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Worst Hero Factory Character?


Sybre

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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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i like Rocka 'cause Tom Kenny does a neat voice for him (when he still voiced Rocka i guess). i genuinely don't care about the story enough to have noticed that he tends to take down the main guys but w/e. i'd also say it's a stretch to say any of the other guys "deserve" to take specific bad guys, it's just how it works out.

 

i think everyone's okay as far as base personalities go, though Surge can get annoying to listen to kinda quickly.

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I would make the case that Thunder is the worst character. No character development whatsoever, barely an appearance in the TV series (did he even make it, or was he just in the game?), and hardly any special powers, even.


I could say that about a lot of Von Nebula's minions, but at least Rotor proved to be a challenge to Furno, Corroder crushed Bulk and made a mess, and Meltdown took out Stormer for awhile. Thunder got nothing.


* * *


As for Rocka, I think you all are forgetting all of his Savage Planet blunders...although in Breakout he was really OP...and he barely got a role in IFB. None of the heroes strike me as being particularly bad - they all have their characterization faults/bad writing going on. Stormer rises above the pack in that regard (we know his backstory, etc), but none of the others stick out as the worst to me. :shrugs:

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Probably, all the one-dimensional villains from the Breakout series (Core Hunter not being one of them) and all the other one-dimensional villains from the early HF years. Thunder and Nitroblast come to mind.

 

You know came to think of it, the change to "redshirt" villains; like the Brains, the monsters from below, and the Savage Planet animals, is actually a pretty good change IMO. Sure, we don't the occasionally awesome personality villains, but we also don't get boring underdeveloped villains either.

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Oh, dang... so many choices...

Rocka is a Marty Stu

Surge is annoying, incompetent comic relief

Rotor is annoying and a huge twit

Corroder is annoying and slightly less of a twit

Von Nebula is such a poorly motivated cliche even Mark Hamill couldn't save him

Witch Doctor is possibly even worse

Zib and Quadal are thinly-veiled rip-offs of C3-PO and R2-D2 (and also annoying)

And those are just the ones that come to mind immediately.

 

Honestly, I'm much happier pretending the HF "canon" doesn't exist.

Edited by The Hudson Hawk
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I thought I would like the Von Nebula villains, but in the movie, they get defeated at the end by *running out of ammo*?!?!?! I mean honestly, they're twice the size of the heroes, and yet they go down like nine pins by *unarmed* heroes. Honestly.... :glare:

 

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I don't have a problem with Rocka at all. He's not a carbon copy of Furno, he's a foil, and he has performed that task well, particularly in his debut episode. His individuality only increased in the Breakout episodes, in which he was revealed to be a Hero Recon Team member.

 

I honestly don't think any of the Hero Factory characters are bad. None of them get a huge amount of development, but most of them get as much development as they really need in order to tell the story. The villains in the Breakout episode were wonderfully diverse, and served to showcase how many different sorts of villains the Hero Factory had captured over the years. They also got their fair share of development in Greg Farshtey's Hero Factory chapter books.

 

I suppose the one character I really dislike is the shadowy character who created and released the brains in Brain Attack. They are such a vague, obscure character that it's hard to tell whether they have any relevance to the story besides setting up for the actual conflict in Brain Attack. Unlike other villains whose significance is more or less apparent, the actual intent behind the character is unclear. We don't even know for sure if they're meant to be a lingering threat like whoever it was that Black Phantom sent the Hero Factory plans to, or if the invasion of the brains was the be-all and end-all of their evil plans.

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Umm...

 

I hate to say it...

 

All of them?

 

They're so shallow and undeveloped and the Heroes are all stupidly dull one-sided generic good guys.

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Umm...

 

I hate to say it...

 

All of them?

 

They're so shallow and undeveloped and the Heroes are all stupidly dull one-sided generic good guys.

