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Hi, guys. We noticed that there are some unresolved things, such as cliffhangers, in the Hero Factory story. I find them annoying when they aren't resolved, so I can list several of them, and they are: 1. Von Nebula's fate after the orb part of his black hole staff was destroyed by Voltix in the Breakout TV episodes. I find it annoying because Von Nebula was in the part, so I don't know what happened to him after it was destroyed. 2. The mysterious guy with Von Nebula's hand that got the Hero Factory plans from Black Phantom in a laptop at the end of Episode 9: Breakout Part 2. I find it annoying when I still don't know who that guy is and when will he start using the plans to create a villain factory. 3. The mysterious guy that sent the Brain parasites to the Hero Factory organization's home planet or planetoid in the beginning of the Brain Attack episode. I find it annoying because I don't know who he is, either. 4. The fates of other villains that escaped from jail in Episode 8: Breakout Part 1 (including the Von Nebula Gang henchmen, the Fire Villains, Voltix, and Core Hunter). I find it annoying because I don't know what happened to them nowadays. Are they still on the loose or some other thing? 5. The anti-Hero-Factory conspiracy government in the Secret Mission books, 4 and 5. I find it annoying because I don't know what are they doing nowadays. 6. Does Hero Factory live in planetoid or planet? I find it annoying because it is confusing, and I can show how. In a 2010 Hero Factory magazine, they live in a planetoid, but in the Brain Attack episode, Zib called it their planet. So, which is it? 7. The unresolved cliffhanger in the end of the Brain Attack episode where two workers got attacked by a hidden swarm of Brains in a hole that Dragon Bolt created in the episode. I find it annoying because I don't know what happened after that. I mean, if the Brains controlled the two workers to destroy Hero Factory right now, Hero Factory wouldn't be able to fight the monsters in the Invasion From Below storyline. I mean, what's taking them so long? 8. What happened to Stringer and Nex nowadays? I find it annoying because I don't know what are they doing nowadays. It doesn't feel natural that they did not appear in the Brain Attack and Invasion From Below storylines and episodes (for Nex, he did not appear in the main Breakout episodes, either). I mean, Stringer is one of the founding members of the Alpha 1 Team and Nex is like Evo's best friend and twin brother and Breez's only known lover. So, why aren't they there for the team? 9. In the unresolved cliffhanger in the end of the Invasion From Below episode where a cocoon was shown in the Alpha 1 Team's dropship. I find it annoying because there is a question that I am thinking about the cocoon: how did it get into the dropship? So, these are the unresolved things that I can find. It's strange that these questions are not answered for some reason, and I don't know why. Also so, what do you guys think?
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Bionicle 8546 Power Pack up for sale... http://www.ebay.com/itm/121392703572
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The Ringed Wizard: Flame Style Based on Kamen Rider Wizard, this MOC focuses on Wizard's Flame Style. Note that this is the first of many possible alternates I like to make. To conclude this section, when he sees despair, he will do everything in his power to change it into hope. Flame, Please Connect, Please Currently 1 of 10(?) forms Comments and suggested feedback are apreciated. Don't bother asking about donuts. He'll only take plain sugar. -Tomdroidser
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Hi, guys. We know that the first ten Hero Factory TV Episodes were made by Tinseltown Toons. Later, the eleventh episode, Invasion From Below, was made by Ghost/Advance. I wonder why Lego switched Tinseltown Toons with Ghost/Advance? Well, I can think up several possible reasons why they did that, and they are: 1. Lego's contract or dealership with TT (Tinseltown Toons) is over. 2. TT is probably busy focusing on other things. 3. Lego had probably gave their fans surveys to ask them what they think of the Hero Factory TV series, so the fans probably said that they did not like the TT animation much. 4. The voice actors that played the characters from the first ten episodes are probably focusing in other things. For example, Tom Kenny (who voiced Rocka, one of the main protagonists in the TV series) is busy voicing in other stuff, such as the Ice King from Adventure Time, SpongeBob Squarepants from the SpongeBob Squarepants TV series, and possibly some of the Mixels (Flain, Telso, Seismo, Jawg, and Balk) in the Mixels TV shorts (the shorts never credited the voice actors in them, but I can make a guess). I don't mean to get off topic here. 5. G/A (Ghost/Advance) is preferred over TT. Therefore, there are my possible reasons why Lego replaced TT with G/A. So, what do you guys think of this?
