Official 2012 Set Discussion

[unknown_user2596]

Is Nex's left arm supposed to be some kind of "laser arm" of some sorts?Bulk looks fantastic. I like how he has a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. Mystery black villain looks neat as well.The yellow figure looks awfully spindly but has potential. Nex looks bad with the white armor chest piece....

[Toa Zaz]

Looks like Stormer has the batarang pieces in blue and silver. Awesome.

[Devorath]

It's just me, but I think thornraxx is a mispelling of the launcher/fruit, and doesn't look good. Yes, he has interesting pieces, but they don't go well together. The teal (which I will be happy to have by the way) throws it all off.

Thornraxx is a pun on "thornax" the middle part of an insect's body :)These only arrived in New Zealand in Feburary. Everything else arrived in Janurary:(

[Dorek]

It's just me, but I think thornraxx is a mispelling of the launcher/fruit, and doesn't look good. Yes, he has interesting pieces, but they don't go well together. The teal (which I will be happy to have by the way) throws it all off.

Thornraxx is a pun on "thornax" the middle part of an insect's body :)These only arrived in New Zealand in Feburary. Everything else arrived in Janurary

I think that would be "thorax", no "n" =P.You mean Breez and Thornraxx showed up in NZ? Lucky. Looks like we're not getting them until summer.

[~Xemnas~]

Yeah, that was an "oops" moment- the only reason we know Voltix's name is because we saw his nametag in a video... and you might want to check out BZPower's Leaked Content Policy for more info.

[Daiker]

Iron Man boxIron ManThe Hulk boxThe HulkCaptain America boxCaptain AmericaNo credit to me, I found these on another forum.

New torso piece ahoy! (Iron Man)

[Voltex]

I'm not entirely sure that's a new torso piece; they might be using it in a more creative way/actually giving Iron Man some proper back armour. I could be wrong though. We'll need more pictures to be certain.-ibrow

[Mesonak]

It's definitely not a new torso piece.-Mesonak

[Element Lord of Milk]

I'm not entirely sure that's a new torso piece; they might be using it in a more creative way/actually giving Iron Man some proper back armour. I could be wrong though. We'll need more pictures to be certain.-ibrow

Hmm, it definitely looks way too broad to be the Wider variety of HF torso, and their seem to be parts jutting out of the Shoulders, so that discounts the Ben 10 Torso.Intriguing.~ELM~

[Mesonak]

It's a normal torso, designed quite similarly to the other Ultrabuild sets; a Phantoka/Mistka connector piece that attaches another torso to the back of it, from which the Savage Planet claw and the gold 3M armor are atached.Here is a picture for those who are skeptical.I will say, however, that I notice a very distinct lack of extra ball joints that came from attaching the secondary torso; it looks to me as if the larger bone piece used as Witch Doctor's lower arms is attached to the Phantoka connector, and from that, the back armor is attached. In fact, I'm almost positive that's how it's designed. I'll now go replicate that and see for myself if it's plausible.-MesonakEDIT: Tested it out; I believe I'm correct, bar the fact that it is not the Witch Doctor lower arm piece, but rather the bone piece used as the lower legs of the $12.99 heroes in the current wave. It matches up perfectly with the pictures, plus allowing room for his shoulder-mounted minigun to be attached by the two commonly unused ball joints on the shoulders.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Mesonak

[Eyru]

Black Phantom looks pretty darn good! Love the staff, and there's some very intriguing new pieces. I also love the trans-green flames on Toxic Reapa, and might buy him just for that.

[Dorek]

Didn't we have a Recon Team topic? Can't find it =P.In any case, it's mostly related to here. Apparently Recon Team is getting axed, or at least the physical version of it is; they'll keep the designer around (and tweak it to a more digitally relevant version), but as of April 11th, you won't be able order a Hero. Makes me sad.Edit: And there's actually a topic: http://www.bzpower.com/board/index.php?showtopic=3273 (though there should be a better, central topic to go to somewhere)

Edited February 7, 2012 by Dorek

[~Xemnas~]

@Dorek: Yeah, I agree with you. There goes any custom builds from Lego. :(Anyway, I wonder if more pics will be released- I'm pretty sure there's more than two new villains.

[Dorek]

We have three right now, I think, so with four confirmed Heroes, there should be one more.

[~Xemnas~]

I wonder who it is... I guess we'll have to wait until we see pics, then.

[Toa Zaz]

Yes... there should... heh heh... be... one... more...Just kidding. We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?