How much have you followed the story? Most of the heroes have real depth, but the TV episodes only touch on it on occasion. Obviously, the more times a hero has appeared in the sets and story, the more depth they're liable to have, so characters like Stormer, Furno, Bulk, and Rocka tend to have a lot more development than characters like Nex and Breez.
  • Stormer is a gruff leader character who's tough on his teammates at first, but it's revealed early on that the reason for that is because of a tragic incident in his past and he's scared of something similar happening with his current team. He has a strong sense of responsibility for his teammates, and it takes a long time for him to trust the hotheaded Furno with a lot of responsibility on a mission. He has a strong sense of justice, which is part of the reason for his complicated relationship with the villain Von Nebula — while Von Nebula was prepared to cut and run if a mission turned sour, Stormer's strong sense of justice and responsibility didn't allow him to do this, and Von Nebula mistook this for self-indulgent glory-seeking on Stormer's part.
  • Furno is a hotheaded rookie who's intent on proving himself to Stormer. In "Savage Planet", he develops a rivalry with Rocka, an up-and-coming hero whose reputation as "the new Furno" makes Furno feel insecure. The same episode sees Stormer test Furno and Rocka by letting them lead their own separate teams. In the end, both heroes learn to step aside and let another hero share the victory, which brings Furno that much closer to being ready to be a leader. In "Breakout", Furno gets to put his skills as a leader and mentor to the test when Evo starts turning to him for guidance.
  • Bulk might seem like just a generic dumb muscle character. And to be fair, he was basically built as one. But he actually is very conflicted about the other heroes thinking of him that way. In "Savage Planet", it's revealed that he has taken up reading in order to improve both his intellect and his self-esteem, and as he says to Furno towards the end, "I'm more than just the big guy!" He learns that his teammates respect him for his strength AND his intellect, and learned to be proud of his physical strength, which remains one of his most reliable assets.
  • Breez, as a female hero, has a lot of stigma to overcome with both the public and her teammates. She is determined to a fault to prove that she's just as capable as any of her teammates, and sometimes gets a bit defensive about her role in the team (she's particularly frustrated with being stereotyped as a romantic interest for one of her teammates). But more than once her combat skill and her ability to speak and reason with alien creatures have helped her to save her teammates from danger.
  • Surge is an energetic hero who tends to be a lot more emotionally volatile than his teammates. He is concerned about the possibility of having been built with a flaw, and is worried that one day his mettle as a hero will be tested and he will not be prepared to meet the challenge. He even worries that he might turn to the side of evil if the situation presents itself. The first scenario comes to fruition in "Ordeal of Fire", and the latter in The Doom Box, after Core Hunter has felled all his teammates. But in both situations he ends up surpassing even his own expectations and making the decision that saves the day.
  • Stringer is a cool-headed hero with a passion for music, but he's also a little bit absent-minded. He gets along with rookies better than any of the other Alpha Team heroes, and in some respects he's the softer counterpart to Stormer's gruff sense of discipline. He is prepared to analyze and question everything, even Stormer's leadership. For instance, in Legion of Darkness, Stringer raises the very valid question of whether the then-young Hero Factory can really fight all the villains who threaten the galaxy without becoming a threat to the galaxy themselves.
  • Nex is incredibly sociable, not to mention more than a little flirty. He's also a bit of a tech wizard who specializes in communications and networking technologies. Other than Stringer, he's the team's main source of comic relief.
  • Evo is a weapons expert and a talented fighter, but he's less confident in his decision-making skills, particularly after being assigned to the rookie team. In "Breakout" he turns to Furno for guidance, but Furno helps teach him to trust his instincts. Pitching his own strategy to Rocka during that mission is what allows Rocka to take down Black Phantom.
  • Rocka started out his career as a hero showing just as much promise as Furno, but unlike with Furno, all that praise went to his head and he developed a cocky, overconfident streak. This was one source of the tension between the two heroes. But he and Furno learned to cede responsibility to one another in "Savage Planet", when Rocka let Furno come up with a strategy to defeat Witch Doctor and Furno in turn let Rocka be the one to carry it out. In "Breakout", he revealed that he was working undercover as a member of Hero Recon Team, earning a new respect from his teammates.
Really, when you get right down to it, the Toa Mata were also pretty much cookie-cutter archetypes. Tahu was the hotheaded and abrasive leader, Kopaka the cold loner, Lewa the perky jokester who tends to get himself into trouble, Gali the voice of unity, Onua the strong, silent strategist, and Pohatu the powerful and dependable friend. They developed over the years, but only in small ways. But that doesn't stop us from loving these characters and admiring them when they get moments to let their personalities shine.
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I agree with you all the way Sybre. Rocka is nothing but just a knockoff of furno and if I'm right, Rocka have an bigger ego then Furno and LEGO is just making his ego bigger and bigger. Plus I wanted to see Surge battle Dragon Bolt but NO, Rocka just have to take everything plus in the IFB they made his Mech OP.

