Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Lord-Vorahk]

Even if there is something there, it's probably not a good indication of the character it will represent. Remember Matoro Inika on the 09 posters?

[Shakar]

They often show shadowy (or in this case, lighty) figures in the backgrounds of imagery. Sometimes it's a representation of a figure from a future wave, occasionally it's one from the current wave, and more rarely, it's a story element that doesn't have a direct set representation.

In this case... I think it's a smudge.

Some 2009 box art showed mysterious creatures (8978). That might've been an hint at Skopio, or just something they threw in for fun.

I guess we're talking about the gold-ish figure above Tahu's hand? If it's that, I see two things depending on how I look at it:

a)A humanoid figure: a torso, a pair of arms and a pair of legs crouching. Whatever that figure is, that pose reminds me of Toa Ignika riding his Skyboard.

b)A volcano, with the gold stuff actually being lava leaking out. Yup. Actually, I'm more and more heading towards this.

A higher budget is likely since it's effectively a brand-new theme, but I'm hoping that doesn't add to the price too much. We don't yet know what the prices are going to be, but I'm a bit worried about them judging from the recommended age ranges and the fact that most of the Toa seem to be basic humanoid designs.

I wouldn't say it's a bigger budget than Hero Factory ever had, though. I think the budget for Hero Factory 2011 must have been pretty huge since it introduced a whole new building system that required lots and lots of new parts in lots and lots of colors. Just look at the year"]http://www.bricklink...&catID=749]year summary[/url] on Bricklink: 84 new parts in 2011, more than twice what there was in 2011 (Bricklink isn't a perfect yardstick since it treats parts with new decorations or blended parts with new color combinations as new parts, but a difference that huge is no fluke).

Other than masks, weapons, and a few shells, we haven't seen a whole lot of new molds in the new BIONICLE, and even though I'm sure there are ones we're not seeing, I can't imagine it being nearly as many as we saw in the CCBS's debut year. And new molds tend to be some of the biggest expenses in the design budget for any theme.

Very fair point. I'm so used to the CCBS I didn't even remember about the shift from the old building system. That definitely outshadows any year after 2004 (where nearly every piece was new).

Aside from new parts, though, I was also talking about the sheer effort and faith they're putting in these. Sadly (or maybe luckily) I lost that long rant I had wrote, so I'll try to sum it up. This isn't the HF topic, but what I'll write ties into the point I want to make about BIONICLE, so I hope it's ok.

When Breakout came, I was sure Lego was taking HF to a new direction, similar to how BIONICLE 2 looks now: bigger, more complex sets, more menacing villains, a darker and more complex story. I was pretty naive on that. By Summer 2012, HF's downfall had already begun (switching from 10-12 sets per wave to 8) and things got worse and worse from that, for sets and story.

Mind you, I'm not blaming Lego for that attitude. They probably had big plans that were swept aside once they realized HF wasn't hot enough to invest much into. They could've worked to make the line more attractive, maybe it was too late, but that's beside the point (this isn't Hero Factory Autopsy ).

The point is, the amount of effort and faith that lacked in HF is, to me, already far more present in BIONICLE 2. They're probably more confident because it's something they've already done (and they have as a result a huge bible of plots, concepts and set designs to draw from). I don't know the exact reason, but I do have this feeling (just looking at how strong and big those Toa look, and their extra gold masks, is enough).

Edited August 23, 2014 by Shakar

[Aethersprite]

Some 2009 box art showed mysterious creatures (8978). That might've been an hint at Skopio, or just something they threw in for fun.

I guess we're talking about the gold-ish figure above Tahu's hand? If it's that, I see two things depending on how I look at it:

a)A humanoid figure: a torso, a pair of arms and a pair of legs crouching. Whatever that figure is, that pose reminds me of Toa Ignika riding his Skyboard.

b)A volcano, with the gold stuff actually being lava leaking out. Yup. Actually, I'm more and more heading towards this.

Very fair point. I'm so used to the CCBS I didn't even remember about the shift from the old building system. That definitely outshadows any year after 2004 (where nearly every piece was new).

Aside from new parts, though, I was also talking about the sheer effort and faith they're putting in these. Sadly (or maybe luckily) I lost that long rant I had wrote, so I'll try to sum it up. This isn't the HF topic, but what I'll write ties into the point I want to make about BIONICLE, so I hope it's ok.

