Gatanui

What press guide? EDIT: Nevermind, I got it. But wasn't this known quite some time ago? It's part of the reason why Andrew chose to investigate. -Gata

I'm pretty sure the second one is fake, as you can see on the blurred top of the packaging. The first one is quite well made and could certainly look real - if it weren't for Irnakk's golden spine that wasn't edited away from the back. -Gata

I think I may even know what you need Breez for. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. -Gata

I think I'd love to see BIONICLE make a return as a big screen, big budget movie, or a trilogy of movies. Can you imagine the epicness of seeing the BIONICLE logo on the screen with an awesome blend of tribal and technological music in the background? :P I think it'd also be interesting to see LEGO retell the original story from a new perspective but that can easily go wrong. -Gata

I really love the sets but the series is quite awful at times. It's nice to look at but often a cringe to watch. Even more so considering it's for little kids as it doesn't offer any educational value, just hysterical, sometimes just totally nonsensical crazyness (what's up with everybody laughing all the time?). I have doubts concerning the good it can be for little children. Which is a total pity, because the sets are some of the cutest things LEGO has ever made. This said, some episodes are better than others. Cookironi is my personal favorite. -Gata

I THINK (and feel free to correct me) that the new design from 2008 was made in such a way that if the joint broke, it would still be somewhat useable due to its special shape. At least I've made the experience that pre-2008 ball sockets would be totally useless after breaking, while those with the new design would actually still stick on the ball cup with sufficient friction. -Gata

What, a 2014 polybag? Where? -Gata

I doubt LEGO would ever do that, especially when there is no reason to. There is no way every single reviewer would have accepted the money and considering there are a lot of critical critics (that sounds funny) out there it's unlikely they wouldn't have publicized it and given the movie a horrible review. Even if they didn't get a 100% rating LEGO could perfectly live with it, as kids don't check Rotten Tomatoes before watching a movie and the movie is still primarily targeted at kids. I mean, the possibility is still there, but it's just so unlikely on so many levels that I really can't see it happening. I guess the movie is just that good. -Gata

Suspicious of what? -Gata

Totally. From my experience, most kids in that age were like that (except for my brother and me, of course :P). Now everybody I know is pretty cool with it. 17 reviews on RT now, and still positive! :D EDIT: 18 NOW AND STILL 100%! -Gata

Well, there's only 12 reviews so far, so it doesn't mean too much...but judging by the reviews, I'd count with a 80%-99% rating. -Gata

12 reviews now. ;) -Gata

(I'll try to make a better one) I knew there would come a day LEGO where would do something totally weird. -Gata

No, you are not. I rarely ever have and the last time is ages ago. -Gata

The fact that the video suddenly stops midway with a distorted image makes it even more...funny, I guess. "Let's get Mixel!!!!" What the heck is that even supposed to mean? -Gata

Chima is getting really...strange in summer. I think it's the weirdest thing I've ever seen from LEGO. All those translucent pieces are awesome and a welcome addition, though a bit overused on the sets themselves in my opinion. -Gata

I've got to say, while many of these look pretty awful and sometimes plain scary, some of them have pretty neat designs for their size. That small thing with Rahkshi head, disk throwing tail and four legs looks quite neat, same for the latter two polybags from 2008 (if it weren't for the dead eyes of the one with Hydraxon face...). The 2006 Bad Guy with the Piraka head is also quite good and even gives you free light-up eyes and a Piraka head. -Gata

