Dorek

Well, it was granted to him specifically for the mission (which can be interpreted as a trial run of sorts). He's definitely not in charge in the Secret Mission books, but it's also acknowledged that he's matured (and specifically in the context of Alpha 1, a lieutenant), and it's absolutely possible we'll see his career further even more for 2014.

Technically Furno was just a temporary commander, unless the status quo is solidified for 2014. Seriously though, giant and/or exclusive set is totally my scene. I'm on board.

We're assuming minifig-esque mechs where the Heroes fit entirely inside (the overused Pacific Rim comparisons didn't hurt that idea). I was thinking more Aliens exo-suit type deal.

I'm still holding out for Mixel scale "minifigs" in the HF sets. I don't see why it couldn't work, honestly, and we know how they like to repeat certain elements across themes when it's a novelty, so I'm still picturing that.

So why did you even say "big" if you're just going to recant on that? Not that anybody should have believed a completely unverifiable piece of speculation, but hey. He could, but that was based on ball-and-socket usage, rather than clips (which is what is being suggested for Jaw Beast in conjunction with the new head design and could be really cool), as well as however the heck Cragger operates, which is something I don't fully know.

I think the gist is one "full" size villain (scale we have now) vs a comparable mech with a hero "minifig" inside it.

When he says "minifig", why did we suddenty abandon the idea of Mixels scale parts? Sounds like that's exactly what's going down. I dig "Invasion From Below", as cheesy as that is, especially given the ending to episode 10: Brain Attack. I'm pro for the whole shaking things up thing. It'll certainly be something to get used to, but I imagine we're going to get some cool vehicles and tech out of the whole thing. Of course, wishful thinking says we get a 40 dollar mech with a constraction-scale figure in the summer, but thaaaaaat's just me.

Damn... that'd be awesome. I'd love to see that. And purchase it.

Yeah, but that's his secondary color. Personally I wouldn't mind some more color mixups, as long as we don't re-use the same secondary color schemes like Brain Attack did. I mean, if we get various shades of grey across the next sets, I'd definitely prefer to see it as the primary color, which I think could be fun (all having silver helmets or something).

Just occurred to me in the guidebook that there's no mention of Merrick Fortis in the guidebook, which bums me out. Recon Team gets a few shoutouts, but no dedicated thing. Where's the love? ON THAT NOTE if anybody has an instruction booklet from HRT with a maxed out stat in one area I'd appreciate a scan KTHXBAI.

Well, he does have a decoy in SM1, and the guidebook later makes note that he probably had more created as well, so... we'll see. I had the question asked in that LMB Q&A session (which is apparently still active?) so maybe we'll get a nice answer out of that.

I love how everybody is desperately trying to glean any possible info about HF 2014 from the new non-HF sets.

Well, I've come up with a few scenarios. 1. Core Hunter escapes, gets caught by Bulk, escapes again and begins Doom Box hunt. Problem: Core Hunter specifically narrates to himself in SM1 that he "evaded the net". 2. Core Hunter does actually reappear post-SM1, gets caught and jailed. Problem: That's weird, and kind of defeats the purpose of the ending of SM1. 3. Bulk caught a Core Hunter double. Problem: Not specifically mentioned to be a double in Face Off. 4. The Face Off bio is just inaccurate. I'm liking number 3 more and more because it gels with canon the best and would avoid the most problems. But we'll see...

In the guidebook it says that Bulk captured Core Hunter, while SM1 (which is also featured and acknowledged in the guidebook) says that Core Hunter was never captured before the Doom Box shenanigans and is basically dead after them. HS01 never really had anything on Core Hunter because he wasn't in the story, same as XT4 and Thornraxx, both of which were expanded upon in the guidebook.

Some people are A. Just used to the old way of doing things, and B. Prefer the solidity and explicit usefulness of a canister. I like canisters as much as the next guy, but from the perspective of "having collected them for 10+ years and now discovering the inordinate amount of space they take up and the difficulty in moving them", I gotta say I appreciate bags at this point in my life.

Yurp, got the guidebook. Damn fine stuff. And Greg totally read HS01 for it. Edit: THAT SAID GLARING INCONSISTENCY OF CORE HUNTER'S CAPTURE

Haha, that music video was all kinds of fun. I dig it. Yeah, I'm pretty partial to bags, myself. Having just had to help my parents move... canisters from 10 years worth of sets was a paaaaain.

Hey, I was still pro my fusion of old enemies theory; Toxic Reapa was Corroder and Meltdown, BP was FL and VN, Splitface was Thunder and Nitroblast, etc. We knew they were escaping via a black hole, and as later proven, black holes in the HF story do weird things, so it wasn't entirely out of the question. Plus, considering that it was a prison breakout, and the Heroes were going back to their old 1.0 helmets, it seemed the perfect time to bring back old enemies. Obviously I was wrong, but I don't think the theory is nearly as far-fetched as everybody is making it sound.

Personally I'd love to see returning villains; it would be a nice change of pace from what is essentially a "villain of the week" storyline that HF currently is.

Yeah, they better actually address the Brains; it's bad enough we don't get any more Secret Mission books for 2014.

Hey, isn't that part of the challenge of LEGO building? Making it work? I quite liked the brain villain faces, even if they are pretty specialized. But yeah, some 2014 pics would be nice. Although if this set list is true... that 2014 TV special is gonna be the BOMB.

Interesting if true. I could personally dig larger sets overall, if that's what the implication is. Definitely continues their overall theme of pairing a specific hero with a specific villain (hopefully it's utilized better than Brain Attack, where the villains got mostly shafted). And I'm always a sucker for vehicles and machines and the like.

I don't mind them trying something new, I mind when it's unuseable, which it's close to being. It is extremely laggy due to the way they load things, and I can never get the videos to work. But, we'll see... I read some of the previews, so I know some bits you're talking about, but it's good to hear that the Breakout missions get some attention. Any particularly good new images, or just same old?

Some of that stuff was supposed to be hidden, anyway; the testimonials weren't meant for the main site at all, the secret Makuro profiles of Alpha 1 were meant as easter eggs to discover as you navigated your way through the site, etc. I agree the new Timeline idea has its heart in the right place, but the placement and organization itself is a mess, which defeats the purpose of dividing the sections up anyway, not to mention it doesn't even work half the time. Hopefully we can get back to a more content-oriented system, since the Secret Mission books got axed. Speaking of, anybody got the guidebook yet? I'm still waiting on it to come in, but it could take a while.

Okay, so other people were having that problem too, good to know. I tried blocking the div of the banners and stuff, but it still doesn't reveal the whole thing. It's pretty easy to figure out what they were saying, but there's one or two where it's difficult. I'm just glad they updated it. The most recent club article showed that they at least had the animations available, but it took them long enough to update. A few extra animations, though (unlike the winter wave, which just had the one) featuring the different aspects, so that's kind of cool. Next year's website better be a vast improvement over this one, though.