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Bionicle 2016 Sets Discussion

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It's at least two, Lewa's/Gali's blade and Tahu's/Kopaka's flame sword ("What are you, a Master of Blue Fire?"). Onua's hammer is cut out from the image and Pohatu's weapon piece is nearly impossible to recognize (at least to me lol).

If Onua has a new hammer piece, I bet Ekimu the Mask Maker is going to reuse it, especially since it seems to allow for a stud shooter to be built in.

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People change opinions very easily, I see no problem in that sense. Besides we're seeing the sets like three weeks in advance, and you all know they're gonna make (few) knock offs anyway.

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In general, people's opinion will change, so why is it such a big reason ?

Because while MOST people's opinions will change, there will always be people who hold on to their preconceived notions. As the adage goes, you only get one chance at a first impression, and even if only a few people allow preliminary pics to define their entire impressions of the sets, that still taints the initial narrative around the sets, and makes it take that much effort to turn that overall narrative about the sets from negative to positive.

I think you count me into this group?

They don't seem that great but sure I'm going to bet they will look better when we see final/better pics.

But having only one new weapon mold truly sucks and that isn't going to change.

The fact that you're willing to admit that the finalized sets will probably look better puts you a cut above the rest. :wink:

The smart thing to do with these sorts of pictures is to take them with a grain of salt. Even if nothing substantial changes about the builds or new parts, they'll almost assuredly look better once we see them in-the-brick than in blurry, lightly edited pictures like these. For instance, the colors on the Onua set in the catalog seem WAY off, and will almost assuredly look better once we see the crisp, shiny polycarbonate bricks physically.

Edited by Lyichir

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Having never owned an Invasion from Below set, I'm not sure how big they are, but aren't those gold/trans- colored add-ons the mini-Kaiju eggs pieces?

Onua is definitely the highlight of the sets!

Was it confirmed if that second group of sets found (Ekimu, Umarak the Destroyer) are part of this initial wave?

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Having never owned an Invasion from Below set, I'm not sure how big they are, but aren't those gold/trans- colored add-ons the mini-Kaiju eggs pieces?

Onua is definitely the highlight of the sets!

Was it confirmed if that second group of sets found (Ekimu, Umarak the Destroyer) are part of this initial wave?

The fiery rock knee pieces? Those are new.

Ekimu and others are summer sets.

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Are you sure? Now that I look at it better, I'm not even sure if Tahu has them. They look a bit different than the Skull Guys' add-on, especially at the top.

Yes, it is, they are flipped (they are attached to his torso not his arms) to provide shoulder pads.

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Because while MOST people's opinions will change, there will always be people who hold on to their preconceived notions. As the adage goes, you only get one chance at a first impression, and even if only a few people allow preliminary pics to define their entire impressions of the sets, that still taints the initial narrative around the sets, and makes it take that much effort to turn that overall narrative about the sets from negative to positive.

Yeah, so we're talking about a minority of a minority (I highly doubt the main audience, the kids, will ever see the catalog pics). Of course, I don't have any sort of stats, but I think the amount of people who won't buy the sets because they didn't like the prelims is negligible compared to the amount of people who will buy the sets, whether they've seen the prelims or not.

I will myself wait for finalized pictures to judge the sets properly, but so far I'm satisfied by what I've seen.

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Congratulations. You've just discovered a big reason why Lego dislikes leaks. In addition to giving their competitors an early advantage, they allow fans to form early impressions of sets based on unpolished preliminary images which were never meant to be made public.

I would like to add to this that leaks also can risk Lego's relationship with other companies. The Force Awakens is a prime example, leaks had to be kept under control as much as possible because there is a relationship between Lego and Disney there that needs to be maintained. If a company is constantly letting it's confidential information leak out (mind you, a confidential watermark is not just a watermark, it is there for a reason.) that can hurt their reputation. I think after this point they should have found a better way to control their leaks, but oh well.

