LEGO Hero Factory + MOCs

Hero Factory RACERS: Former + Condor Land Speeder

2012-01-25T03:05:00.000-08:00

My second Hero Factory RACERS MOC pair features a pretty clean, simplistic, fairly easy-to-duplicate vehicle and a hero character I haven't used before:

Video - Hero Factory RACERS: Former + Condor Land Speeder

Hero Factory RACERS: Regger + Myrnix Rover

2012-01-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

Here's my first full overview video of a Hero Factory RACERS series MOC (or pair of MOCs). This is Regger 2.0 from the "Don't Forget The Others" video, with his all-terrain Myrnix Rover:

Video - Hero Factory RACERS: Regger + Myrnix Rover

Introducing: Hero Factory Racers!

2012-01-24T00:41:00.000-08:00

Awhile back I mentioned that I was developing a small Hero Factory MOC series that included vehicles. Well, here's the concept, the LEGO Hero Factory Racers! The series will combine two popular LEGO themes together to add a plausible, tangential branch off the official Hero Factory storyline.

Here's a little backstory:

After the defeat & capture of the Fire Lord, Hero Factory staff found themselves overflowing with new technology & equipment and extremely well-trained heroes, but let's be honest, there wasn't a lot of major badness going on around the galaxy that required the full strength & attention of this heroic force. So many small-time villains were scared into either hiding or reformed lawfulness by the might of the 2.0 heroes that field Hero deployments dropped to a 6-year low. Frankly speaking, there were a lot of bored heroes and tech staff alike at the Factory. Redox tried in vain to drum up support for a full aesthetic makeover of the iconic Assembly Tower. Nobody else wanted to do that much menial labor. Kalek pushed for remote drone competitions, an idea which got a lukewarm reception. Stormer suggested taking Kalek's idea a step further, turning it into a more exciting activity that would more directly engage both tech- and sport-savvy staff.

The Hero Factory Racers program was born with blessing from Mr. Makuro, who was convinced that the morale boost would be worth a respectable investment, especially if some of the technology developed for the competition could be adapted for official hero mission use. Racer teams would each consist of one hero, one design engineer, one fabrication specialist, and one propulsion & electronics expert. Budgets would be fixed and equal across all teams. Races would be multi-stage point-to-point rallies across varying courses on different nearby planets with unique terrain challenges. Prizes? A few credits would be doled out here or there, but the teams mostly wanted the glory & bragging rights of tallying up individual event wins.

With the premise set, I decided to create a miniature hero size, just a little larger than my Rocka XL XXS and Epic Witch Doctor, to allow the vehicles to be small & moderately simple. I also specifically slotted the inception of the HF Racers concept in the 2.0 timeframe because with the 2.0 head system now completely abandoned, I wanted to use those parts one last time.

So that's it, that's what Hero Factory Racers are all about! I'll start unveiling individual racer/vehicle combo MOCs soon!

Hero Factory Breakout (series 4) wave 1 video reviews - ALL

2012-01-23T22:30:00.000-08:00

I've reviewed all of the LEGO Hero Factory "Breakout" hero and villain sets alike. Here are convenient links to all of the original posts for future reference.

Hero Factory Heroes:

Hero Factory Villains:

Hero Factory Breakout / Series 4 wave 1 Combiners (all)

2012-01-23T22:20:00.000-08:00

For folks who haven't already seen them, here are my video mini-reviews of the LEGO Hero Factory Breakout or series 4 wave 1 combination models.

Breakout MOC: Bulk v.4

2012-01-23T22:15:00.000-08:00

Whelp, like I say pretty clearly in the video, this isn't trying to be a summer 2012 Bulk replica, it's just an updated homage to Hero Factory's original Bulk in a Breakout style. Some folks wish one or another thing was different about this MOC. That's cool. I like it just the way it is, though!

Video - LEGO Hero Factory Breakout MOC: Bulk v.4

Hero Factory Breakout wave 1 Villains recap

2012-01-17T22:16:00.000-08:00

Here's my last look at the official LEGO Hero Factory Breakout wave 1 sets, a recap of all of the evil villains!

