Nathaniel Zib
"Everybody knows about us. They know me, or Bulk or Furno, and we get all the credit for saving the day. Zib is the Hero they don't see, and without him, we couldn't do what we do."
― Preston Stormer, Face Off: Makuro's Secret Guidebook
Parent Page: Characters
Nathaniel Zib | ||||||
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Hero Factory Staff | ||||||
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Professor Nathaniel Zib is a Senior Mission Manager at Hero Factory.
Biography
At some point, Nathaniel Zib was built.
Zib was the first chief operator at Hero Factory, operating it when there was just Alpha 1 Team. He created automated security systems around and inside the building.
After the crash of a shipment of industrial robots at a Makuro Industries plant, Zib went with Thresher to investigate, as told by Akiyama Makuro. After he and Thresher returned, the two called the Alpha 1 Team because the disasters in the worksite of the Aird Mining Company and the Heroes' massive failure on a jailbreak on Asteroid J-54. Zib and Thresher announced that Makuro decided to close the Hero Factory because because of the failure on Asteroid J-54. After Makuro closed the Hero Factory, Zib left the building when it was attacked by the Legion of Darkness. When Stormer forgot to turn off the security systems and Makuro was checking on the Hero Factory, one of the security systems used a pile driver to partially crush Makuro's flying shuttle, though Makuro was not injured. Stormer and Zib felt bad about the accident, and Zib turned off the security systems. Later, Zib became a mission manager when the Heroes' success prompted Makuro to restart the operation.[SM2]
Seven years prior to Mission: Von Nebula, Professor Zib was promoted to a Senior Mission Manager.(Hero Factory FM)
Von Nebula
Zib had many interviews with Mak Megahertz in his show called Hero Factory FM, in his segment called Mak in the Morning.
Trials of Furno
During the Von Nebula missions, Zib oversaw the Alpha 1 Team's efforts with the help of his assistant, Quadal. During XPlode and Rotor's attack on a C-4000 explosives shipment, he managed Alpha 1 Team as well as the rookie Hero named William Furno. When the attack was over and both XPlode and Rotor escaped, Makuro talked with Zib about the intensity of Preston Stormer's words towards Furno, and Furno's abilities to be a team leader while still a rookie.
Zib also managed the mission to the Lemus 2 explosives plant that sent Stormer, Furno, Mark Surge, and Natalie Breez to defend the plant and its explosives from XPlode and Rotor.[Episode 1]
Core Crisis
Later on, Hero Factory received a distress call from Penitentiary 1331, a prison planetoid still under construction. Due to its status as an incomplete prison, Zib sent rookies Breez and Surge with two members of the Alpha 1 Team, Jimi Stringer and Dunkan Bulk, as Stormer was unable to go help lead his team in the field due to a low hero core. Zib managed the mission with the help of Stormer, helping the team decide whether or not to form a Hero Cell to protect the power-deprived Bulk and the other heroes from Corroder's attack until backup could arrive. With no appropriate teams to back up the heroes, Zib and the newly recharged Furno convinced Stormer to allow the rookie Hero to go to Penitentiary 1331, after being refitted with acid-resistant armor at the refitting tower. Furno eventually beat Corroder, and helped get the other Heroes back to the factory safely, although they were unable to capture Corroder. Zib used the Quaza Chamber to recharge Bulk. He noticed Stormer and Furno forming a good friendship, and told Quadal this.[Episode 2]
The Enemy Within
Zib was notified of an emergency in Mekron City's police chief named Drax, and then told Stormer, Furno, Breez, and Surge about it. After the Heroes discovered that Drax was infected with Meltdown's nanobots, and Stormer also got infected, damaged, and weakened by them, the Heroes brough Drax and Stormer back to Hero Factory. The Hero Factory corporation put Drax on standby mode, desptie him not having a Hero Core. Zib and Quadal recharged Stormer's Hero Core to help Stormer regain his strength, did diagnosis on him, and discovered that the nanobots had infected his entire operating system. Stormer, worried that the damaged that he would do when he would get corrupted by the nanobots, told Zib to imprison him for everyone's safety. Zib was going to do Stormer's favor, but the nanobots corrupted Stormer. Stormer pushed Zib away and then threw Quadal at Bulk, Stringer, and Furno before Stormer started escaping the Hero Factory. While the Heroes were trying to stop Stormer, Zib