or violets usually don't have a version without any shade-related qualifier in the official names, but more complex colors like nougats and lilacs are usually an exception). A similar problem exists with the more recent color Medium Nougat (Bricklink's Medium Dark Flesh), but in that case there doesn't exist a Bright Nougat to muddy the issue further.

Here's an illustration of the "Lilac" colors (not counting offshoots like "Bright Reddish Lilac"). Of these colors, Medium Lilac is the only one still on the palette.

Apologies for tl;dr. I know most people besides LDD users won't care too much about the confusing official names when they can just call it something like Dark Purple and be instantly understood.

I don't see any link or picture. Maybe you forgot to put the link?

No problems for the tl;dr! I actually thought Medium Lilac was something lighter, I didn't know Evo's lilac actually is considered to be medium. I think "Dark Lilac" would be much more intuitive, because it looks as dark as colours as Dark Red, if not more. Weird...

What do you think about Stringer's torso? I initially jumped to "Yay, it's tr. blue!". But now I'm not so sure, the video quality isn't great. Still, Front's words would make much more sense since Earth Blue or any shade of Azure are pretty much out of question at this point.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Shakar

[Aanchir]

I don't see any link or picture. Maybe you forgot to put the link?

D'oh! Forgot the http:// . It's there now.

No problems for the tl;dr! I actually thought Medium Lilac was something lighter, I didn't know Evo's lilac actually is considered to be medium. I think "Dark Lilac" would be much more intuitive, because it looks as dark as colours as Dark Red, if not more. Weird...

With post-2003 color names, you can rarely count on them to make that much sense! A lot of older color names had a lot more internal consistency, as seen here (all of the colors there besides Light Brick Yellow were released before 2004 to my knowledge), but of course even many classic colors had extremely odd names like "Light Orange Brown" (the color Bricklink calls Earth Orange).

What do you think about Stringer's torso? I initially jumped to "Yay, it's tr. blue!". But now I'm not so sure, the video quality isn't great. Still, Front's words would make much more sense since Earth Blue or any shade of Azure are pretty much out of question at this point.

I'm pretty sure it'll be Transparent Fluorescent Blue, the same color as his head. The recent video's angle makes it a bit unclear but it still seems that way to me when I look close.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Aanchir

[Shakar]

With post-2003 color names, you can rarely count on them to make that much sense! A lot of older color names had a lot more internal consistency, as seen here (all of the colors there besides Light Brick Yellow were released before 2004 to my knowledge), but of course even many classic colors had extremely odd names like "Light Orange Brown" (the color Bricklink calls Earth Orange).

Just saw the pic about Lilac shades- talk about confusion!

Weird, the second link doesn't work on the post but I can see it as I'm writing here. That color spectrum is great! It's a shame some colours can't fit in the spectrum due to some of Lego's weird naming choices.

I'm pretty sure it'll be Transparent Fluorescent Blue, the same color as his head. The recent video's angle makes it a bit unclear but it still seems that way to me when I look close.

I'm confused- you mean the same colour of Stormer 1.0's head? Or the colour of Toa Mata Gali's blue Kaukau? Because Stringer's head looks to be in the first colour, while his torso in the second one.

[vexorian]

I think we can all manage waiting just over a week; we've already gotten high quality pictures/videos featuring the majority of the sets, and hey, it's not exactly the best Hero Factory line to date is it? The worst using the new building system, at least in my opinion.

Actually, if Stringer really has trans chest, then I will have the total opposite opinion.

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Okay, new vids have been released, as well as a few images here and there, so here's my current opinion:

Heroes-

Nex: Meh...liked him in Ordeal of Fire, but this one still kinda bugs me. I like the combo of orange and white, but the white kinda overpowers the orange in this particular use. Perhaps if the colours were layered like on Furno (white on thighs/forarms, orange everywhere else) I'd like him more, but it's been confirmed the printing is orange, so I may be wrong.

Stringer: This guy looks cool, despite the loss of orange. If I'm honest I like the colour combination, definitely the best coloured hero of the line, with a combo of black and blue (get it...nevermind...). I'm probably gonna get this guy first, probably considering I never brought the first Stringer (stupid mistake on my part...).

Bulk: This guy seems to have dropped the curse of the ironically slim Bulks of yesteryear, donning some killer shoulder armor, though it's placement kinda bugs me. His colour scheme is also a little bit too jumbled for my liking, but again, requiring extra pictures, so I'll have to wait before I can formulate an opinion...

