Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Lord-Vorahk]

I have to say that I did like functions on the larger sets, just not the humanoid ones. Probably because I like vehicles where all the landing gear or all the wings move in unison.

[Aethersprite]

I have to say that I did like functions on the larger sets, just not the humanoid ones. Probably because I like vehicles where all the landing gear or all the wings move in unison.

Agreed, 2008 and 2009's vehicles were awesomely fun, so much swooshing action! I do hope vehicles return at some point.

Functions can be fun, yes, but I hate it when they interfere with the set's articulation (Which happens most of the time). Also, the CCBS doesn't really accommodate for functions - Bruizer and Scarox's functions weren't integrated very well, IMO. They just looked awkward.

[DuckBricks]

You say that like its a bad thing! Personally, I enjoy sets like that. It ensures that I don't have to buy more than one, and that's something I hope they'll feature in more sets in the future.

It seems strange, though - you'd think Lego wouldn't do that, so they could sell more products.

You stole the words from my mouth... I was about to say that it is perplexing of why LEGO would do that...

[Aanchir]

You stole the words from my mouth... I was about to say that it is perplexing of why LEGO would do that...

Well, it doesn't necessarily work out like that if you just have one character per box. After all, if a kid starts out with just one set, their likelihood of buying a second set will depend at least partly on how much fun they had with the first one. And often having a built-in action play scenario can help with that.

Of course, there's no telling if this is something the LEGO Group plans to do for most constraction sets going forward, or if in this case it's a temporary thing designed to help kids "army build" Skull Spiders and make up for this wave's imbalance between heroes and villains.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Aanchir

[DuckBricks]

I recently built this little emulation of the Protector build, just to get a feel for this size of figure. I must say, I adore it! Can't wait for these sets to come out!

There's also a couple more pics of them on my Flickr.

EDIT: 'them' for gender neutrality's sake

Hey, it's actually really cute! Nice job!

Well, it doesn't necessarily work out like that if you just have one character per box. After all, if a kid starts out with just one set, their likelihood of buying a second set will depend at least partly on how much fun they had with the first one. And often having a built-in action play scenario can help with that.

Of course, there's no telling if this is something the LEGO Group plans to do for most constraction sets going forward, or if in this case it's a temporary thing designed to help kids "army build" Skull Spiders and make up for this wave's imbalance between heroes and villains.

You make a good point... I guess only the LEGO employees know!

[dviddy]

The functions only made sense during the first few sets, when the line was designed, in its entirety, for the "knock the mask off" game. The swinging arms were supposed to knock the masks off. After the change to the axle-connection in the mouth, they really didn't make sense. If they bring the functions back, I'd expect to see something akin to the mask-knocking-off to explain it. I just don't see TLG doing functions for functions' sake.

[TwistLaw]

After the change to the axle-connection in the mouth, they really didn't make sense. I just don't see TLG doing functions for functions' sake.

And yet we got gears in 2004 and even in 2005, a year where we didn't get any mask at all.

Never say never.

[Clone 01354 Productions]

Nidhiki! That's what Lewa's mask looks like! Every time I looked at it, I couldn't figure it out, but now I see that it looks like Nidhiki's mask! Either that or Matau Hordika (Not the same pieces, but it looks like it.)

[Master_Data]

What is the deal with Pohatu? His mask looks like it was redesigned and he is covered in white...it looks like they brought back the original brown only to kill it again.

I do like the new Onua from what I can see of him. Does he have the same chest plate as the other Toa?

[Clone 01354 Productions]

Oh, that's another thing: Pohatu's mask looks like Tahu Mistika's!

[TheGreatSpirit]

What is the deal with Pohatu? His mask looks like it was redesigned and he is covered in white...it looks like they brought back the original brown only to kill it again.

I do like the new Onua from what I can see of him. Does he have the same chest plate as the other Toa?

We need clearer pictures before we can determine what's up with the masks. I think it may just be the size of each individual set in that picture that obscures the masks.

