Hero Factory 2013

[Gatanui]

Anything would be an improvement over this year's layout.

Ah, remember the good ol' days of 2010's web design?

Kalhiki

Yeah, now that was a decent website. You know, I'm not that kind of person, usually I try to see the best things in the new, but the current website just makes it impossible.

-Gata

[Aanchir]

Anything would be an improvement over this year's layout.

Ah, remember the good ol' days of 2010's web design?

Kalhiki

The 2010 site design was OK, but it was far from perfect. Things were not always where you would expect them to be. As an example, you couldn't get to the Media Center page from the top navbar. There were two separate "downloads" pages: one in the media center, and one that was independent. And the "testimonials" page? Good luck finding that after the teaser site was no longer live! Similarly, the "Letter from our Founder" page was only accessible from the "About the Hero Factory" page. There was a lot of interlinking, but you sometimes had to stumble around a bit to find what you wanted.

The current site has a lot of glitches, and has nowhere near as much content as the old site, but it's fairly easy to navigate. You want images, you click the "images" tab. You want product info, you click the "products" tab. The only content that I'd say is particularly difficult to find is building instructions, which as far as I can tell are only accessible from the character/product highlights, not from the timeline view.

[Gatanui]

The 2010 site design was OK, but it was far from perfect. Things were not always where you would expect them to be. As an example, you couldn't get to the Media Center page from the top navbar. There were two separate "downloads" pages: one in the media center, and one that was independent. And the "testimonials" page? Good luck finding that after the teaser site was no longer live! Similarly, the "Letter from our Founder" page was only accessible from the "About the Hero Factory" page. There was a lot of interlinking, but you sometimes had to stumble around a bit to find what you wanted.

The current site has a lot of glitches, and has nowhere near as much content as the old site, but it's fairly easy to navigate. You want images, you click the "images" tab. You want product info, you click the "products" tab. The only content that I'd say is particularly difficult to find is building instructions, which as far as I can tell are only accessible from the character/product highlights, not from the timeline view.

It really wasn't that hard to navigate and plus, it had much more content. I prefer a site with much valuable content where some is a bit harder to find at first sight than a site where there are only five navigation points with barely any content which is displayed in a mess.

-Gata

[Dorek]

The 2010 site design was OK, but it was far from perfect. Things were not always where you would expect them to be. As an example, you couldn't get to the Media Center page from the top navbar. There were two separate "downloads" pages: one in the media center, and one that was independent. And the "testimonials" page? Good luck finding that after the teaser site was no longer live! Similarly, the "Letter from our Founder" page was only accessible from the "About the Hero Factory" page. There was a lot of interlinking, but you sometimes had to stumble around a bit to find what you wanted.

The current site has a lot of glitches, and has nowhere near as much content as the old site, but it's fairly easy to navigate. You want images, you click the "images" tab. You want product info, you click the "products" tab. The only content that I'd say is particularly difficult to find is building instructions, which as far as I can tell are only accessible from the character/product highlights, not from the timeline view.

Some of that stuff was supposed to be hidden, anyway; the testimonials weren't meant for the main site at all, the secret Makuro profiles of Alpha 1 were meant as easter eggs to discover as you navigated your way through the site, etc.

I agree the new Timeline idea has its heart in the right place, but the placement and organization itself is a mess, which defeats the purpose of dividing the sections up anyway, not to mention it doesn't even work half the time. Hopefully we can get back to a more content-oriented system, since the Secret Mission books got axed.

Speaking of, anybody got the guidebook yet? I'm still waiting on it to come in, but it could take a while.

[Aanchir]

Some of that stuff was supposed to be hidden, anyway; the testimonials weren't meant for the main site at all, the secret Makuro profiles of Alpha 1 were meant as easter eggs to discover as you navigated your way through the site, etc.

I agree the new Timeline idea has its heart in the right place, but the placement and organization itself is a mess, which defeats the purpose of dividing the sections up anyway, not to mention it doesn't even work half the time. Hopefully we can get back to a more content-oriented system, since the Secret Mission books got axed.

Speaking of, anybody got the guidebook yet? I'm still waiting on it to come in, but it could take a while.

I've got it, and it's all right. Not a huge amount of new info, but it does have some rudimentary info on Nex, Breez, and Bulk's solo missions during the Breakout, a little bit of detail on Nex and Evo's origins, and some info on Makuro (he's apparently the oldest known robot in the universe). There are a lot of other tidbits on things like the Drop Ship and Furno Bike, and a statement about Breez and Surge that is easy to interpret/misinterpret as ship tease.

I'll wiki some of it... eventually.

Edited September 18, 2013 by Aanchir

[Kalhiki]

Back to the website discussion, I really don't like the new site because, for me, it's incredibly laggy to the point where I don't even want to attempt getting on. Plus, it doesn't have a good feel to it. I don't know, it seems so... foreign. And out there. Not what I expect to see when I go to a website.

The 2010 site was what I was used to. A main heading that had the usual, important tabs and, once you located everything, easy to use. Not to mention the changing background and the mission ticker were sweet. I was sad to see them go...

Kalhiki

[Dorek]

I don't mind them trying something new, I mind when it's unuseable, which it's close to being. It is extremely laggy due to the way they load things, and I can never get the videos to work. But, we'll see...

I've got it, and it's all right. Not a huge amount of new info, but it does have some rudimentary info on Nex, Breez, and Bulk's solo missions during the Breakout, a little bit of detail on Nex and Evo's origins, and some info on Makuro (he's apparently the oldest known robot in the universe). There are a lot of other tidbits on things like the Drop Ship and Furno Bike, and a statement about Breez and Surge that is easy to interpret/misinterpret as ship tease.

