Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Aethersprite]

If there is a summer wave, yeah, this is what I'm hoping for. While I think the hero/villain divide started in 2008 worked really well (and ignoring 2009 which in which characters were mostly amoral), Hero Factory sort of went overboard with "this bad guy goes to this good guy", although it evened out eventually. It would be fun to see a wave of all villains, and then some large hero sets (like Takanuva!).

Ussanui done entirely in CCBS, glorious! This is what I've been talking about when I say vehicles (and Rahi!) being done in CCBS. We could have the entire internal structure of the vehicle built entirely of CCBS bones. Given Bionicle vehicle's odd shapes and multiple moving/shifting parts (bar the 2008 vehicles, as awesome as they were), this would be the perfect way of exploiting the CCBS's potential.

[Frozen Assasin]

Nah,Technic FTW. Alaxara from CCBS parts,really ? Ussanui or several Rahi might work,but no big vehicles. Scorpio from CCBS,the horror...

About Vezon-Who had said that he could not come from the prime universe ?

Edited September 30, 2014 by Frozen Assasin

[the last chronicler]

I hate the alternate universe theories as a way to canonize both universes, it's as ridiculous as Greg's choice to add them to the original series. It's pointless and takes away all stakes for the charactesr if they can just leave and join another universe that isn't destroyed. Why can't both Generation 1 and 2 of Bionicle exist, and simply not be canon to each other?

Or alternatively, look at the James Bond series. Clearly there is continuation between the films, yet the age and look of Bond, era and implied chronology changes with every film. How do you explain them? The answer is, you don't. When you see the original film car in Skyfall do you wonder how Sean Connery grew up to become a nostalgic Daniel Craig? No.

Edited September 30, 2014 by the last chronicler

[Timeline15]

but I really do hope that we get the Metru.....

only if they ended up as a new team this time. No prequel years. The story isn't interesting when you know exactly how the world ends up afterwards. Also, I would prefer that new Bionicle didn't re-tread other toa teams, as much as I like some of them. We need more new toa or everyone will just compare this to Bionicle 1 forever. (people will anyway but whatever).

Personally, I want it to be the continuation type. Not a direct pick up of the old story, far enough to bring in new fans, but not too far so as to alienate old ones with some subtle references.

This. I don't think that the old story was such a lost cause that to have a new one, the old one has to not have happened.

[Mandate]

Not to mention prequels rarely ever pan out if they weren't planned from the start.

[SirPuddings]

Nah,Technic FTW. Alaxara from CCBS parts,really ? Ussanui or several Rahi might work,but no big vehicles. Scorpio from CCBS,the horror...

About Vezon-Who had said that he could not come from the prime universe ?

Skopio would be far less of a mission to build with CCBS. I think they should make CCBS vehicles.

[Leewan]

Nah,Technic FTW. Alaxara from CCBS parts,really ? Ussanui or several Rahi might work,but no big vehicles. Scorpio from CCBS,the horror...

And it would cost too much, I think.

If we get CCBS-based vehicles, I rather expect them to be small to medium-sized, like Vultraz or Lesovikk's vehicles. And it's very unlikely that they will be only made of CCBS parts, there will be Technic too.

[Mandate]

Skopio would be far less of a mission to build with CCBS. I think they should make CCBS vehicles.

Not Skopio, Scorpio. Scorpio was from Savage Planet

I disagree with you, though. CCBS would be a structural nightmare to work with when it comes to vehicles. And if it's going to be Technic-dependent to the point where CCBS is barely used, why even bother calling it a CCBS vehicle? It's one thing that frustrates me when people say CCBS is creeping into themes like NINJAGO or Star Wars. Simply put, it isn't. NINJAGO featured only 10 CCBS-specific parts (4x4s with sockets/balls on them do not count) this year, and next year has fewer according to the prelims. Star Wars is another story, but it's mostly brick-built.

If LEGO had seen any advantage to making vehicles out of CCBS we would have seen them long ago. Speeda Demon, the one set in CCBS-specific lines that features a vehicle built for an action-figure sized character featured nearly no CCBS parts in its bike at all. Even if you want to count IFB, the builds were designed for minifigure-sized characters and many were Technic heavy to stabilize the design.