And here goes the next HERO Factory summer set review. Get ready because this review is going to be literally shocking! Calling all heroes! VOLTIX is on the loose from the Hero Factory and is trying to disrupt the power supply at the Tansari VI energy collection array. With a ball shooting volt blaster, dangerous lightning whip, electricity spark elements and a voltage booster switch, he's got the tools to do some real damage. Stop him before it's too late! Set name: VOLTIX Set Number: 6283 Price: 12.99 (11.99) EUR / 8.99 GBP / 12.99 USD Pieces: 61 Year of release: Summer 2012 Size: Medium Presentation/Box I hope you forgive me if I skip this part, but enough text and thoughts have been spent on the bags, which, although innovative, are not altoo spectacular either. Building There have been many complaints about Hero Factory sets being to easy to build and it seems TLG has decided to come up with a solution to at least partly silence this kind of complaints. “What does that solution look like?”, you ask? Very simple. Take a normal hero or villain, grab a couple of random Technic pieces from a bin, attach them in a halfway plausible way and... voilà: You have not only managed to justify a higher price for the set, but have also increased complexity. Sort of... Like the other medium-sized sets of this summer wave, Voltix is way more interesting as far as building is concerned than his small-sized pals, which is no wonder taking a look at that mess of tubes, tentacles and whatnot. For customers of LEGO Technic sets, however, the building is plainly disappointing. But let us keep in mind that the set was designed for a young target group of seven- to fourteen-year-olds, after all. Nevertheless, I can’t help but thinking that LEGO is underestimating children’s mental capacity. Set Design/Pieces This is where Voltix actually arouses interest. Once built, you are confronted with a cheeringly colorful villain. Some of you may dislike the clash of so many colors: Red, some blue, purple, gunmetal, black, yellow. I, for my part, can live with it, since the colors were not arranged in a totally random way, but instead show up a certain structure: There is a layering of gunmetal and red, the use of purple is only limited to a specific area of the upper body, etc. But I can totally understand if you cannot overcome your sense of harmony and get to like this anarchic mess of colors. Because that’s what Voltix looks like: anarchic. Before I continue my contemplations about Voltix as a finished set, let us have a look at the elementary units every LEGO set consists of. I am not talking about atoms, I am referring to the pieces. Voltix comes with a total of 61 pieces and thus happens to be the medium-sized set with most pieces of this summer wave, along with Bulk. Out of those, eight are new (if you count the Captain America armor as a new piece) and three recolored ones, totalling eleven absolutely gorgeous new pieces (I included the remolded old hand piece in the photo with the recoloured pieces as it is quite rare, having appeared only with Jawblade so far). The yellow tentacle, for instance, looks beautiful and may come in handy for MOCing. So do the purple pieces. However, the excellent part of this set is without any doubt the electric spark piece, which does not only look beautiful, but it will be most useful for electricity-themed MOCs. I am sure the first Toa of Lightning MOCs featuring this part will show up fairly soon. Sorry to disappoint all those who were expecting a Glatorian head remold: TLG does not seem to see the need to replace the old Glatorian head for now. That said, let me point out a couple of things that caught my attention on this set and which I utterly dislike. Number one: The neck is too long. When vertically positioning the neck piece, you get the impression that Voltix has been hanging for several weeks before miraculously reviving. However, you can easily fix this by replacing the skeleton piece used as neck by a shorter one like seen on Core Hunter. Number two: The lower arms leave much to be desired. All medium-sized summer sets suffer from a short-arm-syndrome and this set is no exception in this respect. On Voltix, this does not turn out to be a dramatic flaw, but I would have preferred two slightly longer lower arms with purple cladding on them. However, I am very disappointed about the fact that Voltix does not have Hero Factory hands, but red ball sockets. Of course, the red tubes coming from his head had to be attached somewhere, but I am sure there are more creative ways of dealing with this problem. Then, there is the so-called “voltage booster switch”. A great name for a rather unspectacular construct which can be pulled up and down (like a switch!). At least it prevents Voltix from having an empty back. Playability Despite all the tubing, Voltix’ movement range is absolutely not limited, giving him maximum poseability in a fight against your heroes. While the “voltage booster switch” is nothing extraordinarily fun to play with it is an additional, although simple, play feature, possibly enjoyable for the younger buyers who will push the switch up whenever they want to grill their heroes with direct current and down when they wish to do so with alternating current.... or something like that. I can also imagine kids having fun with the tentacle-turn-function. Wobbling, conductive yellow tentacles are a terrible weapon, in case you haven’t heard, and who doesn’t want his villain to turn every gameplay into a shocking experience? Final Thoughts Pros Decent, original look Purple pieces! Seriously, who doesn't love those electricity pieces? Cons Great variety of colors may not appeal to everybody Short-arm syndrome Reused helmet All in all, Voltix is a decent villain set, with pros and cons mostly outbalanced. Still, I would recommend you to buy Core Hunter instead, unless you are looking for fancy pieces to expand your collection with or a second summer villain to fight against your Heroes. And now that Bulk finally figured out how to unplug this villain, let us close this review of one of the most current Hero Factory villains. That was a rather lame pun, now wasn't it? -Gata

Ninjago was immensely succesful and from what I can gather, although Chima isn't doing bad by any means, Ninjago did better. Still, Ninjago is a fairly small theme for LEGO this year. Chima is getting fewer sets than last year, but still more than Ninjago and most likely also more TV episodes. That's what I'm talking about, I'm talking about the current situation. -Gata

I wish. :/ Pretty sure Chima's still LEGO's biggest IP currently and not Ninjago. -Gata

I think Chima was also delayed. Pretty sure it's The LEGO Movie's fault. :P -Gata

Personally, I think the minifigures are the best thing that could happen to Hero Factory and I hope to see them in the next years. -Gata

Actually, the contents of the catalogue have to be trated confidentially by the retailers. -Gata

Pretty sure they keep them. I was actually given one two and a half years ago. ^^ Nobody ever pretended it was a serious theme. At least not as serious as BIONICLE, though most likely more than, say, Ninjago. -Gata

If we had so much power over Hero Factory I think the theme would look a bit different. :P They do look more biological to me than the beasts in previous episodes. -Gata