Hero Factory 2011

[dviddy]

If movies are the highest canon, and the credits can be proven to be real, I can't see how you can say it's not conclusive enough.

[Dorek]

I'm absolutely willing to take that as canon, if I can get solid proof as such; the most ideal way to get said proof is to watch the DVD myself, but I don't exactly have the money for that.

As I've said, there has been this massive trolling campaign trying to convince people that his first name is "Daniel"; I've already caught people blatantly lying to me about it, making up a number of different excuses (not to mention that we've already had an admission that the name was falsified and fabricated in the first place) so on this subject, I'm going to be pretty damn skeptical.

[The Crazy One]

Am I the only one here who frankly doesn't give a s*** about what Rocka's first name is?

Apparently so.

[Kalhiki]

I don't really care if he does or doesn't. But, it'd be nice if he did for consistency reasons. Everyone else has a first name, so why not Rocka?

Besides, I really want to refer to him as Danny.

Kalhiki

[Dorek]

I don't particularly mind one way or another, but like it or not, it's an issue; it needs solving, one way or another.

[Aanchir]

I personally can see the logic behind choosing "Daniel" as the first name based on the fan community's perceptions. I'm not saying I like it, but consider the alternative: giving him a name other than Daniel would probably just lead to disappointment for anyone who didn't understand that the "old name" was a hoax. And seeing as TLG didn't have a name in place for Rocka anyway, why not get legal approval for the unique-yet-reasonable name that was already floating around? It's just like what happened with Av-Matoran in 2008-- previously it had been a fan nickname, and it was canonized to help fans transition to using an official name (and for lack of a better name).

Furthermore, it's silly to connect this with BZPower's canonization of fan suggestions. IMO, this decision very likely has more to do with Kelly McKiernan than with Greg Farshtey. After all, Kelly's in charge of the web portion of Hero Factory, which is where the name Daniel Rocka really took hold. And wasn't it Kelly's suggestion for the 2010 Rahkshi set to be a Rahkshi of Heat Vision? Can't say he doesn't have influence in his role as web director.

Ironically, the very channel that made fan suggestions so frequent in BIONICLE (BZPower's Ask Greg service) would have been really useful in this particular instance, if only as a means of confirming whether or not this name is official. But I'd have to say it seems official to me if it's on the DVD.

[Phantoka Kopaka Nuva]

So... anyone got scans of the new comic? Any differences from the TV episode?

[Vinyl Scratch]

So... anyone got scans of the new comic? Any differences from the TV episode?

There's a new comic?

[Aanchir]

There's a new comic?

In the latest magazine, yeah. Here's a scan of the first page; haven't seen any other scans around. I've heard that the pacing's not too good, though, perhaps partly because Greg Farshtey apparently isn't the writer of this one. Since I haven't read it I can't vouch for how accurate that criticism is. Pacing of the first page doesn't give me high hopes for the rest of it, though.

[Mesonak]

Wow. That does not give me a good feeling; I've enjoyed all of the comics thus far, but I hope that the rest of the comic isn't as badly paced as the first page.

HS01 also has a picture of the cover right here. Interesting, though not one of my favorite cover designs.

-Mesonak

Edited November 2, 2011 by Mesonak

[Play With Fire]

Comic 7 was by far the worst comic in the series. The pacing was absolutely dreadful. And for some reason, the raw quaza was blue rather than red.

If I hadn't seen the Savage Planet episode, I likely would have had no idea what had even happened in most of the comic.

[Kalhiki]

What exactly is Rocka fighting on the cover? I can't even tell what it's supposed to be.

Yeah, the first page was terrible. Haven't gotten the magazine yet, so I haven't read it, but I don't have high hopes.

Kalhiki

[Jouster]

What exactly is Rocka fighting on the cover? I can't even tell what it's supposed to be.

Kalhiki

I think that's a Fangz. And I've seen the comic, it's the worst comic in the series. The pacing is terrible.

[Toa_Of_Justice]

I've got scans of the newest comic for everyone. Each image is 200 KB or less in file size and 600 pixels wide by 802 to 885 pixels tall.

Front Cover

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Back Cover

-Toa Of Justice

EDIT: I also scanned the Hero Factory puzzle in the magazine if anyone is interested. Each image is less than 200 KB.

