Hero Factory 2013

[Aanchir]

Ew, no.

Not because of the color, I'd love some pink or violet, but the popular insinuation of sticking a female hero with a "girly" color scheme hurts me in the not-being-sexist-organs.

Besides, pink would work much better as an accent color ala Late-Generation-1 Decepticons.

EDIT: Just realized how long ago this post was made. The "Go to New Post" button must have gone wacky.

I agree, pink would be a great accent color. While I don't think using it on a female character should be completely ruled out, I also don't think it should be essential to use it on a female character.

How about Tr. Med. Reddish Violet (Trans-Dark Pink)? That'd be a cool color to see. Perhaps not as an eye color because it's not fluorescent, unlike its early-naughts look-alike Tr. Fluor. Red (Tahu's original eye color). But it could be used on an eyepiece like Stormer 2.0 had, or as accents on armor or weapons.

Alternatively, Bright Reddish Violet (Magenta) is a good color that I'd love to see start appearing in Hero Factory. The Alien Conquest theme demonstrated that it could be used effectively for villains without appearing girly. And I think unlike pink, it's a color young boys aren't automatically going to associate with girliness if used correctly. It's a very energetic color.

Edited February 10, 2013 by Aanchir

[Shakar]

Iiit's Toyfair time!

[Kalhiki]

The sets are looking better than ever! Thanks for the link, Shakar!

Dragon Bolt looks pretty good in that pose. And I'm starting to grow a bigger liking for Stormer. Evo looks great, too.

Opinions really haven't changed. Still think they all look great (minus Jet Rocka. Still not interested).

Kalhiki

[bacem]

great! a clearer pictures.

i like Dragon Bolt and Frost Beast even more. for Dragon Bolt, i kind of interested in his building techniques. for Frost Beast, maybe same reason. i want to know how his torso builded.

there still no pictures of Jet Rocka with wings being opened. the current pictures still makes me think that he looks, well, unrefined?

[Aanchir]

The sets are looking better than ever! Thanks for the link, Shakar!

Dragon Bolt looks pretty good in that pose. And I'm starting to grow a bigger liking for Stormer. Evo looks great, too.

Opinions really haven't changed. Still think they all look great (minus Jet Rocka. Still not interested).

Kalhiki

I don't think Dragon Bolt is posed especially well in these pics myself, but he's still an awesome set. I've built him on LDD for the most part, though there are seven pieces missing from my model (not counting those which aren't available on LDD) so I probably didn't build him 100% accurately. Some of the ones I missed are probably basic pins and connectors, including some that might be hidden under the faceplate to attach it to the head.

[Shakar]

I have to say, maybe it's the lightning, or the poses (except Stormer's >_>), but the sets do look better. Surge's recoloured Pyrox flames look beautiful, while they looked weird before.

Dragon Bolt looks very impressive standing on his hind legs. My only complaints about the set are that the tail is too short (I fully understand the reason, however) and the black foot/lower jaw. Luckily, fixing these two things is going to be incredibly easy to do.

Stormer's pose..oh Toy Fair, it's not you without at least one awkwardly posed set. His head can be seen better this time though, and it looks great. He's a bit too spindly for my tastes- I think Stormer should be bulkier than that. But he's a very good set, with nice weapons and great colours.

Frost Beast looks cool (ahem, sorry), I think. Those arms are puny, but he looks way more interesting than Pyrox. The head and the blade look awesome.

Not much to say about the other 3- I want Evo so I can fuse him with his Breakout form, Aquagon is a great parts pack, and I can't properly judge Jet Rocka until I see the "jet" with its wings open (the set is growing on me, though).

I'm surprised at Jet Rocka's piece count- a whopping 290 pieces- and Dragon Bolt's is 149. We've been complaining about piece counts getting lower (especially in the cases of larger sets like Speeda Demon and Stormer XL), but this year's sets piece counts are relatively high.

[DraikNova]

Wow. Dragon Bolt's Brain looks so much better with that mix. Lime-ish and light blue goes great together. I'm not that happy about him having only two big blades per wing, but I'm going to MOD that anyway. As a matter of fact, I might just skip another set and buy a second one of him.

