Hero Factory 2014 Discussion

[Takanuinuva]

Where I don't see him. Can someone post a pic?

[Dorek]

I wonder when the special is actually going to come out? I'd prefer closer to summer, to actually enforce a promotional push for the second wave (assuming those are included) but April (as with the past two years) also provides a decent bridge when the output of material is at its lowest.

[Hobocalypse]

Where I don't see him. Can someone post a pic?

You can find a high quality picture on youtube in Mesonak's Q&A with VBBN @ the three virtues.

[DraikNova]

So, as it turns out, the three-headed Kaiju matches this guy almost exactly. I'm slightly disappointed with the hands, an easily fixable problem, but I had completely forgotten about the usefulness of the 3M bones for flexible tails, so that part of the design is nice. The art on the bottom of the bag is to die for. Yet another reason to keep these things. I might just have to set up a display of honor for this wave.

Edited December 2, 2013 by DraikNova

[Takanuinuva]

You can find a high quality picture on youtube in Mesonak's Q&A with VBBN @ the three virtues.

Ok I see him now. Surge there pretty much confirms there's a summer wave of Invasion from below.

Also this wave so far seems to have the fewest new molds in a hero factory wave (Not counting Recolors or Printed pieces)

For the beasts new molds are

The Beast's Upper and Lower Jaws

The mini Kaiju head and legs

2 new feet molds

the new tail/spike piece

For the heroes the molds are

new legs and arms

new torso armor

5 new minifig helmets

the cockpit piece

the pod piece

Only 17 new molds this wave. Maybe the summer wave will have more new molds but that's uncertain till we get pics of the summer wave

[Aanchir]

Ok I see him now. Surge there pretty much confirms there's a summer wave of Invasion from below.

Also this wave so far seems to have the fewest new molds in a hero factory wave (Not counting Recolors or Printed pieces)

For the beasts new molds are

The Beast's Upper and Lower Jaws

The mini Kaiju head and legs

2 new feet molds

the new tail/spike piece

For the heroes the molds are

new legs and arms

new torso armor

5 new minifig helmets

the cockpit piece

the pod piece

Only 17 new molds this wave. Maybe the summer wave will have more new molds but that's uncertain till we get pics of the summer wave

This is hardly any lower than the first wave this year, which had just 18 new molds (eight faceplates/helmets, brain, visor, head, torso shell, sword, flame, hilt, "H" shield, cape, rock detail). And the summer 2013 wave technically only had eight new parts — even fewer than that if you remove the two new molds (the fur detail and Frost Beast's sword) that were technically introduced a few months earlier in the Legends of Chima constraction sets.

In fact, while I can't find the spreadsheet where I went ahead and counted new parts from the other waves, it seems like the early 2012 wave also only had 18 new molds (7 helmets, round detail, torso shell, launcher top, launcher bottom, hero cuffs, hero core, tool belt, hex shield, chest plate, sword, mace half), nineteen if you count the remolded feet for Toxic Reapa that started appearing partway through the year. And the summer 2012 wave only had ten new parts (3 helmets + giant chest plate + square detail + lightning + speaker detail + drone detail + Stormer foot + 3M Technic beam + 3M double ball cup + 5x6 torso beam). In this case you can also potentially subtract the two new molds (square shell detail and giant chest plate) from the Super Heroes constraction sets released in May.

I may be off on my count (please correct me if so), but it seems like the first wave for 2014 is not really so far out of the ordinary.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Aanchir

[Takanuinuva]

This is hardly any lower than the first wave this year, which had just 18 new molds (eight faceplates/helmets, brain, visor, head, torso shell, sword, flame, hilt, "H" shield, cape, rock detail). And the summer 2013 wave technically only had eight new parts — even fewer than that if you remove the two new molds (the fur detail and Frost Beast's sword) that were technically introduced a few months earlier in the Legends of Chima constraction sets.

