Lego Hero Factory Recon Team deliveries delayed

I just received the following email from Lego Hero Recon:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry to inform you that we have had some technical problems in the fulfillment of customized LEGO orders. Unfortunately this means that the delivery of your ordered Hero Recon Team member has been delayed.

The problems have now been solved and we’re working full speed at the Hero Recon production facility to produce and ship your Hero.

While the production has been on hold, we have collected and added a cool extra element to your unique Hero Recon member as a small compensation for the delay.

Thank you for your patience,

The Design byME team

This is 14 calendar days after I placed the first of my two Recon Team orders.  Unfortunate to hear of their troubles, but I'm looking forward to receiving my little packets of parts, as I'm sure are many of you!

Have any readers received their Recon Team sets yet?  Have any thoughts on this delay?  Post a comment & share your thoughts.

Lego Hero Factory Recon Team is live!

That's right, the Lego Hero Factory Recon Team site is up & running and Hero Factory enthusiasts around the world are filling up the gallery with new virtual creations.  Above is Noah Iron Shadow, my first attempt, for what it's worth.  I won't bore you with a long "review" of this Design By Me-powered setup.  Just go play with it yourself! 

The basic principle is that you design your own Hero from existing parts, give him a name (yes "him," there are no female names, argh!), and then can actually order that hero to be delivered directly to you by mail (well, the pieces to make it at least).  The cost is $12.99 USD in America, plus $4.95 shipping.  Pretty steep price for a single normal-sized figure.  For folks who were hoping to find tons of new colors for much-loved parts, sorry, no dice.  There is only one new Recon Team-exclusive piece, the two-tone chest plate seen above.  All other pieces are existing items in already-available colors.  What's funny is that for extra variety, they let you add some System parts, including a couple different sizes of small claws, and tiny undersized tools.

Anyhow, it's fun to mess around with.  I'm actually going to order one particularly peculiar-looking hero, just to complete the process and see how it goes.  I spec'd my guy up with parts that I want more of for MOC making, especially the translucent red/orange armor pieces!  I'll post up when it arrives.

Shameless LEGO MOC photo thieves of the world

Today I received yet another note from a YouTube member pointing out despicable low-life scum who steal my photos and upload them to the official LEGO Hero Factory gallery as their own.

The latest immoral filth goes by the username robo-G on Lego's site, allegedly a 16-year-old Singapore resident.  robo-G downloaded a picture of my MOCs Kalek 2.0 & QUADRO from right here on my blog, uploaded it to the official Hero Factory gallery, and guess what?  My photo, that robo-G stole, is currently the highest-voted image in the gallery! 

He didn't stop at one theft, though, no.  He also stole a photo of my very popular Specter 2.0 MOC, and uploaded it as "my spactor," in his words.  That photo of mine, which thankfully included a watermark with the web address to this blog (something I evidently need to do constantly thanks to filth like robo-G), is currently the 10th highest voted photo.

It gets better!  Scrolling further through the most voted creations, we find what?  That exact same Specter 2.0 photo of mine, uploaded by yet another epic parenting failure, magge7 of Sweden.

bobbyjoe116 of the United States takes credit for one of my photos of Alba 2.0.

The moral of the story?  Steal & plagiarize, and not only are you shaming yourself and your family, but you're setting yourself up for a nice very permanent, and very public humiliation.

Kids, don't steal.

Don't.

It's wrong...

...and you will lose.

LEGO Hero Factory MOC: Bulk 2.0

Well, I made a LEGO Hero Factory Stringer 2.0, so you knew a Bulk 2.0 was coming, right?  Well, indeed, here he is, a silver-clad Bulk 2.0 with an all-new weapon.  The original Hero Factory plan was to give Bulk 2.0 a double-barrel weapon as is the standard, but the deceptively high weight of the weapon forced it to be reduced to a single barrel.  It's basically an ice spike cannon, but the heavy twist centers around the two canisters on top.  These are filled with a super-compressed liquid metal (compressed nearly to the point of becoming a solid!).  The metal exits through a series of atomizers and coats the "ice" spike as it's formed.  Other compounds in the spike bond with the metal and form a solid metal-composite encasement, the weight and hardness of which adds significantly to the kinetic energy of the projectile. With the help of the pointed tip of the spike, blasting through some of the toughest forms of vehicle & aircraft armor becomes a possibility.