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This topic was created for people to share and discuss their experiences with the first Hero Factory set they got. I'm very interested in the choices people made when it came to choosing what Hero Factory set would be their first one, when they got it, how they got it, etc. The first Hero Factory set i got was Stringer from the original line of sets first released in July, 2010. I slowly got interested in the story of Hero Factory starting from August of 2010, but it wasn't until sometime around October that i purchased Stringer at my local Woolworths of that time. It's weird that my first Hero Factory set i got came from a store mainly focused on food products. It was only one month later and i got the other five heroes. So, discuss below, if you so choose to. -
[Flickr Gallery] Le-Koro Matoran Tamaru. After the Toa defeated the Bohrok, All the inhabitants of Mata Nui joined in a wondrous celebration. To commemorate the event, The Matoran rebuilt themselves from frail, helpless Tohunga into strong and capable warriors. One Matoran, Tamaru, took a risk and rebuilt herself into a sleeker form than her Le-Matoran brothers. Since then, many other Matoran rallied behind her courage and sought to discover who they were, outside of the expectations of their village code.
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So basically, what wave of Hero Factory do you think was the best? Personally, I would choose Breakout, as it had everything that made a good theme: a good non-humanoid character (Thornraxx), non-mindless villians, and overall good designs. Brain Attack would be a close second, with good color coordination between heroes and villians, as well as a somewhat Bionicle-esque look.
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For reference, this is the building system that is present in all of the Hero Factory action figure models and the constraction figure lines of the Legends of Chima. Because of that, I think this topic goes here. (Also because it's general Lego themed and there's a new constraction figure line coming in 2015, etc. ) What do you think of the Character and Creature Building System in general? How do you think Lego has been making use of it? What new things would you like to see out of it? Personally I think the CCBS has been, up to now, largely underutilized. While Lego should not do everything the CCBS has to offer - IMO there should be room for MOCs, after all - mostly I've seen a large amount of humanoid sets come out of it. I think there is a lot of potential for large models that hasn't been tested. (I haven't had the time and the parts/money to test it, much as I want to.) To a degree I feel that the CCBS has been an excuse for releasing multiple waves of generic humanoids (I applaud IFB for stepping out of the mold). But I don't think there's anything wrong with the building system itself. I was able to sit down with a lower-price-point HF set and get like 5 MoCs out of it, so I think it's an innovative step that TLG definitely should have gone for. I also think that the system has great potential for Technic integration that so far hasn't been touched, even with existing parts (although I complain that the ball joints can be annoying in this regard). But the way they use it in the snap together format almost makes using Technic feel like using illegal connections, even though the torsos and some of the limbs notoriously have Technic pinholes (and some sets even use them). Anyway, enough rambling from me. What do you think?
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Vote away!
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So, in light of the news of a new constraction theme in 2015, and with the recent evidence pointing to a possible Bionicle reboot, we must now ask ourselves: What does all this mean for Hero Factory? Hero Factory sales have always been fairly average (sometimes even below average), and it has not been able to gain the huge fanbase that bionicle possessed. However, this years HF sales have done fairly well and proven that HF still has the potential to succeed. Personally, I think lego should keep HF, but also fully shift it over to a system theme (with the occasional constraction mech). This years HF minifigs were incredibly well designed, and were a major factor in this years sales boost for the theme. Lego ought to build on that success with HF system line-up. What do you guys think lego should do with Hero Factory?
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Front of the Entry http://i62.tinypic.com/2mqt4wo.jpg Back of the MOC http://i57.tinypic.com/1ifrxc.jpg Chest Open http://i62.tinypic.com/55qc5h.jpg Album https://www.flickr.com/photos/shotogon/sets/72157644956275418/ Edit: Images linked; please keep posted images in BBC to 100 kB and 640x640 pixels. -Wind-
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Sort of a revamp of Evo, with purple as the main color instead of yellow. This was largely an experiment in working with the HF build system. Skeleton: Also consider checking out Rotan and SCM-541: The White Viper, other recent MOCs by me.
