Brickthing

No, it hints that he isn't allowed to talk about stuff that hasn't been released yet. You've been told that before. The press release talks about currently released 2011 sets as well, so the Hero Factory section could be referring to the 6 canister-sized villains, also seeing as the setting is described generally rather than mentioning a jungle planet. I'm excited by the prospect of vehicle sets, but neither Toyfair nor retail catalogs usually display store exclusives - if there is a vehicle set at Toyfair, it will be a main-stream set.

As long as it doesn't stray further than why there can't be a Pink Hero then it's fine. I do wonder how well the pink power ranger toys sold compared to other power ranger toys though. In a TV show not all characters need to appeal to the majority of fans, but in a toy line they do, otherwise the less desirable keep the shelves warm.

Good to have a new chapter, despite how long it was since the last TYQ update. The chapter itself was good and it was nice that it focused on one storyline only, but I disliked the new ideas/twists introduced into the story. The first one, power nullification via a device seems to devalue the life and nature of MU inhabitants. Although they are artificial and mostly robotic, they've always been portrayed as sentient and living beings, but now they suddenly have a switch deep within them that can disable any of the wide range of abilities they are capable of using? Are there other "off-switches" that the GB have included that can disable/kill Toa instantly, or completely change their memories and personalities at the push of a button? The second twist of a Great Being living amongst the characters all the time could form a very good plot if handled well, but I'm worried about it not being handled well. The Great Being will almost certainly be a character that we have know for a long time, that we can hopefully assume was one of the first beings created (Helryx, Artahka, even Takua?). Seeing as this character now has an agenda to get rid of the Toa by providing Kabrua will the means to do so (and he/she probably released Marendar), what happened to the past 100,000 years spent co-existing with Toa? I hope it isn't revealed that all their interactions with MU beings were cold charades, and that the GB never saw the life and value of their creations despite spending so much time with them.

Looks Keetorange to me as well. The claws, torso armour (on the torso) and Hero Core all look a faintly lighter colour than Nex's orange armour and chestplate. I'm glad that it is though, because it retains the unique core colour per Hero trend and respects the 1.0 core colours, even if it doesn't look as good as Orange. Stringer used a trans-orange core while Bulk used a trans-neon orange core, so Keetorange to Stringer and Orange to Bulk is a closer match. (That said, Surge and Furno switched core colours and Stormer unnecessarily dropped a shade.) I think I've properly figured out how Witch Doctor's shoulder/hip/ankle articulation works. I'll post a moc-up of his arm once I get a chance to take a photo of it. I also noticed that WD has 5 white Hero shields - he has one on each foot as well.

I'm a bit confused by your wording. As far as I know, the exact colour and piece must already exist in a set for it to be avaliable in the Recon Team Designer (except for the Recon chestplate), so blue torso pieces won't be avaliable. I presume the selection will be updated with the release of 3.0 sets, and eventually with 4.0 if the program is successful.

(Click for full size) I'm guessing that these were the only Hero Factory sets at this particular Toyfair, but hopefully there will be more at other upcoming Toyfairs. I really like the jungle artwork on the table - the texture of the tree looks slightly futuristic and technological, keeping with the Hero Factory theme despite being set in a primitive environment. I'm convinced that I need to wait until there are better pictures of Witch Doctor, because the way he's built seems far from accurate. They even disconnected his arm to make sure he was posed badly! His shoulder, hip and ankle articulation is very interesting - it allows reinforced articulation in two axis, but not twisting, meaning his limbs will always point forwards. I'm very interested to see how that will affect playability/poseability. Ball&Y joint heaven though. I suspect it also uses a new variation of this TECHNIC piece with two axle holes instead in between the two ball/socket groups.

White. (Which pleasantly suits gold much more than it would've suited yellow or yellow-orange.)

Not to say that I don't wish for them as well, but Teal is a discontinued colour while Purple hasn't appeared prominently in Bionicle sets since 2001. I think Brown would be a possibility in a Western/Desert themed wave, along with Tan, Greys, and PoP Nougat. It looks like the combo model of Stringer and Nex.

This wave introduced two new colours while the Savage Planet wave will introduce one, so I think they'll slowly add one or two characters each wave (hopefully sticking to one hero per colour). There are plenty of colours left, including Keetorange, Gunmetal, Metru colours and possibly Sand colours. Although they may only introduce a few more characters/colours, until they have enough to cycle the Heroes through in each wave without it becoming repetitive. I find it unlikely that there will ever be a pink Hero.

Normal Rocka is gold. If they can do it now, why wasn't Mata Nui gold? Looks like the green armour pieces are nametags after-all, printed on trans-green... Witch Doctor doesn't look as good as in the previous images we've seen, but I'm attributing that to bad lighting and posing. I love the look of the dark-red/black blended pieces on him.

Thanks for the confirmation. I don't expect the cost of a Design-by-Me Hero to provide a good deal on the pieces, but I hope the cost will be worth the experience and the exclusive chestplate. If shipping costs to NZ aren't outlandish as usual though.

Unless he was hiding in the background, no. I saw two-headed dragons, the Maxilos-like framework of a very large figure concept, and a (fire-breathing?) crocodile. As one of the designers said, a lot of those are just concept models though. However: I wonder if any exclusive pieces will be introduced into the program. It looks like there is a crossed black/silver chestplate on all of the Heroes, but that just might be a filler piece until the proper chestplate is chosen. Or it could be an exclusive Recon Team chestplate.

