Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Grima]

If you look at the Earth protector's mask and compare to the other, it actually sits lower on the head while on the other protectors, the mask sits higher and shows the "cheek" gaps. That leads me to conclude that the head is a variation of the BA head mold.

Ah, I see. Interesting. If that's the case, though, that means either the Earth protector doesn't have face detail, or the new head will have two face details, which would look pretty odd. It also makes me wonder if we will, in fact, see translucent eyes, or if we're going with Mctoran-style heads.

[Dorek]

well there's no need to be rude.

Yeah, the printing on LoSS (SK, what do we call him now?) IS a bit off-putting.

I was joking, yeesh.

The very first pictures we got of Breakout were as good as final, with the exception of Black Phantom. But still, I get your point, it's just that the CGI is so rough on these.

-Gata

I was referring to the summer ones from the Toyfair catalog, but yeah, the lack of the background does make it look very preliminary.

Totally unchanged from the display stand pic we got, though, despite what people are saying.

[Ceroknight]

Looks great! Loving those spider masks!

[Timeline15]

I was joking, yeesh.

Sorry, was hard to tell.

On closer inspection, Pohatu has a brain attack torso too. Nice to see some variation.

[Grima]

Totally unchanged from the display stand pic we got, though, despite what people are saying.

Not quite; a majority of the skull spiders in the display stand seem to have a new piece for the legs, a slightly more segmented piece. All of these pictures feature the Savage Planet claws instead.

It could be an artifact of the blurry image making me think they're a new piece, but it's fairly consistent save for a few, Lewa most clearly not using the new piece..

[Aanchir]

Sorry, was hard to tell.

On closer inspection, Pohatu has a brain attack torso too. Nice to see some variation.

So does Kopaka. Honestly, I'm not super impressed with that kind of variation. I'd kind of prefer if they all used the same torso shell for consistency's sake, no matter which they settled on. I mean, it's not like it results in a meaningful difference in their builds or proportions.

[King of Nynrah]

Pohatu's boomerangs/claws remind me of the propellers/drills that his adaptive armour gave him in Karda Nui. I wonder what environment he's in here... obviously something that warrants the use of boomerangs

[Timeline15]

I also just noticed that onua has 2 lightsaber sized connection points on his crotch, so he's not using torso underarmour at all, just a flipped shell.

So does Kopaka. Honestly, I'm not super impressed with that kind of variation. I'd kind of prefer if they all used the same torso shell for consistency's sake, no matter which they settled on. I mean, it's not like it results in a meaningful difference in their builds or proportions.

I know, I mentioned Kopaka a couple of pages back.

Also, there seems to be a meaningful difference in the builds and proportions anyway, as all the toa are of different heights and girths.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Timeline15

[Jasonified]

bionicle 2009 glatorian commercial narrator voice

NEW FROM BIONICLE! TOA TAHU, TOA COPAC WITH HIS ALIEN LEGS, TOA LOOHWA, TOA GALI, TOA ONUA, AND TOA POHATU LEAP INTO BATTLE AGAINST THE FEARSOME SKULL SPIDERS..KRATA..THINGS ON A QUEST FOR THE GOLDEN MASK. HOWEVER, THE PROTECTORS OF THE MASKS ARE OUT TO STOP THEM!

THEY ALL WANT TO CHALLENGE THE MIGHTY LORD OF THE SKULL KRATA SPIDERS, WHO IS OUT TO GET THE MASKS!

Edited September 14, 2014 by Jasonified

[Dorek]

Not quite; a majority of the skull spiders in the display stand seem to have a new piece for the legs, a slightly more segmented piece. All of these pictures feature the Savage Planet claws instead.

It could be an artifact of the blurry image making me think they're a new piece, but it's fairly consistent save for a few, Lewa most clearly not using the new piece..

Well, and they had to tweak the color and everything of the skull spiders, so I suppose I shouldn't have hyperbolized, but I guess that's why they used Lewa and Tahu as the only pictures with colored backgrounds? The golden mask/skull spider is more interesting to me; loving the level of detail in it.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

I'm comparing Gali's mask from the picture in the display stand and the picture here and on her they look pretty much the same, but the gold version on the display stand looks more like her MoL mask. It doesn't look too bad when set forward but I still hope that's preliminary.

[Timeline15]

TOA LOOHWA

oh god, I remember that narrator from the 2008 retrospective XD.

In fairness, that's how I pronounced Lewa's name as a child.

[Grima]

Oh, also, the eyes printed on LOSS's doofy face mostly match up with the eyes in the background on the wobbler; this (fortunately) diminishes the chances of those eyes being Makuta's.

[Antrozek]

gooshshh, Onua is a must. I love that his hammer resembles a face from a vertical angle.

