Brickthing

You'd better decide quick before Breez and Thornraxx land on American stores. Once they're there I'm sure they'll fly off the shelves. All of the metallic pieces are in the new 2011 Hero Factory colours, but I simply enjoy calling them Silver and Gunmetal, as I can't be bothered differentiating the colours in my MOCs. The sideways shell allows the cuffs to be holstered at a more realistic/comfortable angle, which is why I forgave the asymmetry of this set. There have been sets with worse asymmetry, such as Furno 2.0.

I hadn't really noticed the big gaps in the torso until you pointed them out in the photos. The black shells overlap each other quite a bit, so the size and shape of the gaps depend on the viewing angle, and you can't see them at all when you're swooshing Thornaxx, because you (or at least I) hold the set at the torso. From the top you can see different gaps to those you can see from the sides. I suppose this could be fixed by adding another armour piece via the exposed pin hole on the 1x5 TECHNIC beam.

Set name: Breez Set Number: 6227 Price: $12.99USD , 12.99 Euro Pieces: 55 Year of release: 2012 Peeron Bricklink Brickset Bring the villains to justice with BREEZ’s rocket boots and energy saber! BREEZ, we hope you can hear us! The Hero Factory has been breached and the villains are escaping in all directions! With powerful rocket boots, double-bladed saber, plasma shooter and a hex energy shield you’re our hero in the skies, so let’s cuff those villains and teach them that the good guys always win! *Heroine in the skies – Breez is still a girl isn’t she? Taking a turn for the new and wider possibilities, Hero Factory 2012 throws out the themed 6 Hero canisters, 3/4 Villain box structure for a new structure that pairs 5 Heroes and 5 Villains together on different “Breakout” missions where the Hero has to catch the Villain and the Villain has to…not be caught. The Bag Front Returning for the third time (after a break for Savage Planet), Breez sports her original 1.0 helmet coupled with a larger Lime, White and Red build, including a full arsenal of launchers, shields, blades and cuffs. These larger bags don’t feel as well packed as the smaller bags, but rest assured that the pieces are well protected inside the shiny packaging. The front of the bag shows danger rearing its ugly head behind brave Lady Breez. Hopefully her holo-shield will protect her from Zamor fire. Not wanting to be forgotten from the action, +300 GAME POINTS utilizes shiny gold text to draw attention to itself. Make sure that you collect these points folks! Back The back of the packing shows the set action features, including but not limited to Zamor shooting, Hero cuffing and floating disembodied heads. Please excuse the horrible viewing angle caused by the non-flat bag surface. This isn’t a problem when viewing the set in your hands, and once all of the plastic goodness inside has been extracted, you’re left with 2 perfectly flat and scanable sides to view. Size Comparison The bigger bags aren’t much bigger than the smaller bags, which is understandable. If the big bags got any bigger you could use them as pillows to sleep on which is, quite frankly, silly. Ironically Thornraxx is presented at a larger scale than Breez, despite being on the smaller bag. Contents General Overview Breez’ parts are split up between the torso bone, a small polybag for the smaller pieces, and a larger poly bag for the rest. Thankfully Breez’ instructions haven’t been mangled by the packaging, but it may be a possibility. If the Breez bag you select at the store feels like it has an unusual amount of folds under the surface that can’t be attributed to pieces in a polybag, quietly swap the bag for another one. Instructions To my great surprise, the instructions feature the exact same image as on the front of the packaging. The exact same! First pages Before we reach the building section, we are first instructed on how to redeem our +300 GAME POINTS. If you are following along this review with your own copy of any 2012 set, I want you to stop reading this review and go redeem your game points. Right now! Redeemed them? Good, let’s continue. Random pages The first few pages of the build direct you to construct Breez lying down. I’m not sure why, but I suppose variation in the instructions every now and then doesn’t hurt. If I ever become a LEGO instructions designer you’ll be building your Heroes upside-down. Final step and Inventory Probably due to all of the surface designs on many of the new pieces and the solid colour scheme, Breez looks exceedingly good when rendered by the instructions software. I’ve seen the warning hundreds of times, but I’ve only just noticed how small the child’s head is compared to the Zamor. You should never shoot people that small; pick on kids/adults your own size! Combiner pages! This picture doesn't really help you understand this combiner, but we’ll be touching on it later in this review. It does make a little more sense in the plastic. Final pages Here we have the Breez/Thornraxx combo team and a Club advertisement. I really do like the orange crime tape used to separate the two. Pieces galore! After building small Heroes for so long, I’m really excited by the amount of pieces that Breez has, which finally allow Heroes to develop more unique styles and features. There is a wide assortment of pieces, with strengths in the armour and weapon departments. There aren’t any special/uncommon bones, except for the recoloured white 6A bones. Special/New Pieces Breez has quite a wide range of new pieces, from the new torso armour with hex-printing to a Batman blade in Red/Silver. The new moulds have been covered in many other reviews, but aside from the Code Core, red launcher and Gunmetal cuffs, these particular recolours are exclusive to this set. Holographic shield pieces Appearing in red with this set, this new piece features the same holographic effect as previously seen in Gorast wings, which produces holographic circles in a hexangonal grid that moves independently when you rotate the piece. For a better explanation, have a look at Siegfried’s excellent video showcasing the piece with Rocka. I’m sure this piece will be used a lot in SYSTEM Sci-fi creations, and is simply a fun piece to hold in your hand and admire. Good job to the designers with this one. Build Although Breez is a larger set, she still follows the standard Hero build formula. The process lasts slightly longer due to adding more armour and weapons than usual, but her build isn’t nearly as interesting as other villains of this size such as the Savage Planet villains or Drilldozer. Completed Set Front The completed Breez is very different to previous Heroes, owing to the new torso and bubble armour, the taller height and the various new weapons. Her 1.0 helmet fits well with the new armour pieces, and I welcome the return of trans-glowing eyes, despite the breakable Glatorian head socket that comes with it. All of the 2012 sets have trans-eyes again, but I wish there had been some more consistency over 2011 rather than switching between trans-eyes, solid coloured eyes, empty eyes or even moulded eyes as on Waspix and Scorpio. Side The holoshield fits very well with Breez’ colour scheme, although it’s a shame that the trans-neon-orange head wasn’t recoloured to match the shield. The shield does a good job at replacing a regular armour shell at covering the lower arm. Back In a miracle advancement of Hero Factory set designing, Breez has back armour! I was a bit confused at first when I found that the set had 3 feet pieces, but the piece serves well here to cover up the back and act as a aerodynamically considerate backpack. This piece won’t work well for smaller Heroes that don’t fly however, so I’m still waiting on a dedicated back piece. Side From the other side we can see the nice new Zamour launcher pieces that properly encase the hand unlike the previous Thornax launcher. The bubble armour pieces add quite a bit of bulk to the shoulders, meaning that Breez will have difficultly seeing left or right, which isn’t the best when your enemy could come from any direction. Out cruising, searching for disturbances... Because of her long weapons, it’s easy to pose Breez to look like she’s flying without the need of suspending fishing twine or supports. I quite like the brick-built booster rockets, which have grown on me since I first saw them. However I can’t help but think that they would’ve matched slightly better if the dark bley pieces were silver instead. Stay back, I have a riot shield! The angling of holo-shield allows it to be used as a defensive shield while shooting the Zamor canon. Breez is an exceptionally well armoured hero! Action Pose! With a rocket enhanced leap, Breez delivers a knock-out blow! Which gives her time to utilize her Hero Cuffs™! Having tamed the beast, Breez flies away to victory! Bonus Combiner! Beware my Stinger Tail! According to the instructions of Breez and Thornraxx, the two sets can be combined together to form this creature, which for some reason reminds me of the Brakas Rahi. Side Although it’s a very simple combination of parts, I really love the bulk distribution around the shoulders and body – it’s very organic and alien-like. This is certainly one of my favourite 2012 combiners. The main downside of it is what you don’t see on the model… Leftover pieces The advertising for the combining feature of Thornraxx and Breez suggests that you combine the two to make a larger model, however you’re left with more pieces than are included in Thornraxx. The combiner is smaller than Breez. So, as any unnecessarily diligent review would do, I set out to make a combiner than made the most of the provided pieces… Meet Breez BZ, Queen of the Swarm! Using pieces from a defeated Thornraxx, Breez is now equipped to fight against the rest of the Thornraxx swarm, using her Holo-blades, wrist rockets and shoulder cannon! Action Shot! Leftover pieces If you get bored of the actual set, those holographic shield pieces can provide hours of extra entertainment. Final Thoughts Colour Scheme - 10/10 – Lime, Red and White is quite a jarring colour scheme, but Breez displays it well and consistently. The white and red are used with restraint to highlight the weapons and details, and makes the white Hero Core look in place, unlike some of the other 2012 Heroes. I especially like the link between the red hexagon patterns on the chest with the hexagonal holoshield, and then the link to the hive/Gorast winged Thornraxx of the mission that Breez is set in. Parts - 8/10 – Breez has all of the parts required to make the set look good and action packed, and includes a solid offering of lime pieces and new weapons. However compared to previous villain sets of this size, there aren’t any particularly essential/useful pieces for MOCing, such as armour shell recolours or uncommon bone pieces. Design - 9/10 – As a figure, I can find no flaws in Breez’ design, and there are some very neat features such as the Hero cuffs, redesigned launcher, Holoshield and backarmour. However for her price-point, I feel that the set could’ve been made a little more interesting, such as by having a jetpack or small wings to match her helmet. Articulation - 10/10 – Breez only has 13 points of articulation (14 if you count the shield), which is less than most Villain sets at this side. That that is only because those villains had extra appendages or tails, not because Breez is lacking in articulation points. Quality - 10/10 – The printing of Breez’ chest armour is high quality, as are all of the pieces. The two-toned blade very cleanly handles the switch from silver to red, and there are no bubbles in the trans-plastic Holoshield to ruin the holographic effect. Overall - 47/50 – I really like Breez, who sets a solid reference point for Heroes designed well at this larger scale. She is a highly polished action figure, although this does come at the cost of maybe not being as interesting/adventurous as possible, compared to Rocka and Furno that try a lot of new weapon/armour configurations. If you want a set with useful MOCing pieces you might want to look at other sets, but if you want a good action figure, Breez is a great choice. As a bonus, Breez pairs up and combines well with the 5 Thornraxx sets that you should have already bought before you even started to consider which other 2012 Hero Factory sets you might get. In response to the disjointed colour scheme, I claim the Azure defense! How can you not love that colour? High-Res Gallery

