Hero Factory 2013

[Nike2032]

Loving the theme as a whole, especially Furno XL, but can't help but feel disappointed by the lack of new pieces. The cape on furno is great since we haven't had one since Vezon,

though I'm not too sure if it fits Hero Factory. Not to mention, how did we get so lucky to see clear images of the sets rather than preliminary ones.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Nike2032

[Gatanui]

I'm loving next year's line of sets. Furno looks especially awesome! But I just hope his lower chest isn't hollow, that crotch is so far away from his bone-piece.

I must say, I love the simplistic look of the heroes (especially Rocka!!), cept' for Bulk and his drill-thing... One thing I can't shrug off is the fact that these heroes kinda look like those prototype tall Bionicle STAR sets that were commercialized.

Lovin' the new chest piece too! With the claw-things pointing at the hero core and all.

I hope that dome piece is removable (which it'll probably be).

I LOVE THEM BRAINZ

Why thankyou :3

Those weren't official prototypes, they were cheap 3D models made by the TV channel that broadcast those horrible ads.

Okay...this is weird.

Breez: Breez looks quite nice. Nice transparent cladding, I am quite fond of her weapon and the new main torso piece is beautiful. The large amount of silver doesn't even bug me too much. However, why the heck did they give her only size-3 cladding on the lower legs, which are of the longer length? O.o

Bruizer: Not too bad, actually. A highly coherent and successful rock look. I'm not a great fan of that much grey on one set, but the overall design is quite appealing.

Bulk: Seriously, that drill is one of the most ridiculous weapons I've ever seen. Plus, he looks bland and has a weird nose. Transparent cladding is great, though.

Furno XL: Now that's more like it! :D Transparent cladding, awesome shield and awesome cape. I'm also glad he didn't get a mega chest like Stormer, it wouldn't have suited him. What does bug me, though, is that he doesn't look like he's worth 20 EUR/USD.

Ogrum: Seriously, that thing is SO UGLY. Admittedly, the dark and trans-green cladding and the brown pieces are quite nice, but his face and his mace are awful. He looks way too organic for a HF figure.

Pyrox: What's this even? Funny horns, strange face and horrible pose? Black Ben 10 piece, trans-orange Savage Planet system claws and the (dark?) red cladding are good, though, but not good enough for me to like this guy.

Rocka: Simply and plainly wonderful. I realize the design is "sword" of generic (sorry for the lame pun :P), but the trans-green blade and cladding and the golden shield and cladding are gorgeous. One of the best HF Heroes ever and an instant buy.

Scarox: This set shouts Waspix all the way through, but considering it's a small set as opposed to Waspix it's considerable they managed to pull that of. Gold pieces are nice, as well as the trans-green fangs.

Overall, though, I still find this wave kind of disappointing. Not sure I'm going to buy more than two this time around. Lots of great recolours, but the number of actual new molds is sobering. Still, it could have been worse, I guess. Maybe the story will turn out convincing.

-Gata

[lemmyfan396]

It surprises me nobody actually mentioned the neat sword of Rocka.Really love that one,even though it's a 1 pieced sword...

Edit : Until I saw Gatanui's post above me xD

Edited October 11, 2012 by lemmyfan396

[Dorek]

Lol, I was going to comment, but forgot to. Definitely dig Rocka's sword. I like the Rocka set overall because it's very simple and streamlined. Takes the best parts of the smaller Hero sets from previous waves and uses them, but with a poseable, fun set. Also with a freaking awesome sword. Shield probably could have done without the spikes, but hey, he's Rocka. He wants spikes, he gets spikes.

[CabooseBM]

It really feels like Scarox needed another pass on the design stage, he just looks so bad...

Everyone else is great though, keep up the great work TLG. I like how we were talking about a lack of 4m shell colors earlier, and here's this wave with an abundance of them.

[Phantoka_Chirox]

I'm pretty sure that the villains get their eye color from those brain muncher things if it isn't obvious enough, so they double as headpieces, no?

[Dorek]

It really feels like Scarox needed another pass on the design stage, he just looks so bad...

Everyone else is great though, keep up the great work TLG. I like how we were talking about a lack of 4m shell colors earlier, and here's this wave with an abundance of them.

Not to mention that they took peoples raves about Stringer's trans cladding seriously.

[CabooseBM]

My theory on the heads is that this wave is the return of the Ordeal of Fire style heads, with the transparent helm/Bralien as the top and the original hemet-y bits being the middle connector part.

