Does anyone look back on 2006 fondly?

[Darkness Falls]

Okay, I know this is going to sound weird, but try to keep up.

Besides the ridiculous smiling faces and new heads(that were only used for that year), I actually enjoyed 2006 and its storyline. I mean, I had given up on collecting sets of six because of the clone disease, but I liked grabbing some of them. More pieces were introduced which forced I and other builders to approach a MoC in a new manner. The Titans, while being overly centered around torso pieces, had impressive builds.

The storyline was a welcome change from 2005. Greg opened up a whole new world to us, instead of isolating the activity in Metru and Mata nui. I found Dark Destiny to be one of the most pleasant surprises of the book series in a long time, and(here's where is gets kind of weird) I was very impressed with the characterization of the Piraka. While all of them were snippy, violent thieves, each had a very interesting motive and backstory.

Of course, there were downsides. The Toa Inika were an uncharacterized lot, and set building was very dull. But if you look at the positives and negatives, the former greatly outweighs the latter. Plus, I think the great thing about 2006 was that they took its failures and compensated for them the next year. 2007 is even greater, but it wouldn't have been if we hadn't complained about everything that was wrong with 2006. Then again, perhaps it would have.

I feel that we need to reflect on something a year after it has come out, to see how it compares to the next year. Only then can we see how much things have changed.

[Zarkan]

Excellent points, Darkness. I totally agree with everything you say. ;-)

Yeah, I do look back at 2006 very positively. Despite it's flaws, it opened up so much more in the bionicle storyline and other things. A couple welcome changes were:

1: That the storyline was darker and really revealed that it wasn't just a couple of islands fighting against one foe. In 2005 we got some hints of the total bionicle world (like Roodaka's homeland in the comics and the Dark Hunters), but in 2006 it totally became a massive universe with even higher stakes than before. And for the first time, we see how desperate the situation really is. At the end of 2003 it seemed that the new life on metru nui wouldn't be so bad, but almost imediatley after we got back from the flashback storytelling, the toa were launched into trouble. That's the kind of stuff I like. *sweet*

2: That the set design finaly started to break off from the clone types. The Inika and Piraka were still basically clones, but the more unique color schemes and different feet and arm molds livened things up a bit. I also like how Hewkii and Nuparu stood apart from the rest with their chains and claws. Now, 2007 remains the king of non-clone set design by far, but 2006 showed that TLC was finally starting to change their ways a bit.

Yeah, so, I loved 2006. 2007 tops it by far, but 2006 was still great. :-)

[Clonie]

Since there hasn't been much discussion in this forum I thought I'd keep things moving...

2006. Where to begin. Okay, I'll start from the start. The build-up.

The first things about 2006 we knew were from Time Trap, namely the Order of Mata Nui, Krakua's hint, the title of BL #1 (Island of Doom), among other things. It was kind of exciting at the time, but it doesn't compare much to the few weeks before 2006 started. The first teaser, the revalation of the name of the island, Voya Nui. The new Bionicle.com, the countdown clock to January 4. The scratched paint theme used for the Piraka. The Piraka's silhouettes flashing inconspicuously around the site. It was exciting indeed.

Then came Bionicle Legends #1: Island of Doom. Our first main story outlet. Did it live up to the hype? Only just. The revalations were quite intriguing. The characterizations of the Piraka were okay, better than the Inika, at least. I can distinguish between their characters without much trouble, though most people seem to not like them. The Matoran of Voya Nui were excellent. Mostly. Well, they're okay.

The sets started appearing. They were received well, namely the Piraka.

Then the leak of the Toa names. Jaller, Hahli, Nuparu, Hewkii, Kongu, Matoro. This got many excited. Then the pictures were revealed. They were frog mutants. How cool... So yeah. They didn't look much like their Matoran forms, but that's really only mask-wise. Jaller had dark red and gold. His Matoran form had light red and yellow. So his Toa form was just darker. Hahli had the same dark blue, and white rather than light blue, but that doesn't really make much of a difference. Nuparu had grey rather than orange, but at least his zamors were orange. Hewkii, well, would have been better labeled as Toa Hafu, although character-wise wouldn't make much of a Toa. Compared to Hewkii. Interestingly, the 2008 Pohatu looks like a better Toa Hewkii. They are both orange. Kongu was the worst Inika in every respect, the colours didn't match his old form either. Matoro had trans blue as opposed to sand blue.

Anyway. You get the idea. Now I need rest. :-P

[maiq the liar]

So the only real change in terms of color was a slight pallete switch?

I'd say my favorite sets...

-Vezon/Fenrakk/Kardas

-Brutaka

-Avak

I personally thought it was a great year. i had nearly every exo force set then too! (had most of the big sets and bridge walker. i slightly modified bridge walker to make it a bit nore stable. anyone know of a cheap household counterweight?, sentai fortress is on my bookshelf and striking venom was no match for my dog's unrelenting jaws)

[Visorak-kal]

2006 saved BIONICLE. Period.

To elaborate:

Since 2003 BIONICLE and LEGO's sales as a whole were down. I personally liked 2003, however; the Rahkshi were by far the best canister sets to that date, and the Makuta and Takanuva sets were marvelous.

Although I liked 2004 and 2005, the story began to lack; the movies caused the split years, and the Toa Hordika sets were not heroic enough for my taste; I would have preferred strong, tall, beastlike Toa, rather than hunchbacks that looked evil. The Visorak were good sets though. The Vahki, I think, suffered though; they had Toa Metru limbs without armor and old-style arms!

We didn't even have the endings in the comics, and the movie books had no choice but to suffer from the script-writer's decisions. Because of that, the story seemed very cliche. Only the other books in the year, such as Web of the Visorak, Challenge of the Hordika, and my all-time favorite Time Trap, saved 2005.

So 2006 brought back original story, COMPLETED story, and way more poseable, larger sets. I actually like the new Piraka and Inika bodies; they provide more poseability and I don't see them being as bulky as some people do on here and BZP.

The story and sets were great; I loved the Piraka and Matoran characters, I liked Axonn and the Toa Inika. I just loved the characters of Brutaka and Vezon. I don't see the Inika as losing personality; as Matoran they had little to no personality anyway. If anything, the Toa Inika had more personality than their Matoran counterparts. I just see them as less-eccentric versions of the Toa Nuva.

So, in the end, I think 2006 was a great year and paved the way for 2007, which is IMO the best year BIONICLE has had so far. (2001 may have been better only since it was the first.)

Some of my favorite sets came out in 2006, as well, like Brutaka, Axonn, Vezon and Fenrakk, and Vezon and Kardas!

VK

[steelharbingerofdeath]

no.

to put it simply i used to like bionicle but rubber faces?! that put my mask collection in a baaad place.

i didn't like the glowey lightyness eitherit made me cry tears of blood.

but errm yeah sorry i don't like 2006 bionicles...

steel...

[Dark Sword Ragnarok]

personally i liked 2006. even though I really only got Axonn...

oh, by the way, i'm new here.

Hi! :-D