Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[SneakySqeaky]

We need a more Bionicle-flavoured version, I think.

Agreed, how about Matadorks? Definitely a term centered around the "Mata" prefix.

For Bionicle it'd have to be "oh-wunners" - those people who think, somehow, that anything past the original Mata was garbage.

Surprised you like EB so much considering you've been banned - what, twice? >.>

(Not saying I disagree or that you're wrong - I like EB too. Just legitimately surprised over that.)

Yeah but that was before VBBN really took over as the moderator, and it wasn't really to do with EB itself, Hindsight is always 20/20. After talking to him about it I'm over it. He's the moderator of this subform, as it should be. Also this is still the only place to have a decent informed discussion about Bionicle or any constraction line. So I'll keep a low profile and not make any waves. I just wanna tune in and discuss bionicle.

[Chro]

So I'll keep a low profile and not make any waves. I just wanna tune in and discuss bionicle.

Nothing wrong with that.

[SneakySqeaky]

I wouldn't lump everyone together - I am by no means an oh-wunner but I'm hoping for a reboot. :P

Agreed. I want a reboot as well. I thought the story was hard to follow by 08. I never really understood it to be honest. Edited September 15, 2014 by SneakySqeaky

[Lord-Vorahk]

Why? Not challenging your opinion, I'm just curious.

A reboot makes more sense- it's the safest option for LEGO. The whole reason they cancelled Bionicle and replaced it with the simpler HF was because the story got too convoluted and hard to follow for new fans, and the old fans that the story was pleasing weren't buying sets, presumably because they were spending money on other things or getting sets for cheap from Bricklink and Ebay. Why would they ever up and say "Oh yeah, that's all canon too." No, the series will more likely be a reboot, because then it's Bionicle without the problems that killed Bionicle. Not Bionicle classic, nor Hero Factory, but a new idea with a familiar face, with the potential to surpass them both.

People also seem to be getting confused between a reboot and a remake. A reboot is wiping the continuity and going wherever you so choose, and this is what we want. A remake is rewriting the continuity verbatim, or close to it, and that won't work.

[Aethersprite]

That would be really cool. Just add in some dark red from Pyrox and the new Chima sets...

I was thinking of that! Unfortunately, I don't have Pyrox, I might have to BL a dark red chest piece. I do have Worriz and Fluminox, though. Also, Tahu's new armour add-ons will do nicely to serve as shoulder pads for Lhikan, and I can use his chest armour as well. I just hope he doesn't turn out looking like a Tahu clone.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Lockon Stratos

[Grima]

the biggest disappointment with Pohatu is that he doesn't come with a rock 0/10 i'm boycotting

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

Well, I saw these pics earlier and participated in a bit of discussion, but haven't talked much about my thoughts on them, so I suppose I ought to fully realize my opinions.

I'll be looking over the pics and writing this up while listening to

on a loop.

Protecters (sic) Protectors (in order of appeal)

Earth: The parts alone make this figure a definite buy, and his chest-mounted launcher is a really neat design choice. Huzzah for purple Kanohi!

Stone: Though one of the simpler-looking Protectors, I adore this guy's color scheme, especially the re-introduction of brown. Where Pohatu seems to have a disproportionate amount of silver, on Stone it meshes well with the brown, trans. yellow, and bley.

Fire: This figure would have been further up the list if not for a distinct lack of arm. Trans. orange hands are great, I like the look of the shoulder-mounted launcher.

Ice: Again, a distinct lack of arm shoves this fine fellow down the list. His redeeming quality is his boon of trans. blue elements.

Jungle: This lad just looks messy. Silver feet and armor, trans. green shells, Keetongorange and black legs, topped off with a bright green Kanohi? I really hope his color scheme is up for a rework, otherwise he's in for a major color scheme overhaul whenever I get my hands on him.

Water: The color scheme is lacking, though not as bad as Jungle's. However, something about it just isn't as cool to me as Jungle with his crossbow, so poor Water finds themselves on the bottom of the list.

Masters/Toa (in order of appeal)

Kopaka: Sporting one of the most 2001-accurate masks of the lot, Kopaka is a beautiful figure whose only downfall is the lower leg design. I'm surprised to see how nicely the gold and white go together without making him look like anything other than a Toa of Ice.

Tahu: Again, the Kanohi is what gives this figure such high praise. The build looks decent enough, and if Tahu were my favorite Toa he'd likely have made #1 instead of Kopaka.

