40580 Buildable Tahu: Bionicle returns in 2023!

[VBBN]

Definitely interested to see what becomes of this. I'm placing my bets that this will be some kind of system build, probably akin to the recent Spider-Man/Venom/Miles figures, maybe even using a printed version of those "heads" as a Hau. Either way, I doubt this is anything more than a special vintage celebration set and likely won't have much headway in any potential return of the theme, but I'll take it. 

[Scarilian]

On 11/3/2022 at 12:07 AM, VBBN said:

I doubt this is anything more than a special vintage celebration set and likely won't have much headway in any potential return of the theme, but I'll take it. 

Most likely it's a result of the popularity of the theme in the 90th anniversary poll, probably going into production around that time or slightly after. That way they have something else for the 90th celebrating Bionicle. It could also test the waters for a return of the theme eventually, combined with how the community responded to the Mini-Tahu in the 90th anniversary box set. If the GWP gains a lot of interest also, then hopefully they would give the theme a go, probably around the time of Bionicle's 25th anniversary in 2025 (25th anniversary of G1, 10th anniversary of G2)

Edited November 13, 2022 by Scarilian

[Mandalorianknight]

It's leaked. Looks like a very nice display piece, and something I'll definately be picking up!

Tahu and Takua both look excellent (Ironically, this is our first Takua mctoran and this Tahu has knee and elbow articulation, as well as waist articulation-yet no foot articulation.). I almost wish I was planning on buying more lego so I could get a second copy to keep boxed.

[Scarilian]

Apparently it's only available with purchases of unlicensed sets, which is a bit unfortunately, but definitely getting this.

2 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

Tahu and Takua both look excellent (Ironically, this is our first Takua mctoran and this Tahu has knee and elbow articulation, as well as waist articulation-yet no foot articulation.). I almost wish I was planning on buying more lego so I could get a second copy to keep boxed.

Unsure if you've seen the full image, but it also appears to have a depiction of the Mata Nui and Makuta stones which is neat.

[Mandalorianknight]

1 hour ago, Scarilian said:

Apparently it's only available with purchases of unlicensed sets, which is a bit unfortunately, but definitely getting this.

WHAT? NOOOOOO! I almost exclusively buy licensed. If only I hadn't bought the galaxy explorer... what's the threshold? Maybe I'll get a second one. Tahu is too important to miss.

[ToaDraco]

It looks great! Absolutely a must have as a massive Bionicle fan, it's very exciting! $100 threshold isn't as bad as it could have been and it makes sense why it's non-licensed sets, still sucks as I have almost exclusively bought licensed sets ever since Bionicle ended(twice) with the exception of the occasional Ninjago set ,but there are several Ninjago sets I would like to get but didn't think I'd be able to, now I have an excuse.

I love that it isn't just Tahu but he's surfing on lava, comes with Takua and the Mata Nui and Makuta stones, absolutely fantastic! I would absolutely LOVE it if this became a sub theme of its own that gives us the original Toa in this style.

Edited December 23, 2022 by ToaDraco

[Mandalorianknight]

1 hour ago, ToaDraco said:

It looks great! Absolutely a must have as a massive Bionicle fan, it's very exciting! $100 threshold isn't as bad as it could have been and it makes sense why it's non-licensed sets, still sucks as I have almost exclusively bought licensed sets ever since Bionicle ended(twice) with the exception of the occasional Ninjago set ,but there are several Ninjago sets I would like to get but didn't think I'd be able to, now I have an excuse.

I love that it isn't just Tahu but he's surfing on lava, comes with Takua and the Mata Nui and Makuta stones, absolutely fantastic! I would absolutely LOVE it if this became a sub theme of its own that gives us the original Toa in this style.

A friend of mine told me he would get the tahu threshold, but he would kill a man for a Lewa. I think there's a big market if they did the other Toa with matoran companions. Jala could be the GWP for them!

[Alpha Draconis]

I know this is a promotional set, I also knew that they wouldn't be bringing back constraction parts just for this GWP and I also know this is probably the best the designers could do to emulate the original pieces... but I'm still disappointed. Probably the biggest offenders to me are the masks which I know are probably crazy hard to replicate with normal pieces and with GWP designer budget. I don't have an idea of how to improve the set but the eye test says to me: this ain't it chief. 

On the other hand I'm glad we're getting something Bionicle related and this is probably the only Bionicle set that we'll be getting for a while. I'm also going to get it, I'm not gonna pretend otherwise but TLG seriously needs to bring Bionicle into the roster of themes that got proper set remakes. Even if it's only 1 set but done with a bigger design budget. 

[danth]

After seeing the leak I was shocked at the seemingly positive response on reddit. Came here to see if the response was similar.

18 hours ago, Alpha Draconis said:

this ain't it chief

This is my take as well. I have no idea what Bionicle fans want or are willing to accept, but based on the reddit responses, it sounds like they'll take anything.