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Earlier I was looking at how this year's Hero Factory sets compare to similarly-priced BIONICLE sets in terms of complexity. Turns out they fare rather well. Let's look at one in particular: 44024 Tunneler Beast. Tunneler Beast is a $9.99 set coming out this summer (as such, it's at the lowest price point for this year's sets). It boasts 59 pieces (45 if you don't include the minifigure or his accessories) and 20 points of articulation (15 if you don't include the jaw and fingers, which only rotate along one axis each). A typical Piraka cost $9 in 2006, which according to WolframAlpha would be about $10.60 in today's money. Each Piraka had 41 pieces (plus one extra for Hakann and Thok's weapons) and 13 points of articulation. If we reach back a bit further, the Vahki cost $9 each in 2004, which would be $11.32 today according to WolframAlpha. Each one of those had just 32 pieces and only 10 points of articulation (perhaps eleven or twelve if you count the squeezable launcher-jaws, but that's being extremely generous since those couldn't really hold a pose). Now, obviously I'm being a bit selective here. There are a number of BIONICLE canister sets that had more pieces than Tunneler Beast, particularly if you don't include the minifigure and accessories (though several of those sets, like the Toa Mahri, are inflated by lots and lots of ammo pieces, not to mention a plethora of pins and axles). I don't know if any canister sets have more points of articulation than Tunneler Beast, though. Chirox had just 17 including the chest that splits open, and Pridak had just 16 even if you count the mandibles separately. Even Gorast, with her six limbs, had just 18 points of articulation including the wings! And in any case, you have to be just as selective to suggest that Hero Factory, as it exists today, is considerably LESS complex than BIONICLE sets of similar size or price. Just food for thought. I'm personally fascinated how far Hero Factory has advanced since 2010, when the $7 hero sets were pitifully simplistic and repetitive even by BIONICLE standards. There are some rumors floating around that Hero Factory might be ending soon, and now that it's been around for four and a half years those rumors are starting to seem more believable than every other year of its life that they've been thrown about. But we've been assured that its building system is here to stay, and that gives me great confidence that the NEXT constraction theme will not be hindered by such a rocky start. The new building system really did put Hero Factory on the fast track to greater complexity and diversity of designs, and this year I feel like the Hero Factory sets in general not just one or two have finally stepped out of the long shadow of their BIONICLE predecessors.
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Hi, guys! As the title says above, who is your favorite Hero Factory TV episode? For me, I think the Breakout episodes are my favorites because they are epic.
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I had one problem with the 2.0 heads if you remove that helmet kind of piece too munch you can loosen the head -
Haven't been building IRL MOCs, so I dissembled the last one I made and figured something out of the grey pieces. Originally it was just going to be shoes, but I got an idea of using some wheels. Gallery
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As the title says above, is Hero Factory ripping off Bionicle and other stuff? I mean, I have been noticing you guys complaining about Hero Factory doing this throughout its years. Well, anyway, I noticed that Hero Factory is getting ideas from Bionicle and other stuff, and here's a list of things that come to my mind: 1. The Hero Factory Heroes being based on the Toa and the Glatorian 2. Mr. Makuro's face looking like Turaga Matua's Noble Kanohi 3. Professor Zib and Quadal being based on C-3PO and R2-D2 from the Star Wars franchise 4. Von Nebula and his gang being based on Makuta Teridax and his brotherhood, the Brotherhood of Makuta 5. Von Nebula's helmet looking like Hydraxon's 6. Fire Lord and his Fire Villains being based on the Absorbing Man from the Marvel Comics and the Osmosians from the Ben 10 franchise 7. Jetbug being based on Makuta Bitil from Bionicle 8. Heroes' 2.0 upgrade being based on the Toa Mata's transformation into the Toa Nuva 9. The Savage Planet storyline being based on Bionicle's 2001 storyline (probably because that the Lego Company wants to celebrate our beloved Bionicle's 10th year anniversary?) 10. The Heroes' 3.0 upgrade and the Savage Planet beasts being based on the animal-based Transformers from the Transformers: Beast Wars and Machines TV series 11. The Skorpio being based on the Nui-Jaja and Skorpio XV-1 12. The Waspix being based on the Nui-Rama, the Nui-Kopen and Makuta Gorast 13. The corrupted Quaza being based on the Infected Kanohi 14. The Black Phantom, Voltix, and Speeda Demon's masks being based on Toa Inika Hewkii's mask 15. Toxic Reapa being based on Corroder and Meltdown, and his helmet being based on Xplode's helmet 16. Splitface being based on Two-Face from the DC Comics, Blitzwing from the Transformers: Animated TV series and Thunder from Hero Factory itself 17. Thronraxx's name being based on Thornax 18. XT4 being based on Meltdown and the Waspix 19. Core Hunter being based on the Dark Hunters, Stronius, Bane from The Dark Knight Rises 2012 movie and Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise 20. Voltix being based on Electro and the Shocker from the Marvel Comics 21. The Brain Attack monsters and Heroes' Brain Attack forms being based on the Medieval Times and The Avengers 2012 movie 22. The Brain parasites being based on the Krana, Krana-Kal, Kraata, Kratana, Pit Mutagen, Pit Mutants, Xenomorphs and DNAliens from the Ben 10 franchise, and the Kraang from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 23. Jet Rocka being based on Optimus Prime wearing his jet pack from the Transformers: Dark of the Moon 2011 movie 24. The Invasion From Below sets being sort of based on the 2005 Bionicle playsets 25. The IFB storyline, episode, characters and mechs being based on the Pacific Rim movie, Exo-Force, and the Visorak and Toa Hordika minifigures So, what do you guys think of all things? Do you guys agree with me? I'm not sure if this is allowed, anyway, too. -
