Front

I killed Bulk. He had a nice gun, I liked it, so I got rid of him. I don't like any hero, actually I hate them all. I am Steel Strain 315, but you may call me Steel. I'm a villain, one of those that is not gonna be stopped by some stupid hero.

We are surely not done evolving this new building style. A lot of building methods and new pieces have been candidates for the winter 2011 launch, and only some made it. I have pieces on my table at work, cast in plastic from prototype moulds, that will probably never see production. Others may join the club of released parts later on. The final design you see on the torsos and bones also went though a couple of loops before we were happy. It is hard to predict how the pieces behave when you only investigate them in your 3D Cad program and analysis tools, and build with Rapid Prototyped elements. Future sets will be seen by fans as more mature, building wise. That's my prediction. But there probably will not be huge changes to how a sub-10-dollar set is put together. Torso, arms, legs, and there you go Erland, Part Design

lol, you know I have easy access to sets, but I really should wait till the sets hit stores somewhere in the US. I would love though to make some photos explaining some of the detail of the new parts. Or how you could put them together. This is one of the issues I would like to pass on to the designers. Although you have to admit that the new torsos by them selves like terrific Or at least the have a universal look like a normal Technic beam. Erland, Part Design

Very nice. I may not be a fan of this kind of building style (stability etc.), but you made something that looks great and the head just reminds me so much of Mantax.

When we had a little presentation of the future ******, we were allowed to take a hero, and I picked Surge. Breeze and Surge are the only ones with two hands. In hindsight I would have picked Nex or Evo, but I would not mind paying for them. One thing for sure, even though I have way too many Bionicle sets, I'm gonna get a lot of the sets from 2011+

lol, it's not even illegal (I don't think). You can position a brick like that, while it is sliding on e.g. tiles.

By some strange coincidence you are able to combine System, Technic, Duplo, "Bionicle" and "New style Hero Factory" parts. Add Quatro parts to that, just to go to the extreme. But you can't take a random part and connect it to another random part. Try and connect a cross axle to a 2x4 System brick. You can't. Does that mean that a 2x4 System brick sucks, or that a cross axle sucks ? Not in my book.

Sorry, I misunderstood your post. No, the SYSTEM bricks (2x2 with one ball and 2x2 with 2 balls) have not been updated. I don't think there are any plans to add holes to them. I might later explain a bit about why there are holes in the balls on the new parts used in HF 2011.

I am glad that somebody points out that I made a mistake. No need for any peace pipe. Two propellers that are slightly different (not in function) is in my opinion ok. I'm not that happy about the ball cups though, because building experience will be different.

I am the proud creator of this new hand, working close with designer Christoff (same team that brought you e.g. Gresh helmet, a real German-Danish collaboration team). First of all we wanted a new hand that has a less Bionicle-feel to it. Look at the 2010 Buzz Lightyear action figure, and tell me if the Bionicle hand fits him. We can probably agree that it does not. It should also fit the more clean, less detailed look of the new Hero Factory 2011 launch. We switched a bit back and forth between three and four fingers, the designer wanted four from the start, and when I constructed it in CAD, I had no doubt that it was the right decision. Initially I was afraid that four fingers would result in too slim fingers, mind you they width of the hand has to stay at two modules, 2x8 mm. Secondly we wanted a hand that is better engineered. The old one had too much material around the cross-hole, and everyone that makes molded plastic parts, will know that a common material thickness throughout the part, is important. Also we needed the new ball cup. And to get to the subject that Brickthing noted. The outer fingers are shorter, seen at knuckles, joints and tips. This was something I came up with in the middle of the creation process (the hand looked very square and blocky on my screen), and as I presented it for the designers, they did not complain, asking me to try and model it. I did not get any complaints when rapid prototype elements was passed around. If you know the very experienced "Bionicle" designers, you will know that no complaints means you did a great job Erland, Part Design

There is a lot of new technics to be invented. I haven't really spent time moc'ing with the parts, but me and a college have done some wicked structures using a high number of the new bones. You can kind of build in 3D. Some of the designers has made big fantasy animals etc. with the new system. It should be noted that one of the brains behind the new system, was also one of the initiators back in 2000 when Bionicle was born.

The system set we saw with the new ball cups Cursed Cobra in Brickset, uses, yes what we call a ball cup. In the new 2011 version. Ball cups go back to the start of Bionicle, but has seen slight variations during the years. The new connection type you see on the underside of the shells, are what we call a ball snap. So the new system has (1) balls with a cross axle, (2) balls between two supports for enhanced rotation, (3) balls with squares (used to position ball snaps), (4) ball cups with rounded rear edge that can rotate between (2), (5) ball cups with square edge, like new hand, feet etc. (6) ball snap.

A rod is supposed to have function (though friction) in a cross-hole, no matter what cross-hole and rod you use.

Excellent proportions, cool details, interesting leg and neck design. And a mind-blowing size.

It's a wonderful material and is as suggested used for safety reasons. Expensive material too

You should not show codes, they are unique ! lol

Great to see 2011 HF has hit the stores. I'll mail the set designer your review. The head is supposed to be moved down as forward as possible. He is a hunchback character. How does it feel to snap a shell onto the ball of a bone ? Try do it with one hand, and feel how the square will position the shell in one of the four solutions the square allows.

Is your concern that the "+ hole" (or cross hole) is connected to the rest of the hand, making the + open ? This is the best way to make a "+-hole" when it comes to function. A similar solution is seen here: 2 M beam on bricklink

8043 Motorized Excavator Impressive Technic. 8072: Atlantis Sea Jet Atlantis with "my" new helmet 10214: Tower Bridge Because Jamie made it (lol). 7573: Battle of Alamut New colours, cool minifigures. 8683: LEGO Minifigures Series 1 {Random bag} Simply because of the hype. My final choise is the Atlantis set

You just added three really great reviews to the Action Figures section, thank you. I only built my first set of this type (8563 Tahnok from 2002) 1/2 a year ago, and have to say that the idea and execution of these "turn-into-a-ball" sets are brilliant. This black one from 2003 has a cooler print on the face shield. I would pick up this set should I ever come across it.

Some of the new Technic sets 8043 Motorized Excavator, also had the instructions packed this way.

I want Nitroblast with a yellow head

Nice review, thanks. Nice to see a set with a different colour scheme. For me, the highlights of this set is the new 8x16 and 16x16 plates. They are just much more useful than base-plates.

The new ball cups are surely more resistant to breaking. They will NOT break, and that says a lot because moc'ers of Bionicle have rarely used the term "Not break" to describe the behavior of older types of ball cups. The problem with the flimsy snake is due to the fact that the ball cups have lover friction than what they used to have. That came together with the not-break solution. The friction in the ball/ball-cup connection is maybe challenged a bit too much by the design of this set. It's a question of what the consumer expect. Maybe most kids will not see it as too flimsy. I sure do not hope they will, and I think Hinckley's problem with posing the snake might also be a problem with balancing the structure than just the friction being too low to carry the weight of the snake. But too be honest I haven't built this set. The new ball cup design, used on all the new Hero Factory parts but also this 2x2 brick with ball cup, has resulted in all new part design numbers, so I would be VERY surprised of an old style of ball cup would mix into this 2011 set. It should not be possible. Erland, Part Design

I think the six heroes use quite a lot of colours