Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[davidr]

Well, a russian website, if you say that they had leaks that were true, then I guess we can believe them, though it is still rather early for such hard evidence.

I was Google-translating it myself before, and mozhno means "possible".

What would it mean? Lego is not planning a big launch or something?

This probably means that we will be able to buy the sets from them.

These names are clearly lost in the translation and they could be still unfinished, but we are right to expect the original Toa! The master thing probably means Toa and the defender could be something like... unfinished name. Bionicle always had original names.

[VBBN]

With all 6 toa present, I doubt we'd see all 6 villains, so most likely the "defenders" are Matoran sized sets. Which means we'd be going back to the pre-2008 formula (Which honestly I preferred, but I know others didn't)

Which does bring up an interesting point. In HF we saw heroes and villains mixed as both big and small sets- I'm not sure how I'd feel if we saw that return with Bionicle.

[Aanchir]

A lot of set numbers there (and I love how they just go higher and higher). If that's just one wave, that's already beating out HF.

A lot of people have made a big deal of the number of sets, but for a debut wave it's not all that extraordinary. Hero Factory had 15 sets in its debut wave, as did Legends of Chima. Ninjago had 16 sets in its debut wave (in all of these cases I'm referring to regular-issue sets, not things like polybags which are often distributed through different channels).

[Dorek]

I was more thinking along the lines of if they were running this concurrently with HF; I would have expected a slightly smaller wave.

[Aanchir]

I was more thinking along the lines of if they were running this concurrently with HF; I would have expected a slightly smaller wave.

Yeah, that would be pretty surprising. But at this point there's really no way to say for sure whether Hero Factory will have any new sets next year. I would hope so, but if the new BIONICLE takes Hero Factory's place I probably won't complain. I'm confident I won't be disappointed by the design quality.

[Dorek]

And we could see HF maybe have a singular wave, so that the set numbers remain relatively constant like when they introduced Ultrabuilds (assuming, of course, we don't get any more of them...)

[Loki]

I still don't really have strong feelings on whether or not the line's returning (Cool if it is! Alright if it isn't), but if they are bringing it back I do hope they don't fall into a lot of the problems that plagued the original series. Especially with like... some of the really nonsensical story decisions that really only served to exclude other people from enjoying and identifying with the characters in the story, and the weird shift in atmosphere they tried to do around 2005/2006 with their "we're suddenly darker, there's death and everything's grittier." Plus, wouldn't mind some more diversity with characters and their personalities and some more unique interactions (and kicking some of the... like, really weird decisions out -- like the whole "no romance" even though... like... romance was actually heavily implied in a lot of cases and really made no sense in de-canonizing completely. Then again, there was a looooot of useless stuff canonized so.... eh, I'm sorta starting to ramble on about my least favorite years).

But like, while I have all of my personal qualms with the story and a lot of things really bugged and irked me, a part of me is kinda excited to see it again. Sorta doubt I'd really spend money on it in the future, but I dunno, Bionicle was one of the first things I became a fan of and it might just be a bit of nostalgia getting all "remember the first time you got Gali and thought she was the greatest thing ever despite hurting yourself putting her together with your six year old hands"... kinda fittingly got her after going to the Aquarium at Mall of America.

well that's my rambled out opinion anyhow.

[Lord-Vorahk]

Looking at that stuff...

The set names, while likely accurate, are also rather Engrish-y. I think "Master" may end up being "Toa", and obviouslywe know that Lewa's element is air.

If the "Defenders" are the villains, then I assume they'll probably be properly Anglicized to "Guardian" or something like that, perhaps as the main obstacles the Toa face to get into the villain's lair or something. I dunno.

Our not-Visorak is most likely a Skull Spider. There have been sillier Rahi names, so I can deal with this. And I imagine the "Lord of Skull Spiders" would end up being the arc's big bad. Hopefully he gets a better name, though.

[Floundie]

Oh my GOD THIS IS AMAZING

I hope they don't go the Hero Factory route and switch up the villain every year. I want to see at least a three year long arc revolving around a single evil guy, that would be awesome.

[Bigger Fish]

Anyone else notice that Lewa's and Onua's elements are referred to as Jungle and Land, respectively? Maybe an element change is happening for our have green comic relief robot?

[coolcab1]

Anyone else notice that Lewa's and Onua's elements are referred to as Jungle and Land, respectively? Maybe an element change is happening for our have green comic relief robot?

Or the translation is off. Edited July 14, 2014 by coolcab1

[TheGreatSpirit]

Or the translation is off.

I would assume that the translation for all of them is a bit off.

Edited July 14, 2014 by TheGreatSpirit

[Xeros610]

This is great, unexpected at this time, but great...

also Is it just me or the spider-like set looks similar to this one (Earth Spider), recently linked a page back, obviously updated...(or the concept, 6 legged spider, I don't remember seeing one before... or at least like that one)

interesting...

