Aanchir

Yeah, that's quite a useful piece for Hero Factory builds. I'm glad to see it being used for this purpose.

I think Dragon Bolt combines with Surge, not Jet Rocka. Color scheme would suggest that anyway. Jet Rocka may not combine with another set, though it'd be interesting if (being such a big set) he got an alternate model using only his own set's piecea, much like Technic and Creator sets (or large BIONICLE sets from 2001-2002).

It's quite different from the red pins in that it's colored this way specifically so it stands out on the finished build, not during the building process. But I don't really have any problem with it. It can easily be interpreted as just an accent (like a BIONICLE character's heartlight), or as a Legend-of-Zelda-style weak point. Color-coded emblems to call attention to functions are nothing new. Let's not forget how Kane-Ra had bright yellow arrow tiles on each of the shoulders. And this had been a feature of LEGO Space sets for over a decade even back then. On a side note, having built Dragon Bolt on LDD (though I recently realized some minor errors I made, so I need to address those) one interesting feature of the set is that it has no red axles whatsoever. And I never like the "I grew up with black pins and such without problems" mentality. Frankly, building comes naturally to some people and doesn't to others. Some people can easily pick out a 2M axle just by feeling for it in a bin of parts; others don't have the same tactile memory/intuition. I can remember at my 8th or 9th birthday party, my dad got a great bargain on some Throwbots sets and we distributed them as party favors. We built them during the party to have a disk-flinging competition. And let me tell you, it was an ordeal. Some of the kids there had never built with LEGO Technic before, and struggled to even interpret the instructions correctly. I think that (along with unpleasant memories of back when I sorted my parts by color rather than shape, and for a while with all Technic parts in one big bin, often digging for several minutes just to find those rare black pin/axles) is a big part of why I've never had a problem with the color-coding of LEGO Technic elements. A few small spots of color on a model seem like a more than acceptable sacrifice for making the building experience accessible to more than just those who are naturally-inclined towards reading pictorial instructions and building from them.

Well, Cool Yellow (Bricklink's Bright Light Yellow), which is only slightly different from classic Light Yellow. I agree it looks quite nice and makes the school stand out.

You can sort of see Stormer's head in this pic, though it's perhaps a bit too small to make a definite judgment. Likewise the ball cup on the back of Frost Beast's head can be seen here. I'll see if I can find more pics; my internet's kind of slow right now. EDIT: You can also see the color of Frost Beast's head through his mouth in this pic.

I think it's more a matter of the people setting up the display not being able to figure out where those parts go. You can see the two lightning pieces in a little plastic bag off to the side of the set in some pics, along with the Hero Core.

The ammo belts were on Pick-A-Brick previously, but don't seem to be there in the latest update. But perhaps I wasn't looking in the right categories. I tried a few categories and then searched by the design ID, but came up dry.

No, it's a mix of blue and White Glow (the new Glow-in-the-Dark color introduced in last year's Monster Fighters sets).

