Hero Factory 2012

[Masked Builder]

I found most of the new guys at my Toys"R"Us. No Furno though, it was hard to resist the urge to buy Evo and Rocka though.

[Brickthing]

More reviews are on their way, once I get some decent sunlight. It's supposed to be summer in New Zealand.

[SpiderSpaceman]

More reviews are on their way, once I get some decent sunlight. It's supposed to be summer in New Zealand.

Building in the bag much?

[Nightcruise]

More reviews are on their way, once I get some decent sunlight. It's supposed to be summer in New Zealand.

Am I seeing teal on that figure?

[Vinyl Scratch]

Am I seeing teal on that figure?

GLORIOUS Thornraxx has GLORIOUS new-teal colour.

That's why it's GLORIOUS. [/lugnut]

[Dorek]

inb4 Aanch says "It's Dark Azure"

but yeah, it's a color called "Dark Azure" (or maybe medium Azure; it looks medium in that pic, but there is a lot of light saturation =P).

I suppose I should try eBay, or maybe I should just wait. But I soooo want the new sets ;_;

[vexorian]

I am not that excited about Teal. Mostly because the only teal pieces I see are U-joints. I already have U-joints from the throwbot era so they are strong enough. If there actually was some HF 2-0 armor in teal I would be more interested.

[TheDesuComplex]

I am not that excited about Teal. Mostly because the only teal pieces I see are U-joints. I already have U-joints from the throwbot era so they are strong enough. If there actually was some HF 2-0 armor in teal I would be more interested.

If you look closely, you can see it has 4-length bones in teal too. You know, the ones that are Dark Bley now?

Now we need more Teal Bones.

[Jouster]

The site has been update with a new mini-movie. A Rocka Vs. Black Phantom mini movie. (it has clips from the upcoming TV episode). All I can say is..HOT DAMN! Purple drilldozer villain, all the other villains escape..although Stormer's new form is kind of ugly and fat. (seriously, he looks like Hulk on steroids.) Also..Black Phantom has a french accent.

[vexorian]

If you look closely, you can see it has 4-length bones in teal too. You know, the ones that are Dark Bley now?

Now we need more Teal Bones.

I don't see them. It could be the lighting. It would be unlikely that they would begin using colored bones in just this one set. I would rather they returned to making all bones black.

[Siegfried]

Can you post an instruction shot of the Rocka-Black Phantoma combiner? I'm dying to see that (sorry Siegfried ).

Sorry, I'm pretty busy during the week. I'm assembling my last two sets now.

I don't know who came up with that idea, but the master of the big sets (e.g. Firelord, WD and Skopio XV-1), Esben, was the designer of the piece. The geometry of the surface is exactly the same as used on the Bionicle set Gorast, but it is much better in the new version where it is used on a much clearer material. The soft wings of Gorast kind of dampened the visual effect.

Erland, Part Design

Please pass on my thanks for such a cool piece!

[Aanchir]

The site has been update with a new mini-movie. A Rocka Vs. Black Phantom mini movie. (it has clips from the upcoming TV episode). All I can say is..HOT DAMN! Purple drilldozer villain, all the other villains escape..although Stormer's new form is kind of ugly and fat. (seriously, he looks like Hulk on steroids.) Also..Black Phantom has a french accent.

Best revelation in the video, for me, is that there is a new form of Stormer. Which uses the Hulk's new giant chest piece. Seeing as Stormer looks like a real set design, I'm guessing that one villain with the purple tubes and Black Phantom's helmet will also be a summer set. It strikes me as too complex a design to be just a random background character.

I look forward to seeing the TV special so I have some additional context. The giant wormhole makes me think, to my surprise, that Von Nebula (or at least his staff) will be brought up again as a plot device explaining how the villains escape to the far reaches of the galaxy. Story-wise, I'm not expecting the best storytelling, but here's hoping it will at least be less painful to watch than some scenes of Savage Planet, and will have plenty of subtle callbacks just as Savage Planet and Ordeal of Fire did in their best moments.

[Shakar]

Sorry, I'm pretty busy during the week. I'm assembling my last two sets now.

Don't worry for that. I saw the combiner shot in a Rocka review over Youtube, so I don't need it anymore. Thank you anyway. :)

By the way, I'm very glad that you're reviewing Thornraxx. He looks marvelous in that pic you posted- I really don't regret that he's part of my recent Ebay purchase (won't open the sets till Christmas though!).

So he's black..I was hoping for titanium metallic (the head in that colour would've been useful for a MOC I'm planning to build), but black is fine too. That Thornraxx/Arachnox drone head piece is awesome in whichever colour. Overall, his colour scheme is brilliant.

One thing I'm VERY happy to notice is that he indeed includes a size 4 (or is it 5? Can't tell properly) cladding piece in orange! I was kind of angry at Lego for having ignored orange during 2011 (having produced orange cladding pieces in size 3 only), and seeing this problem being fixed is great news to me.

EDIT: I just saw that video. I'm not sure if I like Stormer being that bulky :/ but that purple villain looks great. Anyway, doesn't that suggest that the Breakout theme will continue in Summer and will be an year-lenghth storyline? I hope so- this theme has lots of potential.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Shakar

[Aanchir]

Rocka, Black Phantom, and Splitface are all at shop.LEGO.com, and new pics of several sets are on cache.LEGO.com.

