Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Shakar]

Wow, HUGE redesign on that mask. I like them both but this one looks much better.

The change is so dramatic, it has me wondering how much the sets themselves will change. Piston aesthetic on the shells? More subtle gold accents on the Toa's armor? Man, I can't wait for the official reveal. Or just leaks of the finalized designs.

I'd be content with a new torso armour piece that has some character, like the Breakout torso. I'm really, really sick of the 2.0 shell- it's bland, fat looking and overused.

[Thelegomaster]

I do think it always did that, though, so that doesn't have to mean anything (not that at this point we needed the confirmation from that anyway). Interestingly, lego.com/supercar redirects to the products page as well while another random string like lego.com/blub doesn't.

-Gata

Blub 2015 confirmed!!!

[Meiko]

Anyone got any use for the mouseover animation for that product page image? Like, if anybody knows how to convert it into an animated GIF that'd be pretty sweet.

I don't like animated gifs but you asked.

[TheBrickPal]

Does anyone else think it's odd that it was JUST BIONICLE that showed was found today?

-Sci

I think that was the only one found. I want someone to find the rest, though!

I don't like animated gifs but you asked.

Thanks so much! The hype is real.

Edited September 8, 2014 by VBBN
Edited out quoted gif (to save load times)

[Meiko]

If I didn't know better I'd say that the glow in the background of that product page icon looks almost exactly like Chima Chi. http://i.imgur.com/Cy3wugz.png

And I know since there's always at least one person who takes my sarcasm seriously, I'm kidding and don't really believe there will be a Chima/Bionicle crossover.

[Gatanui]

Blub 2015 confirmed!!!

Mark my words. It may not be next year yet, but LEGO Blub is coming...and things will never be the same.

-Gata

[Floundie]

This is amazing. I had very little doubt it was really happening before but now I am just so freaking excited!!!

[Aethersprite]

Seeing this mask makes me wonder - will we see the return of the BA head (which was quite a good head, in my opinion), or will it be completely redesigned? My money is on the latter, but if we're getting a redesign, any ideas on what it will be like? How many connections will it have? Will it be completely trans like the Glatorian and BA heads were, or will we get back grey heads with trans pieces for eyes? Thoughts?

[Floundie]

or will we get back grey heads with trans pieces for eyes?

Something like that again would be great. But I think they will just stick to the trans single mold heads as has become the norm for the past few years.

[Meiko]

In my opinion I'm expecting this to be a story continuation, with Greg still as the writer. LEGO's been doing the Greg Q&A on the LEGO Message Boards for at least a year now, which is the perfect way for LEGO to catch up fans so they're ready for when the story starts back up-- any fan with questions can have them answered before the story continues in 2015, therefore they don't have to reboot/start the story over. Of course, if it is a continuation, they'll probably start the 2015 story out in a place where it would be very easy for new fans to jump into the story, basically like they did when Doctor Who came back in 2005.

Also here is a slightly cleaned up version of the image that Shine got. I removed the slight bit of semi-trans white glow around the mask so it's fully transparent.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Meiko

[Aanchir]

In my opinion I'm expecting this to be a story continuation, with Greg still as the writer. LEGO's been doing the Greg Q&A on the LEGO Message Boards for at least a year now, which is the perfect way for LEGO to catch up fans so they're ready for when the story starts back up-- any fan with questions can have them answered before the story continues in 2015, therefore they don't have to reboot/start the story over. Of course, if it is a continuation, they'll probably start the 2015 story out in a place where it would be very easy for new fans to jump into the story, basically like they did when Doctor Who came back in 2005.

Also here is a slightly cleaned up version of the image that Shine got. I removed the slight bit of semi-trans white glow around the mask so it's fully transparent.

I think this is unlikely. Greg himself has said in the LEGO Message Boards Q&A that he thinks a continuation would be extremely likely to alienate new fans. And the new BIONICLE theme simply cannot afford to do that.

Here's the exact post:

Hey Greg,

Just a quick question, if Bionicle came back, would the story serials be finished?

No idea. If it were up to me, BIONICLE would not come back by picking up the old story, but as something new (a reboot or something else like that). As someone else pointed out in one of the threads, the original BIONICLE audience is mostly in high school and college now, and to succeed, the line is going to have to appeal to today's 8 and 9 and 10 and 11 year olds, who know nothing about it. So picking up old story and forcing them to have to go back and do all that research to know what is going on probably wouldn't be a good strategy.

[Meiko]

I think this is unlikely. Greg himself has said in the LEGO Message Boards Q&A that he thinks a continuation would be extremely likely to alienate new fans. And the new BIONICLE theme simply cannot afford to do that.

Mkay I wasn't following that thread since the LMBs are a scary place but I was only making an assumption based on what I knew.

