Hero Factory 2012

[Bfahome]

Hahaha, you're trying to lecture -me- on colour layering.

Yeah I am.

I guess.

And?

[Vinyl Scratch]

I just want to say that if you two are planning to start an argument, if you would be so kind to bring it to PM's I would be grateful.

Anyway, after seeing Cholie's pics from ToyFair, I can safely say that XT4 has kind of grown on me. It just depends on the posing as said before.

[Darth Nihilus]

Anyway, after seeing Cholie's pics from ToyFair, I can safely say that XT4 has kind of grown on me. It just depends on the posing as said before.

If anything, XT4 is one of the worst sets of the wave, IMO. He's just a bunch of bones with 3 or 4 shells pretty much randomly thrown on here and there. His legs are completely skeletal, a look I don't like in any HF set, and the animal-leg look just doesn't cut it for me. The only reason I can see that I will buy this set is for parts, mainly the Trans-Orange antennae piece and the light bley bones. Other than that, I'll pass.

Core Hunter, now that set's a beauty. Definitely gonna pick up a few, if only for the parts. Stringer and Bulk look great as well, and Stormer is suprisingly good looking, considering how bad he looked in the prelims. Other than that, the sets don't appeal to me overall.

[Darkness Falls]

Yeah I am.

I guess.

And?

Dude, just drop it. Winning on the internet isn't fun.

And DV, as esteemed as you are in the world of MoCing and Lego and whatnot, don't assume everyone knows how great you are at MoCing... a gentle reminder would help you not look like a dick.

Edited February 13, 2012 by Darkness Falls

[Vinyl Scratch]

If anything, XT4 is one of the worst sets of the wave, IMO. He's just a bunch of bones with 3 or 4 shells pretty much randomly thrown on here and there. His legs are completely skeletal, a look I don't like in any HF set, and the animal-leg look just doesn't cut it for me. The only reason I can see that I will buy this set is for parts, mainly the Trans-Orange antennae piece and the light bley bones. Other than that, I'll pass.

Core Hunter, now that set's a beauty. Definitely gonna pick up a few, if only for the parts. Stringer and Bulk look great as well, and Stormer is suprisingly good looking, considering how bad he looked in the prelims. Other than that, the sets don't appeal to me overall.

I got to agree with you, Darth Nihilus. Despite XT4 growing on me, he/it still looks the worst one in Summer Breakout. I will even go ahead and say that XT4 is the worst Hero Factory set so far.

XT4 looks like Meltdown went to the gym :P

[Bonehead74]

Here are my thoughts.

Nex: Okay, not as put off by the chest as most. Mouth guard looks like bared teeth though.

XT4: Anorexic Meltdown, all I have to say.

Voltix: Actually not bad. Upper body looks really cluttered, but for some reason, I REALLY like the legs (Don't ask me why.)

Stringer: Looks good, but shoulders are weird. Not as excited for trans-blue chest as most. If his weapon is like a guitar, ME LIKEY.

Bulk: Average, not much to say except it looks like he is really trying to guard his neck.

Core Hunter: VERY NICE. Generic weapons, but face makes up for that. Head reminds me of Nitroblast. (Again, don't ask why.)

Stormer: I WANT VERY MUCH! So full of win, that he deserves something to help describe my feelings.

Speeda Demon: From when I first heard of this guy, I wanted him to be Umbra-esque. But, I digress. It is a nice motorcycle, but a bland driver.

Edited February 13, 2012 by Bonehead74

[vexorian]

XT4 easily beats Nex and Speeda Demon, proud members of the awful color scheme club.

A club to which all heroes from the previous wave belong to.

Add up Rocka 2.0 and Fire lord and there's plenty of sets worse than XT4.

Edit: Plus all 6 heroes from the "please break the sockets of these pieces that are useless for MoCing anyway" club from wave 1.

Edited February 13, 2012 by vexorian

[Mesonak]

Edit: Plus all 6 heroes from the "please break the sockets of these pieces that are useless for MoCing anyway" club from wave 1.

I agree with this. While not entirely useless (seen some great MoCs), the 1.0 heroes were.... interesting, to say the least.

I personally love XT4, and he'll be one of the three sets from this wave I'll be getting.

