Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Voxovan]

Okay changed my thoughts... They look even worse now <XD

[Grima]

Skull Grinder has the mystery mask??? who could've seen that coming :OOOOO

Skull Grinder's exposed crotch is going to bother me, but otherwise not much to complain about there.

Otherwise my opinions pretty much hold steady: Skull Basher is okay besides the terrible horn attachment, and the other three are lackluster, with Scorpion still being hideous.

Also the new addon just doesn't feel quite right to me; it seems too detached from the shell it's attached to.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Grima

[Timeline15]

Slicer is just disappointing in general. Almost no armour, reused mask ( *drinks Mezonak's tears* ), only 2 arms are geared. and yet all those trans green pieces make me know that I'll get him anyway -_-

Hunter is probably the one that best pulls off the new bone pieces, as they actually LOOK like bones on him. They're placed in the right places that it actually looks like he's rotting, whereas the other villains all just look unfinished. Also, his bow is cool.

Basher seems cool enough, interested in seeing what his function will be

Scorpio looks cool, save the tail (but then, I'm on of the people who liked him from the start). Pleasantly surprised at the legs. I thought they would look way too small, but they seem fine. A bit disappointed that he shares a mask with basher though, then it looks so much like a sheep skull. At least give him something with more eyes. Also devastated at the lack of tan.

Grinder looks a bit gappy and unfinished, and seem to have a weirdly constructed torso, but I imagine that last point is to give him a more powerful gear function. Ekimu looks a bit chubby, but very cool. Hope we get Tahu and Gali's melded masks somehow too.

A bit of a shame this line seems to sheep mask wise, when the winter wave had so many. ( I know we're still getting the melded ones, but 2 of the villains share a mask, and another reuses the skull spider face) It's the fire villains all over again.

Overall though, These look pretty good. It will be interesting if the new bone piece gets reused after this wave though. I distinctly hope it doesn't. While this is excusable on skeleton sets, anywhere else it would just look cheap, and it even does so on some of these guys.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Timeline15

[Scarilian]

Mask Maker;

http://i.imgur.com/OMXXmjX.png

http://i.imgur.com/uAnUiti.png

Skull Grinder;

http://i.imgur.com/QNrvJaY.png

http://i.imgur.com/r75h9lv.png

Skull Basher;

http://i.imgur.com/G4wpI0d.png

http://i.imgur.com/UuK6TPf.png

Skull Slicer;

http://i.imgur.com/sAX00TG.png

http://i.imgur.com/WmLDPGL.png

Skull Scorpio;

http://i.imgur.com/hRXef8x.png

http://i.imgur.com/OZuQi04.png

Skull Warrior;

http://i.imgur.com/6VrSMb7.png

Boxes;

http://i.imgur.com/vuleLdz.png

http://i.imgur.com/UiDI2ix.png

(Decided to make images of them in the gallery for ease of use)

[Shakar]

Don't be fooled by the length, the video is actually about 4 minutes long, everything else is black and without sound. : P Shame, I was looking forward to some demonstration by the Lego employees there like with Ninjago. Still, we get some closer looks at least.

(I'm writing a separate post anyway so might as well write my thoughts here)

-I really like all the printed chests- I'd argue those are my favourite parts of the sets! I wish Scorpio had one too but, well, he doesn't.

-The masks are indeed recycled, but at least Warrior's is a recolour. And boy, they do look really creepy!

-The new armour add-on is.. pretty cool. It might've been better if it was a bit small but I'm eager to tinker with it.

-Seems like everyone save for Basher and Scorpio uses the gearbox.

-Grinder's torso is rather interesting. There are those dish pieces on the shoulders (for? Friction? Bulk? Still, I like it). The gearbox is attached way high and they did something with the neck I can't tell. Really though, they could've filled him out a lot more, and those exposed balljoints are..eeeh.

-I can see studs on the other side of Ekimu's hammer, plus the hammer itself is heavily Technic-based. Looks like it indeed fires afterall.

-Scorpio, like I thought, uses the shorter tr. neon green bones from the Ninjago sets. The set is still awful though- just, what the heck, man.

-Basher doesn't seem to have back armour.

-Slicer's arms are indeed 100% geared! This is going to be fun at least

-Warrior's chest design is the one green eyes!Grinder had in the promo pic. Glad to see they didn't scrap that design.

