Dark things I noticed about HF

[DinosaursUnited]

Okay. Here are some things I noticed about HF that are kind of dark.

DISCLAIMER: I am not nearly as big an HF fan as I am Bionicle. I may have made some errors. I tried to be as accurate as possible, but I am only a spoiler[/spoiler] human.

1. There is no due process. When the Heroes decide you’re a “villain” and they take you, you get put in a shipping container with laser bars (breakout.) There is no trial, and your guilt is pretty much assumed. (Granted, all of the villains I can think of would pretty much admit that they are guilty but still.)

2. Hero Cores might not do anything. In the beginning, there was some jargon about them having to be re-charged, but when the Heroes all went off to a jungle planet for a year, it never seemed to bother them. (Granted, they could’ve brought a battery with them or something, but when Rocka crashed, he didn’t seem overly concerned that he didn’t have one.) In a HF pamphlet sent out by Lego in 2010, it is noted that Surge is concerned that his core is flawed, and that Furno’s core is supposed to be newer, making him more capable. However, Surge never turned to the darkside, and Furno never did anything super remarkable.

3. The villains killed all of the organic beings. Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch, I admit, but a couple of HF ads ran at the beginning of its run intimated that humans could call HF if they needed. But within the HF universe, there are no pink fleshy humans. The universe is so crime ridden that someone decided it needed a giant factory to build robots to punch the criminals in the face. Before that, where do we think the humans went?

4. Recon Team runs covert ops. Who do we know from Recon Team? There’s the Recon mascot, the guy that sported the dual colored chest plate, and spoke all about it. The only other member we meet (I believe) is Rocka, and he’s alone when we first meet him. As soon as other heroes show up, Rocka immediately leaves Recon team to join Stormer’s team. He never goes back, and Recon Team never checks up on him. Why is that? Additionally, Rocka in the Breakout game (not sure if canon, sorry if not) kills all of Black Phantom’s henchmen. These henchmen were never released in set form, and Rocka seemingly tells no one about them.

5. HF might be selling off their weapons to villains on the side. Remember 1.0 Furno’s bike? We got a nice Bohrok faceplate re-color out of it. Then remember how Speeda Demon was basically riding it’s repaint in Breakout? Where do you think he got it? If you said “He stole it, duh” ask yourself why HF never reported the theft. Answer: Speeda Demon didn’t steal it. Back to square 1.

[RogueToa]

I think humans made the hero factory to replace police and military all of the word and space. I believe the villains were the first attempts at heros but something went wrong then they killed almost all the people. The humans on the untouched planet ( whatever the main planet is called) built the hero factory. The hero cores kept the robots made there good. After a while the humans died and robots became the main life in the universe. But hey that’s just a theory a lame theory thanks for reading

[Omega_Tahu]

@DinosaursUnited

1. There is no due process. When the Heroes decide you’re a “villain” and they take you, you get put in a shipping container with laser bars (breakout.) There is no trial, and your guilt is pretty much assumed. (Granted, all of the villains I can think of would pretty much admit that they are guilty but still.)

HF was a special unit dispatched when a villian couldn’t be taken down by the local law enforcement. So by then, I’m pretty sure it’s certain that they would be locked up.

@DinosaursUnited

2. Hero Cores might not do anything. In the beginning, there was some jargon about them having to be re-charged, but when the Heroes all went off to a jungle planet for a year, it never seemed to bother them. (Granted, they could’ve brought a battery with them or something, but when Rocka crashed, he didn’t seem overly concerned that he didn’t have one.) In a HF pamphlet sent out by Lego in 2010, it is noted that Surge is concerned that his core is flawed, and that Furno’s core is supposed to be newer, making him more capable. However, Surge never turned to the darkside, and Furno never did anything super remarkable.

I mean, most of that was probably is probably plot convenience or forgotten plot lines. Not to mention, of course Furni would have had a super hero core, Red things are always 3x faster.

