It's hard to say that their title automatically makes them "enemies"; depending on what they're defending, they could simply be a test for good and bad guys alike, a la 2006's Umbra. It doesn't have to be so black and white.

It could be that they are just village guards. Not every Matoran has to fight. Is "Defender" the official English name or can it be translated as "Guard"?

Edited August 31, 201410 yr by Master_Data

Just because you're clouded with nostalgia for early BIONICLE doesn't mean other people weren't as emotionally impacted by things that went on in HF. Not to mention I certainly don't recall anyone being beheaded; the last time I saw body parts being reattached with no particular fuss in a LEGO constraction line was, let's see, BIONICLE.

Not nostalgia. In fact, I was not even that into Bionicle as a kid. My appreciation for the series, and most of my collection, came about in around 2010. So don't think it's because I say, "Oh, my childhood=Bionicle." I have grown to appreciate the complexity of the story and the characters, and it has nothing to do with fond nostalgia.

Not nostalgia. In fact, I was not even that into Bionicle as a kid. My appreciation for the series, and most of my collection, came about in around 2010. So don't think it's because I say, "Oh, my childhood=Bionicle." I have grown to appreciate the complexity of the story and the characters, and it has nothing to do with fond nostalgia.

The reason you want it is not nostalgia as you said, the reason is that you want to experience something like we did back in the days because many people have pointed out their favourite time was 01-03 and probably dropped off the series after that.

Hero Factory was junk. You can't feel for any of the characters, considering that they are all robots. When Jaller died in Mask of Life, or when Lhikan died in LOMN, it was kind of sad. Now, a robot gets his head cut off, and they just reattach it.

Tell me again how you can't feel for a robot character. Or for that matter how a character's mortality is the only way you can realistically relate to them. Personally, I feel for characters like Bulk and Breez and Furno not because of their physical vulnerabilities, but for their emotional ones. Which isn't to say I've enjoyed every story featuring these characters, but I've enjoyed enough to feel for the characters.

I won't be bitter about Hero Factory ending, of course. It had a good run. But I'll remember it fondly in spite of some of its faults.

I won't be bitter about Hero Factory ending, of course. It had a good run. But I'll remember it fondly in spite of some of its faults.

Amen x 1000

Tell me again how you can't feel for a robot character. Or for that matter how a character's mortality is the only way you can realistically relate to them. Personally, I feel for characters like Bulk and Breez and Furno not because of their physical vulnerabilities, but for their emotional ones. Which isn't to say I've enjoyed every story featuring these characters, but I've enjoyed enough to feel for the characters.

I won't be bitter about Hero Factory ending, of course. It had a good run. But I'll remember it fondly in spite of some of its faults.

Here, here!

Edited August 31, 201410 yr by Jakura Nuva

It could be that they are just village guards. Not every Matoran has to fight. Is "Defender" the official English name or can it be translated as "Guard"?

It's "Protector", it seems

Hero Factory was junk. You can't feel for any of the characters, considering that they are all robots. When Jaller died in Mask of Life, or when Lhikan died in LOMN, it was kind of sad. Now, a robot gets his head cut off, and they just reattach it.

Now, say that again?

Edited August 31, 201410 yr by LewiMOC

It's "Protector", it seems

This just furthers convinces me that they are tasked with protecting the masks from the Toa. It just seems like the type of term that would be used with this.

I just noticed something odd on Lewa.. there are black things seemingly coming from his head and falling down on his chest. It can't be.... hair? Right?

I just noticed something odd on Lewa.. there are black things seemingly coming from his head and falling down on his chest. It can't be.... hair? Right?

Idk, to me it kinda looks like one of the tubes that the Toa Mahri used is wrapped around the torso bit for decoration. :/

This just furthers convinces me that they are tasked with protecting the masks from the Toa. It just seems like the type of term that would be used with this.

They are labeled as Guardians / Protectors of Elements, not of masks. Unless masks have elemental powers (which would suck, IMO), why would they be called Guardians / Protectors of Elements it they guard / protect masks ?

Unless masks have elemental powers (which would suck, IMO), why would they be called Guardians / Protectors of Elements it they guard / protect masks ?

Masks of elements did exist in Bionicle canon, but I do agree that calling a mask with stone powers "Stone" (not even "Mask of Stone" or something) would be incredibly dumb.

I just noticed something odd on Lewa.. there are black things seemingly coming from his head and falling down on his chest. It can't be.... hair? Right?

Lewa is confirmed Rhastapharian!

Relatable robots?

Now, say that again?

1) Wall-E was pretty emotional, okay.

2) Nope.

3) Nope.

4) Nope.

5)I feel nothing for Optimus, or any Transformer.

6) What is your point here? Mata Nui I love, and I think he is epic. But I don't feel for him. When he was cast out of his body, I wasn't sad. And for that matter, I don't really consider any of the Bionicle to be robots, except for the clearly-stated ones, like Maxilos or Mata Nui. All of the others are Biomechanical, not Bionic.