In fact, while I can't find the spreadsheet where I went ahead and counted new parts from the other waves, it seems like the early 2012 wave also only had 18 new molds (7 helmets, round detail, torso shell, launcher top, launcher bottom, hero cuffs, hero core, tool belt, hex shield, chest plate, sword, mace half), nineteen if you count the remolded feet for Toxic Reapa that started appearing partway through the year. And the summer 2012 wave only had ten new parts (3 helmets + giant chest plate + square detail + lightning + speaker detail + drone detail + Stormer sword + 3M Technic beam + 3M double ball cup + 5x6 torso beam). In this case you can also potentially subtract the two new molds (square shell detail and giant chest plate) from the Super Heroes constraction sets released in May.

I may be off on my count (please correct me if so), but it seems like the first wave for 2014 is not really so far out of the ordinary.

Hmm I guess I only thought that since most of the new molds are for the minifigures and mini kaiju. Also Stormer's sword in breakout wasn't a new mold it was a recolor of the sword used in Breakout Breez, Black Phantom and Batman Ultrabuild

[Aanchir]

Hmm I guess I only thought that since most of the new molds are for the minifigures and mini kaiju. Also Stormer's sword in breakout wasn't a new mold it was a recolor of the sword used in Breakout Breez, Black Phantom and Batman Ultrabuild

Yes, why did I list that sword there? I don't remember even typing that out. I must have been distracted since I'm watching my brother play Professor Layton at the same time. Was there another piece I meant to list in its place, though? Hmmm.

EDIT: What I meant to type there was "Stormer foot". It's fixed now.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Aanchir

[Bob C]

I really hope the summer wave has a large set, along with the single hero/villain mech sets. But it's too early to speculate about summer releases.

[Shakar]

I'm thinking whether I should turn Splitter Beast into a Titan or not.. its proportions look good this way, but I feel the absence of a truly large threat.

I hope there's a large Beast in Summer. I'd hardly call Dragon Bolt a Titan since she was pretty small- I'd like to something as tall as Black Phantom. Maybe I should simply wait for Summer sets pics to surface (hopefully it's around Christmas, as usual), to decide what should I do.

One thing I like about the Beasts is their unifying aestetichs- this way, I could, say, take the small SB half and turn it into an indipendent Beast. Or remake the three-headed combo model using three heads with the same colours.

[bacem]

So, as it turns out, the three-headed Kaiju matches this guy almost exactly. I'm slightly disappointed with the hands, an easily fixable problem, but I had completely forgotten about the usefulness of the 3M bones for flexible tails, so that part of the design is nice. The art on the bottom of the bag is to die for. Yet another reason to keep these things. I might just have to set up a display of honor for this wave.

where did you get the instruction from?

[Aanchir]

where did you get the instruction from?

BZPower posted links to all the instructions on their frontpage a couple days ago. The heading for the news article is "2014 Hero Factory Combiner Set Instructions".

[bacem]

BZPower posted links to all the instructions on their frontpage a couple days ago. The heading for the news article is "2014 Hero Factory Combiner Set Instructions".

thanks!

[Cryokina]

Trailer for the Invasion from Below episode has a few (blurry) shots of summer sets! :D

[Aanchir]

Trailer for the Invasion from Below episode has a few (blurry) shots of summer sets! :D

OK, first things first. That is a BEAUTIFUL trailer. Advance did a good job with that one.

I'm a little bit disappointed that the heroes in this only bear a passing resemblance to the minifigures (since they largely reuse assets from previous episodes). But they still look really awesome. They at least have the distinctive kneepads from the minifigures, though it's a bit of a shame their beefy shoulderpads have lost.

Are the machines we see at 0:22 new sets, I wonder? And is it one or two? A two-cockpit machine would be cool, though I'd think the best heroes for that would be Nex and Evo, and Evo already has enough. :P The flying machine that Surge is piloting at 0:27 is AWESOME, as is the beast at 0:28 with four legs that end in talons and two claws like Waspix has. The two beefy beasts at 0:43 are also quite cool. And the "queen" at 0:47 is BRILLIANT!

