Shakar

I was referring to Leewan's post (admittely, I wasn't very clear): Sets with flick fire missiles first appeared in 2013- it just confirms, to me, how gimmicky and weak most 2013 sets were. Only Surge's jetpack handled the missiles tastefully, keeping the feeling of a fighter jet. So, I hope the missiles on Evo XL Machine aren't as obvious as in sets like BA Stormer. That Technic laucher on his back was just ugly.On another note, I forgot to comment on Jaw Beast. Sleek mantis-like claws on what seems to be a brute like character are..unexcepted, but interesting. I wonder what pieces they use- Rocka blades? Something new? Maybe the same pieces used for Splitter Beast' scythe..

Loving the Dragon's feet, I hope at least one of the 2014 HF Villains uses them. The Piraka feet have been outdated for years now, new animal feet with visible toes for constraction sets were long overdue. I can't make out the silver pieces used for the toes, though.

That just confirms how weak 2013 has been.

Hmm, flick missiles. My initial reaction was "ugh", then I remembered I kept them on Surge's wings because they looked nice. But Stormer's launcher was really sloppy looking. So I hope the missiles on Evo's XL mech (heh, that sounds so weird to say) flow with the rest of the set. Do you remember anything about Rocka Stealth Machine (gold one)? Sorry for the edit, the phone keyboard's auto correct messed some things up.

Glad you like my idea. And Cragger's lower jaw is attached in the same way the head/upper jaw attaches to the main body of System crocodiles. And I'm optimistic about the Villains. Corydoras said they look much better than the 2013 Villains, and that's enough for me. I was hugely disappointed by those, except Dragon Bolt and (somewhat) Frost Beast.

Your post just made me realize something: will a set whose name focus on jaws feature a working (opening/closing) mouth, like, say, Chi Cragger? This made me remember a post I wrote a few months ago, which might explain Jaw Beast's mouth function (that is, if the set features it, of course). Basically the lower jaw could be attached to the clip on the new head, while the top axle hole is used to attach the upper jaw+head piece. It could work, but I don't know. It was Frost Beast which gave me this idea- for a while, I thought his lower jaw could be a separate piece attaching to the head handle clip.

I think you're talking about medium azure. It was used in 2012 in a HF set, Thornraxx (the big wasp/mosquito villain). Teal was discounted years ago. Since then, medium azure has been introduced in 2012 to be its replacement (more or less), this one is more blue than green though. Jaw Beast sounds cool. Come on, Lego- you showed us you can make amazing small villains in 2012 (Thornraxx being especially brilliant, IMO). Scarox and Aquagon totally ruined that, but I'm sure you can go back to 2012's glory.

I guess those bug minions act as direct enemies for the "mini-Heroes" to fight. Mechas vs Villains, Heroes vs Minions. Hey, they might be cool- I don't see the sets including more than 4 of them, just like the Shadow Leeches of the Makuta Phantoka. As long as they don't take up much of the set (unlike the Brains, which killed the complexity of most Villains IMO), I'm fine with them- heck, they might be really cool looking too. Actually, between the minions and black as dominant colour, these guys do somewhat remind me of the 2008 Makuta. 2013 severly lacked black, I hope that helps giving the new Villains a more menacing look, which I felt the 2013 Villains lacked (save for Dragon Bolt).

Come on, of course we can. I'm sure a intense marketing research took place. CMF are hugely popular, afterall. I know that as a kid these sets would've driven me crazy- and they still might.

I wouldn't be worried about HF's direction. This could be just a wave-only thing. It's clear Lego is experimenting- if customers don't like it, we'll get back to the usual formula. And those feet look interesting. I hope they get used next year- feet with toes, finally! I wouldn't be surprised if Chima Ultrabuilds (if they do come back in summer) use them. The Legend Beasts might use them too. Once again, thanks for all the info you're giving us! I truly have no idea about the translucent backpacks, but the weapons sound interesting- a return to the more "techy" sci-fi of Breakout and OoF, which is my favourite style for HF. The white mecha is piloted by Stormer, the ice Hero, so that might be an ice blade instead. And the sphere launcher..I really hope that's a plasma gun- I loved those things! So, as excepted, Evo Walker is a walker mech- it's cool to see non-humanoid good guy sets. Ok, I apologize for jumping to conclusions. I put your post together with your previous one ("I assume that site got trolled") and I thought you were still sceptical about the list. Again, sorry.

Ok, the Dragon just looks crazy. I never got a Ninjago set, but that Dragon just looks soo cool. As for Evil Wu, I don't see him having been evil all along. It's either a evil clone of him (but that wouldn't explain Sensei Garmadon) or a magic-corrupted Wu. I can't see Lego daring to pull off a "I've been pretending to be good all this time!" twist. If they did, though...whoa.