Set name: Thornraxx Set Number: 6228 Price: $8.99USD , 9.99 Euro Pieces: 44 Year of release: 2012 Peeron Bricklink Brickset Capture THORNRAXX without getting stung! Sound the alarm! THORNRAXX has escaped through the black hole and is hiding on the hive planet! Get there on the double and cuff that villain! Just be prepared for his shooting venom spitter, deadly stinger and razor claws! The Bag Front The new style of packaging works well for Thornraxx and gives a sense of size to the set, because the thickness of the bag is provided entirely by the pieces within. Gone are the days of less than half full boxes and canisters; these bags don’t lie or exaggerate. I particularly like the background of Breez and Thornraxx’s packaging; a massive hive-like area presumably in/under a desert. Breez is closing in on the Thornraxx in question, but she hasn’t noticed the swarm of Thornraxx reinforcements approaching from her left! This gives me a theory on why Breez and Thornraxx aren’t featured so far in the Breakout story material – Thornraxx is a (dangerous) species/swarm, not a single escaped villain. Breez either arrived on the wrong planet for her mission or decided that Raiding bug nests was more important than capturing escapees. Or Thornraxx has a time duplication mask. Back On the back of the bag we have the usual graphical suspects; an action feature diagram, a 1:1 mugshot, chromed legal text and +200 GAME POINTS! Although I’m sure it’s been pointed out before, I’m greatly amused by the fact that Thornraxx is essentially a flying Thornax launcher. Thornraxx the Thornax thrower. Moving on. Contents What lies within? After you cut open the bag, you can spill out its contents; beautiful instructions, holographic Gorast wings, orange Mahri tubes and a glorious single polybag. I’ll confess now that the trans-clear Gorast wings are a pain to capture on film, because they just about as visible as the shadows I try to avoid. Thus most of the pictures in this review are composites from different exposures so that the wings are visible. In reality the wing pieces look much better and have an awesome holographic effect that is now also featured in the Hero holoshield parts. But you should already know what Gorast wings look like from your Gorast set. If you don’t have a Gorast set, go buy one now! Bag Build! Because Thornraxx does away with the large-but-essential torso bone that’s present in all of the other 2012 sets, all of the main pieces are contained within the single polybag, so bag building is possible! This activity is great for bumping up the build time and difficulty significantly, although Thornaxx is too big for the polybag due to the claws and stinger. Still, this takes me bag to the days of bag building Voyatoran and other small boxed sets. Instructions The front of the instructions has the same image as the bag packaging. The little Thornraxx between the arm and tubing of the main Thornraxx is flying the wrong way. Daft little bugger. Game points! The first pages of the instructions ensure that you know your Hero Core is redeemable for Game Points on the website, 200 GAME POINTS in fact. I wish it was made more clear on the packaging that a Hero Core is included in the Villain sets despite not being a part of the main model, but I think that in 9/10 cases the absence/presence of this small coded piece wouldn’t flip a villain purchase. Unless you really really want Game Points. Random Page Thornraxx’s instructions are clear and easy to follow. I appreciate that they include helpful diagrams to help you identify when to use the only 5M shell instead of a 3M shell. Inventory and Mugshots! Thornraxx’s inventory page is a work of art; the colour arranged pieces fit so well into rows and around the customer service bubble. There isn’t much artistic flexibility in arranging the pieces around the inventory page, which makes me wonder if the pieces used in Thornraxx were chosen specifically so that the inventory page would look good. For added confusion in the Breez/Thornraxx pictures, both characters are visible in the background of their opposite’s picture. Combiner action! Once they’ve finished fighting, Thornraxx and Breez combine together using Kaita power to form the legendary Buff-Walrus-Scorpion-thing-with-Rockets™! We’ll reevaluate that in the Breez review; other excitement is afoot here! Pieces Behold, the wonder of Thornraxx’s inventory! At this point I’d better remind you that Thornraxx is priced at the cost of a small Hero canister, not a larger Villain box. Instead of price consuming pieces that you already have lots of such as torso bones, Glatorian heads, chest armour/plates, feet pieces and second legs, Thornraxx leaves you only with goodness. Let me run you through the list of pieces that excite me: 2 Holographic Gorast wings 1 Solid Red Zamor 2 Waspix bones 2 Orange Mahri tubes 2 Orange Revised Zamor Launchers (new) 1 Corrupted Quaza Spike 4 Medium Azure Sockets (new 2012 colour) 2 Medium Azure 5A Bones 1 Orange 5M Shell (recoloured) 2 Orange Claws 1 Coded Hero Core (new) 3 Black Shield/Claw shells 1 Thornraxx head (new) 3 Dark Bley 5B Bones (recoloured) 2 Black Raw-Jaw Tusks (recoloured) Notice that I quite faithfully read off the parts picture in order, listing 66% of the 44 pieces. By comparison, Surge would only score 36% of 39. At this stage the fact that the pieces in this set form a coherent model is entirely bonus. I should address that Thornraxx’s blue pieces are not the Teal of 2001; instead they are a new 2012 Medium Azure, also found in the new Friends line. The colour is very similar and just as exiting, so although Thornraxx doesn’t have the selling point of reusing Teal, it does have the selling point of introducing Azure. Thornraxx’s Head This new bug head also appears in Silver with Black Phantom, where it utilized the bar connection points seen around the sides of the head. Even though those points aren’t being used on this set, they don’t detract from the appearance. I’ve been disappointed countless times when aesthetic pistons and bars on BIONICLE pieces are slightly too thin or thick to be used as connection points – the only valid part I can think of from the top of my head are the Toa Mata feet, and those are over 11 years old. Back to the Thornraxx head, there is a nice variety of surface textures; smooth and reflective around the face, a compound eye-like surface around Thornraxx’s pincers, and an organic brain-like texture on the top of the head. Underside If Thornraxx’s head was reproduced as a marbled two-tone piece it would fit perfectly in with the 2008 Mistika Makuta. The Barraki eyes connect to clip joints inside the head, with is a first for BIONICLE/HF heads. This works much better than the Barraki style of connection, because there is much more space for removing the eyes or fitting other pieces in for MOCs. Mahri tubes can connect to these clip joints through the eye sockets, to turn this head into backpack piece for Hero MOCs. Build As you’d have probably suspected, because Thornraxx isn’t a standard humanoid Hero, he doesn’t have a standard humanoid build process! The build isn’t very long or challenging, but it was fresh and enjoyable to start with a 1x5 Technic beam and 2 Waspix joints rather than a torso bone and leg bones. As you go through the final stages of building the set, Thornraxx suddenly gains a lot more size due to long thin extremity pieces such as the wings and claws. Leftover parts Thornraxx doesn’t have many leftover pieces, but one of them is a nice extra orange claw. If you hadn’t already picked these pieces up from last year’s Ninjago Ice Dragon or Bricklink, Thornraxx is a great cheap source for this piece. Completed Set Front Thornraxx is a big, bold and beautiful set. Despite being a smaller villain, he sizes up well against the larger Breez. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking here. Overhead Underside The underside of Thornraxx isn’t particularly pleasing, but the only time you’ll see it is when Thornraxx is descending onto you for the kill, at which point it’s against your best interests to insult his appearance. In this photo you can also see both the Azure and Black sockets/5A bones. It’s happened for shells, but I think this is the first time that a set includes two different colours of sockets and bones. Kudos to the designers for caring about the colour scheme enough to do this, although I would have been giving identical praise if they have forgone good colour placement to include 4 more Azure pieces. Flying Sideways Thornraxx stands up very well on thin spiky pieces, and can be easily balanced on two spikes as well. Sideways Standing Front Standing Back Standing *BRZZZBRZZZ* (Translates to “Yummy a flower!”) *BRZGRZBRRRRZZZ* (Translates roughly to “Surrender your red honeycomb slice or die!”) Final Thoughts Colour Scheme - 15/10 – Orange and Black has always been a wonderful and sadly underused colour scheme, and it looks very good on Thornraxx. The Azure technically doesn’t fit well, but it’s Azure! How could you possibly want some other colour instead? The odd colours could be justified as toxic bug patterns, although I’ve never seen a wasp with this particular combination. I’m sure Front could prove me wrong though. Parts - 17/10 – Unless you start counting red axles and Barraki eyes, there are no boring pieces in Thornraxx that I’m not glad to have more of. Thornraxx does well compared to larger villain sets such as Waspix or Drilldozer, when price wise it should be compared to a Hero canister set. Design - 20/10 – Thornraxx is the Hero Factory remake of Nui-Rama. Articulation - 9/10 – Thornraxx has 15 points of articulation, but I’m honestly not sure what should be expected for a non-humanoid bug creature. Historically bug figures have had many more limbs, except for the Nui-Rama of 2001, which had 8 points of articulation. Between the both of them. I’ve deducted a point from the Articulation score because the larger shells around Thornraxx’s body do obstruct motion a fair bit by getting hooked over each other. Quality - 10/10 – All of Thornraxx’s pieces are of high quality, and there are no old-style breakable sockets. Unlike other sets, Thornraxx doesn’t have any printed pieces (expect the code core), but there is no place on the set that needs printing and you don’t miss it on this set. Overall - 83/50 – If you only get one set in the first half of 2012, it should be Thornraxx. If you only get two sets, they should be 2 Thornraxxes. Thornraxx is a joy to build, look at and swoosh around, and once I finally build up the heart to take him apart, I know he will be a joy to MOC with, providing excellent pieces to anyone’s collection. High-Res Gallery