A lot of people are bothered by the differences between Hero Factory and BIONICLE, but today I was thinking about some of the story-related decisions made by the Hero Factory creators that really did do favors for the theme and its fans. Unlimited Heroes: There was something poetic about BIONICLE's "Six Heroes, One Destiny" tagline in 2001, but when you think about it, it was a creative limitation on fans that later BIONICLE story arcs did well to do away with. Back in 2001, there were a lot of constraints on BIONICLE: there were only six Toa, only six Turaga, only six villages, and only six Matoran tribes. These constraints were a limitation for fan-created stories. To create characters like Voriki, Toa of Lightning, you had to actively contradict the official story at every turn, particularly if you wanted your character to interact with the official characters overtly. Hero Factory instead encouraged fans to create their own missions and their own heroes by demonstrating that officially, there were millions of heroes far more than you'd ever get to meet in the official storyline. The online mission log, mission ticker, and testimonials even provided examples of these heroes and the variety of missions they were assigned to. This allowed fans to create their own heroes with whatever powers and personalities they could dream up. . Many Destinies: The "One Destiny" part of the classic BIONICLE tagline can be used as a metaphor for another problem the BIONICLE storyline had. Namely, its characters' quests were part of a singular overarching saga with very few gaps. There were few mechanisms for characters to get new tools, armor, or masks except with a scripted transformation. This limited what fans could do with the official characters in their own storytelling, building, and role-play. There was no way to create new forms for official characters unless they set their stories before or after the official story, because you couldn't cram a new form between two quests. And form changes were often tied closely to the idea of "destiny" most of the time, a character could only transform if they were destined to do so, and it was not a reversible process. The "Adaptive Armor" of 2008 made the characters more adaptible, but the story didn't take great advantage of it. In Hero Factory, "upgrade" mechanisms were in place from the beginning: first by refitting heroes with new gear, like in the Furno Bike or Bulk & Vapour sets, and later with more elaborate upgrades that completely altered the heroes' armor and equipment. Furthermore, missions didn't have strict placement on a linear timeline, allowing the characters to go on new missions of any importance at any point between the ones portrayed in the main story. They could even team up with people's original hero characters or face off against people's original villain characters on those missions: since each mission was more or less self-enclosed, there was very little danger that such missions would end up contradicting future missions in any way. . Powers Tied to Design: I remember that back when the Toa Inika, Toa Mahri, Phantoka, and Mistika were introduced, changes to their design were often explained by fans with the idea that they weren't designed with specific characters in mind: they were created as generic characters, and identities, colors, and powers were assigned to them later. It's not clear how true this was, but it could certainly hold true with many character designs and mask powers. The Piraka's powers and personalities had no irrefutable ties to the individual set designs, nor was there an obvious connection between many most post-2003 mask designs and their powers. Later BIONICLE waves began to improve on this: the Barraki's powers and personalities were expressly tied to the sea creature motifs they were based on, and the powers of the Makuta in 2008 were largely connected with their bat and insect motifs. The Glatorian designs also had clear elemental motifs matching the characters' tribes, though they weren't tied to powers right away since none of the characters had special powers before Mata Nui arrived. Hero Factory likewise assigned most powers and personalities based on the character and weapon designs. But the 2.0 and 3.0 heroes, despite powers that matched their new forms, did not have obvious design ties to the heroes' previous forms and characterization, other than pretty strong consistency in their color schemes. The Breakout series changed that for good. The characters returned to using their original masks or new masks designed to resemble them, and many parts of their design paid tribute to the characters' original powers, personalities, and motifs. Stringer, the sonic-themed hero, got a guitar cannon and speakers in his shoulders, while Evo, the weapons expert, got a hefty Tank Arm. Subsequent forms, equipment, and powers for the heroes remained extremely character-driven. . Powers Not Tied to Gender: BIONICLE definitely deserves praise for the decision to have female characters, which came as a result of pressure from franchise manager Lena Dixen. At the same time, the way it dealt with gender was somewhat lackluster. Gender was tied to the tribe or powers of a character: at first, only blue water-oriented characters were female, though later characters who didn't appear in the sets introduced new "female" elements like Lightning and Psionics. Like the constraints I mentioned at the beginning, this was very limiting. Even worse, this rule was more only ever broken to allow a male character to have a traditionally female element, never the other way around. The only female Glatorian or Agori to appear was a water-themed character. Hero Factory thankfully didn't come up with any rules for what characters had to be like to have certain powers, not even with regard to color scheme. This meant that your custom hero could be male or female regardless of its color scheme or powers. The official story still has downright pitiful gender ratios, but fan-created characters have absolute freedom in terms of gender, powers, colors, and motifs. . Obviously I'm not trying to hold this up as evidence that Hero Factory was better than BIONICLE as a whole. I could be here all day writing up a list of ways that the BIONICLE story was well planned and well executed, or ways that the Hero Factory story has been poorly executed. But at the same time, I appreciate these kinds of differences between the two themes especially, because they are indications that a theme's design is informed by its forerunners' strengths and weaknesses alike. It's a sort of creative evolution, even when a theme is taking lessons from wildly different themes (like how BIONICLE took lessons from themes like Alpha Team and Star Wars rather than just from Roboriders and Slizer, or how Ninjago took lessons from themes like Exo-Force and BIONICLE rather than just from the previous Ninja theme).