If that helps, today it's one exact year since we got the first BA pics. Not sure what you searched for, "Hero Factory Splitter Beast" leads to people talking about Splitface (kinda unsurprising), while I see many people outside EB writing about Furno Jet Machine. I know what you're implying, though, and I don't love it- Corydoras has been answering questions non-stop in many 2014 sets threads. He didn't randomly post a list (any troll can do that), he's going through the effort of answering all the questions he's getting. If he were trolling, what do you think he'd gain from that? Sure, I wanted new helmets though. Some of my Heroes (Breez, Furno, Stringer and Nex) are desperately needing them.

From what I got from his words, Villain sets are a full size villain+Hero minifig. I guess minifigs have a weapon to fight with but that's it. And purple and teal (azure)? I hope that's Splitter Beast. Either way, this is getting better and better.

Guys, be patient. I want to see the sets as much as you do, but Corydoras has his valid reasons to not post them. All these descriptions we're getting are much better than last year's situation. Pics, big ones, are soon coming. We waited for 20 days, we can wait a little more, right?

So the Hero mechs have no heads? Kinda disappointing, but that seems to be the only problem. Everything else just sounds fantastic.

Yes, I like Lord Business too. He fits with the spirit of the movie, which is the same crazy and auto-ironical spirit of Lego and its IPs.

I suggested it as a way to explain the "Hero Vehicle", but I was half joking. I never thought it'd become reality. Maybe the mechas are like the ones from Exo Force: the cockpit is located in the torso, and the pilot stands up inside it. The head would be too big to fit a minifig inside, so I feel new torso pieces are more likely. HF mechas were roughly around the size of HF mid size sets (I remember they were slightly shorter than Bionicle figures). So they'd be standard Hero figures with a special torso. That's my theory. The new scenario is really interesting to me, my only disappointment is that, since she's in a villain set, Breez will get only a minifig. If I interpreted Corydoras's words correctly. No, Corydoras confirmed te Hero mechas are built with HF parts. Seems like there are no Mixel parts involved, thankfully. I don't hate Mixel sets, but it would kill the compatibility that made the 2.0 system successful (what does CCBS stand for, BTW?).

If so, then the minifigures might use this http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=13249 to connect the standard torso to the new legs. Still don't see why they came up with new legs, especially if the Heroes need to sit inside the cockpit..

I guess this explains the higher price tags- printed minifig parts do bump up the price, if I'm not mistaken. Well, this is just really weird and unexcepted, yet it might be of Lego's best decisions for HF yet. CMF and Space are hugely popular, so Hero minifigs might be useful as robots/aliens for Space fans. Bionicle looked really weird to most AFOLs, HF is much more standard sci-fi in terms of looks. I hope Lego learned their lesson from the Bionicle playsets. Just good ol' minifigs this time.

Thanks a lot. Just one more question: how are the VS sets organized? I mean, I can't imagine 2 or 3 full size figures in a single set at those prices. Is it a villain+one or two minifig?

So all good guys are minifigs piloting mechs?

If they're indeed going to be small sets (highly likely, but I like to keep a certain amount of scepticism), I just hope the parts are compatible with the 2.0 system. So, I don't want Mixels and new small special parts (like helmets).

Even if some or all sets end up being lackluster, I think this wave will still bring a lot of great pieces. There were many BA sets I didn't like, yet the transparent cladding and the new weapons were fantastic. My only issue is that the usual Heroes are being repeated- this is essentially the 2013 Winter wave, minus Bulk plus Evo. I'm tired of not seeing Nex and Stringer- they better return, together with Surge and Bulk.

What the heck did I just do? I saw a post of yours quoting the list and I thought that was the OP. Really, sorry VBBN.

I just had a thought! How is Furno's and Evo's opponent called? Splitter Beast. "Splitter" suggests duality. Anyone remember these two guys from Beast Wars? Maybe Furno and Evo turn into the two halves of Splitter Beast. Or, if the small figures theory is correct, Splitter Beast turns into two monsters, one for each Hero to fight. Either way, the prices are giving us food for thought on the mysterious VS sets, yet we have no clue on the 4 "Hero Vehicle" sets. But I can't completely exclude other possibilities: a)Pure vehicle sets- HIGHLY unlikely, kids want characters in HF, they want to imagine conflict and stories. If they want vehicles, they might as well buy Technic. b)Transformer (Hero to vehicle) sets- the 15 Euro sets and Evo XL might be able to pull it off, but I can't see standard size Evo doing it. c)Small figures with small vehicles- if the VS sets contain small figures, this might happen..but maybe not. See D on why. d)Non-transorming humanoids with vehicle bits- this is what I think will happen. This wave seems highly experimental as it is, so these could be much more standard figures.