Edited October 11, 2012 by CabooseBM

[Rocketbilly]

I'm of mixed opinion about these sets. The heroes will be good to modify completley - their weapons aren't impressive to me, they all look a little flimsy but with some tweaks they could be ok, if a tad generic. The aliens are nicer, I like them. They could still do with some minor tweaks but nothing too major in my opinion. Furno XL....well he looks too cluttered. Sadly I feel Hero Factory has gone the routeo f many Bionicle sets of old - too many weapons tacked on and too much silver. Still, I can find a lot of redeeming features and when we get reviews/more pictures then I might find more to like.

I expect a good chunk of these pieces (Furno's cape, some of the sword pieces, less brightly coloured cladding) will turn up in the Legends of Chima Constraction figures that we're apparently going to get.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Rocketbilly

[Shakar]

Why thankyou :3

You're welcome, just be sure to post when Trollestia isn't around.

Well, these look very...different. As others said, a more organic approach, especially/mostly one the villains, which I actually happen to like less. See, I prefer a futuristic approach to constraction sets, that's why I liked 2.0 more than 3.0.

I actually prefer the Heroes both from an aesthetic point and a parts one. Lots of silver (why do people complain about it is beyond me, we're in dire need of silver in HF) and transparent pieces, wohoo! The gem is Furno- so badass!

Is it just me or is Ogrum using earth green? And Pyrox dark red? If so YES! I never was a huge fan of brown but hey- call me surprised, especially since I do remember having said "brown isn't coming back, simple as that". I wish they looked a bit taller- I find hard to believe Pyrox is supposed to be a 13 Euro figure.

Anyway, I love all the new parts- great weapons, interesting Hero helmets, lots of wonderful recolours. It'll take a bit to get used to the way these sets look, but I'm sure I'll be excited for them all in a month or so. I'll probably analyze these in major detail later or tomorrow.

[Algernon]

After taking a closer look at the sets, I gotta say that I'm tempted to pick some of them up (rare for me - never was a huge fan of HF).

That said, the only ones that tempt me are Furno XL and Bruizer. Furno just looks awesome though, especially with that cape and mask. Bruizer appeals to me because I like the elemental theme he has, and the set is just nicely designed.

I miss canisters though.

[exxtrooper]

Don't really know what to expect, but I do like that we finally got some pictures at last. Is anyone else a bit disappointed by the lack of "launchers"? I guess they gave up on the zamor launchers?

[Aanchir]

Heroes from favorite to least favorite:

1. Furno XL: Somewhat simple legs and arms, but a very unique torso and complex weapon designs. Capes are always a good thing, and the medieval knight look is pulled off effectively without taking away from Hero Factory's trademark sci-fi tone.
   The sword has a nice new piece for the hilt, also in Pyrox. The new hero helmets are brilliant in how well they echo the classic helmets without feeling redundant-- with one exception which I'll mention below.
   The new torso shell is neat, though its use here creates the main flaw of the set: the lack of armor on the crotch. TLG should design some armor to connect to the lower ball joint of a Hero torso already-- it'd be great for MOCs that include waist articulation as well as for letting official sets use separate armor for the upper and lower body, allowing more diversity in armor styles and figure height.
   
2. Rocka: Again, not too complex, but that's how I like it. 4M Warm Gold and Titanium Metallic (assuming they're not just silver) shells are a great asset. Helmet is nice. Weapons are great, although with these sets using the big Captain America shield element I'm surprised none of them have it printed. New torso shell looks just fine on the smaller heroes, though I don't see any signs of back armor.
   
3. Breez: Great design and another creative custom weapon, although this time the weapon uses Technic pins that will make it flexible, which could be somewhat awkward in real life. 4M Transparent Bright Green shells are neat although Transparent Fluorescent Green would be more useful with many of the parts we already have. Lower legs could use cladding that offers some more coverage, but otherwise the armor situation seems OK.
   