Onua: Though arrayed with questionable color choices, I like Onua's bulky look, and he along with Tahu and Kopaka bring me hope that future BIONICLE figures will stay well away from the cookie-cutter designs seen from 2002 to 2006. I'll likely pick this figure up and replace all the purple shells with black or silver.

Pohatu: As I've said before, I'm glad to see that we're getting brown back, but I'm sad to see it in such small quantities. He hardly looks like a Toa of Stone with all the silver on him, and I wish to heaven that his color scheme is reworked.

Gali: Ugh, that Kanohi. Other than that, she looks fine, providing a source of what look to be turquoise shell pieces.

Lewa: What is up with him? He shares the scrambled color scheme of the Jungle Protector, along with an ugly printed chest piece and a mask that is somehow a larger travesty to me than Gali's. It looks great, but not as a Miru.

Other

Lord of Skull Spiders: This would look great as a normal Rahi, but sadly seems to be the big bad of this wave. The use of transparent technic beams excites me, so at the very least I'll be picking it up for parts; at best, it will find a home among my 2001 Rahi.

Edited September 15, 2014 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[Chro]

Agreed. I want a reboot as well. I thought the story was hard to follow by 08. I never really understood it to be honest.

I actually really liked the latter years. When I was younger, I always looked at the Bionicle story and saw that despite the primitive and tribal influences, there was something of a sci-fi epic hidden beneath - and as the story progressed, more and more of that was revealed. It hit me most in 2008; the Toa Mata / Nuva had previously been depicted only in a primitive environment, and it was amazing to see them thrust almost unwillingly into a high-stakes futuristic setting with vastly powerful enemies (who were secretly trying not to kill the Nuva the entire time).

Even if they change the story up entirely - get rid of the GSR, the GBs, Spherus Magna, all that - I want to see a similar change. I was talking a few pages ago about how I'd want to see "primitive" or simple elements (fire, air, stone, etc.) in a tribal setting, contrasted later on with "complex" elements (magnetism, psionics, sonics, etc.) in a more futuristic setting, preferably one which was revealed to have been (literally) hidden beneath the tribalesque appearance the whole time (which is why I liked the GSR concept so much - I won't mind if it's not included in a reboot, but it is a damn good way to get that contrast of hi-tech hidden behind a simple, primitive facade).

Edited September 15, 2014 by Chro

[Sir Kohran]

I loved the first four years of Bionicle. Sure, a few things disappointed (the Kal, the second MNOLG) but for the most part it went brilliantly. Then 2005 was a letdown due to its pointless story and mostly uninspired sets. I thought that wouldn't matter because the next year would return to the characters I knew. But the Nuva failed to return in 2006, and the Piraka Rap and Free the Band garbage appeared. Bionicle went into a seemingly total decline from then onwards. The movies and canon games vanished, and nearly all the story was packed off to the books that were never available to those of us outside North America. This made Bionicle nearly impossible to follow in any enjoyable manner, and what storyline I could learn about online became ludicrously complex with characters and factions and parallel universes all over the place. I couldn't and can't understand why Bionicle changed so much for the worse. I'm also fairly certain that if Lego had stuck closer to how they did things in the first four years, the line's sales wouldn't have faltered and it wouldn't have met its demise in 2009.

Fortunately, next year offers a chance to put things right.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Sir Kohran

[TheGreatSpirit]

Not sure if this was already mentioned, but the protectors definitely aren't using HF torsos; looks like some custom build to me.

[Clone 01354 Productions]

^^^^Not a Miru. This is a reboot, so it can be anything.

Shame on you; putting Lewa at the bottom. That comment is very mean-bad, and Lewa will beat-smash anyone who speaks bad-wrong of him!!

Edited September 15, 2014 by LN-01354

[Grima]

Not sure if this was already mentioned, but the protectors definitely aren't using HF torsos; looks like some custom build to me.

Not sure where you're getting that; Ice Protector almost certainly uses the XT4 torso.

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

Not sure where you're getting that; Ice Protector almost certainly uses the XT4 torso.

As far as I can tell, they all do, but with varying means of mounting the arms and heads.

Edited September 15, 2014 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[TheGreatSpirit]

Not sure where you're getting that; Ice Protector almost certainly uses the XT4 torso.

Huh, my bad. I didn't look carefully enough. There's a weird connection thing at the neck though, so that threw me off.

Also, did anyone notice that LoSS has 149 pieces; more than Tahu, Kopaka, or Onua, even though he's only 15 dollars?

Edited September 15, 2014 by TheGreatSpirit

[Aanchir]

Not sure if this was already mentioned, but the protectors definitely aren't using HF torsos; looks like some custom build to me.

