Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[InfurnallDragon]

I fully expect a boomerang to headshot a spider, followed by the camera panning to Pohatu and G'DAAAAY MATES

Bein' a toa's a good job mate! Its challengin' work, outta doors- I guarantee you wont go hungry!

Edited October 13, 2014 by InfurnallDragon

[Lord-Vorahk]

Maybe Greg assumed that the Glatorian would get similar makeovers to the previous films?

Also, making them biomechanical would make them "Toa with no powers!"

[Jacen Torq]

Bein' a toa's a good job mate! Its challengin' work, outta doors- I guarantee you wont go hungry!

Johnny Thunder is now a Toa.

[InfurnallDragon]

Johnny Thunder is now a Toa.

I personally would like to see LEGO try to do what they failed to do with Knights Kingdom: make action figures based off of the minifigure design. Imagine: CCBS Johnny Thunder, Brickbeard, Kahuka, Vitruvius, Max (Magazine), Lloyd, etc. But this is more of a pipe dream than BIONICLE surviving longer than it originally did. I can imagine these sets down to the pieces though, and they are glorious.

We need a King Kahuka inspired mask NOW!

Edited October 13, 2014 by InfurnallDragon

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

Bein' a toa's a good job mate! Its challengin' work, outta doors- I guarantee you wont go hungry!

If he gets an Australian accent, I'll need to revamp him as a lanky, rifle-wielding lunatic.

[InfurnallDragon]

If he gets an Australian accent, I'll need to revamp him as a lanky, rifle-wielding lunatic.

I'm not a lunatic, Onewa! I'm a Toa hero!

The Toa have standards. Be Unified, stick to Duty, have a plan to follow your Destiny.

I'm thinking comics could be done of each toa fulfilling a TF2 roll (Onua is so obvious he is asking for it...), but we dont want to get too Off-Topic.

Tahu: Ooohh they're gonna have ta glue you back together- IN KARZAHNI

OT: Anyone else wonder about that one slide in the presentation? The one where Okotans are looking at hieroglyphic-looking things? It shows islanders in conflict with the Spiders and the Protectors uniting for something in a sort of timeline. That really suggests that there's a new prophecy like the one in MNOG.

Edited October 13, 2014 by InfurnallDragon

[gedren_y]

Johnny Thunder is now a Toa.

Oh, great! Now I'm imagining Johnny Thunder being portrayed by Paul Hogan, like his character Lightning Jack.

Back to Bionicle; from the material set forth, it seems like the creation of the MoUP is something that happened in the distant past.

There is precedent in animation that the art used to portray some historical or mythical event may be different than that of the current events. In this way, the story of Ekimu and Makuta could be part of a narration, and then the show could be in a 3D animation world. The Toa themselves need to learn the story, along with the audience new to Bionicle.

I haven't gone through all the images available from the presentations. Do any of the images show the Toa in the animation style of the video clip? I know there is an image that is believed to be the Toa coming down like meteorites.

This is merely a wild supposition that just occurred to me.

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

Oh, great! Now I'm imagining Johnny Thunder being portrayed by Paul Hogan, like his character Lightning Jack.

Back to Bionicle; from the material set forth, it seems like the creation of the MoUP is something that happened in the distant past.

There is precedent in animation that the art used to portray some historical or mythical event may be different than that of the current events. In this way, the story of Ekimu and Makuta could be part of a narration, and then the show could be in a 3D animation world. The Toa themselves need to learn the story, along with the audience new to Bionicle.

I haven't gone through all the images available from the presentations. Do any of the images show the Toa in the animation style of the video clip? I know there is an image that is believed to be the Toa coming down like meteorites.

This is merely a wild supposition that just occurred to me.

I believe there is an image of all six Toa drawn in a style similar to that used in the animation.

Here it is

[Jacen Torq]

You know what that reminds me of?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars

[Timeline15]

I was thinking a cowboy accent would be cool for Pohatu.

after years of stringer saying lines like "just like herding cattle back home" even though he came from a robot factory? Are you just a glutton for punishment?

This talk of the fact that all the toa are voiced by the narrator makes me think of Thomas the tank engine. "but it was too late, lewa was controlled by a skull spider" XD

[Mandate]

For the record, TF2's Sniper isn't Australian. He actually comes from the Lost City of New Zealand.

Really, I'm not kidding.

EDIT: Highly off-topic, but could someone make a Minecraft texture pack based on the animations? I think it would look really cool

Edited October 13, 2014 by JayWalker

[LordChris]

What mask comes with LoSS? It looks like a Skull Spider without its legs, which makes me think that it could be the Mask of Control.

Think about it; if the spiders act that same way as the krana/kaata, then it could control what it latches onto, implying that they are all diluted forms of the mask, and that the golden one is the one that controls them and the LoSS. Just a thought

Edited October 13, 2014 by LordChris

[Mandate]

It's not the Mask of Control, lol. We've seen the Mask of Control, it's nothing like it. HOWEVER; the aura around the golden Skull mask has led a few to believe the MoCr can shape shift, at this point though no one knows for sure.

