Hero Factory 2012

[MightySlickPancake]

I took precautions and backed them up; priority number one this time of year.

Heroes

Villains

Thnak you so, so much . I missed the orgional pics.

Most of these seem really cool! Im not an action figure expert so, I wont say too much about there looks - But roll on 2012!

Thanks, CB

[Jouster]

I noticed something...the canisters use zippers...This is...No comment.

[Mesonak]

I think that's just part of the cover art; notice the zipper motif on the Hero's page.

If it is true, however, that's awesome.

[vexorian]

Classic Looking Masks

CLASSIC LOOKING MASKS

Why wouldn't they do this with the toa? Wow. This is great to be honest. Rocka and Furno are looking interesting. I have hopes for Evo to improve. The villains ... most of them are me. Phantom is quite like a skinny firelord. Jawblade's shape makes no sense. Splitface's concept is great , but I don't like the double-color piece and is otherwise just nitroblast. Thornaxxx and Toxic are GREAT for pieces though.

I really welcome the ditching of canisters and how there are three big heroes and two small ones.

Hopefully the "canisters" are actually strong bags. That would make them very useful and at least a ton better than canisters.

Edit: If you notice, SplitFace is probably going to cost the same as the larger heroes. And the other villains sans Phantom will cost the same as the smaller heroes.

Edited September 14, 2011 by vexorian

[Cap'n Kopaka]

2012 thread time? O:

I was shocked to see these all of a sudden. Just like every other leak I guess >3<

But seeing the classic helmets was the biggest surprise since Bionicle Stars.

[Mr. Gundam]

Hey, I enjoyed reading the comments about these! I'm very impress with the heroes more individual builds. Villains been doing that since HF started, so I'm happy the heroes match up well. Since this is beta (thanks to Black Phantom). These sets are up for change in the next 4-5 months. Depending on if you like the design already or want a few changes. I'm part of the latter, I want to get rid of the 1.0 pieces and possibly finalizing the new launchers....Possibly

I LOVE the heroes tho, new shields look interesting. Seems the claws on Rocka's launcher are bendable. I'm a bit disappointed they didn't use the new Hero's Head but its still in beta.

As for the Villains, Toxic Reapa is the best one to me. Overall thornraxx and Jawblade are probably going to sell the most base on their unique designs. I'll admit though, Toxic and splitface remind me of Corroder and Thunder respectfully. If you look back at Corroder and thunder pics, while ignoring the color. Build is striking similar.

Don't have anything to say about the Black Phantom, except DON'T LOSE THE MACE

[Dorek]

*stops buying Savage Planet sets*

Very interesting pictures, I must say. Not entirely sure how I feel about the reuse of the 1.0 helmets, but if they're in the 2.0 style (bars instead of pegs) I think it would be fun to have the ability to play around with that.

Dunno if anybody's thought this, but personally, I think all of this points to the end of HF, or at the very least, a culmination of the previous chapters. There's the obvious breakout theme; paves the way for the reintroduction of old villains, which is clearly evidenced by the resemblance they all have to past enemies: Thunder+XPlode=twoface, random fangz hound lookalike, Corroder/Meltdown combo, and Thornraxx is Rotor and something else, not to mention Black Phantom, who is clearly a Von Nebula/Fire Lord Hybrid (and maybe Witch Doctor, with that weird blaster?). Something I had wondered a while back when they announced a one hour TV special for 2012 was when they would feasibly end the series, and a two year, four story wave run seems respectable. More than likely the villains all fuse together somehow, break out (which is a story theme I had decidedly hoped they would apply, though admittedly I would have liked a few other themes beforehand), forcing the HF to turn into awesome bounty hunters.

Any which way, I'm definitely gonna be picking a lot of these up. Shame Black Phantom has another body rehash of Fire Lord (even though I've personally grown to like it a lot) but it makes sense if it is indeed a VN/FL fusion in-story, and those armor pieces are glorious. Some of the Heroes are a little over the top (Breez and Surge) but Rocka and Furno are solid, interesting designs. The villains all look really interesting, and I absolutely love the differing canister sizes. HF already broke the mold on that one by having the Heroes be smaller sets and varying villain box sizes this year, but taking it one step further is so cool.

