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Did Hero Factory Succeed in Carrying Bionicle's Torch?


Toa o Uria

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Yeah, it really depends on what you mean by "carrying its torch". It did an amazing job of not just keeping the constraction category alive, but revolutionizing it with a new, modular building system that could continue to be expanded upon for years to come. Story-wise, it never really matched Bionicle's ambitious multi-year saga, but then, it wasn't really trying to—Hero Factory went for a more episodic, serialized approach to storytelling, and experimented with user-generated content through early endeavors like the Hero Factory hotline and Hero Recon Team. Ultimately, I'd consider it to have carried the torch rather well—improving upon some things, experimenting with others, and generally pushing the product category forward so that, when LEGO did decide to bring Bionicle back, they could do so in a much better position than the theme was in when they ended it.

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Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

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As others have said, for me, not really. I thrive on story.

Aside from that, though, I liked the new style of pieces, although found that they could end up leading to overly-simplified sets. (Thankfully, new-Bionicle has incorporated the new pieces well, keeping the sets interesting.)

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I think Hero Factory was everything they wanted to do with Bionicle but never got a chance to work in before the end. It brought plenty of new things to the table with the new CCBS, but the story was kind of a mess since they were trying to not be as convoluted as Bionicle but weren't quite sure which direction they wanted to take it.

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I think so, because it kept the constraction category alive. I loved how it reused some old parts from Bionicle in 2010 and then introduce the CCBS in the later years, which influenced Bionicle and other themes to use it as well.:) Hero Factory's story also was more simplistic than Bionicle's. It got things that Bionicle G1 could have gotten, which included a TV series. We heard that Universal Studios was getting the film rights to make a theatrical live-action movie, that news was so amazing that Bionicle could have done that.

 

It's a shame that we had to see the theme go. The story may not be finished and the live-action movie was never made, but Hero Factory will not be forgotten. It will be remembered for its great exceptional things that may one day make Bionicle do the same thing, but much better.:)

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

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Hero Factory was, and is, very different from Bionicle.

 

But it was the theme that made the transitions Bionicle could not make, and did a bunch of cool innovations Bionicle could not do.

 

It didn't really carry Bionicle's torch as much as it carried the constraction category as a whole's torch. It didn't carry Bionicle's story, or its building system, or anything really belonging to Bionicle.

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Let's face it, CCBS was the only good thing that came out of Hero Factory.

Why you think that CCBS is the only thing that good about Hero Factory? Somebody may argue about the storyline of Hero Factory been lackluster compared to Bionicle, but both Hero Factory and Bionicle are both different themes and I glad that not all Lego theme need to been same like Bionicle. The heroes characters are also has they personality developed enough to tell to story.

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Let's face it, CCBS was the only good thing that came out of Hero Factory.

 

I'd disagree with that. Even if you look at the things Hero Factory did that didn't pay off, the fact that it did those things means the LEGO Group has that experience to look back on. So for example, I doubt they'd try doing some custom-figure service like Hero Recon Team again. And as fun as Hero Factory FM was, it didn't seem to find much of an audience, so I don't expect LEGO to invest in a podcast again for future themes. Any mistake LEGO made with Hero Factory is a mistake they don't have to make again in the future.

 

And there are other things Hero Factory did that arguably did pave the way for future developments. Who's to say that LEGO Ninjago would have gotten a two-episode TV special its first year or a full TV series in its second if Hero Factory hadn't first proven a LEGO theme could handle a TV miniseries? Also, the use of Hero Core codes in online games and apps could be considered an integral step in the LEGO Group's ongoing efforts to integrate digital experiences with their physical products (other examples include the pattern recognition technology used in LEGO Life of George and LEGO Fusion, the app bricks from this year's LEGO Ultra Agents sets, and the toy tags in LEGO Dimensions). Even the 2012–2014 Hero Factory packaging has a legacy, helping the LEGO Group move towards more sustainable packaging, even though I wish we still had that excellent style of packaging instead of the much less functional cardboard boxes used for this year's Bionicle sets.

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