Greetings, CHFW. I'm here with some news that I've been contemplating in my mind for several months. I'm here to review the past Hero Factory lines, and how our current position is extremely incredible - and you might not even realize it.

1. When Hero Factory 1.0 was released - I felt that it was simply a resurrection of the BIONICLE storyline. The pieces were renewed from BIONICLE, and most of all, the pieces still broke. Also, the Heroes back then (dubbed as "1.0") were extremely small compared to the current 4.0 Heroes. Comprised of only around 17-19 pieces, the Heroes were the smallest Hero Factory sets to be released as of now. And the Villains - I felt that they were BIONICLE-like as well. Von Nebula seemed like a re-introduced Teridax, while the other Villains seemed more like Makuta. Rotor somewhat, come to think of it, reminded me of Krekka. Corroder, on the other hand, completely reminded my of Starscream. I felt that this was, indeed, an excellent way to start a soon-to-be excellent LEGO series.
2. Months later, Hero Factory 2.0 - the "Ordeal of Fire" series - was released. However, with this series, everything changed. Apparently, my theory is that LEGO either saw or was notified of the fact that the first Heroes were very small. Therefore, they decided to completely re-model the sets. Furno 2.0, for example, posesses no old pieces except for two blue rods, although the black piece connecting to Furno's weapon was re-modeled along with his actual hand itself. Yet the rods were the only old pieces. Yet the best thing of all was that the pieces did not break. That would be impossible. When I was observing the Fire Lord, I noticed that his upper-leg joints were made wider so that the ball could easily slide into the socket and become lodged into the leg once it made it to the bottom of the socket itself. Afterwards, due to the new design, the ball could easily disconnect. 2.0 was an excellent addition to the series. The Heroes proved to be a great, new start - and the villains were also still incredible, and suprisingly seemed like Makuta as well since they re-used a lot of BIONICLE pieces.
3. Several more months later, LEGO saw that progress was ultimately being made. Therefore, Hero Factory 3.0 was brought into reality, being titled "Savage Planet". An excellent plot accompanied the new sets - which were out-of-the-ordinary. The pieces were extremely new, and not many of them semed to be related to BIONICLE. At this point, I felt as though I was in a murky lake and wasn't able to see what would lie ahead - more BIONICLE or not? The Heroes in this series were granted loads of new parts, but could not match up with their relatively thinner and smaller designs. I felt that all the Heroes but Stormer and Stringer were missing some armor, while Stormer and Stringer themselves were completely covered in armor. However, the other sets seemed to lack several things. Furno's design was completely basic, Nex's helmet didn't really look like a tiger, Bulk was not even bulk and Rocka seemed to have his shoulders bunched up too much. The villains, however, were extremely good - although the names of several of them weren't the best. The Witch Doctor was, however, the best main villain set yet. Yet lastly, Rocka XL wasn't my favorite. He seemed to be too-related to the Fire Lord and many of his parts seemed to obscure the actual set - such as the spikes and blades projecting everywhere. Even with LEGO claiming that more parts were being sold in each set for a decent price, that still provided little effect to the sets themselves. In conclusion, 3.0 was my least-favorite line up to that point.
4. And then it came - Hero Factory 4.0, the "Breakout." 4.0 is currently my favorite Hero Factory line yet. The Heroes have increased dramatically in size, and the villains aren't in one category - just like Hero Factory 1.0. The Heroes have been armored and concealed in gadgets and things to an amazing point that I highly enjoy. The villains are also great - with some villains taking different themes. For example - Jawblade is underwater while Splitface is in outer-space. The Hero-Cuffs are nonetheless stupendous, and the new "blasters" the Heroes weild is an awe-inspiring addition, and proves to be a much better competitor to the Thornax Launcher - or Meteor Blaster, Lava Sphere Shooter - whatever. They were all the same yet were titled differently. Now, LEGO has drastically equipped the Heroes with these extreme weapons. And plus - we've gotten back into BIONICLE pieces! Glatorian heads are being re-used, and the Black Phantom, Splitface and all the Heroes have helmets able to fit on Glatorian heads. And now, we can see Rocka and Evo's 1.0 helmets as what they might have been. Splitface's helmet is also unique, as well as the Black Phantom's - with two Corrupted Quaza Spikes projecting out of the sides of his head. Also, Thornraxx's wings were last available with the 2008 BIONICLE set "Gorast." I'm glad they've made a miraculous return.
   1. And plus - with 4.0, on Lego Digital Designer, BIONICLE pieces are able to be used in your MOCs - and we're not talking the small red, blue and black bolts! Weapons, spheres, leg and arm joints, heads, armor and tons of old pieces are available for use. Not to mention that the 1.0 Hero pieces are also available! Only some pieces are available - and sadly, there's no actual BIONICLE Kanohi or helmets. But they're an excellent addition and seem to comprise of 1/3 of LDD's available LEGO pieces in all! So, I would suggest to start building! These pieces will truly help you build an amazing MOC. And with the new 4.0 pieces added onto the 2.0 and 3.0 pieces, the possibilites of what your MOC shall look like are infinite. 'That is the message I've been wanting to get out.

Well - there's my overview on the Hero Factory series as of now. Be sure to start building on Lego Digital Designer! Remember: the possibilities are endless!

Post your comments below on your opinions on the past Hero Factory lines, and be ready to post your LDD MOCS!

Jurassic Shark Rises This Summer ... 02:14, February 8, 2012 (UTC)