Hero Factory 2013

[ToaJaller78]

What I want to know is how Rocka's NAME appears on the suit when he finds it, just like the XL armour he wore in 2011. Is there a prophecy that says Rocka gets it all? It's confusing.

[xxlrocka]

What I want to know is how Rocka's NAME appears on the suit when he finds it, just like the XL armour he wore in 2011. Is there a prophecy that says Rocka gets it all? It's confusing.

Maybe it was a project designed for Rocka that was completed, but forgotten about. Or Rocka put his name on it when we weren't looking.

[bacem]

What I want to know is how Rocka's NAME appears on the suit when he finds it, just like the XL armour he wore in 2011. Is there a prophecy that says Rocka gets it all? It's confusing.

if i remember it right, i think someone here has mentioned that one of the brain attack books explained the reason, tough i didn't remember which book or who mentioned it. if i recall, that jetpack was made by Rocka's suggestion. and about to be handed to him, whem the massive attack suddenly happen.

[Chro]

Yeah, I'd suspect that it was made for Rocka, but not given to him immediately- thus his name being on the side of it. You know, Hero Recon and all their random projects.

[Aanchir]

Well there is a bit of precedent. Furno's bike is Furno colored (and completely transforms his feet into 2001 Toa feet for some reason). Stormer XL's made up bike matched. But, even given those examples, the way Rocks found the Jetpack means it was meant to be a multipurpose multi-user vehicle.

No, Furno's bike was bright orange, whereas the version of Furno that appeared in that set had no orange whatsoever in his color scheme (his arms and legs were bright red instead of flame yellowish orange like the stand-alone version).

if i remember it right, i think someone here has mentioned that one of the brain attack books explained the reason, tough i didn't remember which book or who mentioned it. if i recall, that jetpack was made by Rocka's suggestion. and about to be handed to him, whem the massive attack suddenly happen.

The books describe new rocket packs which Rocka invented, which presumably refers to the type in the Jet Rocka set.

Also, it shouldn't be forgotten that sets are typically designed first and the story behind them comes later. It's possible that in the actual story the jetpack WOULDN'T have had Rocka's name on it as soon as he found it, and that was simply kept to make the animated version more accurate to the toy, and to prevent the need for designing entirely new decorations.

[Dorek]

Also, it shouldn't be forgotten that sets are typically designed first and the story behind them comes later. It's possible that in the actual story the jetpack WOULDN'T have had Rocka's name on it as soon as he found it, and that was simply kept to make the animated version more accurate to the toy, and to prevent the need for designing entirely new decorations.

Well, realistically it wouldn't be too hard to remove Rocka's name, but that's part of the problem; the animation team is given a design and a plot, and there isn't much collaboration after that. It'll be interesting to compare these episodes to Ghost and Advance's episode next year.

Edit: Speaking of nothing else in particular, Faceoff! finally has a cover.

Cue cries of "Rocka and Furno AGAIN?!?!?!?!?111?!!?1?!!?1?!!"

Edited May 28, 2013 by Dorek

[Cahillrebel]

Why is Scarox's picture of his actual set? Shouldn't it be the CGI picture like the rest?

[Vinyl Scratch]

Why is Scarox's picture of his actual set? Shouldn't it be the CGI picture like the rest?

Lazyness? At least it's not a BIONICLE Encyclopedia Volume. 1.

Haha so goofy.

Well, realistically it wouldn't be too hard to remove Rocka's name, but that's part of the problem; the animation team is given a design and a plot, and there isn't much collaboration after that. It'll be interesting to compare these episodes to Ghost and Advance's episode next year.

I actually forgot that they are doing the 2014 episode. Was it longer than 22 minutes?

[Cahillrebel]

That encyclopedia at least has CGI pictures of the actual Bionicle sets. The HF cover is just random HF heroes. The Bionicle guide, however, had pictures of the toa that came out during three years before the guide was released on the cover. That is a good ideas. The HF guide's cover, on the other hand, looks like it had random pictures slapped on quickly with no thought.

[Dorek]

Seems exactly the same to me... it's an encyclopedia, it's going to feature all of those characters. There's a cover spanning several years, but with an emphasis on the most recent line. I can't imagine what anyone else would expect.

I actually forgot that they are doing the 2014 episode. Was it longer than 22 minutes?

Nah, just the 22 minutes, but if they do a good job... hopefully we'll see more =P. Or maybe it's actually more of a "special" in the traditional sense, and we'll also get a standard episode or two.

[xxlrocka]

Furno VS Scarox

V V

S S

Meltdown VS Rocka (BO)

Well, I've seen worse at least.

[Aanchir]

Lazyness? At least it's not a BIONICLE Encyclopedia Volume. 1.

Haha so goofy.

