Bfahome Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 (edited) I thought Rocka was his last name…? Skrall is a s.... I started collecting action figures way too late.. I noticed that on BZPower it said there is going to be a one hour special in 2012. Maybe HF is going to end soon after all. "Skrall is a she" is a minor meme that originated back in '08 when we were discussing the first Glatorian pictures. Random speculation that became an in-joke. Also, having an hour-long special doesn't necessarily mean it's ending. RotR was two hours, and OoF was going to be one hour. Edited June 24, 2011 by Bfahome Quote
Aethersprite Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 OoF was only half an hour, no? Anyway, glad to see that we'll see the heroes animated, although it was kinda expected, I'm happy to see it confirmed. Quote
Bfahome Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 OoF was only half an hour, no? Anyway, glad to see that we'll see the heroes animated, although it was kinda expected, I'm happy to see it confirmed. The original announcement said it would be an hour, but I think they ran into some trouble with it or something so it got cut to half an hour. Quote
Jagersmann Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 Rocka is a man, en of the discussion. My link Looks like the all the beast in Quatros are bio-mechanical or techno-organic. That's good to hear, because they are real animals and there is real life in this universe. I was reading Nex's bio and I remembered that in "Ordeal Of Fire" writers changed Evo and Nex personalities... Quote
SpiderSpaceman Posted June 25, 2011 Posted June 25, 2011 I just realized I have a few severely 'wanted parts' so I can use hero factory better with system This and this but with a ball snap where the pin is. And... that would pretty much do it. Quote
Aanchir Posted June 25, 2011 Posted June 25, 2011 The fact that Witch Doctor had the last name "Witch" when he was a good guy is slightly off-putting, but it's more than made up for by the awesomeness of the first name "Aldous". The videos are pretty good, and I like the jungle remix of the Hero Factory theme. But the narrator's script for the Scorpio vs. Rocka XL video is so, so awful. And I can't help but notice that Stringer doesn't get a video. It wouldn't be so egregious if they hadn't managed to feature every other character in the two commercials. The stills on the Story page lead me to believe that the animation for the Savage Planet episode will be every bit as good as the others. Can't believe they chose a still of Bulk with such a dumb look on his face, though. I'm very disappointed that the Gadgets and Weapons page doesn't include any new ones other than the Skull Staff. Main reason I'm disappointed is that this means the blasters Scorpio, Witch Doctor, and Rocka XL carry will probably never get names. I'm perfectly satisfied with TLG's decision to keep using the Thornax/Zamor combo as the primary launcher of Hero Factory, but I'd like it if they at least went to the effort of giving them story roles besides generic blasters (especially when they did so with such consistency in the first two waves). Anyway, over at HeroSector01 it's becoming hard to keep pace with the influx of story information due to the HeroFactory.LEGO.com web updates. Personally, I'm trying to figure out the best colors for the templates (as usual, sticking to official colors taken directly from LDD). Previously, I had Warm Gold as the primary color for Akiyama Makuro's template. Now that a set is out with that color (something which, granted, I had plenty of time to prepare for), I need to come up with new colors for his page. Still loving the Hero Factory theme, and hoping to get at least a couple of the next wave's sets! Quote
Omicron Squad Leader Posted June 25, 2011 Posted June 25, 2011 Good going, LEGO! You've now repeated one plot device 3 times, and another twice! Von Nebula, Fire Lord AND Witch Doctor (or Aldy) are all somehow related to the Hero Factory, and Witch Doctor is hungry for Quaza power, just as Fire Lord was thirsty for jet fuel! Great twists right there! Sorry for the overly sarcastic attitude, but this character had so much going for him, but to me it seems like he's been let down already. Going to wait for Savage Planet to air to make my final judgement. Quote
Aanchir Posted June 25, 2011 Posted June 25, 2011 Good going, LEGO! You've now repeated one plot device 3 times, and another twice! Von Nebula, Fire Lord AND Witch Doctor (or Aldy) are all somehow related to the Hero Factory, and Witch Doctor is hungry for Quaza power, just as Fire Lord was thirsty for jet fuel! Great twists right there! Sorry for the overly sarcastic attitude, but this character had so much going for him, but to me it seems like he's been let down already. Going to wait for Savage Planet to air to make my final judgement. How was Fire Lord related to the Hero Factory? He was just a mining robot before he turned evil. Being a pre-existing robot in the same universe hardly reeks of repetition, in my eyes. Meanwhile, being power-hungry is a classic villainous motivation. We've known for quite a while that he was draining the planet's Quaza; what motivation did you expect him to have besides personal