4. Bulk: This is the only Hero helmet I don't like. The chin sorta-kinda echoes his classic helmet, but then he's got that weird-looking nose... I'm already kind of warming up to it though, so I guess it's just the fact that his helmet looks the least like his classic one that made the nose seem so distasteful.
   His weapons are also mediocre. The drill needs some more bulk to it (no pun intended) if it's going to seem substantial, and the shield lacks any extra details like Rocka's has. I have no problem with the flick-fire missile launcher attached to the drill except that it doesn't make the drill any less boring (again, no pun intended).
   Bulk does offer 3M Transparent Orange shells, though it's hard to tell if they're Tr. Fluor. Reddish Orange or Tr. Bright Orange. The former would be more useful, but if it's the latter he also offers one in 5M on his shoulder. The Silver Metallic shell detail on his shoulder is also quite nice, though the armor on his legs feels a bit skimpy.

Villains from favorite to least favorite:

1. Bruizer: My goodness, this guy is brilliant. I don't really like how none of the new villains feel especially robotic, but this guy's rocky aesthetic is carried out magnificently. The asymmetry of his design is much more cohesive than Nitroblast or Drilldozer's asymmetry IMO, and his right arm reminds me of Hellboy (though that may be because I picked up and read the first Hellboy graphic novel last month when it was on sale at a local comic shop). Moreover, the guy perfectly captures the personality of a lumbering behemoth who eats rocks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
   The brain-slug-bug-things are very neat-looking, and I hope they're as flexible as the promotional images make them look. I also hope that they and the villain mask elements can be integrated well with other LEGO pieces other than each other.
   
2. Pyrox: Again, the mask doesn't feel especially sci-fi in design, but it still looks nice and integrates well with the brain-slug-whatever. This guy has a nice color scheme and makes good use of other parts from this wave. The poses of all the sets this wave are pretty questionable.
   Here you can see the cool new hilt piece that would have been excellent for Stormer XL's sword. It's incorporated into an imaginative weapon that also uses elements from Furno XL and looks a lot more formidable than Bulk's oddly-proportioned drill.
   
3. Ogrum: This fellow here is a mixed bag. He uses Reddish Brown and Earth Green, colors I totally didn't expect to see used in Hero Factory but which are well-integrated. He's got a symmetrical design but still a very organic flavor.
   The things that really bother me about him are his mask (which is nice, but like the others almost feels like it belongs in a totally different theme than Hero Factory), his awkward fingerless right hand, and the way the bulky hands and spindly feet, each of which would have been alright on their own, totally fail to work together.
   
4. Scarox: I was going to rate this guy higher than Ogrum, but on closer examination... no. He does feel a lot like Waspix, but if you eliminated the effectiveness of that set's proportions and replaced it with awkward, non-cohesive Technic constructions and a severe deficit of elbows. The color scheme is also organized somewhat awkwardly, and just draws further attention to how bare-bones this set is.

Overall, these sets are a bit hit-and-miss, and certainly fail to surpass the brilliance of the two Breakout waves. At the same time, they do continue to demonstrate innovation, so hopefully that will prove useful for MOCs and future waves of sets.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Aanchir

[Jouster]

So, opinion time

Breez: Dig the overall look, and I really love the trans armor on her. It's really lessthanthree.

Bulk:What a silly looking set. He looks like a miner, and the helmet under the visor reminds me of something ripped off from a bad cartoon with mechs. Still, decent looking set.

Rocka:Me gusta the gladiator look, and the green sword is <3

Furno XL: Sir William Furno XL. That is all~ (I also dig the new stuff on him, especially dat cape <3)

Pyrox: Diablo? Is that you? But, a really nice set, though, it could use some improvements.

Ogrum: Ugly. set. But, it has nice recolors.

Bruizer: ROCK GOLEM. AWW YIS. I simply love this set. It's really, really, really rad. And the grey. ALL OF IT.

Scarox: Cthulhu spider. Yep. But I dig the face and the gold.

[Gatanui]

Ogrum: This fellow here is a mixed bag. He uses Reddish Brown and Earth Green, colors I totally didn't expect to see used in Hero Factory but which are well-integrated. He's got a symmetrical design but still a very organic flavor.

The things that really bother me about him are his mask (which is nice, but like the others almost feels like it belongs in a totally different theme than Hero Factory), his awkward fingerless right hand, and the way the bulky hands and spindly feet, each of which would have been alright on their own, totally fail to work together.

That's his left hand. :P Why even the right hand has only three and not all four fingers is beyond me.

-Gata

[wghost]

Well, I'm suprised how different this wave feels compared to the previous ones. (Although I have to admit, it shouldn't be a surprise as, apart from the Breakout year, every wave had a different approach aesthetics-wise.). Sadly, it just doesn't work for me - the sets feel uninspired and strained. There are a few nice new pieces and recolors, though, especially the new fire/flame motif.

