Hero Factory 2013 Hitting Stores

[Calabask]

Hey, just wanted to let everyone know that the new series is hitting stores now. At least in Toys'R'Us's. The one I work at in EB, New Jersey has all seven sets. There's also been a slight increase to price. I've not seen them at Target or Walmart yet. If need be, I can take a picture of them at my store tommorow when I work.

[Nathan Evo]

"All seven"? I thought there were eight. Which ones do you have right now?_{and if they're holding off Bulk this year I swear}

[Bambi]

Nice. I'll be checking these out next time I visit TRU.

[Xetra]

Hmm, this is indeed interesting.

 

I wonder how long it will be before they reach me here in the UK.

 

 

~Xetra

[Makuta of Time]

Got to check it out.

[Rooster Nui]

The only reason why i should live in the US is to get sets earlier. :/

[Fastcar800]

Yeah. I wanna get Furno XL! This wave looks EPIC!!! Looks kinda like BIONICLE 2005 though.

[dotcom]

Are we sure the price increase is for real? It could just be TRU being TRU...Either way, looking forward to maybe getting Breez soon.

[Ptah]

Christmas shopping in S. Cal, I've seen a number of Brain Attack sets at the TRU in Ontario and Chino. Oddly, none at the Lego store.

 

Sets I've seen:

Furno XL

Breeze

Rocka

Ogrum

Pyrox

 

General scuttlebutt is they will be widely advertised between 12/26 and 12/31 so we'll see.

 

[Lyichir]

The only reason why i should live in the US is to get sets earlier. :/

We don't get all sets earlier. For instance, the last wave of Atlantis sets in Europe was split across two waves in America, meaning that Americans had to wait six more months to get the two biggest sets of that wave.

[PowerMiner]

I think I'll get the big new Furno guy with his new Darth Vader cape and the red and black brain monster bad guy dudes.

 

That Furno... o_o

That voice in the show isn't worthy of the set. In fact, how about we just pretend he's Tahu. Now THAT'S a good idea.

[Rooster Nui]

I cannot wait til they hit stores in Australia, i love how the countdown on the official site ends on my birthday.

[Scrash]

Seen the red, green, and grey bad guys and Bulk in Northern California TRUs, though they're $15 each. I'd wait for one of them BOGO sales to hit before snagging 'em.

[Tech Warrior]

I've seen some of these new sets at Legoland Florida - picked up three of them.

 

...But it almost makes me wonder; is there going to be a "boxed/titan" set for this wave? Like a supervillain? I've been anticipating that... xD

[Calabask]

I think the "Titans" are now coming in the baggies like the others as Furno XL was 22.99 at my TRU. As for which ones we have, we've gotten Bruz, Bulk, Breez, Scarox, Rocka, Pyrox, and Furno, I may be forgetting one. It's the green guy with large hands that I can't recall. We've also gotten some Chima in, as well as Galaxy Squad enmasse.

[Aanchir]

I've seen some of these new sets at Legoland Florida - picked up three of them. ...But it almost makes me wonder; is there going to be a "boxed/titan" set for this wave? Like a supervillain? I've been anticipating that... xD

None in the January wave certainly, but maybe in the August wave. I'm referring to size, though, of course. Since Furno XL is in a bag like the small and medium sets, there's no reason to assume that a "Titan set" of a villain would be any different, unless it were truly massive, too heavy to hang on a hook as the bagged sets are designed to do.

[Makuta of Time]

Definitely getting Furno XL. He looks like a boss with his sword, shield and helmet.

[Dralcax]

I've seen some in the Lego Store in Michigan. Pyrox, Ogrum, Scarox, Bruizer, Breez, and Bulk.

[Gatanui]

We've just got Rocka and Scarox today. Expect reviews on the front page this year (hopefully)! -Gata

[Great Being Velika]

They're in stores? I might buy one.

[ToaJaller77]

I already have All of them Excluding Furno XL. I'm going to get them in a few days

Edited January 19, 2013 by ToaJaller77

[Smitty]

I picked up Breeze today, meh. I like the weapon, but that's about it.

[The Swimming Beard]

 

I've seen some of these new sets at Legoland Florida - picked up three of them....But it almost makes me wonder; is there going to be a "boxed/titan" set for this wave? Like a supervillain? I've been anticipating that... xD

None in the January wave certainly, but maybe in the August wave. I'm referring to size, though, of course. Since Furno XL is in a bag like the small and medium sets, there's no reason to assume that a "Titan set" of a villain would be any different, unless it were truly massive, too heavy to hang on a hook as the bagged sets are designed to do.

