Hero Factory 2014 Discussion

[Bob C]

Does anyone have the pockyland picture of the ret. catalog?

[Jetrax99]

I don't know where or how he gets them, but Jang has posted a review of Evo Walker on You tube

[Mesonak]

I don't know where or how he gets them, but Jang has posted a review of Evo Walker on You tube

He ordered them internationally online, presumably from Amazon UK or some other place.

He's got Jaw Beast vs. Stormer up as well on his blog; his reviews are always entertaining to watch. :D

Edited January 14, 2014 by Mesonak

[CM4Sci]

Does anyone have the pockyland picture of the ret. catalog?

Find them here.

-Sci

[Jetrax99]

He ordered them internationally online, presumably from Amazon UK or some other place.

Only one word comes to mind: Impatient.

[Mesonak]

Only one word comes to mind: Impatient.

Yeah... I wouldn't call it impatient in his case solely because he likes to be as prompt as possible with his reviews and it's imperative he get them out ASAP, but personally I'd wait rather than spend crazy amounts of money to get them a month in advance. :P

[Dorek]

It really doesn't cost that much getting them in advance. Ebay, bricklink, any halfway decent private seller can get them to you for only a few bucks extra, and buying in bulk tends to shave the costs off even more.

And yeah, in LegoJang's case, he makes a "living" doing the reviews, so it's worth it for him to import (not a fan myself, but he seems to have a following).

[just2good]

Only one word comes to mind: Impatient.

He imports a whole bunch of sets just to get them out early, and he makes a good return on them in ad revenue and subscriber gains. He's becoming one of the biggest LEGO YouTubers at the moment!

Seeing his review of the Evo Walker, I want to get it more now. It's cute!

[Vinyl Scratch]

SPECULATION TIME.

You know, seeing Jang's Jaw Beast review, I'm starting to speculate about 2015. I don't think they'll drop the minifigures, nor do I expect them fighting against any kind of wildlife again (hopefully), but I'm hoping that next year Hero Factory goes nuts and has giant robots against the Heroes in more complex mechs. I really don't feel they're going to drop the minifigs after the positive feedback they've been getting. But wildlife is already bothering me, we've had three years of Heroes vs. Wildlife and I'm getting bored about it.

Have Villain Factory use giant mechs. Mechs vs. Mechs. That's what I'd like to see.

...

That sounds like Exo Force but whatever.

On-topic though, I have the chance to pick up any of the mid-sized sets before they release here officially (which would be around... December I guess, lol). I was thinking of getting Flyer Beast vs. Breez, but I don't know if to get that or get one of the three mechs. Suggestions?

[Shakar]

I've noticed that we've got the return of hard-to-find parts for this year's Winter wave... (Stormer XL feet and mini dog bone, Furno 1.0/Jawblade blades, azure bones)

What returning parts do you think we'll get in the Summer Wave? I'm personally hoping for the titan-sized bones that we got with Fire Lord and Black Phantom, seeing as I never got bones in that length.

I'm not seeing the extra long bones anywhere. They got kind of dropped once the friction socket extenders were introduced, which meant the Fire Lord build wasn't necessary anymore. It's not a coincidence the last set using them was Black Phantom.

Looks like they ended up in the realm of forgotten pieces, along Drilldozer's chest armour and the 8M shell (though that one is surprisingly being reused in Lavertus's outpost, if my eyes aren't deceiving me. From JANG's review, looks like they're the 6M shells from Jetbug afterall.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Shakar

[exxtrooper]

I ordered them from Shop@home and got them in 3 days, 60NOK shipping. Really was expecting them in 2 weeks time but I think they were shipped from Denmark. Quite a nice feeling getting the sets before LegoJang did.

[Shakar]

Nice photos! You make the sets look quite appealing. Hopefully I'll finally get my hands on some of them tomorrow.

Flyer Beast's wings look slightly better there (it's the left arm the true weak point). Stealth Machine looks pretty nice and bulky.

[ShadowWolfHount]

I ordered them from Shop@home and got them in 3 days, 60NOK shipping. Really was expecting them in 2 weeks time but I think they were shipped from Denmark. Quite a nice feeling getting the sets before LegoJang did.

I agree we need to get them before Jang buy ALL OF THEM. Anyway awesome that you gotten two of the new sets aaaaaaand bob.

[BrickBuilder3213]

We need returning villains as minifigs for 2015. After all, you have to wonder if the Villain Factory MADE all of the villains from Rise of the Rookies, Ordeal of Fire and Breakout...

[Vinyl Scratch]

We need returning villains as minifigs for 2015. After all, you have to wonder if the Villain Factory MADE all of the villains from Rise of the Rookies, Ordeal of Fire and Breakout...

Wasn't the Villain Factory brought into plan after Breakout? Considering that the point of the Breakout was a distraction so Black Phantom could steal the blueprints of the Factory?

[BrickBuilder3213]

Wasn't the Villain Factory brought into plan after Breakout? Considering that the point of the Breakout was a distraction so Black Phantom could steal the blueprints of the Factory?

The Dark Maker used them to construct the Brain Factory.

[DraikNova]

I personally hope for more Battle Machines in 2015. Heroes VS giant mobile plants maybe? That half-cocoon piece would be perfect for a Venus flytrap.

[Jetrax99]

I'll be honest guys, I hope the minifigs are a one year only thing.

[_shaddow_]

On-topic though, I have the chance to pick up any of the mid-sized sets before they release here officially (which would be around... December I guess, lol). I was thinking of getting Flyer Beast vs. Breez, but I don't know if to get that or get one of the three mechs. Suggestions?