Video - LEGO Hero Factory Breakout wave 1 Villains recap

Hero Factory Breakout wave 1 heroes recap

2012-01-17T12:20:00.000-08:00

With all of the set reviews complete, here's a look back over all of the LEGO Hero Factory series 4 or "Breakout" wave 1 hero figures from the Winter 2011-2012 release!

Video - LEGO Hero Factory Breakout wave 1 heroes recap

Breakout combiners are on the way

2012-01-17T02:11:00.000-08:00

With all of the Hero Factory series 4 reviews completed, I've done two summary videos covering all of the sets together, and those will be uploaded to YouTube in the next couple of days. With those videos captured, I went ahead and created all five of the series 4 wave 1 combiners and captured video overviews of them. Those videos will be uploaded over the course of the remainder of the week!

I've actually already taken the combiners completely apart, and I just need to spend about 20 more minutes sorting & storing the remaining parts before the official winter 2011-2012 sets will be nothing but history for me, and I'll be back to focusing on only MOCs!

Thornraxx set review (Breakout)

2012-01-16T00:17:00.000-08:00

Finally! The last villain in wave 1 of Hero Factory's series 4 (Breakout). Had to order this one from England, as like Breez, it's not yet available in the US. Here's my video review:

Video: LEGO Hero Factory review: Thornraxx [Breakout]

Thanks for your patience!

Breez series 4 set review (Breakout)

2012-01-16T00:15:00.000-08:00

This LEGO Hero Factory series 4 (Breakout) video delves shows the much-delayed Breez (still not yet available in the US), last of the larger-sized heroes:

Video: LEGO Hero Factory review: Breez [series 4]

Be sure to subscribe to LEGOJANG on YouTube.

Breakout Breez & Thornraxx reviews on the way!

2012-01-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

This has been a very miserable, trying week for me, but finally I have some solidly good news! I'll be doing Breez and Thornraxx reviews before the weekend is over!

It gets better, though! After those reviews, I'll do my full series overview videos covering all of the heroes together, followed by all of the villains.

Wait, it gets better still! Next in the queue will be all of the series 4 combination models!

Of course there can't be any further goodness after all that, right? Wrong! After the combiners, all of my series 4 sets will be fully disassembled, so their parts will become available for MOC-making!!! FINALLY! Woohoo!

BTW, my new Bulk is still on the way, I just haven't had a chance to finish the gun yet.

Breakout MOC: Stringer v.4

2012-01-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

NO! I was obviously NOT trying to make a replica of the upcoming official Breakout Stringer set! This was my own way of bringing one of the Hero Factory originals up to 2012 specs.

Video - LEGO Hero Factory Breakout MOC: Stringer v.4

Breakout MOC: Surge revamp

2012-01-05T14:43:00.000-08:00

I call this Hero Factory MOC a "revamp," but it's technically built up from scratch; except for the chest plate, my original series 4 Surge figure remains untouched on display. I felt bad about how the official figure looked, kind of small, kind of awkward, and wanted to bring Surge up to the same level of detail and prominence as the larger heroes of the series, so here's the result!

Video: LEGO Hero Factory Breakout MOC: Surge revamp

Breakout MOC: Ultra Arachnix

2011-12-31T15:55:00.001-08:00

This is a follow-up to my Super Arachnix Drone, now with an even larger design. Bigger body, bigger legs, more armor, more armament! Should I go bigger still?

Video: LEGO Hero Factory Breakout MOC: Ultra Arachnix

Folks who pester me to post more...

2011-12-30T13:00:00.000-08:00

...stop. Seriously. Stop. LEGO building is a small hobby on the side. I go 2 or 3 days without posting a new LEGO MOC and I start to get desperate comments & YouTube messages demanding that I do more immediately. This is completely unreasonable and completely unfair to me. Stop.

Lucient Sprite MOC

2011-12-27T02:35:00.000-08:00

This is a really weird one. I didn't take the time to give it any Hero Factory backstory. I didn't really even create it with any specific purpose other than to just put a bunch of semi-transparent parts on a hero-style skeleton!

