Mesonak

An episode of the podcast? Sure, I don't see why not. Would probably be an interesting topic.

Easier, sure, but $5 more expensive for the included figures. :P I'm very curious about the theme's fate as well; I'm hoping for another minifig year (if we get another year at all), but I'm skeptical if they can give a believable reason for it two years in a row.

Not sure if this has already been posted, but all of the sets are now available on Lego's website! Stormer Freeze Machine and Furno Jet Machine are also available on Toysrus.com, which is significant because of the BOGO 50% off deal that's still ongoing.

I believe that's not correct; while it may line up with the graphic regarding The Lego Movie, it doesn't match up with the Hero Factory theme. This picture shows a projected TV show date of "Sept-Oct, Dec." That would be all well and good had the 22-minute TV special already been released, and to my knowledge, we are not getting another one this year. So, while I can't explain why the graphic says that, I can say with certainty it's probably incorrect, and that casts doubt upon this Ninjago graphic in my eyes.

#KalhikiforPresident2016 :P

Splitter Beast and Evo XL Machine are available for purchase on Toysrus.com! There's also a BOGO 50% off deal going on, AND free shipping on orders over $49. Couple that with the fact that the sets aren't marked up, and this is pretty fantastic. Hopefully the other sets are available for purchase soon. On another note, some quick thoughts on Splitter Beast and Jet Machine: -Splitter Beast is pretty amazing, not going to lie. Both models are pretty bland when set apart, but when combined a truly fearsome creature is made. Sometimes it's a little hard to pose the azure head due to conflicting necks, but overall it's a very impressive figure. -Furno Jet Machine is a masterpiece. Probably my favorite iteration of Furno yet, and I find very little to complain about with him. In conclusion, Invasion from Below's looking pretty schway so far.

I'm quite curious to see pictures of the Chima sets from Toy Fair, but it doesn't appear like there's any of them currently...

Just visited my Walmart in southern Mississippi and picked up Furno Jet Machine and Splitter Beast. They also had Evo XL Machine, but I decided to pass on him for now. If anybody out there cares about my thoughts I'll probably post them shortly once I actually build them and such.

No; the only polybag we've seen is a lime green and silver one, Please post this if you can find it again! (Although I'm dreading you posting this because it's going to kill me inside to know we're getting another Evo T_T)

LOL, same. I still can't fathom that of all the colors in the world, they choose orange and lime green for the chair colors. It baffles me. On the subject of parts and their continued usefulness, the thing that separates this wave from Brain Attack is that the Brains' use was very limited in the sense that, unless you wanted to specifically make Brain-controlled creatures, you ran into roadblocks. This wasn't helped by the fact that the villains' faces were designed around the Brains and didn't line up properly with the normal head pieces unless a brain was used. This limited things drastically. With Invasion from Below, yeah, it may be a bit difficult to use chairs for anything other than chairs and minifgis for things other than... minifigs, but overall the parts are a lot more free to be used. Making a beast or a creature that uses the beasts' head pieces is very simple, because those creatures could be... anything. Making a vehicle for a minifig hero doesn't have to be restricted to the Invasion from Below concept to be viable. That's what really gives this wave a leg-up in comparison.

Well, to be fair, if they're rolling out some of the sets now that's already more than two weeks earlier than their March 1st release date. It wouldn't surprise me if it was gradual, but hopefully that's not the case.

Yeah, I know how you feel. I live in Mississippi so if the sets are out for you they'll hopefully be out for me soon as well. I'll have to check... thanks for the heads up.

Wait, really? ._. What state do you live in?

Wow; that BTS video was fascinating stuff. Makes me appreciate Invasion from Below a little more now that I hear of some of the work and difficulties that went into it (especially the ending). It's no secret I wasn't its biggest fan, but it's nice seeing things from Advance's perspective. That map of the cave was also fascinating and I want an HD image of that ASAP. As far as sets are concerned, I was going to wait for Toyfair before typing up opinions, but I'll go ahead and do it now. Crawler Machine: At first I thought it was a waste of a set (and I still think so), but I actually kinda love the thing. It's small, concise, and looks imposing enough all things considered. Tunneler Beast: This guy is legit. He's like the Thornraxx of this wave for me; small, custom build, and pretty nice looking overall. Throw in Surge (who, by the way, looks nothing like Surge) and we've got ourselves a nice set. Drill Machine: Fantastic. Nice design, and the drill function is great too. Bulk also looks quite nice. Crystal Beast: Pretty much the same. Great parts, looks good, bit bland otherwise. I'll pick him up, however. :P Flea Machine: This one's up in the air for me, and I'll need to wait for Toyfair to see some better pictures before deciding. If its build is stable (AKA not like Evo Walker's) it could be one of my favorite sets. I just really love how it looks. Combat Machine: This one's a similar case to the Flea Machine; it could go either way. I don't really like either of the models separately, but together... it looks pretty good. I wish a blue-backed red jumper was included in this set, but I understand the need to differentiate the color scheme from the vehicle. Queen Beast: Evo's Machine looks cool (better than the Walker), and the Queen itself looks... interesting. Definitely a plus as far as uniqueness is concerned, and I'm grateful for that, but time will tell if it works out okay. The upper body and the wings are great, but the lower body is a bit strange looking. The torso-legs transition looks pretty strange, and I wish the legs were identical, but overall... I say it's pretty good. Overall, wave 2 is fantastic overall; time will tell if the sets end up being great but, as it stands, they impress me quite a lot. Definitely a step up from wave 1.