Also, this whole line is a parts heaven.

[Aanchir]

So uhm... What's to say about the 4.0 heroes?

- Upgraded Thornaxmeteorlavaball launchers. Nice detail. But WHY THE HELL IS ROCKA'S LAUNCHER'S LOWER HALF NOT GOLD!?!?!

- No Stormer. Guess that makes Furno the leader.

- Cuffs??? PRISON BREAK!!!

- Black Phantom??? Srsly, he's just a skinny black version of Fire Lord. Already owned FL, so NO.

- Why are Surge and Evo still midgets???

- Arrrgh, Evo and Rocka have no melee weapons.

- From the set backgrounds, it seems like each hero will go solo to different areas to catch criminals.

Wait... that means Furno is going underwater.

That also means we get: Furno vs. Jawblade, Surge vs. Splitface, Breez vs. Thornraxx (ugh the name), Evo vs. Toxic Reapa and Rocka vs. Black Phantom. Once again, Rocka hogs the big bad boss to himself.

Well, maybe I'll get Rocka. Or Surge.

Furno going underwater, combined with his overall design, immediately reminds me of 8111 River Dragon. Not that that's a bad thing.

I think that's just part of the cover art; notice the zipper motif on the Hero's page.

If it is true, however, that's awesome.

Agreed, because TLG might have finally found a middle ground that satisfies both criticisms and praising of canisters. If the containers are "soft containers", which the shape sort of suggests, then they can be collapsible and thus not take up as much space as canisters (a frequent criticism of canister-based packaging). But if they are sturdy enough to be re-sealed, then they still fulfill the same storage function as canisters. The only problem with them then is that unlike canisters and boxes, they are not stackable. This is almost definite seeing as they have "hooks" at the top to be placed on hanging racks in stores. But I'm sure it's a small sacrifice for those of us who stacked our canisters to consider alternate storage solutions for these new sets.

I think the zipper motif could be stylistic, but because there's an actual zipper pull depicted on the box art that suggests to me that it's meant to show off the resealable nature of the packaging.

Classic Looking Masks

CLASSIC LOOKING MASKS

Why wouldn't they do this with the toa? Wow. This is great to be honest. Rocka and Furno are looking interesting. I have hopes for Evo to improve. The villains ... most of them are me. Phantom is quite like a skinny firelord. Jawblade's shape makes no sense. Splitface's concept is great , but I don't like the double-color piece and is otherwise just nitroblast. Thornaxxx and Toxic are GREAT for pieces though.

I really welcome the ditching of canisters and how there are three big heroes and two small ones.

Hopefully the "canisters" are actually strong bags. That would make them very useful and at least a ton better than canisters.

Edit: If you notice, SplitFace is probably going to cost the same as the larger heroes. And the other villains sans Phantom will cost the same as the smaller heroes.

Regarding the masks, I think that this is a much different case than BIONICLE... note that many people who wanted classic masks on BIONICLE characters disliked the complexity of the newer masks those characters were given. In the cases of 2.0 and 3.0 heroes, though, the newer masks tended to be simpler in design, with widgets like microphones and antennae placed on the helmet accessory pieces for the 2.0 heroes and completely absent from the 3.0 heroes. So rather than going back to a simpler visual design we're going back to a more complex and intricate one. That's just my perspective, of course.

By the way, I love Thornraxx's design even more now that I realize his head is the same piece as Black Phantom's "bug blaster". All the villains are very creative, besides Black Phantom (but being an earlier prototype than the others pictured, it's hard to tell what might change in his design). As of right now, Black Phantom has the same problem as Witch Doctor, but to an even worse degree, as his design makes no progress whatsoever. At least Witch Doctor showed creative improvement of a sort. So did Rocka XL, even though Rocka XL had about as many negative changes to the design as positive ones. But this guy is basically a hybrid of Fire Lord and Rocka XL with most of the flaws from both and no really new ideas.

The heroes are mostly excellent in my opinion. Things that bother me include the return to Glatorian heads (might be alleviated if they have reinforced joints), the increased size, and the fact that TLG no longer seems to be bothering to approximate Hero Core and eye colors from past lines. That last one's not really a problem for any of the heroes but Evo... besides him, all of the Heroes at least have one of their old Hero Core colors somewhere in their color schemes. His lack of purple isn't a problem for me because I desperately want purple parts, but rather because I want consistency.