I took photos of the sets in a non-linear fashion, so the leftovers were lost into circulation before I took photos of them. Surge had an impressive amount of spares though; a red axle, a grey half pin, a black Exo-force clip and a fourth gunmetal chain link.

I actually put a lot of thought into justifying the colour scheme, which admittedly only exists because I tried to use as many of the pieces included in both sets. Green skinned goblin who has red boots, a red shirt (and a red face ), one normal arm and one mechanically enhanced lightning arm/backpack. I think it's quite likely that combiner models deliberately leave leftover pieces to inspire creativity. During 2007 and 2008 I would buy duplicates of sets so that I could have both the regular models and combiners built for display at the same time, and the pieces left over were very useful for MOCing. Since then I've taken apart those combiners to use all of the duplicate set parts in MOCing. Goblots is very guilty of throwing on extra parts just to use them; not visible in the photo are the Hero cores on Goblots' ankles. Photoshop was used on the first Completed Set photo, hence why the perspective of each side is slightly off. I'll upload the non-resized photos for each review shortly. There isn't much more detail to appreciate though, aside from dust specks, focal blur and photoshopping artifacts.

They're not too far away. Breez and Thornraxx are a pair, so I'll post the reviews together.

If you want more blue, you'd be better off getting (another) Surge 2.0 set. The new surge only really has the 2 leg shells and a torso shell with yellow printing. Hopefully the next wave will have more luck with blue sets.