Edited October 13, 2014 by JayWalker

[GK733]

For the record, TF2's Sniper isn't Australian. He actually comes from the Lost City of New Zealand.

Really, I'm not kidding.

EDIT: Highly off-topic, but could someone make a Minecraft texture pack based on the animations? I think it would look really cool

I remember creating some skins for Breakout, really it bothers me that the PC version doesn't let you change the form of the character much as console versions. But I guess I could try...

Back to topic.

The golden mask could literally have no meaning in the story and will be in the sets just to "balance" it with the masters. Likely so, did transparent Avohkii had really any meaning? No.

[Chro]

This talk of the fact that all the toa are voiced by the narrator makes me think of Thomas the tank engine. "but it was too late, lewa was controlled by a skull spider" XD

"Onua, you've caused confusion and delay"

[Mandate]

For those who don't know, LEGO has a competition on their Twitter

https://twitter.com/...329515973603328

No way of knowing when it's ended. It's the jackpot this time, at least the 6 Masters.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention this. I stated a while back that the Piston plates were modeled after the original Mata torsos (wasn't the only one that noticed) and after looking over the protectors I realized they had been placed specifically on the Protector bodies to look it

Edited October 13, 2014 by JayWalker

[Shakar]

Almost forgot to post this here. I have a Flickr gallery of pics of the new gearbox, including a fairly generic configuration for it to demonstrate how it works.

Front

Back

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Full Gallery

I can finally say it, I like this new part a lot. It feels like they really learned their lesson this time: it's not a piece that feels specifically designed for a play function and that can be reused for little else (which was a huge problem in G1). It has a generic shape, comes in a neutral colour and features lots of connection points (it's like a Technic piece!).

And, most importantly, it finally gives a much needed spin to CCBS, which admittedly was starting to get a little stale (I'm saying this as a big fan of the system): just look at how big and complex the Toa torsos are compared to the classic "torso bone+shell" most HF sets used.

I was really against functions on the Toa at first ( still am a bit,*), but now I can't wait to play around with the gearbox. I'm already thinking up a lot of things to do with it.

* = they're nowhere the aesthetic trainwreck I was fearing, but the back and the yellow gears still looks kind of awkward to me.

It's not the Mask of Control, lol. We've seen the Mask of Control, it's nothing like it. HOWEVER; the aura around the golden Skull mask has led a few to believe the MoCr can shape shift, at this point though no one knows for sure.

That is a good idea I'm starting to like. It'd make for a nice plot twist, and grant buyers instant roleplay instead of having to wait for summer to get the MoCr in its real form (check this post as it explains the issue well).

Also, found this edit. I get that the gold armour likely ties into the Gold Masks subplot and sets the bigger Toa apart from the other 3, but I personally like him a lot better this way. I'm willing to tolerate the gold on Tahu because it matches his element nicely (*), as for Kopaka... head canon reasons. :P

* = I see it as a colour Fire characters can feature on their armour, it's close enough to yellow and set!Lhikan and Jaller Inika used it.

[Kalhiki]

Little late on the conversation, but in regards to a movie, I would prefer to keep the 2D Flash animation. It seems to be the style they're going with, and I'd like it if they stayed consistent.

Plus, it'd be great to just wallow in the artistic style for an hour or so...

Edited October 13, 2014 by Kalhiki

[Aethersprite]

I can finally say it, I like this new part a lot. It feels like they really learned their lesson this time: it's not a piece that feels specifically designed for a play function and that can be reused for little else (which was a huge problem in G1). It has a generic shape, comes in a neutral colour and features lots of connection points (it's like a Technic piece!).

And, most importantly, it finally gives a much needed spin to CCBS, which admittedly was starting to get a little stale (I'm saying this as a big fan of the system): just look at how big and complex the Toa torsos are compared to the classic "torso bone+shell" most HF sets used.

I was really against functions on the Toa at first ( still am a bit,*), but now I can't wait to play around with the gearbox. I'm already thinking up a lot of things to do with it.

* = they're nowhere the aesthetic trainwreck I was fearing, but the back and the yellow gears still looks kind of awkward to me.

That is a good idea I'm starting to like. It'd make for a nice plot twist, and grant buyers instant roleplay instead of having to wait for summer to get the MoCr in its real form (check this post as it explains the issue well).

Also, found this edit. I get that the gold armour likely ties into the Gold Masks subplot and sets the bigger Toa apart from the other 3, but I personally like him a lot better this way. I'm willing to tolerate the gold on Tahu because it matches his element nicely (*), as for Kopaka... head canon reasons. :P

* = I see it as a colour Fire characters can feature on their armour, it's close enough to yellow and set!Lhikan and Jaller Inika used it.

I don't mind the gold on Onua, it blends in quite well with his yellow eyes and the yellow lever on his back. Kopaka's is a lot more jarring, particularly because it's both Takanuva's colour scheme and the fact that gold stands out so much more next to white and trans-blue. I really wish all that gold was silver, but oh well. Can't win them all, I guess.

