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Bionicle 2016 Sets Discussion

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Are there pictures of the new blended Tahu and Kopaka masks? I can only find pics of Onua's. It seems like the new trans-green blended Tahu mask could be the G2 equivalent of the MOL infected Hau Nuva. :laugh:

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Where are you guys seeing the backs of these sets? Also, I still want to know why someone thought it was a good idea to give the mutated Mask of Control tr. neon green clown hair.

The Brickshow has a video of the sets on display.

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On action figures, though?

Sure, why not? All the other sets this year use crystal motifs in various colors. I don't see how Tr. Brown is considerably less effective for that than, say, Tr. Light Blue.

Lava Beast's blades swivel - only one of them on each hand, not both of them. By far the least function based Beast, and in no way sacrificing aesthetic for the sake of a function as someone said above considering Lava Beast hardly has a function.

Lava Beast has a waist gear function just like the Toa, Ekimu, and Umarak, in addition to the weapon function. It's the only one of the three beasts that has a waist gear function.

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Hum, seems fairly good.

Ekimu looks to be the most generic of all the sets, and I'd call him an instant pass if not for his value as a parts pack; that mask is a thing of beauty, and I also need those Chima shells to assemble a Protector-scale Makuta figure. The one thing about him that stands out is the orthodox use of a gearbox, which is a nice touch that will add a significant amount to his portfolio of action features, assuming his pauldrons don't get in the way. Still, not as interesting as the secondary action features given to the beasts.

Storm Beast is a rather awkward thing. Out of all the beasts, this one has the least appealing proportions to me, though I expect I'll come to appreciate it for the action feature, once we some see in-hand reviews. Despite that and the beautiful dark blue shells, I'll probably be skipping it.

Lava Beast is my favorite of the trio, having a wicked elemental color scheme that trumps Storm Beast's lackluster application of trans-blue, and a set of weapons with a range that offsets Lava Beast's small stature, and imply a far greater strength than would be guessed from such a thin-limbed being. On the topic of limbs, I love the use of trans-black armor add-ons over trans-orange bones. It really gives Lava Beast the appearance of having a molten core overlaid with a partially cooled, still-luminous outer crust, all done without any printed shells other than the chest piece.

Quake Beast seems to be revisiting Bruizer's functionality, and though it is a great improvement over that first unusual attempt, I'm still skeptical about the sideways gearbox. Despite this reservation, Quake Beast is a definite buy, alongside Lava Beast. I quite can't articulate how I've come to appreciate this figure, but something about the awkward, lopsided design pleases me.

Umarak the Destroyer, what a lovely beast this is! The short upper arms & thighs contrast nicely with the over sized legs, hands, & chest; it really looks like Umarak went overboard with elemental steroids! The corrupted Mask of Control is probably the only thing about this figure I don't like, as I loathe any combination of gold and trans-bright-green.

Edited by The Kumquat Alchemist

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Went ahead and built Storm Beast on LDD to get a better feel for how it's constructed. All in all that's the beast I'm most impressed with. A brilliant new function that, despite its unconventional use of Technic, feels very effective, much like Skull Basher's. The claw design is also quite nice even if it means no real wrists. The exposed ball joints on the forearms are a non-issue, but I do wish that the designer had attached some ball joints and some blade or lightning pieces pieces to the open ball cups on the forearms just so there'd be one less thing for people to complain about that keeps them from appreciating the rest of the set. It's an easy mod, though. Storm Beast is about 108 pieces, a good value for a $15 constraction set.

Lava Beast is a bit of a mixed bag. The functions are not extremely exciting but they do seem fairly effective, and the claw construction is alright. The color scheme is also quite nice. However, the back feels rather bare, and the Shadow Trap half on the back of the neck still feels odd to me. Overall it's a good design, just not as intensely surprising or innovative as Storm Beast.

Quake Beast is the one I just can't bring myself to like. The designers were definitely aiming for an asymmetrical look and function much like Bruizer, but I don't think it feels nearly as effective or coherent as that set, despite being more articulated. The elemental blades feel about as superfluous as Ketar's are on Pohatu's Unity Mode. Pics and videos of this set are going to have to work a little harder to prove its effectiveness. As it stands, it's hard to see the set as much more than a parts pack.

Umarak the Destroyer looks great, as expected. Very beastly proportions. I like that he uses the Titanium Metallic ribcage piece on his back and the Tr. Flu. Green one on the front, as they work together very well. I do, however, feel like the amount of Technic used to attach his neck is, in the very least, a missed opportunity. It seems to me that an additional function (maybe something like the Bohrok lunging function) could have been worked in there to both fill in the space better and add even more playability. Having seen this video, the jaw construction for the beasts and Umarak works a lot better than I'd thought it would. There's not a particularly long underbite, for the beasts at least. Harder to tell with Umarak since he appears to be shown with his mouth open wider (possibly due to the weight of his horns).