Is it possible? Absolutely. On a large scale? Not effectively. Most certainly not for Skopio, if you want to retain the functionality. Sets like the 2008 ships, or in particular Lewa's ship plane thing, would have no actual benefit to using CCBS over Technic.

This is one of the bigger gripes I have with CCBS regarding its "universal" system, but BIONICLE isn't going to be getting any kind of CCBS-heavy vehicles any time soon that aren't a Mech like Exo-Toa/Boxor. Not without a Technic revamp any time soon.

EDIT: oops, I see you were talking about skorpio. sorry.

Edited September 30, 2014 by JayWalker

[Jasonified]

I'm really attached to the idea of a special edition Vezon now. The more and more I keep imagining it after my earlier post, it would probably be the best reference to old Bionicle ever in the case of a DC style reboot where this plot is an alternate reality.

Bonus points for:

LOSS + Vezon combiner.

Have a new piraka-style mask with 2 sides to represent the Olmak fused to his face. It can be flipped to be an olmak or his manic piraka grin.

what about eight-legged fenrakk?

[Aanchir]

If there is a summer wave, yeah, this is what I'm hoping for. While I think the hero/villain divide started in 2008 worked really well (and ignoring 2009 which in which characters were mostly amoral), Hero Factory sort of went overboard with "this bad guy goes to this good guy", although it evened out eventually. It would be fun to see a wave of all villains, and then some large hero sets (like Takanuva!).

Well, in Hero Factory's case, part of the point of pairing villains with heroes in 2013 was so there could be color-coordinated combi models. Since we now know that the Toa combine with the Protectors, this is not a pressing issue for the new BIONICLE (though offering alternate combi models that combine a summer set with a similarly-colored set from the first wave would not be a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination).

As for 2012, the whole point of the year was to have the heroes go on solo missions against individual villains, and the designs reflected that in many ways: Breez was designed for air battle, Furno for water battle, Evo for swamp battle, Surge for space battle, etc. In the new BIONICLE, there might very well be some justification for having a villain to go with each character's "biome": if the villains have elemental associations, then putting them in a matching biome could help reinforce that. However, it's worth noting that in the old BIONICLE, promotional images and videos of the villain sets were often depicted with backdrops associated with their color even if they didn't share that biome's element or specifically target the corresponding biome in the story. The Bohrok-Kal are a good example. Pahrak-Kal was depicted in Po-Wahi, Nuhvok-Kal in Onu-Wahi, Lehvak-Kal in Le-Wahi, etc.

[Lord-Vorahk]

Takanuva Stars was a good example too. Light elemental, with a blizzard in the background. Bara Magna had no ice regions, nor as any Glatorian been given ice powers.

[Mecheon]

I hate the alternate universe theories as a way to canonize both universes, it's as ridiculous as Greg's choice to add them to the original series. It's pointless and takes away all stakes for the charactesr if they can just leave and join another universe that isn't destroyed. Why can't both Generation 1 and 2 of Bionicle exist, and simply not be canon to each other?

Transformers does something similar, in that its all alternate universes that generally don't touch each other. So you've got rookie Optimus Prime over in the Animated universe, Optimus Prime who tears people's faces off over on the Movie side, and neither of them have anything to do with Generation 1 Optimus Prime.

Although sometimes the universes do actually touch and that's when you get stuff like Ravage time-travelling back in time to warn Wheeljack he's going to die in the battle for Autobot City so that time changes, leading the Autobots to have to fight Unicron without Decepticon, so Wheeljack builds a clone body and... Well, Binaltech fiction was odd, and that's before you even get into Alternity, or the time that the ghosts of hundreds of Starscreams made a massive gestalt Starscream entity. Or, heck, Sideways, a character who started as an Autobot ninja and ended up the series more prolific cross-universe traveller

Or alternatively, look at the James Bond series. Clearly there is continuation between the films, yet the age and look of Bond, era and implied chronology changes with every film. How do you explain them? The answer is, you don't. When you see the original film car in Skyfall do you wonder how Sean Connery grew up to become a nostalgic Daniel Craig? No.

James Bond is a code name and its a different agent each time.