By the way, another thing I like here is the occasional use of System, for instance on Breez's leg-jets or Toxic Reapa's back-canisters. It demonstrates for me that the designers won't rule that sort of thing out from the beginning, instead leaving that option available.

[vexorian]

I didn't think the heroes use Glatorian heads. I was excited because I thought that they are remaking the masks in the new format and releasing the new heads in trans color. Though now that I think about it, there is no way to confirm or debunk this.

---

Here's a theory:

The villains are combinations of previous HF villains.

Case in point:

Phantom : Firelord + Nebula + Doctor

Toxic Reapa: Meltdown + Corroder

Splitface : Nitroblast + Thunder

Thornrax: Waspix + Rotor

Jawblade: RawJaw + Vapor.

It would make sense since it seems like this is a prison break arc, so what about an accident causes the prisoners to fusion and unleash?

Edited September 14, 2011 by vexorian

[MrSebi]

Not sure how to feel about the new Hero sets, I got a lot of the new style heads, so this kinda messes up the consistency of my MOCs.

That said, I do hope that:

A: They improve the original glatorian heads.

B: New masks for Furno, Breez and Surge, seriously. The old ones are amazing, but give us something new!

[Bfahome]

There are definitely some preliminary designs in there, so I expect some of the more SYSTEM-based aspects may change.

However, I like what I see. I like it very much. The cuff pieces look great, and so do the new launcher halves. And I hope there's a new head mold and not the same Glatorian heads of old. And I hope that some of the the BIONICLE parts are used in the final sets.

Hero design-wise, from what I can see at least, Breez and Evo are my favorites. They seem less cluttered than the others.

For the villains, Toxic Reapa gets all my love. He's like Meltdown but better.

But there needs to be more consistency in the Hero core designs.

Edited September 14, 2011 by Bfahome

[Dorek]

There are definitely some preliminary designs in there, so I expect some of the more SYSTEM-based aspects may change.

I dunno, I can see the system being employed. They did that with BIONICLE canister sets in later years, like Nuparu Mahri's back "air cylinders". With the excessive use of pins in the new HF style, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they got more system additions.

[MrSebi]

What I'm hoping is that these new sets are an attempt to mix the classic and new systems.

Still, here's hoping that the sales aren't low enough that they stop selling after these models. Usually three collections is the danger point for lego sets (Exo-Force, Knights Kingdom, etc) Sets tend to be removed from production after that.

[Gokey]

Everything looks pretty sick!

The largest villain is the worst imo though :(

Hopefully hes incomplete!

[Bfahome]

I dunno, I can see the system being employed. They did that with BIONICLE canister sets in later years, like Nuparu Mahri's back "air cylinders". With the excessive use of pins in the new HF style, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they got more system additions.

I was talking about things like Breez's ankle rockets or Furno's spear thing, since they don't seem to fit all that well, at least to me. I know there's going to be some SYSTEM like Reapa's tanks.

Also why am I only just noticing that Surge and Evo are smaller then the other heroes. And that Evo is lacking his purple. Oh well.

[Antrozek]

Now these are sure beautiful, the villains have amazing well done designs, Black Panthom may be kinda weak and bland, but I like the choice of colors and overall design, and his staff.

Toxic Reapa is by far my favourite villain to date, couldn't even resist drawing him asdasf picture

and the Heroes, they look amazing, Im still getting used to the old helmets of William, Mark and Natalie, I wished they had the same 1.0 helmets, but stilized to fit the new body upgrade better, just like with rocka and Evo, I gotta say Evo is totally my favourite of the heroes, he looks serious as his character, I may purchase him if I get the money hehe

[Cyrix]

Sorry I don't have the scan yet Dorek; my week's turning out to be a bit more busy than I had anticipated.

Anyways, my thoughts on the pictures:

The villains (save Black Phantom) look pretty good. They're solid in design and have a whole assortment of new pieces. My favorite by far would be Toxic Reapa, because I love that helmet. :D However, Black Phantom looks worse than Fire Lord in that he's just plain messy.

