Hero Factory
| This article is about the franchise. You may be looking for Hero Factory (Disambiguation). |
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Hero Factory (stylized as either HERO FACTORY or HERO Factory) was a line of constractible figures produced by the LEGO Group. The successor to BIONICLE, Hero Factory continued the theme of buildable action figures, with an episodic story to support the line.
Line History
Development
The Hero Factory line was conceived by the LEGO Group in 2009 prior to the cancellation of the BIONICLE series as a way to attract younger children to the constructible action figure line and renew interest. The Hero Factory sets were designed to be smaller and simpler than the previous BIONICLE ones, and the story was made into an episodic format, with single stories not connected to one another. Releases were planned for every six months in order to avoid drawing out the story, a perceived failure of the BIONICLE line. Sets in the Hero Factory line, while simpler than previous BIONICLE ones, utilize similar pieces and styles to BIONICLE.
According to Christian Faber's Instagram post in November 11, 2022, when the Hero Factory franchise was developed, he rotated Bionicle's Three Virtues symbol 90 degrees. This inspired the creation of the Hero Factory symbol.
Release
In April 3, 2010, the online Lego Club announced that Hero Factory was here. The edict in there reads "Coming in August 2010, HERO FACTORY will bring with it opportunities for fan creation in numerous ways and the chance for new beginnings in the LEGO world of constructible action figures."[BZPower - Here-O, Factory! (April 3, 2010)]
Hero Factory was officially released in the second half of 2010. Each Hero Factory set in the first wave was marked with an emblem reading "From the Makers of BIONICLE Characters" as a way to keep the line familiar to BIONICLE fans. The line breaks the traditional BIONICLE set release structure, with smaller hero sets released concurrently with larger villain sets rather than as separate waves of similarly-sized sets. The Heroes, the primary focus of the line, were made more affordable in order to increase sales.
The Hero Factory website, HeroFactory.com, was first released on May 10, 2010, helmed by BIONICLE.com webmaster Kelly McKiernan. Later that year, the website was finalized when a full update was released in July.
In early 2011, a new wave of Hero Factory sets premiered, with a new design and new structural parts emphasizing a building system based on ball and socket joints. The line was named "Ordeal of Fire", and featured less sets overall than the previous wave. In April, the Hero Recon Team website was launched, allowing users to design and purchase Heroes with this new building system as part of the LEGO Design byME service. LEGO Design byME also added a Hero Factory category of parts and four Hero Factory-based starter models to the LEGO Design byME mode of LEGO Digital Designer.
According to Christian Faber's Instagram post in 2022, the Hero Factory building was going to be a space ship in the early 2011 story arc.
The third wave of Hero Factory sets was released in mid-2011, further expanding the new building system. Titled "Savage Planet", it featured a jungle theme and animal-based villains. The Hero Recon team gained a greater palette and allowed for increased parts selection.
In 2012, the fourth wave of Hero Factory (entitled "Breakout") was released. However, this line departed from the traditions set by the previous waves and removed canisters and boxes from the set lineup. Instead, the Heroes and Villains all came in resealable plastic bag containers (except for Black Phantom, the only large set, which was still packaged in a box). The sizes, which were previously the same among the Heroes and standard among the villains, were now varied, with two different sizes in each division, as well as the boxed Black Phantom. Each set also contains a redesigned Hero Core, with a code for a brand new online game called Breakout. Two of the sets, Breez and Thornraxx, received a limited release in Europe, with a wider release as an addition to the summer line in the United States and elsewhere. The Hero Recon Team service, following the cancellation of the similarly based Design byME, had the purchasing aspect discontinued, in order to focus on the digital experience.
The Breakout theme continued into the fifth wave of Hero Factory sets in summer 2012. Like the previous wave, the plastic bags were retained, with two large sets (Stormer XL and Speeda Demon) released in boxes. Previous set elements, including the new Hero Cores and Hero Cuffs, remained consistent elements of this wave.
2012 also saw the expansion of Hero Factory's character and creature building system across additional themes with the release of "Ultrabuild" action figures in the LEGO Super Heroes licensed theme. This was moving towards a goal which the LEGO Group's community coordinators had expressed at fan conventions, which was for LEGO to have multiple action figure themes running concurrently.
