Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[JasonEffex]

I actually like them all to some degree, even scorpio (although he's at the bottom of the list for sure).

I shall be picking them all up too, even though I really don't like Scorpio.

Funny, Scorpio's actually my favourite of the skull villains! Maybe because I prefer non humanoid builds, same reason why I really like Lord of Skull Spiders.

[Logan McOwen]

Funny, Scorpio's actually my favourite of the skull villains! Maybe because I prefer non humanoid builds, same reason why I really like Lord of Skull Spiders.

HEATHEN.

[Lord-Vorahk]

I'm definitely getting Scorpio. I want the blended new Kakama, and it's a 2015 set I don't have any qualms about dismantling for parts, whereas all four of the others that I bought remain intact.

[Clone 01354 Productions]

"Never been done before"

-Castle (2007)

-NINJAGO

-Monster Fighters (minus the skeleton bit)

-CMF (both zombies and mummies)

-Pharaoh's Quest (minus the skeleton bit, but they were mummies, so give or take as you will)

-CHIMA (this is a huge one, especially regarding Ultrabuilds)

-Minecraft

-PotC

-LotR (undead, but they did have a skeleton aesthetic at the very least)

And finally, The LEGO Movie. Or at least I think I saw a non-robot skeleton somewhere in Middle Zealand.

This list is bigger than I thought it would be

Saw that coming a mile away

I meant for LEGO Constraction, not "never been done" in the history of the world.

[Logan McOwen]

|￣￣￣￣￣￣|

| pls |

| ban |

| scoprio |

|＿＿__＿＿＿|

(\__/) ||

(•ㅅ•) ||

/ 　 づ

Edited February 18, 2015 by LewiMOC

[Agent Fusion]

My Hero Pack arrived today. The map is much better than expected, the mask is even better in person, the Skull Spider's as you'd expect, the booklet's a nice touch, and the stickers... well... they're stickers.

[Voxovan]

I meant for LEGO Constraction, not "never been done" in the history of the world.

Chima ice villains.

[Mutant Orc]

But they were more Living Dead as in Zombies, and these are Living Skeletons.

[Aanchir]

I personally have no issue with the skull warriors having bulky armor alongside bare bones. It helps draw emphasis to the boniness of the un-armored parts, while also keeping the figures from seeming like they're flimsy and unprotected from head to toe. To me, that's a win–win.

It's not as though this is radically unlike past LEGO skeletons, either. The skeletons of the Ninjago theme generally had bony arms, bony upper legs, chunky knee-length boots, and thick armor on their upper torso and/or shoulders. That's about as close to Skull Basher's physique as you can get with a minifigure!

On some levels, Skull Basher's design is also reminiscent of the Stalfos as they appeared in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Plenty of exposed bone, but also some bulky armor to show that he's a real powerhouse.

[Mutant Orc]

Personally I'm not bothered by the designs, I had niggling negative thoughts about some aspects of the Toa and Protectors as well but they cleared up mainly in hand. I think we're better off waiting for the reviews to judge. Some things look a lot better from a certain angle that we probably haven't had yet.

[Aethersprite]

I think my fault with the new sets is that they are skeletons with little armour, not the fact that they are figures in general with little armour. Well, both, but the latter stems from the former.

[TheOneVeyronian]

I pretty much feel the same way as Aanchir does with regards to bulky armour against skinny bones. It doesn't bother me at all. I'm more bothered about their placement than their actual size as I feel the "bone" bone pieces look anatomically more correct on lower limbs than on upper limbs, so I'll be doing some simple limb swapping. But that's just me of course.

[ToaDraco]

I only have two main complaints about the skull villains and that's the lack of individual skull masks and the trans orange shoehorned into every set. Aside from that they fit the skeleton warriors theme very well and I like the idea and execution overall. Scorpio does leave something to be desired but I plan to obtain every Bionicle set of gen2, if only for their parts and for the sake of being a completionist.

Initially I was not a fan of Slicer but he has grown on me. It would help if he had thigh armor and a new or recolored mask, but he is absolutely worth getting for the delicious trans apple green bones and blended mask of jungle. I also love four armed characters and I'm glad he has a gear function that affects all four arms. Grinder is definitely my favorite skull villain though, he just looks so evil.

Edited February 18, 2015 by ToaDraco

[Shakar]

Can someone post a link (Bricklink, Brickset or anything similar) to the large wheel-like pieces Grinder uses for his shoulders? I think someone posted it a while ago but I can't find it. Thanks in advance!

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

Can someone post a link (Bricklink, Brickset or anything similar) to the large wheel-like pieces Grinder uses for his shoulders? I think someone posted it a while ago but I can't find it. Thanks in advance!