Actually, they totally are using Hero Factory torsos, AND some of them are using custom builds. The Protectors of Earth and Fire have a build that seems a lot like Frost Beast's, but more compact and built on a 6x5 torso beam (yes, I know the part name calls it 7x5, and I have no idea why that is).

[SneakySqeaky]

I actually really liked the latter years. When I was younger, I always looked at the Bionicle story and saw that despite the primitive and tribal influences, there was something of a sci-fi epic hidden beneath - and as the story progressed, more and more of that was revealed. It hit me most in 2008; the Toa Mata / Nuva had previously been depicted only in a primitive environment, and it was amazing to see them thrust almost unwillingly into a high-stakes futuristic setting with vastly powerful enemies (who were secretly trying not to kill the Nuva the entire time).

Even if they change the story up entirely - get rid of the GSR, the GBs, Spherus Magna, all that - I want to see a similar change. I was talking a few pages ago about how I'd want to see "primitive" or simple elements (fire, air, stone, etc.) in a tribal setting, contrasted later on with "complex" elements (magnetism, psionics, sonics, etc.) in a more futuristic setting, preferably one which was revealed to have been (literally) hidden beneath the tribalesque appearance the whole time (which is why I liked the GSR concept so much - I won't mind if it's not included in a reboot, but it is a damn good way to get that contrast of hi-tech hidden behind a simple, primitive facade).

I remember, I commented on that. And I agree. I liked that to, especially in the change from the Toa Nuva, to the Toa Metru. And I liked the story up till 2008, I just found it hard to follow. I also liked aspects of the Bara Magna saga, but that to me felt like a vast epic who's potential was very underutilized in my opinion. The ending was terrible but I consider that Lego's fault, not so much Greg's. I wouldn't mind see that come back to but streemline things and have a meeting and go "is this an absurd idea?" Ask those questions. Ground things in a more believable sense of reality and physics. I want to see a new bionicle universe that's deep and rich like the old one was, but it feels like a real world, a reality we're looking into, not this absurd nonsense that they're all living in a big rockem sockem robot and that it woke up and they all moved to a big newly form planet that got smashed back together and miraculously between a big giant robot fight and these planets getting smashed back together millions of people didn't die in the process. :/ I know its fantasy, but we can still have it rooted in realism and logic.

[Still Raindrop]

These certainly are interesting. I still can't say I like Onua's bulkiness at all, but hey. Better for my wallet!

The Kanohi are fascinating--those on the smaller three sets seem to take the greatest liberties, but I like what I can see of them--the Miru still has something of a smile, which is a nice homage in an otherwise unrecognizable mask. Can't see too much detail in the Kaukau, but I don't like it as much. I do like the Kakama quite a bit--it's reminiscent of the original while still looking different enough (and better, in my opinion).

I wonder if they'll be using mask names this time, come to think of it. I hope so.

[TheGreatSpirit]

OH GOOD GOODNESS THEY HAVE A NEW HEADPIECE, I JUST NOTICED.

It's most apparent on Water Protector; looks like a remoulded Mata head to me!

[King of Nynrah]

OH GOOD GOODNESS THEY HAVE A NEW HEADPIECE, I JUST NOTICED.

It's most apparent on Water Protector; looks like a remoulded Mata head to me!

It looks kinda like the HF 2.0 head to me, though I could be wrong...

[Zachattacx]

Ah yes. The return of Bionicle. I was just too lazy to ever get on here and say that or even discuss it.

Now that I'm here, again, might as well say a few things regarding my theory on the story and the sets themselves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll start off with the sets.

The Protectors are neat, good for pieces and they look interesting. But the Earth Protector takes the list for me because of Gunchest and Purple.

The Toa...or Masters have the spotlight, like they should. It seems that either Kopaka or Tahu will be Day One purchases for me.

The others fall short just a bit, Lewa look cool, Pohatu looks eh, Gali is strange, and Onua.. Yea....

The Kanohi featured with the sets look cool.

Who doesn't get a few goosebumps from seeing the Golden Hau, I know I did.

The Akaku is very cool, no pun intended, and looks very familiar, maybe Stormtrooper-ish, Idk.

The Miru is nice, it even seems to have eyebrows giving a shocked expression.

The Kakama is eh. It's cool, but not one of the Kanohi I'll care about.

The Kaukau is weird. It doesn't even remind me of 01 but more of 08 and god knows how weird the 08 Adaptive Kaukau looked.

