Lego Hero Factory: The Latest Craze From Lego

If your child was into Lego Bionicles then they will love the follow on range, Lego Hero Factory. The idea is that these Heros and designed and built in the Factory and sent off to fight all of the evil in the world to restore peace. A novel idea at least – shame it’s only child’s play.

This range from Lego is new out and is set to be a top contender for toy sales for Christmas 2010.

Check out prices for the full UK range here or if you’re from the US here.

So let your children clear up the world’s troubles by playing at the imaginary call center where the Hero Factory takes its call from those in trouble and builds and sends out a robot hero in their very own hero pod to help out.

There are currently 15 kits to buy to suit a wide age range of children from 6 years and up. They start at smaller kits with only 17 pieces and move up to whopping kits of 390 pieces with prices ranging from around £8 to £35. Each character has its own tools and weapons suited to different missions.

Each of the robot heros has their own rank within the team. Natalie, Mark and William are rookies, while Preston, Jimi and Dunkan have higher ranks. Preston is the Alpha team leader. There are also some baddies in the range to ensure that good vs bad role play can take place.

Here is the full range ordered from the smallest number of pieces (and therefore price) to the largest.

Jimi Stringer
Alpha Team
Age: 6+
Pieces: 17
Size: 15cm
Features: built-in multi-functional sonic blaster, removable hero core, high tech armour and communcations headset with camera

Please click to check price in UK or US

Preston Stormer
Alpha Team Leader
Age: 6+
Pieces: 17
Size: 15cm
Features: multi-functional ice weapon including an ice saw, bot shooter and harpoon as well as removable hero core, high tech armour and communcations headset with camera

Please click to check price in UK or US

Dunkan Bulk
Alpha Team
Age: 6+
Pieces: 17
Size: 15cm
Features: multi-functional heavy metal weapon, loaded with metal sphere ammo as well as removable hero core, high tech armour and communcations headset with camera

Please click to check price in UK or US

Natalie Breez
Alpha Team Rookie
Age: 6+
Pieces: 19
Size: 15cm
Features: energized dual boomerangs and harpoon for climbing as well as removable hero core, high tech armour and communcations headset with camera

Please click to check price in UK or US

William Furno
Alpha Team Rookie Leader
Age: 6+
Pieces: 19
Size: 15cm
Features: dual fire shooter as well as removable hero core, high tech armour and communcations headset with camera

Please click to check price in UK or US

Mark Surge
Alpha Team Rookie
Age: 6+
Pieces: 19
Size: 15cm
Features: lightening bolt weapon and electrified shields and armor as well as removable hero core, high tech armour and communcations headset with camera

Please click to check price in UK or US

Corroder
Baddie
Age: 7+
Pieces: 40
Size: 17cm
Features: spiked head, corrosive spit, meteor blaster, razor sharp claws and horn

Please click to check price in UK or US

XPlode
Baddie
Age: 7+
Pieces: 45
Size: 17cm
Features: blazing spiked armor and Meteor Blaster

Please click to check price in UK or US

Thunder
Baddie
Age: 7+
Pieces: 47
Size: 17cm
Features: Meteor Blaster and powerful crush claw

Please click to check price in UK or US

Meltdown
Baddie
Age: 7+
Pieces: 50
Size: 17cm
Features: radioactive sludge shooter and Meteor Blaster

Please click to check price in UK or US

Rotor
Baddie
Age: 8+
Pieces: 145
Size: 20cm
Features: biohazard gas shooter and meteor blaster and Helicopter jet pack that spans over 25cm

Please click to check price in UK or US

Von Nebula
Leader of the Baddies
Age: 9+
Pieces: 156
Size: 22cm
Features: heavily armed with spiky armor and his deadly staff that can generate black holes

Please click to check price in UK or US

Furno Bike
Vehicle and Hero set
Age: 8+
Pieces: 165
Size: 30cm
Features: William Furno Hero figure and his motorbike which includes spinning rubber tires with treads as well as working kickstand and flame windshield art

Please click to check price in UK or US

Drop Ship
Vehicle
Age: 9+
Pieces: 390
Size: 43cm
Features: star cruiser ship with tough armour and an H4 Force Ball shooter; pull trigger to flap stealth wings and fly; includes pilot

Please click to check price in UK or US

My 9 year old has just received three of the Lego Hero Factor characters from his 90 year old great, great Aunt to keep him quiet during the school holidays. For some reason he chose the easier sets (ie, less pieces) of Jimi, Mark and Preston and here’s what he had to say about them:

“Compared to Bionicles, the new Lego Hero Factory figures are smaller and easier to build. [Editor note: he only has the smaller sets!] Each figure comes with different coloured armour and masks. All figures have a weapon or two (I poked Mark Surge’s weapon in my eye, so be careful!) to make them more extraordinary. All six heroes have different colours on the core piece on their chests. The bad parts about the figures are that their legs and elbows don’t bend, only their hands, but at least they don’t fall over like Bionicles. [Editor note: some of the larger sets have more moveable joints!]”

To an untrained parent Lego Hero Factory toys look much like their Lego Bionicle predecessors, but at least you won’t get as confused as you might have done with the sheer number of Bionicle toys.

Overall they are well liked toys and being Lego you know you are getting a quality toy. The building process is fun and you can buy easier or harder kits depending on the age of your child. For real youngsters start off with the Rookie kits but for more advanced builders you will definitely want to stick with the likes of Von Nebula or the Dropship. Once built the figures offer lots of imaginary play and when a change is needed, the characters can be dismantled and the pieces mixed up with other kits to make a whole new creation.

The look of these Lego action figures is great. They are very human like in proportion and the colors are fun and vibrant. The armour and weapons are bulky and appealing making for a solid looking and durable toy. The figures stand and move well. As for playability some of the smaller sets can just be posed and moved whereas the larger sets have projectile launchers. It is always a good idea to buy a few of these figures, including a villain, to enable more imaginative play during missions. The downsides are really on the smaller sets where some more bendability would have been nice in the knees and elbows but they can still pose well. Overall the Lego Hero Factory characters are not too simple but not too complicated either and the perfect size to play with once built.

Related Posts

1. Lego Duplo Deluxe Brick Box Review
2. Lego Minotaurus – The New Board Game Reviewed
3. Ben 10 Lego Is Here – Compare Prices Now

Tagged with: lego • lego hero factory

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more FREE!