gain? It always bothers me when people take claim a character we don't know "had a lot going for him/her". It's just as silly as claiming a clearly unfinished sketch model for a set is better than the final set. Whether or not Witch Doctor is an interesting character, we never were given any reason to expect him to be a deeper or more original character than he actually turned out to be. We may have speculated about possible origins or backstory, but our speculation was never a part of the character in any form. In a similar sort of situation, my twin brother expected Rocka to be a veteran hero who had been stationed on Quatros prior to the Hero Factory alert call, rather than a new rookie. But Rocka had as much potential to be a rookie as to be a veteran, and as much potential to be a boy as to be a girl. In that sense, any rough idea without any details will have more potential than the same idea when the details are filled in. If the details prove unsatisfactory, it doesn't mean the rough idea was more satisfactory than the final details. It just means there were other possibilities, perhaps better or worse but still no more likely than the one that turned out to be true. Sorry for the rant. I'm not trying to jump to Witch Doctor's defense or TLG's, but rather just trying to speak out against a personal pet peeve. None of the new information about Witch Doctor changes anything we knew or had reason to suspect about him before. It just cancels out all other speculation about his character. Quote
Brickthing Posted June 25, 2011 Posted June 25, 2011 How was Fire Lord related to the Hero Factory? He was just a mining robot before he turned evil. Being a pre-existing robot in the same universe hardly reeks of repetition, in my eyes. Meanwhile, being power-hungry is a classic villainous motivation. We've known for quite a while that he was draining the planet's Quaza; what motivation did you expect him to have besides personal gain? He could have simply wanted to destroy Quatros, because he's an evil skeleton robot. However, all the arc-villains so far have been acting bad because of a perceived wrong-doing against them or because they were driven crazy - none of them are evil for the sake of being evil or because they deeply enjoy it. This is probably to keep the Hero Factory story from being too dark, and so that the Heroes can save the day and the villains without killing/locking them away forever, although this unfortunately wasn't the case for Von Nebula (yet?). Sorry for the rant. I'm not trying to jump to Witch Doctor's defense or TLG's, but rather just trying to speak out against a personal pet peeve. None of the new information about Witch Doctor changes anything we knew or had reason to suspect about him before. It just cancels out all other speculation about his character. Most of the speculation about Rocka and Witch Doctor's characters were based on the sets themselves, so it's slightly disappointing that the actual characters are more stereotypical origins that don't relate to specific details about the sets. We might find out reasons along the line, but currently there's little explanation for Rocka having golden armour and being portrayed as the main Hero, while our speculated reason of Rocka being a veteran stationed on Quatros would have. Quote
Aanchir Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 We might find out reasons along the line, but currently there's little explanation for Rocka having golden armour and being portrayed as the main Hero, while our speculated reason of Rocka being a veteran stationed on Quatros would have. As far as Rocka is concerned, I am a bit worried that it'll be another Nex/Evo instance of "New hero built using the latest tech!" It'd explain the fancy golden armor, but at the same time wouldn't bode well for future years of sets, which would have to use more and more complex gimmicks to demonstrate that "newness" or risk upsetting continuity by having the brand-new 5.0 rookies looking less advanced or refined. Something else I feel I ought to point out about the whole Witch Doctor situation is that he's not a complete repeat of Fire Lord, judging from the story info we've seen so far. Fire Lord was never suggested to have any villainous tendencies before he began absorbing too much energy. In this way, as my brother and I have been observing since Fire Lord's nature first became apparent, it's like he's driven by a drug addiction, going to more and more extreme means to get his "fix". A year or so in the HF equivalent of rehab, and he could be back on mining duty. Witch Doctor, on the other hand, had a jealousy of heroes even before getting pumped up with Quaza, and the bios make it sound like he was up to no good in going to Quatros in the first place, intending to mine Quaza illegally from the get-go. Thus, rather than being driven crazy by the power he stole, he had villainous tendencies to begin with and continues to take Quaza not to satisfy some addiction, but rather because he has the means to do so and lacks the self-control (or incentive) to place any limits on his ambitions. Witch Doctor is a lot more villainous than Fire Lord in this respect. Now, the TV episode/episodes for this series could potentially disprove this interpretation. Perhaps