I have never seen them hanging on a hook.

Edited January 20, 2013 by Eye of Sauron

[~garnira returns~]

I've seen some of these new sets at Legoland Florida - picked up three of them. ...But it almost makes me wonder; is there going to be a "boxed/titan" set for this wave? Like a supervillain? I've been anticipating that... xD

None in the January wave certainly, but maybe in the August wave. I'm referring to size, though, of course. Since Furno XL is in a bag like the small and medium sets, there's no reason to assume that a "Titan set" of a villain would be any different, unless it were truly massive, too heavy to hang on a hook as the bagged sets are designed to do.

Before I do something stupid and get myself in trouble, are we allowed to talk about the summer sets without showing pictures?

[The Swimming Beard]

I've seen some of these new sets at Legoland Florida - picked up three of them. ...But it almost makes me wonder; is there going to be a "boxed/titan" set for this wave? Like a supervillain? I've been anticipating that... xD

None in the January wave certainly, but maybe in the August wave. I'm referring to size, though, of course. Since Furno XL is in a bag like the small and medium sets, there's no reason to assume that a "Titan set" of a villain would be any different, unless it were truly massive, too heavy to hang on a hook as the bagged sets are designed to do.

Before I do something stupid and get myself in trouble, are we allowed to talk about the summer sets without showing pictures?

Weren't they shown in the trailer, which would make them allowed?

Edited January 20, 2013 by Eye of Sauron

[Aanchir]

 

I've seen some of these new sets at Legoland Florida - picked up three of them....But it almost makes me wonder; is there going to be a "boxed/titan" set for this wave? Like a supervillain? I've been anticipating that... xD

None in the January wave certainly, but maybe in the August wave. I'm referring to size, though, of course. Since Furno XL is in a bag like the small and medium sets, there's no reason to assume that a "Titan set" of a villain would be any different, unless it were truly massive, too heavy to hang on a hook as the bagged sets are designed to do.

 

I have never seen them hanging on a hook.

 

Neither have I from my personal recollection, but that's what the little cutout in the top of the bag is designed for. Well, specifically, for hanging on a rack rather than a hook, I'd imagine, but still the same general idea. The fact that they're rarely presented this way probably has to do with retailer preferences and the availability of shelving.It's not as if putting the shelves on shelves is going against their intended presentation-- the bags have flat bottoms for a reason, after all. There are just a number of options, and putting a very large titan set in a bag might require cutting down on these options a bit.

[Akuna Toa of Sonics]

Not sure how I feel about these new sets. Yes they have those cool head (villains) and visors (heroes), but that's just about all I find interesting.

Furno XL is an exception. I'm making it my mission to get him soon.

[Aanchir]

Not sure how I feel about these new sets. Yes they have those cool head (villains) and visors (heroes), but that's just about all I find interesting.Furno XL is an exception. I'm making it my mission to get him soon.

I have to say, one of the things that has appealed most to me out of these sets is the number of parts in new colors. 4M Shells in Transparent Bright Green, Titanium Metallic, and Warm Gold? 8M 2.0 torso shells in Dark Red and Earth Green? 3M shells in Transparent Fluorescent Orange? Super Heroes/Black Phantom/Core Hunter chest piece in Titanium Metallic? Fire Villain claw/pincer pieces in Silver Metallic and Warm Gold? Square shell detail elements in Silver Metallic? Savage Planet paws in Reddish Brown and Dark Stone Grey? I've been having great fun building with some of these new parts already, and many of the sets seem to make excellent parts packs on their own.Also the new head, which appears on every hero and every villain, is a great piece with some diverse uses due to its improved connectivity with other parts. Furno XL is the only set so far to have it in a color other than Transparent Bright Green, but I imagine the summer sets might offer more variety (the two colors it's still desperately needed in, IMO, are Transparent Fluorescent Blue and Transparent Fluorescent Reddish Orange, the two other colors the Glatorian head was available in).Overall, the new sets may not be as stunning as the Breakout series IMO, but as a source of parts they're stellar.

[Toaman25]

In the Toys R Us that I go to their brain attack sets are hidden in a place that I cannot find them. But I did find a bunch of old Corroders and one last XPlode from 2010. I got the last XPlode and a Corroder set. In Brain Attack I have Furno XL and Rocka.