 

 

SURGE?!

May I ask, why do you dislike Surge?

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I agree with you all the way Sybre. Rocka is nothing but just a knockoff of furno and if I'm right, Rocka have an bigger ego then Furno and LEGO is just making his ego bigger and bigger. Plus I wanted to see Surge battle Dragon Bolt but NO, Rocka just have to take everything plus in the IFB they made his Mech OP.

 

 

SURGE?!

May I ask, why do you dislike Surge?

 

Rocka's bigger ego is precisely why he's not a knockoff of Furno, but rather a foil. Furno's main goal as a rookie was to prove himself to others. Rocka, on the other hand, was so cocky and full of himself that he didn't think he needed to prove himself and instead was prepared to do everything his way without seeking the approval of more experienced heroes. In "Savage Planet" his greatest character development was agreeing to a strategy Furno developed in order to defeat Witch Doctor, because it showed that both he and Furno were willing to put their hotheaded rivalry aside in order to secure a shared victory for the team. And it was clear that the lesson really stuck, because he later agreed to a spur-of-the-moment strategy Evo concocted in "Breakout". He's definitely no longer as overconfident or full of himself as he was in his debut episode.

 

I don't know what you mean about his machine in "Invasion from Below" being OP. All of the above-ground machines had one or two special features that the others lacked. Evo's was incredibly large and strong and had several goo shooters, Furno's could shoot fire and fly; Rocka's had a single goo shooter and could camouflage with its surroundings. If anything, Stormer's machine was underpowered, because I don't remember it having any special features besides its ice weapon. When the heroes went below ground, Rocka ended up with the piddly Rocka Crawler, and only got to share Surge's machine when said crawler was destroyed by floating magnetic boulders.

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I don't know what you mean about his machine in "Invasion from Below" being OP. All of the above-ground machines had one or two special features that the others lacked. Evo's was incredibly large and strong and had several goo shooters, Furno's could shoot fire and fly; Rocka's had a single goo shooter and could camouflage with its surroundings. If anything, Stormer's machine was underpowered, because I don't remember it having any special features besides its ice weapon. When the heroes went below ground, Rocka ended up with the piddly Rocka Crawler, and only got to share Surge's machine when said crawler was destroyed by floating magnetic boulders.

Don't get want I mean, his mech was the 3rd to be taken down, he shot a Jaw beast once to take it down And taken down three jumper and it was destroyed on the inside, it would still be going if Rocka have grabbed his gun.

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Umm...

 

I hate to say it...

 

All of them?

 

They're so shallow and undeveloped and the Heroes are all stupidly dull one-sided generic good guys.

 

Agreed, but if I had to pick a terrible one, I'd go with Furno. He was cool at first, but he got progressively worse as the series went on, the guys ego just keeps inflating. And then there's Rocka who (like others mentioned) is like a cheap knockoff of Furno.

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I can't think of the worst character in Hero Factory, but I would assume the Von Nebula villains in the TV series because they don't have much character development and they just acted like Von Nebula's drones in his evil plans. Even when Corroder wants to overthrow him as the leader of the evil gang.:( But if he did, that would be cool and make him a better character than the other villains.:)

Edited by Lenny7092

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I'll have to say the Villains who don't get any development. Specifically Corroder, Meltdown, Drilldozer (AKA Thunder with a drill), Jetbug, and Nitroblast. XPlode, Rotor, and Thunder had something. Sure, Thunder was the cliched "dumb brute," but it was something.

 

I've read The Doom Box, and Greg Farshtey is really able to make the Heroes as likable and realistic in their motivations as he did with the characters in BIONICLE. Core Hunters isn't characterized as well beyond being a skilled Villain. His choice to leave Hero Factory isn't explained too well, and the scenes from his POV don't really add anything, but there are some things even Greg can't fix. This was one of the reasons I was never in favor of a BIONICLE television series - the characters are just too deep for a 22-minute serial to get who they really are across. As awesome as their weapons and armor are, the strength of BIONICLE's characters is their character depth. Overall, LEGO chose to use novels and feature-length films to emphasize that in BIONICLE, but switched to a less structured episodic format that couldn't achieve that depth with Hero Factory (except with the cancelled Secret Mission books).