Jet Rocka looks a lot less topheavy now, which might have something to do with his other major improvement: his windscreen is now higher, which means it covers his face better. A little MODding should perfect that.

Now, Frost Beast definitely looks very happy about being controlled. Anyway, his tr. light blue looks much better here. 3m and 4m shells? Great! Savage Planet claws? Awesome? New blade piece? .

Evo? Well, I'm going to change that orangish spike in his weapon with a yellow one, but for the rest he's perfect.

Why they put Surge in a prancing pose I don't want to know. Anyway, he still looks great with all his recolors.

Aquagon hasn't changed much. Still looking pretty good. If I had to pass on any one of these, it would probably be this one, although the tr. blue is tempting.

Stormer looks insane. The tr. light blue shells are really fitting for him, and his shield weapon looks great. The visor printing looks like he's wearing one of those (what's it called...) night masks.

[Cahillrebel]

I think, on Surge at least, they tried to recreate the bag art pose. It seems my theory about how Dragon Bolt's head was constructed was right but missed the piece that connects on the top of the hero foot. Also, is it just me or does Aquagon and Frost Beast not have a visible function like the other sets do? Aquagon might have one where he can turn two weapons into one but I don't see anything on Frost beast besides movable fingers.

P.S.-Who noticed the trans blue armor on both of Surge's upper arms?

Edited February 10, 2013 by Cahillrebel

[Ged the Pariah]

Frost Beast is cute, but Dragonbolt disappointed me by its thin wings. Jet Rocka looks much better than on other Toy Fair, and Surge looks better than ever. As a result, we have some beautiful sets of the second half.

Edited February 10, 2013 by Ged the Pariah

[Aanchir]

I think, on Surge at least, they tried to recreate the bag art pose. It seems my theory about how Dragon Bolt's head was constructed was right but missed the piece that connects on the top of the hero foot. Also, is it just me or does Aquagon and Frost Beast not have a visible function like the other sets do? Aquagon might have one where he can turn two weapons into one but I don't see anything on Frost beast besides movable fingers.

P.S.-Who noticed the trans blue armor on both of Surge's upper arms?

Aquagon has the combining-weapons function, but in general not all villain sets this year have meaningful functions. The closest thing Ogrum has to a function is the ability to swing his flail (though it is promoted as a function on the packaging). In that sense, Frost Beast's claws could in fact be advertised as a function. No reason all sets in a wave-- or even all sets at a particular price point, for that matter-- have to offer comparable play features.

[DraikNova]

P.S.-Who noticed the trans blue armor on both of Surge's upper arms?

Me, with the earlier toy fair.

[ToaJaller78]

I don't think Dragon Bolt is posed especially well in these pics myself, but he's still an awesome set. I've built him on LDD for the most part, though there are seven pieces missing from my model (not counting those which aren't available on LDD) so I probably didn't build him 100% accurately. Some of the ones I missed are probably basic pins and connectors, including some that might be hidden under the faceplate to attach it to the head.

Stormer is posed pretty poorly too.

[ToaJaller78]

I want them ALL!!!

Dragon Bolt has a cool looking brain

Jet Rocka looks promising

Surge is plain amazing ok?

Stormer is my favorite

Frost Beast has a nice new sword

Evo has a really cool staff

Aquagon has BLUE Swords.

[DarkSurgeXL]

This wave looks both expensive and great to me. Opinions time!

Dragon Bolt looks much better in this pose, also, dat box art. Though the lack of swords on his wings is dissapointing, also they look thin and weak. Though if is he is inspired to be a "skeletal" sort of dragon it's understandable. His head looks great. In terms of recolours, he is a great set, and savage planet's spike in blue would be great to get. Overall, a good set, with so much personality in him. An insta-buy for me.

Surge is so silly posed, but that pretty much expresses his personality. Trans. blue 3m cladding is a good addition to the set. Lighning pieces are neat, though they could be used for a different weapon, insted of Pyrox's weapon re-use. I wonder how will they make the face under the visor, I hope it won't be that silly as Furno's. Also an insta-buy.

