7 replies to this topic

[Wind Elemental]

We all know that in Breakout, all of the villains escaped through a black hole but if Black Phantom started the Breakout, how did he create the black hole? If he didn't create it, does that mean Von Nebula escaped from his staff somehow and caused the Breakout?

[Gatanui]

The answer to this question can be found this weekend on the BZPower front page.

Spoiler

Apparently, it was plotted by both Black Phantom and Voltix, but how the black hole is released makes little sense. And yes, Von Nebula is indeed related to it, although it´s unclear how. He appears in some sort of cloud released by Voltix which breaks the case with Von Nebula´s staff inside or something.

~Gata.

Edited by Gatanui, Mar 03 2012 - 12:44 PM.

[fishers64]

The answer to this question can be found this weekend on the BZPower front page.

Spoiler

Apparently, it was plotted by both Black Phantom and Voltix, but how the black hole is released makes little sense. And yes, Von Nebula is indeed related to it, although it´s unclear how. He appears in some sort of cloud released by Voltix which breaks the case with Von Nebula´s staff inside or something.

~Gata.

Which news article was this? I'm missing something.

Spoiler

And yes, I am glad to see this going. I figured that Von Nebula, locked up in that staff in the vault, would be back. "Can a power that evil really be contained?" -Stormer

Then I see prisoners escaping, Von Nebula is in the prison...

Continuity alert.

Edited by fishers64, Mar 03 2012 - 10:43 PM.

[Bulik]

Which news article was this? I'm missing something.

He said this weekend. I think it will be posted this afternoon or tomorrow

Edited by bonesiii, Mar 03 2012 - 10:52 PM.

[Hastur the Unspeakable]

The answer to this question can be found this weekend on the BZPower front page.

Spoiler

Apparently, it was plotted by both Black Phantom and Voltix, but how the black hole is released makes little sense. And yes, Von Nebula is indeed related to it, although it´s unclear how. He appears in some sort of cloud released by Voltix which breaks the case with Von Nebula´s staff inside or something.

~Gata.

Which news article was this? I'm missing something.

Spoiler

And yes, I am glad to see this going. I figured that Von Nebula, locked up in that staff in the vault, would be back. "Can a power that evil really be contained?" -Stormer

Then I see prisoners escaping, Von Nebula is in the prison...

Continuity alert.

"Continuity!" Boom!
Which is something HF needs much more of, in my opinion, but this is a pretty good first step. Bring it on!




"But as long as I'm here, I get to bust heads!"

[fishers64]

The answer to this question can be found this weekend on the BZPower front page.

Spoiler

Apparently, it was plotted by both Black Phantom and Voltix, but how the black hole is released makes little sense. And yes, Von Nebula is indeed related to it, although it´s unclear how. He appears in some sort of cloud released by Voltix which breaks the case with Von Nebula´s staff inside or something.

~Gata.

Which news article was this? I'm missing something.

Spoiler

And yes, I am glad to see this going. I figured that Von Nebula, locked up in that staff in the vault, would be back. "Can a power that evil really be contained?" -Stormer

Then I see prisoners escaping, Von Nebula is in the prison...

Continuity alert.

"Continuity!" Boom!
Which is something HF needs much more of, in my opinion, but this is a pretty good first step. Bring it on!




"But as long as I'm here, I get to bust heads!"

Absolutely! But I doubt that they are going to go as far with HF as they did with Bionicle. Though it might sneak up on them...

IMO, the first four episodes, which these new ones link to, had more depth and "continuity" than the last set. It might be that there have been some complaints about the shallow stuff of last year and are trying for a bit more to level it out. There's still an opportunity to develop Von Nebula as a character now that he's involved in the newest thing, but I don't think they will take it. (Make him the "Makuta Teridax" of the HF storyline? )

[Aanchir: Rachira of Time]

The answer to this question can be found this weekend on the BZPower front page.

Spoiler

Apparently, it was plotted by both Black Phantom and Voltix, but how the black hole is released makes little sense. And yes, Von Nebula is indeed related to it, although it´s unclear how. He appears in some sort of cloud released by Voltix which breaks the case with Von Nebula´s staff inside or something.

~Gata.

Which news article was this? I'm missing something.

Spoiler

And yes, I am glad to see this going. I figured that Von Nebula, locked up in that staff in the vault, would be back. "Can a power that evil really be contained?" -Stormer

Then I see prisoners escaping, Von Nebula is in the prison...

Continuity alert.

"Continuity!" Boom!
Which is something HF needs much more of, in my opinion, but this is a pretty good first step. Bring it on!




"But as long as I'm here, I get to bust heads!"

Absolutely! But I doubt that they are going to go as far with HF as they did with Bionicle. Though it might sneak up on them...

That possibility worries me a bit. Granted, I loved BIONICLE and would probably be able to enjoy Hero Factory with or without that sort of complexity. But Hero Factory as it is currently is a lot simpler than BIONICLE-- robot heroes fighting robot villains, rather than biomechanical heroes fighting assorted foes to protect and restore power to their Great Spirit, who is in fact a giant robot whose body forms their entire universe.