They should just go the route of Hasbro/Takara and unveil products months before they are released, the only time there are ever leaks are when "no photography allowed" events and BotCon happen :laugh:

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Some people have mentioned seeing Nuva Symbols printed on the Toa's chests. I can see Lewa's clear as day and Onua's seems to be there too. CM4Sci's drawing of Kopaka indicates his is there as well, though it is upside down and may be missing the notches on the sides. Can't remotely see them on the other three Toa.

Either way, it's a nice nod to Gen 1 if they have them. Anyone else see them? Thoughts?

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Congratulations. You've just discovered a big reason why Lego dislikes leaks. In addition to giving their competitors an early advantage, they allow fans to form early impressions of sets based on unpolished preliminary images which were never meant to be made public.

You can probably be sure that once the sets are officially revealed in their finalized states, more people will come around to them, and the same will happen once they're available in stores and have been reviewed online. It follows pretty much the same pattern every single year, without fail.

You know, it was very unnecessary for you to be condescending about my comment.

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Yeah, so we're talking about a minority of a minority (I highly doubt the main audience, the kids, will ever see the catalog pics). Of course, I don't have any sort of stats, but I think the amount of people who won't buy the sets because they didn't like the prelims is negligible compared to the amount of people who will buy the sets, whether they've seen the prelims or not.

I will myself wait for finalized pictures to judge the sets properly, but so far I'm satisfied by what I've seen.

It's not about the individual perspectives so much as the overall narrative. In this corner of the Lego fan community, we're generally pretty good at adapting to updated information. From what I've seen, the wider community (in places like YouTube and Facebook), is not quite as adaptable. For example, I STILL often see complaints on the LEGO Bionicle Facebook page about the new sets having less building than classic sets (which couldn't be further from the truth), or being aimed at younger builders (again, totally untrue). On communities favored by fans of other themes, different misconceptions run rampant—I've seen a lot of complaints about the new Star Wars constraction figures having "too many new, specialized parts" (despite having relatively few all things considered). It doesn't matter how much those get corrected—they have persisted long enough to become a significant part of the overall narrative around the sets, and even if you convince one person, you're working from an initial disadvantage.

The best example I can think of of the narrative around a major release being tainted by prelims was this year's Technic 24-Hours Race Car. The preliminary set design had a significantly different front section, and when the final set was revealed, many were disappointed by the redesign, which changed the look of the headlights and wheel arches, among other things. Of course, most reviews I've seen have been more positive about the finalized model—the redesign made the curves of the front section more continuous, and made them look better from more angles. But the preliminary image only had to look better from a single angle to convince many fans that it was indisputably better, and once that narrative had taken hold, no amount of reviews could dispel it. If these prelim pictures had not ever been seen, I think the narrative around the final set would be much less critical, since it would not be compared against a model which may well have had its own unverifiable flaws.

You know, it was very unnecessary for you to be condescending about my comment.

I wasn't intending to be condescending. If it came across that way, I apologize.

Edited by Lyichir

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They should just go the route of Hasbro/Takara and unveil products months before they are released, the only time there are ever leaks are when "no photography allowed" events and BotCon happen :laugh:

I wonder if they are far enough along on the development process that Lego would be able to unveil them. Preliminary pictures are included in retailer's catalogs just four or so months prior to release and final HQ pictures are usually only added a month prior to release. I'm assuming that Lego's production process means it is not finalized until the last second, and if so I am not sure how easily they could do early announcements. Following with your example, we know about and have pictures of TF products through next Spring/Summer, but we have only seen computer renderings and painted prototypes. Not sure how Lego could do it in a similar vein. There's also the issue brought up with TFA leaks- wouldn't licensees want their products to be kept under wraps, and as such, create a disparity between official Lego products (announced early) and licensed Lego products (announced at the last second)

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Good god the Jungle Mosquito creature thing looks awesome. Two different molds used for tr. wings with silver bases (seemingly, and they appear to be repurposed swords), four silver claws and a silver tail. I may not like the reduced number of limbs, but at least LEGO is being consistent about the way they handle arthropods (take the number of limbs and remove one pair for a set, two pairs for a gimmick).