had Quadal activate emergency lockdown on all Hero craft and Hero Pods to prevent Stormer from leaving Makuhero City. Stormer was able to escape the factory. Zib sent many Hero team to search for Stormer in the city. The Hero Factory Science Team came up with an antidote to the nanobots. Missing a key ingredient for the antidote, which was a mineral from Lunar Tratix, Zib sent Breez, Stringer, Surge, and Bulk to retrieve the mineral. When Furno went to find Stormer alone, Zib told Furno to call for backup when he saw Stromer. Furno captured Stormer successfully while Breez, Stringer, Surge, and Bulk found the mineral successfully. The Heroes gave the science team the mineral, and then the science team used it to make the antidote. The team used the antidote to cure Drax from the nanobots, despite Drax not having a Hero Core and though the team warned Zib about a possibility that the nanobots could have caused permanent damage on Stormer. After Furno managed to bring Stormer back alive, Zib had Quadal give the antidote on Stormer immeditately. The antidote made Stormer feel pain, reminding Zib of the science team's warning and became worried about Stormer. However, the antidote eventually cured Stormer. When Surge asked how did Breez stop a Tratix Reptoid, which attacked them, Stringer, and Bulk on Lunar Tratix, from eating Surge, Zib showed the Heroes an archived footage of Breez using the Reptoid's language to stop it and had it dig the mineral for the Heroes.[Episode 3]
Later, Zib watched Thunder knock out the live feed of the senior Alpha 1 Team members' latest mission. Zib gave the Rookie 1 team, who were going to rescue Alpha 1, Particle Separators for the mission, which proved instrumental in their survival. Zib explained that under normal circumstances, they would be assigned a team leader, but the scenario necessitated electing their own. Surge and Breez swiftly elected Furno to the position, and the mission was ultimately successful.[Episode 4]
Ordeal of Fire
Zib met Breez, Stormer, and Furno after they had to flee the Fire Lord and leave Surge behind to rescue all the civilians. Mr. Makuro refused to upgrade the three until Zib convinced him that the three would be soundly defeated if not put in Upgrade. Zib and Quadal oversaw the upgrading of the trio, and in virtual training tried to help them master the new 2.0 bodies. Shortly after Alpha 1 launched, Zib sent Julius Nex and Nathan Evo to aid the Alpha 1 Team. Zib later upgraded Surge as well.[Episode 5]
Savage Planet
While speaking with Daniel Rocka, who was returning from a mission, Zib received an alert from exiled professor Aldous Witch on Quatros. Rocka disobeyed Zib, and went to rescue the professor, though contact was soon lost between them. To help the Alpha 1 Team, who was going to rescue their teammate, Zib took inspiration from the area and upgraded the Heroes to 3.0 forms, which are based on various animals. Zib also created lion-based armor for Rocka.(shown in the July/August Lego Magazine in 2011) Zib kept in contact with the Alpha 1 Team as they attempted to track down Witch, who was revealed to have become a villain called the Witch Doctor and be destroying the planet by draining the Quaza from its core.[Episode 6] Zib provided them with information on the civilization that had previously existed on Quatros, and the team eventually apprehended the Witch Doctor.[Episode 7] Shortly afterwards, Zib took a day off due to inactivity at Hero Factory.(Omega Recon Reports)
Breakout
Zib told many Heroes and his fellow employees in Mission Control about the Breakout, where all of the villains imprisoned in the Villain Storage and which he looked at as the worst crisis that the Hero Factory and the galaxy have ever faced. He also said that he and the staff had implanted a micro-chip in each of the villains' heads, so the Heroes and the employees can find them. Zib started a mission that he called "Catch 'Em and Cuff 'Em", where the Heroes have to go on smaller solo missions to recapture each of the villains. Quadal gave Zib a new set of Hero Cuffs, and then demonstrated its functions to the people by using the cuffs on Surge. He gave the Heroes a new upgrade similar to Rocka's. When the Heroes were going to do their solo missions, Zib noticed Rocka not moving. Zib asked Rocka if he was given his own assignment, and Rocka said that he was given a different mission, where Rocka had to stay in the Hero Factory for security reasons. Zib got suspicious and asked Rocka who gave him this mission, but decided it was not worth prying any further when Zib hurriedly went to help the other Heroes go to their destinations to do their solo missions.