And finally, Ekimu looks much better than expected. The back armor completes him nicely and his shoulders feel nicely filled in. Giving him a 2015 gearbox AND a 2016 waist gear was a good call. Just as the 2015 gearbox made that year's Ekimu stand out from the Protectors, it makes this year's Ekimu stand out from the Toa. My main disappointment with him design-wise are his weapons. They're not badly constructed, and they are true to the character, but they also both have less functionality than they had in the 2015 version. The hammer no longer has a shooter, and the shield no longer has a gear to spin the saw blade. Bit of a downgrade there. His mask looks better in Tr. Light Blue than I'd have thought. Most of all though the feeling the set fills me with is still curiosity. I want to know the story significance of this transformation so I can better gauge its effectiveness.

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These guys are a little messy, but ultimately their designs lend themselves to a fun revamping thanks to a sense of character that the first 2016 wave didn't possess.

And I can forgive the deceit of trans-yellow for the trans-neon green upper limbs. Those are nice.

Edited by CabooseBM

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I apologize for saying that the summer wave from 2015 looked worse than the one from this year's summer.

While functions may be nice, aesthetics are just thrown in the bin. This is without many doubts the ugliest wave in G2 BIONICLE.

Some things here and there don't make any sense even from a function standpoint, like Umarak's hands and the jaws of the beasts.

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Yikes, I'm not one to be a Debbie Downer, but those look kind of horrible. Even Umarak looks really gappy and janky compared to the last time we saw him. Quake Beast is the very deffinition of "hodge-podge."

Even Ekimu who's just a simple Toa build looks awkward, and his proportions are weird just like the Toa due to the awful new torso bone.

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Well like others have said, the beasts look awkwardly posed. Quake really does not look good at all, while the other two look pretty nice. Fire's hand sword things are still awkward, but he seems to be a fun figure. Storm on the other hand has some really nice concept in mind with some okay execution.

Ekimu does look good, but I biased in the fact that I don't like the idea of him being a "Toa" character. I'll be getting him of course, but he just isn't that awesome.

Umarak also looks pretty awkward in that pose. Hopefully he is more impressive, but unfortunately he is starting to fall flat.

Over all these sets feel like the rest of 2016. There is a lot of hype at the beginning and then as we see them more closely they seem more awkward, and just meh.

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Ekimu does look good, but I biased in the fact that I don't like the idea of him being a "Toa" character. I'll be getting him of course, but he just isn't that awesome.

I'm not a huge fan of that either, but the transparent Mask of Creation more than makes up for it. Plus, the trans blue dominant makes me think that maybe his Toa form is temporary, that it's some kind of energy boost.

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I'm not a huge fan of that either, but the transparent Mask of Creation more than makes up for it. Plus, the trans blue dominant makes me think that maybe his Toa form is temporary, that it's some kind of energy boost.

That should be the main selling point of him, the trans blue mask. Does it come with the another mask too?

I'm getting Ekimu. Then replacing all the trans blue with pearl gold!

Edited by santaends

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That should be the main selling point of him, the trans blue mask. Does it come with the another mask too?

He comes with a sweet trans orange blend of Umarak's hunter mask. Actually, it should be feasible to swap out all of Umarak's trans green parts and replace them with the corresponding orange...

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So what is SB's function? Like Skull Basher's except you activate it by moving SB's tail?

Sort of, except the shoulders swing vertically rather than horizontally (so more like last year's Toa gearboxes in that respect). It's pretty impressive.

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...So why not use a gearbox instead? The tail gets more freedom of articulation and the arms therefore have a greater range of motion, all without having the cumbersome, unnecessary technic on the back. Plus there's really no excuse not to use a gearbox because, well, it's being used on Ekimu, Storm Beast, and Umarak already. And the pieces could go towards giving Stormer Beast actual wrists and filling up those ball-cups with the new blades in something like dark blue and lime.

Edited by Ikaatril

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It would be good to hear how the line is doing. The adding of Netflix, but the lack of molds gives a mixed message.

Don't we still have an official word? I hate to jump on to conclusions but if no one there addresses the subject I really have to.

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It would be good to hear how the line is doing. The adding of Netflix, but the lack of molds gives a mixed message.

Don't we still have an official word? I hate to jump on to conclusions but if no one there addresses the subject I really have to.

I don't know if there's enough of a "lack of molds" to draw any really meaningful conclusions from. The second half year sets may not have a whole lot of new molds (just four I've seen, which is half of what we saw with the second half 2015 sets), but the sets for the first half year have 19 new molds, same as first half 2015.