EDIT: On the subject of the yellow knob on the back, just be glad it's not red. Red is SO much more jarring than yellow, which seems to blend in really nicely with all the sets. I still hate that red button on Dragon Bolt's back.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Lockon Stratos

[Aanchir]

BTW, just realized that if it's the same history all over again, there will be the same characters.

It's not the same history all over again, though. It's using some of the most iconic and timeless elements of the franchise as a starting point, but which direction it goes from there is anyone's guess.

Well, technically speaking, all Bohrok were clones of each other. The difference is that Bohrok-Kal were a clone WAVE of sets that offered no variation other than being silver. Personally, I don't mind clones as long as they're done with taste. Toa Mata Nui looked great as a set, the additions to the Inika legs helped the style and the general style looked pretty good. But that's just my opinion, I don't own any of the '09 sets.

To be honest, it kind of bothers me that people consider sets like Mata Nui from 2009 "clones" when in fact they borrow design elements from many other sets and don't feel like an exact repeat of any set in particular. To me, "clone sets" are things more like the Visorak or Toa Metru that are either completely identical aside from masks and weapons, or only have slight differences in their proportions. Using a generic skeleton build does not qualify a set as a "clone set" for me — even a generic "Toamod" or "Heromod" is a few steps above a true "clone set" in terms of creativity, provided it does creative things with its armor and equipment.

A Bionicle TV show is too much. If Bionicle appears every weekend, the story will get stretched out into ridiculous plots and pointless adventures. Limiting it to a short web series (And please, in the name of Mata Nui Ekimu, let there be a MOVIE!!) would make those stories matter more, and they would be more thought out and important.

For a movie, what would you guys want? I would rather 3D animation, like the originals, rather than 2D. (But only if it is The Legend Reborn style, where they were all accurate to the sets. Just.....lose all of the spinny pieces. That was horrible.)

I disagree. First of all, it won't be an issue of BIONICLE appearing "every weekend". Each Ninjago story arc has been fairly short — the entire 2011 story arc was crammed into two episodes, and the 2012 story arc spread across 13 episodes, and the 2014 story arc split into just eight episodes. A full 26-episode season is hardly a mandate of any kind.

Besides that, I think a TV series often allows for more character development than a movie. That's not to say a movie can't have character development, but for a franchise with as many characters as BIONICLE it's easy for that character development to be spread a bit thin. Suppose the movie is 90 minutes long. If there are six central characters, then you'll only have 15 minutes average to focus on each one. If you have even MORE characters, like BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn did, it's easy to see how some like Tarix, Strakk, and Vastus get reduced to bit parts while others like Gelu, Malum, and Tarduk fail to appear at all.

I don't mind the gold on Onua, it blends in quite well with his yellow eyes and the yellow lever on his back. Kopaka's is a lot more jarring, particularly because it's both Takanuva's colour scheme and the fact that gold stands out so much more next to white and trans-blue. I really wish all that gold was silver, but oh well. Can't win them all, I guess.

EDIT: On the subject of the yellow knob on the back, just be glad it's not red. Red is SO much more jarring than yellow, which seems to blend in really nicely with all the sets. I still hate that red button on Dragon Bolt's back.

Dragon Bolt's red button honestly never bothered me, in part because it's very easy to imagine as a video game style weak spot. But then again, I'm rarely bothered by little splashes of color on a model. They are toys, after all. If you are bothered by the yellow gear, in most cases it's simple enough to swap out.

[arc]

I'm definitely up for a bionicle TV show in that animation style we've seen. 90 second mini episodes just seem like they would be too short and not allow time for much to happen. Although I'll have the see them to be sure.

Edited October 13, 2014 by arc

[Toa of Gallifrey]

"Onua, you've caused confusion and delay"

Oh God yes, the Earth Protector as the Fat Controller.

[Kalhiki]

I'm definitely up for a bionicle TV show in that animation style we've seen. 90 second mini episodes just seem like they would be too short and not allow time for much to happen. Although I'll have the see them to be sure.

If they spread out the action it could work. I imagine there'll be a few episodes explaining the story and being more Protector focused before the Toa come. And then each Toa will have maybe two or so episodes of them getting their Gold Masks.

I can't imaging it'll be a one-and-done deal where a Toa gets their Gold Mask in a single episode.

[Nekchir]

Guys,the Bionicle website has been updated, confirming that the masks only supply the elemental energy the Toa use and not powers like shielding, ect.

Edited October 13, 2014 by MonkeyChud

[arc]

If they spread out the action it could work. I imagine there'll be a few episodes explaining the story and being more Protector focused before the Toa come. And then each Toa will have maybe two or so episodes of them getting their Gold Masks.

I can't imaging it'll be a one-and-done deal where a Toa gets their Gold Mask in a single episode.

maybe, but a minute and a half just seems like such a small time frame even for that. But regardless, I am looking forward to them. They might work out.

Guys,the Bionicle website has been updated, confirming that the masks only supply the elemental energy the Toa use and not powers like shielding, ect.

aww, no more mask powers? Well they didn't make it into the story a whole lot, but I was hoping they would have a bigger spotlight in the new series. Oh well, more elemental power is fine I guess.

So I'm a knight now. That's cool.