Bionicle 2016 Story Discussion & Rumors

[TFGuy89]

I think I've realized my problem with the animation. It looks like the toa are on a green screen. Just the way the background and toa interact is just strange to me. I like their movements and all, they look pretty accurate, the shading is good and all, but something seem off to me.

I don't mind it, I like the contrast. I view it as a stylistic choice. It reminds me a lot of Transformers Robots in Disguise, which is also similar in how the characters are rendered in very sharp cel-shading while the backgrounds have a more painterly style.

EDIT: All character videos are now up on YouTube.

Edited January 27, 2016 by TFGuy89

[Bbrink1996]

Umarak's video is awesome and did I see Skull Warriors as well? Anyway, TJtO looks better with every video I see of it. :D

[DraikNova]

The other character videos look much nicer and less jarring in contrast. Interesting how Makuta seems to use very different styles for his body and his eyes. I had always imagined his eyes either bobbing with the smoke or having the smoke flowing around rather than through/over them.

[Shakar]

Aaand here's my new avatar.

Really liking the animation. It's not as cartoony as the 2015 shorts, a style I enjoyed, but it's not TOO realistic, which is something I tend to dislike.

The Toa make good use of their elements, but I hope to see some close quarters combat too. And Kopaka is using his eyescope!

Umarak's bow folds down and is stored on his back. I'll have to do that once I get the set, should be pretty easy to do with some simple Technic tricks.

[Bbrink1996]

You can see Ekimu in a few of the Toa videos which leads me to believe Ekimu will tag along for the search for the Mask Of Control. Maybe that's how he get's his 2016 form? Maybe during the quest he is exposed to the slime stuff you see on the summer set boxes and becomes larger and more transparant?

That would make more sense than suddenly showing up at the end of this years story like: "Yo guys, i'm big now too."

Edited January 27, 2016 by Bbrink1996

[avatarbrickman]

"Yo guys, i'm big now too."

XD

[ToaDraco]

The character videos are fantastic, I can't wait for the show to be released! I really like the character designs and the environments look vibrant and colorful, I like it. Now if only we got an official video game in that style...(not the app) I could see it being made by Platinum Games, what with the cell shading and such.

[Bigger Fish]

I honestly like to think that Ekimu's summer form is a super form of sorts, with all the trans blue being pure energy like that of a Super Saiyan.

[MakutaOfWar]

Somebody on reddit pointed out that Umarak in Pohatu's video is very... different. He's sporting purple ribcages on his arms, shadow traps for hands, etc.

[Bigger Fish]

Somebody on reddit pointed out that Umarak in Pohatu's video is very... different. He's sporting purple ribcages on his arms, shadow traps for hands, etc.

Maybe that's a special form he can use for combat and capturing?

[MakutaOfWar]

Maybe that's a special form he can use for combat and capturing?

Somebody mentioned he could be gradually turning into his Destroyer form. Not sure how that would work though, intriguing.

[Iben]

I was just about to point that out.

He has a tail, purple ribcages, shadowtrap hands. It's reaaaaaally weird !

-Iben

[Quisoves Pugnat]

Mayhaps the ribcages are Onua's epaulets?

[Ikaatril]

Might it be possible that we might get a Umarak/Onua combiner this year and that's just advertising it?

[Dorek]

Might it be possible that we might get a Umarak/Onua combiner this year and that's just advertising it?

That would actually be super neat. Not quite sure that's what it is, though, but... maybe? It looks like he has a tail of some kind, and his horn configuration is different. Most mysterious!

Anyway, animation is looking super slick. The character models and fluidity are top notch; and the little details, like Umarak taking a second to charge up his weapon rather than just lasers flying everywhere, have me very confident.

[Kalhiki]

Not to mention those antlers.

Whatever it is, I kinda like it. He is a spiritual creature, so maybe he doesn't have a singularly defined form. Perhaps he gained some of the Elemental Creatures' powers and transformed. Who knows.

Regardless, the show is continuing to look better and better. Still need to hear voices (though I believe that was someone talking at the beginning of Umarak's video: "That's Umarak!" or whatever).

[DuplexBeGreat]

Oh my god, these videos have me freaking out. In case no one else noticed...