[Still Raindrop]

We need clearer pictures before we can determine what's up with the masks. I think it may just be the size of each individual set in that picture that obscures the masks.

I agree--as it is, many of the gold masks look different from the masks on the Toa (mainly due to the angle, I assume); moreover, if we didn't have the big picture of Tahu, I would say his mask doesn't look too much like a Hau, just judging by the small picture.

[TwistLaw]

I'm on a train right now and there's this kid playing with BA Natalie Breeze.

While confirming to me how awesome that set was, and also being the first time in my life I see someone else beyond me playing with a Hero Factory figure (how old do I feel right now :'( ), I realised something else:

brown and green blend together exceptionally well!

I'm really curious to have Lewa in my hands, it's gonna be interesting.

[Dorek]

All the Lewa discussion reminded me - god help us all if Treespeak comes back.

[Mandate]

I'm on a train right now and there's this kid playing with BA Natalie Breeze.

While confirming to me how awesome that set was, and also being the first time in my life I see someone else beyond me playing with a Hero Factory figure (how old do I feel right now :'( ), I realised something else:

brown and green blend together exceptionally well!

I'm really curious to have Lewa in my hands, it's gonna be interesting.

For a moment there by "train" I thought you meant the Hype Train. I should probably go take a vacation, shouldn't I?

[Logan McOwen]

All the Lewa discussion reminded me - god help us all if Treespeak comes back.

[Mr. Gundam]

LewiMOC, Oh wow that looks great. You get a better view of the small set compare to using LDD. Did you get a chance to compare the height with other Matoran??

[Shakar]

I think it's been discussed before, but there's definitely something going on with the torso. The shoulders are in line with the chest piece, which doesn't happen if it was a regular torso bone. And the torso shell covers the crotch. And look at Tahu. His body seems really thick; something seems to be going on with his back.

It's either some crazy engineering, or a new torso. I vote the latter.

It's definitely not one of the existing torso bones, that much I'm sure about. (for the reasons you pointed out). Leewan made a pretty neat render of a possible new torso bone- I hope this is what we're getting, and it's not related to the other things we don't know about. I just want the CCBS to be develop, I don't care for functions at all.

I think a new, slightly taller torso bone is in line with the trends 2015 is showing. It seems the average set size is going to increase again: not in such a sudden and obvious way as classic!BIONICLE, but in a subtler, less regular way: sets grew from 2010 to 2012, then shrunk (save for the and now they're getting bigger than 2012 (HF's peak).

I have to say that I did like functions on the larger sets, just not the humanoid ones. Probably because I like vehicles where all the landing gear or all the wings move in unison.

This is something I can agree with. Vehicles are purely mechanical, non-living things, so I expect to see functions that can somewhat mimic those of a IRL vehicle. It's not that a vehicle needs to show as much expressiveness as a character, so functionality comes before poseability.

What is the deal with Pohatu? His mask looks like it was redesigned and he is covered in white...it looks like they brought back the original brown only to kill it again.

I do like the new Onua from what I can see of him. Does he have the same chest plate as the other Toa?

Pohatu's mask isn't that different that his classic one..it's just more boxy. The big wing-like cheeks are there, so are the long slanted eyes. And, as Mariko pointed out, you couldn't tell from Tahu's packaging alone how similar his mask is to the classic Hau, yet it is. Now that I see it, the red Hau in the packaging looks really bland and featureless, just like the Defenders' mask, while the gold Hau is clearly..well, a Hau.

Actually, that goes for all the Toa sets: the Toa themselves are in a preliminary stage (chest printing missing, very prototype-ish masks, heck Gali borrowed hers from Onua), while the gold masks look much more finalized. This might support my theory that the Defenders are using a prototype mask piece.

And no, Onua is different than the others, he uses a Hulk chestplate, which means he's going to be massive.

I'm on a train right now and there's this kid playing with BA Natalie Breeze.

While confirming to me how awesome that set was, and also being the first time in my life I see someone else beyond me playing with a Hero Factory figure (how old do I feel right now :'( ), I realised something else:

brown and green blend together exceptionally well!