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You know, I fully understand that there are a lot of people who will never like Hero Factory. And I respect that. Tastes differ, after all. But something I'll never understand is how often I hear claims about 2010 Hero Factory sets being better than subsequent series. It seems like selective memory at its finest. Let me refresh your memory: in 2010, there were 15 sets total. Six of those were heroes like this one or this one. Let's run through the features, shall we? Two-piece limbs. The beam is reasonable by Av-Matoran or Agori standards, but Av-Matoran and Agori standards are not very high. The ball cup is prone to breaking (as with the Glatorian heads and fists that these sets also reused), there are very few connection points, and of course it has a molded joint rather than a functional one. The shell is an extremely specialized shape with only one connection point. Some people have found other uses for this piece, but they are few in number, and in general it's pointlessly overspecialized even by BIONICLE standards. . Three-piece torsos. The beam is a nice-looking shape with decent proportions, but its connection points are quite limited. It's a step up from the Av-Matoran and Agori torsos, so I guess it deserves at least that much credit. There were four styles of torso shell (1, 2, 3, 4. Functionally, they were interchangeable, with the same two connection points and the same bulky, highly restrictive shape and size. Again, pitiful even by BIONICLE standards. The Hero Core was purely decorative, and while their single connection point could be used to attach to all sorts of things, they were pretty limited in use except as a specialized torso decoration. . The feet weren't too bad, and I still use the ones I got from Breez in the Breakout series. If used the way these sets used them, they have a disproportionately chunky ankle, but by adding a two-module axle you can make a foot with much more attractive proportions. . As far as weapons were concerned, the rookies (Furno, Surge, and Breez) got the better deal. Each got two weapons with two connection points each. It shouldn't be any surprise that Furno's and Surge's continued to see use in future years. Stormer, Bulk, and Stringer didn't fare so well. Instead of having specialized weapon pieces and specialized limb pieces, their weapon arms were the worst of both worlds. Molded elbows? Check! Only one connection point? Check! Loads of specialized details? Check! They looked all right, at least from the outside, but as building elements they were pretty shoddy. Plus, this meant you got an odd number of fists and limbs. Joy. . The helmets were not really a step down from previous helmets. They looked pretty cool and had lots of personality. It was nice when they came back for 2012. Not so nice that the Glatorian head with its brittle ball cup came back with them. . Did I mention that each of these sets has less than twenty pieces? It's true! And as we just established, many of those pieces are overspecialized and extremely limited in use. The sets are also all built 100% identically except for their weapons. "But that's just six sets! That's not even half!" Well, yes and no. The other sets include six villains, two vehicles (that come with their own lackluster hero clones), and one set that includes both a hero AND a villain. So more than half of the figures for the year are heroes. The villains are pretty good by BIONICLE standards, but they're all humanoid, and the mid-size villains have just 4050 pieces (the Glatorian, Glatorian Legends, Phantoka, and Mistika were the same price, had far more parts on average, and had far more diverse designs to boot). The larger villains, Von Nebula and Rotor, are pretty solid designs, as are the two Technic-intensive vehicle sets. So if you focus on just those four sets, then 2010 was a pretty solid year for Hero Factory! If you look at the year as a whole, though, you have a year of sets that neither lives up to BIONICLE nor goes to great lengths to carve out its own identity. ----- Since 2010, Hero Factory sets have gotten more and more diverse, complex, and creative. The heroes in 2011 each had between 29 and 31 parts and had an armor layout unique to that set. Only one of them, Breez 2.0, used one-piece weapons: every other hero had a more elaborate multi-piece weapon design. The villains had between 48 and 63 pieces, much closer to BIONICLE's standards. Some of the summer villains had non-humanoid builds, and one of them was a massive titan similar in height to 2007's Maxilos or 2008's Takanuva. Furthermore, there was a new building system in which parts were designed to be as intercompatible as possible. Want to stick a torso shell on a limb bone or vice-versa? Nothing's stopping you! Want to attach a limb bone to the midpoint on another limb bone? Go right ahead! This allowed for all kinds of creative builds in the years to come. Oh, by the way, the issue of