So.... yeah. These have a lot of good parts but they are definitely not as well executed as the Toa and Protectors are, which is a pity. I feel designers kinda dropped the ball on them, which, you guessed it, is a pity. But at least each set inlcudes most of the parts you need to rebuild them into better figures.

[Cheatster9000x]

Anyone notice that Ekimu has the same shield as the Protector of Ice?

Also, I came up with weapon names for all the new sets:

Ekimu: Forging Hammer and Ornate Saw-Guard.

Skull Warrior: Elemental Skull Bow

Skull Slicer: Skeletal Blades

Skull Basher: Bone Axes

Skull Grinder: Bone Trident and Skeletal Blade

Skull Scorpio: Scorpion Stinger (had a really hard time with this)

[TheDesuComplex]

Skull Scorpio: Scorpion Stinger (had a really hard time with this)

Beware my stinger tail! Thank you for all the pictures, Scarilian! These will do well.

[DraikNova]

Funny. I hate the new torso, yet I think it looks great on Scorpio for some reason. I think it's because I'm a sucker for tr. neon green. And the function doesn't really bother me that much. The fact that it also uses a double-ballcup If there was any set that I was going to buy, it would be that one. However, about half the set is technic, so I'm probably going to just order most of the parts from Bricks and Pieces, like I was planning to do with the entire wave anyway.

[Aanchir]

The new skull guys look very cool. The only one I don't really like is Skull Warrior, whose chaotic asymmetry just isn't doing it for me. But a better pose might help that set's look.

New masks look great. Silver Metallic torso beams will be cool to have, though I wish Skull Scorpio's legs were black instead of Titanium Metallic. The bony shell pieces are definitely interesting, though it's hard to really judge how useful they are until I can see their size and connection points for myself. And the new detail pieces really do a lot to give these characters an evil look. Still not entirely sold on the new beam pieces, but in the very least they look nice on these sets and enhance the undead look.

[Timeline15]

Oh, so slicer actually DOES have gears for all four arms. Nice. Also silver torsos confirmed 100% Makes them seem more biomechanical, so, as much as I would love some white bone pieces, I think the silver works.

EDIT: not only do basher and scorpio share a mask, but warrior and grinder do too. -_-

Edited January 29, 2015 by Timeline15

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Can't help but feel these bones are gonna be a one-time thing.

They have some neat aspects but good god the execution is bad. Slicer looks unfinished. Not even gonna sugarcoat it.

[Timeline15]

don't worry, no one else did either

[DOTM Shockwave]

I really like the look of Skull Slicer (despite the lack of armor and reuse mask).

S. Slicer, S. Basher, and Ekimu vs S. Grinder will be the sets I'm currently planning on buying.

Also, despite the lack of uselessness, I like the look of the new bone piece the skull army uses.

[Cheatster9000x]

not only do basher and scorpio share a mask, but warrior and grinder do too. -_-

Really?

http://cs7001.vk.me/...uJpk12zYGNs.jpg This image says otherwise.

EDIT: It also gives a closer look at Ekimu's hammer. One sided stud shooter, with the other side likely being turned to fire it.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Cheatster9000x

[Scarilian]

Really?

They share the same mask from what we can see, just in different colours.

Though i admit it does look from the angle that Warrior might be missing a piece of that mask for some odd reason

Edited January 29, 2015 by Scarilian

[Jeordeon]

Grinder and Warrior clearly share the same mask, they are just in different colors - Grinder's is silver, and Warrior's is gunmetal.

[Cheatster9000x]

Grinder and Warrior clearly share the same mask, they are just in different colors - Grinder's is silver, and Warrior's is gunmetal.

They share the same mask from what we can see, just in different colours.

Though i admit it does look from the angle that Warrior might be missing a piece of that mask for some odd reason

I'm noticing a more defined brow on Warrior's mask. I could quite easily be wrong, but I'm having a hard time believing that they're the same mask.

EDIT: Looking at Atamaii's pictures, they are indeed the same mask... damn it.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Cheatster9000x

[Nekchir]

Lmfao, who was the one that said Grinder shares the same mask as Tahu?

Hahha, I can't even--

[jaller]

Well...now my wallet (and my body) are officially ready.

Edited January 29, 2015 by jaller

[Takanuinuva]

Now that there are close ups of the new sets. I can give my opinions on them

Skull Basher- Neat design and cool axes. Wonder how the function works since he doesn't have a gearbox.

