In terms of setting i’d say Savage Planet. Set wise i’d say Rise of the Rookies - though that may be down to a bit of nostalgia, being the last wave of sets ever to use the BIONICLE system.
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Now I look back on it, it seems like the designers really wanted to make use of all these older parts, because they knew that they were never gonna be used again. E.g. Xplode using Toa Mata / Rahkshi arms. Sure it looked a little bit awkward, but it was great to see those parts used one last time!
HF wave 1 actually felt like a pretty nice BIONICLE send-off… more so than the stars anyway…
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2011/2012 are most definitely my favorite years of Hero Factory. 2011 introduced the beloved CCBS System, and tried a lot of new builds and techniques with it. In addition, it gave us Witch Doctor.
The following year, 2012, gave us Breakout, and Breakout gave us lots of improvements to 2011, such as better coverage, more build variety, and new pieces that would still be used today. In addition, it had lots of sets, including our first titan hero, and the first vehicle in two years!
The weakest years for me would have to be 2010/2013. 2010 was really LEGO’s worst year for constraction, and it shows. Other than the nice titans, 2010 was just the Inika Build and Av-Matoran Build, but it was even worse, adding in those useless Ben 10 parts, and some new molds that would never be used again. And the limbs were probably no better, maybe worse.
2013 had some great versions of the heroes, IMO, but the villains dragged down the whole year. After two years of exciting villain builds, we get some half-complete humanoid monstrosities. Along with that, Rocka and Bulk were very lacking, and though I like the “titan” sets, they aren’t the most impressive when compared to other years. I don’t know, it just felt like the designers weren’t trying very hard with this year of sets.
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The best years Hero Factory were probably 2011 and 2012. The set designs for those years were the most creative nd impressive.
aaand HF lasted longer than BIONICLE G2. Think about that.
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To me:
- Invasion from below
- Ordeal of Fire
- Brain Attack
- Savage Planet
- Breakout
- Rise of the Rookies
They started to have great ideas with IFB but G2 came along and HF went to its tomb…
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I bought almost every set, watched every episode and commercial. And was really engaged so I am making a list based on me experience with the theme.
From worst to best:
6: Invasion From Below, what a pitiful excuse for a Lego theme. The sets were completely thrown together, with maybe one or two good ones and a few OK ones. And the story was a abomination. They had no idea what they were doing and the story might not even fit into cannon.
5: Rise of the Rookies, the only thing that holds this wave up is the story. The sets are pretty awful, but the st least tried with the the story.
4: Ordeal of Fire, alright this year was pretty Ok. The sets were vastly improved, introducing us to the CCBS system. The 2.0 heros are good action figures and very possible and most of them look cool. The villians hold it down as they weren’t great. But the story was solid (for HF).
3: Brain Attack, OK so the story for this year is pretty bad, but the sets are alright. They are better than 2.0 just in the fact that there are more of them and Furno XL was pretty great, along with a few other pretty solid sets.
2: Savage Planet, Great sets, great story. Very well rounded.
1: Breakout, its obvious. The sets are amazing, the story is a great idea, and it was really HF’s high point (any other Rocka 4.0 fans out there? That set Ian amazing!)
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May i ask, do you think the Villain sets were awful?
Well if you mean for HF entirely, then it’s a rather mixed bag. Breakout was amazing, Ordeal of Fire was not very good due to the expirementation with the CCBS, Brain Attack was decent, Rise of the Rookies was decent, Savage Planet was great, and Invasion From Below was just bad.
I was meaning Rise of the Rookies.
Oh, well it had some good titans. But I didn’t care for most of the smaller villians.
Tbh the villains were the absolute best part of HF, 10x leagues thean the heroes. Most Heroes looked slapped together, while the villians appeared as actual quality to me. The only time I felt this was reversed was in Invasion From Below, in which I absolutely loved the mechs and didn’t take a liking to the beasts.
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Best year, IMO, was Breakout as it had a diverse cast of characters, pieces, colours, and continued to expand what CCBS could do. The story was a bit more compelling to boot.
Each of the years had something to offer, but I think the weakest year would have to be Brain Attack. The story and set design were lacking, with Dragon Bolt really being the only memorable set, to me at least.
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Best to worst storywise.
- Brain Attack.
I’m guessing you want an explanation. “How could he pick BA over Breakout?!?!?”
It’s simple. The books this year really heated up the story and brought more character and more life into the HF Universe. Breakout did that, but not on this scale. - Breakout
Because seeing more of Rocka is always better. - Ordeal of Fire
As a kid, I liked big complicated words, and Ordeal is one of them for young me.
Also, Surge sacrificing himself was brought me to tears and I was SO happy when he came back. - Rise of the Rookies
Since the introduction is never the worst. - Savage Planet
Witch Doctor’s backstory really made me think about the HF Universe, another planet and the origin of Quaza made for a good year. - Invasion From Below
“Let’s wipe out a species and act guilty when we don’t even give a oil leak!”
Best to Worst Setwise
- Rise of the Rookies
The sets were a downgrade generally (not the titans/villains though) from previous Constraction attempts, but the Titans and the villains too had an impressive amount of creativity put into them. - Invasion from Below
Mechs with tiny cute heroes? Sign me up. - Savage Planet
Used the CCB System to really build some solid sets. - Breakout
Before this, I had never thought of anything more than a Savage Planet hero with different armor and weapons. - Brain Attack
The sets brought out ideas of customization, making them fun to play with and had some really good parts. - Ordeal of Fire
Even though it introduced CCBS, other CCBS years did a lot more with it. However the villains of this year were still spectacular.
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you forgot Ordeal of Fire in the set department.
I did? Thanks for telling me.
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Really? With all those open balljoints, clunky, asymmetrical armoring, and mismashed colour schemes? 
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Spectacular for being No. Six on the list. 
In all seriousness, I thought that they fit the “mining robot” theme pretty well, it’s just that other waves compare better. At least to me.
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But the head/mask looks cool tho
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