Set name: Splitface Set Number: 6218 Price: $12.99USD , 12.99 Euro Pieces: 50 Year of release: 2012 Peeron Bricklink Brickset Evade capture with SPLITFACE’s shredding claws and split personality! Heroes, we hope you’re receiving this message! SPLITFACE has escaped and is trying to disrupt Hero Factory communications. Equip yourselves with anything you need to combat his vicious shredding claw, plasma gun, precision laser and split personality and stop him before its too late. Failure is not an option! Hero Factory 2012 leaves the themed structure of 2011 waves to return to a diverse selection of villains, from humanoid to insectoid to downright fishy. I like this, because each set is more varied, and we get to see some very wacky themes. Splitface is the only large (+300 GAME POINTS tier) villain of the wave, for whom the smaller Surge gets the unfortunate mission of capturing. Claws and laser guided Zamor aside; something tells me that Splitface isn’t the stable kind of character that can be reasoned with. The Bag Front First we start with the bag, which replaces the tall boxes of previous villains. Splitface wastes no time in admiring the beautiful space background, instead charging towards the customer leaving Surge struggling to keep up. The GAME POINTS feature seems to be a big deal, and Splitface gives you 300 of them! My favourite detail of these bags has to be the mini Splitface head on the zipper. It’s a bit odd that his eyes are red and face is all black in that thumbnail though. Back On the back we have the usual assortment for box arts; set functions, game ads and legal texts, but this time they’re all backed up with the shiny chrome of the bag! According to the bag if you say Splitface’s name three times in different languages he will assume an obedient zombie pose and allow you to fire his Zamor weapon. Or maybe I’m interpreting the image wrong. I’m still not sure about the purpose of the ball/socket diagram, which repeats the joints you can see on the set but doesn’t explain what they are or how they work. The game advert is the same as on the Hero sets, except Villains don’t have Hero cores, or at least they don’t show it as part of the set… Contents What's within? Cut open the bag and out spills this lot; polybags, instructions, a tube and a torso bone! Splitface’s instructions were fine but Surge’s weren’t. That means the bags are capable of protecting instructions but just as with boxes, it is luck of the draw as to whether they chose to do so. The instructions So let’s take a look at these wonderful non-crumpled instructions. We can see Splitface in the same pose as on the bag, but the rest of his leg isn’t obscured by the +300 GAME POINT advertisements. I’m glad that it didn’t reach the instruction booklet. First pages Oh, nope, there it is on the first page. I’ve now just realized that I’ve mixed my +300 and +200 cores together, so I’ll need to redeem carefully them if I want re-identify them to sort out the pattern behind the codes. Random Page The instructions are standard fair, and it’s easy enough to tell Dark grey from Gunmetal from Black. None of the pieces in the set double up in different grey/black colours however, so you’ll have no trouble identifying colours. Inventory Shot! You probably can't read any of the codes or quantities from this picture, but it looks impressive right? Next pages On the next page the temperamental Splitface and the stoic Surge combine together to form a monstrous Splitface Vahki hybrid that is intent on destroying Firelord’s digital instruction manual. Later in this review I will attempt to recreate this monster, for better or for worse. I like that all of the sets have combiners again, but I really hope that each mission pair don’t actually combine as part of the story.. Final pages Finally we have a club advertisement and an ad for the two paired sets. I like the orange tape graphics between them, although I don’t think there are any crime scenes involved in these missions. Pieces Because of Splitface’s dual colour scheme, a fair number of his pieces come in odd numbers for use on one side of the body or the other. Splitface has surprisingly few recoloured pieces; a gunmetal Hero foot, a trans-apple Glatorian head and a matching apple Zamor. There are five new pieces; Splitface’s mask parts, his printed torso armour, the Hero core with code, the remodeled Zamor launcher and new “bubble” armour. If you don’t have the Witch Doctor set you might be interested in the red ball joint piece included in this set. While I’m glad that this piece is now available in a colour other than black, I hope that red doesn’t replace black ball joints in future sets at the expense of the colour schemes. Launcher Splitface features the new Zamor launcher piece, which is a miniature version of the Thornax launcher piece. This new piece isn’t intended to be used with the previous version, which makes me wonder why it is still so aesthetically similar. The ball grasper is more curved and the pin connection point (that was almost never used in sets) has been removed, but otherwise it is identical. Torso Front Torso Back Splitface’s torso printing is probably the best demonstrator of the new torso piece, which looks much more robotic and strong than the existing torso shell. However, it is less adaptable than the existing torso shell at being things other than torso armour, especially with the silver/red printing on it. The torso printing is fantastically detailed, and uses the gunmetal base effectively as the colour of many pipes, screws and panels holding together Splitface’s organic (?) side. Inside a criminal's mind Splitface’s helmet is ingeniously designed, using the same piece in red and gunmetal to create both sides of the head. The piece is the right (or left) side of a flipmask, meaning that the angular face will always be on the right, and the organic face will be on the left. You can flip the gunmetal/red sides around, or make a purely red or purely gunmetal head if you have two Splitface sets. Also shown is a comparison between apple and trans-neon green heads, and Splitface’s apple Zamor and Surge’s pale green Zamor. The part numbers in both instructions are the same, so the green Zamor used in 2012 sets must just have a lot of colouring variation. If the Zamor colour range goes to almost pure apple green, hopefully it also ranges to near white. Variation was the best feature of Bionicle squid, and I’m glad to see it happening again here. Anyway, enough chat, on to the build! The Build Underneath the wildly different designs all over Splitface, this set is simply a regular Hero-build. There is a neat Technic arrangement to attach the