I still find it funny that the reason they had the visors was to protect them from the brain slugs, but not only did they have an axle hole on the top, actually making it possible to attach the brains, but even with the visor surge got possessed anyway
Brain Attack was a very cool wave. Better than Breakout? No- of course not- you can’t top Breakout. That being said the subtle medieval knights theme they had going on was really cool and made this batch of heroes unique. Not to mention the beastly look of the villains, who I think are stellar. And you can’t forget Dragonbolt, who may just be my favourite HF set ever.
You know, I have 3 Brain Attack Heroes' masks with their axle pins broken, and I'd say that is probably because of the customizability - putting the mask on top of the head or on the front, changing the visors and the head colours, all that, and now my Rocka, Bulk and worst of all, Stormer masks are broken.. (Still have breakout Rocka and 1.0 Bulk, but, yea...)
i really loved brain attack when it came out, only got stormer and frost beast tho back in the day. Stormer was so cool tho, missiles, a sick sword and shield, just everything i could want.
Whoa- this video unearthed some memories I didn't know still existed! I actually had that little accessory pack as a kid, I played it as the villain against my Brain Attack Evo. Wild!
You cracked me up when you said when your 80 , just that part .I am 64 ,so I got into Bionicle and hero factory late in life.But a lot of the boxes say you can enjoy Lego til your 99 years old ,so I still have time . I think Lego left out a set in BRAIN ATTACK I think they should have put the creatures before they got attacked .I have moced out 3 sets,and I really think that was something Lego messed out on .take care
Hey Ben .You know to people with creativity ,Lego is art .You show the most beautiful builds .When you can build Bionicle with all standard parts that's cool.
I love everything about Pyrox... except the lack of chest armor. The chest feels so wrong without something on that shell piece. I think a few of the other sets suffer from this as well. Wouldn't be surprised if this was a budget issue.
Brain Attack was probably my favourite wave as an outsider - Dragon Bolt was the only Hero Factory set i got before it ended - because the elemental theme, the progression of solving the challenge presented by Core Hunter, and the very BIONICLE-esque Brains very much appealed to me.
Something a lot of people noticed when the wave released. Each half of Furno's shield is shaped like an external profile view of the Hero Factory building
2013's an interesting year for Star Wars because there's a number of sets that tie into Attack of the Clones because that's when the 3D release was supposed to be, but because of the Disney acquisition, it was only saved for Star Wars Celebration alongside Revenge of the Sith. Since those sets are all rehashes of stuff that was all made for the Clone Wars in 2008 and 2009, I just didn't get some sets that I know are good. There's also a few things that I never picked up because this is when some of the prices started to be ridiculous in terms of price per piece, so I still have things in my Wanted List I'll just never end up getting, so if I actually had a time machine, I'd be picking up those ones I never got because their pricing is actually quite modest by today's standards. So with all of that, I will have two lists and I'll try to condense it down to fit into two comments but I'm sure I'll fail, and it will be three... The Honorable Mentions that I never got but did want/still want... *75204 HH-87 Starhopper* Based off the Deception Arc from Season 4, this set is really purely about the figs. I really like Cad Bane without the breathing tubes printed on the head because the old piece and the printing on his head never lined up, I felt like having a clean version of his face would have been good to pair up with the breathing tube piece, but I'll never know now. You also get Rako Hardeen, and that's cool. Sadly, no Moralo Eval, and no Cad Bane hat that matched his look from Nal Hutta. Another reason for not getting this set is because while the ship also looks good, it just wasn't featured much, and I wanted to recreate battle scenes, not just have individual sets displayed on shelves. *75017 Duel on Geonosis* It was purely for Poggle the Lesser, that's all I really wanted the set for. It's a much larger version of 7103 Jedi Duel, but I'd be lying if I said that Dooku's face was also great in that set. It's the checkbone lines, they just don't work for me. Including Dooku's Solar Sailor droid was also a bit of a weird move, but since I had that set, I've always been curious if that would have paired up better than the skeleton leg headed one from that set. Also given what we know about brown pieces from this time, I'm glad I don't have it. Too many things may have needed to be replaced. *75021 Republic Gunship* This is supposedly the best Gunship LEGO ever produced, but since I had the one from 2008, I just never bothered even though it's based on the movies and not the show, so it came with the bubble turrets. A reason I also never got it is that if I ever do get the chance, I'd rather have the original version of the set because I really like the old school stuff, and it comes with more desirable figs to me like Blue Super Battle Droids and Jedi Bob. The only really enticing draw to this set for me was Padmé because she is not common among sets, and I still only own the 1999 version of the character. *75005 Rancor Pit* It all came down to price. It was just too expensive the parts included despite all the new parts made needing to be paid off. It also connected with 9516 Jabba's Palace, but I never got it specifically because I had the 2003 sets of Jabba's Message, Jabba's Prize, and Jabba's Palace. Rare to get locations in LEGO Star Wars, but once you have a location, you don't really need it again. I should have still done it, but it's just not going to happen. *75004 Z-95 Headhunter* This is my biggest regret of 2013. I should have picked it up. It's a cool ship that had a few really cool scenes in Clone Wars, and it came with Pong Krell. I have a very small and modest Umbara setup, there's just no room for a Z-95, but it would be nice to have the full Umbara line of sets because this is the only missing one, I even got the polybags based off that arc. Ultimately, it came down to price. It was just too expensive for what you really got. Alright, in the replies, I'll have the Top 5 sets I do own.
