Bionicle 2016 Sets Discussion

[Lord-Vorahk]

I think I like previous handlings of red and gold more than 2016 Tahu. Lhikan looked like a red guy wearing gold armour, so did Jaller Inika, and so did Starhu. 2015 Tahu does the same, but 2016 Tahu just has too much gold. Also, still with the trans-orange. I'm going to have to start buying dupes and whole bricklink orders of red shells soon.

[Grima]

I thought trans orange worked with 2015 Tahu, but 2016 Tahu appears to have PoF's problem: far too much trans orange, not enough red.

[YellowCorvette]

I'm not a big fan of the new chest piece. The pieces looks good, but I prefer the previous solution of attach the Superheroes Ultrabuild chest piece on a regular HF torso piece, not a single piece solution like this.

[Kalhiki]

Y'know, it occurred to me how few CCBS figures used a torso and a chest piece. The only ones I can think of are 2.0 and 3.0 Heroes, 2015 Toa, most of the DC and Marvel Constraction and the first wave of Contraction Chima. Otherwise, pretty much all the figures used just a single torso shell. Granted, all the Heroes possessed a Hero Core for some detailing, but that's hardly a whole chest piece.

Though, I'm not defending the use of single-piece torso shells. I much prefer the torso with chest armor. I just find it interesting that the 2016 Toa's torso armor is more the norm in CCBS builds. Either way, I'd probably be more keen with them if they had a connection point for armor add-ons.

[Hawkeye616]

From what I have seen I have to say Lewa is my favorite as far as looks go. His mask is probably my favorite and his texture is just greta looking for me. I am not all that bothered by the gold on tahu, but the silver on his mask throws me off. Onua is probablymy second favorite as most have pointed out (BIG EPIC WEAPON). Kopaka no need tosay is amazing! However if you look close to hisvox you can see his standsrd mask which looks a lot like his nuva version, buuuuuut the eye piece is way too close to the mouth. Gali looks really good in my opinion, don't have a lot of issues with her mask or color scheme,but her weapon is probably the worst one out of all. Pohatu is probably my least favorite, not because of his weapon or build or even mask, the trans yellow and the trans bright green bothers me A LOT. It kinda hurts my eyes (im gonna get him nonetheless) an as far as the creatures go, I really like most of them. My only problem with them would be the faces. I kinda expected a unique faceto each one but oh well it's not that bad. As for melum, I think it's myleast favorite creature, it is way too similar to the earth one.

[Grima]

Lewa's definitely nice, but I'm not a fan of how they got rid of the keetorange and basically filled the missing space with even more silver.

[MakutaOfWar]

I'm just glad Kopaka has a nice weapon this time around, he's probably my second or third favorites this year, Tahu being my first(haters going to hate, but Tahu's my boy). Gali seems the most generic which is a shame, seeing as how she was my second or third favorite this year, but I also didn't think I'd like her as much as I do this year so maybe her 2016 form will follow the same path. Just seems she has a really weak weapon, along with Pohatu. At least Tahu, Lewa, and Kopaka use the new blade in a more unique way. Speaking of which, Kopaka's sword is gold/trans in the combiner pic, but on the box it's completely gold, along with the Kopaka-Melum-Combo box pic. Wonder what it will be.

Also, I hope the torso function will have friction.

Edited September 24, 2015 by MakutaOfWar

[mysteriouspi]

I'm just glad Kopaka has a nice weapon this time around, he's probably my second or third favorites this year, Tahu being my first(haters going to hate, but Tahu's my boy). Gali seems the most generic which is a shame, seeing as how she was my second or third favorite this year, but I also didn't think I'd like her as much as I do this year so maybe her 2016 form will follow the same path. Just seems she has a really weak weapon, along with Pohatu. At least Tahu, Lewa, and Kopaka use the new blade in a more unique way. Speaking of which, Kopaka's sword is gold/trans in the combiner pic, but on the box it's completely gold, along with the Kopaka-Melum-Combo box pic. Wonder what it will be.