mechanical shell on Splitface’s left arm, and it’s very satisfying to add back armour (in the form of a foot) to the set early on, rather than never having it. Despite the asymmetry of the build, you still get a x3 step for attaching the red shell/bubble armour segments. The Completed Set Front Here he stands, the completed Splitface! He’s a fearsome warrior, half-machine, half…another-machine. The colours of each side are very distinct, and so are the shapes/styles of each side’s pieces. This is only tainted slightly by red axles and a red bone on the right, and gunmetal “precision laser plasma gun shooter” on the right. Splitface looks a lot like Thunder, only with a different colour-scheme and weapons. Side From this side Splitface is a very dark mechanical monster, with sharp lines, spikes and claws. I get the impression that Splitface was originally red and had to have half of his body rebuilt after an accident, except as a robot he could’ve been rebuilt symmetrically again. Perhaps he’s the result of a fusion experiment/accident? Back From the back we can see that Splitface has one of the fantastic new additions to 2012 sets; back armour! The foot piece does a surprisingly good job at covering the usual back cavity, but it’s oddly shaped for a spine and leaves a vacant socket joint. Unless this is used for an over-the-shoulder launcher, I hope the next group of sets will introduce a new piece specifically designed for covering backs. In this shot we can also see how the new bubble armour piece creates a very large cavity from behind. For the sake of the gunmetal arm and red leg, I wish that the bone colours had been asymmetrical as well. Unfortunately the shin bone doesn’t exist in red yet. Other Side From the other side Splitface is now an angry red robot, with an exaggerated shoulder, hip and knee. I really like the new bubble armour piece, because it allows more stylized robots to be built, without any exposed Technic holes/axles as with Bionicle parts. Both of Splitface’s weapons are made with existing pieces in existing colours, although the pieces in question are well-designed and good to have multiples of. I prefer reusing weapons (to an extent) compared to waves of Bionicle sets that had unique once-off weapons for almost every set. Splitface’s arm lacks armour, but this is partially covered up by the weapon that he is holding. Prone, ready for combat! Splitface is fully posable with additional neck articulation, and his split-personality character becomes evident depending on the angle you view him from. Sometimes he is a dainty robot running through flowery fields... Other times he is a cold mechanical slasher! Thought you could sneak up on me? Splitface has an elevated dose of the two-headed syndrome that affected the 2011 fire villains, because his flipped head is his own head. On the bright side, he must have no problems reverse parking! Ah, there he is, cleaning his weapons… Silly Surge, sleeping on the job again? Your superiors will be most disappointed. Bonus Combiner! Front Side Going of the image in the instructions, I’ve attempted to recreate the combiner of Surge and Splitface! I’m not really sure what it is, but it reminds me of combiners from the Metru Nui days. Because Splitface has a standard humanoid build, Surge and him combined don’t provide many Technic pieces or unusual connectors that are essential for making more interesting combiners. I suppose the official combiners are also limited by set requirements, where unfoldable joints, holding parts by friction or balancing are not valid connection methods. There are a lot of pieces left over, mostly belonging to Surge. In the spirit of using those pieces, I had a go at making my own combiner. Meet Goblots! Leftover pieces Bonus bonus images! Here are two badly photoshopped imaginings of what Splitface’s individual halves look like as whole beings. However, Omicron Squad Leader did a better job at representing their individual halves with 2 Splitface sets. Meet Harvey, Xplode’s cousin Thunder after a day at the beach Final Thoughts Colour Scheme - 10/10 – Splitface is all about colour scheme, because it is the main part in creating his split persona. The red and gunmetal combination separates each side well but doesn’t clash together. Splitface’s design and colour scheme successfully work around the mandatory red axles and blue pins, preventing them from messing up Splitface’s appearance. Parts - 7/10 – Obviously because Splitface has a split colour scheme, he has many parts in odd quantities, which is something that usually detracts from sets for me. He has a great new gunmetal Hero foot, but only one of them. Overall Splitface doesn’t have the best selection of pieces, but if red is a favourite colour of yours, Splitface is an essential for the new bubble armour. There are no new/uncommon bones, and the shell selection isn’t very interesting. Design - 9/10 – Splitface goes where no action figure has gone before, which is incorporating two separate characters into one body. The wonderful mask is what makes this possible, and as a result Splitface looks very convincing. My only qualm with Splitface’s design is that each side is individually much blander and less interesting than previous villains. But in most cases I’d imagine that having more complicated halves to the whole would create a villain that is far too cluttered and incoherent to look good. However Splitface could have avoided using the same red 5M & bubble shells for all of the red armour. Articulation - 10/10 – Splitface has the standard range of articulation and an extra neck joint. No complaints here, and if a standard humanoid started having more points of articulation than this, I’d start to get worried. Quality - 9/10 – Splitface’s plastic is perfect and his chest printing is amazing. I’ve deducted one point from this otherwise 10/10 score because of the Glatorian head, which comes in a brand new colour but is still plagued by the old breakage-prone socket. The regular hand/socket piece has now existed in all three socket forms in trans-orange, so I wish the Glatorian head would be updated as well. Overall - 45/50 – Quite simply, Splitface is a fantastic character, but a bad parts pack. If you want Splitface for the awesome split persona and for fighting your new DC action figures, I’d recommend him over other villains of this wave. If you want a set with a wide range of useful and interesting pieces, I’d recommend a different set either from this wave or previous waves. Raw-Jaw has more useful red and gunmetal pieces, and Black Phantom or Rocka cover the trans-apple Glatorian head with more exciting pieces to accompany it. High-Res Gallery