Villains-

XT4: ...until I saw this guy...and man, what a mess he is. Noone seems to be able to pose this guy, he just looks like some 5 year old kid threw some bones together, added a Meltdown face, a random sawblade and called it a day. Though posed horribly I can already see no appeal in this character whatsoever (especially the fact of being yet another yellow villain, making three).

Core Hunter: I swear this guy is cursed. He's been eternally praised by many (myself included, cue hypocrisy) without any clear pictures. The only hint to his design that's somewhat reliable is the leaked catalogue image. In both recent ToyFairs, ample opportunity to make out his design, he's been posed backwards, or when posed decently is too out of focus to see him properly. Again, another one for NY ToyFair.

Voltix: ...Wow...what a difference ToyFair makes. In the catalogue his design and colour scheme looked horrendous, and tough I still hate the reusing of the Black Phantom helmet, his colours have been cleaned up so much. Different coloured wires, red bones, purple highlights and gunmetal armour. While on paper this sound like a lot of colours, in reality this actually makes a decent figure. Not to mention...*breathes in*...PURPLE!!! So...yeah...thats it really.

Keep in mind this is merely opinion, feel free to agree, disagree or otherwise.

Edited February 4, 2012 by MakutaDreadscythe

[Aethersprite]

The top launcher piece on Core Hunter is definitely gunmetal. Take a look at the video Jouster posted - the colour is identical to Surge's launcher behind him, and Stringer's silver launcher is much brighter.

Also, I don't get why Core Hunter has too much red! I think he looks great, the designers did a really good job with the colour layering on this guy. I loved the black/red colour scheme on Skrall and Stronius, and it works great for Core Hunter. I'm also really glad to see the 2.0 shield piece in black!

Unfortunately I don't have LDD - does Bulk's shoulder armour attach via the 2 shoulder balls on the torso armour?

[vexorian]

Will really wait for better pictures before judging XT4 and Core Hunter.

[dviddy]

but I really didn't like Waspix

But Waspix was the best. :(

Also, I agree that the Breakout line is the absolute best HF line so far. And I loved the animal wave.

[Shakar]

But Waspix was the best. :(

Also, I agree that the Breakout line is the absolute best HF line so far. And I loved the animal wave.

My main issues with Waspix were its wings and the fact it looked, at least to me, too humanoid. Thornraxx feels much more raw, bestial, and reuses the wonderful Gorast wings. And he has a gorgeous colour scheme.

One very good thing about Savage Planet was opening the door to animal-like builds, finally breaking the "canister sets=humanoids" dogma Bionicle had trapped itself into. I'm very happy 2012 is continiung the trend with new, unusual builds like Thornraxx and Jawblade (I don't have him, but I like what I see from the pictures) and to a lesser extent Toxic Reapa and XT4. I bet 2013 will bring us even crazier things- with the new building system, anything is possible.

The top launcher piece on Core Hunter is definitely gunmetal. Take a look at the video Jouster posted - the colour is identical to Surge's launcher behind him, and Stringer's silver launcher is much brighter.

Also, I don't get why Core Hunter has too much red! I think he looks great, the designers did a really good job with the colour layering on this guy. I loved the black/red colour scheme on Skrall and Stronius, and it works great for Core Hunter. I'm also really glad to see the 2.0 shield piece in black!

You're right. It looked lighter than the claws on the other hand, but I guess that was just the lighting.

I agree they did a good job with the colour layering, it's just I thought he had less black from the leaked pictures, and I got used to think of him as a mostly black figure. And I guess I'm not such a huge fan of black+bright red afterall, I prefer black being combined with dark red or brighter colours (like orange, blue, lime..).

[Omicron Squad Leader]

I'd call Ordeal of Fire the worst, which is understandable, considering they were just getting used to using it. I only find fault with four sets in this wave: Bulk, Stormer XL, XT4, and Nex. Bulk due to his color arrangement (which is, actually, growing on me more and more), Stormer XL not because of the actual set, but because of the piece count for $25 (if he turns out to be $20 I'll have no problems), XT4 due to his spindly limbs, and we haven't even got a really good out of box picture of him yet, and Nex due to his color arrangement, even though I'm liking it more and more by the day.

All of the other sets are great IMO.

With Ordeal of Fire, there was only two sets that I genuinely couldn't call 'good': Breez 2.0 (due to her generic weapons and lack of femininity) and Fire Lord (due to the design being in its early stages). Stormer, Furno, Evo, Nex and Surge? Great. Drilldozer, Jetbug and Nitroblast? Awesome. The second wave of Breakout, however, isn't so top-notch in my eyes.