So the real list of sets I think are the best of 2013 are... *5. 75022 Mandalorian Speeder* Personally, I'm not a fan of digitigrade leg Maul in Clone Wars, I'm more a fan of his Spider Legs when he's crazy, and his design after the Mandalorians repair him in the episode Eminence. However, I'm happy to say that we finally got that version of Maul in 2021, so this is now just for the sake of completion. This set also comes with two Mauldalorians, and at the time, having this against just one copy of the Mandalorian Battle Pack from 2011 was worth it. Nowadays though, man, we need another batch of these guys because they are seriously outnumbered by all the 501st and 332nd Clones I have for the Siege of Mandalore. This set is a must buy if I'm back in time because I need more. But it's not just about the figs, this speeder is also pretty rad. We went to Mandalore a few times in Clone Wars, and this speeder was prominently featured, even if most characters that used it were never represented in minifigure form, and the way it's recreated in LEGO is darn near perfect. *4. 75013 Umbaran MHC (Mobile Heavy Canon)* Coming from the Umbaran Arc, praised as one of the best arcs in Clone Wars, it's just so cool to see something from it represented in LEGO. We'll never see anything like this again, and it's a shame we never got more Umbaran vehicles turned into sets, I bet they would have sold well. A bit scaled down, it's a very faithful recreation of the vehicle, and it makes excellent use of some of the more smooth and rounded pieces LEGO had introduced in the years leading up to its debut in LEGO. If I have one major change to make, I'd like the big missile piece to have blue rubber instead of black, maybe even have a medium blue or azure in place of the light gray, too, to match the Umbaran's weapons. And like any good Star Wars set, we have to talk about the figures, which are nearly perfect, every single one of them, but that is the biggest stumbling block. A 212th Trooper with Keetorange markings? They already had Cody in normal Orange, but Phase II happens and they gunked up the color! At best, this is a 327th trooper whose paint is a bit weathered and old, but it just doesn't match anyone. The Umabarans are perfect, except LEGO went too literal with the helmets because there's a light and gas inside the helmet that makes them look trans-neon green in the show, but LEGO just went with trans-brown (still weird to call it that). Luckily, visors are a dime a dozen and always have spares, so you just needed one set to come with them in your collection somewhere, and you could swap out the visors that came in the set. And then there's Ahsoka, whose face is not great. Everything about this figure is great, but with two expressions that are on opposite ends of the spectrum, I'd rather just have a neutral face, which is actually what I did. Despite there being a few details to express the character's growth in age in her face, her 2008 design is almost indistinguishable, so for years I kept her 2013 head on a 2008 body in the Clone Wars Y-wing. But wait, Ahsoka wasn't at the Battle of Umbara, why is she here? Well that's where you're wrong, she was there, she's flying her Delta-7B in the space battle during the opening narration, but it's very important you get this set for that version of the character since she's not essential to the set for the next set in the lineup. *3. 75012 BARC Speeder with Sidecar* Now, this is an abomination in terms of scaled BARC speeders, sadly it became the norm, however I will forgive it this one time because of the Sidecar attachment, it looks great. It also is from the opening to the Slave Arc of Season 4! Now if you were smart, you picked up two of this set. But what am I going to do with two Obi-Wans and two Rexes? Have some imagination! Not only is this Rex one of the most sought after figs, he wasn't featured in any of the Umbara sets, and that's one of his biggest stories, so you can swap one Rex for Ahsoka. But there's still two Obi-Wans, that is until you take Anakin from 7957 Nightsister Sith Speeder and swap him for Obi-Wan. So now you take your digitigrade Maul from 75022 because you replaced him with the 2021 version of the character in your Siege of Mandalore display, spare Obi-Wan from the second copy of the BARC Speeder, and you pair them with Savage Oppress and Assaj Ventress, and you essentially have a representation of the fight that took place in the Turtle Ship at the end of Season 4! Not only do you get a better representation of the Slave Arc with two BARC Speeders against two Commando Droids on their speederbikes, you also get characters to balance everything out and make your other sets even better. *2. More Planet Sets!* Yeah that's right, the Planet sets trump almost everything on the list because I'm insane and love collectibles, but these sets really are rad. Everything I said about them in the 2012 Top 5 sets applies here, there's a lot of potential for the hemisphere parts that were never utilized, and the collectible nature of the sets themselves are wonderful. Series 3 was comprised of 75006 Jedi Starfighter & Planet Kamino, 75007 Republic Assault Ship & Planet Coruscant, and 75008 TIE Bomber & Asteroid Field, with my personal favorite being Kamino for the model and figure, but I love the creativity of making the asteroid field a location. If we can have the Death Star, which isn't a planet, nor even a moon, we can have an asteroid field. Looking back at it today, R4-P17 was a great exclusive figure at the time, and it would have probably been a bit weird to