[King of Nynrah]

Here's the story for 2015: Devolved Toa Nuva (now Mata), living on Spherus Magna, must collect some golden masks and fight the Lord of Skull Spiders, who is taking control of their villagers with skull spiders.

See how easy that was? They don't need to throw away all of the established lore. In can be kept there, in the background, for them to call upon at any time, without getting in the way of the main story.

[Meiko]

Here's the story for 2015: Devolved Toa Nuva (now Mata), living on Spherus Magna, must collect some golden masks and fight the Lord of Skull Spiders, who is taking control of their villagers with skull spiders.

See how easy that was? They don't need to throw away all of the established lore. In can be kept there, in the background, for them to call upon at any time, without getting in the way of the main story.

I like that idea. It's kinda half reboot half continuation.

[Dorek]

The problem is that it doesn't allow them to take any liberties with the story; Tahu et al. would need the exact same personalities, history that any newcomers would not understand, etc. and any deviation from that renders adhering to the canon a moot point in the first place. It's certainly doable, but it's bound to collapse on itself sooner or later.

[Clone 01354 Productions]

I am rooting for rebooting. For all you hardcore fans out there (like me), think of it like this: a reboot keeps the story and characters of your childhood safe in an alternate, past version of the story, so that no matter how much the new version fails, the story you know and love will still be the same forever.

Let's use an example: Star Wars. It started great, and though the Prequels were bad, people still fondly remember them and connect them to their childhood. Now, they are dragging the story out purely to bring in more money, and the story has become dead and dull. The movies you loved as a kid don't have the same feeling because you know what it becomes. (Though I still like it, and hold out hope.)

A reboot allows the nostalgia to stay, the enjoyment to stay, no matter how many cash grabs and mistakes they make after.

Edited September 9, 2014 by LN-01354

[Meiko]

The problem is that it doesn't allow them to take any liberties with the story; Tahu et al. would need the exact same personalities, history that any newcomers would not understand, etc. and any deviation from that renders adhering to the canon a moot point in the first place. It's certainly doable, but it's bound to collapse on itself sooner or later.

I think personalities could be redeveloped pretty quickly. Same thing when there's any different series of super hero comics but that still feature the same super heroes. You don't need to know all of Batman's history from all the way back to Detective Comics #1 to be able to jump into the story in the latest Batman comic series, however knowing all of Batman's history doesn't hurt either.

[pluto7443]

If it ends up a reboot, at least we could consider it an alternate universe perhaps

[TwistLaw]

I'm for the reboot for a very simple reason:

different construction style.

BIONICLE 2015 is going to use radically different pieces and skeletons from those of '01-'09, so let's say that those are two different universes and that's it.

Edited September 9, 2014 by TwistLaw

[King of Nynrah]

If it ends up a reboot, at least we could consider it an alternate universe perhaps

Yeah, I'd less disappointed if they did a Star Trek 09 on it, and made it an alternate universe with someone from the main maybe paying a visit in the vein of Old Spock (Vezon perhaps)?

Edited September 9, 2014 by King of Nynrah

[Meiko]

I'm for the reboot for a very simple reason:

different construction style.

BIONICLE 2015 is going to use radically different pieces and skeletons from those of '01-'09, so let's say that those are two different universes and that's it.

The pieces used in the sets never really played a role in the story. Since the story was mostly told in words and illustrations, the pieces didn't make a difference to the storytelling. I don't think different pieces in the sets would be the best excuse for a reboot.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

I'm hoping for timeskip continuation simply cause I don't want 10 years of lore discarded. I'm happy with whatever we get, though. Next year is gonna be awesome!

I'm for the reboot for a very simple reason:

different construction style.

BIONICLE 2015 is going to use radically different pieces and skeletons from those of '01-'09, so let's say that those are two different universes and that's it.

They didn't use the same pieces and skeletons for the whole run, though. There's the Mata/Nuva gearboxes, the Metru gearboxes, the Hordika build, the Inika build (and variations thereupon) and the Av-Matoran build.

[SirPuddings]

Fun fact for you guys, according to a fun little javascript function I did on the page where the mask is found, the page was added/last modified on the 9th of august 2014. Meaning it's been sitting there unnoticed for a whole month!

[Vinyl Scratch]

The pieces used in the sets never really played a role in the story. Since the story was mostly told in words and illustrations, the pieces didn't make a difference to the storytelling. I don't think different pieces in the sets would be the best excuse for a reboot.

Just from my point of view, say that this is a continuation, think that they release, I don't know, Helryx as a set. The set would be made of CCBS pieces. That set will really look out of place when put next to Axonn or Brutaka or any other OoMN set that got released. I can't see a continuation being viable.

[Meiko]

Fun fact for you guys, according to a fun little javascript function I did on the page where the mask is found, the page was added/last modified on the 9th of august 2014. Meaning it's been sitting there unnoticed for a whole month!

What Javascript function specifically? That might not be accurate...