Because of the weight of his weapon, Bulk 2.0 is the first second-series Hero to utilize skeletal augmentation.  His left forearm is doubled up, not so much for strength, but to stabilize the weapon and help Bulk 2.0 take precise shots.  With only one barrel to his weapon and a slightly slower-than-average reload speed, every shot has to really count!

Here's the quick little vid...

Video: LEGO Hero Factory MOC - Bulk 2.0

Lego Hero Factory Savage Planet FINAL OFFICIAL hero photos!

LEGO has released the first official Hero Factory Savage Planet set images to vendors and they've been spotted at German online toy shop Mikado.  As of this writing only the standard heroes have photos but the rest are sure to follow.  Check 'em out!

Rocka 3.0:

NEX 3.0:

Hit the link for more Hero Factory Savage Planet heroes...

Stormer 3.0:

Bulk 3.0:

Stringer 3.0:

Furno 3.0:



LEGO Hero Factory MOC: Stringer 2.0

Hey, I can do this right?  The LEGO Hero Factory released a Stringer 1.0, and there's going to be a Stringer 3.0, so why not a Stringer 2.0?!

This MOC went together pretty quickly once I recolored the hero core and helmet.  "IndyBatman" dropped the idea to try a Stringer 2.0 on my LEGO-specific YouTube channel and though it's extremely uncommon (practically unheard-of) that I have the time to consider requests, the planets & stars aligned this week and I was able to make a couple of rare exceptions.

When 2.0-series upgrade specs were being developed for Stringer, he was dreading the idea of abandoning his trusty sonic boom cannon in favor of a generic "MTIS"-based weapon.  He pleaded his case to the development manager overseeing his upgrade and was able to hang on to sonic offensive technology, just for now.  The result is the multi-harmonic ice shotgun.  A cluster of independent ultrasonic emitters individually charge the ice spikes in the firing chamber.  By tuning them to different frequencies, they act against different compounds in the target surface, helping to defeat polyalloy and composite armors.  A small pre-fire emmitter is installed on top of the shotgun to take an ultrasonic sample of the target moments before charging & firing, to best optimize the offensive frequencies. 

On occasion, Stringer 2.0 will even manually set the frequencies for a known target, and he can actually make them all identical to target a homogenous (made of a single molecular compound) structure.  His favorite practical joke around the Hero Factory is to sneak into the Hero reconditioning lab and blast the cleansing fluid off just-cleaned colleagues, or blast the standard joint oil out of those that have just been re-lubed.  His subjects never find it amusing, but you have to admire the devious genius of it all!

Don't miss the short vid...

Video:  LEGO Hero Factory MOC - Stringer 2.0

LEGO Hero Factory MOC: Blanko 1.9

Introducing the one, the only, Blanko 1.9!  "Yesterday's Hero of Tomorrow!"  The reputation of this mighty Lego Hero Factory creation doesn't precede him, so here he is in person, to tell you all about... himself!  Clicky...

Video:  Lego Hero Factory Hero, Blanko 1.9

I'm back!

After fully two weeks of downtime caused by this horrible flu that's been sweeping the nation, followed by the nasty secondary illness that piggy-backed on it, I'm back in action, good as new (almost) and ready to return to the swing of things in the LEGO Hero Factory MOC world.  I have a number of queued up MOCs that have been sitting by the wayside either complete or nearly complete, and the first of them will be published tonight! 

Sorry for the long delay, but thanks for your patience!

More Hero Factory Savage Planet final photos

Hat tip to jimnbobproductions on YouTube for the lead on these clear photos from the Toy Fair, published by Lekgodt.no:

• Furno 3.0
• Furno 3.0 - unique armor piece
• Stormer 3.0 + Fangz
• Rocka 3.0 + Stormer 3.0
• Rocka 3.0 + Stormer 3.0 again
• Stringer 3.0 + Bulk 3.0
• Witch Doctor

You can click to see huge raw images on the blog post at http://www.lekgodt.no/2011/02/hero-factory-3-0/

LEGO Hero Factory 2011 Savage Planet sets @ NY Toy Fair 2011

Lego was showing off all of the final Hero Factory Summer 2011 Savage Planet figures at the New York Toy Fair this past week and shared some good photos:

Heroes:

• Stringer 3.0
• Stormer 3.0
• Furno 3.0
• Nex 3.0
• Rocka 3.0
• Rocka XL (box, third pic)
• Bulk 3.0

Villains:

• Fangz (second pic)
• Waspix (box, third pic)
• Raw-Jaw (box, third pic)
• Scorpio (box, third pic)
• Witch Doctor (box, third pic)

What are your thoughts?  Hit the comment button!