Still Raindrop

I just re-built the entire beach. It still has studs, but it's less flat, and I think it looks more realistic. I'll post pictures soon (school, work, and married life are keeping me busy right now).

I love the Creator houses, and I think they fit in perfectly with my town, Rossville. I dismantled the beach house to help make my town hall, but I currently have a slightly modified Apple Tree House in my layout (I removed the level of gray plates on the roof, as well as the satellite dish, and I made the driveway more complete). I think they look great alongside my smaller modular buildings (I build in a scale that is technically modular, but, due to my lack of insane amounts of bricks, my buildings tend to be much smaller than the official modular sets), and would probably look good alongside official ones, too.

The arms can be replaced by regular arms--one of the minifigures in my town sports that gray shirt, but I replaced the basketball arms with normal ones. They're not even loose or anything. Great review, by the way!

I like it; I think I'm going to ask my mother-in-law for it for Christmas (she got me the Winter Toy Shop last year). Are there two light bricks in there? If not, I think it's a wasted opportunity--there's clearly one on the ceiling, but I hope the oven will be one, too.

Incredible! All the attention to detail and the little touches just make it that much more awesome. I like the use of the Harry Potter blackboard as the deli menu board, for example. Genius!

This is indeed excellent! You've captured the feel of the original in modular style. Plus, that interior is wonderful--the ceiling fans really add to the overall feel.

Thanks, guys! I'm glad you like it! -zenn, is it just the studs you don't like? Because in my LEGO town, smoother surfaces (wood, pavement, etc.) are generally tiled, and rougher, more natural surfaces (like grass or sand) are generally tiled.

Hello, everyone! I've posted a picture or two of my beach scene/fish and chips stand before, but I've changed some things around and, rather than post in the general Rossville topic, I thought I'd give it a topic of its own. Apologies for the mediocre pictures; I still haven't downloaded Photoshop to my new computer, so I can't mess with the contrast or the light levels.

I'm not entirely sure--I use the modular scale, but I also try to give my town a classic look (You can see how successful I am by following the links in my sig). Oh, and I also use Creator-style houses for suburban residences, and an approximation of the modular scale when doing some other work (the fish and chips stand, for example, isn't modular, but I think it's on the same kind of scale)

I'll have to try that; I'll take some pictures when I do

The other day, I noticed how little love Xplode was getting on the forums, so I decided to pick him up and see if this was with good reason or not. Here is the front of the box: The pieces New/recolored pieces of interest You can see that, contrary to the picture on the box, Xplode's helmet/face does indeed have teeth on the top, as well as on the bottom. Here's a closer look at the helmet/face: Personally, I think it's a spectacular piece. It brings to mind the evil robots of 1950s B-movies, but the spikes give it a dangerous look--almost like a 1980s punk. We start out building the torso Then we add the legs and the arms Then, we get to the cool technique that attaches his back armor. I think it's cool, anyway. It would be cooler if his armor attached to his back lower down, but I still like that it doesn't leave an unused ball. We then attach his head, Skrall style Ta-da! The finished product I tried to pose him as he appeared on the box, but that proved difficult. The staff isn't able to go through his hand (I thought they might have used two axles to make it look more staff-like, but it was not so), and his arm armor doesn't cover up the front of his arms. As you can see, it looks kind of weird from the side Here he is with Bulk As you can see, he's not very much taller than the heroes Bonus picture: I know good always wins, but Xplode's gun actually shoots There are many features about Xplode that I think could have been done better. I wish they had found a way to make his head look less like a helmet and more like a head (like Meltdown's). Maybe they could have put a trans-neon green piece behind his eyes, and a black piece behind his mouth (or no piece at all). I wish he wasn't so skinny, and I wish his arm armor attached better. There are a lot of things to dislike about this set. But despite these, when I have him in hand or standing posed in front of me, I can't help but think how cool he looks. This guy is definitely badass. His color scheme reminds me of the Torch Throwbot, and he is just as intense. I can imagine him being a witty, crazed villain who only works for thrills. There's just a certain charm about him that, for me, is greater than his faults.

I doubt it'll cost $70. After all, I remember everyone guessing that the Winter Toy Shop was going to cost $100, both from plain guessing, and from currency changing, and it didn't turn out to be nearly that much.

So, did I read somewhere that I'm supposed to get a green Hero Factory logo for reviewing the set?

After comparing Bulk's helmet to the Avohkii from the Stars version of Takanuva (plus my silver Pakari Nuva and silver Pakari--though those were just for fun, to see how much has changed), I can say that this is definitely not the new silver. Bummer.

Either my Kingdoms sets and Dunkan Bulk have the old pearl silver, or the new silver is extremely similar to the old. Bulk looks slightly shinier than the older silver elements, but not noticeably so. I would like to see the new silver in hand, so I could tell whether it's new or not.