I liked the Ninjago spinners a great deal, and while the Speedorz are definitely fun to experiment with in the same way (ramping them off different obstacles, building different constructions onto them, etc.), I still can't decide whether I like them better than the spinners. Pros: Speedorz have a lot more movement than spinners do. They go great distances instead of moving around a fairly small space. This might give them slightly more kinetic appeal. Speedorz have lots of useful connection points and are fairly small, making them a bit more versatile from a building perspective. The Speedorz sets offer a different play scenario in every set, unlike Ninjago spinners which only offered different play scenarios through their accessories and card effects. Speedorz, both the vehicles themselves and the environmental features included, can often be easily integrated into the rest of the theme. Ninjago Spinners don't have much of a role in the Ninjago story, though they are ostensibly supposed to stand in for the tornados of energy created by Spinjitzu. The NRG Ninja spinners from 2012 and Sensei Wu and Lord Garmadon's spinners from 2011 were more effective at this than most, since they lacked any logos or emblems and instead were patterned with energy effects. But the resemblance was still subtle and could take some clever MOCing to pull off in a display of any kind. Speedorz, from my experience, work on more surfaces than Ninjago spinners typically do. Shag carpeting would still probably stop them in their tracks, but they have about the same performance on a smooth carpet, a tiled floor, or a wooden floor. They also work on uneven surfaces, whereas spinners will move according to the surface they are on and thus generally require a flat or concave arena. Speedorz require less pre-assembly than spinners do, simplifying them from a production standpoint. Cons: Speedorz gameplay is incredibly disjointed. The card-based gameplay and toy-based gameplay are poorly integrated, unlike in Ninjago where there was a clear connection between the card effects and the kinetic function of the toys. It reminds me of the Knights' Kingdom II card game more than anything else. Speedorz require much more space to really enjoy than Ninjago spinners did. With Ninjago spinners, you only needed to clear a small amount of floor or desk space, or even put down a lid from a plastic bin to act as an arena. With Speedorz, the high speed of the kinetic function means that if you don't clear the floor it's easy to lose parts, and playing on a desk is extremely difficult. As far as shape is concerned, Speedorz don't have the same simplicity as Ninjago spinners, which were a very basic disk shape. The ability of Speedorz to go up ramps and obstacles is a bit dodgy... it's not that the ramps are designed badly, but the rate at which your wheel is spinning and the angle at which you hit a ramp are major factors in whether the Speedor will go up the ramp or simply push it slightly and deflect off it. Speedorz don't really work that well with minifigures with short legs (which I think is the most likely reason Skinnet and Furty's legs are lengthened in the sets, while G'loona's aren't). Overall, it's hard to say which I prefer, but I definitely was a lot more impressed with Ninjago spinner gameplay than with Speedorz gameplay. I may warm up to Speedorz in time, but for now I think I have more of a soft spot for the Ninjago spinners.

These days it's harder to count on a box being finalized even if it lacks a watermark of any kind. I recall at last year's Toy Fair the box for Epic Dragon Battle was still not finalized. The set images were all correct as far as I remember, but it had a big QR code in the lower right-hand corner, something that was absent from the final packaging. Kind of disappointed with how Skinnet and Furty's tails are constructed. I think a hip bracket would have been more effective than a neck bracket. But for some reason TLG doesn't use hip brackets all that often, which is a real shame. This is the kind of piece they'd be ideal for.

I'm quite disappointed in the shift away from "themed" Advent Calendars myself. I had quite preferred those over the general mish-mash that had been the norm previously. And can you imagine how cool a Flight/Cargo-themed one might have been, with a bunch of figs hard at work shipping Christmas presents for the holidays?

Eh, I'm not too fond of the departure myself. Regular Transparent Blue isn't nearly as glowy as Transparent Fluorescent Blue or even Transparent Light Blue, in my opinion. And I think the glowiness of head/eye colors should still be an important factor in what colors they appear in. It also makes me worry somewhat that we might see use of Transparent Fluorescent Blue, a very nice color, diminish overall, which would be a shame because it's one of the only three transparent fluorescent colors from the early days that we have left. Expanding eye colors away from just these fluorescent colors could mean more diverse eye colors in the long run, but for now we're not yet seeing any more variety than we had with Glatorian heads, just colors that IMO don't work nearly as well as the triad of Tr. Fluor. Green, Tr. Fluor. Blue, and Tr. Fluor. Reddish-Orange (with Tr. Bright Green thrown in for good measure).

Possibly because they had to cut costs somewhere in his design and considered that more expendable than his other armor pieces. Or possibly because they thought it was redundant for both Gorzan and Gorzan's Gorilla Striker to have a banana ammo belt. It's not like it'd be too hard to replace if it's your preference. Both the ammo belt piece and the banana piece are fairly inexpensive on Bricklink.

As far as I know there were no Toy Fairs displaying the Hero Factory 2012 sets before January 2012 when the sets were first released. Or at least, there weren't any with a lot of pics coming from them. The sets weren't released worldwide in January, I don't think, but there would have still been plenty of resources where the actual color of the parts could be confirmed.

