Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Kalhiki]

Why are people bashing the reuse of masks with Skull Warrior and Grinder when I'm pretty sure Basher and Scorpio use the same as well.

My biggest issue with Warrior having the same mask as Grinder is because I feel the big bad of the wave should have something unique. It just takes something away from him when a foot soldier uses the same mask as the leader.

Not a huge issue, but still.

You may argue about Fire Lord having the same helmet as Drilldozer, but that was a flip mask. the faces were still different.

[Grima]

While I do quite like that way of thinking, I guess I'm just hoping for some deeper meaning than just a cute visual trick.

Also, it does seem like the Skull Basher/Scorpio mask might actually be the dark image from the previews... although it's odd because that mask is clearly black. Exclusive, maybe? =P.

It wasn't black, it was silhouetted. Nothing says mystery like a silhouette.

[Leewan]

Buy both and swap their masks! =P

Warrior doesn't interest me, I'll probably order the mask alone. But yeah, it seems to be the best thing to do...

[VBBN]

You may argue about Fire Lord having the same helmet as Drilldozer, but that was a flip mask. the faces were still different.

Same case with Black Phantom/ Voltix/ Speeda, but the versatility of attachments to that helmet helped keep them unique.

[Grima]

Same case with Black Phantom/ Voltix/ Speeda, but the versatility of attachments to that helmet helped keep them unique.

Arguably they tried something similar here with the horns. I don't quite like the idea of attaching horns to the eyestalk lever, though, especially when it ends up with an ugly head like Basher's.

[Nekchir]

Arguably they tried something similar here with the horns. I don't quite like the idea of attaching horns to the eyestalk lever, though, especially when it ends up with an ugly head like Basher's.

I'm pretty sure it's another way to knock the mask off.

It'll probably help with moving the heads around too.

Edited January 29, 2015 by MonkeyChud

[Dorek]

Warrior doesn't interest me, I'll probably order the mask alone. But yeah, it seems to be the best thing to do...

Haha, or that. I'll be getting them both, at any rate.

Arguably they tried something similar here with the horns. I don't quite like the idea of attaching horns to the eyestalk lever, though, especially when it ends up with an ugly head like Basher's.

I like it because it actually emphasizes the battle/"knock the mask off" function, moreso than the sets in winter. The horns are something tangible that can actually be hit, easier than the back of the head.

[Grima]

Knocking the horns wouldn't knock the mask off, though; if you smack down on the horns, you hit the mask-hitting part down into the skull, not up into the mask. Unless you're suggesting they're designed with upwards swings in mind?

[Dorek]

Knocking the horns wouldn't knock the mask off, though; if you smack down on the horns, you hit the mask-hitting part down into the skull, not up into the mask. Unless you're suggesting they're designed with upwards swings in mind?

Right, on the upswing; if it was on the downswing, the horns would likely be too heavy to properly sustain the mask anyway. Now the weight actually locks the mask in place.

[Scarilian]

Given it some time for the original hype of the images to settle and allow my own thoughts on the images to become clear.

Skull Warrior;

Seems fairly basic, a generic figure with no real additions or trying anything too new. The gear function allows for one arm to move while the other stays attached. He has one very boney arm which works, but the new 'cloth' piece (Using the term very loosely) doesnt really work well as shoulder armour. The bow is nice, but ruins the point of having a gear function arm. The asymetrical nature of the set is a little jarring, though all in all an 'alright set'. The chest armour looks alright though as with Basher, Slicer and Grinder, the random chain pieces DO NOT WORK. You can not have every other part of the set devoid of chains and then include a chain print on their chest plate.

Skull Slicer;

Slicer is currently in position for my least favourite humanoid set, with four exposed ball joints that stand out even more when put next to the new bone pieces. We should really have gotten trans bone pieces instead in order to avoid the balljoint issue. The gear functioned arms look alright, though its incredibly disappointing that instead of using three of the small gears they used two old technic gears, kind of a cop-out to be honest. The chest print is odd also, a rather weird 'grinding' machine above his nipple.

Skull Basher;

In my opinion the best of the cheap sets, while he lacks a gearbox he likely has an alternative function. Though he shares the exact same head piece as Scorpio, the large and likely-to-wobble-and-knock-off-mask horns do help vary it very slightly. The horns are indeed my main issue with the set, given they seem too far away from the mask to be attached. The mask is also way too smooth and non-beast-like for a character named Skull Basher. The rest of the body looks alright, save the upper legs being the new bone pieces, which gives him really odd proportions when it gets to the knee's, ruined by those armour pieces. The trans-orange breaks the colour scheme also sadly.