I found the Hero Factory sets in Albany Warehouse and Farmers (where there is a 20% off sale) as well. Farmers also had the Log cabin set and the new Duplo range. No Fire Lord though, it seems the major retailers decided he wouldn't sell well enough.

It must be bad lighting, although it doesn't look dark brown on my screen. It's the same colour as used in the Kingdom sets, which is a less green and slightly darker version of the gunmetal used in Bionicle sets.

There definitely aren't any pistons on the preliminary design, but the legs are almost identical otherwise, including the double-balljoint system for the ankles. The pistons could easily have been added though, but as Rocka XL is a Fire Lord sized set, I don't think it'd need the extra support or could afford the extra pieces... I strongly suspect (and hope) that Rocka XL uses gold pieces. There is a conservative amount of "gold" pieces used, including a Zamor which already exists in gold. Yellow and White would be too bright together, and the yellow HF logo on the box is definitely a different colour to the pieces on Rocka XL. I'm not surprised that the green pieces are still there, because they must have been intended for something originally on the prelims. Toyfair summer sets often still use prototype pieces/elements, so it's quite possible that printing on the green pieces hasn't been added yet.

Farmers has a new 20% off toys sale until the 6th, according to their website. Hopefully the new Hero Factory sets will be out by then, because I was very disappointed that they didn't have them on the last day of this previous sale (yesterday now).

There's always going to be someone taking photos when they shouldn't be, but I doubt there will be anyone interested in taking the risk to share Hero Factory photos.

Unfortunately there isn't much reference of bag configuration in boxes, because bag-building isn't a recognized subject in (most) set reviews. Some reviews have straight-out-of-box shots, but otherwise you'd need to check MISB sets yourself. Bigger sets with numbered bags may contain an entire sub-model in one bag. By using online sources for set instructions, you should be able to find which sets have a buildable sub-model in one bag. For example, in 7641 City Corner the bike store can be built inside Bag 3 and the second floor + roof can be built inside Bag 5. Medium sized/$20 sets can come in a single bag, as long as they don't include any large pieces, baseplates or BIONICLE hoses. From memory, I think that 7591 Construct-a-Zurg came in a single bag (aside from the cape), while 7592 Construct-a-Buzz came in two bags - one for the legs + waist and one for the rest of him.

Future HF theme discussion is over here now! But robot cowboys sounds like a great idea, especially if NinjaGo throwing stars are suitable. A tumbleweed villain made up of lots of intertwined dark tan limb pieces would be a fantastic parts-pack, albeit not the most playable figure. I eagerly anticipate those Toyfair pictures. Even if the new pieces aren't finalized causing the sets to not look that flash, I'm really excited about getting a clearer look at construction techniques in Rocka XL, Scorpio and Witch Doctor.

Quickly to begin, this is not an official topic for suggestions to be sent into LEGO. This is purely for brainstorming and discussing future Hero Factory themes, although I may add a poll later to see which ideas are the most popular. Stemming from discussion in the Hero Factory 2011 topic about the themes that waves of sets are based on (so far Fire and Jungle), this topic is for posting themes that you think would make good Hero Factory waves in the future. You can create a full synopsis, backstory and character bios if you want, but please elaborate more than just a list of single-word themes. Justifying the theme would be good as well, because magical starfish villains are unlikely to be the basis of a future Hero Factory wave unless there's a really good reason for it. Mmmm, magical starfish...

Bionicle looked into many themes in it's later years (underwater, air (+bug/bat) and desert/Roman), but Hero Factory definitely seems discrete about it. Because Hero Factory is set in the real world future, I think medieval, carnival (evil clowns might not be the best ) and other strongly Earth-culture related themes are possible. I doubt we'll see a WWI/II based line though. I agree that an underwater theme is quite likely, although I think an Ice theme would be possible as well. It's unlikely that the next group of villains after Savage Planet will be primal animals again, and it would be a shame to have an underwater theme were the villains aren't evil sea creatures (more so than the vaguely humanoid Barraki). The only problem with an Ice theme is that the Heroes would end up using fire weapons against Ice villains, which is the inverse of the current wave.

Absolutely - I've got an entire list, although mostly elemental. I personally hope that Hero Factory covers the elements that weren't covered in BIONICLE first. They're doing Fire and Jungle, so I'm hoping for Ice, Rock/desert and Earth/underground in the future. Or perhaps the HF themes are based on the Slizer/Roborider elements? No they're not. Catalogue scans for August sets were leaked unusually early last year, as well as probably finalized images from the Creep Crushers game. The reason we aren't seeing any new images around now is because we've already seen them. (On the bright side, they were leaked at a time competitors couldn't have been expecting them, so the leaked images are now more under control by the time they are usually expected.)

You can only use it on one item per transaction, and you're only meant to have one voucher. However, the voucher isn't unique and the discount is provided by the Toyworld franchise rather than the store itself, so the particular shopkeeper might not mind if you use it again on separate occasions. You'd need to print of another voucher each time though.

Just a friendly bump that this topic isn't the place for Exo-force or missing piece discussion, unless it's also linked to Hero Factory.

What did your simple use include? Do you have any pictures of where they broke?