As for the Heroes, I have mixed feelings. It looks as if Breez and Evo are nice, solid, and not gappy, but Furno and Rocka look a bit too cluttered for my likes. It's hard to say anything about Surge, because it's hard to see very much from his given picture. The new chest piece and Hero Core are a bit unexpected; I feel indifferent towards them.

So, all in all, I think that 2012 will be a pretty good year. These are just the preliminary pictures, anyways, so I can't really make complete assumptions about them yet.

Edited September 14, 2011 by Cyrix

[vexorian]

I was talking about things like Breez's ankle rockets or Furno's spear thing, since they don't seem to fit all that well, at least to me. I know there's going to be some SYSTEM like Reapa's tanks.

Also why am I only just noticing that Surge and Evo are smaller then the other heroes. And that Evo is lacking his purple. Oh well.

I am quite sure those system pieces will stay and are even intended.

Note how ever since HF 2.0, the system bricks have increased. 2.0 Seemed to me like an attempt to move from technic towards system in Hero Factory. One of the ways that can be seen is by replacing cross sockets with rod sockets. In fact, ever since the beginning of HF, they tried to use more smooth pieces which are more compatible with system in look.

I think it only makes sense to further replace things like the technic canisters with system cyclinders. And these pieces clearly do not crash the design but complement it.

Also, although Reapa could have used the 2.0 fire pieces, they prefered to use standard system large fire. Which tells me that there is an active intention towards this.

Edited September 14, 2011 by vexorian

[Cap'n Kopaka]

...I just noticed something

>new torso includes rugged manly 6-pack

>Breez has new torso

Usually I don't care about female characters looking boxy because there's no point in adding feminine characteristics to the female in a group of androgynous robots, but when the body mimics the male human body... this might be sorta weird. A female character with a shirtless male body. O.o

[Vinyl Scratch]

...I just noticed something

>new torso includes rugged manly 6-pack

>Breez has new torso

Usually I don't care about female characters looking boxy because there's no point in adding feminine characteristics to the female in a group of androgynous robots, but when the body mimics the male human body... this might be sorta weird. A female character with a shirtless male body. O.o

Can't unsee.

But screw it, she's always a girl for me.

I wub you Breez. *hugs 1.0 toy*

[Aanchir]

I was talking about things like Breez's ankle rockets or Furno's spear thing, since they don't seem to fit all that well, at least to me. I know there's going to be some SYSTEM like Reapa's tanks.

Also why am I only just noticing that Surge and Evo are smaller then the other heroes. And that Evo is lacking his purple. Oh well.

You're not at all the only one to notice that. I mentioned both things in multiple posts. In fact, Evo's the main one I'm upset about with the change in Hero Core color and eye color, because there's no trace of his old colors. Furno has yellow flame print and transparent fluorescent green eyes, Breez has red torso print and transparent fluorescent reddish orange eyes, Rocka still has a white Hero Core, and Surge has lime arms and transparent fluorescent green eyes. The only one without a trace of eye or Hero Core colors he had before is Evo, and it's a little bit jarring for me.

I fully expect Breez's ankle rockets and Furno's pike to stay at this point. My reason for thinking this is that unlike Black Phantom, all of the new parts we have seen on the Hero sets look to be finalized. If the intention were to use a different, not-yet-designed part for these sections of the heroes and villains, then I'd expect to see a preliminary part design rather than an already-existing part-- especially because the Hero pics seem to be renders and so the physical existence of the new part would not be a limitation.

Anyway, why do Toxic Reapa's tanks work better for you than Breez's rockets and Furno's pike? IMO, the System parts on the Heroes work way better than Reapa's tanks because there are no obvious studs, whereas the studs on the System parts used on Reapa are almost annoyingly exposed.

...I just noticed something

>new torso includes rugged manly 6-pack

>Breez has new torso

Usually I don't care about female characters looking boxy because there's no point in adding feminine characteristics to the female in a group of androgynous robots, but when the body mimics the male human body... this might be sorta weird. A female character with a shirtless male body. O.o

I don't think that the torso piece's "six pack" is really evocative of either gender. Muscles aren't normally that well-defined on women, but they're also not normally that well-defined on men who aren't bodybuilders. It's just meant to imitate the shape of the abdominal muscles, which isn't much different between males and females-- females just tend to have more fat covering them up so they're not as well-defined.