Set name: Surge Set Number: 6217 Price: $8.99USD , 9.99 Euro Pieces: 39 Year of release: 2012 Peeron Bricklink Brickset Shock the villains in their tracks with SURGE’s electricity shooter! SURGE, there’s been a jail break at the Hero Factory and we need your help recapturing them! We can’t leave anything to chance, so we’ve equipped you with a high-power electricity shooter, plasma gun and super-thick armor. Slap those cuffs on them and give them the shock of their lives! Hero Factory 2012 has taken an interesting new direction with the set lineup. Rather than 6 small Hero canisters and 3 or 4 larger villain sets with an overarching theme of jungle or fire, we have a mixture of large/small Hero/villain sets paired up against each other in separate “Cops & Robbers” missions. There has been a mass breakout from a prison station, and now the Heroes need to catch them! Surge returns after being absent on Savage Planet as 6217 Surge (not Surge 4.0), sporting stylish new armour, weapons and his original helmet. He is one of the smaller sets, which gives him an assortment of pieces slightly larger than the previous Hero canisters, but at the same price (depending on area, sorry US). This could be because Surge has a reduced packaging cost of a resealable bag instead of a plastic canister or box. The Bag Front There were a lot of mixed feelings about the switch to bags, which can be likened to the Toa Mahri “canisters” of 2007, which required you to rip open the packaging to get to the set. I’m pleased to say that the new Hero bags work quite well, although I had wished to be able to collect the Hero canister lids in more colours. Surge’s bag shows him gallantly floating in space amongst asteroids and discarded machinery, shooting his Zamor at a “+200 GAME POINTS” advertisement for the online component of the Hero Factory experience. He seems pretty peeved that LEGO is filling his cover space with pop-up ads, but perhaps if he didn’t ignore Splitface blatantly causing expensive property damage in the background, LEGO wouldn’t need to resort to advertisements like that! The packaging backgrounds and graphics are impressive and detailed as usual, and I’m especially impressed this year, because there are 5 different background themes for each of the Hero/Villain missions. The printing of the bag is very good, although there is a strange red outline to some of the details, which doesn’t have any 3D effect when viewed under anaglyphic glasses. The back uses a reflective chrome base, but the colour printing is strong enough to obscure this where there is printing. Back The back of the bag shows the action features of the set, such as the new Zamor cannon, the “new” helmet that you may recognize from 2 years ago, and the cuffing feature, as demonstrated on a Hero. But over half of the back is dedicated to more online game advertisements and legal text. Perhaps this mass breakout has cost Hero Factory millions, which is why Heroes are now required to advertise for corporate investors and say licensed catchphrases. The game ad shows that the new Hero cores have exclusive codes for getting game points, like the Kanoka club of yesteryear. The legal text is printed on chrome, so you have the option to admire how shiny it is rather than reading it. Comparison! Here’s a comparison shot between the two bag sizes. There isn’t much of a difference in size, which is reflected in the size differences of the actual sets. Side There isn’t one. When full of pieces, the new bags stand up well and feels very well packed, especially the smaller bags such as Surge’s. Additional polybags inside make the pieces feel padded and protected, so much so that you could battle by throwing Surge and Splitface sets at each other while still in their bags. But what fun is that when you could be battling with the real LEGO included within? Contents On the table! After slicing open the zipper seal, the contents of the set are revealed; one big polybag, a torso, Mahri tube and badly squashed instructions. I feel that the tube should probably have been included in the polybag, because it’s one of the easiest pieces to remove from a small rip in the outer packaging. For sets that have been sitting in the stores for a while, you may want to double check that the outer bag hasn’t been cut open discretely. The instructions Once flattened out with a heavy book, I was able to delve into Surge’s instructions, as a matter of pure curiosity, because you don’t need them for the actual build. First pages The first pages explain the “+200 GAME POINTS” just as well as the front and back packaging did, using the exact same graphics. The game looks new to me, but features Stormer 2.0 fighting Drilldozer, so I’m not convinced that it’s new. Why do these sets give game points for a game featuring the previous Winter wave? Random page The instructions are very standard, but they’re clear and easy to follow. The instructions seem to think that Surge’s sword is transparent, but it uses the translucent blue of Zadakh rather than the transparent blue of a Kaukau. Why do I still use BIONICLE comparisons? You all understand them right? Inventory Next pages The back of the instructions feature Splitface, Surge and... Let’s just move on…The web address currently denies that the combiner exists as well. Next pages The next pages show the Surge/Splitface pair, and yet another advertisement for “+200 GAME POINTS” feature. Next pages And then we have some very cool shots of Black Phantom and the Breakout Hero team. I love the shading and effects on these shots, and eagerly hope for a larger poster format. Next pages On next pages there is a three-shot ad for the Superheroes, and a LEGO club advertisement. But I’d better stop boring you with the paper, and get back to the plastic! Pieces Surge has a total of 39 pieces, which is a small step up from previous Heroes. This is largely due to the cuffs, and small axles/pins. Surge has a healthy selection of recoloured pieces, but doesn’t do too well in the armour shell department compared to other new sets. Torso Front Torso Back Surge has a new torso shell with exclusive lightning printing. I preferred the printed standard shells over printed armour, because while this piece works well for Surge, the lightning print restricts the use of this otherwise very nice piece in blue. Hopefully the unprinted version of all the new armour will appear on LEGO PaB or Recon team as unprinted Silver/Black 5M shells did. Cuffs Swords