After the Heroes went to do their missions, Zib and Quadal studied the villains' intentions and noticed that none of them went into hiding and they were only doing their own schemes. They believed that this and the Breakout are part of some coordinated, larger plan that is happening, but the duo and Zib's fellow Mission Managers in Mission Control were attacked by Arachnix drones. The drones trapped Zib, Quadal, and the other employees in energy cages. The Black Phantom, who Zib had not met before, appeared, introduced himself and Arachnix, and took over the Hero Factory due to the Heroes doing their recapture missions. Zib and his fellow employees witnessed Black Phantom putting the building in lockdown and putting up a force field called the Fail-Safe Shield around it.[Episode 8]
Black Phantom forced Zib to lie to Rocka, who was trapped in the Villain Storage because of the lockdown, about the Hero Factory's situation, as Zib told Rocka that the Hero Factory staff is doing a Core Breach Drill. After Zib hung up on Rocka, he noticed the Black Phantom using Zib's equipment to modify the Hero Assembly Tower. Rocka contacted Zib, over a secret frequency that Rocka should not use, as Rocka maneuvered through the building. Zib secretly created a fake alarm to drive Black Phantom and Arachnix away for a short time, so Zib could talk to Rocka. Zib told Rocka what was really happening at Mission Control. When Rocka revealed that he knew the controls for the Fail-Safe Shield are in Makuro's room, Zib was surprised and wanted to ask Rocka how he knew this, but Rocka hung up. After Black Phantom came back to Mission Control, he noticed Rocka running loose in the Hero Factory while Zib pretended to not have contacted Rocka. After Black Phantom set up two traps on Rocka, he revealed to Zib and his fellow employees that he is planning to steal the Hero Factory plans, so he can use them to create an evil version of the Hero Factory to create his own army, and destroy the Hero Factory, so the Hero Factory would not oppose the evil versions of the Heroes. He then used a sliver of Anti-Quaza, which Zib recognized, in his chest to shut down Zib and the other employees.
After Zib and the employees were reactivated, Rocka confessed to him, Quadal, and five Alpha 1 Team members that he is from the Hero Recon Team, and apologized for the deception that made Zib suspicious of Rocka. When Rocka was talking about his mission, Makuro appeared to join the conversation. Zib then told his allies that he found that the plans for the entire Hero Factory were sent to an unknown destination, worrying Zib's allies.[Episode 9]
Afterwards, Makuro found out that Core Hunter was going after the Doom Box, and that he could destroy the galaxy with it. He told Zib about it. Issuing a Delta-Red Threat Level, the highest possible threat level, Zib recalled Alpha 1 and had them review mission logs of previous battles against Core Hunter. They were sent off to stop Core Hunter, and were successful. After the Doom Box's energy made Core Hunter diappear, Stormer had Zib look for Core Hunter, but Zib could not find Core Hunter.[SM1] However, Core Hunter reappeared.[FO:MSG]
Zib helped Rocka design the Hero Core Locking Clamps.[FO:MSG] Zib also created a jetpack for Rocka.[TBW][FO:MSG](Dragon Bolt vs Jet Rocka!)
Brain Attack
While Alpha 1 was at a publicity event, Zib got alerts that disturbances had been reported all over the planet and Quadal detected enemies heading for Makuhero City. Zib sent all available Heroes to defend Hero Factory from the Brains and kept tabs on Alpha 1's Heroes during the battle, until Surge's signal vanished outside the building. After Furno reported he could not see Surge, Zib went back to watching the battle until Surge's signal reappeared at the Assembly Tower. A Brain-controlled Dragon Bolt then burst into the building causing a perimeter alert, so Zib and his fellow employees ran to the Hero Factory's Safe Room for protection. They came out of there after the Brains were defeated. Zib told the Alpha 1 Team members that the Brains are imprisoned in Villain Storage.[Episode 10]
It is unknown what Zib was doing during Mission: Collision Course.
