Hero Factory 2010

[Leugi]

As a midget as Xplode is... he is a fairly decent build... I mean... those spikes look firey and hot... He is just decent enough... And the best part, he doesn't use Ben 10 limbs!!! (check http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulnomad/435...57623312921195/ )

His thornax thing shouldn't be green though...

BTW, the new limbs the heroes have are at least better than Av-toran stuff, they got a nice axle connector on the sides of the upper part, which is something the av-toran quite lacked...

It's a shame that the most useful hands don't come in pairs though (black and silver)... A real shame...

Overall, the line is quite lacking a bit more of awesomeness, the style is smooth and nice, but the sets are just quite not right...

------

...Does the silver hero (whose name I always forget) has a red glatorian head? Or is it orange and my eyes are betraying me?

Edited February 16, 2010 by Leugi

[cheesey skrall]

preston stormer is better than i thought. the 1-stit-eye-thing is cool. did anyone notice that on jimi stringers name card, it says riff?

[Aanchir]

Yeah the Ben10 leg pieces on Thunder and Meltdown are a bit frustrating because you can't take the leg piece and the armor piece apart...or can you?

No, you can't. But on some of the sets that use them, it actually looks decent. Plus, it allows for a six-length limb that is neither excessively bulky or spindly and frameworky. Not the same MOCing potential, but nothing's lost from the sets' appearance for the use of Ben 10 limbs (except on Corroder where they really don't match the rest of the set's aesthetic.

I'm curious, though, whether the new joints will limit the range of motion for knee joints when using them with an older BIONICLE limb like the Toa Metru limb. The gaps in those limbs are presumably only long enough to compensate for a BIONICLE socket joint. But who knows? We'll have to wait for reviews to come in.

@vexorian: I've not once had anything bad happen to a sticker on a set or part once the sticker is applied, unless I was stupid and decided to remove it. I can't think of any reason a sticker would cause trouble if you willingly chose to use it in the first place (except some really awkward ones I've heard, like people wanting to play with their sets in actual water). As long as you make a firm decision to use or not use the sticker, you should be OK.

Of course, on the flip side, a sticker can be removed if you're willing to take that risk, and if you use care it can be put back on at no cost. Remove printing from a piece, and it's gone forever.

Another factor is that stickers have bolder colors than a lot of printed parts. For instance, the yellow face printed on the Jango Fett minifig's head has not looked like a proper minifig yellow since the day I got it-- it's this mucky color due to the black showing through it plainly. Stickers don't have that problem.

[cheesey skrall]

More hero factory images. better pics of MELTDOWN, corroder and preston stormer.

Here

[80 Dollar]

Hmm. I just noticed something.

Rookies - Surge, Blaze, Breeze

- they have the same torso armor piece (probably a default training armor)

- they have "regular" weapons

Veterans - Bulk, Stormer, Stringer

- they have unique torso armor pieces

- they have those multitools as their arms / on their arms

...but maybe I'm just overanalyzing...or stating the obvious...boredom is boring.

Edited February 16, 2010 by 80 Dollar

[cheesey skrall]

the giant utility arms on stormer ect are 1 piece ;(

[Bundalings]

I'm curious, though, whether the new joints will limit the range of motion for knee joints when using them with an older BIONICLE limb like the Toa Metru limb. The gaps in those limbs are presumably only long enough to compensate for a BIONICLE socket joint. But who knows? We'll have to wait for reviews to come in.

Just tested it: Ben 10 legs and Bionicle legs are fully compatible.

[vexorian]

No, you can't. But on some of the sets that use them, it actually looks decent. Plus, it allows for a six-length limb that is neither excessively bulky or spindly and frameworky. Not the same MOCing potential, but nothing's lost from the sets' appearance for the use of Ben 10 limbs (except on Corroder where they really don't match the rest of the set's aesthetic.

I'm curious, though, whether the new joints will limit the range of motion for knee joints when using them with an older BIONICLE limb like the Toa Metru limb. The gaps in those limbs are presumably only long enough to compensate for a BIONICLE socket joint. But who knows? We'll have to wait for reviews to come in.