[AaronEragon]

I have several things I would like to state my opinion on in these sets.

 

Positive aspects.

 

1st: The brain bugs both toy and trailer version brings me back to the kraata, krana, shadow leeches, roodaka's rhotuka, hordika venom and energized protodermis.

 

2nd: The hero factory heads can now use kanohi finnaly along with their helmets, visors and other assorted head gear.

 

3rd: The visors are a wonderful idea, and while neither perfect nor bionicle it fulfills my want for visored mask like helmets which I had wanted since atleast the lego kights kingdoms large figures.

 

4th: They have a lot more technic and bionicle style functions.

 

5th: The villian faces are very nice pieces with a nice piraka look

 

6th: Furno XL is the most bionicle style hero factory I can remember. He is also awsome looking and should be givin a darth vader style story where he becomes a warlord befitting his design.

 

 

 

Negative aspects.

 

1st: Is it just me or does the storyline of this wave have B-rate/1950's horror movie brain bugs possessing some fantasy creatures with hordika mimic almost mocking results?

 

2nd: The execution of their bionicle mimic style is bad and makes me wonder if the designers either forgot how to build good bionicles or if lego replaced everyone who once worked on bionicle?

 

3rd: outside of the head area, the "newest" pieces aren't new just recolored and while that in itself has value for mocs it's not enough for me to say they are being innovative, which brings me to my over all feeling of hero factory being rather stagnant in devolopement especially campared to the almost yearly design innovations of bionicle.

 

4th: I feel that these sets are a badly excucuted or inexperianced bionicle moc.

 

5th: Last but not least it seems we can't even get titans in a box and yet prices still went up on the normal sets to roughly $15!

 

 

 

Over all nice idea's with a nolstalgic touch but not done well enough for me to trully want these though furno is pretty close.

 

 

I don't know if this person is on here or well known but if you want to see some detailed reviews(most of which I agree with.) that show parts, multiple views and opinions on how these and more are useful as stand alone figures and moc pieces. I would suggest legojang on YouTube his reviews of sets, combiners and mocs are great!

[Chro]

Keep in mind, AaronEragon, these aren't as Bionicle-like as they could be for the sole reason that they're not Bionicle. They're HF. Designs between the two lines are very different and should be that way; some Bio-like elements and techniques in HF is interesting, but I'd rather they keep them separate instead of making HF a poor impersonation of something it isn't.

[Aanchir]

2nd: The hero factory heads can now use kanohi finnaly along with their helmets, visors and other assorted head gear.

Well, depends on the Kanohi. The front axle hole on the new heads is centered on the face rather than lower on the face like the axle hole on a Toa Metru head. What this means is that with certain masks, the top part of the head will not line up correctly with the eyeholes and the "chin" of the head may stick down below the bottom of the mask. I don't have any of my BIONICLE masks with me at college so I can't exactly try out different mask-head combinations, but as far as I can tell this new head will still be somewhat limited in that regard.What IS good about the head in its current design is that a lot of Hero Factory masks and helmets can be attached to either the "front" or "top" connection points, which means that you can have the bar for attaching the visor (or whatever else you want to attach-- an Exo-Force robot arm and a Piraka minifigure spine makes a great ponytail) either at the back of the head or the chin.

1st: Is it just me or does the storyline of this wave have B-rate/1950's horror movie brain bugs possessing some fantasy creatures with hordika mimic almost mocking results?

Personally, I think the whole B-movie vibe of this year's Hero Factory sets is glorious. It's something that's possible only because of Hero Factory's less serious story-- BIONICLE could never have gotten away with a series that so epitomized classic B-movie fare.The book LEGO Hero Factory Secret Mission #3: Collision Course by Greg Farshtey really shows how this year's story can use horror movie tropes to great effect.

2nd: The execution of their bionicle mimic style is bad and makes me wonder if the designers either forgot how to build good bionicles or if lego replaced everyone who once worked on bionicle?

No, they haven't replaced everyone who once worked on BIONICLE, and the designers who did work on BIONICLE haven't forgotten any of their skills from that theme. But the advantages of BIONICLE functions also came with drawbacks: specifically, any canister-sized set with a kinetic function typically required an overspecialized gearbox-style torso rather than using more versatile elements like Hero Factory tends to do. And frankly, I wouldn't call these sets "BIONICLE mimic style" in any sense. These sets take their cues from Technic, just as BIONICLE did, rather than taking cues directly from BIONICLE itself.

