Shakar

Ah, that explains a lot, thanks! So that is how the mid torso bones attach, and I guess that torso beam also allows the back armour to attach (looks like he uses a white 2.0 torso shell, just like in the TV show). Stormer owes a lot to the Ultrabuild Superheros, it seems. I may not like the sets as whole, but they brought great recolours, the sweet new friction joints and the new chest armour (getting my hands on those two pieces is one of the many reasons I'm anxious to get Black Phantom) and some nice building techniques. I actually hope the line continues in 2013.

So much for my theory about the Hulk chest shell attaching via two small pins, but a Drilldozer chest armour style (what happened to that piece, by the way? It used only once in its debut set!) connection is fine too. I thought the blue shells on Stormer XL's torso attached via the ball joints on the shoulders, but I guess they'll connect via another method.

Yeah, I guess I was a bit too harsh on the artist. Still, those mistakes are pretty funny. Thanks for the clarification about Stringer. A bit unexcepted, but that does make that piece more versatile IMO.

Well, I like HF mainly for the sets, just like I did for Bionicle and like I do for all Lego themes. I do enjoy the background the story gives however, and I like watching the animated episodes. Speaking of sets, I noticed that, contrary to what I thought, Speeda Demon DOES have some back armour, in the shape of a silver Bulk 3.0 claw mount (the same exact piece used on Jawblade's back and on Demon himself's shoulders). I personally really like Nex's helmet- it looked too elongated in the leaked pics we got back a few days before Christmas 2011, but seeing it on the Toyfair pics I realized how close it is to Nex's 2.0 helmet gear, even more so than Evo's new helmet. In general, I appreciate Breakout Nex for reprising many things Nex 2.0 had introduced that were sadly dropped in Nex 3.0, like the white and the narrow shoulders (I like them for giving off a "geeky" vibe). And that chest printing is so lovely. I think Stormer XL is going to be pretty tall, actually, mainly for 2 reasons: 1) The torso. He’s most likely going to use the big torso piece FL, Rocka XL, Scorpio and BP use. 2) The legs. The 13 euro heroes use these as upper legs and these as lower legs (which are slightly longer than the upper legs pieces). Consider that Stormer uses those longer pieces both for his upper and lower legs, which would already makes him slightly taller than the average 13 euro hero. But add all those dark bley friction joints (the ones in BP's arms and the Ultrabuild Super Heroes), and the legs end up being way longer. Speaking of legs, I tried to replace the lower leg bones of my 13 euro heroes with the slightly shorter ones from Stormer 2.0 like Aanchir and others suggested. I must say, the models look MUCH better. Sadly, those bones in my collection are all used up in sets and MOCs/modded sets (well, the black ones at least- but I refuse to use other colours), but I'm definitely going to buy extra pieces off Pick A Brick in order to modify my heroes. Whoops, I forgot to put the Bricklink links. I'm updating the post with them in a minute.

That comic is an utter mess: Stormer and Furno in their 3.0 forms, the villains not being captured by their respective Hero rivals, , Rocka with BP helmet and silver crossbow, yellow Reapa, wrong positioned cladding in some characters, and there may be more. So, Aanchir- can you confirm Stringer's helmet and shoulder armour are black? They look Titanium Metallic in some photos.

Thanks! I'm looking forward to them.

I'm very much looking forward to Hulk and Cap America reviews- not much for the sets themselves, rather to see clearer pictures of the new pieces they introduce; I'm talking about the huge chestplate and the shin armour many HF summer sets use. I'm especially curious about the former- namely, how it connects and how big it really is.

I'm not sure on how these sets can be considered "on par with those Megablocks knock-offs". Sure, I don't like most of them either (I find most of the designs very awkward)- I mainly see them as glorified and overpriced parts packs. The sole things I can honestly compare to Megablocks are those ugly heads (the Joker head looks all kinds of wrong): take away them and what you've got are some sort of scrapped HF sets. Unless you consider HF sets to be Megablocks knock offs, then I can understand you, I guess.

I guess it will be mainly a children's book, but seeing all the Heroes in their 2012 forms together is quite a treat (and I'm eager to do the same IRL). It's interesting to note how Bulk is keeping his cuffs attached to his chest, much like the model at Toy Fair.

Personally, I want to replace the forearm bones with longer pieces, so you can attach the tubes to the wrists like the TV version- as for the hands, I think silver would be the best choice available (I wish we had the new hands in more colours, like gunmetal, gold, lilac, etc). Also, I really want to put some lilac on his legs, and I have a few methods in mind for that.

Thank Kahliki, I just caught his suggestion and went with it. Doesn't he? I think Voltix is one of those sets that are pretty good on their own, but with a few mods they can potentially become absolutely amazing. And that is one of the things I love about the new building system- modding sets has never been easier! It's too late. Somewhere, some fangirl has already written or drawn something about it.Yet another post coated in purple.