Having missions for Alpha Team, Zib went to see Stormer to see if the team was shorthanded or not. Stormer told him about the situation with Stringer, Bulk, and Furno possibly captured deep in enemy territory on Tranquis VII and the fake Stringer's transmission. Zib suggested Stormer took more control of the situation, and when it was completed, went to the planet and examined Project Sunstorm, a powerful weapon. He was knocked unconscious by Karter who destroyed the device. Back at Hero Factory, six days later, Zib gave Stormer a chemical formula for a new Hero Factory technology fuel source. A day later, Zib told the Heroes that Project Sunstorm had been a very dangerous intergalactic weapon that could have used satellites to expand its reach. After hearing about the Brains being made by an unknown foe, Zib filed out of the room.[SM4]
Zib tested a new source of Hero Core energy in a generator, as he ran calculations for it for days, but later, it malfunctioned, though in truth, Karter secretly sabotaged it, and four members of Alpha Team disappeared. When they returned from their adventure in Reality 11275.6, Zib told the Heroes what happened since the Heroes disappeared. After they found out Karter was behind the generator "malfunction", the Heroes had Zib trick him, who was inside his prison cell, into thinking the real explosion was occurring. Zib did what the Heroes said, as he ran near Karter's cell, told him the lie, and then continued running. Karter called his contact, but Alpha Team arrived, revealing that the explosion is a ruse.[SM5]
Zib and the Hero Factory created Remote Builders, designs for Battle Machines, and new forms for the Heroes that allow them to pilot the new machines.(Mini-Robots & Massive Mechs!) It is unknown what Zib is doing during Mission: Invasion From Below.
Abilities and Traits
Zib is a skilled strategist and problem solver, which are traits necessary for his position as the chief mission manager. As Chief Mission Manager, he has to make sure the Heroes have the information and equipment they need to get the job done.[FO:MSG] He holds a no-nonsense attitude, but has a few quirks that often come out when talking to Mak Megahertz on Hero Factory FM, where he has a regular spot in Mak's radio show. He is also very clever.[HiA]
Zib usually consults with Stormer on the best line-up for a given mission.[FO:MSG] Zib does not like being interrupted by the Alpha 1 Team's rookies' foolishness.[Episode 1][Episode 4]
Zib is very good at making and using Hero Factory technology, as he can build Robot Dune Dragons and repair Heroes.[SM1]
Zib can hold an electronic pen in one of his disk-shaped "ears". As a Mission Manager, Zib has a Datapad, which he can use his pen on.
Trivia
- Professor Zib was voiced by Henry Winkler in the Television Episodes and was voiced by David Carr in Hero Factory FM and various animations.
Appearances
- Secret Mission 2: Legion of Darkness (In a Flashback)
- Comic 1: Trials of Furno (Voice Only)
- Episode 1: Trials of Furno (First Appearance)
- Episode 2: Core Crisis
- Episode 3: The Enemy Within
- Episode 4: Von Nebula
- Hero Factory FM (Voice Only)
- Episode 5: Ordeal of Fire
- Ordeal of Fire Character Animations
- Episode 6: Savage Planet Part 1
- Episode 7: Savage Planet Part 2
- Episode 8: Breakout Part 1
- Episode 9: Breakout Part 2
- Omega Recon Reports (Mentioned Only)
- Secret Mission 1: The Doom Box
- Episode 10: Brain Attack
- Dragon Bolt vs Jet Rocka! (Mentioned Only)
- Secret Mission 4: Robot Rampage
- Secret Mission 5: Mirror World
- Dangerous Dimensions (Alternate Universe)
- Face Off: Makuro's Secret Guidebook
- Mini-Robots & Massive Mechs!
- Mission: Von Nebula (Game) (Non-canonical Appearance)
- Mission: Ordeal of Fire (Game) (Non-canonical Appearance)
- Explaining the Character and Creature Building System (Non-canonical Appearance)(Voice Only)
- HeroPad Challenge Animations (Non-canonical Appearance)
- Hero Recon Team Promo Animation (Non-canonical Appearance)
- Mission: Savage Planet (Game) (Non-canonical Appearance)
- Breakout (Game) (Non-canonical Appearance)
Staff of Hero Factory | ||
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Akiyama Makuro | Aldous Witch (formerly) | Big Joe | Lucy | Nathaniel Zib | Quadal | Mak Megahertz |