I am not rly happy with the golden pieces. they dont mix that well with the rest of the colors.

that ignika placeholder tho (well hopefully it's a placeholder)

[Jasonified]

If they don't change LoSS's face printing, it's going to be hard to take him seriously.

[Timeline15]

that ignika placeholder tho (well hopefully it's a placeholder)

It must be, the mold looks identical to how it did in 07

[Grima]

If they don't change LoSS's face printing, it's going to be hard to take him seriously.

The fact that his face is printing on a torso plate to begin with makes it hard to take him seriously anyway.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

Someone on YouTube noted that back in 2001, Pohatu had the most pieces of the Toa Mata at 49 and Onua the least at 30. Now it's inverted, with Onua having the most and Pohatu having the least.

[King of Nynrah]

It must be, the mold looks identical to how it did in 07

It also looks identical to how it did in 2008... and 2009... and 2010... where are you going with this?

[Timeline15]

pohatu's piece count seems suspiciously low....

It also looks identical to how it did in 2008... and 2009... and 2010... where are you going with this?

Look at what they did to all the other masks. There's no way the Ignika would remain unchanged. The thing's had 3 different designs already.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Timeline15

[Jasonified]

oh god, I remember that narrator from the 2008 retrospective XD.

In fairness, that's how I pronounced Lewa's name as a child.

I always pronounced it "Lay-wa".

Still, that narrator is epic even if he mispronounces the names.

[Grima]

It also looks identical to how it did in 2008... and 2009... and 2010... where are you going with this?

I think where he's going with that is that old mask molds are unlikely to make a return; if they were, I can see little reason to make an altered hau instead of using the more faithful Stars Hau. Therefore, the Ignika in question is likely a placeholder if it's going to make a return in the sets, as it would likely have a new mold (like, say, a more tribal-looking design rather than a detail-covered aerodynamic design)

[Zaktan of the Shadows]

DAMN I am so stoked for this.

Great, high-res pics. Mmm. The Protectors all share the same mask but have some nice colours. Love the purple. Nice piece count despite them being smaller sets. New launcher looks interesting enough.

The Masters though... so good! Gali and Pohatu have very blegh colour schemes, and Lewa's mask looks kind of off, but other than that... They look pretty cool. Onua might look a little too bulky too.... but Kopaka and Tahu are effin perfect. Just fantastic. I love this man, the masks are really great, cool weapons, and no launcher in sight!

Spider though... eh. Not too excited. It looks rather small despite its piece count...?

Cannot wait for 2015.

-ZotS

Edited September 14, 2014 by Zaktan of the Shadows

[Chro]

gooshshh, Onua is a must. I love that his hammer resembles a face from a vertical angle.

I am not rly happy with the golden pieces. they dont mix that well with the rest of the colors.

that ignika placeholder tho (well hopefully it's a placeholder)

Your avatar - 2015 Miru? New art from you soon? :3

[Aedai Rivin]

Another possibility is that Lego stopped being cheap with the vents, but it would be amazing of your idea turns out to be true. Not just gears, but ratchet joints too!

I don't really think Lego is cheap when designing the vents on their molds. Not only is it a stylistic choice, but as I said it reduces the amount of plastic needed for the piece, so they save money without compromising structural integrity. It also makes them lighter, so if the pieces were to be used in the future they'd need less support to not fall over instantly. I know you're sort of joking, and I'm not fervently defending Lego, but I still feel that the vent design primarily comes from reducing plastic and increasing weight, not making the pieces lower quality.

I took a second (third?) look at Pohatu's Boomerangs and noticed two more things, one good and one bad/good. The good thing is if you look at the round middle area of the boomerang, you'll see that there's a gap between the part he's holding and the round part, while the other one is smoothly connected- this 100% confirms them being two separate identical parts joined by a pin. Which leads me to the bad news. I brought up the possibility of ratchet joints in the weapons because the underside of the boomerangs had a gear detail. But upon further thinking I realized there was no space in the design for any ratchet joints, so it seems that they will only be connected by a pin, which positively does allow a larger and more fluid range of motion, but negatively takes away the glorious stability and feeling of ratchet joints.

I also noticed that Lewa definitely has a gear function on his left arm (our right), although I'm not sure if the other arm does as well.

Fire Protector has some sort of back construction with Glatorian Necks in order to have more chest armor in silver. (similar to what some of the mechs this year have had.)

Gali's arms also seem to be on a lower joint, implying a gear function. If you look closely, her left arm has three armor pieces: One at the shoulder with the new silver add-on, one in a gunmetal above her hand, and an ice blue transparent shell in between them. I'm extrapolating from the shape of her right shoulder that her other arm is the same.

Judging from Jungle Protector, not only does every single set have a gear function, but that the new Gatling gun pieces also work by rotating the piece, since Jungle Protector's gun piece is right next to the gear function.

Also, Ice Protector has trans blue hands :wub: