Shakar

Exactly what Draiknova said. And, as I said before, I doubt Lego would waste the chance to promote a large hero to duel with a large villain (Sir Fangus)..it just seems like a natural thing to do, in a "clash of the titans!" way. Maybe..it's Shadowind? Perhaps the set's name is unknown so to keep hidden his real identity. I can't continue without talking about it so..

I've been ill in the last three days, so while watching some TV I finally checked out the newest animated series. I used to be really reclutant to watch it due to the CG, but, surprisingly.. I like it! So I went to check out this topic, really glad we're getting Karai!I just hope her makeup and big eyes manage to translate well in minifig form..

As I wrote on the LoC topic I really doubt we're getting that as a CHI figure:

I would agree if it weren't for the fact no Scorpion was present in the list. There's one ~20 Euro figure with an unknown name along Sir Fangus (sp), but I doubt that they'd make both larger figures bad guys. Plus all figures seem to be based on the Summer arc, so one single character from the previous wave would be unusual.

I'll get this next week. I prefer starting from the cheaper one this time, and I'm not buying the Walker. One thing that bothers me about all the Beasts (I'm posting this here because this review shows it best) is how much the ball socket sticks out of the head. I thought they stopped making these silly mistakes with HF.

I agree, it's not the best but it's better than nothing, as they say. As for the existing helmet that could be used, I guess I would make it like this: Breez's helmet for Nex, Stormer's helmet for Stringer. They lack some defining features but they're the closest ones in terms of general shape.

Totally with you there. I've been with BIONICLE since in 2001, when I was 9..so you can say it took a big part of my childhood and teen days. 2007 was the last year I truly loved. The Phantoka Makuta, Phantoka Lewa, Gresh and a few other Glatorian were great sets I still keep built. I bought all six Mistika but by then, I was buying things out of habit. I didn't care for the vehicles, so I didn't even care about completing the year anymore. So, when BIONICLE ended, my interest was at its lowest, so I just thought "Well, the names of these Hero Factory sets sound pretty..human. But I didn't like many of BIONICLE's latter run's names either, so I'll just have to see". Sets came out, and it was no Ben 10esque stuff! That pretty much was BIONICLE with a different name. The aesthetics looked pretty great but the set designs were much more basic than what BIONICLE had gotten us used to. I got some sets as bday present, bought the other Heroes except Stringer and that was it. I wanted Von Nebula at first but then I realized I didn't like him. I used all sets as parts pack because, while the story didn't interest me, I still liked to MOC with BIONICLE pieces. When pics of 2011 sets came out I was, I can admit that, disgusted. They looked so basic and... Megab**cky (not sure how the filter is going to work here so I'll leave it like this)? But when reviews came out, I realized how wrong I was. The new building system was simply BRILLIANT! I bought Evo, Nex, Breez, Jetbug and Drilldozer. The Villains were far from perfect, I modded them and destroyed them a few times. But the Heroes were great, just great. I liked Savage Planet but not as much as Ordeal of Fire. A part of me still felt some sets didn't look as striking as BIONICLE. Then 2012 came. Breakout pushed my love for HF to new heights. It wasn't "ok with some spots of excellence" anymore, it was FANTASTIC. The sets looked great, many new building techniques were introduced, the six sets cliched scheme was finally broken, some very original colour schemes were used. Hero Factory finally, truly beat BIONICLE. So yeah, I'm tired of writing so I'll wrap this. : P Brain Attack was largely disappointing for me, sets were far less daring than Breakout and just didn't look as good. I also didn't like that they tried to go back to BIONICLE's more organic and elemental style.. I'll be honest, I never liked it very much, I like HF's sci-fi aesthetics better. But, still, some sets (Heroes at least) looked better than many BIONICLE sets. And the transparent shells were awesome! Luckily HF is back on track in 2014. The piece count is higher than ever, the designs are cool and the Beasts beat BIONICLE's finest villains (and are on par with gems like Splitface, Core Hunter and other 2012 Villains). So, yeah. HF > BIONICLE set-wise. I don't care for the story because I make my own.