In early 2013, a new series was released under "Brain Attack" branding. This series maintained the Hero Core design of the Breakout series, with double the game points for each price point. The game points of this year's sets were for use in the new game called Brain Attack. In the Brain Attack series, larger sets began to appear in resealable foil bags just as the small and medium-sized sets had in the Breakout series.
2014 introduced an overhaul in the style of the series; Heroes were re-imagined as mini-figures, similar to (and compatible with) the standard minifigs as seen in most of LEGO's other lines, while the constraction aspect was found in mechs that held the minifigs as pilots; the villains retained the typical constraction design, though several minifigs of the villains were also included. This was the final year for Hero Factory, as the second generation of BIONICLE replaced it in 2015.
2022
Since Hero Factory's cancellation, there are many references to it, developing a legacy for Hero Factory. Bionicle G2 used CCBS and many elements from Hero Factory.
After Bionicle G2 was cancelled in 2016, there is a set from Lego Monkie Kid called 80036 The City of Lanterns in 2022 that has the Hero Factory symbol in one of its decals. The decal with the symbol is on a sign near the train track, below Bionicle's Bohrok symbol.
Story
Hero Factory is set in a place known as Makuhero City. Here, Heroes are built in the Hero Factory and sent on missions around the universe, dealing with a variety of galactic problems such as alien infestations, natural disasters, and criminals. A gang of space villains, led by the evil Von Nebula, are some of the most feared beings in the galaxy, and are the main antagonists of the story for 2010.
In the first half of 2011, a new antagonist arises, known as Fire Lord. Fire Lord, along with his minions, attacks an area known as Tanker Station 22 in search of fuel and energy. The Alpha 1 Team attempts to intervene, but is soundly defeated, necessitating a risky upgrade into stronger forms to help combat the new threat.
In the second half of 2011, the Alpha 1 Team is upgraded once more, in the hopes that their new forms will aid them in their mission on the planet Quatros. There they fight alongside their newest member Daniel Rocka and defeat the techno-organic minions of the evil Witch Doctor, a former Hero Factory educator and Stormer's old mentor.
2012, the second year of Hero Factory, sees a mass breakout from the Factory. Many villains escape and head to various locations in the galaxy (the ringleader Black Phantom remaining in the Hero Factory itself) forcing the Alpha 1 team, armed with Hero Cuffs, to split up and track down some of the escapees.
During the 2013 storyline, the Heroes have to fend off an invading army of native creatures controlled by the Brains, a species of parasitic organism dispatched by a mysterious villain.
In 2014, Antropolis City was overrun with powerful beasts called the Jumpers, and the Heroes debuted new Battle Machines to combat the threat. After two of their own were kidnapped, the remaining Heroes traveled deep underground to rescue them. This story arc was promoted as a "soft reboot" of the story for an unknown reason.
The story is not finished when Hero Factory got cancelled in 2014, and it has many unresolved things.
Hero Factory Recon Team
A facet of the Hero Factory storyline is the Hero Recon Team, based around a web application that allows users to design products using LEGO's Design byME service. The Recon Team was founded shortly after the inception of the Hero Factory, with one of the Factory's top Heroes, Merrick Fortis assigned as its head. The intention of the organization, as envisioned by the factory's founder, Mister Akiyama Makuro, was to study the criminals of the galaxy and gather intelligence in order to gain an understanding of them.
After the Alpha 1 team gained animal-based armor and weapons, Merrick Fortis developed his own "combi-weapons" and armor based on those used by Alpha 1, and debuted them on himself for a mission to Quatros.
The direct Recon Team story was discontinued after the HRT service was shut down, though it remains an element in the main story.
Saga Guides
The story for the Hero Factory toy line is divided into segments, with a new story wave occurring every six months. The Breakout storyline altered that trend, consisting of two waves under a single banner and lasting for a whole year.
- Story Year Late 2010: Rise of the Rookies - The introductory chapter follows rookies William Furno, Natalie Breez, and Mark Surge, as they and the Alpha 1 Team deal with team leader Preston Stormer's former teammate Von Nebula.
- Story Year Early 2011: Ordeal of Fire - The second storyline introduces new enemies led by the Fire Lord, and the Alpha 1 Team are forced to undergo a risky process in order to gain the power necessary to overcome the villains.
