Why do you guys dislike Hero Factory so much?

[CeeCee]

I know many people here will disagree with me but I've grown bored of the sets. Ever since 2011 it's just been the same things with different accessories or gimmicks(at least the heroes). Yes IFB was quite different and a bold move, but once you take out the mini figs out of the equation they are just more if the same. Again just talking about heroes here. The villains never intrigued me in the slightest. I don't mean the sets aren't aesthetically pleasing, most of them are. But Bionicle brought a lot if new things to the table ever year. Yeah course sine things were over used, but not like the extent of Hero Factory. I bet there aren't any real new moulds in HF over the past few years that aren't masks or weapons. As far as characters go it's not to bad. I guess it's like a blank canvass to project your own art into so there's something in its favour. I do like HF but I just don't live it. And this is coming from someone who is indifferent about Bionicles end.

[Aanchir]

I know many people here will disagree with me but I've grown bored of the sets. Ever since 2011 it's just been the same things with different accessories or gimmicks(at least the heroes). Yes IFB was quite different and a bold move, but once you take out the mini figs out of the equation they are just more if the same. Again just talking about heroes here. The villains never intrigued me in the slightest. I don't mean the sets aren't aesthetically pleasing, most of them are. But Bionicle brought a lot if new things to the table ever year. Yeah course sine things were over used, but not like the extent of Hero Factory. I bet there aren't any real new moulds in HF over the past few years that aren't masks or weapons. As far as characters go it's not to bad. I guess it's like a blank canvass to project your own art into so there's something in its favour. I do like HF but I just don't live it. And this is coming from someone who is indifferent about Bionicles end.

The minifigs are hardly the only thing making this year's HF sets unique. The builds are also remarkably novel. There has never been a figure quite like Breez Flea Machine, Bulk Drill Machine, Evo XL Machine, or even Furno Jet Machine (one of my personal favorites — the construction of its wide-shouldered skeleton is quite brilliant). Even Rocka Stealth Machine is fairly novel with its beefy shoulder construction. There also has never been a HF figure quite as small as Rocka Crawler. The only one of the "machine" sets I consider incredibly bland and underwhelming is Stormer Freeze Machine, which is full of gaps and not nearly as cohesive as the others.

 

There have been plenty of new Hero Factory molds in the past few years besides masks and weapons. In 2012, we got some amazingly useful armor pieces like 98571 and 98592 as well as amazingly useful skeleton pieces like 74261, 98565, 98577, and 98590. 2013 had fewer new non-mask, non-weapon parts to be sure, but it did have 11271 (which still has the most connection points of any torso shell), 11334 (a great part for building more organic creations), and 11270 (an amazingly versatile head piece that can be used for all sorts of things). This year's machine sets don't have a whole lot of new parts besides the new cockpit piece and minifigure parts, but the beast sets have some downright amazing parts like the large foot 15367, small foot 15976, and talon 15362.

 

I can see why a lot of people who are used to many, many new parts per year might dislike the lack of new parts in Hero Factory, but personally, I see this as a good thing, as it shows the sets aren't relying on specialized new part designs to keep the sets diverse. The amount of variety in villain sets over the past few years (particularly in 2012) has been truly inspiring. Dragon Bolt, for instance, was unlike any previous set despite having just three new parts (the skull, brain, and faceplate). So were Jawblade and Toxic Reapa, who had no new parts besides their faceplates, and Thornraxx, which only had a new faceplate and launcher. You're right, though, that the villain sets have always been a lot more diverse than the hero sets, in part because Hero Factory figures were meant to be fairly humanoid while villains could have more animalistic, monstrous, or alien designs and proportions.

 

That's part of why I'm so pleased with this year's sets: the change of scale means that there's no longer any need for half the sets to be heroes with generic humanoid skeletons. Instead, all the sets are free to use all sorts of zany structures and proportions. The switch to minifigures would not have been nearly as interesting if the battle machines were humanoid robots like those in Gundam or Pacific Rim. But instead, we get sets like Furno Jet Machine and Evo XL Machine with decidedly non-humanoid proportions or sets like Breez Flea Machine and Bulk Drill Machine with completely non-humanoid designs.

Edited April 27, 2014 by Aanchir: Rachira of Time

[Tahu3.0]

 

 

Actually the big reason that guys don't like hero factory is because it replaced Bionicle plus hero factory for mi it has a dumb plot its all about heroes like hey theirs a villain out then go and get him. and it has for me a dumb cartoon.

As a fair warning, you might want to consider rephrasing your criticisms of Hero Factory; though I don't doubt that you meant well, you might offend a few fans of the series who are on these forums.

 

 

Apparently we already have by commenting on its lack of creativity...

 

look at this its an opinion guys she or he started the topic asking why do guys hate hero factory so i answered like you guys answered people have different opinions and that was my opinion.

[Lenny7092]

 

 

 

Actually the big reason that guys don't like hero factory is because it replaced Bionicle plus hero factory for mi it has a dumb plot its all about heroes like hey theirs a villain out then go and get him. and it has for me a dumb cartoon.

As a fair warning, you might want to consider rephrasing your criticisms of Hero Factory; though I don't doubt that you meant well, you might offend a few fans of the series who are on these forums.

 

 

Apparently we already have by commenting on its lack of creativity...

 

look at this its an opinion guys she or he started the topic asking why do guys hate hero factory so i answered like you guys answered people have different opinions and that was my opinion.

 

You are correct, but I am a he. I also made this topic because I noticed that many of you guys have been recently disliking Hero Factory for many reasons for a long time since Hero Factory was introduced in 2010, so I thought that we can talk about it.

 

Anyway, back on topic here. I also dislike the fact that Hero Factory had replaced Bionicle because Bionicle had ended. I feel that things are not the same since then. It's very disappointing since I always love Bionicle. I always grew up with it since I was a little kid, but now, Bionicle is gone.

 

I dislike some other things in Hero Factory, too. In the Hero Factory episode, Invasion From Below, the heroes barely have any character like they used to have in the other episodes, and their old voice actors, who voiced differently from each other, got replaced by new voice actors that sound the same. It's annoying these ways. I also felt disappointed about the fact that the TV series never had Vapor, Thornraxx, XT4, and Core Hunter appeared in itself. It would have been cool if they did.

 

I feel annoyed that Nex never appeared in the recent episodes since Savage Planet and Stringer never appeared in the recent episodes since Breakout, too. I mean, aren't they two of the main characters in the TV show? Stringer is one of the founding members of the Alpha 1 Team, and Nex is like Evo's twin brother and best friend and Breez's lover. I like these heroes. They're awesome and funny. But it's too bad that they did not appear in the recent episodes since Savage Planet and Breakout. It's feels unnatural these ways, but I hope that they will return in future episodes if there are any coming.

Edited May 10, 2014 by Lenny7092

[CeeCee]

In many ways though, I think its just because we arent kids anymore(or most of us anyway). Its like what happened with the Star Wars OT and the PT. Yes many people enjoy both mediums but many who were born in the time frame just dont get the same feeling as they did when watching those three films for the first time. Its the same with Bionicle. Most Bionicle fans will WANT with all their might to be sucked into the world of HF in the same way Bionicle did all those years ago, but they wont because were older and we have other things spinning through are heads and responsibility that make it hard to immerse yourself completely. Yes, maybe HF isn't the best example of immersion in a theme there is and Bionicle did a much better job in my opinion. But the fact still stands that most of us will never be sucked into a world like we did when we were kids.

 

Its sad, but its true.

[Aanchir]

In many ways though, I think its just because we arent kids anymore(or most of us anyway). Its like what happened with the Star Wars OT and the PT. Yes many people enjoy both mediums but many who were born in the time frame just dont get the same feeling as they did when watching those three films for the first time. Its the same with Bionicle. Most Bionicle fans will WANT with all their might to be sucked into the world of HF in the same way Bionicle did all those years ago, but they wont because were older and we have other things spinning through are heads and responsibility that make it hard to immerse yourself completely. Yes, maybe HF isn't the best example of immersion in a theme there is and Bionicle did a much better job in my opinion. But the fact still stands that most of us will never be sucked into a world like we did when we were kids.

 

Its sad, but its true.

Very good point. That's part of the reason why I'm not as anxious for a BIONICLE revival as some people are. On one hand, I am confident that the LEGO Group would not go to the effort to bring BIONICLE back if they didn't think they could do it justice, so I'm not the least bit afraid that a BIONICLE revival would not live up to the original run. But on the other hand, I know that it will probably never be quite as magical to me as an adult as it was growing up with it as a teenager.

 

Other LEGO themes like Hero Factory and Ninjago do excite me, but my engagement in those themes is slightly more passive than the way I engaged with the BIONICLE theme. I am not regularly inspired to write my own Ninjago or Hero Factory stories. I do not produce fanart for those themes on a weekly or even a monthly basis. And when I build MOCs based on those themes, the parts, the sets, and the building process inspire my creations more than the stories (though to be fair, this was also true with BIONICLE, to a great extent... in hindsight, very few of my MOCs were inspired by the BIONICLE story, and my attempts to build specific characters like Lariska rarely met with much success). I don't for a minute harbor any illusions that a BIONICLE revival would bring back those childhood experiences, because even before BIONICLE ended I couldn't help noticing that I was producing fewer and fewer MOCs and drawings every year.

 

I suppose everyone grows up in their own way. Even if you don't "grow out of" enjoying a certain story or franchise, the WAYS you enjoy it are bound to change over the years. I'm very grateful that I didn't grow out of LEGO in general or BIONICLE in particular, but I do not focus my enthusiasm in the same ways I once did. Honestly, perhaps that's part of why I was able to enjoy Hero Factory despite having many differences and even some considerable flaws. Enjoying BIONICLE on every level was thrilling but eventually became fatiguing, so something similar but not so complicated to enjoy was better suited to the person BIONICLE had helped me become.

[boston100]

#1 names. You have a fire guy you name him furno. You have an ice guy you name him stormer. WHERS THE CREATIVITY? Part of the reason I liked bionicle was beacause it had creative names. Thes sound to childish. If they had named makuta "Toa killer" would he have been so awsome? NO! If lego replaces bionicle I expected them to put some efort into it instead of slaping on tames like "Witch doctor and Hero factory 2.0.

#2 Villions. Forgive if I get some things wrong here beacause I don't follow the hero factory story at all. Th villins in hero factory have no motive. For some like me who enjoys crime dramas this is insulting. They try to kill all the hero's instead of Stealing, killing or selling illegal stuff. Ther fore they are not realistic. I am fine with the heros fighting crimanals but PLEAS make them crimanals not nuts who just want to kill all the cops.

#3 vahki. When you think about hero factorys are just vahki with personalitys. How ever even before Makuta took them over matoran still hated them. why should hero factory be different. Its like some one at lego said "Lets take vahki make them look less evil and give them personalitys and call them hero factory". That brings up the question why do the hero's have personalities. wouldent it be more efficient to have them like vahki, Robots who surround a criminal and dispose of him whith no emotion? People didn't idolize them for catching crimanls. they treated them like any other piece of law enforsing equiptment. Again why should hero factory be any diferent?

#4 Message. Hero's of bionicle toa whith the exeption of the mata villiders who are zaped into heroes. Heros of hero factory are heros made in a factory.
The message hero factory sends to kids is "You have to be made in a special factory to be a hero. If your not leave us alone". The message bionicle sends to kids is "Any one can be a hero" And as jalla and garan so eligently put it in island of doom. "You dont need to be a toa to be a hero. I rest my case

#5 The heroes. Is a trafic light brave for stopping acedents? NO it does that beacause it is programed to do it. In bionicle the heroes are part bionic part organic therfore alive. They have friends, fears and lives to go back to after they finish the mission. They are afraid of death therfore ALIVE. You can not have courage if you do not have fear. At the begining of ledgens of metru nui, Vakama was scared witless when the dark hunters came to call. At the end he challendged makuta 1 on 1. That is bravery. In Hero factory they are NOT alive DON'T have friends or alive and are PROGRAMED to catch villons and not feel fear. Therfore they are not brave. 

I could list another 1000 things wrong whith hero factory but I'v wasted anoughf of your time.
Sorry for the bad spelling.

[Zidonaro]

I never hated Hero Factory. I like the sets, i really do(and I have some), but the story is just meh. It's a shame it doesn't keep Bionicle essence. LEGO could definitely had done a better plot.

[Aanchir]

#1 names. You have a fire guy you name him furno. You have an ice guy you name him stormer. WHERS THE CREATIVITY? Part of the reason I liked bionicle was beacause it had creative names. Thes sound to childish. If they had named makuta "Toa killer" would he have been so awsome? NO! If lego replaces bionicle I expected them to put some efort into it instead of slaping on tames like "Witch doctor and Hero factory 2.0.

Considering that the original Toa and Turaga names were just their elements in different languages, it's not like there was much more "creativity" there. It was just a matter of picking meaningful foreign words that sounded good. And if meaningful English names inherently sounded uncreative and stupid, then characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and Iron Man wouldn't be nearly so popular.

 

#2 Villions. Forgive if I get some things wrong here beacause I don't follow the hero factory story at all. Th villins in hero factory have no motive. For some like me who enjoys crime dramas this is insulting. They try to kill all the hero's instead of Stealing, killing or selling illegal stuff. Ther fore they are not realistic. I am fine with the heros fighting crimanals but PLEAS make them crimanals not nuts who just want to kill all the cops.

The villains in Hero Factory have lots of motives. Fire Lord and his gang have a defect that makes them addicted to energy, forcing them to steal fuel to satisfy their cravings. Von Nebula is ashamed of his own cowardice and takes it out on the Hero Factory and his former teammate Stormer, who he sees as a mere glory-seeker. He doesn't understand that it's Stormer's strong sense of justice, not a desire for personal glory, that motivates his heroic actions. Witch Doctor was jealous of the strength of the heroes he worked with on a day-to-day basis and thus began hoarding the energy-rich Quaza that gave them their strength. Core Hunter is a serial killer who hunts heroes for sport. The beasts of Antropolis City were lashing out at the city because their territory had been invaded by excavation machines. The list goes on and on and on.

 

#3 vahki. When you think about hero factorys are just vahki with personalitys. How ever even before Makuta took them over matoran still hated them. why should hero factory be different. Its like some one at lego said "Lets take vahki make them look less evil and give them personalitys and call them hero factory". That brings up the question why do the hero's have personalities. wouldent it be more efficient to have them like vahki, Robots who surround a criminal and dispose of him whith no emotion? People didn't idolize them for catching crimanls. they treated them like any other piece of law enforsing equiptment. Again why should hero factory be any diferent?

Is WALL-E just a vahki with personality? How about R2-D2 and C-3PO? How about Astro Boy? Or Mega Man? This has always been a stupid criticism of Hero Factory because there's no reason to assume that because robot law enforcers in ONE universe are cold, emotionless drones, robot law enforcers in EVERY universe are cold, emotionless drones. Or for that matter, that cold, emotionless drones would be better law enforcers than ones with real personalities and emotions, considering that the POINT of the Vahki storyline (and for that matter, the movie Robocop) was to show how very wrong that idea is.

 

#4 Message. Hero's of bionicle toa whith the exeption of the mata villiders who are zaped into heroes. Heros of hero factory are heros made in a factory.

The message hero factory sends to kids is "You have to be made in a special factory to be a hero. If your not leave us alone". The message bionicle sends to kids is "Any one can be a hero" And as jalla and garan so eligently put it in island of doom. "You dont need to be a toa to be a hero. I rest my case

By your own argument, the message BIONICLE sends to kids is "anyone who gets zapped with magical energy can be a hero". The "You don't need to be a Toa to be a hero" message in the 2006 storyline was poetic, but the actual story never really reinforced it. Beyond that, there are plenty of heroic characters in Hero Factory who were not built in the factory, like Makuro and Zib. Hero is not their job description, any more than it is the job description of most Matoran, but that doesn't make their contributions any less heroic.

 

#5 The heroes. Is a trafic light brave for stopping acedents? NO it does that beacause it is programed to do it. In bionicle the heroes are part bionic part organic therfore alive. They have friends, fears and lives to go back to after they finish the mission. They are afraid of death therfore ALIVE. You can not have courage if you do not have fear. At the begining of ledgens of metru nui, Vakama was scared witless when the dark hunters came to call. At the end he challendged makuta 1 on 1. That is bravery. In Hero factory they are NOT alive DON'T have friends or alive and are PROGRAMED to catch villons and not feel fear. Therfore they are not brave.

This argument is hogwash for the reason I gave for #3. The heroes of Hero Factory are not mindless drones, they are characters with lives and emotions and personalities who just happen to be robots, because in this fantasy universe that is not only possible but normal. Having organic flesh is not the same thing as having a mind or a soul or a spirit.

 

And also, the Heroes do feel fear. Surge fears the possibility that he was built with a flaw. Stormer fears the possibility of one of his rookies getting hurt on a mission. Bulk fears the idea that he's destined to be thought of as "dumb muscle". This is likewise the case in many other stories with robot characters. C-3PO is terrified of every single danger he encounters. WALL–E is afraid of losing his friend EVE. Zane from LEGO Ninjago is afraid of losing his memory again.

 

It makes no sense to criticize a story just because you jump to wild and irrational conclusions without the slightest bit of evidence.

[Tattorack]

1. At least it sounded intresting instead of completely no-brain.

2. The first one shouldn't even be depicted as a villain. Thos have apparently a mechanical defect that can be repaired. And robots getting jealous or being craven?

3. Whoever said Wall-E and all those robots from Star Wars aren't childish?

4. That is taking it too literal. When you overcome a fear or a challange you certainly feel like you're zapped by some magical force that makes you bigger. (never had that?).

Down to the very basics, without elaborations (like magic zapping), one says heroes 'become', the other says heroes are made by somekind of authority.

5. A robot cannot be considered a lifeform. Neither can they have emotions, or at least, without pulling a DATA. One doesn't need to have "organic flesh" to be considered a lifeform capable of emotion, but its certainly not something made in a factory.

 

As for the last bit. Since they, whoever "they" are (since I've certainly not seen any creators... just more robots) built robots to do this kind of work then I'd expect it to have been for the purpose of it/them not having those problems a lifeform may have during a mission (anything from emotional attachements to self doubt. You know, the usual stuff that could jeopordise a highly sensitive mission).

[fishers64]

The villains in Hero Factory have lots of motives. Fire Lord and his gang have a defect that makes them addicted to energy, forcing them to steal fuel to satisfy their cravings. Von Nebula is ashamed of his own cowardice and takes it out on the Hero Factory and his former teammate Stormer, who he sees as a mere glory-seeker. He doesn't understand that it's Stormer's strong sense of justice, not a desire for personal glory, that motivates his heroic actions. Witch Doctor was jealous of the strength of the heroes he worked with on a day-to-day basis and thus began hoarding the energy-rich Quaza that gave them their strength. Core Hunter is a serial killer who hunts heroes for sport. The beasts of Antropolis City were lashing out at the city because their territory had been invaded by excavation machines. The list goes on and on and on.

Um, isn't that the end of the list? I guess I'm missing XT4 and Black Phantom and Voltix and most of the Breakout Villains. And that creepy Brain Attack guy.

 

But it would seem that the mass majority of villains in HF aren't just run-of-the-mill criminals: they have a thing for HF specifically. While there are exceptions, the majority of them (Von Nebula, Witch Doctor, Black Phantom, and the Brain Attack guy, not to mention Core Hunter to a degree, Jawblade, and Voltix) all want Hero Factory gone and have active plans to destroy it. Which makes sense - Hero Factory has been around for awhile, and if you're a criminal, you want it gone. 

 

And then they are after "society's worst villains and monsters" not just criminals. 

 

* * *

I don't think "emotionless robots" would be better defenders. You forget that these robots have to deal with civilians - which is more effective at getting them out of danger, the empathetic bot who they listen to or a cold dispassionate killerbot?

[Aanchir]

2. The first one shouldn't even be depicted as a villain. Thos have apparently a mechanical defect that can be repaired. And robots getting jealous or being craven?

So let's suppose a person needs a certain medication to survive. They become a bank robber and attack thousands of innocent people in order to get the money to pay for that medication. Does needing the money make their actions any less criminal? Of course not. Their actions can be understood but they have still committed violent crimes and put innocent people in danger.

 

3. Whoever said Wall-E and all those robots from Star Wars aren't childish?

Well, that criticism wasn't about the story being childish. Generally, all those stories are fairly childish. Also fantastic. People who think it's shameful to enjoy a childish story are unspeakably pretentious and probably in denial.

 

4. That is taking it too literal. When you overcome a fear or a challange you certainly feel like you're zapped by some magical force that makes you bigger. (never had that?).

 

Down to the very basics, without elaborations (like magic zapping), one says heroes 'become', the other says heroes are made by somekind of authority.

But Matoran generally don't become Toa when they overcome a fear or a challenge (Takanuva is the exception, not the rule). They become Toa without any kind of test or preparation, and have to prove themselves worthy of the title after it's already been given to them. Much the way all Hero Factory heroes do. As with Toa, some heroes from the Hero Factory do not prove themselves worthy of the title. They become villains like Nidhiki or Core Hunter or Von Nebula, and as long as the world knows of their crimes it doesn't treat them kindly — whether or not they still have bodies befitting of heroes.

 

5. A robot cannot be considered a lifeform. Neither can they have emotions, or at least, without pulling a DATA. One doesn't need to have "organic flesh" to be considered a lifeform capable of emotion, but its certainly not something made in a factory.

In real life, you are correct. In a story, anything is possible, and if you can only look at stories according to what is possible in real life then you're probably too narrow-minded to enjoy Hero Factory or BIONICLE.

 

As for the last bit. Since they, whoever "they" are (since I've certainly not seen any creators... just more robots) built robots to do this kind of work then I'd expect it to have been for the purpose of it/them not having those problems a lifeform may have during a mission (anything from emotional attachements to self doubt. You know, the usual stuff that could jeopordise a highly sensitive mission).

But the truth is emotional attachments and self-doubt aren't problems at all. They're the reality of being a person. Generally the fact that we can feel emotion, that we can question ourselves, and that we can make decisions based on those abilities makes us better people and allows us to form healthy societies. These abilities allow us to imagine, to innovate, and to prosper. Do you think that YOU'D be able to do your job better without emotions or a personality? Do you think you'd have more to contribute to society that way? If so, I'm pretty sure the Cybermen are accepting new recruits. And if not, what makes you think robots would be better off without these things?

 

In Hero Factory, as far as it is ever made clear, the robots are built by other robots. Was there ever an organic creator? Perhaps, perhaps not. But more importantly, why does that matter? In a story with religious themes, perhaps the reason our species came to exist might be important. But nobody in The Lord of the Rings ever questioned where elves and dwarves and hobbits ultimately come from or why they have minds and souls like humans. They just do, and we know this even without the physical makeup of their bodies ever being alluded to or explained.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Aanchir: Rachira of Time