There is one fewer set this year than last year, but net USD price for the whole range is just $5 less than last year ($265), and I believe the net Euro price in Germany is exactly the same. So not a really substantive change in that regard.

There is not likely to be any official word for quite some time unless an actual designer decides to be unusually candid with us. LEGO generally doesn't reveal specific sales figures on individual themes.

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ooh boy new pics

lots of people have given opinions but here's mine

i, personally, am not the kind of guy who thinks red pins SUUUUUUCK and that open ball joints are sinful

storm beast looks magnificent and i like the big wrists, making up for the lack of elbows. i'll listen to aanchir here about his function (but it makes me wonder why they didn't just use a gearbox).

quake beast looks the best imo

lava beast's legs are dumb

who posed ekimu, fire them immediately

they didn't even get his mask on right look at that the eyes aren't lined up

umarak looks disgusting from behind, but that might be the posing. i was hoping the neck might have a bohrok-spring-forward type function, but, alas, it doesn't seem to

also did someone steal the infected tahu and kopaka masks? bzp doesn't have pics of them

i know someone stole skull scorpio's skull mask at last year's toy fair

EDIT: is that a nuva symbol on ekimu's chest? i always thought it was and umarak had one on his box, but i can't make heads or tails of what it is. it looks like two capital F s facing each other.

EDIT EDIT: look at this sinful mistake

Edited by Toa_Bomb

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I don't know if there's enough of a "lack of molds" to draw any really meaningful conclusions from. The second half year sets may not have a whole lot of new molds (just four I've seen, which is half of what we saw with the second half 2015 sets), but the sets for the first half year have 19 new molds, same as first half 2015.

There is one fewer set this year than last year, but net USD price for the whole range is just $5 less than last year ($265), and I believe the net Euro price in Germany is exactly the same. So not a really substantive change in that regard.

-half new molds in summer than last year's

-fewer sets than last year...

-...yet all of them cost less than all of last year's

Do you people realize that the situation of BIONICLE G2, in its second year, is much worse than the one Hero Factory experienced in 2011? Back then we had an entirely new building system, with the introduction of CCBS, a greater number of sets than in 2010 (even though january had seen the last wave of BIONICLE, true dat) and a TV show, and I'm just naming the most relevant stuff.

It's been often said that the second generation of BIONICLE is far from being a priority for LEGO, but the picture is getting clearer day by day and 2017 seems more than ever the end of tracks.

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It's been often said that the second generation of BIONICLE is far from being a priority for LEGO, but the picture is getting clearer day by day and 2017 seems more than ever the end of tracks.

We get more new moulds than system as it is, no cause of complaint. I would rather they recolour more of the current moulds, than make new ones. Like the shin armour and the round shoulder piece. Shin armour could come in red or blue (your Toa colours) but they're only in black white tan and pearl silver.

I think with the advent of more complicated builds ccbs is not coming to an end, rather in the midst of rebirth. Hope we get a big flagship set soon.

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All these "2017 doom and gloom" predictions make me want to stop following this discussion.

So what if Lego cancels Bionicle in 2017? They already cancelled it once in 2010, and they still took the risk to bring it back. If the line is canceled, we'll still have had an additional 3 years of life to the line we would never have imagined in 2010.

And if Bionicle only does live 3 years, in that short space of time we got new parts and new methods of building CCBS.Any $15 Toa is light years ahead of similarly priced Hero Factory sets.

Besides if anyone worries the theme will die badly; just think back to the Bionicle: Stars in 2010... Trust me, anything Lego does in 2017 will easily be better than the Stars were :)

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@Twistlaw: Dying themes don't get TV miniseries.

Halving the new molds is hardly a bad thing considering how often many pieces seem to be discarded after being used for one or two waves recently, which to me is more or less a waste of creating a new piece if it's not going to be recurring. We've got a wide variety of pieces now.

We only have one less set than last year, and one of those is a 2-1 (Kopaka + Melum), last year those'd be separate. Umarak the Destroyer is the largest set G2's had so far, moreso than Skull Grinder vs Mask Maker.

Furthermore, in some regions, the sets have undergone a price reduction to make them more equivalent to the pricing in other regions - in the UK, the smaller Toa have gone down from £12.99 to £9.99, and the impulse sets (protectors/creatures) to £7.99. Not to mention that a lot of the sets have more pieces than last year's- Umarak the Hunter especially, at 172 pieces, almost twice that of Tahu last year at the same price point.

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Man, I heavily disliked the direction the majority of the sets took this year, and I gotta say all this doom and gloom is ridiculous.

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Any $15 Toa is light years ahead of similarly priced Hero Factory sets.

Trust me, anything Lego does in 2017 will easily be better than the Stars were :)

Ohhh shots fired. Got to admit, Bionicle has more personality than HF though.

Didn't watch the stars, but +1 for positivity.

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