Edited February 8, 2012 by Toa Zaz

[Dorek]

Official "pretend like we don't know about the summer" 2012 sets topic amirite?Regardless, there was a video on a certain video site about all the summer 2012 sets at the german toyfair. Dunno if discussion is allowed, but there are some darn fine pictures there. Stormer is a set, and the set he combines with (yes, they combine, and it's glorious) is pretty amazing.

[~Xemnas~]

I'm pretty sure we already knew that Stormer was going to be a set, so I'm not surprised. And I do believe I know what you're talking about, Dorek.

[Dorek]

Couldn't remember if we talked about that other video or not XP. Hard to keep track of these days. BZP should start hosting videos.But yeah, the set that pairs with Stormer is soooo cool.

[dotcom]

As cool as that guy is, I can't help but feel the reuse of the Black Phantom helmet yet again is pretty lame. One would think that with them not having to redesign 6/9 hero helmets they'd be able to spare a couple new helms for Voltix and SD, but noooo. Bulk's villain is pretty awesome as well. Nex's is really lame though.

[Dorek]

You think they could have made it double-sided =P. Regardless, at least they're all different colors; could easily have just been black all the way through.

[unknown_user2596]

Just saw the video....finally, close ups on previously unseen figures!- Purple bike with lime green figure: This thing is insane, even though it's not as good as Furno's bike. It includes a purple Skrall armor piece! Not sure on how it reuses BP's helmet in lime green though. And those new electricity pieces look interesting.- Stormer: He looks OK in XL form I guess. His upper torso is solidly built but the legs need serious improvement, and the feet suspiciously look juniorized.Stringer's torso armor is actually trans-blue ( ), the black villain looks even more awesome than ever and the combiner looks awfully jumbled.And looks like the summer sets will have gold borders on their (already finalized?!) bag arts.

[Evex_Wolfwing]

I wish we had a better view of the black villian, he just kinda looks like a black and red lump in the video. His head interested me, but we need better pictures.Yellow villian looks bleh in the head department, and a bit like a Meltdown clone. Rather unarmored.Voltrix looks good, though I'm not certian how his tentacle/whip (I'll assume it is a whip in canon) attaches. May just be bad posing.Green dude on purple bike... is not what I was expecting. When I heard his name, I was expecting something like XLR8 from Ben 10. Still, purple is purple. His second arms look funky, but again, I've never really seen good posing in these places.Man who I assume is Nex looks like he has a tall head. Weapon also looks flimsy.Bulk looks alright, I guess. Need more images of him.Stringer's transparent chest piece is a pleasent suprise, but blue dosen't really fit him. Stormer is alright looking at the moment. Not fond of that sword, but I like the feet.

[Squishyfrog]

Oh, BZP, when will you realize it's impossible to keep people from talking about the most well-known video site on the internet?Anyway, everything looks pretty good this wave to me. Not excellent stuff everywhere, but everything looks decent at least.That dude who the guy called "Speeda"-er, I mean "Speeder Demon" looks great. I'm sort of disappointed by him reusing the BP helmet, but I can forgive it because it's a nice, versatile helmet. That bike is really cool, but it feels a bit like a rehash of the Furno Bike. That's okay, though, because I never got the Furno Bike. Pass, but only because my sister called dibs on him first. xPStormer XL looks... goofy. His arms and legs and head look tiny compared to that giant body, and he doesn't have any really special pieces for me to be allured by him. Pass.Bulk appears to actually be really good. He looks well-armored, plenty of good pieces, and that chest pattern is awesome. Love the rocket launcher, too. Definite pick up, for me.That black dude(I wonder what his name is! :o ) looks awesome, if a bit generic. No special build, but three(or was it two?) black 3.0 paws? Oh yeah. That helmet is also fantastical in about every way. Pass, because my sister called dibs. xDStringer looks cool, if only for that trans-chest and silver 2.0 shield. Pass, a bit bland for my tastes.Voltix. Voltix Voltix Voltix Voltix Voltix. Love this set. So much. The only problem I have with him is that he's a little short for my liking(he's Drilldozer height) and that his arms are a bit stumpy, but hey. HEY. I don't care. I'm getting this set no matter what.I actually really like Nex. The white looks good here, to me. It was layered just right, and it ends up looking nice in the end. Sure, it's a little overpowering, but it looks alright to me. Pass, though, for reasons stated above, lol.That yellow dude(HIS NAME IS A MYSTERY) is strange. Spindly, with a giant buzzsaw, tons of grey, and, frankly, an ugly head. Yet I can't get past the cool notion of some rouge welding bot with a gigantic saw and laser. I'm going to pick him up.You know, I don't know why I even factor cool pieces when I don't even use my sets for MOCs. xP

