Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Mandate]

I like the idea of the MoCr slipping over the other masks, but I'm not sure how likely that is? I'm gonna take a look at the other set's masks and see if they have anything on their exteriors which could hint to such a function.

The Protector's mask most certainly feature no such function, and none of the other sets can be seen clearly enough to tell apart from Tahu. Even then, I doubt Tahu features anything like it.

Edited September 25, 2014 by JayWalker

[Jasonified]

I like the idea of the MoCr slipping over the other masks, but I'm not sure how likely that is? I'm gonna take a look at the other set's masks and see if they have anything on their exteriors which could hint to such a function.

some of the "earmuffs" could have connection points for hinges?

The Protector's mask most certainly feature no such function

that goes two ways. most of the protectors' masks' sides are open, diminishing the chance of hinges.

[Logan McOwen]

that goes two ways. most of the protectors' masks' sides are open, diminishing the chance of hinges.

That too.

[Chimaninja454]

So, do you like the 2001. 2002 and 2008 versions or the CCBS version for next year better?

Edited September 25, 2014 by Chimaninja454

[Jasonified]

my theory about the hinges is that the gold kanohi and the mask of creation slips onto ONLY the toa's masks, but their original masks have axle connections.

[Chro]

my theory about the hinges is that the gold kanohi and the mask of creation slips onto ONLY the toa's masks, but their original masks have axle connections.

I don't think that they would make two separate molds for each mask. That is a cool idea though.

[dviddy]

I find the concept of the mask slipping over other masks really really silly. It seems like an attempt to grasp at anything possible to avoid the obvious: this is the new mask attachment system.

[arc]

I find the concept of the mask slipping over other masks really really silly. It seems like an attempt to grasp at anything possible to avoid the obvious: this is the new mask attachment system.

pretty much my thoughts on this. And why would you want to stack a mask on top of a mask anyway? Parts of the original mask would stick out of the mocr, especially in the back.

[TheBrickPal]

I'm rather looking forward to this new way to attach masks. Who else is?

Also, the more I look at Gali's new mask, the more it grows on me. My only problem with it is the Chin of Doom.

It just doesn't look very Gali to me. Well, the Kaukau Mistika didn't, either... and her new body doesn't look very feminine at all. Breakout Breez looks more like a girl than her.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Puffle Pal26

[Clone 01354 Productions]

Yeah, the Vahi was at least smaller, so it was supposed to show the mask beneath. The MoCr is too big; this will likely be the main mask for the "Great Spirit". I still think this is a reboot, so maybe this will play a similar role to the Ignika.

[arc]

I'm rather looking forward to this new way to attach masks. Who else is?

I think the mask attachment has potential, but they could also easily screw it up. Although I have hope that it will turn out ok. (As long as they don't go the kk route)

Just stacking masks doesn't make sense to me.

Edited September 25, 2014 by arc

[Aanchir]

Yeah, I always found the idea of putting masks over other masks kind of ridiculous. It always struck me as something the movies did just because they were afraid of letting the characters remove their masks and letting the audience see the ugliness of the heads underneath. =/

Honestly, I don't want to make any judgments on how useful/useless the new masks are until we've actually seen more than a 360-degree spin of a single mask. Generally, I don't use masks for things other than masks too often anyway, so it's not a huge concern of mine one way or the other. I'm more interested in understanding WHY they are how they are and what the heads underneath are like. I will be very grateful if the new heads can manage to look robotic without looking quite so off-putting as many of the classic BIONICLE heads.

[mysteriouspi]

The other problems with stacking masks are: the MoCr would have to be quite large to fit over the other masks, which would probably look silly on the Toa/Masters. And the masks are differently shaped to the extent that I really doubt the MoCr by itself could fit over all of them. I mean, look at Kopaka's mask...the idea that the MoCr has room to fit over his X-ray scopes seems absurd.

[Refy L.S.]

Since we don't actually know the size of the MoCr, it would be rather funny if it turned out it was actually a visor for a minifig helmet... :P

[Cheatster9000x]

I've looked over the leaks again and again, and Skull Krata still puts me off.

Literally everything else looks cool, even the "Skulls" themselves. It's just something about the Skull Krata guy/thing/whojamating that seriously deters me. If I get it, I'm probably just going to remix it into Teridax, because I have a Kraahkan sitting around, and I need something to do with it.

[Aanchir]

I've looked over the leaks again and again, and Skull Krata still puts me off.

Literally everything else looks cool, even the "Skulls" themselves. It's just something about the Skull Krata guy/thing/whojamating that seriously deters me. If I get it, I'm probably just going to remix it into Teridax, because I have a Kraahkan sitting around, and I need something to do with it.

SK/LoSS looks like one of those sets that will be hard to judge until we get to see what it does. With as much Technic as it uses, it has to have SOME kind of function, especially every other set has a function of some kind (even if it's just a launcher function). But from the pic we've seen it's hard to guess what type of function that might be.

A "walking" function like 8595 or 70708 would be cool and would explain the Technic-based construction of the legs, but I'm not sure the set is even big enough for a function like that (and it doesn't look like any part but the feet touches the ground, so the possibility of the legs moving as it "rolls" is out).