Stormer is... good I suppose, though, just as Surge, silly posed. His visor is well desighned, and his weapon is cool. Nice seeing, that we are getting flame pieces in three different recolours: Trans.Yellowish-red, Trans. Yellowish-blue, and White-blue.

All the others look great, and Jet Rocka is growing on me.

[vexorian]

The lightning is playing a factor.

This reminds me of when breakout Rocka looked great in fair pics but he turned out not to look great. It was that the lightning was making gun metal look darker. The same is currently happening to evo at the moment, also the shield in stormer and Surge's wings. The blue in aquagon is also darker in the pictures than it really is..

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Frost Beast. Man, what a smile. The skifree yeti must be proud.

[ToaJaller78]

Frost Beast. Man, what a smile. The skifree yeti must be proud.

Proud of getting infected by a brain slug. :D

[Aanchir]

The lightning is playing a factor.

This reminds me of when breakout Rocka looked great in fair pics but he turned out not to look great. It was that the lightning was making gun metal look darker. The same is currently happening to evo at the moment, also the shield in stormer and Surge's wings. The blue in aquagon is also darker in the pictures than it really is..

That could never have been an issue last year because Toy Fair happened AFTER Breakout Rocka was released. A little research at that point would have revealed exactly what color Rocka's parts were. Though personally I think Breakout Rocka looks just fine with titanium metallic shells, just as I don't think any of these sets' colors will look worse in real life than they do in these pictures. As long as you know what the colors are supposed to look like, what they look like in particular photos shouldn't be too misleading.

More photos, if anyone's interested. In these all the colors look pretty accurate.

Edited February 10, 2013 by Aanchir

[DraikNova]

Personally, I hope to MOD Dragon bolt into a much larger version, with a snaky neck and tail and make him bulkier. I might use some of the large amount of tr. blue that's being released, too.

[r4-g9]

I know that Surge has the same weapon design as Pyrox, however it does use a different piece which looks as though you can have up to 6 lightning pieces on it

[Dorek]

Dragon Bolt is still looking fantastic, honestly. I agree about the tail, but of course, gotta keep the piece count down. Good thing I've still got a fair amount of those bones.

I'm still torn about Stormer and Frost Beast. They both have good color schemes and do slightly interesting things with their builds, but Stormer just comes as slightly more generic...

[Aanchir]

I know that Surge has the same weapon design as Pyrox, however it does use a different piece which looks as though you can have up to 6 lightning pieces on it

Nah, four at most. The piece has four connection points arranged in a cross around one central connection point. It was featured in this same color in the Joker constraction set last year, and in Transparent Light Blue in Iron Man and one of this year's Chima sets.

By the way, my Dragon Bolt's coming together. Still one piece I'm uncertain about.

EDIT: Here's my Dragon Bolt LXF. I used a replacement head, a replacement faceplate, and replacement parts for the brain, Chima claws, and lightning pieces. The brain and faceplate were left to the side.

The one part of the build I'm least certain about is the button on the back. I'm not sure what size axle it should be attached by. I used a 4M axle for this model.

Overall, I think the length and shape of the neck and tail works wonderfully. The tail could perhaps be lengthened, but I think lengthening the neck would be excessive.

Edited February 10, 2013 by Aanchir

[vexorian]

That could never have been an issue last year because Toy Fair happened AFTER Breakout Rocka was released.

I never said it was the same toy fair.

[Shakar]

I know that Surge has the same weapon design as Pyrox, however it does use a different piece which looks as though you can have up to 6 lightning pieces on it

Nope:

This is the piece. You can attach two more flames, but to round holes, which isn't ideal.

[Aanchir]

I never said it was the same toy fair.

As far as I know there were no Toy Fairs displaying the Hero Factory 2012 sets before January 2012 when the sets were first released. Or at least, there weren't any with a lot of pics coming from them. The sets weren't released worldwide in January, I don't think, but there would have still been plenty of resources where the actual color of the parts could be confirmed.