Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Voxovan]

Why do we think that the Turaga guy from the trailer is actually Protector of Fire? ._.

[Kalhiki]

Why do we think that the Turaga guy from the trailer is actually Protector of Fire? ._.

That's what I'm thinking.

Two things could happen: that's actually the Protector of Fire, and he's secretly a Yoda-like character who can hold his own in a fight, but is otherwise an old geezer. Or, that's the leader before the Protector of Fire (assuming the Protectors we're getting as sets are indeed the village leaders).

I think the second option would be cool since we know that the Masks and the Prophecy of Heroes are passed down through the generations, and it'd be cool to see that done in the animations. Like, the Robed Protector is on his death bed or something and appoints the Protector of Fire as the new leader.

[Lord-Vorahk]

Like, the Robed Protector is on his death bed or something and appoints the Protector of Fire as the new leader.

Actually, I love this idea. What better way to show that element of the culture than actually have it on-screen?

[Nekchir]

My twin brother said that this hidden trailer definitely brings back the whole "2001" vibe when Tahu's in the lava pit.

[Toa Eljay]

Man, this trailer got me even more excited than I already was. Gosh dang it, that was awesome.

Only things I wish to mention here would be the videos upload/publish date, which the website claims to be Jan 31st. Anyone else find that unusual, or expected?

And finally, as if it needed to be confirmed anymore... It's Lee-wah. I kept telling everyone, no one believed me. :P

That trailer was great, the epic music took me by surprise. I am looking forward to these videos.

-Eljay

[Voxovan]

And finally, as if it needed to be confirmed anymore... It's Lee-wah. I kept telling everyone, no one believed me. :P

I always laugh at those problems with pronouncing Lewa's name... In my country he's always been pronounced "Leva" and no one had problems with it :P

But yeah, the trailer is epic. The animation looks sooooo great, I'm glad that they finally dropped that CGI crap. 2D all the way.

[Cagast]

The trailer is great. Thank godness, BIONICLE 2015 is not a total failure. I hope to see even more trailers this year. (I don't like that the toa crash from the sky though)

[Lord-Vorahk]

Just watch, he'll be Lay-wah again next yeah.

[arc]

Just watch, he'll be Lay-wah again next yeah.

or it could go the way of the 4 minute retrospective, which got me calling him loo-wa.

[Lord-Vorahk]

I'm waiting for him to be called Leh-wa.

[Shakar]

I always said "Leh-wah" (like any Italian kid with a crappy English pronounciation would), but I sometimes say Lee-wah as well. Both sound nice to me.

Anyway yes, this trailer was very cool! I still think it feels like 90s cartoon, and yes that is a very good thing. I love the characters and the backgrounds are indeed gorgeous.

I noticed that the animation and the comics change some colours of the Toa. Some I like, some I don't: Gali's torso being gunmetal makes sense since that's her actual secondary colour, but the random gunmetal chest on Lewa doesn't match anything on his armour (though those gunmetal blades are pretty cool). Pohatu was changed the most- he has no transparent bones, his eyes are blue instead of yellow/green, and, in the comic at least, he has symmetrically coloured arms! And I have to say I like him a lot better this way.

Why do I like Pohatu's blue eyes so much? Because 1. they match Protector of Stone's eyes 2. that way, the two eye colours are evenly distributed among the Toa like on the Protectors (hoping for a third eye colour soon..) and 3. it is reminiscient of the Po-Metru sets and 4. Brown and blue just look great period.

Another cool thing is the way Tahu holds his weapons when in front of the Ta-Mato- err, villagers of the Fire Region. It looks like a giant shield/stupidly wide sword of doom and it is very very cool. I kinda want to display him like that now, though it looks like I need to add a piece or two so he can actually hold them.

That would be absolutely amazing. I always had a soft spot for space based things.

EDIT: some of the sets are advertising the BIONICLE shell as a selling point:

Onua: This durable, highly posable figure with 4 golden BIONICLE® shells and bashing battle arm is fully geared up for underground combat against the Skull Spider.