[Aanchir]

Definitely a fan of a lot of the new sets. The new Stormer seems to have a new bone piece that's 3M with a ball cup on each end (so like the Toa Metru double Y-joint piece but shorter and with no Technic connections). Could be mighty useful. Likewise, the yellow villain's hips are just 3M wide. So he either has a newer, smaller torso beam or hip piece of some sort, or his hips are built using Technic parts and basic ball joints like those that appeared on the chests of the Toa Mata. I'd prefer the former, honestly, since it gives us new options rather than just using options we already have.Bulk, Stringer, and Stormer have simply excellent torso decorations. The other Hero (let's be honest, we can all assume it's Nex just by process of elimination) has a torso decoration I can't make out the details of, but my goodness is his helmet beautiful. Much like Evo's, it draws obvious inspiration from Nex's 2.0 helmet and helmet accessory.Also, Stringer's weapon looks like it's an electric guitar. Seriously, that is the BEST. POSSIBLE. THING.There are places where I'd prefer to modify the sets a bit, of course. For instance, I think the 2.0 torso shells on Stormer's lower legs should face forward like in the TV episode clips we've seen, rather than to the sides. But on the whole, in the immortal words of Evo:

Edited February 9, 2012 by Aanchir: Rachira of Time

[King Joe]

They all look amazing IMO, but I'm sure I could get nitpicky. I'm going to wait for better pics from New York Toyfair for that though. I will say something about the yellow guy: The more I see him, the more I think "They freed Meltdown and mutated him." He really lends credence to the whole "Old villains, new look." Idea, even though it was basically smashed in the first wave. Maybe that's the story of the second wave? Old villains, new look?

[Lyichir]

They all look amazing IMO, but I'm sure I could get nitpicky. I'm going to wait for better pics from New York Toyfair for that though. I will say something about the yellow guy: The more I see him, the more I think "They freed Meltdown and mutated him." He really lends credence to the whole "Old villains, new look." Idea, even though it was basically smashed in the first wave. Maybe that's the story of the second wave? Old villains, new look?

I doubt it. The yellow villain is extremely robotic looking. Meltdown was possibly the most organic-looking HF set we've had. Color and body structure aren't the only aspects of a character's design.

[Squishyfrog]

Plus, Mesonak found this, which he posted on, y'know, another site with forums. Looks like that could be the story for the next wave.Oh, hey! XT4 and Core Hunter are mentioned! Guess their names are confirmed, then! :rolleyes:Also, Thornraxx is mentioned with them. Make of that what you will.

[Gatanui]

How does Stringer manage to be the best set of the wave every time he appears? ~Gata.

[Dorek]

Because trans blue is sexy.

[Nuvaguy]

And he has a freaking guitar gun.Also, Core Hunter (I can say his name now, right?) is looking really awesome. His head looks like it has some sort of scope or night vision goggles on it, and he comes with three black Savage Planet paws. Also, judging by his name, he hunts down heroes and then steals/drains their cores. He seems like a very awesome villain to me.

[Dorek]

I still think Core Hunter is really boring looking, but he seems to be a fan favorite for some inexplicable reason (same with Breez, but we've been spared the fawning thanks to a delayed release XP). However, Hero chest in black and black MTIS pieces are both very much appreciated. Also, we finally get silver MTIS pieces, so that's a lucky break. If only we had gold XP

[~Xemnas~]

Just noticed that Speeda Demon has four hands! Why is that?Oh, and I love Stormer's new feet. They look good on him.

[Dorek]

Because you need to slice up people while still being able to have perfect control of your motorcycle. Vehicle safety is important.

[Squishyfrog]

I like to think that Speeda Demon rides along at high speeds with those arms extended outwards and decapitates anyone who's too close.

[~Xemnas~]

That could be true... but we'll just have to wait and see. Oh, and since Speeda Demon's helmet is lime green, I guess this means I can make an evil version of Breez! Yay!

[Evex_Wolfwing]

That book sounds like an episode of Doctor Who. I like that.

[~Xemnas~]

Just realized something else- Speeda Demon's weapons are gold! And they're Gorast's wings! MUST HAVE GOLD WING-WEAPONS THAT LOOKS LIKE KATANAS!

[Squishyfrog]

Just realized something else- Speeda Demon's weapons are gold! And they're Gorast's wings! MUST HAVE GOLD WING-WEAPONS THAT LOOKS LIKE KATANAS!