fragile joints was almost completely eliminated, with only a few legacy BIONICLE parts still using the old, brittle ball cups. 2012 pushed things even further. Instead of all heroes being small canister sets and all villains being larger box sets, there were heroes and villains at all price points. The heroes broke away from formulaic color schemes and equipment Evo's reinforced boots and Tank Arm would not have been possible in the 3.0 series where all the limb shells in a hero set were the same color. All the villains had creative builds and equipment, though the larger villain sets were still humanoid in build and posture. Also, the heroes had helmets, printed torso shells, and equipment specially tailored to them as characters. In BIONICLE, a claim often surfaced that sets were designed first and assigned to existing characters later, hence the discrepancy between different iterations of a character. Nobody could make that mistake about this series. Nex's precision laser, retro helmet design, and communications antenna all spoke to his role as the team's communications specialist, and Evo's heavy-looking boots and Tank Arm spoke to his role as the team's heavy weapons specialist. Likewise with the other heroes: the only one whose gear didn't strongly reflect his role in the team or his previous design sensibilities was Furno. 2013 was not so much of a step forward. The heroes' gear was more uniform, and the villains' builds were consistently humanoid (except for the glorious Dragon Bolt). But the weapons for the sets continued to get more elaborate, and most of the sets integrated action features of some kind (and no, not just launchers). Piece counts continued to increase, and color schemes became more diverse. And this year? The piece counts for the mid-size sets have left all previous mid-size sets (including all BIONICLE canister sets) in the dust. The builds have become incredibly diverse (helped by the fact that there no longer needs to be a humanoid set for every hero). A Hero minifigure has been designed, with excellent proportions and helmets more or less accurate to the full-size heroes. Are the recent Hero Factory sets flawless? No. But when were they ever? Certainly not in 2010, when Hero Factory was still in BIONICLE's shadow, and evoking more of that theme's worst characteristics than its best ones. It's not that there weren't things to like about the 2010 Hero Factory sets. The heroes had endearing proportions and aesthetics. The villains had diverse themes and expressions. And of course, if you like BIONICLE-style titan builds, the theme offered two of those at a reasonable price. But overall, I feel like the year's weaknesses were more crippling than its strengths were redeeming. Design quality has been much more consistent in subsequent years, and for the most part it's been improving.
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There's already a topic for BIONICLE concerning the worst character (I think), so why not have a Hero Factory equivalent? C'mon, we all know Hero Factory seems like the kind of series that would have a bad character, so who do you think it is? This requires some thinking, but that's no trouble for y'all! For my choice, I'm gonna go for Rocka. He's kind of a template of the headstrong young hero. In fact, I'm going far enough to call him a cheap knockoff of Furno. I'm calling Rocka a "Gary Stu" (poorly-written male character) because not only is he a carbon copy of Furno, but he was stripped of Furno's flaws, flaws that made Furno a more relatable character. Furno's stress can actually drain him, but what about Rocka? He doesn't get stress. His only flaw is overconfidence, but it hardly even matters in the end because in the HF TV specials, Rocka has beaten every main villain from Witch Doctor to Dragon Bolt. He is stealing a lot of credit from other characters who deserve it more than a writer's pet character. I think Stringer and/or Bulk deserved to take down a main villain like Black Phantom or Dragon Bolt, but they're plot devices compared to Rocka (don't get me wrong; Stringer and Bulk kick butt). Rocka's flawlessness is just so appalling! He is just so set up for success. The other Heores are reduced to spending the entire season rolling out the red carpet for Rocka, where he calmly walks down the other Hero's hard work (which only slightly pays off in the end) and without any problems, socks the season's main villain in the face, knocking him to the floor. What happened to Surge? Or Breez? Or Nex? Or Evo? Or Stringer? etc. Apparently, they don't matter in the sheer presence of Rocka the Flawless! How did they let this happen!? They made Rocka too perfect! Why? WHY??! WHHHHHHHHYYY- *takes deep breath* You get the idea. So, what do some of you other BZPers think? What's your pick for the worst Hero Factory character? I look forward to seeing what you can come up with, as this isn't the easiest topic to discuss, but don't let that stop you from posting!