3rd: outside of the head area, the "newest" pieces aren't new just recolored and while that in itself has value for mocs it's not enough for me to say they are being innovative, which brings me to my over all feeling of hero factory being rather stagnant in devolopement especially campared to the almost yearly design innovations of bionicle.

Considering that one of the big criticisms I saw of the previous series (Breakout wave 2) was that they had very few recolored basic shells, I think the number of recolors this wave is a good thing. Furthermore, the "dozens of new parts every wave" trend in BIONICLE may seem innovative to some, but it could also be described as wasteful. Why introduce a bunch of specialized new parts each year when you could focus on releasing versatile parts that can be used for years and years without starting to feel dated or obsolete? Some of my favorite BIONICLE sets were always the ones that made good use of existing parts, like Malum (whose only new parts not shared with other Glatorian were his weapons and helmet), Phantoka Toa Kopaka, Zesk, and Phantoka Toa Pohatu.

4th: I feel that these sets are a badly excucuted or inexperianced bionicle moc.

I don't see how they look like BIONICLE MOCs at all since they use primarily Hero Factory and Technic building styles. Plus, these sets have a great economy of detail, whereas (IMO) the most hideous BIONICLE MOCs have always been the ones that are too ambitious, throwing a bunch of unnecessary and inconsistent armor styles together, and often calling the end result a "revamp".

5th: Last but not least it seems we can't even get titans in a box and yet prices still went up on the normal sets to roughly $15!

Umm, no, medium-sized sets are still $13-- exactly the same price they've been since Hero Factory began. The only sets to go up in price are the smaller sets, which are now $10 instead of $9. Also, the designers could probably have put Furno XL in a box, but as far as I'm concerned bags are just better. Resealable, yet they can be flattened to take up almost no space at all when the contents are removed. Far better than boxes, which other than the very largest can hardly be used for storage and can never be used for storage once flattened, at least not without the use of tape.

[AaronEragon]

In all honesty both of the posts responding to mine bring up great points and I can see the logic in them.

 

 

 

The placement of masks is a little off on these new heads, but then again not all Toa heads could fit every type of mask bionicle has such as some heads not being able to use krana or use the peg attaching original masks as well. So all in all I will just be happy to have Kanohi back to being usable without hassle.

 

 

 

Alright I will admit that they might be able to spin a B-rate.... Actually with Greg Farshtey and the decent animated plots the've had that's an insult so I'll refer to it as a 1950's plot in respect to their original and cult classic popularity along with their impact on today's culture.

 

Alright sorry for the tangent and back to the point. Now that I know who is making the plot and I have been reminded that 1950's plot's aren't inheritently bad just poorly executed nowadays, I have rethought my opinion taking into acount more things and your points and well I'm now looking forward to this waves animated series and I'm just going to focus on the positive and creative points and less on my wish list and jumbled nostalgia.

 

 

 

Really the sets are $13 in your area? Maybe their just not popular im my area or something because the good guys and bad guys are $15 with FurnoXL at $22 which is admittedly an improvement since I've seen other HF titans reach around $35 at some places.

 

 

 

Alright this next section will encompose both response posts and encompass all of the remaining responses since they're pretty interconnected though I will try to devide it a bit for clarity.

 

 

 

Alright I think one of my main issues has been being stuck in isolated mocing, by which I mean I have had limited interaction with the actual series and any actual communities or opinions involved in the mocing community.

 

Since probably the end of Bionicle my opinion of HF has been mostly generated from pictures on the net or sets bought and critiqued by my family, when I did look at other peoples mocs and opinions it always had poor timing normally between waves.

 

Because I normally am looking for abnormal bodies and better functions my search's would bombard me with a lot of critical reviews and building designs that while being what I was looking for were tinged with commentary and backgrounds from people who are often Bionicle diehards or just unhappy with how thing either have gone until now or how early pics and rumors have depicted things going.

 

 

Now I will admit the points about these sets being part of their own unique series is a good one. As are the related points of them actual having a Technic spin like Bionicle did but not an actual Bionicle spin.

 

 

As for the their relations to mocs I agree that being to ambitious can indeed be bad without the skill or bases to back it up. But then again I also think unoriginal mocs that either use a single design to death or try to redesign a done to death style of body with, like one of you said mismatching and clashing peices can also produce horrble results whether in look or function.