Skull Scorpio;

This set is growing on me i must admit, though i feel thats more me trying to think of why its as much as a mess as it is rather than getting annoyed by how bad the design is. I can understand why the legs lack any articulation and the tail has an over-complicated 'stinging' and 'gripping' function, it just doesnt suite this set. I dont mind the leg articulation, as to be honest LoSS didnt have much articulation either and its a better set when the legs are fixed in place. The issue is this set was designed with a biological design in mind, hence most the body covered in the organic looking armour piece, thats why the back end of this set doesnt work. Remove the back end and this set is 'ok' but it looks so thin. I get the idea they are experimenting with combining technic with CCBS and i do agree that animals are the way to go with that, but this isnt good enough for this set.

Mask Maker Vs Skull Grinder;

Lets start with the obvious, the mask has issues. I dont understand what they did here or why these two colours have run so much but rather than blue and gold it has a green'ish tinge to it. I'm hoping they fix this by the time the set is released, but at the moment its unfortunate. Not a fan of the saw blade as that just seems to be here to take up parts. The Hammer is a nice addition and the trans-blue shooter will be good for some Ice MOC's. The Mask of Creation on the other hand is small and while i pray it has the details inscribed on the spikes, it is unfortunately rather basic. I had hoped it would stand-out, instead its just kind of there. In all he's just a recolored fire protector with a gearbox slapped on, but thats what i expected.

Skull Grinder is unfortunately a weak set, the upper legs suffer from the same issue as basher where the legs bulk-out at the knee and suddenly transition to bone. He has exposedd balljoints on the stomach. The upper body isnt as complex as i had hoped and the head is disappointingly the same head mould as Warrior, personally i dont enjoy having the 'main villain' of the year share a mask if the mask isnt altered in any way. The new colour helps, but the mask is also so generic that it looks almost identical to the other Skull Villains (Other than Slicer)

Final thoughts;

I'm going to be getting the sets regardless, but in terms of a scale system from worst to best

Skull Slicer -> Skull Scorpio -> Skull Warrior -> Skull Basher -> Mask Maker Vs Skull Grinder

If it wasnt for the MoC then Mask Maker vs Skull Grinder would be second favourite...

- The printed chest piece is a good addition, can imagine someone trying to collec them.

- New trans chest armour is nice however they are barely used effectively other than Scorpio, who puts it to nice use as back armour. I would'nt be suprised if the armour was designed for Scorpio in that respect.

- The new 'cloth?' piece sucks to be honest, it sticks out from the base armour so much that it makes it virtually useless and gappy when used as shoulder armour

In all this line suffers the most from a lack of trying with any of the humanoid builds, while Scorpio is a weak set it atleast attempts something while Grinder, Basher, Slicer and Warrior all stick to the basic body build, a CCBS body piece with a function slapped on the back. I understand that titan sets are now less complex, but i hope we end up getting better titans in the future than Skull Grinder. I'm praying its because he has Ekimu that he is such a basic build, but i doubt it.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Scarilian

[Kingslayer]

Just looking at these, Im actually starting to really like them. I have already got their characters planned out in my head (I never normally like the idea of horde villains, so eack set is normally a character in my eyes)

Much love for Skull Grinder. Definitely one of the best ones. Looks really imposing. I would have loved trans red instead of orange, but alas.

Skull Warrior may be my favorite. The Skeletal vibe really comes out in this set. Love that compiler skeletal arm he has going on. Needs a mask swap with Grinder though, me thinks.

Skull Basher is very nice. Nothing too special but I still really like him

Skull Slicer Im not a massive fan of. Might tweak it a little. The slender feel is okay as I will make her a girl anyway, so aside from adding a bit of amour she is okay.

As for Skull Scorpio... eh. Not a really fan of non humanoid sets(or at animal shaped sets). Makes them harder to pose with the group but he is okay. I think I will be making his tale more CCBS like though.

Either way, they are pretty good.

P.S: I am LOVING the new bone and add-on piece right now.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Kingslayer

[zg0]

all villians have trans-neon orange parts. will we get big combiner from six sets?

[---Vertea---]

I'm seeing a lot of hate for the new bones, but I think that they'll be the kind of piece that looks a LOT better in hand. Plus, they're used rather poorly in these sets, so there's that.

Skull Basher is a first-day buy for me, both because he's y far the best of the bunch and because Trans-purple. Also, the dual-injected Pakari is too good to pass up.