Wait, you cited an example of wacky BIONICLE cover design and you chose the ENCYCLOPEDIA? Come on, now, that's hardly an egregious example compared to the infamous Dark Hunters Guide:

Also consider BIONICLE Legends #2, which didn't even use a finalized image of the Piraka:

Or BIONICLE World, in which only the background even remotely suggested an atlas:

Compared to that, the BIONICLE Encyclopedia seems downright sensible. Three characters sampled from three different story years covers its scope pretty nicely, and using characters with a range of colors makes them that much more distinctive. Even if Gali Nuva is effectively swimming through the air on account of the background that was chosen.

As far as "Faceoff!" is concerned, note that Furno XL's picture is also a photo rather than CGI. It isn't as blatant on the cover since he lacks any rubber parts, but it's the same as the main product shot from shop.LEGO.com, where the streaky metallic textures of the spike elements on his chest can be seen clearly. Basically, as is the norm with LEGO guide books by Scholastic, the cover design is somewhat arbitrary.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Being honest I forgot about those three. :I

[Dorek]

World is the one that always cracks me up. I can look past Keetongu (and we even got a mildly amusing canonical reason for it later) and the prototype images, but the atlas... yeah that's just too funny.

[VBBN]

For the record, Reidak's prototype face rocked.

Related to the point at hand, that cover looks horrible with Scarox in set form.

[Chro]

For the record, Reidak's prototype face rocked.

I feel like I've seen that before, but I don't remember what it looks like. I do agree though, a bunch of the prototypes and design sketches looked pretty awesome, especially around the Phantoka line (though some people disagree with me about that).

[VBBN]

I feel like I've seen that before, but I don't remember what it looks like. I do agree though, a bunch of the prototypes and design sketches looked pretty awesome, especially around the Phantoka line (though some people disagree with me about that).

The 3-eyed aspect of it was always nice to me.

Also I have decided which sets I'll be grabbing;

-Surge

-Evo

-Rocka(Mocing purposes, will wait for a better sale I think)

-Stormer

Expect reviews as soon as I can mange to find them. Passing on Dragon Bolt as I want to wait for a black Friday sale to get multiple of him, and Rocka is not as appealing as he once was..

[Chro]

Oh, cool. I remember that now. Three eyes would've been interesting.

[pocketmego]

if i remember it right, i think someone here has mentioned that one of the brain attack books explained the reason, tough i didn't remember which book or who mentioned it. if i recall, that jetpack was made by Rocka's suggestion. and about to be handed to him, whem the massive attack suddenly happen.

I just chalked it up tons digital display surface, like a tablet. Anyone who pilots it would have their name appear in the same place.

[MakutaNocturn]

The 3-eyed aspect of it was always nice to me.

Also I have decided which sets I'll be grabbing;

-Surge

-Evo

-Rocka(Mocing purposes, will wait for a better sale I think)

-Stormer

Expect reviews as soon as I can mange to find them. Passing on Dragon Bolt as I want to wait for a black Friday sale to get multiple of him, and Rocka is not as appealing as he once was..

That prototype was awful xD Btw, I think Surge is only worth buying but it's just only my opinion :D If I had enough money, I would buy all of them but a lot of money is going to be spent on a guitar ;/

[Dorek]

How is that prototype awful? There is literally nothing different besides a photoshopped third eye and silver weapons (and the antenna, but really how noticeable is that?).

Anyhow, might swing by TRU today, see if they have any of the new sets.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Dorek

[Aanchir]

How is that prototype awful? There is literally nothing different besides a photoshopped third eye and silver weapons (and the antenna, but really how noticeable is that?).

Anyhow, might swing by TRU today, see if they have any of the new sets.

There are other differences. The shape of the goggles is one: the final Reidak model has his goggles as somewhat oblong cylinders that point downward to give him an angry expression, whereas these goggles are more like cones and lend him a neutral expression. His spines are a different shape (though I suppose that's what you meant by "antenna"), and there is a tube running from one side of his goggles to behind his head. The spines on his arms are also much longer. The prototype Zamor launcher also has different attachment points.

I don't feel there's really enough changed that it'd be awful compared to the final version, but there are some significant changes. I have to say I prefer the finalized Reidak... his face and spines just have more personality. The third eye could have been cool, though, even if it certainly could never light up as brightly as the two that actually have the light-up eye element directly behind them.

[Chro]

On the topic of prototype images, have we seen any for HF sets, other than the preliminaries for Breakout and the Fire Villain wave? (I know we've seen prelim images for others, but as far as I can remember they all ended up looking mostly the same after the sets were released.)

[Aanchir]

On the topic of prototype images, have we seen any for HF sets, other than the preliminaries for Breakout and the Fire Villain wave? (I know we've seen prelim images for others, but as far as I can remember they all ended up looking mostly the same after the sets were released.)

Early prototypes of the summer Breakout sets were in the New York Toy Fair press guide from last year. And by "early", I mean "bearing only the slightest resemblance to the sets they became". But in general the majority of preliminary images to get leaked in advance come from retailer's catalogs, where there are rarely substantial differences between the preliminary pictures and the final models.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Still wondering if anybody saved that New York press guide.