EDIT: Nevermind, the wings appear to be either just the system pieces used by the Galaxy Squad bugs recolored to tr. apple green, either attached to one pair of swords, or attached to an assembly with a different colored system piece. The funny way the creatures' masks combine with those of their Toa make me think of a very different kind of Unity.

Edited by DraikNova

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Okay, I'm not gonna give my opinions on the sets until I have actual pictures of each one. I will say however, that so far I like what I see. :classic:

I also can't help but notice some similarity between the helmet-mask of the Creatures and this little concept art we saw. I wonder howe much of NYCC concepts were actually for the whole year...

I'm also not very optimistic about the gearboxes. If the Creatures really attach like the Av-Matoran of 2008, they'll probably be redesigned to accomodate combinations in the back, at least.

Good god the Jungle Mosquito creature thing looks awesome. Two different molds used for tr. wings with silver bases (seemingly, and they appear to be repurposed swords), four silver claws and a silver tail. I may not like the reduced number of limbs, but at least LEGO is being consistent about the way they handle arthropods (take the number of limbs and remove one pair for a set, two pairs for a gimmick).

EDIT: Nevermind, the wings appear to be either just the system pieces used by the Galaxy Squad bugs recolored to tr. apple green, either attached to one pair of swords, or attached to an assembly with a different colored system piece.

Where did you see the Jungle Creature?

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CM4Sci provided a picture. It ended up with asymmetrical wings due to him being sick and not noticing the disparity though. But I can imagine the creatures having a system to attach themselves to the area under the gearbox, possibly with a little gear set to interlock with the Toa's gear to allow use of the functions while attached.

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It's not about the individual perspectives so much as the overall narrative. In this corner of the Lego fan community, we're generally pretty good at adapting to updated information. From what I've seen, the wider community (in places like YouTube and Facebook), is not quite as adaptable. For example, I STILL often see complaints on the LEGO Bionicle Facebook page about the new sets having less building than classic sets (which couldn't be further from the truth), or being aimed at younger builders (again, totally untrue). On communities favored by fans of other themes, different misconceptions run rampant—I've seen a lot of complaints about the new Star Wars constraction figures having "too many new, specialized parts" (despite having relatively few all things considered). It doesn't matter how much those get corrected—they have persisted long enough to become a significant part of the overall narrative around the sets, and even if you convince one person, you're working from an initial disadvantage.

I think I see what you mean, but I don't see how it's related to the prelims and the catalog pics, because all your example are about the final sets, not their prototypes.

If these prelim pictures had not ever been seen, I think the narrative around the final set would be much less critical, since it would not be compared against a model which may well have had its own unverifiable flaws.

I don't think so. It's just my opinion, but I find the round headlights ugly, and this independently of the prototype's headlights. Yes, people (including me) prefer the design of the prototype over the design of the final model, but that doesn't mean they would have liked the actual model better if they hadn't seen the prototype, because in the end, the set would still have ugly round headlights, for example.

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It's not about the individual perspectives so much as the overall narrative. In this corner of the Lego fan community, we're generally pretty good at adapting to updated information. From what I've seen, the wider community (in places like YouTube and Facebook), is not quite as adaptable. For example, I STILL often see complaints on the LEGO Bionicle Facebook page about the new sets having less building than classic sets (which couldn't be further from the truth), or being aimed at younger builders (again, totally untrue). On communities favored by fans of other themes, different misconceptions run rampant—I've seen a lot of complaints about the new Star Wars constraction figures having "too many new, specialized parts" (despite having relatively few all things considered). It doesn't matter how much those get corrected—they have persisted long enough to become a significant part of the overall narrative around the sets, and even if you convince one person, you're working from an initial disadvantage.