@vexorian: I've not once had anything bad happen to a sticker on a set or part once the sticker is applied, unless I was stupid and decided to remove it. I can't think of any reason a sticker would cause trouble if you willingly chose to use it in the first place (except some really awkward ones I've heard, like people wanting to play with their sets in actual water). As long as you make a firm decision to use or not use the sticker, you should be OK.

Of course, on the flip side, a sticker can be removed if you're willing to take that risk, and if you use care it can be put back on at no cost. Remove printing from a piece, and it's gone forever.

Another factor is that stickers have bolder colors than a lot of printed parts. For instance, the yellow face printed on the Jango Fett minifig's head has not looked like a proper minifig yellow since the day I got it-- it's this mucky color due to the black showing through it plainly. Stickers don't have that problem.

It might be environment dependent but every white single sticker applied on a non-white piece is doomed to end up looking pretty bad thanks to the white borders which appear after some time, eventually they get so ugly I have to remove them. Oh and the transparent ones, it will be lucky if they don't just lose contact a year after. They are such a contradiction to the usability I am used to with LEGO.

Once you remove a sticker, it is not going to be the same. You might try to preserve it but the second time you try it, it will look worse than the first time, this is another place in which the borders ruin everything.

Ben 10 parts being used so freely is just a sympthon of a trend there is with the sets. We probably don't lose much aesthetics with the simplified parts, but a lot is lost. Bionicle had always had poor buildability but it seems LEGO every year pushes for more and more reductions of this aspect. and now they invented the "constraction" thing. I think they might as well eventually start shipping these things pre-built. You could argue that for 8 bucks "impulse" sets it would be good for kids. But to do that even with titans to the point that HF's titans are midgets with far less pieces than past titans, it is too much... Even drop ship is pretty bad when compared with Jetrax...

Edited February 16, 2010 by vexorian

[Strakk]

Every wave of BIONICLE was the worst wave of sets ever. As soon as something's revealed, people hop aboard the hate train. Does that mean LEGO should have cancelled BIONICLE after 2001?

*realizes he's baiting a bunch of people to say that yes, they should have*

Drop Ship is a bit hard to judge, since we haven't seen what (if any) functions it has. It's heavy use of paneling, though, is consistent with Hero Factory's overall smooth aesthetic, and I've always loved stickers. Did anyone notice the System paddles on its control bars? As much as I loved the Rockoh T3's controls, BIONICLE never went to such great lengths for detail.

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The Furno Bike has some hot pieces-- I may or may not get into Hero Factory, but if I don't I'll certainly get some of them off Bricklink. The Antroz claws mesh well with the Bitil wings on its sides, and again the smooth aesthetic of the theme is maintained. Nice placement of the launchers as well. Wish those Mata Red Av-Matoran feet were used on the Stars Tahu and the new feet were given to a more appropriate set, like the Rahkshi.

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Von Nebula looks awesome. I'm not a real fan of the almost-totally-black color scheme, but it certainly gives him a Lord of Evil vibe. The Hydraxon faceplate works well with the Mantax pincers on his cheeks and again contributes to the smooth HF aesthetic.

The piston design shows that there are still brilliant techniques that MOCists haven't used to death. The thighs lack some of the smoothness encountered elsewhere on his design, but then again he's got other rough areas like his chest, so it's still consistent when considering this set on its own.

Technically he has what could be called elbows if you visualize the upper arm's central axis bisecting the "triangle" formed by the 3x5 Technic frame things. It certainly works a lot better than it seemed to in previous pictures (or, alternatively, seems to work a lot better than it did in the other pics).

I also celebrate the reuse of the Phantoka Makuta torso, which I was afraid would never be used again after 2008. Despite having a less versatile design than the Inika torso, its spacious structure and numerous attachment points seem to demand more innovative uses than standard canister sets and straightforward expansions of the same (Icarax).