When Breakout came, I was sure Lego was taking HF to a new direction, similar to how BIONICLE 2 looks now: bigger, more complex sets, more menacing villains, a darker and more complex story. I was pretty naive on that. By Summer 2012, HF's downfall had already begun (switching from 10-12 sets per wave to 8) and things got worse and worse from that, for sets and story.

Mind you, I'm not blaming Lego for that attitude. They probably had big plans that were swept aside once they realized HF wasn't hot enough to invest much into. They could've worked to make the line more attractive, maybe it was too late, but that's beside the point (this isn't Hero Factory Autopsy ).

The point is, the amount of effort and faith that lacked in HF is, to me, already far more present in BIONICLE 2. They're probably more confident because it's something they've already done (and they have as a result a huge bible of plots, concepts and set designs to draw from). I don't know the exact reason, but I do have this feeling (just looking at how strong and big those Toa look, and their extra gold masks, is enough).

Agreed. For me, Breakout's winter wave was hands down HF's best wave of the entire line. It was the first (and sadly, also last) time since HF's inception that I felt it could be a worthy successor to Bionicle. Sadly, like you said, it all went downhill from there. As such, I'm really excited to see what Bionicle can bring to the CCBS.

[Lord-Vorahk]

I think they could've done something good with Core Hunter, what with him being a heart-ripping slasher villain. But alas, he imploded.

[dviddy]

It's possible that mid-2012 is when the decision to bring BIONICLE back was made. New themes can take as long as 3 years from development to release, after all. Perhaps the effort and focus was switched to the development angle and thus HF's budget was knocked down to make way for BIONICLE. Possibility, at least.

[Leewan]

The new sets will be released in February. It seems strange to me, but I trust my source.

[Kalhiki]

February? I guess that's better than IFB's March release here in the states. I'd still like something earlier, though. December/January for the holiday season, preferably.

[I AM THE DUCK MAN]

The new sets will be released in February. It seems strange to me, but I trust my source.

sorry but to me that just looks like a random dude claiming that a person at a toy store told them it would come in january

[Leewan]

Well, when this "random dude" is the founder of the french constraction fans community and provided the first picture of Chma Ultrabuilds last year, I'd definitely say he's legit, and certainly not joking.

Edited August 23, 2014 by Leewan

[dviddy]

I'm going to go on record and say I'm betting that the 2015 BIONICLE line will see a simultaneous worldwide release in January.

[GK733]

I'm going to go on record and say I'm betting that the 2015 BIONICLE line will see a simultaneous worldwide release in January.

Hate it when most cases we Europeans have to wait for late February.

[Shakar]

It's possible that mid-2012 is when the decision to bring BIONICLE back was made. New themes can take as long as 3 years from development to release, after all. Perhaps the effort and focus was switched to the development angle and thus HF's budget was knocked down to make way for BIONICLE. Possibility, at least.

I'll bet anything this is the case as it makes sense and explains Brain Attack's sudden drop in quality well. By mid-2012, the Summer sets (the last sets to feature truly innovative pieces, like the oOo liftarm, the double C and the XT4 torso) were complete so they couldn't do much, but the cuts and lack (or rather, shift) of effort became very apparent by the time Brain Attack came. Who knows, maybe a 10th purple Hero and another villain (Goriz?) were planned for Summer 2012 but then they went "nah guys, let's start BIONICLE again.".

Hate it when most cases we Europeans have to wait for late February.

Most European countries, though, have often gotten the sets before USA in recent years. 2014 has been absolutely horrendous for USA fans, with IfB wave 1 in March and Chima Ultrabuilds being cancelled. And let's not forget Breez and Thornraxx getting pushed to Summer. I say we've been lucky most of the time.

[Aanchir]

I don't think there were any heroes or villains planned for Breakout that we didn't end up getting, and I didn't really perceive any lack of effort in the set designs in the later years of Hero Factory. 2013 had more generic humanoid designs, but also saw Technic being used more extensively for weapons and action features. And 2014 has had a tremendous diversity of designs among the various beasts and machines.

There was less investment in some media for 2013 and 2014 than previous years, certainly (just one 22-minute TV episode each year, for instance, and less story info available online, and fewer comics), but I wouldn't attribute this to a lack of effort by any means. It's just as likely that the marketing division decided the theme didn't need as much media support in those areas, or that the media support they had been getting wasn't helping the theme enough to be worth the extra cost anyway.

[TwistLaw]

The new sets will be released in February. It seems strange to me, but I trust my source.

Well, this doesn't sound very good: missing Christmas won't make it easier for BIONICLE to make a big comeback.