The Youtube and Facebook communities in general are awful, even if you gave them official pictures they're still going to whine about everything because that's how they do things. People will remain ignorant, even when the sets are released, oblivious to being wrong. Nothing's going to change that, either. We would have these issues even if sets were released before we got pictures.

As for classic sets not having as much building as the new sets do, no, it's what you are stating that could not be further from the truth. A comparative price example reveals the exact opposite of what you are saying. As an example, Brutaka and the original Makuta. Brutaka adjusted for inflation costs $23.64 and has 193 pieces, Makuta adjusted for inflation would cost $25.90 and had 199 pieces. The only set in this entire year that comes close to either one is MM vs SG, priced at $30 with "only" 171 pieces. Even Speeda Demon, not accounting for inflation, had 192 pieces... at a price of $35. Of course I'm not accounting for Jet Rocka, but there are exceptions to him in the price/part department when you go through a list of G1 Titans.

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The Youtube and Facebook communities in general are awful, even if you gave them official pictures they're still going to whine about everything because that's how they do things. People will remain ignorant, even when the sets are released, oblivious to being wrong. Nothing's going to change that, either. We would have these issues even if sets were released before we got pictures.

As for classic sets not having as much building as the new sets do, no, it's what you are stating that could not be further from the truth. A comparative price example reveals the exact opposite of what you are saying. As an example, Brutaka and the original Makuta. Brutaka adjusted for inflation costs $23.64 and has 193 pieces, Makuta adjusted for inflation would cost $25.90 and had 199 pieces. The only set in this entire year that comes close to either one is MM vs SG, priced at $30 with "only" 171 pieces. Even Speeda Demon, not accounting for inflation, had 192 pieces... at a price of $35. Of course I'm not accounting for Jet Rocka, but there are exceptions to him in the price/part department when you go through a list of G1 Titans.

I think Umarak will be on par with them, the problem is rather that they don't want to make the larger toa so complex looking as opposed to that they can't.

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Wow the Jungle Creature looks awesome. Imagine Lewa with those wings!

And if they have those small bead-like eyes they're going to look really cute. I'm actually getting more interested in these than the Protectors.

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You know, seeing Onua with wings kind of makes me want to have a wave where the to a get their elements mixed up. E.G. Tahu getting ice powers with white armor, Lewa Getting Earth powers, and Pohatu getting water powers for example. It could be interesting, but gimmicky.

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The Youtube and Facebook communities in general are awful, even if you gave them official pictures they're still going to whine about everything because that's how they do things. People will remain ignorant, even when the sets are released, oblivious to being wrong. Nothing's going to change that, either. We would have these issues even if sets were released before we got pictures.

As for classic sets not having as much building as the new sets do, no, it's what you are stating that could not be further from the truth. A comparative price example reveals the exact opposite of what you are saying. As an example, Brutaka and the original Makuta. Brutaka adjusted for inflation costs $23.64 and has 193 pieces, Makuta adjusted for inflation would cost $25.90 and had 199 pieces. The only set in this entire year that comes close to either one is MM vs SG, priced at $30 with "only" 171 pieces. Even Speeda Demon, not accounting for inflation, had 192 pieces... at a price of $35. Of course I'm not accounting for Jet Rocka, but there are exceptions to him in the price/part department when you go through a list of G1 Titans.

Oh, I agree that the YouTube and Facebook communities can be awful... but at the same time, I get the feeling that both of those feature a much larger percentage of the overall Bionicle fanbase than sites like Eurobricks and BZPower do.

As far as the amount of building is concerned, I was referring more to the Toa-sized sets than to larger "titans" (of which you're right that we haven't really had anything that really qualifies). I've actually seen people insist that the classic Toa offered more building potential than the new Toa, despite the new Toa outclassing them significantly in part count and complexity.

Edited by Lyichir

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