Hero Factory (TV series)

Hero Factory
Genre	Animation Action Fantasy Science fiction
Written by	Sean Catherine Derek Jesse Peyronel Adam Beechen
Directed by	Mark Baldo Howard E. Baker Michael D. Black Jay Oliva Jorgen Klubien
Voices of	John Schneider Eric Christian Olsen Henry Winkler Bryton James Jean Louisa Kelly Christopher B. Duncan Stephen Stanton Jason Canning Tom Kenny Jason London Jennifer Coolidge Malcolm McDowell
Country of origin	United States Denmark
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	11
Production
Producer(s)	Joshua R. Wexlar Kristy Scanlan
Running time	23 minutes
Distributor	Threshold Animation Studios Advance Ghost
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon Nicktoons
Original release	September 20, 2010 (2010-09-20) – January 9, 2014 (2014-01-09)

Hero Factory is an American/Danish animated TV series based on the Lego toy series of the same name and produced by Threshold Animation Studios for Nickelodeon. The series revolves around the Hero Factory, a crime-fighting organization that manufacture robotic heroes to take on and apprehend criminals across the galaxy while aiming to protect a similarly-robotic populace. The main characters are a group of heroes that make up Team Alpha 1, the Hero Factory's most successful and highly praised team.

The series originally premiered as a four-part mini-series on September 20, 2010 on Nickelodeon, further episodes followed as the theme continued as a toy line until 2014, the it was discontinued by The Lego Group.

Overview

Hero Factory revolves around an organization of the same name that deals with the construction of robotic heroes who are trained and ordered to protect a similarly robotic populace, capture criminal villains and maintain order across their home galaxy. Each Hero is unique, with their own distinct personalities and equipment. Hero Factory's headquarters are based in a towering skyscraper centred in the fictional Makuhero City, located on a terraformed asteroid, and appears to be the tallest and largest building in the metropolis.

The series centres around the missions of Alpha 1; the most praised and experienced team at the Hero Factory. Led by veteran Hero Preston Stormer, the team comprises senior members Dunkan Bulk and Jimi Stringer, original rookies and later fully fledged team-mates William Furno, Mark Surge and Natalie Breez and current rookies Julius Nex, Nathan Evo and Daniel Rocka. All refer to each other by their last name.

From the fifth episode onward, the Heroes were upgraded into new "2.0" forms as part of a new Hero building system introduced to Hero Factory. It became the basis for subsequent upgrades based on Heroes' missions and their acquired environments. In each upgrade process, the Heroes would be provided with new armor, weapons, gadgets, and in some cases, new body builds, in order to deal with the mission at hand.

Broadcast and release

The first four TV episodes aired continuously over four nights in September 2010, they were later released onto DVD as a singular film titled Hero Factory: Rise of the Rookies the following November 16.^[1] A fifth episode titled "Ordeal of Fire" debuted in April 2011, followed by two further episodes - the two part story Savage Planet - in September 2011 as a one-hour special. All three were released onto DVD on October 4, 2011 as Hero Factory: Savage Planet, with "Ordeal of Fire" added as a bonus feature. The broadcast format was repeated for the two-part story Breakout in April 2012.

The tenth episode "Brain Attack" premiered on the official Hero Factory website in March 2013, receiving a TV broadcast the following month on Nicktoons.^[2] A further episode titled "Invasion from Below" was produced by Lego with design partner Advance and animation company Ghost. Despite being produced by a different studio, the episode shares the same continuity as the rest of the series. The episode premiered as part of the online game of the same name in January 2014, and since Lego's decision to discontinue Hero Factory after 2014, is the last episode of the series.

Characters

Heroes

Stormer - Preston Stormer is the no-nonsense leader of Alpha 1, plagued by his failure in a past mission, and demanding in his expectations of all team members. A skilled Hero, Stormer has experienced hundreds of battles, and is a natural leader. He is very competitive, and specifically targeted the post of Alpha 1 leader because he believed he would excel in it. After the incident with Von Ness, Stormer is determined that no rookie would ever put a mission in jeopardy again and is especially harsh on them as a result; many prior rookies under his command either gave up or were transferred out. The incident also plagued him with feelings of guilt, and he often blames himself for things that go wrong with missions. Stormer is disinterested in popularity and believes that he should not receive praise for simply doing his job.

Furno - William Furno was once a reckless and ambitious rookie Hero assigned to Alpha 1, now a valuable team member. As a rookie, Furno was impatient but passionate, and eager to prove himself, especially to team leader Stormer. He was also very overconfident, and believed he had the skill to succeed at any task. This amount of self-confidence forced him to push his own limits in order to succeed at harder tasks, even during his downtime. Time and missions have tempered his overconfidence, though he is still very eager. His attitude brought him into conflict with the similarly headstrong new rookie on the team Rocka, who was modeled after Furno himself, though Furno grew to accept the rookie. He had also attempted to cultivate leadership qualities, offering his tutelage to rookie Nathan Evo. He was eventually promoted to the rank of commander for Mission: Brain Attack, and put in charge of multiple Hero teams, including Alpha 1. His model, at the time of creation, was the newest and most up-to-date one available. His Hero Core is exceptionally pure, thought to be the purest in existence.

Bulk - Dunkan Bulk is a physically imposing, powerful senior Alpha 1 member, whose impressive strength belies a growing intelligence. Bulk's artificial intelligence is less developed than others, which he sometimes feels self-conscious about, but he makes up for this intelligence deficiency with sheer power. He is able to withstand blows that would destroy armored vehicles. He is reputed to be one of the Hero Factory's strongest active Heroes. Bulk is always ready for a mission, and enjoys fighting for the Hero Factory as much as he enjoys the actual fighting itself. He has been actively working to develop his intelligence, increasing his amount of reading and vocabulary.