I might get Skull Warrior or Slicer for parts.

Skull Grinder VS Ekimu is almost a definite buy for me, but this year is gonna be tough on the wallet, so I might just bricklink Ekimu and the MoCR.

Overall not as impressed with this wave as the Toa, but I applaud the new design effort, and Appreciate that they've included a Technic aspect, even if it is rather forced.

Also, the trans bone armor is gorgeous. I don't even care if they look out of place on some sets. The color variety excites me.

[Clone 01354 Productions]

This will definitely be a great wave......

1) Grinder is incredible, and pulls off the evil look very well. His mask is deliciously sinister.

2) Ekimu looks better than I thought before (but he'll always wear the MOCR once I display him...).

3) Basher is probably my favorite of the smaller sets, and I can't wait to see his function! And that mask....

4) Warrior, to me, pulls off the skeletal look the best, and his bow is a pretty neat weapon. The trans-red is a shame, though.

5) I am in LOVE with Scorpion; his function looks great, and I love his color scheme.

6) Slicer is the terrible. There, I said it. But I do understand why he looks so sparse: if he has two gearboxes (I assume so), that would increase piece count by quite a bit....probably why he has a Skull Spider mask too: the budget for the set went to the gears.

Overall, I'm going for a complete collection, so I'll get them all. The characters are all unique, they have a design we've never seen in BIONICLE (rotting skeletons), and overall they just look really great (except Slicer. But some armor can fix that.....)

Also, I apologize, Grima. I really thought it was a Hau.

[Aethersprite]

Basher's arms swing inward? Wow. Depending on how well that works out, I just might get him.

Still not sold on Warrior, Slicer, and Scorpio though. Speaking of Warrior - he seems to have the same arm swinging action as the Toa as well. How is that going to work out, given that both his hands are gripping the bow?

As for Ekimu's mask, yeah, the point where the gold and trans blue meet gives a really odd colour, almost yellow. But I'll be displaying my Ekimu with the Mask of Creation anyway, so no matter.

[VBBN]

Still not sold on Warrior, Slicer, and Scorpio though. Speaking of Warrior - he seems to have the same arm swinging action as the Toa as well. How is that going to work out, given that both his hands are gripping the bow?

He has a spear like weapon on his back, most likely what the geared arm is intended for.

[Echo]

They look quite bad with the exception of Ekimu and the big dude he comes with, although even he looks awkward because the chestplate and torso shell look too small for his body. Very underwhelmed by these.

[MakutaOfWar]

My thoughts!

Mask Maker: Waited 8 years for Mata Nui and 6 months for Ekimu. Go figure. XD

Skull Grinder: Knight from DOOM? So creepy. XD

Skull Basher: Huge Purple Horns. Also creepy, not bad.

Skull Slicer: He's Naked! Seriously, lack of armor, reused silver skull. Pfft, seriously? Wait, Trans-Apple Bones! Okay, he's growing on me. :P

Skull Scorpion: Good Nui-Jaga recreation imo. Interestingly good function.

Skull Warrior: Two weapons, gunmetal mystery mask. I like.

New add-on: I can see where they got "fabric" from now.

New bones: Okay for one wave, but if TLG goes back to pin connected armor I'm so down for that.

New torso armor: Screams 2008 Phatoka-Makuta to me. Nice visualization of a rib cage.

[TheDesuComplex]

Time for a few more thoughts on these sets. A random thoughts dump, if you will. Be warned, a fair amount of text:

On the figures:

Ekimu: His chest build is a bit different, and I am not sure about it. I think I like the Protector of Fire's build better because of the angles of the armor. I am probably gonna switch it to my custom design I have already made though. One thing I didn't expect was him using entirely trans-blue limbs, which is something that I have certainly warmed to. The ornate shield is another pleasant surprise, and I think it adds handsomely to Ekimu, as does his hammer being made out of the gatling studgun.

Grinder: While I do like the look they are going for, he needs plenty of work. I like the idea of beefing up the shoulders by using that disk-like piece, but I am definitely going to shorten him down. I could have sworn that we were getting this piece in trans-neon-orange, but it's a shame to see that we aren't. I plan on redoing his weapons and giving him, as I was thinking he would have, some sawblades to grind stuff with.

Basher: Have to say that the trans-purple looks great on him! Sadly, the bits of normal purple don't, nor do the horns sticking forward. I'm going to mount them out to the sides instead. I am really looking forward to the Bashing function (which I am expecting to be very similar to Dragon Bolt's). I have to say that I don't like the axes and I am going to give him beefy, rocky hammers instead.

