Lenny7092 Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) Hi, guys! I know that Hero Factory has ended and there isn’t a G2 for it, but let’s just happy for something else. We could celebrate HF’s storyline in 2014 called Invasion From Below. It’s been five years, a week, and three days since this happened, as the Hero Factory website got updated with the 2014 content, including the online game with the TV episode. So, let’s celebrate the storyline’s 5th anniversary. Basically, the storyline is about the Heroes from the Brain Attack storyline in 2013, Stormer, Furno, Bulk, Surge, Breez, Evo, and Rocka, minus Stringer and Nex for some reason again, sadly, using their new mechs called Battle Machines to protect a city called Antropolis from a race of monsters called the Jumpers, which came from underneath the city. The storyline is extremely different from HF’s past years in many ways. It filled with playset-like constraction sets this time rather than constraction action figures, as there are new minifigure versions of the Heroes while they are using their mechs and fighting giant monsters. The website became square-ish again rather than vertical when you scroll it. Unlike the first ten TV episodes, this TV episode is very unique in various unhealthy ways, sadly. It did not come in Nickelodeon or Nicktoons this time, sadly, as it is kind of exclusive in the game itself. Plus, Lego had hired Ghost Animations and whatever other company to make this episode, like some kind of a Bionicle online video, rather than having Tinseltown Toons and Threshold Studios to do it. Plus, the popular actors are changed with completely new ones that we are not familiar with. The storyline is like the least best HF storyline, but let’s celebrate its 5th anniversary to cheer ourselves up. To celebrate IFB’s 5th anniversary, let me tell you the story in there. It’s all started when a bunch of miners from Antropolis were using a drill to create a tunnel underneath the city. However, the drill disappeared into a big cave under the city and awakened the Jumpers, which disturbed them and made them think that they were attacked, so the Jumpers kidnapped the miners. Other miners called Evo to investigate the situation, as Evo drove a a small Battle Machine called the Walker Machine. However, the Jumpers destroyed the machine, and then Evo discovered that the Jumpers, including giant mutated ones, are attacking the city, so he called his team, the Alpha 1 Team, for backup. The members of the team, Stormer, Furno, Bulk, Surge, Breez, and Rocka, arrived. Stormer, Furno, and Rocka used a new giant machine that can create Battle Machines to make their own Battle Machines to go fight the monsters while the other Heroes are fighting the monsters on their own. Evo stayed behind to make himself a new Battle Machine. While the Heroes were fighting the Jumpers, which are normally small and bug-like repilitian man-sized creatures with rhino-like heads that can jump high, are strong, and always attack their enemies without getting tired, they also fought the giant mutated versions of them, which are Jaw Beasts, purple male beasts that bite, and at least a Flyer Beast, a male yellow beast that have wings that allow him to fly, has a big clawed hand and uses a tower antenna as a weapon. Along the way, Breez learned that they can communicate like people, and Rocka saw what she meant. The mechs were destroyed by the Jumpers while Stormer was kidnapped by a Jaw Beast. After Furno’s mech was destroyed, Furno was running away from another giant beast called the Splitter Beast, which is a pair of two giant beasts that combine to form a monster with two heads. One of them is the bigger bipedal orange female beast with big hands with orange claws that uses a lamppost as a weapon while the other one is a smaller male blue beast that can be carried by the orange beast like a piggy back ride. When Evo finished his mech, which is the XL Battle Machine, he used it to fight the Splitter Beast while he and Furno worked together to defeat the beast. However, only the orange beast was defeated, as the blue one kidnapped Furno. Breez called Hero reinforcements to take care of the monsters on the city, as she and the remaining Heroes went inside the cave to save the miners and their friends there. End of the winter wave part. This is where the summer wave part begins. The Heroes saved the miners and then created new mechs for all of themselves to adapt to the cave. Breez read the readings in the cave that they shouldn’t go further, but they got no choice because they wanted to save their friends. When they are travelling further into the cave, they accidentally split up into two groups. One is Rocka and Surge going to an upper part of the cave where rocks are floating and have weird magnetic and gravitational properties while the other is Bulk, Breez, and Evo going to a lower part where there are crystals and lakes made of