Also, I hope the torso function will have friction.

General consensus is that the solid color weapons and armor pieces are from an earlier development stage than the blended ones; ergo, blended parts are more likely to be in the sets.

[TheDesuComplex]

Lewa's definitely nice, but I'm not a fan of how they got rid of the keetorange and basically filled the missing space with even more silver.

That's what I did too. Eventually I tried out some Trans Bright Green instead but reverted it back to keetorange. I definitely agree that it adds something to Lewa that I can't quite place and gives his color scheme plenty of variety.

I guess it's time for me to give my opinions on the new sets now that I've had a few days to peruse the pictures. Be warned, long walls of bullet points.

General/Parts:

General:

-Love the fire swords and fire armor: Perfect mix of crystal, fur, fire, whatever you want them to be.

-Plenty of melded pieces and recolors, which is as awesome as ever.

-Really, really hoping for their hips containing a swivel function, as it would make so much sense given half of them have staff weapons and the other half have weapons that can swing around. Excited to see their internal construction either way though.

-I'm just now warming up to new Technic-y shell piece. I'm saving my opinion until we get better pictures of it though.

-Creatures heads look perfectly cute and vague enough to fit well on all of them even though they are radically different creatures.

-Love the cute and evil bear trap robots, and giving them all different legs was good touch. Glad to see that only the creatures contain them. I hope that Melum's, if he includes one, uses the Plasma Blades or a similar crystalline part.

Toa:

Onua

-Love the giant warhammer and think it was smart to make the drill operate the shooter.

-Wonder if all his Trans-Purple parts are precursor to a Protector Makuta set...

-Looks really balanced overall in both proportions, colors, etc.

-Mask if okay, not familiar but works as an evolution of the Mask of Earth.

-Shoulder pads are very smart choice of parts to use, adds bulk but not too overbearing.

Tahu:

-DAY ONE PURCHASE

-Love him so much, reminds me of Ackar for his general warrior feel.

-Weapons look sick and awesome, gonna love the function on them; reminds me of the 'MechTech' weapons from Transformers.

-Mask is totally awesome, favorite one out of the bunch; perfect evolution of Mask of Fire into this new style!

-Gold looks okay to me, bit too much; I will probably switch out some of it for red, but it's not a big deal.

Gali:

-Least impressive Toa to me as of these impressions, not a huge fan of her asymmetry but it will probably grow on me.

-Looks to have really good pieces though, like Trans-Dark-Blue and Dark-Azure shells in new sizes possibly.

-Mask works well, perfect evolution of the Mask of Water but feels very 'meh'

-Staff is okay weapon, but the propeller is an odd addition in terms of its placement. Might move it to the back of her hand.

Lewa:

-Looks very fun like the Lewa I know and love from G1, glad to see more of that showing through in his design.

-I feel like his shins will fall off sometimes, but crossing my fingers that they fit together well; I love the uniqueness of the design though.

-Weapons look weird, even if they are batons/tonfas I will hold my opinion on them until I get them in-hand

-Mask is awesome, love the wicked grin that I was missing on the original Mask of Jungle.

Pohatu:

-I came in like a wreeecking baaall! I never hit so haaard in looove!

-Weapon is very awesome, love the forward staff and boulder attachment (nice callback!)

-Not too sure about color switchup, but I am chalking that up to prelim screwery. Will miss the Dark-Orange if this is true.

-Mask looks like Mask of Elemental Energy mated with the Mask of Stone. I like it, even if it makes his cheeks look puffy.

Kopaka:

-Different look from 2015 but a good one, more like a knight or a paladin now to me.

-Sad to see the shield gone, and don't really care for that pistol.

-Don't want the shells to be Dark Blue if they are the only piece in that color, will switch them out when I get it anyway

-Love new mask if for nothing else than that eyepiece. Gonna play with that a lot.

-Hope the Vorox shoulder pads are in white, as he has no more silver on him.

Creatures:

Terak

-Really excited for the Trans Purple parts he includes!