Skull Scorpio- Looks better here than on the prelims. Still don't like the tail build. I made a mod of his build in LDD with a better tail design

Skull Slicer- Like the swords and the new bone colors. Don't like that he reuses the skull spider mask when he could have had any of the other new skull masks

Skull Warrior. Despite the asymmetry. This one isn't to bad. Like the bow design

Skull Grinder. This one is the best out of all of them. Nice build. Great weapons, He isn't asymmetrical and the trans orange works for him.

Ekimu. Near perfect in every way. Love the shield and hammer. Looks near identical to this animation model. And we get the Mask of Creation

Over all this wave is mostly a pass. I'll be getting Skull Grinder Vs Ekimu and Skull Warrior. I may get Skull Slicer when it goes on sale.

As for the dual colored Toa masks. I don't like them at all. Mainly cause Gali and Tahu don't appear to have one.

[Iben]

I'm even more disappointed by Skull Scorpio than before, simply because the way the legs are connected. It allows no posability at all, and that's an extremely big sacrifice to make.I simply don't see a reason to buy it at this point. The only thing I'd buy it for would be those tr. green bone pieces, but that's about it.

I'm still not entirely convinced with the new armour addons, they seem awfully large to me. Overall, I see some interesting pieces that could prove to be useful at one point, but there's not enough for me to actually look forward to these sets. One small thing that "bothers" me here is the overall overuse of the same weapon pieces. While we got quite some different weapons with the Toa, here we get 2 different weapon pieces, which doesn't feel like enough for my taste. I would have preferred to see at least one extra weapon piece, like a mace or something like that. I do like that they tried to use the ones they have in a creative way ( Skull Grinder for instance).

For those who didn't notice it, in one of the Skull Scorpio pictures you can see the "grabbing hook" Skull Slicer uses, and you can distinctly see that it uses tr. orange Skull Spider legs, unlike the Savage Planet claws Skull Scorpio uses.

-Iben

[Aanchir]

Personally, I think Skull Slicer looks great. More armor would have just seemed out-of-place, IMO — as it is, the thin, skeletal look really suits him and gives him a unique personality compared to his bulkier counterparts. Though I do think the single Tr. Flu. Reddish Orange shell seems a bit inappropriate, being all by itself like that. And it's a shame the orange chain doesn't match his other orange pieces.

[Cheatster9000x]

This summer wave...

I need it... So bad...

Top that with the Marvel sets, the new Lego Marvel game coming this year, the UCS Helicarrier, not to mention the rest of the winter wave that I still need to pick up, I'm going to have NO MONEY by 2016.

[Bbrink1996]

They look pretty cool in my opinion although I don't like Scorpio's overall design.

I'll probably pick up MM vs. SG and Skull Basher and i'm still debating on either Skull Warrior or Skull Slicer.

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Okay, had a good look at all the sets, so I can judge the individual sets, except Ekimu. His design is sort of a given and is pretty much perfect.

Skull Grinder: That head design is pretty sweet, and the gearbox looks interesting. Out of all the sets I think he pulls off the aesthetic best. Will be modding all of them of course but he has the strongest base.

Skull Basher: Hard to judge the function as it isn't very clear. The horns will be a problem assuming they don't edit the headpiece. That mask is gonna pop off like all the time. Other than that he doesn't look too bad.

Skull Scorpio: Now for the good stuff. Skull Scorpio is the definition of "mixed bag". His legs don't articulate, his colours are questionable and his stature is lacking. However he makes up for that with an amazing function. From what I can tell you pull on a lever on the tail and it simultaneously lunges forward while snapping the two blades together. This does have the side effect of having the tail look a mess, but it's a hell of a lot better than LOSS' function.

Skull Warrior: Reeks of foot soldier, though that's sort of a given. Can't say I'm a fan of the stud launcher, so his weapon doesn't really do much for me. He pulls off the zombie aesthetic pretty decently due to the random placement, so that's cool. Could do without the random trans-orange though.

Skull Slicer: Okay, beating a dead horse, easily worst of the line. He feels more bare bones than XT4. XT4 had a thin spindly aesthetic so it works. Skull Slicer has large chest armor, two shoulder pieces and there's your lot. He does have a cool function, but considering how well armoured the three smaller toa were I can't help but feel slightly ripped off.

Final note, I don't like the new mixed toa masks, again because Tahu and Gali lack them. I can see this being a story thing, like slowly upgrading/downgrading the toa with each set, but the distribution is odd. Also some of them just look weird.