Originally, I thought Nex looked pretty bad, now, however, he is growing on me, as he is with you. The resemblance to his 2.0 form is very nice, and not too overdone, with the exception of his helmet, perhaps. I'm glad to see the white back, but like many people I would have preferred it in lesser quantities. His weapon is also pretty plain, but I think the rest of him somewhat makes up for it.

Stringer I've actually been very open to from the beginning; ever since I saw Von Ness back in 2010 I knew I wanted a blue and black hero eventually, and now we've got it. Sure, some people might not like his secondary colour's drastic change from yellow/orange to medium and transparent blue, but that's one of the main things I loved about Breakout wave one; it re-introduced some old concepts but also gave us some new and exciting twists. Stringer, in my opinion, does both. Speaking of transparent blue, I would've loved if all of his armour was said colour, but he's still my favourite Hero of the wave, especially with that rocking weapon.

Bulk I've got mixed feelings about. When the first images came out, I thought he looked utterly atrocious, but now, I'm quite liking him. The colour scheme is a thing I actually like, I just think it's not spread out very well. This was a problem I also had with the fire villains, but like I mentioned, with the exception of Fire Lord, I really like them. I don't like Bulk quite as much, but I think he has the potential to be reasonably okay. The shoulder-mounted MTIS complements him well, and I'm glad he's back to actually being bulky, like his 1.0 form.

XT4 is terrible. Plain and simple. Unlike the heroes, who have seemed to improve over time, XT4 just keeps looking worse and worse. Useful/unique parts seem very minimal, as does a good building experience. Weapons feel uninspired, and the colour scheme looks incredibly bland. If it seems like I've had a generally positive outlook on the previous sets, that may be, but it is not the case here.

When I saw Voltix, or at the time, "that unnamed villain", in the Rocka vs. Black Phantom video, I thought he'd look great as a set. I was wrong. At least, when I saw the preliminary pictures I thought I was, and I still think I was, partially. Voltix has some really good elements, like the piece selection with all that purple, and some very bad elements, like the colour scheme. I, like many others, think it has been sharpened up a little since we first saw him, but I still don't like it on the whole. The re-coloured Black Phantom helmet is just dull, and the weapons are nothing special either.

I don't think I can give a proper opinion on Core Hunter, as we haven't been able to have a good look at him yet. From what I can and have seen, however, he looks sublime. The classic red and black colour scheme works really well, and it seems he has a great selection of parts. I can't see the helmet or weapon very well, but I'm very interested to see how they look/go together.

Stormer XL is a mixed bag. I like the overall look of his legs, the body design seems quite good, and the weapon is very nice, putting the Breez/Batman sabres to good use. However, the new jet-looking armour just looks awkward when placed on his arms as it is, as well as the fact that the legs, while introducing a new and seemingly innovative design, look like they have the potential to be considerably flimsy, and full of gaps. Also, unless the Stormer 1.0 helmet is resized, I expect it to look extremely small compared to the rest of him.

Speeda Demon I think I can sum up in one sentence: Brilliant pieces, lacklustre set.

So, overall, I think Stringer and Core Hunter are great, Nex, Bulk, Voltix, Stormer XL and Speeda Demon are mediocre, and XT4 is just plain terrible. With OoF, I could call all 8 sets that I liked 'good', with this wave of Breakout, I can only call 2 out of the 7 sets that I like good, Stringer and Core Hunter, the other 5, Nex, Bulk, Voltix, Stormer XL and Speeda Demon, I can only call average.

Wow, this is the first full analysis of the wave that I've done.

Personally 3.0 was my least favourite, I just wasn't too hot on the animal-based Heroes. The villains were much more interesting, but I really didn't like Waspix and I never got Scorpio (something I'm thinking of rectify, at the very least for the many good parts he inlcudes). I loved Ordeal of Fire due to the simple, clean and highly customizeable Heroes, and I loved the Fire Villains with the exception of Parts Pack Fire Lord (whom I bought anyway).

I'm 70% thorugh the Winter Breakout wave, and I can safely say it's my favourite constraction line since 2007 Bionicle. I'm still not sure if Summer Breakout is going to be as good as it is, but at least I can say I like it much, much more than 1.0 and 3.0.

Savage Planet is my second favourite line, just behind Breakout wave 1, as I mentioned earlier. All of the heroes were great, with the exception of Furno, who was nothing special at all, in my opinion. The villains were fantastic, sure, Fangz could've used some work, but I still liked him on the whole. I know there's some Witch Doctor haters out there, but to me he was a phenomenal set, despite the excessive use of Technic.