 

 

Now that I have said that let me clarify some last points. I do enjoy recolors and new sizes of peices infact I always wanted more in Bionicle sets. However I also love new pieces especially body designs as evident by my favorite Bionicles being the entirity Bohrok lines and the Rahkshi with Vahki and Visorak coming in close behind.

 

Now I do igknowledge they have been pretty inventive with the villians through out HF but in reality their just pushing the design they have to the limits of it's possibilities and adding a couple of adaptive pieces to push it farther.

 

 

So I guess in the end I don't mind having eternal adaptive pieces and find that a great goal I would love to have some innovative new and weird body designs and peices. Heck if they did make some and still had that rule of eternal usage with size and color changing I would be even happier because that would mean I get more of some awsome designs for who knows how many years, imagine seemingly endless years of unique design variations!

 

 

 

Well I've run out of time and pretty much covered every thing so thanks for replying and making me use logic.

[Aanchir]

Really the sets are $13 in your area? Maybe their just not popular im my area or something because the good guys and bad guys are $15 with FurnoXL at $22 which is admittedly an improvement since I've seen other HF titans reach around $35 at some places.

Probably has more to do with what store you're shopping at than with your area. Some stores like Toys 'R' Us consistently mark up the actual price of the sets by as much as 10%, to the point that you'll rarely find a set for what it's actually worth unless there's a sale. shop.LEGO.com will usually tell you the sets' actual prices, and for the prices of sets that are no longer out Brickset.com usually keeps a very good record.

Now that I have said that let me clarify some last points. I do enjoy recolors and new sizes of peices infact I always wanted more in Bionicle sets. However I also love new pieces especially body designs as evident by my favorite Bionicles being the entirity Bohrok lines and the Rahkshi with Vahki and Visorak coming in close behind.

Understood. Personally, though, part of the reason I don't like new body designs for each wave of sets is that they tend to take up a lot of space, and a lot of designs were very specialized, making them difficult to reuse for their original purpose without a MOC looking like a clone of an existing wave of sets. BIONICLE torsos for humanoids did gradually improve over time, and I think the Inika torso was a definite step in the right direction in that it offered less detail and more connection points, but overall I think Hero Factory has reached a nice, stable point in torso design and would like to see new part designs that enhance existing parts rather than replacing them.If a new Hero Factory torso design were to be released, I'd love something that allowed for waist articulation. Currently designing a Hero Factory figure with waist articulation is somewhat difficult, since like a lot of BIONICLE armor, the sets tend to use one armor piece for both the upper and lower body. Additionally, designing a torso with waist articulation usually means using a lot of Technic, and inevitably there will be fewer connection points for armoring the back and shoulders than on a pre-fabricated Hero Factory torso piece. But I can imagine a couple reasons The LEGO Group might not want to release a torso design like this. For instance, Pridak, one of the few BIONICLE canister sets with waist articulation, was criticized for being flimsy, since the single ball joint in his torso could not support the weight of his head and upper body very well.

Now I do igknowledge they have been pretty inventive with the villians through out HF but in reality their just pushing the design they have to the limits of it's possibilities and adding a couple of adaptive pieces to push it farther.

Well, I don't think the Hero Factory sets so far have exhausted the creative potential of the building system. If they had, there would be no room for MOCists to make decent designs of their own without redoing something the LEGO Group had already done. But I do agree that the building system's longevity will be based on how long TLG can continue to introduce new parts that expand the building system without rendering already existing parts obsolete. Currently, TLG has already introduced some great parts that they haven't yet used to their fullest potential-- for instance, XT4's 5x6 torso beam is an excellent piece to use for adding additional armor to a figure, since it offers several new connection points. Before that, Waspix introduced a new connector piece for his second set of arms, which is great for building animal models since you can stick as many as you like onto a Technic beam and space them however you want for the animal's limbs. So far there haven't been any sets to use this piece for that purpose.

Well I've run out of time and pretty much covered every thing so thanks for replying and making me use logic.

No problem. Thank you for sharing your thoughts as well.

[Meiko]

I don't have much interest in the HF sets this year, but I may pick up some for parts. I'd like to see more reviews of them on BZPower, but I can just look elsewhere for reviews.

[The Swimming Beard]

I'd like to see more reviews of them on BZPower, but I can just look elsewhere for reviews.

 

I agree. It seems like there are much fewer reviews this year than usual.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Eye of Sauron