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Hero Factory Brain Attack Villian Revamp/Mods
Takanuinuva posted a topic in Bionicle-Based Creations
These are my revamp/modifications to all 7 of the Brain Attack Villains. Gallery When Public http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=541230 LXF file of all of them http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/hf_brain_attack_villian_revamps.lxf Starting with Pyrox Not much is changed with him. More dark red was added along with using A Drilldozer torso piece to add bulk. Front http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/001.jpg Right Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/002.jpg Back http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/003.jpg Left Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/004.jpg Pose http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/005.jpg Next is Scarox. The thing unique with him is I've changed the swinging arms gimmick to use one of the spring piece from the hockey player sets. I've also added more gold. Front http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/006.jpg Right Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/007.jpg Back http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/008.jpg Left Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/009.jpg Closeup of back showing the piece I used http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/010.jpg Pose http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/011.jpg Next is Bruizer. His main change is his bashing arm is now poseable while still retaining the bashing gimmick. I used friction adders on his right arm so the arm can stay in place when using the gimmick. I've also removed all gunmetal grey and made his right leg bulky as well along with giving him more beast like feet. Front http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/012.jpg Right Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/013.jpg Back http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/014.jpg Left Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/015.jpg Closeup of back showing a locking feature that prevents the gimmick from working when you want to pose the arm http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/016.jpg http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/017.jpg Pose http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/018.jpg Next is Ogrum. The main change with him is how his mace is constructed and attached. I used a flick missile to connect his mace to his hand leaving the ball joint free. The way the mace part is attached to the chain isn't purist but I think it looks better this way. Front http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/019.jpg Right Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/020.jpg Back http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/021.jpg Left Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/022.jpg Pose http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/023.jpg Next is Frost Beast (Or as I like to call him. Chillax) Not many changes here. Just a change to the back construction to allow back armor and new feet since the hero feet did not suit his beast design. Front http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/024.jpg Right Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/025.jpg Back http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/026.jpg Left Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/027.jpg Pose http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/028.jpg Next is Aquagon. Small changes here as well. I replaced the gunmetal armor with yellow, Swapped the feet out for shadow matoran feet and gave him some chest decoration Front http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/029.jpg Right Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/030.jpg Back http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/031.jpg Left Side http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/032.jpg Pose http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/033.jpg Last up is Dragon Bolt (I never got the actual set so his pics are all taken in LDD. All parts used exist in real life) The changes with him are bigger wings and a longer tail. Changed build to lower jaw and added in a tongue. Replaced the red button with a yellow one. And the back legs are more dragon like. The most unique thing about this modification/revamp is that it uses exactly 222 pieces (Counting the rubber band which doesn't attach in LDD Front View http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/034.png Side View http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/035.png Back View http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/036.png Top View http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/037.png Bottom View http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/038.png Pic showing how tongue is attached http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/takanuinuva/herofactory/BrainAttack/Villians/039.png Comments and Criticism appreciated. I will be doing revamp/modifications to all the Brain Attack Heroes -
Or "Not Another Alternate Universe Story" (aka why i shouldn't mess around with LDD when I'm bored) So Hero Factory's story seems to (unintentionally) make our heroes in good ol' Alpha-1 Team to be really sinister from time to time. From Evo suggesting to murder a buncha mini-Reapas in Breakout or all the heroes not giving a toss about all those kaiju they sent into an acid bath in Invasion from Below, the normal "positive universe" heroes already make you raise an eyebrow from time to time. So ya' gotta wonder "wow if that's what the legit heroes are like then man what could their negative universe counterparts be like?" basically Preston Stormer is the field leader of the tyrannical Hero Factory, Dr. Makuro's secret police force. Stormer commands Alpha-1 Team with an iron fist, and isn't afraid to dispose anyone who stands in the way of his ambitions. He's also absolutely bonkers if you get to know him well enough. He even goes