Why WOULDN'T they cost $15? They're about the same piece count and size as the mid-size Hero Factory sets, and those typically cost $13. Additionally, unlike the average HF set, they have patterned chests and head sculpts. And price-per-piece doesn't really apply when comparing constraction sets to model sets/Speedorz sets, since I'd wager that a lot of these are larger than Speedorz sets as far as overall volume of plastic is concerned. Overall I think the pricing seems fair, and wouldn't be surprised if a lot of kids did opt for an action figure over a Speedorz set just out of preference for action figures. The aim of these figures, I think, is to expand the audience Chima can be marketed to, since some kids might find action figures more palateable than a somewhat gimmicky game set or complex LEGO model set, and likewise some kids might feel the opposite.

Part of it is that the wall pieces don't have as many outcroppings around them as 7946 did, so to many people the walls just look "plainer". IMO, there's nothing wrong with the walls looking plain, as that kind of ornamentation isn't an inherent quality of all castles, and many did have fairly plain walls. Plus, instead of using its pieces on ornamentation, this one uses them to make the columns supporting the gatehouse sturdier, among other stylistic decisions. I think everyone here can agree that nobody wanted the new castle to be an exact copy of 7946. But whether a change is positive or negative is often subjective. To some people, a characteristic that is added to or removed from a new model is frivolous; to others it's absolutely essential to the model's appeal. In any case it's not wrong to have a preference for one or the other as long as you acknowledge that there are bad qualities about the one you prefer and good qualities about the one you don't-- they just probably aren't the qualities you consider most important in your own judgment.

Nah, four at most. The piece has four connection points arranged in a cross around one central connection point. It was featured in this same color in the Joker constraction set last year, and in Transparent Light Blue in Iron Man and one of this year's Chima sets. By the way, my Dragon Bolt's coming together. Still one piece I'm uncertain about. EDIT: Here's my Dragon Bolt LXF. I used a replacement head, a replacement faceplate, and replacement parts for the brain, Chima claws, and lightning pieces. The brain and faceplate were left to the side. The one part of the build I'm least certain about is the button on the back. I'm not sure what size axle it should be attached by. I used a 4M axle for this model. Overall, I think the length and shape of the neck and tail works wonderfully. The tail could perhaps be lengthened, but I think lengthening the neck would be excessive.

That could never have been an issue last year because Toy Fair happened AFTER Breakout Rocka was released. A little research at that point would have revealed exactly what color Rocka's parts were. Though personally I think Breakout Rocka looks just fine with titanium metallic shells, just as I don't think any of these sets' colors will look worse in real life than they do in these pictures. As long as you know what the colors are supposed to look like, what they look like in particular photos shouldn't be too misleading. More photos, if anyone's interested. In these all the colors look pretty accurate.

Aquagon has the combining-weapons function, but in general not all villain sets this year have meaningful functions. The closest thing Ogrum has to a function is the ability to swing his flail (though it is promoted as a function on the packaging). In that sense, Frost Beast's claws could in fact be advertised as a function. No reason all sets in a wave-- or even all sets at a particular price point, for that matter-- have to offer comparable play features.

Really? So being as well-built as Razar, having a more visually impressive weapon, and having a rather well-balanced color scheme mean nothing? I'll accept that the only reason YOU would want that set is for the transparent blue. But suggesting no other reasons but the ones that matter to you are valid is just downright pretentiousness. There are plenty of things for people to like about that set, just as there are plenty of things for people to dislike. Whether a person likes or dislikes the set depends on how much importance he or she assigns to each of those positive and negative factors. These images, despite several of the sets being built wrong, continue to demonstrate how complete-looking each character looks. Every character has enough fingers to properly grip their weapons, unlike Ogrum or the Ultrabuild Hulk. Claws are not being used in place of weapons, but in addition to them, and none of the weapons are repetitive. The only one to leave any bones completely un-armored is Cragger, who does it for stylistic reasons (and it works well). Color schemes are logical and cohesive. Body proportions are good, and all the characters echo the creatures they are supposed to represent (although only Cragger gets a tail). In general all of them seem to use the Hero Factory building system a lot more effectively than the Super Heroes constraction sets did on average, even if they don't use it as creatively in all cases. Overall I think there's a lot to love about each and every one of these sets, and I think they'll do a lot to help people understand the Hero Factory building system is good for more than just robots and mecha. It will also expand the audience of the building system, I think, through its crossover appeal with the Chima model sets. I certainly hope that these sets have strong sales, because if they do I feel it will be a great step forward for action figure themes in general.

