Hero Factory 2010

[The Dor]

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Trexxen/Veh...illiamfurno.jpg

Sorry that the text is so small, but...I think these arms might be mobile. =D

~Trexxen

The only way those arms will end up bendable is if they are made of rubber. That is not two pieces. It's one.

[satrap]

The only way those arms will end up bendable is if they are made of rubber. That is not two pieces. It's one.

that is not possible that is just a CGI (computer generated image )

[The Alchemyst]

I personally feel that the style of these sets is very different from anything we've seen in BIONICLE. I know that by saying this, I'm probably opening up for some derisive reply that I just want it to be different, or that it's a figment of my imagination, or something to that effect, but I still feel that this is about as different in feel from BIONICLE as Knights' Kingdom II was from traditional castle sets (or, for that matter, real-life medieval design styles). It's a stylistic difference, not so much a conceptual one.

In this case it could be partly due to the number of curves in the armor which are fluid, but not as obliquely geometric as original Toa Nuva armor or Toa Mata masks-- although looking in that direction I find that the Hau Nuva and Akaku Nuva, both 2002 BIONICLE parts, had the same sort of soft contours. So I guess it might be a matter of which look defines the "feel" of BIONICLE in my eyes or someone else's.

Concerning the names, it could always be something like in AVATAR where ordinary people upload their consciousness onto the robot bodies. I kind of got that feel from the synopsis in the first post, although that's from misinterpreting the subject of a certain sentence.

I mean, with that stance, Bionicle doesn't look like itself from the past, which is true.

Each year, we've had a different style.

While the original Toa had very geometric and blocky shapes, the Toa Nuva smoothed them out and gave organic masks. towards the end we got the technological look as well as more flow.

Oh and on the bendable limbs, ya'll just wish.

$500 on them not being bendable.

[cheesey skrall]

So they are rescusing humans? ;]

No one said they were even rescuing anyone, just that they are beamed across space to battle evil.

[166Eric]

I think my interest in this story solely hinges on whether the idea of mass producing heroes was supposed to be ironic or not. If this is like a Disney story with a Monsters inc set up and a Hercules-style challenging of shallow ideas of heroism, then I'm hooked. If it's actually just a factory that makes robot heroes that go fight bad guys and come home again, then I might look back and say I should've known when I read names like 'William Blaze' and 'Duncan Bluk'.

[Jippon]

Figures.com has a preview of the new Hero Factory:

Click:

You can see how an Ironman Samurai one of the heroes is constructed in the factory.

In my opinion it's just Bionicle with a name change, and that's not a good thing... I used to love Bionicle, but the latest batch of sets was just hideous

Original story on Figures.com

--

I have also posted this in a seperate topic in the news section.

[Aanchir]

I don't think so. I think that the nuva style geometry has been gone for long. When I see my recently acquired Tahu Mistika, he is already in the same style as these things. I guess when you compare HF to 2001 Bionicle it is quite different but compare it to 2007+ bionicle and at least I can't see much difference. It is actually hard for me to look at that screen shot and not think of 2009 glatorian...

Why is it that lines that could be used in so many settings tend to be the ones that last the least? When you use logic, it would appear that the opposite is true, and that they can last more time if they are more flexible in settings. But for some reason that does not seem to be the case...

But you see, my point is that the style is (as I see it) very different from recent BIONICLE. It's a lot more like the Toa Nuva when you look at the contours of the leg armor (although I still can't think of any armor pieces with soft contours like that), or the prominence of the arm/leg pistons (look at today's parts like Av-Matoran arms and Inika torsos, and you'll see that today's pistons are far thinner).

2001 BIONICLE is almost never what I use as an example of the BIONICLE "feel"-- the part designs felt almost like revamped Slizer parts, and the mask designs were far more simplistic than typical sets.Trust me, I was thinking of the Glatorian and Tahu Mistika when I was making this comparison between BIONICLE and Hero Factory-- overall, Tahu Mistika is far more geometric in appearance than this Furno character, and I struggle to find any stylistic similarities (besides the torso pistons, which are in fact a lot more prominent on the Piraka torso than on the typical BIONICLE part these days).