Slicer: I like this guy, even if he is bare-bones. I don't like the way that the gears are set up, because that means that the arms will slap together; I am probably gonna replace each set with three 8-tooth gears in order to both add more friction and make the arms swing the same direction.

Warrior: I like the whole 'skull archer' idea, but he seems to be the blandest set out of the wave to me. There's not much I would do to spice him up either. He's fine as he is; not amazing, but not awful.

Scorpio: This set holds a lot of promise, I can feel it. He isn't as technic-based as LoSS, and he seems to strike a pretty happy balance between the two systems. I certainly like that he is based on the same torso bone (which, by the way, is finally available in silver!). I might revamp him from the ground-up like I did LoSS, but I will have to see about that.

On the pieces:

New bone pieces: I wasn't so hot on them in prelims, because they reminded me of the gappy limbs of Neo Shifters. Now that we've seen them up close, though, I do appreciate that they have a bit of curvature to them to give them a more bone-esque shape. They don't contribute much to the sets overall (the only one who I think uses them well is Warrior to achieve the half-rotten affect) and I might replace them with open bones.

New armor pieces: These are very odd pieces and I think I will have to reserve judgement on these until we get the sets in-hand. More than anything they look like someone described, a hybrid of this piece and Orcish armor in LoTR.

New weapons: Okay, so we have two new weapons: a sword and an axe. They still remind me of Kopaka Nuva's ski-blades and Strakk's axe. They will very G1-ish to me and I'm not sure how good that is, but these pieces will probably be cool.

New masks: Now that we've seen the Basher/Scorpio and Grinder/Warrior masks up close, I can say that I... don't like them on the sets. It's not that I don't think they are good (because they will probably come out amazing), it's just that I will prefer my an idea that I had: to use silver skull spider bodies as their masks, and give Grinder the golden skull spider mask. In my little headcanon, the Skull Spiders are the recon division of the Skull Army. LoSS is their leader and creator, but the insignia of the skull army is a lack of individuality because each member wears the same mask. Grinder gets the gold one because he is their commander/king, of course.

[vexorian]

I love this wave. It actually seems to be pandering specifically to me. With all those evil looking demonic skeleton beings and the trans green bones :/

[CabooseBM]

Right now Skull Warrior is the most lackluster to me right now since he doesn't have an interesting function OR particularly cool colors. I mean, trans-light-blue is cool and all, but I've already got so much at this point...

[TheDesuComplex]

Right now Skull Warrior is the most lackluster to me right now since he doesn't have an interesting function OR particularly cool colors. I mean, trans-light-blue is cool and all, but I've already got so much at this point...

I find it funny how Ekimu is made almost entirely out of Warm-Gold and Trans-Light-Blue when those are two colors that seem to be used quite a bit in past constraction sets almost to the point of saturation, and how thanks to his importance to the story that the set containing him will more than likely be the best-selling set of this wave.

[CabooseBM]

I find it funny how Ekimu is made almost entirely out of Warm-Gold and Trans-Light-Blue when those are two colors that seem to be used quite a bit in past constraction sets almost to the point of saturation, and how thanks to his importance to the story that the set containing him will more than likely be the best-selling set of this wave.

That IS a good point, but he also comes with the Chima add-on, the MoC, and the entirety of Skull Grinder.

[vl_cn]

Right, on the upswing; if it was on the downswing, the horns would likely be too heavy to properly sustain the mask anyway. Now the weight actually locks the mask in place.

The moment you turn him upside down while carrying him.... POP! goes the mask.

[ToaDraco]

Grinder is by far my favorite of the bunch. Basher is a close second. I hated Slicer at first but the more I look at him the more I like him, his upper legs are still too bare though and I'm still not thrilled with the re-used skull spider mask. The bone pieces look a lot better now that we have close ups, still rather skinny but they at least try to look like a tibia and fibia. I am not a fan of the trans orange tacked onto all the sets and I expect some sort of reason for it to be there. I love the use of the new chima flame piece in black as horns on Grinder and his trident looks nice. Overall he looks solid( as solid as a decaying skeleton warrior could be). He looks very evil for sure. Ekimu is perfect, nothing really to say that hasn't already been said about him. Scorpio is hideous and I hope for the sake of the visual sacrifice that the lashing tail function works really well. I love that Basher has a lashing forward function as opposed to swinging arms though his horns should be black as purple is no where else on the set except for trans purple.