"Hahli": This robust figure, with BIONICLE® head and shell and 2 turbines

(Hahli?)

So that's how they're called. Not piston add-ons, new add-ons or anything. It's "BIONICLE(®) shells". Kinda misleading, they technically aren't shells but oh well.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

I always said "Leh-wah" (like any Italian kid with a crappy English pronounciation would), but I sometimes say Lee-wah as well. Both sound nice to me.

Anyway yes, this trailer was very cool! I still think it feels like 90s cartoon, and yes that is a very good thing. I love the characters and the backgrounds are indeed gorgeous.

I noticed that the animation and the comics change some colours of the Toa. Some I like, some I don't: Gali's torso being gunmetal makes sense since that's her actual secondary colour, but the random gunmetal chest on Lewa doesn't match anything on his armour (though those gunmetal blades are pretty cool). Pohatu was changed the most- he has no transparent bones, his eyes are blue instead of yellow/green, and, in the comic at least, he has symmetrically coloured arms! And I have to say I like him a lot better this way.

Why do I like Pohatu's blue eyes so much? Because 1. they match Protector of Stone's eyes 2. that way, the two eye colours are evenly distributed among the Toa like on the Protectors (hoping for a third eye colour soon..) and 3. it is reminiscient of the Po-Metru sets and 4. Brown and blue just look great period.

Another cool thing is the way Tahu holds his weapons when in front of the Ta-Mato- err, villagers of the Fire Region. It looks like a giant shield/stupidly wide sword of doom and it is very very cool. I kinda want to display him like that now, though it looks like I need to add a piece or two so he can actually hold them.

(Hahli?)

So that's how they're called. Not piston add-ons, new add-ons or anything. It's "BIONICLE(®) shells". Kinda misleading, they technically aren't shells but oh well.

I think Cheatster said Hahli referring to the PoW. It's weird that they're called Bionicle shells, but I'm okay with having Bionicle associated by name with such a cool piece.

[GK733]

I think we can all agree that the PoF is in dire need of pants rather than elbows.

[Mandate]

The animation looks sooooo great, I'm glad that they finally dropped that CGI crap. 2D all the way.

Oi, don't diss the CGI. Ghost did an incredible job with the BIONICLE animations over the years, it was hardly "crappy" in any way. While this trailer is most certainly great, it's not any indication of the actual quality of the shorts. The one short we have seen, The Legend of Ekimu and Makuta, while good was subpar compared to some of BIONICLE's animations except in the whole "story" part.

Edited November 29, 2014 by JayWalker

[Dorek]

I think we can all agree that the PoF is in dire need of pants rather than elbows.

#pantsgate2015

Oi, don't diss the CGI. Ghost did an incredible job with the BIONICLE animations over the years, it was hardly "crappy" in any way. While this trailer is most certainly great, it's not any indication of the actual quality of the shorts. The one short we have seen, The Legend of Ekimu and Makuta, while good was subpar compared to some of BIONICLE's animations except in the whole "story" part.

He was probably referring to the movies, which people have mixed feelings on. I'm personally quite excited for the 2D animations; they seem really well fitted for episodic content, and will be able to tell an interesting and ultimately cohesive story throughout the year, which was always a problem Hero Factory had.

[Mandate]

If he was talking about the movies, I can definitely agree with him. All of them looked pretty bad.

[Voxovan]

Nah, I actually liked the first 3 movies, because they actually changed the characters' look, and that was really "cool" for me when I was a child. But then they switched to that TinselToon-whatever-you-call-it CGI, and then the character models were just copies of the set, with all those weird proportions left (I still remember those long Kiina arms, or those HUGE HF heroes hands...), which made all of the movies/TV shows look like they're just long toy commercials. So I'm really glad that they've chosen that 2D style for the new Bionicle, it finally doesn't look like it screams "Hey look, it's Lego! Buy our sets!"