acid. Rocka and Surge fought some Jumpers and giant mutated ones called the Tunneller Beasts, which are red insect-like female beasts with clawed hands. One of those beasts kidnapped Surge, and Rocka got out of the upper part of the cave to go after Surge. Bulk, Breez, and Evo fought some Jumpers and giant mutated ones called the Crystal Beasts, which are female beasts with transparent blue body parts and spikes that have clawed hands and staffs that grab people. This group of Heroes managed to get out of the lower part of the cave. The remaining four Heroes went to the Jumpers’ nest, which is where their leader, the Queen Beast, who is the queen and the mother of the Jumpers, live and kept Stormer, Furno, and Surge hostage. The Heroes started fighting the queen, who is the biggest and most powerful of the Jumpers and giant mutated beasts that looks like an insect version of a centaur that has blue wings that allow her to fly, clawed hands, and is armed with a staff that grabs people, but she is too tough to defeat, all but Evo’s mech, which is the Spider Battle Machine, are destroyed during their journey. When the Heroes destroyed a part of the nest that made some of the Jumper cocoons fall into a lake made of acid, which killed the Jumpers inside, the queen got so angry that she called upon her minions to destroy the Heroes. The Heroes were surrounded and having a hard time fighting the Jumpers, but Breez made a plan, and the Heroes had to give her a chance. Breez talked to and convinced the queen to stop the invasion because no one was trying to attack her kind, as the queen told his kind to stop attacking the city. Then, peace is restored, and the Heroes and the Jumpers were in good terms, as the queen returned Stormer, Furno, and Surge to the remaining Heroes. When all the Heroes started to leave the nest, one of the Jumpers accidentally triggered one of the Heroes’ guns that killed some of the cocooned Jumpers, which angered the queen so much that she falsely blamed the Heroes for this and started attacking them again. However, Stormer used a canister from the Spider Battle Machine to stop the queen and destroy the nest, which caused the acid to kill the entire Jumper species, leaving no Jumper alive. The Heroes then used the Machine to get themselves out of the cave finally. The Heroes told the city’s people to close the cave to prevent more problems and make a brigade above the city. When the Heroes were going back home, but they didin’t notice that there is the last surviving Jumper in a cocoon stowed away in their Drop Ship. The end of the entire storyline. In fact, the end of the entire Hero Factory franchise’s story, but as an unresolved cliffhanger. Now, for the sets, well, it’s interesting that Lego was trying something new for the Hero Factory by giving it its own playsets like it did for Bionicle and that the playsets look kind of like the constraction action figures, but this is not the best idea. It’s a little good, but not the best idea. I’m more of an action figure person than a playset person, to be honest. I like the monsters more than the mechs, though, because they are very much like the action figures. I hate that there are a lot of stickers on the mechs. I’m not a sticker fan, either. The Jumpers, which are included in the mech sets, are fun to launch when you press their torsos to make them jump. There are 15 sets in total. Eight of them are in the winter wave while the other seven are in the summer wave. Some of them are primarily mechs while the others are giant beasts. One of them is both mech and giant beast set, though. They all have the Hero minifigures. The mech sets are pilots by Heroes, and some of them have containers that look like Meltdown’s and Nitroblast’s from the 2010 and 2011 sets. All but one of the mech sets in the winter wave are shaped like humans while all but one of the ones in the summer wave look like crawling insects. There is a crawling mech set in the winter wave, which is the Evo Crawler set, which is a very small set with three legs. Not much from it, but it looks cute. Lol. The human-shaped mech set in the summer wave is the Rocka Digger set, which is a very small set with the chainsaw hands. Not much from it, but it looks cute, too. Lol. Each Hero has his or her own mech set, even though that Surge is sharing his with Rocka in a summer set called the Surge & Rocka Combo Machine, which can split into two mechs where each is piloted by one of these Heroes. Plus, Evo and Rocka have more mechs than the other Heroes, where each has one mech. Some is the sets have Heroes without their mechs and are fighting the monsters alone. The Heroes have new molds that are like improvements to the minifigures in the Bionicle G1 era. The Heroes look like their 1.0 versions in 2010, but Bulk’s and Surge’s helmets are different for some reason while the episode is where their helmets look like the 1.0 versions. The Jumpers in the