Edited July 14, 2014 by Xeros610

[Toa Lahka]

I'm really hoping for a sort of 'Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood' approach to BIONICLE 2015- A reboot that follows more closely to the original ideas for the story, and, seeing as Hero Factory may still continue, this could allow them to stay true to what the story writers want (as well as maybe giving us a better ending :P). Seeing as the Toa Mata are returning, this is luckily looking more and more likely!

Good gravy I would love an FMA B approach to this. I'm so excited and happy if BIONICLE really is coming back.

[Aethersprite]

Okay, I'm officially 101% convinced! Hopefully the villain names are placeholders (or just bad translations) for the real, unique names. A possibility is that they added the 'defender' or 'master' prefixes to make the sets look more relatable to first-timers. Not everyone would know what a 'Toa' is.

[TheGreatSpirit]

Okay, I'm officially 101% convinced! Hopefully the villain names are placeholders (or just bad translations) for the real, unique names. A possibility is that they added the 'defender' or 'master' prefixes to make the sets look more relatable to first-timers. Not everyone would know what a 'Toa' is.

I think that the only villain this wave is that spider thing; I assume that the rest of the villains will come in the summer wave (and perhaps 1 hero with them)

[King of Nynrah]

Has anyone thought that we're getting six heroes (the Toa Mata/Nuva) and six villains (the "Defenders")?

Chro commented on the video that TheThreeVirtues made about the supposed set names, and he said that most of them were very badly translated. Obviously, you can't mistranslate words like Tahu and Kopaka, so it's safe to say that we're getting them back, but the "Defenders" and the "Lord of Skull Spiders" is different. Personally I think that the Defenders are the six Element Lords which our heroes are pitted against for whatever reason. As for the Skull Spider though, I have no idea.

Edited July 14, 2014 by King of Nynrah

[Transparency for Effect]

Has anyone thought that we're getting six heroes (the Toa Mata/Nuva) and six villains (the "Defenders")?

Chro commented on the video that TheThreeVirtues made about the supposed set names, and he said that most of them were very badly translated. Obviously, you can't mistranslate words like Tahu and Kopaka, so it's safe to say that we're getting them back, but the "Defenders" and the "Lord of Skull Spiders" is different. Personally I think that the Defenders are the six Element Lords which our heroes are pitted against for whatever reason. As for the Skull Spider though, I have no idea.

Ooh, that'd be cool! And to see the original Toa back not in their Mistika/Phantoka redesigns...

Incidentally, are the Phantoka usually considered better than the Mistika?

[Aethersprite]

Element Lords? To be honest, I have no idea what they are, I had to Google it. (I guess I'm not too familiar with the Spherus Magna backstory.) That might not be too accessible for mainstream audiences - we also have to consider that these might be completely new characters/villains.

Ooh, that'd be cool! And to see the original Toa back not in their Mistika/Phantoka redesigns...

Incidentally, are the Phantoka usually considered better than the Mistika?

For me, it's not between the Phantoka and Mistika - overall, I like the 2009 Makuta a lot more than the Toa.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Lockon Stratos

[Lord-Vorahk]

Incidentally, are the Phantoka usually considered better than the Mistika?

I think so, yes. The Makuta were definitely better, with their actual canister set bodies and limbs, which actually looked complete, and having actual masks, and the Toa... well, Lewa and Kopaka have designs that are actually reminiscent of their originals, Pohatu does too, aside from the mask, which itself is an excellent "Counts As" Vahi.=, and he had something that was reminiscent of a gear function. The Matoran connectivity helped greatly too, and while the Mistika could do that too, the colour coordination made it look better on the Phantoka. Also, more than one of them had an actual weapon instead of just a silly attachment for that year's guns.

[Brickviller]

I'm so happy with this, one of my most beloved themes of my (and many others) childhood is finally coming back. That Skullspider sounds really cool. But can't the name be Spider.. of masks? that would make more sense right?

Edited July 14, 2014 by Brickviller

[toatali]

Theory Time!

Personally, I think the 'Defenders' are similar to the Rahi of 2001, with the Toa having to get through them to collect the masks or armour, which are shown in the picture (each set coming with some sort of collectable). The 'Lord of Skull Spiders' could be like the Manas, the (literal) largest obstacle in their way. If you look again at the picture, You can see eyes in the background, most likely Makuta's, who is controlling the 'Lord of Skull Spiders', like he did with the 2001 Rahi. The mask Tahu is reaching for is perhaps then the Golden Kanohi.

Hope that made any sense, my 2001 knowledge is a bit rusty!

[the last chronicler]

Using the CLEARER copy of the SECOND image which I obtained, I was able to cross-reference the names and set numbers provided by the Russian site to the blurry pictures/numbers on the image.

Not to mention that the constraction sets normally occupy the 440xx numbers of the 5 digit numbering system, and for it to suddenly move to the 707xx numbers, where previously Ninjago and Galaxy Squad (System themes) had normally occupied, is really unusual.

A 707xx code scheme can be made out in the 2ND IMAGE, so unless this obscure Russian site is somehow in cahoots with TTV, and they predicted an odd change in the coding pattern, a personally find that BIONICLE'S return is CONFIRMED 100%.