Yep, that's G'loona, who's been confirmed as a female character. Chima really has a strong sampling of female characters compared to many past story themes, which makes me happy. Wait, hold up hold up hold up. The Lion Chi Temple is over 1200 pieces? Guess that puts an end to any claims that it's overpriced. The transforming function of Eglor's Twin Bike is stellar. The flick-fire trikes on Worriz's Combat Lair are brilliant and I hope they work as well as they seem to. Constraction sets remain impressive despite most being built wrong, but that's a discussion for another topic.

I don't think Dragon Bolt is posed especially well in these pics myself, but he's still an awesome set. I've built him on LDD for the most part, though there are seven pieces missing from my model (not counting those which aren't available on LDD) so I probably didn't build him 100% accurately. Some of the ones I missed are probably basic pins and connectors, including some that might be hidden under the faceplate to attach it to the head.

I agree, pink would be a great accent color. While I don't think using it on a female character should be completely ruled out, I also don't think it should be essential to use it on a female character. How about Tr. Med. Reddish Violet (Trans-Dark Pink)? That'd be a cool color to see. Perhaps not as an eye color because it's not fluorescent, unlike its early-naughts look-alike Tr. Fluor. Red (Tahu's original eye color). But it could be used on an eyepiece like Stormer 2.0 had, or as accents on armor or weapons. Alternatively, Bright Reddish Violet (Magenta) is a good color that I'd love to see start appearing in Hero Factory. The Alien Conquest theme demonstrated that it could be used effectively for villains without appearing girly. And I think unlike pink, it's a color young boys aren't automatically going to associate with girliness if used correctly. It's a very energetic color.

Which is very good in my book-- that piece is terribly underused and I never seem to have one when I need one.

Well, I searched to see if there was a MLP-specific topic that could be revived to discuss the toys, and there is one but it bit the dust ages ago and is now closed (somewhat surprisingly, since it doesn't seem like it got revived... whatever). Guess this discussion can stay here for now, and can be moved if the mods decide it deserves its own topic. Anyway, at Toy Fair some excellent new MLP:FiM toys have been revealed: Toys 'R' Us Exclusives: Upper left: Shadowbolt (seems like Rainbow Dash's Shadowbolt costume from "Luna Eclipsed", based on the mane color). Probably going to be sold individually without accessories like last year's Zecora. Right: What looks to be a talking Nightmare Moon. I imagine her phrases might be a lot more awesome than the shallow, syrupy phrases of the previous talking princess toys, but I'm not putting money on it. Not planning on getting this one since it's not consistent in scale with the others I have. Lower left: This year's favorites collection. This is one I'm definitely getting. Characters from left to right: Diamond Tiara (new to Playful Ponies scale brushables), Lyra Heartstrings (was sold individually last year), Shining Armor (only Playful Ponies scale stallion, previously only sold as part of the huge pink Wedding Castle playset), Queen Chrysalis (Brand new to toys), Princess Cadance (previously in the Wedding Castle and a couple other playsets, but still a good chance to get this important character), a minor pony (looks like this recurring background pony nicknamed Lyrica), who's also in an upcoming miniatures set), and finally fan-favorite Derpy Hooves. Guess that dispels any rumors that Hasbro was planning on eliminating her for good, even if she hasn't been in the show all season. Other toys and merch: Miniatures including Lyrica, Octavia, Twilight Sparkle, Queen Chrysalis, Princess Celestia, and a Rarity recolor of some sort. More miniatures including Zecora, Rarity, Fluttershy (yay she has her own mold now instead of being a Rainbow Dash recolor!), Nightmare Moon (Princess Celestia recolor), a manticore, and the fabulous sea serpent nicknamed Steven Magnet). Princess Finale Spoiler Alert and More Princess Finale Spoiler Alert (these were all revealed on Entertainment Weekly, so bronies probably already know all about these). Rainbow Dash hat and scarf Assorted merch Overall, the only thing I'm extremely looking forward to getting is the Favorites Collection, but I'll probably also get the Shadowbolt since I wouldn't want to miss out on it and regret it later. Gonna be another good year for pony, I'd wager!