For those who were around in the community in 2010, talk about your impressions of the first wave of Hero Factory and the cancellation of Generation 1. Were you part of the “We build zeroes” crowd, or were you somewhat open, or even welcoming, of the change?
Personally, I was pretty hostile to it; I mean, Bionicle had been my childhood to such a large degree, and the first sets of HF looked so poor, that I signed a few online petitions and complained on BZPower and the like. I’m not proud of it, but it did happen.
Same. I bought all of the first-wave heroes and 4-5 of the villains. Of course, before that I bought all the stars. Because I was 10, had money to spend, and enjoyed playing with them. I continued to kinda keep up with them, but I only have a few (if any) of each wave after.
Nowadays, I’m certainly sad that it happened, and would take Bionicle over Hero Factory any day. However, I will say that Hero Factory did a good job of pushing CCBS forward.
I still really wish they had done parts packs, though. That was one of the best things about early G1 Bionicle, and it would have fit so well with both HF and G2. (BTW I’ll say here that I am repeating some of what Logan McOwen has said. Recently read through some of his Tumblr posts and I agree with him mostly.)
Well, obviously I was sad that G1 ended (I had only gotten into BIONICLE in '08, so my run with it was pretty short), but I was of the opinion that HF didn’t deserve to be hated as the “replacement” for BIONICLE. For one, it was a completely different thing, and it deserved a chance to stand on its own merits. Granted, I never found the concept as “interesting” as G1, per say, but it wasn’t at all terrible, and it introduced CCBS, which has been a grand success, IMO…
“We build zeroes”? Hah I’ve never heard of that actually but I like it. I always thought that hf was weak. A provocation, and cheap “replacement” what Lego threw to the fans after Gen 1’s cancellation. Nothing more to say.
I heard some folks on BZPower throwing it around when the theme was brand new. That, and people posting alerts on the “mission tracker” that was set up on the HF site with titles like “Help! Someone canceled Bionicle and replaced it with these stupid heroes!”
I wasn’t happy with G1’s ending, but I thought HF’s concept had potential. But then I got my hands on the first wave of sets (Which were pretty much Solek clones). I wasn’t happy. The story didn’t help either. I could recognize problems with G1’s storyline, but HF’s was nothing but a giant cheese ball.
I wasn’t in the community and wasn’t really into Bionicle much, but I dislike that the “single greatest original Lego theme” was ending. I liked HF but I’ve felt the storyline was weak, there were high points, but I feel it was mostly meah.
I was fairly surprised upon hearing G1 had been cancelled; it wasn’t until 2009-10 that I had really started to get into the BIONICLE story and collecting. There was a part of me, at the time, that felt disappointed I wouldn’t be able to experience the anticipation of a new wave of sets as some of my friends had.
When I’d first caughten glimpse of Hero Factory in a LEGO magazine from 2010, though, something about the Heroes designs visually appealed to me slightly. I remember being very drawn to Mark Surge and Jimi Stringer that I wished to find them in the LEGO aisle at Target a couple weeks later. I also discovered Von Nebula around this time and wished to get him for Christmas, but aside from that my interests were still set on BIONICLE for some reason.
It kind of sucked for me when they cancelled Bionicle, because I had only gotten fully into the theme about a year or two before it’s cancellation.
And then along came Hero Factory with the caption on it’s box “From the makers of Bionicle”. That was the first and only time I had seen Lego do something like that and I’m glad they didn’t do something like that for for Nexo Knights or Chima by writing on the box “From the makers of Ninjago”
Also, the first wave of heroes sucked just because of how basic they were, however, you could say the same thing about the Stars wave for BIonicle
I thought it was Good.
I didn’t even know that the Stars were the last sets. I just assumed Lego would make sets in 2011 just like the years before. Once 2011 finished, and no Bionicle sets were released, I figured out it was cancelled. I liked the HF sets, but didn’t buy most of them. I hated it for a while, (around 2012-2014) but I don’t hate it anymore. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind if Hero Factory G2 existed.
I know this is more of an opinion on Hero Factory than a First Impression. I was like 9 or something when HF came out.
Given my terrible memory, I can’t say exactly what my first impressions where at the time. Though I do remember being sad at the news of Bionicle’s cancellation, as I had no idea it was coming. I was online, just not a member of really any community, so quite a surprise.
I do remember seeing blurry leaks of the HF sets, but I figured it wouldn’t happen and that it was dumb. Now, I don’t remember how accurate those leaks were, but I didn’t find HF that bad when it first came out. Like the Stars, I thought the Heroes were cute and nice little sets. But other than Rotor, I didn’t want any of the sets as they weren’t Bionicle. I didn’t really hate HF when it was first shown, but I certainly wasn’t impressed and there was many, many other System theme sets I wanted at the time.
I was always half-expecting Bionicle to come out with more sets, I didn’t fully click that it was over. But, for Hero Factory, I was really freaking excited. Everything just looked so cool! And then Furno 2.0 happened and I died a little inside.
I continued to kinda keep up with them, but I only have a few (if any) of each wave after.