his skull staff is a dark artifact that influences his thoughts and compels him to continue his pursuits for self-empowerment. The heroes could break its spell over him by destroying the staff. From a Hero Factory perspective that could be more original, but it'd be a little too Knights' Kingdom for my tastes (but then, Von Nebula being sucked into his staff is already fairly similar to that theme's conclusion). Alternatively, the episode could make his motivations just as shallow as Omicron Squad Leader interprets them to be. Sadly, this may be more likely if this is anything like Ordeal of Fire, with only one 22-minute episode. But either way, my point is just that, having seen neither OoF or the Savage Planet episode, I came to interpret Witch Doctor's motivations and Fire Lord's fairly differently. Quote
Aethersprite Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 That reminds me: Are the white curved spike pieces on Witch Doctor's back and upper arms new? I haven't seen them around before. Quote
Siegfried Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 That reminds me: Are the white curved spike pieces on Witch Doctor's back and upper arms new? I haven't seen them around before. They come with the Ninjago set, Garmadon's Dark Fortress. Quote
TheRedGuy Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 He could have simply wanted to destroy Quatros, because he's an evil skeleton robot. However, all the arc-villains so far have been acting bad because of a perceived wrong-doing against them or because they were driven crazy - none of them are evil for the sake of being evil or because they deeply enjoy it. This is probably to keep the Hero Factory story from being too dark, and so that the Heroes can save the day and the villains without killing/locking them away forever, although this unfortunately wasn't the case for Von Nebula (yet?). When we first saw the descriptions, it said he wanted to drain the energy. Not just "Quaza get". And I don't think they're trying to keep HF from being dark either, just watch Fire Lord's hand get ripped off. Good going, LEGO! You've now repeated one plot device 3 times, and another twice! Von Nebula, Fire Lord AND Witch Doctor (or Aldy) are all somehow related to the Hero Factory, and Witch Doctor is hungry for Quaza power, just as Fire Lord was thirsty for jet fuel! Great twists right there! Sorry for the overly sarcastic attitude, but this character had so much going for him, but to me it seems like he's been let down already. Going to wait for Savage Planet to air to make my final judgement. Like Aanchir said, How the heck is Fire Lord related to Hero Factory? He was just some mining bot. He related to Stormer tough. Which is obviously going to happen to Aldous again. You know, like he once trained stormer? They come with the Ninjago set, Garmadon's Dark Fortress. Actually, it's a Ben 10 tail. Not saying it wasn't used in that set tough. Quote
Siegfried Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 Actually, it's a Ben 10 tail. Not saying it wasn't used in that set tough. Ahh yeah, that's where I saw it earlier. I'm proud to make this mistake. Quote
CabooseBM Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 He could have simply wanted to destroy Quatros, because he's an evil skeleton robot. However, all the arc-villains so far have been acting bad because of a perceived wrong-doing against them or because they were driven crazy - none of them are evil for the sake of being evil or because they deeply enjoy it. This is probably to keep the Hero Factory story from being too dark, and so that the Heroes can save the day and the villains without killing/locking them away forever, although this unfortunately wasn't the case for Von Nebula (yet?). I think it's more along the lines of LEGO wanting their main villains to have more than one dimension to them, even if it's just two dimensions. Quote
Omicron Squad Leader Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 (edited) How was Fire Lord related to the Hero Factory? He was just a mining robot before he turned evil. Being a pre-existing robot in the same universe hardly reeks of repetition, in my eyes. Meanwhile, being power-hungry is a classic villainous motivation. We've known for quite a while that he was draining the planet's Quaza; what motivation did you expect him to have besides personal gain? Something different to what we encountered in the previous story. Even taking over the universe or possessing all of the beasts in the galaxy would have sufficed in my eyes; at least it WOULD be different to Ordeal of Fire's basic concepts. And I was referring to Fire Lord's meeting with Stormer when I said "related to Hero Factory", sorry for not clarifying this. It always bothers me when people take claim a character we don't know "had a lot going for him/her". It's just as silly as claiming a clearly unfinished sketch model for a set is better than the final set. Which is why I said "I'll wait until Savage Planet airs to make my FINAL judgement". I might come to like the character, in the end. Whether or not Witch Doctor is an interesting character, we never were given any reason to expect him to be a deeper or more original character than he actually turned out to be. We may