Hero Factory 2014 Discussion

[vexorian]

Whenever they show box/canister/bag art with "confidential" watermarks on them, I don't remember any time at which the models were really preliminar. I don't remember any actual change in the design from what the bag art showed and the final set. The only difference was that the lack of watermark, the high res , and the white background made it easier to notice the details.

[Jetrax99]

Whenever they show box/canister/bag art with "confidential" watermarks on them, I don't remember any time at which the models were really preliminar. I don't remember any actual change in the design from what the bag art showed and the final set. The only difference was that the lack of watermark, the high res , and the white background made it easier to notice the details.

*cough* Witch Doctor & Rocka XL *cough*

[Aanchir]

Whenever they show box/canister/bag art with "confidential" watermarks on them, I don't remember any time at which the models were really preliminar. I don't remember any actual change in the design from what the bag art showed and the final set. The only difference was that the lack of watermark, the high res , and the white background made it easier to notice the details.

Well, that, plus the renders tend to be higher quality on finished package designs. Look at the Chima "Legend Beast" art on Mesonak's Majhost to see how sloppy the prelim rendering can be. There are no grooves to indicate where two bricks of the same color meet, etc.

The prelims for licensed themes can be even worse, with placeholder parts galore. Sometimes even in constraction themes there are superficial differences in the prelim renders for some new parts and the details of the final parts (example: the lack of a chin guard on the helmet of the preliminary Stormer 3.0).

But you're right that the BUILD rarely changes considerably at this stage, at least when we're dealing with renders rather than photos.

[Mesonak]

*cough* Witch Doctor & Rocka XL *cough*

Those two were definitely the biggest examples I can recall; the only other one that changed substantially would probably be Fire Lord. The rest of the HF sets, barring one or two color or texture alterations, have stayed pretty consistent.

Granted, a lot of that probably should be attributed to the stage of the prototype sets when pictures were leaked. There are some that were clearly further along than others (like Breakout and the Brain Attack prelims in this gallery). Time will tell how far along these turn out to be, but I'd wager that they're pretty early considering the bag art isn't even finalized. :P

Edited October 29, 2013 by Mesonak

[VBBN]

Winter sets usually seem a lot more finalized than summer sets from what I've seen. At least in Bionicle, Hero Factory I'm not entirely sure.

[Jetrax99]

Those 2 are also prime examples of the Prototypes being better than the final version, at least in my opinion. WD's longer staff and Rocka XL's leg construction in the prelims worked better than what we got.

[Mr. Gundam]

I Just wanted to say that I like it when people give reviews, most times posters point out things I didn't notice.

I dont mind if most of us sound similar anyway but lets not kid ourselves: prelim pics ARE release pics. TLC might change a color or two, maybe add a printed shell, even change a piece but what your looking at is the set for next year spring.

So I read ALL of them, as for 2014...

Well, this is the first time im disappointed and figure out why:

I dont like the mechs having those paws, I was expecting weapons.

Someone mention the dark colors. Isn't this the darkest wave we ever seen from HF?

Alot ppl seem to not like the EVO walker, could end up being the least selling set??

Ppl mention how Furno is a breakout verison Mech. TLC might want to look into that??

Splitter beast actually...splitting with a 108 pieces Mnph idk

But I am looking forward to the combiners and summer 2014 improving on the mech design. But the questions I have above just point out things I dislike "take with a grain of salt"

Edited October 29, 2013 by Mr. Gundam

[Aanchir]

My brother just posited an interesting question about the 2014 Hero Factory stuff... do you think the switch to minifigures and minifigure-scale mecha might make it any more likely for Hero Factory sets or models to show up in The LEGO Movie?

[Mesonak]

That's a pretty interesting idea... I'd certainly hope that could be the case. I've been holding out hope for a BIONICLE/HF cameo but, at this point, HF would probably be more likely considering the switch.

[BrickBuilder3213]

I never even knew that there were Brain Attack prelims. .3.

Are there any for the very first sets?

[vexorian]

*cough* Witch Doctor & Rocka XL *cough*

I remember Witch Doctor having an odd prototype in one of the fairs, but did that strange prototype ever appear as box art?

[Aethersprite]

If you look at the artwork on the top of the packaging of Splitter Beast, you can clearly see the orange half of the set, separate from the blue half.

[BrickBuilder3213]

I remember Witch Doctor having an odd prototype in one of the fairs, but did that strange prototype ever appear as box art?

