Hero Factory 2013

[Kalhiki]

The commercial lies.

Dragon Bolt has the extended tail. And they also did a pretty nice job of covering the short tail when showing the set.

Despite that, the commercial looks great. Can't wait for next year's special. If the story stinks, at least the animation will be good.

Kalhiki

[MakutaDreadscythe]

I don't know, maybe it's the fact I'm not terribly interested in the set, so I'm more critical towards the price. I know the new commercial makes me want him more, however.

As for the roar, I liked it. High pitched roars sound more creepy and alien, IMO.

He's worth it. I snagged him two days ago and he's just a wonderful thing to have. Good size? Check. Unobtrusive gimmick? Check. General awesome factor? Gives Pepsi MAX a run for it's money.

[Bigger Fish]

That WAS a good commercial, dang. Next year's special is gonna be legiiiit.

Yea, it will. Too bad the writing will still suck, though.

[Infernum]

Wow! That commercial is great! My favorite is still the Barraki one though.

[Aethersprite]

I don't know, maybe it's the fact I'm not terribly interested in the set, so I'm more critical towards the price.

I'm with you on this. I'm already on the fence with DB, and the higher price just puts me off.

[bacem]

so DB price increased huh? don't know how much it will be in my country.

[MakutaNocturn]

Hi. I came back from the 3 week holiday to Belgium. There was no Lego stores unfortunately only some "Bart Smits". There was a nice offer for a XT4 for 6€ and a set from Pharaoh Quest with a Sphinks for 10. However, I noticed that Lego sets in Western Europe are 4 times cheaper than in my poor little country - Poland

I was always shocked when people bought all sets from a wave. Now I know how. When for example Surge costs 13€ in your countries in mine it's an expense like 50€. Nice, isn't it?

BTW: The commercial looks like a really nice change in HF advertisment.

Edited August 3, 2013 by MakutaNocturn

[Dorek]

Bart Smit is awesome half my childhood came from those stores don't knock 'em

I'm surprised in general when people collect a full wave, but I did the same myself back in the day for BIONICLE, so I guess it isn't terribly surprising. I just can't muster up enough cash these days to get everything.

[ZORK64]

Since I buy sets more for their parts than their design, I rarely go out and collect an entire wave. I'm dangerously close to get this wave as a whole though, since there are only two sets I don't own yet (and since I own Aquagon, I'm really keen on getting Evo too).

[Takanuinuva]

Since I buy sets more for their parts than their design, I rarely go out and collect an entire wave. I'm dangerously close to get this wave as a whole though, since there are only two sets I don't own yet (and since I own Aquagon, I'm really keen on getting Evo too).

I'm similar with this wave. I only wanted a few of the sets. Now the only ones I don't have are Breez, Evo, Dragon Bolt and Jet Rocka. But I know for a fact I'm not getting Jet Rocka unless he is a present or he is for a really low price.

[ZORK64]

I'm similar with this wave. I only wanted a few of the sets. Now the only ones I don't have are Breez, Evo, Dragon Bolt and Jet Rocka. But I know for a fact I'm not getting Jet Rocka unless he is a present or he is for a really low price.

Oh, I actually meant only the summer wave. I passed on many sets from the first Brain Attack wave, though I bought a few more since they went on sales. Originally, I had only Breez, Ogrum and Furno XL, but just recently I bought Pyrox and Bruizer. I don't care much for Brain Attack Bulk (though I start to regret passing on his Breakout version), and I'm anything but interested into the golden fellows.

[Dorek]

Whoop whoooop Jet Rocka and Dragon Bolt for my birthday. Haven't built either, but I'll get to that after a day of birthday shenanigans. Also got another accessory pack, because my parents are actually smart when it comes to buying LEGO, and a Galaxy Squad polybag (added to the free City one I got before, that's three, go figure) because they're good at my local store. Apparently the LEGO store heavily suggested Surge as a complement to Dragon Bolt to my parents, so I'll probably end up going to get him too.

[Shakar]

Well, looks like I'll get Dragon Bolt sooner or later after all. DV's flickr photo of him standing on two legs is fantastic.

[Dorek]

Mmmmmkay, Dragon Bolt is pretty legit. His tail is indeed a bit too stumpy, but that should be easy enough to fix. And his wing flapping function... glorious. At the 20 dollar (US) price point, he's a steal.

On to Jet Rocka!

[Bfahome]

I have Dragon Bolt (and HF polybag [and yummy PaB order]) waiting for me at home. I ordered them the first day of the promotion (I think I mentioned it).

I don't exactly know when I'll actually be able to get back home to get them, but I know they're there.

[Dorek]

So I've learned a few things over the past few hours.

1. It's been far too long since I've built a decently sized LEGO set.

2. Those designers actually know what they're doing, so I don't mind ripping them for design flaws.

3. I absolutely hate stickers.

So yeah, Jet Rocka's pretty sweet. Adjust the wings 90 degrees and you eliminate any problem the set might have. I'm slightly more impressed with Dragon Bolt though, just because flapping wings. Also, he looks much more menacing with a black brain, so I'm keeping him like that.

[Aanchir]

I bought and built Dragon Bolt over the weekend, and I have to say it is maybe the most elegant Hero Factory set I've owned. I was already more or less willing to settle for his size, but now holding him in my hand I feel his size couldn't be more perfect. Because I hadn't considered one factor in his appeal before I built the set. He is, as the LEGO Space community might say, swooshable. You can fit your hand perfectly around his midsection and zoom him around a room while flapping his wings, which would be awkward if not impossible were he the size of, say, the Kardas Dragon.