include a Kaminoan with a Jedi Starfighter, but man, a Kaminoan should have been included here with only an 11 year gap between movie and minifigure instead of 21. R4 would later appear in 2016 and 2023 with near indistiguishable changes, and it was always a bit of an odd decision because for the original Delta-7, she's fully integrated into the ship, she has no body, and it wasn't until the Eta-2 in Revenge of the Sith that she had one, and someone had to make up a backstory about how Obi-Wan was sentimental about this droid and wanted to give it a body for the other ships he flew during the war, which is very much out of character for him, but I digress, neat at the time, still cool to have the figure, I'm glad it wasn't Obi-Wan, but that would have been nice for the folks that couldn't get him because of an expensive set. Anyway... Series 4 was comprised of 75009 Snowspeeder & Planet Hoth, 75010 B-Wing Starfighter & Planet Endor, and 75011 Tantive IV & Planet Alderaan, and believe it or not, I guess these Planet Sets were not selling well because Series 4 never made it to the US! They were available in other international markets, I know that Europe got them, I know that Japan got them because I bought them off Japanese Amazon, but the Americas just never received these sets, and that's a shame because there are two really cool things about them. The Tantive IV and Alderaan is quite possibly the best Planet Set there is with an incredible recreation of the ship, and one of the most beautiful print jobs on a planet you've ever seen. Another cool thing from Series 4 is the fact that Endor was made as a planet. Now it's often just refered to as Endor, but the Forest Moon of Endor is printed on the Series 2 plaque for that set, this Endor with the B-Wing is the actual gas giant the moon orbits. There's like one shot of it in the blue sky in Return of the Jedi, if you actually want to really see this thing, you have to go to the Ewok TV Movies where there are a few other establishing shots that show it off. There was so much potential for more Planet sets in the future if LEGO decided to pull from the Clone Wars, and probably more still if they included Rebels and eventually Sequels and Anthology movies had the line continued, but it was just never meant to be. I love them so. But if the Planet Sets are only second in the lineup and they were top dog before, what's top dog this time around? One more reply ought to do it.
The best LEGO Star Wars set of 2013 is... [Pause for dramatic effect] *1. 10236 Ewok Village* Man, if there's one thing I love more than the Clone Wars, Podracing, and Quick-Draw Quasar in Star Wars, it's Ewoks. This set is where it's at! Bright Tree Village is beautifully recreated in LEGO here, mimicking the old Kenner playset from the 80s, and it comes with just about anything you could ever want in an Endor set. There's something to do everywhere. There's a tree to slide down through, a bridge to walk across, drums and helmets to make merry music, fire with a spit to cook your enemies, a chair to worship your golden god, a room to make potions with master Logray, a place to sleep, a place to plan out your battles, traps to ensnare wandering trespassers, logs to blow up a mini AT-ST or give a Scout Trooper on his bike a really bad headache, catapults to hurl rocks, and rooms to store weapons, house a spider, or secretly profess your love for an orphaned princess. And then there's the minifigures. This set comes with 17 minifigures! Although this set cost $250 for only 1990 pieces, there are some fairly large pieces to make up the bases for trees and the platform connecting them all, new molds were made for some of the minifigures, and most of the minifigures were also new with new prints, and again, you got 17 of them in one single set, so it definitely made up for the price to piece discrepancy. This set is also the reason why I didn't get some of the others on my wishlist that year. It wasn't a day one purchase, I still needed to save up, but I had to wait to not only save up, but also wait for the right promotions to happen so that I got the best deals possible to really make that price worth it, like double VIP points and maybe even a free gift, I don't remember exactly, I just remember that this set was a must have, and I made sure I got it with a bit extra bonus for myself. And if you're like me and made sure to buy every other set that took place on the surface of Endor before this set came out, you have a great centerpiece to all the surrounding action. I had three favorite sets before this: 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer, 7171 Mos Espa Podrace, 10123 Cloud City, I'm Big Money McGee, but notice how they're all pretty much just old school stuff. I have never had such a great experience building and displaying a set like 10236 Ewok Village before or since, and it has shot all the way to the top of the list because it's not only a great display piece, it's also just a fun set to play with. Form and Function have found equilibrium in LEGO Star Wars, and it is this set. Okay, never again. If 2014 winds up being 4 comments long, just shoot me. 2014 was not a great year for LEGO Star Wars to me anyway, lots of rehashes, so I'm hoping I don't have that much to say when Ben does Invasion from Below next week. Scratch that, there's some epic stuff I own. FUUUU-----
brain attack breez is my favorite hero, reason i have her mask on my self MOC although i do have a question, you mentioned the visors were so the heros couldnt get possessed, how did surge get possessed in the show?