* Pohatu's video shows him fighting with what is unmistakably a Skull Warrior wearing a green Skull Spider. The implications of this are incredible.

* Umarak also has a tail in Pohatu's video in addition to the oddities others have noticed. This is weird especially considering the Destroyer doesn't even seem to have a tail.

* Gali attacks Akida, suggesting that the Creatures must be "tamed" before the Toa can unite with them

* More Skull Warriors wearing blue and silver Spiders in Gali's video

* Kopaka looks really cool btw

* Silver Spider on a Skull Warrior in Onua's video. I'm noticing that all these Warriors' trans-neon orange parts are looking brown, as if faded. Perhaps this has some significance? They may have lost their power with Kulta's defeat, which is why the Spiders are needed to animate them

* Umarak stalking Uxar... unity hype?

[Bigger Fish]

Not to mention those antlers.

Whatever it is, I kinda like it. He is a spiritual creature, so maybe he doesn't have a singularly defined form. Perhaps he gained some of the Elemental Creatures' powers and transformed. Who knows.

Regardless, the show is continuing to look better and better. Still need to hear voices (though I believe that was someone talking at the beginning of Umarak's video: "That's Umarak!" or whatever).

You know, I actually like the idea of Umarak changing forms as he gains more of the creature's power, kind of like Cell from DBZ. That would be really interesting if he had multiple different elemental forms to fight the Toa better on their own turf.

[MrHerofan]

Well if Umarak can possibly spawn shadow traps, maybe he can also generate the best's from within him as well, like Cell and Cell Jr.'s.

The animation to me still looks to green screen, but I'm slowly getting used to it. The videos are interesting, and hopefully they don't blow the show.

[Dorek]

Oh my god, these videos have me freaking out. In case no one else noticed...

* Pohatu's video shows him fighting with what is unmistakably a Skull Warrior wearing a green Skull Spider. The implications of this are incredible.

I did see that! I wasn't sure if it was a Skull Spider or a regular villager, though. I don't think the repercussions are that massive, necessarily; Skull Slicer was allegedly resurrected by a Skull Spider, so it wouldn't surprise me to see that sort of idea repeated for other Skull Creatures. I'm mostly excited that the Skull Army isn't quite as defeated as we would assume.

[Ikaatril]

The skull sets are still being sold, aren't they? Could be a new strategy to advertise the previous wave as well as the current wave. They do it in the summer wave often enough (at least with constraction) having both the winter and summer waves, so it could be that LEGO's decided they'd like to advertise the previous summer wave during the next winter wave as well.

But I do like that the Skulls are sticking around. Nice to see we have more opponents than just the beasts and Umarak this year.

[DuplexBeGreat]

I did see that! I wasn't sure if it was a Skull Spider or a regular villager, though. I don't think the repercussions are that massive, necessarily; Skull Slicer was allegedly resurrected by a Skull Spider, so it wouldn't surprise me to see that sort of idea repeated for other Skull Creatures. I'm mostly excited that the Skull Army isn't quite as defeated as we would assume.

Yes, that's what I meant. The fact that the Skull Army is still relevant to the story is just incredible to me; I was afraid they'd be one-off villains, but this gives me hope for a bit more continuity.

[MrHerofan]

Well thinking about Umarak a little bit more, perhaps his hands shape to form Shadow traps so when he grabs his enemy,the shadow trap wraps around a hand or something else. It could be a pretty cool idea to see against some of these toa.

[ToaDraco]

I honestly like to think that Ekimu's summer form is a super form of sorts, with all the trans blue being pure energy like that of a Super Saiyan.

Super Saiyan Ekimu confirmed.

That Umarak/Onua combiner(?) is pretty sweet. Hopefully the combiners will start to get more attention and actually have something to do in the story. I loved how G1 used combiner models to populate the mythos with new species and such, I miss that world building.

[One Very Agile Cat]

* Gali attacks Akida, suggesting that the Creatures must be "tamed" before the Toa can unite with them

Looks more like she pushed Akida out of the way of an energy blast that hit the ground right after she tackled it. Just like Kopaka saves Gali in his video from a big stone block.

Would be cool if they needed to be tamed. Gives an extra little bit of conflict to the sets.

Edited January 30, 2016 by One Very Agile Cat