Is Hero Factory still Technic?

[pocketmego]

For about...what, a few years now, Lego has been using the term Construction figures to define class of toys in the company.

And, there are many people that felt Bionicle was not Technic when they gave up constructed functions with gears and whatnot. Others feel the Agori era was it for Bionicle and its Technical designation.

Some feel HF was never Technic.

What do you think?

Being new to HF, I wasn't sure until I got and built ROCKA XL, which had a build that felt both very Technic and very old school Bionicle, even using the new skeleton structure. (I like to call it the O'Brien build, because when put together, those skeletons look just like one Willis O'Brien made and covered in plaster and fur to make King Kong and Mighty Joe Young.)

People who built Von Nebula and Witch Doctor might feel the same way. And recent monsters like Bruizer and Scarox make obvious use of Technic functions...such as they are.

So what do you guys think?

[The Mugbearer]

You have strange habit to start topics with such a strange questions. Bionicle wasn't Technic since... Idk. Also, Hero Factory is Ultrabuild. It's a new-fasion word, you know...

[pocketmego]

Officially Bionicle wasn't labeled Technical after wave 1. But, many people, myself included, always thought of them as Technic.

And good discussion topics, in my opinion, keep this from just being a MOC showcase forum.

[Shakar]

I'd say not, some of the sets this year use Technic, but they rely on their own building style that is different from anything Lego created in the past.

[Aanchir]

For about...what, a few years now, Lego has been using the term Construction figures to define class of toys in the company.

And, there are many people that felt Bionicle was not Technic when they gave up constructed functions with gears and whatnot. Others feel the Agori era was it for Bionicle and its Technical designation.

Some feel HF was never Technic.

What do you think?

Being new to HF, I wasn't sure until I got and built ROCKA XL, which had a build that felt both very Technic and very old school Bionicle, even using the new skeleton structure. (I like to call it the O'Brien build, because when put together, those skeletons look just like one Willis O'Brien made and covered in plaster and fur to make King Kong and Mighty Joe Young.)

People who built Von Nebula and Witch Doctor might feel the same way. And recent monsters like Bruizer and Scarox make obvious use of Technic functions...such as they are.

So what do you guys think?

Hmmm, it's a bit of a puzzle. It all really depends on whether Hero Factory's core ball-joint-based construction qualifies as Technic, which in turn depends on whether the ball joint itself qualifies as Technic. Since the ball joint debuted in Throwbots, which WAS considered a Technic theme, then there's definitely room to argue that Hero Factory is inherently Technic-based.

BIONICLE stopped being officially considered a Technic sub-theme in 2004, but it could definitely be argued that the sets were still Technic sets since the building style did not change considerably at that time.

I'd argue that the Hero Factory building system, if not an independent building system in its own right, has the potential to become one. Certainly the use of traditional pin/axle connections in many Hero Factory figures is no more prevalent than in certain System sets. But at the same time, so far, every Hero Factory set at a $35 or higher price point has been extremely Technic-intensive, which is a point against its ability to be considered its own entity. Smaller sets stepped away from Technic when the building system debuted, but this year Technic has started returning to even the smaller builds in the form of action features and more complex weapon designs. So while I wouldn't call it a Technic sub-theme, Hero Factory is definitely far from independent of the Technic building system.

[DraikNova]

In a way, the completely balljoint system seems more technic to me than Bionicle's later sets. It feels more streamlined than Bionicle's part-axle, part-balljoint system, anyway.

[pocketmego]

In a way, the completely balljoint system seems more technic to me than Bionicle's later sets. It feels more streamlined than Bionicle's part-axle, part-balljoint system, anyway.

See, that's where my mind is more or less at. You and I seem to be of similar mind sets with this stuff for the most part. :)

Aanchir is also correct in that we seem to have a pattern where if something needs a function, immediately Technic parts are shoe horned back in. Making this a system that might never be able to stand on its own as a building system. Unless they create some sort of transition pieces that will start doing the job without the need for the beams and pins. But, that seems incredibly unlikely given that the entire skeletal system is festooned with technic pin holes. Which is why, I believe this really is basically a Technic line.

[Devorath]

I'm not sure myself, but according to Front, the HF and Bionicle building systems are sub-systems of the Technic system. I'd say yes.

[TheDesuComplex]

I'd say so, since the ball joint is made to fit within the common technic system and many designs involve technic bits. I wouldn't exactly say it's a seperate system but more of a sub-system (akin to the pnuematics of Technic or the minifigure rods of System).

[ZORK64]

I guess the answer on this question also partly depends on what we consider Technic.

The LEGO Technic sets are replica of real vehicles, featuring various functions to imitate their real counterparts.

Back then, with Slizers/Throwbots, LEGO added clearly fictional to the Technic range. However, Bionicle sets were eventually not labeled as Technic anymore at some point onward, as Aanchir already explained above.

So, definition-wise, Hero Factory is not Technic.

But if we consider all the parts (and thus, building styles and "rules") that were common for Technic sets as Technic, then we can consider certainly Bionicle, and to some extend Hero Factory as well, as a sub-theme for Technic, since many of its parts are more compatible to Technic than say, LEGO System.

On a not so related side-note: I'm more interested in discussion topics than MOC-threads here on EB anyway, since I prefer MOCpages for the latter (though I became kinda inactive over there).

[pocketmego]

I'm starting to feel that from just a building perspective, so long as the U-Clamp (Bionicle Hand/technic pin thingy) is so heavily used (and it is the heart and soul of both Bionicle and HF...even now) then it is still Technic.