3D Brickthing, it's not really that much of a problem when I have the set in hand. However, I don't have any other Hero Factory sets, so I can only compare it to the Agori/Stars. He looks and feels solid to me. In response to everyone's silver comments; I actually like the silver. As a Bionicle fan (from 2001-2003, then again in 2009), I sort of understand the dislike of silver messing with some of the elemental color schemes. Nevertheless, I think that, since Bulk doesn't really have any elemental powers, the silver really works well as his primary color.

Thanks, VBBN--I might consider joining the Academy; the only problem is, I don't get that many new sets, being a young married man on a small budget. I agree that it's a weaker set; I would rather have bought Stormer or Furno, but since they only had Surge and Bulk, and since there hadn't been a Bulk review (and I wanted to get a Hero Factory symbol here on EB), I chose Bulk. The funny thing is, I still really like the set, even though I wouldn't have chosen it first.

So, I went to Toys R Us yesterday, hoping that I might find some collectible minifigs. Unfortunately, just as I suspected, my city (the largest in Colorado by area), never even got to see them before everyone else snatched them up (thanks to those who grabbed multiple boxes). I did, however, find two Hero Factory sets: Mark Surge and Dunkan Bulk. Although I was considering getting Surge, I remembered that Bulk wasn't reviewed here, so I thought I would do it. First off: the canister, showing off Toa Onua! I mean... Dunkan Bulk (early pictures of Onua Mata, even the picture on his canister, made him look kind of silvery in color). The back of the canister shows Bulk fighting, not Vapor, but Xplode. Take a look at that helmet. I think it looks wonderful--very powerful, yet also smooth. Side view Bulk's torso, which, like his helmet, looks both powerful and sleek. The Quaza-Stone Hero Core is indeed a beautiful piece, and not an easily photographed one. However, since trans-neon-orange is perhaps the most opaque of the transparent colors, I think it's most easily photographed in this color. So, even though we've seen it before, here it is: The weapon arm. I really like the finger resting on the trigger. And the slightly less impressive backside. Much of what we would actually see once it's on the model is still relatively solid, which is good. This shot may not be the best to show off the model, but I think it looks pretty epic. The completed model From the side From the other side, showing that the hollow part of the weapon arm isn't that bad (although it still isn't the best) Showing how bulky he really is, in comparison to similarly-sized Bionicle sets. And in a different light I think this is a great little set. It's aesthetically pleasing, and fun to play with, though I wish the weapon arm weren't so big and clumsy. I love the way the silver looks, and I think that, if Hero Factory continues this way, it'll be a very good line. I wouldn't consider this an "impulse" set, like some do, and for those of us with low LEGO budgets, it'll be hard to choose among the Heroes. However, I think that Bulk is an excellent choice, and a very cool-looking Hero.

I hope they do reissue Series 1... I was hoping to pick up the cowboy and the spaceman, but, as I mentioned, the minifigures never even hit stores here in Colorado Springs. I went to the LEGO Store in Lakewood, but they had already sold out a week ago.

Darn; I live in Colorado Springs, and the minifigs never even came to the stores here. I've checked Wal-Marts, Targets, and Toys R Us, to no avail. The only small toy stores that I know of have closed down, so no luck there. I'm going to go to the LEGO Store in Denver on Friday, but I doubt they'll have them there. I didn't even have a chance!

I like it--I might have to pick one up. I was a fan of Throwbots (Slizers) when they came out, and also of Bionicle. Bionicle was a departure from the Throwbots platform; they used fewer pre-existing Technic parts, they seemed designed more for play than the Throwbots, etc. However, they didn't look too different from the Throwbots, despite this departure--many of them even had the same style of large, two-fingered hands as the Throwbots (which would never be seen again after the Toa Mata). I think that these are a promising departure (though not too drastic yet). It reminds me of the first Toa vs. the Throwbots--these use very few Bionicle parts, but still look reminiscent of the theme. Perhaps, as KimT suggested, Hero Factory will progress in its unique style, just like Bionicle grew into its own, with its own standard. Good review, by the way! Very nicely done. Jed, do you have a camera that can take good pictures? I'd like to see a review of Mark Surge.

Agreed in that it isn't much of a build, really... mainly just minifigs standing around. After hearing so much about your formidable small and large entries (for which only the best of the other entries will be competition, no less), I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Very nice! Now all you need is the Bluths!

Hmmm... I've got a rather wide range of vocal abilities; I might try out to be a voice actor. Should the voice be similar to the ones in the official movies?

Very nice! And possibly accurate, too--all the vehicles in the theme have only two numbers (13 and 21), meaning that, rather than being just identification numbers for the vehicles, those are actually team numbers! Maybe I'll build a few, myself