have speculated about possible origins or backstory, but our speculation was never a part of the character in any form. We were not given any reason, no, but I expected LEGO to come up with a bit of a more original and enthralling backstory for the Doc' than this. Call me optimistic, but with all the brilliant twists BIONICLE managed to pull off (mainly engineered by Greg Farshtey), I expected better. Despite Hero Factory attempting to be "more basic". In a similar sort of situation, my twin brother expected Rocka to be a veteran hero who had been stationed on Quatros prior to the Hero Factory alert call, rather than a new rookie. But Rocka had as much potential to be a rookie as to be a veteran, and as much potential to be a boy as to be a girl. In that sense, any rough idea without any details will have more potential than the same idea when the details are filled in. If the details prove unsatisfactory, it doesn't mean the rough idea was more satisfactory than the final details. It just means there were other possibilities, perhaps better or worse but still no more likely than the one that turned out to be true. Rocka's biography doesn't let me down so much due to the following reason: There's truly only so much you can do with one single, generic Hero. But on Aldy's end, he is a huge new villain from a fresh environment with all the possibilities in the world; before this website update, we didn't know anything about him, least of all him turning out to be a mad old professor named Aldous, whereas Rocka, we knew at least he would either be a Hero or a rookie, a leader or a soldier, etc. The best in this sense that you could add to Witch Doctor is that we knew he would be bad, and we knew he would be big, other than that, LEGO had everything to work with. Sorry for the rant. I'm not trying to jump to Witch Doctor's defense or TLG's, but rather just trying to speak out against a personal pet peeve. None of the new information about Witch Doctor changes anything we knew or had reason to suspect about him before. It just cancels out all other speculation about his character. No problem, I don't see our ramblings as rants, more like intriguing debate, it's one of the best things about being a fan of anything, in my opinion. But I wouldn't say it doesn't change anything regarding the character, as we now do know his real name is "Aldous Witch", along with other titbits. I am just a bit let down, I was expecting something fresh/original for a character named "Witch Doctor", of all things. I am still very impressed with the set, though. He could have simply wanted to destroy Quatros, because he's an evil skeleton robot. However, all the arc-villains so far have been acting bad because of a perceived wrong-doing against them or because they were driven crazy - none of them are evil for the sake of being evil or because they deeply enjoy it. This is probably to keep the Hero Factory story from being too dark, and so that the Heroes can save the day and the villains without killing/locking them away forever, although this unfortunately wasn't the case for Von Nebula (yet?). Most of the speculation about Rocka and Witch Doctor's characters were based on the sets themselves, so it's slightly disappointing that the actual characters are more stereotypical origins that don't relate to specific details about the sets. We might find out reasons along the line, but currently there's little explanation for Rocka having golden armour and being portrayed as the main Hero, while our speculated reason of Rocka being a veteran stationed on Quatros would have. Well put. Thank you. Like Aanchir said, How the heck is Fire Lord related to Hero Factory? He was just some mining bot. He related to Stormer tough. Which is obviously going to happen to Aldous again. You know, like he once trained stormer? That was what I was referring to. He was someone from Stormer's past, just like Von Nebula. Sorry for not clarifying this separately. P.S. Expecting a post defending Witch Doctor from Meso in the next few minutes... (Nope!) Edited June 26, 2011 by Omicron Squad Leader Quote
dviddy Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 but with all the brilliant twists BIONICLE managed to pull off (mainly engineered by Greg Farshtey) Hahaha, lol. Quote
Omicron Squad Leader Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 (edited) Hahaha, lol. I'm not a HF-Hater, by the way, lol, I am actually a big fan, I just thoroughly prefer Bio's storyline and characters. It is okay to criticise something you like, right? Also, how did you get to post your Furno 3.0 review early? I thought it wasn't allowed until July 1st? Edited June 26, 2011 by Omicron Squad Leader Quote
Mesonak Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 P.S. Expecting a post defending Witch Doctor from Meso in the next few minutes... Haha, if only. I share the same sentiments as you do (for the most part). While I'm not entirely disappointed in Witch Doctor's backstory, I can't help but feel there was a lot of untapped potential there, mainly due to his name, appearance, and theme. Regardless, there's always the possibility that Savage Planet will change my opinion of WItch Doctor, and even if it doesn't, I don't follow Hero Factory for its storyline. The sets are what matter to me, and I dont find Witch Doctor's technic intensive build that bothersome. Quote