-He captures the 'Mole' look really well, pretty spot on on that description.

-A digging function would be awesome with those paw pieces.

Ikir

-Chima made me tired of phoenixes, but I'm totally fine with Ikir because Phoenix Omega Tahu confirmed!

-His wings look great using new and old pieces, seems they mix pretty well.

-He has golden tail feathers to shake!

-Love wing flapping functions so crossing my fingers for that.

Akida

-Looks to be the messiest one, like his/her respective Toa.

-Glad it uses similar design to Jawblade with all the Mistika fins

-Not too thrilled about the shooters being the function.

-Really wondering about how the Unity model will work out with Gali having a shark backpack.

Uxar

-Glad he uses a different wing design than Ikir to make more insectoid ones.

-Mosquito creature works super well for the Jungle region, glad it wasn't a monkey.

-He gives Lewa insectoid wings to supplement his flight abilities, which is smart.

Ketar

-Beware my stinger tail!

-Wish he had traditional claws, but using the new swords for stabby bits are okay though.

-Pohatu hates Scorpios though, so I'm looking forward to see how he reacts to the Creature of Stone being one.

Melum

-Shame that he has same design as Terak, the fake leaks of a direwolf sound a bit better; I might even make him one at some point.

-White feet on him, where are Red feet for Ikir? I'm hoping to get those anyway at some point so that I can put them on Narmoto and Izotor.

Umarak

-That design is all over the place and that is a very, very cool thing, the jumbled mess works for the theme.

-I like how it isn't obvious what he is. Is he a zombie deer man?

-His color scheme would be even better if it was Dark-Green and Reddish-Brown ala Ogrum.

-Love that he has that wicked bone bow and a Skull Army Hooksword for weapons.

-I'm semi-disappointed I can't use Southern stereotypes like him being decked out in tacky camo and driving an obnoxiously lifted truck. I just might anyway.

[YellowCorvette]

My favourite Toa's will be Pohatu and Lewa, because Pohatu mask is the most similar to his 2015 form, and that's a good thing. Lewa looks good, but I don't get what his weapons are suppose to present.

Tahu, Onua and Kopaka masks looks weird and Chima-ish, but they still has some good pieces.

Gali is my least favourite, because the combination of Trans-blue with Orange won't look good, and her weapon is very boring and bland compared to others,

Overall opinion on the Toa - Looks ok and has some good pieces, but not as good as their 2015 form.

Edited October 13, 2015 by ArmstrongYong

[VBBN]

Personally i'd rather see Lewa, Kopaka, and Pohatu get a round of gold while the other three get silver, give them the "better" armor for a time instead of repeating the same formula again. Not necessarily that I think it's an issue with colors, I just want variety.

Also I didn't really say much about the whole texture conversation, but one example i'd like to use is Axonn. His look resembled that of a red figure wearing silver armor. While the mask and chest armor were smooth, they threw on random silver parts like the Hordika and visorak feet in silver, which then looked like a different type of armor than the rest and I found it distracting. With these sets I agree that some have way too many textures going on, the new "technic shell" doesn't remotely fit i with the look of the standard shell and spikes when used all at once.

And personally I really don't like the look of the new crystal-whatever-it-is add-on. I'm sure many of you do, but I don't, so there's that.

(For the record I thought the big Mata Nui set was the absolute worst that Bionicle's design got.)

Thank you. See, Mandate, someone here read the above posts unlike you!

Also, Mandate has done nothing but attack me and my opinions. So as long as he continues his 'attitude', I'll continue my own. Because having an unpopular opinion is not an 'attitude'.

Yeah, that wasn't the response I was looking for. Time for a chat

[Lord-Vorahk]

I must be the only person here who actually liked Toa Mata Nui.

The thing I don't like about the Trans-Orange is that Tahu looks so much better when all of his shells are red and so does Narmoto, so the trans-orange becomes a detriment to me.

[GK733]

Look at Gali's boxart, it's clear she has a weapon on the other end of the staff as well.