I'll wiki some of it... eventually.

I read some of the previews, so I know some bits you're talking about, but it's good to hear that the Breakout missions get some attention. Any particularly good new images, or just same old?

[Logan McOwen]

I know this is a little off-topic, but what's this thing all about?

[Aanchir]

I don't mind them trying something new, I mind when it's unuseable, which it's close to being. It is extremely laggy due to the way they load things, and I can never get the videos to work. But, we'll see...

I read some of the previews, so I know some bits you're talking about, but it's good to hear that the Breakout missions get some attention. Any particularly good new images, or just same old?

Nah, nothing new as far as images are concerned. Oddly, all of the pictures of the characters from the winter Brain Attack sets are photographs rather than CGI. That's the only wave that has that problem. Every other image tends to be CGI set images that we already have in higher quality online (except, of course, the images of Makuro and Zib, but those are also images we've already seen. Some of the images even have text in front of them.

And in the "Face Off" section at the end, I've spotted at least one image error: a page that's clearly referring to Natalie Breez's original form includes a picture of her Breakout form. Not that it matters a whole lot since the "Face Off" section at the end is quite silly.

I know this is a little off-topic, but what's this thing all about?

I think that tag is for being one of the "honorable mention" entries in the Chima contest/raffle (i.e. one of the entries that received bonus points). I could be wrong.

[ZORK64]

I've got this symbol too, yet I haven't participated in the Chima contest/raffle at all (because I'm terribly lazy - I feel super-sorry for everybody who's still waiting for my Dragon Bolt review, which I still intend to write).

Edited September 18, 2013 by ZORK64

[bacem]

I've got this symbol too, yet I haven't participated in the Chima contest/raffle at all (because I'm terribly lazy - I feel super-sorry for everybody who's still waiting for my Dragon Bolt review, which I still intend to write).

wait, what? haven't participated? you sure?

[Jetrax99]

Yup, Zork didn't enter the Chima raffle at all.

Edited September 19, 2013 by Jetrax99

[ZORK64]

As I already said, I'm super-lazy when it comes to LEGO recently (or my tabletop miniatures). I do intend to change that. Well, maybe I'll get on this review in the next days...

[DOTM Shockwave]

I picked-up Aquagon today, he looks quite nice in-person, color wise that is.

[Dorek]

Yurp, got the guidebook. Damn fine stuff. And Greg totally read HS01 for it.

Edit: THAT SAID GLARING INCONSISTENCY OF CORE HUNTER'S CAPTURE

Edited September 29, 2013 by Dorek

[MakutaNocturn]

Edit: THAT SAID GLARING INCONSISTENCY OF CORE HUNTER'S CAPTURE

Can you explain a little bit?

[Chro]

If I had to guess I'd say that someone edited HS01 saying that Core Hunter was captured a certain way which was contrary to what Greg had said before, but the Guidebook features the HS01 method of defeat instead of the previous official one.

I don't know if that's it, just what I'd expect to have happened.

[Infernum]

If I had to guess I'd say that someone edited HS01 saying that Core Hunter was captured a certain way which was contrary to what Greg had said before, but the Guidebook features the HS01 method of defeat instead of the previous official one.

I don't know if that's it, just what I'd expect to have happened.

Ha, ha, that's awesome.

[Dorek]

In the guidebook it says that Bulk captured Core Hunter, while SM1 (which is also featured and acknowledged in the guidebook) says that Core Hunter was never captured before the Doom Box shenanigans and is basically dead after them.

HS01 never really had anything on Core Hunter because he wasn't in the story, same as XT4 and Thornraxx, both of which were expanded upon in the guidebook.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Dorek

[Chro]

Oh, it's that bad? I figured it must've just been a slight difference, such as who fought against Core Hunter before Surge shot the Box (or whatever happened). But instead Greg just said that Bulk beat him? :/

Quick, someone, figure out a situation in which this makes sense! Uh... Bulk caught Core Hunter, then he escaped again and got the Doom Box? Bulk caught Core Hunter's twin? Um...

:P

Edited September 29, 2013 by Chro

[Dorek]

Well, I've come up with a few scenarios.

1. Core Hunter escapes, gets caught by Bulk, escapes again and begins Doom Box hunt. Problem: Core Hunter specifically narrates to himself in SM1 that he "evaded the net".

2. Core Hunter does actually reappear post-SM1, gets caught and jailed. Problem: That's weird, and kind of defeats the purpose of the ending of SM1.

3. Bulk caught a Core Hunter double. Problem: Not specifically mentioned to be a double in Face Off.

4. The Face Off bio is just inaccurate.

I'm liking number 3 more and more because it gels with canon the best and would avoid the most problems. But we'll see...

[Chro]

They're all robots after all, so a duplicate isn't too far-fetched. Core Hunter seemed to be pretty well-equipped and connected, so I suppose he could easily have a decoy created.

[Dorek]

Well, he does have a decoy in SM1, and the guidebook later makes note that he probably had more created as well, so... we'll see. I had the question asked in that LMB Q&A session (which is apparently still active?) so maybe we'll get a nice answer out of that.

[Darking]

So, I just found these while looking around for some pics:

http://www.google.es...23&tx=134&ty=88

http://www.ibrickcity.com/wp-content/gallery/super-packs-ninjago-and-hero-factory/lego-superpacks-ibrickcity-hero-factory-66452.jpg

Anyone had seen thess before? Because I don't think I've ever heard of them. They seem to be written in Korean so I assume are an exclusive edition for that country.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Darking

[Vinyl Scratch]

Korea always seems to have these kind of sets. Two sets packed together and sold as a bundle, usually with a combo model or something.