The Pakari is brutish and almost looks similar to that Kanohi from the Ultimate Dume set, I believe.

And then Lord Of Skull Spiders/Skull Krata...

I'm willing to give him a chance, but even when I first heard his name, Lord Of Skull Spiders, I knew it wasn't anything to get hyped about.

The Skull Krata, as I'll call them, are very cool. They look alien-like in a sense, creepy if you ask me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for the story.

I'd prefer a reboot, and it looks like it's going that way, but there's always that possibility for a continuation.

I've sorta come up with a "theory" if it was going to be a continuation, it's garbage but I think it makes sense, I guess.

Anyway it goes like this..

Since all the Toa, Matoran, And Turaga have arrived in their new home of Spherus Magna after the 2010 storyline, it's not just them anymore, they now share a home with Agori, and Glatorian along with god knows what else from Bota Magna. That's already been established by the current canon we know. So here's where I thought of different things. Since Mata Nui gave life to the new planet, could he have possibly given the Glatorian/Agori elemental powers too, which has been established since Mata Nui was able to give Ackar, Kiina and the other Glatorians elemental powers. So is "Masters" now a universal term the citizens of Spherus Magna (Toa, Turaga, Glatorian, Matoran, Agori) have decided for any powerful beings of elemental energy to be called or is that wrong.

And the explanation for the Skull Krata would either be that when Mata Nui gave life to Spherus Magna, many species sorta evolved or mutated into more species, which leads me to believe that maybe the Skull Krata are really just hybrids or advanced forms of either Kraata or Krana.

Or you know, it could just be a reboot.

[Grima]

It looks kinda like the HF 2.0 head to me, though I could be wrong...

Impossible. That would require these masks attach by the top, and most of them physically cannot.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Grima

[Aanchir]

I remember, I commented on that. And I agree. I liked that to, especially in the change from the Toa Nuva, to the Toa Metru. And I liked the story up till 2008, I just found it hard to follow. I also liked aspects of the Bara Magna saga, but that to me felt like a vast epic who's potential was very underutilized in my opinion. The ending was terrible but I consider that Lego's fault, not so much Greg's. I wouldn't mind see that come back to but streemline things and have a meeting and go "is this an absurd idea?" Ask those questions. Ground things in a more believable sense of reality and physics. I want to see a new bionicle universe that's deep and rich like the old one was, but it feels like a real world, a reality we're looking into, not this absurd nonsense that they're all living in a big rockem sockem robot and that it woke up and they all moved to a big newly form planet that got smashed back together and miraculously between a big giant robot fight and these planets getting smashed back together millions of people didn't die in the process. :/ I know its fantasy, but we can still have it rooted in realism and logic.

You do realize that the entire story was essentially based on the giant robot concept from the beginning? Brick by Brick, pages 153–154 have the details, and Christian Faber's blog FaberFiles also has lots of related concept art dating back as far as 1999. If they had, in fact, had a meeting and decided not to pursue such a ridiculous idea, the BIONICLE theme as we know it would not have existed in the first place and we might have gotten some pitiful excuse for a story like Slizer/Throwbots and Roboriders had.

Now, if you found other aspects of the finale, like the shattering and the subsequent reformation of Spherus Magna, unbelievable, well, that's more understandable. That stuff hadn't been as thoroughly explored back when the theme was first beginning. But Mata Nui's role as a giant robot that contained the entirety of the Matoran Universe was what the entire theme was built around.

[TheGreatSpirit]

It looks kinda like the HF 2.0 head to me, though I could be wrong...

I see the resemblance, but I'm certain it isn't; look at stone protector, a bit of it sticks out from the front. Definitely a new headpiece. Maybe it even has frontal connections?

EDIT: I also notice that they aren't transparent. Perhaps this is also the return of plug-in eyes?

Edited September 15, 2014 by TheGreatSpirit

[Aanchir]

I see the resemblance, but I'm certain it isn't; look at stone protector, a bit of it sticks out from the front. Definitely a new headpiece. Maybe it has front connections?

It has to, if the "Skull Spiders" are meant to attach like masks. I am beginning to believe that all or most of these masks attach from the front.

[Grima]

It has to, if the "Skull Spiders" are meant to attach like masks. I am beginning to believe that all or most of these masks attach from the front.

odd to see you use the phrase "attach like masks" after your post on the phrase a while back :P

looking at how the masks connect, I'm pretty sure these masks will be backwards compatible with heads from the Metru on at least, unless they're smaller than I'm giving them credit for. I hope so, in case the new head doesn't suit my preferences.