Jump to content

Why Hero Factory and Bionicle are different.


BionicMushroom

Recommended Posts

Today, I was talking to a friend about why I prefer BIONICLE over Hero Factory and someone comes up and says: "Why does it matter? They're the exact same thing!"

 

NO THEY AREN'T.

This topic is devoted to correcting any misconceptions about how BIONICLE and HF are different.

 

BIONICLE and Hero Factory have different stories, and I prefer BIONICLE's plot and premise more than Hero Factory. Hero Factory felt a bit...Childish, with it's characters, honestly.

 

BIONICLE is about 6 heroes with elemental powers defeating an evil being called Makuta, usually, that is. The characters feel a bit more mature, as it is, than the Heroes from HF. The heroes, called Toa, must find masks to use against evil. They must also defend smaller beings called Matoran from this evil. All of them live on islands with diverse wildlife and distinct environments.

 

Hero Factory is similar, in that it features a group of heroes fighting evil. However diverse the sets may be, the universe of Hero Factory feels...Bland, really. The characters, while interesting, feel a bit childish when compared to BIONICLE's cast. The sets have an improved build system, yes. But the characters fall far deeper into cliches than the Toa. Yes, both casts have cliches. But when combined with the flatness of the HF world, the Heroes just kind of...Plunge into them, really.

 

Part of my preference is that I was introduced into BIONICLE first. So, to me, the main cast of HF seems a bit copy-ish of the original Toa and villains. But that's simply because of my exposure to BIONICLE first.

 

 

Thoughts?

Edited by BionicMushroom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly, when comparing G2 bionicle to Hero factory they aren't much different at all to me. The story seems to be pretty on par with Hero Factory judging from the first five shorts we've had + character shorts and, while I vastly prefer the new Bionicles sets to anything Hero Factory put out, they're still very similar. But yeah, G1 bionicle is in a completley different leauge in terms of story and the overal mechanical style of G1 definitley separates it from Hero Factory in terms of set design.

Hopefully as time goes on and the characters (again, hopefully) get fleshed out, that will change.

Edited by hiddenderek
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly Hero Factory was all in all a pretty standard Lego theme as far as its characters and plot go. There wasn't a lot of depth there, but then how many Lego themes are really that involved? If it wasn't constraction (and specifically following Bionicle) I doubt people would be that disappointed about HF not having fully-developed and drawn out story, characters, and settings. Most Lego themes don't really go into that, since they're just toys. They tend to give a fairly basic premise and then let consumers' imaginations do the rest, generally. Themes like Galaxy Squad or Atlantis or what have you don't really need an involved story, and really neither did Hero Factory. Of course, it's not actually the same since they did in fact kind of try to give HF characters and plot, what with it getting episodes every year, comics for the first couple, and books for a couple more. And they did it with varying degrees of success. Still, I think that's probably the main source of the differences between Hero Factory and Bionicle as far as all that goes. Hero Factory was just a Lego theme with slightly more attention paid to story than your average line, whereas Bionicle was just, Bionicle. Though other lines have come with solid storylines and characters (such as Ninjago) Bionicle is still pretty unique. It's not really a meaningful comparison, I think.

  • Upvote 5

AXKP5KC.png


 


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hero Factory WISHES it was half as awesome as Bionicle. The only thing good to come out of it was Cryoshell's song.

I'd think the greatest thing to come out of it would be the building system. "Break Out" is one of Cryoshell's weaker songs, in my opinion.

 

Anyway, yes, Hero Factory and Bionicle are very different things. I wouldn't say that's a bad thing. I loved the classic Bionicle's complex saga while it was running... but after ten years of it, the less-involved story of Hero Factory was a welcome respite. Hero Factory never fully delivered on its early potential to thrive on user-generated content, but nonetheless it provided a vast universe with a narrow focus, allowing fans to easily create their own characters and stories (which, combined with the more accessible building system, gave fans like myself more incentive to MOC than ever before).

 

Farmstink (?) hit the nail on the head when he pointed out how this is similar to most of Lego's more traditional themes—contrast Bionicle, a creative toy which in many ways limited creativity by providing an all-encompassing perspective on a small, rule-bound universe. There were fewer frontiers or blank spaces to fill in with original characters and settings, more rules governing exactly what powers or abilities your OCs were even capable of having, and a universe centered on big mysteries that could not be explored by fan stories (at least, not without making their decanonization inevitable when the official story finally got around to solving them).

 

The new Bionicle, so far, seems to be providing a happy medium between the two, by telling an epic story akin to that of the classic theme without overloading it with rules or restrictions. I'm extremely excited for that.

Edited by Lyichir
  • Upvote 3

Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the biggest difference is in how the story was presented. Hero Factory's story was always very straightforward, with everything being explained very clearly. Bionicle, on the other hand, had a lot more mystery and intrigue, which was always what drew me in. It looks like Bionicle g2 seems to be recapturing that same aspect of mystery, while providing a simpler story similar to Hero Factory, and so far it's working out great.

Edited by Slickoz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly, I thought Hero Factory was adequate. The set designs with 2.0 and on, What I saw of the story and characters. But I think the reason why Lego was fine to bring back Bionicle to replace Hero Factory is because most of the time Bionicle was far more than adequate. Bionicle had usually better designs, a usually better story, usually and usually better characters.I can't speak for ever part of them and the whole series of each one, as I am not an expert.

 

Then I think Hero Factory was indeed made to replace Bionicle, but in most cases did not try to copy Bionicle. I mean, the canisters were made to be similar, and the 3.0 bad guys were kind of like the Rahi, but there wasn't a lot of imitation. 

 

So if anyone tries to say they were the same, you have lots of ways to educate.

A fish wielding vampire. That's Spiffy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I honestly don't have a problem with Hero Factory. Yes, it's story is lacking, but I don't mind if LEGO doesn't really pay attention to that sort of thing, because they do that all the time. People just expect Hero Factory to have a complicated and rich story like it's predecessor because it was the next constraction line. LEGO doesn't need to do this all the time.

 

I've bought a few Hero Factory sets, and I plan to buy more. Especially whatever Brain Attack sets I can find. I've missed out on a lot of great pieces for MOCing, and I really want to catch up. 

< -< =<o>= >- >


 


 


Ha! I tricked you into reading my signature!


 


 


< -< =<o>= >- >

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bionicle's story was much more mature than HF, which is why I liked it. It also brought back characters that we knew and loved. Except, when they did it in HF, it just felt like a copy & paste with nothing special.

At least when HF brought back characters it did a better job than Bionicle of keeping them recognizable. I'm glad that Lego's putting more effort into that these days, since a character returning in name only (with a form that hardly resembles their classic appearance) isn't that much better than them not getting a new set at all. The 2015 Toa, with their updated versions of the classic '01 masks, give me hope that HF's tendency to maintain a consistent appearance for its characters (even when their masks were replaced with new versions) was more than a fluke.

Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...