Stringer - Jimi Stringer is a philosophical and musically inclined veteran of Alpha 1, who incorporates sound-based functions into his weaponry. Stringer enjoys fighting for the Hero Factory cause, but is very laid-back, and cool under pressure during missions. This attitude occasionally annoys his team mates, but helps him in dealing with the stressful situations they get into. Unlike the other members of the Alpha 1 Team, Stringer likes working with rookie Heroes. Stringer has a passion for music, and applies his casual, philosophical attitude about fighting toward lyric composition as well.

Surge - Mark Surge is one of Team Alpha 1's youngest, a temperamental hot-head working to overcome a secret insecurity. Though he is convinced that something went wrong with his construction, Surge is nonetheless an able, if occasionally clumsy, Hero. Like his fellow rookie teammates, he was built with experimental designs, though Surge resented the constant examination this required. He is known to be defiant and emotional, often attempting to be rational, but is easily set off. He is also very strong, but his inexperience leads to an inability to use it properly all the time. He thoroughly enjoys going on action-oriented missions, rarely content to be involved with community affairs. Surge also struggles with fears that he is secretly evil and will become a villain, like Von Nebula. Although he has dealt with this fear directly over the course of his Hero career, Surge still deals with the insecurity, and often throws himself into action to compensate.

Breez - Natalie Breez is the sole female member of Alpha 1. Brash in her dealings with her team mates, but with a connection to nature. Breez has a talent for remaining cool and collected under pressure. She cares deeply for innocent lives everywhere, but she frequently insists that she has no romantic interest in any of her team mates, and that their job as Heroes is what is most important to her. She is confident in her own ability and refuses to be protected by others. Diplomatic in nature, Breez is a fierce fighter when it comes to defending innocents, and will go out of her way to ensure citizen safety during missions. Breez has the ability to communicate with all known types of animals due to a program in her Hero Core, which also allows her to sense disturbances in nature. She is also skilled in knife and hook throwing, which featured prominently in her 2.0 training.

Evo - Nathan Evo is an introspective rookie Hero working with the team, who emphasizes the use of heavy artillery in missions. Initially calm and quiet, Evo debuted as an expert at weaponry. During his initial missions, he would meditate before a fight to stimulate himself and sharpen his reflexes. As a rookie on the Alpha 1 team, he has faced pressures to live up to team leader Stormer, but with the assistance of his other teammates, he has been overcoming self-doubt and insecurity in order to be a worthwhile ally and Hero. Evo has lately developed an enthusiasm for all types technology, embracing the Battle Machines used in Antropolis City.

Nex - Julius Nex is the socially nuanced and technologically gifted head of Hero Outreach and a rookie on Alpha 1, with a love for gadgetry. Nex is enthusiastic, highly skilled in the nuances of his body, has amazing flexibility, and hypersensitive senses. He is a communication expert, able to interface with nearly any system. For Mission: Savage Planet, he was programmed with instinct algorithms based off that of a saber-toothed tiger.

Rocka - Daniel Rocka is the headstrong new rookie of the team, also a member of the Hero Recon Team, a special covert division of Hero Factory. Rocka's outlook is very much like a younger Furno's; he is extremely self-assured and headstrong, willing to immediately take on a challenge without a thought to his own limitations. This confidence caused him to clash with Furno, but the two eventually settled their differences. His experience in the training sphere has given him a diverse skill-set. As a member of the Recon Team, he is also versed in secrecy and espionage teachings. Rocka specializes in technology, and excels in developing new software applications and devices.

Mission Control staff

Zib - Professor Nathaniel Zib is a Senior Mission Manager at Hero Factory who overlooks all of the Alpha 1 team's ongoing missions. A skilled strategist and problem solver, which are traits necessary for his position as the chief mission manager, Zib holds a no-nonsense attitude while working and will willingly express mission protocols towards Heroes both on mission and in the Control Room.

Quadal - Quadal is Zib's assistant robot who aids him during Team Alpha 1's missions. He runs scans and completes technical work within the Control Room. Unlike most robots, Quadal is able to float and also withholds a set of extensive arms within his body. He does not communicate normally through speech, but via a series of beeping noises that Zib has been seen to understand. Quadal is able to easily make use of technology, and is also talented in the field of numeric sequencing.

Recurring

Mr. Makuro - Akiyama Makuro is the founder and chairman of Hero Factory and Makuro Industries. Makuro is the oldest known robot in the galaxy. Recognizing the growing amount of evil in the universe, he created the Hero Factory; a corporation dedicated to creating Heroes to protect the galaxy. He personally oversees the creation of every Hero. At Stormer's creation, Makuro felt he was going to be a special Hero, and was correct as Stormer became leader of the Alpha 1 team. Seeing Furno's creation, Makuro sensed the same thing. Later, after a lengthy time working on the process, Makuro debuted the Upgrade, a new larger, stronger Hero design that he later rolled out to all Heroes.

Daniella Capricorn - The short tempered on-the-scene news reporter for several Hero Factory news channels including HFX, Hero NewsWire (HNW) and HNN and has reported on many issues concerning the Alpha 1 team's missions and Hero Factory itself with the assistance of her personal camera bot, who has to suffer verbal and sometimes physical abuse from her if she is unhappy with its performance. However, while on camera, she takes on a façade of pleasantness.

Cast

Episodes

References

External links

• Official website
• Nicktoons: Hero Factory: Four Night Mini-Series
• HEROsector01, An external wiki