Surge also has new lime bones, a grey socket (that previously appeared in Ninjago sets), gunmetal chain links and a recoloured blue lightning sword. I think this is a great weapon choice to continue from Surge 1.0, although you don’t get a second sword to combine together. All of the new sets feature a new white core piece, which has grey printing to highlight the “H” instead of the torso piece highlighting it. This grey printing is slightly misaligned on my core, giving a shadow/embossed effect. The reason for this identical core in all sets is to allow inclusion of a unique 9-digit code on the back of each core, for use on Herofactory.com. Technically this makes these cores the most collectable pieces ever, with limitless variations to collect, but I think I’ll pass on that challenge. It will be interesting to see if codes with real words are possible, or if those have been filtered from the code list. With two rod connectors, the new Hero core does not fit on old chestplates or 2.0 Hero heads, and looks odd on plain pieces of armour. The new cuff pieces come in gunmetal for all of the Hero sets, introducing the play feature of cuffing the villains so that they can be returned to jail. The pieces make good use of the existing Bionicle chain links and have chain, pin and bar connection points, along with the “cuff connection point” which easily snap on and off the bones/axles that make villain arms. The cuffs should work on most previous villains/Bionicle characters as well, if they have normal arms. My only qualm is that these cuffs are a step down from the glowing energy cuffs that the Heroes used in previous missions, although those never existed in plastic. Trans-coloured chain links could’ve done this, but I think that gunmetal links are a far more versatile recolour to have. The Build Surge’s build is exactly the same as previous Heroes, but the result is strikingly different for a build so similar. Simply put, this Surge is an amalgam of new pieces and 1.0 pieces, resulting in a new style of Hero that you’ll either hate or love. The Completed Set Front Here he is; Mark Surge the lightning Hero! His colour scheme conspicuously doesn’t look very lightning-like, but the chest print, helmet and sword get the point across. The lime in Surge 2.0 was used to replace the trans-neon green of the first Surge’s eyes and core, but now it appears as a secondary armour colour alongside trans-neon green eyes. Side Surge’s new torso looks very flash and heroic from most angles, although from the side you can see how it lacks bulk without a Hero chest plate on top as with previous Heroes. The Hero chest plate fits well over the new torso piece, but prevents the new core from attaching, and the printing underneath shows through the side/holes in the chest plate messily. Back Unsurprisingly Surge’s back is exposed to attack from anything, although his arms and legs are better protected. I’m baffled as to why Surge’s lightning tubing is comes out from his back much lower than Stormer 2.0’s ice tubing. Surge’s posability isn’t restricted by connecting the tube further up. Action shot! Surge is very posable due to the standard 13 points of articulation. Here we see him boogying to some smooth jazz, or perhaps he’s just lost his footing. Back to business! Surge is in pursuit of the fugitive known as Splitface! Halt criminal! See this sword? It’s blue; that means it’ll fry your circuitry with a single blow! I used to have two but I traded it out for this sweet Zamor cannon. Don’t move! *JUSTICE!* Before I cuff you, wouldn’t you agree how fantastic it is that I can hold the cuffs in my hand like this? Why don’t I have a coffee mug like that? Just you wait until we meet again in my review Surge! Comparison shot Surge is a couple of bricks shorter than the large Heroes, but the Zamor cannons and chestplates/cores help tie this new team of Heroes together. This is the first time that Toa/Glatorian/Hero teams have been split over different price ranges, but it does help prevent clone builds. When you’re limited to humanoid Heroes in the new HF system, there’s only so much variation possible within the same price-range. Final Thoughts Colour Scheme - 7/10 – Surge is faithful to both of his previous incarnations, but unfortunately that meant making Lime almost as prevalent as his primary blue colour, which doesn’t make a lot of sense for a Lightning character. While I’m pleased to have more sets with Lime pieces, there are even less sets with Blue pieces, and Surge could’ve provided many more Blue parts. Parts - 7/10 – Compared to previous Hero sets, Surge has a very impressive range of new and nice parts; Lime bones, Blue and Lime shells, gunmetal chain links, a blue Lightning sword and a blue/trans-clear Mahri tube. He would be a good set to get if you’re looking for both Lime and Blue pieces, but if you’re only looking for one colour, Breez 2.0/4.0 or Surge 2.0 would be much more beneficial. I’ve given Surge a 7 for pieces because his part selection pales in comparison to the villains of this wave that go for the same price point, particularily Thornraxx and Toxic Reapa. Design - 9/10 – As far as Heroes Surge’s size go, Surge is very well designed, owing to the cuff features, good looking Zamor canon and the return of trans-eyes. All he needs is a solution for covering his back, and that hose moved up a bit. Articulation - 10/10 – Surge has all of the articulation you would expect him to have, plus the flexible cuffs, if those count for something. Quality - 10/10 – Quality-wise there is nothing wrong with Surge, except for the breakable Glatorian head socket. The printing on the torso armour and Hero core is good, and the plastic quality is fine. I’m also quite pleased with the resealable bags, which work well for set storage if you need it, but otherwise can be flattened for storage thousands of times more efficient than Bionicle canisters. Overall - 43/50 – There’s no denying that Surge is a fantastic set, with excellent pieces and a final model that combines the personality of the first Surge with the amazing pieces of the second. You won’t be disappointed with this set, but unless you particularly like certain pieces in this set or Surge’s character, I recommend that you pick up one of the villain sets first, because they generally seem to have even better pieces/builds. For more Surge action, head over to the end of my Splitface review, to look at combining the two sets together! High-Res Gallery