Even with the limitations, seems like they could have done better. I've seen some actually good brick built Bionicle MOCs out there.

[Classic_Spaceman]

I have never been a Bionicle fan, but this just looks bad. The proportions are wrong, there is no ankle articulation (making Tahu look like he is wearing massive boots), the hinge elbows are going to be floppy (especially over time), the torso has what appears to be a ball joint in the middle (presumably to allow for a bit more posability than the original, but it really just adds an ugly gap), and Tahu's mask looks like shocked Pikachu! The Ninjago Core limbs are right there, and available in the right colour, so I have no idea why they were not used. 
This legitimately looks like a child's Sharpied MOC, and I am very surprised that LEGO is releasing it. 
 

[Alpha Draconis]

Up until this point, I consider every 90th anniversary set (normal or GWP, which I think this Bionicle one is also supposed to be) a true homage and/or a genuine upgrade of the original set - I really like them all, even though I'm not attached to some of the themes. This one is a sloppily done homage attempt at best in my opinion. 

Also, for anyone saying that we should be grateful we even got anything and this is a gift with purchase anyway, I disagree completely. The difference in quality and, most importantly - (misplaced) design effort - between the rest of the 90th anniversary lineup and this set is obvious. As for the GWP argument - this is just a fancy name TLG uses to call these sets. At their core, they are incentives to buy, not gifts, meaning consumers should be compelled to buy more products to qualify for this set. Therefore this incentives should be so good that they drive the sales up. And this set will drive the sales up, make no illusions, but we could do so much better, and someone at TLG knows it but still decides to pick the low effort instead.   

If you do a random recolour of the Tahu in this set, remove the lava sword and other accessories, this could easily be presented as one of the builds in a Creator 3 in 1 set. It doesn't feel distinct, which it should. I feel like it's going to be hard to do a proper remake of these sets without bringing back constraction in some capacity. 

Sorry for the rant, I'll stop now. 

[Scarilian]

The scale of the printed mask piece means you can place that onto the mini-Tahu from the 90th anniversary set and vice versa. I think as such this works as a good companion to that set.

Realistically you get Tahu, Takua, the Mata Nui & Makuta Stones, a display lava area, Tahu's lava surfboard and potentially more given the prior leak (which proved to be accurate) showed some sort of Golden Nuva armour for Tahu on the back of a preliminary box. They are definitely including a lot in this and I can see people having fun playing with, displaying or even just swapping the goofy mini-tahu face around with Tahu's printed face here.

I do agree that Bionicle deserved a lot more than this, it won the first round of the poll and this is clearly part of the 90th anniversary reactionary sets so it could and probably should have had more effort put in, but I do appreciate that they are limited on what new parts and pieces they could create in the time they had and at minimum we at least are getting printing and an attempt to give us more than just Tahu.

While I like this as a one-off, I think something more akin to the buildable figure line perhaps crossed with the mechs would be the scale of which Bionicle should become for an attempted revival. With the 25th anniversary of Bionicle in 2025/2026 I'd hope they do something for the theme, one last revival attempt.

[Mandalorianknight]

1 hour ago, Scarilian said:

The scale of the printed mask piece means you can place that onto the mini-Tahu from the 90th anniversary set and vice versa. I think as such this works as a good companion to that set.

Realistically you get Tahu, Takua, the Mata Nui & Makuta Stones, a display lava area, Tahu's lava surfboard and potentially more given the prior leak (which proved to be accurate) showed some sort of Golden Nuva armour for Tahu on the back of a preliminary box. They are definitely including a lot in this and I can see people having fun playing with, displaying or even just swapping the goofy mini-tahu face around with Tahu's printed face here.

I do agree that Bionicle deserved a lot more than this, it won the first round of the poll and this is clearly part of the 90th anniversary reactionary sets so it could and probably should have had more effort put in, but I do appreciate that they are limited on what new parts and pieces they could create in the time they had and at minimum we at least are getting printing and an attempt to give us more than just Tahu.

While I like this as a one-off, I think something more akin to the buildable figure line perhaps crossed with the mechs would be the scale of which Bionicle should become for an attempted revival. With the 25th anniversary of Bionicle in 2025/2026 I'd hope they do something for the theme, one last revival attempt.

I agree. While it deserved a full set like the Matoran Universe or something, this is a nice GWP that shows that they aren't only interested in the design, but the LORE of G1 bionicle, which is very important to me at least.

I do think that if bionicle ever gets a continuation, it'll be brick-built figures with mixel joints (or larger ball joints for titans). 

[ToaDraco]

On 12/23/2022 at 3:50 PM, Mandalorianknight said:

A friend of mine told me he would get the tahu threshold, but he would kill a man for a Lewa. I think there's a big market if they did the other Toa with matoran companions. Jala could be the GWP for them!

I feel the same way but if they did an Onua. This definitely has some serious potential but I would prefer if they could bring this concept over to a small subtheme rather than more gwp sets.