Video - LEGO Hero Factory MOC: Lucient Sprite

Still waiting for Breez & Thornraxx

2011-12-27T00:48:00.000-08:00

Yeah, the final Hero Factory hero and the final Breakout villain for Series 4 wave 1 continue to elude not only me, but the entire continent in which I live. Perhaps even the entire hemisphere! Can't build & review something I can't get my hands on. Sorry guys :( I'm waiting just like so many of you are...

Seasons Greetings & Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T01:53:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Video: Seasons Greetings & Hero Factory Happy Holidays

Breakout MOC: Super Arachnix

2011-12-24T02:21:00.000-08:00

My first LEGO (published) Hero Factory villain MOC, a Super Arachnix Drone, part of Black Phantom's forces from the Breakout theme. I just really like the official small Arachnix and wanted to expand upon the idea by making something bigger. Pretty easy to do and there are a lot of options for different customizations. You could theoretically make all sorts of different ones with different color schemes like Bionicle Vakhi! Hmm, that's not a bad idea actually, might do that for fun :)

Video: LEGO Hero Factory Breakout MOC: Super Arachnix

Breakout MOC: Ketta

2011-12-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

Ketta is just another really simple, really basic, really quick LEGO Hero Factory MOC made to go with the Breakout theme. The idea here was just to use some Ultrabuild green parts and see how they'd look on a character that could conceivably look like an actual LEGO set, without a highly custom weapon or scratch-built body or what not.

Video: LEGO Hero Factory Breakout MOC: Ketta

LEGO Hero Factory Furno series 4 set review (Breakout)

2011-12-21T17:46:00.000-08:00

Here's another LEGO Hero Factory series 4 (Breakout) release, Furno. The original super-rookie! He may no longer be the front-running underdog in the series, but he's still liked by many, and thankfully they made him one of the larger heroes of the line.

Video: LEGO Hero Factory review: Furno [series 4]

Just one more to go!

Farewell, Lorne... and others

2011-12-21T02:47:00.000-08:00

Tonight the original, Bionicle universe form of Lorne, my self-MOC, was finally disassembled to harvest its many "special" pieces and to make room for more Hero Factory creations. Lorne 2.0 lives on in its stead.

Behind the scenes, I've recently quietly disassembled an entire shelf worth of my favorite Bionicle characters, and over the past few weeks I've built 15 more new Hero Factory MOCs for which I'll start slowly releasing videos this week. Exciting times on the LEGO front!

In somewhat related news, I've begun to realize that the overwhelming majority of my neatly-sorted Bionicle parts have not been touched all year, even when I've had intense MOC-making sprees. I'm a collector at heart and really, really like having "one of everything" at my fingertips, but what's the point if most of it sees no use? It's beginning to feel like there's another epic parts sell-off coming in the first half of 2012.

Splitface solid red vs. solid gray vs. Thunder helmets

2011-12-20T20:47:00.000-08:00

By popular request, here's a look at Splitface's head in solid red, and solid gunmetal gray by combining two into one. Also a comparison to Thunder from the very first villain series.

Video: Splitface solid red vs. solid gray vs. Thunder helmets

Yes, I have seen the Summer 2012 pictures

2011-12-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, everyone constantly dropping all-caps notes on all of my YouTube videos and blog posts. I have seen the Summer Hero Factory set pictures. All of them. You can stop telling me they're out. Thank you :)

PS: I will not link to them. I will not allow links to them. They are illegal pictures, stolen from LEGO & leaked by some unscrupulous individual(s) who have no regard for intellectual property. Redistributing these images or links to them is illegal. LEGO regularly sends out legal reps to do rounds around the 'Net to try to track these down and get them deleted, as they should.

PPS: I will not refer to them as "5.0." First, they're just the second wave of series 4, not a whole new series. Second, the "x.0" naming convention was already dropped.

PPPS: I have also seen the video on the official Hero Factory set. I saw Stormer XL there, and all of the other villains and heroes in the video. You can stop telling me about that too. I saw it. Thanks :)