I wasn't happy when Mata Nui arose because I thought, "Oh, he's alive again. yay!!" I was happy because the Matoran were safe, and had their guardian back.

Edited September 1, 201410 yr by VBBN
Requoted images removed

Indeed, I immediately thought of dreadlocks. Also, the gold Miru has a squareish area, which might house connection points (think Black Phantom's helmet) for.. those.. things. Yeah, I really want to be wrong. It'd just look silly (and probably offensive).

Don't you mean Dark Orange? I agree, it looks like that could be his primary color, which is totally fine by me. I do wish the model used it more extensively than what we can see currently, though.

My bad, yes I meant to write Dark Orange. And I do agree that he should have more of it- it's weird, his colour distribution doesn't follow that of any other Toa (the smaller Toa in general are more diverse as far as colour schemes go, actually). However, he seems to use brown-ish 5M shells on his lower legs, so it shouldn't be too hard to make him more brown than he currently is.

Dark orange and tan is pretty much Hewkii's colour scheme, which I'm fine with (so we have Toa Onepu and Toa Hewkii : P). As DV said, it's an interesting compromise between brown and orange, classic Pohatu and new Pohatu.

Edited August 31, 201410 yr by Shakar

And anyway, Hero Factory's robots are done poorly. Wall-E had emotion, and we felt for him through the writing and scenes. Hero Factory is just robots shooting, and without a story, there is no emotion.

They are labeled as Guardians / Protectors of Elements, not of masks. Unless masks have elemental powers (which would suck, IMO), why would they be called Guardians / Protectors of Elements it they guard / protect masks ?

Because each Protector is of that element.

1) Wall-E was pretty emotional, okay.

2) Nope.

3) Nope.

4) Nope.

5)I feel nothing for Optimus, or any Transformer.

6) What is your point here? Mata Nui I love, and I think he is epic. But I don't feel for him. When he was cast out of his body, I wasn't sad. And for that matter, I don't really consider any of the Bionicle to be robots, except for the clearly-stated ones, like Maxilos or Mata Nui. All of the others are Biomechanical, not Bionic.

I wasn't happy when Mata Nui arose because I thought, "Oh, he's alive again. yay!!" I was happy because the Matoran were safe, and had their guardian back.

Dude, I'm guessing you never saw Optimus die in the 1986 movie... or in the Prime cartoon...

Edited August 31, 201410 yr by Jakura Nuva

Because each Protector is of that element.

Actually, good point. Let me think of an actual reason...

You're right, in that it could be certain translation issues; "Fire Defender" in English would be "Defender of Fire" transliterated from any number of other languages.

And anyway, Hero Factory's robots are done poorly. Wall-E had emotion, and we felt for him through the writing and scenes. Hero Factory is just robots shooting, and without a story, there is no emotion.

I, personally, didn't feel for Wall-E (a lot had to do with the movie's ham-fisted environmental message, but anyway), but Hero Factory had plenty of story to relate to the characters through; reading a lot of the supplemental material, especially, provided a great point of reference for understanding them all better.

This probably belongs in the Hero Factory topic at this point, but boiling HF down to "robots shooting" is the same as degrading BIONICLE to "robots with flamethrowers", in that it's not a complete view of either series.

Edited August 31, 201410 yr by Dorek

Well, we have reached a stalemate. Bionicle can be dumbed down, HF can be dumbed down, so lets just settle on this: They both have strengths and weaknesses.

Sorry for causing the HF vs Bionicle feud!

I think that although it is a tad bit sad that HF is ending, it is a necessary and worthwhile price for Bionicle's return.

I can remember back in something like 2011, there was a BZP topic about "If Bionicle were to return at the cost of HF, would you take it?" It was an interesting topic, just to see the reactions.

So guys, I would just like to state one last thing about NYCC: As people have already said in this thread, BZP has been given tickets as giveaways to the event, at which they will reveal a new theme. So, many believe it is Bionicle. But, what if they are trying to throw us off track? They know that things have been leaked, and they could try to throw us off and pretend like, "Oh, it won't come back."

And here's a thought: what if it doesn't come back. I mean, at this point, we have three main things to go off of: the obvious color photo, the website error, and the "new theme" idea. But what if the first is a trick, the second is a mistake, and the third is something new?

Don't get me wrong, I am 99.9% percent sure, but still. Wouldn't that be something: all this hype and speculation, and then in 2015, nothing happens. I have no doubt that Lego would be attacked.....

Because each Protector is of that element.

Yup. Element, not mask. So why do people think they protect the masks from the Toa and/or the Spiders ?

Don't get me wrong, I am 99.9% percent sure, but still. Wouldn't that be something: all this hype and speculation, and then in 2015, nothing happens. I have no doubt that Lego would be attacked.....

And the set list provided by the swiss shop a couple days ago is a fake too ?