Sets
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The HERO FACTORY line produced by LEGO is based on the physical medium of LEGO Sets. The line was originally designed as a replacement for the BIONICLE theme. HERO FACTORY also had combination models, where sets could be combined to make larger creations or reassembled into new characters.
2010
2010 was the first year of HERO FACTORY sets. The year consisted of a single wave, seeing a full release by July. The six main sets depicting the protagonists, the Heroes from the Alpha 1 Team, were released in canisters, while others were all released in boxes. The Heroes are Preston Stormer, Natalie Breez, William Furno, Dunkan Bulk, Mark Surge, and Jimi Stringer. Four of the box sets are medium-sized villain sets while the others are larger. The larger sets include two Titan sets, two vehicle sets, and a special set. The Titan sets are Von Nebula and Rotor. The vehicle sets are Furno Bike and Drop Ship. The special set is "Bulk and Vapour," which includes a villain named Vapor, whose name is spelled "Vapour", which is the international spelling of the word "vapor".
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| Small | Medium | Large | Limited Edition |
2011
2011 was the second year of HERO FACTORY sets, and was the first year to have two waves.
The winter wave had ten sets. Six of them are Heroes, who got the 2.0 Upgrade, in canister sets. The winter wave introduced two new members of the Alpha 1 Team, Julius Nex and Nathan Evo, who are two of these sets. The other sets are the Fire Villains in box sets. Three of them are medium-sized while the other one is a large set, which depicts Fire Lord, the Fire Villains' leader. The Ordeal of Fire wave also introduced a new building system for Lego's action figure category called the "Character and Creature Building System", or "CCBC" for short.
The summer wave had twelve sets. Six of them are more Hero canister sets, where the Heroes had the 3.0 upgrade. The summer wave introduced another new member of the Alpha 1 Team, Daniel Rocka, who is one of these sets. The other sets are box sets. Three of them are medium-sized while the others are large sets. The medium-sized sets are a Waspix, a Raw-Jaw, and a Fangz, beasts from the planet Quatros. The large sets are a Scorpio, Rocka XL, and Witch Doctor. Rocka XL is a larger version of Rocka 3.0.
In April, the Hero Recon Team website was released. It allowed 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 was exclusive to purchases within this service, though it has since been discontinued as of September 2011. The unique armor piece was designed to designate the hero's membership in the Hero Factory Recon Team.
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| Small | Medium | Large | Special Edition |
2012
2012 was the third year of HERO FACTORY sets, also consisting of two waves, and the first year to have two waves that have one story arc. This time, small and medium-sized sets come in foil packs. The year had eighteen sets. Nine of them are Heroes from the Alpha 1 Team, who got upgraded with new forms and equipped with Plasma Guns and Hero Cuffs, while the others are their respective villains that they have to fight and capture. This is the only year where all nine members of the Alpha 1 Team are present.
The winter wave had ten sets, which are five Heroes and their villains. Five of the sets are small. Four more of the sets are medium-sized. The other one is a large box set, which depicts Black Phantom. Two of the sets, Breez and her villain, Thornraxx, had their release date held back until summer 2012 in North America for an unknown reason.
The summer wave had the remaining eight sets, which are the remaining four Heroes and their villains. Three of the sets are small. Three more of the sets are medium-sized. The other two are large box sets. One of those sets depicts Stormer XL, and the other depicts Speeda Demon and his motorcycle called the Nitro Rocket Motorbike.
The year also had three promotional small sets, which come in plastic poly-bags, though one of them promoted the summer 2011 wave.
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| Small | Medium | Large | Promotional |
2013
2013 was the fourth year of HERO FACTORY sets, consisting of two waves. It was much like 2012, but it did not have Stringer, Nex, or their own villains from 2013 for an unknown reason. The year had fifteen sets. Seven of them are Heroes from the Alpha 1 Team, who got upgraded with new forms and equipped with visors and Hero Core Locking Clamps. Seven more of the sets are the Heroes' respective enemies, which are animals from the Makuhero Planet possessed by the Brains, that they are defending Makuhero City from. The other set is Jet Rocka, which depicts a special form of Rocka using a jetpack. That form of Rocka's is taller than his normal Brain Attack set. This form did not appear in the story for an unknown reason. All of the sets but Jet Rocka are foil pack sets while Jet Rocka is a large box set. Two of the foil pack sets are large sets this time.
The winter wave had eight sets, which are four Heroes and their villains. Four of the sets are small. Three more of the sets are medium-sized. The other one is a large box set, which depicts Furno XL.
The summer wave had the remaining seven sets, which are the remaining three Heroes, their villains, and Jet Rocka. Two of the sets are small. Three more of the sets are medium-sized. The other two are two large box sets. One of these sets depict Dragon Bolt, and the other depicts Jet Rocka.
There is also one promotional small set, which comes in a poly-bag. It consists of a black Brain and a Hero Factory sword that is a smaller version of Furno XL's Flaming Fire Sword.
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| Small | Medium | Large | Promotional |
2014
2014 was the fifth and final year of HERO FACTORY sets, also consisting of two waves. This year had fifteen regular sets. All but two of the sets come in foil packs, and the other two are large box sets. All of these sets are play sets this time. The Heroes, who got new forms, are mini-figures who pilot giant mechs called Battle Machines, which use the CCBS system. The Heroes fight against small creatures called the Jumpers, which jump by pressing their torso and then letting it go, in their Battle Machine sets. There are giant and mutated counterparts to the Jumpers called "Beasts", which also use the CCBS system, and they fight the Heroes in their sets. Most of each of the Battle Machine sets has one Hero mini-figure. Most of each of the Beast sets also has one Hero mini-figure. Like the 2013 set year, it did not have Stringer or Nex for an unknown reason.
The winter wave had eight of the sets. Two of the sets are small, four are medium-sized, and the last two are large sets that come in foil packs. One of the large sets is "Splitter Beast vs. Furno & Evo", which has two Hero mini-figures. The other is Evo XL Machine.
The summer wave had the remaining seven sets. Two of the sets are small, three are medium-sized, and the last two are large sets that come in boxes this time. One of the large sets is Surge & Rocka Combat Machine, which is two Battle Machines combined into one, and the set has two Hero mini-figures. The other is "Queen Beast vs. Furno, Evo & Stormer", which has three Hero mini-figures, a Jumper, the Queen Beast, and a Battle Machine called the Evo Spider Machine. All of these sets except one of the small ones, "Tunneler Beast vs. Surge", has a Jumper cocoon, while the Tunneler Beast set is where a mutated Jumper, which is the Tunneler Beast, has a part of a cocoon on its back.
There are also two promotional small sets, which come in poly-bags, but none of them appeared in the canon. Both of them can be attached to the Evo XL Machine.
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| Small | Medium | Large | Promotional |
Displays
- There was a display in 2010 that featured 2010 Preston Stormer and Rotor. This display projects information on the characters' equipment and then plays a clip of Episode 1: Trials of Furno that features both characters fighting each other in Merak 9. It was seen by HEROsector01 member Lenny7092 (talk) in a Toys 'R Us toy store in Garfield, New Jersey.
- Displays in Bricklink
Trivia
- On March 21, 2014, Sonoco, the company responsible for designing and manufacturing the resealable bags Hero Factory sets in 2012-2014 came in, received a Flexible Packaging Assocation Gold Award for Sustainability and Environmental Achievement for their work with LEGO. A website called Greener Package made an article about this. The article said that the bags are much more environmentally friendly than both cardboard boxes and plastic canisters. The article is no longer accessible.[BZPower - Hero Factory Packaging Earns Award]