If I had that choice I would pick Dragon bolt Furno XL Stormer Surge Jet rocka Since these are pretty amazing sets Jet rocka is just a nostalgia for me
I disagree with the brain attack surge stuff, I'm fine with having that many colours. It's okay to have more than 3! A decent combo model, but the base is pretty great, and i like the visor too! I'd go Surge Breez Aquagon Ogrum Furno XL
I have quite similar opinion, but with some changes: 5. Surge/Evo (I got Evo) 4. Rocka 3. Pyrox 2. Furno XL 1. Dragon Bolt I wish Lego brought back HF because "Brain attack" and "Invasion from Below" were really good or even the best series of all Lego Hero Factory. Just look at IfB series. Lego city from 2014 looks like it's from 2000-s, while HF IfB looks like from 2020+. They did it very well
It's funny how the only set from Brain Attack that I've ever got is also the number 1 on this list Honestly, expected something like Rocka 5.0 or Dragon Bolt to be at the first place but then comes a pleasant surprise
I owned quite a few of these, including jet rokka. I can tell you it isn't a wieldy set. It's very big and clunky, and isn't well held together. Not many features either, and the robot inside is basic as all hell 😂
My first ever brain attack set was pyrox and one day one of my "friend" ask me if i wanna trade it for a cool minifig i said yes cause im dumb and in the end i got a gaint lego web and he got the brain and it sucks
Def not Bulk. This was the second time they shafted the poor dude by making him skinny like they did with the 3.0 line. Breakout Bulk should have set a precedent for the character, but then the designers regressed and took away his gains right after. Like, how do you call a character Bulk and not make him bulky? Where's the logic?
Brain attack is the beginning of the end for Hero Factory. Attack from Below killed it for good. Mechs were kinda cool but it simply lacked the personality of the characters. Not to mention how incredibly uncreative and boring were the Furno and Stormer Mechs.
Dragon Bolt so cool, he got a double entry
I still find it funny that the reason they had the visors was to protect them from the brain slugs, but not only did they have an axle hole on the top, actually making it possible to attach the brains, but even with the visor surge got possessed anyway
Brain Attack was a very cool wave. Better than Breakout? No- of course not- you can’t top Breakout. That being said the subtle medieval knights theme they had going on was really cool and made this batch of heroes unique. Not to mention the beastly look of the villains, who I think are stellar. And you can’t forget Dragonbolt, who may just be my favourite HF set ever.
Hero factory's second best year and massively underrated imo. Impossible to pick just 5
We're gonna forget how a brain slug somehow infected surge
Ogrum would make for a fantastic "how to use the pieces in your mocs" video!
You know, I have 3 Brain Attack Heroes' masks with their axle pins broken, and I'd say that is probably because of the customizability - putting the mask on top of the head or on the front, changing the visors and the head colours, all that, and now my Rocka, Bulk and worst of all, Stormer masks are broken.. (Still have breakout Rocka and 1.0 Bulk, but, yea...)
Same with my Surge 😭
I haven't had my furno, Stormer, or either Rocka break yet (fingers crossed)
i really loved brain attack when it came out, only got stormer and frost beast tho back in the day. Stormer was so cool tho, missiles, a sick sword and shield, just everything i could want.