 

Not to derail the topic. The worst character is probably Nitroblast. Literally all he does as an individual is run away when the Heroes come back in 2.0 form and almost fall off the station. That is the story of Nitroblast. At least Jetbug attacks Furno on the Epcot ball (seriously, am I the only one who thought the big ball at the refueling station was the Epcot ball?).

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  • 3 weeks later...

All of them are reall flat, cokie cutter characters for what ever roll they fill, but Rocka, Rocka is .

At some point you realize that you are but a speck in the Universe.


That you time in this worlds is but a blink.


You see the whole of reality as it unfolds before you.


You try to see how far you can reach, and it’s not that far past your face.


But then you come back from the brink.


You hold them in your arms again.


And you know that you are where their world begins.


You are their rock.

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I'd have to say that Furno bugs me the most. I'm not saying he's underdeveloped or something (I wouldn't really know, since I don't watch the show or read the books or anything), but from what I've seen of him, he's just too hotheaded. Drives me nuts.

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I'd have to say that Furno bugs me the most. I'm not saying he's underdeveloped or something (I wouldn't really know, since I don't watch the show or read the books or anything), but from what I've seen of him, he's just too hotheaded. Drives me nuts.

I think what you have seen of the show (or wherever your impression of Furno came from) is from the first year. He's still hotheaded, but he's matured a lot since then, to the point where he mentors later rookies like Evo.

 

In any case, I don't think he even started out as quite as hotheaded as Tahu was at the beginning of Bionicle. Rocka fits the bill more, since in Savage Planet he rebuffs Furno's experience and thinks that his natural talent will make him the best at any mission (he, too, matures in later years, although he retains more of that hotheaded streak than Furno).

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I'd have to say that Furno bugs me the most. I'm not saying he's underdeveloped or something (I wouldn't really know, since I don't watch the show or read the books or anything), but from what I've seen of him, he's just too hotheaded. Drives me nuts.

 

I think what you have seen of the show (or wherever your impression of Furno came from) is from the first year. He's still hotheaded, but he's matured a lot since then, to the point where he mentors later rookies like Evo.

In any case, I don't think he even started out as quite as hotheaded as Tahu was at the beginning of Bionicle. Rocka fits the bill more, since in Savage Planet he rebuffs Furno's experience and thinks that his natural talent will make him the best at any mission (he, too, matures in later years, although he retains more of that hotheaded streak than Furno).

But you forget that Furno's "mentoring" was just another form of his hotheadedness. Furno considers himself experienced enough to mentor Evo, even though in the end he was clueless and Evo had to figure it out for himself. To me it seems like Furno was just feeding his already huge ego, by telling himself he was good enough to mentor. He jumps into the role as "mentor" without thinking and ultimately ends up looking somewhat humbled (as humbled as a guy with his ego can be, anyway) by his "mentoring" attempt.

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I'd have to say that Furno bugs me the most. I'm not saying he's underdeveloped or something (I wouldn't really know, since I don't watch the show or read the books or anything), but from what I've seen of him, he's just too hotheaded. Drives me nuts.

I think what you have seen of the show (or wherever your impression of Furno came from) is from the first year. He's still hotheaded, but he's matured a lot since then, to the point where he mentors later rookies like Evo.

In any case, I don't think he even started out as quite as hotheaded as Tahu was at the beginning of Bionicle. Rocka fits the bill more, since in Savage Planet he rebuffs Furno's experience and thinks that his natural talent will make him the best at any mission (he, too, matures in later years, although he retains more of that hotheaded streak than Furno).

 

But you forget that Furno's "mentoring" was just another form of his hotheadedness. Furno considers himself experienced enough to mentor Evo, even though in the end he was clueless and Evo had to figure it out for himself. To me it seems like Furno was just feeding his already huge ego, by telling himself he was good enough to mentor. He jumps into the role as "mentor" without thinking and ultimately ends up looking somewhat humbled (as humbled as a guy with his ego can be, anyway) by his "mentoring" attempt.