[GK733]

The more I look at Onua the more dissapointed I am. I just... He's mask is great. And that's basicly all. The new part intorduced him is cool but why so much silver on an already black, purple and gold character. The color scheme is a mess. If i see it right the shoulders could be called an abomination both in design and playabilty with the gears. It's nice to see HF shell armors used but I never have liked the giant enormous chestplate introduced in Stormer XL. I would even say that Chi Gorzan is better looking set than Onua. http://www.1000steine.com/brickset/images/70202-1.jpg. I really hope the final set fixes some of the colouring problems at least. Thou it would seem that the enormous chest is going to stay.

[Frozen Assasin]

And it would cost too much, I think.

If we get CCBS-based vehicles, I rather expect them to be small to medium-sized, like Vultraz or Lesovikk's vehicles. And it's very unlikely that they will be only made of CCBS parts, there will be Technic too.

Me Gusta Lessovik CCBS.

Takanuva Stars was a good example too. Light elemental, with a blizzard in the background. Bara Magna had no ice regions, nor as any Glatorian been given ice powers.

Read BS01. We had mountains with snow on BM;

[Chimaninja454]

Personally. I have good opinions on the LoSS, due to the excellent CCBS and TECHNIC combos, which I think could look like the 2001-2004 titans with gears...

[GK733]

Personally. I have good opinions on the LoSS, due to the excellent CCBS and TECHNIC combos, which I think could look like the 2001-2004 titans with gears...

Oh so I'm not alone, the chestplate eyes are a little goofy but I think the set will rock in therms of playabilty, I really hope it has something to do with legs and not back due to techinc pieces being there just give it stability. It either has a function that it will throw spiders with it's back or the legs will move. As a set I think it's great at least as partspack has playabilty, not that much special pieces though and lore vise the name is just awful. But I do like the set.

[CabooseBM]

Lord of the Skull Spiders being mostly technic is fine by me, I like how he looks and the character I've already decided for him, and if he's technic oriented I won't be tempted to steal his pieces for something else.

[Chro]

If Vezon appears I will do something overdramatic that i haven't thought of yet that shows how completely sick i am of Vezon

I would rather have Makuta back than Vezon, and that's saying something.

Eat a hat?

Combiners, cool!! And a Guurahk blade on Kopaka's staff!

Ohhhh god they look great!! The only one I'm not sure about is Gali.

So can we expect these in stores this year?

Late December, perhaps.

Or alternatively, look at the James Bond series. Clearly there is continuation between the films, yet the age and look of Bond, era and implied chronology changes with every film. How do you explain them? The answer is, you don't. When you see the original film car in Skyfall do you wonder how Sean Connery grew up to become a nostalgic Daniel Craig? No.

As Mecheon said, it's stated (or at least heavily implied, I don't remember) that "James Bond" is actually several different agents under the same pseudonym.

[Lyichir]

Lord of the Skull Spiders being mostly technic is fine by me, I like how he looks and the character I've already decided for him, and if he's technic oriented I won't be tempted to steal his pieces for something else.

From what I can tell, LOSS's legs are all attached together and geared so that pulling a lever on his back makes them grasp whatever he's above. Here's what I came up with on LDD, based on the pictures. I think he uses two of the "gearboxes" from the Toa sets.

[GK733]

From what I can tell, LOSS's legs are all attached together and geared so that pulling a lever on his back makes them grasp whatever he's above. Here's what I came up with on LDD, based on the pictures. I think he uses two of the "gearboxes" from the Toa sets.

Nice!

There's an option for directly saving screenshots on toolbox menu BTW, could you show a better picture taken wih it?

[Sir Kohran]

Late December, perhaps.

Officially it'll be January.