Whoa- this video unearthed some memories I didn't know still existed! I actually had that little accessory pack as a kid, I played it as the villain against my Brain Attack Evo. Wild!
I have the Stormer one and all in all, I loved Brain Attack, it was a good wave
You cracked me up when you said when your 80 , just that part .I am 64 ,so I got into Bionicle and hero factory late in life.But a lot of the boxes say you can enjoy Lego til your 99 years old ,so I still have time . I think Lego left out a set in BRAIN ATTACK I think they should have put the creatures before they got attacked .I have moced out 3 sets,and I really think that was something Lego messed out on .take care
Wooo 64 and still loving LEGO! Rock on!
Hey Ben .You know to people with creativity ,Lego is art .You show the most beautiful builds .When you can build Bionicle with all standard parts that's cool.
All the time people call me sir and I hate it .But when you called me gramps ,Ialmost fell out of my chair laughing.that was good thanks
I have the black brain slug! Its one of my favorite brain attacks i own :D
I personally feel like Brain Attack is when HF started its nosedive in terms of set quality.
11:23 Turaga Cossy
Breez and Bulk are always goated, imo.
I love everything about Pyrox... except the lack of chest armor. The chest feels so wrong without something on that shell piece. I think a few of the other sets suffer from this as well. Wouldn't be surprised if this was a budget issue.
Brain Attack was probably my favourite wave as an outsider - Dragon Bolt was the only Hero Factory set i got before it ended - because the elemental theme, the progression of solving the challenge presented by Core Hunter, and the very BIONICLE-esque Brains very much appealed to me.
I got my hands on the black brainslug set already! Tho a second one wouldn't go amiss. Really wish we got the Dragon-bolt face in more colors too.
I think your number one choice is a good one. Easily the best version of him
pyrox was my first ever lego set.... PERFECTION
Something a lot of people noticed when the wave released. Each half of Furno's shield is shaped like an external profile view of the Hero Factory building
I got Dragon Bolt and Surge (separately) for Christmas many years ago, and I still love them
Dragon Bolt especially
One of my favorite ccbs sets
2013's an interesting year for Star Wars because there's a number of sets that tie into Attack of the Clones because that's when the 3D release was supposed to be, but because of the Disney acquisition, it was only saved for Star Wars Celebration alongside Revenge of the Sith. Since those sets are all rehashes of stuff that was all made for the Clone Wars in 2008 and 2009, I just didn't get some sets that I know are good. There's also a few things that I never picked up because this is when some of the prices started to be ridiculous in terms of price per piece, so I still have things in my Wanted List I'll just never end up getting, so if I actually had a time machine, I'd be picking up those ones I never got because their pricing is actually quite modest by today's standards. So with all of that, I will have two lists and I'll try to condense it down to fit into two comments but I'm sure I'll fail, and it will be three...
The Honorable Mentions that I never got but did want/still want...
*75204 HH-87 Starhopper*
Based off the Deception Arc from Season 4, this set is really purely about the figs. I really like Cad Bane without the breathing tubes printed on the head because the old piece and the printing on his head never lined up, I felt like having a clean version of his face would have been good to pair up with the breathing tube piece, but I'll never know now. You also get Rako Hardeen, and that's cool. Sadly, no Moralo Eval, and no Cad Bane hat that matched his look from Nal Hutta. Another reason for not getting this set is because while the ship also looks good, it just wasn't featured much, and I wanted to recreate battle scenes, not just have individual sets displayed on shelves.
*75017 Duel on Geonosis*
It was purely for Poggle the Lesser, that's all I really wanted the set for. It's a much larger version of 7103 Jedi Duel, but I'd be lying if I said that Dooku's face was also great in that set. It's the checkbone lines, they just don't work for me. Including Dooku's Solar Sailor droid was also a bit of a weird move, but since I had that set, I've always been curious if that would have paired up better than the skeleton leg headed one from that set. Also given what we know about brown pieces from this time, I'm glad I don't have it. Too many things may have needed to be replaced.
*75021 Republic Gunship*
This is supposedly the best Gunship LEGO ever produced, but since I had the one from 2008, I just never bothered even though it's based on the movies and not the show, so it came with the bubble turrets. A reason I also never got it is that if I ever do get the chance, I'd rather have the original version of the set because I really like the old school stuff, and it comes with more desirable figs to me like Blue Super Battle Droids and Jedi Bob. The only really enticing draw to this set for me was Padmé because she is not common among sets, and I still only own the 1999 version of the character.