as far to keep the deactivated Hank Thresher's head on a post outside of the assembly tower, just to let rookies know what happens when they cross him. Dunkan Bulk is something of a genius when it comes to mayhem, both on and off the battlefield, and has earned his place as Stormer's loyal right-hand man. If the Alpha-1 team leader needs something or someone broken, or a brand new weapon for some especially painful breaking, Bulk is the guy to call. James Stringer (don't call him "Jimi") is something of a recluse, preferring to keep to himself most of the time. He's really a pretty contemptuous guy once you get to know him, and he's certainly not above modulating his voice to scramble your circuits if he's in the right mood for it (which is essentially always). Stormer hates him (so does everyone else), but he works well in the field, so it's probably best to let him run through his usefulness before turning him into spare parts, eh? Wait, what? You're tellin' me there's a Daniel Rocka on the team? You gotta be kiddin' me. Oh! Waitaminute. Oh, you mean that guy? Y'know, the grey guy, right? 'bout as boring as his color scheme? You think he's disappeared, but that's mainly 'cause he's so forgettable that once he's outta your line o' sight, your processor just deletes everything related to him? Yeah, I got no idea who you're talking about. Go bother someone else, 'kay? Mark Surge is a new up-and-comer that's tearing through the Hero Factory ranks (hopefully not literally). Stormer's weary of him; in addition to being a backstabbing opportunist, he's also "hyper-competent," whatever that means, and never misses a kill in the field. Word is he's got his sights on that Alpha-1 Team Leader position, and he's willing to wait as long as he needs to take out whoever's in his way. Natalie Breez is something of a sociopath who kills small animals for fun. She's not much of a talker, either, but apparently she hangs around with Surge quite a bit. He might think it's she wants to be his second-in-command or something, but the truth is she'd probably chop him to bits as soon as he takes out Stormer. Why waste all that energy if Surge is happy to expend his own, y'know? Julius Nex is a new addition to the team, and he's something of a mad inventor... if, y'know, his inventions were of any use. No, he's far more content trying to see if he can fuse two separate heroes into one body or give a captured criminal two or three extra heads because he thinks it'd look neat. Word has it he's working on his next masterpiece. Calls it the "Brain Bug" or something. Who knows where that's gonna lead? William Furno was one of Makuro's most exciting prospects, but a glitch during the the development of his H-core resulted him being a bumbling moron who couldn't hit Bulk at point-blank range. He talks a big game, for sure, but let's face it, the only place he's going is the assembly tower - right next to Thresher. Nathan Evo is a whiny little creep who looks to adamant failures like Furno for advice. He's not really into pursuing criminals, either; he feels his time would be much better spent skewering infants or something. Weirdo. --- So yeah, they're not the most impressive Hero MOCs around (i guess i was going for a set-style approach?), but hey they're for fun and stuff. I've got some "villains" around too, but since the bios are probably more impressive than the actual guys i figure i should work on those first.
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Ok, first off I don't know if I am in the right spot to discuss this. This is also my first review on this site. This is about the newly released Hero Factory episode, Invasion From Below. I won't give away any spoilers if you were planning on watching. The episode was released around this past Thursday, Feb. 6th. It is a standard 30 min TV episode. This is the first episode for Hero Factory done by ADVANCE and Ghost Animations, so there are several changes to the overall feel and flow. I really liked how they made the Heroes looked, and the blended in nicely with the original style of the citizens very well. Plus, we got to see a brand new location. Also, they tied into continuity very well with Breeze. I can't say anymore on this without giving away to much. What I didn't like was the voice change that all the Heroes received. I know that it's a different company that made this episode, but come on. Nex has the Australian accent, not Surge. It was a little hard getting used to the new voices. Also, in my opinion, there lacked an overall story flow. It seemed as if they got right into the battle with out trying to figure out what was going on in the first place. I mean, they had seven members from Alpha 1 Team, they could have easily split up to deal with the problem and investigate why the creatures attacked in the first place. With the exception of Brain Attack, which an unexplained extra-terrestrial attack on Hero Factory and Makuhero City, the members of Alpha 1 always did reconnaissance before, or during, the fighting. The episode seemed more about product placement then an actual story. Overall, I give this episode an 3.5/5 stars. I would have given 4, but the voices just erked me too much. I would have been more positive about this, but then I would have gone and given away too much of the episode and what little story there was. Here's a link to the episode: http://www.lego.com/en-gb/herofactory/videos/episode-11 -
Hi, guys. As title says above, why do you guys dislike Hero Factory so much? Well, I like it, but the story needs some things to work on, such as some characters, like Stringer and Nex, the new voice actors in the Invasion From Below episode, the unresolved chiffhangers in the second Breakout episode onwards, and focusing on the main story more, like Bionicle did.
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⁂ -----This is the review topic for Rise of the Rookies. All questions and comments go here instead of the main topic - it's less cluttered that way. PrologueChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter Five
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