Jawblade

Surge

Splitface

Furno

No Breez or Thornraxx pics yet, though. Still, glad that Thornraxx review is coming along well! Great job with the bag-building!

Meanwhile, additional notes regarding the video: since the presence of a new Stormer implies that the summer HF sets will be simultaneous story-wise with the winter ones, that makes it pretty likely that yes, we will see new versions of the Heroes who didn't get new versions in the first 2012 wave. Unfortunately, only the new Stormer appears in that particular video clip.

EDIT: Also, there's a Youtube channel called Official Hero Factory, and while they don't have any new videos, they do have this lovely-- but unfortunately terribly grainy-- background image.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Aanchir

[Mesonak]

There are three things that struck me after watching that video.

1. ALL villains escape. Not just the Breakout crew. Among others, I spotted Witch doctor, Von Nebula, Fire Lord, Jetbug, Meltdown, Corroder, Xplode, Nitroblast, two Fangz (which makes no sense), and hilariously enough, a reused Furno 2.0 model. Whether they will be brought up in the plot is another question entirely, but it's nice to know they're out roaming around too.

2. Stormer's new form, likely to be a summer set. Things I've noticed are a new "ice-like' armor accessory, Hulk's chest piece with an awesome looking ice pattern, size 4 shells in white, snd size 4 shells in blue. Looks like a good set, much better than Hulk.

3. The purple armored villain. Of note are what look to be new armor shells, the new chestplate in purple without printing, and purple Mahri tubes. Looks like a cool set.

Overall, my feelings on the clip itself? They increased my expectations for Breakout, so let's hope the actual movie doesn't disappoint.

EDIT: Uploaded a snapshot of both the Purple Villain and Stormer "4.0" for those that wish to see.

EDIT #2: Added a picture which shows some of the new villain's design elements, such as his back attachment, head design, and red armor on the lower legs.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Mesonak

[Phantoka Kopaka Nuva]

Why the hell is there a Fangz in the HF prison???

Why is everybody except Rocka back to 2.0 (at the beginning anyway)???

Why is Stormer so freaking huge???

Why does Black Phantom have a French accent???

And why the hell did LEGO show us the ending of the new episode???

I'm confused.

[Shakar]

@ Aanchir: my guess is that they don't want to spoil the Summer wave- they're just giving us some sneak peeks. Lego is good at doing it.

Thank you for the S@H links! Splitface looks awesome.

Forgot to say- Furno looks much better in the movie. Some of the cladding is different (notice the size 3 cladding piece with a Villain core on the right shoulder and the slightly different looking lower arms), and they changed some parts of the colour scheme (he has orange eyes to match the tr. orange cladding piece and the white is turned into a very cool rusty silver). I love these changes, and I will use some of these ideas to modify my future Furno.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Shakar

[Phantoka Kopaka Nuva]

It just struck me that Breez wasn't in the clip AT ALL.

Considering the fact that we only have 9 known Heroes so far, is it possible we might see a new Hero in the summer? If so, hopefully a female one.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Phantoka Kopaka Nuva

[Shakar]

I swear, Breeze is a mystery to us mortals. No S@H pics of her, no out-of-box picutres either (so far)...the fact that I'm so curious is one of the reason I chose her to be part of my Ebay purchase. That, and the fact she really grew on me over the time.

[Darth Nihilus]

May someone link to said video for me? I can't find it.

@Mesonak: Both links go to the Villain.

[Mesonak]

May someone link to said video for me? I can't find it.

@Mesonak: Both links go to the Villain.

Thanks for letting me know - fixed.

And it's on the main page of http://herofactory.lego.com.

[Front]

Black Phantom, kneeling

Shouting at the small heroes

I hope you don't find the poses I put him in too stupid

CLick on the pictures to view them larger on flickr.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Front

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Wow, those look very cool! Oh yeah, in regards to what TRU said about the game being sold seperately, be assured, the video on HF states it's free at the end!

[Vinyl Scratch]

LE BLACK PHANTOMÉ

I really don't think that's the ending of the movie, where's the fun of that? And that Purple Villain gave me a deja-vu of Carnage from Spider-Man.

WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS BREEZ.

Note how Black Phantom is said to have only a saber, making no mention of his badass hammer/club.

Loving that Cyan Hero with the Breez 1.0 Helmet on the background.

And that spider-drone is so cute ;A;

Overall, I can't wait to see Breakout: The Movie.

[Shakar]

I hope you don't find the poses I put him in too stupid

Don't worry, he looks cool. I'll repeat it, BP has an amazing colour scheme. I'm glad you guys chose dark red over bright red and tr. bright green over tr. neon green. The sole things that seem off to me, aside from the small use of tr. neon green (which isn't that bad, afterall), are the dark bluish grey friction joints in upper arms and the titanium metallic shells in the feet. But aside from those, he's a beautiful flow of colours.

Also, the weapons are very creative and well made- props to whoever thought of them.

And of course, great work on the photos.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Shakar