Edited February 13, 2012 by Mesonak

[Omicron Squad Leader]

Hahaha, you're trying to lecture -me- on colour layering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WsZqQXBbFE

XT4 easily beats Nex and Speeda Demon, proud members of the awful color scheme club.

I don't quite see how Speeda Demon has a bad colour scheme...at all.

[MakutaDreadscythe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WsZqQXBbFE

I don't quite see how Speeda Demon has a bad colour scheme...at all.

Obligatory Star Wars reference...check!

Blatant disagreement...check!

Sig involving the Thundercats (yeah, Nex and Rocka are thundercats don'cha know?)...you bet!

[Dorek]

Dude, just drop it. Winning on the internet isn't fun.

And DV, as esteemed as you are in the world of MoCing and Lego and whatnot, don't assume everyone knows how great you are at MoCing... a gentle reminder would help you not look like a dick.

It is when you win![/major sarcasm]

Agreed with this post wholeheartedly. I didn't even see Bfa's point as being a "lecture" on color layering, so much as a point that, in terms of what has actually happened with the Hero Factory releases, Nex is one of the least consistent sets, contrary to what DV was saying. DV may think the white chest plate is layered nicely, but a lot of people think that it overpowers the whole color scheme anyway.

tl;dr: Cool story bro.

I got to agree with you, Darth Nihilus. Despite XT4 growing on me, he/it still looks the worst one in Summer Breakout. I will even go ahead and say that XT4 is the worst Hero Factory set so far.

XT4 looks like Meltdown went to the gym :P

Even if its executed not as perfectly, I tend to appreciated new ideas over generic but solid designs, hence why I like XT4 more than Core Hunter or Nex.

As far as "worst HF set ever" I'm gonna have to go with Corroder =P. But that's another topic altogether...

[MakutaDreadscythe]

As far as "worst HF set ever" I'm gonna have to go with Corroder =P. But that's another topic altogether...[/b]

Nah, I think that part belongs to Bulk from Bulk and Vapour. Why? Well...

Pretty much.

[CabooseBM]

Nah, I think that part belongs to Bulk from Bulk and Vapour. Why? Well...

Pretty much.

But he has hands sculpted into those guns. They're just frames that go around the arms, canonically.

I mean, BOTH OF MY ARMS ARE GUNS is hilarious, but come on, man.

[MakutaDreadscythe]

But he has hands sculpted into those guns. They're just frames that go around the arms, canonically.

I mean, BOTH OF MY ARMS ARE GUNS is hilarious, but come on, man.

Yeah, but on a side note, it comes off as lazy. For a start, you lose the then-awesome silver hand for...Stringer's gun...hooray...

Secondly, while on those with hollow arm sets you could pose from one side to get past the hollowness, with this guy no angle was adequate except the exact front, not to mention the set as a whole was overpriced.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Everyone hates Nex ;3;

okay.jpg

What is wrong with Nex?

[Kalhiki]

Everyone hates Nex ;3;

okay.jpg

What is wrong with Nex?

I think it's the white, but tell you the truth, he's kinda growing on me.

Don't know if he's an immediate buy for me, though.

Kalhiki

[Dorek]

Mostly how they have MASSIVE WHITE CHEST PIECE with nothing to really balance it out. It might have worked better if Nex was a taller Hero, with more color available to dull the massive amount of white.

I don't particularly have any strong feelings for him; he's a small Hero, and he does it generically. However, I had the same opinion about Surge, and I love him, so I'm sure Nex will find a spot in my heart.

[Brickthing]

The light grey bones and white thigh shells help balance Nex out a bit. He's certainly not following the same colour scheme of his previous forms, but most of the Breakout Heroes aren't doing that either. Like Surge's lime especially, the designers have chosen one of Nex's secondary colours and blown it into a primary colour position. The colour is "breaking out", if you will.

The thing that irks me the designers have done so well with Evo, Rocka and now Nex at making their "original" helmets resemble their previous forms, when the other original helmets bear no resemblance to their upgraded forms. Nex's new helmet is practically the 2.0 headgear consolidated into one piece and colour. If only they did this for the Phantoka and Mistika instead.