@DinosaursUnited

3. The villains killed all of the organic beings. Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch, I admit, but a couple of HF ads ran at the beginning of its run intimated that humans could call HF if they needed. But within the HF universe, there are no pink fleshy humans. The universe is so crime ridden that someone decided it needed a giant factory to build robots to punch the criminals in the face. Before that, where do we think the humans went?

Advertisements should probably be taken with a grain of salt…

@DinosaursUnited

4. Recon Team runs covert ops. Who do we know from Recon Team? There’s the Recon mascot, the guy that sported the dual colored chest plate, and spoke all about it. The only other member we meet (I believe) is Rocka, and he’s alone when we first meet him. As soon as other heroes show up, Rocka immediately leaves Recon team to join Stormer’s team. He never goes back, and Recon Team never checks up on him. Why is that? Additionally, Rocka in the Breakout game (not sure if canon, sorry if not) kills all of Black Phantom’s henchmen. These henchmen were never released in set form, and Rocka seemingly tells no one about them.

What’s the point though?

@DinosaursUnited

5. HF might be selling off their weapons to villains on the side. Remember 1.0 Furno’s bike? We got a nice Bohrok faceplate re-color out of it. Then remember how Speeda Demon was basically riding it’s repaint in Breakout? Where do you think he got it? If you said “He stole it, duh” ask yourself why HF never reported the theft. Answer: Speeda Demon didn’t steal it. Back to square 1.

I doubt HF would produce their own weapons though. Speeda Demon probably either stole it during the middle of the hectic breakout, or stole it from the manufacturer.

Not to mention that’s a really small detail that doesn’t really change the plot much, so even if he stole it early on, I doubt they would take the time to include a report for a stolen bike.

I think these are less “dark” as much as “interesting” facts.

[nexolo]

@DinosaursUnited

Heroes all went off to a jungle planet for a year, it never seemed to bother them. (Granted, they could’ve brought a battery with them or something

Savage Planet was filled with quaza so there was nothing to worry about for the cores.

@DinosaursUnited

“He stole it, duh” ask yourself why HF never reported the theft. Answer: Speeda Demon didn’t steal it

In a lego club magazine i think it said, speeda demon stole the blueprints to a prototype bike and built it himself

[Altair]

I feel like you haven’t mentioned the worst things:

1. Heroes are built in freaking factories
2. basically three quarters of the dangers the Hero Factory faces have been caused by themselves (Von Nebula, Witch Doctor, Breakout, you know…)

[DinosaursUnited]

@Omega_Tahu

HF was a special unit dispatched when a villian couldn’t be taken down by the local law enforcement. So by then, I’m pretty sure it’s certain that they would be locked up.

Still though, there ought to be a trial. In our world, when SWAT takes you out, you still have a trial.

Also, the point of Recon Team running covert ops is that covert ops are kind of shady. Maybe their ops are above aboard, but if they are, why does it seem like they’re actively trying to keep people out? You hear a lot about ex-Recon Team members, but not about “normal” heroes becoming Recon Team.

@nexolo, yeah, I said in the disclaimer, I’m not that up on HF lore. Good points.

@Altair, Great points. Your first point, that they are built in factories, contributes greatly to your second, IMO. Sometimes I wonder if HF causes these problems just so the galaxy thinks they’re needed.

[Willess12]

@DinosaursUnited

The villains killed all of the organic beings. Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch, I admit, but a couple of HF ads ran at the beginning of its run intimated that humans could call HF if they needed. But within the HF universe, there are no pink fleshy humans. The universe is so crime ridden that someone decided it needed a giant factory to build robots to punch the criminals in the face. Before that, where do we think the humans went?

Fun fact: on the HF website, there used to be a list of missions run by various teams. One team got sent to Earth to deal with a Dragon. Here’s the exact text:

Team: Epsilon 4
Location: Planet Earth

Team Members:
Team Leader Lanford Puck; Azar Wright; Gil Driver

Objective: Dragon removal and relocation
Responding to an emergency call on the 1-888-4-HEROFACTORY number, Mission Manager Zeta dispatched Epsilon 4 Team; a newly minted group of heroes with experience handling mythical and medievel creatures.