Hi Optimus99, Currently Eurobricks building contests can only be hosted by staff members or in cooperation with the staff (such as the recent Batman contest). This is to ensure that everything runs smoothly and all the stages (entry, voting, results) are followed through by the host, for the sake of people that spent time creating entries. Typically contests are also longer than 3 days, to give people time to find their action figure parts and make a decent entry. I'm closing this topic, but feel free to send me a contest proposal via PM if you'd like to host a contest here. It's due time for another Action Figure contest, that shall hopefully happen sometime next year.

The bags are tight enough that you can't manipulate the pieces inside, so no blind bag-building. Unfortunately that doesn't apply to the instructions as one of my sets had crumpled instructions while the others were fine. I'm not sure if it happened in the bag or if it happened as it was being packed, but either way instructions can get mangled just like in regular boxes.

From a combination of the bag and the individual polybags inside, I think the sets are quite well protected from store life. It's fairly tightly packed, so the pieces probably suffer less damage from rattling around inside the bag/canister, at the expense of being slightly more susceptible to outside damage. But if you've ever stepped on BIONICLE pieces in the dark, you'll know that it's not the LEGO that needs protection from damage.

If this list is true, I really hope there isn't an action feature tied to that name. But with a name like that, it seems essential that Core Drainer can actually drain cores, which would require yet another core design. A core piece that can be removed easily/magnetically ala 2001 Kanohi, or a light-up core so that there is a "drained"/off state. Light-up or GITD cores would be amazing. Currently the closest we have is shining a black light on select trans-coloured 1.0 cores.

I'm skeptical at this person's ability to copy set numbers and names from some list but still make typos such as "Fuhouse escape" and "Cosmis Cube Escape". The villains aren't set-number paired with Heroes as this wave of sets are, and it seems odd to have "Freeze" and "Flashfreeze" as names. Having 2 new Heroes is a hallmark of fan-made lists, and there are enough Heroes for that to be unlikely, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible and wouldn't be very well received. I'd love for this list to be true though, because it promises at least one Ice villain, and the largest set seems to be a tripod vehicle. How did you find that image? The folder isn't public yet, but the root account also has folders for 2012 City and 2012 Ninjago.

I like your theory, although the bigger bad is probably the villain on the outside. Based purely on the fact that summer waves have bigger sets that would need to be marketed as more important. (But I suppose that wasn't the case in 2009 with Tuma.)

I was so confused by the new 2012 combos that I made my own instead. The issue with the Hero sets of 2011 (Winter particularly) is that you can't combine the two torso bones into a bigger frame without Technic connectors that most Hero sets don't have. As the sets in 2012 and beyond start getting more obscure, there will be more useful pieces for making interesting combiners.

More reviews are on their way, once I get some decent sunlight. It's supposed to be summer in New Zealand.

You can tell from the bag image, where the two forehead horns are mirror images of each other, and the jaw features match the top of the head.

With Hero Factory's history, I can't believe I didn't see it earlier; Splitface's face only uses one mould, which is a flipmask piece. (Sorry if this was already pointed out.)

I've merged your topic with the 2012 topic, because this is the place for such questions. 4 of the 2012 Hero Factory sets were spotted on the Toys'R'Us website a few weeks ago, but I believe they have since been removed. I'm not sure if the stores ever had/do have them in stock, but they should be released very soon I think.

I think the actual printed skin tone is a different shade, but this one makes him look decidedly less corrupted. Now go Cutler Beckett, to whatever your urgent requirements are!

I'll try to take requests from both here and the Decal request thread. Girl (Blue lipstick) Girl (Red lipstick) Photoshop CS3. I've been intending to switch over to Illustrator, but I've become quite comfortable with the Photoshop vector tools. I work at a high resolution initially (for 3D minifig textures), so the end result is about the same.

Since August this year I've begun experimenting in creating original decals, in addition to replicating official designs. I've made a fair couple so far, but I'm ashamed to say that I haven't had the time or made the effort to apply them to real minifigures. And so I've created this topic to share my designs, where you may choose to put them to better use free of charge or credit! Just try to share pictures of your results, as I'd love to see how they turn out. So, on to the decals! I'll update this first post periodically as I create new designs: Elder Vampire Heads (Brickshelf Gallery) Sci-Fi Robot Blue alien Fish Alien Green Alien Red Alien Spider Alien Resistance Chimera Comics Apocalypse Baby Doll Cyclops Wolverine Magneto Mystique Daredevil Star Wars Darth Maul Happy Darth Maul Galen Marek Anakin Snow Maul! Fantasty Elder Vampire Standard Minifigs Punched in the face Crying Disgust Disgust (with a Moustache) Girl with Eyeliner Grin and grey hair Pleased grin Extremely Smug Real People/Fleshies Crying Face Scared Face Albert Einstein Barrack Obama John Key Enthusiastic Embarrassed Grin Grin Glasses Glasses 2 Neutral and tired (Medium tone) Happy (Medium tone) Happy with defined chin & eyes Grin 2 Neutral (Medium tone) Jordan Rudess James la Brie Girl with Eyeliner Girl with Eyeliner (& Red lipstick) Other Snowman Sad Snowman Bodies (Brickshelf Gallery) Sci-Fi Robot Blue alien Green Alien Red Alien Spider Alien Comics Wolverine Magneto Mystique Daredevil Star Wars Darth Maul Snow Trooper (Non-original) Galen Marek Assorted Clothing Christmas Cardigan Palm tree shirt Boxer (Non-original) White Jacket Horrible Science Jersey Santa Suit C&C is most certainly appreciated, because I'm creating these to improve at and gain experience in decal design.

Baby doll, albeit in a much less (Batman) cartoon style. I'll have a go, but it might take a while. There's no need to repost the image everytime you ask; someone will get to it eventually if you're patient.