never seen this guy before

I like that mask, a bearded bloke

Huh. A Minecraft figure gets picked for RMotD, and a guy made of rock gets picked for RSotD. Synchronicity!

@Worrissey said:
"never seen this guy before

I like that mask, a bearded bloke"

When I first saw it, I thought, "This doesn't look familiar," but it's on my wanted list, so I must have just forgotten about it.

That is a fabulous moustache he's rocking (pun fully intended)

@AustinPowers said:
"At first I read BRUZZLER, which is a German brand of barbecue sausages.
Funny idea, a Hero Factory character named after a sausage. I mean, he definitely looks like he might like to eat a few of those. "

Yeah, but if he *is* a sausage, he looks severely overdone.

This was such a suprise hit wave for me and remains my absolute faborite year of Hero Factory. Although the models may look awkward at first, I simply adore how they incorporated the elemental affinities AND some folklore/myth inspiration for the villains. In Bruizer's case, the set is clearly modeled after a golem, and the asymmetrical design works very well with the function i. e. the hitting arm. The stone-shaped armor pieces were new at the time and design-wise, the only major criticism I can mention is that the brain element was too rigid to actually bend, let alone stay in place in its bent position.
Having the heroes adorn their knight-like armors on the opposing side, this was a fabulous year with great sets all-around - no wonder I ended up getting all of them (a first).

This guy scares me... because I kinda like it, and that really frightens me.

Oh my, I had totally forgotten about this wave. What a flashback!

All I can think of with this set is finding out how the figure looks from literally any other angle. His left arm is a technic liftarm with some decoration on it. And it's super disappointing. If it wasn't for that it would have been my favourite from the first wave. Alas.

I now own Dragon Bolt and it kind of made up for it.

Oh, and the spikes on the fist are awful. That feels like it just takes away from the figure more than anything. What even is that supposed to be, a tiny two sided dagger with no blade?

Honestly, when I first saw some of the Brain Attack villain sets on here - several years after the fact because 2013 was the middle of my dark age - they more than any other Hero Factory sets felt "Bionicle-y" to me because they reminded me of an old feeling.

It was the feeling of sometimes, when a new Bionicle wave came around, actually disliking them because on first impression they looked ugly and unpleasant and "not like Bionicle", but (at least in later years when I'd had that experience a few times before) knowing that they'd grow on me in due course. I first remember experiencing that with the Rahkshi; after liking everything Bionicle up until that point I found them incredibly unappealing right up until the time I actually got given one as a birthday present and completely changed my tune. I don't remember any other specific instances (maybe the Barraki?), but I think I had that happen a few times over the course of Bionicle's run.

Which is to say, the Brain Attack villains give me that same vibe, and I genuinely kinda like them because of it, as weird as that may sound. Hero Factory has never particularly interested me, but these guys come closer to hitting the mark for me than most other sets from the theme because they evoke that old feeling from the years of Bionicle's prime.

...I don't actually remember seeing this guy before though, even for all my browsing random sets on here. The feeling more described 44011, 44013 and 44007 from the same wave; but I could see it applying to this guy too. FROST BEAST looks my favourite out of them all, though.

Didn't see this mentioned elsewhere so far, so I'll just post it here, in case anyone is interested: the four Micro Ninjago City sets are currently available as a bundle for 5,400 Insider Points (at least in Germany). Quite a bit cheaper than the previous separate entries.

@AustinPowers said:
"Didn't see this mentioned elsewhere so far, so I'll just post it here, in case anyone is interested: the four Micro Ninjago City sets are currently available as a bundle for 5,400 Insider Points (at least in Germany). Quite a bit cheaper than the previous separate entries."

NA, too, but I already picked them up singly.

HERO FACTORY: REALM OF STUCK CAPS LOCK

What you don't see is how bad this guy's big arm looks at most other angles

@ToxicAtom said:
"What you don't see is how bad this guy's big arm looks at most other angles"

Meh. I’ve got the Dog-Pound minifig, and it can’t be any worse than that.

@ThatBionicleGuy said:" I first remember experiencing that with the Rahkshi; after liking everything Bionicle up until that point I found them incredibly unappealing right up until the time I actually got given one as a birthday present and completely changed my tune."

Something similar happened to me with Ice Planet 2002. I didn't really have any interest in it (in fact, I sort of disliked it) until my brother gave me 6834 for Christmas one year. After playing with that for a while, I was hooked. Now, IP2002 is my favorite Space subtheme, and one of my favorite subthemes overall. In fact, my general love of ice-themed sets and themes can probably be traced, in large part, to that.