My stance on this year's Chima offerings are as follows: It's pretty good. I can understand why it's a disappointment for some, but I think it holds up okay. The problems with it are that they really don't try anything new or unique aside from the two titans. The Chima sets of last year, while they weren't insanely innovative, had a lot of cool stuff about them like the Raven/Eagle build, Gorzan, and Cragger. Even Worriz and Laval did some interesting stuff, although they were the most "generic" of the line. This go-round, Laval and Cragger feel like rehashes even though the sets themselves are okay, Panthar is... no comment, Mungus is disappointing because of his stature, Vardy is appealing to a certain group of people and repulsing to others, and the other two are pretty good. I, however, like pretty much of all of them (even Panthar) to a degree. They may not be the greatest sets, and I do believe the HF sets of this year trounce them as far as quality is concerned, but they bring enough new to the table to interest me (mainly in parts, but in design too). Fluminox and Sir Fangar are the best sets of the wave hands down, though. Vardy has also been growing on me drastically as time goes on.

I would buy that line up in a heartbeat. Personally, I think HF is played out at this point and needs to be retired. It hurts to say that because I've been (and still continue to be) an adamant supporter of the theme ever since its release, but I think that, somewhere along the line, they lost their way. They never seemed to be sure what kind of storytelling they wanted the line to have; I think the first two years handled it very well as far as self-referential comedy was concerned, Savage Planet and Breakout tried to be more serious, and the recent two specials have floundered in-between some-what. An unfortunate occurrence that I also feel hurt things is that the theme lost forms of media that helped out either side of the spectrum. Stuff like Hero Factory FM, the Call Center, the Secret Mission books, that's all gone. It's really a shame. That being said, I'm loving what they're doing with Invasion from Below, and I do hope that minifig-scale HF is able to carry the theme on for a while longer. Because at the very least, while everything else is a jumbled mess, the sets are still pretty great. :P

I have 11 Matoro Mahri sets. .... Don't ask me. They were on sale for super cheap.

Probably because his name isn't Maula; it's Mungus. You can see it on the bag in the picture.

I may as well throw in my two cents in a set-by-set writeup as well. OVERALL THOUGHTS: Eh, I like it. There are many, many strange things going on with this wave, but overall I think it works out okay. I think that the fire people have more solid (if boring) builds, whereas the ice people do more interesting stuff but the success rate is... average at best. ALSO, out of all of this, what I'm most excited for is that chest armor. Zamor collecting may be back in full force with the addition of that piece. I just hope it looks good in-use; it appears to sit a little low on the torso piece. Fluminox: I think this was pulled off successfully. I think the wings would have benefited from another flaming piece to help disguise the skeletal structure, but based on the description I'd bet the purpose of this wing style is to incorporate a Dragon Bolt-esque flapping function, which is okay with me. I dunno, I have little issue with this one. I love that weapon and the triumphant (?) return of the Zamor launcher. Cragger: I think this one turned out okay. A little boring, but he looks better than Laval. Green, trans red, and gold is pushing it as far as a color scheme goes but it appears to work out okay from what I'm seeing. Nice looking additional shoulder armor and a pretty generic weapon. Moving on... Munugs: Bit of a mixed bag here. I see what they were going for, but I feel like a Mammoth set should be a bit... larger. This guy looks like one of the smallest of the entire line. I think it looks okay, and could be improved with some modifications, but it's not one of my favorites. Great pieces, though! Sir Fangar: Now we're talking; this guy is fantastic. He's got a good, imposing stature to him, has an epic looking cape, and has a ton of interesting parts. I can't help but feel that he would have benefited from some lower arm armor, though. Oh well, that's easy enough to fix. I think this one is very successful. Vardy: ...Eh. I don't think it looks terrible; I can see what they were going for, and to its credit the person who posed this set didn't exactly do a very good job. I don't know what's going on with those wings, though, or why they wouldn't just build them like Fluminox's. Interesting weapon, and hooray for tan! This one could go either way and I'll wait for better pictures before I condemn it. Laval: I don't think this one worked out too well. Design-wise it's okay, but I think the color scheme throws it off. It's way too bright and warm. As far as positivity goes, that shield looks great and I do think the legs worked out well (those feet are a better fit for him). Panthar: ........This guy baffles me. To my knowledge, we're not getting a panther minifigure in any of the system sets (could be wrong on that one), so why does this guy even exist? He looks boring - incredibly boring. I do like the feet, though. I would've rather there been a Tiger figure than this guy, IMO.

That'd be us. And you know it, Zenerius. We're working on it as I type this. Thanks very much for alerting us to the pictures, CM4S. :D

Yeah, but for the last few years we've got extensive coverage of Nuremberg, both in picture AND video format, showing off all (or nearly all) of the sets. I'm hoping that's the case this year; I don't know why it wouldn't be, unless their policies have changed.

Oh yeah, two steps ahead of you. The guy actually alerted us to the existence of the pictures before anybody else and requested a video sourcing him. We're more than happy to oblige. XD My opinions are the same so far. Queen Beast looks cool, Combat Machine looks like a jumbled mess (but maybe that's just because of the confidential stamp obscuring 99% of the set).

My top three are probably: 1. Witch Doctor 2. Dragon Bolt 3. Furno XL

Not going to lie, I got a good laugh out of your comments. But come on man, leave CBW alone. ;_; Also you forgot Turaga Lhikan.

LOL, I forgot about Gali Mistika. She'll probably have to take the place of Solek for me. And wow@the above discussion. y u so critical Mephek, Bruizer was okay-ish ;-;