Omicron Squad Leader Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 Haha, if only. I share the same sentiments as you do (for the most part). While I'm not entirely disappointed in Witch Doctor's backstory, I can't help but feel there was a lot of untapped potential there, mainly due to his name, appearance, and theme. Regardless, there's always the possibility that Savage Planet will change my opinion of WItch Doctor, and even if it doesn't, I don't follow Hero Factory for its storyline. The sets are what matter to me, and I dont find Witch Doctor's technic intensive build that bothersome. You have proven my prediction wrong! I agree. It all lies with the television episode now. Quote
The Crazy One Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 It is okay to criticise something you like, right? Sorry I am being picky, but to criticise something is not always to demerit it. It is to discuss the merits and demerits of any subject or object. Your statement implies you were only using one half of the meaning so I thought I would point that out. Anyway, if there are any UK duellers here, are they out here yet? I don't want to treck to Westfield if they aren't out. I checked the LEGO website but it is unreliable in my opinion. Quote
Aanchir Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 You have proven my prediction wrong! I agree. It all lies with the television episode now. And if reactions to those in the past have been any indicator, then this wave's story will be just as thoroughly-hated as any other. Personally, I don't feel that Witch Doctor's backstory feels repetitive. He's the first "mad professor" character in Hero Factory. And his motivations (jealousy and a lack of inhibition) don't seem at all as shallow as Von Nebula's desire for revenge on a person who really never did anything to him. Believe it or not, I was not at all happy with the Von's backstory, which seemed like a stock revenge plot save for its complete and utter failure to explain what the character wanted revenge for. He made his mistakes all on his own, and was never shown to suffer any consequences for them, so it felt really silly for him to have kept this grudge against Stormer. Maybe he was considered an outcast for abandoning his team leader, and felt if Stormer had gone with him it could have been chalked up to an impossible rescue. Maybe he had his Hero Core forcibly stripped from him for his failure to stay the course. Maybe after Stormer stopped him from leaving his body was badly mangled in a crash landing. Nothing in the story ever even hinted at what he felt so bitter about, so we'll probably never know his real motivations. That's not "potential", that's just bad storytelling (probably the fault of the time constraints of the TV episodes, and the first wave's obvious intent to focus more on the heroes' character development rather than the villains'). Fire Lord was a much better villain from what I can tell, and yet his motivations were also completely different from Witch Doctor's. Fire Lord was just a victim of his own addiction, and his only villainous trait was selfishness and a complete lack of interest in the rest of the world's well-being. At the end of Ordeal of Fire, from what I've heard, the Hero Factory is trying to help him recover. This would not be possible with Witch Doctor unless he has some epiphany during his defeat, since he clearly had villainous tendencies before he had any power of his own. Witch Doctor's motivations of jealousy are unlike any we've seen elsewhere, and his origins aren't unoriginal besides that he was a good guy who turned bad. Really, I don't mind that at all, as it reinforces that villains are made, not born. It took years before we saw the same depth of character backstory in BIONICLE-- before, we just saw bad guys doing bad things and were told that that's how it had always been. The mystery in BIONICLE was a good thing for that theme, which was designed to tell a sprawling story over several years. Hero Factory has to tell a new story every year, so the fact that it rushes through the backstory rather than dropping hints every three years or so has to be forgiven. Quote
Mesonak Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 While it's not going to win any awards for originality, I quite like the Hero Factory story of all three waves so far, particularily Ordeal of Fire. And you are right in that each wave's story does have differences; for me, I think that my personal feelings towards Witch Doctor's backstory really stem from preconceived notions about what I thought the character should be like, and as such, really can't be looked at as a flaw. Quote
Siegfried Posted June 26, 2011 Posted June 26, 2011 I'm not a HF-Hater, by the way, lol, I am actually a big fan, I just thoroughly prefer Bio's storyline and characters. It is okay to criticise something you like, right? Also, how did you get to post your Furno 3.0 review early? I thought it wasn't allowed until July 1st? I'm not sure about him, but I told Jan that they had been released in Germany and I was given permission to post now. Quote
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