The team encountered the beast not far from the original sighting point - a high school in the North American region of the planet. Belying its brutal reputation, the dragon was found asleep in a small wooded area and easily contained. Damage to the surrounding area was minimal. Team Leader Puck reported slight damage to a nearby industrial estate and parking lot. Heroes performed routine sweep of surrounding area before returning to the Factory.

Make of that as you will

@DinosaursUnited

but when the Heroes all went off to a jungle planet for a year

We don’t know how long hero cores can last, but Alpha team wasn’t on Quatros for that long.

@DinosaursUnited

ask yourself why HF never reported the theft

Who would they report it to? Speeda’s their responsibility.

@DinosaursUnited

Surge never turned to the darkside, and Furno never did anything super remarkable.

This is just speculation, but I always figured that Furno’s “super-core” was what enabled him to overcome the rust in Breakout. Mainly because Jawblade seemed to think it would stop him.

As for Surge, I think he was just paranoid.

~W12~

[Azani]

@Omega_Tahu

HF was a special unit dispatched when a villian couldn’t be taken down by the local law enforcement. So by then, I’m pretty sure it’s certain that they would be locked up.

Doesn’t matter. That’s not how due process has ever worked, because that’s the point of due process.

@DinosaursUnited

2. Hero Cores might not do anything. In the beginning, there was some jargon about them having to be re-charged, but when the Heroes all went off to a jungle planet for a year, it never seemed to bother them. (Granted, they could’ve brought a battery with them or something, but when Rocka crashed, he didn’t seem overly concerned that he didn’t have one.) In a HF pamphlet sent out by Lego in 2010, it is noted that Surge is concerned that his core is flawed, and that Furno’s core is supposed to be newer, making him more capable. However, Surge never turned to the darkside, and Furno never did anything super remarkable.

Yeah, since Quatros was full of Quaza as nexolo said, I suspect that this would have been a pretty minor issue, if at all. Also, any damage to their cores could have been repaired relatively quickly with all the crazy tech that they brought along.

As far as the whole issue of the dissonance between the power levels of various rookies, that is a pretty understandable point; however, we didn’t get to see a lot of Alpha Team, at least not relative to the number of missions that they would have taken in their “lifetimes”.

@DinosaursUnited

3. The villains killed all of the organic beings. Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch, I admit, but a couple of HF ads ran at the beginning of its run intimated that humans could call HF if they needed. But within the HF universe, there are no pink fleshy humans. The universe is so crime ridden that someone decided it needed a giant factory to build robots to punch the criminals in the face. Before that, where do we think the humans went?

This is kind of a freaky thought, particularly because the advertisements that you’re referencing were a huge part of Hero Factory canon back in 2010. I mean, they ran those ads for a while, and dropped off while the theme was at the peak of its popularity in mid-2011, if I recall correctly. Weird…

That said, they definitely didn’t kill all of the organic beings, because the creatures that were infected by the brains would fall under that category. Right?

@DinosaursUnited

4. Recon Team runs covert ops. Who do we know from Recon Team? There’s the Recon mascot, the guy that sported the dual colored chest plate, and spoke all about it. The only other member we meet (I believe) is Rocka, and he’s alone when we first meet him. As soon as other heroes show up, Rocka immediately leaves Recon team to join Stormer’s team. He never goes back, and Recon Team never checks up on him. Why is that? Additionally, Rocka in the Breakout game (not sure if canon, sorry if not) kills all of Black Phantom’s henchmen. These henchmen were never released in set form, and Rocka seemingly tells no one about them.

@Omega_Tahu

What’s the point though?

The point is that the team ran covert operations to take out major public criminals, despite being a squad of superhuman, emotionless robots that appeared to act as the government, not be regulated by the government.

And yeah, this is by far the worst part for me.

@Altair

1. Heroes are built in freaking factories.

Yeesh.

-Azani

[YOOBOOSOO]

@DinosaursUnited

5. HF might be selling off their weapons to villains on the side.

I think they said at some point that Fire Lord’s weapon was a modified version of 1.0 Furno’s weapon, but I don’t really remember.