There looks to be a handle in the back, so maybe you can lower it onto another figure and "grab" it with the legs? Not tremendously dynamic but it's a possibility.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Aanchir

[Bfahome]

I'd thought of the mask-over-mask thing before, but never bothered to bring it up because I didn't really have a basis for it. I thought it could be the reason for the earmuffs all the sets seem to have. I still consider it a possibility. The fact is that I really don't know how the masks attach because none of the images we have can really tell us yet.

[Nekchir]

The reason why the masks have 'earmuffs' is most likely due to the fact that each side is elongated, to clip on to the head just like the MoCr.

[Jetrax99]

The reason why the masks have 'earmuffs' is most likely due to the fact that each side is elongated, to clip on to the head just like the MoCr.

Pretty much.

[Grima]

Then think critically of your own. CCBS has not finished changing, and the new mask system will change over the years and bring improvements. Likely case scenario, this is just going to be another "fad" like the Inika heads, or the Brain Attack mannequin-heads. I'm not going to give it an expiry date though, if it's successful enough it's going to stay around for a while. This new system does have a lot of potential, though. Given how large the head is they probably will fit inside 2M holes. Do you know what this means? It means we can use it with a hand. A hand (including the 2009/10 hands, and the prior... oven mitts) . As long as there is enough friction, this will have plenty of versatility for MOCing purposes. Yes, it's not going to be like a helmet (which IMO had far more versatility, you could just pop them on a connector), or the old masks. But it's a new variation, and one that I'm looking forward to personally.

I've thought plenty critically about my own. I don't see why me being unsure about this new mask connection, and denying the claims of it being extremely versatile, is such a terrible thing to you.

They may have some versatility, but what I was denying was that they would be more versatile than the old connection, which is what I seemed to see people implying. That was the entire crux of my argument.

The Inika heads being a one year thing did not prevent criticism; I don't see why that should be any different with this.

Don't trample my opinion just because it doesn't align neatly with yours.

[Aanchir]

They may have some versatility, but what I was denying was that they would be more versatile than the old connection, which is what I seemed to see people implying. That was the entire crux of my argument.

I don't think I've seen anyone implying that they'll be more versatile than a stud or cross axle. I guess you might be thinking of Lyi's comment "At this point if the masks don't attach like I think they do I'll be quite disappointed, since I can't think of any other way that they could possibly be as versatile." But I interpreted that more as saying that if they DO only attach to the sides like the video suggests, they will be most versatile if they snap to regular axle holes like the ones on the Glatorian head, Brain Attack head, and Y-joint. Not that they'll be the most versatile masks ever released or anything like that.

There is, at least, some precedent for parts like this being able to attach to regular Technic connections. The old dinosaur legs had little bumps like a minifigure visor, but they were designed to snap to regular Technic pin holes. So it's not impossible to imagine that a design with smaller bumps around 3.2 millimeters in diameter might be able to snap to Technic cross axle holes or System bar holes.

[Grima]

I suppose I can see how I may have misinterpreted the statement, and in that case, he would be right; if the new mask connection can't connect like that, then yes, there's no way it could be very versatile at all, really.

Interestingly enough, I've tried that with the old dinosaur legs when I was younger. My memory isn't the clearest, but I think I may have run into what I was suggesting might happen with these masks; they swung too freely.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Grima

[SpiderSpaceman]

So with the "masks on masks" talk, has anybody hypothesized that that's how the heads work? Like if a face with eye holes plugs into a plain transparent Brain Attack head, and the indents for the mask are on the face which is to some degree a mask for a faceless head?

[Grima]

So with the "masks on masks" talk, has anybody hypothesized that that's how the heads work? Like if a face with eye holes plugs into a plain transparent Brain Attack head, and the indents for the mask are on the face which is to some degree a mask for a faceless head?

That would be a terrible roundabout way of doing it, and would result in the mask connection not being two modules wide, thus making the mask practically functionally useless as anything else.

The photos we have don't really support the idea, either; what few glimpses we have of the head, the face and socket section are the same color.

[Aanchir]

I suppose I can see how I may have misinterpreted the statement, and in that case, he would be right; if the new mask connection can't connect like that, then yes, there's no way it could be very versatile at all, really.

Interestingly enough, I've tried that with the old dinosaur legs when I was younger. My memory isn't the clearest, but I think I may have run into what I was suggesting might happen with these masks; they swung too freely.

In that case, though, it was because the dinosaur legs were designed to use "click points" kind of like the movable jaws of the Hero Factory and Chima constraction sets, so there was no need to incorporate any friction in the design. Since there aren't any visible "click points" on the Mask of Creation in that video, it might be designed with more friction.

There are some examples of similar connections that DO have more friction than your typical minifigure visor, such as the classic LEGO crocodile, shark, and T-Rex jaws. Still not as much friction as a Technic friction hinge, but they won't just spontaneously flap open if you flip them upside-down. So if LEGO could design something with a similar amount of friction that attached to regular bar holes or cross axle holes, that might be a pretty sweet way to do things.

Really, we're all just speculating about possibilities at this point. There's no way to know for sure how the masks might attach or how much friction they'll have until set reviews start turning up.