Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Gatanui]

I'm surprised you even need to consider the possibility I wouldn't be.

I've seen stranger things being wished for nostalgia's sake.

-Gata

Edited September 18, 2014 by Gatanui

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

I've seen stranger things being wished for nostalgia's sake.

-Gata

Things like this?

To justify this trash post, let me add that I've had the time to work on my own geared CCBS torso. Instead of being driven by a single gear, it has two separate knobs that control each arm, similar to what might be implemented on Onua. So far it works swimmingly, hopefully I'll get some pics up in a bit.

Edited September 18, 2014 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[Kalhiki]

So long as it's not "hey guys, Bonkles is coming back" I'll be happy.

[Lind Whisperer]

Actually, I think it'd be kind of nice, for nostalgia's sake, if the site was kind of simple.

I wonder if it's too much to hope for a simple Flash click and point. Atlantis did get an entire mini-not-exactly-a-game-not-exactly-a-movie, and the Diary of Professor Rhodes*.

*Which has proved invaluable in terms of calculating dates. Interestingly, Professor Samantha Rhodes must have been a pretty good student - she was around 18 when she went diving in 2010 with a doctorate(Or at least enough of a degree to justify professor!).

Edited September 18, 2014 by Lind Whisperer

[TwistLaw]

I'm surprised you even need to consider the possibility I wouldn't be.

Irony is an abstract food on the internet.

Anyway I'd love an introductive video, that would be the sheet on the bed.

[Dorek]

Meh, just a teaser site would be fine with me, maybe one that slowly fleshes out over the next few months. As long as they actually remember to update it.

A lot of the sites these days are really animation-intensive, and I'm not a huge fan of that; Hero Factory actually went a lot simpler this year, and was all the better for it.

[Thelegomaster]

Tomorow (hopefully) the big day!!! Bionicle is back!!

[TwistLaw]

Meh, just a teaser site would be fine with me, maybe one that slowly fleshes out over the next few months. As long as they actually remember to update it.

A lot of the sites these days are really animation-intensive, and I'm not a huge fan of that; Hero Factory actually went a lot simpler this year, and was all the better for it.

HF went simplier simply because it was its final act, and a rather modest one too.

A teaser site would be more than what I realistically expect: just an image withe the BIONICLE logo and a release date of January 2015.

EDIT: 100th post, ZIMBAWE11!!!11

Edited September 18, 2014 by TwistLaw

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

Alright, I've finally uploaded the pics, here's my take on a CCBS torso with gearing.

Front

Back above

Back below

On a CCBS Toa

Pros:

Leaves room for CCBS snap-on armour for the back

Gears slip very little

Cons:

Dissimilar to what will likely be on official sets

Is a large backpack

No easily-locking mechanism, arms dangle

Edited September 18, 2014 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[TheBrickPal]

Those are some great gear system concepts, everyone!

On an unrelated note, it is almost unbelievable that this topic has over 4000 posts, but what can I say? People are just crazy for new Bonkles.

I was just disassembling all of my Hero Factory to MOC and make room for my rebuilt, old 2001-2010 BIONICLE, and the new stuff next year. I cannot believe how much I love the CCBS more now that I've inspected it so thoroughly. I'm ecstatic that it is staying for 2015 sets and beyond! So much versatility.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Puffle Pal26

[Toa of Gallifrey]

I agree, I used to think it was just a more ball-joint focused Inika build but then I got sets like Toxic Reapa, Furno XL, Dragon Bolt and Splitter Beast vs. Furno and Evo and magic happened.

[Dorek]

HF went simplier simply because it was its final act, and a rather modest one too.

A teaser site would be more than what I realistically expect: just an image withe the BIONICLE logo and a release date of January 2015.

Eh, I think it was just a change in style; 2010-2012 were all of a similar, unified design (based on Bink's old design) but then 2013 was all animations and whole-site loading and it was just awful. Hopefully the BIONICLE site retains some of the more elegant simplicities as opposed to excessive and unnecessary animations.

[Kalhiki]

Alright, I've finally uploaded the pics, here's my take on a CCBS torso with gearing.

Front

Back above

Back below

On a CCBS Toa

Pros:

Leaves room for CCBS snap-on armour for the back

Gears slip very little

Cons:

Dissimilar to what will likely be on official sets

Is a large backpack

No easily-locking mechanism, arms dangle

Of all concepts I've seen, this so far is my favorite. Love how the function doesn't conjoin the arms. Each function is individual.

Hopefully something like this is what we'll see. Just a bit more... Refined and elegant.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Kalhiki

[Jakura Nuva]

Teaser site is legit

Meh, just a teaser site would be fine with me, maybe one that slowly fleshes out over the next few months. As long as they actually remember to update it.

A lot of the sites these days are really animation-intensive, and I'm not a huge fan of that; Hero Factory actually went a lot simpler this year, and was all the better for it.

This. I think a teaser site would be extremely nice - I'm thinking of something like the Space Police taser site, where all they had was the main page and a vid to watch. That'd be cool for BIONICLE.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Jakura Nuva

[TheBatstan]

A teaser like this with the same awesome music .