[Shakar]

The more I look at Onua the more dissapointed I am. I just... He's mask is great. And that's basicly all. The new part intorduced him is cool but why so much silver on an already black, purple and gold character. The color scheme is a mess. If i see it right the shoulders could be called an abomination both in design and playabilty with the gears. It's nice to see HF shell armors used but I never have liked the giant enormous chestplate introduced in Stormer XL. I would even say that Chi Gorzan is better looking set than Onua. http://www.1000stein...es/70202-1.jpg. I really hope the final set fixes some of the colouring problems at least. Thou it would seem that the enormous chest is going to stay.

http://i.imgur.com/PecUNZj.png

See, this is why I have so many doubts about the gearboxes. It's likely his lower back is covered like on the other Toa, but as it stands their lower backs look so empty. Hopefully the new gearbox piece manages to bring some aesthetic appeal, but Onua's arm connection still looks pretty awful. Edited September 30, 2014 by Shakar

[TheDesuComplex]

The other day when I was at the store, I took a look at the 2015 Speedorz packaging. I have to say that it actually looks rather good and stylish, and I'm looking forward to seeing it used for Bionicle. It's amazing that they can fit a ton of bulky CCBS parts in it though, as it seems rather thin.

The more I look at Onua the more dissapointed I am. I just... He's mask is great. And that's basicly all. The new part intorduced him is cool but why so much silver on an already black, purple and gold character. The color scheme is a mess. If i see it right the shoulders could be called an abomination both in design and playabilty with the gears. It's nice to see HF shell armors used but I never have liked the giant enormous chestplate introduced in Stormer XL. I would even say that Chi Gorzan is better looking set than Onua. http://www.1000stein...es/70202-1.jpg. I really hope the final set fixes some of the colouring problems at least. Thou it would seem that the enormous chest is going to stay. [http://i.imgur.com/PecUNZj.png]

I bet that, if it's like this, I'm gonna switch out the 4L with stops for some 8L with stops, it should bring his shoulders out to the same spot. I'm really hoping the design you're showing isn't that floppy in real life, but I don't have high hopes.

Edited September 30, 2014 by TheDesuComplex

[Lord-Vorahk]

That MOCup would give Onua the ability to shrug. Maxilos has a friend, I guess.

[Aanchir]

See, this is why I have so many doubts about the gearboxes. It's likely his lower back is covered like on the other Toa, but as it stands their lower backs look so empty. Hopefully the new gearbox piece manages to bring some aesthetic appeal, but Onua's arm connection still looks pretty awful.

Tahu, Gali, Kopaka, and Lewa all clearly have armor on their lower backs. Tahu uses a Bright Red shell, Gali what appears to be a Tr. Blue or Tr. Light Blue shell, Kopaka a white shell, and Lewa one of the same beast talon pieces that appear on his shoulders. It seems likely to me that Pohatu would also have some kind of armor on his lower back — there's no reason I can think of why he shouldn't. Onua's a trickier one to pin down. As a bulkier character in general, it would not be tremendously surprising if the designers had to cut corners somewhere in his design, as was the case with similar characters such as CHI Gorzan (who had a pitiful 4M shell armoring the back of his massive torso). But on the other hand, he appears to have the highest piece count among the sets we've seen, so it's not impossible that some of those pieces go towards armoring his lower back.

Regarding that mock-up of Onua's arm function, I do not believe for a minute that it's accurate to the set. For one, in every preliminary image we've seen, the Onua set uses friction joints to connect his upper arms to his shoulders — therefore, it seems downright implausible that he'd just use a single regular ball joint to connect the shoulders themselves to the gearbox. And also, the gears themselves seem suspect. I find it incredibly unlikely that the sets use anything but knob gears in their gear functions.

As for colors, that mock-up uses Medium Stone Grey for both the upper arms and shoulders where the prelims appear to use Dark Stone Grey, uses black for the upper leg beams instead of Tr. Bright Bluish Violet, uses what appears to be Gold or Metalized Gold for the armor instead of Warm Gold, uses black 5M shells for the lower legs instead of Medium Lilac ones, and uses what appears to be Cool Yellow for the gears instead of Bright Yellow. It's hard to draw conclusions on the final Onua set until we get clearer pictures, but a mock-up that misinterprets so many parts of the model is not going to help a great deal with that.

On a side note, looking at one of the prelims, I just noticed how his shoulders are attached. There's a Y-joint attached to each shoulder of the torso beam pointing forward, a 2M axle attached to the each of those pointing upward, a Hordika neck attached to each of those pointing back, an additional Y-joint attached to each of those, and finally the armor attached to those Y-joints. Very clever design. It seems to fill in the top of the torso very nicely, and it should allow no shortage of articulation.