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=60208

I think this is the part.

[CabooseBM]

Well actually, when you look at Scorpio, it looks like the skellie has been flipped onto its back, had it's head rotated and ribs extended, and that funky mechanism attached to what were its knees. Just a theory!

And yes, I shall be picking them all up too, even though I really don't like Scorpio. Gotta get me all them bones, skulls 'n' shtuff! Also, MoCr <3

Welp, Skull Scorpio just became waaaay more appealing, body horror makes everything cooler! =V

[dviddy]

ITT:People with no background in design criticizing design theory from professional designers.

[CabooseBM]

ITT:People with no background in design criticizing design theory from professional designers.

While I like these sets a lot, this post is pretty much the "You can't criticize bad food, you're not a chef!" fallacy.

Like, duh, of course you can.

Edited February 18, 2015 by CabooseBM

[barnstench fartface]

I built a Scorpio mock-up on sunday, and the function is fun enough to justify a purchase from me even without all the cool parts he comes with. (gunmetal spider legs will be useful!) and I don't think the design actually looks too bad at all in person (except for the hands, which are still really crappy).

But yeah, that body horror explanation of Scorpio makes him even better.

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

While I like these sets a lot, this post is pretty much the "You can't criticize bad food, you're not a chef!" fallacy.

Like, duh, of course you can.

A more reasonable criticism would be to say that we aren't accounting for the limitations the designers had to work with in regards to the limit of new parts per wave, limit of pieces per set, limit of complexity for children, etc. As such, I can't strongly criticize any of these sets... other than Skull Scorpio. That thing's gimmick, though neat, is just too big for the limitations of that price point. Was it inevitable that it would be lackluster, due to variables we as laymen have no (extensive) knowledge of? Perhaps, but it is lackluster nonetheless.

Still, it will definitely be fun to rebuild into something big enough to comfortably accommodate the gimmick.

Edited February 18, 2015 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[Agent Fusion]

Great, now Skull Scorpio's a Silent Hill monster. Now I love her more.

[TheOneVeyronian]

I've been thinking: I wonder how Skull Scorpio would look with articulated legs made out of the "bone" bone pieces? I've been thinking about ways to give him leg articulation, but I don't think it's as simple to add as it was on LOSS without making Scorpio look incredibly weird (you could use 2 Technic balljoints with a 3M cup-cup piece, but I think it'd look odd plus the 3M cup-cup piece is kind of rare). Guess I'll have to wait until August to find out if it'd work

[Mutant Orc]

I only have two main complaints about the skull villains and that's the lack of individual skull masks and the trans orange shoehorned into every set. Aside from that they fit the skeleton warriors theme very well and I like the idea and execution overall. Scorpio does leave something to be desired but I plan to obtain every Bionicle set of gen2, if only for their parts and for the sake of being a completionist.

Initially I was not a fan of Slicer but he has grown on me. It would help if he had thigh armor and a new or recolored mask, but he is absolutely worth getting for the delicious trans apple green bones and blended mask of jungle. I also love four armed characters and I'm glad he has a gear function that affects all four arms. Grinder is definitely my favorite skull villain though, he just looks so evil.

Yes I agree with most of that. But I thought that it was only his left arms that had a function? I could well be wrong...

[Clone 01354 Productions]

Chima ice villains.

But they don't necessarily LOOK like zombies/skeletons. The "Chima ice villains" look pretty normal to me....The Skull gang/army/whatever is made specifically to look like undead warriors.

Anyway, I have a theory: Since Skull Slicer has a Skull Spider as his mask, the Skull Spiders must be around still, and I assume that one of them possessed Skull Slicer. So maybe the mask that was missing on the pedestal (the one Pohatu was looking at) is actually the golden Skull Spider mask, and the Skull army stole it and they now have control of the Skull Spiders?

Edited February 18, 2015 by LN-01354

[dviddy]

While I like these sets a lot, this post is pretty much the "You can't criticize bad food, you're not a chef!" fallacy.

Like, duh, of course you can.

Eh, criticize away. I do it on the front page of BZP in reviews, after all. I just think it is laughable to say things like "these are bad colours" when design theory and colour theory disagree. Or things like "the skeletal upper limbs going to bulky lower limbs is bad design" when it is actually the exact opposite. Thin limbs connected to big bulky lower limbs is a common design trope for a reason- it works. Criticize from a play and parts availability or preference theme all you want, I will too, but character and visual design has rules and it has them for a reason, and some of the criticisms in here are absurd and fly in the face of hundreds of years of research and exploration in the field of visual design.