Plus, I would always choose the 2D over CGI, I just love that symplistic style, it reminds me a lot of the 90's cartoons or The Clone Wars series (the first one). It seems kinda weird that Lego added all those super-detailed pieces just to simplify them in the animations, but who cares! That style looks wonderful, and I'm kinda hoping that Bionicle will get its own TV show in the future with this style, because it deserves it.

[Mandate]

I wouldn't say BIONICLE deserves a TV show at this point. Generation 1, maybe, but I don't think it would have fit in with it. Generation 2 however... we have yet to see the full capabilities of the current writers. It's too early to tell just yet, BIONICLE 2.0's plot could be horrible for all anyone knows. Wait until we find out about the story, I have a feeling that the minisodes will be rather shallow in world building.

[Transparency for Effect]

I wouldn't say BIONICLE deserves a TV show at this point. Generation 1, maybe, but I don't think it would have fit in with it. Generation 2 however... we have yet to see the full capabilities of the current writers. It's too early to tell just yet, BIONICLE 2.0's plot could be horrible for all anyone knows. Wait until we find out about the story, I have a feeling that the minisodes will be rather shallow in world building.

Heh, world building.

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

Nah, I actually liked the first 3 movies, because they actually changed the characters' look, and that was really "cool" for me when I was a child. But then they switched to that TinselToon-whatever-you-call-it CGI, and then the character models were just copies of the set, with all those weird proportions left (I still remember those long Kiina arms, or those HUGE HF heroes hands...), which made all of the movies/TV shows look like they're just long toy commercials. So I'm really glad that they've chosen that 2D style for the new Bionicle, it finally doesn't look like it screams "Hey look, it's Lego! Buy our sets!"

This too is my main issue with TLR and all the LEGO constraction-inspired films by TinselToons. The absurdity is increased when we consider that by word of Greg, Bara Magnians had a larger ratio of organic to inorganic materials in their bodies, and yet in TLR, Bara Magnians appear as being more robotic than those people from the Matoran Universe as shown in the the first three films. Though it has been argued by some that the sets ought to come first before the media portrayals, it is nonetheless annoying when that argument tries to justify the use of perfect copies of the sets with silly little spinning pins all over them.

But that's my pet peeve, I suppose I ought to weigh in on the 2015 BIONICLE animations:

Though I did like the designs used in the first three films, I will admit that the actual rendering was awful; a 2D cartoon will not look so dated 10 years from now, so I'd be quite happy if BIONICLE from hereon out were to use nothing but this or similar styles of 2D animation. It reminds me of the art used by cartoons from early 2000's Cartoon Network, and that is something I appreciate.

Edited November 29, 2014 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[arc]

I guess I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum here, I didn't really like the first 3 movies, they just looked... weird. Just didn't look like bionicle to me that much. I actually liked tlr style better. but either way, I'm really looking forward to the new animations.

[Voxovan]

When can we expect the animation to show up online? I heard it was shown at BIONIFIGS convention today.

[Tazakk]

When can we expect the animation to show up online? I heard it was shown at BIONIFIGS convention today.

It would've been shown somewhere around 8:00 to 9:00 AM EST, and the day's events for the convention ended around 12. If we were going to see anything today, I would've expected it by now, but it isn't entirely out of the question. Maybe later today, maybe within the next few days, there's really no way to tell.

[Voxovan]

It would've been shown somewhere around 8:00 to 9:00 AM EST, and the day's events for the convention ended around 12. If we were going to see anything today, I would've expected it by now, but it isn't entirely out of the question. Maybe later today, maybe within the next few days, there's really no way to tell.

I checked on BIONIFIGS website, and it looks like the event ended around two hours ago, and yet we still have got nothing. The wait is really killing me.

[Leewan]

I think we should wait a few days, the Convention takes place at a (big) Lego exhibition, and there are certainly thousands of visitors, so I think they're quite busy and don't have time to upload videos / pictures right now.