"Since HERO Factory was launched in 2010 the sets have been rehash after rehash with little evidence of any real innovation." "Different perspective" I get, but he has no idea of what he's talking about. I'd rather see no Constraction reviews than reading stuff like this.

Good review! The set doesn't interest me so I'll skip to the minifigs. Eris is great, the torso looks quite useful just like those of the other silver armoured heroes. Braptor and the other Bats' heads (both the minifig head and the head/helmet) look simply ugly and cartoony, it's a shame because the other Chima villains look very threatening. That torso and those legs though... I really like those! I need to make a quick search for sand blue heads, these Bats might be useful to be converted into demons...

I can't exclude the return of Ravens, but the Vulture Tribe does exist. Vardy follows the naming scheme of the other Chima characters, her/his name sharing the initial with the name of her/his own animal species.

Fire=good, ice=bad. Mammoths, Vultures and Sabre-toothed Tigers are bad guys. So Panthers are good guys. It makes sense, panthers live in a environment similar to the World of Chima, so an alliance with the tribes we know would be possible. Meanwhile Mammoths and Sabre-toothed Tigers come from a completely different environment like the Badlands tribes. Dunno about the Vultures.

Thanks for the excellent review! If I bought one LM set, this would be it. The model is really cute and well made and it's a cheap way to get regular clothes Wyldstyle. And as a brony, I can't help but love Unikitty.

Really curious about the new tribes' colours. So far, they've done an impressive job at making each tribe feel unique while also as realistic as possible (*) but the tribes number is getting really high, there are only so many colours you can choose without coming up with zany stuff like purple mammoths. * = that is, lions are tan as they should be, spiders are brown and black, there's a gold scorpion like IRL, etc.. usually, weird colours are only used for clothes and vehicles. Really, the only exception are the Eagles, but blue birds do exist (while mammals are usually covered in more drab colours) and white and brown would've looked boring IMO.

I'm guessing the crystal theme is carried out via the tr. light blue pieces and recoloured Quaza. Now, Jaw Beast's transparent bones feel less random, but it's still something I would've liked to see on all Beasts. I appreciate a group of villains wih a cohesive colour scheme, but as far as that goes the Machines are better planned out IMO.

I think Summer got past the Swamp Beasts. Looks like Chima is going the route of Bionicle 2003 ot HF 2011, dividing the year into two story arcs. So, Winter 2014 is the "Outlands Tribes Arc", while Summer 2014 is the "Fire vs Ice" arc. I really wanted to see a Bat, a Spider or a Scorpion though. I just hope the characters aren't turned into cliched fire and ice warriors. If they bring something new to equip Furno and Stormer with I'm in, but if they overuse Pyrox flames recolours then I'd prefer if the figures followed the "energy weapons" theme the 2013 CHI figures and LoC in general use. Generic energy weapons are great anyway- you can give put them on just about any figure. I'm very curious as well. Both figures, compared to their 2013 counterparts use less pieces*. So I'm kind of excepting slightly less complex designs.*= Laval: 55 pcs -> 49 pcs, Cragger: 65 pcs -> 58 pcs

It really is. Guess we'll have to wait for some pics to appear. But hey, speculation is exciting.

I didn't quite realize it had a back armour (though I excepted it). So, let's count two pins, one of these, a tr. light blue shell and what seems to be another Quaza spike (like the one on its nose). So, 2+1+1+1= 5 more pieces. Bulk likely uses a weapon, maybe a datapad too, so let's add about 3 more pieces. There are still 20+ pieces missing. DraikNova's scenery idea is pretty cool, not sure how they'd do it though. The possibility we're getting the names wrong does exist, but I think we actually got it right. The azure beast could also be "Tunneler Beast" given its claws, but that red Beast has nothing that would suggest a crystal theme on its design. Totally agreed.

