Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[TheGreatSpirit]

<p>I mean, I want to know the exact date in January. If it comes out a couple months early in Europe or something, I might just import the sets.

Lego confirmed it to be January 1st. You may find it a week or so earlier at some stores, but I highly doubt it would come out a few months early in Europe.

[Cheatster9000x]

The more I look at Lord of the Skull Spiders Skull Krata, I seem ever so slightly more deterred by it.

Has anyone remade Teridax out of CCBS parts? Preferably using the ones we can presume are in Skull Krata?

[GK733]

I believe we get the protectors in January and toas and spider later in February-March.

The friday reveal could be the website but with a little more interesting teaser, at least containing some text. Possibly something similiar to Bara Magna teaser: http://web.archive.o...ww.bionicle.com

Edited September 22, 2014 by GK733

[Aanchir]

I believe we get the protectors in January and toas and spider later in February-March.

The friday reveal could be the website but with a little more interesting teaser, at least containing some text. Possibly something similiar to Bara Magna teaser: http://web.archive.o...ww.bionicle.com

The LEGO Group did a staggered release like that for the first year of BIONICLE, but lately they've tended to release each wave of sets all at the same time, regardless of size. That way, people can buy whichever size of sets they can afford right away, and also the smaller sets can complement the bigger sets.

[GK733]

It doesn't seem to be global then, for example I remember that agori came a way before glatorians did.

[Gatanui]

At least here in Germany the Agori came a month later than the Glatorian. More often, though, the small sets would come in January and the canister sets in February, March or even April.

-Gata

[arc]

here in the US I remember the agori being available for Christmas, (same with the stars the next year) and the glatorian available in late January. I would be okay with a release like that this year.

[TheBrickPal]

That actually would seem like quite a fair deal. That way, I could spend leftover money on the cheaper Protectors (who really look a lot better than I expected them to be, and definitely have much cooler designs than most of the basic Matoran and Agori we got in G1). Then I can wait for the more expensive (and significant) Toa and LOSS.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Puffle Pal26

[Dorek]

Y'all see Faber's cool Turaga art?

(that BZP hilariously leapt on as canon)

[Chro]

Yeah. Glad to hear that he's apparently going to be consulting on the storyline to some extent (at least that's what I thought he meant by being a Turaga or whatever).

[Dorek]

I think it was alluded to in the LMB topic, but yeah, sounds like he's basically serving the same role as Greg: creative consultant. Hopefully he'll do some of the concept art, at least.

[Chro]

The actual concept art. :P

[Echo]

This may seem off-topic, but I think this is a decent place to ask this. As someone who more or less ignored Hero Factory after purchasing and being really underwhelmed by two of the 2.0 figures from... whatever year that was, has the CCBS improved since then, and are the Chima ultrabuilds decent representations of what to expect from upcoming the Bionicle figures?

[Dorek]

If anything, it looks like BIONICLE will make even MORE complex use of CCBS than Chima.

I found the Chima Ultrabuilds to be really good at using aesthetics, although they're a bit functionally unwieldy. Hero Factory showed a great balance of form and function, and especially in 2012 and 2013 it really put on display the different kinds of things you can do. 2014 as well, but with the focus geared toward machines.

Since BIONICLE looks to be introducing gear functions of some kind (or something even stranger), at the very least the Master sets will be a step up from anything we've seen.

[arc]

This may seem off-topic, but I think this is a decent place to ask this. As someone who more or less ignored Hero Factory after purchasing and being really underwhelmed by two of the 2.0 figures from... whatever year that was, has the CCBS improved since then, and are the Chima ultrabuilds decent representations of what to expect from upcoming the Bionicle figures?

the ultra builds are a good general idea, but if you really wanna know what to expect, check out these:

http://www.majhost.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=289265

[Aanchir]

This may seem off-topic, but I think this is a decent place to ask this. As someone who more or less ignored Hero Factory after purchasing and being really underwhelmed by two of the 2.0 figures from... whatever year that was, has the CCBS improved since then, and are the Chima ultrabuilds decent representations of what to expect from upcoming the Bionicle figures?

Yes, the CCBS has improved since then, in terms of introducing some amazingly useful new parts... but also, it wasn't all that badly in need of "improvement". The parts for the 2.0 sets tended to be pretty amazingly versatile, the sets just weren't able to fully explore the system's potential at that point. Over time we saw more and more sets using mostly existing parts in new and creative ways. Toxic Reapa is a great example of this. Its only two brand-new parts are its faceplate and shoulders, but it has a creative design that makes it feel wholly unique. Jawblade includes even fewer new parts but an even more unique look. More recently, Furno Jet Machine introduced a custom torso skeleton made entirely of parts from 2011 sets, though the cockpit it uses over top of that skeleton is brand-new.

