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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Hero Factory Brain Attack wave 2 pics, my thoughts

Alright, a bunch of Hero Factory Brain Attack Wave 2 photos are out from the Nuremberg Toy Fair, and as usual, blogs and YouTubers have been taking these pics without permission (unethical as well as illegal) and reusing them to get a bunch of undeserved views.  I'm not going to do that.  What I will do, is link to one original source of photos, and give my initial thoughts on each set.

Photos:
Jet Rocka
It's Rocka with a jet pack.  We've known this for quite awhile thanks to the CG teaser animation.  With a clear look at the final set, I can say that to me, this thing looks like a hot mess.  It may be a very functional set, fun to use with its folding actions, four flick missiles and two sphere launchers, but aesthetically, I don't get it.  Trans bright green, gold, dark silver, gunmetal, light bluish gray, black, white, various sticker patterns, red axles & blue pins, it's all over the place.  The highly visible Textures are highly mixed too, with the smooth armor pieces & Technic panels, distinctly stepped shapes of connected lift arms, open pin holes, ergh.  I am not impressed.  Again, probably fun for the younger kids to play with, but I expect it to get a lot of negative feedback for its appearance.

Click that link Read More link for my thoughts on all of the other Brain Attack Wave 2 sets.
Dragon Bolt
What happened to the gloriously large thing in the CG animation?  Its wings got clipped from ten segments each to five (in two designs), and the tail was shortened as well.  I can hardly believe the enemy of the incredibly bulky Jet Rocka is a pretty ragged-looking bagged set now.  The new exclusive head piece looks good and the body appears to have stayed true to the original, but this really seems like far less of a credible threat to Makuhero City.  There are hundreds of the other infested creatures, but just one Dragon Bolt, if I'm inferring correctly.  I feel let down.

Surge
Good to have Surge back, and he looks proper.  He's once again no longer one of the runts, and his color scheme and accessories look good.  Spinning electrical energy short staff on one side, drone launcher on the other, missiles and articulating wings on his back.  Again, proper.

Evo
Not bad at all.  Combines elements from a couple of his past forms to create a credible current hero. New shorter schoolbus yellow armor pieces, good. New 3L trans-blue armor piece, excellent, though only one of them? A little thin in the forearm department, and I wish the handle of his weapon had more bulk & texture to it, but the opening blades are a nice touch. Looks like prongs that would be used to grab his villain of choice.  Speaking of which...

Aquagon
To me, Aquagon suffers from more than a little bit of Scarox Syndrome. It's another short two-legged creature of nearly humanoid design, trying to convince us that it's an exotic underwater alien.  I'm not convinced.  The face piece is somewhat interesting to me, though it would surely look like a joke without the brain parasite behind it. I like the schoolbus yellow short bone pieces, the blue blades, the blue parasite, and most importantly, 3L trans-blue armor times two.  As a character, though, this one seems really uninspired. 

Stormer
Hello!  Looked good in the teasier, looks better now that we can see the whole stance.  This may be the single best Stormer yet.  There isn't one thing that I can see of this figure that I don't like.  More trans-blue armor pieces are there, too, this time 4L. Interesting sholders, two weapons, one likely doubling as a shield, missiles (though small) on his back. Glorious. 

Frost Beast
This one looks pretty good, too.  One of Stormer's shoulder pieces used on the chest looks like a good choice, plus they added more up top fir a very icicly look.  More trans blue armor FTW!!!! Doubled-up spikes in white and red for a little extra contrast, big icy blade, trans-blue claws? Sign me UP!  Only things I don't like about this one are that the legs look too long & spindly for the character, and also too humanoid/heroic.  Looks like he has normal legs, plus shoes.  The feet especially do not fit the textural theme of the rest of the character.

Summary
I'm looking forward to this wave about as much as I was the last.  Namely, I'm excited about some of the sets, unsure about some, and unhappy about some.  Will I get all of them and review all of them and do what I always do to all of them? Of course; that shouldn't even be a question.  Will I give them all a fair chance whether or not I like them right now? Absolutely.  I've been surprised before, both for good and for bad, and I'm sure it will happen again.

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