[cryoshell]

I´ve collected BIONICLE since it´s beginning , back in 2001 .

Now it ends, but , if you look at the replacements - HERO Factory - closely ,

you will soon start liking them .

Sure, Duncan Bulk, Mark Surge, Jimi Stringer and William Blaze suck,

but what about Preston Stormer and Natalie Breez ?

They look fine, nice colour sceme (especially Natalie) and nice looking weapons.

The Landscape is high technologie , no jungles , deserts , etc. like in the

Matoran Universe or Bara Magna .

Bionicle´s story was cool, but confusing (alternate universe ?) .

So , in fact , I´m quite happy with this new line,

and may get one or two sets .

[Leugi]

Lovely, the video feels like taken from a movie's publicity.

I think that the story could become amazing (you know, superheroes tend to have some awesome twists in their stories, both Marvel and DC can become quite awesome because of that) but can also be a disaster of repetetive setup (power rangers)

If anything, I'm hoping for the first thing, and I'm pretty sure sooner or later one of these hero robots will be too intelligent to handle and we'll have a nice super villain.

[Strakk]

The location reminds me of Metru Nui (high level of tecnology, they produce robots...).

The trailer was interesting but the "We build heroes" line is so bad.

[ultimate antrozek]

The location reminds me of Metru Nui (high level of tecnology, they produce robots...).

Then if it reminds you to Metru Nui it also reminds you to a generical futurist city from Sci-Fi stories

[vexorian]

But you see, my point is that the style is (as I see it) very different from recent BIONICLE. It's a lot more like the Toa Nuva when you look at the contours of the leg armor (although I still can't think of any armor pieces with soft contours like that), or the prominence of the arm/leg pistons (look at today's parts like Av-Matoran arms and Inika torsos, and you'll see that today's pistons are far thinner).

2001 BIONICLE is almost never what I use as an example of the BIONICLE "feel"-- the part designs felt almost like revamped Slizer parts, and the mask designs were far more simplistic than typical sets.Trust me, I was thinking of the Glatorian and Tahu Mistika when I was making this comparison between BIONICLE and Hero Factory-- overall, Tahu Mistika is far more geometric in appearance than this Furno character, and I struggle to find any stylistic similarities (besides the torso pistons, which are in fact a lot more prominent on the Piraka torso than on the typical BIONICLE part these days).

Strange... Anyway Inika and Piraka look like nothing in the rest of Bionicle. The later sets kept the build but the looks were completely different. What's strange is this: I've owned most of the slizers and all the toa mata. At least from my point of view, the differences between those lines were quite drastic.... and the toa mata/nuva style remaining at least until 2005. The hordika seem to follow the same style as the mata for me.

Nowadays compare HF with 2009 bionicle and I can't see the differences, maybe it is because we focus on different parts of a style. For example, I would find it hard not to consider the heroes as just armored agori. And the villains, one even looks like a piraka... The rest just seem to follow the guidelines used on 2009 (which is imho a good thing) . IMHO if last year they showed me pics of Von Nebula and called him a skrall or makuta, I would have believed the whole thing. Rotor is nice and is probably the one that looks the most like a slizer, I am already saving for him...

[satrap]

I was planning on getting Duncan Bulk and Preston Stormer but now I'm going to get Duncan Bulk and William Blaze after seeing the commercial. I can't wait for these to come out.

whaT

[Strakk]

Then if it reminds you to Metru Nui it also reminds you to a generical futurist city from Sci-Fi stories

Of course, but I was saying that since it seems the Bionicle team is working on this, they seem to repeat a location even if it is a new theme.

And since the sets are similar to the Bionicle ones, watching a Bionicle moving in a city of the future, it reminded me of Metru Nui.

[Still Raindrop]

Oh and on the bendable limbs, ya'll just wish.

$500 on them not being bendable.

Didn't Front just basically confirm that they are bendable?