The Chima constraction sets are probably a poor example of what to expect from the new BIONICLE. They're clever sets in their own right, but still fairly simplistic, hence the $15 sets being recommended for ages 6–12 rather than 7–14 like the current $15 Hero Factory sets and upcoming $15 BIONICLE sets. Likewise the $20 Chima constraction sets are recommended for ages 7–14 rather than 8–14 like in Hero Factory or BIONICLE. They have some things in common with the new BIONICLE sets, such as that they are fairly humanoid with pretty good armor coverage, creative weapon designs, and some build variations, but I think expecting the new BIONICLE sets to be like those would be setting the bar for the new sets kind of low.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Aanchir

[bacem]

hence the $15 sets being recommended for ages 6–12 rather than 7–14 like the current $15 Hero Factory sets and upcoming $15 BIONICLE sets. Likewise the $20 Chima constraction sets are recommended for ages 7–14 rather than 8–14 like in Hero Factory or BIONICLE.

as someone who never pay any attention to recommended age since my age will definitely way beyond that, this is news to me.

[Aanchir]

as someone who never pay any attention to recommended age since my age will definitely way beyond that, this is news to me.

It's definitely something that can give you a good sense of what audiences sets are targeted at. Granted, not all comparisons are perfect. The LEGO Group's understanding of what different age groups are capable of has evolved over time. So for instance, the first Hero Factory heroes, with a pitiful 18 pieces on average, were recommended for ages 6–16, while current $10 sets with as many as 50 pieces and much more complex builds are recommended for ages 6–12. But when comparing sets within the same year or within a few years of each other, like the current Chima constraction lineup, the current Hero Factory lineup, and the upcoming BIONICLE lineup, it can be very telling.

[Bob C]

It's definitely something that can give you a good sense of what audiences sets are targeted at. Granted, not all comparisons are perfect. The LEGO Group's understanding of what different age groups are capable of has evolved over time. So for instance, the first Hero Factory heroes, with a pitiful 18 pieces on average, were recommended for ages 6–16, while current $10 sets with as many as 50 pieces and much more complex builds are recommended for ages 6–12. But when comparing sets within the same year or within a few years of each other, like the current Chima constraction lineup, the current Hero Factory lineup, and the upcoming BIONICLE lineup, it can be very telling.

It seems like LEGO adds the age recommendations as a last thought. IIRC there were 8-99 and 6-106 age sets when I was a little kid, maybe '03 or so. More recently, even complicated sets are recommended for younger ages. Also, they often change from prelim to production (like last year's HF sets). So I don't think they're meant to be taken seriously...

[DuckBricks]

I never follow the age recommendations anyway... Back when I was little I was able to build sets labeled way higher than my age (i.e. The Cafe Corner when I was 7) ... I don't feel like these are really a good basis, but the Bionicle sets so far sound fairly accurate...

[Mandate]

I never follow the age recommendations anyway... Back when I was little I was able to build sets labeled way higher than my age (i.e. The Cafe Corner when I was 7) ... I don't feel like these are really a good basis, but the Bionicle sets so far sound fairly accurate...

You had Cafe Corner when you were seven?

*error error does not compute*

[Clone 01354 Productions]

I never follow the age recommendations anyway... Back when I was little I was able to build sets labeled way higher than my age (i.e. The Cafe Corner when I was 7) ... I don't feel like these are really a good basis, but the Bionicle sets so far sound fairly accurate...

Really, System sets are always inaccurate. No doubt, most 4 year olds can put together most of the cheap sets, and I know for a fact that the Star Wars Sandcrawler does not require the skills of a 14 year old.

Same with Bionicle; most sets are fairly simple and straight-forward, especially CCBS.

[DuckBricks]

You had Cafe Corner when you were seven?

*error error does not compute*

...yes! Got it for my birthday! :)

Why "does not compute?"

Anyway, let's get back to discussion...

[Nekchir]

>It kinda makes you wonder if sets like Axalara and Skopio are going to be released again in the near future.

Those were the apex of Bionicle's complexity

Edited September 23, 2014 by MonkeyChud

[Dorek]

And even then, they were pointedly about breaking the complexity into identifiable constructions; building Skopio's legs FOUR TIMES still haunts me to this day. I'd certainly like to see something more like Axalara, but given the size of CCBS sets in general (the higher end Toa, anyway) they'd probably end up more like Jet Rocka.