 

Furno was not, in fact, clueless, nor was he "feeding his already huge ego". What Evo really needed to learn was knowing when to think things through before acting and when to trust his instincts. Furno's advice helped him learn that skill. Being a mentor doesn't mean always having all the answers — a good example is the ineffectiveness of the advice Aang got from his past lives in the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Sometimes, even with a mentor, you have to be able to find the answers for yourself.

 

And furthermore, his attitude was anything but hotheaded. He wasn't giving Evo advice because he thought he would be better at it than the other heroes — he was giving advice because Evo knew he had been a rookie recently and had specifically turned to him.

 

Was he humbled somewhat by the attempt? Of course, the same way any first-time teacher will likely be humbled by their experience. But that doesn't mean that he wasn't ready or that he should have pushed Evo to seek advice from a veteran hero like Stormer. Evo had turned to Furno rather than Stormer for a reason, and it would have been irresponsible for Furno to just shrug him off even if there were plenty of times that would have been the easy thing to do.

Edited by Aanchir: Rachira of Time
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I'd have to say that Furno bugs me the most. I'm not saying he's underdeveloped or something (I wouldn't really know, since I don't watch the show or read the books or anything), but from what I've seen of him, he's just too hotheaded. Drives me nuts.

I think what you have seen of the show (or wherever your impression of Furno came from) is from the first year. He's still hotheaded, but he's matured a lot since then, to the point where he mentors later rookies like Evo.In any case, I don't think he even started out as quite as hotheaded as Tahu was at the beginning of Bionicle. Rocka fits the bill more, since in Savage Planet he rebuffs Furno's experience and thinks that his natural talent will make him the best at any mission (he, too, matures in later years, although he retains more of that hotheaded streak than Furno).
But you forget that Furno's "mentoring" was just another form of his hotheadedness. Furno considers himself experienced enough to mentor Evo, even though in the end he was clueless and Evo had to figure it out for himself. To me it seems like Furno was just feeding his already huge ego, by telling himself he was good enough to mentor. He jumps into the role as "mentor" without thinking and ultimately ends up looking somewhat humbled (as humbled as a guy with his ego can be, anyway) by his "mentoring" attempt.
Furno was not, in fact, clueless, nor was he "feeding his already huge ego". What Evo really needed to learn was knowing when to think things through before acting and when to trust his instincts. Furno's advice helped him learn that skill. Being a mentor doesn't mean always having all the answers — a good example is the ineffectiveness of the advice Aang got from his past lives in the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Sometimes, even with a mentor, you have to be able to find the answers for yourself.And furthermore, his attitude was anything but hotheaded. He wasn't giving Evo advice because he thought he would be better at it than the other heroes — he was giving advice because Evo knew he had been a rookie recently and had specifically turned to him.Was he humbled somewhat by the attempt? Of course, the same way any first-time teacher will likely be humbled by their experience. But that doesn't mean that he wasn't ready or that he should have pushed Evo to seek advice from a veteran hero like Stormer. Evo had turned to Furno rather than Stormer for a reason, and it would have been irresponsible for Furno to just shrug him off even if there were plenty of times that would have been the easy thing to do.

Furno didn't tell Evo what to do because Furno himself had no idea what to do. Furno was not deliberately withholding information from Evo to help him learn, he was withholding information because 1: he was clueless, and 2: he was busy fighting Jawblade. Watch the episode again if you don't believe me. Furno told Evo to figure it out because he had no idea, and didn't want to admit it. You can clearly see it in his body language.

 

As I recall Furno came to Evo at the beginning of the episode and told him he would be willing to help mentor him. Evo later called for help and the brilliant mentor Furno told him to figure it out. There was no real point in Evo even calling Furno if that was the only answer he was gonna get "figure it out". Yes, part of mentoring is letting the student figure things out on their own, but usually the mentor actually has to TEACH the student a little bit before doing that. Its like telling someone you just started teaching to swim to jump in the deep end and leave him there. Furno was neither good at nor qualified to mentor Evo, leading to the conclusion that Furno's mentoring was really just another form of his hotheadedness/enormous ego getting in the way of what could have been some good character development for Evo.