*75005 Rancor Pit*
It all came down to price. It was just too expensive the parts included despite all the new parts made needing to be paid off. It also connected with 9516 Jabba's Palace, but I never got it specifically because I had the 2003 sets of Jabba's Message, Jabba's Prize, and Jabba's Palace. Rare to get locations in LEGO Star Wars, but once you have a location, you don't really need it again. I should have still done it, but it's just not going to happen.
*75004 Z-95 Headhunter*
This is my biggest regret of 2013. I should have picked it up. It's a cool ship that had a few really cool scenes in Clone Wars, and it came with Pong Krell. I have a very small and modest Umbara setup, there's just no room for a Z-95, but it would be nice to have the full Umbara line of sets because this is the only missing one, I even got the polybags based off that arc. Ultimately, it came down to price. It was just too expensive for what you really got.
Alright, in the replies, I'll have the Top 5 sets I do own.
So the real list of sets I think are the best of 2013 are...
*5. 75022 Mandalorian Speeder*
Personally, I'm not a fan of digitigrade leg Maul in Clone Wars, I'm more a fan of his Spider Legs when he's crazy, and his design after the Mandalorians repair him in the episode Eminence. However, I'm happy to say that we finally got that version of Maul in 2021, so this is now just for the sake of completion. This set also comes with two Mauldalorians, and at the time, having this against just one copy of the Mandalorian Battle Pack from 2011 was worth it. Nowadays though, man, we need another batch of these guys because they are seriously outnumbered by all the 501st and 332nd Clones I have for the Siege of Mandalore. This set is a must buy if I'm back in time because I need more. But it's not just about the figs, this speeder is also pretty rad. We went to Mandalore a few times in Clone Wars, and this speeder was prominently featured, even if most characters that used it were never represented in minifigure form, and the way it's recreated in LEGO is darn near perfect.
*4. 75013 Umbaran MHC (Mobile Heavy Canon)*
Coming from the Umbaran Arc, praised as one of the best arcs in Clone Wars, it's just so cool to see something from it represented in LEGO. We'll never see anything like this again, and it's a shame we never got more Umbaran vehicles turned into sets, I bet they would have sold well. A bit scaled down, it's a very faithful recreation of the vehicle, and it makes excellent use of some of the more smooth and rounded pieces LEGO had introduced in the years leading up to its debut in LEGO. If I have one major change to make, I'd like the big missile piece to have blue rubber instead of black, maybe even have a medium blue or azure in place of the light gray, too, to match the Umbaran's weapons. And like any good Star Wars set, we have to talk about the figures, which are nearly perfect, every single one of them, but that is the biggest stumbling block. A 212th Trooper with Keetorange markings? They already had Cody in normal Orange, but Phase II happens and they gunked up the color! At best, this is a 327th trooper whose paint is a bit weathered and old, but it just doesn't match anyone. The Umabarans are perfect, except LEGO went too literal with the helmets because there's a light and gas inside the helmet that makes them look trans-neon green in the show, but LEGO just went with trans-brown (still weird to call it that). Luckily, visors are a dime a dozen and always have spares, so you just needed one set to come with them in your collection somewhere, and you could swap out the visors that came in the set. And then there's Ahsoka, whose face is not great. Everything about this figure is great, but with two expressions that are on opposite ends of the spectrum, I'd rather just have a neutral face, which is actually what I did. Despite there being a few details to express the character's growth in age in her face, her 2008 design is almost indistinguishable, so for years I kept her 2013 head on a 2008 body in the Clone Wars Y-wing. But wait, Ahsoka wasn't at the Battle of Umbara, why is she here? Well that's where you're wrong, she was there, she's flying her Delta-7B in the space battle during the opening narration, but it's very important you get this set for that version of the character since she's not essential to the set for the next set in the lineup.
*3. 75012 BARC Speeder with Sidecar*
Now, this is an abomination in terms of scaled BARC speeders, sadly it became the norm, however I will forgive it this one time because of the Sidecar attachment, it looks great. It also is from the opening to the Slave Arc of Season 4! Now if you were smart, you picked up two of this set. But what am I going to do with two Obi-Wans and two Rexes? Have some imagination! Not only is this Rex one of the most sought after figs, he wasn't featured in any of the Umbara sets, and that's one of his biggest stories, so you can swap one Rex for Ahsoka. But there's still two Obi-Wans, that is until you take Anakin from 7957 Nightsister Sith Speeder and swap him for Obi-Wan. So now you take your digitigrade Maul from 75022 because you replaced him with the 2021 version of the character in your Siege of Mandalore display, spare Obi-Wan from the second copy of the BARC Speeder, and you pair them with Savage Oppress and Assaj Ventress, and you essentially have a representation of the fight that took place in the Turtle Ship at the end of Season 4! Not only do you get a better representation of the Slave Arc with two BARC Speeders against two Commando Droids on their speederbikes, you also get characters to balance everything out and make your other sets even better.