[Omega_Tahu]

@Azani

Doesn’t matter. That’s not how due process has ever worked, because that’s the point of due process.

@DinosaursUnited

Still though, there ought to be a trial. In our world, when SWAT takes you out, you still have a trial.

Also, the point of Recon Team running covert ops is that covert ops are kind of shady. Maybe their ops are above aboard, but if they are, why does it seem like they’re actively trying to keep people out? You hear a lot about ex-Recon Team members, but not about “normal” heroes becoming Recon Team.

To be fair, this is a fictional world created to sell toys to kids. I doubt they placed due process at the top of their things to show, since most kids would most likely not understand it.

@Azani

The point is that the team ran covert operations to take out major public criminals, despite being a squad of superhuman, emotionless robots that appeared to act as the government, not be regulated by the government.

They’re not going to give away the identities of the people on the secret ops, because then it isn’t so much of a secret.

Not to mention, the point of that toy selling pitch was to make your own hero, so they wouldn’t show characters that weren’t sets due to a bunch of kids copying the design.

[Holi]

how do we know there is no due process?

[Altair]

@DinosaursUnited

Great points. Your first point, that they are built in factories, contributes greatly to your second, IMO. Sometimes I wonder if HF causes these problems just so the galaxy thinks they’re needed.

Yeah. I was also thinking about the morality of the first point. What makes them Heroes? Can heroism be built in an assembly line? Should they be trusted in their decisions just because they have an H for hero on their chest (specifically talking about IFB)?

There was this other Lego storyline that at one point said that “you may look like a hero, you may feel like a hero […], but it’s not what you have, it’s what you do with it, that makes you a hero.” and by this definition, I’m not sure the Hero Factory has really done that, especially since, connecting to the second one, they seem to have caused more trouble than anything.

[Omega_Tahu]

@Ace

how do we know there is no due process?

Yeah, I was basically trying to say this. They wouldn’t put something that would slow down their story and comfuse kids at the top of their lists if priorities.

[Timageness]

The genocide ending of IFB was pretty dark.
Also, Core Hunter.

[Azani]

@Omega_Tahu

To be fair, this is a fictional world created to sell toys to kids. I doubt they placed due process at the top of their things to show, since most kids would most likely not understand it.

The point is respect and presuming innocence, not the process. Nah, it would be simple; start by not throwing the villains in a shipping crate with laser beams as bars, and that would go a long way toward giving them dignity on its own

@Omega_Tahu

They’re not going to give away the identities of the people on the secret ops, because then it isn’t so much of a secret.

That’s the point. Do you not have a problem with covert ops or sonmething?

[quote=“Omega_Tahu, post:10, topic:39484”]
Not to mention, the point of that toy selling pitch was to make your own hero, so they wouldn’t show characters that weren’t sets due to a bunch of kids copying the design.[/quote]

This is irrelevant.

I mean, yeah, I get that this is all for fun, but it’s the premise of said topic, so I thought that I may as well play devil’s advocate.

[DinosaursUnited]

@Altair

I was also thinking about the morality of the first point. What makes them Heroes?

HF would have been epic if it focused on this. It really infuriated me that it didn’t especially, with characters like Von Nebula and Witch Doctor who used to work for HF and turned evil. Ugh. Potential wasted.

[Da_Stronk_Destroyer]

Lemme see if I can help clear some of these up. (You know, being the self appointed HF nerd and all) [quote=“DinosaursUnited, post:1, topic:39484”]

1. There is no due process. When the Heroes decide you’re a “villain” and they take you, you get put in a shipping container with laser bars (breakout.) There is no trial, and your guilt is pretty much assumed. (Granted, all of the villains I can think of would pretty much admit that they are guilty but still.)
   [/quote]

This is likely due to the fact that HF is only dispatched to deal with threats unable to be dealt with by normal law enforcement. If a Villain is a big enough deal for HF to need to care, they’re pretty much already confirmed guilty. And seeing as HF is a LEGO toyline they probably didn’t think the target audience would care. (It might be hard for them to sell toys of Stormer taking Xplode to court or something.

