Hero Recon Team (website)
| This article is about the service on LEGO.com. You may be looking for the Hero Factory Team. |
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Parent Page: Media
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Hero Recon Team is an online application on LEGO.com, which offers the opportunity of personalizing unique Hero Factory figures. Released in April 2011, it allows builders to design their own heroes from a wide range of different Hero Factory elements online and purchase them through LEGO's Design byME service. An armor piece co-injected with black and silver plastic is exclusive to purchases within this service, though it has been discontinued as of September 2011. The unique armor piece is designed to designate the hero's membership in the Hero Factory Recon Team.
Heroes designed with Hero Recon Team are playable as characters in the online game Mission 2: Ordeal of Fire. In addition, you can create a hero to play as in the game, on HeroFactory.com.
On January 18, 2012, LEGO Design byME was been cancelled, with Hero Recon Team slated to continue as its own entity. The purchasing aspect of the Hero Recon Team was later removed, and the creator ported over to the main Hero Factory website as a digital designer while the Hero Recon website was redirected to the new creator.
History
The site was first teased in March 2011, with a splash page featuring a Hero under construction and displaying the words "Coming in April 2011." The Hero had a glowing Hero Core which, when clicked, revealed a small information box about the Recon Team and Merrick Fortis.
In April 2011, on schedule, the Hero Recon Team website was released, featuring a "Create your own Hero" section as well as a number of other activities and sections revolving around the Recon Team concept.
Two months later, in June 2011, the Hero Recon Team started a contest, where entrants would submit their Hero creations to the Design byME team, and 15 winners would receive prizes. The contest lasted for a week, and the winners were later posted in the news section of Hero Recon Team.
As part of an update revealed in the storyline section in August, Hero Recon Team gained new elements from the Savage Planet wave of the Hero Factory line, as well as new "combined-elements", and more total pieces on the order. However, the exclusive two-toned armor piece was discontinued.
As of April 11, 2012, the capability to purchase custom heroes was discontinued, with the website restructuring to emphasize the digital building process. The Hero Recon Team website was ultimately removed and replaced by a new creator in the Games section of HeroFactory.com, marketed as the "Hero Factory Figure Builder". Existing models were imported to the gallery feature of the new creator, though not able to be edited. This feature was eventually removed for the 2013 update to the site, and the Hero Recon Team web domain name redirects to HeroFactory.com.
Sections
Hero Creator
After the homepage, the first section was the Hero Creator itself. It allowed users to design heroes in five stages: basic armor, tools, extras and cladding, accessories, and finishing touches. The final stage allowed the user to choose a name and some personality traits before the Hero is added to the online gallery. Users can also choose not to display their Hero publicly.
The Hero was initially restricted to 31 elements total, but the September 2011 update increased the limit to 35 elements.
Gallery
The gallery section allows users to view completed Hero designs. There are two categories: My Heroes, which includes Heroes designed by the users, and the public gallery, which includes other users' hero designs they chose to display publicly. Users can purchase or edit heroes in the My Heroes section, whereas in the public gallery they could either purchase other users' heroes or copy them to "My Heroes".
Once the hero is created, it was upgraded to "Agent" and the user could edit the Hero's name, personal statistics, and assign a mission. Then, the user could purchase their hero from the My Heroes section, and enter the code given with their purchase in the online game Mission: Ordeal of Fire as their custom hero. A LEGO Shop account was required to purchase a Hero.
Storyline
The storyline section tells the story of the Recon Team. This section is divided into various episodes. The first episode, "What is Hero Recon Team?", describes the origin of the Recon Team. The second, "Our Mission", describes what heroes on the team are like and what types of missions they are assigned to. The third, "Join Hero Recon Team", describes how the user can design heroes and have them upgraded to "Agent". In August 2011, a fourth episode was added, entitled "Combined Elements", detailing Merrick Fortis and his attempts to produce new elements for the Recon Team agents to use. In September, a fifth episode titled "Fortis 3.0" was added, describing Fortis's new form and all the gear he has been equipped with for his mission on Quatros.
About
The about section of the site is a message from the LEGO Design byME team which describes what the Hero Recon Team site offers and links to the LEGO Digital Designer website where the LEGO Digital Designer application (which also allows users to design models with Hero Factory parts and order them through Design byME) can be downloaded.
Subsections of the About page, including News, FAQ, and Terms give further details about the services the site offers, as well as keeping the viewers updated with changes to the creator. There is also a link to an online survey where users can rate the site according to various criteria.
Trivia
- The Hero Creator on the Hero Recon Team website and HeroFactory.com was designed by Advance Relations, an in-house partner company of the advertising agency Advance. Advance Relations is also responsible for the Comic Builder on the LEGO City and LEGO Hero Factory websites.
- When the Hero purchasing service was first launched, a production error caused a delay in order shipments. To make up for the delay, an additional flame element was included, as well as a letter from Merrick Fortis stating that the production factory was attacked by villains as an in-story explanation.
See also
External links
- The former Hero Recon Team website
- Mission: Ordeal of Fire/Mission: Savage Planet Hero Creator
- The Hero Recon Team online survey
- The new Hero Factory Figure Builder
| Websites | ||
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| Official | HeroFactory.com (Testimonials, Hero Factory FM, HeroPad) | Hero Recon Team | Toys "R" Us Hong Kong Microsite | YTV Microsite | |
| Fan Sites | HEROsector01 | |