Of course, the groundwork for Hero Factory will probably stay relatively simple whether or not a little bit of continuity is added. The original wave of Hero Factory told a story that started out in media res, with a bit of backstory behind it, so as long as the callbacks to past years of Hero Factory don't get too much more in-depth than the backstory for the original wave it should be able to keep a lot of its initial strength and simplicity.

IMO, the first four episodes, which these new ones link to, had more depth and "continuity" than the last set. It might be that there have been some complaints about the shallow stuff of last year and are trying for a bit more to level it out. There's still an opportunity to develop Von Nebula as a character now that he's involved in the newest thing, but I don't think they will take it. (Make him the "Makuta Teridax" of the HF storyline? )

Another possibility is that they are adding more continuity now because Hero Factory has demonstrated that it can be a lasting theme, and before they were avoiding it in case it needed to be brought to a close quickly. An article published in 2011 mentioned that TLG had originally planned for three years of Hero Factory, and its sales would decide on whether they went further with it. According to what we've heard at LEGO conventions, there are no plans to end Hero Factory as of yet, so we can assume its sales have been strong enough for TLG to continue it further.

Of course, I think the continuity of the first four episodes was sometimes as much of a drawback as an asset. The first three seemed like they were going out of their way to set up for the fourth, and yet when the fourth came around it didn't have nearly enough time to explore Von Nebula's motives convincingly. Perhaps if these motives had been explored more gradually in the first three, rather than offhandedly mentioning Von Ness from time to time and showing the same flashback of Thresher getting shot over and over and over, the fourth could have explained these motives in greater detail, but overall I feel like Von Nebula ended up a shallower villain than Fire Lord or Witch Doctor were in the later episodes.

[fishers64]

Of course, the groundwork for Hero Factory will probably stay relatively simple whether or not a little bit of continuity is added. The original wave of Hero Factory told a story that started out in media res, with a bit of backstory behind it, so as long as the callbacks to past years of Hero Factory don't get too much more in-depth than the backstory for the original wave it should be able to keep a lot of its initial strength and simplicity.

True enough. But it will be more enjoyable for me if they do delve into it a bit more, or bring out the character of Von Nebula into a less two-dimensional character.

IMO, the first four episodes, which these new ones link to, had more depth and "continuity" than the last set. It might be that there have been some complaints about the shallow stuff of last year and are trying for a bit more to level it out. There's still an opportunity to develop Von Nebula as a character now that he's involved in the newest thing, but I don't think they will take it. (Make him the "Makuta Teridax" of the HF storyline? )

Another possibility is that they are adding more continuity now because Hero Factory has demonstrated that it can be a lasting theme, and before they were avoiding it in case it needed to be brought to a close quickly. An article published in 2011 mentioned that TLG had originally planned for three years of Hero Factory, and its sales would decide on whether they went further with it. According to what we've heard at LEGO conventions, there are no plans to end Hero Factory as of yet, so we can assume its sales have been strong enough for TLG to continue it further.

Of course, I think the continuity of the first four episodes was sometimes as much of a drawback as an asset. The first three seemed like they were going out of their way to set up for the fourth, and yet when the fourth came around it didn't have nearly enough time to explore Von Nebula's motives convincingly. Perhaps if these motives had been explored more gradually in the first three, rather than offhandedly mentioning Von Ness from time to time and showing the same flashback of Thresher getting shot over and over and over, the fourth could have explained these motives in greater detail, but overall I feel like Von Nebula ended up a shallower villain than Fire Lord or Witch Doctor were in the later episodes.

2004? The first three years of Bionicle weren't exactly all that complex, and then in 2004 it admittedly improved major-league in complexity. Do I see a pattern? Now, granted, HF to begin with was less complex than Bionicle 2001, but still...

And TLG is enjoying their profits...that's probably not the only factor, but still. And Makuta was the nebulous force behind the other villains in 2002, but reappeared in 2003. Von Nebula: appeared in 2010 and 2012, after a year's breather, just like...

It will be interesting to watch. I don't see HF ever getting as complicated as Bionicle because it started off less complicated than Bionicle did...but alas, it will be interesting to watch.

And as for Von Nebula at first, the fact that his backstory was spread across four episodes and referenced too many times was probably not ideal; it was fairly hammered into the audiance's head. The last showdown with Mr. Nebula was rather epic, aside from the unrealistic wormhole *cough* detail *cough*, but it wasn't epic enough to justify that much preparation (three episodes) and backstory hammering. To TLG's credit, they got the message in the later episodes - cut the number of them and intregated the villain backstory into a little dialogue as opposed to hammering it. That's one of the reasons I like seeing Nebula reappear - it provides a further justification for the "setup" that we gave him, if he's going to be a further awesome epic villain like Makuta Teridax.

So I mostly agree with you. Alas, it seems our main contention seems to be whether complexity would be an asset or a hinderance to Hero Factory. To be honest, I think TLG could do worse than being on a bizarre ten-year cycle of sf or fantasy themes, and I would enjoy that pattern if it contenued. But I'm probably jumping to conclusions again.