I'm guessing its..crystalness refers to the tr. light blue parts on the figure, ie the Frost Beast claws and 3M shells. Such a great parts pack. I excepted it to be a 10 Euro set, though. As it is, the figure is as complex and big as Jaw Beast, just look at the limbs. So, colour me surprised when I read it has 83 pieces. Adding the pieces of the Bulk minifig, I count 53 pieces! Even by adding some equipment on Bulk's part, and some back armour for CB, it'd amount to about 10 more pieces. There just has to be more. Maybe Bulk is using a mini Machine? ..you should've used a different name.

I just realized Furno's not riding a mini spaceship as I thought, that's the Queen's satff. It's gold in set, unlike the black one in the episode. So it's Furno+Stormer+Evo in a spider walker vs the Queen. I would've rather had Furno or Stormer get a second mech, but oh well..

Now I can see how the Queen is 30+ Euro.. it's not like Splitter Beast, at least two of the three Heroes have proper mini Machines here. That makes it even more infuriating: you know they were perfectly able to put Nex and Stringer here (or in an/other set/s), and yet.. And 2014 really is Evo's year lol. On another note, I'm pretty sure Bulk's Machine, at a whopping 113 pieces count, is the mid size set with the highest part number ever.

I slightly screwed up my list, forgetting about 70211 "Hiànzik" (= "missing", courtesy of Google Translate ). This is more like it: 70206 CHI Laval (49 pieces) 70207 CHI Cragger (58 pieces) 70208 CHI Panthar (59 pieces) 70209 CHI Mungus (64 pieces) 70210 CHI Vardy (68 pieces) 70211 CHI ??? (91 pieces) 70212 CHI Sir Fangar (97 pieces). The list seems less random right now! So we're getting 5 15 Euro figures and, just like I wanted to see, two 20 Euro figures. We haven't had a "regular" big humanoid since Black Phantom (I don't count Jet Rocka or Evo XL M.), so this should be fun to see! Now, looking at the list again, Panthar might be the new good guy afterall, while Mungus and Vardy (of course! Vultures are, like, totally pure evil!) are bad guys. The two big sets are 99% going to be a hero and a villain. Sir Fangar screams bad guy to me (new Big Bad after Spynlyn?), so the missing set is a large hero. I hope it's not SuperLavalTotallyNotARockaExpy. Sadly I doubt it's Eris, kids just want a big heroic male lion.. if it's not Laval, I would really like to see Lavertus.

Wow, there's some intense fighting there. No energy or elemental blasts, just some good old CQC. Loving it.

Oh boy, now THOSE are some fantastic news. The CHI line deserved another wave, I find it brings both great parts and inspirtational designs. We should of course remember that Cragger's on the good side now (= blue Chi and weapons), so we have to find only one more good guy. 2013 CHI sets were numbered so to list all 3 good guys one after the other, and then the 3 villains. So the third hero is likely Mungus. What I'm not sure about is the bad guys' Chi colour: red Chi or green Chi like this year's Swamp Tribes? I'm heading for red myself, as those animals don't sound like swamp fauna....but I would really love some new weapons and parts in tr. bright green! Either way, it should be like this: CHI Laval- Lion, blue CHI Cragger- Crocodile CHI Mungus- Mammoth (?), blue CHI Panthar- Panther, red/green CHI Sir Fangar- Saber-toothed tiger (?), red/green CHI Vardy - Vulture (?), red/green As pointed out, Sir Fangar is slightly more expensive- he's 5050 forint, likewise Splitter Beast is 5040 forint. So Sir is going to be a 20 Euro set. Wonder how big/complex he's going to be..

I'm somewhat disappointed that Crystal Beast is 15, I wanted it to be smaller because it's a great parts pack for what I want to do. On the plus side Surge's vehicle is likely 20-25 Euro, that's cheaper than I thought. Very happy that Bulk and Breeze are getting more substantial sets, after the (IMO) lackluster treatment they got this last year. And it's another 7 sets wave like Summer 2013. Disappointing.. hopefully the CHI sets bring something new to the table. EDIT: If I am interpreting the prices correctly, the Surge set is more expensive than Evo XL M.,and the Queen the most expensive one by far.. what?

That goes for USA only. Europe gets them on January as usual.