[Mandalorianknight]

2 hours ago, ToaDraco said:

I feel the same way but if they did an Onua. This definitely has some serious potential but I would prefer if they could bring this concept over to a small subtheme rather than more gwp sets.

Pohatu's always been my favorite, and IIRC Kopaka's the most popular according to polls on some bionicle communities. I totally think they should make a subtheme. I mean if they don't, recreations of these are on my MOC list. I did something similar awhile back, albiet on a smaller scale:

Spoiler

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Mandalorianknight
Put my MOC in a spoiler so it wouldn't take up so much space

[Aanchir]

I'm pretty pleased with this design, to be honest! Both models are a good likeness of their respective characters. The omission of the original Tahu's ankle and left wrist joints is more than balanced out by the articulated elbows, knees, neck, and waist, allowing for more dynamic poses than the original set. And of course Takua's articulation is greatly improved compared to the original 2001 Matoran build! I can tell the designer was a big Bionicle fan themselves, especially since they included not only Takua (a character who is loved primarily for his story media appearances and not his sole set depiction), but also entirely non-set-based elements like the Amaja Circle.

I do kind of wish the masks used a curved part with beveled edges like 1762 or 30602 so they'd look a little less "flat", but the graphics are nice and remind me of the old-school flash animations. It'd also be nice if the fire sword's hilt was red instead of black. But even with those slight misgivings, I feel this is a really great tribute to the Bionicle theme!

[The Outsider]

Wait, so can I get a GWP with an online purchase? Because if not, then I'm screwed; there's only one LEGO Store in my country and it's all the way in the capital.

 

Anyway, if the leaked image is indeed the final set (there's still the chance something changes between catalog images and the final product, even if it's just one piece changing color), I'm actually pleased. Masks are a bit iffy, as expected from being brick-built at this budget, but having two of the poster boys of the franchise (and representing the two "protagonist" species, to boot), and a display of iconic lore elements like the Amaja and the Mata Nui/Makuta stones? Sign me up! Only way it could be better is if it had a character from each element, or a brick-built Toa Canister for Tahu.

[Takanuinuva]

I probably will just part out the set and get printed parts from bricklink.

I already got Zane's Titan Mech for Christmas. So have no other large sets I want.

[Aanchir]

On 12/30/2022 at 3:26 PM, The Outsider said:

Wait, so can I get a GWP with an online purchase? Because if not, then I'm screwed; there's only one LEGO Store in my country and it's all the way in the capital.

Yeah, GWPs are usually available from LEGO.com (aside from specific ones celebrating stuff like a particular store's grand opening or anniversary). Pretty sure this one will be both online and in-store. Sometimes the dates of availability are different between countries, though, so be sure and double check before ordering!

[Soupperson1]

 Apparently the promo is only available on City, Monkie Kid, Friends, Dots, Ninjago, Classic and Creator 3 in 1 so not even all unlicensed sets! 

I’m delaying a lot of my 2022 purchases until this releases on the 27th, but even then I think I’ll be struggling to meet this threshold! 

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

Anything about Pohatu?

[The Outsider]

On 12/31/2022 at 9:18 PM, Aanchir said:

Yeah, GWPs are usually available from LEGO.com (aside from specific ones celebrating stuff like a particular store's grand opening or anniversary). Pretty sure this one will be both online and in-store. Sometimes the dates of availability are different between countries, though, so be sure and double check before ordering!

Thanks, I'll be sure to check!

On 1/2/2023 at 9:53 AM, Soupperson1 said:

 Apparently the promo is only available on City, Monkie Kid, Friends, Dots, Ninjago, Classic and Creator 3 in 1 so not even all unlicensed sets! 

I’m delaying a lot of my 2022 purchases until this releases on the 27th, but even then I think I’ll be struggling to meet this threshold! 

Wait, where is this from?

Edited January 3, 2023 by The Outsider

[ToaDraco]

In hand pictures of the set's packaging from a LEGO store are hitting the usual places. I'm excited for this. Is it perfect? Of course not, but people hating on it are just being ridiculous. I hope this leads to us seeing the rest of the original Toa in this style at some point unless we get another proper Bionicle reboot.

Edited January 4, 2023 by ToaDraco

[danth]

This is what a brick-built Bionicle GWP set could look like:

363 pieces according to the entry. Similar piece count to the Blacktron Cruiser. A brick-built mask would add some more pieces of course.

[Lira_Bricks]

I hope that the leaks that I was able to find are fake and you are talking about something else, because otherwise... damn that is bad. Just a plain boring Creator 3-1 build with some printed pieces to match their masks.

9 hours ago, danth said:

This is what a brick-built Bionicle GWP set could look like:

363 pieces according to the entry. Similar piece count to the Blacktron Cruiser. A brick-built mask would add some more pieces of course.

Keep in mind that that build uses some techniques that Lego themselves don't seem to like, especially around the knees and elbows, and might not be stable. Those feet don't look like they can hold any weight