Nope. They're the blades from this, but in gold. Edited February 10, 2012 by Squishypony

[Toa Zaz]

Finally. Decent pictures of these guys. Awesome.Nex: Seems to be the "Surge" equivalent of this wave. A little bland, but he's okay, I guess. Impressive replication of the 2.0 helmet, although it doesn't, in my opinion, improve upon it like Evo's did. The weapon is pretty boring- a Fire Lord jet pack piece with a laser attached. Overall, he's not awful, but he isn't great. Pass.XT4: Every set critic instinct of mine is telling me to thoroughly loathe this set. Cheap rehashed Meltdown head, almost no armor, weird toothpick weapons, another laser thing, grey limbs, etc. But some hidden instinct inside me actually really likes this guy. He sort of reminds me of General Grievous from the Clone Wars microseries back in '03 (especially the legs). Also, after avoiding it for a year and a half, Lego finally makes yellow shells in the small size. Maybe pick up.Bulk: I actually really don't like this set. The orange and gunmetal look good, but the problem is that they tried adding silver and did a really bad job distributing it, so it makes the whole set look like an ugly mess. What would have made it awesome is if they recolored the head and shoulder plates so we'd have a Toa of Iron style, gunmetal and orange Bulk. The shoulder-mounted rocket launcher is pretty cool, though. Pass.Core Hunter: This is a set that I'll probably have to actually see in the flesh to make a final judgement on. The color scheme is nice, although it's kind of stale considering we've seen it used a gajillion times. The head is really weird and hard to see what the heck's going on. It's got, like, teeth or something, and it has these weird eye holes at the top of its head. It sort of looks like they were trying to redo a Rotor kind of thing with it. The Savage Planet paws in black are nice, as well as the red claws. The weapon (which I presume is to extract Hero Cores) would be a lot better if the Fire Lord antlers weren't gunmetal. It really stands out and is kind of ugly. I'm glad that they're finally making the 2.0 shield in black, however (it was on the prototype Witch Doctor, but they removed it and it has eluded us since). Finally, the real eyesore of this set, the launcher. The silver and green really, really clash with the rest of the set. They should've made it black and red to fit with the theme. Need to see more to decide.Stringer: This is the best set ever made. Okay, at least in this wave. Stringer, with an electric guitar gun (awesome), some cool new shoulder piece, and, best of all, some phenomenal transparent blue. Really fantastic. There are two things that bother me slightly, though. First off, the white Hero Core really clashes with the rest of the set. They should have made it black or purple or something. Come to think of it, purple highlights on the pieces, like in the show, would be nice, too... Still a great set. The other thing is the trans blue. It's cool, it's stylish, it's sexy, it would be great on Recon Team, but the layout confuses me. From what I can tell, the chest plate is transparent, and... the right arm is, but the left arm isn't? I couldn't tell about the legs. Seems kind of odd. You'd think they'd either do all-trans or no-trans, preferably all-trans. I have to see more pictures to know for sure... But still. Must pick this one up.Voltix: Um... I don't know if I like this set very much. The purple's nice, but there's not too much of it, and the tentacle's kind of an odd weapon (I think it just represents a bolt of lighting in the show, though). The color scheme's totally inconsistent, but it flows surprisingly well. I also don't like the reuse of the Black Phantom head, especially in gunmetal. It might look a little better in red or purple. I don't know, it's just kind of... weird. Pass.Stormer XL: The probability of me purchasing this set highly depends on the price. He's definitely bigger than a standard here... but he seems a little smaller than Black Phantom. The weapon is cool (nice recolor), but the proportions are all over the place and the blue shells look sort of out of place. The jet piece is kind of cool, but the silver looks sort of out of place and they're attached kind of badly. Probably pass with this one.Speeda Demon: Now here's a set with a weird color scheme. It's like Hunter S. Thompson designed it or something. As I didn't get the Furno Bike, this new motorcycle is pretty cool. Purple looks nice. The electric stuff coming from it is also cool. The character himself is okay. The problem with him is that he's really asymmetrical. Really ruins the whole flow of the set, especially with the silver piece on the right arm. I also don't like the reuse (again!) of the Black Phantom head. It's getting really, really old. As for the extra arms... they're a little too short and wimpy for my tastes (Black Phantom had the same problem). Maybe he uses the blades to slash the tires on vehicles as he passes by? I actually think, despite its flaws, that I'll actually give this set a go.Whew... long post!