I'm really curious to have Lewa in my hands, it's gonna be interesting.

I saw a kid with Breakout Nex at a pizzeria about a year ago but that's it. Indeed, seeing HF around is pretty unusual, more so than bonkles I think.

And I agree, green and brown look pretty nice, but I think Lewa's using keetorange as his secondary colour. I tried it out myself (assuming he's using Bright Green, which is something I actually hope for) and I can't say I'm very fond of the combination- two bright colours don't look that great totgether. I'll probably replace it with lime or a blue tint.

All the Lewa discussion reminded me - god help us all if Treespeak comes back.

It never bothered me much, but I guess it's because I'm not a native speaker.

[Kalhiki]

Here's some sketches of how I see the masks.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/kalhiki/Bionicle/2015biomasks.png

Not saying they're accurate, that's just what I see.

[SneakySqeaky]

All the Lewa discussion reminded me - god help us all if Treespeak comes back.

Awwwww why ya gotta be hate-dislikin' on tree speak? Tree speak is big-fun.

Now that we know it's in october(yay my burfdeh) September will drag on by now. Good thing Minecraft just updated. :P

Edited September 3, 2014 by SneakySqeaky

[Aanchir]

Here's some sketches of how I see the masks.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/kalhiki/Bionicle/2015biomasks.png

Not saying they're accurate, that's just what I see.

That all looks pretty similar to how I see them as well, with the exception of Lewa's. I don't see those wide cheeks like you do, particularly on the gold version. Instead, the shape seems similar to the original Lewa's mask, but with rounder sides, a pointier chin, and a narrow protrusion in the back. Kind of like a cross between Lewa's original Kanohi Miru and Preston Stormer's mask from the Brain Attack series.

[Clone 01354 Productions]

^^Yeah,what's wrong-bad with treespeak? Treespeak is the best-happy thing I have ever heard-listened! (Lewa does it better.....) It does give him some nice, unique character, though.

Also, I agree SneakySqeaky. September will be the longest month ever. Nothing is happening until October, and I highly doubt any more leaks. So that wait, an entire month of nothing, will be painful.

^Aanchir, I don't know how you see the original mask shape; It looks more like Onua Mata (At least, on the golden one), and the normal-color one looks like Nidhiki. But Pohatu.....I can barely make out anything on the golden mask, and forget the brown one: all I see there is a glob. And Onua....i don't even want to try....

Edited September 3, 2014 by LN-01354

[Kalhiki]

That all looks pretty similar to how I see them as well, with the exception of Lewa's. I don't see those wide cheeks like you do, particularly on the gold version. Instead, the shape seems similar to the original Lewa's mask, but with rounder sides, a pointier chin, and a narrow protrusion in the back. Kind of like a cross between Lewa's original Kanohi Miru and Preston Stormer's mask from the Brain Attack series.

For some reason, every time I look at Lewa's gold mask, I see a top-down view. Mainly because both masks seem to have a vent-like mouth that kinda sticks out from the face. The gold one seems to show more of it protruding, while the green one shows more of the vent.

It's hard to explain. Maybe later I'll highlight on the picture what I'm talking about.

[Clone 01354 Productions]

Wait...I just realized something: Lego said that they will be announcing a new theme at NYCC. It can't be Jurassic World, or elves, or anything else, because those have already been announced!! It will be BIONICLE!!!!!

[Chimaninja454]

That all looks pretty similar to how I see them as well, with the exception of Lewa's. I don't see those wide cheeks like you do, particularly on the gold version. Instead, the shape seems similar to the original Lewa's mask, but with rounder sides, a pointier chin, and a narrow protrusion in the back. Kind of like a cross between Lewa's original Kanohi Miru and Preston Stormer's mask from the Brain Attack series.

Yeah, they're interesting, and I'm just about to hype... Thank you Kalhiki, :P

@Aanchir: I agree with your opinions about the new masks.. :)