Today we turn to the second half of Lego’s action figures at Toy Fair 2010: the boxed sets of Hero Factory, consisting of the villains of the line and two vehicles. This is the area where Bionicle’s influence on its successor really shines through. I know a lot of people were worried about how much like or unlike Bionicle Hero Factory would be, so to all those wondering: read on and see for yourself.

In the way of boxed sets from this first line of Hero Factory, we have six villains to oppose the six heroes, and two Hero Factory vehicles. Four of the villains are the size and shape of the Bionicle canister sets from the past few years, and their boxes, though cardboard, are basically the same size as the Glatorian canisters. They sell for the same price, too – $12.99 USD / $17.99 CAD. The other two villains are of the Bionicle-standard $20 (USD, $26.99 CAD) type. And then we have a motorcycle and dropship in the way of vehicles.

It will be interesting to see how the distribution of sets in Hero Factory sets falls in years to follow. Will this first year be indicative of a trend, with impulse-buy-types for the heroes and more expensive sets for the villains (comparable to Bionicle in 2001, actually), or will it diversify into canister villains and larger-set heroes as happened with Bionicle? Only time will tell.

And now let’s look at the sets themselves, and really see how Bionicle manifests itself in its successor. I have to say, though, that the boxed sets basically are Bionicle, as far as construction and pieces go, so that should set those of us who were nervous about Hero Factory at ease.

They do, however, make rather a significant use of stickers – four of the six villains use stickers on their bodies somewhere, and the Dropship relies on them heavily as well. I know stickers have a wildly mixed reaction among Lego fans, so we’ll see how they go down with the fans.

All of the $13 villains use the same new torso piece as introduced in the Hero Factory heroes, as shown last article. It’s also somewhat surprising – though not unwelcome – to see the Thornax launchers reused yet again, though this time they’re black and shoot Zamor instead. You certainly won’t hear me complaining about that.

7147 Xplode

"Xplode has been spotted at an explosives plant and is about to cause major mayhem! One of Von Nebula's most feared servants, Xplode is covered in explosive spikes, which he launches at practically anything or anyone. There's no reasoning with this short-fused renegade! 45 pieces Age 7+"

As a first note, Xplode's box and the press guide show the Vorox/Skrall armor piece on his chest as red, not black, so we’ll see which color that ends up being. But even without that his set has some nice recolors, with one of Krika's back legs in red mixed with yellow-orange and Metru legs in bright red. The rest of his body is kinda awkward, though, especially the Throwbot legs for forearms.

The feature of the set is really the new spike pieces on his shoulders and back, and though they are quite something, I find that the rest of the set isn't quite fleshed out enough to match the size of the spike pieces. Which just adds to the awkwardness.

7148 Meltdown

"Calling all heroes! Meltdown has been spotted near the Mekronite Planetoid Belt - his objective unknown. Beware: he is Von Nebula's most destructive servant! Armed with a radioactive sludge shooter, Meteor Blaster and cyclops stare, he's a threat like no other! 50 pieces Age 7+"

Another set good in the way of recolors, he also has a lot of interest in the way of elements of his construction. The pieces that make up his forearms are found in four others of the villains, with slightly different uses in each. Meltdown uses them as a basis for pincers, using Mantax's claws in yellow (which we already had thanks to Exo-Force). And I daresay the lime green tentacle will be popular. The tanks on his back are a nice new piece as well, which I daresay will see much use in System. They're the same "apple green" as the cockpits of the Atlantis submarines, a color new to 2010, unless I’m grievously mistaken. And the tubes leading to them might also be meant to be recolors, as other official images of Meltdown show them as either solid lime green or a clear/lime blend. Again, only time will tell exactly what they’re supposed to be.

Meltdown is also the first of these sets to reuse Ben 10 pieces, using the upper limb piece from the Ben 10 figures as his thighs. I find the contrast in textures between it and the Metru legs to be a bit jarring. His head is also of a different sort than the other villains -- the rest use Glatorian heads, but Meltdown just has a solid piece attached at the back to a normal socket and then a Glatorian neck piece.

7156 Corroder

"Attention, heroes! Corroder is loose and considered highly dangerous! One of Von Nebula’s newest henchmen, he is lethal in close combat. Use extreme caution: his razor-sharp claws and corrosive spit will cause major damage. Don't get too close to this bad bot, his horn is his favorite weapon! 40 pieces Age 7+"

Corroder is on the simpler side as "canister" sets go. I personally think that three pieces for a leg on a canister-sized set is a disgrace, but that might be just me. But apart from that, I quite like his aesthetic, as his "hands" (as they were) are certainly new and the blade pieces match the Metru legs very well.

I couldn't grab a rear view shot, but the assembly on his back is the same as what makes up his forearms. As another interesting note, if you look closely at his Thornax launcher, you'll see a couple interesting new pieces there. One of them is like the Technic pieces that connected the Avotoran to the Nuva, but only one stud in width. The other we'll get to later, because I actually have a close-up of it.

7157 Thunder

"Danger! Thunder is wreaking havoc in the metropolis! Von Nebula's touchest servant is squashing everything in his way. He is considered heavily armed and highly dangerous. Keep clear of his Meteor Blaster and massive crush claw. Get close enough to see him grin and it may be too late! 47 pieces Ages 7+"

And, hey, I guess we'll get to it right now. If you'll look at that close-up of the Zamor launcher, you'll see that there's a new piece there, a 4-length axle with a stop on the end, in the fashion of the pistons in the titans' legs. I’m not sure why such a piece exists, but, well, it’s there. Though having looked at some of the earlier sets of the year, am I right in thinking it was actually released in the winter?