winter wave have black torsos while the summer wave sets feature Jumpers with blue torsos. There are six types of those Jumpers, and they are ones with black torsos with red legs, black torsos with orange legs, black with green, blue with red, blue with orange, and blue with green. The blue and red one is not shown in any of the sets for some strange reason, but you can mix and match if that makes you happy, and it is exclusive in the episode, I think, and the online game. The summer wave sets also have Jumper cocoons that are both eggs for the Jumpers and prisons for captured Heroes. They are made of four pieces. I think they are kind of cool. Good for storage. The giant beasts’ heads are made of two main jaw pieces, where one is longer than the other, and they can have spikes on them. The beasts also have those pointy black things on their tails, hands, and feet, and there are gold versions of these pieces in the Queen Beast’s Staff, if you know what I mean. Plus, they have these new foot pieces. All Jumpers in general are primarily black and with blue as a secondary color for most of the beasts. As how I feel about the sets, well, they are pretty cool, but are not my favorite HF sets in general. It’s cool that the mechs have these new seat pieces that can connect the Hero. Plus, it’s awesome that you can mix and match the equipment in the summer mechs as well as splitting up the Splitter Beast into two smaller beasts. I love Bulk’s mech because of the drill, Evo’s XL mech because it’s a big mech, like the Hulk from Marvel, and Surge’s and Rocka’s mech because it’s a big mech and can split up into two mechs. I like that you can connect pieces from the winter mechs to Evo’s XL Machine to give it four more arms with arsenal. As for the beasts, I think they are my favorite in this wave because, as I said before, are more like action figures than how the mechs are. I love the claws and heads. The normal Jumpers are cute. I love the Splitter Beast and the Queen Beast the best. Plus, I love the grabbing staffs from the Crystal Beast and the Queen Beast, as well as the Flyer Beast’s and the Queen Beast’s wings. It’s sad that there’s no Stringer or Nex in the sets. I would love to see what their mechs would look like. I wish the red and blue normal Jumper could have been included. As for the episode, I feel kind of negative for it, but it does have a few positive qualities. I love the graphics for how it looked like an improvement from the first ten episodes by having pupils, organically moving mouths, it uses the Heroes’ 1.0 helmets in a way, and the Heroes look like their action figure selves rather than their minifigure selves (they look like their 2.0 selves, in other words). However, the Heroes have four fingers per hand instead of five for some reason. I mean, this isn’t 2010 or 2011. We moved on. The Heroes look kind of plain-looking, but they need to fit onto the mechs, anyway. I love how the monsters look in the episode. They look more realistic menacing reptiles. Man, they are quite tough, like the Hulk from Marvel. As for the story, well, there isn’t much to it, sadly. There isn’t much character development, but I could see that the Heroes aren’t trusting Breez in talking with the creatures until the end when they are having a hard time fighting them in the nest. Breez is quite clever with her ability to talk to animals. What’s up with those Heroes? Seriously. She’s always helpful for them, even in the past with her ability. I mean, did they forget? Plus, where’s Stringer, Nex, Zib and Quadal, and Makuro? They disappeared for some reason? Why? Anyway, it’s interesting that Rocka acts like a second-in-command for the Heroes when Stormer and Furno were kidnapped. Well, he is one of the main protagonists in the franchise, after all. It’s cool that the Heroes can build their mechs like Lego sets, but why do it when there is an emergency? Plus, these things are getting easily destroyed like tissue paper. That’s being ridiculous as well. Plus, the Heroes are missing some weapons from their sets in the episode, like Furno’s sword in the Splitter Beast set. However, I do like the part where Stormer was having a little trouble with his mech. Lol. The monsters are like the Hulk, as they break everything in their path easily, and they don’t rest until everything opposing them is destroyed. That’s very cool. I see that they want peace for themselves, but they felt threatened by their confusion with the drill, so they attacked. I understand that they’re animals because of that. Not only animals. They are actually people who can communicate, like the animals in Hero Factory’s Savage Planet storyline. Sadly, I feel bad for the creatures for how they died because of the Heroes’ action against them. I mean, the Heroes only cared about protecting the city, even if it means making the creatures extinct (well, there’s one that they are unknowingly carrying). These things were trying