17 replies to this topic

[Xalen: Shadowed Spirit of]

So I was posting in "Hero Factory or Zero Factory" over in Lego Discussion, where I mentioned that I felt Breakout parts 1 and 2 were my favorite HF episodes, due to the pacing in OoF, corny puns in SP, and plot holes and flat characters in RotR. I was honestly surprised when not one but two posters said they felt Breakout was the worst of the HF television specials, so I decided to make this topic. What's your favorite Hero Factory episode/special/series out of Rise of the Rookies, Ordeal of Fire, Savage Planet, and Breakout? Mine is Breakout, because it had more developed characterization and plot lines than RotR, and dodn't have the pacing issues or horrid jokes as the later two. My least favorite would have to be RotR because of how flat all the characters other than Stormer and Furno were and the weird plot stuff going on with Von Nebula.

[///dotcom///]

I was one of the guys who thought Breakout was bad. It was pretty boring, its characters (paticularly Evo, though Surge is in it as well) were inconsistent with their previous portrayals in OoF, and overall it was all over the place in its settings. The missions with Speeda Demon and Voltix were completely and utterly boring. The Toxic Reapa mission had some unfortunate implications regarding what the Factory teaches its heroes. The other two missions were mostly fine, but it didn't exactly redeem the story. Black Phantom was better, though not by much. In its entirety it was just...dull. There was no buildup for something exciting, and so nothing exciting happened. It was just monotonous "i gotta catch this guy."

Savage Planet had bad jokes and talking animals and claws that shoot lasers. Boo.
I will give it credit for making Nex even more awesome, though. Nex is the best.

RotR lacked a believable villain and its last episode was just pathetic, so yeah, it's pretty bad, but at least it was good visually. I still consider 2010 to be the best HF year as far as aesthetics go.

Ordeal of Fire had some pacing issues as a result of getting shortened from three episodes to one, but it was a good one. Everything that came out of Breez's mouth was cringeworthy, but as a whole the episode did its job greatly. The villains in this were by far the most interesting they've ever had, and hey, Surge broke off Fire Lord's hand. A lot of characters barely got any screentime, but what can you do? It still managed admirably with the time it had. And Surge became a Big Dang Hero without any sort of upgrade--it was something important for Surge's character, which makes it a shame that he went back to being that one silly guy in BO. Also, Evo was actually awesome in OoF, and Nex was introduced. So yeah, OoF would be my favorite.

Edited by undyingUmbrage, Aug 27 2012 - 05:36 PM.

[fishers64]

I don't know if I can actually rank them well, because each of the episodes had its own problems and glories.

RoTR was good at character development, if you count the development on Stormer and Furno, and actually told a pretty good story, but it was too long, drawn out, and we didn't see the main villain until the very end. It didn't stick out to me as much how the previous episodes related to the end. I liked the individual stories of "The Enemy Within" and "Von Nebula", but felt that it would have been better if the writers would have connected them together somehow, because I like things to be connected together. The first two episodes were poorly told and boring.

OoF I liked - aside from the awesome acronym - the characters, who were beyond awesome, like Evo, Nex, and the development on Surge. Breez, however, left a bit to be desired, and Furno got washed out. The plot was subpar until Surge rammed into Fire Lord, proving that real heroics beats technological breakthroughs any day of the week. Also, felt like a lot of characters were thrown in just to be thrown in.

Savage Planet was a little different, bringing out Furno in Grand Style. Nex and Rocka were good as well. I liked the planetary restoration thing because it reminded me of Bionicle. But it, like the one before it suffered badly in the middle, with battles and repitive evil monologues...and why were random Hero parts to transform Rocka just randomly lying about...urg.

Breakout...well, I liked the plot twist at the end and the potential for more storyline development. And the connection to good ol' Von Nebula. What I didn't like were the silly battles and earilier character development being stomped over, especially to insert cheese into the dialogue, particularly with Evo.

So I guess I'll rank them: this is just my order of preference:

1. RoTR Last two episodes

2. Ordeal of Fire

3. Savage Planet

4. Breakout

5. RoTR First two episodes

[Bambi]

I guess Ordeal of Fire, because it was the shortest.

[Wind Elemental]

I'm going for OoF because once in a while, it's great to see the Heroes lose. The "heroes winning every time" storyline can get a bit old.

Edited by FF Ice Master, Aug 27 2012 - 02:34 PM.