@DinosaursUnited

Hero Cores might not do anything. In the beginning, there was some jargon about them having to be re-charged, but when the Heroes all went off to a jungle planet for a year, it never seemed to bother them. (Granted, they could’ve brought a battery with them or something, but when Rocka crashed, he didn’t seem overly concerned that he didn’t have one.) In a HF pamphlet sent out by Lego in 2010, it is noted that Surge is concerned that his core is flawed, and that Furno’s core is supposed to be newer, making him more capable. However, Surge never turned to the darkside, and Furno never did anything super remarkable.

In a Lego Club Magazine in 2011, they explained that the new Hero cores were 40% more powerful. There’s no telling how much more that capacity was upgraded in later models. We also know that Hero Cores give Heroes things like personality and a stronger moral compass from various pamphlets and the TV show.

[quote=“DinosaursUnited, post:1, topic:39484”]
3) The villains killed all of the organic beings. Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch, I admit, but a couple of HF ads ran at the beginning of its run intimated that humans could call HF if they needed. But within the HF universe, there are no pink fleshy humans. The universe is so crime ridden that someone decided it needed a giant factory to build robots to punch the criminals in the face. Before that, where do we think the humans went?
[/quote
They likely excluded them from the TV show for being a bit too out there. I personally like to assume that HF exists far away and in the future, but a few sources have something to say about that.

@DinosaursUnited

Recon Team runs covert ops. Who do we know from Recon Team? There’s the Recon mascot, the guy that sported the dual colored chest plate, and spoke all about it. The only other member we meet (I believe) is Rocka, and he’s alone when we first meet him. As soon as other heroes show up, Rocka immediately leaves Recon team to join Stormer’s team. He never goes back, and Recon Team never checks up on him. Why is that? Additionally, Rocka in the Breakout game (not sure if canon, sorry if not) kills all of Black Phantom’s henchmen. These henchmen were never released in set form, and Rocka seemingly tells no one about them.

From what I’ve gathered, Rocka never left the Recon team (Seeing as he was part of Alpha 1 while still following orders from the HRT in Breakout) He simply integrated himself into Alpha 1 as a undercover agent. We never hear about his HRT relations and shenanigans any further because that doesn’t have much to do with the story at hand.

(And yeah, the games are pretty much non-canon)

@DinosaursUnited

5. HF might be selling off their weapons to villains on the side. Remember 1.0 Furno’s bike? We got a nice Bohrok faceplate re-color out of it. Then remember how Speeda Demon was basically riding it’s repaint in Breakout? Where do you think he got it? If you said “He stole it, duh” ask yourself why HF never reported the theft. Answer: Speeda Demon didn’t steal it. Back to square 1.

Speeda Demon wasn’t riding the repaint of the Furno Bike, that was Stormer. Speeda seems to have his own bike. Speaking of stolen weapons though, we know that both Fire Lord and Jawblade stole Furno’s original weapons at some point.

Anyway, that’s pretty much it.

[matterboy]

I don’t follow the Hero Factory lore often, so take this at face-value.

I noticed Core Hunter’s name and it sounds a bit edgy for a kid’s toy. A villain who takes heroes’ cores for a living seemed so metal back then.

I also took it that Makuro was part human, or was a cyborg of some kind. He seemed too organic and that him being old, in a universe where robots get updated, seemed bizarre. If rust and weathering are issues with Makuro, why won’t he get fixed up? Is his organic brain aging, if he even has one, and his body mimicking the physicality of an elderly man?

[ToaWeissPepsi108]

Faber’s original concept for HF was very dark, as well as the novels Greg wrote for Breakout and Brainattack.

[TheMOCingbird]

You forgot the most evil thing. ALL OF HF IS RUN BY ONE GUY!!! Macuro (Sorry if I spelled it wrong.) just orders around his army of super police robots. He is not in any part of the government, he is just there, commanding the super polices to do what he sees as just. Now that is sketchy.