Bionicle 2016 Story Discussion & Rumors

[GK733]

I don't think that styling is the way the episodes will look, but if it is I will be okay with it. It looks like the sets but cell shaded outlines ala Borderlands to me. I really believe that image is just a placeholder to show what Bionicle is though, like they googled 'Bionicle' and that is the first thing that came up.

I believe I have seen every CGI Bionicle image Lego has published and that is for sure a new one, yes it could be just a weird placeholder or an early concept sent by the animation team and can't judge before we see actual screens. So far, not so good, I have always hated when they bend the plastic like that.

[Dorek]

Digging the art style. I guess they'll start out at the beginning, with them in their Master forms? Or it could just be concept.

[Quisoves Pugnat]

That looks good, but it has a painted appearance, which leads me to think that it isn't in the animation style. Heck, the fact that it uses a 2015 set should indicate that it's merely promotional and unlikely to reflect the finished product.

[Kalhiki]

This is the style we've been looking for.

Not me... :/

I mean, it's not bad. It looks nice... I was just wishing for something other than CGI replicas of the sets.

On the plus side, coloring is beautiful and the backgrounds are gorgeous. So there's that.

[Vinyl Scratch]

The Journey to One still sounds weird to me.

[Tazakk]

That looks good, but it has a painted appearance, which leads me to think that it isn't in the animation style.

I was thinking just the same. That said, as much as I would love to keep the current style and avoid stylistic dissonance as the story continues, it seems likely that this is at least related since it's obviously new and has a distinct look to it. Only other thing I can think of is that maybe they used some art from the upcoming graphic novels, but that'd sure be weird.

[Kalhiki]

That looks good, but it has a painted appearance, which leads me to think that it isn't in the animation style. Heck, the fact that it uses a 2015 set should indicate that it's merely promotional and unlikely to reflect the finished product.

I was thinking just the same. That said, as much as I would love to keep the current style and avoid stylistic dissonance as the story continues, it seems likely that this is at least related since it's obviously new and has a distinct look to it. Only other thing I can think of is that maybe they used some art from the upcoming graphic novels, but that'd sure be weird.

Don't really see how a painted appearance would mean it's not the animation style. Looks pretty CGI to me, and there's a lot that can be done with CGI in terms of shading and coloring to pull off a "painted" look.

Biggest example I can think of is the upcoming video game Transformers: Devastation. It's not "painted" per-say, but instead invokes a cell-shaded appearance. So much so, that upon seeing initial screenshots, I thought it was artwork instead of the actual in-game models.

[ToaDraco]

I'm sad that there are only 4 episodes planned so far but it makes no mention of how long they will be so hopefully they are hour long episodes or something. I'm glad the animation will be 3d although based on that image I'm a bit disappointed that it won't be more like the Hero Factory animations that alter the sets slightly and give them mouths and fingers and such to better show emotion and personality so that they feel like characters and not puppets. The cell shaded look is ok though and it actually reminds me of the animations in 2005 and 2006, if that is an accurate representation of what we will be getting. I'm mostly disappointed by how they chose to position Tahu's shoulder armor, it just looks... bad. Otherwise it looks nice. I'm guessing the first episode will be a recap of the 2015 story that leads into the 2016 story and will be when the Toa get their new armor and weapons from Ekimu, presumably.

Edited October 1, 2015 by ToaDraco

[Quisoves Pugnat]

I was thinking just the same. That said, as much as I would love to keep the current style and avoid stylistic dissonance as the story continues, it seems likely that this is at least related since it's obviously new and has a distinct look to it. Only other thing I can think of is that maybe they used some art from the upcoming graphic novels, but that'd sure be weird.

No stranger than an advertisement for the Ninjago tv series, in one of the graphic novels, using pictures from the defunct LEGO Universe.

Don't really see how a painted appearance would mean it's not the animation style. Looks pretty CGI to me, and there's a lot that can be done with CGI in terms of shading and coloring to pull off a "painted" look.

Cell-shading tends to have a liquid look, from what I've seen.

To wit:

Tahu, on the other hand, looks like a CGI image that's been run through GIMP's oil-paint filter, while his background looks too simple to be CGI.

[Aanchir]

Seems to me that the style in this preview image might have been exactly what this look test might have been building towards. It's got a similar sense of being a high-detail, set-like character but with improved articulation, in front of a backdrop resembling the current webisodes.

If they DO go with that style for the Netflix series, I hope they develop it further to make the characters' masks/faces more expressive and their movements less wooden. Aside from that, though, I can see it working out. There wouldn't need to be so much focus on developing it for small screens as in the previous webisodes, so this level of detail could be more viable.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Aanchir

[Destroz65]

I wonder if the show will have a cartoon style like the animations of this year or it will be something like the hero factory show... I think I have my answer when I saw this picture.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Destroz65

[MakutaOfWar]

So Netflix pretty much confirmed the series(as if we didn't know) on Twitter.

Aaaaaand old news.

You know, we still don't know how long each episode could actually be. We may be getting hour long one's or so, which would be nice. 2 hours of the 2015 story, or 90 minutes. Then another for the 2016 story.

Edited October 2, 2015 by MakutaOfWar

[ToaDraco]

I'm hoping these episodes will be well animated and more fleshed out with some cool action scenes. I also hope it will be more epic and less silly. The ones we have now are ok but they are way too goofy. The original Bionicle had lighter funny moments but it felt more like a serious epic for the most part. There just needs to be a better balance.