Edited October 11, 2012 by wghost

[Shakar]

Trollestia just realized that the sets have to use the Glatorian head, at least Pyrox does- how else would his giant horns (that she just noticed) attach? Also, she wonders what's up with the Hero helmets: are they silver 1.0 helmets with a part chopped off?

Edited. I forgot a part of the sentence.

Yeah, Trollestia hacked my account. I'll return shortly with a in depth pictorial analysis.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Shakar

[VBBN]

(Oh look, I'm still alive! I'll bet you all though I disappeared. Maybe not. Oh well I feel loved anyway)

Anyway, these are some...Interesting looking figures.

Weird thing is, I'm diggin' them. They are certainly a bit more goofy in some respects (brain attack? On robots? Wouldn't that be like, core attack?) However I like their designs. The heroes look more roughed up and more visually interesting. Villains are okay, liking the fact there's brown and gray, and scarox has a lovely face.

Though I'm not sure what's going on with furno...

Or shall I say Count Furno?

Evil Dr. Infurno?

Lord Furnace?

The Caped Furnanator?

[Dorek]

I just hope that the Heroes themselves come with brain slugs, like the villains this year had hero cores.

[Omicron Squad Leader]

To be honest, the only set I truly like is Bruizer. The others just seem unoriginal or bland to me. Others are obviously free to enjoy them, I just... don't.

[Kalhiki]

Okay. Thoughts: (favorite to least favorite)

Heroes:

Rocka: He looks fantastic. He may be a little bland, but I feel what he does have is wonderful. The bladed shield invokes Tahu Mistika's weapon, and that blade. that blade. It's glorious. I can't wait to see what it looks like under a black light.

Breez: Another wonderful looking set. The saw blade shield is a cool use of the piece. Breez seems to enjoy slicey weapons. Not sure about the other weapon, though. I belive it's hooked together with pins, which is really a downside.

Furno XL: He would be perfect... If he had Stormer XL's legs. These just seem too thin. Almost like Lego's saying "hey, we got friction joints. To show how effective they are, we're going to make incredibly thin legs that can support the body". The body, however, looks very creative. But I can't help but notice the lack of crotch armor. I'm loving the Hero Factory logo on the shield. The cape makes no sense to me, though. Reserve capes for the villains, in my opinion. I'll be taking that off for MoCing.

Bulk: Ugh. We need 1.0 Bulk back. He really has nothing going for him .The shield is bland (Rocka had blades, Breez and the saw, Furno's is awesome), and that drill. Maybe if they strapped Nitroblast's flamethrower piece onto it it'd be better. And the square shoulder armor piece doesn't look all that great on a size 5 shell.

Villains:

Pyrox: It's the devil. And I love it. The fact that he looks like the devil or a demon is just great. Everything from color, to claw, to horns is great. And the Piraka vibe coming off of him is wonderful since I loved the Piraka.

Bruizer: Close call between him and Pyrox. I love the rock arm he has is cool and well executed making it appear the rock is fused to a metal body. Don't like the lack of a chest piece on him. Makes him seem flat. And that dagger is just out of place.

Ogrum and Scarox tie for last. They both have strong points, but both have weak points. Ogrum has way too organic of a face. Organic is fine, but... Eh. The hands are weird and invoke the ultrabuild Hulk. Glad to see brown is a set, and the mace is what I expected to come since Black Phantom.

Scarox may have a great head design that's very creepy, but whan you look at the rest of him, he's not that great. He looks like a wannabe Waspix, but due to a limit on pieces, the arms and legs were horribly shortened. I suppose it's possible, though, to switch up some of the bones to lengthen the legs, but only give him two arms (if you were to only use the pieces in the set). I also see some Hordika heads on his back arms.

Overall, not the greatest wave, but still pretty decent. The Heroes are far superior to the villains as a whole. I like the look of the brain slugs too. Very Kraata-esque.

Looking forward to getting my hands on these.

Kalhiki

[vexorian]

They would make sense as a new theme or as a Bionicle reboot. But they don't really fit in HF. Will likely be buying many of these buy only for the bricks. I don't like that the heroes all have the same face :/

Edited October 11, 2012 by vexorian

[Shakar]

So, I took control of my account again, though Trollestia is forcing me to keep this avatar. Oh well.