Actually, if Stringer really has trans chest, then I will have the total opposite opinion.

He does have a trans-chest, and I love it too; one of my favourite parts from Breakout wave 2. One piece, however, amazing as it is, isn't going to change my opinion on the entire line-up.

[Aanchir]

Just saw the pic about Lilac shades- talk about confusion!

Weird, the second link doesn't work on the post but I can see it as I'm writing here. That color spectrum is great! It's a shame some colours can't fit in the spectrum due to some of Lego's weird naming choices.

Darnit, the link was missing the http:// again. It seems like I'll have to take more care to add that from now on because my browser doesn't automatically include it when I copy and paste a URL anymore.

I'm confused- you mean the same colour of Stormer 1.0's head? Or the colour of Toa Mata Gali's blue Kaukau? Because Stringer's head looks to be in the first colour, while his torso in the second one.

I'm referring to the color of Stormer 1.0's head. It could be regular Transparent Blue (Bricklink's Trans-Dark Blue), but the video from the London Toy Fair makes me think it's more likely to be Transparent Fluorescent Blue (Bricklink's Trans-Medium Blue). It might just look darker by virtue of having a black torso beam behind it.

Of course, my eyes could also be deceiving me. Transparent colors, metallic colors, and blended colors can be some of the most difficult to identify from photos or video alone.

Regardless, I have one thing to say about the new Bulk and Stringer sets:

Edited February 5, 2012 by Aanchir

[Vinyl Scratch]

Regardless, I have one thing to say about the new Bulk and Stringer sets:

... LOL

Where did that come from? Looks from a LEGO Jr. comic.

[Dorek]

http://hf.biosector01.com/wiki/Breakout! found and uploaded by Aanch. He's trying to turn Evo into a meme.

It's actually really funny, even if it's only a joke to people who know HF.

I still think Bulk and Stringer should have their sizes switched. Bulk just seems like he would work better compact (look at Surge; he's great as a small set, as is Evo). Being lanky doesn't really suit him.

[Front]

xt4 is a "buy-multiple" set

[Cirkit]

Huh.. interesting comic.

The Gold BP helmet on Rocka isn't a good look though..

And why is TR yellow? Some things about the comic just don't make sense.

Oh well..

Edit: Buy multiple? Like for bones and blades? Makes sense.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Cirkit

[Dorek]

He could mean that XT4 is a swarm villain, like Thornraxx is, to a degree.

Or he could mean that he's chock-full of useful parts. I'll definitely be picking one up, at least.

[Aanchir]

He could mean that XT4 is a swarm villain, like Thornraxx is, to a degree.

Or he could mean that he's chock-full of useful parts. I'll definitely be picking one up, at least.

Or he could mean that XT4 is one of those sets you want two of so that you have the parts for one better-looking revamp. But I think he's probably referring more to the usefulness of the parts. I can't tell if XT4 has a standard torso design. If he doesn't, then he probably has excellent and useful joint pieces like Thornraxx does.

[ZORK64]

I don't get why everybody is annoyed by the bley bones on XT4, I like them (but I'm also the guy who's always happy to see bone pieces in different colours, so yeah...).

In addition, Nex grew to me as well. At first I didn't like his colours much, but after seeing the set in plastic, it looks quite nice.

Bulk looks also good, but I don't like the combination of silver and gunmetal. His head/shoulders stick too much out in comparison with the rest of his body.

I can't say much about Core Hunter, simply because I can't see much of him on the pics and the videos.

Oh, and on a less related matter:

He could mean that XT4 is a swarm villain, like Thornraxx is, to a degree.

Or he could mean that he's chock-full of useful parts.

I think the latter applies to Thornraxx as well.

And on a even less related matter:

Regardless, I have one thing to say about the new Bulk and Stringer sets:

This should totally become a meme.

[Shakar]

xt4 is a "buy-multiple" set

Well, the name and the overall look do kind of give the idea of a mass produced assassin drone thing.

Unless you mean xt4 (or XT4? I have yet to decide which I like better)is full of good parts. Or..multiple copies of it can form a combiner model?

God, that comic was hilarious. I don't know what's weirder- Gold BP, yellow Reapa, Surge 2.0 defeating Splitface, Rocka getting complimented on his upgrade, Stormer being there in his 3.0 form, Surge exclaming "Cool!"..yeah, lots of stuff to choose from. But I guess Evo and his stoic, gentlemanly reaction Aanchir posted takes the cake.