The design of his mouth works wonderfully, although there's a slight gap towards the back of his lower jaw. The lack of articulation in his wings is a bit frustrating sometimes (especially when trying to transport him, since they can't fold back), but like Bruizer's arm, it's understandable. If the wings were not rigid then the flapping function would tend to loosen the joints, meaning they would fail to hold their shape after a few flaps. His tail is not terribly long, but then again, it's not terribly short. It probably can't be weaponized like it is in the Brain Attack TV episode but it still has that wonderful serpentine look a dragon's tail needs when he's in flight. If his price point were bumped up by five dollars he could be made a bit larger, but I don't think it's necessary and in fact I feel it's good to have a set this refined at the $20 price point.

Another thing about him is that the building experience is perfectly in line with the building experience of any other set this size. One person I showed him to at Brickfair commented that he "didn't seem like a Hero Factory set", but I disagree. The shell and beam system is still central to his build, and the majority of his Technic components are simple and modular in design. You can actually snap the tail segment and "wing pack" right off of the torso beam (the latter is actually called for when making the Surge/Dragon Bolt combi model). I'd actually say his design is a little less complex and intricate than Fire Lord's. To provide extra support for the arms and legs, that set had a quite complex, almost unwieldy Technic construction built on the back of his torso and arms, which requires almost complete disassembly to separate from the torso. This set goes together and comes apart in a way that feels much more simple and efficient.

Dragon Bolt's brain is a nice design, with three colors rather than the usual two. The White Glow sections of the brain are the same as what would be Bright Red on any other brain, but the rest of the brain seems to be a mix of Bright Yellow and Transparent Light Blue, matching his lightning elements. The opacity of the Bright Yellow segments is most apparent on the front legs and "teeth" on the brain. Elsewhere, it is marbled with the Transparent Light Blue, though holding it up to the light reveals that the parts that are marbled with yellow are still much less transparent than the parts that are almost purely Transparent Light Blue.

He's quite excellent as a parts pack as well, with nine blue shells and eight lightning pieces. Neither of these things is exclusive to this set, but Bright Blue is a somewhat rare color in Hero Factory these days, so it never hurts to have more of it. He's got one of XT4's 5x6 torso beams, a couple 5M C-beams, and four friction joints. He does have four Bright Yellow 16-module katanas and two Bright Blue 7.5-module Savage Planet claws, which are exclusive colors for this set, but I can't say they are what I'd consider the most desirable parts of the set. His faceplate excites me a bit, and I want to try using it on the torso of a MOC. Overall, though, with how fun he is to play with I've had a hard time convincing myself to break him down for parts!

In general, I've loved the new Hero Factory building system, but I've usually coupled that with the acknowledgement that Hero Factory hasn't really had a set as elegant as some BIONICLE titans like Roodaka, Brutaka, and the 2008 Takanuva. Witch Doctor is pretty elegant in some respects, but it bothered me a bit that his design was so very Technic-intensive and that he had somewhat limited articulation (his hips, ankles, and shoulders can all rotate along two axes but not three, so when flat on the ground his feet will invariably point forward). To a certain extent, many of the ball joints in his design were being used just for the sake of friction, and that other than that there was no reason the same points of articulation couldn't be achieved with just Technic pins.

Dragon Bolt has come a lot closer to challenging this condition than any other set at his price point. He's not exactly comparable to the BIONICLE sets I mentioned by virtue of being a non-humanoid, but his design is streamlined, articulated, and efficient. There are few egregious gaps in his build, but the Technic in his design is used chiefly for structural and functional purposes, not as space-filler. Overall he might be the first $20 set I'd wholeheartedly recommend to any Hero Factory fan. Pretty much every other set at that price point has had one awkward drawback or another. This one's drawbacks are few in number and don't really hurt his design from any angle. I think he's definitely the most desirable set of the Summer 2013 Brain Attack lineup.

[Gatanui]

Now this is a surprise.

-Gata

[Dorek]

Hey, at least more people can experience the game, right? Works for me. I don't play it all that much on iOS, but every now and again I'll load up a quick game.

[Gatanui]

Hey, at least more people can experience the game, right? Works for me. I don't play it all that much on iOS, but every now and again I'll load up a quick game.

I'm fine with it, too. I just didn't expect them to care about the Windows Store. :P

-Gata

[Meiko]

Cool, I have it on my Android phone, but have barely played it. I might install it on my computer... Will it work in Windows 8.1 Preview? I can't check for myself because none of the Windows 8 apps will launch, including the Store, and I don't want to reboot now.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Meiko

[Gatanui]

Cool, I have it on my Android phone, but have barely played it. I might install it on my computer... Will it work in Windows 8.1 Preview? I can't check for myself because none of the Windows 8 apps will launch, including the Store, and I don't want to reboot now.

No idea, I've only tried on Windows 8 and it works fine. No code entry or progress sync with LEGO.com, though. :/ It has all levels, though, and apparently also summer set characters.

On a sidenote, why did you install the preview version on your computer? Don't you know you'll have to reinstall all your software when upgrading to the final version?

-Gata

Edited August 5, 2013 by Gatanui

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Finally! A half decent game on my Surface! I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :)

[MakutaNocturn]

Do you know how to update it? Because mine version is not likely to do that. BTW: Brain Attack Game is also avaliable on Android Store.

[Gatanui]

Do you know how to update it? Because mine version is not likely to do that. BTW: Brain Attack Game is also avaliable on Android Store.

Update what? And the Android version has been up since January, I think (I think it was the first version of the game to go live).

-Gata

Edited August 5, 2013 by Gatanui