In addition the 2ND IMAGE sets--based on their numbers' and their colors'--were in numerical order.

I have identified all of the sets in the second image and based on their blurry 'outlines' identified all (except one) of the sets in the first image.

In general I can say this:

- The Defenders are the smallest sets and are humanoid (Although hard to tell for the stone and water one)-- most likely Matoran.

- The Stone sets have a dark color scheme-- most likely no orange or yellow.

- The sets have some sort of launching 'claw' weapon

- The three largest sets are TAHU, KOPAKA, and ONUA

Here are the identified sets:

http://i.imgur.com/7ENtkx1.png

Specific Notes:

- Lewa's mask looks different -- Too unclear to tell how

- Kopaka's masks lower half looks longer or squarer

- Based on the mouth on the Tahu's mask it may be that all masks have been altered to add mouths.

- Tahu is carrying a curved sword backwards-- OR it may be the shadow on the edge of a bright red flame sword which blended into the background.

- Lewa's axe is long like a staff and may be double-bladed.

- Lewa has another colour- brown or gold maybe

- Kopaka is carrying a double sword and some sort of staff (With a white ball-joint at the end?)

- Kopaka may have gold on him- what about the other sets?

- Ice Defender's shield/saw-blade is icy light blue

- Fire Defender may have some/be orange

- We know the unknown (?) set is blue from the leak -- but it does not look like the GALI set in the second image.

- An early image maybe?

- Or maybe there are more villain sets (There was no space left on the page photographed by the second image, maybe there is another page?)

-This would explain why the smaller villain set SKULL SPIDER is listed last on the Russian site -- the villain sets where number after the Heros

SETS IN SECOND IMAGE DETAILS:

DEFENDERS

- All have a white background (Art incomplete?) except for fire defender

- Earth Defenders mask may be PURPLE

TOA

LEWA

- Color scheme, as said, is hard to identify, almost looks like brown, but it could be green bleeding into black ink

POHATO

- His waist looks as wide as his shoulders, or he is crouching

- He is carrying weapons of some sort in both hands- likely long and sword-like

- Color in the darker warmer range of brown, nougat or other

- Slightly hunched

GALI

- Blue

- Either carrying one large staff weapon in both hands or one large weapon and a thin shield

TAHU

- chest is orange or red

KOPAKA

- Two weapons and gold armor (looks brown in the image) as stated by the leaker

ONUA

- Classic diamond-shaped mask

- Hunch-backed

- Carrying gun-weapon on his shoulder, or it could be something attacking from above.

Edited July 14, 2014 by the last chronicler

[Shakar]

So we're getting 13 sets (possibly more if Aanchir is right on his intuition- Takanuva is missing afterall..)? That's awesome. I agree the "Defenders" might be elemental entities.

Lord of Skull Spiders sounds weird- he's the last set of the list, so he might be a larger set. Still, that poses a lot of questions.. is he the leader of the Skull Spiders? Are the Skull Spiders those black spiders we saw in the leaked pic? Is he the main villain of the wave/story arc/theme? If so, how do the Defenders come into play? Maybe they're small sets? But then where are the villains?

Just seeing a list with names like "Lewa" or "Kopaka" is enough to make me excited, though.

Ooh, that'd be cool! And to see the original Toa back not in their Mistika/Phantoka redesigns...

Incidentally, are the Phantoka usually considered better than the Mistika?

I think they are. The Toa Phantoka are generally well liked (though Pohatu was of course rather divisive due to his colours), while Toa Mistika are almost universally disliked, expect maybe Onua (due to his mask and more creative weapon).

LOL, nevermind... the last chronicler's post makes my post moot. I'll edit this later with my thoughts.

So I was right, the Defenders are small sets. The Toa seem to subtly follow their Mata forms, which is great.

And, I forgot to add this but tlc's post seems to confirm it: I'm worried that Lewa, since he's called the "Master of the Jungle", might have been changed to be a plant elemental.

Remember there was a lot confusion ever since 2001 about the element of green sets? Which is why, in Lego's attempt at reboot we all know as Bara Magna, green sets were given a plant/jungle theme instead. Heck even Ogrum, in a year where villains were element-themed, had a plant theme.

Now that the new Lewa seems to feature brown, looks like they might have done the same this time... I can't say I'm happy, Lewa is my favourite Toa Mata, but at least it shouldn't be hard to replace brown with lime..hopefully.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Shakar

[TheOneVeyronian]

A 707xx code scheme can be made out in the 2ND IMAGE, so unless this obscure Russian site is somehow in cahoots with TTV, and they predicted an odd change in the coding pattern, a personally find that BIONICLE'S return is CONFIRMED 100%.

Well, I didn't say that it wouldn't be returning (I believed it was returning anyway! ), I just thought the numbering was strange. I didn't notice any blurry set numbers actually, but then again I'm completely useless at picking out details on blurry leaks But your conclusions do sound very interesting to me, they've definitely got me stoked for these new Bionicle sets. I love the sound of all of them. All I can say is... bring on the next round of leaks!