I guess and hope that's what is going to happen. The whole "I, Speeda Demon, will raise an ARMY OF CRIMINALS! *evil laugh*" is just too cool to pass up.@Kalhiki

Has this been posted already? Either way, the fact Voltix and Demon get captured in Part 1 baffles me, especially as far the latter is concerned. I know there have been some relatively minor differences between the TV episodes and the comics in the past, but are the books and the episodes going to contradict eachother that much? I like all the little mods given to the models, like Splitface's red hand (I've gotten used to his blaster being part of his arm, but I wonder how that would look), Voltix having proper arms (just like I plan to do- what happened to his whip, however?), Stormer looking shorter. I don't agree with the cladding positions changes (look at Surge and Voltix's upper legs)- I don't know why they did that, as it seems pretty pointless to me).

I was fearing they'd give Speeda Demon and Voltix high pitched voices, for some reason. But, if the German dub is faithful enough to the English version, I'm happy to hear that they have some nice deep voices. And I agree with Omicron Squad Leader. How did that happen? And why did "that person" choose Voltix? Did he use to be part of his gang?

Who said Demon is going to recuit all-new villains? The animated episode can show past villains- Von Nebula's gang (I'm sure I saw Xplode and Corroder getting out), the Fire Villains, the 2012 villains that haven't been captured yet.

It's not much of a MOC, but it is a very nice concept. Very funny, and sadly true.

So Speeda Demon=HF 2012 final villain?

Yes, that's what I meant. While a new tiny socket piece would be really interesting, I doubt it would debut in yellow- new "skeleton pieces" tend to be produced in black and/or dark bley first (see this year's friction socket joints, the ones in Black Phantom's upper arms). I'm pretty sure it's going to be integrated into the head.@The_Box Set reason: they wanted to give him weapons to fight with while he's driving the bike. Story reason: he, uh, is a four armed alien, that is why. It's like asking why humans have two arms- that's how our species is made.

It must be this. I thought about it the other day- there is no sign of a socket joint, unlike Meltdown's head (sorry, but I felt that was the best thing I couldcompare it to).I'm still wondering about that "xt4 is a multiple buy set" comment Front made a few weeks ago. Aside from the new torso, the recoluored feet and the rare black 6M shells, I don't see many interesting pieces that would justify a "OMG MUST BUY MULTIPLE COPIES OF THIS SET". It must be something other.

Indeed. Also, the London HF section was completely different- it had Stringer and Bulk hanging from that column, among other weird things.As for Bulk, yeah, I really don't like that configuration. The red doesn't fit and I would have liked a more poseable "arm". But I'm not worried, I'm sure I (and others who aren't fond of this build) are going to come up with something. Yup, sorry. I always get them mixed up, for some reason.

Ah, agreed on the back fins/legs. I guess Jawblade is meant to look the best when you hold him in the air, he's primarily a swimmer afterall. By the way, I found some more pics of Toyfair here. I don't know where they're from- they seem to be from London judging from the background, but some sets are built wrong/are missing pieces (look at Bulk, Splitface, Speeda Demon). Anyway, the pics are nowhere as good as BZP's and Cholie's, but they do show some sets from angles we didn't see before: in particular Bulk's picture slightly clarifies how his shoulder mounted rocket launcher attaches to the back.

I finally built Jawblade today and man, he's great! So slick. So swooshawble. So firece looking. Lots of great recolours too- red new style ball-joints, recoloured Furno blades, tr orange 6M shell, silver Bulk 3.0 claw mount. And what a fun build, too!

I see it now. Both having tr bright green would be the best thing, IMO- I already expressed my opinions about Nex, as for Voltix I really can't complain having yet another tr. bright green head. Hopefully 2013 will bring us at least one more new Glatorian head colour. I would love tr yellow (I'm not talking about Gali/Takanuva's eye colour, that shade has been discounted IIRC) or tr red, personally. Tr purple or tr pink would be crazy awesome, but I guess that is not going to happen. Ouch, I forgot my bold purple dress.

I don't know, I saw some people commenting on Voltix's head so I asked. It looks tr. neon green to me, but I wasn't there so I can't tell properly. The opposite goes for Nex's head. It looks tr. bright green to me (and IMO it should be, as it's the Glatorian head colour colour that is closest to Nex 2.0/3.0's green). When we found out about the tr bright green head back in late December 2011, I was happy because I thought it would have been absloutely perfect for Nex. If his head ends up being tr neon green, I'm going to be baffled. Please don't let me down, Lego. Question for Aanchir- there has been confusion among some people (myself included) about the colour of Stringer's helmet and shoulder armour pieces. While I and others assume they're black, in some photos they look Titanium Metallic. Could you clarify which is the right colour?

Excellent work, Aanchir! And thank you Cholie for those big beautiful photos, I saved most of them. So if I understood correctly Voltix has a tr. bright green head? Huh. I don't mind that piece in that colour becoming more and more widespread, but I definitely think I'm switching it to a tr. neon one, as it fits with his colour scheme (that I don't find cluttered at all, except for said green head and a few red pieces) more and it further distances Voltix's look from Black Phantom's. I'm really curious about that "switch" on his back. It sounds like a really nice detail, and I wonder of it is built. And Core Hunter's helmet- GOD YES. I'm so happy to see that it does have eyeholes, he wouldn't have looked as cool if those creepy eyes weren't allowed to be glowy looking. My only gripe is that the Glatorian head is too narrow for the eyeholes placements, so it looks like only the 2 inner eyes are coloured. But still, it's one of this year's best new helmets.