 

I will give props to lego for turning down the level of Furno's ego in Brain Attack and IFB. They still have a long way to go before his character reverts to a more acceptable state (like in Rise of the Rookies). Back when the show started his character was very reminiscent of Tahu, but his ego just continued to grow until it peaked in Savage Planet and Breakout. I don't mind a hotheaded character, but lego took it too far with Furno, and his "mentoring" is just another example of that. Evo would have been wiser to turn to Stormer for advice. Stormer would have been harsher, but he would have been less hotheaded and he would have given good advice. Leaving someone as inexperienced as Evo by himself on a mission was a very foolish move. When Furno was a rookie he always had someone talking him through the missions, whether it was one of the veteran heroes, or the workers back at Hero Factory, Furno was never left to fend for himself.

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I'd have to say that Furno bugs me the most. I'm not saying he's underdeveloped or something (I wouldn't really know, since I don't watch the show or read the books or anything), but from what I've seen of him, he's just too hotheaded. Drives me nuts.

I think what you have seen of the show (or wherever your impression of Furno came from) is from the first year. He's still hotheaded, but he's matured a lot since then, to the point where he mentors later rookies like Evo.In any case, I don't think he even started out as quite as hotheaded as Tahu was at the beginning of Bionicle. Rocka fits the bill more, since in Savage Planet he rebuffs Furno's experience and thinks that his natural talent will make him the best at any mission (he, too, matures in later years, although he retains more of that hotheaded streak than Furno).

 

But you forget that Furno's "mentoring" was just another form of his hotheadedness. Furno considers himself experienced enough to mentor Evo, even though in the end he was clueless and Evo had to figure it out for himself. To me it seems like Furno was just feeding his already huge ego, by telling himself he was good enough to mentor. He jumps into the role as "mentor" without thinking and ultimately ends up looking somewhat humbled (as humbled as a guy with his ego can be, anyway) by his "mentoring" attempt.

 

Furno was not, in fact, clueless, nor was he "feeding his already huge ego". What Evo really needed to learn was knowing when to think things through before acting and when to trust his instincts. Furno's advice helped him learn that skill. Being a mentor doesn't mean always having all the answers — a good example is the ineffectiveness of the advice Aang got from his past lives in the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Sometimes, even with a mentor, you have to be able to find the answers for yourself.And furthermore, his attitude was anything but hotheaded. He wasn't giving Evo advice because he thought he would be better at it than the other heroes — he was giving advice because Evo knew he had been a rookie recently and had specifically turned to him.Was he humbled somewhat by the attempt? Of course, the same way any first-time teacher will likely be humbled by their experience. But that doesn't mean that he wasn't ready or that he should have pushed Evo to seek advice from a veteran hero like Stormer. Evo had turned to Furno rather than Stormer for a reason, and it would have been irresponsible for Furno to just shrug him off even if there were plenty of times that would have been the easy thing to do.

 

Furno didn't tell Evo what to do because Furno himself had no idea what to do. Furno was not deliberately withholding information from Evo to help him learn, he was withholding information because 1: he was clueless, and 2: he was busy fighting Jawblade. Watch the episode again if you don't believe me. Furno told Evo to figure it out because he had no idea, and didn't want to admit it. You can clearly see it in his body language.

 

As I recall Furno came to Evo at the beginning of the episode and told him he would be willing to help mentor him. Evo later called for help and the brilliant mentor Furno told him to figure it out. There was no real point in Evo even calling Furno if that was the only answer he was gonna get "figure it out". Yes, part of mentoring is letting the student figure things out on their own, but usually the mentor actually has to TEACH the student a little bit before doing that. Its like telling someone you just started teaching to swim to jump in the deep end and leave him there. Furno was neither good at nor qualified to mentor Evo, leading to the conclusion that Furno's mentoring was really just another form of his hotheadedness/enormous ego getting in the way of what could have been some good character development for Evo.

 

I will give props to lego for turning down the level of Furno's ego in Brain Attack and IFB. They still have a long way to go before his character reverts to a more acceptable state (like in Rise of the Rookies). Back when the show started his character was very reminiscent of Tahu, but his ego just continued to grow until it peaked in Savage Planet and Breakout. I don't mind a hotheaded character, but lego took it too far with Furno, and his "mentoring" is just another example of that. Evo would have been wiser to turn to Stormer for advice. Stormer would have been harsher, but he would have been less hotheaded and he would have given good advice. Leaving someone as inexperienced as Evo by himself on a mission was a very foolish move. When Furno was a rookie he always had someone talking him through the missions, whether it was one of the veteran heroes, or the workers back at Hero Factory, Furno was never left to fend for himself.

