Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[TheOneVeyronian]

Although the Winter 2015 Bionicle sets were leaked around July, I tend to think that it was a bit of a special case with leaks emerging that early. We don't normally get leaked pics (sometimes not even any set info) for themes until September/October, so I don't really expect 2016 Bionicle pics until then. But given the recent trend of official pics appearing much earlier than usual, I guess we may see leaks much earlier, and it wouldn't surprise me if we saw more concrete 2016 set info in July or August.

I don't know, I kind of hope we don't see the same characters next year in the sets. For me, variety is the spice of life. I'll gladly take this rumoured "Toa Ekimu" and maybe a bunch of other hero characters as long as they aren't the same Toa as we got this year (and if they are, they need to come with a bucketload of new and recoloured pieces and look completely different to win me over )

[GK733]

If the playtester is to be believed at least one of the creatures will be like this, instead of the obvious helmet of course it also will have a different launcher than the one introduced in ultra agents(?) but has the same function.

The top cover will be ghostly/slimy. And a different weapon for tail.

Also, how I make POV-Ray render pieces transparent and without background, I set the option no background but it still does it, is it because of the lighting?

Edited April 16, 2015 by GK733

[Bigger Fish]

If the playtester is to be believed at least one of the creatures will be like this, instead of the obvious helmet of course it also will have a different launcher than the one introduced in ultra agents(?) but has the same function.

The top cover will be ghostly/slimy. And a different weapon for tail.

Also, how I make POV-Ray render pieces transparent and without background, I set the option no background but it still does it, is it because of the lighting?

He's so adorable!

[TheOneVeyronian]

If the playtester is to be believed at least one of the creatures will be like this, instead of the obvious helmet of course it also will have a different launcher than the one introduced in ultra agents(?) but has the same function.

The top cover will be ghostly/slimy. And a different weapon for tail.

*snip*

Also, how I make POV-Ray render pieces transparent and without background, I set the option no background but it still does it, is it because of the lighting?

To answer your POV-Ray question, the pieces need to be coloured with a transparent colour for them to render as transparent (unless I've misundersood what you're looking for). And to have a completely transparent background, you need to untick "Add Base Plane" (assuming you're using LDD2POV-Ray) as well as "Set colour to". "Transparent" setting in the Scene tab should be obvious, untick if you want an opaque white background, tick if you want a transparent background

But I do love your concept creature, and since it's based on the playtesting reports (which may or may not turn out to be true), I hope we might see something similar to this next year (are these possibly instead of this year's Protectors?)

[GK733]

To answer your POV-Ray question, the pieces need to be coloured with a transparent colour for them to render as transparent (unless I've misundersood what you're looking for). And to have a completely transparent background, you need to untick "Add Base Plane" (assuming you're using LDD2POV-Ray) as well as "Set colour to". "Transparent" setting in the Scene tab should be obvious, untick if you want an opaque white background, tick if you want a transparent background

But I do love your concept creature, and since it's based on the playtesting reports (which may or may not turn out to be true), I hope we might see something similar to this next year (are these possibly instead of this year's Protectors?)

All the green parts are supposed to be trans-phosphorent green. But thanks, at least I can now fix the background problem.

Edit: That fixed the background, but I still can't render those pieces transparent.

Edited April 16, 2015 by GK733

[One Very Agile Cat]

Honestly, any of those new molds can work well in Bionicle under the right circumstances.

I agree. Nothing says the torsos and shins have to be used as torsos and shins. I could see maybe the shins used for the tops of wings in official sets, weapons, or maybe even feathers in MOCs with huge wings. The big torsos, should they ever show up unprinted, could easily be used creatively on figure backs, or a character with gigantic arms.

[Scarilian]

If the playtester is to be believed at least one of the creatures will be like this, instead of the obvious helmet of course it also will have a different launcher than the one introduced in ultra agents(?) but has the same function.

The top cover will be ghostly/slimy. And a different weapon for tail.

Also, how I make POV-Ray render pieces transparent and without background, I set the option no background but it still does it, is it because of the lighting?

