Is LEGO playing it OVER CAUTIOUS with Hero Factory?

[pocketmego]

I get the impression sometimes that LEGO is kind of worried about HF getting too popular?

Limited advertising, not much multi-media crossover, 1 or 2 short films per wave (and those only actually air on TV once).

And those bags take up a little tiny spot on the Lego shelf, often next to HUGE displays of other things, like Friends, Chima, and of course STAR WARS.

No sets costing more than $60 tops.

Why do they treat this line like they would prefer if not to succeed?

I wonder what they would do if it suddenly blew up into a huge successs? Are they even prepared to go into super-heavy production and produce more sets and models?

I would add more to this discussion, but I'm honestly perplexed. I really would like to get more opinions and thoughts on the matter.

[ToaJaller78]

They ARE cramming Legends Of Chima down our throats. And next month's Store calendar and Club Mag has HERO Factory Written all over it. Don't belive Me?

http://club.lego.com/en-us/events/

http://club.lego.com/en-us/insidescoop/hf-sneak-peek/

[Zachattacx]

IMO think about Bionicle.....that got over with a bunch a LEGO peeps and customers,lead to 4 movies and lasted 8/9 years.

Lego didn't realize around the 07-08 time of the series it had lost its touch,and continued to make sets for 2 years later until they finally realized that it had lost its touch.

That leads me to think HF will never be that success due to the over cautious attitude it may end up like Bionicle.We are already within 3 years of the line and the sets are getting more complex like Bionicle did within that timespan in the present day HF.

Heck HF has a storyline,but not as complex as bionicle,and it may just get there within the next year or so especially with the revival of Nebula and the Brains underground leading to a "conspiracy".

IMO this is a really hard topic to talk about,because we don't know Lego's objective with this theme.

[ToaBulk98]

I think it's because BIONICLE sort of failed in the end, so just think what would happen if Hero Factory did.

Hopefully, they stop playing it safe and just say, "To heck with it," and BOOM, proper show, POW, more sets, SHA-ZAM, Hero Factory-BIONICLE crossover.

Edited June 6, 2013 by ToaBulk98

[pocketmego]

I think it's because BIONICLE sort of failed in the end, so just think what would happen if Hero Factory did.

Hopefully, they stop playing it safe and just say, "To heck with it," and BOOM, proper show, POW, more sets, SHA-ZAM, Hero Factory-BIONICLE crossover.

while i doubt we'll probably ever see an HF/Bionicle Crossover...I salute your use of the word Shazam.

[Dorek]

I think it's just a matter of analyzing what works for them and what doesn't work. BIONICLE, with its super multimedia approach to everything, wasn't working for LEGO. The only obligatory thing about Hero Factory is basically the fact that it's a constraction line; temporary things like Ultrabuilds aside, LEGO knows that a dedicated constraction line fills a niche audience that's successful on its own terms. It trimmed the fat around what BIONICLE was and kept the essentials to making a profitable line.

It's not a matter of playing it safe, it's just taking the past into consideration and moving forward with the necessities to keep the line engaging. If they'd rather cut the number of sets to use the budget for something else, that's a pretty simple business decision.

[Chro]

Hero Factory-BIONICLE crossover.

No. Please no. Something tells me that a crossover of those wouldn't go well. (Besides, it's already confirmed impossible in both universes.)

[ToaBulk98]

No. Please no. Something tells me that a crossover of those wouldn't go well. (Besides, it's already confirmed impossible in both universes.)

How is it confirmed impossible?

[Aanchir]

How is it confirmed impossible?

Back when Greg Farshtey was still on BZPower, he was asked if there could ever be a Hero Factory/BIONICLE crossover and he confirmed that there would not, as the two themes do not take place in the same multiverse. It's sort of like how there would never be a canon crossover between BIONICLE and the real world.

Anyway, I don't think The LEGO Group is worried about Hero Factory becoming too popular. I think it's more a matter of gauging interest and determining what does or doesn't work. For instance, even in BIONICLE the larger sets tended not to sell as well as smaller ones that could be bought more or less on impulse. I also don't think Drop Ship sold all that well compared to the smaller sets. Thus, instead of sticking with a tradition that doesn't work for them, TLG kept all subsequent sets at a $35 price point or lower.

Similarly, Hero Factory started out with a four-part miniseries, both to gauge interest and follow up on the contract that had been signed with Tinseltown Toons for the BIONICLE movies. But later waves reduced the amount of content for new episodes, probably because it was determined that there wasn't enough interest to justify that kind of investment each year.

On the other hand, Hero Factory started out without any books, but in 2012 Scholastic began releasing chapter books and "young readers" guide books. Chances are this was because with the dwindling sales of the BIONICLE books in the theme's later years, books were initially deemed a risky investment, but the incredible success of the Ninjago books in 2011 showed that there was still an audience that would appreciate reading stories based on LEGO themes.

It's all a matter of gauging demand for additional media platforms. Even new themes like Ninjago and Legends of Chima have to start out with a somewhat cautious marketing strategy. Legends of Chima is getting a full TV series, but that didn't stop Cartoon Network from airing the first two or three episodes far before the rest of the series, probably to gauge viewership rankings and determine what the ideal time slot would be for regular weekly airings. And the only reason it got such an expansive media profile its first year is because with Ninjago, The LEGO Group already proved their ability to command an audience for a diverse range of media. Ninjago had to prove itself with a 44-minute TV special before it got approved for a full series.

[dviddy]

They aren't playing it cautious, they're being smart. The truth of the matter is, as Kevin Hinkle has said, HF and other constraction sets sell "well enough to not get cancelled". BIONICLE was an expansive multimedia platform that existed at a perfect storm of multimedia crossover, a time that we probably won't see as intensely and as deeply again.