[Bfahome]

Didn't Front just basically confirm that they are bendable?

Those arms are bugging me so much! Are they bendable or not?!

I think the new trailer, showing that the arms and legs are the same, answer that question, since one-piece leg armor wouldn't work too well if it didn't bend with the leg. Sooo… I doubt it.

I doubt too.

He basically confirmed that they aren't.

[Aanchir]

Strange... Anyway Inika and Piraka look like nothing in the rest of Bionicle. The later sets kept the build but the looks were completely different. What's strange is this: I've owned most of the slizers and all the toa mata. At least from my point of view, the differences between those lines were quite drastic.... and the toa mata/nuva style remaining at least until 2005. The hordika seem to follow the same style as the mata for me.

Nowadays compare HF with 2009 bionicle and I can't see the differences, maybe it is because we focus on different parts of a style. For example, I would find it hard not to consider the heroes as just armored agori. And the villains, one even looks like a piraka... The rest just seem to follow the guidelines used on 2009 (which is imho a good thing) . IMHO if last year they showed me pics of Von Nebula and called him a skrall or makuta, I would have believed the whole thing. Rotor is nice and is probably the one that looks the most like a slizer, I am already saving for him...

The looks of later BIONICLE sets did vary a great deal from previous lines, I'll give you that. While anatomical similarities remained (a roughly 3-4-stud-deep chest, similar torso proportions, and a similar Y-shaped body structure to the Toa Metru, for instance), I agree that the look of previous prefab torsos was a lot subtler and certainly not a critical part of the main torso template. I tend to call the pre-2006 armor conventions "frame armor" because that was how I depicted it in my early (and dreadful) BIONICLE art: a "frame" with soft armor plates occupying the "gaps" from the original parts. The Piraka torso has some frame armor, but it's a flimsier frame almost entirely supported by pistons.

The difference I'm seeing is that ignoring structure, the Hero Factory stuff seems to have much less of a focus on textures than BIONICLE. And perhaps that's just because all that we've seen so far is CGI (part of the reason I'm hesitant to touch on the larger figures, whose CGI has thus far only been preliminary). It could be that the smooth but varied forms of the Hero Factory armor pieces are an illusion, although that smoothness might be a merit in the end-- after all, Hero Factory has a lot more of a "LEGO" feel in my eyes than the texture-rich BIONICLE armor pieces.

[Omicron]

Hero Factory has a lot more of a "LEGO" feel in my eyes than the texture-rich BIONICLE armor pieces.

Are you serious? I dunno how you can see that Hero Factory has more of a Lego feel than Bionicle. They both use the same type of pieces.

-Omi

[Aanchir]

Are you serious? I dunno how you can see that Hero Factory has more of a Lego feel than Bionicle. They both use the same type of pieces.

-Omi

Yes, but Hero Factory goes for smoothness rather than complex textures like we saw in a lot of BIONICLE armor. I'm not saying it feels more LEGO in terms of structure or building style-- I'm talking the kind of aesthetic differences that separate LEGO minifigs from Mega Bloks minifigs, or Knights' Kingdom figures from Galidor figures. Nothing at all to do with the functionality of the parts.

Also note that these are just impressions. I'm not saying the final products will necessarily have this feel, or that this is somehow better or worse than BIONICLE. I'm just trying to observe the stylistic differences from BIONICLE, even if they're scarce.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Aanchir

[satrap]

Are you serious? I dunno how you can see that Hero Factory has more of a Lego feel than Bionicle. They both use the same type of pieces.

-Omi

i think bionicles are so much better that this new theme

i think bionicles are so much better that this new theme

[Delta 38]

i think bionicles are so much better that this new theme

I think it's about taste, really. Personally, I liked Bionicle story-line wise in comparison to what we know so far in Hero Factory. On the other hand, seeing how it doesn't have story restraints (i.e. the sets have to correspond with the story), this means we can see more things such as elements and weapons that we normally wouldn't get.