Page 1

Page 2

Full Spread

Edited November 3, 2011 by Toa_Of_Justice

[Bundalings]

After reading the comic, I think that

...

waht

[Dorek]

I don't think you can really call the pacing "bad" when it didn't seem to exist =P. They didn't do the greatest job adapting to it.

Oddly enough, I feel like it's almost a complete reversal of the episode; where the dialogue is bad here, it was good in the show, and where the plotting was bad in the show, it was good here. Rocka's "you're gonna need a Doctor, Doctor" (paraphrase, durr) seems surprisingly legit. And their jungle traipse was well handled, condensed well enough, but then there's no understanding of why Scorpio was following them =P. But yeah, they totally just reversed panels half the time; why split up then meet in the same location immediately afterward?

Fantastic artwork, as usual. Rarely can I find something to complain with Damaso's work, but not the greatest comic of the series. If Greg has actually left, that could result in the relative drop in quality, but I feel like they could pull it back up without him. Of course, they could also easily fail, so... Comic 8 will tell?

[Aanchir]

Yeah, I have mixed feelings about the comic. On one hand, the pacing isn't that great (although not as bad as I anticipated based on the first page). On the other hand, considering that it more or less tries to be a direct adaptation of the TV special, I can't say it could have really been done better. They more or less cover every relevant plot point as best they can within the limited number of pages. And I know that similar comics for BIONICLE have also occasionally felt a bit abrupt when they try to cover movie scenes.

In terms of how things were depicted, I think one of the biggest flaws of this comic is that like in the TV special, Furno doesn't actually use his bow to shoot anything. In the TV episode I believe he throws it or something, whereas here he just flies up and uses it like a knife. It's a wee bit absurd.

Meanwhile, that puzzle page in the magazine is lovely. I hope it gets featured in the online club magazine preview, so that we can get an image with more ideal color quality and less of a seam where the pages meet (also because that way it's often possible to get it without text).

[Dorek]

Lord knows, maybe that was in some early draft, where he shoots the containment unit down instead, and they're like "nah, that makes it too easy".

[Zarkan]

I'm not usually this harsh about anything Lego related, but... good gosh, that comic sucked. The dialogue was basically ten pages of nonstop narm, Witch Doctor was about as menacing as the average Captain Planet villian, and the script was not only poor but at times completely nonsensical. Why did the mind-controlled animals run off just as they had the Heroes surrounded? How did Rocka go from being a regular Hero to being a super-sized one in the space of a single panel? Of course, it's easy to see why this fell so flat - judging by the credits, Greg F. did not have a single bit of involvement in this comic. Say what you will about his skill at writing books or serials, but the guy knows how to write a good tie-in comic, unlike whoever actually wrote Hero Factory #7.

[Aanchir]

Can anyone here who knows both English and Danish help translate this article for me? It discusses the reason's for BIONICLE's success and later its ending, and has some details about LEGO's intentions for Hero Factory. I ran it through Google Translate so I have a pretty good idea what it's saying, but I think someone who actually knows both languages could give me a more streamlined and logical translation.

In other news from the same site, Christian Faber has been working with Advance for 25 years. He's an art director for the advertising agency Advance who has been majorly involved in both BIONICLE and Hero Factory.

Edited November 8, 2011 by Aanchir

[Jouster]

So basically if the sales are high in 2012, the line will continue.

[Aanchir]

So basically if the sales are high in 2012, the line will continue.

Well, I imagine 2011 sales are also a factor. Keep in mind that 2012 set designs in most (maybe all) themes have already been completed and designers have moved on to designing sets for 2013. I think HF has a good chance of continuing past 2012, considering the great reception Hero Recon Team has had.

[Omicron Squad Leader]

Has anyone seen this before? I can't seem to recall anyone mentioning it.

[Dorek]

Haha, that'd kinda cute. Movie and a set. Not bad. Some kind of French thing. I certainly didn't see anything like that this summer, but where I live there is kinda out of the way, so maybe that's why.

[VBBN]

Got this fine fellow yesterday, quite a good set, might possible pick up XL now.

Review coming later this week;)