 

Furno DID try to help Evo some before instructing him to figure things out on his own. He advised him not to attack the eggs, for one thing.

 

Just rewatched the beginning of the episode and it turns out I was wrong about a lot of things in my post. I guess you remember the episode better than I do. Furno was extremely overconfident about his ability to help Evo. But at the same time, it's also clear that he was trying to help and simply got in over his head. I don't think that makes him a bad character, just one with realistic flaws.

 

His ego in Savage Planet wasn't at a peak by a long shot. If anything, all the public admiration for new rookie Rocka made him incredibly insecure, and it was that, not his ego, that made him feel like he had to prove himself. Wouldn't you feel a little bit slighted if after going to great lengths to prove yourself to your team, they started referring to a young upstart as "the new you"? In any case, that episode ended with Furno and Rocka learning not to let their rivalry get in the way of them working together as a team.

 

As I see it, Furno has never been anywhere near as hotheaded as Tahu was when BIONICLE began. Tahu was so very hotheaded that he was not keen on being a part of a team, let alone leading one. Furno has never been so full of himself that he insisted on working alone. To be fair, Tahu wasn't alone in having this annoying flaw. You'd think the Toa would understand the importance of working as a team after their first shared victory in 2001, but instead, Tahu, Kopaka, and Lewa all had to have that very simple lesson beaten into their heads repeatedly before it finally sank in. But that's getting off-topic.

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As I see it, Furno has never been anywhere near as hotheaded as Tahu was when BIONICLE began. Tahu was so very hotheaded that he was not keen on being a part of a team, let alone leading one. Furno has never been so full of himself that he insisted on working alone. To be fair, Tahu wasn't alone in having this annoying flaw. You'd think the Toa would understand the importance of working as a team after their first shared victory in 2001, but instead, Tahu, Kopaka, and Lewa all had to have that very simple lesson beaten into their heads repeatedly before it finally sank in. But that's getting off-topic.

I think the reason for that is if they did, the story could've very well ended after 2001. How boring would it have been if the toa had absolutley no conflict with each other after the events of 2001? Pretty boring I would think.

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As I see it, Furno has never been anywhere near as hotheaded as Tahu was when BIONICLE began. Tahu was so very hotheaded that he was not keen on being a part of a team, let alone leading one. Furno has never been so full of himself that he insisted on working alone. To be fair, Tahu wasn't alone in having this annoying flaw. You'd think the Toa would understand the importance of working as a team after their first shared victory in 2001, but instead, Tahu, Kopaka, and Lewa all had to have that very simple lesson beaten into their heads repeatedly before it finally sank in. But that's getting off-topic.

I think the reason for that is if they did, the story could've very well ended after 2001. How boring would it have been if the toa had absolutley no conflict with each other after the events of 2001? Pretty boring I would think.
You make a good point. It's also interesting and even brings on character development.
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mindeth the cobwebs

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As I see it, Furno has never been anywhere near as hotheaded as Tahu was when BIONICLE began. Tahu was so very hotheaded that he was not keen on being a part of a team, let alone leading one. Furno has never been so full of himself that he insisted on working alone. To be fair, Tahu wasn't alone in having this annoying flaw. You'd think the Toa would understand the importance of working as a team after their first shared victory in 2001, but instead, Tahu, Kopaka, and Lewa all had to have that very simple lesson beaten into their heads repeatedly before it finally sank in. But that's getting off-topic.

I think the reason for that is if they did, the story could've very well ended after 2001. How boring would it have been if the toa had absolutley no conflict with each other after the events of 2001? Pretty boring I would think.

 

Conflict within a team doesn't have to mean the same type of conflict over and over. LEGO Ninjago is in its fourth year, and only in its first year did ONE of the heroes (Kai) think that he was better off working alone than working with the others as a team. The Toa Mata seemed ready to split up at any moment even after seeing multiple times that they were most powerful when they were together. Their decision to split up after becoming Toa Nuva seemed particularly childish, since one of their greatest new abilities as Toa Nuva was the ability to share their mask powers with their teammates. Thankfully, after 2003 it seemed like the entire cast of characters wised up, and whenever a Toa team did split up after that point, it was for a better reason than just not being able to stand each other.

