Comments on: Hero Factory 3.0 [Review]

By: Zrath

Zrath — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 07:52:12 +0000

I’m not into Bionicle or Hero Factory, but I’m liking the Witch Doctor a lot.
I see parts I can use in future MOCs.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:44:03 +0000

I’m loving those skulls.

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 15:39:04 +0000

@Marin – I agree about the Heroes. I wasn’t impressed and I don’t think my boys would have been if it weren’t for the fact that they were brand-new and they got to see them “first”. Witch Doctor is made up of a lot of Technic pieces and that surprised me. Waspix seemed like a normal continuation of the Bionicle/Hero Factory progression.

@BrickBlogger – Thank you for the kind words. My boys had a blast. I also hope that Lego continues to do this and gets the other fan sites involved. I tried out a Father/Son approach as an experiment. Members of the TBB staff have reviewed items in the past, both freebies and things we have bought, but this double-team approach was something new. Only time will tell if it is worth doing again sometime.

@Ben – I said “and so forth” so that includes you. ;) I wasn’t chosen at random. Lego contacted The Brothers Brick about reviewing the upcoming Hero Factory release. We don’t have a Bionicle/Hero Factory expert on staff and I’m the only one with kids in the target age range.

By: bengood921

bengood921 — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 15:07:03 +0000

Josh, you forgot to add ‘send Space sets to Ben’ on your list.

But really, how did they pick you? The sets didn’t just show up at random did they? I would think that part of it must’ve been that you have two boys the right ages for HF, and that Lego was interested in their experiences being part of the review. But again, you already said Lego didn’t tell you what to discuss, so maybe they just lucked out on that one.

By: TheBrickBlogger

TheBrickBlogger — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 15:04:18 +0000

Great review! I especially like that you have gotten your kids involved! After all these sets are geared towards children!
Nice move from LEGO to allow fans to review upcoming sets! I hope they follow this trend!
I’m not a Hero Factory fan, but I see some real nice parts in this! Especially the skull and the bear-mask! :)

By: Marin

Marin — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 13:53:56 +0000

I think these look even less LEGO than the earlier ones. Good guys in particular.

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 13:45:26 +0000

@Nannan – I agree. It would nice if they began doing this on a regular basis. If they sent sent sets to the communities that are experienced in those themes, the fans would get good reviews and Lego would get honest, experienced feedback. While I think I did an adequate job with this review, I’m not a Hero Factory/Bionicle expert. I’m sure someone from BZPower would have noticed things that I didn’t.

If they sent Star Wars sets to FBTB, Pirate sets to the Pirate sites, Castle sets to Classic-Castle, Technic sets to the Technic sites, and so forth, they could get experts in those themes to give valuable feedback.

By: Nannan

Nannan — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:55:32 +0000

That’s a good sign that LEGO is sending sets to fans to review, I’ve not seen them do that before.

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 05:53:20 +0000

@Nannan – Yes, they were from Lego.

@Ben – Lego didn’t tell me what to discuss. The only stipulation was that the review couldn’t be posted until July 1st. I would have liked to discuss the value vs. price but I wasn’t told what the prices will be. I imagine they will be similar to the prices of the previous series but I really don’t know. My feeling is that the smaller sets aren’t really worth the price for adults but my kids love them. The Witch Doctor and Waspix will be worth the cost, in my opinion, as long as they don’t raise the price significantly from last year. That, however, is merely speculation until they release the actual prices.

By: bengood921

bengood921 — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 04:11:00 +0000

Yeah, what do we have to do to get in on that action? I would be a totally awesome reviewer.

Besides the skull heads, were there any other new pieces that struck you as particularly useful for the non-Bionicle builder?

Also, I noticed you didn’t discuss whether or not you thought the set was a good value compared to its retail price. Did Lego ask you to not discuss that?

Thanks, Ben

By: Nannan

Nannan — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 03:32:01 +0000

Did LEGO send you the sets?