Random set of the day: Rocka XL
Posted by Huwbot,Today's random set is 2282 Rocka XL, released during 2011. It's one of 26 HERO Factory sets produced that year. It contains 174 pieces, and its retail price was US$24.99/£21.99.
It's owned by 1,194 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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30 comments on this article
XL stands for Extra Lacerations.
That's a ... big Rocka.
Introducing the New HERO Factory 3DRocka XL Lite Revised Edition+
Guy’s got some ball…
Of pearl gold.
I remember my first issue of LEGO club had a HERO Factory comic about wild planet
What is the lore behind him pooping out a Snitch?
I'll keep the lore quick.
HERO Factory were basically robot space cops.
There was this guy called Witch Doctor who used magic crystals on a jungle planet to brainwash the wildlife into serving him.
Rocka was the new rookie joining Alpha Team (9th and final member, and the franchise's Green Ranger.)
They gave Rocka an eXtra Large armor suit to fight Witch Doctor.
It's a jungle so he's got a lion mask. Rawr.
@Harmonious_Building:
That’s not a snitch. It’s an entire planet, called Urectum. That’s how XL this guy is.
Am I the only one who thinks that it'd be funny to display this guy facing off against the Wolverine mech?
This looks like the result of putting a bunch of constraction parts in an opaque bag, pushing a bunch of them together from the outside, and then pulling out the biggest lump.
@GSR_MataNui said: "Rocka was the new rookie joining Alpha Team (9th and final member, and the franchise's Green Ranger.)"
Thank you for using a Power Ranger metaphor.
This was so fun to play with as a kid- LEGO needs to bring back a constraction theme, I don't care if it's not BIONICLE or Hero Factory. Something fresh and new
Now this guy was a big part of my childhood! I loved the savage planet line and collected most of the sets vigorously whenever I could! This guy and Scorpio were the two main Christmas presents I begged for and received that year! The only thing I really hated about this guy is how the claws had an extremely loose connection so they would fall out all the time!
Was so weird of them to have Rob Leifeld design a set like this
@MCLegoboy said:
"XL stands for Extra Lacerations."
It kinda looks like Edward Scissorhands meets the Lawnmower Man.
This is one I used to gaze upon seeing it in catalogs at the time, but my parents didn’t like it so I ended up with probably City sets instead. Last year though, I got incredibly lucky and found this guy for €2 (that’s not a typo) in absolute perfect condition. Not sure if the guy who owned it even played with it but I’m not complaining, it looks great on my shelf!
I never had any of these action figure type sets, but even so I never really thought they were very cool
it seems like you could just get a normal non-lego action figure (maybe even some that are as customizable)
Had this one once. Sold it later. Still have the smaller 2143 Rocka 3.0 and beside a cooler build I'm not missing much beyond less spikes, proportions and ball launcher. Fun fct: the headpiece is large just so that it will look better on this set!
And what a build... It was a major step in large constraction set design!
Rocka XL came out in the second wave to use the new Chararacter and Creature Building System (CCBS), and it was already a huge improvement over 2235 Fire Lord. That set has trouble looking like a humanoid due to the awkward way the legs taper off towards the torso. Here they dressed it up more and made him more visually balanced overall. It would be further refined in 6203 Black Phantom. But at that point the friction extender was invented and larger figures didn't require double legs anymore afterwards. 75112 General Grievous was the last to use that design. Just only on his upper legs, although he also had double arms and was overal a spectacularly effective design!
From then on legs were built regularly with one line of bones underneath larger shells like in 75111 Darth Vader and 75534 Darth Vader or with some technic like in 71316 Umarak the Destroyer.
But then there's 2283 Witch Doctor. Whoever designed it is a mad scientist themselves, as it uses double single ball joints for each direction of each limb. So 4 per shoulder joint, hip joint and ankle joint. The legs are fully doubled up and as a result they look suitably beefy. His arms are as well up to the lower arms unfortunately. It's crazy. But it works.
I miss constraction and one could only wonder where it would have evolved to beyond 2019 if it lived on...
@Brickalili:
Pffft! There’s no way Liefeld designed this. Not enough pouches!
@PurpleDave
That’s not a snitch. It’s an entire planet, called Urectum. That’s how XL this guy is.
Not a planet... can't clear its own orbit. ;p
This was a crazy set with some fun pieces and one of the first "big" designs using CCBS. In general, the animal wave had some of my favorite HF sets.
This was a gift from my mother on my 36th birthday :))
@PurpleDave said:
" @Brickalili:
Pffft! There’s no way Liefeld designed this. Not enough pouches!"
And it's not a big man with broad shoulders and a thick neck either. And there are actually feet!
@Binnekamp said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Brickalili:
Pffft! There’s no way Liefeld designed this. Not enough pouches!"
And it's not a big man with broad shoulders and a thick neck either. And there are actually feet!"
Oh that’s true, the legs don’t end in needle points that are supposed to be feet, it can’t be Leifeld
@StyleCounselor:
Have you ever looked at Pluto’s orbit from the side? I’m guessing the committee that came up with that garbage definition didn’t either, as over 99.9% of Pluto’s orbit lies either above or below the solar plane, where there’s a whole lot of empty going on.
Besides, you can’t tell Urectum’s orbit from just one still image. Maybe it’s orbiting Rocka. Gold is often used to represent the sun, and this guy is covered in it, so…
@Brickalili said:
" @Binnekamp said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Brickalili:
Pffft! There’s no way Liefeld designed this. Not enough pouches!"
And it's not a big man with broad shoulders and a thick neck either. And there are actually feet!"
Oh that’s true, the legs don’t end in needle points that are supposed to be feet, it can’t be Leifeld "
You were so close! This was apparently based on a design from "Pitt" that Dale Keown didn't have time to use before the series was canceled.
@TheOtherMike said:
"Am I the only one who thinks that it'd be funny to display this guy facing off against the Wolverine mech?"
Rocka vs Wolverine? My money’s on the Wolverine - with or without his mech!
A somewhat annoying yet endearing 7ish year old boy I witnessed back then fantisising about how he desired Rocka XL. I wonder if those like him now have nostalgia for Hero Factory similar to Bionicle fans.
@terfsten said:
"Now this guy was a big part of my childhood! I loved the savage planet line and collected most of the sets vigorously whenever I could! This guy and Scorpio were the two main Christmas presents I begged for and received that year! The only thing I really hated about this guy is how the claws had an extremely loose connection so they would fall out all the time!"
Just put some tissue paper in the connection. really helps
I remember getting this set for Christmas back in 2011. :)