MOC: Hero Factory Experiments

[Toa_Of_Justice]

UPDATE - May 20, 2011: Please see my revisions a few posts below, or click here to access them directly.

I was experimenting with LDD 4.1's Extended Mode, and these two beings emerged from my creativity.

Click any image for a larger version.

Backstory: Alexander and Mimi were once humans engaged to each other, vacationing on a cruise ship. Suddenly, disaster struck, the ship sank, and they tragically died before they had a chance to get married.

Later, while on a reconnaissance mission, the Hero Factory Alpha Team's drop ship found them at the bottom of the sea and brought them back to the Factory. Their souls were given new bodies, and now they are alive once again. Their mission is to protect Earth's oceans from pirates, terrorists, and environmental hazards.

Hero Factory Experiment 01: Neptune (a.k.a. Alexander Goldstein)

LXF File

Alexander fights enemies with his shoulder-mounted and hand-held blades, multi-tool water shield with twin spear launchers and saw blades, hydro fins (which can be removed and used as additional blades), and aqua boosters (those golden canisters on his back). He favors speed over armaments, so he's not quite as heavily armed as his fianceé is.

Hero Factory Experiment 02: Oceana (a.k.a. Mimi Hunter)

LXF File

Mimi protects the oceans with her sharp claws, numerous spikes, spear launchers (on her multi-tool water shield and on her upper right arm), grappling hook launcher, torpedo blades (the ones with the purple cones, which can be launched or used as mêlée weapons), water wings, and hydro thrusters. Sometimes, she has difficulty controlling her temper, especially around those who intentionally do harm to innocent people or wildlife.

Full Brickshelf Gallery (when public)

So, are these experiments a success or a failure?

-Toa Of Justice

Edited May 20, 2011 by Toa_Of_Justice

[Jagersmann]

HOW DID YOU DO THAT GRAPHICS!?

[Toa Lahka]

These are gorgeous.

[Brickthing]

HOW DID YOU DO THAT GRAPHICS!?

By using Lego Digital Designer.

The longer limbs that you've used is a great idea, because of the extra detail you can add at the new scale. You should investigate extending the torso as well though (using Fire Lord's torso?), because the torsos are now disproportionally short.

I love the colour scheme of Neptune, and it makes me wish Teal was still being produced - it would be a perfect armour colour for an aquatic Hero. For both Heroes you should be bolder in your colour choices though - don't stick too hard to the "3 colour limit rule" when it means that bone and weapon pieces are the same colour. Have you tried making all the bone pieces of the Heroes black? It shouldn't disrupt the colour scheme and it would make the fit in better with existing Heroes (as black is the only bone option).

The fins on the back of Neptune's legs seem positioned strangely, but I like all of the other details you've added on by MOCs. Particularly on Oceana however, I think both Heroes could benefit from removing a couple of the details, because they are slightly crowded with them.

I'm not sure what your intention was for this experiment, but I think it's a success at using the LDD Hero Factory pieces to create Heroes with a particular theme.

[Toa_Of_Justice]

Thanks very much for the nice comments, everyone!

The longer limbs that you've used is a great idea, because of the extra detail you can add at the new scale. You should investigate extending the torso as well though (using Fire Lord's torso?), because the torsos are now disproportionally short.

I agree about the level of detail. In fact, I was surprised by how well the Atlantis trident elements fit on the 8-module-long HF armor--it made a very nice armor decoration comparable to Fire Lord's printing (but in 3D instead!) Neptune already uses Fire Lord's torso. I initially didn't use the same torso on Oceana, but now here she is with that torso, as well as an extended tail to compensate for the larger torso:

LXF File

I love the colour scheme of Neptune, and it makes me wish Teal was still being produced - it would be a perfect armour colour for an aquatic Hero. For both Heroes you should be bolder in your colour choices though - don't stick too hard to the "3 colour limit rule" when it means that bone and weapon pieces are the same colour. Have you tried making all the bone pieces of the Heroes black? It shouldn't disrupt the colour scheme and it would make the fit in better with existing Heroes (as black is the only bone option).

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'd rather keep the colored bones--without them, my models would lose quite a bit of color and distinctiveness. Oh, and I am a huge teal fanatic! Oceana actually has 4 colors--metallic blue, teal, reddish violet, and metallic sand blue. By the way, the Fire villains have some differently colored bones, as do some of the 3.0 Heroes.

The fins on the back of Neptune's legs seem positioned strangely, but I like all of the other details you've added on by MOCs. Particularly on Oceana however, I think both Heroes could benefit from removing a couple of the details, because they are slightly crowded with them.

Neptune's fins were a bit of a last-minute addition to keep him more in line with Oceana. I fixed them a bit though:

LXF File

As for the details, I do agree with the crowding, so I removed a few on Oceana (but added some more elsewhere, especially on her neck and back).