[Bfahome]

I fully expect Breez's ankle rockets and Furno's pike to stay at this point. My reason for thinking this is that unlike Black Phantom, all of the new parts we have seen on the Hero sets look to be finalized. If the intention were to use a different, not-yet-designed part for these sections of the heroes and villains, then I'd expect to see a preliminary part design rather than an already-existing part-- especially because the Hero pics seem to be renders and so the physical existence of the new part would not be a limitation.

Anyway, why do Toxic Reapa's tanks work better for you than Breez's rockets and Furno's pike? IMO, the System parts on the Heroes work way better than Reapa's tanks because there are no obvious studs, whereas the studs on the System parts used on Reapa are almost annoyingly exposed.

Well remember that the first pic of Fire Lord we got looked finalized or nearly finalized, but he had a claw made of Exo-Force robot arms attached to a pickaxe. Pretty sure the picture looked CG, too. Not saying it will happen, but it might.

I think Reapa's tanks work better because they're round and smooth, compared to Breez's rockets which aren't smooth and have the gaps and ridges inherent in that rocket design.

[Dorek]

I was talking about things like Breez's ankle rockets or Furno's spear thing, since they don't seem to fit all that well, at least to me. I know there's going to be some SYSTEM like Reapa's tanks.

Also why am I only just noticing that Surge and Evo are smaller then the other heroes. And that Evo is lacking his purple. Oh well.

I can't imagine a prelim design like that changing too drastically. Looking at 2.0 prelim stuff, they're very close to their final designs. The most drastic thing is the Fire Lord having a hand using exo-force robot arms and orange large horn barbs (not very playable, but I built it on my set, and it does look preeeetty cool).

Yeah, Surge and Evo are smaller, but the whole differing canister size thing is too cool not to love.

Sorry I don't have the scan yet Dorek; my week's turning out to be a bit more busy than I had anticipated.

Anyways, my thoughts on the pictures:

The villains (save Black Phantom) look pretty good. They're solid in design and have a whole assortment of new pieces. My favorite by far would be Toxic Reapa, because I love that helmet. :D However, Black Phantom looks worse than Fire Lord in that he's just plain messy.

As for the Heroes, I have mixed feelings. It looks as if Breez and Evo are nice, solid, and not gappy, but Furno and Rocka look a bit too cluttered for my likes. It's hard to say anything about Surge, because it's hard to see very much from his given picture. The new chest piece and Hero Core are a bit unexpected; I feel indifferent towards them.

So, all in all, I think that 2012 will be a pretty good year. These are just the preliminary pictures, anyways, so I can't really make complete assumptions about them yet.

S'all good. You're still my only hope so far, but I'm in no hurry.

Seems like Toxic Reapa is getting a lot of love, and he's even a small set. Don't get me wrong, he's definitely one of my favorites, but it's easier to get things right with smaller sets. Plus, the new lime green limbs, if those are staying, definitely help his cause. I'm defnitely looking forward to Jawblade; hands aside, that design looks very interesting, and that shark head is wub. Thornraxx has his appeal too (not in the name, obviously); three limbs interests me. Also teal. Split-Face is a brilliant concept, but we'll see how well it's pulled off. I like Black Phantom for the skeletal style, even if the body is a rehash of Fire Lord, and that mace is tight. I hope the sandpaper style of his armor stays, but I know that it never does...

[Bundalings]

I haven't been this excited for a new wave in many years. And since I am less excitable now, that is saying something. I'm only four sets shy of completing my Savage Planet collection... but I think I'll be skipping them now.

Rocka, Breez, Thornraxx and Reapa are my favorites currently. All the other small and medium sets look great, too. Here's hoping they give the Glatorian heads and the Avtoran feet Reapa's using a new mold. I really appreciate Evo's new head, it looks like they put effort into it to make it look like his 2.0 helmet.

I guess it's too late to hope Black Phantom gets a complete redesign. :(

edit: woo count

Edited September 14, 2011 by Bundalings

[Kenta]

Two words.. Thornraxx... Teal!

I hope the heroes and Black Phantom are prototypes.