Kalhiki

Saw the new episode. Now I'm sad with the lineup for the last wave of sets. I want the Elephant-looking tank thing. And the four armed mech. But I guess what we have is good enough. Kalhiki

Hm. No Glatty heads, huh? Not sure how I feel about this. I would have loved to see a remolded socket on the head, but I guess this revelation explains why that wasn't done for the summer wave. I do like the 2.0 head design, however, the one thing I didn't like about it was that it was opaque. The transparency of the Glat head was what I loved about it. I always like holding a light up from behind it and making the eyes glow. Luckily, the 2013 pictures seem to (slightly) show a transparent looking head underneath everything. That's all I want. A transparent head. Kalhiki

Yep. Got the magazine and it was there. Very cool looking teaser, if I do say so, myself. Kalhiki

I'd like to see Rhinos. And Elephants. That'd be cool to see a Rhino battering ram or an Elephant Tank thingy. Kalhiki

Yeah I was talking about his lack of a ranged weapon. I don't know, I always push the SP Heroes out of my head since they just seem so different from what we usually get. They're cool, but I don't know. They just never seemed as prominent as the other wave Heroes. And I agree, the drill is pretty nice. And the fact that it actually has a projectile gives him an advantage over the other Heroes (as none of them have ranged weapons of any kind). And yeah, that engine block would be very welcome and I can assure you I'll attempt to find a way to attach one onto the drill. Kalhiki

They probably take down villains the same way they did before the Breakout when they didn't have Hero Cuffs. And I'm still saying Bulk's weapon is melee. I know it kinda goes against his character, but why does it have to be a gun? Kalhiki

I have no idea. I feel all the Heroes are great. Even Furno and Bulk who are starting to warm up on me. Kalhiki

Speaking of the show, do we know who's animating it? I'm hoping the same guys who did Ninjago. I love the more realistic incarnations of the vehicles. Also, I pronounce it Chee-mah because of the word "chi" and "Chy-mah" sounding too much like China. Didn't watch the video. Yeah, I can't stand those guys to where I won't watch a video on a yet to be released minifigure. Kalhiki

After all this time, I'm still not sure about this theme. I must admit, they do look better looking at the CGI out of box pictures, but... I'm not sure. I'll definitely pick up the Raven Glider just because it's cool. And probably the Ultra Striker or whatever because I like tanks. Then I'll see how cool they are and want more... Kalhiki

Well, the fact that Bulk's Drill has a launching mechanism (flick-fire missle), makes me unable to think that it's a gun. I still think it's a melee drill weapon. I'd love to see that thing shread into a villain's armor. Kalhiki

Interesting. Bulk's mouth is asymmetrical making him have a slight snarl. Looks pretty good if you ask me. Furno's head looks nice too. But something about it seems off. Maybe his face is too long? Kalhiki

Hm. Hm hm hm hm... Not bad I guess... There are a few jems, but I'm overall not that interested (which is just how I felt about Ninjago). The Lion Buggy and Quad, Wolf Tracker, and Ultra Striker are some of my favorites. But really, I guess I'll wait until I see in hand images of them. I'm kinda liking the theme overall. It has a lot of potential, and I'll definitely be watching the TV series. Kalhiki

Beings as though Bulk was the only Hero I didn't have, I sprung and got him. Not bad actually, but not my favorite set from Breakout. Loving the way his cuffs are attached. Very unique. Kalhiki

Hm. I didn't realize at first, but Ogrum as tusks. In all honesty, some of the figures I previously didn't really like are starting to grow on me. Bulk, Ogrum, and Scarox aren't so bad. Kalhiki

You and I had the same idea. I get that they're action shots, but the legs were posed horribly. Kalhiki

I'm on the "Chima taking priority" bandwagon. Comparing this wave with the past waves, these cripple. I imagine all the effort went into giving Chima a great lauch rathe rthan Ninjago a good end. Which is sad. I feel that some minor modifications and tweaking would help these sets considerably. Kalhiki

I still haven't given my thoughts on these: -Kai's Fire Robot looks good, but I would have preferred if he was sitting up a bit higher. More reminiscent of the Mine Mech. -The Warrior Bike is great. Loving the whole central tread in the front. And the giant face. -Cole's Earth Driller is fine I guess. It's growing on me I must admit, but something about it just doesn't look right. I guess it just doesn't have that nice flow that the Thunder Driller had, which makes this seem like they stuck a huge drill on the front of the vehicle. -The Golden Dragon looks cool. I would have preferred the regular dragon head since I feel it looks better overall, but that's a minor issue. The set still looks great. - Garmatron is insane. I love it. It's a giant face with treads. And it looks scary with those angry eyebrows and that open toothy mouth. - The Temple of Light is nice, but nowhere near as cool looking as the Fire Temple. The robot is nice and seems to be a step up from the Samurai Mech. Overall, the sets don't look as good as they did in the Serpentine story arc, but still pretty nice. Most of them are quite good, and I feel the ones I don't really like are mainly because it was something I wasn't expecting. But they are growing on me, that's for sure. Kalhiki

I personally don't mind Breez's lower legs. I had the size 3 armor piece on one of my Recon Team Heroes' lower legs, and it really doesn't look too bad. At least all the pin holes are covered. I seem to be one of few people who doesn't mind some of the armor choices. Personally, I'm more annoyed with the look of the size 5 shell on Bulks right shoulder with the square-ish armor piece on that. Don't know why, it just looks weird. Referring to a few posts above, I too thought that the brain slugs were the main villains. Maybe not the actual sets being battle suits, but rather they're beings mutated from prolonged exposure to the slugs (if they have powers like that). Kalhiki

Y'know, it may be the pictures, but I feel that the new fire pieces could double as lightning pieces. Y'know, if they were recolored yellow or somesuch. 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

Well, pictures are out and about. I found them on Youtube. Just search "hero factory 2013 sets". They look great, if you ask me. Especially Rocka. I'll give full thoughts later. Kalhiki

When is NYCC? Honestly, I can wait. I really don't need to see prelims, but they're always welcome. I'm especially interested in Bruizer just because I like that name and hope the set lives up to it. But maybe that's just because that's what the giant Insecticons in Fall of Cybertron were called. Kalhiki

That actually sounds pretty interesting. I wasn't really interested at first, but now... I'll wait and see. Still need to see pictures of the sets before I make a decision. Even if I don't like the sets, I still will probably watch the series. I guess we don't know who's animating it? Kalhiki

Well, it was originally used as a helmet of sorts to cover the Toa Mata head, but didn't directly connect to it since the head was holding an upper jaw. It's a very strange piece, I must say. For using it in a MoC... Not sure as I never built with it. I'd just experiment with it and see what you can pull off to make it look good. Do have any ideas of what type of MoC you want to make with it? Kalhiki

I like the small Heroes. I love it when things are small. Easily transported and fun to play with. Plus, compared to larger Villains, it makes it seem like they're at a disadvantage. Then, when they win, it seems like more of a heroic accomplishment. But that's just me. Really interested to see what the sets will look like. I can't see a theme going on, so I assume the Heroes will have reletively generic armor and not mission specific. As for villains, well, names somewhat give the general vibe. Pyrox will probably be fire based, Bruizer is the heavy weapons/bulk, etc. Kalhiki