Yes: http://www.mania.com/content_pics/000006/76/64/f595456af5b3eacb_large.jpg

[Vinyl Scratch]

Yes: http://www.mania.com...3eacb_large.jpg

Great day in the morning that staff looks fantabulous and really tiki-like.

[Mesonak]

Great day in the morning that staff looks fantabulous and really tiki-like.

Ah, the prototype Witch Doctor... I always loved that version of him. Here's a slightly larger picture of the box itself.

Not really TOO much different about the set beside the staff, though. Here's a picture of WD from a different developmental stage, which is pretty close to being finished. The differences in this one amount to little more than some unfinished part coloring, although there's definitely some differences as far as the white Ben 10 tails are concerned.

...Man, I really went overboard gathering 2012 pictures. ._.

Edited October 30, 2013 by Mesonak

[Jetrax99]

...Man, I really went overboard gathering 2012 pictures. ._.

If such a thing existed.

[Aanchir]

If you look at the artwork on the top of the packaging of Splitter Beast, you can clearly see the orange half of the set, separate from the blue half.

As I said in my post, that's just a complete palette swap of the artwork from Breez vs. Flyer Beast, so it might not be finalized, and even if it is, it might not have been drawn to resemble Splitter Beast to begin with. The same way Stormer, Rocka, Evo, and Furno clearly don't have identical helmets, even though their helmets are identical on the art on the top of the other five sets.

Edited October 30, 2013 by Aanchir

[Dorek]

The 2012 prototypes were markedly different from the final versions, but that's because they were actual prototypes, as opposed to preliminary renders, as Aanch said (most of the boxart at toyfairs tend to be prototype-ish). At this point, we won't see much of a construction difference, although new packaging art is pretty likely.

And NO SUCH THING AS OVERBOARD Meso. It gives me a good reference point for what images are and are not available for sets once they get released. We've been getting less and less actual images disseminated by TLG since summer 2012; nowadays we're lucky to get anything beyond the standard boxart pose.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Weren't there some 2012 Summer prototypes in a ToyFair thingamajigger that we never saw again? What happened with that?

[Mesonak]

And NO SUCH THING AS OVERBOARD Meso. It gives me a good reference point for what images are and are not available for sets once they get released. We've been getting less and less actual images disseminated by TLG since summer 2012; nowadays we're lucky to get anything beyond the standard boxart pose.

Yeah, but I cataloged like every single angle of photography for each set at Toy Fair 2012.

Every. Single. Angle. I scoured every website, searching for even the slightest of differences in their TF coverage!

...And then I promptly didn't do much of anything with Breakout/Summer Brain Attack. That's where laziness will get you.

Weren't there some 2012 Summer prototypes in a ToyFair thingamajigger that we never saw again? What happened with that?

That's always been something I wish we could see. The sets showcased were apparently from an earlier stage of development than we were able to see in the catalog pictures. I know they were distributed to certain people that attended Toy Fair, but I don't believe they ever made their way to the internet.

I could be mistaken, but I believe Dorek and Aanchir have seen them.

Edited October 30, 2013 by Mesonak

[Aanchir]

Yeah, but I cataloged like every single angle of photography for each set at Toy Fair 2012.

Every. Single. Angle. I scoured every website, searching for even the slightest of differences in their TF coverage!

...And then I promptly didn't do much of anything with Breakout/Summer Brain Attack. That's where laziness will get you.

That's always been something I wish we could see. The sets showcased were apparently from an earlier stage of development than we were able to see in the catalog pictures. I know they were distributed to certain people that attended Toy Fair, but I don't believe they ever made their way to the internet.

I could be mistaken, but I believe Dorek and Aanchir have seen them.

Yeah, I have them on a hard drive somewhere. Someday one of us should probably get around to sharing them, considering the sets are now mostly off store shelves so there's no longer a lot of risk involved for the LEGO Group if the pictures are disclosed.

[Bigger Fish]

Can I see some of the prototype 2012 pics, please?

[Dorek]

The things I do for this brand...

Now back to 2014!

[BrickBuilder3213]

The things I do for this brand...

Now back to 2014!

Wow. Just wow.

These are REALLY bad prototypes. Heck, I thought these were simply bad MOCs at first...

[Chro]

The things I do for this brand...

Now back to 2014!

As, I remember those. Neat stuff.

But yes. 2014. Interesting prototype images. I wish we got some pictures of the minifigure-scale heroes by themselves.