Edited September 19, 2014 by TDKR2012

[TwistLaw]

I just watched for the first time The Legend Reborn.

While I noticed the many flaws that movie had (that didn't bother me too much, after all it was BIONICLE!), it was a real pleasure for my eyes seeing exact replicas of the set I have in my hands moving and fighting and arguing and everything.

A real shame Metru Nui didn't get the same treatment, and while I know the movie version were acceptable depictions, they were just too different. An animated Toa Lhikan, how awesome would it have been?

Glad to know any future movie/TV series of BIONICLE will be faithful to the sets.

[Jakura Nuva]

I just watched for the first time The Legend Reborn.

While I noticed the many flaws that movie had (that didn't bother me too much, after all it was BIONICLE!), it was a real pleasure for my eyes seeing exact replicas of the set I have in my hands moving and fighting and arguing and everything.

A real shame Metru Nui didn't get the same treatment, and while I know the movie version were acceptable depictions, they were just too different. An animated Toa Lhikan, how awesome would it have been?

Glad to know any future movie/TV series of BIONICLE will be faithful to the sets.

Hopefully. I hope they do Pohatu's partial-translucency well, though, if they do anything animation-wise.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

As impossibly unlikely as it would be, it'd be awesome to get an MoL or LoMN or WoS remake with set-faithful animation.

[Dorek]

I kind of preferred the stylism of the original trilogy just because it was a lot easier to forgive the inconsistencies with the set-movie translation (why can't we have a green Skrall Shield whyyyyyyyy).

But yeah, I'm still in for a 2D animated show.

[Mandate]

Oh, for those who were wondering about the changes from "Toa" to "Masters", etc, I think I have the answer.

In 2002, several Māori tribal groups from New Zealand were angered by Lego's lack of respect for some of their words which were used to name certain characters, locations and objects in the Bionicle storyline.^[20][21] The people sued the Lego Group and won the case. While the word "Bionicle" itself was trademarked by Lego, the company agreed to change the names of certain story elements (e.g. the villagers originally known as "Tohunga" was changed to "Matoran")^[21] and met with an agreement with the Māori people to still use a small minority of their words.^[22]

In the story, the reason for certain name changes was dubbed as a Naming Ceremony for certain Matoran after doing heroic deeds (though the pronunciations remained the same, an example being the name change of 'Huki' to 'Hewkii').^[23] Other names such as "Toa" meaning "Warrior", "Kanohi" meaning "Face" and "Kōpaka" meaning "Ice"^[21] were not changed. Since this controversy, Lego has attempted to significantly reduce the number of names used in its lines that are drawn directly from living real-world languages.

- Wikipedia

I think it's pretty likely that LEGO would distance themselves to avoid another controversy like this. It'd be good if someone could confirm everything I've just quoted.

[Grima]

If that were it, though, they would have abandoned the term "Toa" in the first place, I would think. If I remember correctly, the most objectionable words were those like "Tohunga", which means priest, I believe, which one can understand why they wouldn't want a company copyrighting that word.

I suppose it's a possibility, but a more likely theory is accessibility, as somewhat explained by this xkcd comic.

[Sir Kohran]

Bionicle dropping 'Toa' would be like Star Wars dropping 'Jedi'.

[bacem]

maori tribe huh... wonder if it has something to do with our australian pohatu?

[Grima]

Bionicle dropping 'Toa' would be like Star Wars dropping 'Jedi'.

Perhaps, but Star Wars has been such a pervasive part of pop culture that everyone knows what a Jedi is; it's no longer an accessibility issue. I guarantee if you pick random people off the street, 99% will know what a Jedi is. Maybe 2% will know what a Toa is.

[Mesonak]

Maybe 2% will know what a Toa is.

Yeah, I'll concur that it's probably to do with accessibility. Truth be told, I do understand Lego's point of view when it comes to that issue. It's just a bit of a shame; nobody knew what a Toa was back when BIONICLE initially launched. They learned over time; it was one of the things I enjoyed about BIONICLE. It wasn't afraid to introduce new terminology to its audience and didn't underestimate their ability to grasp the meanings of its terminology. It's a little disheartening (although not unexpected) that may be going away to a degree.

ALSO, in regards to the BIONICLE TV show conversation: I'll say it right now, I would prefer a 2D animated show over anything 3D. The reason I say this is because I don't have too much faith in any particular group to handle a BIONICLE show well (or, at least, anybody from Lego's current partner groups).

I THINK the Ninjago team is the only one of Lego's current partners that could potentially pull it off. Ninjago is outstanding, and while a lot of fans probably would have some issues with aspects of it, I feel that it would eventually grow on people and could become a large success. However, I don't see Lego tasking those people with creating a constraction TV show for some reason. Anything's possible, I suppose.

I wouldn't want Tinseltown Toons to be responsible for it, personally. I enjoyed TLR and the Hero Factory specials but they're not what I'm looking for in a potential BIONICLE show. Ghost lost any faith I may have had in them with the train wreck that was Invasion from Below, although I suppose they could probably pull it off IF they were given a high enough budget.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Mesonak