*2. More Planet Sets!*
Yeah that's right, the Planet sets trump almost everything on the list because I'm insane and love collectibles, but these sets really are rad. Everything I said about them in the 2012 Top 5 sets applies here, there's a lot of potential for the hemisphere parts that were never utilized, and the collectible nature of the sets themselves are wonderful. Series 3 was comprised of 75006 Jedi Starfighter & Planet Kamino, 75007 Republic Assault Ship & Planet Coruscant, and 75008 TIE Bomber & Asteroid Field, with my personal favorite being Kamino for the model and figure, but I love the creativity of making the asteroid field a location. If we can have the Death Star, which isn't a planet, nor even a moon, we can have an asteroid field. Looking back at it today, R4-P17 was a great exclusive figure at the time, and it would have probably been a bit weird to include a Kaminoan with a Jedi Starfighter, but man, a Kaminoan should have been included here with only an 11 year gap between movie and minifigure instead of 21. R4 would later appear in 2016 and 2023 with near indistiguishable changes, and it was always a bit of an odd decision because for the original Delta-7, she's fully integrated into the ship, she has no body, and it wasn't until the Eta-2 in Revenge of the Sith that she had one, and someone had to make up a backstory about how Obi-Wan was sentimental about this droid and wanted to give it a body for the other ships he flew during the war, which is very much out of character for him, but I digress, neat at the time, still cool to have the figure, I'm glad it wasn't Obi-Wan, but that would have been nice for the folks that couldn't get him because of an expensive set. Anyway... Series 4 was comprised of 75009 Snowspeeder & Planet Hoth, 75010 B-Wing Starfighter & Planet Endor, and 75011 Tantive IV & Planet Alderaan, and believe it or not, I guess these Planet Sets were not selling well because Series 4 never made it to the US! They were available in other international markets, I know that Europe got them, I know that Japan got them because I bought them off Japanese Amazon, but the Americas just never received these sets, and that's a shame because there are two really cool things about them. The Tantive IV and Alderaan is quite possibly the best Planet Set there is with an incredible recreation of the ship, and one of the most beautiful print jobs on a planet you've ever seen. Another cool thing from Series 4 is the fact that Endor was made as a planet. Now it's often just refered to as Endor, but the Forest Moon of Endor is printed on the Series 2 plaque for that set, this Endor with the B-Wing is the actual gas giant the moon orbits. There's like one shot of it in the blue sky in Return of the Jedi, if you actually want to really see this thing, you have to go to the Ewok TV Movies where there are a few other establishing shots that show it off. There was so much potential for more Planet sets in the future if LEGO decided to pull from the Clone Wars, and probably more still if they included Rebels and eventually Sequels and Anthology movies had the line continued, but it was just never meant to be. I love them so.
But if the Planet Sets are only second in the lineup and they were top dog before, what's top dog this time around? One more reply ought to do it.
The best LEGO Star Wars set of 2013 is...
[Pause for dramatic effect]
*1. 10236 Ewok Village*
Man, if there's one thing I love more than the Clone Wars, Podracing, and Quick-Draw Quasar in Star Wars, it's Ewoks. This set is where it's at! Bright Tree Village is beautifully recreated in LEGO here, mimicking the old Kenner playset from the 80s, and it comes with just about anything you could ever want in an Endor set. There's something to do everywhere. There's a tree to slide down through, a bridge to walk across, drums and helmets to make merry music, fire with a spit to cook your enemies, a chair to worship your golden god, a room to make potions with master Logray, a place to sleep, a place to plan out your battles, traps to ensnare wandering trespassers, logs to blow up a mini AT-ST or give a Scout Trooper on his bike a really bad headache, catapults to hurl rocks, and rooms to store weapons, house a spider, or secretly profess your love for an orphaned princess. And then there's the minifigures. This set comes with 17 minifigures! Although this set cost $250 for only 1990 pieces, there are some fairly large pieces to make up the bases for trees and the platform connecting them all, new molds were made for some of the minifigures, and most of the minifigures were also new with new prints, and again, you got 17 of them in one single set, so it definitely made up for the price to piece discrepancy. This set is also the reason why I didn't get some of the others on my wishlist that year. It wasn't a day one purchase, I still needed to save up, but I had to wait to not only save up, but also wait for the right promotions to happen so that I got the best deals possible to really make that price worth it, like double VIP points and maybe even a free gift, I don't remember exactly, I just remember that this set was a must have, and I made sure I got it with a bit extra bonus for myself. And if you're like me and made sure to buy every other set that took place on the surface of Endor before this set came out, you have a great centerpiece to all the surrounding action. I had three favorite sets before this: 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer, 7171 Mos Espa Podrace, 10123 Cloud City, I'm Big Money McGee, but notice how they're all pretty much just old school stuff. I have never had such a great experience building and displaying a set like 10236 Ewok Village before or since, and it has shot all the way to the top of the list because it's not only a great display piece, it's also just a fun set to play with. Form and Function have found equilibrium in LEGO Star Wars, and it is this set.
Okay, never again. If 2014 winds up being 4 comments long, just shoot me. 2014 was not a great year for LEGO Star Wars to me anyway, lots of rehashes, so I'm hoping I don't have that much to say when Ben does Invasion from Below next week. Scratch that, there's some epic stuff I own. FUUUU-----
brain attack breez is my favorite hero, reason i have her mask on my self MOC
although i do have a question, you mentioned the visors were so the heros couldnt get possessed, how did surge get possessed in the show?
I definitely think that the stone beast(the one with the big arm) would be on my list
This year's going to be its 11th anniversary! 2013 was certainly the best year for Hero Factory. Too bad I only got Jet Rocka, Aquagon, and Furno XL.
If I had that choice I would pick
Dragon bolt
Furno XL
Stormer
Surge
Jet rocka
Since these are pretty amazing sets
Jet rocka is just a nostalgia for me
I disagree with the brain attack surge stuff, I'm fine with having that many colours. It's okay to have more than 3! A decent combo model, but the base is pretty great, and i like the visor too!
I'd go
Surge
Breez
Aquagon
Ogrum
Furno XL
You should do some videos on Invasion From Below, it’s one of my favorite bionicle type themes
I have quite similar opinion, but with some changes:
5. Surge/Evo (I got Evo)
4. Rocka
3. Pyrox
2. Furno XL
1. Dragon Bolt
I wish Lego brought back HF because "Brain attack" and "Invasion from Below" were really good or even the best series of all Lego Hero Factory. Just look at IfB series. Lego city from 2014 looks like it's from 2000-s, while HF IfB looks like from 2020+. They did it very well
It's funny how the only set from Brain Attack that I've ever got is also the number 1 on this list
Honestly, expected something like Rocka 5.0 or Dragon Bolt to be at the first place but then comes a pleasant surprise
For a future video could you do your top 5 combo model sets?
brain attack bulk is most probably the worst he has looked,considering that his name is bulk he looks so thin and spindly
I loved this wave. Too bad my dog also liked it an chewed all my masks
i have a sealed bruiser cuz he was my fav but i also have pyrox and frost beast
I owned quite a few of these, including jet rokka. I can tell you it isn't a wieldy set. It's very big and clunky, and isn't well held together. Not many features either, and the robot inside is basic as all hell 😂
Lol i think he should really have been born in corea seeing all those 2in1 packs in every list XD
The visor wasn’t for protection it was for battle info
More EVO apologist behaviour from Ben. Outrageous. Colour are and have been dreadful.
Love ur vids. You're mocs are realllyyy solid.
The fact that I owned top 3 and top 1. Man, I was lucky.
How bad was this year if polybag got the 4th spot?
My first ever brain attack set was pyrox and one day one of my "friend" ask me if i wanna trade it for a cool minifig i said yes cause im dumb and in the end i got a gaint lego web and he got the brain and it sucks
How about this: take 1 set from every wave of hero factory to make a moc
10:11 oh shi that’s me!
Oh no. I feel old now.
yay new video (i'm late)
does anyone know how much furno xl sells for, had one since it came out and am looking to sell it. i have everyting even the cape
Def not Bulk. This was the second time they shafted the poor dude by making him skinny like they did with the 3.0 line.
Breakout Bulk should have set a precedent for the character, but then the designers regressed and took away his gains right after.
Like, how do you call a character Bulk and not make him bulky? Where's the logic?
His only redeeming factors are his drill and trans neon orange visor.
I debated included a whole section where I explain why Brain Attack Bulk is my least favourite Hero Factory set, but decided against it haha
i have breezs mask
Excuse me... *2013* ?!
Does everything count as an entry 😂😂😂😂
Brain attack is the beginning of the end for Hero Factory. Attack from Below killed it for good.
Mechs were kinda cool but it simply lacked the personality of the characters. Not to mention how incredibly uncreative and boring were the Furno and Stormer Mechs.