to have peace, but this is ridiculous. What were the creators of the episode thinking? They at first thought about making peace, but they changed the ending where the “extinction” happened. This is just being silly. Also, why the unresolved cliffhanger? I hate those. It’s like Brain Attack and Bionicle 2001-2010. Again, this is just being silly. Well, we did see the Heroes’s heads without their helmets for the first time (unlike the Bionicle movies and the first ten HF episodes). They look a little plain generic, but alright. I mean, they don’t look too ugly. Well, maybe a little bit. Why don’t the other companies do that’s in the past? Now, for how the episode is made overall, I find the change of companies and how things went with the storyline weird. I mean, seriously, what’s going on, Lego? Why the new companies and the new unpopular voice actors that we are not familiar with? It could do much better than that. And then, the franchise ended. The episode is kind of like the Brain Attack episode in 2013, but much worse. This is a polar opposite of how you can say good things about Steven Universe. Dang. The episode is like the worst of the episodes. Why didn’t have it played on Nickelodeon or Nicktoons, too? That’s also ridiculous. Plus, the storyline shows that the constraction category is going downhill (even Legends of Chima’s action figures in 2014 weren’t shown in that year’s Toy Fair for some reason). As for the game, it is where you play as the Heroes as you collect three pieces for the mechs. You have to watch out for the normal Jumpers, otherwise they will defeat you. When you completed your mech, you go to fight against a beast, who is a boss in the level. You also have to watch out for obstacles in that monster’s area. If your mech is destroyed, you go back to rebuild it to continue fight the beast until you defeat it. The online game is one thing, and there is an app version of it, where you buy two downloadable pieces of content to play two more levels. I played the game. I say that the game is fun, but not the best in my opinion. Plus, you can’t have Evo’s Walker mech, fight the Flyer Beast, or the beasts that form the Splitter Beast individually. That’s sad. As for the combo models, well, they look cool, but not the best, either. The mech combos look cool. I like the monster combos the best, though. Sadly, they are not canon. As for the comics in the instruction manuals in the sets, well, they look good, but not the best. I wish they could have longer stories, and it’s too bad that they aren’t canon. So, there you have it. That storyline is like the worst of the HF storylines. No joke. I’m sorry if I sounded negative in some parts, but that’s how I feel, to be honest. We had Bionicle coming back in 2015, anyway. Thumbs up for that. Plus, some of the new pieces introduced in the storyline are featured in some Lego themes after HF ended, like Legends of Chima, Bionicle 2015-2016, Ninjago, Star Wars, and Lego Dimensions, as they have those pointy insect things, the monster feet, the Heroes’ arms, and the Queen Beast’s wing pieces that look like Ben 10 sets’ tail pieces, but they are skeletal. The episode was called the most watched video in the Lego website, anyway. Anyway, how would you celebrate the 5th anniversary of the storyline? Plus, what is your favorite set in the storyline? Favorite characters? Favorite parts of the episode? What reminds you of the storyline? Well, I would rewatch the episode and play with the IFB sets. I collected all of the sets. My favorite characters are Rocka and Bulk. My favorite parts are when Stormer is having trouble with his mech, Breez wresting the Flyer Beast, Surge and Rocka using their Combo mech, Bulk kicking some monster butt, and Breez making peace with the monsters. The things that remind me of the storyline are: 1. The Pacific Rim movies in 2013 and 2018 - they are very similar. Lol. 2. Bionicle - many things. Nidhiki is like the Queen Beast, the Bahrag are like the Queen Beast, the Visorak, The Skull Spiders, the Shadow Traps, and the Elemental Beasts are like the Jumpers, and how the 2008 Toa Nuva Makuta, the Toa Uniters, and Umarak combine with their little partners remind me of the Splitter Beast. 3. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014 - the Rhino reminds me of Jaw Beast. 4. Kirby: Right Back at Ya! - Dyna Blade and her chick are like the Queen Beast and her children because the mother protects her baby, and if anything threatens the baby, the mother can get angry and attack the ones that caused this. The mothers are very powerful and giant beasts, so they are hard to be defeated. Plus, they are not actually evil, as they just want to protect their babies, even if it means harming good-hearted and are stubborn when they listen to them. Edited January 20, 2019 by Lenny7092 Quote I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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.