Overall, someone behind the scenes has really been stretching their creative muscles. I can't wait to see how many of these models wind up in the sets! I'm almost grateful for the delayed release in the United States since it means I can wait until Toy Fair to plan my purchases!

[Dorek]

Love the trailer; as I suspected, not majorly different in style from the previous ones, but a notable step up in quality. Loving the new sets too, although I was hoping for a bit more variation in the kaiju (can't wait until we have an official name for those). Regardless, that "queen" or whatever is awesome. Overall, I appreciate the change up in theme that Hero Factory has done, and look forward to the sets.

[Kalhiki]

Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes.

That looks amazing! Can't wait to see the full episode. Now time to watch it again!

And again!

EDIT:

0:10 Shows some walkers. Seems different from Evo Walker.

0:15 Rocka's Machine looks a bit different from the set. Summer set? Or maybe the original mech was for exploration and upon the discovery of the Kaiju, they made them into battle machines.

0:27 Surge's Mech looks great. Hopefully it has some kind of transforming function so it can have legs.

0:32 That Azure and Yellow beast looks great.

0:35 The lighting here is gorgeous. I want a computer background of this.

0:38 New red Beast. Looks great.

0:41 Stormer Gets eaten. These beasts are big. Also, "Vinyl is Back"

0:43 More shots of those gorgeous azure and yellow beasts. That's slowly becoming a new favorite color scheme.

0:43 again. Bottom left. Looks like Stringer to me, how about you?

And of course, the Queen at the end.

Lots of stuff here. This is all I could see.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Kalhiki

[Gatanui]

Is it just me, or does the animation look more cartoonish? Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, though- the visuals are amazing.

-Gata

[Vinyl Scratch]

I pretty dang wish that Nex doesn't get the kick again. I mean, a series where the Heroes rely on giant mechs, and they don't include the engineer of the Heroes? It's lost potential.

EDIT: Soon as I said that, one of Breakout Nex's lower leg joints broke. That's not a good sign.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Vinyl Scratch

[VBBN]

Took these screenshots, should be most of it

I have to say I'm a little dissapointed here from what I can see. Splitter beast and Rocka are both different than their toy designs so I'll take this with a grain of salt. But that 4-legged beast really isn't what i was hoping for as the big villain. From what I can see

-Walking mech with containment pod

-Red six-legged beast

-Big 4 legged beast

-Azure beast

-Surge in a flying vehicle

Stringer and surge are clearly there, I think Bulk is standing behind breez in the second picture, and Nex might be next to stringer but that could be rocka. Just looks too orange to me

Also I'm noticing these beasts all have "clawed hands" Don't get your hopes up; Splitter beast has them too(well he has modified versions of what really are his hands), which means my guess is we won't see those designs in the finalized sets. But who knows

Also shooting the red beast is what looks to be surge in a mech. I can't tell if the mech and the jet are the same or if we are going to have a repeat of the Evo situation

[Bfahome]

I like the look of the heroes in this. They look a lot more… substantial, I guess, than the past designs that were based on the sets.

[Bigger Fish]

Trailer looks great, as always. Though I'm worried about the writing quality agian.

Edited December 6, 2013 by Bigger Fish

[Aethersprite]

Thanks for the screenshots, Vinyl! The big bad isn't very impressive unfortunately, though I like how the new red and azure beasts look. Also, a little disappointed that Surge's machine seems to be more of a jet than a mech, but I'm glad we get confirmation that he'll be appearing in the summer wave. Still no sign of Stringer, Bulk or Nex, though.

[ToaBulk98]

This year's sets look pretty impressive. I do kinda wish that there were some lager-scale figure for the Heroes, and (of course) looking at the basic plot for Invasion From Below, all I can think is, "We always thought alien life would come from the stars...but we were wrong."

[Kalhiki]

I'm sure Surge's mech has a transforming feature. In the top left corner of picture 4, there's a Stormer XL foot. It'll probably end up being just folding him up into a jet shape, but oh well.