Is 2016 the best year ever for CCBS?

[TwistLaw]

Since its introduction in 2011 CCBS has evolved in many interesting ways that, especially since 2014, allowed us to understand how far can the system go.

In 2016 we had for the first time two themes fully coexisting througout the year: BIONICLE and Star Wars. Both offered a wide range of builds and techinques, with the winter wave of BIONICLE creating a unique blend of CCBS and Technic and SW crafting models close to perfection. And while the BIONICLE summer wave for this year contains the controversial beasts, Umarak and Ekimu are respectively the first G2 titan and a perfect blend of 2015 and 2016 BIONICLE builds. On top of that, the recently leaked SW sets make it seems like the bar may be set even higher.

In short: do you think we're living the best CCBS year as of yet?

[Anthony12901]

Ohhhhh yeah. UTD looks awesome. The uniters look ok, with a little mix of technic and CCBS.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Anthony12901

[Fulcrumfan91]

I actually think we haven't seen the best year of CCBS yet. I firmly believe 2017 will have some surprisingly good Bionicle sets coming out. How many come out is a different story. So far, I'd say 2016 has been a good year for the theme, I've enjoyed it the most.

[Aanchir]

I guess I can mostly agree? I think last year's Toa were better designs on average than this year's Toa, but this year has had other standout sets like the creatures, both versions of Umarak, and some of the Star Wars sets that help make up for that.

At the same time, I think you could have just as easily said this about 2012 in 2012, or about 2013 in 2013, or about 2014 in 2014, or about 2015 in 2015. No year of sets is without its faults, and this year is no exception to that, but each has managed to bring something new and impressive to the table. Everyone might have their favorite year of sets, but personally I don't think there's been a year yet when CCBS hasn't advanced in some noteworthy way, let alone a year when it's experienced an overall decline.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Aanchir

[YellowCorvette]

While some of the 2016 CCBS sets are pretty good (Umarak the Hunter), but I don't think that this year is a very great year for CCBS sets. Most of the winter wave Bionicle sets are mediocre to me, and the summer wave Bionicle sets is also very lackluster.

[JekPorkchops]

I'd say CCBS has improved every year, except in 2013. That was a major downgrade compared to the fantastic 2012 (I'm talking solely about HF I just realized). We were back with incredibly standard builds with empty backs, the shield attachments to the backs were ridiculously bad in execution and there were a couple of terrible sets because of other reasons (Scarox, Bruizer, Dragon Bolt and Jet Rocka).

Overall 2011 was very simple and some of the sets were very mediocre, but it was a perfect starting point for the new system because of its simplicity. 2012 offered some great variety in builds between all of the sets and in character between even the heroes. While the system was getting away of the G1 Bionicle system even more, I'd say those 2012 HF sets look as great as any Bionicle team or group. The Super Heroes Ultrabuilds weren't that great, I like Iron Man a lot.

I'd say some of the Chima figures were nice, but I'm not too familiar with them so I can't really include their impact on the overall year. 2014 HF did some amazing things with scaling in CCBS and it set an even clearer boarder between the last of HF and the first of Bionicle G2.

While I think 2015 sets were the perfect way of introducing the classic old Bionicle characters in CCBS, I think the 2016 sets are actually better. They offer a lot more pieces for the same price and their torso builds are more intricate and unique. The cluttered texture issue doesn't bother me as much as it hasn't bothered me during G1's run. I think the Star Wars constraction sets of 2015 are better than the 2016 ones because they're very clean and less gimmicky.

So because of that, and because I'm not sure if the summer wave of 2015 or 2016 is the worst of G2, I'd say both 2015 and 2016 are the best CCBS years.

[Dr_Chronos]

Every year is an improvement, so yes in a way. It's not faultless but there is progress being made. The advancements in the building and functionality of this year are very welcome to me. However, other issues like proportioning, textures, clunky custom limbs, overusage of metallic and translucent colors, and the disturbing trend of one-connection-point shells are definitely some problems I think could stand to be improved in the future.

[Kalhiki]

I guess I can sort of agree... I applaud that they're trying something different, and having two CCBS lines coexisting is great. Granted, we've had two CCBS lines on shelves in the past, but I view SW as being more successful since Superhero Ultrabuilds only got one wave, and the second wave of Chima never made it to the States.

That being said, I can't exactly say this is the best year in terms of set design. SW figures are great, so put them aside. But I'm less than thrilled about Bionicle's current lineup. Again, I applaud them for doing something different, but the cluttered texturing is a bit jarring, and the shortness of the arms on some of the Toa and torso flatness are a bit of a design killer. And don't get me started on the Beasts which also have some questionable design choices (Quake's arm, Lava's lower legs, etc.).

Though bringing that up, I really begin to wonder what I consider the peak of CCBS set design. 2011 was the start... The Savage Planet Beasts were cool in giving us animalistic designs, but the Heroes were basically clones...

2012 was fantastic if you ask me, giving us a wide variety in character designs. The Heroes were similar, but had enough differences to set them apart while still being a unified group. And the villains were creative in build (Reapa, Thornraxx), and design (Jawblade, Splitface).

2013 was a bit of a letdown. Pretty basic sets.

2014 was also pretty great. Mechs were cool, and it gave us something unique and different.

2015, again, great. First time we've seen gear functions in sets for a while. Everyone was unique. And then the summer wave happened with less-than-stellar sets.

And I already went through 2016...

So, personally, I wouldn't put 2016 as the best year in terms of set designs. I'd say 2012, '14, and '15 were the best we've gotten so far. But in terms of the CCBS's successfulness? Looks like it's stronger than ever.

[bidiminished]

I think 2016 is a slight let-down in terms of cohesion and the design of new parts (e.g. Uniter torso). The action features improve upon 2015 but particularly for the small sets they come at the cost of aesthetics.

In terms of looks alone, I think 2012 was the peak of Lego constraction with sets like Evo, Core Hunter and Splitface.

With Titan sets, both Umaraks are generally better than the Hydraxons of CCBS (Black Phantom and Fire Lord) but aren't as good as Witch Doctor in build or colour distribution.