On the other hand, there is that horrible weapon-arm in some of the sets, which could be a good thing, but I imagine it's mostly bad because of poseability issues.

[vexorian]

A permanently attached to arm weapon can never be a good thing.

Yes, but Hero Factory goes for smoothness rather than complex textures like we saw in a lot of BIONICLE armor. I'm not saying it feels more LEGO in terms of structure or building style-- I'm talking the kind of aesthetic differences that separate LEGO minifigs from Mega Bloks minifigs, or Knights' Kingdom figures from Galidor figures. Nothing at all to do with the functionality of the parts.

Honestly, textures are relatively uncommon in Bionicle, they were strong in 2009 and 2007 but not so much in the other years (I like to pretend the Inika never happened though).

It is weird though now thanks to your post I have figured out what makes me think of 2009 bionicle when I see the heroes' cgi pics... they have textures. At least their armor keep that texture-full style you see in 2009 stuff. There are also much less pin holes than usual not unlike the ultra armored glatorian bodies we've seen last year... BTW, thanks to the lack of those holes and stuff they look even further from something LEGO would make than the toa-mata looked to me... Sure the cgi lightning on the hero pics makes the textures hard to notice, but they are there...

Now, if you are talking about blended colored pieces which I don't love, that is a difference. But perhaps the villains will have them...

Edited January 20, 2010 by vexorian

[~Wrack'n'Ruin~]

A permanently attached to arm weapon can never be a good thing.

[Omicron]

Best reply ever.

-Omi

[Aanchir]

A permanently attached to arm weapon can never be a good thing.

Honestly, textures are relatively uncommon in Bionicle, they were strong in 2009 and 2007 but not so much in the other years (I like to pretend the Inika never happened though).

It is weird though now thanks to your post I have figured out what makes me think of 2009 bionicle when I see the heroes' cgi pics... they have textures. At least their armor keep that texture-full style you see in 2009 stuff. There are also much less pin holes than usual not unlike the ultra armored glatorian bodies we've seen last year... BTW, thanks to the lack of those holes and stuff they look even further from something LEGO would make than the toa-mata looked to me... Sure the cgi lightning on the hero pics makes the textures hard to notice, but they are there...

Now, if you are talking about blended colored pieces which I don't love, that is a difference. But perhaps the villains will have them...

Nah, I was talking textures like you described. The sort on Carapar's armor, for instance, or Kalmah's. And you're right that 2007 and 2009 had probably the most of those in actual armor.

I'm also talking about textures as in the top of the Hordika foot, or the layering of Tahu's firesword, or the layering of the Toa Metru thigh armor. It doesn't have to be a patterned texture like so many Barraki parts had, but just that extra detail that, unlike the pistons, brackets, and pivot joints that decorate the Hero Factory sets, exists not to simulate a real function (well, maybe Tahu's) but just to add a bit of flair. The Hero Factory stuff has a bit of this, but not too much-- most details that aren't strictly functional (or ornamental with a specific meaning, like the chest lights presumably are here) are smoothed out and simplified. And I'll admit, this is not a far cry from some BIONICLE mask designs, especially from the early years.

About your comment on the Toa Mata looking more like something LEGO would produce-- they certainly didn't give me that impression when I first saw teasers! In 2001 I was very skeptical about the weird, smooth mask designs. This gives me sort of the same impression, except the armor matches the smoothness of the "masks" and helps to conceal the "building toy" feel.

Looking back at the front page, I can see more of the details that you mention-- I suppose I was making a mistake by focusing my attention on the recent animation and stills. But they're a lot chunkier and more technical-looking than the textures encountered in BIONICLE. I get a bit of a BIONICLE-meets-Rescue-Heroes-vibe, and I don't mean that as an insult-- non-LEGO products can be cool, too!

In conclusion, about your comment with figuring out where you see 2009-like details in Hero Factory-- that sort of understanding is part of the reason I debate so much. It helps me understand the impressions I have about certain designs, which for me is a lot more important than just a one-sentence, good-or-bad opinion like many first-glance opinions tend to be.