Ninjago's titanic entrance was surely assisted by the holiday season, let's hope BIONICLE will earn his spot as soon as possible.

[Dorek]

If true, they're just showing the same general deference to BIONICLE that they did to Hero Factory this year. If it works for them and their production cycles, I won't complain. BIONICLE would always "officially" release in January, anyway; anything in December was usually just a broken street date, and it didn't happen everywhere.

I actually liked having things released later in the year, since ToyFair gave me a better picture of what to look forward to and how best to spend/conserve cash. (I was always a BIONICLE collector, though, so I suppose it doesn't matter too much...)

[SneakySqeaky]

I don't think there were any heroes or villains planned for Breakout that we didn't end up getting, and I didn't really perceive any lack of effort in the set designs in the later years of Hero Factory. 2013 had more generic humanoid designs, but also saw Technic being used more extensively for weapons and action features. And 2014 has had a tremendous diversity of designs among the various beasts and machines.

There was less investment in some media for 2013 and 2014 than previous years, certainly (just one 22-minute TV episode each year, for instance, and less story info available online, and fewer comics), but I wouldn't attribute this to a lack of effort by any means. It's just as likely that the marketing division decided the theme didn't need as much media support in those areas, or that the media support they had been getting wasn't helping the theme enough to be worth the extra cost anyway.

I'm with Aanchir on this one. I didn't notice any lack of effort in the sets and each year has still had new moulds and recolors. We should also consider that the Chima UBs also probably cyphoned off some of the constraction budget and that has ran for both 2013 and this year. I don't think this means much, I think it just means lego has shifted around it's focus based on the markets, sales and what's going on as of late. I do think a big factor for why the Chima Ultrabulds not coming to the US could have something to do with Bionicle. Though when I sat down and chatted with Keith Severson at Bricks By The Bay, he mentioned that it probably had to do more with market reports and sales.

[Chimaninja454]

Oh, and I hope that it will too be released in January or February there in Denmark, just like that it would be a big launch for a them! :P

P.S. It is a rare occurence that LEGO will bring back a much-beloved theme... :D

[Shakar]

We should also consider that the Chima UBs also probably cyphoned off some of the constraction budget and that has ran for both 2013 and this year. I don't think this means much, I think it just means lego has shifted around it's focus based on the markets, sales and what's going on as of late.

Pretty much what I (and proably DV as well) meant. Effort wasn't lacking, they just decided to focus it on other projects, like Chima and BIONICLE. And, you guys don't agree, and of course I'll respect that, but the drop in sets quality was felt by a lot of people that year, I remember that well.

And the 10th Hero was mostly speculation I did for fun, based on 2011's record of introducing at least one new Hero per wave. I meant to say it probably was a very very very early idea they scrapped almost immediately.

EDIT: fixed a few typos.

EDIT 2: Found a bigger version of the colour pic. Not sure if it's more detailed, but a bigger size is nice. Credit to netkid at TFW2005.

Edited August 24, 2014 by Shakar

[Transparency for Effect]

Oh, and I hope that it will too be released in January or February there in Denmark, just like that it would be a big launch for a them! :P

P.S. It is a rare occurence that LEGO will bring back a much-beloved theme... :D

Speaking of, we've had Ninjago and we're hopefully going to have this, but what's the full list of LEGO themes that have been revived? For example, Scala was brought back and retooled.

[Chro]

EDIT 2: Found a bigger version of the colour pic. Not sure if it's more detailed, but a bigger size is nice. Credit to netkid at TFW2005.

Oh wait, that's a new one? If I'd known I would've posted it here, but I thought that was the one everyone was going off of already XD

[King of Nynrah]

It's not new. I've had that pic at that resolution saved to my computer ever since it was first leaked.

[Kalhiki]

Same picture, just zoomed in.

[exxtrooper]

I'm going to go on record and say I'm betting that the 2015 BIONICLE line will see a simultaneous worldwide release in January.

It's been march every year in Norway, with both Hero Factory and Bionicle.

[Shakar]

Oh wait, that's a new one? If I'd known I would've posted it here, but I thought that was the one everyone was going off of already XD

The same one we've had for weeks. It just seems zoomed in, as it doesn't look sharper.

I thought it'd be selfish to not share it though, so I linked it anyway.

[I AM THE DUCK MAN]

Wait, isn't the pic colourized from a non blurry black and white pic but it was done by someone on deviantart? I'm sorry if this has already been mentioned.