The user in question made the following drawings, due to the reddit post not being discovered until around the same time as the Vader images were revealed its unsure whether he mentioned certain pieces before they appeared publicly. You can find his drawings of the leg armour, torso piece, shoulder spike and the creature itself with the ecto-launcher.

In addition you can find his descriptions here, as per how he said it

"I don't really have that much info. Just assumptions based on the preliminary sets i saw. Was at a family funeral 2 weeks ago and started talking to my sister. Found out my 9 year old nephew was going in for a lego "play test". I took him instead of her and it turns out this little guy had been part of the target market play testing or whatever it's called 3 times now. Got to see what i'm assuming are the preliminary winter 2016 wave sets. First of all, they looked very preliminary. Some were using recycled masks, and even glued together parts as well as some weird bumpy parts that were grey that looked like they were 3d printed"

• There were 6 villains a larger Ekimu figure and a small thing which i think may be developed into 6 small sets?

• The Ekimu figure was basically in between Tahu and Ekimu design wise

"They sat down with my nephew and a few other kids while the parents all talked. They asked them which ones they liked and what they liked about them, asked what colours they would like better (2 kids said gold) The ekimu figure was the kids favorite and they all seemed to be enjoying the little thing too"

•The little thing was quadruped and sort of resembled the bionicle tarduk but with a sort of spiky head that was trans neon green and attached to the body.

• By pressing a function on the back the head shot off. It sort of looked like a ghost on a body but with a face.

• The bad guys had the same body function/shooter on one arm but the ghost things that shot off didn't have faces, but designs instead. They might be the collectable for this wave.

• The little guy was basically a shooter with legs attached and little claws

• There was the use of a platinum like colour on the villains chest armor. It was definitely not silver. A lot shinier. It's longer than the toa chest plates but still fits on the 2 studs body pieces i think.

• A new armor piece that most of them had was an armor add on that comes out at an angle and then curves down. It was that weird dark grey as well as their masks

• The villains looked pretty futuristic but not in a robot way.

They were very streamlined looking. 4 or 5 used what look to be rounded leg armor pieces, haven't seen them before.

• One guy was tan with trans purple accents and some platinum armor.

• Had 2 of those new shooters as arms (with trans purple ghost things) and a cape. That set really stood out for me.

• There was a platinum, dark grey and trans orange guy that used those rib cage pieces on the tops of his arms.

• Had a club in one hand and a shooter in the other.

• There was a trans blue, platinum and black guy that had weird long legs

• There was a another that was trans yellow and platinum and dark grey. It had horns. unexciting except for a new whip piece that was trans yellow, the new shooter and a cape.

• the big bad guys have those shooters as one of their forearms in their respective trans colour

• it had a bumpy/spiky texture. This piece looked pretty finalized

• yea the head/ghost thing shoots right off

• also ekimu was the only one with gears.

• 2 of them had capes though

• there was also a rounded leg piece that was used and those armor add ons are more rounded than pointy.

Basically the easiest way to tell if this is likely legit is if we see the new torso piece described here, that could be revealed as early as the Jango Fett and Commander Cody Star Wars figures... This would imply either that the user is very good at guessing OR saw the Star Wars sets somehow before public unvieling OR that he did indeed see a playtest.

----

Other than the rather basic sounding quadrupedal creature, these sound like amazing sets if they are real. Lots of trans pieces, new unique colours, new shell pieces, etc... Its all i've really wanted with Bionicle's return, for it to set an astethic for itself. Well.. that and impressive sets :P

Edited April 16, 2015 by Scarilian

[Bigger Fish]

I just realized that the new leg armor in the mock ups is the exact same one as the Star Wars leg armor.

[GK733]

"also ekimu was the only one with gears."

This line worries me.

(I still can't figure out why POV-Ray doesn't want to render transparent pieces)

Edited April 16, 2015 by GK733

[Kalhiki]

Assuming these rumors are true (judging by the leg armor drawing looking exactly like the SW shin piece, I'd say there may be some merit to this), I look forward to them. Of course, they were in the early prelim stage, so I'm sure they'll quite different than what was seen.

But a tan and purple guy with guns for hands? That sounds cool.