[Omicron Squad Leader]

Obligatory Star Wars reference...check!

Blatant disagreement...check!

Sig involving the Thundercats (yeah, Nex and Rocka are thundercats don'cha know?)...you bet!

I like your sig., by the way.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Omicron Squad Leader

[Omicron Squad Leader]

Everyone hates Nex ;3;

okay.jpg

What is wrong with Nex?

Kalhiki, Dorek and Brickthing basically summed up my thoughts, but I will say this: I would have preferred an orange chestplate to a white chestplate, although I would have preferred a BLENDED chestplate to an orange chestplate.

One hero with a trans. chestplate, another with a blended one. Where can you go wrong?

[toatali]

Anyway, after seeing Cholie's pics from ToyFair, I can safely say that XT4 has kind of grown on me. It just depends on the posing as said before.

Where did you see these pics? Link?

Edited February 14, 2012 by toatali

[MakutaDreadscythe]

One hero with a trans. chestplate, another with a blended one. Where can you go wrong?

Because then Bulk would be lonely and sad and depressed and stuff for having the same torso as Splitface (which by now everyone has like 700 of)

[Omicron Squad Leader]

Because then Bulk would be lonely and sad and depressed and stuff for having the same torso as Splitface (which by now everyone has like 700 of)

Bulk's fine as he is, in my opinion.

[Aethersprite]

Bulk's fine as he is, in my opinion.

A little too much gunmetal. Like I said, he looks like a silver-skinned guy in a suit of gunmetal. Given the fact that Lego recoloured Stringer's launcher silver, I can't see why they didn't use the same piece in Bulk, at the very least.

[Aanchir]

The light grey bones and white thigh shells help balance Nex out a bit. He's certainly not following the same colour scheme of his previous forms, but most of the Breakout Heroes aren't doing that either. Like Surge's lime especially, the designers have chosen one of Nex's secondary colours and blown it into a primary colour position. The colour is "breaking out", if you will.

I kind of agree, and that's probably part of why seeing Nex in person has helped me warm up to his color scheme. After Toy Fair, I got Surge at Rockefeller Center, and while originally I had intended to modify him by giving him blue hands, I have grown to like the way his arms are entirely lime. Blue hands wouldn't hurt but I no longer consider them essential. With Nex I sort of feel the same way. His color scheme may be organized quite differently than in previous years, but I think the way his shell colors alternate as you move up and down the limbs is very stylish, and having the head the same color as the torso shell might not lend the same effect.

From a consistency point of view, I still have some issues with Nex, but to be honest I could say that about any of the summer Breakout Heroes. Really there's nothing wrong with having two distinct "styles" across a team-- in the end it lends variety. My original impressions of the Mistika, from a consistency angle, were the same, but gradually I warmed up to them and realized that while they weren't stylistically consistent with the Phantoka in all ways they remained pretty consistent with each other.

The thing that irks me the designers have done so well with Evo, Rocka and now Nex at making their "original" helmets resemble their previous forms, when the other original helmets bear no resemblance to their upgraded forms. Nex's new helmet is practically the 2.0 headgear consolidated into one piece and colour. If only they did this for the Phantoka and Mistika instead.

I liked the Phantoka and Mistika masks, but I get your point. To be honest, while I take issue with the claim that the Phantoka and Mistika masks were not designed with the Toa Nuva in mind (there are a lot of similarities IMO, especially among the Phantoka masks), the fact remains that the sky setting probably took precedence over consistency with the older Kanohi. If the story plan established in 2004 had been followed to a T, with a third year of Toa Inika/Mahri in a sky setting followed by three years of Toa Nuva versus Makuta, who knows what we might have expected?

One thing's for sure: while it's often been claimed about both Hero Factory and BIONICLE sets that sets are designed without specific characters in mind and then later assigned to existing characters arbitrarily, nobody can make that claim about either Breakout wave. The Breakout character designs don't just reference previous set versions of the characters, but also their story roles, considering things like their chest patterns and weapons. Plus we see things like Hero Cuffs that had previously only been in the television episodes and not the sets. I think in terms of integrating the sets and story the Breakout sets are by far the best Hero Factory sets to date.