Her pose is bad, masks features are obscured due to the lighting, and there are orange spikes on the weapon that balances the lone orange Vorox armor, not even mentioning that she has asymmetry on her left thigh in the form of y-joint as well. I believe when we get better pictures and preferably a different pose people will like the set much more.

Same kinda goes for Kopaka, focusing the pose to his armpits is... not that effective.

[Timeline15]

I must be the only person here who actually liked Toa Mata Nui.

Nah, I like it too.

btw, does anyone have any idea what Melum is supposed to be? Terak's clearly a mole, but melum? an.... Ice mole? I assumed he'd be a wolf or a penguin or something, but he's just white terak.

[GK733]

Nah, I like it too.

btw, does anyone have any idea what Melum is supposed to be? Terak's clearly a mole, but melum? an.... Ice mole? I assumed he'd be a wolf or a penguin or something, but he's just white terak.

I'm going with a very weird polar bear

[NanoxVox]

Nah, I like it too.

btw, does anyone have any idea what Melum is supposed to be? Terak's clearly a mole, but melum? an.... Ice mole? I assumed he'd be a wolf or a penguin or something, but he's just white terak.

Best guess seems to be that Melum is supposed to be a yeti.

[WARHEAD]

My problem with the new torso shell isn't that it's a single piece but that, like the SW one, the lack of any other connection but the ball socket extremely limits the usability of the piece. Even the 2014 Chima torso could be worked around with some specific techniques because it had the sphere socket in the chest.

Overall I'm really not sure how I feel about this wave, with its strange unwieldy weapons, textures that don't really work with one another. Additionally, I think the gold-to-translucent color thing is really outstaying it's welcome.While I get that kids are attracted to translucent and metallic colors, it's really getting a bit ridiculous.

[The Outsider]

I must be the only person here who actually liked Toa Mata Nui.

Nah, I like it too.

I didn't like him before, but then someone noted at TvTropes that with a few mods you could get this. Look familiar?

Now, to complete my look through the prelim pictures, Kopaka & Melum and Umarak.

• General: maybe I had too high expectations, but these sets are a bit disappointing. There are a few good ideas, but I can't help but feel they could have done more with these characters.
  

• Umarak: I expected something a bit more muscled (maybe they're saving it for the Destroyer?), but this look is rather menacing as well. The weapons are cool (though they'd probably be a bit more impressive if they weren't so similar to Skull Warrior's), and the chestprint is awesome! Whether that's a fanged necklace or an actual mouth, it feels spooky! I have problems with this figure, but unlike other people, it's not the legs or the masks (they're weird-looking, but I think they fit the character): it's the antlers. It might just be nipticking, but the fact that they use three different colors on something that's meant to be a single structure just feels wrong to me. Couldn't they try to make it all bone-colored, or all brown, or all black? The MoCo could have the nose/chin flatter (strangely, the one in the logo looks closer to the animation model IMO), but it looks OK to me.
  

• Kopaka & Melum: okay, this one was a big disappointment. First of all, Melum isn't original at all: it's just a recolor of another Creature, with less claws and spikes; even worse, it's a recolor of Terak, my least favorite creature (and once again, I have no idea what it is). Kopaka, on the other hand, is very nice, and his weapons are cool (is that a spear I see between the blades?). However, the real reason I dislike this set is this: why a two-in-one? What does this offer that the other Toa and Creature sets don't? Kopaka doesn't seem so different from the larger Toa (maybe the weapons use more pieces and needed a higher pricepoint?), and the Creature, like I said, isn't anything special, so there's really no reason not to sell this as two separate sets; at least MMvsSG had the MoCr. In fact, it offers less than the others, because there's no beartrap. I really hope there's an in-story justification for this, or something I'm missing due to a lack of knowledge in the area, otherwise it just feels forced.
  

So, generally speaking: each set has its own qualities and flaws (what doesn't?), the Creatures are the strongest selling point, and the larger sets are a bit of a letdown. However, since I am a completionist (for BIONICLE, anyway) and I still like this line as a whole, I can't wait to get them. Besides, these are prelims; the actual sets will probably look better. Not much, since these look pretty final, but better nonetheless.