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X-Plode still looks preliminary. Nevertheless, I like the spiky aesthetic (arguably Krika's front feet would be more consistent with the spikes than his back feet, but whatevs). The design of the spiky piece is clearer in some of these pics, and it looks hot. Not a great fan of the ankle guards used on Metru shins (kind of inconsistent stylistically), but at least it works. Lots of Mata Red parts here, if the pics aren't deceiving. The arm style is nice, although it'd be more proportionate with the shorter double-joints. Finally, I like this guy's use of a reversed Hero Factory canister set torso, with a spike-piece to fill out the back. It seems like an effective technique, and a great way for LEGO to make the most of their new molds.

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Rotor's pretty cool, despite not having eye-holes. I wonder if the symbol on his chest and arm is the new "bad guy" symbol. He's got a flood of nice orange parts, and that piece that's used on his flamethrower is appearing in a number of equally-good applications (seems to be quite versatile).

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I can't help but love Corroder. He reminds me of a Japanese tengu with his small but agile build, as well as his intriguing tools and (obviously) long nose. The Ben 10 parts give him some smoothness, but it seems almost at odds with the otherwise ridge-covered aesthetic he displays elsewhere. Overall, though, I'm very impressed with this guy, who manages to shine despite his small size and simple design.

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Meltdown's color scheme is sickening, but I think it's supposed to be. The canisters on his back look a lot grosser than on the box art, so I'm hoping they're preliminary. Love the use of those new and versatile panel pieces we saw on Rotor with the Mantax pincers. Makes for some great tools.

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Thunder is cool, but neither of his non-matching arms looks good to me, and they certainly don't look good together. Another intriguing use of the panel pieces on his tools. The feet look awfully small, even though I'm sure some people will love them as individual pieces.

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The canister sets, despite being largely cloned, are pretty hot. It'll be a disappointment, though, when the three elite torsos are reused and they lose their uniqueness. Lots of nice part recolors, like the silver hand joint for Duncan Bulk (what a disappointment you'd only get one from that set) or the black one for Jimi Stringer (the same). Natalie is not very blatantly feminine, even though the face isn't explicitly masculine.

I like that there's four mid-size villains, six smaller canister heroes, two larger villains, and two vehicle sets. It's good to see that LEGO dropped the large $80.00 sets like Axalara-- as awesome as they were, I've heard they weren't selling that well. Anyway, the current line seems a lot more within the reach of the target audience and has the added bonus of taking up less shelf space.

Can't wait to see what sort of marketing LEGO has in mind for this theme. Despite having a simpler story than BIONICLE, it's not clear whether it'll have the same multimedia approach which early BIONICLE favored.

1) Not true. I'd never say that. 2006 was the best year in my opinion.

2) Absolutely not but we're talking about a new theme which it's starting this year.

And I don't hate completely these sets but they haven't got good innovative buildings as I'd expect from a new theme.

I was expecting a great villan but Von Nebula's design is horrible in my opinion. Also the helmet used (Hydraxon's mask) does not fit well in the set as others.

The little sets have great weapons, bad helmets and a (too) big chest armour.

The mid-size villan have a nice design but I don't like the too many reused pieces.

Again, for a new theme I was expecting at least one new basic piece (not helmet and weapons) for the villans.

Most of the colour scheme are great though.

[cheesey skrall]

I've just noticed that all the villains have their secondry colour as black

[Bfahome]

the giant utility arms on stormer ect are 1 piece ;(

… surprise? I thought we've known for a while that they're a giant thing connected to a single socket joint.

[cheesey skrall]

… surprise? I thought we've known for a while that they're a giant thing connected to a single socket joint.

I knew that it was 1 piece but I didn't know that the 'arm' is actually an old hand piece :(

[kentaiscool]

i think i know a store exclusive

7179 Bulk & Vapour

Release Month: August

Duncan Bulk PEOPLE

perhaps he'll have TWO silver hands

well im guessing vapour is a hero, a animal, or an machine... AWESOME!!!!!!!!

sumone type something quick

i like cheese

Edited February 16, 2010 by kentaiscool

[cheesey skrall]

i think i know a store exclusive

7179 Bulk & Vapour

Release Month: August

Duncan Bulk PEOPLE

perhaps he'll have TWO silver hands

well im guessing vapour is a hero, a animal, or an machine... AWESOME!!!!!!!!

sumone type something quick

i like cheese

where'd u get this from?