I love HF, and I love the new parts and the constraction stuff, but the reality is that it's not a big money-maker, and that is why it doesn't get the big push. A big push would be a big waste of TLG's resources. I love the line, but it doesn't sell the way early and mid-years BIONICLE did. Like Dorek said, it's a niche-market that does what it needs to do financially, and won't probably do much more.

[Chro]

How is it confirmed impossible?

As Aanchir said, Greg told us it was impossible. It's confirmed that there are humans in the universe of Hero Factory, but it's also confirmed that there are no humans in the universe of Bionicle, which means the two are separate.

[ZORK64]

I second what Dorek, Aanchir and Darth Vader (that's awesome, I get to agree with Darth Vader) already said.

LEGO doesn't play "over cautious" with Hero Factory. It's a constraction line, and those aren't the bread and butter of LEGO.

Plus, I'm totally happy with the pricepoint of the sets. I never liked the absurd prices for the larger Bionicle sets, so I'm totally happy that even large suckers like Fire Lord, Scorpio, Stormer XL or Furno XL don't cost more than a Deluxe Transformer. I can live with sets like Speeda Demon being a bit more expensive, but some of the larger Bionicle sets were insanely expensive, and that doomed them sometimes to become shelfwarmers til their prices were dropped big time (I bought a few of the larger ships from the Mistika line for something around 10-15 € each).

[bacem]

As Aanchir said, Greg told us it was impossible. It's confirmed that there are humans in the universe of Hero Factory, but it's also confirmed that there are no humans in the universe of Bionicle, which means the two are separate.

there are humans in HF universe?

[Dorek]

Yup. Promotional push about Hero Factory hotline aside, Earth has been officially acknowledged as a planet in the system, and has been mentioned in at least one mission.

[ZORK64]

Some of the early commercials were also apparently set on earth or another planet with humans. I remember a spot were one of the villians interrupted a few kids playing basketball until the heroes showed up... or something like that.

[Chro]

Some of the early commercials were also apparently set on earth or another planet with humans. I remember a spot were one of the villians interrupted a few kids playing basketball until the heroes showed up... or something like that.

Yep. Those specifically were probably non-canon (I feel weird saying that about HF) since they were just advertisements, but there are humans in the universe nonetheless.

[DraikNova]

It's pretty obvious why: HF's target audience doesn't seem to want a complex story, so why spend money on making one?

[ZORK64]

I wouldn'n necessarily say that kids don't want a complex story. When I was that age, I enjoyed stories who were to some extend complex. I remember that I started to dig a bit into the expanded universe of Star Wars, for example.

However, a less complex story allows LEGO to appeal to a larger demographic. It's easier for newer fans to jump into it without reading tons of background information. Also, one of the key aspects of LEGO is to build your own things, create your own characters and stories, and a loose story like Hero Factory makes that easier, but I already talked about that here.

[Aanchir]

I wouldn'n necessarily say that kids don't want a complex story. When I was that age, I enjoyed stories who were to some extend complex. I remember that I started to dig a bit into the expanded universe of Star Wars, for example.

However, a less complex story allows LEGO to appeal to a larger demographic. It's easier for newer fans to jump into it without reading tons of background information. Also, one of the key aspects of LEGO is to build your own things, create your own characters and stories, and a loose story like Hero Factory makes that easier, but I already talked about that here.

Well, I think on the whole there are many parts of today's pop-cultural landscape that don't tend to favor complex storytelling and world-building the way the late 90s and early 2000s did. Obviously there's some room for complex storytelling, but kids' pop culture today doesn't seem to revolve as much around franchises like Pokémon which encourage kids to memorize hundreds of factoids. Instead, look at one of the video games that has a huge, kid-oriented marketing profile today: Grumpy Sparrows. A lot of its success comes from the fact that it's something people of all ages can more or less "jump into" enjoying without any background knowledge.

At the same time, that's not to say kids aren't open to these kinds of dense stories. It's just not the sort of thing that you can invariably rely on as a mechanism for selling toys. Even when BIONICLE was new, that kind of thing was a real gamble — it was just a gamble that happened to pay off for a few years. And in the long run the ever-shifting, ever-expanding story managed to alienate lots and lots of people.

EDIT: That's a peculiar word filter. Y'all know what I meant.

Edited June 8, 2013 by Aanchir

[catman45]

Well, I wouldn't say they are being "over cautious", but I do have to agree that it is quite strange to shove all of the sets in a space on a shelf next to larger displays. On the other hand, I agree with one of you that the later Mistika sets were were absurdly priced. One day the sets were like 70 dollars, and then they are on sale for 60. Well, I say: some sale.

[CabooseBM]

While I understand Hero Factory doesn't really have the numbers to support a robust media push, I do feel LEGO is doing a poor job of giving even the minimal amount of media support, the website only barely functions and various media is hard to access or poorly advertised.

I don't even want a big media push at this point, I just want what we have better organized.

[Dorek]

This topic is still alive? Lol.

I don't mind the different multimedia approaches so much, it's fun to see what they come up with, although some things work better than others. A lot of the stuff this year kind of fell on its face a bit (the website is awful, the book series got axed, we stopped having comics) so I'm hoping they go back to what worked for them beforehand. Trying new things would be fine too; as long as they don't just stagnate and wait for the line to wither away, I'm fine.

[catman45]

I agree with you, Dorek. The website is poorly made. I liked the older site before Brain Attack. It was easier to navigate and had more to do, like more games and such. Now, when I go on the site, I jump when Scarox makes those noises. I guess Scarox really is scary...