I finished the analysis, or shall we say "Look, a recoloured piece!" (blue text) and "Look, a new piece!" (purple). I realized writing walls of texts nitpicking stuff tired me, so I went for a more visual approach. Maybe you guys didn't notice something that I did notice. :3 Everything is circled, from the more obvious things (A CAPE!) to the less obvious ones.

1)Breez+Bruizer

2)Bulk+Ogrum

3)Rocka+Scarox

4)Pyrox+Furno XL

In general, these have a lot of great parts, but I do admit that I like the Breakout sets better for now. I guess it goes like this:

1)Furno

2)Bulk

3)Rocka/Breez

1)Bruizer

2)Pyrox

3)Scarox/Ogrum.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Shakar

[Mesonak]

May as well give my opinions in a written format rather than audio.

As a preface, I actually do enjoy this theme. It's not my favorite (that title goes to Breakout), or my second (Savage Planet), but I do enjoy it more than OoF/RotR. The villains have an interesting organic feel to them, and the heroes' designs, while a bit lackluster in some areas, are certainly unique enough to grab my interest.

Furno XL - My favorite version of Furno released thus far, and leaps and bounds better than Stormer XL. He's a bit simplistic for a titan, but his overall appearance is far less flawed than Stormer's (no gappy legs, no overly wide torso armor, etc.). He's not without flaws; the way the torso is constructed looks awfully gappy, and the armor is too small to cover his torso fully. But his look overall is very solid. And I love that sword.

Breez - I don't like this version of Breez. The colors seem far too cluttered, with the random brown, transparent green, dark green, and silver messing up her established color scheme. Speaking of colors, I strongly dislike how while all the other heroes have modified versions of their original headpieces in their original colorsm, Breez's helmet is silver. Why was this necessary, exactly? Her lower legs are also too long for that particular armor piece to cover them properly. Still, I like her weapons. But this doesn't hold a candle to Breakout Breez in terms of representing her character.

Bulk - Pretty solid set overall. I've got few problems with this version of Bulk, except for the orange hand, especially if it turns out that his cladding is transparent rather than flat orange. Should've been silver, but alas. He's alright.

Rocka - Very good, IMO. His colors work, as do his weaponry, and for some reason I just really like the choice of armor they used for his arms and legs. Makes the model flow really nicely. I also quite like his bladed shield.

Overall the heroes manage to impress me, except for Breez. While being inferior to their Breakout versions (except Furno), they manage to look unique enough to grab my interest.

Bruizer - Love the way this guy is designed. The new "rock" piece looks awesome, and he manages to keep a consistent theme throughout, which I love. Set just oozes personality, and I love it.

Pyrox - Another set that I think they pulled off very well. Looks fearsome, has a good weapon for his character, and the return of dark red is quite welcome. Is that blood dripping from his mouth?

Ogrum - Not my favorite of the villains, but he manages to win me over for his recolors alone. Didn't think we'd ever see brown again in HF. I think this guy pulls his theme off really well, and for that, I can't really dislike him.

Scarox - Easily the weakest of the Brain Attack sets, and my least favorite HF set in quite a while. Looks very uninspired. Unnecessary technic to attach his second set of limbs creates a really cluttered look, and the barebone limbs don't work for him as they did for XT4. The gold claws are awesome, however, and I'll be acquiring quite a few of that specific piece.

The villains, while definitely different from past waves of HF with their organic-looking designs, manage to win me over in the end, providing a nice slew of new/recolored pieces and some interesting designs. Overall, I'm impressed.

This wave has potential to be pretty great, but as a follow up to Breakout... I'm not sure just yet if the theme will hold up as well. Can't wait to acquire some of these sets for myself and see some more of the story.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Mesonak

[Jetrax99]

Furno XL is definitely my favorite. And I'm pleased to see he has his own build, which I was hoping for. Also great to see they have new helmets.

The other heroes are all good. Totally gonna be getting this entire collection. My only big problem with Furno is that his feet are too small. But that's easily fixed.

As for the villains, not really liking how Scarox suffers from no-real-hand syndrome, and Ogrum and Bruizer could use some fingers instead of having the claw base being a blank useless fist like Hulk. So far Pyrox looks the best. Nonetheless, I'm still geting them all. I really want those brain creatures to be cousins of the Daleks. MAKE IT SO, LEGO!

Also, if this turns out being like breakout and spans the entire year, what if we don't see Stormer?