[YellowCorvette]

I'm hoping these episodes will be well animated and more fleshed out with some cool action scenes. I also hope it will be more epic and less silly. The ones we have now are ok but they are way too goofy. The original Bionicle had lighter funny moments but it felt more like a serious epic for the most part. There just needs to be a better balance.

Agree, it's ridiculous. We need more great action scenes and less stupid scenes like how Kopaka punch at Skull Slicer's face to take off Lewa's Golden Mask in "Episode 12: The Game".( I think it's a silly scene)

[DuplexBeGreat]

Agree, it's ridiculous. We need more great action scenes and less stupid scenes like how Kopaka punch at Skull Slicer's face to take off Lewa's Golden Mask in "Episode 12: The Game".( I think it's a silly scene)

Personally, I really liked the fight scene against Slicer. The battle with the Warriors was much sillier. They just stood there and got shoved aside by the Toa without doing anything.

[YellowCorvette]

Personally, I really liked the fight scene against Slicer. The battle with the Warriors was much sillier. They just stood there and got shoved aside by the Toa without doing anything.

There are a lot more better ways to take a mask out of other peoples faces. And how can I forget the Toa's fight with the Warriors? Maybe because I think it's barely a fight.

I hate how the warriors attack the Toa's. It should be a massive group of Warriors surrounding the Toa's and start firing their bow towards the Toa's like how a group of Droidekas attack their enemies.

Edited October 2, 2015 by ArmstrongYong

[DuplexBeGreat]

There are a lot more better ways to take a mask out of other peoples faces. And how can I forget the Toa's fight with the Warriors? Maybe because I think it's barely a fight.

I hate how the warriors attack the Toa's. It should be a massive group of Warriors surrounding the Toa's and start firing their bow towards the Toa's like how a group of Droidekas attack their enemies.

They almost achieved that effect. Archers on the walls in front of them, melee attackers coming up from behind. And then it all just fell apart.

[YellowCorvette]

They almost achieved that effect. Archers on the walls in front of them, melee attackers coming up from behind. And then it all just fell apart.

What I mean is the Warriors should surrouding the Toa's from all direction and firing the toa's quickly with their bow.

What I want is something like this.

Edited October 3, 2015 by ArmstrongYong

[DuplexBeGreat]

What I mean is the Warriors should surrouding the Toa's from all direction and firing the toa's quickly with their bow.

Don't get it? I mean something like this.

That's why I said almost.

And there's no need to insult me by saying something like "Don't get it?" I'm just giving my opinion on the animations.

[YellowCorvette]

That's why I said almost.

And there's no need to insult me by saying something like "Don't get it?" I'm just giving my opinion on the animations.

Sorry about that.

[Aethersprite]

4 episodes? Fantastic! Hopefully it does well enough to warrant a full season. I'd also like to see the Toa in their new 2016 forms; hopefully the poster isn't an indication that they'll be in their 2015 forms. There's no reason for that from a marketing perspective, too. Perhaps in the show we'd see the Toa transform from their 2015 to their 2016 Uniter forms, Nuva-style.

[DuplexBeGreat]

I just hope it doesn't turn into a situation where these four episodes are all devoted to the story of the Winter arc, and then the series "continues" with each successive arc squashed into one episode each.

[YellowCorvette]

Hope that the 4 episodes will long enough to develop some great action scenes.

[mysteriouspi]

I was told Ninjago's first season was four episodes as well, and look what happened to that. I'm guessing this is TLG testing the waters; if these first four episodes are successful, we'll likely have future seasons with (hopefully) more episodes.

[Mandate]

I was told Ninjago's first season was four episodes as well, and look what happened to that. I'm guessing this is TLG testing the waters; if these first four episodes are successful, we'll likely have future seasons with (hopefully) more episodes.

NINJAGO's original episode is a very confusing mess after its DVD release, fan interpretations and later international releases. The original run on CN, IIRC was the episodes "Episode 1: Way of the Ninja", "Episode 2: The Golden Weapon", "Episode 3: King of Shadows" and "Episode 4: Weapons of Destiny". Some fans consider the forty-minute special two separate episodes (?), though I'm not sure how valid that claim is. The DVD release, at the very least the international version, merged all four "minisodes" together as "Episode 1: Way of the Ninja". Kind of trivial on this subject, but here's where it starts getting confusing: The later episodes effectively reset the episode counter, and the US release of "Episode 1: Rise of the Snakes" to "Episode 13: Day of The Great Devourer" were considered season 1, whereas the international release kept the original 40-minute special as season 1. Kind of pointless and trivial, but I just thought I'd let you know Anyway, TLG's done testing the waters. 2015 was the year for that, though I imagine that with only four episodes the community's going to be a lot more restless next year.

At any rate, I'm not looking forward to it. If the image they provided is any indication of the show's quality I can't see any reason to be impressed by it. The colors are ironically flat, the posing is not only generic but... underdeveloped, perhaps? The way Tahu's pauldrons stick up bugs me. I don't understand why they tried to make Tahu "true to the toy" when they're simply going to flex and bend parts of him in unnatural ways, and the cell shading doesn't do a good job at all making the world seem like something out of a cartoon. Not in the way franchise like Borderlands or TellTale's The Walking Dead have, anyway. It's definitely not indicative of the show's overall quality, so I hope that the other environments will look a lot better, and hopefully they'll get some of the guys that animated the G1 CGI commercial to do their animation work.