 

Furthermore, with the redundant "teamwork" message out of the way, it was a lot easier for later Toa to develop as individuals in ways other than their ability to work together with others. Each of the Toa Metru and Toa Mahri had much more personal lessons to learn than the Toa Mata, who despite having diverse personalities were never really challenged to overcome individual psychological or emotional obstacles.

 

Hero Factory has not itself had a huge amount of internal conflict or character development, but one thing which it did manage to do from the very beginning is set many of the heroes up with personal obstacles, which later story arcs have since challenged them to overcome. Furno is desperate to prove himself to Stormer, and he is put to the test throughout Rise of the Rookies as well as in Savage Planet when he's worried about Rocka taking his place. Stormer has a hard time trusting rookies with a lot of responsibility after a traumatic situation during his own rookie years, but he entrusts Furno with a key part of the plan to defeat Von Nebula in Rise of the Rookies. Surge is worried that he was built with a flaw that might one day lead him to fail as a hero. This is addressed in both Ordeal of Fire and The Doom Box. Bulk is bothered by the way other heroes think of him as "dumb muscle". His is one of my favorite narratives because of its complexity: he gets very invested in reading sometime between Rise of the Rookies and Savage Planet, but still can't shake his his reputation. But in Savage Planet, Furno helps him to understand that he is both smart and strong and shouldn't be ashamed of how he was built. I think this is a sign that even with Hero Factory's often sloppy storytelling, the creators at the LEGO Group have put forth an effort to put some of the characterization lessons learned in the BIONICLE theme into practice.

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Every single IFB Hero. Think "I am a robot; I speak, I move, I don't have feelings."

Even Breez?

 

Breez was the only one with a brain. It's like everyone in IFB hates her for some odd reason. Did she ate the last Nacho.

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Every single IFB Hero. Think "I am a robot; I speak, I move, I don't have feelings."

Even Breez?

 

Breez was the only one with a brain. It's like everyone in IFB hates her for some odd reason. Did she ate the last Nacho.

 

Hmmm... Yes, I agree with that, but didn't Breez proved her fellow comrades that she is useful to them by helping the heroes survive from the IFB creatures by convincing the creatures' queen to stop the invasion? Well, in my opinion, the heroes should respect her after the invasion was over. But I wonder why they didn't listen to her until the end of the IFB episode? Is it because that its creators had failed to know that the heroes are usually loyal to Breez and treat her like a companion that she is? Hmm...

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I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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Every single IFB Hero. Think "I am a robot; I speak, I move, I don't have feelings."

Even Breez?

 

Breez was the only one with a brain. It's like everyone in IFB hates her for some odd reason. Did she ate the last Nacho.

 

Hmmm... Yes, I agree with that, but didn't Breez proved her fellow comrades that she is useful to them by helping the heroes survive from the IFB creatures by convincing the creatures' queen to stop the invasion? Well, in my opinion, the heroes should respect her after the invasion was over. But I wonder why they didn't listen to her until the end of the IFB episode? Is it because that its creators had failed to know that the heroes are usually loyal to Breez and treat her like a companion that she is? Hmm...

 

Well, actually, the fact that the other heroes don't think too highly of her ability to communicate with alien creatures was established back in 2010. So while the heroes have plenty of respect for her fighting ability and ability to keep her cool, I can understand why they would be skeptical about the possibility of a diplomatic solution.

 

I suppose it would have been really nice if Surge at least had trusted her, as a callback to how she used that same ability to communicate with ferocious monsters to save his life back in Rise of the Rookies. Surge and Breez have had a pretty strong team dynamic from the very beginning, and the writer of Invasion from Below sort of played on that in Brain Attack, so it's a bit of a shame that it didn't come up in this episode. It would have helped Surge stand out more as a character for sure.

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I suppose it would have been really nice if Surge at least had trusted her, as a callback to how she used that same ability to communicate with ferocious monsters to save his life back in Rise of the Rookies. Surge and Breez have had a pretty strong team dynamic from the very beginning, and the writer of Invasion from Below sort of played on that in Brain Attack, so it's a bit of a shame that it didn't come up in this episode. It would have helped Surge stand out more as a character for sure.

Could this have been the result of them having to rewrite the ending in 12 hours? :shrugs:

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