I like cheese too

[kentaiscool]

where'd u get this from?

I like cheese too

i just found it in like page 10 or 11 on this topic

[Zip]

Dude's got a point. I think Vapour might be a villain though, judging from the name.

[Brickthing]

i think i know a store exclusive

7179 Bulk & Vapour

Release Month: August

Duncan Bulk PEOPLE

perhaps he'll have TWO silver hands

well im guessing vapour is a hero, a animal, or an machine... AWESOME!!!!!!!!

sumone type something quick

i like cheese

Please tone down the emoticons and cheese references, but thanks for pointing out what we all seemed to have missed.

Vapour does sound like a villain name (maybe with toxic gas powers?), and it would be a welcome break from the A & B format where A is a strong character and B is his steed/mini-sidekick. It also makes sense with the Hero-vs-Villain-in-a-mission format for a special edition set to have it's own discrete mission in one set.

[kentaiscool]

Please tone down the emoticons and cheese references, but thanks for pointing out what we all seemed to have missed.

Vapour does sound like a villain name (maybe with toxic gas powers?), and it would be a welcome break from the A & B format where A is a strong character and B is his steed/mini-sidekick. It also makes sense with the Hero-vs-Villain-in-a-mission format for a special edition set to have it's own discrete mission in one set.

i will never stop liking cheese but ill tone down emotions

[Phantoka_Chirox]

Most of the villains doesn't have symmetrical arms D:

(1t's l13k m3$$y D:)

And natalie's got some sort of scar. I hope meltdown gets more outline to his helmet/face/mask. Yay rotor has got an orange thornax launcher!!

Edited February 17, 2010 by Phantoka_Chirox

[80 Dollar]

i think i know a store exclusive

7179 Bulk & Vapour

Release Month: August

Duncan Bulk PEOPLE

perhaps he'll have TWO silver hands

well im guessing vapour is a hero, a animal, or an machine... AWESOME!!!!!!!!

sumone type something quick

i like cheese

I remember this from a few pages back and I can't wait to see some pictures of it.

Edited February 17, 2010 by 80 Dollar

[cheesey skrall]

And natalie's got some sort of scar. I hope meltdown gets more outline to his helmet/face/mask.

1) natilies "scar" could be an error in the plastic; its not on the box.

2) i hope so too, but its unlikly.

[Aethersprite]

Is it me, or does Duncan Bulk's weapon arm look like it's one whole piece?

EDIT: After browsing through all the pics, I have to say that I'm pretty disappointed with the Hero sets. They don't look too good to me, despite the good impression I had of them. The Villains, on the other hand, really raised the bar. Though I'm not very happy with ALL their legs, but the overall set looks much better, and the new boxarts are awesome. I'm hooked on Corroder, definitely getting (and modding) him. Still disappointed with Rotor, but Von Nebula's looking real good, better than the old pics we had of him.

Edited February 17, 2010 by Lockon Stratos

[cheesey skrall]

Is it me, or does Duncan Bulk's weapon arm look like it's one whole piece?

yes, it is. Same with Stormer and Stringer :(

[Aethersprite]

yes, it is. Same with Stormer and Stringer :(

That sucks bad. I had wanted to get at least one of the Heroes, but now I think I'd save my money and get the Villains.

Another thing: What's that grey piece on Corroder's groin? It looks seriously out of place. Seeing how they improved the set already (just noticed they replaced the Vahki blades with new custom ones!) I hope they fix that. Make it black or something.

Edited February 17, 2010 by Lockon Stratos

[80 Dollar]

That sucks bad. I had wanted to get at least one of the Heroes, but now I think I'd save my money and get the Villains.

You can still buy Breeze, Blaze or Surge if you dont like the arm...