- Story Year Late 2011: Savage Planet - On the techno-organic planet Quatros, Witch Doctor is illegally mining Quaza to gain power. The Heroes are equipped with animal-based equipment to survive on this damaged planet.
- Story Year 2012: Breakout - A mass breakout of villains from the Hero Factory occurs, and each Hero suits up to take on a villain for individual missions.
- Story Year 2013: Brain Attack - Brains, capable of possessing other creatures, form an army to attack Hero Factory.
- Story Year 2014: Invasion From Below - Mysterious beasts suddenly start to overrun Antropolis City after they are disturbed by excavation; the Hero Factory debuts new Battle Machines to combat the invaders.
There is a saga guide about the history of the Hero Factory in the lore. See Saga Guides/History of Hero Factory. The chronology of the story arcs are recorded in a comprehensive and accessible way presented in a Timeline in HEROsector01.
| Saga Guides | ||
|---|---|---|
| History of Hero Factory | History of Hero Factory | |
| 2010 | Rise of the Rookies | |
| 2011 | Ordeal of Fire | Savage Planet | |
| 2012 | Breakout | |
| 2013 | Brain Attack | |
| 2014 | Invasion From Below | |
Trivia
- According to a blog post written by Christian Faber (one of the series' concept creators), Hero Factory was initially envisioned as an entrance to a wide and expansive universe, and its purpose was to satirize superhero stories. There was to be a dark secret behind Hero Factory, which would have been revealed gradually, eventually turning the series on its head. The supposed lesson was that Heroes are not simply built or manufactured, but they become Heroes by achieving great deeds. The series' tone was to be based on The Incredibles (2004). This proposal was completely dropped by The LEGO Group, and the Hero Factory series was released as a simplified and heavily sanitized "good vs evil" story, exactly the thing its creators have set out to criticize. However, fearing that the blog post was worded too emotionally and could easily be misconstrued, the post was later redacted.
- According to one of Faber's Instagram posts in November 11, 2022, the top and bottom M-like parts of the Hero Factory symbol were used by him to represent Makuta and Matoro from Bionicle Generation 1, to represent good vs. evil.
- In the Hero Factory story bible, the Troglomorphs were villains living in caves under Makuhero City, with Mr. Makuro, the leader of Hero Factory, secretly being one himself. They are fittingly named after the real world troglomorphs or 'cave-dwellers'. Faber joked that a Bionicle promotional set in 2006, set 6934 Good Guy, is actually Makuta from Bionicle in disguise, and he referenced the joke to the original idea.[TTV Interviews - Christian Faber (Community First)]
- Similarly, according to two prototype showcases of a few of the 2014 sets, the Jumpers were going to invade Makuhero City rather than Antropolis City.
- In Duckbricks' recent YouTube video with Christian Faber unboxing a lot of LEGO history, publicly unreleased Hero Factory concept art has been shown, along with the theme's original name and logo, which were "Makuhero", which was supposed to resemble the word "make-you-a-Hero".
- When Duckbricks visited Faber in October 2023, Faber showed him original plans for Hero Factory,[YouTube - The Dark Secret Behind LEGO HERO FACTORY (July 11, 2024)] including:
- An idea where Makuro is an evil member of the Makuta species from Bionicle G1 in disguise and made his look look like a Turaga.
- More depth on the Villain Factory, an evil verson of the Hero Factory organization that was teased from Hero Factory's Episode 9: Breakout Part 2 in 2012. It would look like the Hero Factory building and be underneath it.
- More depth on the robotic people of Makuhero City.[TTV Message Boards - Revelations behind Hero Factory's lore (October 30, 2023)]
- Duckbricks revealed more early story ideas in October 5, 2024, including:
- Daniel Rocka was going to be Merrick Fortis in disguise.
- More information on the Villain Factory:
- Makuro's villainous and envious brother named Kashtar/Kashtra Khan, who made the factory and have jellyfish-like creatures help him with the factory.
- Von Nebula is the one who got the Hero Factory schematics, as implied in Episode 9: Breakout, Part 2. He planned to use the factory to make evil counterparts the Heroes, called "Anti-Heroes", to invade and destroy Makuhero City.
- Original ideas for the Breakout story arc:
- Prototype designs for the Breakout sets.
- Original names for the Breakout villains.
- Two more heroes and two more villains would have been introduced.[BZPower - Rocka is Fortis and other reveals (October 5, 2024)]