Also, people have been asking what we'll get in the Summer, since the MoCo has already shown up in the Winter sets, and the MoUP s probably being saved for 2017. While a corrupted MoCo is very likely, we're forgetting another legendary mask we've yet to see: the Mask of Time.

Edited September 24, 2015 by The Outsider

[MakutaDreadscythe]

Someone brought it up earlier but I'm starting to notice gears at the lower torso on most of the toa, so it's safe to say the gear function may be similar to Evo XL in that they move at the waist, which I welcome. Gear functions are awesome but one thing that bugged me was that you were limited in shoulder construction so as to not ruin the function, Tahu had it worst with his wingblades clashing with his shoulders.

[Emveeon]

I must be the only person here who actually liked Toa Mata Nui.

He was a fun build, so I enjoyed the set as well.

Anyhow, I love the Toa, but I'm not too sure how to feel about the creatures.

[GK733]

Ikir has a flapping function, that alone is super cool and I believe they will replicate it on Uxar. Could Terak have a gearbox for digging? whatever it is functions or not I find it that Ikir and Uxar will be the best of the creatures for many people because what can top a flapping function?

That said, because Akida has two six-shooters I find it large possibility that he/she doesn't really have a unique function.

Edited September 24, 2015 by GK733

[TheDesuComplex]

Ikir has a flapping function, that alone is super cool and I believe they will replicate it on Uxar. Could Terak have a gearbox for digging? whatever it is functions or not I find it that Ikir and Uxar will be the best of the creatures for many people because what can top a flapping function?

That said, because Akida has two six-shooters I find it large possibility that he/she doesn't really have a unique function.

I am hoping that Terak and Melum have the same function that moves in a similar way to the 2015 gearboxes; I think that it will look better with Savage Planet paws than with Onua's shovels. Akida having a six shooter is a shame, as it would have been great to give them a function that makes their tail whip side-to-side to look like swimming.

[Kalhiki]

I figure Ikir and Uxar will share the flapping wings function and Terak and Ketar will share a function that seems to be an arm swing. Terak will dig and Ketar will swing his blades. Akida doesn't get a function because it has six shooters. And then there's Melum who I would assume would have the same function as Terak.

Huh. Just noticed Ketar and Terak are anagrams of each other. And oddly enough they appear to share a function.

[Quisoves Pugnat]

btw, does anyone have any idea what Melum is supposed to be? Terak's clearly a mole, but melum? an.... Ice mole? I assumed he'd be a wolf or a penguin or something, but he's just white terak.

He's a Pygmy Bandersnatch, no doubt about it.

Also I didn't really say much about the whole texture conversation, but one example i'd like to use is Axonn. His look resembled that of a red figure wearing silver armor. While the mask and chest armor were smooth, they threw on random silver parts like the Hordika and visorak feet in silver, which then looked like a different type of armor than the rest and I found it distracting.

De gustibus non est disputandum, as they say. I can see that textures clashing could be a problem (I can sort of see DV's complaint about Brutaka,) but I can't think of a BIONICLE set that I've looked at and thought eeeew, the contrasting textures ruin it! To my mind, variety of textures does not mean disparity of textures. I mean, a sulcata tortoise's shell contrasts greatly with its skin, but I wouldn't call it ugly on that account.

You know, if it weren't for the price of the Nexo Knights-ultrabuild-thingies, I'd say that the new chestpiece is also being used for them. It has a very historical and terrestrial look to it, as opposed to the more utilitarian or mechanical chestplates introduced under Hero Factory.

[Leewan]

You know, if it weren't for the price of the Nexo Knights-ultrabuild-thingies, I'd say that the new chestpiece is also being used for them.

But there won't be Nexo Knight Ultrabuilds (at least not in January), the Ultimate sets are minifigs with weapons ala Spinners / Speedorz.

Don't know if it has been said before, but the new add-on reminds me of the Bohrok's shields.