I'm not sure what your intention was for this experiment, but I think it's a success at using the LDD Hero Factory pieces to create Heroes with a particular theme.

I suppose my intention was to experiment (hence the topic title) with the new HF building system and the vast variety of colors and pieces available in LDD Extended Mode. The theme kinda came about by accident--I thought my heroes looked rather aquatic with the colors I chose for them, so I went with that theme. I'm glad you think it's a success!

-Toa Of Justice

[Jagersmann]

Yeah, your designs are one of a kind, the colours, structures, thumbs up! But I wanted yo know is how did you make that graphics, I mean the 3D, because my screnshots and models are very different, the metallic colors are more shiny. Do you know what I mean?

[Riza1234]

These are plain awesome.

[Toa_Of_Justice]

Thanks everyone! I'm glad you like my MOCs!

Yeah, your designs are one of a kind, the colours, structures, thumbs up! But I wanted yo know is how did you make that graphics, I mean the 3D, because my screnshots and models are very different, the metallic colors are more shiny. Do you know what I mean?

I used maximum shading and outlining. Also, Oceana sports the Metallic Blue color from Aanchir's BIONICLE Color Chart rather than the standard Bright Blue color.

-Toa Of Justice

[Toa_Of_Justice]

I have recently recolored my MOCs a little bit:

LXF File

LXF File

Please let me know what you think!

-Toa Of Justice

[Riza1234]

These are plain awesome.

The only complaint I have is that they're too...shiny.

[Toa_Of_Justice]

The only complaint I have is that they're too...shiny.

Are these any better?

LXF File

LXF File

-Toa Of Justice

[Jagersmann]

Could be only me, but, why they are that tall? What if you build them with Beams B 6M and Beams A 7M ball/cups for legs? Or even better, build them as titans, and put all those arms and weapons like in Rocka XL set. I tell you this because I see that they are big because of the legs, but if you build a titan model or design they would look better.

[Toa_Of_Justice]

Could be only me, but, why they are that tall? What if you build them with Beams B 6M and Beams A 7M ball/cups for legs? Or even better, build them as titans, and put all those arms and weapons like in Rocka XL set. I tell you this because I see that they are big because of the legs, but if you build a titan model or design they would look better.

I made my heroes tall to allow for plenty of details to be added, as well as to create a unique appearance that stands out (no pun intended) from normal Heroes.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'd rather not shorten the legs because then my models would be more like BIONICLE sets, with same-length arms and legs.

Also, I think I'd rather avoid Rocka's bulky titan design because I fear it would ruin the tall, slender appearance I currently have, especially on Oceana. That design may be OK for Rocka, but I think it would make my creations too robotic-looking.

-Toa Of Justice

[Jagersmann]

Yes, so I guess that is only me. Now you should take screeshots from different angles, your creations are going to look better, more natural. When I look to the 3D graphics in your LDD I can't stop thinking about my mocs, unfortunately my computer have some problems with this... If I give you my LXF files, would you take some screenshots of my heroes?

[Toa_Of_Justice]

Yes, so I guess that is only me. Now you should take screeshots from different angles, your creations are going to look better, more natural. When I look to the 3D graphics in your LDD I can't stop thinking about my mocs, unfortunately my computer have some problems with this... If I give you my LXF files, would you take some screenshots of my heroes?

Normally, I would take multiple screenshots of my LDD MOCs, but taking multiple screenshots for each edit I make based on suggestions would be too tedious for me. Also, almost anyone can view my MOCs from whatever angle they want to using the LXF files.

For your MOCs, I'll take up to three screenshots of each one, provided that there aren't any existing published screenshots (I wouldn't want to repeat images).

By the way, I should mention that I am in college now, so my time for these things is usually limited, and it may be a while before you get your images.

-Toa Of Justice

[Jagersmann]

Ok, I really apreciate that. We have the same problem (school). I don't want to cause you any kind of problems, so take pictures that you want and thanks very much. Take the screenshots with max. shadows and shines, but you know how to do it. Here is the link with the 5 files: My link

Edited May 20, 2011 by Jagersmann

[Toa_Of_Justice]

Ok, I really apreciate that. We have the same problem (school). I don't want to cause you any kind of problems, so take pictures that you want and thanks very much. Take the screenshots with max. shadows and shines, but you know how to do it. Here is the link with the 5 files: My link

Your Brickshelf gallery is not yet public. Could you PM me with direct links to each LXF file please? In your Brickshelf gallery, right-click each LXF file, select an option such as "Copy shortcut" or "Copy link address", then paste each link into the message. Thanks in advance.

-Toa Of Justice