Having played with all the sets, and possessing half the wave, I feel like all the mid-sized set are pretty good. Flyer beast looks very dynamic with the antenna, even if I feel like it needs a small bone for the forearm.

Rocka's mech is probably the most classic looking mech of the wave, and is really good, even if I don't like the right arm at all (between the not really good looking claws and the silver and gold armors, even if the printed armor is gorgeous, silver still looks out of place).

Furno is probably the best in its own right, with the torso build which is, as stated before, very interesting, and look excellent once finished. However it's a pretty specific type of mecha, and I could understand it's not your cup of tea.

Stormer would clearly be the one I would recommend the less, not because it's a bad set, but because I feel like the mech is less "mecha" and more "weirdly shaped hero without head". It's still a good set, and once you get used to the shapes, he's pretty fun to play with, but clearly not the one I feel people should buy first if they want something that feels different.

So yeah, I would recommend mostly Furno Jet Machine or Flyer beast as my favourites, but Rocka is also a really good start with this wave, even if I find rocka's helmet not very good looking.

Edited January 14, 2014 by _shaddow_

[MakutaNocturn]

SPECULATION TIME.

You know, seeing Jang's Jaw Beast review, I'm starting to speculate about 2015. I don't think they'll drop the minifigures, nor do I expect them fighting against any kind of wildlife again (hopefully), but I'm hoping that next year Hero Factory goes nuts and has giant robots against the Heroes in more complex mechs. I really don't feel they're going to drop the minifigs after the positive feedback they've been getting. But wildlife is already bothering me, we've had three years of Heroes vs. Wildlife and I'm getting bored about it.

Have Villain Factory use giant mechs. Mechs vs. Mechs. That's what I'd like to see.

Lol. After reading your comment I had a picture in my mind in which giant Stormer-mech fights with Nebula-mech in Makuhero City just like in Power Rangers. Like Megazord or something xD, secondly, we all know what happened in Bionicle after simillar fight A big fullstop for a theme.

[Aanchir]

I'm not seeing the extra long bones anywhere. They got kind of dropped once the friction socket extenders were introduced, which meant the Fire Lord build wasn't necessary anymore. It's not a coincidence the last set using them was Black Phantom.

Looks like they ended up in the realm of forgotten pieces, along Drilldozer's chest armour and the 8M shell (though that one is surprisingly being reused in Lavertus's outpost, if my eyes aren't deceiving me. From JANG's review, looks like they're the 6M shells from Jetbug afterall.

Actually Lavertus's outpost DOES use 8M shells, according to the inventory in the back of the instruction manual. 6M shells would not be big enough to cover the concealed lasers.

Drilldozer's chest armor is one I know a lot of people miss, but having gotten several from a vendor at Brickfair Virginia... it's not a very useful piece at all. There are only a small number of beams that can take advantage of both ball snaps, and on a standard torso beam it uses up two of your most valuable connections and covers up one more beyond that. While it seems like a bit of a waste for the LEGO Group to have only used it on one set, its versatility is inherently limited by its design.

It'd be nice for 9M beams to come back (my latest MOC, Caitlyn Gauss XL, would never have worked without them), I understand why we haven't seen them in a while, and it's not just the introduction of the friction joint that's to blame. There simply haven't been any individual figure sets that are tall enough to need them. Even the legs on Fire Lord, Black Phantom, and Rocka XL were incredibly out of proportion with the torso. Witch Doctor is arguably the only Hero Factory figure that's been large enough to use those beams to its fullest, and that set cost $5 more than any subsequent Hero Factory figure.

Personally, I'd still love to see a Hero Factory vehicle that uses those 9M beams as a frame, or another figure set on par with Witch Doctor in terms of size. But figures of this size have always been a bit excessive compared to the size of a hero, and that's more true now than ever with heroes reduced from seven inches to two inches in height.

The Dark Maker used them to construct the Brain Factory.

Can we stop saying Dark Maker already? It's never been official, never been convincing, and always been stupid. The name was every bit as phony as "Rampant Oceans" and "Empire of Frost", and the only reason people believed it for a minute was that some of the fake set names released the previous year managed, perhaps by complete coincidence, to be slightly applicable to the actual sets that ended up being released in the summer.

[Dorek]

Can we stop saying Dark Maker already? It's never been official, never been convincing, and always been stupid. The name was every bit as phony as "Rampant Oceans" and "Empire of Frost", and the only reason people believed it for a minute was that some of the fake set names released the previous year managed, perhaps by complete coincidence, to be slightly applicable to the actual sets that ended up being released in the summer.

Daniel Rocka would like a word with you.

I'll be honest guys, I hope the minifigs are a one year only thing.

I'll say what I've been saying for the past few years now: we need a final wave that features ALL the gimmicks!

[Vinyl Scratch]

Daniel Rocka would like a word with you.

I'll say what I've been saying for the past few years now: we need a final wave that features ALL the gimmicks!

Quaza Brain Mechs fight against the Firefighting Hero Mechs with brand new Hero Cuffs and a giant Battle Machine Dropship.

I like how it sounds.

[Zenerius]

Quaza Brain Mechs fight against the Firefighting Hero Mechs with brand new Hero Cuffs and a giant Battle Machine Dropship.

I like how it sounds.

No, more like the Dark Maker possesed by a brain riding on Splitter Beast with new-full sized heroes using Hero Cuffs while piloting the Ultimate Mecha Super Dropship Jetpack. I would expect 5 different Rocka sets in this wave.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Zenerius

[ShadowWolfHount]

I'll be honest guys, I hope the minifigs are a one year only thing.

I have to agree with you on that plus in my opinion the arm and leg of the minifigs are bad. But i do like to see more of those helmet and body armor.