[Aanchir]

The fact that the Star Wars constraction sets were publicly known before these rumors surfaced means they are useless for validating the rumors, since if somebody wanted to "fake" something like that all they'd have to do is give vague descriptions of the new parts from the Star Wars sets mixed with their own speculation.

Now, with that said, I'm not exclaiming "IT'S FAKE, GUYS" or anything like that. It's just that as of yet, we don't have any strong evidence pointing to them being real... and it will probably be some time before we have any strong evidence one way or the other. As such, I feel like speculating based on these rumors is rather pointless (especially since, even if they are real, the user openly admitted that they appeared to be from an early stage of development and as such could be subject to considerable changes).

[Scarilian]

"also ekimu was the only one with gears."

This line worries me.

If real, it could be like the summer 2015 Bionicle sets where they have other mechanisms that dont include a gearbox. Maybe Lego is experimenting with different technic additions

[Clone 01354 Productions]

I have a new prediction for the summer: What if Skull Grinder is, in the box art, pulling the MOCR OUT of the forge--maybe he used the Toa's golden masks, melted them, and they fused together and made the MOCR? And then after the Skull army is defeated, Ekimu makes all the Toa new masks to replace the ones that got melted, and they have new powers--like the original 2001 mask powers?!?!

ANYWAY, I feel that Skull Grinder should've been given the same design treatment that Grievous got--as in, larger, more complex, and more imposing. That Grievous is absolutely amazing (maybe my favorite CCBS set), and now Grinder looks so dinky.

[Leewan]

(I still can't figure out why POV-Ray doesn't want to render transparent pieces)

Because POV-Ray renders the phosporescent colors as opaque colors, I guess. You should use a "true" transparent color, like 49 - Tr. Fluore. Green.

As such, I feel like speculating based on these rumors is rather pointless (especially since, even if they are real, the user openly admitted that they appeared to be from an early stage of development and as such could be subject to considerable changes).

Agreed, true or not, we shouldn't give too much attention to these rumours.

I have a new prediction for the summer: What if Skull Grinder is, in the box art, pulling the MOCR OUT of the forge--maybe he used the Toa's golden masks, melted them, and they fused together and made the MOCR?

The MoCr was lost, not destroyed, why would he make an new one instead of just go and look for Ekimu's original mask ?

[GK733]

Because POV-Ray renders the phosporescent colors as opaque colors, I guess. You should use a "true" transparent color, like 49 - Tr. Fluore. Green.

I've tried all three trans-green colors and all are solid on render.

If you have any ideas why that is let's continue discussion here: http://www.eurobrick...ic=71654&st=775

Edited April 17, 2015 by GK733

[MakutaOfWar]

I want more villains. [/._.]/ Or Rahi.

[ToaDraco]

The rumored sets sound amazing. I hope they are true but I won't put much stock in them until we get prelims.

[Clone 01354 Productions]

I doubt they're true, but if they are, I do like the sound of Rahi in the next wave, and Toa Ekimu sounds pretty nifty.

But of course, the best thing about these rumors is the shiny-metallic platinum shells, because that on a Toa Ekimu brings us one step closer to funmetal Takanuva.

[Mandate]

Why would Ekimu of all characters have platinum colored shells?

[MakutaOfWar]

Wait, what's the source of the rumors? I think I missed something...

[Nekchir]

You mean shells in the 'color' of the Chrome Hau? That would look really sick.

Wait, what's the source of the rumors? I think I missed something...

Apparently, someone spotted a kid with a couple of 2016 sets that he was play-testing. The father of said kid, leaked some info as well. I highly doubt it's true though. Edited April 17, 2015 by MonkeyChud

[dviddy]

Wait, what's the source of the rumors? I think I missed something...

The source is an anonymous poster on 4chan.

Take that as you will. It is mostly likely about as false as false gets.

[MakutaOfWar]

Ah, thanks guys. :P

[Logan McOwen]

The source is an anonymous poster on 4chan.

Take that as you will. It is mostly likely about as false as false gets.

I don't trust them for a second, honestly. But still, cute little critter GK!

[MakutaOfWar]

You know what I just realised, the Protectors could have individual names deeper into the lore. Because Ekimu in the summer is only called Mask Maker in the set, so maybe the Protectors have more unique names? I hope they're the Turaga. :3