[LewaLew]

I haven't seen Breakout, because our DVR is acting funky. However, of the ones I have seen, I prefer Ordeal of Fire. Savage Planet seemed somewhat short, and I didn't care for the talking animals, and Rise of the Rookies was sort of shaky; some episodes were good and some not so good. Ordeal of Fire, however, seemed well paced (or at least better paced) with better villains and an interesting parallel to drug addiction.

[bonesiii]

Breakout and Savage Planet. I can't tell which is tops really lol. But both of them I felt went far and above the previous ones in quality. The first was really good too, but I felt the ending was too boring after a great buildup.

[Toa Zaz]

Eh. They're all kind of the bottom of the barrel as far as storytelling, plot, acting, etc goes. I'll say Breakout, simply because it at least attempted to take itself somewhat seriously, the action and pacing was about average, and it at least tried for a little dramatic suspense by adding a cliffhanger at the end. It's a step in the right direction, so maybe this show can follow through with that a little bit more and redeem itself.

[Lenny7092]

I think that Breakout is my favorite HF series because it has a lot of action.

[Fastcar700]

Breakout FTW! It has such an awesome plot!



Edit: Hey man, I see you're quite new to BZP, so this is just some advice: try to add a bit more to your posts, such as why you enjoy Breakout the most, so that they aren't seen as spam. :>
Welcome!
-Wind-

Edited by Fastcar800, Sep 23 2012 - 09:52 AM.

[Spinjitzu Master]

Ordeal of Fire or Breakout...with Savage Planet in close second and RotR in last.
OoF had a fantastic story, I think. Well, fantastic for HF.

[Marsie]

I think I liked RoTR best ^.^ not sure why exactly, I just liked it ^.^ Breakout was pretty good too ^w^

[~The 1st Shadow~]

I actually liked Ordeal of Fire more than Breakout. Breakout was good, and it was definitely better than Savage Planet or Rise of the Rookies, but Ordeal of Fire stands out to me, no matter how short it was.

[Lyichir]

Rise of the Rookies was a decent introduction to the series but the plot was lacking, as was the characterization of most characters. Breakout had potential, but was far too rushed to allow for any decent characterization. Savage Planet was just generally bad.

Ordeal of Fire was short, but it was concise, and had some of the best characterization in the series, in my opinion. It introduced two new heroes and a number of villains, while still taking time to focus on the pre-established characters of Alpha One Team. And Fire Lord remains one of the best villains in the series, and possibly the overall best if you limit your sources of story media to the TV episodes alone.

[Nicotheory]

The best to me is Breakout for a simple reason.
As a die hard of Bionicle, I always took a step back in front of HF.
Never got into it, even after I saw RotR and Ordeal of FIre....
Savage Planet was not that bad actually, but not as great as I it could have been...

But I must admit that Breakout broke (not puns intended) the chain.
I enjoyed Breakout, and it made me want to see the following chapters.
The characters were greatly used, the plot was interesting and less childish.
Breakout took HF to the next level.

And I must admit that the song in the end credits made by Cryoshell reminded me of
The Legend Reborn. The nostalgia may have a role to play in this.

- NT

[Heir of the Chronicler]

As someone who literally sat down and watched them all in order for the first time this week...

... I'd have to agree with dotcom's assessment of OoF. Altho, I did find Savage Planet quite entertaining.

- Heir

[Lyichir]

As someone who literally sat down and watched them all in order for the first time this week...

... I'd have to agree with dotcom's assessment of OoF. Altho, I did find Savage Planet quite entertaining.

- Heir

Entertaining in a good way, or a "so bad it's good" way? Personally, I found Savage Planet to be the weakest episode. Nex's humor was one of the only redeeming features, and even he had his off moments ("mmm... cake").

[Aanchir: Rachira of Time]

As someone who literally sat down and watched them all in order for the first time this week...

... I'd have to agree with dotcom's assessment of OoF. Altho, I did find Savage Planet quite entertaining.

- Heir

Entertaining in a good way, or a "so bad it's good" way? Personally, I found Savage Planet to be the weakest episode. Nex's humor was one of the only redeeming features, and even he had his off moments ("mmm... cake").

For me, "Savage Planet" was more enjoyable the second time around-- partly out of knowing which jokes to ignore and thus being able to focus more on the serious character interactions. Rocka was a strong foil to Furno and helped to bring out a side of him that we hadn't seen in previous episodes, just as his mentor role to Evo did in "Breakout" (though in that case, it was a double-edged sword since it involved a significant reinterpretation of Evo's character).

"Ordeal of Fire" is probably my favorite episode, then after that it's hard to decide between "Breakout" and "The Enemy Within" (Rise of the Rookies, episode 3).