But that aside, the highlight of Thunder is definitely his massive claw. Andrew seemed especially fascinated with it. Also of distinction is asymmetry of his arms, with an Inika shoulder pad on one and Mata Nui's blade on the other. And, of course, he has silver Stars feet.

7145 Von Nebula

"Galactic Alert! Mission Control Center reports that the mysterious Von Nebula, the leader of a powerful gang of villains, is about to attack! He is heavil armed and highly dangerous. 156 pieces Age 9+"

First thing about this guy: he's really hard to photograph. He's basically solid black over more solid black. I wouldn't mind a bit more contrast in his set, myself.

But ignoring that, there's plenty of stuff going on in his set. First, the pistons on his legs are at the front, and I for one think it actually looks kinda cool, especially with the Vorox/Skrall armor there as well. Black Piraka feet and a Hydraxon mask will be welcome, too, as is the fascinating black/blue marbled Tridax pod in his staff.

His back/shoulder area is an interesting thing, too. The Bohrok faceplates and the spike pieces (the same ones as in Xplode, just in blue and black) make a nice curved shape, but the effect is diminished because you can see empty space under them. And then of course he has no forearms. So it seems like a mixed bag of a set -- some really cool stuff, but then he's low on piece count and missing a few things.

7162 Rotor

"Warning! Incoming object identified as Rotor, one of Von Nebula's most dangerous minions. Capable of incredible speeds and mobility using his helicopter jet pack, Rotor can use his highly dangerous biohazard gas attack from any direction. 145 pieces Ag 9+"

Orange! Orangeorangeorange. Orange. Yeah. I heard someone describe Rotor as Pohatu Phantoka on steroids and that seems pretty accurate. Propellors and lots of orange – Thornax launchers, Mistika jets, pistons, Inika shoulder armor, and Glatorian ankle guards.

I like him, though like all the titans he's solid in some parts but clunky in others. I am curious about the Avotoran jetpack he has on his arm, though, which is apparently some sort of gas-spewing … thing. Not sure exactly, but it's a nicely different use of the part. And I'm puzzled by the fact that his face doesn't have eyeholes, though it does have eye-shaped things molded onto it.

7158 Blaze Bike

"Equipped with a powerful engine, front steering and dual plasma blasters, this bike gives rookie team leader William Blaze the speed and power he needs to complete even the toughest missions. 165 pieces Age 8+"

More orange! This time in those big Mistika pieces used as Bitil’s wings, one of Pohatu Phantoka’s propeller attachments, and a Bohrok faceplate. And that Bohrok faceplate, by the way, is the same solid/transparent blend as we saw back in 2002. Which is more than a bit awesome.

As for the bike itself, it seems very well-constructed. There’s a kickstand on the other side that can be folded up or down for displaying the bike, as it is now. The rider is a sufficiently altered form of William Blaze, keeping the torso and head of the canister set but making the arms red, stripped of his leg armor, and given red Toa feet. But the highlight of the set is definitely the bike itself, and all those lovely pieces in it.

It's priced at $29.99 USD / $39.99 CAD – but that for a set with only nine more pieces than Von Nebula? Not so keen on that part.

7160 Drop Ship

"Pick up and drop off hero pods wherever needed with the Hero Factory drop ship! With a factory pilot at the contrls, the drop ship can take rookies and heroes anywhere they are needed in the galaxy in no time at all. 390 pieces Age 9+"

And here we have it, the last and biggest of this year's Hero Factory Sets, at $49.99 USD / $69.99 CAD (ouch, Lego). The ever-popular Midak skyblasters make another return, but apart from them, this set is quite different from any of the vehicles we got in Bionicle. The thorough use of the Technic panels introduced last year does a good job at making the thing look quite solid. It’s piloted by apparently a generic Hero Factory pilot, who, interestingly, has Avotoran arms and wears one of the helmets released in the Bionicle vehicles last year. He also comes with a silver Hero core, the only set this year to do so.

But the big point of this set is that it actually has an action feature. If you hold the grip underneath it and pull some sort of trigger, the arms on the sides of the ship drop down, enclosing an area under the Dropship, and the wings lift upwards. Someone else at Toy Fair pointed out that it was the right size to hold one of the heroes, and I believe they were right -- apparently the Dropship is used to transport Hero Factory heroes and, well, drop them into battle. Should be a fun feature, I’d imagine.

The set also uses stickers more profusely than we’ve ever seen in a Bionicle set, and one of them intrigues me, the one on the right side of the cockpit – it seems to include a tally of enemies taken down as one would often find on a fighter plane, as well as a cartoonish emblem underneath that. But I can’t make out what the emblem is of; at first it reminded me of Roodaka, but then I looked closer at the photo and it’s apparently something or someone quite different. No idea what, though.

So on the whole, the box sets are almost exactly the same style as Bionicle, but they are notably simpler. And I for one am not a fan of that, though I am glad that they faithfully continue the Bionicle style, which means us MOCists will keep being supplied with interesting pieces to use.

There’s a pretty significant lack of new molds among the boxed sets of Hero Factory, presumably because the set designers allocated most of them to the canistered heroes. Which resulted in a very unified appearance for the heroes, but leaves some of the villains looking a bit jumbled in their aesthetics.

On the whole, I for one am content with this as a successor to Bionicle. I’d imagine it’ll fare well. And I’m curious what effect the real-world names, both human names for the heroes and the Throwbot/Slizer- and Roborider-style names for the villains, will have on sales, if any.

Should be interesting to watch. I know I’ll be picking up a few of them, at least.

We have one last article about Toy Fair 2010 coming up after this, so keep your eyes peeled for that soon! As this is the last article I'll be writing on it, I'd like to end with a shoutout thanking LEGO for hosting us and giving us this great preview of the year. It was a truly great experience and I'm so glad I was able to go. And also thanks to Andrew for letting me stay in his apartment when I came down, too.

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